Severus Snape angrily dragged a human-sized chicken all the way up the Headmaster's office. Behind him, a short man hurried to catch up. "Headmaster! It's not enough that we have to deal with brats who think themselves above the law, but now we have to contend with an overgrown felon who's experiencing a relapse of his Marauder days!"

Beside the Potions professor, Quirinus Quirell tried to voiced his ascent, but only managed to cackle and flap his large white chicken wings.

The Headmaster shook his head. "Remus is unwell at the present, it is that time of the month," his blue eyes twinkled in amusement. "Let's not jump to conclusions, Severus."

"But a Spell Twisting Ward was used to protect that Flashing Rainbow Coloured Charm placed on the DADA classroom," Severus Snape argued. "We all know that Remus was the only one who could cast that spell - seeing that he invented it."

"Oh dear..."

The Headmaster turned his attention towards his Charms professor. "Something the matter, Filius?"

"Your point Filius?" Severus Snape impatiently growled.

"Yesterday, Sirius Black asked me if there was such a spell that could make an object change colours continuously..."

Severus Snape blinked and remembered that Sirius was also trying to get Remus Lupin to teach him the Spell Twisting Ward. "You and Lupin are a couple of dunderheads! Teaching Sirius Black a few new tricks is like trusting a chimpanzee with matches!"

Filius Flitwick raised both hands in an attempt to calm the irate Potions master. "Now Severus, that child is extremely brilliant and is hardly a chimpanzee; moreover our purpose for being here is to teach those children. There's hardly a reason to get angry. Sirius could merely be practicing."

"I told the boy that it takes practice to perfect the charm," the Charms professor smiled brightly. "It seems that he finally got it."

Snape gave his colleague a disgusted look, "You complacent delusional fools may be willing to let that brat get away with this, but I won't! I'll go look for that currish ill-bred buffoon myself." He turned towards the door when the Headmaster stopped him.

"Severus..."

"I was not about to stop you; I only believe that you just ought to sit down and save yourself the effort."

Severus Snape frowned for Albus Dumbledore once again had that knowing twinkle in his eye, "What do you mean..."

"He's already on his way here," the Headmaster answered with a pleasant smile.

The door suddenly swung open with such a force that several books fell from their shelves. Madame Hooch rushed inside, "Severus! Filius! You both will need to take care of your respective houses. There's been a dragon attack! It's a Chinese Fireball, the largest one I've ever seen!"

Madame Pomfrey stood behind the Flying Instructor, "Professor Trelawney saw it pass by her window. She’s in hysterics; the woman claimed that the dragon ate the Weasley Twins. I gave her a Sleeping Drought to calm her frazzled nerves. The Prefects are already routing the younger students back into their dorms and..."

The door slammed open again; Filus Flitwick watched in dismay as more books fell towards the floor. Minerva McGonagall marched in with the one and only Sirius Black by her side. "Call everything off. It's a false alarm." She then glared down at the boy by her side.

"But Minerva darling, I did it all for you. I mean what woman can resist a knight in shining armour battling a dragon..." Sirius gulped as he felt the intensity of the Deputy Headmistress' glare. He bit his lower lip and thought that maybe, just maybe he might have gone too far this time...

Hermione was glad that both Harry and Ron had finally seen the light; both had asked for her help with their homework and they promise to drag Sirius along - to try at least try to convince the moron to do a bit of homework as well. She entered the common room and was not a bit surprised to see that only Ron and Harry waited for her by the fireplace.

"The idiot got detention again?"

Harry and Ron looked at one another and cracked up.

Hermione sighed. "Alright how did he earn it, this time?"

"Where shall we start, Harry?" Ron pretended to be deep in thought.

Harry laughed. "How about attempting to break Fred and George out of detention."

"He did succeed," Ron smirked. "Of course it was only temporary…"

"Unlicensed flying and display of a blimp," Harry continued.

"Causing undue panic to the student body and faculty members."

Ron rolled over with laughter. "Don't forget, attempting to escape prosecution!"

