Chapter Fourteen

Over the next week, Victoria and Lucy barely said one word to another. Victoria wasn't entirely sure whether or not they had actually fallen out, but she did know that something had definitely gone wrong between them.

After discussing the matter with Pippa, Victoria was adamant that Lucy's issue stemmed from the fact that she was in some way jealous about Victoria and Sirius' relationship, because, in contrast, Remus didn't seem to want any romantic involvement with Lucy. However, Victoria couldn't fathom for the life of her why Lucy was so furious about it all. The old Lucy would have moaned and complained, but she would never have taken it out on her friends. Although, come to think of it, the old Lucy would never have spent months waiting around for one boy who looked very unlikely to change his mind about her.

On top of this, Victoria was a little miffed that she appeared to be getting the sole blame for the situation. As far as she knew, Georgina and Ben hadn't been on the receiving end of a tirade from Lucy, and nor had Frank and Alice, or James and Lily, or indeed any other couple they knew.

However, exactly one week after the Hogsmede visit and subsequent argument, a welcome distraction arrived in the form of the Slytherin and Hufflepuff Quidditch match. As per usual, the game was met with a great deal of excitement, and also anxious nerves. Gryffindor were currently in the lead for the Cup but they had, after all, only played one match so far, and so Slytherin had more than enough of a chance to overtake them.

'We just need Hufflepuff to beat them,' repeated Pippa for what felt like the hundredth time, as Victoria walked down to the Quidditch pitch with her, Sirius, Alex, James and Lily on the morning of the match.

'Agreed,' said James for what also felt like the hundredth time; the pair of them had been having the same conversation all week. 'If Hufflepuff beat Slytherin and then we beat Ravenclaw the Cup should be in the bag.'

'Not if Ravenclaw beat Hufflepuff,' pointed out Victoria, 'If that happens then we'd have to beat Ravenclaw by quite a large margin.'

'Arghh!' exclaimed James, running both hands through his messy hair in frustration.

'Let's stop talking about this, it's stressing me out,' suggested Sirius amiably, as they reached the spectator stands and began to climb the wooden stairs.

They took a row of seats amongst their fellow Gryffindors, and Victoria found herself sitting in between Sirius and Pippa. Frank and Alice were in the row in front, and soon turned around to start a conversation. Leaving the others to talk to them, Victoria threw Pippa a sneaky smirk.

'There's your man,' she giggled, pointing at the commentator's chair, which Mike Turner had just settled into, ready for his usual commentary job.

'Nothing's going on,' yawned Pippa, inspecting a loose thread on her coat. 'Men and women can be platonic friends, you know.'

'I know that. But I also know that I saw the two of you holding hands in Hogsmede on Valentine's Day.'

'Haven't you got bored of talking about that yet?' protested Pippa, 'You're starting to sound Georgina.'

'Mike definitely fancies you in any case,' grinned Victoria.

Pippa turned slightly pink in the cheeks, but remained resolute despite this. 'Whatever you say, Vic.'

'Have you seen Lucy?' asked Victoria, twisting around in her seat to see if she could spot their friend amongst the Gryffindor crowds.

'I meant to talk to you about that actually,' said Pippa, 'I was on my way to the library yesterday evening, and I saw her in the corridors. She didn't see me, but it looked like she was heading to the hospital wing.'

'Remus is in the hospital wing again,' said Victoria slowly.

'Exactly,' nodded Pippa, 'So she must have gone to see how he was.' She paused and lowered her voice so that it was barely above a whisper. 'Listen, Vic, we need to talk later, when no one else is around. I was doing some thinking, you know about Remus, and I-'

'COME ON HUFFLEPUFF!' bellowed James suddenly from Pippa's other side.

'James, the match hasn't even started yet,' pointed out Victoria, giving her brother a strange look.

Then a thought struck her. Had James been listening to their conversation? It sounded like Pippa was going to put forward a theory about Remus' mysterious illnesses- had James purposely interrupted to stop her from revealing what she knew? It seemed to have had the desired effect. Pippa shook herself slightly, and turned her attention down to the pitch, where the players were being to assemble.

Don't be so ridiculous, thought Victoria, shaking her own head. She was being incredibly paranoid. Why on earth would James want to stop Pippa saying something about Remus?

