Chapter 11

"Maybe", Remus agreed. "But how many Slytherins we know who are capable of brewing Amortentia – in secret? It's a horribly complicated potion!"

There was a stunned silence that lasted four or five seconds. Then Tara let out a cry of frustration. "I've been so stupid!" She took a deep breath. "Remember when I told you I overheard someone talk about Honeydukes selling gingerbread? It was … he told one of his cronies that 'they're selling this Muggle-filth at Honeydukes now' …he set my up to it, the slimy git, he knew about James' fight with Lily, knew that I was friend with you both … he wanted me to tell James … what a cunning bastard!"

"So that's why he came to Hogsmead and started a fight!" James realized suddenly. "I had to drop the box with the Lebkuchen while I defended myself, and while he distracted me, somebody must have replaced it with another one that contained the spiked …" He fell silent, kind of impressed by the amount of planning that had required. "He obviously had prepared everything for some time now, and when he heard about that fight, it was the perfect opportunity." He frowned. "Hang on! How could he possibly have known what Lily's favorite Muggle Christmas-sweets are?"

"I told him."

James stared. "You told him?"

Lily nodded. "We've known each other since we were kids, didn't you know?" James shook his head, stunned. "We grew up in the same area … he was the one who told me I was a witch, who told me about Hogwarts, about the magical world, about everything …" She tried to suppress a sob. "And I … I of course was curious, wanted to know everything, and I was grateful, so we became friends … he was really nice back then, you know, and always happy to get out of his dark and gloomy place for some time, so we met almost every afternoon … of course he knew what kind of sweets I liked – I shared my Lebkuchen with him more than once …" Now she was crying again. "I can't believe he … he did this to me!"

"I can!" James growled through gritted teeth. He carefully detached himself from Lily and rose. His eyes burned with fury, and his hand gripped his wand so tightly that his knuckles were white. "And he's gonna pay! I'm gonna make him pay!"

"No!" Lily, Tara, Remus, even Sirius had called out, and Sirius blocked his friend's way. "Stop, Prongs!"

"Get out of my way, Padfoot!" James snarled. Nobody had ever heard him use such a tone: There was more than fury in his voice, it was pure hatred, and James was even more menacing and intimidating than Sirius had been. But Sirius didn't back down. "No."

"What's gone into you, Black? You of all people are trying to hinder me? After you sent him into the Shriekening Shack? Talk about hypocrites! And now get the hell out of my way!"

Sirius flinched as if James had hit him, but he didn't move. "No, my friend. You're not thinking straight right now. And I'm not gonna let you repeat my mistake!"

They stared at each other for a couple of seconds. Everybody held their breath. It was a silent battle of wills: James was shaking and literally baring his teeth, Sirius seemed cool and collected, but his face was white. Suddenly James let out a roar of fury, raised his wand – and a powerful spell reduced a heavy wooden table to smithereens. He slumped back into his chair and buried his face in his hands. Everybody let out their breath, relieved. Sirius hadn't moved a muscle.

"So what now?" James asked after a while, not looking up. Lily had put her arm round him, her head resting at his shoulder again. "Are we gonna let him get away with it?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Prongs!" said Sirius. He was smiling, but it was a thin smile, and there was a steely note in his voice.

James raised his gaze and met his friend's. They looked at each other, but it was a completely different atmosphere than before. "I'm sorry, Pads", he suddenly said. "I didn't know what I said earlier, I … please forgive me!" He hold out his hand, and Sirius grabbed it. "It's okay, Prongs. I knew you didn't mean it. We're friends, we'll always be – just forget it!"

Everybody was startled when suddenly Rebecca moved: Sobbing, she run up the staircase to the girls-dormitory, and they heard her slam the door. There was a moment of silence, then Sirius shrugged and continued: "Of course we won't let him get away, mate, we will pay him back! But not in the way you wanted – we'd only get into trouble if we attacked him, and in the end he'd win. No, Prongs … we'll have to do this differently! And besides …" He fell silent.

Remus nodded. "I knew there was something else", he said, addressing no one in particular. "I know that look, Padfoot! Spit it out already!"

"Well, you see … Snape tricked us, and he did a damn good job with it! His only mistake was one of judgment, of psychology: He hates James, so he expected him to take advantage of Lily – but except of this wrong assumption, his plan was flawless: He prepared the love-potion and waited, and when he heard about the fight, he knew his opportunity and took it. He remembered that gingerbread was Lily's favorite Muggle-sweet, so he spiked a box of it with Amortentia. Then he slipped Tara the information about Honeydukes selling gingerbread, and she, not knowing it was part of Snape's plan, told James to give him the opportunity to apologize to Lily. You", he addressed James, "acted exactly as he expected you to: You went straight to Hogsmead, where he engaged you into a fight, so someone else could replace your box with his. And you took it back here, gave it to Lily … well, that's it! It was a perfect plan … almost, at least." Sirius looked uncommonly thoughtful. "I hate to admit it, but I'm really impressed. This plot was damn well thought up – Snape may be a slimy git, but he's got some brains, no doubt about that. Shame that he only seems to use them to hurt people! And we have to be careful: If he really is going to join the Death Eaters, we have not heard the last of him. We've known all along that he's a powerful wizard, and today he has proved to be equally clever, cunning and unscrupulous – he'll certainly be one of the most dangerous of Voldemort's followers, and we'll have to deal with him then!"

His friends stared at him. They had hardly ever heard him speak with such seriousness – and it was highly unusual to mention the dread of Voldemort and the possibility of war that openly. Lily was really impressed; she got to learn a lot about Sirius Black today, and discovered aspects of his character she would never have guessed to exist. "You're right, Sirius. Severus is bound to become a Death Eater, and he will be one of Voldemort's lieutenants. I didn't want to see it for a long time, because I remembered him as a child, when we were friends … But that's in the past, and in the future – what about today? What do you have in mind?"

Sirius looked at her for a moment, then turned to James. "There is another reason I stopped you, Prongs, beside the fact what I wanted to prevent you being expelled for gravely injuring Snivellus. He tricked us – and if you'd just cursed him into oblivion, he would still seem to be the clever one, while you had simply used blunt brutality. No, if we really want to pay him back, we have to beat him with his own weapons: We have to trick him to admit that he is behind the whole thing!"

Silence followed his words. Then James said: "I see your point, Padfoot, and I agree, but I must admit that I've no idea how we could possibly do that. If you think about Veritaserum …"

Remus shook his head. "No, he's gonna expect that. Even if we could get close enough … unseen, I'm sure he's taking the antidote!"

Sirius smiled at his friend. "You're right, Moony, a direct approach will get us nowhere in this case. And it would be stupid to try and beat him by using potions, this being his field of expertise. No, we have to play to his weaknesses, and one of them has become quite clear: He tends to misjudge people, or, if that's a term too general: He sticks to his judgments about somebody, even if that person has changed since. And we must use this weakness!"

He looked round, and four blank faces were looking back at him. "If you have a plan, Padfoot", James told him, "get on with it, please, because I don't have the faintest idea what you're saying!"

"Nor me", admitted both Tara and Remus, and Lily shook her head.

"Well, it seems that it's up to the evil genius of Sirius Black to reveal his brilliant plot – I told you I was an evil genius, didn't I? But you laughed at me, o infidels! Now listen, and learn!" He turned to Lily. "But I will need your help, if the plan's gonna work, Lily. You're gonna play the most important role in it. Are you in?"

Lily Evans looked at him for a second. Then she sat up straight, wiped her tears away, and her expression became determined. "Severus Snape is no longer the boy who was my friend. A friend would not have done this to me. I'm in, Sirius. What do you have me do?"