Hermione's eyes widened, "That's not funny. How many points did we lose for those stunts?"

Harry and Ron looked at one another, "We don't know yet."

"What was that idiot thinking? Why does he pull these idiotic stunts?" Hermione stared exasperatedly at the ceiling and asked.

Harry and Ron once again exchanged a few knowing looks.

"He was bored," Ron explained.

Hermione stared at both boys incredulously, "Bored?!?"

"Bored." Harry repeated earnestly.

"Let me get this straight Sirius, you made an exact replica of Ron's dragon chess piece; then you transfigured it's components to become a highly flexible Muggle material called 'latex'. Enlarged it, filled it with hot air, and used a Levitating Charm to further boost it up the air. May I ask the purpose of which?"

"Well Professor Dumbledore," Sirius explained, "Hermione discussed latex in detail with Nathaniel �“ on how it's very flexible, looks more realistic and not as heavy as stone or wood; that gave me the idea. I also thought the details on that dragon piece looked good, so I used it. I didn't know it was copyrighted and contains that protection charm..."

Sirius frowned as he heard a loud pop. Ron's chess piece emitted a high-pitched ringing sound. He figured that this was an indication that he ought to hurry. He did not know what he did wrong, but he'll find out sooner or later. Sirius smiled as his life-sized dragon balloon looked realistic enough; with a flick of his wand the balloon started to drift towards the tower wherein Fred and George's detention was held.

Fred looked up startled for Harry's snow white owl Hedwig tapped the window. He did not have to say a word as his brother immediately went to distract Trelawny, this gave Fred ample time to accept the note from the owl.

Fred smiled for Sirius was as usual 'up to no good' which translated in Weasley Twins' language as 'fun'. He discreetly slipped the note to his brother and shrugged when George gave him a questioning look. Fred has no idea on what Sirius was up to either, but he always did like surprises.

They smiled at each other knowingly when they heard distant screams and explosions. Both twins rushed towards the window and saw mushroom shaped flames lighted the sky above; they grinned at one another with pride for Sirius obviously used their Weasley Mushroom Fire Rockets, but what awed them was the realistic-looking Chinese Fireball headed their way. Had Sirius not sent the note, they would have thought the dragon to be real.

Sirius threw himself on the couch beside Harry and laughed; Fred and George ran about the room and shouted "Free! We're free!"

Harry shook his head and frowned at the strange ringing noise that emitted from Sirius' pocket. "Sirius, what's that in you pocket."

"Oh, I almost forgot," he pulled out the small dragon chess piece and flipped it towards Ron. "Here's your you chess piece back, and it’s still ‘fully intact’!."

"Why is it ringing? What did you do to it?" Ron frowned as he examined the chess piece.

"I don't know. It just started to ring," Sirius shrugged absently.

The portrait hole opened and Professor McGonagall entered with two elderly wizards that Harry had never seen before.

"Care to explain this, Mr. Weasley?"

"Explain what. Professor?" Ron stared at McGonagall and the two men in confusion.

Fred gave George a grim look. "We're doomed..."

"Uh.. How about Rule number 5: If all else fail, run!" George suggested, hopefully.

"I didn't want Ron to get into trouble for something I did, so I admitted to replicating the dragon chess piece and sort of improved on it. Mr. Watson and Mr. Burns saw my dragon balloon when they apparated at Hogsmeade; they came here and found Professor McGonagall, explained the copyright infringement and its likely connection to the dragon incident," Sirius sighed. "So, here I am."

Severus Snape's eyes glittered maliciously, "A couple of days in Azkaban would do that brat some good."

Minerva McGonagall eyes narrowed disapprovingly at Severus Snape, "Fortunately, Mr. Watson and Mr. Burns willingly dropped the charges in exchange for a share on the dragon balloon patent. Those men believed that the balloon would be a big hit on the upcoming Quidditch cup," she glared down at the boy. "You got lucky, Mr. Black. Now I think we all need to discuss your fate for that stunt you pulled."

