Neither Hayley nor Remus had ventured out of their dormitories all day, not even for meals. James therefore took it upon himself to visit Remus at lunchtime with a plate piled high with food. However, James had only managed to get as far as opening the door before Remus hurled a string of raging nonsense at him “ forcing James to make a hasty retreat, leaving the food outside as he went. Emma along with Lily and Kirsty would have also liked to employ a similar gesture of goodwill towards Hayley, but they were unable to fathom the way into the Ravenclaw common room. The only person who was capable of helping them in this predicament was Remus, and he wasn’t in a fit state to tell anyone anything.
The remainder of the weekend didn’t do much to elevate the group’s levels of joy either. The group as a whole had spent the majority of it in silence, with all of them silently thinking over everything that had happened. Shock was still the dominant emotion. None of them could believe that Remus and Hayley had actually broken up. It had taken so long for them to become a couple and just like that, it was all over.
Remus finally ventured out of the boys’ dormitory on Saturday afternoon but he’d refused to speak to anyone. Emma and the other girls had also spotted Hayley in the Great Hall a few times, but every time they would make a move to approach her, Hayley somehow managed to make a miraculous disappearance.
With the dawning of Monday morning, however, came a much-welcomed change of pace. Hayley and Remus were about to be unceremoniously forced into contact with each other. They had lessons together so avoidance would be almost impossible. As much as they both might wish to, they couldn’t exactly hide under the duvet covers forever either.
On Monday morning, a very determined Lily succeeded in dragging a very reluctant Emma out of bed at a very unreasonable hour. The plan, which they had agreed on the night before, was to get an early start and to go and stake out the Ravenclaw common room until breakfast. The idea was that Hayley shouldn’t be allowed to avoid them, no matter how much they may deserve it.
And so that was how Emma, Kirsty and Lily all came to be slumped groggily against a damp, stone Hogwarts wall at the bottom of the staircase up to Ravenclaw Tower before sunrise on a weekday morning.
Emma took the opportunity to exploit the group’s current motionless state to rest her eyes for a few moments. However, her eyelids had barely crashed shut before footsteps could be heard descending the spiral staircase.
Kirsty and Lily leapt up, leaving Emma to raise herself gently to her feet, leaning against the wall for support. Hayley’s face froze when she laid eyes upon the welcoming committee laid out before her. Emma only managed to catch a fleeting glimpse of Hayley’s look of horror before Hayley spun around on her heel and started walking back up the staircase.
Lily darted forward, holding her arms out coaxingly towards Hayley, beseeching her to come back into the fold. “Hey,” Lily said, a small tremor of uncertainty present in her voice.
Hayley’s shoulders sagged as she let out a huge sigh, and, with what looked like a great effort on her part, Hayley turned to face them all once more. “Hey,” she replied in monotone, as if she was bored with the conversation already.
“Are you okay?” Lily asked, taking another step forward, her eyes fixed on Hayley’s pastier than usual face.
“Huh,” mocked Hayley, indulging in a small, mirthless laugh. “Like you care.”
“What?” cried Lily, aghast. “Of course we care! Hayley, we’re your friends!”
The mirthless laugh came again, sounding weird coming from Hayley’s throat. “Hmm. Friends who are seemingly intent on keeping something from me.”
Lily lowered her arms, looking stunned and flummoxed for what to say next. Emma turned to look at Kirsty, who was biting her lip like she always did when she wished to refrain from showing emotion. Good, thought Emma, maybe a little emotion is exactly what we need here. That’d prove to Hayley how much we care.
Emma swivelled her head between her two fellow Gryffindors, what with Lily stumped after Hayley’s accusation and Kirsty suffering from a sudden emotional surge the task of smoothing things over then fell to the last resort “ Emma.
Emma took a deep breath and begun her argument. “Look, Hayley, you have to understand that we have no choice. Remus”“
At the mere mention of Remus’ name, a sudden fire kindled within Hayley’s eyes. “Just leave me alone, all right?” she spat, her voice containing more venom then Slughorn’s entire potion store put together. She then began to storm off.
Nice one, Emma, Emma applauded herself. That was exactly why Lily was placed in charge of the operation. Trust Emma to royally put her foot in it.
“But, Hayley”” shouted Kirsty, in one final attempt at reconciliation.
“Listen,” cried Hayley, her eyes now ablaze with an uncontained fury, “You’ve made it perfectly clear where your loyalties lie. I’m the Ravenclaw outsider, I get it. Now leave me the hell alone!”
And with that she was gone.
It was with heavy hearts that Emma, Kirsty and Lily arrived at the breakfast table at a little past seven o’clock. Emma slumped down on the bench besides Sam, and he placed his hand reassuringly on her knee, rightly sensing that things had not gone according to plan.
Remus remained staring into his cereal bowl as if mesmerised. He looked as if he was wishing that it were him rather than the remaining soggy cornflake that was drowning in an ocean of creamy white milk.
“I take it it didn’t go well then?” asked James, defeatism creeping into the lines of his face.
“Disastrous,” answered Lily, grabbing a piece of toast and buttering it with agitated jerks of her hand.
“What’s this?” asked Remus, lifting his head up for what Emma guessed was the first time that morning and speaking to them directly for the first time since before the weekend.
Emma and Lily both opened their mouths to answer, but it was Kirsty who beat them to the punch, “We went to see Hayley, and unfortunately, but not all too surprisingly, she didn’t want to see us!”
“Oh,” stated Remus simply, his voice taking on the texture of gravel.
