I'm sorry it's taken so long to post up this next chapter. I just started school and I've been so busy! I'll make sure to update regularly though :) I was going to go over it a few times to see if I needed to make any changes, but that would have taken even longer, so I'll post it up like this.


Steven plops down on one of the desks but jumps up immediately. "This place is filthy," he mutters, dusting off his robes.

Corinne stands in the middle of the dungeon with her arms crossed against her chest, unwilling to get near any surfaces. She can't see a single clean area in the large room. She blames Evans for this. "Can you believe her? A bloody detention for being out after hours for ten minutes!" she complains to Steven.

"I hope you aren't talking about my Lily Flower," comes James' voice from the doorway to the dungeon.

Corinne wheels around. What is Potter doing here?

"It's true mate," Sirius says, coming in after him, "she didn't even give you a break. Anyway, I hope this doesn't take too long, I have things to do."

"What are you doing here?" Corinne spits. She should have known Sirius would be wherever James is.

"What she meant to say," Steven mediates, "is that we didn't know you were going to have detention with us."

"We didn't either, but James's girlfriend had different plans for us."

"So you're the reason we get McGonagall instead of Flitwick," Corinne mutters. It's common knowledge that McGonagall's detentions are worse.

"Ah don't worry, Minnie isn't that bad," James says. "So why do you reckon she told us to meet her down here?" he asks, looking around the filthy room.

"I have an idea, but I hope I'm wrong."

McGonagall strides into the room seconds later. "Black, Potter, Bran, Johnson, I shall be brief. You are to clean this dungeon and the one adjacent to it. I will separate you into pairs-"

"Professor, wouldn't it be best to work together?"

"Putting you and Black together is hardly a detention, and I want these dungeons cleaned, not destroyed. Now-"

"Aww Minnie, we know you don't mean-"

"You are in enough trouble already Black, do not give me reason to assign you another detention. Now as I was saying, I shall separate you into pairs. Johnson and Potter, you will clean this dungeon. Black and Bran, follow me."

James and Corinne look at each other. "I guess we should get started," she sighs.

James looks at her in surprise. He's never heard her be nice. "Yeah, at least she's letting us use wands."

"Only because it's so filthy in here that even with wands it'll be hard."

"True . . . d'you reckon scourgify will work?"

"There's only one way to find out."

The spell works minimally, taking off the grime only after going over the same area a number of times. They start with the ceiling and talk a little here and there. "You know, you're not that bad to talk to," James comments.

"I'm really not, I just don't like Black."

James frowns at this. Why does everyone seem to have the wrong idea about Sirius? Everyone seems to think that he's some kind of evil person who has no regard for other people. Okay, sure, their past actions didn't exactly do anything to disprove the assumptions, but people just don't know him. "He isn't bad if you know him."

"Yes he is. He parades around the school thinking he's the best thing that ever happened to womankind and hexes whoever he can."

"He isn't like that anymore. He's loyal, caring, and fun."

"No, he's arrogant, crude, and inconsiderate."

James shakes his head. She has him completely wrong. "You know, Lily used to think that about me until she got to know me."

"If you're insinuating that Black and I will one day become an item, forget about it."

"Don't flatter yourself, he isn't even interested." It came out more coldly than he intended. He opens his mouth to apologize but Corinne speaks first.

"Boo-hoo, let me go cry myself to sleep."

They continue working in silence, James indignant on his friend's behalf. The silence is interrupted by a voice coming from James's pocket.

"Prongs! Psst, Prongs!"

James takes out a mirror from his pocket and speaks to it. "What?"

"Is the coast clear?" the voice, which belongs to Sirius, says.

"Hold on, let me check." James puts down the mirror and takes out a piece of parchment.

Corinne frowns. The mirror is probably a two-way, they're very popular, but why would he mutter something to the parchment?

"She's in her office, you're clear."

"Thanks mate."

James clears the map and pockets it. "What's wrong?" he asks Corinne, noticing her stare.

"What is that?"

"Nothing," he shrugs. "It's just parchment."

"Tsk, tsk," comes a voice from the doorway. "You two are so slow."

"We're almost halfway done!" James tells Sirius.

"Yes, but we're almost finished with ours."

"How are you almost finished?!"

"Andy is really good at all these household spells. I picked up a few things when I visited her."

"Show us then, will you?"

"I don't know," he smirks, "Johnson doesn't look like she wants my help."

"I don't, Steven can help me," she snaps.

"Lighten up, Johnson, it wouldn't kill you to smile," Sirius says, walking over to help James. If she wants help, she can get it from Steven like she said she would.

Corinne mutters something unintelligible under her breath as Steven walks over to her. "How's it going?" he asks her.

"It's okay, at least I'm not stuck with Black. That would have ruined everything."

"It's too bad we aren't working together," he tells her.

