Sirius, James and Remus were on the side of the castle near the forbidden forest. They ere far enough away from the main group that they weren't visible but close enough that the antics of the other provided a distraction from the tedious boredom of the lazy weekend morning.

Remus and James were sitting at the base of a tree. James was lazily using his wand to charm a fly into doing tricks in mid-air. Sirius was hanging upside down from a tree branch watching a group of girls and keeping up a steady commentary on their looks.

Remus was studiously reading a Defence-Against-The-Dark Arts textbook and trying to ignore the behaviour of his two friends and the pains that wracked his body.

The only person missing from the group of friends was Peter or Wormtail as they had taken to calling him. Lupin wondered what Peter would be doing if he was with them, then realised he already knew. Peter would be either sycophantically agreeing with everything Sirius said or making a fool of himself applauding at everything James did. It made Remus sick to see Peter's behaviour and the way James and Sirius revelled in the boy's attention and then made fun of him to his face and behind his back for it. Remus knew Peter was naturally fearful and would latch onto anybody he thought would protect him and Sirius and James happened to be the biggest and baddest around the castle at the moment. But Remus suspected that even though neither would admit it the real reason at least partly James and Sirius let Peter hang out with them was because at they enjoyed having somebody to pick on.

It was almost as if James had tapped into Remus' thoughts when he said "I wish Wormy was here."

Sirius lazily flipped his hair out his eyes and stared upside down at James and asked "Why so he can see you make that fly do a somersault and piss himself in admiring delight?" Sirius gave a nasty snicker.

James glanced up at Sirius."Don't be a git."

Sirius just grinned and said "Seriously, though Wormy's rather pathetic. I mean how thick do you have to be to fail a quiz on animagi three times when we've been studying it for the past few years?" Sirius flipped upright and grabbed a branch higher up, hoisting himself up and resumed his precarious position upside down. He continued "Did you see the look on that arse's face when he found out he had failed again? I wanted to slap him!" Sirius pulled a face and said "He was like what? How did this happen?"

James chortled. Remus shifted uncomfortably. He didn't speak.

"He's plenty thick, denser than my mum's fudge. I mean we're animagi for god sakes. It's not like it's a foreign topic." James said.

Remus said quietly "Could you be a little quiet about that James?"

James glanced at Remus. "Don't get your knickers in a twist Moony. Nobody's around."

Remus still looked uncomfortable but he didn't argue. Sirius added "Prongs is right Moony. The whole full moon thing is making you anxious."

Remus glanced around furtively before saying. "Sirius please don't mention that here. Somebody might overhear."

A snort of laughter followed Remus's request. Then Sirius answered. "For god sakes nobody's around." He glanced down at Remus then continued. "As I was saying before I was interrupted by a certain paranoid werewolf..." The last word was said in a stage-whisper, eliciting a glare from Remus which Sirius ignored. Sirius turned back to James and said "About Peter though, I wanted to slam his face into his desk and then jinx the answers into him."

Sirius pulled out his wand and gave it a flick. "Okay, now that you're hanging upside down and all the blood is going to your head, maybe you can think better. So let's try again for the fifteenth-hundred and hopefully last time: What is the difference between animagi and transfiguring yourself using a potion?" Sirius pretended to be listening to an answer and cupped a hand around his ears after a few seconds he said "Wrong, five minutes of the tongue-tying jinx for you."

Remus turned another page in his book and briefly considered telling his friends to stop, but decided he didn't want them to start on him. He tried to ignore the comments and focus on reading about patronuses.

James was laughing so hard he was having difficulty catching his breath. When he finally was able to breathe he added. "Maybe we should do that to him Padfoot. I mean, I would hate for him to wind up having a life of menial labour or having to be a sycophantic git for pay just because he was too thick to do anything else."

"True, we'd probably be doing him a favour, helping him get his marks up and I'd get to practice my Jinxes so I'm ready for Snivellus."

