Sitting on her bed, staring at the board was a position Arlene found herself in at the break of dawn, as though she was about to have an epiphany staring at the same pictures and notes.

But after the newest bombshell, she was as confused as ever.

The whole thing was completely circumstantial, still, she had to agree with Hermione, it was pretty suspicious, and it wouldn't be the first time someone made an attempt on Harry's life by jinxing his broom, but a Firebolt? It was a pretty expensive broom.

She thought about that one time her mother took her with her to the bank when she was eleven and she saw the enormous pile of gold.

Her mother explained that it was the Black Family's vault, that since her Aunt Bellatrix is in Azkaban and Sirius and Andromeda are disowned, the entire inheritance was divided between Narcissa and Regulus or his next of kin, that being Arlene.

Yet, her father's uncle Alphard left all his money for Sirius and Andromeda, and having seen the fortune, they could've gotten a hundred Firebolts and it wouldn't have made a dent in their wealth. So money wasn't an issue.

But she also had to agree with Harry and Ron, Sirius Black was on the run, he couldn't have walked into any store and bought it.

Not unless he had help.

The image of Lupin popped into her head, and she knew for a fact that Goblins see their relationship with Wizards as strictly professional and wouldn't turn Black in if he came and asked to draw money.

She could ask her mum to check if any gold was taken out, but she wasn't over that 180 turn Paloma made.

She shook her head, she was pretty sure the Aurors knew about the Goblin' indifference, they must be watching the bank to be sure.

And plus, if Sirius did send that Broom, then his purpose was to endanger Harry, which she knew her mother would never do.

Unless he didn't want to endanger Harry?

She paused, she already knew that he was Harry's godfather, and if Sirius was a spy all along then why was he disowned? That was the problem of investigating whether your uncle was a serial killer slash spy who was responsible for your father's death or not, too many questions and not enough answers.

Arlene threw her face into her pillow and screamed in frustration, which earned her plenty of 'shhh's from the other girls.

To be fair, six in the morning was not the best time to be fretting over conspiracy theories if you have dorm mates.

Arlene didn't sleep at all that night, which was becoming a recurring theme for her, so at breakfast all she did was yawn and stuff herself with coffee.

Due to all the heavy drinking the older students had done the night before, they had all arrived early to eat breakfast before it got crowded and loud, and since they all housed horrid hangovers, the entire table was pretty quite, which catered Arlene growing headache.

Theo was finishing his third expresso, Pansy had her head buried in her arms, Blaise, ever the responsible one, sate sipping tea and reading a book and Draco was uncharacteristically quiet, he didn't even make a comment when Harry and Ron walked in.

A few moments later, Hermione entered, a book in hand and scanned her eyes across the great hall, turning slightly pink when it was clear Harry and Ron didn't save her a seat.

"Hermione!" Arlene called out as she waved her over, ignoring the Seventh year who shushed her and the fifth year who groaned and started rubbing his temple.

Hermione walked like she was being led to her death, which seemed appropriate for a Muggle Born Gryffindor walking to the Slytherin table.

She looked at Draco and Pansy, as though she was waiting for them to ask what she thought she was doing, but Pansy had already fallen asleep and Draco was too preoccupied with whatever he was doing, which seemed to be trying to drown himself in his cereal bowl.

"What if I made coffee with caffeinated water but added more coffee instead of milk?" Theo questioned in a semiconscious haze.

Arlene frowned and pulled the coffee pot away from him "What if you didn't?"

Hermione chuckled but remained silent, choosing to write notes in her Charms book instead.

After a few minutes of nibbling on toast, Arlene discarded it on the plate and stood up to leave.

"Where are you going?" Hermione questioned.

Arlene adjusted the collar of her shirt under her blazer "Quidditch practice," she said simply, glancing at her friends who looked like the walking dead, she added "You wanna come with?"

Hermione looked so relieved when she asked "Yeah, let me just-" She put the book in her bag and stood up, dusting her skirt and following Arlene out of the great hall.

Hermione and Arlene discussed random topics on their way to the field, the parties that Seventh years throw that make Snape loose his head, whether Arthimancy was better than Ancient runes (it wasn't), the mermaids in the Slytherin common room and the birds outside the Gryffindor windows.

Finally, they arrived and Hermione went to sit on the sky high benches while Arlene changed into her Quidditch robes.

"What's Granger doing here? Jade questioned as she tied her leather gloves.

Peggy pulled her platinum hair up into a ponytail "Did you finally snog her and have an erotic grope fest?"

"Peggy!" Arlene chided, her cheeks starting to turn red.

"I'll take that as a no."

"Take that as 'none of your business'," she snapped, then she turned to Jade "She's here because Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley are being arses to her right now and I think she needs a friend."

"Because of the Broom thing," Jade nodded "I don't blame her, who would spend all that money and not write a note?"

