Notes: Well isn't this flowing along nicely? I'd just like to take this moment to thank the reviewers of this story, because you all totally rock. I'm glad so many people like Wolfgang. I'm becoming rather fond of him myself. I wonder if J.K. Rowling would buy him from me . . .? I'd also like to add that the brief cameo in this chapter from our favourite Hogwarts professor is for Dace. Bwahaa.

Thursday was upon them before Wolfgang saw Lucius again. The Head Boy eventually made an appearance in Potions, where he sauntered in fifteen minutes late, wearing yesterday's crumpled shirt and an unbearably arrogant grin. Wolfgang rolled his eyes and was forced to shrug as Lucius looked for his usual seat next to the red-head; Bellatrix was sitting on one side of him, and a pale, blonde girl was on the other, although she had her nose buried in a book and didn't notice Lucius glaring at her until he cleared his throat.

"That's my seat, Miss," he snapped, realising that he'd never bothered to learn the girl's name. She glanced up from her book and stared at him.

"Well I'm sitting here now. There's a seat over there."

Lucius did not go red, but his nose and ears took on an unnatural shade of pink. The teacher looked like he was about to intervene, but he saw Lucius' expression and decided to go back to scribbling on the blackboard instead.

"Leave Narcissa alone, you big prick," snapped Bellatrix.

Lucius stared down at Bellatrix. He could see no sign that she had received the note yet from her cousin, but he couldn't be sure. "Oh, the intruder has a name," he muttered. "How nice."

"Sod off." Bellatrix tried to dismiss him by turning her full attention to her work, but he was still glaring at Narcissa. She glanced at Bellatrix, who was apparently the only reason she hadn't fled as soon as Lucius spoke to her. Quickly, she shoved her belongings up one place, and sat in the spare seat next to her, leaving the place next to Wolfgang free. Lucius sat down, gave her a brief smile, and turned back to the other two.

"We need words," said Bellatrix, without taking her eyes of the parchment in front of her. Ah, thought Lucius. Master Black would make an efficient post-owl operative.

"Do we?" he asked aloud as he started to make notes from the blackboard.

"Yes we do. For a start, why did you feel it was necessary to use my snotty little cousin as a go-between?"

Lucius looked faintly puzzled. "Didn't know you had a cousin."

"Yes you did! He gave me this!" She thrust the crumpled piece of parchment at him. He read it through, then chuckled.

"Well I can see a sense of humour runs in your family," he said, grinning. "Although why it missed you out is anybody's guess."

"I don't find it funny at all. Anyway, what are you talking about?"

He gave her a fine display of his perfect white teeth. "My dear, I did not write this note as should be perfectly obvious to someone of your intellect. Even Wolfgang could tell this is not in my hand, and despite his apparent quick wit he is almost illiterate."

Bellatrix's face went purple. "It's got your signature on!"

"No. It has your cousin's poor imitation of my signature on. You should teach him how to forge handwriting properly, this is pitiful. And what's this . . . ?" Lucius pretended to squint at the parchment. "'Dear Bellatrix,'" he read, "'I am insanely in love with you. . .Blah blah blah. . . Meet me behind the Herbology huts on Thursday night. . .Blah blah blah. . .Wear your best knickers.' Well I'd say this was a Sirius Black speciality. You've been had, darling." He pushed the scrap across the table, and went back to work. Bellatrix gaped at him until she heard Wolfgang snigger beside her.

"Oh shut up, you horrible little weasel!" she snarled, baring her teeth, then with an irritated growl went back to work.

"Well," said Wolfgang once the lesson was over and he and Lucius were heading back to their dormitory. "That didn't go too badly. You embarrassed Bella and Lupin will have seen your note. Er, why did you write that about her knickers, by the way? Surely that wasn't necessary."

"I didn't," laughed Lucius. "Sirius did. Mine was very eloquent. The brat changed every single word I wrote to something obscene. It was a good plan if he wanted to freak his cousin out and get me slapped, but no one would believe I wrote any of it. Oh, hang on. . ."