Remus was now very uncomfortable and it wasn't only the pain from his coming transformation that was disturbing him. He shifted farther away from James and pretended to be engrossed in his book.

James sighed and said "I wish that the greasy arse would come by. It's boring, when he's not around. "

There was silence for a few minutes then James glanced at Lupin and said "You're awfully quiet Moony, wolf got your tongue?" he laughed at his own joke.

Remus gave a nervous laugh. "I'm just studying, you know so I'm not so far behind after the next few days."

James nodded, but Remus could see he wasn't really interested as he said "That's probably good idea." He ruffled his hair messing it up." Say, moony since you're not going to be in class Monday, mind writing out the answers to the charms quiz beforehand."

Remus actually did mind. Sirius and James often asked him to do their homework or write there papers for them. It wasn't because they were stupid, but because most of the time they didn't feel like doing their own work. If James or Sirius had wanted to they could have easily gotten top marks with their own work, but they didn't care to make the effort needed. So Remus did their work for them and to him it was a small price to pay not to have to deal with the insult and bullies that would have bothered him if James and Sirius weren't his friends. The other students stayed away from him and treated him differently due to his sickly appearance and frequent absences. Plus a small part of him was worried that if he stopped going along with them they would start on him.

He laid down his book and said "Sure, where's my bag?" James tossed it to him; Remus pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill and started writing. His limbs ached with the shooting pains that signalled to him, his body would transform in a few hours. As he forced his hand not to shake he asked casually. "James, why don't you have time to do your own work?"

James grinned and said "Because you do it some much better plus there's a party Sunday afternoon and I'm not wasting my time studying when there's girls to meet."

"A girl you mean" Sirius voice drifted from overhead.

James glanced upward; the tips of his ears were red. "I didn't say that."

Sirius smirked at the obvious discomfiture he was causing his friend."But that's obviously what you're thinking. You're thinking about Evans."

"Evans!" James in an obviously fake way added. "I certainly don't mean her... I mean she's rather pretty..." He hastily continued "In a plain way, but her hair is too dark red and her almond shaped-eyes are too green and her nose is so small and she walks a little—"

Sirius cut him off. "You noticed all those details because you don't like her?"

"I don't."

"Don't lie mate. You should be honest."

"I'm just pointing out her flaws. Do you see me accusing you of liking every girl just because you feel the need to point out the qualities of each that makes them unsuitable?"

Sirius said "I have certain tastes. Everybody's not up to my high standards."

"Except for one night, then you're on to the next one right?"

"Whoa, mate. We're not talking about me. We're talking about you and Evans and ...Love."

Love!" James was outraged. "Where in any of this conversation did you hear me mention love?"

Sirius grinned and was about to speak again when he froze and his expression became one of a predator sighting his prey. He looked quite like the dog he could become. His lips were pulled back revealing teeth in a feral smile. His eyes were gleaming with a mischievous and almost wicked light. He swung himself upright and dropped down from the tree, landing in a crouch. Throughout his movements almost impossibly his eyes had never strayed from their target.

James turned to see what had so utterly caught Sirius' attention and with a small smile of his own as he saw who it was, whispered "Snivellus... perfect."

Sirius remained crouch and James didn't move. Remus raised his eyes from his parchment and felt a little sick as he noticed what had attracted his friends interest and realized what they were going to do. He thought about shouting a warning or telling his Sirius and James to lay off, but he was afraid if he did they might start on him. There was silence as they all watched a tall, thin pockmarked, black haired teen stride across the grass with a heavy book bag on one arm and a textbook held out in the other. The boy glanced around a little nervously and then seeing nobody around settled underneath a tree. He pulled out another book and stared at it for several seconds then took out his wand.

Simultaneously James and Sirius stood up and with glances at each other they reach an unspoken agreement and started toward Snivellus or as the boy's actual name was Severus Snape. Remus tagged along wishing he had the guts to tell them to stop now, and not ineffectually wait until after they had humiliated and come close to torturing the other boy before giving a paltry attempt at intervening.