'What's your bet for the score?' asked Sirius, jolting Victoria out of her thoughts. He also took her hand in his, which was thoroughly distracting in itself.

'700-nil to Hufflepuff!' she announced confidently.

'I wish!' laughed Sirius. He bent his head towards hers and kissed her briefly.

'Oi! None of that!' shouted James, leaning around Pippa to point his finger accusingly at Victoria and Sirius.

'Chill out, Prongs,' chuckled Sirius, leaning back in his seat and putting his arm around Victoria. Meanwhile, Victoria leant against Sirius and stuck her tongue out at James, who rolled his eyes and turned his back on them.

Suddenly, the voice of Mike Turner speaking down his microphone rang out across the stadium.

'Hello ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the third Quidditch match of the term, which sees Hufflepuff play Slytherin. It promises to be an exciting one. Although I assure you, rumours of a competition to see which spectator will be the first to jinx a Slytherin out of the air are completely unfounded...'

'TURNER!' Three quarters of the stadium laughed, first at Mike's joke, and then at the sound of McGonagall berating him for it.

'That's your man!' Victoria exclaimed to Pippa.

Pippa responded with what was probably a well deserved punch to Victoria's knee.

'Ouch! Okay, okay, I get it.'

At the referee's whistle, both of the teams rose into the air and took their positions. One of the Hufflepuff chasers darted for the Quaffle, but it was snatched away from her by the Slytherin captain, while Hunt shot a rather nasty bludger at her for good measure.

'It's getting dirty already!' groaned Pippa, as they watched the match unfold before them.

Less than two minutes in, Slytherin scored their first goal. It was greeted by a wave of cheers from their spectators, and a barrage of swearing from Mike, who immediately had the microphone tugged out of his hand by McGonagall.

Ten minutes later, and Slytherin had somehow managed to bring the score up to sixty-nil in their favour. It was looking disastrous.

'Have the Hufflepuff team actually trained this term?' muttered Sirius, as Slytherin put their seventh goal through the middle hoop.

'Doesn't look like it,' agreed Victoria. 'But to be fair, Slytherin are playing well.'

'Yes they are,' moaned Sirius, as a bludger hit by Mulciber managed to make contact with the back of the head of one of Hufflepuff's beaters. The Hufflepuff player in question looked for a moment as though he had passed out, and even when he did sit back up straight and resume flying, there was definitely something lop-sided about his movements.

'Look at Regulus!' bellowed Victoria suddenly, leaping up from her seat as she did so.

Regulus Black had gone into a dramatic dive and, sure enough, he emerged a moment later clutching the Golden Snitch in his right palm.

Sirius swore loudly at the sight, as one quarter of the stadium erupted with jubilation.

'NO WAY!' yelled Mike Turner into the commentator's microphone. 'No, Professor, I'm not being biased-'

Down in the stands, the other three quarters of the school were not taking the defeat well. The entire match had only lasted fifteen or so minutes, and it was a thoroughly disappointing outcome. The Hufflepuffs in particular looked especially dejected, as everyone made their way down out of the stadium.

'Absolute rubbish!' exclaimed James angrily, once they had extracted themselves from the crowds and were walking back up to the castle.

'We can still beat them,' Victoria reminded him, 'Our match with them isn't until next term. Plus, if we beat Ravenclaw in a couple of weeks' time then we're still pretty much sorted for the Cup.'

'That's true,' agreed Sirius, 'Positivity, Prongs.'

'Positivity,' muttered James mutinously, 'Yeah sure!'

'This is why I don't like Quidditch at times,' said Lily calmly, 'It causes unnecessary tension.'

James gave her an incredulous look. 'Remind me again why we're going out.'

'Because you've been obsessed with me for six years, and because you know you'll never be able to do better?' she retorted.

'Yeah alright, fair enough,' agreed James, while Victoria, Sirius and Pippa laughed.

'Well since it doesn't like they'll be any parties today, I'd better do that Potions essay,' decided Victoria glumly.

She had been hoping that a Hufflepuff victory would mean a party in the Gryffindor common room, as had happened last term when Ravenclaw defeated Slytherin. Not only was she as keen for a party as anyone, Victoria also suspected that her and Sirius would have been able to sneak off and spend some time alone together without arousing any suspicions.

Sirius pulled a face at her. 'Do you really have to work?'