"I know, that would have been perfect. It would've hardly been a detention."

"Yeah, but at least I'm here now," he says. He teaches her the spell and together they work on the walls. The grime comes off the walls so much quicker with the new spell. As loathe as she is to admit it, she's glad Black was there to show them the spell.

"You have to go, she's coming," James says suddenly, checking the map.

"We'll try to come back," Steven tells Corinne before leaving.

Corinne leans against one of the tables and tries to piece everything together. He looked down at the piece of parchment and knew that McGonagall was coming. It must be some sort of radar or something.

"What's on the parchment?" she asks James again.

He shrugs again. "It's blank. Nothing."

"Potter and Johnson, you are here for detention, not to socialize. Get back to work. When you are finished, you are free to go. I shall inspect the rooms tomorrow."

She probably wants to go to sleep already, Corinne thinks. They continue cleaning using the new spell, and it works wonders. They finish the walls and start on the furniture. It's surprising to see that the dungeon looks less foreboding when clean.

"We're back!" Sirius announces.

"You finished already?" Corinne asks Steven.

"Yeah, so we decided to help the less fortunate," he grins.

Corinne smiles at him. "Thanks. We only have the floor left."

They finish within minutes. "We're done, finally. Let's go."

"Hold on," Sirius says, "what do you reckon is in here?" he points to a tapestry in the corner.

"It's a door," James says, pushing the tapestry back and pulling the door open, "and it's locked."

Sirius points his wand at the door and mutters alohomora. "It didn't work."

"Try your knife," James tells him.

"Right." Sirius pulls it out and runs it along the door edges. It opens.

"It was locked for a reason. We should go," Corinne says.

"We're just going to check it out, no big deal."

"Look at this," James says, handing Sirius a jar.

It's transparent and changes shades every two seconds. Blue, green, yellow, orange, red, pink, magenta . . .

"It's full of sand, how strange."

"It doesn't matter, put it back," Corinne demands.

"Right Johnson, I'm going to do it because you told me to," Sirius mocks.

Corinne tries to snatch the jar from his hands but he holds on to it. Steven grabs her arm to pull her back but the jar falls and shatters when it hits the floor, spilling the sand.

Before any of them can react, they're gone.

-o-

James finds himself in what looks like a broom cupboard. He landed on a stack of buckets and random cleaning supplies, making a loud crash. He knows it's only a matter of time before someone finds him, so he scrambles to his feet to get away. He doesn't know how he got here, but he doesn't want any more trouble. He pulls the door open and comes face to face with Lily. She looks at him oddly, as if trying to decipher something. Her eyes widen suddenly and she hurries away without a word.

-o-

Corinne rubs her head, wondering where she is and how she got there. When she opens her eyes, she sees Steven on top of her. They're in a corridor somewhere.

Steven looks down at Corinne and can't help but notice how gorgeous she looks. He leans down and does the one thing he's never had the courage to do: he kisses her.

-o-

Sirius mutters lumos and looks around, trying to see where he is. None of the other three are anywhere around him. He knows this place. It's Malone's office. He would be in so much trouble if he were caught there. It's too bad that Malone has an intruder alarm in his office, the paranoid git, Sirius thinks. The door opens before he even has a chance to move and he's face to face with Malone.

-o-

Then, as quickly as they disappeared, the four of them reappear in the dungeon.

"What was-"

"How-"

"Was that-?"

"Did we-"

"You know what? It doesn't matter, I just want to go," Sirius says, silencing everyone. He repairs the jar with a flick of his wand. The sand returns to the jar. Sirius is surprised but glad; it's less work for him. He doesn't know what happened, but he doesn't want to find out. It's been a long day and all he wants is to sleep. He returns the jar to the shelf, closes the door, and walks out.

"Right, well I'll see you two around," James says, following his friend.

ooooo

"What d'you reckon that was?" James asks Sirius as they walk up to Gryffindor Tower.

"I don't know Prongs. Maybe it was some sort of illusion?"

"I don't know what else to think."

They make their way to their dormitory, exchanging their stories. Luckily enough, they don't run into any prefects, not that they'd get in trouble, it isn't their fault they're out after hours this time, but the explanations would waste a lot of time.

-o-

"I didn't know you felt that way," Corinne tells Steven as they head to Ravenclaw Tower.

"I've always felt this way," Steven says. "I just don't know how you feel."

Corinne bites her lip. "I like you Steven, but Jenna has fancied you since first year."

"First year? I thought she was joking," he says, scratching his head. She would make comments but she was always laughing it off. He always figured she didn't mean it.

"No . . . . I can't do this to her."

"I really want to be with you Corinne."

She thinks about it as they walk. It's true that Jenna feels strongly about Steven, but so does she and Steven reciprocates those feelings so why should she give up her chance of happiness? If Jenna were really her friend, she would be happy for her. For some unknown reason, Corinne reckons Jenna won't be so understanding. "Let's . . . let's take things slow."

