Very special and sincere thanks to Lindsay Leigh, Moonrose, Lavander Ice, Voldeem Riddle, enoimreH, Laurus Nobilis, Ayla Pascal, and Ginny Potter. And of course extreme gratefulness to Sorensen for this beta'd version.

Disclaimer: The following is not purely original fiction, but rather characters, settings, and situations as created by J.K. Rowling. I'm playing in her toybox because I get writer's block on my own work. I will return all characters in fairly decent condition. No money is being made of this piece of fanfiction and can not be reproduced for any purposes but strictly private entertainment.


Chapter Three - The Question Is Abruptly Answered


Day: 7 Month: 12 Year: 1976

With the hissing, fizzing sound of liquid atoms fusing, the ice green potion swelled and slowly overflowed the dark cauldron, slipping to the floor. Remus groaned. He knew something was wrong when his mixture showed no sign of turning blue, but it was still a bitter pill to swallow - his eight attempt at the Syncopation Solution had failed. Quickly he hurried to clean up the mess, finding the solution burning him whenever it met his flesh.

Professor Ellicha glanced up from the homework she was correcting and grinned, not unkindly. "Mr. Lupin, you do realise there's some battles you just can't win?"

"Yes." Remus pushed sweaty hair from his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Do you really want to try again?" It was late evening. Remus had spent the last hour and a half in vain trying to brew the potion in question properly, not having done much during class save providing free entertainment for more able classmates.

He sighed. "I think I should, but I know I've taken up a good deal of your time already, Professor."

"Nonsense. These papers'll keep me buried until the first match any way you slice it." She stood, rolling up her sleeves. "No, I'll prepare the cauldron. I want you to figure out your mistake on this one. Work out the equation."

Finding the back of a corrected Charms assignment, Remus puzzled it out. His quill scrawled the formula and inserted x, which stood for "the error". By the time Ellicha had refilled the cauldron with icy cold water, he was still wrestling with the maths.

She peered over his shoulder at the half solved problem and apparently finished it in her head: "You forgot to put in the yellowfly marrow, which would have prevented the two columbines from reacting to each other and fusing."

"But wouldn't the marrow make the aconite useless?"

Ellicha laughed lightly. "Have you forgotten the Table of Elements?"

Remus looked pained. "That applies here?"

"My dear boy, you're helpless," Ellicha said with a click of her tongue.

"Yes ma'am. I know it." He didn't sound sarcastic.

Ellicha actually smiled. "I'm being harsh; you're far from the worst I've seen. Look here, we'll try it again. You start on the caterpillars. Mind you cut them evenly." She began pulling apart tufts of aconite and fed them to the boiling cauldron. Remus was relived. The aconite had been giving him a dizzy headache, which hadn't made the confusing potion any easier.

"Your mind is a bit focused on the Duels?" Ellicha asked, measuring yellowfly marrow and pointedly circling the "1and1/2 vial" on his instruction sheet.

"Unfortunately."

She looked at him in slight surprise. "Why so? It's perfectly natural to prefer to work on things that come easier to you. I remember that I was wretched at Transfiguration and spent as little time as possible working on it. It's understandable. It's what you like."

"Yeah," Remus whispered to himself, "but now everyone else is forcing me to focus on it as well." Life had taken a sharp turn since the skirmish with Cletus Avery three days ago. As much as Remus himself wanted to put it out of his mind, every classmate wanted to bring it up. Most Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs were congratulating him again and again, asking to hear his point of view on it. He spent a good deal of time dodging them, partly out of shyness. He never really understood the fact that he was decently popular, due to his friendship with James and Sirius. It was also partly because he didn't want to sound like he was bragging or bad mouthing anyone. This was also, however, because he didn't want to further anger Avery's friends, who were out for revenge.

Just yesterday fourth-year Sillian Lestrange, who was a lot bigger than him, gave him a black eye in a corridor. Florence van Durischk was nastier than ever, Evan Rosier took ten points from Gryffindor because Remus was supposedly making too much noise in the library, and Avery continued to bring up the Duels at every available opportunity. Remus had found himself wondering wistfully what a quiet meal was like, since the Great Hall was when most Slytherin antagonism went on.

To make matters even better (he thought sarcastically) this morning Flitwick announced during Charms that he and Liqumbaug would be instituting special classes on certain evenings for those who wanted to take their dueling even further. Mainly because Avery and Snape would be there and Remus couldn't chance them getting yet another advantage, and greatly because he was just plain interested in the subject, he knew he was going to go - but he still wished he could push thoughts of the Duels from his mind for a while.

