The sun rose and spread its warm fingers into Hogwarts School for Wizards and Witches. A small blue canary perched itself on a window sill, it sang a cheerful melody.

Behind the window a red-haired boy pulled a pillow tighter over his head as he grumbled, “Damn Bird!” He was surprised when he felt a cold draft entered their room and realized that one of his roommates opened the window.

“Wow, a blue bird! Hey Harry! How does that other song you taught me go again?”

Ron grumbled, “Damn Black,” he heard Harry, Seamus and Dean’s grumbled in a similar fashion.

“Oh I remember now... Zip de dee do dah! Zip de dee hey! Mr. Blue Bird on my shoulder!”

Harry groaned as he grabbed his extra pillow, and threw it towards his annoying roommate.

“Oouff.”

On the bunk beside Harry, Ron screamed, “Shut up Black! Some of us are trying to sleep here and for god’s sake close that damn window!”

Harry sighed in relief as he heard Sirius close the window. The other boy grumbled about a ‘grouchy git’, Harry was about to snuggle deeper into his blankets, when one particular pest suddenly pulled his curtains open and jumped on his bed. “Hey Harry wake up! We’ll need an early start, to get even on a particular greasy haired git for the way he treated us yesterday.”

Harry groaned and buried himself into his blankets and mumbled, “Go away Sirius.”

Sirius jumped up and down Harry’s bed excitedly as he continued to ignore Harry’s earlier request, “I was thinking, that in honor of that blue bird, we’ll have ol’ Snivellus grow blue feathers on his butt, and I have just the thing to do so. We can also rig his quill to spray sparkly blue ink all over him too!”

Harry peered up from his blankets, “Snivellus?”

Sirius smirked. “I think it fits him seeing that he has an overly large nose.”

Harry felt a smile tugged on his lips, but decided not to give in to Sirius too easily. “Sirius, I’ll make a deal with you, I’ll go along with you for this particular prank, but for the whole of next week - we will not be hearing a single pip out off you until it’s time for us to go down for breakfast.”

“Hear! Hear!” Dean Thomas mumbled from the other side of the room.

Sirius frowned. “But...”

Harry crossed his arms and looked at Sirius straight in the eye. Harry struggled to keep a straight face as Sirius silently pleaded for him to reconsider. The pest, gave him a doe-eyed expression that reminded Harry strongly of a begging puppy.

Seeing that Harry wasn’t about to give in, Sirius sighed. “Ok, it’s a deal then.”

-0-

Harry grinned at the thick layer of ‘Zonko’s Blue Feather Growth Gel’ that he and Sirius placed onto Snape’s seat. He pulled out his wand and waved it in the way Sirius has instructed,“Lateo”

Harry smiled as the gel turned invisible to the naked eye. Harry would not admit it to the prankster, but he learned more spells from the pranks they pulled, than he did in from his classes. “Ok Sirius, I’m done here.”

Sirius placed the rigged quill on Snape’s desk and grinned. “Then let’s get out of this stuffy place.”

-0-

The two boys passed by a forest on their way to the lake. This particular forest is dark and deep; students had been warned to stay away due to the numerous creatures that resided within. As they walked by the forest one of the boys stopped and turned towards the dark woods, “Harry, did you hear that?”

Harry looked towards his friend in confusion, “Hear what?”

Sirius frowned for in the back of his mind he knew he alone could hear the panic and pain of a creature within those woods. For what he had heard has not an audible cry, whatever it was, it had reached out to him making him feel the cold panic that it experienced. The ring in his finger grew warm. Sirius was surprised, when he saw the dark stone glowed with a faint blue light. The woods called to him, the cries pulled him and Sirius knew that he could not resist.

“Sirius!” Harry muttered a curse as he went after his impulsive friend into the dark woods.

