Chapter IV
Snakes and Lions

"Not so brave are you now, Black?" a voice jeered from behind.

Sirius didn't stop running. He had tried to defend himself; no Gryffindor would go down without a fight. Especially not he. But his knowledge of magic still began and ended at a few simple charms, which would hardly aid him in a battle against an entire gang of Slytherins, some even three years older.

Without looking over his shoulder, he sent a Stinging Hex in their general direction. An unfamiliar voice yelped, and Sirius grinned in satisfaction. He had always liked believing that the sadistic streak present in many of his relatives was not something he possessed. Yet he found it pleasurable, still, toying with the idea that he'd one day put his opponents in their place.

"Filthy Muggle lover!" Nott snarled. Spells and curses flew at Sirius faster than lightning. He ducked and rolled to the side, unable to defend himself otherwise. He didn't know what these curses did and had no desire to find out. Knowing the Slytherins, none would have been painless.

A thought occurred to him as he registered those words. He launched himself at Nott, taking the older boy by surprise. They both collapsed, but Sirius – lighter and a lot more agile – quickly resumed his position. "How shameful, Nott," he said mockingly, "Can't even defend yourself against Muggle tactics." He punched Avery in the nose and jabbed his wand under Parkinson's chin. The delight born from his unexpected victory, however, was short-lived; Mulciber grabbed him by the shirt and shoved him into the wall before drawing his wand and steadying it between Sirius's eyes.

"Traitor," he spat. "We ought to kill you here and now for what you've done." Hate blazed in his beady eyes – a sight rather odd to Sirius, who until then had thought Mulciber was only capable of staring blankly with his drool trickling down his chin.

Voicing that thought had not been a clever decision on Sirius's part.

"Alarte Ascendare!"

Sirius shot up into the air, nearly hitting the castle's arched ceiling.

But he didn't come down.

He realised that Mulciber was somehow keeping him elevated, possibly to make it harder for him to attack. Trying hard not to scream out in fear and shock, he drew his own wand. What was that spell Uncle Alphard had taught him?

"Mucus ad Nauseam!" he yelled, trying to keep his wand steady as he pointed towards Mulciber.

It hit Parkinson instead, but Sirius was content either way. Except for the fact that he was about twenty-five feet in the air with no way to come down.

"Petrificus Totalus!" A new voice had joined now. But the curse wasn't directed at him. Suddenly, the electric blue beam of light extending from Mulciber's wand disappeared; his body froze with his mouth slightly ajar and his eyes, devoid of all thought and emotion, as they usually were, staring up at Sirius, who was quickly plummeting towards the marble floor.

"Arresto Momentum!" said the same voice, and Sirius was once more safely grounded.

"Remus!" he exclaimed. He hadn't expected his saviour to be the shy, unspeaking boy. In fact, he'd got the distinct impression that Remus was completely indifferent to him and James. "How did you do that?"

"Come on," Remus said, "we don't have time." He grabbed Sirius by the forearm and they fled from the second-floor corridor before their enemies could catch up to them. The two first-years ran for what seemed like hours through the castle's winding passages, only stopping when they were finally in Binns' classroom.

"Where were you?" James hissed.

"Long story," Sirius said, still trying to catch his breath. "Though I'd probably be in the Hospital Wing if it hadn't been for Remus. Guess some good does come out of all that reading you do." He grinned at his fellow Gryffindor, who, for the first time since the start of term, offered a genuine smile back.

"Well I couldn't leave you there," he said. "It would've been a tragic fate. Can you imagine your last sight in this world being Mulciber's face?"

"They attacked you?" James demanded. He pulled out a crumpled piece of parchment and straightened it out before dipping his quill in ink. "Wait. I've got the best idea."

Sirius felt intrigued. James's ideas were rarely good, if he had to be honest with himself, but anything was more interesting than listening to Binns' endless drawl.

"We're turning the Slytherin Common Room red," James said brightly. He beamed at them, looking all too proud of himself. "Since they're so bloody obsessed with our House, we should give them a little present."

"James, that's nonsense," said Remus. "Let's not provoke them further." They'll only become angrier, and Sirius will be the one who gets attacked."

"Let's do it!" Sirius exclaimed, not minding Remus's reprimand.

Remus rolled his eyes.

"Are you in, Remus? Come on, it will be fun!"

So while Binns went on and on, the three Gryffindors planned.

"First we'll need an efficient way to get to the dungeons. No one except the Slytherins ever goes there unless they've got Potions," said Remus. "If the three of us do, we'll draw a lot of suspicion."

"And we'll also need the password," James added.

"Should I ask my cousin? I don't know if it will work, she won't want me lurking in there, but I can try."

James shook his head, still grinning. "I've got a better way. I'll show you after class."

Sirius nodded. Excitement was bubbling in him, he could already envision the dungeons – the furniture turned crimson, the dormitories adorned with gold banners. "Great," he said, grinning back. James's enthusiasm was really contagious. "We could use a colour-changing charm for the walls, probably some furniture too. But we want it permanent, don't we?"

James nodded emphatically.

"We'll go to the library after class," said Remus. The other two grimaced, but he pretended not to notice. "We need to research."

And research they did, for the better part of two hours.