Avery had not failed to remind him many times of that dreaded date in May - the Duels - and how thoroughly he was going to "get" him in front of the whole school. Remus could have dealt with this with a roll of the eyes had not the whole school already heard. It was now a huge gossip topic, the challenge he, Remus, had supposedly begun with his massacre of Avery last Monday. Frankly, all he had intended to do was avenge Peter.

Peter. Sadly enough, Liqumbaug was right. They had practiced Tuesday, and it was unavoidable - Peter was just lousy with a weapon, as good as he was with his mind. Meanwhile, Snape was doing absolutely nothing to halt the common belief that Sev Snape was planning to do his best to pay back Remus Lupin come May as well, as much as possible, and it worried the latter.

Why on earth did Snape have to be good at it? Why couldn't he, Remus, have held his temper? How come he showed the technique he had spent five months perfecting in five furious seconds?

He tried to convince himself he was getting worked up over very little; the Duels would come and go just the way they would and there was no helping it; that this would die down as most things did. But his dramatic teenage mind was telling him that it was a lot worse than that.
Furthermore, his rational mind was scolding him for how ill prepared he was to face Snape and Avery. He could do little about Peter but cross his fingers. He could, however, try to improve his own capabilities. Due to the anxiety over James's transformation before, during, and after his own, the thought of trying to learn to duel directly after exhausting full moon nights had completely slipped his mind, and he was angry with himself for forgetting.

James is all right now; that's the important thing. As for the Slytherin front… pay attention to your potion, Lupin. Pretend that it might actually work if you concentrate.

"What's that?" Ellicha inquired.

Remus shook from his thoughts. "Wha - oh. Er, that could be it, I suppose." He pushed aside the caterpillars for the moment (they were used after the second columbine) and gingerly began handling the first columbine, namely, toadstool fungi.

"Use both hands to scoop that up; you'll get enough then," Ellicha said briskly.

Remus did so obediently, wondering just who would use a Syncopation Solution in the first place. Apart from Aurors and the Hit Squad, perhaps.

Both hands. Now there was an idea! How much of an advantage would he gain if he could handle his weapons with both hands easily? What was it called? Ambidexterity. That's it. Athena, his older sister, who was now married, had once said some people were born that way. Could you learn to do it? Most things could, with a ton of patience and time.

He decided to ask.

"Of course you can learn. Quidditch players do it all the time, especially Beaters. It takes a lot of time and patience" (ahem) "but it's more than possible. Why?" Then she grinned. "Oh. Got an idea for dueling, have you?"

Remus flushed - just after he had tried to concentrate on the current task, he was caught red-handed again with his mind elsewhere. "Maybe."

"Don't worry. I wouldn't tell Cletus Avery if my life depended on it. I don't trust that one a mite and don't care who knows it. It'd be a happy day if you can make him eat his words about humiliating you in front of the whole school. But onto something else before I get sacked for showing favourism. If anyone asks, we were talking of… Quidditch. Right?"

"Of course we were. There's a game this weekend."

Ellicha's eyes danced wickedly. "Gryffindor versus Slytherin. I'm all for the former, of course; I was a Hufflepuff in my day but wouldn't I love to see Jonas Liqumbaug shut up. He's gotten quite grumpy since ol' Gryff won the past two years. Do tell your friend James to do his best."

"He always does… I will - what the…?"

Ellicha cried out in alarm. "Good gracious, don't you dare put that in there until you rinse the stirrer."

"Oh." Remus quickly pulled it out, but the damage appeared to have been done. A wisp of dark magenta seeped through the perfect ice blue. "I'm sorry - I didn't realise -"

Ellicha looked thoughtfully at it before quickly pouring in Sicilian grape lymph. Slowly the foreign colour dimmed, until it was only a little darker blue than the rest. "I think it should be okay now… adjust the equation for that, in case we need it."

Wincing, Remus turned to the parchment, trying to figure out where to add this unorthodox ingredient. He felt a sudden urge to bite the end of his quill in frustration and suppressed it in horror at the wolfish tendency that had sprung up. Finally he inserted it and combined it with the baxitives, crossing his fingers for luck.

"No, add that in as a different variable," Ellicha corrected. "It's not common with baxitives."