Sirius ran deeper into the woods he had long abandoned the pathway, for he guided himself purely by instinct as he jumped over a rotten log and turned to his right. He stared in horror for right in front of him was at least a dozen Acromantulas. These giant spiders were four feet tall and twice as wide with four large bristly black hairs on each side. Red eyes glowed and sharp metallic pinchers that acted as mouths clacked dangerously. Sirius knew right then, that these spiders were the ones that attacked the creature that had called out to him. He pointed his wand at the largest of the spiders and shouted “Reducto!”

The largest of the spider blew up and splattered white gooey substance all over Sirius and the other spiders, all of which now turned their attention towards Sirius. Harry appeared behind Sirius. Eyes widened as he cursed the stupidity of his impetuous friend.

Sirius waved his wand once and threw a curse that aimed to slow the creatures’ movements. “Immobulus”

Harry pulled out his own wand, he racked his mind for one of the spell Sirius taight him, “Rictusempra!” One of the spiders flipped over and twitched repeatedly.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at Harry, “The tickling charm?”

Harry shrugged. “It worked.”

Sirius raised his wand and pointed it to the spiders once again, “Tarantallegra!” Two spiders began to dance uncontrollably, the others started to back away from the two wizards. Both boys saw this and thus pressed on.

“Rictusempra!” Harry tickled another spider.

“Incendio!” As fire sprouted out of Sirius’ wand, the remaining spiders retreated.

Both boys approached a crumpled black mass that the spiders attacked. Harry’s eyes widen as he remembered Hermione lecture on the train. “Sirius! It’s a kelpie!”

-0-

Three dark-haired boys staggered out of the woods. Two of them were struggled to carry the third one. The reason for this is because the third boy was much taller than the other two; he looked about 15 years of age with his long hair braided onto his back. All three boys were covered with gooey white substance; however, only the taller boy in the middle seemed hurt.

“The lake’s not much further now,” Harry huffed.

“That’s a matter of opinion,” Sirius panted.

The third boy raised his head, red brown eyes as he observed his two rescuers, “I didn’t get your names.”

“Harry Potter.”

“Sirius Black.”

The older boy gaped at Sirius, “A Black?”

Sirius rolled his eyes. “What is it to you?”

“A lot. My name is Seidon.”

Sirius looked at the kelpie in confusion.

-0-

Harry and Sirius watched in amazement, for as soon as Seidon touched the water, he turned back into a horse and his wounds miraculously healed. It was later explained that kelpies drew their strength from water.

Harry looked at the kelpie curiously, “Seidon? If I may ask. What were you doing in there?”

The kelpie changed back into his human form and sighed. “There’s a small lake inside that forest. It used to be my lake.”

Sirius sat up straighter. “Used to be?”

The kelpie turned towards the forest as if to reminiscence. “We kelpies need pure water to survive, water that’s untainted. Three days ago, someone dumped a unicorn’s body into my lake. As you know, a unicorn’s blood would enable one to live forever, however it’ll be as a half-life. That unicorn’s blood tainted the waters,” he sighed, “all the creatures that once lived in my lake, the fishes, frogs, ... they are now half-life. My inability to draw strength from that water weakened me. I had been searching for another water source when I was attacked,” he looked at the lake in front of him and smiled. “This will do well, and I thank you both for this.”

Sirius looked curiously at the kelpie, “You said that my being a Black mattered, why?”

The kelpie nodded. “Contrary to popular belief, kelpies are not solitary creatures. Yes, we each guard our territory with a vengeance, not even allowing other kelpies near our power source. In the same manner we guard our waters from humans who might destroy the purity of our waters. But all of our kinds congregate in ‘the haven’. A haven created for us by Aris Black; he calls this haven, Black Isle.”

Sirius looked thoughtful for a moment. “Why haven’t I heard of Black Isle?”

The kelpie gave the boy a sad smile. “The last Black to have entered the Isle was Nathaniel, after which we had never again had any contact with the Blacks, but we know the family had survived; for as long as there is a Black, the magic that kept the isle safe survives. It is but symbolic that a kelpie is saved by someone from that most noble and ancient house, thus rekindle that which was once lost.”