'Yes! And you should be too! It may have escaped your attention, but you have NEWT exams in four months' time!'

Sirius waved this away with his hand. 'It'll be fine. I did well in my OWLs and I barely opened a book.'

'You can be so arrogant,' complained Victoria, as Sirius laughed and put his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him.

'Oh God,' muttered James, 'Come on Lily, I feel ill already.'

'Wait for me!' exclaimed Pippa, hurrying away after them, 'I'm not being left alone with them.'

Victoria and Sirius chuckled as their three friends quickened their pace to get away from them.

'We're not that bad, are we?' laughed Victoria.

'Definitely not,' confirmed Sirius, 'Well we're not as bad as Prongs and Lily at any rate.'

'Will you please tell me where that nickname comes from?' asked Victoria in frustration.

'Nope,' replied Sirius. But before Victoria could protest anymore, he took her hands and pulled them both to a stop. Then he placed his right hand on her neck, and kissed her deeply and passionately.

'Where did that come from?' gasped Victoria, when they both came up for breath a few minutes later.

Sirius shrugged, 'I just wanted to do it. I do find you unbelievably sexy, you know.'

'Oh really?' Victoria raised one eyebrow and attempted to seem alluring as she looked up at him; she doubted very much that she achieved her aim.

'I have an idea,' said Sirius, his warm breath tickling Victoria's face. 'Why don't you go and do your essay, and I might even do a bit of work myself. But after that, you and I hang out.'

'Hang out?' queried Victoria, raising an eyebrow; it didn't sound like Sirius was suggesting a friendly game of chess.

'Hang out,' repeated Sirius, smirking at the effect he had created.

'Sounds like a plan,' agreed Victoria, and she leant up to kiss him once more.

Several hours later, and Victoria had indeed finished her essay. She had shut herself away in the library all afternoon, and practically buried herself under a stack of incredibly tedious books on potion theory. The essay had taken quite a while to complete, and she wasn't completely sure that what she'd written was actually right. This time last term, she would have simply asked Lucy for some pointers. But now it didn't seem as though they were speaking, and Lucy hadn't been seen all day, which probably meant that she was in the hospital wing hand feeding Remus grapes.

By five that afternoon, Victoria decided that her essay was as good as it was ever going to be. So she replaced her books on the various shelves, picked up her bag, and left the library for the common room.

On her way back, she was entirely distracted by the prospect of some time with Sirius. The way he'd said the word 'hang out' had definitely carried the implication that he had something planned. Maybe he wanted to do something specific. Victoria's stomach squirmed at the thought- there were definitely very specific things she wanted to do with him!

Because she was so distracted, Victoria failed to notice the person walking towards her until she had practically walked into them. Unfortunately, this was none other than her best friend, Severus Snape.

'Did you enjoy the match, Potter?' he asked, as his trademark smirk spread across his pale face.

'Leave me alone,' she said through gritted teeth, and she pushed past him.

'I can't wait for the final. I'll bet you'll look just as horrific as Hufflepuff did today.'

Rising to his bait, Victoria swung back around and glared at him. 'You know, Snape, I'm surprised you were able to even tell who won. I didn't think Quidditch was exactly your forte. From what I've heard, you fell off your broom in every single flying lesson during first year.'

Snape's smirk immediately turned into a scowl. No doubt the memory was not a particularly pleasant one.

'True,' admitted Snape, 'But I still live in hope of cursing your brother off his broom one day.'

'It's funny what people say when they're jealous of someone isn't it?' remarked Victoria. She knew full well that she should just turn her back on Snape and return to the common room, but she couldn't help herself. Whenever he brought up James or Sirius, it immediately won a rise out of her.

'Jealous?' spat Snape. 'Why would I be jealous of Black or Potter?'

'Well beyond the obvious good looks, popularity and nice personality, I have no clue about Sirius,' agreed Victoria, 'Unless you've got some kind of crush on me that is, which I desperately hope isn't true. But with James, you're obviously jealous that Lily chose him and not you.'

She had well and truly hit him where it hurt. Snape paled even further- if that was possible- and a strange look crossed his face. Victoria briefly wondered if she had gone too far. Perhaps teasing him about Lily was where the line should be drawn.

Of course, a moment later, she regretted ever thinking that.

