Disclaimer - It's not mine, never was.


Wolf's Bane

Chapter 12

Problems on the Pitch


Saturday morning found Remus tucked away in hisbed in the boy's dorms. He had slipped back into Sable's room earlier that morning, leaving the book and his choice for the costumes. She hadn't heard him come in, but he had woken her up in his haste to get out. He thought he had gotten away scot free from his midnight wanderings when Sirius caught him coming back into the dorm. Not wanting a confrontation with the taller boy at three in the morning, he had told Sirius that he would explain his late night ramblings in the morning. Sirius had let him go, knowing Remus would tell him the next day. Remus, however, knew that Quidditch tryouts were the next morning. Since James and Sirius were on the team, they would be occupied from early morning until lunch time. That's why he was surprised when he heard a door slam and felt the covers pulled off of him at seven in the morning.

"What the Hell?….Sirius…" Remus yelled.

"Alright, Moony," Sirius sad loudly. "I want answers. Where'd you go last night?"

"Damn it, Sirius." the boy grumbled. "Aren't you supposed to be at Quidditch tryouts right now?" He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and let out a huge yawn.

"James gave us a half hour break. And quit trying to change the subject. Where'd you go? As your best friend, I have a right to know."

"I just want you to know that right now, I hate you more than life itself, Padfoot!" Remus answered.

"That's fine. You'll change your mind by lunch time." Sirius smiled. "Now where did our little Remy sneak out to last night? Hmm?" Remus was still too sleepy to actually think up an answer. So, like the idiot he was in the early morning, he said the first thing that came to mind, the truth.

"I went to go see Sable." he admitted, rubbing his eyes in the bright morning sun, not thinking before he spoke.

"You went to the girl's dorm at three in the morning?" Sirius asked, not quite believing that Remus would do that. "Man, Moony, we need to give you more credit than we do. I though James and I were the only ones with enough guts to do that. Never pegged you for a night time voyager."

"She wasn't in the dorms. She was in her room downstairs." Remus yawned again, then realized what he had just said, as well as what he had been saying. His eyes got really wide and he felt like smacking himself. 'Oh man, I've done it now!'

"What?" a very surprised Sirius asked.

"Forget you ever heard that." Remus groaned, covering his head with his pillow and muttering some rather colorful curses to himself.

"Wait a minute, Moony." Sirius said seriously. "What room? Sable's not in the girl's dorm?" Remus shook his head and yawned again, trying to get his brain to wake up fully. But he only succeeded in getting a mouth full of pillow. He sat back up and blinked at Sirius. Figuring it was pointless to lie to him, Remus prepared to tell him the truth. "I didn't think so. So, what room is it? Where's it at?"

"It's a room off of the DADA corridor." he said dejectedly. Oh boy was he going to catch heck when Sable found out he had told Sirius, by accident or not.

"Near where you disappeared after we got back to school?" he questioned, becoming very interested.

"The same one. There's a door behind the sixth suit of armor. It leads to the room where she had set up her lab." he ran a hand through his messy hair and yawned again.

"But the Fat Lady won't let anyone out after curfew without the password from the Heads. How'd you get out? I already checked to see if she had let you out."

"There's a passageway behind the picture of Agrippa and Merlin in the Common Room. It leadsinto the rooms where she works. I used it to get out." Sirius looked impressed.

"There's no passageway on the map." he said.

"That's because we never drew it in." Remus said, stretching. "Just like Sable's rooms. We never drew it in cause we didn't know they were there. Neither of them show up on the map."

"Rooms? How many rooms does she have down there?"

"Two. Her lab and another one she turned into a dorm room." he said.

"And which one does the passage lead into?" Sirius asked, raising he eyebrows. Remus was finally fully awake, and he didn't like the way the conversation was turning.

"Her dorm room." he said quickly. Sirius grinned and continued to prod at his friend.

"So you snuck out of the dorms at three in the morning to go down a secret passageway that led straight into the bedroom of the girl who you are head over heels in love with?"

"Pretty much."

"And what exactly was so important that you had to make enough racket to wake half the people in here up?" Sirius was having too much fun poking fun at Remus about this.

"I had to bring a book back to her that she had lent to me." He answered truthfully. Sirius looked more than just a littledoubtful.

"Right, Moony. And I'm as celibate as a monk." he said sarcastically.

"That is really more information than I needed to know. I don't want to hear that much about your personal life."

"Well, it's a lot more plausible than your story." Sirius countered. Remus thought the entire story sounded a little far fetched, even though it was the truth.

"Whatever. I'm not arguing with you." he said. Sirius grinned like a maniac. "Don't give me that look, Padfoot. Nothing happened. If you don't believe me, ask Sable. She'll tell you." Sirius had amaniacal grin on his face and it scared Remus.

"Yeah, I was wondering why she seemed to be in such a good mood this morning when she met us on the Pitch." he said. "She had a night time visit from You. No wonder she's been smiling all morning. She was even nice to Flint when he purposely sent a Bludger flying toward her. Hmmm, wonder why?"

