Chapter 2: Pranks and Cabinets

Oh bugger! Is all I can think right now.

I know that James has fancied Lily for as long as any of us can remember. I also know that for all that time Lily has rejected James' advances, due to what James unkindly refers to as "Lily's Shadow."

Severus Snape.

How exactly has it come to this point? I wonder as I check the Marauder's Map to make sure that the hallways are all clear. I wait for the tiny dot labeled "Argus Filch" to disappear and wave my arm. "Let's go. It's only round the next bend."

"Hurry up, can't you?" Sirius grunts under the Invisibility Cloak. "The skinny bastard's heavier than he looks."

"Keep it down!" I say. We pass that dumb tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. I concentrate real hard and the doorway forms in the middle of the wall. The doors open and we step inside.

"Took you long enough!" James says and closes the doors once he is sure that Sirius is inside. "What did you do, stop for tea and crumpets on the way?"

"Sod off, mate!" Sirius throws off the Cloak and drops his bundle on the floor with a dull thump. "Had to wait for a damn Slytherin to say the password before I could sneak into their common room, didn't I? Then I had to wait for everyone to clear off so Snape would be alone. Wanker didn't go down easy, though." He points to an angry red welt on his cheek. "Must've sensed that I was there. Guess we've played too many pranks on him with the Cloak for Snivelly not to suspect something. Managed to Stupefy him before he could alert the rest of them, thank Merlin."

I go stand by the door, watching to make sure that no one will hear us. I want this business over with as quickly as possible.

"Nicely done, Padfoot," says James. He searches the unconscious boy and relieves Snape of his wand. He then points his own wand at Snape and says, "Enervate."

Snape slowly comes to. His eyes go wide once he realizes the predicament he is in.

"Alright, Snivellus? You looking for this?" James waves the ebony wand in his left hand. "Thought it was time we had a chat, you and I."

Snape stands up, keeping a wary eye on his attackers. "Well, what do you want to talk about, Potter?"

"The fact that you insist on bothering my girlfriend."

Snape sneers at James. "You never mean Lily."

"Of course I mean Lily, you prat! She's my girl and I don't appreciate you—"

"The last time I checked, Lily had a mind of her own. And I hate to break it to you, but your girl and I have been dating since the summer."

James thrust his wand into Snape's throat, his eyes are bright with malice. "You did something to her. I know you did! Some love potion. How else would any girl fancy an ugly frog like you?"

Snape merely shakes his head. "No, nothing of the sort. You can take the matter to Dumbledore if you like. Although, I don't think he'll be too chuffed with you lot kidnapping me. Not his Golden Gryffindor Boys. After that prank with the Shrieking Shack, I don't think he'll be so lenient this time."

I wince inwardly but continue to peer through the tiny crack in the door. Should a professor wander past now…. I do not want to think of the kind of trouble we'll be in.

James' wand burns into Snape's neck. The Slytherin scowls but does not back down. I might be impressed by his determination, if it was under different circumstances.

"You're going to stop seeing Lily," James hisses, "and we'll let you walk out of here, right?"

"And if I have no intention of complying?"

"Then we have a problem. Lily is my girl, see? And she's going with me to the New Year's Ball. Now you just back off and everyone will be in their proper places. You continue to scrounge after girls who are much higher up than your level and I'll have to do something about it." Again he waves Snape's wand tantalizingly near the boy's face. "Want this, don't you? Like to curse me? Or would you bugger off like this morning?"

"Believe me, Potter, there would be nothing more satisfying to me than seeing you as a giant slug." He draws back his shoulders and stands a bit taller. Much taller than James, and my mate is aware of it. "Disappointing as it may be, I promised Lily no more Dark magic, and I believe in keeping my promises."

James is positively yellow now. "You will leave Lily or—"

"Plan on trying to feed me to your werewolf again, Potter?" Snape shouts. "Do it then, because I'm never leaving Lily! Not ever. I love her, and a selfish pig like you can't stop that!"

Goddamn fool! Is this Snape's way of getting back at us for all these years of bullying? I wish he had not been so honest about his feelings. This would be so much easier if he really was just a slimy git trying to steal my best mate's girl. Why the hell does he have to be so noble all of a sudden?

"Wrong answer, Snivellus," James shakes his head. "Not that I expected a Slytherin worm to be any smarter than this, but you leave me with no choice. Peter?"

