A Change of Heart

Chapter 16

They walked carefully up towards the castle, looking cautiously around the halls for any signs of a cloaked teacher intent on talking to Dumbledore about the spy. Lily was reviewing the conversation they had overheard in her head slowly. The cloaked man had called the other person Kyrie. Did they know anyone with that name?

"Do we have any professors named Kyrie?" she said out loud thoughtfully.

"I don't think so," James said surprising Lily.

"Sorry, I didn't realize I had said it..." she said self-consciously.

"Hmm... I was thinking about it too. It has to be a nickname of some sorts. Dumbledore will know..." he said pensive.

They walked along in silence until they arrived to the statue of the stone gargoyle which guarded the way to Dumbledore's office.

"Do you know the password?" James asked looking embarrassed.

"You do realize that the head boy and girl are supposed to know the password to the Headmaster's Office. How come you don't know it?" she asked giving him an annoyed look.

"I sort of forgot it..." he avoided her eyes.

"Lemon drop," she said mildly annoyed.

The statue sprung to life and moved out of the way. They made their way to the antechamber before the office and knocked softly. They knocked for about ten minutes, with no answer. It seemed that there wasn't anyone in there.

"Let's just go Lily. He's obviously not here," James said looking at her tiredly. "It's understandable. There was an attack, maybe he's still talking to the heads of house. We'll have to come and talk to him tomorrow."

Lily finally gave in and they walked back towards the common room dejectedly.

"Do you think Sirius is back in the common room already?" Lily said suddenly remembering the reason they had left Gryffindor tower in the first place.

"I hope so," James said looking sideways at her. "I guess if he's not, we'll have to go tell the teachers."

"We should've done that since the beginning," she said sounding rather annoyed.

"Well, Remus might've told McGonagall if she went up there already. In which case, she'll be really upset with both of us," said James as-a-matter-of-factly.

"I doubt we won't be," she retorted. She sighed heavily. "We'll just have to explain."

Then without warning, James slipped and fell. There was water all over the floor and something seemed to have fallen out of James' pocket. Lily helped him up with a small grin and reached to pick up what seemed to be a mirror. She looked at it curiously.

"Oh, I bet that was Peeves," James muttered annoyed.

"What's this?" she asked examining the squared mirror.

He looked up from his now damp robes and saw Lily holding the mirror. He looked surprised for a moment and then he gave her a bright smile.

"I can't believe I forgot!" he said almost delighted at the sight of the little mirror. He walked over to her and took the mirror. "It's a two-way mirror. It slipped my mind that I had it with me..." He looked into the mirror, faced his own reflection, and said clearly as possible 'Sirius.'

He looked into the mirror impatiently, hoping his friend was carrying it. He was about to put the mirror away when a sleepy-looking Sirius appeared on the mirror.

"Hey, what's going on?" he said looking drowsy.

"Where the ruddy hell are you?" he almost screamed.

"James!" Lily hissed grabbing his arm.

"Is Lily with you?" Sirius asked unbelieving.

"Yeah, we've been looking all over for you? Where are you?" James asked again, irritated. Lily leaned over his shoulder to look at Sirius through the mirror.

"I'm up at the north tower. I guess I fell asleep," he said looking around and scratching his head. "I came up here to think and next thing I know, I woke up after hearing you on the mirror. What time is it?"

"Let me see," Lily looked down at her watch and gave James a wide-eyed look. "Oh, it's close to two in the morning..."

"We'll meet you at the bottom stairs," James replied into the mirror.

"Okay, I'll be right there," he said disappearing from sight.

"I feel relieved," Lily said smiling. "Let's go, before we run into one of the teachers, or worse, Filch."

"I'm surprised we haven't run into Filch. He usually guards these halls like if we were in prison," James commented walking hushed to the north tower.

"What do you think though?" Lily inquired suspiciously. "Doesn't it seem a bit odd to you that he fell asleep? I mean, Sirius doesn't quite strike me as the taking-a-nap type of guy."

"Well, you guys did have a good walk didn't you?" he said through gritted teeth.

"Yeah..." Lily said eyeing him uncertainly.

"Maybe he was feeling tired," James said almost bitterly at the memory of Lily and Sirius kissing.

"What's wrong with you?" she said confused.

"Nothing," he said looking apologetic. It wasn't her fault she didn't like him.

They arrived at the bottom of the tower to find Sirius waiting for them already. Lily rushed to his side and hugged him at once.

"We were worried about you..." she said, looking abashed as she stepped back.

"Maybe I should disappear more often," he said softly to her.

He looked at James, who looked somewhat angry for a moment, but seemed to swallow his feelings as he stepped towards Sirius and gave him a weak smile.

"We were," he said plainly. He turned grave after that. "There was some sort of attack in Hogsmeade."

"An attack? What do you mean? Voldemort?" he said worriedly. "How do you know?"

