Chapter 21
When Sirius got back to the dormitory, James and Peter were lounging on their beds, Peter was reading a Herbology book while James stared at the piece of old parchment that they had turned into the Marauder's Map. "Padfoot!" James jumped off his bed as soon as Sirius walked in the door. "Look! We finally got it!"
He thrust the map into Sirius's face and Sirius could see millions of little dots, each of them labeled, moving around the drawing of the castle. "Excellent!" Sirius said, grabbing the map from him to study it.
"Peter found the spell in one of those charms books you nicked from the restricted section," James explained. "It was pretty difficult but we managed it. Now we just need Remus to put that locking charm on it and it'll be ready!" Sirius gave it back to him and he sat down on his bed to read it, clearly very proud of what they'd accomplished.
Peter was still watching Sirius, though. "What are you so happy about?" he asked, suspiciously eyeing the sneaky smile on Sirius's face.
"Come on, Pete," James grinned. "You know why Sirius won't stop grinning like an idiot. He finally made up with his lady love."
"Lady love?" Sirius raised an eyebrow at his friend. "And you seriously wonder why you can't get a date?"
James grabbed one of the library books off his bed and chucked it at Sirius. "How's Remus, anyways?"
"Fine," Sirius answered. "Pomfrey was getting ready to take him down to the Whomping Willow."
"Excellent," Peter said, smiling down at his Herbology book. Although the full moon was usually a time of misery for Remus, the other Marauders looked forward to it. It was exhilarating in a way, changing into their illegal animagi forms and playing with a werewolf in the Forbidden Forest. It was the reason why they knew so many of Hogwarts secrets, they were able to run around the grounds with no teachers there to stop them. And the fact that they had Remus with them meant that the other creatures in the Forbidden Forest kept their distance.
Sirius grinned before grabbing his cloak. He couldn't help imagining the look on Snape's face when he got to the Shrieking Shack. Normally, they would have waited about an hour after Remus went to the Whomping Willow to sneak out because he didn't want them there as he transformed. However, Sirius was anxious to see his prank play out. Plus, he wanted to be there to make sure that nothing went wrong. He wanted Snape to get what he deserved for snooping around like the nosey little git that he was but he didn't want him dead.
James looked at him strangely. "Where are you going?"
Sirius smirked. "I'm just in the middle of the best prank I've ever thought of."
He turned to leave but James jumped from his bed and stood in the doorway. "What prank?" James asked eagerly, excited to finally have something to do besides read boring, smelly library books. Peter looked up from his homework and watched them in interest.
Sirius laughed. "I ran into my brother and Snivellus on my way back to the hospital wing," he said, as if that explained everything.
James frowned, a little confused. Regulus was usually a pretty touchy subject with Sirius, so he didn't quite understand why seeing him with Snape had made Sirius so happy. "What'd you do?" he asked cautiously, hoping that Sirius hadn't done something stupid.
"I threw their wands out a window."
"Nice," Peter said.
"Yeah, and after Snivellus sent Regulus to find them, he made some cryptic comments about seeing Remus and Madam Pomfrey out on the grounds, near the Whomping Willow," Sirius said.
James froze in place. "Snape saw them?" he asked, his voice low and full of fear. "He doesn't know anything, does he?"
"Not yet," Sirius replied.
James felt his muscles tense up. He didn't like the way this was going at all and he really hoped that Sirius hadn't done something stupid out of anger. "What do you mean, not yet?" he asked, his voice flat.
Sirius looked at him in confusion. He couldn't understand why he was suddenly so angry. He thought his idea had been brilliant. "He's been stalking Remus, trying to figure out a way to get him expelled!"
"Sirius, what did you do?" James asked, starting to look a little panicked.
"Well, I told him how to get into the tunnel under the Whomping Willow!" Sirius said defensively. "It's not like Dumbledore's going to expel Remus for that! Hell, if we're lucky, he might even expel Snape for sticking his overgrown nose where it doesn't belong."
