Chapter Three: Under the Guise of Knight

Peter shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, his eyes nervously darting between James, Sirius, and the door in which the Queen had left to fetch the princess.

"Calm down," Sirius said, placing a hand on his friend's tense shoulder before smirking and adding as an afterthought, "your highness."

Pulling a face, Peter tugged at the tie of the cape around his neck. "I'm not so sure about this guys we shou-"

He was cut off by two loud groans.

"Not again! I thought we'd cleared all this up on the ride here?" Sirius said exasperated as he rolled his eyes at the shorter boy. Peter's fingers twitched slightly around the clasp of the cape again.

"It's a bit late for second thoughts, Pete," James said. "The queen has already seen you."

Peter scowled. "Yeah, and she couldn't believe I was Sirius. 'I don't remember your hair being so light.' 'I thought you'd be taller and perhaps a bit… slimmer.' "

Peter shot a death glare to Sirius who had been mocking him with silent gestures before bursting into laughter at the reminder of what the queen had mentioned offhandedly about Peter's waistline.

"What say you, Count Pettigrew, to a walk around the grounds?" Sirius asked James with a smirk. It only widened at the sound of Peter spluttering.

James grinned. "A wonderful idea, Sir Potter," he agreed amicably, clapping his friend on the back. "I believe it is best to leave the Prince to meet his lady fair alone. Wouldn't want to be rude and intrude and all, now would we?"

Before Peter could protest, the door to the far right of the room opened. In walked Queen Rose and trailing behind her a rather reluctant looking redhead dressed in a simple white dress.

Sirius didn't miss James' intake of breath when he glanced at the princess. He arched an eyebrow as he studied the other boy's face with amusement.

Lily wished she could be anywhere else at that moment; out in the woods walking with Remus; sneaking out for a drink with Alice and Frank; even the forced conversation when Rita Skeeter had cornered her in the garden last month had been less foreboding. Then again, she knew she'd escaped Rita eventually. This… this would be forever.

Forcing a smile, the princess gave the three boys before her an appraising look.

"Dearest, this is," her mother said, gesturing happily to Peter, "Prince Sirius."

"Pleasure, your highness," Lily said inclining her head respectively to Peter and his three friends. "I'm Lily."

Peter hastily bowed. "The pleasure is ours, your highness," he said, quoting what he could remember Sirius saying on previous outings where they had met other members of royalty.

"These are my friends, the Count, Peter Pettigrew, and Sir James potter of my royal court."

"Your majesty," Sirius said, bowing before the princess and her mother. James followed suit silently.

The queen smiled widely at them. "Well, I'm sure you would all love to get acquainted," she said giving her daughter a slight nudge towards Peter. "Why don't you give them a tour of the castle and the grounds, hmm? And I'll have the cook prepare a delicious lunch for afterwards."

Lily waited patiently for her mother to leave. "Alright, you lads are welcome to walk around and amuse yourselves. The stables are out back if you fancy a ride, and there are boats by the dock if you want to go out on the lake for a bit. Unfortunately, I have to leave your company for now," though it was pretty obvious to everyone present she wasn't the least bit upset by it.

Sirius was more than game for that plan and was about to voice his agreement when James, rather surprisingly, cut him off.

"It's really rather rude of you to ditch your guests when we've only just arrived," he said coolly.

For a moment, the princess looked a bit taken aback, before a strange look flashed in her green eyes.

"I'm not 'ditching' you. I'll join back up with you for lunch. I have a friend I need to see."

"We'll come with you," James offered, and this time it was Sirius who glared at him. What was he playing at? Hadn't they agreed to leave Lily alone with Peter and go exploring themselves? And it was just a stroke of luck that Peter would be able to come with them since Lily obviously had other plans. Why was James trying to ruin that?

"No, you can't come with me."

"You promised us a tour. I'm holding you to that," James said. Lily glared hatefully at him before turning her hard gaze to Peter, who flinched.

"Can't you get him to go with you, your highness?" she asked. Peter glanced to Sirius who shrugged. Lily narrowed her eyes at this… something was going on. Did this have something to with what Dumbledore had said? Impossible, he had been talking about Remus. The words still played in her mind, trying to make sense of them.

"Um, we'd like to go with you," Peter said hesitantly, much to James delight and Sirius chagrin.

Sighing, the princess rubbed her temples as if trying to ward off a headache. "Fine, this way, then."

