"So, what did you mean by 'other motives', Anthony?" Harry hissed. They were in Ron's dorm; he had let them in before he had to go to bed that night. The snakes had assured Harry and Anthony that the only way they would have a problem identifying Black's scent would be if Ron had covered his bed in dung before taking them upstairs, so they'd been confident, barring any insanity on Ron's part.

"Other what?" Anthony asked, and Harry repeated it for him in English.

"Oh, right. I meant it doesn't seem like he was aiming for you."

Harry's snake slithered down his wrist and onto Ron's bedpost. Behind them, Ron shuddered.

"This is so creepy," he said. Anthony and Harry ignored him.

"Give me one good reason why he couldn't have just gotten the wrong dorm," Harry argued. "I mean, he even managed to get the right dorm year."

"I don't know what he was doing in here, you're right, but really, Harry, …Dementors… don't just let you escape with all your faculties intact. Most prisoners are drooling idiots after a few years there, and Black spent thirteen in that place. For some reason, he was able to keep his brains enough to escape."

Harry smiled a bit. "Dementors," he said, then switched to English. "And you have to be careful with some phrases in parseltongue, they don't always translate literally."

Anthony nodded, and Ron groaned a bit.

"Are you honestly giving him language lessons right now?" he asked incredulously. "Have your snakes do their thing already, would you?"

"They're doing it, Ron," Harry said. "We don't really do much. They'll tell us when they're done."

"Fine," Ron said. "I don't think you quite understand how creepy this is, though."

Harry sighed. "Alright. Anthony," he said in English, to make Ron feel better. "What makes you think he needed his faculties to escape?"

Anthony shrugged. "You don't just wander out of Azkaban, Harry. And you don't just wander into Hogwarts when it's surrounded by dementors. For that matter, you don't just make your way up to Gryffindor Tower, figure out the password without arousing suspicion, and find your way into a specific dorm with knife in hand. He had to be careful about how he did this. He had to plan. And he planned to make his way to where he did. He had a purpose, and I think Ron mucked it up by screaming."

Harry stared at Anthony for a moment. "You would have made a good Slytherin," he said in admiration. "Why didn't any of us think of that?"

Anthony smiled. "I'll take that as a compliment from you," he said. "And you were all so stuck on the idea that he was after you, you didn't consider anything else. Also, my aunt bought me a few adventure mystery novels this summer, and I kind of got into it."

Harry laughed at him.

"We've found an unfamiliar scent," Harry's snake said, slithering back up Ron's bedpost until he was level with Harry's face. "The others were the human boys and the ...creature that lives here."

"So you will recognise his scent from now on?" he asked, and both snakes hissed in confirmation, Douglas having joined Harry's snake on the bedpost.

"Are you done?" Ron asked hopefully. Harry nodded and held his hand out for the snakes to make their way up his arm. "Thank Merlin."

Harry and Anthony were escorted out of Gryffindor Tower by Ron, who was muttering to himself about changing his bed sheets. Harry waved at Dudley and Neville as they passed through the common room, noting that Hermione still hadn't returned from the library.

"Hey Blaise, do you know who Stubby Boardman is?" Harry asked after he and Anthony had split up and returned to their respective common rooms. Blaise had been sitting peacefully in front of the fire before Harry showed up.

Blaise furrowed his brow thoughtfully. " I think I know that name… he's from some old band that broke up around when we were born, isn't he?"

Harry shrugged. "Luna said he's from the Hobgoblins."

Blaise glanced at Harry, amused. "Harry, you do know that you drive Draco mad, making all these odd friends and coming back to us with the strange things they've filled your head with, right?"

Harry tried to keep himself from smirking, but failed rather horribly. Blaise observed this suspiciously.

"You do it on purpose, don't you?" he said. Harry snickered.

"Only sometimes," he replied honestly. "I just enjoy seeing the look on Draco's face. But about Stubby Boardman?"

