James had just started to dig into his jacket potato, intent on ignoring Lily and Hayley, who were keen to discuss what they should include in the Arithmancy essay they had been set for homework, when the idle chatter of Sirius and Kirsty announced their arrival. James nearly choked on his mouthful of potato when he registered Sirius’ appearance.
The two walked methodically down the aisle between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables in order to come and sit down amongst their friends. Neither of them uttered a single word as they began to pull plates of food towards themselves.
James shared a look of puzzlement with Remus before turning towards the two of them and instructing, “Explain.”
“I coloured Sirius’ nose in black and drew whiskers on his face,” replied Kirsty in monotone. Sirius nodded his head seriously in compliance before they both returned to their meals simultaneously.
James got the feeling that he was taking part in a well-rehearsed play that had been concocted by them both. It was a few seconds before the full significance of Sirius having his face painted like a cat occurred to James and he laughed, “Padfoot the feline!”
The others smirked along with him, apart from Emma and Peter who were currently absent, and Hayley, who was looking more than a bit confused seeing as she was the only one who did not yet know about the Animagi in her midst or Remus’ furry little problem. “What’s so funny about Sirius being a feline?” she queried.
None of them deigned to answer her.
“Does anyone get the feeling that we’re missing something?” ploughed on Remus indicating Kirsty and Sirius with a nod of his head.
James, Lily and Hayley all nodded in agreement, and James decided to continue his questioning. Taking a deep breath he asked, “Why did you see fit to colour in Sirius’ nose and draw whiskers on him?”
“Because he owed me,” announced Kirsty.
“Why?” asked James again, growing weary of their evasiveness.
Kirsty turned to face Sirius and asked, “Are you going to tell him or am I?”
“Tell him what?” questioned Remus curiously.
A look of fear graced Sirius’ previously giddy features. “I think you’d better do it,” Sirius told Kirsty in reply, “because I think him hearing me give the retelling of my actions and their consequences might just make him strangle me.”
“Oddly enough, that made sense,” stated Kirsty; she then turned to face James, who was now extremely intrigued, and informed him, “Sirius managed to land me in a detention with Typicus next Friday night.”
James, who had just been about to swallow a rather large amount of pumpkin juice, spat it back out into his glass, spluttering madly.
When he recovered he was absolutely livid. Rounding on Sirius, he yelled, “What?”
Sirius gulped. “Well, uh, you see, Prongs,” he replied, sounding immensely flustered and running his hand through his hair like he always did when he was agitated.
James turned to Kirsty and stated, his tongue lashing with annoyance, “But Friday night, that’s-“
“Quidditch tryouts,” Kirsty finished his sentence for him, looking immensely apologetic. “But, James, you don’t really need me there. I mean, I’m not the most brilliant Seeker anyway, so I won’t mind in the slightest if you decide to ditch me for someone better.”
“What?” asked James, extremely bemused by this. “Of course I want you on the bloody team! You’re a damn good Seeker when you put your mind to it, Kirst, and there’s no way that you’re getting off that easily!”
“But, James-“
“No arguments!” he barked, “I was thinking that I don’t really need you to try out anyway. I want to keep the old team members: you, Sam and Lesley, because let’s face it, you can’t have changed that much in just three months. So now I just need to find another Beater and two more Chasers.”
At the mention of the needed players, Sirius offered, “I’d be happy to help fulfil one your requirements…”
James glared at him and spat, “You’re the last person that I want on my team now, dog boy.”
Sirius looked downcast and more than a little taken back. He opened his mouth to retort but Hayley beat him to it.
“I thought Sirius was supposed to look like a cat?” She wrinkled her nose in confusion.
James sighed. He swore it’d be a hell of a lot easier to just let her in on their secret, but Remus was having none of it. James didn’t understand why Remus was so set against Hayley knowing about his condition. The other three girls knew. Though, James supposed, Emma, Lily and Kirsty finding out about it by themselves and having to actually inform Hayley of the situation in person were two entirely different things. But it was Remus’ secret to tell, and if he didn’t want her to know, then the others would respect his wishes.
Again Hayley’s enquiries were shunned as Sirius protested, “But, Prongs, you love me. At least that’s what you said that night up on top of the Astronomy Tower…”
Lily laid her fork down and raised her eyebrows.
“Yeah, that was a great night,” agreed James nostalgically.
“I am oh so worried about you two,” declared Emma as she approached the little knot of Gryffindors.
“How do you think we feel?” asked Peter, following in her wake, “we have to share a dorm with them.”
James, realising how they had interpreted this conversation, clarified, “No, you’ve got the wrong end of the stick, it’s not like that at all. I meant it in the sense that I love Padfoot as a person; I love the essence that is Sirius Black. In no way do I harbour any feelings of love for him.”