Snape looks over his shoulder. Peter is standing by a large ornate, cabinet. Snape's eyes go wide in recognition. "Is that—you cannot…. YOU CANNOT! Those things are considered a level six danger—"

James hits him with a full body lock curse. "You're making me do this, Snively. Just say that you'll never see Lily again and this never happens. You can go back to your hole and become a good little Death Eater, like a proper Slytherin boy. Quite being such a berk!"

"Please, Severus," I find myself saying. "Just do what they ask and get it over with. It's really the easiest choice."

He stares at me, fury etched on every line on his face. "Don't do this. You're a Prefect, for Merlin's sake. You don't know what you're doing!"

"We know perfectly well," James jeers, as happy and casual as if playing a game of gobbstones. "Now you'll be cozy in here until after the Ball, then we may come and let you out, if we remember you. If not, we'll, it's not like anyone will even notice, or care for that matter." He and the other two Marauders laugh. "Open her up, Peter."

Peter does so. Snape's jaw is set with determination despite the fear that is making his body tremble. He looks to me, pleading, though I know that it must be killing him to do so. "Please. Don't do this!"

My hands are white on the walls. I turn my back to look out the entrance again simple because I cannot stand to watch. Cannot.

"Remus!"

Just get on with it, Prongs.

"Last chance, Snape." I hear James say.

"Go to Hell!" Snape shouts back.

I want to say something, but woe be it if I should defy the will of my friends. I'd be branded The Werewolf and promptly cast aside to join the other outcasts of the school. Like Snape.

There is more shouting and whooping and the sound of struggling. Finally a cry is cut off by the loud slam of a cabinet door. I look back and James is clasping hands with Peter and Sirius. Sirius makes a drum roll on the door before whipping it open again, only this time it is empty. Snape is gone.

"Ha!" Sirius punches his fist in the air and lets the door close. "It worked! Lovely Vanishing Cabinet."

"Where do you suppose he's gone to, eh?" Peter asks.

"Who cares?" James yawns and throws the ebony wand at me. "Let's clear off."

I almost take a step back toward the Cabinet when James throws an arm over my shoulders and pulls me along with him, like we are returning from winning the Quidditch House Cup. I have never been fond of the Slytherins, Severus Snape included, but I never thought the day would come when I would fell sorry for the git.

"Remus." A stricken voice shakes me from my doze. I sit up straighter and try to pretend that I did not just fall asleep in Transfiguration class.

"Remus, have you seen Severus?" Lily whispers from her seat in front of mine. Her face is white and nervous and looks like she hasn't slept a wink either. "It's been three days and nobody has seen or heard from him. It's like he vanished."

The word leaves a foul taste in my mouth. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Her voice rises a notch, and then settles so as not to alert Professor McGonagall. "He's missed our presentation in Professor Slughorn's class and he would never miss a project he's worked so hard on. Also, he wouldn't just go somewhere without telling me." She bites her lip until it's as red as pomegranates.

I twist in my seat and hope that she does not notice. "Maybe he had trouble at home?"

"I already asked Slughorn. He said he hasn't seen Severus in days. If there was trouble, don't you think he'd have gone to his Head of House first?"

James leans over from my opposite side. "Maybe it was the kind of trouble he didn't want to alert his Head to, if you take my meaning."

Lily glares at him. "No. What do you mean, pray tell?"

"Only that maybe Snape's got himself into a fix that he can't get out of. You know, a dark fix." He gestured a thumb towards Avery and Rosier; two admitted Slytherin Death Eaters.

"I already told you," Lily hisses, "Sev isn't with those boys anymore."

"Then where is he? And if he's done nothing wrong then why didn't he tell you where he was going?"

Lily opens her mouth, and then closes it again. Her cheeks are pink and her lower lip begins to tremble. Another moment and she will be in tears. "Remus, what do you think?" she asks.

If Apparition was possible within Hogwarts, I would have long since left the classroom. James nudges me and I have the urge to throw my book at him.

"Last day I saw him was when you two were in that snow storm," I say, and it is the truth.

Lily hangs her head and shifts back around in her seat. I can see her shoulders tremble slightly and know that she has lost her battle with tears. James gives me a grand smile. I sink back into my studies, hoping not to be sick all over my desk.

Only four more days to that blasted Ball, and it cannot come soon enough.