Albus Dumberdore cupped his hands under is chin and delivered the sentence. "50 points from Gryffindor and triple detentions for a whole month for you, Mr. Black."

Severus Snape blinked incredulously, "What?!!? That's it?"

"No," the Headmaster's eye twinkled as he smiled knowingly.

"20 points for honestly, loyalty to friends, and willingness to take responsibility," Professor Sprout announced.

"What?!? Are you mad?"

"10 points for creativity and exceptional skills in transfiguration and charms," Filius Flitwick added with a smile.

"You're all mad!!" Severus Snape's outrage was evident in his voice.

Dumbledore gave a pleasant smile and added, "5 points for excellent knowledge on Muggle materials. Latex ... I'll have to look into that ..."

Snape blinked and gaped at his colleagues, unable to believe the recent turn of events. Minerva McGonagall merely shook her head.

Harry took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, he stiffled a moan as he set the book aside. With Hermione's help (and Sirius' absence), he and Ron were able to finish their homework in record time. They went to the library to borrow a few books in an attempt to seek information on Nicolas Flamel and Diones D. Pilkee. So far, they had no such luck…

The portrait door swung open and in tumbled Sirius and the Weasley Twins.

"So much for peace and quiet," Hermione grumbled as she too set her book aside.

Ron beamed and threw the book he held onto the pile as well, he then proceed to asked, "So? How did it go?"

Fred placed an arm around Sirius, "This boy lost us 50 points."

"What?!?" Hermione blinked unable to believe that those idiots were taking this too casually.

"And he also gained us 35 points at the same time," George added.

Sirius smirked. "So that leaves me 15 points to regain for our house to maintain the balance. Also, I've now officially beaten Fred and George's detention record," he beamed and picked up one of the books piled up on the table. "Triple detentions for a whole month. Ron, can you put in an additional 90 on my record book? What are you guys doing anyway?"

Hermione sighed. "Unlike you, we've done our homework and are now doing some research on a project, that Dumbledore and his partner Nicolas Flamel had worked on. We are also looking for some information on a Hogwart's ghost, named Diones D. Pilkee."

"Boring," Sirius rolled his eyes and flipped the book closed. He read the title and smirked, "Modern Wizards? Are you guys daft? Dumbledore is OLD." He snickered and started towards the bookshelf on the rightmost corner of the common room, "You guys, ought to research on the Classical Greats."

Fred and George cracked up as Sirius began to flipped through a thick old book.

Hermione sighed for the three idiots had arrived; therefore, she now firmly believed that they could not make any further progress in their research. She frowned at one ceratin troublemaker, "You know, Sirius, it's admirable that you made sure to regain all the house points you've lost, but it would be better if..."

"Hey!" Sirius blinked in surprise, "I think I've found something..."

Hermione rolled her eyes for she would not fall for Sirius' stupid tricks this time around; one of the things she learned early on was the fact that Sirius Black's a good actor. "Give us a break, Black. We won't fall for your..."

Ron crossed his eyes and laughed, "Sure you are."

"I am! Check this out," he then began to read out from the book. "Nicolas Flamel was born in 1326, an Alchemist. Flamel lived in France in the fourteenth century and is supposed to have discovered how to make a philosopher's stone. There are mentions of sightings of him through the centuries because he was supposed to have gained immortality. There are still streets named after Flamel and his wife Perenelle in Paris. Albus Dumbledore did some alchemical work with him, although not the creation of that stone..."

Harry stood up and walked towards Sirius; the other boy handed him the book to read over. "Guys, it’s not a joke. The package taken from Gringotts may have been the Philosopher Stone."

"What's the Stone for?" Ron asked.

Sirius shrugged, "To create an Elixir of Life, thus who ever possess the stone would have gained immortality."

"That must be what the dog guarded!" Ron jumped up, "but why would Snape want it?"

"Because the ugly git wants to live forever," Sirius supplied, "although if I had his face, I'd..."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "So that leaves Diones D. Pilkee."

