Sirius Black ruffled his shaggy hair with frustration; his dark eyes glittered with suppressed emotion. The Carved Witch mounted on the wall beside him regarded the teenager curiously, finding him more than a little reminiscent of the Head Boy.

"I'm sorry, but the Head students are not currently here," she told him helpfully.

Sirius groaned. All he wanted was a quiet heart-to-heart with his best mate, but apparently this was too much to ask. Sirius began to pace the corridor impatiently. All this had started with that stupid letter. Sirius' finger throbbed painfully. And that bloody owl had bitten him, too.

Sirius had never liked his father's owl: Maleficent had a cruel streak.

He had even had his speech ready. He was going to sit James down, and first and foremost swear his allegiance to the Marauders, always and forever, over and above his Black family ties. He was going to reassure him that he was still the same old Padfoot that had helped defend James from Snape in the first year.

And then he was going to-

"H… hello, Sirius."

Jolted out of his thoughts, and rather rudely too, Sirius turned abruptly to come face to face with a Ravenclaw girl. And Merlin, the girl was positively simpering. Sirius cast her an irritated look. He really didn't feel like dealing with a simpering sixth year right now, thanks.

"Rita Skeeter," she told him self importantly, sticking out a hand for him to shake.

Sirius ignored it.

"Are you waiting for the Head Boy?"

Sirius turned away, clearly disinterested with a conversation. He knew he recognized the girl from somewhere. She had long, artifically wavy and badly dyed orange hair, and green-rimmed glasses. Her uniform was in immaculate condition and…

Sirius stopped in horror, and turned to regard the girl's scarf. There was only one witch Sirius knew who was practical enough to wear her scarf like that. Sirius eyed her suspiciously, and all of a sudden something added up. Turning away again, very quickly, he mentally assessed the evidence, suppressing a very strong urge to kick the wall. The girl was trying to imitate Lily, for Merlin's sake! While Sirius, on principle, had no objection to James' ladylove, other than the fact that she made him miserable, Sirius was fairly certain that one Lily was quite enough.

Sirius turned back once again to frown at her. He squinted, trying to pick up any sort of discernibly individual features. It was then that he noticed that not only were her glasses green: they were bejeweled.

Sirius inwardly groaned. He had had many run-ins with this girl. Not that this seemed to be at all surprising: anybody who felt that spectacles rimmed with jade and emeralds (probably fakes, too, he concluded nastily) were attractive was sorely mistaken. Usually, this Skeeter had mousey brown, dead straight hair. She really wasn't anything special, in Sirius' opinion anyway. And now she had gone and transformed herself into a mini-Lily… Sirius grimaced, knowing instinctively that something stunk, and badly.

"What are you doing here?" he asked wearily, rubbing his forehead.

Rita beamed. "Well I'm not telling you that, am I?" she asked rhetorically. She was smiling smugly, cradling what looked to be a scrapbook in her arms. That is, until Sirius moved slightly, enough to notice the big, messy Evidencescrawled across the scrapbook's cover. Sirius' traitor mind became instantly intrigued, imagining what was in there. He battled to maintain his disdainful disinterest.

"I'm actually waiting for the Head Girl to come out-"

"She's not in at the moment, please return later!" The Carved Witch interrupted helpfully.

Sirius smirked. "That's right, er… Rhonda, is it? Lily's not here so I guess you'll have to come back later-" and leave me alone.

Much to Sirius' dismay, Rita appeared to have other ideas. She sat down on the cold, stone-flagged floor and arranged her skirt around her knees (again, a little habit that was creepily Lily-like).

"Rita, you can't wait here," he found himself asserting, quite firmly.

She blinked up at him stubbornly. "I have just as much right to wait here as you do, Sirius Black."

And that was when Sirius knew his suspicions had just been confirmed; that Rita Skeeter must be up to something. Usually, the needy girl would jump at a single word from anybody "cool" enough to notice her. And, Sirius thought grimly, if he wasn't cool enough to kick her out of the corridor, no one was.

In no mood to argue, Sirius pulled out his wand…

Rita hurried off, rather quickly, the scrapbook clutched in her arms. How dare that boy threaten her! Of all the nerve!

Rita scowled, loosening her ridiculously arranged scarf. She really couldn't understand why Lily felt the need to double her scarf over and thread it so absurdly! But, then again, if Lily felt the need to do this, it must be worthwhile – right?

Not that Lily Evans, Head Girl extraordinaire, girlfriend of the most popular boy in the school and long-time keeper of one of the famous Marauder's affections, had ever noticed Rita. But all that, Rita reminded herself smugly, was about to change. Just wait till Lily sees this…

It was no secret that Rita idolized Lily. She was everything that Rita wanted to be: kind, funny and smart – probably the brightest witch in her year. Rita liked to think of herself as the Lily of her own year, but everyone knew that this was a little delusional. Surely Rita could see that she would never make Head Girl – right?

Rita sat alone at meals. Because I have so many friends I don't want to have to chose just a few to join, was her own explanation. But really, truly and honestly, Rita Skeeter was a school-girl in denial. She yearned for nothing more than the devoted attention of a boy, and to have a friend like Lily. Rita wanted to be the girl that everyone turned to in an emergency: the girl who was told everyone's secrets. Unfortunately, no one seemed to trust her, which Rita found most strange. But she'd show them all. She was long-due for a good chat to the Head Girl, and when Lily was crying on her shoulder – well, she'd show them all!

Sirius watched Rita's speedy retreat, feeling frustrated. His own personal problems forgotten, he ruefully admitted to himself that he couldn't help but be intrigued by that girl's suspicious behaviour.

And that was it, for Sirius Black. He had, after all, always been the impulsive sort.