'You and your brother may think that everyone loves you, but that is far from the case,' spat Snape viciously, 'And as I've said before, I can't wait until we get out into the real world and I get the chance to prove that to you. I bet neither of you will last a year. Blood traitor scum.'

'Maybe that's true. But that won't change anything,' hissed Victoria. 'Face it, Lily chose the better man. She finally saw in you what everyone else sees. A pathetic, hateful, cowardly boy.'

At her words, Snape's face contorted into an anger so extreme that Victoria didn't think she'd ever seen anything like it before. He leant towards her and lowered his voice so that it was nothing more than a deadly, hissing whisper.

'Why don't you ask your perfect brother about Remus Lupin?'

'What about Remus?' demanded Victoria, her heart thudding in her chest for some unknown reason.

'He's a werewolf. And Potter and Black know about it.'

It was as if a bright light had suddenly clicked on inside Victoria's head. Remus was a werewolf. Of course he was! How could she ever have been so stupid not to know? His illnesses followed the lunar cycle! The teachers must know- or Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey at least- and that's why he took refuge in the hospital wing. Poor Remus, she thought, and she was gripped with a feeling of intense sadness for her friend.

Snape's face was now one of absolute triumph. He had dropped his bombshell. There was simply no retaliation Victoria could throw at him that would match the weight of what he'd just told her.

Victoria stared into his black eyes, that reminded her of dark tunnels. Snape had been the one to tell her. Not James, not Sirius, but Snape.

Her mind began racing so much that she didn't even notice Snape slink away, smugly enjoying the mayhem he'd just caused.

Why hadn't James or Sirius told her? Could she not be trusted? Sirius was her boyfriend, for God's sake! And yet he obviously didn't think that she needed to know such an important thing about one of their friends. Victoria had openly voiced concerns about Remus' health for years, and she had always been met by protestations from the boys, claiming that he just had a sickly family history.

Another thought hit Victoria, and this one was so hard that she gasped out loud. That was why Remus hadn't wanted anything to happen with him and Lucy. He obviously thought that it was too dangerous, or that Lucy would be ostracised. Lucy had been devastated, a completely changed person, and James and Sirius had sat back and allowed that to happen.

No. A sudden memory came flooding back to Victoria. Lucy knew. She had told Victoria during their argument last week that she had found out what Remus' secret was. And even Lucy hadn't felt able to tell Victoria.

Without really thinking, Victoria began walking back to the common room, her stride long and quick.

She could have helped. She could have helped Lucy, and she could have tried to help Remus. But obviously no one thought she was suited to that.

When she reached the common room, she found Sirius lounging in an armchair by the fire, casually flicking through a Transfiguration textbook. For once, the other Marauders were nowhere to be seen. He noticed her approach, and grinned in pleasure.

'Can I talk to you?' Victoria asked, trying to keep her voice level. 'Is your dormitory free?'

'Sure,' said Sirius, who looked very perplexed. He got out of his seat and led the way up the boys' staircase to the room he shared with Frank and the other Marauders.

Victoria had never been in their dormitory before. It was pretty much how she would have imagined it to be, which was messy and with that unmistakable smell you always get when a group of boys live together. Under other circumstances she probably would have been quite excited to be up here alone with Sirius. Right now, however, she was not.

'So this is your plan to get me alone, is it?' grinned Sirius. He sat down on what Victoria presumed to be his bed, evidently thinking she would join him.

Victoria decided to get straight to the point. 'Why didn't you tell me that Remus is a werewolf?'

In any other situation, Sirius' reaction would have been somewhat comical. His mouth literally dropped open, and he blinked several times in shock.

'How do you know?' he asked quietly, after a few moments.

Victoria was pleased that he hadn't attempted to deny it, but that did little to sooth her anger at that point.

'Snape told me,' she whispered. 'Snape.'

'What?!' yelled Sirius in sudden anger. 'He has no right to say anything! He promised Dumbledore-'

'I don't care,' said Victoria, cutting him off. 'I don't care about that. What upsets me is the fact that I had to find out from Snape, rather than from you.'

Sirius sighed deeply and stared at her intensely for a long moment.