Fred scratched his head, "Who?"

"A ghost I ran into."

George shook his head. "Never heard of him. Maybe we ought to ask the other ghosts."

Sirius gave Ron a wicked grin. "Or we can ask Seidon..."

"No way! That kelpie doesn't know anything anyway, so why should we waste our time...” Ron paused, brows furrowed as he started to mutter to himself, “Pilkee...kelpie... P-I-E ...that leaves...That's it!"

All occupant of the room gave Ron a puzzled look.

"It's an amalgram. Diones D Pilkee, Diones is Seidon, D sounds like 'the' and Pilkee is Kelpie!"

Hermione realized that the horse has once again, had her fooled. "When I get my hands on that dumb horse …I'll..."

"Why'd did he come see you?" Harry asked.

Hermione then remembered the letter. "The letter! I think it's with Neville..."

They looked up to find Hermione's 'ghost' leaning on the opened doorway.

"Seidon! Wicked new look!" Sirius jumped over the nearby table and headed towards his friend.

The kelpie tossed his head backward. "Well, time for me to go now...Too bad I didn't get to try out that famous human ghostly greeting."

Sirius gave a bark-like laugh. "What famous human ghostly greeting?"

"Boo!" The kelpie answered flatly and turned his heel, changed to back to a horse, and galloped away.

Sirius, Harry and the twins laughed; Ron shook his head while Hermione glared at the retreating horse.

Harry turned to Ron, "What do you say to paying Hagrid another visit?"

Harry frowned, "But I thought we'd all be spending it here."

"Mom changed her mind and asked us all home. You can come along too, Harry," Fred explained and shifted his foot nervously.

Harry noticed that Fred didn't invite Sirius and all three Weasley avoided his gaze.

"It's me isn't it?" Sirius suddenly spoke up. "Look, there’s no sense in all of you guys getting into all this trouble. I heard your parents usually let you stay here because it’s more cost efficient and Harry could use some more company. Tell her I'd be spending Christmas with the Malfoys."

"What?" Harry stared at Sirius, "I thought they've uninvited you."

"Apparently they had a change of heart, they're now insisting that I come." Sirius grinned and pulled out a letter, "Cissy said here that despite everything else, I'm still family and they’d want to start afresh."

Hermione's eyes widened, "They just want to know about the Black Chronicles and that unicorn! You're not falling for that again, are you?"

"What do you know? Cissy had always been a bit nicer to me than Lucius was. You don't know anything!" He glared at Hermione, "had it ever occurred to you, Ms Know-it-all, that maybe you're wrong? Slytherins are not necessarily evil. Every member of my family are usually Slytherins."

Hermione tried to get a word in, "But..."

Sirius stalked off and headed to his room. Hermione glared at the other boys who only stared at their feet, "Why didn't any of you say something? Why would you allow your friend to fall for that load of baloney?"

"Well...Hermione, maybe it's true. Maybe his cousin did convince her husband to be nicer to Sirius... I mean, Sirius did say she was nicer than Draco and Lucius," Harry mumbled.

"I doubt that," Ron grumbled, "but that's still a pretty wild accusation, Hermione."

Fred nodded. "You shouldn't have dashed his hope without so much of a proof."

George headed for the stairs, "Hey Fred, come on! Let's go invite Sirius along for that prank we planned on Percy."

"Right behind you brother!" Fred laughed as both boys clamoured up the stairs.

Harry grinned. "Wait up! I thought we're a team."

"Yeah! We want in too!" Ron laughed as he and Harry ran up to join the duo.

Hermione sighed. "Here we go again..." She then started to contemplate on whether she should ask the kelpie for help, but then she decided that the creature was too infuriating to deal with.

"Fred! George!" He loudly banged on their door. A few early risers stared at him, most of them at least tried to stifle their laughter. Percy Weasley's eyes narrowed into slits, his brothers have gone too far this time. Detention is too light a sentence; their mother ought to hear about this as well.