“Always suspect a man who objects so vehemently,” teased Hayley with a smirk.
James sighed loudly.
“Looks like you’ve dug yourself in even deeper there, mate,” noted Sirius.
“Oh, shut up, you!” snapped James.
There was silence for a few moments before Kirsty said, “I’m really sorry about tryouts, James.”
“It’s all right; it wasn’t your fault.”
“I’m really sorry too, Prongs,” concurred Sirius.
James didn’t respond.
Lily broke the awkward silence that had followed by turning to Emma and asking, “What the hell took you two so long anyway?”
“Yeah, you missed all the fun,” chipped in Hayley.
“We nipped to fetch some books from the library. What fun?” enquired Peter slurping his soup.
“Oh, just hearing that Kirsty and Sirius got kicked out of Ancient Runes-“
“Oh, that’s old news,” piped up Emma. “We did witness it all after all.”
Lily and Hayley’s eyes lit up. “Does that mean that you’ll tell us why they got kicked out?” asked Lily hopefully.
“I’m surprised Sirius hasn’t already told you,” commented Peter.
“A gentleman never brags about his achievements,” stated Sirius.
“A gentleman wouldn’t have kissed Kirsty on the cheek in order to achieve his own means,” retorted Emma.
“What?” asked Hayley excitedly.
Sirius grinned widely, but James noticed that he was still watching him warily out of the corner of his eye.
“She blushed a nice bright red when he did it too,” Peter informed them.
Kirsty’s face was now flaming demonstratively.
“But why did he kiss her?” questioned Lily giddily.
“Wanted to see if she was one of his fan girls, from what I can gather,” answered Emma.
“Yep, another fan girl lands into the lap of Sirius Black,” announced Sirius as he mimed ticking off a name on an imaginary piece of parchment.
“But Kirsty has always been one of your fan girls,” Hayley informed him.
Kirsty shielded her face from view with her hand.
“Oh, really?” enquired Sirius, turning to look at her with a devilish grin on his face.
“Ever since second year, I believe,” stated Lily.
“But you hated me in second year,” Sirius told Kirsty.
“That doesn’t mean that I didn’t find you attractive,” Kirsty informed him, removing her hand so that her embarrassed face could be seen by everyone.
Sirius grinned broadly.
“I’m so glad that you two turned up,” Kirsty informed Emma and Peter dryly.
Emma and Peter grinned inanely in response.
“This is all punishment for me being so chirpy this morning isn’t it?” asked Kirsty suddenly hit with a realisation.
“No,” exclaimed Hayley sarcastically, “whatever gave you that idea?”
Kirsty’s grumbles were drowned out by the sudden catcalling that emanated from the Slytherin table.
James, along with the others, looked to see what had caused it. A first year Hufflepuff seemed to have stumbled on his robes whilst making his way into the Great Hall.
“Gits,” muttered James.
“Which reminds me,” stated Remus lowering his voice to a whisper, “Peter reckons that it’s about time we took the Slytherins down a peg or two. Any ideas?”
James sat in contemplation whilst Remus addressed Sirius, “Can you think of anything, Padfoot?”
“I’m not helping to come up with anything,” refused Sirius, “until Prongs accepts my apology.”
Bloody Padfoot!
Remus and Peter rolled their eyes and turned away to discuss their own ideas.
Sirius leaned in towards James. “I’ll tell you what, in order to make it up to you; the Butterbeers will be on me when you captain Gryffindor into our first win of the season.”
James smiled at this, Sirius’ confidence in his ability as captain melted away any ill feelings he had towards him.
“Okay, I’ll forgive you as long as you promise to throw in some Chocoballs as well as,” he announced, grinning at him.
“Deal,” Sirius replied, smiling thankfully, “now, about letting me onto the Quidditch team…”
------------
It was too hot. Kirsty, who had just finished the last of her sandwich, could literally feel the sweat pouring off her. She’d already drunk two glasses of chilled pumpkin juice, but they had done nothing to aid her discomfort.
Coming to the decision that being all hunched over at the table was doing absolutely nothing to help cool her down, Kirsty proceeded to try and lie down on the bench. However, she had two problems: one, Remus was sitting too close to her curled up legs; and two, Sirius was sitting too close to her head and shoulders, and the both of these combined made it increasingly difficult for her to lie down flat.
“Would you like us to move?” asked Sirius amusedly.
“No, I’m good, ta,” she replied, hoisting her legs up to rest on Remus’ lap and placing the top half of her back on Sirius’ shoulder and upper arm. Remus gave her a look of amused disbelief but didn’t remove her legs or grumble in the slightest.
Sirius, however, asked, while shifting his arm slightly into a more comfortable position, “Would you like me to fan you as well whilst you’re down there?”