Severus was initially oblivious to their approach. He had his wand out an appeared to be charming something. A silvery mist was forming in the air around an object he held in his palm. Remus couldn't exactly see what it was but it looked like a flower, specifically a Lilly. Sirius said "Oy, Snivellus mate! How's it going?"

Severus reacted swiftly jumping to his feet and dropping the flower as he raised his wand. He opened his mouth to speak and James quickly flicked his wand silencing the boy. Snape still managed to send a Jinx his way, which James neatly dodged before lazily saying "Petrificus Totalus"

Severus fell over and Sirius ventured closer and peered into the petrified boy's face. "You really need to be faster Snivellus, being so slow isn't good for a want-a-be dark wizard like yourself. The aurors will have you in a few seconds." He turned back to James ""Let's let him try again." Sirius muttered the counter-spell and Snape was able to move. He quickly snatched up his wand, but before he could speak he was petrified again.

James and Sirius continued for several minutes until Severus was so stiff from repeatedly being petrified and unpetrified that his limbs could scarcely move. After unpetrifying him the last time they disarmed him. James caught the wand in mid air and tossed it aside, as a panting Severus stared at them malevolently.

A crowd was starting to gather around the scene as other students notice what was happening. James and Sirius played it up, revelling in the attention.

"So what would you like to say for yourself Snivellus?' Any bright ideas on how your reflexes can be made faster." James asked in a mocking tone. Severus didn't answer. James turned to the crowd "since he appears to be mute, let's hear some suggestions."

A blond girl in near the edge of the crowd shouted "Do the Jelly Leg jinx and make him bob for apples in the great lake."

"Good." James said considering. "Any others?"

"Turn him into a hamster and I'll get my kneazle out."

" A little too lethal."

More answers were shouted out but before James could reply to the other suggestions, Severus dove for his wand. Sirius saw the movement and casually said "Accio" In the general direction of the wand without a specific directive. In response to Sirius' nonchalant flick a notebook zoomed toward him instead of the wand.

Severus froze as he saw the leather-bound book hurtling toward Sirius then he lunged for it, missing the book as it grazed his fingertips. Sirius caught the notebook and grinned. "Why Severus something important in here?"

Severus shouted "F—k you! You bastard, you wanker! I hate-"

James flicked his wand casting a silencing charm and then after a moment of thought casted a jelly leg jinx, making Severus collapse to the ground. While keeping his wand pointed at the other teen James deftly caught the notebook Sirius tossed him and said "So let's all hear what the greasy git thinks is so important, probably some of his creepy spells or potions." He opened the book and said "Oh, beautiful... it's a journal."

Severus was struggling to gain his feet and was silently cursing at them; his face was bright red. James ignored him and started reading. "December 4th - potions was awful today, half the class made the worst polyjuice potion ever. Most of the potion was already assembled for them and they still couldn't get it right. And that git James Potter somehow managed to be marginally better than those other idiots . The teacher and the rest of the class started fawning over him, the sycophantic wankers. The idiot let all the attention go to his overinflated head as usual but of course his potion was terrible compared to mine. I'm really the best potion maker in the whole class..."

James paused and glanced at Severus who was glaring at him with intense hatred. "Happy to hear you think so highly of yourself. You're probably the only person who does. " The crowd of students surrounding the teens laughed and Severus turned an even a brighter shade of red. "And by the way the only git is you. The last time I looked I didn't have a resemblance to somebody's arse or have so much grease and dirt in my hair people think I lived in a troll den.

Laughter broke out louder than this time, Severus who was still bound by the Jelly-leg jinx and under the effect of the silencing charm could only shake in impotent anger. James continued reading from Severus' journal punctuating every few comments with snide remarks and piercing jokes.