After scratching out about half of his equation and rewriting it, Remus finally got it right.

"If you want to quit…"

"No," Remus said stubbornly. "If this is going to be on the O.W.L.s I've got to make sure I've been able to make it at least once."

Ellicha laughed. "Like riding a broomstick. Once you learn, you never forget?"

"Something like that… I think. And now I have to stir it?"

"For ten full minutes," she nodded. "If all goes well then, we'll add in the last few ingredients, let it boil, and hopefully it'll be done fine."

"Note the key word: 'hopefully'," Remus muttered to himself wryly. Ellicha went back to her papers, and the only sound in the cool dungeons was the scratching of her quill as it viciously reduced essays to mere English practices and the low hissing of Remus's potion as he moved the large wooden stick around in controlled circles.

The silence was broken quite abruptly. Suddenly Professor McGonagall burst into the room, looking frightened. "Anneth? Rara's wing has been broken into - we're doing a check of all the students - the Talisman of -" She spotted Remus and cut off. "Lupin? Where've you been the past three hours?"

"Th -"

"Mr. Lupin has been right here with me," Ellicha said quickly before Remus could speak. "I will confirm that, if you mean he's under suspicion."

McGonagall relaxed a fraction of an inch. "Very well."

"Jonas is trying to pin it on anyone but his precious snakes, I suppose." Ellicha's smile was grim and twisted.

"Professor Liqumbaug is doing nothing any Head of House wouldn't do," McGonagall said in the sharp voice that always made Remus wince and snap to attention. "As for the important matters, yes, Professor Avis is perfectly safe, thank you very kindly."

Ellicha blushed, chastised. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to show unconcern for Rara. What was it - vandalism, robbery?"

Remus quickly appeared to be intent and mildly frustrated with is Syncopation Solution (which was actually going quite fine, for once) as McGonagall's glance swept over him. Satisfied he was oblivious to the conversation, McGonagall walked to Ellicha's desk and related the event in whispers. Remus strained his ears to overhear.

"… stolen… the room… overturned… childish…" This helps. From that it could've been everyone except Fawkes. Professor Avis taught the Study of Ancient Runes and her old curious artifacts were school legend.

"But doesn't she have those charms protecting the wing?" Ellicha asked loudly.

McGonagall clenched her teeth and made an indistinct noise to indicate Ellicha to quiet her voice. Remus could catch no more of the talk. What had McGonagall said? "Talisman of -"? There were a lot of talismans in Avis's collection. Which was taken… to deduct that, he'd need to know the identity of the thief or their purpose - preferably both…

Ellicha sighed and ran a hand through her hand as McGonagall left, looking distracted and tired. The flickering light of the torches caught her clear brown eyes, reflecting brilliantly off pent-in tears.

"I think it's been about long enough now," she spoke up, surprising Remus, who thought she was too far upset to think of potions, of all things. She stood and checked his cauldron. "Quite good, Mr. Lupin. I think we've got it. Add in the adoil essence."

"Professor?" Remus asked, deciding she wasn't as traumatised as he thought.

"Yes?"

"Why'd you tell Professor McGonagall I was in here the past three hours? It's been two, at most… not that I'm complaining, but -"

Ellicha looked down at him, smiling languidly. "Oh, come now. I know quite well that you'd never steal Rar - Professor Avis's Talisman of Death."

*

Day: 8 Month: 11 Year: 1976

"Very well. So you have it. Congratulations. Shall I send you a card, Miss Greyson? What do you intend to do with it? I could have all the means and power in the world but it helps little if I just have it. You've done nothing but put all of us under suspicion, little girl." Florence sniffed down at the girl, who stared evenly back. Stella Greyson had eyes Severus believed must be painted - heavy lidded and deeply etched into her strong face.

He had to admire Stella, however, for standing up to Florence so squarely. Or perhaps he admired Florence for maintaining authority over Stella, a fourth-year Slytherin with a commanding presence, a sharp mind, and the ability to rouse people up into her way of thinking. Stella would probably be Slytherin's leading witch once Florence left. In fact, Severus mused, Florence might have some competition already. Most of the younger Slytherins listen to Stella more than her. There might be a mini-war going on soon. He wondered immediately where'd that place him - could he hide more easily under it all? Or would it endanger him if he had to choose which to "support"?

Severus rolled his eyes. The popularity contests between Slytherins could be aggravating beyond measure.