"If we're lucky enough, maybe McGongall will keep it till after the Ravenlaw Gryffindor game, if the Ravens win then they're out."

Jade gave her a look "Brooms aren't skills, if we win, we win because we're better, not because we have better equipment."

"How inspiring," Peggy said dryly "what's next, a speech about the magic of Christmas?"

The blonde got her answer with a hairbrush thrown at her face.

The days dragged on and on, and with Marcus calling Quidditch practices whenever the field was free and helping Sage with the newspaper in her free time, she was falling behind on her lessons.

Hermione was having none of it, though, and since she was avoiding the common room like it had the plague, she would drag Arlene with her to the library with her to study.

That was what was happening right now, the two girls sate in a cozy corner near a window, Arlene getting distracted everyone in a while when a book floated by them on its way back or from its shelf, then Hermione would snap her out of it and they would continue.

She had to admit, it was nice being the shoulder that Hermione cried on, if she wanted about how stressful the extra subjects are, Arlene was the only one she would talk to as Arlene was the only one who knew about the time turner.

Arlene sighed and tried focusing on her book, failing miserably as the words started to blur, she was so tired, her arms was sore from the training and she had a wicked headache that never seemed to go away, not even a twenty four hour nap could help it.

"Arlene? Are you okay?" Hermione pulled away from her book and asked.

"Emotionally or physically? Because it's a hard no on both." She mumbled as she rubbed her temples.

"And you're the one telling me not to overwork myself," she snorted "come on, I've been talking your ear off about everything that's been going on with me, least you could do is tell me how you're doing."

Arlene sighed, she can't tell her everything, but she can't tell her nothing either.

"Its Lupin," Arlene said carefully, deciding to filter the truth a bit "Last detention when he ill, he wasn't in the hospital wing and the night we all slept in the great hall, I overheard Snape tell Dumbledore that Lupin might be helping Sirius."

Hermione bit her lip "Oh."

Arlene frowned "Oh?"

"No I didn't mean it like that, its just, don't worry, okay? Lupin wasn't off plotting with Sirius that night."

She leaned back in her chair "And how do you know."

Hermione pressed her lips together and looked around, as though someone might be spying on them.

"Lupin couldn't have met with Black that night because it was a full moon."

Arlene looked even more puzzled "I don't follow."

Hermione leaned in a bit more and said in an even quieter voice, "Professor Lupin is a werewolf."

After Hermione's outlandish statement, Arlene fell of her chair, which led Madame Pince to kick them both out, so now they sate under a tree near the greenhouses, which she had to admit, was a nice change of scenery.

"So you remember when he was sick and Snape stepped in as teacher?" Hermione started once they were seated.

Arlene nodded "Worst week of my life, continue."

"And that homework about werewolves?" she went on.

The other girl frowned "When we weren't going to take it until the second term, but what does- oh"

"Yeah," Hermione said once seeing the girl's outraged expression "I noticed how much the 'how to spot a werewolf' bit corresponded with his disappearance."

"Which could have simply been causation versus correlation, if it weren't for-"

"-his boggwart, everyone though it was a crystal ball, it was actually the full moon." Hermione finished, she looked like she was holding her breath, like Arlene might start yelling at her.

But Hermione wasn't the center of Arlene's attention at that moment "That's why Snape gave us that homework, he wanted us to figure it out."

"Yeah, he- where are you going?

Arlene stood up angrily and started to march to the castle "To make a scene!" she yelled over her shoulder "You're welcome to join me." She continued as Hermione scrambled to her feet.

"Here." Arlene said as soon as she entered the empty classroom.

"And what is that, Miss Black?" the professor sneered at the paper she handed it.

"The essay you asked us to write about werewolves," she told him in a calm and polite way "I would hope you remembered that," she went on "or do you attempt to make fellow teachers unemployed so frequently that you don't remember every plot?"

Arlene heard Hermione let out a small gasp from where she stood right outside the Potions classroom.

"I see," Snape said, leaning back on his chair "it appears you're not as dimwitted as I guessed you were."

"Apparently," Arlene said coolly "what I don't understand though, professor, is why an ex-Death Eater would do this to somebody who was in the Order and risked his life, for the sole purpose of screwing him over."

"Miss Black" Snape sneered "I will seize this moment to remind you to be respectful-"

"And if that wasn't enough," Arlene continued, her tone still calm and posture polite "You did that hoping that one of us realized the truth, but because Hermione is a fucking decent human being, she didn't say anything. Turns out that 'insufferable know-it-all' can keep her mouth shut."

Snape didn't say anything for a few seconds (the look on his face said plenty) then he leaned in "Detention for a month, Black."

"I'll take scrubbing frog guts off the walls than seeing your face any day." She said simply before turning on her heels and walking away, but not before pausing at the door.

Arlene looked back at him over her shoulder "And my name is Black Burke."