Kirsty glared at him and her eyebrows knitted together in anger. “Oh? Is that all you can say, Remus Lupin?”
“What do you want from me?” he demanded, his own anger rising up to battle against Kirsty’s.
“Some compassion at the very least. Not only have you lost yourself your girlfriend, but you’ve lost us our best friend too! And all because you’re intent on keeping everything a bloody secret!” Kirsty stopped, breathing hard and in her fury, she had raised herself onto her feet.
Remus too got to his feet, his face rapidly turning puce as he replied with a voice that sounded unsettlingly ominous, “I don’t know how you dare talk to me about keeping secrets, Kirst.”
Kirsty’s whole face jolted in shock, and Lily and Emma shared a fleeting look of apprehension. Kirsty lowered her gaze from Remus’ and stammered, “W-what?”
Remus walked down the length of the table and stopped by Kirsty’s side. He then leant in towards her ear and said maliciously, loud enough for the entire group to here, “Oh I think it would be best for you if I didn’t explain, but I can tell you that we’re on the exact same wavelength. So if I were you I’d think long and hard about that fact before you go talking to me about Hayley like that again.” Without another word, Remus disappeared out of the Great Hall.
Kirsty slowly sank back down on the bench, looking stunned beyond belief. Pulling her plate towards her, she then jabbed her sausage ferociously with her fork.
Hayley peered cautiously into the Great Hall at lunchtime. The Marauders and the girls were still in there filling their faces. Great, she thought as her stomach gave a demanding growl.
She turned away and headed out into the courtyard. If she stayed there and read for a while she’d be able to spot the group of friends as they headed back upstairs to collect their things. Then that would pave the way for her to sneak inside the Great Hall and grab a quick sandwich or two.
Hayley just couldn’t bear the idea of sitting in the same room as them all, which made lessons absolute torture. She couldn’t bear coming into contact with the girls not when she knew they had willingly kept something important from her. But more importantly, she missed them all, and sitting in lessons without them and not eating meals with them in the Great Hall was killing her. As if it wasn’t enough that she had lost her boyfriend, she had to deal with losing her best friends too.
It seemed to take forever but eventually a gaggle of voices were heard coming from the Entrance Hall. From her vantage point, Hayley peered over the top of her book to see the group happily chatting away as they ascended the Grand Staircase. However, what Hayley failed to notice was how stilted the conversation actually was.
Grabbing the opportunity with both hands, Hayley closed her book with a sharp snap and headed in the direction of much needed food. However, she was so eager to follow her complaining stomach that she ran into someone head-on.
The book flew out of her hands and laid sprawled open several feet away from the spot where Hayley was knocked to the floor. “Sorry,” she mumbled, scooping her hair from in front of her eyes to catch a look at her assailant. She had to hide her shock when a familiar head of greasy black hair swam in front of her eyes.
“Watch where you’re going!” fumed Snape, staggering back into an upright position.
“I’m sorry, all right?” retorted Hayley testily, brushing herself down.
The look of annoyance on Snape’s face slowly disappeared as he surveyed Hayley with much more intent than was necessary. A nasty sneer then presented itself on his face. “Not looking yourself today, Jones, I must say. I suspect Lupin must have had you up all night last night.”
Hayley looked up at him in disgust for such a blatantly crude remark. “What?” she snapped back.
“Although, I must admit I do sort of admire you for being able to put up with something like that.” Snape continued in what could be considered a rather conversational tone, but it was the malicious glint in his eye, however, that suggested otherwise.
“Excuse me?” asked Hayley, growing rather impatient along with her stomach.
“Don’t you ever worry about what he might do to you?” asked Snape, sounding genuinely intrigued.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Hayley informed him, becoming bored with the proceedings. She made to sidestep him, but he blocked her. Hayley looked up at him out of narrowed eyes.
“Look,” said Snape, in what sounded like an attempt to be reasonable. “I’m just showing my admiration. After all, there aren’t many girls who would put up with their boyfriend being werewolf.”
Hayley thought that she must have misheard him at first. She stared up into Snape’s smug face and blinked uncomprehendingly. Her mind went into overdrive, calculations whirring away inside her brain as rapid as a spinning top. Puzzle pieces slotted into place so easily that Hayley marvelled at how she had not completed it sooner. Shock resounded through her entire body, leaving only the sound of blood pumping inside her ears.
She pushed passed Snape on wobbly legs that could barely hold her weight, and gulping down the bile that rose inside her throat Hayley dashed up the staircase. She was so distracted that she didn’t even see Kirsty and Emma as she charged passed them.
“Woah, Hayley! Wait!” shouted Kirsty as Hayley when darting past her shoulder.
“Was she”” began Emma.
“Crying?” supplied Kirsty. “Yeah, I think so, or at least she was on the verge of doing so.”
“Should we go after her do you think?” asked Emma, feeling uncertain.
“You heard her earlier, she said she wanted to be left alone,” reasoned Kirsty, sounding deflated.
Emma heaved a heavy sigh and turned to gaze back down at the students milling about in the Entrance Hall as they waited for the rest of their group to arrive. Her eyes soon snapped back over in Snape’s direction. She and Kirsty had seen him talking to Hayley a split second before she had bolted, and now Snape stood looking up at the two of them with a lip-curling smirk upon his face.
“Why is Snape looking at us like that? And why is Hayley doing a good impression of Niagara Falls?” questioned Emma.
“Are you suggesting that we put two and two together?” asked Kirsty. Emma replied with a curt nod. “Let’s do it then. Time to interrogate. Who’s going to be the good Auror and who’s going to be the bad one?”