"Padfoot, you are about to seriously regret coming up here to bug me about this." Remus threatened, grabbing a pillow and throwing it at him.

"Okay, okay. I get the point. I'm leaving. It's about time for our break to end. Why don't you come on out to the Pitch? Everyone is already out there watching tryouts." Sirius said as he walked out of the door, laughing the whole time.

Remus shook his head and got out of bed. Throwing on whatever he could find and running a comb through his messy hair, he made it down to the Quidditch Pitch in record time. Looking up into the stands, he spotted the flame haired Lily and the ebony haired Sable.

The air was a blur of scarlet, emerald, yellow, and blue robes. Each team occupied a corner of the field, and tryouts were well underway already. The day was unusually warm and clear. Remus ran up the stairs and joined the others just in time to see a red-headed boy send a Bludger flying towards Michael Bell and Chris McIntosh, the two fifth year Gryffindor Beaters. Remus noticed a few of the younger students at the end of the stands. They all seemed completely transfixed by the tryouts. Another little boy was coming up the steps to join his friends. 'That's that Thomas kid, Sable's friend.' he thought. He walked over to where Lily, Sable, and Peter were sitting.

"Morning everyone." he said cheerfully. The two girls and Peter smiled and nodded.

"Hey, Moony."

"Mornin' Remus."

"It's about time you got up?" Sable picked at him. "Late night last night?" She gave him that I-Know-What-You-Did look and Remus rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Something like that." he answered vaguely. He motioned over to the little kids and nodded. "Isn't that Thomas?" he asked. Sable glanced over and nodded before calling to the little boy.

"Hey, Thomas, wait a minute." she said, waving at him and smiling. "I'll be back in a minute, you guys." She got up from her seat and went over to the little boy. Remus went over to say hello, since it seemed like the boy was kind of shy.

"Hey, Thomas. What have you been doing?" she asked.

"Nothing much, just trying to make it through my classes." he said with a shy smile. "How about you? Been getting adjusted back to like at Hogwarts?"

"I've been quite well, actually." she said pleasantly. She glanced out to the Pitch and waved her hand. "So, what's your expert opinion on the try-outs? See anything of interest?"

"Well, I was looking at the other team's line-up. They're all so different. Slytherins going for size and strength; but forgetting that most of the bigger players fly slower because of the size. Hufflepuff is going for smaller, more lithe players. Which is fine, but the majority of their team is all new people. The Ravenclaws are going for speed, but forgetting that talent doesn't always follow speed. I guess they are hoping to get by on good plays and tactics. And as for us, I don't know what's going on. I just got here." he said truthfully. Sable was speechless, and Remus was impressed. Sable let a sudden smile go and the boy blushed in embarrassment.

"I think James needs to recruit you for the team as a statistics manager or something." she said happily.

"That's not a half bad idea." Remus said. "Seems like he's the only one who's had sense enough to size up the other teams." Thomas only shrugged in indifference.

"I'm just doing the sensible thing." he said. "It's just like anything else you try to do. You watch your opponents for their weaknesses. When you determine where they are weak, you capitalize off of the mistakes they make. Simple strategy." he finished smoothly, looking over the field to where the Ravenclaw students were trying out. This time, Remus looked at the kid in astonishment, then chuckled. "What?" Thomas asked.

"Are you sure you were put in the right House?" he questioned. Sable shot a death glare at him and the boy looked up at her, confused and looking slightly put out.

"Pardon me?"

"You sound like the Slytherin's team captain. I heard him saying pretty much the same thing not even ten minutes ago, when I walked by."

"I'm not a Slytherin." he said flatly. "Maybe the captain was having a moment of enlightenment when common sense takes over. From what I hear, that's rare infor him." Tomas said.

"You're no Slytherin, that's for sure." Sable said, trying to pump the boys confidence back up. "It's just scary that a Gryffindor and Slytherin were thinking on the same plane of thought. Personally, I didn't think that House was capable of that." Thomas grinned again and Sable hugged him. "Well, go on Thomas, I don't want to hold you from your friends any longer. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay with you."

"Thanks, Sable." he said quietly. She only nodded and turned to walk back to Lily and Peter. Remus was following right behind her, chuckling at the boy's embarrassment.


'The poor kid is so scared of being around her, it's almost hilarious. God, did you see that blush when she hugged him? Merlin knows what he would do is he actually kissed him on the cheek, or something. He blushes every time she comes around. It seems like Sable has captured the heart of a certain brown haired Scottish boy.'

'Yeah, this coming from another brown haired boy who is just as scared to be around her at any time because he's afraid he's going to make a fool of himself.'

'No, not you again.' Remus sighed in frustration as his conscious came back.

'Yep.'

'Go away. And I mean NOW!'

'Now that is not very Gryffindor-like of you Remus, picking on the boy when you are just as taken by Sable as he is. Just goes to prove that the boy has good taste in girls.'

'I don't care what it means. Go away!' he thought tiredly.