Suddenly Lucius stopped and stepped back against the wall. The fifth years were in the middle of their examinations this week (the sixth years began theirs shortly after, and then the seventh years sat their NEWTs), and they had just escaped a Defence Against the Dark Arts exam. As they piled out of the Great hall on the opposite side of the entrance hall, Lucius had caught sight of James potter in the crowd. Sure enough, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were there with him. They were laughing as they discussed the paper they had just sat. Lucius started forwards, attempting to catch up with them, but the crowd was too thick and he lost sight of them as they went outside.

"Come on."

Wolfgang found himself being forcibly dragged out of the door and into the sunshine. All around them, fifth years chattered about their most recent test, some confidently and some nervously.

"Five signs of the werewolf. . ." said someone. "Erm. . .What did you get? I could only remember the tail."

"Eyes, snout shape, paw size, pitch of howl," said an over-confidant girl.

"Don't forget completely irresistible," murmured Lucius.

"What?" snapped Wolfgang, whose wrist was still locked in his friend's vice- like grip. "I thought we were going to go and revise – "

"I don't need to revise."

"I do! Sorry. Ouch. Sorry. Lucius, stop pulling me!" Wolfgang was suddenly released. The people he had bumped into gave him strange looks as he apologised again, then scampered after Lucius. "Where are you going?" he demanded as he caught hold of Lucius' sleeve.

"Just shush and follow me."

They continued to push through the throng of people until they realised that the crowd had stopped moving. Some of it had dispersed and was slowly drifting away, but most of it had found something interesting to watch. Lucius was just the right height to see over the heads of almost everyone else, but Wolfgang had to stand on tip-toes and still couldn't tell what everyone was watching. He sighed, then sidled round to the edge of the crowd where he could see what was going on. He immediately wished that he hadn't; there was a young wizard hanging upside-down in the air, his face – and thus identity – obscured by his cloak hanging down over his face. But that wasn't what worried Wolfgang; this was normal compared to the look of fascination on the face of Lucius Malfoy as he watched not the arrogant young James Potter howling with laughter as he tried to remove the dangling wizard's pants, but the smaller figure seated under the nearby tree, apparently engrossed in a textbook. It was at this moment, when the head boy should have been intervening but was instead completely engrossed in the attractive face of a younger prefect, that Wolfgang realised what a big mistake this challenge had been. It wasn't really a game any more – Bellatrix Black, now, she was a game; Remus Lupin had become an obsession.

Suddenly Lucius was breaking from the crowd and striding across the field. "Let that boy go!" he bellowed. "James Potter! How you ever became a prefect I will never know! Release him or I'll hex your sorry arse into next week!"

The boy suddenly dropped to the ground as Potter spun to face the furious Lucius. He actually looked terrified, which was a new expression for James Potter. Sirius Black had managed to disappear, but a quick glance around and Wolfgang discovered him kicking the boy's dropped bag at him, and then making a vague effort to help him to his feet. Remus Lupin had leaped to his own feet, and hurried over to Potter and Lucius.

"It was my fault, Malfoy," the smaller boy declared.

"Shove off, Moony, I don't need you to save the day," snapped Potter.

"I should have stopped them," insisted Lupin. Wolfgang watched him with an open mouth. Was this boy for real?

"Maybe you should have." An odd expression crossed Lucius' face. He was a whole head and shoulders taller than Lupin, but the fifth year prefect managed to look every bit as big as the head Boy as he stood face to unflinching face with him. James took a step to the side, distancing but not completely removing himself from the conversation.

"It won't happen again, I promise," said Lupin sincerely. "Or at least. . .I won't approve of it if it does." There was a twinkle in the corner of his eye as he spoke. He must have been expecting Lucius to smirk, but the bigger boy hadn't heard the words; he had merely seen the lips move and forgotten the existence of everything else. Lupin's brow creased in concern, and the movement seemed to bring Lucius back to the real world.

"Er," he said. "Yes. Good. You make sure of that. However, some sort of disciplinary action would probably be appropriate. . ."

