“Why were you up all night?” asked Lily curiously.
“Oh, um,” said James awkwardly. He had forgotten that Lily didn’t know about Remus’s condition. “Er “ stomachache.”
“Oh,” Lily shrugged. “I thought it might have been to finish your homework.”
James froze with his fork halfway to his lips. Sirius choked on his sausage mid-swallow.
“Homework?” asked James, his voice coming out much higher than he intended, while he pounded a coughing Sirius on the back. “Did we have homework last night?”
“Just a Defense Against the Dark Arts essay,” Lily answered, “and a star chart. But you did it, of course.”
There was an awkward silence, broken only by Sirius’s hacking coughs.
“Didn’t you?” said Lily finally.
“I finished my homework after dinner,” Peter informed them.
“Lucky you,” said James sarcastically. Sirius was beginning to turn blue.
“So you didn’t do it?” questioned Lily severely. “Ohhh, you’re going to be in so much trou “”
“Not now, Lily,” James quickly cut her off. He stood, and yanked the still choking Sirius to his feet as well. “I’ve got to get Sirius to the hospital wing before he stops breathing!”
“Very well, I’ll tell Professor Venenum where you’ve gone,” Lily told him. “Where is Jocelyn?” she wondered irritably, looking around for her friend.
“No idea,” James answered as he began half-dragging, half-carrying Sirius away. “I’d love to stay and chat, Lils, really, but “”
“Yes, yes, go!” snapped Lily, waving him away.
James had just made it into the entrance hall when Jocelyn came bounding down a stairwell, nearly colliding with him.
“There you two are!” she exclaimed. “I was afraid I wasn’t going to find you in ti “ what’s the matter with Sirius?” she questioned, noticing his blue complexion.
“Oh, he’s just choking,” James answered impatiently, “and I’m just trying to get him to the hospital wing before he suffocates, but really, it can wait for whatever ‘important’ thing it is you need to tell me!”
“Oh,” Jocelyn paused. “Well I’ll come with you then and explain on the way,” she decided after a moment. She took Sirius’s other arm and began helping James drag him along. “Now last night, after you three left, I remembered that we had that Defense Against the Dark Arts essay due, and I knew you two hadn’t done it. So “”
“Yes, yes, I already know all about that,” snapped James, “and I am perfectly prepared to serve detention, and I’m sure Sirius will be too, once he’s started breathing again.”
“Would you shut up and listen to me!” Jocelyn growled. “I took those quills you two bewitched to write in your handwriting “ because you kept getting writer’s cramp, do you remember?”
James nodded.
“All right, so I took those, and wrote your essays for you,” she finished.
“Oh,” said James, surprised at her generosity. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she answered crisply. “Ah, here we are.”
She and James turned into the hospital wing.
“Oh, it’s you three again, is it?” asked Madame Pomfrey irritably when she saw them. “Well, what is it this time? Been doing something dangerous again, I suppose.”
“Er, no, Sirius just choked on some sausage,” James told her, suddenly feeling very stupid.
“Well, at least it wasn’t another one of those stray curses he always seems to be getting hit with,” said Madame Pomfrey. “Let’s take a look at him.”
Five minutes later James, Jocelyn, and a now breathing Sirius walked into the third floor classroom they had Defense Against the Dark Arts in.
“Black!” snapped Professor Venenum as soon as they’d entered the room.
Sirius and Jocelyn stopped, looked at the Professor, and then at each other.
“You,” snarled Professor Venenum, pointing at Jocelyn, “are late! Explain yourself!”
“I had to take Sirius to the hospital wing,” said Jocelyn slowly.
“I was under the impression Mr. Potter was taking care of that,” said the Professor coldly.
“Well I was Professor,” James jumped in quickly. “But I needed help, because “”
“I am not interested in your excuses, Mr. Potter,” said Professor Venenum icily. “Ten points from Gryffindor for each of you, and detention for Miss Black.”
“But Professor “” Sirius began.
“For you as well, Mr. Black, for questioning me,” snarled Professor Venenum.
“Professor, that’s not “” James started to protest.
“And you, Mr. Potter!”
“But you can’t do that, Professor,” cried Lily, surprising everyone, including herself. Everyone stared at her. Professor Venenum’s cold eyes turned onto her. The whole class seemed to hold its breath.
“Perhaps you would like to serve detention with your classmates, Miss Evans?” Professor Venenum asked her, his voice quiet and deadly.
“You can’t give detentions to any of us, we haven’t done anything,” Lily told him firmly, “and the school rules clearly state that teachers can’t give detentions unless “”
“I will give detentions when and to whom I please, Miss Evans,” the Professor informed her. “And you will join your classmates in the Potions corridor at eight o’clock tonight!”
“I’ve never gotten detention in my life!” Lily complained, as she, Jocelyn, Sirius, and James made their way down to the dungeons that evening.