'So, have you asked her to the Ball yet?'

'You're my conscious, you should know.' Remus thought sarcastically.

'Okay, stupid question.'

'Exactly, now GET LOST!'

'Alright already. I'm going. But here's a little piece of advice. Just because she's going to the Ball with you doesn't mean she can't be dating someone else afterwards. Remember that, you thick headed fool! She's too good of a girl to waste on someone else. Especially when you know you love the girl.'

Remus shook his head disgustedly, trying to get rid of the annoying voice telling him stuff he didn't want to hear. He settled in and watched the tryouts for the team, not really paying much attention to what was going on.

Sable was tired of watching the boys trying out for the positions on the team. She had always liked Quidditch, even played a little, but she was no where as obsessed as Sirius. She sighed and stood up to leave the stands.

"Leaving so soon?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, James has already made his choice, whether he realizes it or not. Right now, he's just babbling on to the kids. I think I'm going for a walk. I'll see you guys later." She waved and departed from the stands. Remus watched her go down the steps until she finally got to the ground. She started walking away and he watched as she got smaller and smaller against the skyline until someone in green robes obviously said something that caught her attention. He watched her storm over there and say something to him. Squinting his eyes against the morning sun, he recognized Cody Flint as the perpetrator.

His blood started boiling and he stood up to leave the stands.


Sable was minding her own business, caught up in her own thoughts when she passed by the Slytherin team. She pointedly ignored the whistles and catcalls coming from the older members when she passed by. The whistles continued on, and finally, she became fed up. Leaving her walk until later, she stormed up to the Slytherin team, Hell bent on shutting at least one, if not all, of them up for good.

"Alright, Flint," she said menacingly. "I've asked you nicely before. Now I'm telling you. LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE! If you don't, you are severely going to regret t it." she could hear snickers coming form the team member behind her, that only infuriated her even more.

"Why should I leave you alone?" he questioned, "What are you going to do, slap me? It's a good show for all of us."

"How about you shove that piss-ass broomstick up you ass, and then try to fly. I'm pretty sure It'll be an improvement compared to what I just saw. Your flying tactics have gotten sloppy, Flint. Such a pity." She heard the others grow quiet She knew that Flint was the best Chaser on any of the House teams, everyone did. She eyed the boy stonily and turned to leave when he caught her wrist, forcing her to turn back to face hem. He got closer to her face and lowered his voice considerably, obviously angry.

"So if my flying is so bad, you think you could do better?"

"I know I could." she answered flatly, never breaking eye contact with the considerably bigger boy. Flint snickered and smiled evilly.

"You've got to be kidding me? How long has it been since you've been on a broom with a Quaffle in you hands?"

"Not so long that I've forgotten how to beat a slime ball like you at Quidditch, I can assure you of that."

"So you think you can beat me? The best Chaser in Hogwarts?" he questioned. Sable's temper had taken a hold of her, and she was not about to back down from the challenge he was issuing.

"I know I can." she replied firmly.

"How about we test your theory? Ten shots. Each one of us Keeping for the other." he suggested, coming closer to her. Sable guessed that he was trying to use his size to intimidate her. 'Well, I got news for him, it isn't working.'

"What are the stakes?" Flint backed up a little and looked over at his team. They were all grinning at her craziness to take on their captain.

"If you win, I will completely ignore you for the rest of the year. Seems like a good enough reason considering you do everything in your power to avoid me."

"Oh, I'm sorry." she sad sarcastically. "I didn't mean for my obvious dislike of you to be so noticeable that even YOU could see it. I must be losing my touch. Darn." She looked at the boy and frowned. "And if I let you win?"

"Then I will collect my prize at a later date, since I can't seem to think of anything at the moment." he smirked. "So, you game? Or has that famous Gryffindor courage deserted you?" Sable was about to answer when she felt someone land next to her. It was Sirius.

"What's going on here?" he asked, glaring at the Slytherin team.

"Nothing that concerns you, Black. I assure you." Flint said icily. "But if you must know, Ms. Robbins and I have made a little wager."

"What kind of wager?" he asked suspiciously, looking down at Sable.

"We each get ten shots. Whoever scores the most out of ten collects on the bet. He's Keeping against me, and vice versa." she answered , her voice low and full of loathing.

"What's the stakes?" Sirius asked.

"If she wins, she hears nothing out of me for the rest of the year. If I win, I collect later, when I've had time to think of something…….suitable for payment." he said, eyeing the fuming girl in from of him with an appreciative glance.

"How about I just beat the daylights out of you now, and save her the trouble of showing you up in front of your team that you are supposed to be getting in shape for the season." Sirius said, clenching his fist.

"That won't be necessary, Padfoot." came another boys voice. "Not if I get my hands on him first." Remus walked up behind Sable and put a protective hand on her shoulder, daring anyone to defy him. Noticing the possessive way Lupin was acting, Flint smirked.

"What's wrong, Robbins? You got a body guard now? Too afraid of going around school without someone there to protect you?" he queried, noticing the violent shade of red her face was turning because of her anger.

