Chapter 56: Date

"Ariadne…" Sirius trailed off, clearly not knowing what to say.

The Marauders had been waiting for her in a hidden passageway outside of McGonagall's office, of course. And naturally, they had been listening to every word of her and McGonagall's private conversation with a handy little spell that amplified sound from through the walls.

For the moment, Ariadne avoided Sirius's eyes. "Come on, we had better get back to the Common Room quickly. McGonagall might just hex us herself if she catches us lingering around the castle anymore."

They walked in silence through the castle corridors and up its moving staircases. In the dramatic events that had just transpired, Ariadne had almost forgotten that it was just any other evening in the castle. Students were heading back from their last classes or meandering down to the Great Hall for dinner. Passing the crowds of students, Ariadne felt fully distinct from them. Not only was she exiled from her long-held role as prefect, which virtually defined every aspect of her relationship with the student body, but something else seemed to have shifted inside her.

They only spoke once they had finally reached the common room and claimed the armchairs around a small round table in the corner, apart from everyone else.

"Ariadne, I'm sorry," said Sirius finally.

"We're sorry," added Remus. "We've gotten you into far too much trouble."

Ariadne waved aside their apologies with her hand. "It's…not really important."

Sirius and Remus exchanged glances and she could tell they didn't believe her. She supposed that was understandable, given that almost her entire identity was built around being a Hogwarts prefect.

She tried to explain how she had been feeling as they walked through the throngs of ordinary students on their way back to the Common Room. "Being a prefect, following the rules, pleasing McGonagall…all of that stuff doesn't matter to me anymore. What matters is the plan, and what we do next about Yaxley, Clarice and the other Death Eaters-in-training." She looked at Sirius. "You were right. The Hogwarts teachers aren't going to do anything about it. And our friend is lying in the hospital wing with a gash in his arm." She noticed the heat and emotion rising in her voice at her last sentence. "Now that I'm not a prefect anymore…it's brought what really matters into focus."

Remus looked somber, as if appreciating the significance of this change within her. Sirius, however, had rather a different expression on his face. His eyes were glinting with satisfaction. Ariadne made a mental note to confront him about this later.

"Remus, before we were so rudely interrupted by Clarice, Clarke and their cronies, you had an idea for how we can collect more information about their plot involving this dangerous magical creature," Ariadne said calmly.

"Yes, I did," said Remus, acting, as he often did, as though he were coming out of some deep reverie. "It's quite simple, really. I don't know why we haven't thought of it before. Of course, placing ourselves directly into a Death Eater meeting gave us much more information, and more targeted, while this will take more time, and we'll have to get lucky to hear something…"

"Well, my friend?" said Sirius, encouraging him to go on.

"We tail a couple of the Junior Death Eater gang under the Invisibility Cloak," said Remus with a shrug. "We follow them around and listen to everything they say. Same as how James and I got all the intel on Clarice's schedule so we could…acquire a few of her hairs and keep her out of the way for a few hours. They're bound to talk about this plan at some point, if it's so important."

Ariadne and Sirius conferred with their eyes and came to a nonverbal agreement—it was as good a plan as any. And, most importantly, it was relatively low-risk. They couldn't put James in harm's way again.

"If you wouldn't mind letting me in on your private conversation…" said Remus gently, with a small smile.

Ariadne broke eye contact with Sirius and adjusted herself in her armchair, hoping that she wasn't blushing. She and Sirius had become so intellectually and emotionally in-tune that they were now communicating without even speaking aloud, or using Gypsum's code—not entirely unlike Sirius and James's near-telepathic connection. "It's a good idea, Remus. Wearing the cloak means that we can minimize risk, and hopefully gather a nugget or two of useful information. Though I don't envy the person who has to listen to Clarice and Florian talk all day."

"You shouldn't select me for this mission. I'll curse them both into something their parents won't even recognize if get near enough to them," growled Sirius.

Ariadne shifted her attention to these still very recent events. "That was Yaxley's boldest move yet, attacking us in broad daylight in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom."

"You understand what they were doing, though?" said Sirius quietly, his rage still simmering in his eyes, which reflected the flames of the common room fire he was gazing into.

"They used Slashing Hexes, which we had just been practicing in class, to make the injuries look self-inflicted," said Remus grimly.

"If they had gotten away, and we accused them of attacking us, they could simply point to the classic signs of a Slashing Hex injury and say that we'd come off the wrong end of a rebounding countercurse," said Ariadne slowly, working out the plan. "The idea that we had accidentally hurt ourselves with the countercurse sounds much more plausible than a random attack."

Sirius nodded silently in agreement.

"Still, it was far from a flawless plan. What was their exit strategy once the teachers had come to investigate?" said Ariadne.

"I'm guessing they banked on none of us having the guts to use the countercurse," said Sirius, pulling his gaze away from the fire.

"It was incredibly risky to use it," Ariadne said to him rather sharply. "You could have gotten seriously hurt."

Sirius looked at her with one of his classically inscrutable gazes. "It was our only option."

After a somewhat hasty dinner (Ariadne didn't much feel like spending a lot of time around the other students, especially in case any of them noticed the absence of her badge) Ariadne, Remus and Sirius agreed to visit James in the hospital wing the next morning and retired to bed for the night. As they reached the Gryffindor common room and split up to their respective dormitories, however, Sirius hung back and shot Ariadne a meaningful look. "Er—can I have a word, Morrigan?"

Ariadne waited with her arms crossed, wondering what this was about. Had Sirius devised some reckless and outlandish plan to exact revenge on Clarice, Florian Clarke, and Yaxley? Was he about to lecture her on what she should or should not do, now that she was no longer constrained by her responsibilities as a prefect?

"I've been meaning to ask you something, Ariadne, and, well, I recognize that historically, my timing hasn't always been the best," he said. Ariadne noticed from his shifting movements that he seemed slightly…nervous? And this only increased her trepidation.

"So if this isn't the best time for you to answer, given what happened earlier today, I completely understand, and you can have as much time to think about it as you like," he continued, now running his fingers through his hair and toying with the knot in his tie in his trademark sign of unease.

"Spit it out, Black," said Ariadne anxiously.

"Well, the Yule Ball is coming up rather quickly, and I was wondering if…if you'd like to go with me? As my date?" He surveyed her reaction, concerned. "And an affirmative answer doesn't imply any agreement to a further commitment, or a relationship," he added quickly.

Ariadne was quite relieved. This wasn't a daunting request, and moreover, she thought back to her conversation with Priya and Black's apparently in-demand status as a Yule Ball partner. Agreeing would buy her a little more time with him before she had to decide on the question of a more official relationship.

"Yes, all right, then," replied Ariadne, trying to stay composed and not betray any emotion.

Sirius's expression quickly transformed from one of teetering uncertainty to cool triumph. He seemed to inflate a little with some of his typical effortless confidence. "I'll see you on December the 1st, then," he said, tilting his head as if in a slight bow.

"See you then," she murmured, turning towards the staircase to the girls' dormitory. She had some news to share with its occupants.