CHAPTER 13

THE FINAL STRAW

Several weeks had passed since the incident, Sirius tried to make it to class as much as possible, though the burden of thoughts running through his mind made it hard for him to keep up with school work, he still drank with Cleveland some nights, though he tried to keep it more hushed not to worry his friends, he felt like he had no choice, Alcohol and his talks with Cleveland about his fictional life we're his only escape from his gloom reality.

But to all his attempts to try to seem normal, there were still rumors going around the school, it was still hard walking down the halls without getting glares from the other students, whispering, passing notes, looking at him, he knew they were all talking about him.

And furthermore, despite Sirius's attempts to act as normal as possible around his friends, they still knew Sirius was not ok. One night while doing their potion homework, they came about talking about it, of course Sirius was nowhere in sight, he never was when they did school work.

"He's gotten even quieter then before…" Peter pointed out, "And I haven't seen him eat a thing since before that Quidditch game…"

"He's been showing up at classes though…" Remus offered a glimpse of hope.

"Yeah…right…" James sneered, "He's been sitting in class doing and saying nothing and he never does the work anyway so what's the point?"

James then looked incredibly sad.

"He's worst then he was at Christmas…" he said, "He always looks so confused and out of it…"

"It can't be easy James, with his parents, and Regulus and all that happened this year…" Remus added.

"I just don't get it…" James said, "How can someone get so messed up so fast?"

"Well, you wouldn't know would you?" Came Sirius's voice from the door. He walked in and glared angrily at his friends, "So, not only is the whole school talking about me like I'm some kind of freak, my supposedly best mates are?"

"Sirius, it's not like that…" Remus tried to explain.

"Save it Moony…" Sirius snared, "No excuses…"

"Excuses?" James asked surprised, "Are you kidding me? What's your excuse for the way you've been acting?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow, "I've been fine…"

"You call this fine?" James waved his hands at Sirius, "You're a mess! Your clothes are all hanging loose, you constantly reek of Alcohol and cigarettes, and you've been sick this year more times than in all of the years we've known each other! That's not fine; it's a fucking death wish…"

"Walk a mile in my shoes, see how it feels!" Sirius screamed, "You can try to imagine and you won't even come close to realizing what I've been through!"

Remus sighed, "You should stop feeling so sorry for yourself all the time…" he said.

Sirius glared at Remus, "Oh, should I then?" He said, "Fine Remus, since you know so much better than I, maybe I will…" and with that he walked away, slamming the door.

Remus wanted to get up and go after Sirius, but James pulled him back, "Leave it" He said, "It's 11:30, we should have been in the shrieking shack already…"

8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

Sirius walked the halls angrily, no one could understand, no one at all, Mr. Potter took it all too lightly, his friends made a dead man out of him, and all the students whispering in the halls, they knew less than anyone.

"What are you looking at?!" Sirius bellowed at a second year who was eyeing him, whispering to his friend. The 12 year old looked stunned and then ran away.

"You better run you little bug!" Sirius screamed after the boy, "I'll mess you up!"

I might as well, Sirius thought to himself, they all think I'm insane and dangerous so I might as well give the people what they want.

Sirius felt the anger trickle in him, it was a sort of rage he hadn't felt in a while, he liked it, it gave him some amount of control over what was happening, it was a refreshing change.

Suddenly, Sirius felt something hit him in the back, it wasn't very strong, but Sirius recognized a stunning curse when he's been hit by one. He looked back and saw a terrified looking Severus Snape.

"Did you do this Snivellus?" Sirius asked, walking fast toward the Slytherin, "That was pathetic…"

Severus quivered with fear, "Y..you…" He shuddered, "You hurt Regulus!"

"Oh did I?" Sirius said obliviously, "So you thought you'd stun me and be the Slytherin hero? You pathetic maggot…" he laughed.

Snape looked down at his feet.

Suddenly Sirius had a thought. It was brilliant.

