Chapter 6! One more chapter and I'll be writing :D :P

Oh yes, anyway, I'm thinking of writing some other stories, well probably just tiny short pieces... so I'll post them at some point =] I hope you're all going to be interested enough to give those a go as well ^_^ That would be much appreciated :D Thanks :D

Did anyone watch Merlin today? I was OVERJOYED that Merlin's BACK :D And the episode was amazing - of course =]

SO, before I completely lose myself there... enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 6 - Thy Will Be Done

Somewhere, far from Hogwarts castle, in a dimly lit room, twenty-two people sat around a table in total silence. All had their gazes trained upon one tall figure, sitting at one end of the polished oak table. The man was wearing a simple black robe with the hood drawn back. He was very pale – one could see every vein underneath his skin – and he had hollow cheeks and matted, black hair. Nevertheless, one would never, if confronted by this man, have the impression that this person was sick or powerless, because despite his unhealthy exterior, he was emanating power like a chill of ice that everyone could feel. However, what was most intriguing about his appearance were two things that one could only see on a second look: his facial features were slightly blurred and smeared, as though one was seeing him through a blurry or wet window and his eyes, though black, had slivers of a piercing, unfriendly red merged within. A huge, dark green snake with sparkling eyes was slung casually around his neck, which furthermore emphasized his power. In front of him was a young, handsome man with black silky hair, looking at the ground as to not meet his eyes, kneeling and offering him his left forearm, of which he was carefully scrutinizing every inch of. After what seemed an eternity, the pale man spoke.

"Very well, Regulus." His voice was high and cold and bore more menace than a thousand curses ever could.

"Y- Yes, my Lord?" The kneeling man said hesitantly, still not raising his head to meet the eyes of his Lord.

"Are you willing to take the Mark?" The pale man asked Regulus, who gulped, but nodded earnestly, not that he really had any choice – had he said no at this point, he would have died on the spot, probably after prolonged exposure to the Cruciatus.

"Good…" The pale man hissed, sounding eerily like his companion. He drew his wand from his robes and began weaving complex signs above Regulus' forearm, all the while muttering an incantation which no-one in the room, not even Regulus, could understand. The moment he finished Regulus felt a stabbing pain in his left forearm and, judging by the gestures the rest of the room made, they had felt it as well. When Regulus opened his eyes again, he found a pitch-black mark upon his forearm; shaped like a skull with a snake emerging from its mouth, etched into his skin, was the Dark Mark.

"Very good." The Dark Lord hissed again, the sound almost blending in with the quiet crackling of the fire behind him. "Regulus Arcturus Black, you are now officially part of the Death Eaters." He gave a grim smile, which did nothing to lessen the malicious features. "Crucio!" He added casually, as if it were a simple afterthought.

Instantly, Regulus was writhing on the floor. His very bones were on fire, red-hot knives piercing every inch of his body, and feeling as though his brain would burst out of his skull at any moment. It was unbearable, the worst thing that the sixteen-year-old had ever felt in his life that had – admittedly – been quite comfortable until this moment. But this, this capped everything. The pain so intense that it spread through every fibre of his being, that set every muscle, every part of flesh, and every nerve aflame, the pain so intense that he wished for anything – blackout, insanity, death, anything was welcome, if only this would end, this torture, this-

And just as quickly as it had come, it was gone. Regulus was lying on the cold stone floor, the cruel caster standing above him, his wand still raised. Those at the table were mostly maintaining a stoic silence, though a few of them were snickering lightly. Regulus would have liked to glare at them, to snap at them how they would probably scream under this curse, but he found he was too weak to even talk.

"That hurts, Black, doesn't it?" His torturer and master had bent down, so close that their faces were almost touching, his voice filled with mock sympathy causing the snickering amongst the others to increase. "Remember the pain, Black. If you even think of double-crossing me, I'll do things to you that will make you beg for the Cruciatus." Regulus swallowed and nodded once, trying to hide his trembling. "Good. Now that that is settled, Black, take your place next to your dear cousin."

Regulus, knowing that it would be best to not dawdle, raised himself as quickly as he could and hobbled across the room, taking his assigned place between Bellatrix Lestrange (daughter of his mother's brother Cygnus) and Evan Rosier, a Slytherin that had graduated three years ago – Regulus and Evan had been on good terms during their time at Hogwarts together, and Rosier greeted him with a friendly handshake before falling serious again.