Several minutes passed as Severus was forced to endure the other teen's taunts before James flicked to the last page with a flourish. Severus froze as he saw the other boy pause staring at the page. James was staring at a large heart with the name Lilly Evans drawn next to it, below the name was a sketch of her. James expression grew even nastier. He glanced up from the page and locked eyes with Severus then very deliberately he slowly ripped the page out the journal. A cruel smile grew on his face as held the page up for all to see. Loudly he said "So you like Lilly Evans, huh?" Severus' eyes widened and he struggled to his feet and lunged at James.

Sirius muttered "incarcerus " ensnaring Severus in ropes . He remained standing but was now immobile. He was panting and struggling against the thick cords that encircled his body.

James continued. "I'm sure the feeling isn't mutual. Who could love a git like you? You have the face of an arse. This is one day dream that's not coming true." He slowly ripped the paper in shreds letting the shreds of parchment flutter to the ground. If anybody had been truly watching James at that moment they would have noticed his demeanour had changed from taunting fun at another's expense to the need to jealously humiliate.

Severus finally managed to speak as the charm wore off. "You f-ker. You don't know anything about me. You should let me go and fight me man to man instead of having to have your friends back you up on everything." He was incredibly pale and what appeared suspiciously like tears was trickling down his face.

"Your words might have some validity but who said you were a man?"

"What?"

"I really didn't say you could speak." James flicked his wand silencing Severus again and then turned to the crowd of students and asked. "Who here thinks Snape isn't a man? I mean he's crying right now for god sakes." There was more laughter though some was more uncomfortable, nervous giggles then a full-blown laugh now. James continued. "But he says he's a man so let's make him prove it." He raised his wand and released Severus from the rope restraints, then before the other boy could move he sharply swung his wand upward causing him to be hoisted in the air as if by an ankle.

Severus' robes flew upwards over his head and his shirt snaked upward revealing a pale scarred abdomen and chest. Remus realised what was about to happen and moved forward intending to say something. James spoke again before he could. He turned to Sirius and said in a mock questioning tone. "What's the best way to find out if he's telling the truth?"

"Seems to me James we need some proof."

"True and as they say seeing is believing." James turned back to his prey and flicked his wand pulling the aloft boy's trousers off. Severus dangled in mid-air and now his greying underpants were visible to everybody. James muttered something else and the robes and shirt flew off. Now everybody could see Severus' face and nobody could deny that the stream of water trickling down his face wasn't tears. Severus was on display for the crowd. His pale scarred skin, lanky legs, and body that looked astonishingly thin was stiff as he endured the students scrutiny.

Remus glanced around wishing somebody would come and stop this. He hoped an adult would arrive, but the lawn was deserted of professors. He didn't want to intervene; he easily could see himself at the centre of the circle and everybody laughing as they knew his own secrets. He subconsciously rubbed his arm remembering the pain from a broken bone after he had been stoned in a village near where he had lived when it was discovered he was a werewolf. But as much as he feared becoming a target he couldn't stand and watch. Remus turned to look at Severus and the other boy's eyes locked with his, but they weren't pleading for help they were filled with anger and loathing. The look moved Remus to action, no matter the consequences he had to say something. He moved closer to James and said quietly. "It's enough James, let him go."

There was no answer as either James ignored him or didn't hear. Remus tried again.

This time James muttered irritably. "Not now Remus , don't you see I'm busy?" He turned back to the crowd and spoke."And now for the finale." With a long flourish he caused Severus' remaining piece of clothing to fly off and land in a heap next to his other clothes. Half the crowd dissolved into explosive laughter, the other half was nervous snickers. James made Severus slowly revolve in midair so every part of him was visible to everybody.

Remus stared at the ground, sickened at what he was going along with.