“Wait,” instructed Emma, flinging her arm out and halting Kirsty as she started down the staircase. “How about one of us goes and talks to Snape and the other one goes to look for Hayley?”
“All right,” agreed Kirsty somewhat reluctantly.
“Okay, you go after Hayley and maybe grab Lily along the way,” decided Emma.
“Hang on, why do you get to bully Snape?” whined Kirsty.
Emma laughed. “Because you know the secret passages better than I do and therefore you’ll be able to find them quicker.”
“Fine,” relented Kirsty.
Emma smiled and turned to look over at Snape again. He was looking much more menacing than usual. She gulped. “And maybe you could go and fetch me a Marauder or two while you’re at it?” pleaded Emma.
Kirsty roared with laughter. “It looks like we forgot to mention the wimpy Auror.”
Emma slapped her lightly on the shoulder for her impertinence. “Go on, get going before Hayley makes it back to the Ravenclaw common room and we’re left back at square one.”
“Right, good luck,” said Kirsty, smirking slightly at Emma as she ran up the staircase, taking the steps two at a time.
Emma took a calming breath as she watched Snape idly twiddling his wand between his fingers. Feeling wary, Emma eyed it up and down. “On second thoughts!” she yelled at Kirsty’s retreating figure as she bounded up the stairs after her. “I’m coming with you!”
As Emma joined her, Kirsty turned to her friend, perplexed. She raised her eyebrows questioningly.
“What?” asked Emma, trying to sound innocent. “I just thought it would be better if we both went looking for Hayley.”
“Sure you did,” said Kirsty, her voice full of scepticism as she looked at Emma in amusement. “But how are we going to find out what’s wrong with Hayley now?”
“By asking Hayley of course,” responded Emma, like it was the most obvious answer in the world.
“And what if Hayley’s already locked herself deep within Ravenclaw Tower?” questioned Kirsty, giving Emma a scornful look.
Emma felt deflated for a moment. Maybe she should go back and interrogate Snape after all. Fortunately, inspiration struck just in time. “Then we find Remus and dangle him upside down until he tells us how to get into that blasted common room.”
A slow grin formed on Kirsty’s face. “Brilliant. Given the circumstances I much prefer bullying Remus to bullying Snape.”
“Exactly,” exclaimed Emma, as if that had been the reasoning behind her idea all along. “Now come on, let’s find her.”
And with that, the two girls went jogging off down the corridor, leaving a sneering Snape in their wake.
The girls ran themselves ragged darting all over Hogwarts looking for the illustrious Hayley Jones. Kirsty and Emma had picked Lily up along the way as they had been fortunate enough to run into her and the boys not long after they had escaped from Snape’s malevolent presence.
Because Remus had been with them Kirsty and Emma had been unable to explain sufficiently why Lily was being so dramatically dragged away, but James, Sirius and Peter had all vouched that they would cover for them in lessons that afternoon.
As they had ran off, James had mentioned that he thought that a nice bout of Scrofungulus would do the trick. But the girls had departed so fast that Lily didn’t even get the chance to see whether or not he was joking.
They returned to the Gryffindor common room in the early evening feeling exhausted and deflated. Hayley had been nowhere in sight. For the last hour, the three girls had taken once again to camping outside Ravenclaw Tower trying to bribe any unsuspecting Ravenclaws into either giving them the password or telling them whether Hayley was indeed in there. It was safe to say that this venture had not been in the slightest bit successful.
Without saying a word to one another, Emma, Lily and Kirsty all ascended the staircase up into their dormitory. Emma’s intention was simply to crash down on her bed and wallow in self-pity, and she idly wondered if the other two would be joining her in this activity.
However, as the door into their room creaked open the three of them halted their tracks. There, sitting on Lily’s bed was Hayley. Her eyes were blood shot and the red leaked outwards forming a red rim around her eyes. Her eyes were misted over with the tears that her tear ducts were now too sore to shed. She sat staring unseeingly up at the ceiling, emanating the occasional sniffle.
“Oh, Hayley!” cried Lily, flying over to her and enveloping her tightly in her arms. “What’s wrong?”
Emma and Kirsty inched towards the bed, both looking just as uncomfortable with the situation as the other did.
Hayley started and stared at the three girls in turn, as if she had only just become aware of their presence. Her face crumpled and fresh tears stung her face.
Lily pulled her cheek onto her shoulder and rocked her gently like an infant. She threw Kirsty and Emma a look of high concern and helplessness.
“Come on, Hayley, you can tell us,” Emma soothed, coming over to sit down on the edge of Lily’s bed.
“Yeah,” agreed Kirsty, following suit, “We’re here for you.”
Hayley gulped. “I know.”
Emma, Lily and Kirsty smiled gratefully. “Glad to hear it,” said Kirsty, smiling warmly at her.
“No,” announced Hayley, her tone sharp. She struggled free of Lily’s grasp and wiped the tears from her eyes with the corner of her sleeve, wincing at the rawness of her skin. “I know,” she said, purposefully drawing out the vowel sound.
“Know what?” asked Emma, pretending to look perplexed as she shared a darting look of apprehension with Lily and Kirsty.
Hayley let out a shaky breath, trying to harden her trembling jaw before she spoke. “I know that Remus is a werewolf.”
Emma, Kirsty and Lily jolted with shock; the worst had been confirmed. Lily recovered the quickest and wrapped Hayley within her arms once more, Hayley’s tears wetting her shoulder.