"Regulus." The high and cold voice snapped Regulus out of his thoughts. "Now that you have been initiated, I have a task for you. It is quite difficult, but seeing as you are the only Hogwarts student among the ranks of my Death Eaters, you must complete this task or suffer my… displeasure." Nobody needed to know what that meant – they had observed their master's 'displeasure' being demonstrated on Regulus just a few moments ago. "A high ranking Ministry official is stirring up a lot of trouble. We must somehow cause him to back down from his position. Of course, we could kill him, but that does not guarantee that his successor works in our favour. If, however, we were to force him to withdraw his candidature to becoming Head Auror directly before the vote, which takes place on the first day of the Winter Holidays at Hogwarts, his opponent, an operative of mine, will almost certainly win and we would have the entire Auror office under our command.

"Now, here is what I want you to do: I want you to give us power, give us leverage over this man." His face stretched into an evil and mirthless smile. "His son is currently attending Hogwarts. You are to kidnap him and bring him to me, but bring him alive." Regulus nodded, memorizing everything that could be of importance – he didn't want to mess up on his first assignment as that would likely mean he wouldn't receive a second one, and almost certainly guarantee a great deal of pain...

Suppressing a wince, he asked, "What is the name of this student, my Lord?" though he already had an idea whom the Dark Lord was talking about. The answer came in a hiss that was even quieter than any before, but everyone could hear it perfectly.

"James Potter."

Freak. Lily twitched in her sleep, a voice full of malice resonating in her head; a nagging, shrill voice. Freak. It haunted her all day and now, it wouldn't even leave her alone at night. You're a freak. Lily rolled over in her sleep once again, muttering something incomprehensible about someone named Petunia. Freak. Suddenly, she was sitting bolt upright in her four-poster bed, eyes darting around the silent room. She found three other girls sleeping in their beds, but sat still in apprehension as though waiting for someone to jump out of the shadows. But of course, there was no-one there.

She sighed and slumped back into her bed, wiping the sweat off her brows. Of course there's no-one there, you idiot, she reprimanded herself, but this didn't reassure her in the slightest. With disdain, she thought back to the holidays, when Petunia, her elder sister, had taken a lot of sadistic pleasure in whispering precisely that word into her ears as she slept, until the point she would wake up. Stupid bitch, Lily thought savagely, but again, she wasn't convinced by her own train of thought. Even though she hated what Petunia did to her, how she acted around her only because of her magical powers, she hated herself even more for not being able to hate her sister in turn. No matter what Petunia did to her, what scathing comments she made, and how she humiliated her, she would always be the older sister that she loved dearly. Always.

Too bad those feelings were not reciprocated in the slightest.

Lily sighed again, running her hand through her red hair, before glancing at the wristwatch lying on a small table, just past the curtains of her elegant bed. Five twenty-three. She yawned and stood up; might as well take a shower now, as there was no hope of one once Marlene and Dorcas occupied the bathroom. Plus, she knew that attempting to go back to sleep was futile and even if she managed to, she would only see a bony, thin face looming over her. No thanks, she had had enough of that over the holidays. Shaking her head once again to rid herself of the mental image her musings had conjured, she quickly grabbed her clothes and walked into the bathroom.

Forty-five minutes later, Lily was a lot more composed – a very long, scalding hot shower could certainly do that to you. She was currently dressed in black shorts and a green top that matched her eyes quite nicely (this was the outfit she wore in the dormitory and outside of class; she would simply pull her robes over them when need be). Sitting on her bed, she was reading a textbook, her eyes flashing at lightning speed across the pages. When she finally heard someone stir, she raised her head and, sure enough, found the disturbance to be a certain Marlene McKinnon, who was just waking up. She sat up wearily, and yawned widely, rubbing her black eyes and then searching across the dormitory, until her gaze fell upon Lily.

"Morning, Lily." She muttered, still sounding very tired, something that Lily could completely understand – she wasn't a morning person herself and loved to sleep in; when she was not having nightmares, that is. "Why're you already up?"

She shrugged. "Nightmares. About a certain horse-face." Marlene grimaced – being a close friend of Lily's she knew about the stressed relationship between her and her sister.

"My condolences. That would probably cut my sleep short as well. You okay now?" Lily nodded, not really knowing whether she was truly okay or not, but either way, what could Marlene do? Besides worrying about it and pitying her, there was not much she could do, and Lily wanted neither of the option. "What time is it?" Marlene asked her, rubbing her eyes again. Lily glanced at her wristwatch.

