Here's my belated update. Sorry for the delay!


"Corinne, forget breakfast, we have to find James," Steven says urgently when he sees her in the Great Hall.

"Why?" she asks, staring longingly at the eggs and toast.

"Because something happened last night; I don't think the illusion was an illusion. There he is," Steven says, pointing at James.

Corinne isn't sure what's going on, but Steven's explanation has her wondering about what really happened when the jar broke last night. If it wasn't an illusion, then what was it? It couldn't have been real. The three meet half way through the great hall, ignoring the curious looks the surrounding students are throwing at them.

"There you are. We have to talk. Let's go up to Gryffindor Tower," James says hastily, leading them up the marble staircase.

"Why there?" Corinne asks, still confused about everything. What are they talking about?

"Because that's where Sirius is," he says quietly.

"He's here?" Steven asks, surprised.

"Of course he is Steve, he does, unfortunately, live here."

"No he doesn't, he was expelled."

"He was? That's . . ." she checks her answer, not wanting to offend James, "interesting."

"I don't care if you don't like him, but you two had better make an effort to be civil until we figure this out."

They walk to Gryffindor Tower with little conversation. James stops in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady and gives her the password quietly so the others don't hear. He leads them through the common room and to the seventh year boy's dormitory.

"Steven, James, nice to see you!" Sirius says exuberantly. "Johnson," he acknowledges with a slight nod.

"Black," Corinne scowls.

"Where do we start?"

"We were talking yesterday and we reckon we traveled back in time four days and flashed back. Whatever happened in the five or so seconds that we were there changed the present."

"I was thinking something along those lines, but it's so hard to believe," Steven says, taking a seat on the nearest bed.

"What are you all going on about? What time travel?"

"You're surprisingly stupid for a Ravenclaw," Sirius says scathingly.

"At-"

"Stop," James says. "Corinne, haven't you noticed how everything is different?"

"No, I haven't. The only thing that's different is Jenna being mad at me, but that happens often so I didn't think much of it. Other than that, everything else is exactly the same."

"I'm willing to bet she's mad at you because of whatever happened last night. Look, last night I ended up in a broom cupboard and Lily caught me. She left without saying a word, and I was back at the dungeon before I could follow her. When I went back to the common room, I found out that she thought I was in there with another girl and now she isn't speaking to me. Whatever happened yesterday changed our present."

"Exactly," Sirius says, ignoring Corinne. "When I flashed back, I ended up in Malone's office and he caught me. I disappeared before anything else happened. Then I found out that I'm expelled."

"Steven and I ended up in an empty corridor. He landed on top of me and, um . . ." she can't finish the sentence. She turns away so no one sees her blushing.

"-and I kissed her. Jenna saw us and now she isn't speaking to us."

Corinne snaps her head over to where Steven is sitting. "That's why she hates me?" she asks, finally understanding.

"Yes."

"Oh." She bites her lip, knowing that this is one fight that won't blow over quickly. She has a lot of smoothing over to do, and even then Jenna might not forgive her. It's one of the cardinal rules: you don't steal your friend's man.

"Right, so what we have to do is find a way to go back in time again and stop ourselves from ever finding that jar," Sirius says, making it sound as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

"We don't even know what caused the time travel. Was it the jar or the sand? Or both?"

"That's what we're going to have to research. Sirius can't leave this room so we'll meet here during our free periods. I have one after breakfast and lunch. How about you two?"

"I only have one after lunch," Corinne says.

"I only have one too, and it's before break."

"Ravenclaws," Sirius mutters under his breath.

"Shut up Black."

"Stop, both of you. Okay, each of us will come on our free periods. I'll be outside to let you in. Bring some books before you come and research the role of the jar and the sand. Find whatever you can."

Steven nods but Corinne says nothing. The last thing she wants to do is spend more time with Black.

"Corinne, we need you to come during your free periods," James repeats.

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'?"

"I mean no, I will absolutely not come here during my free time to be in Black's company."

"Look Johnson, I don't want you here anymore than you do but this is something that we have to solve."

"No," she repeats. Why should she spend her only free hour in the presence of someone she detests? It's illogical.

"Can't you get past your childish idiocy and be responsible?"

"Hey, that's uncalled for," Steven steps in. "Corinne, they're right. It'll only be until we can fix this. I know you don't like when Jenna isn't speaking to you, so the faster we get this done the better for everyone. Can you please do this?"

"Isn't there any other way? Can't I research on my own?"

"It's more efficient when you have someone to bounce your ideas off of, and Sirius needs someone to bring him research material," James says.

"You could do it on your own, but it's better this way Corinne. It'll only be until we can fix everything. Do you think you can put your differences aside until it's all over?" Steven asks her gently.

Sirius rolls his eyes at this. Why is Steven mollycoddling her? What she needs is someone to tell her what to do, not talk her into it. He's only making her into more of a brat then she already is. What he sees in her he'll never know. He was disgusted when Steven said he kissed her. She's decently pretty, but her personality isn't.

