Disclaimer: All characters belong solely to JK Rowling. If you recognize a scene or a name, it is hers.
Chapter Ten: The Duel
"Five points each for your tardiness, boys. I am guessing you know how to find your seats?"
Sirius glared at Professor Slughorn. "I was just let out of the Hospital Wing, Professor. That's why I'm late. And they were asked to accompany me."
"Fine. Then no points, just detentions for the other three of you."
"Yes, sir," Remus said firmly, blocking out the argument he could sense coming from the direction of James and Sirius.
"Now get to your seats, all of you. Now." The marauders split and went in their respective directions: James and Sirius to the seats nearest them, Peter toward Lily Evans, and Remus made his way over to … There was no one at their cauldron.
Remus took his seat, scanning around the room to see where his lab partner could be, but the Slytherin was nowhere in sight. He slowly dug through his bag, pulling out his potions text, parchment, quill and ink. He rose and made his way to the ingredients cupboard, but as he got there, there was a noise at the back of the room.
"Oh! How good of you to join us. You'd better have a note explaining your tardiness," Professor Slughorn was glaring at the student standing in the doorway with a look generally reserved for James and Sirius. Remus looked up and, realizing the source of the noise, smiled.
"No sir," Snape said, his eyes trained on his own currently empty lab table, a look of sadness on his face.
"Five tardy students in one day. Inexcusable. Detention, Mr. Snape. Get to your station, and you'd best try not to cause any further disruptions."
"Yes, sir," the Slytherin said softly. Snape scanned the room, but did not see Remus. He did, however, see the other Marauders, all of whom were looking at him – but then again, so was the rest of the class – but saw no sign of Remus. He stuck to the edges of the room and made his way to his lab station. He was surprised to see his lab partner's bag and book sitting there, but before he could sit down, the werewolf joined him, ingredients in his hands and a smile on his face.
"About time you got here! I was starting to think you had decided to skip," Remus said with a chuckle. "I didn't know if I could manage the potion without assistance. You've got me doubting my potions ability. You bring your extra notes?"
"Of course I brought them. I told you I would." Remus' smile faltered at the severity of the other boy's voice, but knew it was due to the impending detention, not to him. At least he hoped so. "So who else am I stuck in detention with? Potter and Black, I assume. Who else?"
"Not Sirius," the Slytherin looked at the Gryffindor in surprise. "Me, James, and Peter. Sirius got out of it, as he was only released from the Hospital Wing today."
"You were late for class? You?"
"I could say the same thing to you, Severus. Let's just get to this, shall we?"
Snape pulled a few sheets of parchment out of his bag, along with his own potions text. Flipping to the correct page, he passed the book to Remus.
"I have my own book, I just need your notes."
"Look at the book, Lupin."
"I… Oh." Remus was surprised at the look on the other boy's face. The latter had narrowed his eyes, expecting a nasty comment about his note-taking. And then he realized: there was usually some comment about everything that the Slytherin did, why wouldn't he expect the same thing now. Especially from a Marauder. Remus smiled, and looked down at the book. Random directions were written in the margins: "a counter clockwise stir after every fourth clockwise stir for strengthening…" and "Seven drops of essence of Belladonna – seven is more powerful than six…" "Porcupine Quills only after removing from the flame…" The handwriting was extremely neat and precise, and the added instructions were so obvious. Well, they were obvious, but Remus would have never thought of trying any of it.
"This is bloody brilliant," Remus muttered, finishing his friend's notes.
Snape's head snapped up, searching the werewolf's face for some hidden meaning. Finding none, he muttered softly, "I like experimenting. No big deal."
Remus looked at the other boy, realizing that at last, he had let the Slytherin see that he was not out to hurt him… But now he still had the problem of convincing him of his feelings.
The boys followed the notes rather than the book for the rest of the class period. This, however, seemed to have no impact on the potion, as it looked exactly as it should. The Marauders and Snape stayed after the bell to receive the details of their detentions. Sirius stayed as well, waiting for his friends.
"You all disappointed me a great deal today. Especially you, Mr. Snape," there was a small chuckle from the back of the room, where Sirius stood, "because you forced me to give a member of my own house a detention. Now I expect all four of you to be back here at seven o'clock tonight. You two," he said, pointing at Peter and James, "will be scrubbing cauldrons. You two," he pointed at Remus and Severus, "will be pickling beetle eyes. All of you, avoid wearing your school clothes. It could get quite messy." James and Peter shared a glance, both looking disturbed. "Now get to lunch. Get out of my sight."
The four students grabbed up their belongings and went to the back of the room, where Sirius stood waiting for them.
"What could the Snake possibly have us doing? Don't wear school clothes? Since when do we have to worry about that… it's called magic!" Peter wondered aloud the second the door closed. None of them, apart from Remus, even noticed that Severus was walking with them.
"Pete, come on, we were late, and he gave us detention. Fair enough." Remus would normally be trying to change the subject, but knew his attempt would be fruitless.
"Okay, Moony, so you want to be pickling beetles with that freak?"
"Sirius, just shut the hell up." The others all stopped in their tracks, spinning around to look at Remus. This was when they all finally noticed Severus.
