Disclaimer on first page (first chapter).

Oh Dreaded Night!
Chapter Five

If the other stalls were empty, he might have been able to express his pain a bit more loudly. Instead, he cowered as the water pounded at his flesh. Every splash of water brought stinging pain to his cuts and pounded against his bruises. Even a week after the full moon, even with administered medicine from the nurse, the cuts and bruises would not heal as fast as he wanted them to. With every breath he took, it was more pain. He wondered if he were to stop breathing for moment the pain would be less intense. But he knew this not to be true.

How many times had he attempted to wash and how many times would he hold his breath when the soap glided over his damaged skin? He dare not count. He considered not showering, sure, but he knew that in order to keep his wounds clean he had to wash them. He could stand away from the shower and use a cloth, but that took forever and it was much too cold to tolerate being naked without the warm water easing his temperature. So, he took it the hard way. They say trials like these build character. He wondered who would say such a stupid thing in the first place. And what type of character did he want to build, exactly? He shook his head, and growled quietly underneath the water. The pounding water would mask out his growling but it wouldn't mask his screams. And he wanted to scream.

Keeping a stall in-between them, Peter was two doors down. It seemed that this was the unwritten law if there were available stalls. (Or perhaps an unwritten law of Peter's?) Never take one right next to each other. He wasn't sure why this was, since the walls of the stalls were very much separated by height. He never really thought about it until he saw Peter go to take the next one over, but upon seeing Lupin take his, went over the next after that. Thinking that the space in-between him might just be a blessing in disguise, he let out a short but louder gasp to shake off some of the tension from the pain. Of course it didn't help any, so he continued the shower in silence, but eyes tightly closed. Maybe not focusing on the scars was the way to recovery.

He stopped the shower, quickly; no use in prolonging pain. He dried himself with an oversized overly fluffy towel that his mother had equipped him with. Hogwarts towels were too rough on the skin. He learned that the hard way his first year. He didn't think of writing to his parents to send him a new, softer one, so he scraped the said towels over his delicate skin, nearly crying with every touch. Over the summer they bought a few towels and his mother stitched his initials onto each one, to his dismay. RJL in perfect, bold script. Deep inside, it made him happy that his mother would put such love into these things, but on the surface he cringed at the thought of anyone noticing the detail. The boys certainly had a blast teasing him because of the different towels as it was!

Peter's shower had stopped shortly after, and the boy let out a sigh. "That shower felt wonderful!" He envied Peter's "wonderful" experience and cursed, under his breath, his wounds. "You know, Lupin… you have to tell me where your mum got you those towels. I followed your idea of bringing my own, but they always seem to loose their fluffiness when they get washed."

"Sorry to hear that," he grunted. As much as the towels were soft, they could still be harsh on the skin.

"Me too. Do you think it's weird that I should ask my parents for fluffy towels for Christmas?"

Lupin laughed. "Wouldn't you rather have something else?"

"Not at the moment!" He exclaimed. "But, you're right. There are more important things." Lupin laughed again at Peter. He couldn't believe the boy was thinking about the holidays already, and here it was, the 29th of October. 29 October. One day after the last quarter… seven days to new moon… fourteen days to first quarter… twenty-one days to full moon. Maybe it really wasn't too soon to be thinking about the holidays. "What are you hoping for this Christmas, Lupin?"

He wanted to reply "no full moon", but he shrugged and called out, "Dunno" instead.



"I really wouldn't know how to go about scaring Snape." James admitted. "He doesn't seem to be affected by anything or any remark I throw at him in class. Besides, why do we have to think of a prank on Halloween? Everyone knows that Halloween is amateur night. Everyone and their mum are out tricking someone."

"You're right about that." Sirius remarked, sadly. "I was thinking of learning how to transfigure into an animal and follow Snape around all night. No doubt he would tell a teacher about it… but just as he's on the trail of the so-called animal, I would just transform back to my human self and they would think he was completely off his rocker. Well, that or a complete liar. I even went as far as researching it in the library. You wouldn't believe how long it takes to master that sort of transfiguration." He sighed.