“If you want,” she replied lazily, her eyes fluttering shut.
An icy blast of cold air hit her in the face, and she opened her eyes with a start to see Sirius pointing his wand at her face.
“Ha, ha, very funny,”
“Well, we thought so,” announced Peter.
Kirsty noted that the guys all seemed very quiet now that she had invaded their personal space a bit more than she had been doing previously. She wondered whether they were worried about her eavesdropping. Well they needn’t be, she thought, because she hadn’t been paying them any attention before hand seeing as she had been way too busy staring intently at MacIntosh.
“Shouldn’t you guys be getting back to discussing how you’re going to jinx the suits of armour to charge into every classroom in the school and relay crude messages to its inhabitants or something?”
From her position Kirsty saw James, Remus and Peter’s eyes light up, she couldn’t see Sirius’ face but she guessed that he had reacted in much the same way.
“I was kidding, guys!” she cried exasperatedly.
Peter especially looked crestfallen.
“And anyway, if my being here bothers you so much just cast Muffliato on me,”
“We couldn’t do that,” protested James.
Kirsty, who had been eyeing up the Neapolitan ice cream, countered, “Of course you could. I don’t mind, honest.”
“Well, the thing is it would be a bit unfair of us to cast the spell on you, seeing as you’ve provided us with the inspiration for this particular prank,” he continued.
“I have?” she asked, puzzled.
“Oh, yes, Remus informed us of your comical shenanigans at breakfast,” informed Sirius.
“He did? But that was nothing; I was just messing about.”
“Ah, but, Kirst, you seem to be forgetting that the Marauders are well renowned for being able to turn nothing into something.”
Kirsty surveyed them all warily.
“In fact,” announced James, “I think we’re about ready to put our plan into action.”
“Sit up straight, Kirst, you’ll see better,” advised Peter.
Begrudgingly, Kirsty shuffled around on the bench and eventually sat upright with her feet on the bench and her back still resting against Sirius.
“Three, two, one,” counted down Remus.
Four jets of orange light burst simultaneously from their wands and landed in various places along the Slytherin table. Nothing happened. Had the prank gone wrong? Kirsty surveyed the boys’ faces but saw only their badly contained glee present there. She revolved her gaze around to look at Hayley, Lily and Emma and saw that they, too, were watching the Slytherin table avidly. In fact, noted Kirsty as she did a quick sweep of the room, the entire hall seemed to be watching the table with anticipation. Taking a leaf out of everybody else’s book, she too returned her gaze to the table, and upon doing so she could have sworn that she saw something move of its own accord on one of the plates of food. And sure enough, within seconds the entirety of the Slytherin table was in upheaval. Cries of shock, fury and annoyance flew around the Hall to be greeted enthusiastically with roars of laughter, awed gasps, exclamations of glee and a round of general jeering and catcalling. The Slytherins were under siege.
The Slytherins’ food was rebelling spectacularly against their consumers’ greedy mitts, and it wasn’t taking any prisoners. The chicken drumsticks were living up to their name and beating countless numbers of Slytherins rhythmically around the head; the glass jugs full of ice cold pumpkin juice had soared high above the table and were now pouring their contents onto and into the robes of those that had been unlucky enough to be seated underneath them; peas were flying up people’s nostrils left, right and centre and scoops of ice cream were throwing themselves at their faces. The most cowardly members upped and fled, scrambling as fast as they could towards the Entrance Hall, but with a lazy flick of his wand, James got the bowls of fruit in on the act and loose pieces of fruit soared through the air to pummel the Slytherins’ retreating backs.
It was only when Remus, creased up with laughter, sent a stream of grey light over to the table with his wand that the onslaught ceased.
A roar of deafening laughter and applause broke out throughout the other three quarters of the hall. Everywhere Kirsty looked people were clutching their sides with laughter or else banging their fists repeatedly against the table.
“Well, that definitely gave new meaning to the term ‘food fight’,” gasped Lily, her face creased with laughter.
At this, Kirsty and the others all dissolved into yet another round of incontrollable giggles.
So much so that when McGonagall came marching towards them, they all had tear tracks staining their faces.
“Black, Potter, Lupin, Pettigrew,” she barked, “detention, my classroom Monday night!”
James grinned broadly as she walked off. “I’ll catch you up in no time, mate,” he informed Sirius.
“In your dreams, Prongs,”
“That has got to be a record,” marvelled Emma, “not even back for a day, and you lot have already landed yourselves in a detention, and old Sirius there has managed to scoop himself two.”
Sirius beamed with pride.
“Not to mention that Kirsty’s also managed to earn herself one,” added Hayley, “so how exactly does it feel being on level pegging with one of us girls, James?” she continued teasingly.
“Like we’ve had an extremely bad influence on you all,” James retorted.
