"Get out of here, you fucking idiot!", shouted Remus. In the same moment, Madeline entered the Hospital Wing. That surprised her. Moony never raised his voice. Sirius was standing not far from him, and had his eyes opened wide, while James was sitting on the bed next to Remus's, his head kept low. Peter was sleeping lightly in one of the free beds, some feet away from them.
"Come on Moony, nothing happened!"
Remus' breath was ragged, his face reddened and furious. "Fuck you Sirius Black! You're so selfish it makes me SICK! If it hadn't been for James… I would have killed Snape! Killed him, you GET IT?!" he shouted, on the edge of tears, "Imagine that! Imagine how I would have felt if I'd actually done that!"
Sirius took some steps back. Madeline was too shocked to say anything. The Marauders had never had a fight like that. The words they were saying didn't even register in her mind. Their voices were so full of hatred and pain she could barely understand the meaning of their sentences. The boys hadn't seen her, yet.
"It's just Snape, mate… I wanted to give him a lesson…"
"Get out of here" said James, then, with a cold tone of voice that made her shiver. "Fuck off already."
Sirius looked incredulous. "You can't be serious, Prongs. You hate him just as much as I do."
James raised his head, and Madeline gasped. He had never looked at Sirius in that way. He looked… Disgusted. She had never seen him so disappointed. There was no trace of gentleness in his eyes.
"We're not fucking children anymore, Sirius. Grow up. That wasn't a joke… That was fucking attempted murder!"
"WHAT?! I only told Snape how to get through the Whomping Willow! I didn't push him there or something!" he explained. "Look, he was so curious to understand where we went once a month that I told him how to find it out! I didn't force him!"
"You knew he would go there!" Prongs said, "Don't pretend you didn't. I know you too well! Oh fuck… I thought I knew you! Do you realise what you've done, Sirius? Look at Moony! He's devastated!"
Remus didn't appear to be listening anymore. Madeline had never seen him so terrified.
"All of this… Because you wanted to take a revenge on fucking Snape!"
"Yes because he's fucking OBSESSED with us!" replied Padfoot.
"He could have died, Sirius!" shouted James. "That's not what we are! We don't fucking kill people! And you're not better than your family if you think that's the right way of doing things."
"HOW DARE YOU COMPARE ME TO MY FAMILY?!"
A thick veil of coldness permeated the room, then.
"Take your own responsibilities and get the fuck out of here. I can't stand looking at you anymore." Slowly said Remus.
Sirius looked angry and broken at the same time. It was clear he hadn't expected that reaction from his best friends.
"What the fuck happened last night?" asked Madeline, then, exhausted. Her voice rang through the room. It was only early morning, but she was already so tired.
Three pairs of eyes turned to look at her and for the first time, Sirius' grey ones appeared guilty.
"M-Mads…" whispered Remus. He looked terrible, if she had to be honest.
"Rathbone told me you all went to see Dumbledore last night. What the fuck happened?" she crossed her arms, waiting for an explanation.
James stood up, then, and shot a look at Padfoot. The boy was looking at his feet. Madeline raised an eyebrow. Sirius looking ashamed? That was new. He must have done something terrible. The thought made her stomach twist in fear.
"Sirius told Snape that if he wanted to know what we do on Full Moon's nights he had to get to the Shrieking Shack… He told him how to get there…"
The girl's jaw dropped. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" she exclaimed, and her mouth went dry. Sirius didn't move. Peter woke up, startled, but when he saw her there, he laid down again. He looked so tired and sad.
James sighed. "Snape went there…"
Madeline's eyes filled with tears. Sure, Snape had done that… Fear, anger, betrayal. She was feeling so much things at the same time. It was overwhelming.
"Is he okay?" she only managed to whisper.
"Yeah, yeah… He's okay… When Sirius told me what he had done I ran there… I got Snape out before Rem could get to him…" Remus looked down, then, appearing ashamed and trembling slightly. "Snape started saying he would tell Moony's secret to everyone and that he would get us all expelled, so I… knocked him out."
"What?!" exclaimed Madeline.
"Yeah well he was obviously having a panic attack or something!"
Madeline sighed deeply. "And then?!"
"Then I forced Sirius to come to Dumbledore with me. We brought Snape there and we explained everything to the Headmaster… The old man forced Snape to keep his mouth shut, you know, because it wasn't Moony's fault..."
"It wasn't." stated Madeline, and Remus gave her a tiny, weak smile.
"And Snape was furious about that. He wanted us all to be expelled. We got away with detentions until the end of the year… Snape hates me even more now."
Madeline sighed deeply. She felt like crying, but she couldn't break down just then.
She turned to Sirius.
"Why did you do that?" she asked, trying to maintain her calm.
"You told us he was sticking his nose in our affairs! I wanted to end this stupid thing once and for all!"
"By letting Moony kill him? ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?" she said, and took some angry steps in his direction.
"He could have stayed in his bed, forget what I had told him!"
"Stop saying that! You fucking knew he wouldn't do that…"
"Well, he had made you a promise!" he said with a bitter voice. She closed her eyes, to keep herself from punching him. "What? That doesn't care?!" Sirius went on saying. "Why don't you go shouting at him that he should have fucking trusted you?!"
Madeline's breath caught. "Don't think I'm not mad at him, Sirius." She slowly said. "But you… You've done something terrible. And not to Snape only… But to us all."
"Fuck, Mads, don't you understand?! He was so eager to put us into trouble that he didn't fucking care about you and the promise he had made! He didn't give a fuck about LOSING YOU!"
"Yeah, I can see that, Sirius. And you know what else I see? That you didn't care about losing me, either. You and Snape are just the same."
"WHAT?!" Sirius opened his eyes wide, looking incredulous. "We're not the same! We'll never be!"
"You're the only ones in this story that chose not to trust me… You're the only ones that are now alone." She whispered, and turned to walk away. She couldn't stand looking at him anymore. Tears started falling from her eyes. She hated herself for crying for him.
She had almost reached the door when Sirius' hand grabbed her wrist and made her turn around. "Don't leave me alone, Mads, please" He said, and his eyes were full of pain.
"Look at what you did to Moony, Sirius. You broke him." She only said.
They both looked at poor Remus, shivering in his bed, with James whispering gentle words to him. He looked so weird in the role of comforter. They all knew Remus hated what he was… He thought of himself as a monster, as a killer. Sirius had almost made him become one.
"Mads… Please, understand... I didn't want to hurt any of you… Fuck … I just... I couldn't stand Snape anymore!"
"I don't care about your reasons." She tried to shake away his hand but he didn't let her go.
"Tell me I'm not like my family." He stated, then. "James told me I'm like them… Tell me I'm not… Tell me those were angry words…"
She was in pain too. He was her best friend. She loved him so much. And yet… She didn't know if she could forgive him for what he had done.
"I wish I could, Sirius… But I'm not so sure about that anymore."
Madeline thought she could see his heart breaking, then. Sirius had never looked so desperate.
"Mads… Love, please…"
"Don't call me that."
Sirius let her go. "Don't give up on me, Mads… I need you… Please…"
"I have to go." She only replied.
Sirius looked at her until she couldn't hold his stare anymore.
Madeline left him standing there, and walked away. If she had looked back at him, she would have seen the tears that started falling from his eyes. But she didn't. She could feel them, anyway. Sirius' pain was her pain. They shared the heart, despite everything.