The dark haired kelpie walked up to Sirius and whispered, “donum aqua.” A faint blue glowed on Sirius right little finger as a simple ring with a small blue stone appeared. Seidon changed back in a horse and nudged the boy affectionately, trotted towards Harry to bow slightly; he then galloped into the gleaming waters of the lake.

Harry smiled towards the water and turned to Sirius, “I think we best clean up before breakfast.”

Sirius moaned. “Do we have to? We can just stay here all day and...”

Harry sighed and grabbed Sirius by the collar and proceeded to drag the other boy towards the Gryffindor tower.

-0-

It’s a Friday morning, the students of Hogwarts enjoyed their breakfast most of them waited excitedly for the owls to bring in their mails. This giddy anticipation was not shared by two students who sat on the Gryffindor table. Harry Potter had no wizarding family and he hardly even expected the Dursleys to write to him. Sirius Black, on the other hand, dreaded the mail that was to come.

-0-

The owls arrived Harry was surprised to see that he received a letter, unable to recognize the untidy scrawled he opened it and smiled as it is an invitation from Hagrid to have tea in his hut. On his left, Ron smiled as he read his letter. On his right, he saw Sirius frowned. “Sirius? What’s wrong?”

Sirius shrugged. “Not much, Cissy just told me that I’m a big disappointment for not being able to get into Slytherin. Lucius is furious, for he heard about my behavior from dear ol Draco. So he doesn’t want me home for Christmas since Christmas is supposed to be a happy occasion. Of course they tried to get Dumbledore to allow me to change houses being unsuccessful at this; they’ve gotten to good ol Snivellus to agree to let me sit with the Slytherins during Potions class." Sirius slumped onto the table.

Harry gave the other boy a sympathetic look. “Aren’t you going to open the other letter?”

Sirius gave an exaggerated sigh. “I’m too depressed...” A mischievous smile suddenly lighted onto his face, he just saw Professor McGonagall enter the breakfast hall. “And I see just the person to cheer me up.”

Harry gave the other boy a look of warning, which was ignored as Sirius pulled out his wand, “Orchideous!” Harry shook his head as flowers sprouted at the end of Sirius’ wand and the other boy sauntered off towards the Deputy Headmistress.

Beside Harry, Ron stared at the other boy in disbelief, “He’s not actually going to...”

Harry covered his face with his hands and moaned. “You obviously don’t know Sirius that well yet.”

“Minerva, my goddess and my muse,
I wait on you hand and foot.
Thy beauty and wisdom I admire
Thou art the object of my desire.”

Hermione’s jaw dropped. “Is that guy serious?”

Harry gave her a small smile, “No, he’s Sirius.”

Ron and Hermione groaned at Harry’s bad pun. However, they heard neither the rest of Sirius' proclamation of devotion, nor Professor McGonagall’s angry reprimand. For they were distracted by the commotion a few feet away; Draco and his two goons had decided to harrass poor Neville.

Ron approached the group and angrily told Draco off, “Leave him alone you in-bred git! He didn’t do anything to you.”

Draco raised a brow and drawled haughtily, “Oh defending him are you? I guess dirt tends to clump together after all. What are you gonna do about it, Weasle?”

Ron Weasley raised his wand; Draco, Crabbe and Goyle pointed their wands towards Ron. Harry and Hermione stood by Ron’s side, and they raised their wands towards the Slytherins as well.

“Is there a problem here?” All six jumped and saw that kindly Professor Lupin has approached their table.

Draco smiled up at Professor Lupin, “No Sir.”

Ron pointed an accusing finger towards Draco, “He took Neville’s remembrall!”

Draco feigned surprised, “I was only looking at it.” He turned to face the Professor and gave a convincing confuses and innocent act.

Remus sighed. “Mr. Malfoy, kindly return the remembrall to Mr. Longbottom and we’ll all forget about this incident.”

At this point the Deputy Headmistress approached the group, followed by Sirius who continued to carry on with his ‘love-sick puppy’ act.

“Remus, is there a problem here?”

