"SIRIUS!"

It was a lovely morning; Sirius and I were sitting happily in the common room playing a game of chess (I was losing miserably, even with two years on him)., until Lily came stalking into the room, hair green and dripping wet, face scarlet red, giving her the affect of a Christmas decoration.

I gave Sirius a look.

"It wasn't me!" he said. "I swear, it wasn't!"

"Then who switched out my shampoo bottle with hair dye!?" Lily seethed, her gaze turning to me. I held up my hands.

"It wasn't me!" I said. "Besides, we can't get into your dormitory. Ask one of your roommates!"

"I just brought that shampoo up!" Lily exclaimed. "Anyone could have gotten to it!"

"Well, I can't brew potions," Sirius declared. "Maybe Regulus did it."

Regulus, who was reading a book, looked up suddenly. "Huh?"

"Nonsense!" Lily retorted. "Sweet little Regulus couldn't do anything like that! Hmm... REMUS!"

As she stalked away to confront Moony, Regulus started snickering.

"You did it," Sirius accused.

"Yep," he said happily. "With James's help?"

"That's what you wanted that potion for!" I realized. "Very sneaky, Reggie."

"A worthy Marauder," Sirius said approvingly. "Say, speaking of which... we need to start on the Animagus Potion for you, so we can know you're form. Maybe, if we work hard enough, you'll be ready by the first full moon of next year!"

Regulus's face lit up. "Really?"

"Possibly," I said. "Speaking of the full moon, that's in a couple of days, right?"

"Yeah," Sirius nodded. "Here's hoping there's no Death Eaters."

"Don't get too optimistic," I warned. "It'll no doubt backfire."

"Don't do anything stupid if there are," Regulus added. "It'd not be very good if you died in your Animagus form."

"It'd not be very good if he died period," I said.

"True point," Regulus conceded.

Sirius groaned. "I won't do anything stupid, but I can't promise I'll leave them alone."

Regulus and I both shot him a look.

"Not promising!" he said. "But- er, I guess I should tell you... I had a weird dream last night."

I sat up sharply, and Regulus put his book aside curiously.

"Another vision, you think?" I asked.

"I don't know," Sirius admitted. "I just know I was at that Heart place again, briefly. It was darker than before though... I don't understand."

"What happened?" Regulus asked eagerly.

"Nothing, really," Sirius said. "I woke up before anything really happened."

"Oh," I said. "Well, who knows. It doesn't seem dangerous, does it?"

"Nah," Sirius grinned. "I think it's safe."

But his face seemed slightly conflicted, as if he wasn't telling us something. Regulus went back to his book, but I watched Sirius carefully for a moment, hoping whatever he was hiding wasn't dangerous.

'Can we go out today?' Moony asked. It was a couple of days since Sirius's dream, and we were at the Shrieking Shack with Moony, who was restless, as per usual.

'Yes,' Padfoot said, at the same time as I said, 'No.'

Moony looked confused. 'Wait... is that a yes or a no?'

'We should go out,' Padfoot insisted. 'What could possibly go wrong?'

'Bad Padfoot, very bad,' I said. 'You never say anything along the lines of that.'

Padfoot pouted. 'I'm not bad. C'mon, Prongs, it'll be fun!'

'Fun,' I huffed, all the while nudging the trapdoor open with my nose. 'That's never good coming from you.'

We raced through the Forbidden Forest, Moony stopping to eagerly sniff every now and then. It was a nice, clear night. The moon and stars were clearly visible in the sky above.

We started into an unfamiliar stretch of wood, Padfoot slightly ahead of us, leading the way. I realized I'd never been in this area before.

'Pads,' I said. 'We should head back. I don't know where we are.'

'We're fine,' said Padfoot, and he continued forward. The trees were changing slightly, almost unnoticeably. They were becoming greener, almost, though I might have been seeing things. Moony seemed strangely subdued, though he was curious as usual, sticking his nose into the stream running beside us, before recoiling quickly and sneezing.

