Chapter 7

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"She knows."

Sirius glanced up. "Who? Knows what?"

"Evans. I told you she was close to finding out."

"Knows what?" Sirius repeated.

"You know what…"

"Well, as long as you told her she was wrong and denied it… She'd probably believe you, you know…"

"Uh," James groaned, "She kinda took me by surprise, so it didn't quite occur to me to deny it… I said she was right."

Sirius hit him on the head with a textbook. They were inside the Shrieking Shack, while the rest of the class was roaming around Hogsmeade.

"James! How could you be so bloody stupid? Lily is not dense, she's going to tell a professor!"

"Well, actually, she-"

"Shut up, I'm talking. Well, at least she only knows that we're animagi, and- James, don't tell me she knows about Remus, too!"

"Er… Alrighty then, I'll shut up. But, for what it's worth, I don't think she's going to tell."

"How do you know she's not going to go running around blabbing our secrets? Did she say, 'Oh, James, I won't tell, you believe me, right?' Women are like that… Tricky. Deceitful. Shady. She's probably told the entire school by now. And if Bertha Jorkins gets wind of this, she'll spread the news at eighteen students per second. We're ruined-"

Peter scurried in through a small hole as a rat and changed back into a human.

"Peter?"

"I came as fast as I could, Sirius," the chubby boy said in a wheezy voice.

"Too late. Prongsie here's blown our cover. Because of a girl," Sirius snapped, changing into a dog and back.

"I didn't tell her. She figured it all out on her own somehow," James defended himself.

"Sure, Prongs. Now look at the mess we're in."

"Er… it gets worse."

"What d'you mean?" Sirius asked sharply.

"You never let me finish earlier. Yeah, erm… She said that she'd keep it a secret as long as we… er, did her certain favors when she asked."

"Blackmail? That sounds out of character for Lily," Remus said.

"I always told you she was an evil-" James was interrupted by -

-"Lily?" Remus said incredulously

The four boys all turned to see Lily in the doorway. Her face was flustered from the sharp wind outside.

"You shouldn't be here," Sirius said disapprovingly.

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Neither should you. Think about what you're saying, Black. The class trip to Hogsmeade; Snape was heading over here with Malfoy when I last saw him. I think he's meeting someone else here."

"And why do you concern yourself with our welfare?" Sirius asked suspiciously. "James just told us of your little plan of blackmail."

"Exactly. If Snape finds out, he'll either tell a professor, or blackmail you. Who would you rather have doing that, me, or dear old Severus, who's right out the window?"

"Huh?"

"Look and see for yourself."

Outside, Snape was leaning against the rail in a casual manner, chewing gum and talking to Malfoy, glancing around every few seconds.

Lily pursed her lips. "I highly disapprove of your illegal escapades, you know."

James frowned. "Do we care?"

"Undoubtedly not… but I have reason to suspect you would care if I happened to tell Professor McGonagall."

"Wha-" Sirius stared at her.

"This is extremely out of character for you, Lily," Remus said.

"For once in my life, I have James Potter on a lower level than me. Did you think I'd pass this chance by?" Lily asked.

"No," Remus admitted. "But I didn't think you'd stoop that low."

"As to blackmail, you mean? Ah, well, I need a few things done for me-"

"You have the best grades in the school-" Sirius started, interrupted by James clearing his throat. "Er- one of the best grades in the school, I mean. You don't need us to do your homework or anything."

"Of course not. Rather, I do enjoy amusement in my spare time from my studies," Lily said in a dignified manner.

"Spare time?" Sirius snorted.

At the same time, James laughed, "Your studies? You mean your life, right?"

"Oh, you'll pay for that one, Potter. Here," she said thrusting out a piece of paper for them all to see.

"How…?" James gaped.

"What…?" Sirius sputtered.

"No!" Peter squeaked.

"I'm not in that picture," Remus said cheerfully.

"I do believe you'll recall this… incident, in which you were all in the same bathtub at the same time?" Lily asked.

"I'm not in that picture," Remus repeated.

The "picture" he was talking about was a page-covering picture of Sirius, James, and Peter all in the same bathtub with only boxers on, all of them seemingly having a good time splashing water at each other.

"Give me that," James said, ripping the paper out of her hands.

Lily was unfazed. "I have a couple hundred more copies of that. Hmm… which'll be more dramatic, having them shower into the Great Hall at breakfast, or if the were all pasted on the walls? Perhaps if I were to magically stamp them onto everyone's robes, that would be a bit more catchy?"

"This was in third year, we were just playing around," Sirius said, a hint of pleading in his voice.

Lily's eyes narrowed. "Have you ever heard the saying, 'A picture is worth a thousand words'? I do reckon this one's worth a million… Possibly enough to spread to the four corners of this school. If I tell that seventh year, Bertha Jorkins, I could spread the news even faster. Dear me, it does give a certain impression, doesn't it?"

"That's a blackmail within a blackmail. You can't do that." Remus pointed out.

"Who says? Is there some sort of rule about it?"

"No," he admitted. "But still…"

"What d'you want us to do?" Sirius asked resentfully.

"Jump stark naked into the Lake," Lily said pointedly. "However, as that form of public humiliation would also cause eye damage to oh-so-many people, I'll only ask for another favor. Do a prank."

"That's it?" James asked.

"No, of course not. Do a rather complex prank, and get caught by Filch. And Filch has to come up with the punishment. Not Dumbledore, as he finds your pranks amusing, not McGonagall, because she can be bribed with a quidditch win, it has to be Filch that comes up with the punishment."

"But-"

"No buts. You'll just have to do this, and you know, I'm going to give him a few detention suggestions…"

"So it's like a truth or dare game without the truth option?" Sirius asked.

"More or less so."

"Bring it on, baby," Sirius grinned.

Lily smiled slightly. "Glad to hear your enthusiasm, Mr. Black… Because, for the next few weeks, I'm going to make all your lives miserable. Count on it."

With that, she blinked, and disappeared.

"I didn't know we could dissaparate," Sirius said blankly, staring at the spot Lily had just been.

"And I'm pretty sure we aren't supposed to be illegal animagi, either," James said sarcastically. "C'mon, we better check up on Snape. Go, Peter."

Peter nodded and transformed into a rat, then scurried under the door crack.