Sirius scowled at James once more. "With all due respect, your majesty, I'd rather take a walk outside for a bit." James, for his part, looked a bit chastised as he realized he had forgotten his best friend in an attempt to keep company with the fair princess. It was too late now, though, he thought, as he watched Lily wave a dismissive hand of consent and Sirius left the room without another word.

A light rasp on the door was just loud enough to rouse him from his sleep. Blinking sleepily and yawning, Remus managed to sit up against the pillows on the bed as the bedroom door opened and Alice peeked in.

"Brought you some food," she said, entering the room with a small tray holding a bowl of soup and a cup of juice. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

Soft tawny locks danced lightly as Remus shook his head despite the fact it was quite obvious he had just awoken. He eyed the soup a bit warily, knowing no matter how much he protested he wasn't hungry, she'd still make me eat. Still, with Lily absent, his chances of getting away with it were much higher. His nose wrinkled involuntarily as the scent of food made his stomach feel queasy. The thought of eating anything after a transformation always made him feel slightly nauseous.

Alice scowled as she caught his expression. "Oh no you don't, Lupin. You're not weaseling your way out of eating just because Lily's not here. You're eating it. All of it."

She placed the tray on his lap, smiling at his small, slightly exaggerated groan, before settling herself into a chair and standing by dutiful to a make sure he carried out her orders.

Shifting in the bed so that the tray was better balanced on his lap; Remus lifted the spoon and tentatively gave the soup a stir. It was after watching him repeat this action several times without having lifted said spoon to his lips to eat, that Alice sighed.

"Remus, eat."

He continued stirring.

"Remus… I'm warning you…"

A few more stirs.

"Eat!"

Remus kept stirring.

"Please?"

Another stir, followed by another, and when that brought no reaction, Remus was about to give in when Alice sighed in defeat. "At least drink your juice."

A tiny smile of triumph pulled at Remus' lips but he did as he was told this time, downing the glass of juice in one swallow.

Huffing slightly in indignation, Alice stood and removed the tray from his lap. "You are aware that I must inform her highness of your insubordination."

Remus' eyes widened in mock horror. "You wouldn't!"

"I would. I'll be right back," she said, moving towards the door with the tray. "And you had better stay in that bed and rest." With that, she disappeared down the hall toward the kitchen.

Remus stretched slightly and swung his legs over the bed as soon as he knew Alice was out of sight. He winced at the pain in his side as he used the bedpost to unsteadily pull himself to his feet. Padding quietly to the chest of drawers, he pulled out a pair of undergarments and then a pair of pants. After donning the garments, he glanced back up into the mirror that hung above the dressers and the reflection of weary gold-brown eyes that stared back at him.

He studied himself for a few moments, mapping each scar on his chest and arms with his eyes, cringing at some, spiteful of others, disgusted by the rest. He was glad the gash in his side from the night before was already dressed… he didn't want to see what it looked like underneath the bandaging. Having grabbed a shirt (long sleeve…always long sleeve…), he slipped it on, no longer wanting to look at himself.

A flood of painful memories washed over hi as he remembered the night he had been cursed… when he had lost his mother and father. Violently he pushed the horrible thoughts from his mind before he could start crying.

He padded quietly back to the bed when he heard Alice's footsteps coming back down the hall. But it barely registered. He was suddenly tired and depressed right now and all he wanted to do was sleep. Then go to see Lily. Maybe she'd have fire whiskey. God knew he needed some. And some chocolate… dark chocolate… lots of it.

As soon as he was under the covers and his head hit the pillows again, he was out like a light.

Everything was silent in the dark room, save for the slight rustle of pages turning every few moments, and the almost imperceptible splash of hot wax as it pooled in the holder of a dying candle.

A dark hooded figure stood quietly and unnervingly still in a corner. Flashing of long, flaxen hair could be seen under beneath the shade of his hood as the flame flickered on the almost burnt out wick.

He watched respectfully as another figure slowly flipped through worn pages of an old book, turning the pages slowly.

Marvolo paused at a particular page, one thin, skeleton like finger tracing over the words he read before a frightening snarl-like smile curled on his lips. He paused though, and looked up as if hearing a sound he wasn't quite sure was there.

The door to the small room opened, and two more cloaked figures entered, definitely female this time. They instantly stopped their conversation when they entered the room.

"You called for us, my lord?" One of them asked.