Blaise shook his head. "I suppose he might have been from the Hobgoblins, that does sound right. Why were you and Luna discussing him?"

Harry bit his lip slightly. "Because she told me that Sirius Black is actually Stubby Boardman and that he's innocent."

Blaise raised an eyebrow at him, and Harry was reminded forcibly of his conversation with Hermione earlier.

"I know," Harry said, attempting to waylay him before he could say what Harry knew was coming. "But it wouldn't hurt to rule it out, would it? Anthony thinks Black had other motives, too, although I don't think he knows about the Stubby Boardman theory."

Blaise's eyebrow had not gone down. To make matters worse, Draco had just come from the dorm and made his way over to them.

"What's going on?" Draco asked, looking between Blaise's eyebrow and Harry's mild exasperation. Harry unwillingly explained what he had told Blaise already, and Draco sighed at him.

"Harry," he said, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry looked down at it, then back up at Draco, who had a very earnest expression on his face. "How do I say this to you, Harry? Ravenclaws are weird. It's quite possible that they're all completely insane. The sooner you understand this, the better off we'll all be."

Harry looked to Blaise for help, but Blaise just shrugged. "This is what you get," he said, then addressed Draco. "I'm tempted to agree, though I'd like to suggest that perhaps Harry just attracts the crazy ones."

Draco scratched his chin thoughtfully, ignoring Harry's expression of indignation. "So what you're saying, is that there might be perfectly normal Ravenclaws out there?"

Blaise shrugged again. "In theory."

"Both of you can shut it," Harry told them, fed up. "Anthony is perfectly sane. I don't really know Luna, so I can't say."

Draco and Blaise exchanged a knowing look. Harry countered these with a rather dark one of his own.

"Back to what I was saying," Harry said pointedly, and after getting their attention back, proceeded to explain Anthony's reasoning about Black's break in.

Surprisingly, Draco appeared to approve. "He makes a good point," he said, nodding. "Though he didn't explain how Black could have possibly kept from going mad all that time."

"Dark magic of some sort?" Blaise suggested sweetly to Draco, who eyed him askance. "Do you know of any spell or curse powerful enough to counter the dementors, Draco?"

Harry looked at Draco curiously, wondering if there really was such a thing.

Draco didn't bat an eye. "Well there's the Patronus," he said. "But you'd need a wand for that, and they confiscate those when you're arrested."

"The Patronus?" Harry asked, very interested. "That could be useful, do you think I could learn it?"

"That's a very difficult spell though, Draco," Blaise continued, meeting Draco's gaze. "Don't you know any that are easier or more effective?"

Harry watched as Draco and Blaise stared each other down, a slight frown on his face.

"The only one I know of is the Patronus," Draco finally said, sounding irritated, and changed the subject abruptly. "How did you and Anthony do in Gryffindor?"

"The snakes got his scent," Harry said, lifting his wrist to indicate the snake sleeping on it. "They'll be looking for it from now on."

"Good," Blaise said, though he was frowning slightly. "How are the Gryffindors?"

"They're fine," Harry told him. "Hermione seems a bit stressed. I think she's taking way too many classes."

"I think you're right," Blaise said, shaking his head. "She practically fell asleep in Arithmancy today."

Harry frowned, and opened his mouth to say that Hermione couldn't have been in Arithmancy today, as Blaise had that class when Harry had Ancient Runes, but Draco spoke first.

"To be fair, though, she only took her little nap after we finished the equations," he said. "Professor Vector doesn't care what you do as long as you've finished."

Harry nodded, thinking. Something was up here. Draco and Blaise went on talking about classes, but Harry stopped listening. How could Hermione have been in two places at once? He believed Draco and Blaise when they said she was in their class; they had no reason to lie about it, and it had been an offhand comment anyway. He thought back to the conversation he'd had with her earlier, and realized that whatever her secret was, she thought he knew.

Harry closed his eyes for a moment, feeling incredibly stupid. He resolved to go to the library first thing tomorrow morning and figure out what she had been trying to tell him.