'I'm sorry, Vic. I really am. But please understand why I couldn't tell you. Remus still hasn't come to terms with what he is. In fact I doubt that he ever will. He doesn't want people to know, he fears that they'll treat his differently, or be scared of him. That's why James and I couldn't tell you, Vic. We were protecting our friend.'

Victoria wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that. She had been expecting out right denials, not a guilt trip. And Sirius' tactic had definitely worked. Poor Remus! Having to go through life carrying that burden around.

'Sit down,' urged Sirius, tapping the space next to him on the bed. 'I suppose I should tell you everything.'

'What do you mean tell me everything?' she asked warily, as she sat down next to him.

Sirius sighed deeply before continuing. He took Victoria's hand in his and rubbed his thumb along her palm.

'James and I worked out pretty quickly that Remus was what he is. It became fairly obvious, what with us living with him. We told Peter, and the three of us tried to think of what we could to do to help.'

'Help?' interrupted Victoria, 'But there aren't any potions or spells that can do anything for someone with lycanthropy.'

'Well exactly,' grimaced Sirius, 'And we knew our chances of inviting some miraculous cure were relatively low. Instead we decided to try and make his transformations bearable. And we succeeded.'

'How on earth did you do that?' whispered Victoria. Despite herself, her rage had completely evaporated, and she had been reluctantly pulled into Sirius' story.

Sirius took a deep breath, as if steeling himself for something. 'We became all learned how to become Animagi.'

'What?' asked Victoria; she must have misheard him.

'We became Animagi,' repeated Sirius. 'James turns into a stag, Peter turns into a rat, and I turn into a dog. James and I can easily keep Remus in check if we have to. So when he transforms we sneak out into the Shrieking Shack, and then spend the night running around the grounds. It's how we managed to make the Marauders Map. I don't think anyone knows Hogwarts as well as we do.'

'Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs,' breathed Victoria slowly.

Sirius nodded. His thumb was still stroking her palm, but Victoria could barely feel his touch. Her mind was whirling so quickly she felt dizzy.

'I can't believe you didn't tell me,' she whispered, wrenching her hand from Sirius', and getting to her feet.

'I couldn't! I wanted to, of course I did. But it wasn't my secret to tell.'

'You didn't think you should tell me that you can turn into a dog?' hissed Victoria, hot fury bubbling inside of her. 'You didn't think that I might want to know that about my boyfriend?'

'I'm sorry, Vic, but-'

'You just didn't trust me!' exclaimed Victoria, 'Although for some reason Snape knows! How is it that he knows?'

Sirius stayed quiet and avoided her gaze.

'Sirius, why does Snape know?' demanded Victoria. She had a horrible feeling that the worst was yet to come.

Sirius finally held eye contact with her. 'Okay, this makes me sound bad. And I was. But that's not me anymore, you have to know that.'

'Why does he know?' she repeated.

Sirius sighed deeply. 'When we were sixteen, I thought it'd be funny to play a prank on Snape. He suspected something was going on, and was always following us around, trying to work out what the big secret was. So I told him that all he had to do was tap a knot on the Whomping Willow, and that would take him into the Shrieking Shack, where he'd find out everything he wanted to know.'

Victoria took a step back, and clapped a hand over her mouth. 'That's where Remus' transforms?'

Sirius nodded. 'I didn't mean for it to go that far. I wasn't even thinking, there was no big plan. I was just so fed up of his efforts to get us into trouble all the time. Anyway, James found out, and went after Snape. He pulled him back before he got all the way into the Shack, but Snape caught a glimpse of Remus. That's how he knows he's a werewolf.'

'He could have been killed,' whispered Victoria.

'I know, and I regret-'

'You could have killed someone!' Victoria was screaming without even realising that she was doing it. 'No one deserves that! Not even him!'

'Vic, listen, I-'

But Victoria wasn't listening. She couldn't. In fact, at that moment, she couldn't even look at Sirius, or be in the same room. Her boyfriend, the person she had always considered to be so good, could well have been responsible for another student's death at the age of sixteen.

Victoria barely registered Sirius' attempts to talk to her. Instead, she turned on her heel and hurried out of the dormitory, not being able to stand the sight of him.

Arrgh! I'm leaving it way too long between posts! My excuse is that I'm at uni at the moment, so hopefully once I'm home for Christmas I'll have a little more time for writing.

As usual, thanks so much for reading my story. Please keep the reviews coming!

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