Disclaimer: JK Rowling, proud mother of Harry Potter, so no, not mine.

A/N: Although I hesitated myself, KEZZ1 saw where this was going, he's probably a Seer! \o/

Chapter 10: Sirius

"I'll get that bloody snake! She'll pay for this! How dare she humiliate me this way! Filthy lying Slytherin messing with the heads of Gryffindors, stealing my friends..." Sirius had managed to remain more or less calm in the headmaster's office but he had been muttering ever since he came out, and had kicked a fair share of armors as his steps brought him of their own accord in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Fidelius." he snarled and entered the common room.

"Sirius!" James Potter greeted him, jumping to his feet from the sofa to meet him. "How did it go? What did Dumbledore say?"

"She took my wand away! She bloody took my wand away!" Sirius shouted in disgust.

A few younger years started scattering to the safety of their own rooms, gossip was not worth facing the wrath of the dark boy. James looked at Sirius with questioning eyes.

"What? Who? I thought you were going to Dumbledore's office?"

"That bloody banshee! That damned new Slytherin! Who else? She's got her fangs in Dumbledore now, telling him to take my wand away for a month!"

"You're not expelled then? That's great!" James sighed in relief.

Sirius turned on his friend, teeth bared like he did when he was in his animagus form.

"Who's side are you on? Did she hoodwink you too? You believe her lies, do you?"

"But you saw it too, Sirius. How she crumpled to the floor, you really hurt her badly. I was truly afraid you would be expelled, or even taken to Azkaban." James tried reasoning with him, but right now, he wouldn't listen to the truth even if it bit him in the buttocks.

"James is right you know." Remus, who had entered the common room a few minutes ago, tried persuading Sirius. "Madam Pomfrey spent over an hour patching her up and despite that, she'll sill have a permanent scar. " The werewolf took a few steps forward but Sirius growled.

"Traitors! All of you! She's a Slytherin, of course she's lying!"

He took off, leaving behind the people who used to always support him, no matter what. What was wrong with everyone, couldn't they see the banshee was bewitching them all? Hearing footsteps behind, he dashed into a classroom, barricading the door behind him with what furniture was available.

Someone pounded on the door.

"Come on Padfoot, I know you're in there, come out! We're only trying to help you!" James pleaded.

Sirius ignored him and started plotting his revenge, he would have to use everyone's weaknesses and his extensive knowledge of the castle. Yes, that should do it.

James had stopped hammering the door some time ago but he was probably sitting on the other side, so Sirius removed noiselessly his impromptu barrier of cluttered desks and chairs, and called out:

"James?"

"Yes, mate?"

"Could you fetch McGonagall, I need to speak to her?"

"Sure, I'll be right back!" James replied readily, relieved his friend was finally seeing reason.

"Take your time." Sirius was muttering to himself again "Take your time..."

He then waited a full minute before slipping out of the door and disappearing into the first secret passage that would take him to one of the myriad of empty rooms that composed the old castle. If he wanted to, he could stay hidden for days, particularly as he had been carrying the Marauders Map today, that was lucky. Useless without a wand, true, but he knew just where to find one. In good time. All in good time.

0°0°0

As planned, Sirius remained hidden for a few days, easily roaming the castle in search of food, discarded mattresses or couches to sleep on, and if the Fates were with him, a wand. He was not lucky however in this endeavour, he would just have to put his plan in action the old-fashioned way.

The banshee was walking down a corridor in the dungeons, her nose plastered to a book. So predictable. This would be an easy task indeed. When she walked passed the door behind which he was hiding, Sirius slid behind her, one hand over her mouth, the other around her waist, and pulled her back into the storage room that had been his hideaway for the last few hours.

He snatched her wand from her robes, it felt wrong in his hands but it would serve its purpose. He opened the map and checked no one had been alerted by his body-snatching. James, Peter and Remus were with McGonagall, Filch in the Trophy room, Dumbledore pacing his office and he was about to search for Evans and Snape when the girl attracted his attention.

"Sirius!" she exclaimed familiarly, "We have been so worried about you, where have you been?"

"Shut up! Don't think your blatant lies and cheap tricks will work on me!"

"What? I'm not..."

"You tried to get me expelled with your lies and thought it would be more fun to humiliate me instead? How dare you? Slytherins are the worst scum imaginable." Sirius was advancing on her now, his eyes burning with a fiery determination at the thought of exposing her deception to the world. He was towering above her and yanked her school robe off in one swift movement, making her shriek in panic.

"Sirius! Stop it! What do you think you're doing?"

The boy reached out again, swatting the girl's hands away like annoying flies, and he tore her shirt off, leaving a shocked girl standing half-naked and covered in scars.

What? No, it can't be. I didn't do that...she's lying! Those must be fake too.

The Gryffindor wizard who had been staring in confusion at her exposed chest was suddenly slammed into the wall and glued there at an awkward angle. His eyes darted to his right hand but he was still holding the stolen wand... Did she have another? A quick look in her direction answered by the negative.

How did she..?

But his thoughts were interrupted by a furious voice.

"Sirius! How could you? If only you knew what you've just done. You'll regret it for the rest of your miserable life and I won't have to do anything about it, your own shame will eat at you! And Harry worships you so...oh Gods, no, he must never know how foul you truly are, it'll destroy him..."