Sirius sees the long, loathing stare Corinne sends his way, but she agrees in the end. "Fine."

"Good," James says briskly. "Now that that's settled, you have to get to class and I need to go to the library. Steven will be the first one back Padfoot, so make sure you get some work done then. Corinne and I will research with you before lunch," James says, thinking it's a good thing that Corinne and Sirius won't be left alone to kill each other.

OoOoO

It's been three days since The Incident, three long days that have taken their toll on Corinne. She's tired from all of the research and school work, she hates that Jenna isn't speaking to her, she hates that Jeremy is still trying to keep his distance, and the only good thing about any of this is that she has Steven. They decided to officially date since Jenna is already upset about it, but she isn't sure that it was a good choice. She doesn't care about him the way he cares about her, but she doesn't have the heart to let him down either.

Her thoughts are so jumbled that she doesn't even realize she's already on the seventh floor. James is waiting for her by the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"I have some Head Boy duties to take care of so I'm going to have to leave you alone with Sirius until I'm done," he tells her when she reaches him.

"That's fine," she says quietly.

James is surprised at her compliance. He half expected her to throw a fit about it. "Right, so er, I'll let see you in a while," he says, ignoring the Fat Lady's complaints about having to stay open while they have a conversation.

Corinne makes her way up to the boys' dormitory and enters.

"Oi, you ever hear of knocking?" Sirius asks, annoyed.

"Sorry," Corinne tells him in that same quiet voice.

Sirius's mouth hangs open. Corinne apologized to him. What has happened to the world? "Er, don't worry about it," he says, feeling the need to be kind. "I reckon we should get started." He motions to the piles of parchment and books around him.

She picks up a book from the floor. "Okay."

Sirius grabs Theories of Time Travel, but he can't focus on what he's reading. He can't help but wonder what's going on with her. He's concerned, as much as he hates to admit it. Not because he has any romantic feelings for her, but because she isn't a bad person. He doesn't like her, sure, but she is no Snivellus. She's actually quite decent to anyone other than him, so their animosity stems from prejudices rather than true hate. He tries to keep his attention on what he's reading, but he can't help it. He has to know.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she answers, not looking up.

"Are you sure?" he asks again. He doesn't mean to pry, but she doesn't look like she's okay.

She stares at him. "I'm sure."

"If you say so," he says reluctantly, forcing himself to focus on the chapter he's supposed to be reading. They both stay quiet for the entire hour. Even when James comes in, no one says a word. He simply walks in and picks up a book, reading silently like the other two.

OoOoO

"Still not feeling better, are you?" Sirius asks Corinne the next day, seeing her downcast face.

Once again, they're alone in the seventh year boys' dormitory. James has Head Duties this week; Lily needed him to cover for her and James readily agreed, wanting to get back on her good side.

"Not really," she answers from her spot on the floor, unsure of why she's being honest with him. They're supposed to be enemies, right?

"What's wrong?" Sirius hopes to keep her talking. She seems to be more open today.

"It's just . . . Jenna. I hate that she's furious with me," she says, running a hand through her medium-long brown hair. She rests her head against one of the beds and closes her eyes.

"If you're so close then why doesn't she understand about you and Steven?" he asks simply.

"Because I'm a traitor in her eyes. She's fancied him since first year."

"But he doesn't fancy her, he fancies you," he frowns, trying to understand the dynamics of their friendship.

"She's fancied him longer than I have. It's like . . . how would James have felt if Lily had chosen you instead of him and you agreed to go out with her? Would he have understood?"

"Probably not," he says, conceding to her point.

"Besides, I don't feel strongly about him. I love him as a friend, but nothing more."

"Why did you agree to go out with him then?"

"Because I did fancy him, but then I realized that we're better off as friends. Now I don't want to hurt him."

"You should tell him the truth," Sirius says.

"He would be crushed."

"Believe me- he'd rather know the truth. He'll be a little hurt at first, but it's better than being lied to."

"But I spend all my time with him. If I tell him the truth, I'll have no one."

"Are you really so selfish that you'd rather keep lying to someone you 'love' than tell him the truth?"

"It's more than that. I don't want to hurt him."

"You're going to hurt him either way. Just suck it up and do it."

"It isn't that easy," she says, starting to grow frustrated.

"Sure it is."

"Sod off Black! It's all easy for you, stuck up here where you don't have to face anyone."

"Get out," he says coldly.

"We're supposed to research."

"Get out," he repeats.

"Fine by me," she mutters. She packs her belongings and leaves without a second glance at Sirius. She feels a twinge of regret at her harsh words, but it dissipates quickly. He had no right to say what he did.


Just as they were starting to get along, they both had to go ruin it. Or was Corinne just being, as Sirius calls her, a brat? Maybe it was Sirius's fault? What do you think? Leave a review and let me know what you think!