Lily was convinced that it was going to be a good day.
She'd been awake most of the previous night, kept up by her own need to keep researching and - though she hated to admit it - by her curiosity about James' actions. He'd clearly come to some great conclusion about something, and she wanted to know what it was.
The answer had come early the next morning when Mary, after opening the Daily Prophet and glancing at the front page, choked on her tea.
There had been two articles on the front page. The first was a description of Abraxas Malfoy's legislation; of course, the article had said nothing about the fact that it was intended to keep Muggleborns out of the Ministry. It was clearly a propaganda piece, and a well-written one at that. It praised wizarding society and extolled the virtue of protecting that society from dilution. Culture, it claimed, was the very foundation upon which civilization rested, and without it, the wizarding world would descend into chaos.
It had been so convincingly written, in fact, that if Lily hadn't understood exactly what the Magical Heritage Protection Act really was, she might have been swayed by the article's rhetoric.
But the second article…
The second article had been co-written by James Potter and Vanessa Lovely. It was short, and had obviously been hastily thrown together at the last minute.
And it had been brilliant.
Contributions of Muggles and Muggleborns to Wizarding Society.
Lily had laughed when she read the headline. Mary had been shaking her head in wonder, almost unable to believe what she was seeing, and Lily felt the same. Could James Potter - the same arrogant bully who had targeted Slytherins for fun, who had always gotten everything he wanted without any understanding of how privileged he was, who didn't ever seem to know when a joke turned into actual harm - have really managed this?
Lily had taken the Daily Prophet with her to class and shown it to Emma and Benjy Fenwick. They had laughed.
Eliza Greengrass had been seething.
The research from the previous night had paid off as well. She tossed a pinch of powdered unicorn horn into the potion and it had bubbled and boiled and turned white. Emma hadn't understood why Lily nearly started dancing for joy, but Damocles Belby had said in his writings on Wolfsbane potion that the adverse effects of the aconite needed to be countered by the addition of a purification agent in the intermediate steps, and white was the color of purity, and this was actually starting to work.
Healer Lanwick had stared down at Lily's potion with a stern expression and made no comment on the apparent success. But Lily hadn't minded. She knew she was still a long way from having a working potion, but this was something, and she was far too excited about the results to let the Healer ruin her good mood.
So Lily left the class elated by her own achievement and by the brilliance of James' article, convinced that it was going to continue to be a good day.
She met Caradoc for a date at a restaurant in Muggle London and practically shoved the newspaper at him. "Did you see this?" she asked excitedly, slipping into the seat across from him at the table.
Caradoc took the article from her with a smile and said, "I did. Potter outdid himself on this."
"He only just came up with the idea last night," Lily said, shaking her head in amazement. "I don't know how he managed to convince the Daily Prophet to include the article. And I bet the Malfoys aren't pleased."
Caradoc nodded and took a sip of his water. "With Vanessa Lovely's charms and Potter's money and prestige, I imagine it wasn't actually all that hard to do this. Never underestimate just what money can buy. Besides, the Daily Prophet exists to sell itself, and if it can help create and maintain conflict - conflict it can later report on - it will do it."
Lily snatched the article back from him and, lowering her voice to make sure the Muggles at the surrounding tables didn't hear, said, "A front page article about the major contributions of Muggles and Muggleborns… it's just… genius." Her eyes scanned the short article, picking up one particular paragraph. "In fact," she read aloud, grinning broadly, "the Wizengamot itself is styled after the Muggle legal system and the Muggle Parliament. Though we pride ourselves on our wizarding laws, many of our oldest regulations are actually replicas of Muggle law. We take for granted that an accused has the right to present witnesses for his or her case or that underage witches and wizards may use magic to protect themselves or others, yet we all too often do not realize that these laws are based on similar Muggle decrees that govern the ideas of due process in the legal system and emphasize the primary importance of self-defense and defense of family."