"I've taken more action than you, Florence," Stella retorted boldly. "I have means. I can help by… disposing… of someone. If this Dark Lord of yours asked you to kill a Mudblood within the school, how would you go about it, Florence?"

Severus's mouth fell open. Closing it, he glanced sharply around the little room off the Great Hall. It was empty save for them thus far, but he doubted it would be that way for long. "Will you two shut it?" he hissed. "You don't want to be advertising this when Liqumbaug and Flitwick arrive."

"Liqumbaug's on our side, Sev," Cletus said lazily.

Severus raised an eyebrow.

"He's Head of Slytherin. He's not stupid."

"That means nothing," Severus said. "Many Slytherins would turn us in if they heard this. St - Florence, Stella" - there was no need to upset Florence, who was probably a Death Eater already - "you two aren't here for class. Get out before someone wonders why you're here."

"I decided to stay around and see what goes on," Florence said smugly. "However, little ickle fourth-years, I agree, should be going to bed about now." She glanced down her nose to Stella, who scowled faintly.

Severus was dying to ask Stella how she even knew they were among the Dark Lord's followers but bit back his tongue. He knew asking questions could make others wonder why you asked and place you in tricky situations. Keeping your mouth shut as often as possible was his method for survival. Usually the question would be answered if you waited with ears at the ready long enough anyway.

Haughtily, like a cat on supreme dignity, Stella left and nearly bumped into Liqumbaug and Flitwick at the door.

"Miss Greyson? What are you doing here?" asked Flitwick, levitating about forty swords without the least trouble. Flitwick was ridiculously diminutive in height, but Severus knew full well he was more than competent. Quite apart from being Charms master and Head of Ravenclaw, he was renown around Britain for his fantastic ability to handle several spells at once and was once a great duelist himself. Probably still was - like riding a broomstick, it was hard to forget the art once you learned it; it just got a tad rusty with disuse.

Priming her face and lips, Stella answered demurely: "Just carrying supplies for Florence van Durischk, as Her Highness wished. Good evening, Sir. Good luck with your class." She walked through the door to the Great Hall without another word, leaving the two teachers to glance at Florence suspiciously. Florence was seething. Through clenched teeth, her mutterings sounded somewhat like: "How dare that little brat…"

"Warm-ups while we wait for your classmates?" Liqumbaug prodded. "Miss van Durischk, that short skirt will get you nowhere. I suggest hurrying to your dormitory and changing."

She flung back her cascade of blond curls, looking mutinous. Severus made a mental note not to cross her tonight.

Florence had never rushed in her life, so by the time she returned mostly everyone who was expected to attend was there - with the exception of the four Gryffindor boys of the year. Liqumbaug chose to ignore this and Severus wasn't about to complain.

"Dueling and combat, particularly in times like these, are possibly the most important arts I'm able to teach you in your years here. These basic skills, which you have learned, can be expanded on so's to protect you and the ones you care for." Liqumbaug looked sober and serious, especially with only the dim light of the fireplace illuminating the room. "While Professor Flitwick and I know quite well the greater portion of you are here merely to gain an edge in the staged competition later in the year - quite natural and to be expected - we also hope you to learn skills to defend yourself throughout life. Everyone here has a certain aptitude for this art -"

The door opened yet again, revealing the infamous quartet of mischief, breathless.

"You're late," Liqumbaug continued quietly.

Pettigrew looked up at him, eyes round. "We can explain, Sir. We had been going down to the Great Hall when Peeves showed up. He pelted us with leftover pudding, so naturally we had to stop and wash up when Fi - Mr. Filch yelled at us. Once we finally got to the sink the water pressure zoomed on and left us soaking. Then we got hollered at again for tracking water about, and, by the way, I think Mr. Filch has a headache. Just a warning to you all. We were searching for Professor Flitwick 'cause we forgot the Drying Spells before we remembered he was here anyway."

His sincere tone and the innocent faces of all four boys caused several chortles among the Marauder fans in the room, mainly non-Slytherin females.

"That's very interesting, Mr. Pettigrew," Flitwick nodded, "considering you're completely dry."

Now everyone laughed, including Pettigrew. Potter, Black, and Lupin, with a shameless minimum of blushing, grinned good-naturedly. Flitwick ordered them to pull up some floor and Liqumbaug continued.

"These arts can overcome various disadvantages. I have no great magical talent, truthfully, but you need very little with a staff or a sword."