"Ten past six. I'd get into the shower before Dorcas wakes up." She warned with a slight smile, glancing over to Dorcas' and Alice's beds, which were still resting in heavy silence. Marlene made a face – probably because that option involved getting up – but she nodded and followed Lily's advice, getting up from her bed to go and take a quick shower.

Half an hour later, Marlene was fully dressed and awake as well. Normally, she would have taken more time than Lily, but to be fair, she didn't have any nightmares to wash away, Lily conceded as she put on her robe over her outfit. Once she had finished, she and Marlene left the dormitories and descended into the common room, where an odd sight met their eyes.

Lying in front of the fireplace, curled up in a foetal position, was Sirius Black. Both girls had to look twice before conceding their eyes weren't playing tricks on them – this was so strange as they'd never seen Sirius look so... vulnerable. As they slowly approached him, they heard a sort whimper escape his lips, and realized that the carpet around him was wet, soaked with tears.

Marlene bent down in order to prod him awake, but was stopped by a hand around her wrist. Lily did not know whether she was about to comfort him, or to find out what had happened, but either way she knew that it would only make matters worse. Although she didn't know Sirius very well – as they had only gotten a little closer during their sixth year – she knew that if they approached him in this wounded state, it would only succeed in causing him to retreat further into himself.

"Let him be. He needs some sleep, I think. He won't like being comforted be us anyway and he's unlikely to tell us anything either." Marlene hesitated and gazed down at Sirius sadly and longingly, but after a second, she nodded and turned round to face Lily, her face a little pink.

"Maybe Remus is down at breakfast and he can tell us what's up." She offered. Lily nodded slowly and, with another look at the vulnerable teenager, curled up there, they both left the Common Room to go to breakfast.

The first surprise awaited the two girls in the Entrance Hall. When they looked upon the four jewel-filled glasses that indicated the house points, they reeled in shock. Yesterday, the points had been quite even, with Ravenclaw and Gryffindor just above Slytherin and Hufflepuff – it's only the first week of term, after all. But now, over night, Gryffindor was suddenly two hundred points in the negative.

"What on..." Marlene swore under her breath, and Lily, far too flabbergasted herself by this development, didn't even mind – indeed, she was half in mind to swear alongside with her friend, before reminding herself that, being Head Girl, she had to be a role model for the younger students - not that there were any present at the moment, but still...

"Thank Black for that." A voice echoed behind the girls, coming from the doors to the Great Hall. Said voice was dull and yet filled with menace, something that Lily wouldn't have thought possible before this incident. She spun around, only to find herself gazing at the second surprise of the morning: James Potter.

What's going on here? Potter never gets up early. And plus, why would he refer to Sirius in such a scathing tone, using his hated surname to cap it all? Lily was doing some very quick thinking that wasn't amounting to much, however, and she could see by her expression that Marlene was doing the same. "What… Why?" She managed to ask.

"Doesn't have a brain, I swear, that stupid prick." James answered aggressively.

"What happened? Why is he lying in the Gryffindor Common Room, crying his eyes out? And why are you like this? Did you have a row or what?" Marlene asked, trying to make sense of the situation that was slowly unfurling – without much success, of course.

"What happened?" James sneered in a way to rival Snape. "Oh, you know, the usual, he just nearly killed Snape and gave away a secret of Remus' that he swore to protect with everything that's holy to him. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"I- what- excuse me?" Lily shrieked.

"He's crying, you say?" James continued, disregarding Lily's comment. "Poor him. Been thinking about it all night probably. Too bad that he didn't do that beforehand." And without another word, James stalked past them, his hazel eyes sparkling with fury and, no matter how despretely he tried to push them back, tears fell, leaving the two girls standing there, gobsmacked.

Lily's and Marlene's confusion didn't abate over breakfast – on the contrary, it only intensified. The more they thought about it, the less sense it made. Of course, Sirius did hate Snape, but kill him? And what did that have to do with a secret that Remus was guarding? An idea was slowly unfurling in Lily's brain, but she pushed it back. N., she decided. That's not possible. Seve- Snape was only imagining stuff. Remus can't be a werewolf, could he? Marlene, who had been present during the time when Snape had retold the theory of his to Lily had absolutely no idea, but Lily didn't want to tell her just yet, because a good friend though she was, Marlene was also an avid gossip and if anything leaked about this, even if Remus wasn't a werewolf after all – which she strongly believe, with him being such a nice guy and all that – his reputation could be ruined forever.