Lily folded the newspaper carefully and set it by her plate. She had no doubt that many members of the older pureblood families were currently seething. And it would certainly cause some trouble for Malfoy's plans.
That thought made her practically giddy.
"I actually made progress on my potion, too," she said. "I still have a long way to go, but this… it was a step forward, and I just…"
She trailed off, frowning slightly as she realized that, though Caradoc was smiling, there was something strained in his eyes. He wasn't quite meeting her gaze, but had instead focused his attention on the still folded newspaper, and for a moment, she wondered if he was unhappy about James' article.
But no, that didn't make sense. Caradoc wouldn't have supported Malfoy in this, and he must have recognized what James was trying to do.
She cleared her throat and forced her mind back to the potion. "Powdered unicorn horn. I think I may have stabilized some of the more volatile effects of the aconite."
"That's great, Lily," Caradoc said, lifting his gaze to meet hers. He sounded genuinely happy for her, but he still seemed awkward.
Lily chewed her lip. "Is everything alright?" she asked, realizing belatedly that Caradoc was the one who had asked to meet her this evening and maybe he had done that because he needed to talk to her. "Is something wrong?"
"What?" Caradoc said. "No. No, everything's fine." He started playing with the edge of the table cloth. "Everything's fine," he said again.
"Why did you want to meet?" Lily asked.
Caradoc sighed. "No reason," he said. "I just… wanted to see you. That's all."
But it wasn't all. There was still something bothering him, and as Lily stared blankly at Caradoc's carefully neutral expression, she felt dawning realization followed by an immediate sinking sensation.
"You were going to break up with me," she said. Caradoc quickly averted his gaze, and Lily continued, "But now you don't want to because you think it will make you a complete prick to call things off when I'm so happy about everything. To ruin my mood when I came here to celebrate."
Caradoc looked as though he wanted to protest but knew it was already a lost cause. He sighed, slowly lifting his gaze to hers. "Yes," he said. "I… well…"
"Why?" Lily asked in a strangled tone of voice. She hadn't dated much, and she didn't have a lot of experience with break ups, but she did know that there was always a reason things ended. She had though that Caradoc liked her - she certainly liked him. What had changed?
It was abundantly clear that Caradoc didn't want to be having this conversation, but he was far too decent to simply walk away now. He leaned forward, taking Lily's hands in his own, and said, "I like you. I really do. I just think…"
"You think what?" Lily asked sharply, pulling her hands away from. "What is it?" She didn't want to make a scene, didn't want to start yelling at him or crying or anything else she had witnessed the girls at Hogwarts doing in similar situations, but he was breaking up with her and she had no idea why.
"You don't get passionate about us," Caradoc answered.
Lily blinked. "Huh?" That didn't make any sense. She enjoyed spending time with Caradoc, and she knew that he liked spending time with her. It was easy - comfortable.
"You are passionate about so much," Caradoc explained quietly. "Unfair treatment of Muggleborns and other forms of discrimination. Potions - and the Wolfsbane potion in particular. Sometimes you're furious, sometimes you're ecstatic, but you're always… you always feel something, and you feel it strongly."
"I really like you," Lily protested. "I feel that strongly."
"Do you?" Caradoc asked with a hint of skepticism in his voice. "Why do you like me? Why do you like spending time with me?"
Lily opened her mouth to answer, but then paused, because the two words that came to mind were the ones she had thought just moments ago: easy and comfortable. But then she shook her head, annoyed. What was wrong with an easy relationship? Why should it need to be anything different?
Caradoc was smiling a bit sadly, and he said, "If you were any other girl, it wouldn't bother me as much. If you were any other girl, I'd say that our dates were normal. But you're not any other girl, Lily. You're you. And you laugh too loudly and too much, and you get worked up over the littlest things, and you always speak your mind and never apologize, and you're just… your personality is so much bigger than…" He stopped, trailing off with a sigh. "On our dates, you talk for hours about pureblood prejudice or how witches and wizards should have to learn more about the Muggle world or that our entire legal system should be redone…"
"You said you didn't mind that!" Lily interjected.