'Padfoot, we really should turn around,' I said. 'We might run into someone... or something.'

'We're fine,' Padfoot said again. I shook my head irritably, catching one of my antlers in a tree branch. Padfoot seemed oblivious to us, continuing onward as Moony played with a fish swimming in the clear water.

'I think something's up with him,' I muttered to Moony, who predictably ignored me in exchange for his fish, chasing it down the stream and splashing water on me.

We continued walking along the stream, which was sparkling in the moonlight. I was sure that we were lost. How would we possibly get back to Hogwarts in the morning? The sky was getting lighter, slowly but surely. Moony was getting tired, and he'd climbed out of the water now, walking alongside me calmly.

When the sun finally arrived and the moon disappeared, Padfoot stopped as Moony transformed back. I turned back into myself, and Sirius did the same. Remus looked around confusedly.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"I don't know, ask Sirius, he's the bright one that led us here," I retorted. Remus turned to Sirius, but he'd already started walking again. I was starting to get annoyed. "Sirius! We have to get back! Urgh, thank goodness it's a Saturday..."

Sirius didn't respond this time, instead trekking ahead. I ran to catch up with him. "Sirius! Oi, Sirius, anyone home?"

He continued walking.

I stepped in front of him. He didn't seem to notice. His eyes were glazed slightly, almost like he was under the Imperius. I frowned, and waved a hand in front of his face. "Sirius?"

Remus caught up with us. "What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know," I answered nervously as Sirius pushed past me. We continued following, slightly unnerved now. Was it possible that somebody had cast the Imperius on Sirius without us noticing? I doubted it. He had been fine up until... I wasn't sure. But I'd never seen a spell hit him. I glanced at

Sirius stopped suddenly. Remus and I came to a halt beside him. We were standing in front of a huge curtain of vines and leaves. Bewildered, I watched as Sirius pushed them out of the way and walked through. I glanced at Remus, who shrugged, before walking through the curtain myself, Remus close behind me.

I stared. "Woah."

There was no other word to describe it. The place we had arrived at was so beautiful and mystifying that there was no way to explain it otherwise. Sirius shook his head, and blinked several times, before looking around, as if confused.

"How'd we get here?" he asked.

I narrowed my eyes. "What do you mean, how did we get here? You led us here."

"I did?" he asked. "When?"

"Hello, young ones," we spun around. I gawked, mouth hanging open. Remus and Sirius had similar expressions. Standing before us was- was it a human? No, it wasn't a human. But it wasn't an animal, either. It looked, frankly, like a witch who'd botched up her Animagus transformation into a tiger. But it didn't look bad, necessarily. She had a kind of exotic beauty. "If I am correct... James, Sirius, and Remus?"

"You know our names!" Sirius exclaimed stupidly.

I hit him on the arm. "No, you think?"

Remus, who looked torn between offering a hand to shake and bowing, stammered out, "who are you?" before turning red and muttering an apology for being rude.

"Calm, little wolf," the tiger-woman chuckled kindly. "My name is Evirah, and, no, James, I am not a witch."

I turned red. "And you can read minds."

"Indeed," laughed the tiger-woman, Evirah. "My friends, my friends, welcome to the Heart of the Forest."

I gaped. "This is the place Voldemort is looking for."

"Yes," answered Evirah. I looked around, astonished. I hoped he would never find it. It seemed so peaceful. It seemed Sirius's vision- possibly both of them- had come true. There were all sorts of animals- no, not animals, but whatever Evirah was- here. There seemed to be an entire community here. And, by the reverent glanced the other... humanid animals were sending Evirah, and by her elegant robes, I'd say she was their Queen.

"No, not Queen," Evirah laughed lightly. I wished she'd quit doing that. "They do look up to me, along with a few others, because we are older and wiser. No one is truly in charge here."

"How did we get here?" Sirius asked.