"Not only that, but you actually have to register that sort of thing with the Ministry of Magic. Well, if you want to go about it legally." James added. "It is interesting, though." Lupin was surprised to see the two reach out so far just to pull a prank on Snape.

"What fun is it registering, though? Obviously not every one registers! What would be purpose then, if you wanted to sneak around? Uh… yes… I would like to report that I am Animagus. That way anyone who wanted to track me down could. Good idea!" Sirius laughed.

"What were you thinking of transforming into?" Lupin asked Sirius.

"Black dog. First thing that came to mind. Actually, I originally intended to scare Snape into thinking he was being followed by a Grim. That's the only thing that might scare him good. But then, I thought, it would be much more amusing if he actually told people that this animal exists in Hogwarts when it actually doesn't. Making him appear insane in front of adults and embarrassing him in the process is actually what I'm out for."

"I think if we tricked Snape into thinking he was going to be tricked… but actually didn't might be funny, also." Peter suggested. "You know… if we treated him nicely?"

Sirius and James seemed to be considering this with much thought. As for Lupin, he really wished for this all to end. He knew that Snape was an easy target for these sorts of things. No one particularly liked the boy, especially Sirius and James who took this dislike, this hate even, to the next level. He never understood why people would go to all sorts of lengths to harass people that they didn't like. If they didn't like him, why wouldn't they just leave him alone instead of spending hours cursing him out and giving their attention to him? He understood that everyone needs a hobby, as one can't dedicate their entire lives to magical studies, but weren't there other suitable hobbies for boys his age? Quidditch anyone?

"Ho! He would be so confused, he wouldn't know what to do with himself!" Sirius clapped. "And all we're doing is being nice to him! Ha!" They couldn't do this on a day-to-day basis? "I think I might even offer him some of my Candy Corn!"

He laughed along with the boys, as he couldn't keep a straight face looking at the zany appearance of Sirius' own. That was a boy obsessed. Funny, but obsessed.

"You have Candy Corn?" James asked, excitedly.

"Okay, read it over again… are there any spelling or grammatical mistakes? You know he'll have a field day if he finds any."

"I know how to spell, Potter!" Sirius grunted. "All right. Ahem. Yes. Dear Severus: Please take this bag of Candy Corn from Honeydukes as a peace offering. I hope on this holiday of Halloween we'll be able to put our past behind us and start a new friendship. Have a Happy Halloween! Your friends, James, Peter, Remus, and Sirius." He finished the letter and then added, "I put the names in alphabetical order."

"No shit." James laughed.

"That's brilliant!" Peter jumped up.

"You know he's not going to eat them, right?" Lupin added.

"Of course he isn't. I expect that he'll come marching over to our table and make a big fuss about how he's not going to take the candy. I just want to see him get all huffy and puffy about a perfectly normal bag of Candy Corn." Sirius laughed.

"Fine then. Let me tie the note to the bag." James reached his arm out to Sirius. Sirius handed him the note and James tied the note (with a pretty bow) to the bag.

"Geez, Potter! I wasn't aware that you were so remarkably adept in gift wrapping."

"Stuff it, Black." James showed no signs of embarrassment, if he felt any.

"Give it here. I want to be the one to give it to him. He'll be extra suspicious." Sirius grabbed the bag from James' hand.

"Be sure not to crush the bow!" James shouted to Sirius as he hopped out of the room in excitement. "What are you two staring at?" He asked, rudely. "Don't you want to see the look on Snape's face when Sirius hands it to him?"

"Of course!" Peter jumped again. They both followed James to the dining hall, where they were just in time to witness the hand off. They watched Sirius, large smile on his face and all, hand the bag of candy to Snape. Snape, looking surprised, could barely muster a smile and then immediately looked around the room for the missing boys. When he locked in on their location, James and Peter waved enthusiastically, while Lupin only blushed and went quickly to sit down to the breakfast he would barely want to touch again.

"Did you see that?" Sirius rushed up to the three. "He barely blinked!" He sat down and piled his plate with breakfast. "What's he doing, Lupin? I don't want to look behind me."

