I stood outside the trophy room on the third floor, waiting for Theodore. It was late at night and I was under a Disillusionment Charm. It would have been a lot easier if I owned an Invisibility Cloak.

Minutes passed. Without any warning I felt someone grab me from behind. I screamed without thinking.

"Shhhh!"

He was standing in front of me now, nearly laughing. I crossed my arms and glared at him for nearly giving us away.

"You're probably giving me a look," he teased, "but I can't exactly see your face when you're under that charm."

"Yes," I hissed. "How did you find me? And why didn't you Disillusion yourself?"

"There's no need," he said plainly. "Anyway, we should go inside. I'm sure it's locked, but it shouldn't be hard to get in."

"Well, if it is locked, we probably can't get in," I said logically, my heart sinking. It would have been easier to tackle this mission during the day when everyone had access to the trophy room. Why had I chosen to go in at night? "Filch has probably put a bunch on anti-intruder spells on it or something."

He laughed and took his wand out, pointing it at the doorknob. "Didn't you know Filch was a Squib?"

"Oh ... right."

"Alohomora."

I heard a lock click. Theodore turned the doorknob and entered the dark trophy room. I Disillusioned myself before illuminating my wand. He lit his as well. Immediately the room lit up, sparkling with several brilliant gold, silver, and bronze trophies, shields, medals, and suits of armor.

"So, what are we looking for?" he asked.

"Anything with a Black family name on it," I answered. "I'm just looking for clues ... ideas ... you know. I'll go this way; you check that end."

"Right."

I started at a shelf of shields. Pointing my wand at each one, I read the names. Some were familiar, some weren't, but none interested me. I went up to the next shelf just as Theodore said, "Here's a Black!"

"What?" I rushed over to see. "Who is it?"

"Callidora Black. Is that someone you're looking for?"

"Callidora? It sounds ... kind of familiar. But no, that one doesn't help."

"Then how about this one?" He pointed his wand to a medal on the same shelf as Callidora Black's. "How about ... Cedrella Black?"

"No. I think I have seen those names on the family tree. But look at the year on those medals. I'm looking for more recent dates."

"I'll keep searching," Theodore said. I turned around and went back to my area. There were still several unfamiliar names. Finally I spotted a Black - Arcturus Black - and my heart skipped a beat. I studied the medal, trying to figure out why he'd received the award, when I realized that it dated back to ... well, a long time ago. Upon further inspection, I saw that all of these shields were outdated.

"Ugh. I'm in the wrong area," I muttered.

"Oh, hey!" Theodore exclaimed. "I found another one and it's more recent ... how about Regulus Black?"

I nearly dropped my wand. "But that's Sirius's brother! What's it for?"

"Quidditch," he said. "Oh. I see. All of these are for Quidditch."

I sighed again. "Yeah, I don't think Quidditch is really going to help. I guess if I knew what I was looking for, then ... "

I trailed off, because Theodore said, "Lyra, come here."

I was shocked by the dark tone in his voice. I hurried over to where he stood, pointing his wand at several medals. I gasped when I saw the name on the one illuminated by his wandlight.

"What's it for?" I asked.

"Look here." He pointed his wand at a silver plate on the shelf, stating that the medals represented students who were top in the year. There were seven of them - the years ranging from 1962 to 1969, each belonging to Bellatrix Black.

"She was top in the year," I whispered, half to myself. "I can't believe it! She was like ... Hermione Granger! How could someone like that become so evil?"

"She was talented," Theodore suggested. "You knew that. She used her talents in an evil way."

I shook my head. It wasn't odd, just unexpected. I continued to stare at the medals, lost in thought, until Theodore said sharply and quietly, "Someone's coming."

"What?" I nearly dropped my wand again.

"I hear someone outside! Quick - get behind that suit of armor!"

I dashed to the nearest silver footman and ducked behind it. Theodore followed me. At the same time we whispered, "Nox" and our wands went out. We sat in stillness for several seconds. Then I heard a creaking noise as the door to the trophy room opened.

"We forgot to relock the door," I breathed.

"Don't say anything. We need to find out who it is."