The door swung open, wide grey eyes stared back at him, "Oh wow! I didn't expect all your hair to fall out this soon. I predicted it'll take two years, maybe a receding hairline, but not..."

He glared down at the boy who babbled on all too happily. "Fred and George, where are they?"

"Fast asleep, but I wouldn't try to wake them up if I were you..."

He ignored Sirius and walked up to one of the twins; he kicked the bed hard when .... "Arrgghhhh!"

"I tried to warned you. They've set booby traps all over after I woke them up several times." Sirius sat on his bed and pinched his nose, for Percy was sprayed with a bit of stink sap, "Whew! That really stinks. Would you mind if I open the window?" he then sauntered off to do so.

Percy gaped at the boy and held back a string of colourful curses when another voice chimed in.

"Bloody hell! What's that smell?!? Can't a guy get some sleep around this room?"

"Morning Ron," Sirius quipped cheerfully as he opened the window.

"Black! I should have known you're the one to wake me up again at this ungodly hour! Can’t you for once just allow us to get …"

"Not me, Ron. Percy here has decided to spring one of Fred and George's traps."

The head of a red-haired boy popped out from behind one of the curtains, his eyes widen at the sight of his brother before him. He then hid behind the curtains once again; his bed shook due to his silent laughter.

Harry woke up as well, he pulled open his curtains to watch the proceeding before him. Sirius sat beside him and offered a packet of Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans.

Percy glared at the two First years who watched him eagerly and tried to wake the twins the old fashion way. "FRED! GEORGE! WAKE UP YOU BLISTERING MORONS!"

Both twins jumped awoke at the same time and rubbed their eyes. They stared at their brother before them, wrinkled their noses and rolled over in laughter.

George turned towards Sirius, "Sirius, have you figured out the counter-potion yet?"

Sirius shook his head.

Percy stared at the two, "You're letting a First year create an antidote for you? Are you both mad?"

…and he wants to try doing so. There's no need to fear, the Weasley Invisible Hair Formula is not yet out in the market. You have the privilege to try it out first." Fred grinned impishly.

"A product that has plenty of prank potential and some practical uses for people who doesn't want to shave." George added.

"Just hand over the formula and I'll figure it out myself."

"Hey! We have a deal here!" Sirius jumped up to argue. "Signed, enchanted and binding," he showed Percy a piece of parchment.

"Unfortunately, we agreed to allow Sirius the chance to figure out the antidote, up until next week," Fred explained.

George elaborated, "In return, he may save us the trouble of doing so, but all patent of the Invisible Hair Formula and the counter-potion will be for Fred and George Weasley only. Sirius Black will forego all rights and patents to the antidote thereof."

Harry held back a smirk for they've planted the same formula in the Slytherin's water tank...

Severus Snape woke up and felt something holding tight on his leg. *meeepp* He looked down and saw that something beige and furry has attached itself on his leg and purred, *meeep*.

Hermione stared at the Slytherin's table, she wondered about this new 'Go-Bald and Shave Your Eyebrows' trend of the house. Several people from the different houses sniggered and pointed that the Slytherin's table. She ignored all this and headed for her intended destination, Neville Longbottom stared at the hairless Draco Malfoy and his two bodyguards. Draco glared at Neville who gulped and followed Hermione.

"Harry, Ron, I have the letter here, where's Sirius?"

"He and my brothers are having breakfast at the Headmaster's office," Ron sighed.

Hermione frowned. "Something tells me that this isn't good."

"Well it's a good laugh..." Harry felt two pair of eyes bore down on him and he faltered, "...at least I thought it was..." he mumbled.

Percy glared at his twin brothers as they tried to explain to the Headmaster.

"You see, the contract is binding and we can't allow anyone to see the formula except for Sirius, who is given a week to figure out the counter-solution, else we do it ourselves," Fred explained sadly.

George nodded. "And Sirius can't ask anyone for help, because in doing so, he would be breaching the contract and would be revealing the ingredients that we used."