After a few minutes James allowed Severus to collapse in a heap. The boy desperately scrambled for his clothes. He pulled on his underpants and tugged his trousers on. Before he could finish dressing James said "Now that we've found you're telling the truth, even though there was very little evidence." James let the laughter his statement had caused reverberate in the air for a few seconds before continuing. "I suppose you can have a fair fight which in your case requires me to seriously handicap myself because let's face it you're pretty much a squib. That's why you have a book of little spells you made up. They're the only ones easy enough for you to perform on a consistent basis."

He summoned Severus' wand, tossed it to him and released the silencing charm he had casted. Severus quickly dropped the shirt he was holding and caught the wand. He opened his mouth to form a curse and a jinx struck him directly in the chest knocking him backwards. Where the jinx had struck a nasty bruise started to form, but Severus was already scrambling to his feet; his eyes blazed with anger.

James chuckled. " I gave you half-a-second, not good enough still? Ah, well I'll let you have a go against my mate Sirius."

Sirius lazily moved forward and waited until Severus had dragged himself up. He gasped out "You filthy bastards leave me alone! You only get away with this sh—because there' s three of you f—kers and everybody's scared of you!" He glared at Sirius and snarled. "You can' say anything about me. I know your brother. You're both slimy haired, filthy death-eaters—"

The rest of the tirade was interrupted as Sirius bristled slightly at the death-eater comment and then casually said. "I'm filthy am I? Maybe you can help me with that?" He muttered a spell and Severus immediately stiffened. Sirius said another spell and the other boy slowly came forward against his will. Sirius glanced down at his own shoes and then back at Severus and a malicious smile grew on his face. "There's a bit of dirt on my shoe that needs cleaning."

Remus watched as Snape was forced downward inexorably, for a moment with the complete control Sirius seemed to have over the other boy Remus feared he was using an unforgiveable curse. But with an unforgivable curse there would have been absolute control and Severus was still able to offer more resistance than he would have been able to otherwise.

Severus wrenched his head back fighting the jinx. He succeeded in jerking his body upward. Sirius frowned and contemplated his wand for a second clearly wondering why the spell wasn't working to his satisfaction. In those few seconds Severus had gained enough control of himself that he was able to shout. "you f—king wankers! You don't have the bullocks to –"

His words were cut off by Sirius as he clicked his tongue against his teeth and taunted. "Ah, bad words Snivellus? Perhaps washing your mouth out would help." He raised his wand and coldly whispered a word. Severus coughed as his mouth filled with water and the liquid spilled out dripping down his chin. His mouth continued to fill , somehow he still found the breath to spit out choked curses in between desperate gasps for air.

"Still finding the energy to have a potty mouth eh? Let me help you out." Sirius silently flicked his wand. Severus' face twisted and he made gagging sounds as his face turned bright red. His mouth which was still filled with water gaped open and Remus saw that his tongue had twisted in upon itself.

Severus lunged towards James who was nearest and James calmly stepped backwards, then with a cruel expression on his face pointed his wand at the other boy. Severus fell backwards as ropes bound his legs from the knees down. Water was still filling his mouth but lying on his back he couldn't allow it to drain. He stumbled to his knees and started to be sick as his body tried to rid itself of the water.

James and Sirius watched uncaring and the crowd of people surrounding the spectacle did nothing to intervene. In fact many were laughing and jeering.

Remus had seen enough. He reached forward and grabbed Sirius 'arm. "Stop this; Leave him alone. He hasn't done anything."

Sirius turned back to Remus and Lupin saw a glimpse of a darker side to his friend's personality that mirrored the animal he could become. His teeth were pulled back in an animalistic grin, his eyes blazed with a feral light. "He's done a lot of things. One: existing. Two: being where he has even the remotest possibility of intersecting with my presence and Three; being a greasy slime ball git who dabbles in the Dark Arts." As he snarled the last words he wrenched his arm from Remus grip.