“Hayley, I’m so sorry,” said Kirsty.
“But it’s not the end of the world,” soothed Emma. “He’s still the same person and he’d never hurt you.”
Hayley raised her head and shot Emma a filthy look. “You think that’s why I’m crying?” she spat.
“Well, I”” fumbled Emma.
“Well, it’s not!” she cried. “I know he’s the same and I still love him. I’m crying about the injustice of it all. Why did something like this have to happen to him? He doesn’t deserve it! We don’t deserve it! How could he keep this from me? Did he honestly think I’d be that prejudiced?” she began to rant, her sadness quickly transforming into anger.
“Hayley, he didn’t know what to think. He didn’t want to lose you, or worse, hurt you. He loves you more than anything, that I can guarantee,” explained Lily, rhythmically stroking Hayley’s back.
Sobs wracked Hayley’s body and she clung to Lily for dear life. “Oh, my poor Remus! What he must have been going through?”
“Hayley, I know this is hard,” said Kirsty, keeping her voice low as if she were approaching a crouched dragon. “But we need to know, how did you find out?”
After several failed attempts at talking through her wailing sobs, Hayley eventually choked out, “Snape told me.”
Lily released her hold on Hayley as if she had been burnt. Her face contorted into a scowl, as she fumed, “I don’t believe this!”
Kirsty’s anger came out in a low growl, “Yeah, the sneaky, slimy haired bast””
“No!” exclaimed Hayley. “I’m glad he told me, or else I might have never found out.” Here she shot a small scowl at each of the three girls.
“Still,” argued Lily. “This time he’s gone too far.” She stood up and marched over to the door.
Emma and Kirsty leapt to their feet. “Where are you going?” demanded Emma.
“To find him,” she stated simply, and with that she threw open the door and stomped down the stairs.
Kirsty gave Emma a look of determination and swept out of the room after Lily. As soon as she reached the top of the staircase, however, Lily’s voice hollered from below her, “Alone, Kirst!”
Kirsty walked back into the dormitory, looking like a dog that had just been denied a very juicy bone. “She knows me too well,” she said. A small smile tugged at Hayley’s lips at Kirsty’s comment.
“Right,” announced Emma, going into organisational mode. “Kirst, you get the chocolates and I’ll get the tissues. We are going to talk this out,” Emma told Hayley.
“Thanks, guys,” Hayley said, trying to express through her sincere tone how much she really meant it.
“Hey, what are friends for?” asked Kirsty as she started to rummage around in the emergency chocolate cupboard.
Snape stood by the fountain in the courtyard, watching as a group of Slytherin fifth years bullied two young Gryffindor boys.
Marching footsteps drew his attention away from the action and he looked up towards the castle to see Lily storming through the Entrance Hall. Her gaze was pinned on him, and his stomach would have no doubt done a small flip of ecstasy if it hadn’t been for the blazing anger streaking across her face.
He stood and watched her approach, taking the chance to drink in her appearance. He had almost forgotten just how beautiful she was. Over the years it had become harder and harder to catch a significant glimpse of her. Someone always surrounded her and she was always laughing and smiling, taunting him.
But now, as she approached him there was no smiling, no laughing, only anger and hatred. The story of his life.
She stopped a couple of feet in front of him, the fury that was etched into her face not relenting one bit. “That was completely uncalled for!” she fumed.
“Excuse me?” he demanded, taken aback and slightly preoccupied by the familiar lilt in her voice.
“What gives you the right to go and interfere in other people’s affairs?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about and no idea why you’d be talking to me about it anyway. The last time I checked you don’t talk to me anymore, remember?” he tried hard not to let his hurt at her indifference to him project itself into his voice.
“You told Hayley about Remus!” she cried, her voice a mixture of exasperation, anger and disbelief.
Snape’s brow furrowed. “Yeah, and?” he asked, indifferent. Lily scowled at him. Catching her drift, Snape replied in shock, “You mean she didn’t know?”
“No,” Lily told him shortly. “So a job bloody well done, Sev!”
“Merlin, I’m sorry,” he said, trying to make it sound genuine.
“Yeah, right,” she scoffed, making to turn away.
“No, really, I am. I didn’t mean to stir up trouble. Wait, you mean to say you know all about Lupin too?” he asked, genuinely shocked that she’d consciously choose to hang around with a dangerous werewolf.
“Yes, the Marauders told me,” she informed him, sounding quite bored with the proceedings now.
Desperate to keep her there talking to him so that he could merely listen to her voice, Snape scoffed. “So even you’re in on the nickname now, eh? You always hated hearing them being called that when you were with me.”
“Yeah, well, there are a lot of things that I used to hate when I was around you, Sev,” she said vindictively.
“Potter,” snarled Snape, his face contorting into a look of revulsion by the mere sound of his name on his own lips.
“James,” Lily corrected him, her tone stern and challenging.
Snape sneered, “Oh, of course, I forgot it’s dear James now isn’t it?” He paused then, the old pain awakening within him. He continued but in a voice filled with sincerity. “What are you doing with him, Lily?”
Lily looked taken aback and confused as to why he would ask such a question. “Because I happen to love him, Sev. Something that I discovered once I was free of your poisonous influence.”
Snape spluttered out his next words, unable to believe what he had just heard, “You love him? Oh come on, Lily. No one can go from hate to love like that. Besides this is arrogance personified Potter we’re talking about.”