"Meanwhile, my wand had always ignored the fact that it's taller than me," Flitwick offered with a smile.

"Precisely. Professor Flitwick, as you may well know, was one of the few to out-duel Grindelwald himself at the height of his power, and he was very young then as well. There are many ways to protect yourself against many of the dangers today, and what we are demonstrating is one of them."

"Good," Katya Peterson said. "I need something to protect me. I know Sirius Black wants to ask me out on a date. I have to say 'no' forcefully."

Black pretended to rub his chin in worriment. "Good thing I'm learning the same things as you, Kat."

Robin Heyworth looked distraught as Katya smiled radiantly at Black.

"We're going to do - you guessed it - more practice battles," Flitwick cut in. As two Ravenclaws groaned, he looked a little stern. "The only way for you to get better is by practice. There's no shortcut on that score. However, the biggest purpose of this is for me to evaluate your style. Professor Liqumbaug knows you all quite well but I do not. Therefore, I can get a feel for you, and you get the all-important practice. Next Tuesday we'll have another session and work on some nuts-and-bolts."

Since they were fifth-years, were left to their own dueling devices, and had a competitive streak, most broke into small groups of connected teams, the winners squaring off, although the Slytherins and Gryffindors kept a good distance, the former with the Ravenclaws and the later with the Hufflepuffs. In addition, of course, no partners faced each other. It was an unwritten law that it was bad vibes and courtesy, so Severus battled (and defeated) everyone but Cletus of the two Houses.

"This is depressing," Bernard Freed of Ravenclaw commented.

Severus was not satisfied, however. He had been anxious to see how well he could stand up to Katya Peterson's infamous speed in a duel, but since both Heyworth and Black had been vying for her attention, he doubted she had been performing to the best of her ability. It was a hollow victory, and he felt more than a little sulky.

"Katya? Katya?" he asked, with as much patience as he could muster.

Katya blinked and continued listening to Heyworth.

"Katya!" Severus called loudly. "Can we try that again, please?"

She held up her index finger, indicating for him to wait. Severus disliked waiting. Sighing, he leaned against the wall, careful to make sure his hair didn't catch fire from the torches, and watched Florence and Cletus duel lazily. Finally, after several moments, Katya bounded over to him with her radiant smile, gold hair flying behind her. "Sev?"

"Can we please duel again, now that Black's engaged with someone else? Preferably before his heart turns ever faithfully back to you?" Severus jerked his head irritably over to the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff end of the room, where Black was bowing exaggeratedly to Tess Abbott's friend Sophy Candlemaker, who made no effort to hide her pleasure at the attention.

She giggled at first and then sighed heavily. "Must you humiliate me again?"

"If you concentrate you may well win," Severus snapped. "Try keeping your eyes in the right place."

Katya possessed the grace to blush. "All right, all right, if you insist." With nothing more than a smile, she made a knot of their yearmates move aside to give them room. "Rob, draw boundaries, please?"

Heyworth did so. They were rather small, and Severus grimaced. He developed temporary claustrophobia during duels but figured he had to ignore it.

Katya was swift. She had obviously done plenty of drills, but Severus sensed that her defence was more quick than strong. It would take a few minutes to decide just how durable it was, so he decided to drag out the battle a little while, even though he knew several curses that would end it promptly.

Then there was a sudden explosion from the other end of the room when someone chanted: "Reducto!" Severus didn't pay it any mind; he had trained himself to not be distracted and so was only dimly aware of shouts around him. But suddenly a pointed piece of wood was flying straight into his eye! -

"Lumos journeus!"

The wood turned to ashes with a whoosh of jet blue fire. They fell to the floor at his feet, showing how close he had come to being blinded.

"Oh, gosh, Lily, I'm sorry!"

"What was that?" Florence demanded regally.

Slowly, every head turned to the source of the debris, where there were some very shaken Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs.

"That, Miss van Durischk, was Lupin's example of how to thwart a Shield Charm," Liqumbaug replied calmly. "Miss Evans, are you all right?"

Lily Evans was being supported by the remaining little oak table and Lupin, the latter of whom was brushing wooden chips from her fire-red hair and apologising profusely, looking a little surprised, but not in any life-threatening danger. "Yes, Sir, thank you. I just - whoa. That was interesting, to say the least."

There was a hesitant laugh.

"Excellent."