While Sirius had been talking his concentration on the spell had slackened, but James had taken over the spell . Remus glared at Sirius back but didn't speak to him again instead he moved to James. "James, let's leave him alone. He—"

Sirius turned back to him in an instant and now Remus could tell that he was on the receiving end of the other boy's anger now, but he didn't back down. Sirius growled in a low voice. "He what? You always want to back down , to back off. Moony all this hiding you've been doing your whole life has made you fearful." Sirius paused and the last sentence he spoke was like acid allowed to slowly drip onto a stone. "You're fearful ...like a dog that doesn't want to be kicked."

Remus snatched his hand back from where he had placed it on James arm, like he had been burned. Sirius was already turning back, perhaps he was unaware of how his words had hurt or perhaps he didn't care. James had heard what Sirius had said and for a moment he glanced at Remus with something quite close to apology in his eyes but the next moment it had vanished and Remus saw that James was unwilling to stop or relinquish the control he had. It wasn't about having fun anymore it was about totally and utterly humiliating the other boy. Remus took a step away, he was unsure whether he was going to tell a professor or merely wanted to get away, but he couldn't bear to watch anymore.

Before he could move a sharp clear voice rang out. "Stop!"

The voice made James falter as he turned to find the source of the challenging command. When he saw who it was his attention wavered from Severus. Remus couldn't help glancing at Snape who was staunchly avoiding everybody's eyes as he knelt on all fours retching violently. His hair hung limply in his face. He was naked to the waist and his trousers were soaked with water. As the voice called out again the boy turned his face upwards towards the sound. Lupin saw the drops of liquid beading down his face and knew that it wasn't only water as the teen took a deep shuddering breath that had more in relationship to the precursor of a sob than half-drowning. As Severus' eyes locked with his own, Remus turned away unable to bear the gaze.

He was reminded all too well that it could have just as easily been him in the middle of the circle. Taunted, and hated, ridiculed with nobody to defend him. And Remus was ashamed to feel relief that it was Severus and not him.

When James saw the person who had shouted, his demeanour changed. He brushed his hair back ruffling it so it was untidy and the cruel expression on his face was replaced by a charming smile.

The girl who had caused the rapid transformation, had dark red hair and green eyes that made the students in the crowd yield as she pushed her way through to the centre of the group. She stopped directly in front of James, her mouth set in a determined frown.

James smiled brightly. "Lilly Evans... What can I do for you?"

"Shut up Potter. Let Severus go and stop being a git! Why can't you leave him alone!"

"Who Severus?" James glanced back at the black-haired teen like he had just noticed him and nonchalantly continued. "I was just teaching him to be a little faster. If he plans on being a Death Eater he's going to have to work on his reflexes."

Sirius chuckled; Lily glared at him and surprisingly he fell silent at her stare. She turned back to James. " you attacked him for nothing like you're always doing. You're nothing but a bully."

James appeared slightly discomforted by the comment but quickly smoothed his expression back into its typical arrogance and spoke. "Well, at least I'm not a greasy Death-Eater leech like Severus, so I should count myself lucky."

Lilly slapped James across the cheek leaving a bright red mark. The noise from the surrounding students had ceased. The only sounds to breach the silence were Severus harsh chokes. Lilly snatched out her wand as James had raised a hand to his cheek in surprise . Lily said in a deadly quiet voice "Let-him-go-now!"

The wand was centimetres from the middle of his eyes. James tried and failed to appear unconcerned by the close proximity of the wand and Lilly's expression. He yawned rather fakely and said "Tell you what. I've told you this before time and time again; if you go out with me...I'll stop." Lilly didn't speak, so James smiled and said . "So what'll it be?"

"Never."

"Well then bad luck for Severus." James shook his head and began to turn away. Severus had managed straighten up and gasped out with difficulty. "You f—ker. You can't-."

"Still can't keep your mouth clean? Here's let's try this. Scourgify."

Soapsuds began to form in Severus mouth and he coughed and gagged as they frothed out and flowed down his chin. He tried to speak and gasped something out that was incomprehensible before he felt to his knees. Soap suds were bubbling from his nose and as he tried to speak again a large bubble formed in his mouth and then burst.