A fire blazed in Lily’s eyes as she answered him. “I’ve changed, he’s changed, which is a lot more than I can say for some people. Tell me, Sev,” she challenged, “how are Avery and Mulciber?”
It was Snape’s turn to scowl at her. “Those friends of yours have clouded your judgement. We never would have fallen out if it hadn’t been for their blasted interference!”
“Hang on a minute!” exclaimed Lily, her voice turning dangerously ominous. “Is that why you said those things to Hayley? Because you blame them for me falling out with you? Get it through your thick skull, Sev; they were nothing to do with it! Take a good look in the mirror and you’ll see who caused it all. They opened my eyes to what you had become and I dread to think what I would have become had I stuck around with you. I’m happy and I’m in love and you, Severus Snape, are poisonous!” she spat at him.
“Poisonous? Poisonous?” he choked, his eyes bulging in anger.
“Yes, poisonous! The only reason you told Hayley about Remus was to even the score over some petty schoolboy grudge!”
Snape was seething with anger now. “Petty grudge? You know nothing about it! You don’t know what they did to me! Go on, ask me how I found out about what Lupin is?”
“Fine,” Lily relented, “how do you know?”
“Maybe I shouldn’t tell you,” Snape considered, “I would hate you to think that I was poisoning you against your friends.”
“Oh, for Merlin’s sake!” shouted Lily, sounding riled. “Just spit it out, Sev!”
“Do you remember the night that Potter saved me from the Whomping Willow?”
For a moment Lily looked like she was going to reprimand him again for saying Potter but instead, she replied, “Vividly.”
“I saw Lupin in his werewolf form that night. But the only reason I went down there was because Black told me to. He tried to kill me, and he would’ve done if that boyfriend of yours hadn’t of pulled me away in order to save his own skin. What do you think of the company you keep now?” he challenged her. “Not so high and mighty after all, eh?
Lily stood before him, dumbfounded. Then she gazed up at him and it looked like some sort of fog had lifted. Slowly she announced, weariness present in her tone, “I don’t care about what Sirius has done in the past. All I care about is the person he is now. And I can honestly say that there’s no one that I trust more with my life than him. He’s changed from the boy you resent so much, and he’s a good person. I can understand why Sirius did what he did, I don’t forgive it, but nor do I condemn it. It’s you that I can’t fathom, Severus. Sirius came from a cruel and hateful family just like you. So why is it that he is capable of change and you aren’t?” she looked up at him out of sad eyes then, as if mourning the loss of the childhood friend she once knew.
Anger flaring up inside him at the mere thought of a comparison being made between himself and Sirius, he exclaimed, intent on making a malicious comment about Sirius and Kirsty, “Maybe I just don’t have the motivation that Black has.”
Solemnly Lily reasoned, “Maybe you’re right. I gave you a chance once, Sev, and you chose. You chose the path to evil along with your other friends who you thought knew you so much better. I can’t help you now, not do I want to. Goodbye, I hope you’re happy.”
And with that, she turned her back on him. Forever.
Snape stormed back to the Slytherin common room, his mind plagued by Lily’s words. Anger and jealousy were eating him up inside. He couldn’t wipe images of Lily and James together from his mind. How could she do this to him? Didn’t she know how much it made him ache to see her with her tongue stuck down the throat of his sworn enemy?
If only he could make her feel the hurt that she had caused him. Briefly, he entertained the idea of finding a girlfriend himself to make Lily jealous. However, he reasoned that Lily probably wouldn’t even bat an eyelid at this and that he had never been successful when it came to girls anyway.
As he entered the dank, dark common room, it became apparent that Snape wasn’t the only one who was currently doing battle with the green-eyed monster.
Regulus stood leaning against the stone fireplace looking over at the tangled mixture of limbs that were Avery and Lucinda’s as they lay entwined on the sofa. Regulus looked like he was entertaining the thought of throwing Avery headlong into the roaring fire.
Rosier sat on the armchair in the corner, surrounded by his usual gaggle of fan girls and Regulus turned to shoot a wistful look in his direction. In the half-light cast by the fire, Regulus looked like the spitting image of his older brother. At the thought of Sirius, Snape’s stomach twisted into an uncomfortable knot.
Sian Morgan sat over at a table with her homework spread out before her, steeling occasional glances Avery’s way. It seemed to Snape as if love was in the air, but only the lucky bastards were fortunate enough to inhale it.
Snape flopped down onto the sofa by the fire and seconds later Mulciber came to occupy the space beside him. “What’s up with you?” he asked, rightly judging the expression on Snape’s face.
“I just had an argument,” replied Snape cagily.
“The Marauders again?” Mulciber asked, breaking into a chuckle.
“No!” snapped Snape. “Lily.”
“Ah,” commented Mulciber knowledgably, “the other bane in your life. Isn’t it about time you got rid of her? She served her purpose and taught you about the delights of puberty. Now it’s times for her to be discarded.”
Snape glared at him for his crudeness. “We need to do something,” he announced, talking more to himself than Mulciber.
Mulciber took a swig from his Firewhisky fuelled hipflask. “About what?”
“The Marauders of course,” said Snape in frustration.
“Ah, right, of course,” said Mulciber, wiping his lips with the back of his hand. “And why’s that again?”
“Because we haven’t done anything to them in a while,” argued Snape.
“Right,” scoffed Wilkes, sidling over to join them. “And this would have nothing to do with the fact that Potter has the power to shag Evans anytime he wants, and you… er… don’t?”
Snape screwed up his face in revulsion. “You’re disgusting.”