Sirius set off down the corridor, casting a very simple muffling spell on his footsteps, and sticking to the shadows along the walls. The many portraits eyed him curiously as he proceeded to trail Rita's bouncing, fake-red hair through the school.

Half an hour later, Sirius was whole-heartedly regretting his decision to follow her. Luckily, Rita and her absurd hair appeared to be so focused on her scheming that she didn't bother to look around much. Not that there hadn't been a few close calls. Like, for instance, Peeves, who had somewhat of a radar when it came to the Marauders. Remus had always suspected that Peeves gained some sort of perverse pleasure in aiding their pranks, and Sirius was forced to acknowledge the strength of truth and observation behind his friend's words.

So, when Peeves had spotted Sirius sneaking along a corridor, he had wafted quickly over to join him, his face lighting up.

"Go away," Sirius hissed frantically, darting behind a suit of armour.

Peeves pouted. His transparent eyebrows knitted together. "No fun for me today, have you, bloody Marauders…"

"Peeves, listen very carefully. In all likeliness I'll be in the trophy room tonight. Come find me then – just please go away?"

That ought to do the trick, Sirius hoped. And surely enough, Peeves appeared to be considering the proposition quite carefully. Suddenly, he nodded, surprisingly serious. Then, as a final (and rather rude) fairwell, he left, traveling through Sirius' body as if he had never been there. Sirius shivered, his skin tingling at the unpleasant sensation, and watched Peeves drift away, oddly depressed.

The lows he was sinking to, pleading with a poltergeist indeed!

Thankfully, it didn't take him too long to relocate Rita. The Marauder's Map would have been awfully useful, he thought ruefully, but it was hidden away with James' invisibility cloak. Anyway, they were getting to a very remote part of the school now. In fact, the only reason any student would venture over here would be – The Astronomy Tower. And, sure enough, there was the end of Rita's black cloak, disappearing up the dusty stone stairs.

"Pssst!"

James was lying on his bed, Quidditch Through the Ages propped up on his chest, when his mirror hissed at him. James sat up very quickly, and the little, well loved volume slid down off his chest and onto the floor, where it stood on the sides of its cover, looking quite exhausted. James grabbed the small, speaking hand mirror.

"Sirius!" he breathed a sigh of relief. "Are you all right, mate?"

It had been several hours since Sirius had stormed out of breakfast, and James had been growing increasingly concerned. Surely he would have shown up to explain what was going on by now? But then – well, a call in the mirror was better than nothing, James supposed, regarding Sirius searchingly.

A shadow passed across the boy-in-the-mirror's face, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared, and Sirius shrugged. "I'll tell you later," he murmured non-committally, voice grim. "I think you might want to get up here though. Bring the cloak and the map. First landing to the Astronomy Tower."

All of this information was communicated in scarce seconds in a harsh, forced whisper. And then, as suddenly as Sirius had appeared, he vanished, and James was left blinking in a mystified way at his own reflection.

Quickly, James gathered up the prescribed items, and without another thought he descended the stairs, accidentally ignored a reading Lily (who had propped herself up on the lounge to regard him curiously) and hurried out of the tower, a determined look etched across his face. After all, Sirius had made whatever he was doing sound important.

Lily watched James disappear out of the Head's Tower, torn between curiosity and a persistent hunch that something strange was going on.

What was wrong with the Marauders today? They were scurrying here, there, all over the place, really. Except that they all seemed as bewildered and confused as the rest of the school felt, watching them. And this, Lily appreciated, was a rare thing indeed. It was highly unusual for a Marauder to look uncertain about… well, anything. Except for Peter - and James, when he had asked her out for the last time last year. He certainly hadn't looked so confident then…

Lily pushed this thought aside, feeling mildly guilty. The look on his face when she had told him about Art... well, it had more or less haunted her, like a guilty spectre, for quite some months. After all, it wasn't at all like James Potter to look defeated.

Lily sighed, settling back down onto the lounge. It had not escaped her attention, not by a long way, that she had been thinking an awful lot about the Head Boy recently. And Lily was still out as to whether this was a good development. She shook her head, to clear her thoughts.

Come on, now, Lily, she chided herself. Concentrate!

And so, obediently, she reopened her book, and in her typically studious style, Lily re-immersed herself inCharms: Advanced Level Magic for the Modern Witch and Wizard.

She smiled to herself. Now Charms… Charms was something Lily could rely on.

Lily very much underestimated James' reliability – as far as Sirius Black was concerned, anyway, as he greeted his friend quietly, minutes later. James made it to the Astronomy Tower in much better time than Sirius had: after all, not handed the burden of following someone, James was able to take all the shortcuts and arrive within ten minutes.

Sirius was crouched on the first landing, frowning. Seeing this, James suppressed his confused smile, in favour of a similarly appropriate frown.

"Something strange is going on," was all the explanation that his best mate seemed to be offering. James nodded shortly, and instead sought explanation from Sirius himself. What he found didn't appear to be too promising. Sirius' dark eyes were not glittering with excitement; his mouth was not quirked upwards in that sardonic way he had. Really, Sirius was being most unhelpful, and unusually hard to read.

Then, struck with sudden inspiration, James pulled out the Marauder's Map.

"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," he muttered, tapping the map resolutely.

James loved watching the Map come to life. It unfurled in his hands, tiny lines running this way and that, intersecting, joining… and there was Hogwarts, laid out before them.

Conspiratorially, James and Sirius leant over the map, staring hard at the Astronomy Tower.

Much as Sirius had expected, they were not alone. James, however, nearly fell over.

His face echoed his surprise as his eyes slid from the dots belonging to him and Sirius, to the dot labeled Rita Skeeter…. And then, to the dots labeled Artemis Scamander and Felicity Faust.