"Why, Flint? Jealous you didn't get the position? That way, you could take inventory of the rest of my 'assets and attributes?'" she growled.

"Hey, I wouldn't complain. I'd relish in a position like that." He grinned Sable felt Remus and Sirius tense up at the mention of a Slytherin having anything to do with a Gryffindor.

"I know where to find you, alright." she said. "In one of the seven circles of hell!" Remus growled when the boy smirked again. "You ready for me to whip your ass in your own game?" She asked, throwing off her school robe and putting them on the sidelines. Her robes had covered her khaki shorts and red tank top. Flint nodded and got the Quaffle from a member of his team.

"Let's go, and I'll show you exactly who's gotten sloppy." he said. "Ready to go?"

"After you." she answered sarcastically. She borrowed Sirius' broom and went to take off into the air when Remus stopped her.'

"What are you doing?" he hissed. "He's the best Chaser in Hogwarts, no one can out score him, even Sirius." Sable only smiled at Remus' concern and winked at him.

"I know what I'm doing." she said. "He may be good, but he's overconfident." He let her go and shook his head as she floated away from him. It had been almost two years since she had actually gotten onto a broom, let alone played a real Quidditch game. She kicked into the air. As she gained altitude, she saw that everyone on the Pitch had gathered around to watch the Slytherin/Gryffindor grudge match. She took her position in front of the goals, her mind focused only on stopping Flint from scoring. She could hear the excited chatter below her as she readied for the attack.

"WIPE THE SKY WITH HIM!"

"MAKE HIM EAT BROOM DUST!"

"SWEEP HIM OUT OF THE GAME!"

"GO AHEAD, SABLE, SHOW THAT SNAKE WHO THE BEST FLYER IN THIS SCHOOL IS!"

"FLINT'S GOING TO BE SEEING DANCING QUAFFLES WHEN SHE GETS DONE BEATING THE DAYLIGHTS OUT OF HIM!"

Flint wasted no time in rushing her, efficiently putting three straight shots past her before she could stop him. The next four shots were duds, and she easily clocked them. His last two shots were better planned, and he caught her out from in front of the goals both times to easily put the Quaffle though. When his last shot went through, cheers erupted form the Slytherin team. Flint sneered and flew closer to the goal posts, eyeing her the whole time. When he drew close enough to hand her the ball, he snickered at the determined look on her face.

"You know what you're going to have to do for me when you loosed?" he asked, looking at her with a hungry expression. "I'm going to make sure that shiny little reputation as a good girl is as destroyed as it can possibly get. No one is going to want to be near you, ever again, when I get done."

"You'll never beat me, Flint. No matter how hard you try, you'll never beat me at anything, may it be Quidditch anything else."

"That's what you think, little girl. You haven't seen the other side of me yet."

"And if it's a side anything like what I'm looking at now, I don't want to see it." She snatched to Quaffle and flew off towards the center of the field while Flint went to the front of the goals.

She felt more at home with the ball in her hands. She dug deep in her memory to find the flying skills she had tucked away years ago. Remembering the plays she had helped Jams to develop her last here at the school, she let her memories guide her actions. She made two sots, then missed one. She quickly made up for the lost shot by scoring four successive shots without a mistake. The next two were misses, but the last one was a shot to remember.

Flint, realizing that their scores were tied and that she still had one shot left, bared down and watched her every move. Using Flint's own trick shot against him, she feinted to the left, causing him to follow her. Before he could realize that his own play was being used against him, Sable looped him and put the Quaffle through the unguarded hoop. The crowds erupted into cheers underneath her. Looking over to the Slytherin captain, she noticed the glares of ice he was giving her. She turned away and landed on the Pitch, some fifty feet below her.

Lily was waiting for her as she landed. She was smiling brightly and James and Sirius were on the ground laughing . Remus pulled her off of the broom and into a tight hug. She laughed and hugged back.

"Don't ever do that again." he whispered fiercely. Sable gave him a quizzical glance than showed that she didn't understand. "Promise me that you'll never bet yourself against any wager you make." Sable didn't know what caused him to become so worried, but she didn't really care. He was holding tightly onto her and she was loving every minute of it.

"I promise, Remus." she said, breaking out of the hug before anyone started thinking things. Little Thomas was immediately by her side.

"Geez, Sable, I didn't know you could fly like that!" he said excitedly.

"Well, there's a lot of things a lot of people don't know about me, Thomas." she said, smiling down at him.

"Can you teach me to do that? Huh, can you?" he asked with pleading eyes. Sable smiled and ruffled his hair.

"When we both have some free time, I'll teach you, kiddo." Thomas hugged her and went off to tell his friends of his good fortune.

"Maybe James should recruit you for the team." Michael Bell said with a laugh.

"It doesn't look like he's going to be doing anything for a while, at least until he gets over this laughing fit. Sirius, too." Lily said with a grin. Sable kicked some dirt onto the two boys and grinned.