“Touchy, touchy,” scathed Wilkes. “You always did have a wand stuck up your arse where that Mudblood was concerned.” Snape stiffened but he contained the urge to reprimand Wilkes.
“So, what exactly did you have in mind?” asked Mulciber, bringing the conversation back to the issue of the Marauders. “What nastiness are we about to unleash on the preening bastards?”
“We’re not going to do anything to them,” stated Snape matter-of-factly.
“What? But you just said”” flared up Wilkes.
“That’d be far too easy,” continued Snape, ignoring the outburst, “nothing we could do to them would ever hurt them deeply enough. We need to go straight for the jugular,” he informed his eager listeners.
“Which is?” demanded Wilkes in exasperation.
“The girls,” said Snape simply.
Sadistic smiles lit up the faces of all the Slytherin males who had been eavesdropping on their conversation.
“Oh yes,” drawled Rosier, extracting himself from his fawning fan club and wandering over to them. “I believe Miss Bembridge and I have some unfinished business.”
“Let’s just hope that North and an ice-cream bowl are nowhere near the vicinity this time, eh?” mocked Regulus, coming to life for the first time since Snape had entered the room.
“You mean to tell us,” piped up one of Rosier’s entourage, “that you prefer some Gryffindor Mudblood to us?”
“Ah, ladies,” he said, walking towards them and enveloping the group within his arms the best he could. “It is the lure of the unattainable I’m afraid. Ain’t that right, Reg?”
“What?” asked Regulus, seeming rather startled.
“Three guesses which girl you’ll be wanting to go after,” sneered Wilkes. “The illustrious Miss White no doubt?” He allowed himself a small leer here.
“Yeah, don’t deny that you’d pass up the chance of pinning her up against a wall,” Mulciber challenged him with a cruel laugh. “Even if it was just a ploy to destroy your brother.”
“After all,” chipped in Wilkes, “incest is best!”
Regulus made a guttural noise of disgust. “They’re not even dating, you pig,” he yelled over at Wilkes. Wilkes dramatically held his hands up in apology, teasing Regulus over his tetchiness.
“Sigh, if only they’d get their act together,” Rosier feigned, letting out a booming laugh. “Then you could really wrench Sirius apart. But in all fairness, guys,” he began, sincerity now present in his tone. “I think we should cut him some slack. I’d willingly go after White too. She just has so much spunk. I remember the first time she told me to shove my wand where the sun don’t shine. I don’t think my dreams have ever been the same since. Hey, Reg, do you fancy double teaming Bembridge and White?”
Regulus shot Rosier a look of revulsion for his last comment but relented, “Fine, I admit it. If we are going through with this then I want to go for White.” Regulus had an almost manic gleam in his eye when he finished.
Silence ensued as Snape and the others sat staring pointedly Avery’s way. In a matter-of-fact tone, Snape announced, “Lupin and Jones have broken up apparently.”
Avery’s head shot up from where he had been tracing kisses down Lucinda’s jaw line. “Really?” he asked, sounding excited. “Okay, you can count me in.”
Mulciber snorted. “Why? Because Lupin would have really put a stop to your proceedings otherwise?”
Huffily Lucinda demanded, “And what’s that brainiac got that I haven’t?”
Avery planted a swift kiss on her lips to placate her. “There’s just something wrong with that level of perfection, it needs to be violated.”
“So I guess that leaves you with Evans then, Snape, look how that turned out,” taunted Wilkes. “Looks like Potter won’t be the only one shagging her after all.” He laughed maliciously at this comment.
Snape chose to ignore the comment but found himself having to swallow down the bile that rose in his throat.
“So when will all this be going ahead?” asked Mulciber, sounding fired up.
“Soon,” announced Snape.
Darkness had now descended upon Hogwarts. James along with Sirius, Remus and Peter was sat down in the common room. The girls were currently up in their dormitory, with Hayley in tow, but James had no idea what was going on, he’d only seen Lily for a couple of minutes that evening and she hadn’t informed him of anything.
James was sitting trying to write his Potions essay, whilst Remus stood staring blankly into the fire, probably worrying about what exactly was going on upstairs. Peter was over in the corner again sitting in on a lengthy discussion with Heather, and Sirius, who was supposed to be doing his Potions homework along with James, instead kept on bombarding James with pointless and infuriating questions whilst tapping his quill in an irritating fashion against his Potions textbook.
Sirius was causing so much of a distraction that James had already had to put several lines through his work.
“But she kissed me,” announced Sirius, keeping his questions along the same train of thought that they had been on all night “ Kirsty. “That’s got to mean something, right?” Sirius pinned his gaze on James, eagerly awaiting a response.
James, realising that he’d get no peace until he answered Sirius’ relentless questions, said, “You kissed her, Padfoot. She didn’t kiss you.”
“It’s the same thing,” replied Sirius dismissively.
“No, it’s not. If she had kissed you then yes that would prove that she like you, but she didn’t. You kissed her, which only goes to prove that you like her and that’s plain useless because we already knew that.”
“But we swapped saliva!” argued Sirius in a whiny voice. “Surely that’s got to count for something?”
“Padfoot,” began James slowly as if explaining something to a very demanding two-year old, “there was no opening for saliva to be swapped. It was barely even a kiss. You and I have shared a more passionate kiss than that little peck between you and Kirst.”
“Humph,” said Sirius, slouching further down in his chair, crossing his arms and taking on a sullen disposition, much like a moody teenager.
Satisfied that he had succeeded in sufficiently shutting Sirius up, James went back to doing his work.
