I hoped Lily would tell my dad where we were going. I really didn't need to go running blindly into this without some help, and Sirius didn't either. Hopefully, he'd have the sense to use self-preservation, if only to get the chance to jump out of the Astronomy Tower.

Finally, I caught up to him, at the edge of the Forest. "Sirius! Wait up!"

"That's what I'm doing," he said impatiently, as I walked up to him. "You better not try to stop me, Prongs."

"Stop you?" I asked, faking astonishment. "Nonsense! Did you really think I'd let you do this on your own? You can't have all the fun!"

Sirius's face split into a grin. "Alright. We better be off."

"Ten galleons Regulus has annoyed Voldemort so much he'll just want to hand him over," I said conversationally as we ran through the trees. Sirius let out a barking laugh, but didn't agree to the bet. Smart move on his part, for once.

In retrospect, we should have been watching where we were going, because, before long, we ran head first into a centaur.

"Watch your step!" he exclaimed irately, before looking at us more closely. "Oh. It's just you."

"Yeah," said Sirius easily, as I stared, doing my best to keep my mouth closed. He recognized us? But... I'd never seen him before! "Listen, we're looking for my brother- Voldemort has him."

"The snake man," muttered the centaur, rolling his eyes. "I'll get you there quickly. Hop on my back."

Now my mouth fell open. Nonetheless, we both complied, and the centaur took off, galloping through the woods. I held onto Sirius, who was holding onto the centaur. "This has got to be one of the weirdest things I have ever done!"

"You should be used to it, mate!" said Sirius, laughing. Then, the centaur stopped abruptly. "Woah!"

"This is where I leave you," said the centaur. Sirius nodded, and bowed respectfully.

"Go warn Evirah," he said. "I have a bad feeling about this."

The centaur nodded, then took off in the opposite direction. Sirius and I walked forward cautiously. We peeked over some bushes to see the Death Eater camp, where a lot of pink-robed wizards were running around in mystification, and a very familiar floating terror was laughing from far above their heads. Sirius and I exchanged looks.

"I am supreme ruler of the skies!" Regulus exclaimed. "Bow to me, little pink people!"

I couldn't help it; I started snickering.

Voldemort was sitting in what looked like a throne in the middle of the clearing, wearing bright red robes and rubbing his head. He seemed very irked that he couldn't kill Regulus without losing what little leverage he had on Sirius and I. For a moment, I wondered why Regulus didn't just leave. Then it hit me.

He was having way too much fun with this.

"Fear me, ickle evil Death Eaters!" Regulus cackled, waving his frying pan, which was shooting colourful bolts, around in the air. Whenever the bolts hit a Death Eater, they would turn into an animal for a minute. I rolled my eyes; so that was what his frying pan did.

"I almost don't want to stop him," whispered Sirius.

"Take pity on the poor snake man," I said back. "He's got enough madness on his hands already."

Sirius snorted. "How 'bout I run in, sword out, and you run in on fire. Oh! Could you catch us both on fire?"

"No," I replied. "Alright. On the count of three... one... two..."

"Three!" Sirius shouted, pulling out his sword and racing forward. I sighed, and engulfed myself in flames, running forwards as well. Several Death Eaters screamed.

"Demon!" yelled Bellatrix. Smirking, I shifted the ground under her feet so she fell on her face. "Oof!"

"If you wanted us to come to a party," said Sirius to Voldemort, as the Dark Lord pulled out his wand. "You could have just sent an invitation!"

I let the fire around me die down.

"We came, though we probably didn't have to," I said. "It seems Reg has everything under control."

Regulus cackled evilly.

"I'm kind of worried for his sanity," Sirius muttered.

"You mean the sanity he doesn't have?" I replied. Sirius nodded. Regulus turned more Death Eaters into animals. "Yeah... I stopped worrying a while ago."

"At last," said Voldemort. "You have arrived. Potter, take the brat and go. Black (elder), you stay."

Sirius burst out laughing. "You're really, really stupid, aren't you?"

Voldemort looked affronted.

"Don't insult the Dark Lord!" screeched Bellatrix, just before Regulus hit her over the head with his frying pan, successfully knocking her out. I grinned triumphantly and gave him a thumbs-up.

"You should be glad I'm letting Potter and the brat go free," said Voldemort silkily. "But I have other uses for you, Sirius Black. You will lead me to the Heart of the Forest."

"No," said Sirius defiantly. "I won't. Tough luck, Voldemort, but you aren't getting there. There's nothing for you at the Heart, anyway."

"Oh, but there is," said Voldemort, eyes glinting. "And you will lead me there."

"I'm afraid you're mistaken," Sirius smiled dryly. "Now, we'll be taking our leave."

He nodded to me and Regulus, and started out of the camp. Regulus and I followed. Suddenly, a jet of light shot past my head and hit Sirius in the back. He stiffened, and I turned angrily, brandishing my wand.

"What did you do?" I growled.

Voldemort smiled. "Can't recognize the Imperius when you see it?"

I paled, and turned to look at Sirius, who had turned, head down. He raised his wand, and, for a moment, I thought he was going to attack me.

Then a Stunning Spell went flying at Voldemort.

Voldemort blocked it with an angry yell.

"Don't ever try to control me!" Sirius roared, firing off many more spells. Voldemort was definitely in trouble now- Sirius rarely ever got this mad.

"Shall I turn him into an animal?" Regulus asked, brandishing his frying pan.

"Nah," I said, watching Sirius and Voldemort duel. "We'll butt in if there's any trouble; Pads has it under control."

Indeed he did. Sirius actually managed to hit Voldemort with a Body-Bind (something he'd surely regret later), and ran towards us, grabbing both our arms and taking off into the woods.

"Where are we going?" I exclaimed.