"Come on James," she said. "It's not that funny. Calm down before you burst something. You too, Sirius." Unfortunately, the two Marauders were down on the ground, nearly in hysterics.

"You don't…understand……….Sable…he's ….best……Chaser in ……..Hogwarts….and you…..out…scored…..him!" James gasped out through his bouts of laughing. Sirius was not better.

"Bloody…..idiot was……beaten by………a girl…..hasn't been…….on a broom……in …….two…..years!" With that, the boys bust out into a fresh bout of laughing. Sable shook her head an fastened the hook on her school robes.

"I'm going back up to the castle. I'll see you guys later. I've got work to do."

"Hang on. I'm coming with you." Remus called out, running to catch up with her. Lily watched the two friends walk off, disappearing behind the stands. She smiled and put her attention back on her temporarily incapacitated boyfriend, who was still recovering from his uncontrollable laughter.


Sable and Remus had just made it past the stands when Flint flew in front of the, cutting off their intended pathway.

"What do you want, Flint?" Remus growled, pulling Sable closer to him unconsciously.

"Nothing that concerns you." he barked back.

"What is it, Flint?" Sable asked, getting annoyed quickly.

"I just wanted to say good game." he said stiffly.

"Thank you. Now hold up your end of the deal and leave me alone." she replied icily.

"Of course, of course," he said. "I wouldn't want to interrupt your victory snog or anything." Remus was getting very irritated with the other boy.

"Well, that 's what you're doing. Now get lost." Remus said. Sable's eyes got really big and she didn't know what to say or do, so she played along.

"Yeah, Flint. Don't you have a team waiting for you?"

"You have got to be kidding me, Sabriel. You and that 'thing' are together. I though you had more sense that that." Flint said disbelievingly.

"What Flint? You don't believe us?" Remus asked.

"No, as a matter of fact, I don't." he said.

"Well, watch and learn. This is the second time you've been proven wrong in one day." Remus said. He gently turned Sable around and leaned down to kiss her.

"What are you doing?" she hissed at him, her voice low so Flint couldn't hear.

"Play along, please." he whispered to her. Her eyes were wide with surprise, but she gave a curt nod and grinned.

"I hope you know what you're doing." she said. He smiled and pulled her close and claimed her mouth with his own.

Any coherent thought she was trying to form, immediately fled the minute they touched. She wasn't about to pull away form him now, come Hell or high water. She put her arms around him an melted into the kiss. It felt like fireworks were exploding in her head as her blood began to pump through her veins at an alarming rate. She was sure that Remus could feel her hear beating like a drum, but he didn't seem to notice. She lost herself in the unfamiliar sensations that he caused, almost making her looked her thin grip on reality. 'Oh boy, we're in deep shit now!' she thought to herself. 'Oh well.'

Remus didn't now what to expect when he kissed her again. He was expecting it to be like the last time, in the Heads Common Room. But it wasn't supposed to be like this. He felt his blood boil when she touched him, it was like fire coursing thorough his veins. 'Merlin, she's sweet!' he thought. He shifted a little and put his hand sunder her robes, pulling her as close as possible. He was losing his thread on reality quick, so he pulled away from her. She gasped when he broke off the kiss, and he almost lost his mind when he looked at her. Her face was flushed, her cheeks red, and her eyes held a look of overwhelming innocence that shocked him. 'She's gong to kill me now.' he thought. 'If she doesn't, then I'm gong to wind up killing myself!' He looked into her hooded eyes and smiled. She grinned back and blushed even more. Remus turned her around and put his arms around her waist.

"Believe us now?" Sable asked. Flint gaped at the two Gryffindors in front of him. 'Oh, Snape isn't gong to like this little turn of events one bit.' he thought.

"I can't believe you, Sabriel." he said. "I thought you had more sense than to align yourself with the weak side of the school, especially him."

"That just goes to show you how much you know about me." She replied fiercely, interlacing her fingers into Remus'.

"I guess you're right." he said. He shook his head and took off, leaving the two Gryffindor teenagers standing halfway between the Pitch and the school. Sable and Remus looked at each other and blushed scarlet red. They couldn't look at each other without getting into an awkward situation. They broke apart and looked down at the ground.

"Sable…I…"

"Oh boy….what.."

"I KNEW IT!" he yelled, running towards them. "I TOLD JAMES THAT YOU TWO WOULD WIND UP TOGETHER!" Sable and Remus jerked around and saw the over excited Marauder running toward them at high speed, red Quidditch robes flying behind him.

'Oh, shit. He saw us.'


Sirius was grinning like a baby at Christmas when he walked up to the two flustered friends. His booming voice carried back across the field to the stands, and thirty seconds later James and Lily were standing in front of them. Sable quickly put some more distance between herself and Remus.

"What's this I hear about you two getting together?" James asked.

"We're not together!" the guilty pair said in unison. Lily raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Really?" Sirius asked skeptically, "What I just saw surely doesn't compromise a normal friendship. In fact, it points in the other direction completely."