"I don't," Caradoc replied quickly, firmly. "I like listening to you. I like hearing your ideas, I like considering your point of view. I like how passionate you get about the things you believe in… I just wish you got that passionate about me. About us. But you don't. When we talk about us... you act like any other girl. Any normal girl. And not like you."
Lily nodded, accepting that in silence. It was true, she had to admit. Caradoc didn't make her heart race and he didn't make her blood boil. Nothing he said ever got under her skin, nothing he said left much of an impact. She liked him, but… James had called Caradoc boring when he first found out about the relationship. And Lily had bristled defensively at the time, but had he been right?
"I deserve someone who feels that strongly about me," Caradoc murmured. "And you deserve to be with someone you can feel that strongly about."
Lily felt the familiar burn of tears in her eyes and tried to force a smile that she didn't really feel. Caradoc was right, of course, but that didn't make it any easier to hear his words.
She had been so convinced that it was going to be a good day.
Despite her new-found appreciation for James' brilliance, Lily still found working with him to be… challenging.
"So… why can't you just add the wormwood essence?"
Lily pinched the bridge of her nose and said in a tone of forced calm, "I told you, Potter; if you add wormwood to any potion containing vervain, it will explode. The two ingredients aren't compatible."
"Oh." James scratched at his nose as he contemplated her answer, and a bit of ink from his fingers rubbed off onto his face. Lily stifled a laugh, and when he looked up at her questioningly, she just smiled.
"Why does it need vermin?" James asked.
"Vervain," Lily corrected automatically, rolling her eyes. Honestly, how James had passed the first five years of potions was beyond her.
"Right, whatever," James said dismissively. "Why can't you just get rid of the verver and use the wormwood essence?"
"Vervain." Lily pursed her lips. "Why are you so set on using wormwood?" she asked curiously.
James pointed to the book he was reading. "It says here it was used in the Middle Ages to treat werewolf bites."
"Yes," Lily said, frowning. "I read that. I also read that it was unsuccessful."
"Oh," James looked down at the book, scanning the page for a moment, then said, "Huh. So it does. I didn't get that far."
"You have to read the whole section, Potter," Lily replied somewhat coolly.
James didn't seem to care about her admonishment, though. He pushed the book away and asked, "So what exactly is verval?"
"Vervain," Lily corrected him once more. "It's a flowering plant. It has medicinal properties." She looked down at the book she was reading, returning her attention to the words on the page, as she added casually, "It is generally used to treat bites from rabid animals."
"And you think werewolves are rabid?" James demanded skeptically.
Lily let out a breath and said, "I think the connection is close enough. Rabid animals go crazy and bite people. A werewolf loses his mind at the full moon and bites people. There is a link. The theory is sound."
James accepted this in silence and Lily, assuming this was the end of the conversation, let out a sigh of relief and picked up her quill. She started jotting down some notes about the properties of belladonna and goosegrass. It didn't seem like either of them would work in the potion, but she didn't want to rule them out quite yet.
"I've never even heard of vervain."
Lily looked up once more and said irritably, "We didn't use it much at Hogwarts because it is so volatile. I guess Slughorn didn't want us to cause too many explosions. Now would you stop spending so much time on that one flower?"
James raised an eyebrow. "Whatever you say, ma'am," he said, giving her a mock salute.
"Don't call me ma'am," Lily retorted, feeling frustrated. How was she supposed to get anything done with James distracting her all the time? And why in Merlin's name had she thought it would be a good idea to work with him on this potion?
"Whatever you say, darling," James replied.
Lily stared at him. "What's gotten into you?" she practically hissed. "Yesterday you were actually acting mature."
James gave her a hurt look. "You don't like being called darling?" he asked.
"Forget it," Lily snapped. "Just… just forget it. And get back to reading. Silently."