"He's… just staring back at me." He frowned. Snape's face only filled with amusement after he read the note. Soon, a smile crept over the boy's face… a smile that didn't look so kind. But he didn't tell this to his friends.

"Heh. Probably doesn't know what to do with himself." James laughed.

"He's probably trying to figure out what we did to it." Sirius laughed.

Lupin watched as Snape put the bag of candy on the table, very casually, and then continued to eat whatever was on his plate. Even Lupin was surprised at the lack of response from their target. But then, after the talk they had at the library just over a week ago, he didn't know what to expect from Snape.

"He's not coming over?" Peter whined. They had just about finished their meal.

"I don't think so." He looked across the room once more, but Snape was now paying no attention to their table.

"What's wrong with him?" James growled. "He should be throwing a hissy fit by now."

"I wondered if he even bothered to read the note!" Sirius exclaimed.

"I'm sure he didn't even notice the bow." James mumbled. The three boys howled with laughter after his statement. James even started to giggle, but quieted his giggle with a grin. "Oh well. No big loss. Good suggestion, though, Peter. I have a feeling he's very very confused but just won't fess up."



At the Halloween feast, the boys were barely able to enjoy their treats. The entire day had been spent following Snape as much as they could, seeing if he still carried the bag of candy around with him. But most importantly, they wanted to see if he had any reaction or any words to say to them about the candy or the note. Whatever came to mind. They found that he in fact carried the bag with him, but hadn't disturbed the packaging whatsoever. This was particularly frustrating to James who made a bigger deal out of it than anyone else.

"What is he trying to prove carrying it around all day, anyway? If he didn't care for it then he should have just thrown it out." James pouted.

"Maybe he doesn't care to be bothered." Lupin stated.

"He does! I know he does. He's waiting for us to make some sort of move. And I'm going to do it!"

"What are you going to do, Potter? Force him to eat the candy? He's not going to." Sirius questioned him, in-between bites of pumpkin pie.

James rose from the table, and huffed over to see Snape. The three remaining decided that it might be best to stick up for their friend in case a confrontation should come about, so they followed him. When they reached the table, they (James and Sirius) were already conversing.

"But I had a few pieces just now!" Snape grabbed the few pieces of candy on the table and stuffed them into his mouth. "They're delicious! Thank you, guys. Thank you so much. I didn't say anything much today because I have to admit that I was quite taken by your note. I do hope that we'll be able to put our pasts behind us and remain friends. It would be better for our studies, too, if we got along. It's distracting in classes trying to put up with you. Especially Transfiguration." He paused and pointed to the bag, inviting James to take some if he wished. James agreed and took a fistful.

He stuffed his mouth with candies. "Mmm.. you have a point."

Sirius was just about to grab a handful himself, when James reached his arm out to block him. James made a sound, as if he were clearing his throat from all the sugar in the little candies, but then let out a loud cough. Although Lupin could only see a bit of the side of James' face (the rest was blocked by the back of his head and unruly hair) James opened his mouth, letting out an squeal… or was it more of a squeak? Snape said nothing. James turned around to face his friends and when he opened his mouth to speak, something came protruding from it, something that unraveled itself quickly, sticking out in front of the boys. James' tongue had transformed into a party blower! A black and orange checkered party blower! As soon as the blower had appeared, it disappeared back into his mouth, again with a squeak.

Not thinking, James opened his mouth again, perhaps thinking that it had gone away, but the blower that was once his tongue came speeding and squeaking out. The entire table of Slytherins were hysterical. James dare not turn around to face Snape, as his eyes were full of tears. Seeing this, Sirius threw himself at Snape, knocking him and his chair down. Lupin wanted to help James first, as Snape deserved to get his ass kicked by Sirius, so he led James and Peter out of the dining hall and instructed, on their way, for Peter to take him to the hospital wing. James and Peter rushed off and Lupin returned to Sirius and Snape, whose fight had already been broken up by their headmaster. Dumbledore was holding Snape at his shoulders, and Professor McGonagall had Sirius in a near headlock. "Calm it down, boy!" She shouted.

Lupin just stood there, too dumbfounded to say a word more.