“So are you saying that I shouldn’t go for it with Kirst?” demanded Sirius, looking confused. “Because it wasn’t so long ago that you were telling me to make a play for her.”
Growing more annoyed by the minute, James laid down his quill once again and replied, “Yes, all right, I do think that you and Kirsty would make a very cute couple if you got together.”
“Cute?” cried Sirius, wrinkling his nose in distaste.
“Sorry, mate, but that’s what girls do to you. They turn you into cute.”
“Yeah, I had noticed,” commented Sirius, looking at James with a teasing smirk on his face. James scowled at him. “So, here is what I propose. In order to recover our machismo we need to get back into some pranks.”
“Fine,” relented James, who had actually been craving a little Marauder type havoc himself. “Just let’s not do anything too high profile, all right? I don’t want Lily getting mad at me.”
“Wuss,” jeered Sirius.
Under the pretence of ignoring Sirius for his jibe, James tried to return to work for a third time.
“But then there’s also Debbie. She likes me, she’s pretty, she’s fun and I guess there’s a sort of spark there. What do you think? Should I try and give it a go with someone who obviously fancies the pants of me, or should I continue to relentlessly pursue Kirsty who may never fall for my charms?”
James slammed his quill down and opened his mouth to reply, but the words that emanated around the common room were not the ones that had come from his own mouth.
“For Merlin’s sake, Padfoot! Things aren’t always Black and White, you know!” Remus threw at him. He whipped around to face the two boys, fury painting a picture upon his face. Sirius looked as stunned as James felt.
Remus made to storm off up to the dormitory, but the arrival of a gleeful looking Peter blocked his getaway path. “Hey, guys, guess what?” exclaimed Peter, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet with excitement. “Heather agreed to go out with me! It looks like you’re the last remaining single Marauder now, Padfoot!” he cried, unable to contain his glee.
Remus stared at Peter, stony-faced, before pushing past him without a word and dragging himself up the boys’ staircase.
“Nice one, guys,” said James sarcastically, pity for Remus swelling up inside him.
As Sirius and Peter looked shamefaced, James lay down his quill and finally succumbed to giving his homework a rest for the night.
A week had passed since Hayley had found out about Remus, and she was of the opinion that things definitely didn’t improve with time. She had gone back to being a frequent visitor to the Gryffindor common room, but she spent all of her time with the girls. It was a new form of torture being in the same place as Remus but not able to touch him or talk to him. She also felt continuously guilty for occupying so much of the girls’ time because she knew that it was putting a strain on their relationship with the boys, but Hayley needed their help if she was ever going to get through this.
She was still having trouble actually believing that he was a werewolf. She had never really given much thought to werewolves, except in her Defence against the Dark Arts essays, and now she had to find a way of dealing with her boyfriend being one.
Her emotions kept on flitting from one extreme to the next. One minute she was upset about the break-up and the cruelty of Remus’ condition and the next she was angry at how he had blatantly lied to her. But most of the time she missed him and wanted him back.
She had wondered how Remus would react if she just told him that she knew. Would they be able to work it out and maybe get back together? Alternatively, would he still insist on them being apart for her own protection? However, a large part of her didn’t even want to mention it to him. She was still fuming that he had been unable to share something so important with her. Anger clouded everything else when she thought about how he feared her becoming prejudiced towards him. Could she really bring herself to be with someone who had judged her so poorly?
However, the fact was that Remus had not been far from wrong. Hayley felt ashamed of her feelings towards Remus after finding out about his condition. When she had first bumped into him after finding out, she had immediately scanned his face to see if he looked any different. She had then mentally kicked herself because of course Remus would look the same way he always had.
Sickeningly, the thought of how many people Remus had attacked and hurt in his werewolf form had crossed Hayley’s mind. She’d even wondered if he’d killed. And the fact that she’d allowed herself to think such things just went to show how little she deserved to be with him. Remus had been through too much and he didn’t need to be burdened with someone who wasn’t entirely comfortable with everything about him.
Also, Hayley knew that there were things that she was still being kept in the dark about. Everyone was keeping secrets from her it seemed, cagy looks continued to pass between the girls, and she knew that they were secrets of Remus’. Hayley, however, was determined not to get back together with Remus until he had found it within himself to trust her.
Regulus wandered aimlessly around the castle in a very bad mood. Everywhere that he went just lately, he saw Avery and Lucinda with their tongues down each other’s throats. It made him sick to his stomach. He still didn’t understand why he was so drawn to her, all she ever did was hurl abuse at him. But there was something about her that he was drawn to, and something about her that gave him the primal urge to rip Avery’s head off every time Regulus saw him touching her pearly white skin.
As well as jealousy bubbling up inside him, impatience was brewing up as well. Snape’s plan had not yet come to a head and Regulus was itching for something to happen. Attempts had been made over the last week but no success had been had. This was mainly because the Gryffindor seventh year girls had either been holed away somewhere or were accompanied by their Marauder escorts. Regulus was now more than eager to get his claws deep into Kirsty.
It was practically the Black family motto to get one over on a White. In fact, Regulus was surprised that it didn’t already have its own sideline beside Tonjours Pur.
As Regulus walked briskly into the Entrance Hall, he spotted Debbie Swain standing over in the far corner. A smile graced his features. Hello, what do we have here? Okay, so she wasn’t Kirsty White but she was certainly Sirius’ current number one fan girl. Making her switch her alliances over from his brother to him could be just the thing he had been looking for to give his ego its much-needed boost.