James at least did as she asked and returned to the book he was perusing. But though she turned back to her own notes, she was fuming too much to concentrate. The James she had talked to yesterday had annoyed her because of his Slytherin prejudice, but he had at least been mature enough to have an actual conversation with her. The boy sitting across from her, though…
He reminded her unpleasantly of the James from Hogwarts.
At least he hadn't asked her out. She supposed she had Vanessa Lovely to thank for that.
She sighed. Why had she agreed to work with James? Why had she overlooked the fact that she'd detested him for seven years and prior to these little research sessions her main interaction with him this summer had been him storming into her flat and yelling at her in the middle of the night?
Had she really been that desperate to succeed at Wolfsbane?
But maybe the answer to that was all too obvious, because James Potter was sitting across from her at the kitchen table of her small flat - and she'd invited him in.
"What about chizpurfle fang?" James suggested after a few minutes of silence.
"Chizpurfle? Now you're just making things up," Lily accused.
"I am not!" James protested, grinning widely. "And it looks like there is something you don't know about potions after all, Evans."
"There are plenty of things I don't know about potions," Lily snapped. "I'm not arrogant enough to pretend I know everything about any subject." James raised his eyebrows at her, and she said huffily, "Just tell me what it says about chiz-whatever fang."
"Chizpurfle fang," James said, enunciating the words carefully, greatly enjoying having information that Lily wanted. He looked down at the book and read, "It's used in the Wiggenweld potion."
"The Wiggenweld potion?" Lily repeated incredulously. James had to be making this up. There was just no way that that was a real potion.
James nodded. "Used to wake people from a deep sleep."
"A deep sleep…" Lily said thoughtfully. "You mean like the Draught of Living Death?"
James nodded. "Mm…" He continued scanning the page for a moment, then said, "Have you heard the story of Leticia Somnolens and the princesses Selene?"
"Uh… no."
"Leticia Somnolens was a vain and spiteful witch who hated Selene. Selene was the daughter of King Daedalus and Queen Orchid, and Leticia decided to kill Selene by giving her a spindle dipped in the Draught of Living Death," James explained, glancing down at the book to check his facts as he recited the story. "Selene pricked her finger on the spindle and fell into a deep sleep. She didn't wake up until decades later when a prince covered his lips in the Wiggenweld potion and then kissed her."
"Wait, wait, wait," Lily interrupted, surprised. "Sleeping Beauty actually happened?"
"What's Sleeping Beauty?" James asked.
Lily sighed. "Never mind," she said dismissively, all the while making a mental note to ask Alice if any of the other Muggle fairy tales had also really happened. "What does it say about the properties of this… whatever that type of fang was."
"Chizpurfle fang," James supplied. "Uh… what kind of properties do you want to know about?"
"Is it volatile? What form does it come in - powdered or chopped? Does it cause any side effects? Is it known to react with any other ingredients?"
"Um… it's not volatile… it is generally used as a powder… oh, it looks like it makes people hyperactive… well, that makes sense, I guess, given that it is used to wake people up…"
"I'm not sure we want a lot of hyperactive werewolves running around," Lily said pointedly. She reached over and pulled the book away from James, glancing down at the entry. "Why did you think this was a good ingredient to add?"
"Oh, I just liked the name," James replied casually.
"You liked the name?" Lily repeated through clenched teeth. "You picked this because you liked the name? Potter, you can't just pick things and hope they'll work."
"Why not?"
"Because it's a waste of time!"
"It's always worked for me," James replied, and suddenly Lily wanted to slap him. She wanted to wipe that look off his face - the one that said, quite clearly, that everything always worked out well for him. She wanted to yell at him, wanted to tell him that things shouldn't always work out for him and they certainly didn't always work out for everyone else and could he just grow up?
"Oh, get over yourself," Lily snapped. "You aren't always going to get things right on your first try."
"What's got your knickers in a twist?" James asked, sounding amused. At Hogwarts he had seemed to take great pleasure in riling her up, and now he had reverted back to that. Or maybe he had never left that particular phase, and she just hadn't noticed it in a while.