-o-

The common room is empty when Sirius and James walk in. They trudge up the stairs and into their dormitory.

"Hey Moony, Worm," James greets them.

They ignore him and gape openly at Sirius. "Padfoot? Is that you?"

"No, I'm your mum," Sirius says sarcastically, throwing himself on his bed.

"What are you doing here?" Remus asks.

"I live here, you dolt. Why do you look live you've just seen a dementor?"

"Because you shouldn't be here. You were expelled."

-o-

Corinne walks into her dormitory and sees Jenna on her bed. "Jen, you would not believe what happened today."

"And you're talking to me because . . . ?" she asks coldly.

"What's gotten into you?"

"I don't talk to backstabbing friends," she says, closing the hangings around her bed.

Corinne stares at her dumbfounded. What is she talking about? When did she backstab her?

-o-

"Hey, what's up?" Steven asks Jeremy and Benjamin when he walks into the dormitory.

"Just finishing up some last minute homework. How're you doing?" Benjamin asks.

"Fine, detention was just long," Steven says wearily.

"Detention?" Jeremy asks, putting down his magazine.

"Yeah, Corinne and I had detention tonight."

"For what? You didn't mention it."

"Yes I did. We were caught after hours yesterday remember? Corinne was mad because of her duel with Sirius in Defense."

"Steve, they never dueled. Sirius was expelled before that lesson."

"What are you talking about? He was expelled?" What is going on here?

"Yeah, I don't know exactly why but he's been gone for almost a week now."

"But I just had detention with him."

"Not possible mate," Jeremy insists.

"By the way, how are things with Jenna and Corinne?" Benjamin asks.

"Good I guess, why?" Steven asks distractedly, still trying to figure out why they think Sirius is expelled. What else could have happened?

"Good? So they're speaking now?"

"They never stopped, did they?"

"Steve, don't you remember the huge row they got into? They haven't spoken since."

"They haven't? Why?"

"Jenna said she saw you two snogging."

-o-

"Are you mental? We just came back from detention!" James says.

"What detention? You haven't had detention all year, Prongs," Remus says, losing his patience.

"Yes I did, Lily assigned us one yesterday."

"No she didn't, and he was already expelled," Peter says, pointing at Sirius.

"I wasn't expelled!"

"Okay, let's just say that he was expelled. What did he do?" James asks, trying to calm everyone down.

"You were caught breaking into Malone's office when you were supposed to be serving that detention you got for cursing Snape."

"I served that four-"

James holds up a hand to silence him. "Dumbledore wouldn't expel him over that."

"I know, but Malone took it up with the School Governors. They saw your records and weren't impressed."

"That isn't possible though. Look, here's what happened . . ."

-o-

"Snogging? She's off her rocker, we didn't . . ." Steven trails off, thinking aloud, "the only time . . . but it isn't possible . . . unless . . . but how . . . ? Did she say when she saw us? Or where?"

"All she said is that she saw you on the third floor corridor and you two were on the floor snogging."

"Are you sure-"

"Have you been living under a rock for the past week?"

"It feels like it," he mutters, lost in thought. He suspects that the illusion was something much more serious. The only thing that makes sense to him is time travel, but he can't be too sure. He'll talk to the others first thing tomorrow. Meanwhile, he decides to go along with whatever they say has been happening. "What happened to our group since they aren't talking?"

"We stay with Jenna and you and Corinne are usually alone."

"Look mate, we don't blame either of you for doing this. I know how you've felt about her for ages. It's like this until Jenna has time to cool down."

"How long has it been like this?"

"About a week."

"Four days to be exact."

"I'm going to call it a night. This has been a long day."

-o-

"Do you reckon it was time travel then?" Peter asks the group around him.

"What else can it be? It's the only thing that fits," James deduces.

"So the jar full of sand we broke was what caused it," Sirius states, running a hand through his hair. This sounds absurd to him, but Remus and Peter aren't lying; if they say he's expelled then he is, and if that's true then time travel is the only thing that makes sense.

"Are there any other major changes we should know about?"

"Er, well . . . Lily isn't talking to you."

"What?"

"She said she found you in a broom closet and even though she didn't see the girl she's sure you were in there with one."

"She's accusing me of something without any proof?"

"Women, mate."

"I need to talk to her."

"No, leave it until tomorrow."

"No-"

"Prongs, it's nearly eleven, she isn't going to talk to you. Besides, she's in the girl's dorm and it would be best not to start a scandal by trying to get up there."

"Fine, but what have I been doing for the past four days?"

"You have tried to talk to her, but it seemed half hearted. You've been aloof since Padfoot left."

"We'll talk to Steven and Johnson first thing tomorrow morning and figure this out."


So what did you think? Like it? Hate it? Let me know :D