“And don’t we know it,” stated Lily dryly.
Kirsty had finally helped herself to ice cream after ascertaining that the Gryffindor food was going to behave itself when Sirius lifted his head up, alert, and for the first time Kirsty caught a glimpse of his dog like persona.
“What’s up?” James asked him.
Sirius indicated his head over to the Slytherin table. “Looks as if someone’s going to leave without trying the dessert.”
James raised his eyebrows at the other three, and they smiled mischievously back at him.
Kirsty shared puzzled looks with the girls, who shrugged in return before they all turned in unison to see who the guys were talking about. Avery, Wilkes and Rosier had all just vacated the Slytherin table and were now making their way outside.
“Well, I think we should impress upon them just how rude it is to leave the table without sampling all of the available courses,” stated James as he rose out of his seat. Sirius, Remus and Peter followed suit.
Sirius flicked his wand, and the large bowl of ice cream hovered in front of him, making Kirsty extremely glad that she had grabbed her ice cream when she did, and with that done all four of them stated their goodbyes and followed the group of Slytherins out into the grounds.
Lily groaned. “Those four really are the limit,”
“But you have to admit they’re a very entertaining limit,” remarked Hayley.
Lily smiled slightly in response.
“Well, I don’t know about you three, but I’m off to watch, a little Slytherin-Marauder conflict is always good for the soul,” announced Emma, jumping out of her seat.
Kirsty made to rise out of her seat too, but Emma patted her on her shoulder as she walked past and stated, “No, no, no you have to stay here and finish your ice cream,” and with that she flounced off, Kirsty cursing her slightly as she went.
She made a move to follow her, but Lily grabbed hold of her elbow. She spun around to question her, but Lily cut her off. “Don’t you think you’re in enough trouble today as it is?”
Kirsty floundered.
“Plus,” she continued pointing at Kirsty’s bowl of ice cream, “you can’t leave that; it’d be a waste of food.”
Kirsty humphed; she knew Lily was right. Solemnly she returned to her pudding. She hadn’t even managed to have one mouthful when realisation hit her, and she grinned inanely.
“What?” asked Hayley, sounding slightly unnerved.
“Do you think Sirius realises that he’s just gone into battle with his face painted like a cat?” she asked gleefully.
------------
“Bastards, the whole lot of them, really think they’re something. Black and Potter are the worst though; think they’re God’s bloody gift!”
“Oh, stop it, Wilkes, you’re making me blush,” simpered Sirius as he and the other three approached Wilkes and his friends from behind.
Quick as a flash the three Slytherins whipped around, their wands raised level with the Marauders’ chests.
Compared to the other two, Wilkes was startling in contrast. He was tall and burly with tousled dirty blond hair and a face that made him look like he’d had a couple of rounds with the Whomping Willow. Avery, however, was of medium height and build with short brown hair and startling blue eyes, and according to most girls’ estimates he wasn’t overly bad to look at. And finally, Rosier, who was around a head taller than Wilkes and like James he was of an athletic build. He had extremely dark hair and eyes and, not unlike Sirius, he managed to pull off looking handsome with extremely little effort on his part. He often looked haughty and bored, but there was something in his eyes that could make even the hardest of people feel sick with unease. Rosier was captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, and this, along with his looks, was what made Sirius much more opposed to him than to the other two.
“What do you four want?” spat Avery.
“Actually, we just came out here to offer you some ice cream, but seeing as you’ve been bitching about us, I don’t think we’ll bother,” stated Peter humorously as he levitated the bowl of ice cream away from Sirius and placed it on the floor out of harm’s way.
“I suppose you think your antics at lunch were highly amusing,” commented Rosier in a lazy drawl.
“Just a little,” replied James modestly.
“Well, seeing as the Marauders,” Wilkes pronounced their nickname with particular distaste, “have already graced us with their worth today, I’d say it was only right that we too put to good use the gifts that the good Lord gave us-“
Sirius shifted slightly at this.
“And do what it is that us Slytherins do best…”
“What you Slytherins do best, or what you Death Eaters do best?” asked Remus coolly.
“Oooh, very good, Lupin,” breathed Wilkes turning his wand so that it now pointed at Remus’ face, “you always were the astute one of the group. Now be a good little know-it-all and have a merry old wager on what happens next.”
“Stop playing games, Wilkes,” barked Sirius, growing agitated, “either have a good old go at jinxing us to high heaven or bugger off!”
Wilkes laughed coldly. “Don’t tell me you don’t like games, Black. That truly is a pity. I was going to show you some of our very finest. But what the hell, if the Gryffindors can do pranks, then the Slytherins can play games. And this one is one of my hand picked favourites. We like to call it picking off the weak link…”
Sirius’ thoughts automatically went to Peter, and he made a sharp glance sideways. But Remus was already on it and had moved ever so slightly Peter’s way.