"Shut up, Potter," she said.
"What, did you have a bad date with Dearborn this evening or something?" James asked. "You seemed in a cheerful enough mood this morning when you sent me that owl about coming over to work on the potion…"
"Shut up, Potter!" Lily spat again, flushing in fury.
James immediately snapped his mouth shut and just stared at her, waiting for her to say or do something. She shoved her chair back and rose to her feet, moving away from him. He stayed seated as she walked out of the kitchen, and for that, at least, she was grateful. She really didn't want to talk to him right now.
It wasn't fair. He had his Quidditch team and his intelligence and good looks and Vanessa Lovely, and what had he done to deserve any of it?
Her gaze fell on the Daily Prophet. She glared at it for a long moment, feeling her anger grow. He had so much potential. He'd written an article about the accomplishments of Muggles and Muggleborns and gotten it published in the newspaper next to the article about Malfoy's new legislation. He'd picked an issue he believed in - or, at least, she assumed he believed in the rights of Muggleborns because why else would he have done this? - and fought for it in an ingenious manner. He'd likely angered several prominent and important pureblood families doing it, setting himself up for a bitter fight against very powerful opponents, but even the threat of that imminent conflict hadn't deterred him from doing what he believed in.
He had so much potential.
And he was just sitting in her kitchen, wasting her time.
"You're Vanessa Lovely."
The reporter glanced up at the young man who approached her. He had a quiet seriousness about him, and his eyes were haunted. There was worry in his gaze - and suspicion.
She'd seen his picture before. She knew who he was.
"You're Remus Lupin," she said.
"I hear you and James had an argument about you being in Slytherin," Lupin said.
Vanessa nodded slowly, a little skeptical of his reasons for being here. "Come to tell me James isn't really prejudiced and I interpreted everything he said all wrong?" she asked sarcastically.
But Lupin surprised her. "Oh, James is prejudiced against Slytherins," he said readily. He pulled out the chair opposite her desk and sat down, glancing about the office as he did so.
It was empty. She wasn't senior enough at the Daily Prophet to get her own space, but the two people who shared her office - both wizards, both Quidditch reporters - were out on assignment.
The fact that they were alone seemed to embolden Lupin, because he said, "You know what I am."
Vanessa shrugged. "Pretty much anyone could figure out what you were if they decided to look," she replied calmly.
"Are you going to tell anyone?" Lupin asked.
Vanessa's lips flattened into a thin line. "Are you going to tell anyone I'm a Slytherin?" she retorted.
Lupin furrowed his brow and said, "I imagine pretty much anyone could figure out what you were if they decided to look."
Vanessa smiled at that. "Touché."
"I don't remember you from Hogwarts," Lupin said thoughtfully.
Vanessa almost laughed. This seemed to be a recurring theme - James and his friends were all operating under the belief that everyone at Hogwarts knew everyone else there. Did they forget that there were several hundred people at the school?
"Did you pay much attention to Slytherins who were a few years older than you?" she asked.
"No," Lupin admitted. He was quiet for a moment, lost in thought. He traced the wood grain of her desk idly with one finger, and she wondered if he was working up the courage to say something to her. Or if he was just trying to figure out what he wanted to say.
She still had no idea why he was here.
"James is a good person," Lupin said finally.
Vanessa didn't reply right away. Then she said, "I suppose it depends on how you define good. I know he's a good Gryffindor."
"He's a good person," Lupin replied, stressing the last word. "I know he has flaws, but who doesn't?"
"Most people's flaws don't cause them to condemn an entire House as evil," Vanessa snapped in reply. But then she stopped and reconsidered this, because if it was true that most people didn't view all Slytherins as evil - or at least corrupt and untrustworthy - then she wouldn't have spent the last few years carefully not mentioning her House affiliation to anyone.
But James, at least, should have been different.
Lupin hesitated, then said, "You should have told him, though."