"These boys need to calm down a bit. I think that my office is just the place for it." Dumbledore suggested to McGonagall. She nodded and dragged the still fighting Sirius away from the table. "Mr. Lupin, would you please accompany your friends?" He wasn't sure why he had referred to both of the boys as his friends, as it was clear Sirius was more of a friend to him, but followed the group out of the dining hall. "You sent James off to the nurse?" Dumbledore asked him.

Lupin nodded, "With Peter," he whispered. He was too frightened to speak any louder.

"Very good." He wasn't sure if they was complimenting his actions, or just agreeing that that was the right thing to do. "Madame Pomfrey should be able to correct his tongue in no time." He shook Snape as he said it.

Snape seemed more rigid than ever, perhaps just as frightened as Lupin was. He also found that his face was even paler, and the frown on his face had deepened even more. Sirius, on the other hand looked beyond angry. He had given up the struggle with McGonagall, and was walking without force down the hall to Dumbledore's office. He was, however, the angriest Lupin had ever seen him. It probably took all he had not to say even more nasty things to Snape. Once they reached the office, the two boys sat on the chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk, while McGonagall and Lupin stood behind them.

"Now, tell me exactly what went on." Dumbledore said, looking at the two boys. Both open their mouths and started shouting. "No, no. Quiet down. Lupin," he looked at the scared boy, "tell me what went on."

"Well, sir… James, Sirius, Peter and I gave a bag of candy corn to Snape for Halloween. We didn't hex it or anything, it was just regular candy corn from Honeydukes'. We thought… we might be nice for once this Halloween to Snape. I admit it was to elicit a reaction, but like I said, we didn't do anything to the candy. Anyway, James seemed upset that Snape hadn't thanked us for the candy and note so he went over to see Snape about it. Snape was eating a few of the candies when we reached the table and even offered some to us. James took a handful and popped it into his mouth. He didn't know that Snape had hexed it. His tongue… his tongue turned into a party favor! I sent James and Peter to the hospital wing, because I was most concerned with James, but Sirius had gone at Snape and I couldn't stop him."

"Wouldn't stop him." Snape blurted.

"Why should I? You turned my friend's tongue into a party blower!"

"That's enough, you two!" McGonagall threatened.

"Yes, please Severus, do not speak out of turn. I asked Mr. Lupin for his side of the story."

"I apologize, sir."

He ignored Snape's apology and turned to Sirius. "You know, Mr. Black, that two wrongs do not make a right." Sirius did not speak, but hung his head low. "I expect you to apologize to Mr. Snape." Sirius opened his mouth in protest, but Dumbledore continued. "In turn, Mr. Snape shall apologize to you. I expect the two of you to serve detention with Professor McGonagall, in which you will write letters of apology to one another. Well, that's for the first night. Professor McGonagall can assign her own detention for the other six days." McGonagall nodded. "As for James, Peter, and yourself, Remus, I don't expect you to serve detention. After all, I can't punish you for giving out candy on Halloween… but I will ask that you spend the rest of the evening in your rooms. You may not participate in tonight's Halloween activities." He held up the bag of candies. "These are no longer yours, Severus, as they are now confiscated. I hope to see no more candy corn or other hexed candies from the lot of you. If there is a next time, I will seriously have to consider suspension or expulsion. That party favor could have choked the boy if he didn't realize what was going on, Severus. You wouldn't want a seemingly harmless prank turn into murder would you?"

"No sir." Snape whispered.

"Very well then. Professor McGonagall, if you could escort Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin back to their room, I'll escort Mr. Snape to his."

"Yes sir." Lupin joined her side and waited for Sirius to make his way to the doorway. The three quickly made their way out of the office, Lupin looking back at Snape to find him watching as they left. Professor McGonagall hurried them into their room, remarking how disappointed she was, adding that she would visit James to make sure he was on his way back to normal. She shook her head as she considered the thought of a party favor as a tongue and left the boys in the Gryffindor common room.

"WHAT a Halloween!" Sirius jumped, once he knew she had gone. He had a huge grin on his face. He bounced around the empty common room for a moment, until he noticed that Lupin did not share his excitement. "Lupin? What's wrong? Don't tell me you think Snape didn't deserve a punch in the face?" He demonstrated a punch to the air.