"What happened?" Lily asked, glancing at the two flustered friends in front of her. Knowing exactly what had happened since she had seen the whole episode from the stands. Remus wouldn't meet her gaze and Sable suddenly found the ground very interesting. "Well?"

"I was coming to catch up with them to ask Sable if she wanted to join the team as a reserve, like James had suggested." Sirius said, "Then, when I came around the stands, all I could see were these two,snogging like there's no tomorrow." Sable and Remus fidgeted, but tried to talk their way out of what Sirius had just seen.

"It's not what you think..." she stuttered.

"Yeah, we were trying to prove a point to Flint." Remus finished.

"What, that humans can survive for over two minutes without any air?" Sirius asked with a grin. Sable glared at the boy, wishing he would just go away.

"You would know more about that than I would, Sirius Black. And from what Arabella Figg tells me, you can go for twice that long!" she snapped. Remus tried to camouflage a laugh as a cough, but didn't succeed very well.

"What exactly did Flint want to know?" James asked, trying desperately to suppress a grin that was threatening to escape.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Sable said, "So I'm not even going to try to explain." She smoothed the wrinkles out of her robe and looked back up at the gathered group. "Now, if you all will excuse me, I think there is a noose waiting for me in my room. Good day." 'That way I can die of embarrassment in the privacy of my own room.' she thought wryly. She turned around and speedily walked away, up the path to the castle. Remus tried to sneak away too, but Sirius caught him. He had took off in the opposite direction of the castle, back towards the Pitch.

"Where you going, Moony?" he laughed, "Sable's back the other way." He pointed up the pathway to the castle door. Remus didn't even turn around before he yelled back to them.

"I'm going to go crawl up in a hole and die somewhere from embarrassment!" He disappeared around the stands soon after.

"If those two don't get together soon, they're gonna drive me nuts!" Sirius said, "All this pussy-footin' around is enough to drive a sane man crazy!"

"Yeah, so Merlin knows what it would do to you, Padfoot." James said automatically.

"That was low, Prongs." Sirius said. "Good, but low."

"For once, I agree with him." Lily said. James nodded in agreement. Suddenly, he realized exactly how to get the two stubborn friends together. Lily noticed the evil glint in he eyes and frowned. "What are you thinking, James Potter?" she asked cautiously.

"I've got an idea." he said simply.

"Now what?" Sirius asked.

"I'm not sure if it will work or not." James said. "Give me a few days to work out the details, then I'll tell you."


Sable stomped through the corridors of Hogwarts. She was so upset, angry and embarrassed that she was not really watching where she was going. 'I can't believe that just happened to me.' she thought angrily. 'I never thought Sirius could be so callous.'

"I swear I'll kill him when I get my hands on him." she muttered. Her eyes were blurring with unshed tears, causing everything to meld together. 'I've got to get to my room before someone sees me like this.' she thought, picking up her pace considerably. She turned a sharp corner on her way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts corridor and ran smack into a group of Slytherins coming up from the dungeons. Sable stumbled back for the force of the impact, wiping her bleary eyes on her robe's hem.

"What have we here, boys?" she heard one of them say. She glanced up, recognizing the tallest of the boys as Robert Vedreene. "Looks like we have a little lost Gryffindor rambling around the castle on a beautiful day like today."

"Stuff it, Vedreene. I don't fell like fooling with you right now." she barked, trying to push past him. 'What is it with me having run ins with nasty Slytherins today?' she questioned herself. The other two boys smirked and stepped in front of her, once again blocking the path.

"What's wrong, Robbins? Having a bad day?" Vedreene taunted. Sable's anger was already threatening to explode. She spun around to face the blonde boy.

"Look Vedreene, you pea-brained snake, I'm not in the mood to play games with you. Now make your two speechless groupies move out of my way." The tall boy said nothing to her in response, since there was someone coming down the hallway at an alarmingly fast rate. His eyes narrowed into slits when Severus Snape stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the hallway.

"Is there a problem here?" he questioned them, "Mr. Vedreene, Ms. Robbins?" 'Nothing I can't handle on my own, thank you, Severus.' she thought.

"Nothings going on Severus," Vedreene said smoothly, "Just some friendly banter about the upcoming Quidditch season." Snape glared at the boy and sneered.

"Very well then, Vedreene," he said. "Take Bellos and Marks and get out of here. You know students aren't supposed to be roaming the classroom hallways on weekends. Now go!" Sable watched the three boys leave, disgustion written on their faces. Without another thought, she turned to leave, but Severus stopped her.

"Are you okay, Ms. Robbins?" he asked. Sable frowned at the formality he addressed her with. But her mood had suddenly gotten better with his obvious concern for her well being.

"I am fine Severus, thank you for your concern. But do me a favor, okay?" she gave him a weak smile. "Call me Sable will you? The whole formality thing is killing me." Snape nodded and almost smiled at her.

"I'll try to remember that." he said.

"Thank you, Severus."