"Remus," Sirius said in a whining tone, "I'm bored and I've found nothing. I mean I did find some interesting things but they've got nothing to do with colour-changing charms."

It was beyond him how Remus could spend so long in that blasted place; it was dusty and had a strange, damp smell which he was already beginning to despise. The books lining the shelves bored him too, even if he didn't quite know what they were about.

"Well look harder."

"Wait– I've got it! This is it, but we'll need to practice; it's fourth-year level."

"Colovaria Aeternabilis," he read, "causes an object or animal to permanently change its colour. It differs from the simple Colour Change Charm in that it is a form of Transfiguration. The target is not charmed, but rather transfigured to ensure a permanent result."

"Easy!" James exclaimed. "I'm great at Transfiguration!"

"And very modest too," Remus mumbled under his breath. "Let's see what your plan for sneaking into the dungeons is then."

James led them all the way to Gryffindor Tower. The weather was still rather warm, meaning most students had taken to sitting around the Black Lake to study, preferring it to being cooped up in the Common Room. "This is it," said James, retrieving a shimmering cloak from his trunk. "My dad gave it to me, it's an Invisibility Cloak. It's been in my family forever."

Sirius was almost jumping for joy. "Let me try it!" And indeed, upon looking down, he realised his own body had vanished. He waved his arm, but the cloak kept it hidden from the rest of the world. "Amazing," he whispered. He pulled the cloak off and handed it back to James. "So here's what we do, right – we follow the little snakes to the dungeons, we'll overhear the password, and once it's empty we'll go in."

"What if there's a portrait or something?" Remus asked. "It will probably know we're from a different house."

"The portraits aren't too focused," said Sirius. "They might not even notice. But I am a Black, unfortunately; we'll just nick a pair of Slytherin robes from somewhere and I'll get in easily. Hell, even the portraits are probably sick of looking at my family's stupid faces all these years."

As it turned out, there were no portraits. Just a simple stone door, with neither a handle, nor a knob. The three boys looked on from under the Invisibility Cloak, waiting for someone to get through. "Stop moving," Remus breathed. "You'll give us out."

A few short minutes later, it turned out to be Evan Rosier who ultimately gave the Gryffindors what they needed. But once they'd overheard the password, Sirius was in a foul mood. "Pure-blood," he hissed. "Can you believe it?" He stomped all the way up to Gryffindor Tower, his two friends trailing behind. "I hate them. I hate every single bloody pure-blood supremacist. Those self-righteous, stuck-up idiots…" His vicious raving wasn't directed at anyone in particular. But he felt much better after his colourfully worded rant. He'd never been able to speak that way in Grimmauld Place. Even if his mother's wrath failed to intimidate him, he rarely had someone to express such opinions to.

His disposition only improved a good three hours later, once the three had successfully left the dungeons, wands still in their hands. Practising the spell hadn't been particularly troubling; it was waiting for the Common Room to empty that had been significantly more difficult. At least, everyone had gone down to dinner, and they were free to work.

"Won't we get in trouble once they realise we were the only ones who missed dinner?" Remus asked worriedly.

"We'll come up with something," said Sirius, taking one last look at their masterpiece. "I like it better this way, don't you? It looks less cold."

"What about the lights?" James said. "Should we leave them green?"

Remus pulled his sleeves up and grinned. "I've got this," he said with more confidence than they'd ever heard from him, pointing his want at the ceiling. On the second try, he managed to transform the lighting to a pinkish red, evoking James's unrestrained enthusiasm. Sirius gave a victorious laugh too, but not without noticing the scars and gashes on Remus's arms.

James seemed to be sharing his thoughts. "Remus, mate, what happened to you?"

"What–," He violently pulled his sleeves back down, as if realizing his mistake. "Nothing," he said shakily. "I fell into a rosebush. Flying accident."

James raised an eyebrow, but said nothing more.

"Come on," Remus said. "We've got to get out of here before they return." He was right, so neither of the two boys commented on the abrupt change of subject.

To avoid arousing suspicion, they went back to the Great Hall. "Listen," Sirius told Marlene. "McGonagall likes you. If she asks, tell her we were in the library during dinner."

"What did you do?" she asked.

"You'll see. Just cover up for us, alright?"

Marlene shrugged and helped herself to some fruit. "Alright," she said through a mouthful of strawberries, "but don't expect McGonagall to believe me. Do you even know where the library is?"

"I do," Remus said defensively. "I don't know about the other two though."

The four made their way back to their Common Room in a pleasant conversation. Max, one of the Muggleborns, soon caught up to them, looking winded. His brown hair was messy and his blue eyes held a worried quality which instantly drew his schoolmates' attention.

"Professor McGonagall wants to see you," he said in between pants. "She said you should bring Fabian and Gideon Prewett with you."

"But we just got up the stairs," James whined. "What does she want?"

"Take a guess, moron," Sirius said, slapping the back of his head. "Why would Gryffindor's Head of House want to see the Gryffindor students that have lost the most points so far after the Slytherin Common Room was vandalised with Gryffindor colours?"

Remus snickered. "At least we know the Hat was right to put you in this house," he told James. "I don't assume Ravenclaw crossed its mind?"

"Hats don't have minds, Remus."

"Whatever. We should go."