Marvolo nodded his head before ripping the page he had been reading out of the book.

"Narcissa, you and your sister fetch me these ingredients. I want them by tomorrow night."

The girl who had spoken nodded, before taking the page from the book he held out.

Waiting until the two girls left, Marvolo beckoned the figure in the corner closer.

"Malfoy."

The cloaked figure in the corner instantly moved to his side. "Yes, my liege?"

"It is almost time to act. I've found the spell I sought and soon we will be ready to strike. Are you ready to carry your orders?"

Malfoy nodded.

"Excellent. Remember, I want both the princess and the prince. Alive."

With another nod, Lucius Malfoy swept out the door.

"Frank? Could you go wake Remus up? He needs to get some food in him and it's about time for dinner," Alice called from the kitchen as her husband came in through the front door.

He nodded as he kicked off his boots and hung his cloak on the rack.

"Smells good," he called on his way down the hall. "Is Lily joining us tonight?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen or heard from her at all today. She's probably been roped into dining with the prince tonight," Alice called back.

"Good point. Remus'll be a bit disappoint-"

Alice glanced up when her husband's voice trailed off.

"Frank? Everything ok?"

Frank came back, a half worried, half amused look on his face. Instantly, Alice knew what had happened and she sighed exasperatedly.

"I told him to stay in bed. I should've locked the window."

Lily was long since convinced that her headache had nothing to do with the lack of sleep from the night before, and everything to do with her worry for Remus and the intense aggravation brought on by the prince's friend. She wanted to throttle him, count… Pettigrew was it?

Usually it was the suitor she hated, but Pettigrew just seemed to get under her skin for some reason. And the fact that she found him rather handsome and wanted to fix that unruly black hair of his only fuelled her anger. The prince wasn't so bad, a bit quiet, not very interesting… in fact borderline dull and he seemed so nervous. But he wasn't anywhere near the thorn in her side the count was turning into.

"I'm getting a tad hungry," Peter said, interrupting the princess' thoughts. She turned to regard the prince, before glancing out of a window at the sun which indicated it was getting late into the afternoon. She sighed.

"Well, we've missed lunch it seems. I hope your other friend wasn't too put out with us for that. We can grab an earl dinner if you'd like," she offered. Then mental added, 'and then I can show you to your quarters and get some peace and quiet!'

"That sounds great!" Peter replied, smiling. Lily couldn't help the small smirk. This was the first time she'd seen the prince at ease or excited.

James nodded his consent as well and so Lily motioned for them to follow her.

"Come on, then. We can eat in the kitchens."

Sirius leaned back against the trunk of the tree he had only moments before been kicking out of anger. How could James AND Peter both ditch him like that? AND they had the nerve to stand him up at lunch. A low growl escaped him.

He had half a mind to go and ruin their little fun and declare to them that HE was the prince. But then, he wouldn't have been able to go out wandering on his own like this. He had a sinking suspicion that James would have gone with Lily either way.

The prince snorted and turned to grab one of the low tree branches and pulled himself up. He climbed about half way up before settling down on a thick branch, that gave him a rather grand view of the lake.

He fidgeted. He never could sit still very long and just as quickly as he had climbed up, he climbed back down. It was hard for him to enjoy the more serene beauty around him. It was just too…quiet. And still. Sirius liked movement.

And out of the corner of his eye, he saw just that, a movement, a dark smudge moving near the castle wall.

Curious, he hurried toward it to find that it was a cloaked figure. They seemed to move along the wall as if they knew where they were going. And if they knew where they were going, they were familiar with the castle. And if they were familiar with the castle, they shouldn't have to hide their identity beneath a cloak.

Interest piqued even further, the prince made a bee line for the person, grabbing them by the arm and spinning them around. The boy, for it was most definitely the sound of a male, hissed sharply as if in pain and Sirius quickly released his hold. He hadn't grabbed that hard, had he?

The other boy instantly took a step back, and looked around as if frightened. Well, Sirius thought, he should be, sneaking around the castle like that.

"Who are you?" he asked, trying to stare the other boy down, though it was rather difficult with his face hidden in the shadows of a hood.

"I'm… I'm looking for the princess. She's expecting me," the boy stated.

"I am a guest of the royal house as an escort to the Prince," Sirius said, not quite believing the other. "I can fetch the princess for you. Whom shall I say is calling for her?"

The boy seemed to pause, considering what to say before replying.

"Moony."

TBC