"Why aren't you outside, watching the tryouts?I figured Potter and Black would have had you and Lily out there." Sable shook her head and nodded.

"I was out there for a while, but I decided to come back in to do some work. I need to update my Potion's journal for Professor Treble." She found Severus an easy person to talk with, even though he acted frigid at times. She really didn't think he was as bad as the others made him out to be. 'Of course, I have been wrong about people before.' she thought.

"Yes, I'm afraid my Transfiguration homework had to take priority over the journal. There are a few entries I'm missing as well." he said. They had started walking back down the hallway towards the Great Hall, oblivious to the odd looks they were receiving from other students. It was about half an hour before lunchtime, so they sat down at the Slytherin table to wait for lunch to be served.

The talked about various subjects: Potions, Quidditch, and the upcoming Halloween Ball, and things like that. They didn't notice when other students started filing into the hall for luch, at least not until both the Slytherin and Gryffindor Quidditch teams came in. Both groups were bickering at each other when they entered the hall. When the Slytherins noticed Sable sitting at their table, a collective silence fell over them. The Gryffindors soon followed suit.

James and Remus had been discussing tactics when they entered the hall. James and Sirius had managed to coax him out of hiding long enough to get something to eat. Now, James was wishing that he had left him to his misery. Remus saw Sable sitting at the head of the Slytherin table with Severus Snape and almost burst an artery. Sirius came up behind them and followed their line of sight to the Slytherin tables. When he saw Snape conversing with the ebony haired girl, he did burst an artery.

"What is she doing over there with him?" he asked loudly. Flint and the other Slytherins smirked and laughed.

"Maybe she finally decided to quit hanging around a bunch of loserslike you, Black. Sherealized that staying around you would bring down her social standings. Now she wants to move up in the world a little."

Snape saw the teams enter and pointed it out to Sable. She saw her friends staring at her like she had grown three extra heads, disbelief and anger apparent on their faces.

"I think we should separate before we cause any riots in here." Snape said quietly, motioning towards the two opposing teams. Sable looked up and nodded in agreement. They sure didn't seem to happy about something.

"Your right, Severus. I better get going before they think you've done something to me. I'll talk to you later, okay. Bye." She smiled at him and left the Slytherin table, walking across the hall to the Gryffindor's table. She walked up to James, Sirius, and Remus and frowned.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Sirius asked incredousely. "You were sitting at the Slytherin table, talking to possibly the slimiest, most underhanded of all the Slytherins. And you're asking what's wrong with this?" Sable's anger was coming back on full blast, again.

"Is there a problem with that? I didn't know that I was supposed to ask your permission before I spoke to someone not of Gryffindor House." she said icily.

"Whoa, calm down." James said, "He didn't mean it like that. Right, Padfoot?" Sirius stared at the girl in anger.

"Why were you over there?" Remus asked quietly, the hurt almost evident in his voice. Sable rounded on him too. 'I can't believe these guys!' she thought.

"I don't know what made you three think that I'm your personal property, but I'm not. I can talk to whoever I want. Whether any of you like it or not! This ridiculous rivalry you have with the other houses is childish. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some place to be." She eyed the three boys, but her gaze held the longest on Remus, the hurt apparent in her eyes. 'I can't believe they're treating me like some little child.' she thought. She turned around and left the hall with a huff.

"I am going to kill Snape next time we decide to prank him." Sirius said, taking a seat in the hall after Sable had stormed out. "That jerk has it coming, messing with Sable." Remus was mulling over what had just happened. 'What is happening? She isn't supposed to be talking to anyone from Slytherin. Doesn't she remember what happened last year to that Collins girl? Oh wait, she wasn't here last year, so she doesn't know. Maybe someone needs to tell her exactly why the Slytherins are such bad company.' He looked down at his plate, but didn't feel like eating. He realized that his thoughts were selfish, but he really didn't care. He didn't want anyone to lay a hand on that girl. And the only way he could keep an eye on her was when he was with her. Something was telling him that someone, namely a few Slytherins and one Ravenclaw, would try to get her attention at any cost. He wasn't ready to lose her to anyone yet. 'Merlin, what am I going to do?'

"Remus. Hey, earth to Remus!" James said. Remus broke out of his self induced monologue and looked at his friend.

"What? I'm sorry James, I wasn't paying attention." James looked over at the brown headed boy and shook his head.

"I was just telling Sirius that we need to plan our prank for this weekend."

"Oh, yeah. Any ideas for a victim so far." Moony asked. The two other boys went on a tangent about who they needed to prank, but all Remus could think of was a very upset Sable holed up in her room, more than likely crying her eyes out over the obvious feeling of distrust she thought her friends had in her. He decided to go down there and make sure that she was okay. At least that way he could explain to her exactly why the boys kept such a close watch on the girls. It was all for safety. They didn't need a repeat performance from last year. 'Especially if it's Sable those filthy fools get their hands on. I'll kill every single one of them if they ever touch her.' he thought angrily.