"I'll tell you what…" He told Snape, "You want to be the hero Snivellus? Let me tell you something… you know the whomping willow right?"

Severus nodded, "Yes…" He said timidly.

Sirius then whispered something in Snape's ear.

"Go there… be a fucking hero…" Sirius said and walked away.

As he walked away, Sirius smiled viciously, 'let's see you not feel sorry for yourself now, Moony.' He thought.

88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

The sound of the wolf howling, the door of the shrieking shack opening, the look on Snape's face when he realized he was led like sheep to be slaughtered, it was almost unreal.

There we're a few bangs, a sharp red light, and James, in human form, wrestled the wolf down, hitting as many Stupify curses as he could to tame the beast down.

And then, it was over in a flash.

88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

"Black!" Sirius heard someone call him, he fell asleep drunk in the room of requirements, he looked around him and saw the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, and his House teacher, Professor McGonagall.

He rubbed his eyes and got up, still quit buzzed from the drinks, he thought it might be dawn still, definitely not morning yet.

"Come…" Dumbledore said simply. Sirius followed.

They led Sirius down to the hospital wing in silence, but he had a feeling he knew what this was about,

The hospital wing doors opened and they walked in, Remus Lupin was lying in bed looking exhausted and bruised, next to him was Severus Snape, looking extremely pale and in shock but very much alive, and then, he saw James, a blue bruise covered the right side of his face.

"You!" James screamed and shot out of bed, he pinned Sirius to the wall, "YOU'VE REALLY DONE IT NOW!"

McGonagall tore the boys apart, "That's enough!" she commanded.

"YOU WANKER! HOW COULD YOU!" James kept screaming with all his might even while Dumbledore was holding him back, "IT WAS OUR SECRET! WE ALL COULD HAVE DIED! YOU SHIT!"

"Severus told us you gave him the instructions to enter the shack…" McGonagall explained, "Why would you do such a thing Sirius?" She asked with pain of betray in her voice.

"I… I don't know, I don't remember, I was angry… "Sirius slurred.

"HE'S BLOODY DRUNK! UNBELIEVBLE! YOU SOLD REMUS OUT BECAUSE YOU ARE SO FUCKING BUZZED YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT'S RIGHT ANYMORE!" James bellowed, he looked at McGonagall, "Smell his breath, he's a fucking drunk!"

Sirius felt the need to defend himself, "I WAS ANGRY OKAY?!" He bellowed uncontrollably, "EVERYONE KEEPS TELLING ME WHAT I SHOULD DO! THE WHOLE SCHOOL IS WHISPERING BEHIND MY FUCKING BACK!" suddenly he calmed down, "And Remus…" He croaked, "Out of all of the people, fucking Remus should have understood…"

"YOU'RE INSANE!" James bellowed, but Sirius cut him off.

"He told me I should stop feeling sorry for myself… He didn't think, for one fucking lousy second how he would feel if the whole school knew about him being a werewolf, a monster, or how he would feel if he hurt someone someday…out of all of the people…Remus should have known…"

"SO YOU THOUGH TO YOURSELF; 'Oh! Why don't I go hurt Remus too while I'm at this hurting spree' SO REMUS COULD KNOW HOW YOU FEEL?! " James looked at Sirius manically, "That's it! its official, YOU LOST IT!"

Sirius was out of words, James was right, Holly crap he's right…

"Sirius?" McGonagall called, "Sirius!"

But Sirius was too deep in his own manic thoughts to respond. I ruin everything… He thought.

He heard James scream somewhere while his mind exploded with thoughts, reality seemed so far away, it was completely out of reach;

"DO YOU WANT TO DRAG ALL OF US DOWN TO HELL WITH YOU?!"

"WHY DID YOU HAVE TO HURT REMUS?"

"WHY WON'T YOU ANSWER?"

"ANSWER ME!!!"

Sirius couldn't take it anymore, he ran out of the room, as fast as he could, he heard voices call after him, he was in trouble, oh dear was he in trouble, this was the final straw; he was in too deep now.