“No Minerva, everything’s been resolved.” Remus Lupin then gave Draco a pointed look as the boy reluctantly handed Neville his remembrall back.

“I just love women with such command of authority. Marry me!”

Minerva McGonagall glared down at Sirius as Harry sighed and shoved a chocolate frog down Sirius’ throat.

“Mmphh!”

The Deputy Headmistress smiled down at Harry, “Very good Mr. Potter. Crude but effective. Three points for Gryffindor!”

-0-

"Thank you Miss Granger, for that skillful demonstration of the Reparo Charm. Is there anyone else who'd like to demonstrate a few Charms that they already know?" Filius Flitwick scanned the room for another volunteer.

Lavender Brown raised her hand, "Sirius can pull the Summoning Charm."

Flitwick blinked in surprise, he turned his attention to the dark-haired boy, "Really, that is quite an advanced spell for your age. Do you like to read about charms, Sirius?"

The boy shook his head. "I only read when I have nothing else to do. I saw Moody use that charm several times, whenever I ... uhm... relocate his Magical Eye Cleaning Kit."

Professor Flitwick smiled, as this year's Gryffindors class just might surpass his own Ravenclaws in terms of brilliance. "Learning through observation can sometimes be even more effective than reading. Care to demonstrate to the class this Charm?"

Sirius jumped up enthusiastically, "Gladly!" his eyes sparkled as he tried to hold back an impish grin.

Flitwick nodded in approval, for one of the things the short professor liked was a student’s enthusiasm.

Sirius grinned with his wand on hand, he shouted, “Accio Beehive!”

Flitwick’s jaw dropped as the enthusiastic first year shouted, “Hey! It worked!” Sirius then proceeded to dive under his desk as the summoned beehive crashed onto a wall.

Harry and Ron immediately ducked under their desk. Ron laughed, “What was he thinking?”

Harry rolled his eyes. “I for one don’t want to figure out how Sirius Black’s mind work.”

From under her desk, Hermione looked at the two incredulously, “You mean to say that he actually has a working mind!” Beside her Neville whimpered. “I hate bees!”

Screams were abundant as Professor Flitwick shouted for the class to stay calm.

-0-

Professor Flitwick growled, his nose was swollen and it throbbed. The repaired beehive flew back outside, much to everyone’s relief.

Sirius Black’s head popped out from under his desk and asked, “Can I try that again?”

Professor Flitwick started to count to ten and gave his first detention for the year.

-0-

Percy Weasley entered the Gryffindor common room, he looked around in search for his brothers and found them by the fireplace. “Fred! George! That was bloody amazing!”

The twins gave their brother a confused look.

Percy laughed. “Don’t worry, I won’t report you guys just this once. I don’t know how you two came up with this one, but Snape was so livid that he was turning purple! Not that anyone could tell due to the amount of blue ink on his face... and those feathers...”

Fred frowned. “Percy...”

Percy continued to enthusiastically deliver his blow by blow, “...Penelope was in the infirmary due to a slight headache. She told me that she overheard Madame Pomfrey comment on the gel, it had penetrated deep into Snape's skin; Pomfrey had to pull it out one bloody feather at a time. Snape’s backside was so sore that he couldn’t even sit down for dinner a while ago. Oh and Snape screams like a girl too...”

George sighed. “...we didn’t do it.”

Fred nodded in ascent, “The fire candy on the Slytherins table and the dung bombs in Filch’s office are ours, but this one I have a feeling it’s our pinktaceous train prankster.”

“And I think it’s about time we have a little chat with the boy,” George mumbled.

Percy looked at his brothers in confusion, “Who are you talking about?”

George grinned. “We can’t tell you, oh prefect brother of ours.”

Fred gave his brother a solemn look, “For we are honor-bound by the Prankster Code.”

Percy frowned in confusion, “What the hell are you two talking about?”

Both twins placed a hand on their chest. “We who take pranking seriously follow a certain code of conduct. Rule number 1: Never squeal on your fellow prankster. Proper courtesy entails that you respect your colleague's desire for privacy”

“Rule number 2: Try not to get caught. If ever you were caught be sure to have an excuse handy,” Fred continued.