Vanessa jerked her head up and glowered at him. "So it's all my fault?" she asked caustically. It didn't surprise her that James' friends would leap to his defense because that was, after all, what friends did. But it did annoy her.
"No," Lupin backtracked. "I'm not saying he's right or it isn't his fault, I'm just saying… you should have told him yourself. He shouldn't have had to hear it from Lily."
"Lily Evans?" Vanessa asked curiously, a bit surprised. Lupin nodded, and she tucked that bit of information away for future reflection. She hadn't realized that Evans and James were friendly enough to be discussing James' romantic life. Hadn't James told her initially that Evans hated him?
Of course, the fact that Evans had been the one to tell James was entirely beside the point, even if it was interesting.
She leaned forward and asked seriously, "If I was in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, would you still be saying the same thing? That I should have told James myself? That he shouldn't have had to find out about my House from someone else? As though it was some disgraceful secret?"
"I… well… no…" Lupin said slowly.
"You say it like it is a bad thing, something to be ashamed of," Vanessa continued. "But I'm not ashamed to have been in Slytherin."
"And yet you hide it," Lupin pointed out.
Vanessa laughed lightly. "I am a Slytherin," she replied pointedly. "I'm ambitious enough to want to get ahead at my job even if it requires some sacrifice, and cunning enough to know what I need to do to win people's trust."
She didn't consider it at all contradictory to be both proud of her House and willing to hide it if necessary. It had taken her a long time to realize that she was a Slytherin at heart, but once it became clear to her that she did have all the traits the Sorting Hat looked for in Slytherins, she'd clung to that realization with delight. This was her House and she belonged.
And there wasn't anything wrong with that pride, either. It wasn't as though anyone could accuse her of being prejudiced against Muggleborns when she had just gone out of her way to thwart Abraxas Malfoy's plans - and had attached her name to the article, practically guaranteeing that the Malfoy family would come after her in retaliation.
Well, let them. She knew about a few of their skeletons, too.
"James is… it's hard for him right now," Lupin said. "There's a lot of pressure on him, and he doesn't know who to trust. It feels like you lied to him - and maybe you're right and this shouldn't be a big deal, but it is. Because the people coming after him right now… they're all Slytherins. Don't you get that?"
Vanessa sighed. "I do get it," she admitted slowly. "But I'm not the villain in this, and I refuse to play that role just because I was in Slytherin."
"Have you ever considered selling the shop?" Peter asked in a would-be casual tone.
Mr. Pettigrew looked at him in surprise. "Why would I do that?" he replied in bewilderment.
Peter chewed his lip and didn't answer right away. In the past couple days, he'd heard almost nothing from James or Sirius, but had a couple times caught a glimpse of Avery wandering along the cobblestone street, and those moments had sent shivers down Peter's spine. He wasn't sure if Avery was actually following him or if he was just enjoying spending time in Diagon Alley, but it didn't make much of a difference. He couldn't get Bellatrix Lestrange's threat out of his mind.
Finally, he cleared his throat and said, "You could take a holiday. Go to France."
"France?" Mr. Pettigrew repeated dumbly. "Why would I want to go to France?" When Peter didn't answer right away, he asked in a more demanding tone, "Peter, what is this all about?"
"Well, you're getting on in years, Dad," Peter said weakly. "Don't older people like to travel?"
Mr. Pettigrew's lips quirked up into a smile. "I'm getting on in years?" he said, shaking his head in amusement. "Really, Peter, I'm not that old."
"But London is so… gray. Don't you want to see the rest of the world? I hear it's really sunny in France most of the year," Peter pressed. "Or, at least, sunnier than it is here."
"Peter," Mr. Pettigrew said sternly, "tell me what is going on."
"Nothing," Peter protested. "Nothing. I just… thought you might enjoy…" He faltered under his father's stern stare and then let out a long breath and said, "I just think you're going to make some enemies if you stay."
"Enemies?" Mr. Pettigrew laughed outright at the absurdity of that idea. "I run a toy store, Peter. How could I have enemies?"