Hold on, Lily thought. I can prove this theory, can't I? I just have to find out whether or not it was a full moon last night. Upon thinking this, she pulled the lunar calendar from her bag – luckily, Professor Sinistra had assigned them homework concerning lunar calendars over the holidays so this didn't raise any questions from Marlene, though Lily wasn't sure whether she noticed it anyway, the way that she was brooding. Lily smiled a little as she looked into the pretty face of her black-haired friend. When she brooded over things, she retreated into a world of her own – she didn't even seem to notice that she was holding a piece of toast half way to her mouth, though not having taken a single bite of it yet.

Refocusing her mind on the more serious matters, she opened the lunar calendar to the correct page and looked at it, a little afraid of what she would find. She swallowed and looked down onto the page.

There.

Black on white.

Yesterday night had been a full moon.

Harry was standing in front of the Seventh Years of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw once again, his expression sombre but not as downcast and angst-ridden as it had been during his first lesson. It was rather strange, Harry mused, that he had two lessons on two consecutive days with the people that he was dying to see – coincidence? Or Dumbledore again? He smiled – probably the latter, he realized.

"Okay. You won't need your books this lesson." Normally, the class, led by the Marauders, would have cheered upon hearing this announcement, but for once the Marauders were silent – James and Remus were sitting demonstratively next to each other, pointedly ignoring Sirius. Sirius simply looking downcast – he had obviously accepted that his friends had turned away from him, but the one second that he looked up, Harry could see that his normally carefree face was full of sorrow and regret and his eyes were completely bloodshot. He looked eerily like his Azkaban-haunted future counterpart, Harry surmised sadly. The other part that stopped people from cheering after this announcement were the fresh memories from the lesson they had had only yesterday. Harry looked around the class and sighed upon only seeing faces that were reserved at best. He'd deal with that later, after this lesson, but for now it suited him quite well.

"Please all stand up and come to the front of the room." He instructed. Everyone followed this order, looking a little perplexed all the same. James and Remus were still actively ignoring Sirius and Peter looked very left-out of the whole thing. Unbeknownst to Harry, two other students were watching the Marauders just as intently as he was – Lily and Marlene, still trying to work out what the hell had happened to drive such a rift between these boys, who had been as close as brothers just the day before.

"All right." Harry's voice, though quiet, still carried through the room. He waved his wand and the furniture disappeared, leaving the room completely blank. "You're probably all wondering what we're doing today. Well, I won't beat around the bush. You'll be experiencing and trying to fight the Imperius Curse." Needless to say, this proclamation was met with cries of incredulity and shock from across the room, but Harry silenced them with a wave of his hand. "Yes, I am aware of the fact that this is illegal, but that won't stop any criminal from using them, and you'd best be prepared. However, if anyone is unwilling to face this and would rather be hit by surprise after graduation, you may leave this class now." Just as during Harry's own lesson on this topic, nobody moved.

"I will call you to the front and place the curse on you. You are to try to fight the curse in any way that you can think of. But, a word of warning beforehand. This curse is Unforgivable for a reason. For someone who is not able to fight this curse, the loss of control is absolute. Therefore, even if you are willing to practice this, which is a very worthwhile thing, I assure you, you are under no circumstances to practice this on your own. The will that is forced upon the victim can get out of control very easily and I want nobody here to be playing god." Only the Muggle-borns and half-bloods understood this phrase, but Harry could see that everyone at least got the gist of what he was saying.

"Thy will be done." Lily whispered softly – she didn't know why, but this phrase struck her mind when she heard the Professor's description of the curse. It sounded a lot like religion, she surmised. Complete brainwashing. Maybe that was the reason that wizards had no religion – they had the Imperius Curse, after all.

"Well said, Miss Evans." Professor Jameson said, his words disrupting her train of thought. She blushed, not having realized that he had heard what she'd said. "That's exactly the direction it goes." Seeing that everyone except for one Ravenclaw boy were looking confused, Harry decided to proceed to the practical part.

"Let's begin. Black, Sirius." Sirius tore his face from the ground and looked at Harry with bloodshot eyes – something that almost caused him to break out into tears. After a moment of hesitation, Sirius stepped forward. Remus and James, Harry noticed, were trying to look disinterested but failing epically in doing so –their curiosity had gotten the better of them. He smiled, then raised his wand.

"Imperio!"