She was not making any sense whatsoever, maybe she really was a nutcase, this could get ugly. The shaking girl continued, picking her robes up to cover herself:

" I get it that you want to prove to the world that you're not like your family, firing your wand at any Slytherin that has the misfortune of crossing your path. Hell, I know what it's like to want to prove yourself to others, to feel worthy. But you're really giving a vile image to the whole of Gryffindor, I wouldn't be surprised if some of them wanted to kick your skinny ass back to Slytherin, where it belongs!"

"What would you know about Gryffindor?" he spat.

"Quite a lot actually." she answered with a sad smile "Almost as much as I know about you Sirius, or should I say Padfoot. I know a huge shaggy black dog like you needs his exercise..."

The girl smirked at him, and he found her beautiful in her cold fury, like a vengeful veela, raw magical power crackling around her. Sirius was too afraid and too amazed to speak coherently:

"H-how d-do you know ...that?"

"Just understand that I know enough to send you, and a few of your friends, to Azkaban for the illegal extracurricular activities you are so fond of."

No! Nonono, not James!

"If I wanted to harm you that is, which I really don't, by the way. I'm a friend and you need to cast away you prejudices with the Slytherin House to accept that." The girl looked at him quizzically.

I don't understand, who is this girl? How does she know so much? Why didn't she just send us all to Azkaban? Sirius' mind was a whirlpool of questions with no answers. He suddenly fell to the ground as the sticking charm was released.

"If you so much as lay a finger on me again, I'll do a lot worse than use a stick you to the wall." the girl threatened.

Here it was, that Slytherin edge, he could deal with that, but not with the soft tones she sometimes used on him. He was still secretly afraid she was some kind of enchantress who could deprive him of his will with sweet words.

"How do you do that? Without a wand, I mean." he asked.

The girl looked at her hands and answered:

"I'm not sure, I guess a fairy godmother has been doting on me lately."

"That's a very Dumbledorish answer." Sirius stated, annoyed. He had always hated the headmaster's cryptic way of talking and the disheveled witch before him seemed just as bad. Five minutes with the old man were usually enough to give him headaches.

"My wand please." she ordered, extending her hand.

"Huh? Erm, right...sorry about that, I got carried away I guess..."

"Yes, you do that a lot." She grumbled in response.

"I-I thought you were lying to get me expelled...but you have all those scars, I'm not responsible for all of them though, right?"

"No, just the one. Don't think too highly of yourself now." she chided him.

Sirius didn't think she was as bad as he had first thought: powerful and bloody scary, yes, but evil no, not really, he didn't feel anything of the kind.

"What should I do with you?" she seemed to be talking to herself rather than at him so he waited her out, apprehending her wrath. "I could just obliviate you, I feel I've said too much, but then you would probably just have another go at me. Can't have any of that, I saved your neck once, I don't know if Dumbledore will be as easy-going next time and you're an important element...hum..." she trailed off, rubbing her chin and pacing the width of the small storage room..

"I've already done so much damage..." she sighed, making no sense to him whatsoever "I can't take this decision! Come on, we're having tea with the headmaster."

"What?" the boy blurted out, she was a very hard person to follow. Instead of answering his question, she merely held out her hand to help him up. She had very tiny, soft hand, and he didn't know what to make out of this gesture, it was so familiar and friendly.

"Give me the map." she added, pointing at the now blank parchment he still held in one hand. "I want to be sure we won't be intercepted on our way there."

"But... How can you possibly know about that?! We just finished making it!" he shouted.

The Slytherin rolled her eyes at his outburst, snatched the map out of his trembling hands and tapping it with her wand softly, said "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.", looked at it for a few minutes, making sure to hide the squiggly lines from his sight.

"Ready to go when you are." she concluded, closing the map with a "Mischief Managed" and pocketing it.

0°0°0

The girl had taken them all the way to the revolving stairs with unnatural ease, using concealed passageways and not meeting a soul. She seemed to know the castle at least as much as the Marauders did, and that was saying a lot. Even the stone gargoyle moved without her giving a password, but nothing much could surprise him after the few minutes discussion he'd had with her.

The headmaster greeted them warmly, called the kitchens for tea and biscuits and chuckled:

"I thought this might happen."

"You could have warned me, headmaster, I had to glue him to a wall so he would cool down." she admonished, to the old man's amusement.

"Oooh, very clever! I'll have to remember that one." the annoying man was twinkling at him.

Sirius blushed and looked away, he didn't like being made fun of.

"I'm afraid I have given some of my...knowledge... away, headmaster."

"I thought this might happen." Dumbledore repeated.

"You're not being very helpful today, headmaster. Would you mind tuning the dotty old man act down a bit?" the girl muttered back.

Sirius gaped at the ill-assorted pair before him. Since when did students, new and Slytherin at that, go about teasing the most powerful and respected wizard of this era. The old man seemed to enjoy it too, and, seeing Sirius' stare, he volunteered an explanation:

"Don't worry about her abuse, she's quite a bossy little thing when you get to know her, but she means well. Nothing her godfather can't handle of course."

"Headmaster!" the witch objected loudly.

Sirius fumbled for something to lean on, anything. It turned out to be the girl's shoulder, godchild of the most powerful wizard of this era and who he had attacked twice already.

Boy, am I in trouble now.