I watched the floor, waiting for feet to appear and footsteps to sound, but there weren't any. Instead, a loud cacophony of sounds broke out as Peeves the Poltergeist, floating at the ceiling, began to sing - or wail - at the top of his lungs.

"Peevsie hears voices, oh who can it be? Peevsie goes into the trophy room, wheeeeee!"

He zoomed in our direction, threatening to knock into our suit of armor. Instead he hit the wall and bounced in the opposite direction. With a crash, several shields fell off the shelves and cascaded onto the ground.

"Peevsie goes flying and bouncing around! Oops, Peevsie has knocked all the shield awards down! Peevsie should get out before the one comes! The one who hangs kiddies up by their thumbs! Oh no, Filchie's kitty cat is in the hall! Peevsie should leave before Filch hears her call!"

He soared out of the room, cackling quietly.

"Oh, no ... Mrs. Norris!" I whispered so quietly I barely heard myself. "We have to get out! Maybe we can escape Peeves, but she'll call Filch, and if he finds us - "

"We can't leave yet! Mrs. Norris is right there!"

Sure enough, Filch's tabby cat was standing in the doorway, searching the room. Her eyes stopped on the armor we were behind but she moved on to the other side. She sniffed the fallen trophies for a second before letting out a huge, loud meow.

"We could curse her and leave before Filch gets here," I suggested.

"No ... then he'll know it was someone other than Peeves."

"But we need to get out before - "

Too late, Filch was in the room. Mrs. Norris meowed and walked over to him. She brushed up against him and led him to the shields that were spread across the floor. Filch stared at the scene angrily for a second before he roared, "PEEVES!"

At that moment, I realized my leg was asleep. I was sitting in an awkward position and needed to get out of it. I moved as slowly as possible, trying to make only a tiny amount of movement, but Filch saw my shadow move out of the corner of his eye. He turned around sharply, focused on the suit of armor.

Mrs. Norris meowed and headed over to us. I held my breath, waiting for it to happen. Filch was going to find us and we would be caught. As she turned the corner, she saw us huddled together, trying to hide. Her fur bristled and she spat angrily, calling Filch over.

"Found somebody, my sweet?" Filch asked.

Mrs. Norris meowed in reply, but at that moment another noise pierced the stillness: "Wheeeeee!"

Peeves was outside the doorway, singing again. Filch roared his name and rushed out; Mrs. Norris followed. From the noise outside, I could tell Filch was chasing Peeves. Slowly I crawled out from behind the armor and peered outside the doorway. Peeves was above Filch, blowing a raspberry at him. They were far enough away that we could sneak into the empty classroom around the corner.

I motioned for Theodore to follow me. He crept out quietly and we quickly hurried to the classroom. In just a few seconds I'd unlocked the door, ran inside, closed it, and locked it again.

"Made it," I whispered to Theodore, who had come in right behind me. Kneeling down in front of the door, I peered into the keyhole. I saw Filch chasing Peeves down the stairs to the floor below.

"Filch is gone," I said. I turned to him, still on the floor, and said, "I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry. I didn't mean for us to nearly get caught like that. It would have been better to go during the day. It was a stupid idea. We hardly discovered anything."

"But now you know your mother was top in her year all through her Hogwarts life."

"Yes. I guess."

I stood up and leaned against the door. Tonight hadn't answered anything; it had only brought about more questions. Theodore seemed to realize this as he said, "Come on. We should go back to our dormitories."

"But what if Filch is still out?"

"He'll be below you. You can get to Gryffindor Tower easily."

"But you're going to the dungeons. He might see you on the way down. What if you get caught?"

"So what if I do?"

"It'll be my fault."

"Stop. I went with you so I'm at fault just as much. Honestly, I don't care if I get caught. It won't be the first time I've served detention, so don't worry about me."

"Okay," I said. "But if you do get caught, you can blame it on me."

"I told you to stop," he said as he opened the trophy room door. "It's late."

"Yeah. I guess."

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said before kissing me goodnight. "Bye, Lyra."

"Bye."

I turned around and headed for the stairs. Obviously the trophy room wasn't going to give me what I wanted. If I wanted answers, facts, or the truth, I was going to have to search elsewhere.

However, there was only one place I could think of, and going there would be far more risky than sneaking into the trophy room at night.