"Oh, he deserved it all right. Just we deserved what happened to James."

"Don't say that, Lupin. We did nothing wrong to Snape."

"I don't know, Sirius, we promised the boy friendship and didn't deliver."

"Surely you don't think he took it seriously?" Sirius asked with a more serious tone.

Lupin didn't answer. He only headed back to his room, with or with Sirius. Hopefully without. He walked over to his bed, finding a piece of paper on the floor next to his trunk. He picked the piece of paper up and turned it around, finding nothing on the side facing up from the ground. On the other side, there was a note printed in Sirius' handwriting:

Dear Snivellus,

We hope that you choke.

Happy Halloween.

He held the note in his hand for a moment longer before crumpling it and throwing it off to the other side of the room, angrily. He then hoped that the letter they attached to Snape's candy corn was the one they had read out loud. Sirius walked into the room, looking a bit guilty, but with a slight hint of satisfaction still left on his face. Lupin didn't put it past him to do such a thing. He wanted to ask him, but he kept quiet.

Maybe he would ask Snape. No, he wouldn't be able to confront the boy ever again. What he said back in Dumbledore's office was correct. He wouldn't stop Sirius from beating him up. At that moment, though, he wanted to go to him and apologize for not stopping Sirius from doing what he did. If he was able to walk into Slytherin dorms, he would go right now. But seeing as he couldn't, just as he couldn't tolerate being in the same room as the over-satisfied Sirius, he broke Dumbledore's command to stay in his dorm. He left the room and wandered the halls until he ended up in a familiar place: the library.

The large room was the quietest he had ever witnessed it. The lights had been turned off, save one that was burning very dimly to the far corner of the room. He moved over to the lit section, not having a lantern on his own, and almost jumped back and ran away when he saw a familiar figure sitting with his back towards him. Snape had unfortunately heard him and turned around to face him. He looked over Lupin, disapprovingly, and then turned around, back to reading or… whatever it was he was doing.

"He didn't hurt you, did he?" He called out, surprising himself.

"Why would you care?" Snape snapped.

"Well, even though what you did to James was low, and even though you deserved a good punch to the face…"

"Please, Lupin. Save it. Don't waste your breath. Nothing will come from this conversation. And don't you dare come near me. I wouldn't want you catching lice or any other vermin." He noted Snape's emphasis on the word "lice" and frowned, not really understanding what he was getting at. He stood there for a moment longer, silent. "Could you please go? I came in here so I could be alone… can't have quiet anywhere else, what with Halloween festivities going on all over the school. How aggravating."

"Whatever you wish, Snape." He bowed, unknown to the boy with his back turned, mocking him in his gestures. He could have sworn to hear his name being called out once his back was turned and well through the library, but he wouldn't give Snape the satisfaction of going back. He walked down the hall, and to his surprise he saw James and Peter just ahead of him. He hurried up to reach his friends before they turned the corner.

"James! Are you all right?" he called.

"Lupin!" There was still a slight squeak to his voice, and his tongue went out a bit further than usual in speaking.

"Oh, Lupin! He's still got a little squeak, but Pomfrey said it would be gone by morning." Peter added.

"Glad to see you're all right. Sirius is back at the room. We're not allowed to participate in activities tonight."

"We know." James squeaked, sadly. Whether he was upset about not being able to participate or upset about his tongue, the other two didn't know.

He patted James' back. "We got out of detention though! Well, Sirius and Snape have to serve it together with McGonagall…"

"Poor Sirius. Having to stay in the same room with that slime!" Peter growled.

James frowned, but it was obvious he was relieved he didn't have to spend his evenings with McGonagall for the next week.

"Poor Sirius, indeed!" Lupin mocked, but it didn't seem the boys noticed his sarcasm.

Reviewers: AffectedMangoO: My faithful reviewer! Thank you! I'm not certain why there aren't more reviewers. I guess people aren't interested in the story much. I know it's not very exciting and smutty, but I happen to think that it's all right. ;) Sexy Black: Thank you for the kind words! And to my anonymous reviewer, thank you, too!