"A Time Turner," Harry muttered as he walked to Professor Lupin's office for tea. "I can't believe she's got a Time Turner."

After two days of research, during which he had also tried in vain to look up details on Sirius Black (he couldn't even find a mention of Black's trial in the old newspapers, let alone anything linking him to Stubby Boardman), Harry had figured out what Hermione had been trying to tell him. It was the only possible answer, especially with the now rather obvious hints she'd been giving him.

Harry couldn't help but wonder how she'd gotten hold of one. The teachers had to know, he knew that much. He'd talk to her after his meeting with Lupin.

Lupin looked up from his papers and smiled tiredly as Harry walked into his office.

"Help yourself to some tea, Harry, I've just got to finish marking these papers."

Harry nodded and made them both a cup of tea. He set Lupin's down next to the papers, careful not to spill it, seated himself in his usual chair, watching the storm rage outside the window.

They sat in silence for a few moments as Lupin finished the current essay and stacked them to the side.

"Did you have anything in particular you wanted to talk about today, Harry?" he asked, picking up his cooling tea. Harry frowned thoughtfully.

"Not really," he said, pushing aside the urge to ask about Hermione. "How does a Patronus work?"

Lupin looked fairly surprised. "That's a very advanced spell, Harry. Where did you hear about it?"

"Draco and Blaise were talking about ways to get rid of a dementor," Harry explained. "And Draco said that was a spell you could use, though Blaise did say it was hard." Lupin nodded.

"It is a difficult spell," Lupin mused, taking another sip of his tea. "It involves focusing exclusively on a very happy memory, and using it to conjure a protector that will repel the dementor. The Patronus will repel other dark creatures as well, most notably the Lethifold."

Harry thought of Millicent and her boggart when Lupin said that. "What year do you teach it in?" Harry asked. Lupin shook his head.

"It's not on the curriculum, I'm afraid," Lupin said, to Harry's disappointment. "Though it is an incredibly useful spell, and probably should be. Maybe I should talk to Dumbledore."

Harry nodded and sipped his tea, before moving on to the one topic that always came up during their chats.

"Could you tell me another story about my dad?" he asked. Lupin smiled and thought for a moment.

"I suppose I could tell you about our Map," Lupin said, and Harry raised his eyebrows expectantly. "We all four were incredibly curious, and by sixth year we were certain that we had discovered most of Hogwarts. We decided that we couldn't possibly let all that knowledge go to waste, and so created a Map of the school. Can you guess what we called it?"

Harry grinned and hazarded a guess. "Marauder's Map, by any chance?" Lupin nodded, opening his desk drawer and pulling out a bar of chocolate. He offered a piece to Harry, who declined.

"Precisely, Harry," he said, breaking off a rather large piece for himself. "It took quite a lot of research, which was done mostly by Peter and I, as your father was better at the spellwork itself. Also, he never really developed the habit of studying, being naturally talented in most of his classes."

Harry nodded along with the story. He had noticed that Professor Lupin never really mentioned Sirius Black, and from what little Lupin had said, Harry was able to conclude that his father and Black were incredibly close, and that it was likely that whatever James had done in the story, Black had probably been doing as well. It had been a very interesting and slightly unsettling thing to learn, that his father had been betrayed by someone so close to him.

Lupin explained the Map in some detail, pausing every now and again for a bit of chocolate. He seemed quite proud of the Map. Harry could see why, because from what Lupin said, it was a very impressive invention. Every room in the castle was on it, including every secret passage and trick staircase. The Map adapted to changes in Hogwarts, so much so that passwords were provided to every part of the castle aside from teacher's rooms and the House areas. The most impressive part, though, as far as Harry was concerned, had to be that every person on Hogwarts grounds was tracked and labelled by name.

"James and I tested it thoroughly," Lupin reminisced. "We made every attempt to make it infallible. Nothing can hide you from someone looking at that Map. Not any spell or potion. Not even an Invisibility Cloak."