Sirius pulled his wand, and Snape mirrored his movement. James grabbed hold of Remus' and Peter's arms and pulled them out from between the other two; they all knew a duel was a big possibility.
"Oh, what have we here? Stalking us now? And I thought Snivellus could sink no lower." Sirius sneered at the Slytherin, but his sneer was matched. Neither lowered their wands.
"Really, Black? Not conceited or anything, are you? There are much better things I have to do with my time than follow you."
"Like what? We all know you should be washing your hair. But instead, you follow us. Care to share why? Or shall I hex it out of you?"
"I'm headed to the same place as you, Black. Not stalking. Like I'd have to stalk you; you always seem to know where I am anyway."
Sirius laughed viscously. "No, Snivelly, we don't know where you are. Remi knows where you are. He's the one pulling this one, not us." Snape flinched slightly. "This is low for even us. But his problem, I reckon, we're not the ones confined to being near your greasy ass. What's the matter, did you think it could be real? As if anyone could ever fall for you! You're a complete freak, haven't you figured it out yet?"
"And what about you, Black? Decided to stop going after the witches, and go for the blokes now?" Snape looked directly at James this time. "Potter, even you could do better than Black. Not saying much for you, but still. Anyone… Anything is better than this bastard."
"And you think you deserve Remus?" Sirius' voice was a snarl. None of them had ever heard his voice sound so viscous. "Remi is much too good for you. And he knows it too. Why do you think he's doing all this?"
"Go to hell, Black." There wasn't a single sign of caring on the Slytherin's face, but his eyes told another story.
"Rictusempra!" Snape dissolved into a fit of laughter, and Sirius simply watched.
Remus was glaring at Sirius, but before he could even draw his wand, Sirius already had lifted the jinx. He knew that he could do nothing, as neither would listen to reason once their duels began. It had been the case for five years, and this time would be no different.
"Effutio!" Sirius immediately started talking, not even taking time to breathe. His chatter was utter nonsense, but the other Marauders understood, as they had known him for so long. He was spilling many things about himself, but no one who didn't know him would have known he was doing so. Snape lifted the curse, but only after a minute, realizing that Sirius hadn't stopped for breath.
Sirius fell to the ground panting, but immediately raised his wand again. "Incarcerous!" Ropes flew from the animagus' wand, but Severus blocked it immediately. The ropes, not finding their target, disappeared. Sirius was livid, and screamed, "Petrificus totalus," but again, Snape was too fast, and blocked the spell.
A wave of the wand later, and the Slytherin's muttering of "Levicorpus," and Sirius hung from his ankle midair. Leaving the Gryffindor where he was, Snape turned on his heel and stalked toward the Great Hall.
Remus went after him, but James grabbed him before he could take a single step. "Get him down, Remi. You go after the Snake, you will probably regret it later. Pete and me don't know the spell; you never told it to us."
"Liberacorpus," Remus muttered, pointing his wand at his friend. Sirius fell with a crash.
"Gosh, Remi, a little more gently would have been... Moony? You okay?"
"Why did you have to do that, Siri? What the hell was all that about?"
"All… all what exactly? I didn't do anything I normally wouldn't have done."
"You know I love him, Padfoot. I told you that. And you make it seem like this big trick, like I've been lying to him, or deceiving him… He'll never believe it now. What the hell?"
"You're better off without that Snake, Remus."
"That's for me to decide, Sirius."
"Well, we've almost missed lunch, so let's just run by the kitchen. I'm starved."
Remus sent another glare in his friend's direction.
"Remus Lupin, get hold of yourself! He. Is. No. Good. For. You. The bloody Snake isn't worth your time."
The two friends made their way to the kitchens in almost complete silence, with only James and Peter attempting conversation.
"What I really don't see, Remi, why you even care about Snape." Remus glared at James now, but the Seeker held his ground. "I mean, it's all a bit sudden, isn't it? I mean, he's hated us for years, we've hated him for years… What's changed?"
Remus felt a surge of gratitude towards his friend. He was trying to be objective, trying again to create peace between the Marauders.
"I never hated him, Jamie. That was all you and Sirius. Never me. You know that."
"Yeah, but… Love?"
"Yes, James. Love."
Sirius grinned suddenly, and started singing, "and when I go away, I know my heart can stay with my love. It's understood, it's in the hands of my love, and my love does it good…" **
Remus turned on Sirius again as Peter started laughing. "Can't you just be serious for five damn minutes?"
"Moony, I'm always Sirius. It's a pretty big part of who I am, you see." Remus glared at his friend, but Sirius didn't care. He roared with laughter, and James followed suit quickly, and before Remus knew it, he was laughing as well.
** A song from the Seventies, called My Love, by Paul McCartney and Wings.
Spells list:
Rictusempra – Makes the opponent dissolve into laughter (JKR)
Effutio – Latin word for chatter, it makes the opponent talk nonstop (My own creation)
Incarcerous – Binds the opponent with ropes (JKR)
Petrificus totalus – Also known as the Full Body Bind, it freezes the opponent (JKR)
Levicorpus – Dangles the opponent upside-down by the ankle (JKR)
Liberacorpus – The counter spell to the Levicorpus spell (JKR)
Well, how will their detention go? And will Remi forgive Siri? Please Revew!