George laughed. “Rule number 3: Gits are the best victims. They fall for the trap easily and their reactions are priceless.”

“Rule number 4: Pranking is an art, creativity and originality are much appreciated.”

“Rule number 5: If all else fail, Run!”

“Rule number 6: Anything that explodes is good.”

“Rule number 7: Pranking is a social activity, sharing information with fellow pranksters is fine but, keep prats in the dark”

“Rule number....”

Percy threw his arms in the air. “Oh, just shut it!”

-0-

Sirius stepped into his room and was surprised to see the that the right side of their room has been redecorated. Ron’s brothers sat on the two beds by the far right, instead of Dean and Seamus. “What’s going on?”

Ron rolled his eyes. “We’ve been asking these dolts the very same question for the past half hour. Apparently these two offered to switch rooms with Dean and Seamus.”

Fred grinned. “Amazingly, we didn’t even have to bribe them.”

Ron and Harry exchanged a grin, for they both knew all too well, the reason why their ex-roommates were so eager to leave. Fred and George have no idea what they have to face every morning, at the most ungodly hour too.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, “So you want me to switch rooms with Percy so y’all would be one big happy family?”

Ron looked at his brothers hopefully; for despite the fact that Percy was an annoying git, he was not half as annoying as one of his present roommates.

George made a face, “Hell NO!”

Fred grinned. “We just figured that this arrangement would work better if you agree with our proposal.”

George smirked. “If you don’t then we’ll have plenty of opportunity to convince you otherwise.”

Sirius looked questioningly at Harry and Ron, but both looked equally baffled.

Fred nodded towards the Zonko’s professional set on Sirius’ bedside. “Think about this Sirius, your Zonko’s Professional Set, your twisted mind, as well as finesse in potions and charms, together with our creative inventions, unmatched genius, as well as other hidden resources.”

George grinned. “Hogwarts will never see a finer combination of magical mischief makers.”

Ron and Harry looked at one another and groaned. Ron mumbled, “And now there’s three...”

Sirius smiled as he saw the possibilities of this arrangement. “We’ll need a name, and Harry’s in too...He’s my venerable partner-in-crime.”

Fred and George stared at Harry in surprise.

"You know Fred, just when you thought you have someone figured out...”

Fred nodded. “...then they surprise you.”

George began to contemplate on Sirius' idea, “Ah yes a name. It should be name that will sow mystery and fear”

Sirius nodded. “We’ll be the connoisseur of wizarding nonsense”

Harry jumped up and shouted, “Spawn!”

All four pair of eyes turned to Harry in confusion. The messy haired boy explained. “Secret Pranksters Association for Wizarding Nonsense.”

-0-

Behind the closed curtains in his bunk, Sirius pulled out his quill and a familiar leather book: Summoning Aris Black.

Hello my lad
Don’t summon your dad
For he’s still mad
That you’ve landed on Gryffindor’s pad

Sirius sighed and shook his head: I just want to know if the voices within these pages are truly yours or my dad’s?

Our souls have gone and passed
All that is left are essence that will last

Aris could you please speak in proper English?

All Black patriarchs wear the ring
Till death, to their fingers does it cling
The ring will copy their minds and essence
Upon their ends give to this book a presence

Sirius sighed: Why do I even bother asking ... So are you saying that this is not truly you, but your memories and personalities perfectly captured till the moment of your death

Very perceptive of you my boy
Your understanding gives me great joy

Tell me about Black Isle.

To the Family it is lost
Nothing more than a ghost
It awaits a worthy heir
Four rings he will snare

Aris, you’re speaking in riddles here:

Alas I cannot tell you more
You yourself must find that door

What are you talking about? Aris! Don’t leave me in the dark here.

One you’ve already met
But you must complete the set
My child you are not ready yet

Sirius sighed, seeing that he wouldn’t get any more answers from Aris. He closed the book.