Wilkes laughed manically. “Oh, not Pettigrew, what would be the fun in that? Oh no, I had rather a different subject in mind.” Wilkes’ voice had been low and dangerous, and Sirius was beginning to feel more than a bit uneasy.
Within what seemed like a millisecond Wilkes’ wand had left Remus’ face and had emitted a blast of purple light which narrowly missed James’ ear. Sirius’ anger that Wilkes would even consider James as the weak link was short lived as a high pitched scream reached his ears. He had never whirled his head around so fast in his life.
Emma’s crumpled form lay at the bottom of one of the castle’s outer walls mere feet away from where they were standing. With a sickening jolt, Sirius realised that she must have ventured outside to see their ambush of the Slytherins. Wilkes’ spell had thrown her backwards against the wall.
Sirius dreaded to think what would happen to either him, Emma, or the others if he approached in order to make sure she was okay.
“You’re going to regret that, Wilkes,” snarled James, raising his wand.
This time it was Avery who laughed. “That’s just typical of you four. You couldn’t give a toss about what happens to you, but if any of your girls are under threat, you’d fight tooth and nail to ensure their safety,”
“You’d better count on it,” growled Sirius, poising his wand.
During this exchange, Sirius saw James inching away from the small group, and he hoped that he was expressing a wish to go and check on Emma.
Rosier took his gaze from the place where Emma lay and locked his eyes on Sirius with mild interest. “Bring it on then, Black,” he whispered dangerously.
Sirius didn’t need telling twice. His and Rosier’s spells collided explosively in mid-air just as James narrowly dodged a spell sent his way by Avery. As Avery and Rosier brought their wands back up looking for a repeat performance, Wilkes threw his arms out in front of the both of them, halting them in their tracks.
“There’s more than one way to skin a cat-“ Wilkes issued a malicious look Sirius’ way.
Cringing, Sirius suddenly remembered about his painted face. Silently cursing Kirsty he cast Tergeo on himself in order to vanish the ink.
“Take care of the Mudblood.” Wilkes ordered.
Avery and Rosier were only too happy to comply.
------------
A spark of worry ignited inside Lily as soon as she saw Severus and Mulciber rise from the Slytherin table and walk out of the hall. She was loitering with the idea that she should maybe go outside and check on the boys. However, it was the approaching Sam North that made up her mind.
“Hi, guys. I hate to say this, but I have a bad feeling that things might just be getting a bit ominous outside,”
“You’re not the only one,” announced Lily.
“So are we going to be the ones to go and save their behinds then?” enquired Kirsty.
“It looks like it; if we’re lucky enough, we might just get there in time to administer them their last rites.”
“Then we’d better make it snappy because the younger Black is also making his bid for freedom.”
Lily, along with Hayley and Sam, whipped her head around to see Regulus walking spiritedly towards the Entrance Hall.
As one, the three girls jumped up out of their seats, but before they had even gone ten paces, Sam called after them, “Do you want me to tell Emma where you’ve gone?”
Hayley spun around. “Emma followed the guys outside…” she informed him regrettably.
Sam’s features formulated into a deep frown as he digested this information.
As they started off again, he shouted, “Hang on! I’m coming with you!”
------------
Avery and Rosier resigned to doing Wilkes’ bidding at once.
“She has nothing to do with this, Wilkes, let her be!” cried Peter.
“Nothing to do with this, Pettigrew?” mocked Wilkes. “She has everything to do with this, because she has everything to do with you four. Those girls practically dog your every footstep; you’re never without them. It’s quite sickening really. And the best of it is, they’ve made you go soft-“
Sirius’ jet of light missed Wilkes by mere inches.
In retaliation, Wilkes brandished his wand, and a stinging sensation struck Sirius’ arm, and he drew back. As Sirius rubbed the scorch mark produced by the Stinging Hex, his eyes fell upon the two Slytherins who were approaching a now standing Emma.
Emma made to barge right past them to reach the Marauders, but they stood firmly shoulder to shoulder to block her way. When her attempts to get past the towering Slytherins seemed futile, Emma moved forward once again and kicked Avery hard in the place that God only meant to be treated nicely. Instantly, he was doubled up on the ground, too agonized even to swear at her.
That’s our girl, thought Sirius proudly. His pride quickly vanished to be replaced by revulsion and fear when Rosier made a lunge towards Emma. He grabbed her roughly by the upper arm and dragged her back over to the wall, which he pinned her against with such force that it made her head snap back and collide with the solid brick behind. She grimaced with pain, and Rosier inched forward so that he was dangerously close to her face. Pressing his body against hers so that she remained pinned to the wall, Rosier took his index finger and traced it slowly down Emma’s cheek, passed her jaw line and down into the hollow of her throat. As his finger lingered there he moved his head forward slightly and whispered something in her ear, all the while keeping his smarmy gaze fixed upon the Marauders.