"And the purpose for this contract?" The Headmaster asked, his voice sound stern, but his eyes twinkled in amusement.

Sirius answered, "I wanted to try and do this and it seemed pointless if Fred and George make a counter-solution at the same time."

"Well then," Albus Dumbledore smiled. "The solution is simple, Fred and George will get double detentions, the 10 points from Gryffindor for playing that prank on a Prefect and the Slytherins," he then turned his attention towards Sirius. "Now, Mr. Black, you have the chance to regain those lost points if you figure out that antidote within the day..."

Sirius opened his mouth to protest about his lack of time to do so, "But I have..."

"You will be spending those triple detention of yours today in the Potions Dungeon room. I'll make sure that Professor Snape will leave you alone, so as to protect the patent. And this book will be helpful in figuring out the counter for certain ingredients," the Headmaster smiled and handed a book to Sirius.

Percy Weasley gaped and was about to protest, when Severus Snape entered the room. "Headmaster! Those brats are at it again!"

"Hello Severus, That's a very cute puffskien you have there," the Headmaster gave the Potions master a pleasant smile.

The Potions master glared at the Headmaster and at the boys inside the office, "This thing seemed to have permanently attached itself to my leg and every time I tried to pull it off..." he then demonstrated and pulled the puffskien off.

Everyone covered their ears and wondered how such a deafening sound can come out from such a small creature.

"It seems that the creature likes you too much, Severus," the Headmaster smiled as the puffskien purred and attached itself once again to Snape's leg.

"So Harry, would you want to spend Christmas with us. It'll be fun; the feast may not be as big as the one here at Hogwarts, but at least you'll be spending it with friends."

Harry contemplated on the invitation, "So you won't really be spending it here as originally planned?"

Ron sighed. "At first mum planned this to make sure Fred, George and I not spend anymore time with Sirius; but now she's really psyched about this rare occasion of having the whole family together for Christmas. Bill and Charlie are also coming."

"She'd love to have you," Ron grinned.

"Hey Ron, what do you say to checking out that mirror again? We were interrupted the last time."

Narcissa Malfoy smiled as she read the letter, she walked up to her husband, wrapped her arms around him and whispered. "He seems very happy at being invited home for Christmas."

Lucius Malfoy grumbled. "At least someone is..."

"Now Lucius darling, you promised to be nice and act like you do want him around," Narcissa reprimanded her husband softly.

"I still don't see why I have to suffer."

Narcissa sighed and explained once again, "Because Sirius is more talkative when he's happy and unguarded. We do want to to talk don't we?"

"The things I do for power," Lucius sighed. "I do hope we get the information quickly, so I don't have to suffer from that brat's presence for long."

"Patience is virtue, dear husband," Narcissa smiled and walked back to her desk and prepared a reply.

Sirius sighed as he waited for the potion to boil. He has some time to kill so he pulled out the Black Chronicles and began to write:

'Dad? Are you still mad about my picking Nathaniel as one of my ancestral guide? The book won't allow me to pick Regulus so he's the only one that I can think of -'

Strong dark script appeared on the book, ‘I suppose I cannot expect much, Narcissa was more concerned about socializing and keeping up with appearances to have taught you much.'

‘The name Black had always brought about fear and awe. We are the oldest wizarding clan that has ever existed.’

Sirius frowned and stared at the ringed by his hand. ‘Does being a Black mean that we're more powerful than most.'

‘Illusion? How?' Sirius remembered how Seidon also encouraged fear to display his strength.

'Secret spells, potions and artifacts that has been passed on for generations. It gives us the air of mystery and hold onto the awe of the public. I have taught you one of my favourites, I could teach you more...'

Sirius then noticed that his solution has began to bubble, he then set the book aside and added the necessary powder.

A/N: I'd like to take this opportunity to also thank my silent readers (I know there are some) especially those who placed this story in the favorite list. Your coming back to read my updates also encourages me to continue on with this.