Very subtle, thought Wolfgang, rolling his eyes. Lucius seemed to think the same thing at the same time and cleared his throat suddenly. "Potter! You've lost your prefect privileges for a week. Black, you too. Oh, you're not a prefect. Well in that case, detention or something. Ah, professor. . ." Professor Schmidt had arrived on the scene. Everyone involved suddenly appeared to be very ashamed of themselves, even the small greasy-looking figure who had been submitted to the torture. Wolfgang chose this moment to carefully remove himself from the scene.

And then it was Friday.

"Given up yet?" asked Wolf, as Lucius emerged from the bathroom.

The blond adjusted the towel round his waist. "Given what up?" he demanded.

"Lupin. The challenge. You remember."

"Oh." He shook his head vigorously, showering everything in water. "Saturday evening we set the challenge. There is no giving up. Although you'd better get up, or we'll be late."

"Mm," said Wolfgang. "Look, don't you think this one's lost its interest a little? Is it not a bit boring? We could always do something more interesting if you –"

"I want Lupin."

"Right. You want Lupin. Er."

Lucius began throwing clothes out of his trunk, but he paused to raise an eyebrow at his friend. "Er? What is 'er'?"

"Well."

"Well?"

Wolfgang shifted uncomfortably. There was something unnerving about lying in bed and having that look directed at you by a scantily-clad Lucius Malfoy. However, he'd started digging so it was carry on through to the other side or wither up and die in there.

"I think this has gone beyond a challenge. Hasn't it?" he muttered weakly.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. Have you seen any of my shirts? I can never find a shirt when I want one, it's quite obscene." Lucius' head vanished once more into the depths of the trunk. Wolfgang pulled his dressing gown around himself and padded across the room. The dormitory had been deserted by their four room-mates long before, and Lucius was right; they were almost certainly going to be very late.

"I've been watching Bellatrix," he ventured. Lucius didn't react. "She still likes you. Um. Underneath her hostile exterior, I believe she can be quite caring. Can't she?"

"No. besides, I'm not interested in her, Wolf. I'm interested in – "

"Lupin. Yes. I was afraid of that."

Lucius suddenly straightened up. His wet hair clung to his neck and he was clutching a towel around himself, but he still looked very imposing. "What do you mean?" he said coldly, every syllable slotting into place like a chunk of stone.

"Haha," said Wolfgang, "it's a funny thing."

"Is it?"

"Um. Well. No." He stared at his feet. They were no help. "Look, I'm just getting a bit worried about you. You've never got this obsessed with a challenge victim before. Contestant. Whatever."

Lucius' expression softened, but Wolfgang knew that this was because, not only is it almost impossible to take someone seriously when they are wearing nothing except for a towel but it is also very difficult to take oneself seriously when one is in this position.

"I am not obsessed," said Lucius. "I merely happen to have taken a liking to Mr Remus Lupin."

"You don't like anyone, Lucius. And you hardly know the boy."

"I like you well enough, and I don't dislike Bella or Rodolphus or any of that crowd. Now just leave the subject alone, will you?"

They went down for breakfast to find that in actual fact they were several minutes late for potions. Wolfgang didn't care. He was merely very grateful indeed that Lucius hadn't lost his temper. Unpleasant things happened when Lucius lost his temper.

The day passed slowly. At break time, Wolfgang had to stand around while Lucius watched Remus Lupin take Potter's broomstick round and round between the trees, chased by Sirius Black and a Bludger. At lunch time, Wolfgang just got bored and went away when they happened across Lupin and his friends practicing transfiguration in an abandoned classroom. An odd look entered Lucius' eyes whenever he saw the young Gryffindor, and it wasn't his usual predatory stare. It was one of fascination and adoration, and it scared Wolfgang witless.

"Your name means 'Path of the Wolf'," said Lucius matter-of-factly in Divination that afternoon. "Did you know that?"

"Yes. Why?"

"No reason. It's an old werewolf name. I found it in a book."

Wolfgang's eyes widened. "You've been reading up on werewolves?"

"Of course. Apparently they can't resist chocolate."

". . .Which would go some way towards explaining why you now smell of the stuff," sighed Wolfgang, who had been wondering about that all day.