"You did what?!" James screamed, his voice full of anger as he pushed Sirius. "What is wrong with you, Padfoot? What if he finds out? Didn't you stop and think about what this would do to –" James stopped himself, his eyes going wide. He turned to the window to see that the sun was sinking behind the forbidden forest. "Oh shit! Moony!" James said before running to his bed and picking up the map. He could see a tiny dot on the grounds labeled Severus Snape, heading towards the Whomping Willow. He turned and bolted out of the room without saying anything else.
Peter shot Sirius a look of shock before running after James. "Wait!" Sirius called out, ignoring the strange looks of the other Gryffindors in the common room as he raced after them. He outran Peter easily but James's years of Quidditch had made him faster than Sirius and he wasn't able to explain. He hadn't meant to get Snape killed or anything. He had planned to be there as Padfoot to keep Remus in line and he couldn't understand why James was reacting this way. Besides, Snape was finally going to get exactly what he deserved for being such a creepy little snoop.
He finally caught up with James at the Whomping Willow. "Moony could kill him, Sirius!" James shouted, as he searched the ground for the long stick that the school nurse often used to hit the knot in the root that would freeze the violent tree. "What were you thinking?"
"I was going to stop him!" he said, completely confused by James's reaction.
"How?" James demanded as he finally found a stick long enough. "How the bloody hell were you going to stop him when he's already down there?" He slipped inside the tunnel without waiting for an answer. Sirius could hear James yelling for Snape as he sprinted down the tunnel so he quickly changed into Padfoot and raced after him.
James spotted Snape when he was halfway to the Shrieking Shack, the greasy-haired boy hurrying as fast as he could down the tunnel. Unfortunately, Severus was almost at the stairs that would lead up to the Remus, who was probably almost done transforming into a werewolf. "Snape!" James yelled again. "Stop!"
"Bugger off, Potter!" Snape said, trying to stay upright as he stumbled over the uneven ground.
"You don't want to go down there," James shouted, gaining ground on Snape. Suddenly he was appreciative of the numerous quidditch practices that Gideon Prewett, the Gryffindor quidditch captian, had held that year. "Trust me!"
"Why would I do that?" Snape sneered, panting as he tried to run faster. "I'm finally going to get you and your friends expelled!"
"That's not Remus up there!" James yelled desperately. It was true; it wasn't really Remus up there, not really, but he doubted that the Slytherin boy would see it that way. He was trying to do anything he could to stop Snape from opening that door. Not that he was particularly keen to keep Snape around, he just knew that it would kill Remus if he ever harmed another human being. And even if he somehow managed to stop Remus from killing Snape, Snape would still see what Remus was. Since Snape was all about that purity of blood bullocks, James could only imagine what he thought of werewolves. What would stop him from telling everyone else in the school?
"Nice try, Potter," Snape replied as he started to climb the stairs. "I saw Madam Pomfrey bringing him out here earlier." James sped up, pushing himself to run even faster, but he still couldn't stop Snape from opening the door. James could hear a low growl and he lept up the stairs, practically throwing himself onto Snape. Snape hit the ground hard, his head bouncing off the stony floor of the dilapidated house.
Sirius chose a great time to show up, jumping over the two of them and crashing into Remus as Padfoot. James watched from the doorway as Sirius's large canine form slammed into Remus, completely distracting him as he lead him to another room. He heard snarling and things crashing to the floor as they fought. Then suddenly there was a loud thump and a high keening. The big black dog came running at James, who ducked out of the way and slammed the door as soon as Sirius was clear. A few seconds later, they could hear a large crash as the werewolf slammed into the door, making it rattle on its hinges. Sirius turned back into himself and said, "I told you I'd stop –" He was cut off by James's fist connecting with his jaw. Before he could even get his hands up to defend himself, James pulled his arm back and punched Sirius in the nose. He was about to hit Sirius again when Peter finally reached them and pulled him off Sirius. "What the fuck?" Sirius yelled, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth.