Sirius felt physically sick. He tore his eyes away, unable to watch anymore, and instead focused on the taunting gaze of Wilkes.
As he sprang forward, prepared to do some serious damage to the perverted git, a jet of bright light flew past his left ear.
“You look as if you’re in need of some reinforcements, Wilkes,” announced Mulciber from behind them.
Sirius had no need to turn around, Mulciber and Snape skirted around the edge of Peter to come to a standstill beside their familiar.
Mulciber was tall, pale and thickset with dark hair and eyes as well as extremely harsh looking features.
Severus Snape looked exactly the same as ever. His pale face was framed by a curtain of greasy black hair, his skin was sallow and his nose hooked. He was not extremely tall but had a lanky look about him.
“Afternoon, Snivellus,” greeted Sirius softly.
Snape gave him a look of deepest loathing.
“Oh, joy,” groaned Remus.
Mulciber turned his gaze upon him. “I’m surprised you’re here, Lupin. Quite frankly, I’d expected better from a Prefect.”
“I could say the same about your mate Rosier over there,“ retorted Remus with a set jaw, “or you could even say the same for James.”
“What?” scoffed Snape, “Potter’s not a Prefect!”
James shifted forward slightly so that his Head Boy badge glinted in the autumn sunlight.
“Head Boy?” choked Snape, “you? But that’s preposterous…”
“If you’re the Head Boy, then who the hell did they make Head Girl?” asked Wilkes in disbelief.
“Ah, that would be our Miss Evans,” replied James, glancing at Snape.
A muscle twitched in Snape’s jaw, and Sirius saw James’ little grin of triumph.
“Come on, lads,” growled Mulciber, “a good old three on four seems good to me.”
“Correction, four on four,” came a voice not so unlike Sirius’ own.
Regulus strutted over to the Slytherin threesome.
From the looks on their faces, Wilkes, Mulciber and Snape all seemed to find Regulus just as irksome as Sirius himself found him.
“This doesn’t concern you, Black,” spat Wilkes.
“On the contrary, I have more of a right to be here than even you three have-” he retorted, his gaze lingering for a fraction of a second on Sirius. “Plus you can hardly say that I’m inferior to you four,” he added looking ridiculously smug.
This comment puzzled Sirius to no end, even more so when it resulted in the Slytherins letting his little brother stay.
“Good, now we’re evenly matched,” boasted Regulus.
“I knew I was expecting too much when I thought you able to count, Regulus,” Lily stated dryly, “my calculations seem to show clearly that we are in a four against eight situation-“
“Seven, I’m afraid, Lily, I’m not staying.” Sirius caught a glimpse of Sam as he swept off in the direction of Emma and Rosier.
“Well, I think that’s officially the shortest rescue mission on record,” announced Kirsty.
Sirius smiled slightly and turned his head to survey the three girls.
Lily held a hand on hip stance, her wand held loosely at her side, Hayley looked battle ready and was tapping her foot impatiently and Kirsty was stood examining the dirt under her fingernails. Her thumb was hooked on her robe pocket, and she held her wand loosely between her middle and index finger.
“Well,” drawled Wilkes looking suggestively at Lily, “we’ve already sorted out Bembridge. It’d be a privilege to wipe out another Mud-“
“Don’t!” yelled Snape, glaring furiously at Wilkes.
“What’s the matter, Sev? You never seemed to have a problem with calling me that,” stated Lily.
Snape looked steely and clamped his mouth shut.
Sirius allowed himself a look of grim satisfaction. He was glad to see that Lily had overcome her ‘Slytherin are people too’ phase and finally seen them for the sinister berks that they were.
“Oh for God’s sake, just get on with it already!” cried Regulus impatiently. Patience had never been Regulus’ greatest virtue. He shot a streak of blue light out of his wand and it caused a crater in the place that Hayley had been standing seconds beforehand.
Right that’s it. Sirius pelted towards Regulus, set on causing him as much damage as was wizardly possible. However, Sirius never reached him because just as he was about to draw level with Regulus, a chorus of Slytherin voices shouted, “Impedimenta!” at him, and the combined power of the spells knocked him cleanly off his feet.
He hit the ground with such force that he was immediately very badly winded. As he laid there trying to regain his composure, he tilted his head so that he could survey the goings on behind him. Remus and Peter were duelling Snape and Wilkes, James was fending off Mulciber’s spells, Kirsty and Lily were duelling Avery, who had wandered back over to the group, and Hayley had made a dart towards Emma, Sam and Rosier.