Evirah smiled warmly at him. "You led them here."

Sirius gave her a blank look.

"I told you that," I said.

Sirius frowned. "How did I do that? I don't know how to get here."

"Yes, you do," Evirah replied. "You do know, though you don't remember. The knowledge is there."

"I don't understand," Sirius said helplessly, looking quite upset. I didn't blame him; if all these weird things had been happening to me, I'd be freaking out too. Evirah just chuckled and patted him on the head.

"You will," she said. "Now, go explore. You are welcome here."

"Er..." Remus spoke up. "Not to be rude or anything, but we have to get back to the school."

"It is not a work day though," said Evirah, looking innocently confused. "It is a free day."

"Well, yes, but-"

"Stay, enjoy yourselves!" Evirah laughed. "You'll find you like it here. Why, most don't ever want to leave!"

I found that slightly foreboding, but shrugged it off. Evirah seemed nice enough, and I was paranoid. "Can we just.. wander? Go wherever?"

"This are of the forest is open to you," Evirah smiled. "And, next time, do bring your friends!"

With that, she walked off, humming quietly to herself. I exchanged glances with Sirius and Remus. Sirius jut shrugged. "Let's explore then."

"You lead the way," I said. "After all, you know more about this place than we do."

"Not really," Sirius said, but as we started walking around the little village, he seemed right at home. It must be confusing for him. After all, he had never heard of this place until that first dream, and yet he could navigate the area like hr could out house.

"Good morning!" greeted a young boy who looked like a platypus (quite a sight), and a little girl who looked like an antelope beamed at us (at least, I think she did).

"This is quite the place," I observed.

"It's great, isn't it?" asked Sirius, who was not looking around as much and was waving to the villagers as if he knew them. "Look, right there is where the elders of the village meet to discuss things."

I glanced at the larger hut at the edge of the village, before turning back to Sirius. "Why am I not surprised that you know that?"

Sirius himself looked surprised. "Oh. Gee, I didn't even realize I did."

"I wonder what's up," Remus mused. "I mean, first those dreams and now this. Obviously there's something going on."

I groaned. "Why do I get the feeling we're going to be stuck in the middle of it?"

"We'd better go now."

It was late afternoon. Sirius had given us a guided tour of the entire village, including the surrounding forest area. He seemed astonished every time he pointed something out, although Remus and I had come to expect it.

"Leaving so soon?" asked Evirah, walking up to us. "Shame. Did you enjoy your visit?"

"We did," I said. "Thank you for your hospitality."

"Let us know if you need anything," Sirius added kindly.

Evirah studied him for a second, her expression unreadable, but not negative. "Indeed. Do not worry, young one, you will know if we need help," she glanced towards the darkening sky. "I fear we may need you very soon."

Remus shifted awkwardly. "Er... Sirius, do you think you can get us back?"

"I dunno," Sirius said.

"You will," Evirah said. "Visit again sometime, children, and bring your friends. We would all love to meet them. It has been so long since a human has been here, let alone welcomed."

I nodded. "Will do. Lily and Regulus would love to see this."

"Peter too," added Remus. "He loves nature."

"That's right," I chuckled. "See you."

We headed out of the village, Evirah waving at us. The forest darkened considerably the farther we got from the village. I looked back, catching one fleeting glance of the Heart. As it disappeared behind the trees, I couldn't help but feel that it might have all been a dream.

A/N: Okay! Update! Yay, chapter forty! Now the Heart has been completely revealed! Well, there's still a bit of a mystery shrouding it, but where would be the fun in revealing it all! What form do you think Reggie should have? Big huge thanks to my awesome reviewers, Lady Loophole, jeremiah123, N. E. Person, Red Moon Lollipop, and sk8boards4ever! Free Evirah stuffie (by the way, what do you think of her name? I made it up on the spot. :P)!

I don't own Harry Potter, but I do own the Heart and Evirah!