"What the hell is the matter with you?" James yelled, his voice echoing off the walls around them. "Did you even think about what this would do to him?"
"To Snape?" Sirius asked in confusion. "Who bloody cares what –"
"No!" James shouted, interrupting Sirius. "Not to Snape, to Remus! Did you ever stop to think about what this would do to him? How do you think he would feel if he hurt Snape? And what do you think Snape's going to do now that he knows?" Sirius's angry expression fell off his face. The truth was that he hadn't thought about any of that, he had just been focused on serving up a nice plate of karma for the greasy-haired nuisance. James laughed bitterly. "Yeah, I didn't think so." He turned to the unconscious Slytherin, who had blood trickling from his abnormally large nose. James sighed heavily before pulling out his wand and levitating Snape a few feet off the ground. He turned and stormed off, Snape floating a few feet in front of him.
"Where are you going?" Sirius asked, starting to follow James.
James whipped around, the fury plain on his face. "Fuck off, Sirius," he said, his voice flat with anger. Then he seemed to notice Peter for the first time and his voice softened slightly. "Come on, Pete. Help me bring this tosser up to the hospital wing." Peter looked between the two boys in shock. He had never seen James this angry before, never mind at his best friend. In fact, he didn't think he'd ever seen the two of them fighting like this before. "Pete," James said imploringly. Peter looked at Sirius in a mixture of shock and fear one more time before hurrying after James and his strange, floating patient.
Sirius watched them walk down the tunnel, towards Hogwarts. He groaned and punched the wall as soon as they were out of sight. This definitely didn't go as he had planned. He had only meant it as a harmless prank, he hadn't wanted Snape to get hurt or anything. But James was right, he hadn't stopped to think about how difficult it would be to prevent that. He was lucky that James was as quick as he was, or else Snape could have gotten bitten or killed. He had really screwed up this time, all because he let his anger take over, and he didn't know if he would ever be able to fix it. He waited a few minutes before following after Peter and James, walking slowly so he wouldn't catch up with them. By the time he reached the grounds, they were nowhere in sight and he headed towards Gryffindor tower.
He ran into Erica in the corridor that led to the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Hey!" she said brightly before she noticed the bruises forming on his face. She gasped when she saw them and grabbed his arm in concern as she looked up at him. "Merlin, Sirius, what happened to you?"
He hadn't been in the mood to talk to anyone but he found himself answering her all the same. "James."
"What?" Erica asked, her eyes wide in shock. "Why would James do that? Was he confounded?"
"No," Sirius muttered. "He just didn't appreciate the prank I was trying to play on Snape."
Erica raised an eyebrow at him. That seemed completely out of character for James, usually he loved playing pranks on the future Death Eater. It was one of the reasons why he was having so much trouble with Lily. She grabbed his arm and pulled him over to the Fat Lady, who was watching them in interest. "Fighting again, Mr. Black?" she asked curiously.
Erica scowled at her before saying the password and dragging Sirius into the common room. It was almost empty, a handful of seventh years were studying in front of the fire. Erica dragged Sirius over to the other side of the room and pushed him into a chair. "What are you doing?" he asked skeptically. He was surprised that he was letting her do this. The whole walk back, all he wanted to do was climb into his bed and try to think of what he would say to Remus tomorrow. Still, he couldn't deny that he was glad to see Erica. Being around her always made him feel better, no matter the circumstance, but he didn't really feel like overanalyzing that just yet.
"Your nose is broken," she said, standing in front of him. She waved her wand over his nose and muttered, "Episkey!"
He could feel the bones in his nose healing. He reached up and rubbed his nose after it was done, muttering, "Thanks."
"So what was this prank?" she asked anxiously, looking almost as if she was scared about what she would hear.