"To warn Evirah!" Sirius yelled back. "They're definitely going to follow us, but they won't get past the wards- yes, James, before you ask, there are wards."

"Why are we going there if they're going to follow?" Regulus asked nervously.

"One, it's safe. Two," Sirius paused for a moment, his demeanour darkening. "Voldemort attacking the Heart is inevitable. Best to not put it off any longer- at least we'll be prepared."

I nodded.

"James!" I whipped my head around to see Lily and the others rushing to catch up with us. I smiled to see that Mum, Dad, Dumbledore, and McGonagall were all with her. "Wait up!"

Sirius did not stop. "Can't, Lils, just follow us!"

"What are these wards?" I asked Sirius.

"No ordinary humans can get in," said Sirius, still running. Regulus and I exchanged looks. "You forget; we're not ordinary humans. It should let you and Reg in- at the very least, it'll let me in and you with me."

"But what about the others?" Regulus asked nervously.

Sirius was silent for a moment, but then he yelled back to the others. "You lot aren't going to be able to get into te Heart! If you don't want to fight and defend the borders, go back to the castle, where you'll be safe!"

I looked back. Peter and Snape hesitated for half a second, but none of the group stopped running. Lily pulled out her wand, quickly followed by the adults, and then the rest of the kids. I smiled grimly, and, suddenly, I felt a sensation like being doused in water, and we were in the Heart. Evirah approached us, and, for the first time, she looked panicked.

"Our armies are readying themselves," she said. "We haven't much time... they can hold off the evil ones for a decent amount of time, but I fear for their lives. Our wards will only hold for so long."

"There weren't that many Death Eaters," said Sirius soothingly. Regulus floated upwards, looking over the forest. He turned pale.

"Uh, guys..." he said. "I don't think all the Death Eaters were at the camp- and I don't think it's just Death Eaters!"

Frowning, I used a blast of air to propel me upward. I paled as well. Approaching the Heart were at least a hundred black robed wizards. With them, were quite a lot of floating black creatures I recognized with a sinking feeling: dementors. They'd brought dementors.

I jumped and landed with a roll next to Sirius. "There's definitely over a hundred Death Eaters. And they brought dementors!"

"Dementors!?" Sirius exclaimed.

"The soul stealers," whispered Evirah, eyes wide. She started yelling in Heartian, and a few Heartians (the people, not the language) ran off.

"She's warning the warriors," Sirius explained.

"We've got to tell the others!" I exclaimed.

"Don't worry, James," said a familiar voice, and I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Tamo, dressed in full battle armour. "I will warn them; I am going out to battle."

"I'm going, too," I said stubbornly. Regulus nodded. I was, admittedly, surprised when Sirius didn't.

"You are needed here," said Tamo, sending a meaningful look at Sirius. "Good luck."

Sirius nodded, and gave him a tight smile, before Tamo walked off. Sirius's sword trainer- a dark brown fox-looking Heartian named Marcik- grabbed him roughly and started yelling at him in Heartian. Sirius protested several times, not getting barely a word (I think) in. Marcik then pulled Sirius into a hug and said something else, at which Sirius smiled. Then, Marcik, too, left to fight.

"What was that all about?" Regulus asked.

"Nothing," Sirius said, though his face said otherwise. He looked very anxious. "I- well, I suppose you'll find out. If it comes to it."

I got an uneasy feeling from that statement, and I desperately hoped Sirius wasn't planning some crazy, heroic plan that would likely get him killed.

"Regulus," said Evirah. "How close are they?"

"Almost there," said Regulus. "I think Tamo just told the others about the dementors. All the adults have their Patronuses, and so does Lily."

Quickly, I cast my own Patronus. "Go protect the others."

It cantered off, out of sight.

"The Heart has never been involved in a war for hundreds of years," said Evirah forlornly. "But if these Death Eaters attack, we will be forced to protect ourselves. We will be forced to join you in this war."

"You'll be a welcome ally," Sirius said kindly. Evirah smiled at him.

"I hope you aren't thinking of what I think you are," she said warningly. Sirius gave her a look that clearly said, 'Of course I am! Did you really expect anything different?' Evirah sighed. "Of course."

We watched quietly as the armies marched out of the Heart in battle armour. I wished I could be out there helping, but Evirah wasn't having it, even if Sirius was all for letting us.

"C'mon, they could help!" he said, though, for some reason, he felt he needed to stay there. He was up to something. This much was clear.

We couldn't hear much outside of the Heart, but when a loud roar of hundreds of voices was heard, we knew the battle had started.

"Regulus, is everyone okay?" Sirius asked nervously.

"Yeah," he said. "Uncle Jacob is scary when he's mad- hah! Oh, you missed it! They're using my cookies!"

"Who is?" I asked.

"Uh, Peter and Remus and- hey, look, Moody! Yeah, he's using cookies, too," Regulus beamed. "The dementors aren't doing so well."

"That's good," I said. I noticed a few Heartian warriors, guarding the inside edges of the wards. Just in case, it seemed. Sirius had sat down at the edge of the lake, nervously watching the water. I watched him, wondering what he was planning. Whatever it was, I hoped everything would end well.

Chances of that... well, they seemed pretty much nonexistent.

A/N: An update! Yay! Let's see, Sirius is planning something crazy, the Death Eaters have just brought the Heart into the war, and poor Jamie is in the dark. It'll all make sense in the end. :D Hope you all enjoyed this chapter- see, Reg is alright! Big thank you to N. E. Person, sparkie926, Lady Loophole, jeremiah123, and sk8boards4ever for reviewing! You guys are great and get a (fake) video of Regulus torturing the poor Death Eaters! Again, hope you enjoyed! Fourth year will be wrapping up in the next two or three chapters.

I do NOT own Harry Potter. Sadly.