“Cheer up, at least you’ve got company,” Sirius comforted. “The first time I got detention it was alone, and it was rather boring.”
“But I’m Head Girl,” Lily wailed. “This is really embarrassing.”
“I’m Head Boy, and this is the fifth time I’ve got it,” James reminded her.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, James, but that’s not exactly surprising,” Lily told him sarcastically.
“She’s got a point, you know,” Jocelyn noted.
“You know, the problem with you girls is that you’re always so negative!” James declared. “Why don’t you look on the bright side for a change?”
“James, we have detention,” said Lily. “What could possibly be bright in that?”
“Well, it’s not with Filch, for starters,” James noted.
“Yeah, we could be polishing the trophy room,” said Sirius, making a face. “That was the worst detention I’ve ever had!”
“Yeah, instead we’re with Venenum, and he’s not so bad,” James said cheerfully. “He’ll just make us pickle toad brains or something.”
Lily shuddered.
“I’d rather polish the trophies,” she muttered.
“You don’t mean that!” said Sirius in a horrified voice.
“I hate touching dead things,” Lily reminded him.
“Oh, yeah, you do, don’t you?” Sirius remembered glumly. “Okay, bad example.”
“Maybe he’ll just give us lines,” suggested Jocelyn hopefully.
Lily gave her a look.
“What?” Jocelyn asked.
“Oh, forgive me for not jumping for joy,” snapped Lily sarcastically.
“Detention is not meant to be a joyful experience,” James pointed out.
“Detention is not meant to be given to Head Girls who have homework to finish,” Lily retorted.
“You have homework to finish?” questioned Jocelyn incredulously. “Due when, next April?”
“Ha ha,” replied Lily dryly as they turned into the Potions corridor.
Professor Venenum did indeed make them pickle toad brains, just as James had predicted. Lily began with a very pinched expression on her face, and ended half-an-hour later by being violently sick in Venenum’s cauldron. The disgusted Professor instructed James to take her to the hospital wing, telling him they were both done for the night, which was lucky, as they both had patrol duty at nine. Jocelyn and Sirius were dismissed a quarter after ten. They were walking back to the common room, laughing about the look on Professor Venenum’s face when Lily had vomited into his top-of-the-line cauldron, when they came upon Narcissa.
“What’s she doing out at this hour?” Sirius questioned in an undertone. Before Jocelyn could answer, Narcissa spoke.
“Well, well, look what we have here: Sirius and Adhara, the two Blacks of Canis Majoris,” she sneered.
“Aw, Narcissa, I thought you failed Astronomy,” said Jocelyn sweetly. Canis Majoris was the constellation that contained Sirius and Adhara, the two stars Sirius and Jocelyn had been named after.
Narcissa didn’t even flinch.
“It’s so appropriate really,” she continued, as if she hadn’t even heard. “The two dogs of the family.”
Sirius’s reaction was almost imperceptible.
“I believe the term you’re looking for is ‘sheep’, isn’t it Narcissa?” he growled. “‘Black sheep.’”
Narcissa smiled sourly.
“How amusing,” she said smoothly. “But dog really is more appropriate, isn’t it? Especially for you, Sirius.”
Sirius gritted his teeth.
“Is there a reason you’re talking to us, Narcissa,” he growled.
“I have a message for you, from my sister,” she said, boredly examining her nails.
“Andromeda?” asked Sirius eagerly.
“Bella,” Narcissa smiled. “She says to watch your back. Next time you won’t be so lucky.”
“Next time we won’t be so lucky!” scoffed Sirius. “If she’d been there that night she’d be with her mad cronies, sharing a nice cup of tea with the dementors in Azkaban! Tell her to watch her own back, or that’s just where she’ll find herself!”
Narcissa raised her eyebrows. She seemed to be enjoying herself.
“Is that a threat, Sirius?” she asked him, with the hint of an amused smile.
“Yes, it’s a bloody “!” Sirius began angrily, but Jocelyn cut him off.
“Sirius, no!” she said warningly.
Sirius looked at her, and in the moment their eyes locked he hesitated.
“Yes, that’s right Sirius,” said Narcissa softly. “If you don’t care about yourself, at least think of Adhara… and her family. They’re not as respected as yours.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Jocelyn sharply.
“Merely that the Dark Lord has “ how should I say it? Ah yes, little patience with blood-traitors like your parents, Adhara,” said Narcissa smoothly.
“You leave her parents out of this!” Sirius shouted.
“Oh, but I’m afraid that’s not possible, Sirius,” said Narcissa in mock distress. “They’re already in it. Much more than you realize. I’ll give Bella your message. See you later.” And with that she was gone.
Sirius and Jocelyn looked at each other for a long time.
“What did she mean by that?” Jocelyn finally asked shakily.
“She meant this is serious,” Sirius answered. “She meant “ this is war.”
A/N: Just to give you all a heads up, the next few chapters are going to be kind of dark and angsty.