"Well, with the new legislation Malfoy proposed…" Peter started, but his father cut him off.
"You think they'll come after me because so much of the merchandise I sell doesn't use magic? They're mostly Muggle toys?" Peter nodded miserably, deciding that agreeing to that was far safer then saying what was actually on his mind, and Mr. Pettigrew smiled warmly and said, "It's sweet of you to be so worried about me, Peter, but I really doubt Malfoy is going to waste his time on me. He has bigger problems."
He looked past Peter, his eyes settling on something else, and Peter turned to see a carefully folded copy of the previous day's Daily Prophet sitting on a table in the corner.
Like everyone else, Peter had read the article James and his girlfriend had written and had been suitably impressed by his friend's genius and bravery. But it bothered him to no small extent that James hadn't told him of this plan. He and James didn't talk every day because James was busy with Quidditch and Peter had his father's shop to worry about, but something this big…
In the past, James would have told all of his friends - Peter included - about his plan either before going through with it or right after accomplishing it. Why did Peter have to find out by reading the newspaper? Why wouldn't James have sent him an owl or placed a quick fire call, even if only to brag about his own intelligence?
Why did Peter feel as though he was no longer a Marauder?
"James is my friend," Peter said, silently praying that this was still true, "and if Malfoy goes after the Potters, Dad, then he might come after you, too. You're guilty by association."
Mr. Pettigrew clapped Peter on the shoulder. "I'll worry about that when it happens," he said. "It's not as though anyone has threatened me, right?"
Peter gave another miserable nod and lapsed into unhappy silence.
The first thing Sirius felt when his fist collided with Marcus Avery's face was intense satisfaction. That was followed quickly by a throbbing pain in his hand and then a wariness as Avery reeled back and drew his wand, but even those two feelings were not enough to overwhelm the sheer joy of punching the wizard who had caused so much trouble.
Sirius drew his own wand and held it out in front of him. Avery didn't attack, but his eyes narrowed dangerously and his entire body tensed.
"Black," Avery drawled. "What a pleasant surprise."
"Stay the hell away from Peter," Sirius snarled.
Avery laughed coldly. "Oh, did the little boy go running to his friends for protection?" he asked mockingly. "And let me guess - you're the White Knight here to save the day." He curled his lip. "You're pathetic, Black. You've trampled all over your family name and bloodline, and for what? Half-blood filth and blood traitors? Not to mention monsters…"
Sirius curled his free hand into a fist once more. "James, Peter, and Remus are worth so much more than scum like you," he retorted.
"Scum?" Avery asked. "Really?" He leaned forward and said in a hushed tone, "Better tell your precious Potter to watch his back. That little stunt he pulled with the Daily Prophet… a lot of very powerful people were quite unhappy about it."
"He's not afraid of you," Sirius declared. "And neither am I."
"Oh, but you really, really should be," Avery murmured. "You have no idea just how dangerous I am."
Sirius narrowed his eyes and allowed a smirk to play across his features as he replied, "I know exactly how dangerous you are. About as dangerous as a ladybug."
"You dare…" Avery started, seething.
"Of course I dare," Sirius interrupted. "Like I said, I'm not afraid of you." He took a threatening step forward, fingers tightening on his wand. "Stay away from Peter. And stay away from Regulus."
"Oh, you want to keep your little brother out of this, do you?" Avery mocked. "What's the matter? Afraid he'll beat you?"
"I don't want you dragging him into this mess," Sirius said forcefully. "He's better than all of you." He wasn't entirely sure he believed that, but Regulus was his brother, and if there was any chance of saving him, Sirius was going to take it. He couldn't stand by and do nothing while his brother went down this path, and he wasn't going to just leave Regulus to Avery's influence.
"You don't want…" Avery started with a confused expression, then trailed off. A moment later realization dawned on his features and he said with a short laugh, "You think I dragged him into this? Black, going after Pettigrew was your brother's idea."