Harry smiled inwardly. Lupin had mentioned his cloak before, and seemed to be aware that Harry must have it, though he had never said so directly.

"Whatever happened to it?" Harry asked curiously. If Lupin had the Map, Harry could imagine that it made patrols incredibly easy.

"It was confiscated in our seventh year," Lupin said regretfully. "Filch caught us unawares and took it away."

Harry's eyes widened. "Filch has it?" he asked, several thoughts flashing through his mind at once as Lupin nodded. Filch had obviously never used it before, the way he complained about escaping students, which meant he probably didn't know what it was. And that meant it might just be laying around his office, which meant that Harry might be able to find it when Filch next invited him for tea.

The possibilities were endless with a map like that...

"First Quidditch game of the season," Harry commented as he strapped on his Quidditch gear.

"And it looks like hell out there," Draco said. Having already finished with his own gear, he sat next to Harry on the bench, looking as though he would very much like to be fidgeting nervously if not for the fact that he was a proper pureblood and didn't hold with fidgeting.

"We've been practicing," Harry reassured him. "You can fly in this, you'll be fine."

Draco sighed gustily. "Why did my first game have to be in the middle of a hurricane?"

Harry laughed. "You heard Flint," he teased. "It's not a hurricane, just a bit of rain."

Draco rolled his eyes. "A bit of rain that blew Warrington off his broom at practice yesterday. Warrington! How does he expect us to keep hold of our brooms if a giant lump like Warrington can't?"

Harry finished with his gear and handed Draco his glasses. "Warrington was being an idiot and trying to somersault with no hands. I'll never forget the sight of him falling through the air, trying to ride his Beater's bat."

Draco grinned at the memory as he charmed Harry's glasses impervious to water. Flint had pointed out the day before that Harry had to see the snitch to catch it, and so Harry had gone to Hermione, who had been thrilled to help now that she had Harry to confide in about the perils of time-turning.

"Thanks," Harry said as Draco handed the glasses back to him. Finally ready, they joined the rest of the team at the doors that led to the field.

"We're going to win today," Flint said menacingly as they stood in just inside the changing room. The wind roared past and nearly slammed the door shut. He faced the team, glaring fiercely. "We are not going out in this to lose, do you all understand?"

They nodded as one, and marched out of the warm changing rooms into the roaring winds.

Harry was soaked immediately, but his glasses remained clear. He thanked Hermione internally as he mounted his new Nimbus 2001; there was no way he could have played in this storm without her spell.

The second he took off, he knew he had to catch the snitch quickly. He was barely keeping himself from being blown off his broom; yesterday's storm was nothing compared to this. He glanced at the Gryffindor seeker, Ron's little sister, and noted that she had even less control over her broom in this weather than Harry did, because of her smaller size and strength.

Harry flew in careful circles around the field, staring all around for the snitch. Draco seemed to be holding his own, not that Harry could really tell. He was still on his broom at least, and he'd been holding the Quaffle the last time Harry had spotted him.

It was beginning to get dark, and Harry hadn't even spotted the faintest glint of gold. He had flown near the stands at one point and seen that Slytherin was up by fifty, but that didn't matter unless Harry actually managed to finish the game.

He was so focused at this point on finding the snitch and keeping an eye on the other Seeker, that he didn't even notice when the field went dead silent. Even the wind stopped roaring in his ears, and suddenly, there was the snitch, hovering a few feet above the ground, near the Gryffindor goalposts. Harry went into a dive just as the snitch shot off into the middle of the field. He followed it single-mindedly for a moment before realizing that something was horribly wrong. Everything was quiet, and though he'd been cold before, that was nothing compared to the feeling seeping into his bones now. He took his eyes off the snitch, feet away from him, just in time to notice that he was diving straight into a crowd of silent, black robed figures.

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl..."

Harry's vision filled with white fog, and a shrill voice laughed at a woman's screams as he was swallowed up by the sea of dementors.