Sirius watched Hayley’s progress, and as he did so he allowed his gaze to roam once more towards Emma. Sam was knelt down on the ground beside her sitting form, and Rosier lay a few feet away from them with what looked like the remains of the ice cream bowl next to his head. Nice one, Northy, thought Sirius gleefully.
A loud bang drew Sirius’ attention back to the Gryffindor-Slytherin duel. James had darted forward; Sirius guessed that this was because of what had just happened to him, and with a bang snake-like chords had burst out of the end of Wilkes’ wand and twisted themselves around James' mouth, wrists and ankles; he overbalanced and fell to the floor, unable to move.
Sirius heard soft footsteps approaching from behind him. He was still in too much pain to roll over and see who it was, although he was pretty sure that if he did, he would have come face to face with Regulus’ malevolent dark green eyes. The footsteps stopped, and in seconds Sirius was dealing with yet another excruciating pain as Regulus sent a swift kick into his abdomen. He cried out with the pain of it, and he heard the Slytherins’ jeers.
Regulus laughed softly as he reached down and pulled Sirius up to kneel in front of him by his shirt collar. Sirius’ left cheek was throbbing from where he had hit the ground; Regulus sent an evil grin his way before bringing his arm back and sending a rocketing punch at the already bruised cheek. Sirius heard Kirsty scream as he swayed and fell sideways. Regulus dragged him back up again and hit him a couple of more times before withdrawing his wand and pointing it directly between his brother’s eyes. “Revenge is sweet, big brother,” he breathed.
Sirius allowed himself a puzzled frown, revenge? Revenge for what? He couldn’t recall ever doing anything drastic unto Regulus; it usually tended to be the other way around…
He raised his eyes and looked defiantly into Regulus’. And for the first time in five years, they actually made sufficient eye contact. When they had been forced to communicate at home they had always looked over the other’s head or else mumbled to their feet, but not now. Looking into his younger brother’s face he saw him more clearly than he had done in years.
There was no denying that he looked like Sirius, but subtle differences separated them in both character and looks. Regulus had encountered a growth spurt and now must have stood no less than a head shorter than Sirius. He would never look as toned as Sirius did, seeing as had always been the skinnier of the two, but there was no denying that Regulus had definitely beefed up. His eyes were green opposed to Sirius’ grey ones, and his hair was significantly shorter and of a lighter tone. He had inherited the Black family looks but lacked the finesse in which Sirius was able to pull them off. Regulus was no longer a little snot nosed kid; he’d become a man. A pang presented itself in Sirius’ chest, and he surprised himself when he realised that it was being caused by nostalgia.
He shifted his gaze slightly, and it came to rest on the small scar that was present on Regulus’ left temple. He remembered the day Regulus had got the scrape which had caused it. They had been sitting on Sirius’ bed, and Regulus had laughed so hard at a joke that Sirius had told him that he had fallen off the bed and hit his head against the bedside table. The next morning Regulus had entered his room and proudly showed off his scar before begging Sirius to tell him some more jokes. Sirius recalled that Regulus must have been around nine at the time, seeing as it took place mere weeks before he was due to start Hogwarts.
Suddenly memories were flashing through his mind like a movie reel. A five year old Regulus, terrified and shaking from head to foot, came running into Sirius’ room and dived under his covers as a fork of lightening struck overhead; an annoyed eight year old Regulus kept complaining that Sirius always made him play Keeper; a distraught ten year old Regulus held onto Sirius’ arm for dear life as he made to board the Hogwarts Express; a confused eleven year old Regulus simply couldn’t comprehend how his brother could have possibly ended up in Gryffindor; and finally a sneering fifteen year old Regulus who stood atop of the Grand Staircase and insulted Sirius and his friends standing far below.
He snapped out of his reverie and looked again into Regulus’ eyes. He got the feeling that he wasn’t the only one who was currently taking a trip down memory lane. Regulus blinked hard, and Sirius saw the confusion and hesitancy in his eyes. He lowered his wand and swallowed hard. “Stop!” he barked towards the duellists.
All spell firing ceased at once from both the Slytherin and Gryffindor ends.
“We need to go,” he informed them.
“What? Are you insane?” screeched Avery.
“Slughorn will be leaving the Great Hall any minute now, and if we’re caught, we’ll be in for it big time.”
“Don’t make me laugh, Black,” snarled Mulciber, “we know full well that Slughorn is always the last to finish a meal.”
“Look,” Regulus snarled back, “who was the last one out of the hall? I’m telling you Slughorn will be finished anytime soon. And if it’s not Slughorn who finishes first, we may well end up dealing with McGonagall.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” growled Mulciber.
“Unfortunately for you, Mulciber, you have no influence over me.” Absentmindedly Regulus’ fingers lingered over a spot on his left forearm. “But if you want to stay out here and receive detention, that’s fine by me-“
“Fine,” snapped Wilkes, “Avery grab Rosier, we’re going.”