Most of the surrounding students broke out laughing, though many sounded forced. "Stop this!" Lilly yelled. She turned to the crowd of people and shouted. "All of you are pathetic! Just because he's Potter the Quidditch hero; the school crush doesn't mean he isn't an arrogant bullying wanker who doesn't have the bullocks to fight fair without his mates backing him up at every turn. He walks down the halls jinxing anybody he doesn't like. He takes what he wants and generally thinks the rules don't apply to him. And you're standing here laughing but it could just as easily be any of you standing at the centre of this circle."

The students quieted at her words; Some stared at the ground refusing to meet her eyes. Lily twisted around to James and Sirius who were both watching her. "You're pathetic , Both of you are losers and I hope something awful happens to you two."

Before the two boys could speak she had already turned to Remus. "And you, you're just as pathetic. I know you can't possibly agree with what they're doing, and I know that you want to belong. I know you want people to accept you." Her gaze was locked with Remus and he couldn't seem to look away. He wondered was it possible she knew his secret as Lilly let her words linger imparting more meaning in her silent gaze that only he could see. Then she continued. "But that doesn't give you an excuse to be too much of a coward to stand up to them. And no matter what you'd like to believe they aren't your friends."

James had turned a bright red at Lilly's words. Remus stared at the ground. Sirius retained his haughty expression. All three boys were frozen to the spot. Lilly started to move towards Severus, but Sirius causally blocked her way.

"Move!"

"Or what Evans? Even though you're a female I have no problem jinxing you."

"You—" Lilly began to speak as she raised her wand but her words were cut off as a gasped spell almost indecipherable between soapsuds laced breaths was spoke and a flash of light flew towards James. He stumbled and Sirius whipped around, but Lilly had already moved to block his path, preventing him from targeting Severus.

While they had been arguing Severus had crawled to his wand and taken the opportunity to Jinx James. The spell was only half-effective as the words had been garbled.

"Move or I'll jinx you ." Sirius said tightly.

Lilly stood her ground. "You're done here. Why don't you go attend to your mate James? He's looking even more so than normal like a Jack-ass right now." She finished coldly.

Sirius glanced at James and saw that he had been partly transformed into a donkey. There was silence then a ripple of laughter that sounded more genuine than the laughter at Severus had been. James hands had turned to hooves, his face was elongated and he had long donkey-ears.

"I'm going to get you for this Evans." The threat would have sounded more impressive if James had sounded more like a human and less like a donkey when he said it. As it was the half-braying sound brought more laughs.

Lilly didn't even answer; she turned and walked toward Severus. Sirius stared after her clearly torn between making good on his threat of jinxing her or helping James who was bent over from the weight of his transformed face and elongated spine. As James tried to say something and a donkey's harsh bray sounded Sirius moved towards James. He helped his friend up and they started toward the infirmary.

Remus began to follow but something made him pause and he turned to watch as Lilly helped a shivering, gagging Snape back into his shirt. As Severus tugged his shirt over his head, Lilly caught Remus eyes. She stared at him and her gaze was filled with disapproval and something else. It was knowing. Remus could see she knew what he was; He didn't know how , but she knew what he could become, she knew about the monster he was. But he could see that while she disliked him for his actions she didn't see him as the monster anybody else would have if they knew. She glanced at Sirius and James retreating backs before turning to stare again at Remus.

He turned away from her piercing gaze unable to bear it any longer. She didn't know him; He was a monster, he knew that and his actions and inaction over the last few minutes had confirmed that more than any monthly transformation could.

Next update will be June 4th (with a two day margin either way) This is my first HP fic and so far my prereaders have given me high marks, I'd love to know what you think. This is a gift fic for Forever Siriusly Sirius at the gift-giving extravaganza. So questions for this chapter are: Are the characters IC? And who was your favourite character in this chapter. Feedback is appreciated and I reply to all reviews. Enjoy!