"We overheard some people talking about it, outside of Hagrid's hut when we were looking for you," Lily supplied. "We should get back to the common room. Remus will be waiting to hear from us."

"You're right, let's go," James said glancing down the hall.

They walked carefully back to the common room, still surprised that there was no one in the halls. Sirius distracted Lily while James looked at the map, which Sirius had slipped into his friend's robe. He had given Sirius a confused look and signaled for them to go on towards the Gryffindor tower. It appeared that none of the teachers where to be found on the map. They reached the Gryffindor common room to find a very tired Remus asleep on the couch closest to the fire. They stirred him awake, and while he had been relieved to see Sirius, he also mentioned that Professor McGonagall had not been up to the common room yet. Lily, James, and Sirius sat down near Remus. Sirius explained to Remus that he had fallen asleep at the North Tower, while Lily and James told them what had happened outside the hut.

"That's odd isn't it? We know what happened," James said confused. "They probably do too by now..."

"They're just probably taking all the necessary precautions," Lily piped in. She looked at the fire for a moment before letting out a yawn.

"You're tired..." Sirius said regrettably. "I'm sorry I had you guys worried. I don't know what happened. I was wide awake and then--Lily, why don't you go to sleep?"

"No, I want to wait to see if Professor McGonagall comes..." she said firmly.

"I think I'll stay with you," James said detached. "I don't think I could go asleep with all the questions in my mind..."

"I will too. I don't really feel like sleeping," Sirius said walking towards the table near the window. He picked up his bag and brought it over to the table. "Anyone want a Chocolate Frog?"

Lily stretched out her arm to take one. James just shook his head while staring emptily at the fire. He seemed to be deep in thought and while Lily and Sirius chit-chatted he seemed almost absent.

"Does he always get like this?" Lily asked in an almost whisper as she stole a glance in James direction.

"He does not always get like this," James said not taking his eyes off of the fire.

"He does from time to time, but he's not deaf," said Sirius letting out a soft chuckle.

James grinned slightly at the joke and looked at an embarrassed Lily for a second. She was blushing slightly. He thought she looked prettier than usual.

"I'm sorry, but you looked like you weren't even in the same room..." she said avoiding looking at him.

"He only gets that when he wants to work a problem out. And when there's not a lot of people around," Sirius commented. He picked up another frog and threw one over to James, which he caught without having to take his eyes from the fire. "He's very aware of everything around him. That's why he's such a good Chaser."

"How about you though?" Lily said to Sirius. "You're a pretty good Beater."

"Thanks..." he said smiling brightly. "I try my best. It's a hard but pleasant job hitting that Bludger."

"Especially when you hit it against people like... oh I don't know, Malfoy or Avery?" she said with a knowing grin.

"Oh it's a special treat when I get to hit them. It used to make my day. It's a pity Snape isn't on the team... I'd love to--" he said before catching Lily's disapproving looks. "I know it isn't nice, but hey, the bloke's a jerk."

"Well a lot of people are unpleasant--" Lily started.

"We can't tell Dumbledore," he said almost inaudible. Both Lily and Sirius had heard him though and they were gave him agape looks. "Not yet anyways."

"What do you mean? We have to tell him," Lily rebutted.

"Not yet?" Sirius questioned.

"We have to know who's behind it. We should know which teacher it is we're going to accuse," he explained.

"Don't you think he'll know? He hand picks his teachers, James. It's not like he doesn't know these people at all," Lily rationalized.

While Lily looked very hesitant to follow with the proposed idea, Sirius looked mildly excited by the idea.

"It'd be our own little detective work. Dumbledore does have a lot to worry about already," Sirius piped in.

"This is what he's worried about!" Lily argued. "We have to tell him something!"

"Maybe this isn't what the owl was about. I mean think about it. All we heard was that woman, whoever she is, fears that Dumbledore may know that there's a spy in the school. She didn't say anything about the teacher meeting being about that," James provided.

"What if it is?" Lily tried again.

"We'll find out when McGonagall arrives won't we?" he said simply.

"Sirius? Come on, you can't think this is rational!" Lily said trying to get Sirius' support.

"I agree with James. After all, right now we don't know anything," he said, getting a frustrated look from Lily. "Anyways, McGonagall will tell you both what happened, along with all the other prefects. We should just wait until we know so we can decide a better course of action."

"I don't think I've ever heard you use the terms 'wait and see'," James said amused.

"New influences," Sirius said brightly. "It's a new approach. I thought I'd give it a shot."

"I can't believe the both of you," Lily muttered. She looked down at the carpet deep in thought and then looked up to both boys defeated. "Fine, but if it is about the spy, then we'll go to him."

"If it's not?" Sirius inquired looking eager.

"If not... we'll do things your way," she said through gritted teeth.

Sirius smiled and threw a piece of chocolate into his mouth, shook his head slightly, and revealed only for a moment, though neither James and Lily were looking, a black scorched bite mark at the back of his neck.