As Regulus stalked away from him, Sirius’ insides churned and a buzzing filled his ears. Regulus’ accidental grasp of his left forearm had not been lost on Sirius, for he knew far too well what it was that must have lurked underneath the fabric of Regulus’ robe.
Sirius’ knees felt crippled from kneeling on the hard ground, his cheek and abdomen throbbed, but worst of all, his heart ached.
*
“Duelling!” the sharp tones of McGonagall’s voice cut through the air in the Hospital Wing like a knife. “How could you be so irresponsible? I never would have expected this of you!”
Sirius shifted uncomfortably, and his bed sheet rustled.
“As punishment, you will be serving detention with Professor Slughorn next Wednesday evening.” McGonagall turned on her heel and made her way over to the doorway. Upon leaving the Hospital Wing, she hesitated and slowly swivelled around to face them once again. “Except for Miss Bembridge, Miss Jones, Mr North and Mr Potter that is, who, according to eyewitnesses, did not perform a single offensive spell. Good day to you all.”
But before she left Hayley piped up, “Sorry, Professor, but how are the Slytherins to be punished?”
McGonagall surveyed her and answered crisply, “They will be spending next Wednesday evening with me.”
As the echo of McGonagall’s footsteps died away, Peter laughed, “Looks like we got the better end of the deal.”
Kirsty scoffed. “What, having to spend an entire evening listening to Slughorn prattling on about what a wondrous student our Miss Evans is? I don’t think so.”
“I still can’t believe that James wriggled his way out of a detention!” cried Emma.
“I still can’t believe that James didn’t try to hex the slimy gets into next Sunday,” stated Kirsty.
“Look at me, I’m growing,” announced James, sitting up straight in his chair and trying to look distinguished.
“That you are,” agreed Lily with smile.
James looked like the cat that had got the cream.
“Well, I for one can’t believe that Lily got a detention and James didn’t,” admitted Hayley.
“Ah, I’m drawing with Lily,” yelled James, “I feel unclean.”
“You’re also losing to me,” Kirsty informed him with a wink.
“Damn you, White,”
Sirius lost concentration at this point but their idle chatter continued.
Kirsty, Hayley, Lily and Peter were all sat around Emma’s bed in the Hospital Wing.
Madam Pomfrey had patched both he and Emma up, Emma having received a gash on her head from where she hit the brick wall, and Sirius’ face had been restored to its former glory.
James had just sidled over to Sam, who was leaning on the doorframe, and immersed him in conversation.
Before he had even glanced around the room to see where Remus had got to, the sound of someone pulling up the chair next to his bed made him whip around. “You have pensive face,” Remus informed him softly as he sat down.
Sirius smiled slightly at his kind face and tried for a bit of humour. “I was just trying to recall the last time I was in the Hospital Wing where it didn’t inadvertently involve Kirsty.”
Remus laughed. “The other times being?” he asked.
“Well, the time back in fifth year obviously,” Sirius informed him. Remus nodded gravely. “And that time during third year Charms when she jinxed that quill so that it became lodged inside my ear.”
Remus chuckled fondly at the memory of it. “And this time it’s Kirsty’s fault because?”
“Because she inspired the prank,” relayed Sirius.
“Ah,” Remus smiled in comprehension.
There was a pause.
“Now tell me what’s really bothering you,” he instructed.
Typical Moony. He was too intuitive for his own good sometimes.
Sirius sighed. It was Regulus that was plaguing him, Regulus and the horror which lurked beneath the left sleeve of his robe. Of course Sirius knew what was there, how could he not? He could remember clearly the day that his cousin Bellatrix had flounced into his house and proudly showed them all the Dark Mark which had been emblazoned onto her pale skin. Her face had flushed with pride when she had informed them that she was now a member of the Dark Lord’s inner circle.
But Sirius had never expected it of Regulus. Sure, he knew that his brother agreed whole heartedly with Voldemort’s propositions, but he never would have imagined that he’d go this far.
Sirius swallowed hard and looked up to meet Remus’ gaze. “Regulus is a Death Eater.”
A/N: Just a note about Kirsty’s scar. In no way is it meant as a reference to Harry’s and in no way was it intended to be a horrid fanfic cliché. The scar is part of a minor plot point which surfaces from time to time. Also I have to admit to this scar actually being a trait of mine which I gave to the character, as I do in fact have a small scar on my forehead which I received when I was little. Okay, I just wanted to clear that up a little bit. Again thanks for reading; I’d really appreciate it if you took the time to review.
Things Aren't Always Black and White by padfootsgirl1981
Chapter Notes: This is the second part to chapter Four so if you missed the first part please make sure that you read that one first. Enjoy!