"I ran into Snape and my brother earlier," Sirius explained, frowning as he noticed Erica's face falling. He didn't know why he was telling her this but he wasn't able to stop himself. "He was acting like Regulus was his slave. And then he started making these cryptic comments about how he was going to figure out what Remus was doing out on the grounds when he was supposed to be sick and use it to get us all expelled. But Dumbledore already knows about Remus's… furry little problem so it's not like that would work. And, well, I told him how to get into the tunnel under the Whomping Willow."
"There's a tunnel under the Whomping Willow?" Erica asked in confusion. "Why would you tell him about that?"
Sirius glanced at the girls across the room, making sure they weren't listening. "Because the tunnel connects to the shrieking shack. That's where Remus… you know." Erica's mouth dropped open and Sirius could read the disappointment in her eyes. "I know; it was stupid! I wasn't thinking about how it would affect Remus, which James so kindly pointed out after he punched me. I just… he was with my little brother! He was probably trying to recruit him into Voldemort's services! All I could think about was what you said earlier, what he becomes, and I just wanted to scare him, shut him up for a little while."
Erica sighed. "I never said he was a Death Eater."
"You didn't have to. I could see it all over your face," Sirius said dismissively.
Erica frowned, a little annoyed that Sirius was able to read her so easily. "So what?" she said suddenly, her loud voice drawing the attention of the other Gryffindors in the common room. She lowered it as she continued, "So what if he becomes a Death Eater? Isn't that something we should be trying to prevent? We can still change things, remember?"
Sirius glared at her, not appreciating the way she was throwing his words back in his face. "Why do you care?" he asked, his voice low and harsh. "You aren't interested in changing anything." He knew it was the wrong thing to say as soon as the words left his mouth. Her eyes filled tears as she shook her head. She turned to leave but Sirius grabbed her arm, forcing her to turn back around. "No, don't go. I didn't mean that."
"Yes you did," she said, her voice cracking. "You're Sirius Black. That's what you do, say the most hurtful thing you can think of simply because you can."
She tried to leave again but he held onto her arm, holding her in place. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "I really am. It's just that, sometimes, it's so hard –"
"Being nice to me, I know," she said, cutting him off. "Whatever the hell that means."
Sirius sighed. He couldn't really explain why he lashed out at her sometimes, he just couldn't take it whenever he thought she was angry with him. Besides, it wasn't fair that she was throwing his words back in his face when she obviously had no interest in actually trying to change things. She was staring at him, her eyes wide and full of tears, and suddenly all he wanted to do was make her feel better. "I'm sorry," he whispered again, letting go of her arm to touch her face.
Erica's heart was beating so fast and so loud that she was certain that Sirius could hear it. Hell, those seventh years across the room probably heard it as well. She could tell that his apology was genuine, but that wasn't what was making her lungs malfunction. Sirius's hand was on her face, his thumb slowly caressing her cheek as he leaned forward. His beautiful stormy grey eyes moved down to her lips and she was certain that he was going to kiss her. Her heart only seemed to beat faster at that thought. She knew she shouldn't want to kiss him, especially after he had deliberately hurt her simply because she didn't approve of his prank, but she couldn't stop wondering if his lips were as soft as they looked.
His face was merely inches from hers when the portrait hole opened again. "Mister Black!" Professor McGonnagall yelled, her voice high and shrill. Sirius jumped back from Erica, as if he was only just now realizing what he was doing, and turned to face his professor. He could tell that she was angry, her mouth a thin straight line as she glared at him. "Professor Dumbledore wants to see you right this instant."
Sirius took a deep breath before nodding. "See you later, maybe," he muttered.
Erica watched him go, trying to catch her breath as she silently cursed McGonagall.
A/N: So sorry that it's taken me this long to update. Summer is always a really busy time for me but I'm going to post the next chapter up today as well to try and make up for that :) I'd like to say that I will be posting more regularly but I can't really promise anything. Now that summer's over, I've got work, grad school, and a social life to try and maintain. Sorry I am such crap at updating :( But please review and let me know what you think! And thank you to everyone that has reviewed, favorited or put this story on alert in the past few months!