"I got burnt!" Katya cried, clutching at the golden locks Severus had singed. "Ow…" Her neck had a small burn as well.

Flitwick hurried over to apply balms while Liqumbaug smiled wryly. "That, Filius, is the
style of certain duelers in here when they get a bit too enthusiastic. Namely Snape and Lupin."

"I see indeed." Flitwick shook his head.

"Now, class, you probably all know now, thanks to this demonstration, that while the dreaded Shield Charms can prevent spells and hexes, they can be demolished by, oh, blowing up Headmistress Volum's ancient oaken tea table, sending it flying into a billion pieces." Another laugh circled the room.

Blast it, Severus thought. That's a good idea.

"Lupin, while excellent in theory, I strongly suggest working on control. It was a tad too strong, to say the least. Someone might have gotten seriously hurt. Do you understand me?"

Lupin turned redder than Katya had previously, eyes lowered. "Yes, Sir. I apologise."

"Bear that in mind for next time. Control. Is anyone else hurt? No one? Sure? Don't be shy. Oh, look who I'm talking to. Never mind." He turned and both teachers turned to another pair of duels as a buzz of excited chatter filled the room.

"Say!" Godfrey Nickels shouted out suddenly. Nickels was the only male Hufflepuff in the room, prone to crazy ideas that nearly always provided good entertainment. "Someone should square Remus and Severus Snape off."

Severus rolled his eyes - he wasn't sure if the idea of a Slytherin/Gryffindor match would appeal too highly to either of the supervising teachers - but noticed uneasily that there were several replies to the effect of: "Yeah!"

Suddenly more and more people turned to look at the two boys in question, eyes hopeful. "Come on, Remus," Black prodded, jerking at his friend by the wrist. "This'll be fun."

"Are you sure?" asked Potter, slightly more realistically.

"That might not be the best idea," Pettigrew said.

Lupin squirmed from Black's grip. "Sirius… no… save it, will you?…"

Severus's Housemates glanced at him, waiting. They had wanted something like this for a while. Severus felt panic rise in him. After what he had just seen, he was less certain than ever he could hold his own - and if he lost? He lost his wild card, the card that allowed him to walk the edge of Death Eaterdom freely.

Even if he won, his goal of keeping his finer talents a secret before the actual Duels was shot. That reduced his chances of winning them as well. He eyed Lupin in high annoyance. If only he'd incinerate on the spot… it'd solve a load of problems…

Yet everyone was still looking on, waiting for the duel of the century, and Black used his wand to poke Lupin in the back sharply and make him step forward.

"We can't fight," Severus spoke up quite suddenly, a lie forming out of the blue. A truth was safer than a lie, but sometimes there wasn't any convenient truth. "We're partners for the Duels."

There was a pause in which nearly all their classmates as well as Flitwick wore an expression of: "Yeah, right." Liqumbaug, however, looked very satisfied. He smiled and held himself even a little straighter than usual. Lupin - thank goodness - kept his expression neutral.

"Excuse me?" Tess asked, exchanging a worried glance with Lily.

"We agreed to partner up for the Duels," Severus explained, incredulous as usual at how some people needed everything repeated. "Come on, Lupin, didn't we? Or is that another joke your little crew made up?"

Lupin hesitated for a barely noticeable second. "Yes," he said at last. "So it probably wouldn't be quite right for us to duel, right?" The classmates he addressed looked a little blank. "Maybe some other time after they're over." He turned back to his friends, very firmly ending the discussion. Severus had changed his mind. Lupin was no longer a mindless Gryffindor; he was quick and sharp and a damn good actor, and if Severus lived through the night he just might tell him so. Lupin was even crafty enough to cleverly not lie a bit - he hadn't said they did agree beforehand. It was worthy of a Slytherin.

Only Cletus and Pettigrew had to be reckoned with at the moment. Severus could see Lupin mouthing silently: "I'll explain later," to Pettigrew, who looked a little bewildered and put out. Pettigrew dragged Lupin to a quiet part of the Great Hall after the session for what looked to be a serious discussion. Cletus was going to be much tougher to calm.

"Ooh, you're lyin' so low in the weeds,
I bet you're going to ambush me
You'd have me down, down, down, down on my knees
Wouldn't you, Barracuda?...
And if the real thing don't do the trick
No? You better make up something and quick
You're going to burn, burn, burn, burn to the wick..."
-- "Barracuda", Heart


TBC