Regulus sidled over to her and engaged her in an effortless chat. He had just been about to progress away from the exchange of pleasantries when an all too familiar and even more unwelcome voice, announced, “Thanks, little bro, I’ll take it from here.”
Regulus swung around to face Sirius, the snarl already in place upon his face. “Will you indeed?” he challenged.
“No offence, Reg, but you’re not exactly her type.” Sirius eyed him up and down, his gaze lingering on Regulus’ left forearm a lot longer than anywhere else. Regulus scowled as his Dark Mark itched irritably.
“Well, I wouldn’t have exactly thought that Debbie here was your type either,” he gazed at his elder brother with an all knowing, cocky smirk taking over his features.
Sirius gave him a hard stare before effortlessly pushing passed him and draping his arm around Debbie’s shoulder. Looking back at Regulus with a gloating smile on his face, Sirius led Debbie away and immersed her in intimate conversation.
Regulus watched him as he left, silently seething. Under his breath, he muttered mutinously, “Just you wait, Sirius, just you wait.”
Kirsty woke up feeling filled with gusto. Sometime during the night, she must have had an epiphany, because now everything seemed clear. Determined to share her newfound clarity with someone, she wrenched open the hangings around Emma’s bed and dived on top of Emma.
“Oof,” grunted Emma.
“Em, wake up!” commanded Kirsty, bouncing up and down on the bed excitedly.
“No cossits t’early,” mumbled Emma, burying her face in her pillow.
Kirsty attempted to be patient and even sat twiddling her thumbs for a while, but the news could not be contained.
“Emma,” said Kirsty, nudging Emma’s shoulder. Emma groaned but made no attempt to get up.
However, Kirsty was nothing if not persistent and she knew that Emma would be equally excited when she heard the news. So after several hard pokes to Emma’s shoulder, neck and face without receiving any substantial reaction, Kirsty decided to just blurt it out.
“Emma,” she said, her voice full of excitement due to the adrenaline that was cursing through her body. “I’ve decided to tell Sirius how much I like him.”
Emma sat bolt upright in bed. “You what?” she asked, rapidly rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
“I’m going to tell him, Em!” Kirsty exclaimed, unable to wipe the wide grin from her face.
“Wait. What’s brought all this on?” Emma asked, her own voice breathy with the contagious excitement.
“Well, I just sort of realised that there’s no point moping about Sirius when I’ve not even tried anything. So, I’m going to try and if I fail then I’ll have a reason to mope.”
“Precisely,” agreed Emma. “Oh, Kirst, this is brilliant! What if he tells you he likes you too?”
Kirsty froze. “I hadn’t really thought about that,” she confessed, unable to envisage the two of them actually becoming a couple.
“Aw, you’d make such a brilliant couple.” Emma grabbed Kirsty and pulled her into a hug.
Kirsty’s heart pumped faster at the prospect of her and Sirius being together. “You really think so?” she asked delightedly.
“I really do,” replied Emma with sincerity. “When are you going to tell him?”
“As soon as I see him, I don’t think I could wait. I’m going to go and get ready!” Kirsty jumped off the bed with a small, excited squeal and ran into the bathroom.
Down at the breakfast table, Kirsty couldn’t sit still. She had already crossed and uncrossed her legs and shifted around in her seat so many times that she’d lost count. Trust Sirius to be the last one down to breakfast on today of all days.
Emma sat across from her grinning stupidly. Lily, who was still oblivious to Kirsty’s plans, kept on shooting the two of them looks of high intrigue.
Suddenly, just when Kirsty thought she would burst with impatience, she saw Sirius appear at the entrance to the Great Hall. He stood smiling broadly at someone to his left, who was just out of Kirsty sight. Why is he dawdling? Kirsty internally whined. It was almost as if he was purposefully making her suffer.
However, when Sirius made his way towards the Gryffindor table, it was not the joyous moment that Kirsty had been hoping for. Because standing next to him with her hand tightly clasped within his was Debbie. A simple gesture that signified a new union for Sirius, felt to Kirsty like an icy hand performing a death grip around her heart. It took Emma much longer to process the scene in front of her, but slowly the excited grin melted away from her face.
As much as Kirsty wished to kid herself that all might not be as it seemed, she knew that any attempt to do so would be fruitless.
By the time Sirius and Debbie reached the group, Debbie had one arm wrapped around Sirius’ waist, pulling him in close to her, and the other pressed possessively against his chest. Both of them looked flushed with happiness. Feeling sick with jealousy, Kirsty remained staring hard at the table, pretending not to have noticed their arrival.
“Morning, guys,” greeted Sirius jovially.
“Morning,” chipped in Debbie, sounding nauseously bright and chirpy.
A hush had developed over the whole table, and Kirsty cautiously looked up at her friends to see them exchanging anxious glances.
Sirius cleared his throat, looking extremely puzzled by the silence that had greeted him and his partner. “Well, I guess there’s no point in hiding it any longer,” he announced, giving Debbie an affectionate squeeze. “You guys are going to have to get used to seeing Debbie around a lot more often, because she’s graciously agreed to be my girlfriend.” Sirius beamed and kissed Debbie softly on her forehead.
Nobody deigned to give Sirius a response because instead all heads had swivelled around to gaze at Kirsty, the looks on their faces a mixture of shock and apology. Not liking the feeling of being on show and feeling sicker by the minute. Kirsty got to her feet. She didn’t care how conspicuous it looked, she just had to get out of there.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” she muttered feebly as she dashed passed a bemused looking Sirius and ran out of the hall.