Sable was indeed holed up in her room, working on her potions. She had spent the whole evening trying to calm down from the hectic day she'd had. 'This is ridiculous, I can't believe that they don't trust me. What have I done that has changed their attitude towards me?' she pulled out the translated version of the Celtic spell book and flipped to the appropriate page, trying to loose herself in her work.

According to the book, the potion was supposed to brew for two full moon cycles. But the odd part about the Wolfsbane Potion, as she had so named it, was the speed at which it was finishing up. It seemed like everything that was supposed to happen was happening in exactly half of the time. 'I guess it's a side effect of the alterations of the potion.' she thought. She looked back into the cauldron and sighed. 'It's time to add my blood.' She left the cauldron over the fire and went into her room to pull out a little pocket knife her mother and father had given her. The handle was the color of mother of pearl. She flicked open the blade and it shined in the light of her bedroom. She put the blade up to her arm and tested the sharpness of the blade. It easily shaved off a little patch of hair on her arm. 'Still sharp as ever, go figure.' she thought. She went back into her laboratory, but stopped when she heard the statue outside the entrance corridor slide open to allow someone in. 'Oh, god, please don't let it be any of them. This really isn't the best of times.' She keened her head towards the entrance as the steps grew stronger. The covering over the entrance was quickly pushed aside, revealing the form of Remus. Sable rolled her eyes and sighed. 'I really don't feel like dealing with him after today.' she thought exasperatedly.

"Something I can do for you this evening, Remus?" she asked quietly. He was a little taken back by the coldness in her voice.

"I needed to talk to you about what happened earlier today." he said. Sable only shrugged and flicked open the blade of the knife. Looking closely at the girl, Remus tried to figure out what was going on. 'What's she doing with a knife?' he thought.

"Exactly which part of today did you want to discuss with me?" she said sarcastically, "Maybe the impromptu Quidditch game between the Slytherin captain and myself? Was it the part where both of us made fools of ourselves in front of Flint and Sirius? Or was it the part where you guys all but accused me of being a traitor to the Gryffindor House when I was talking with Severus Snape. Or maybe it was when we got into that little shouting match in the middle of the Great Hall?" she stared intently at the boy, her voice never faltering. "So, Remus, where do you want to start, they are all stimulating topics of conversation. Don't you think so?" She looked down at the knife blade in her hand and shivered.

Remus hadn't realized that the whole day had ended up rather badly for her. He was so concerned with keeping her safe from those under-handed Slytherins, that he didn't even realize what had happened. He walked up to the cauldron, trying to control his own temper with her. She never looked up as he talked.

"I'm sorry." he said honestly. "I'll admit that the circumstances of today have been stressful, but there is something I need to explain to you before it's too late." Sable only shook her head, not really caring what he had to say.

"What do you want, Remus? I really don't feel like having this conversation right now." she held out her hand and brought the blade up to the palm of her hand. Remus didn't know what she was about to do, but it shocked him to see her obviously about to cut herself. She pointed the blade at the center of her hand and was about to make a small incision when Remus caught her hands in his own.

"What are you doing?" he asked loudly, "Trying to commit suicide, or something?" He gripped her wrist hard enough to make her drop the blade by the side of the cauldron. It clattered to the floor and he immediately stooped over to pick it up, closing the blade in the process.

"Give me a break, Remus." she snorted, "Committing suicide in front of someone completely defeats the point. You have to do it when no one's around. That way no one is there to help you when the blood starts flowing out." Remus looked at the girl in shock.

"Please tell me you're joking." he said flatly.

"If you really must know, Remus," she said vehemently, "I'm not trying to commit suicide, I'm trying to save YOU from completely losing your mind the next time a full moon comes out."she yelled, motioning towards the translated text to her right. Remus looked taken back immediately. 'The potion,' he thought quickly, looking at the cloudy mixture in the cauldron, 'I completely forgot about that.' He pulled the knife out of his pocket and gave it back to her.

"I'm sorry, I forgot about that." he said quietly. Sable only nodded, taking the proffered blade.

"What exactly did you want, by the way." she asked.

"Well," he said, running a nervous hand through his already rumpled hair, " I'm pretty sure you're wondering why no one wants you anywheres within a hundred meter radius of any of the Slytherins."

"Yeah, it would be nice to know why I can't carry on a decent conversation with anyone who isn't decked out in scarlet and gold robes." she said pointedly.

"Sable," he said, desperately trying to keep his voice calm and even, and his temper in check, " I would really appreciate it if you would loose the attitude for a whole five minutes. After that, you can do whatever you want. But you need to know what's going on here. Hogwarts isn't the same as it was when you left two years ago." Sable glared at him, but did change her mood. She realized that she had probably been over reacting this evening, but she wasn't about to admit it.

"Fine, I'm sorry." she acquitted.

"Okay, this is what's going on." Remus began. " Last year there was a seventh year girl in Hufflepuff who ran into one of the Slytherins after a Quidditch game that had lasted all night. She was on her way back up to the castle when the Slytherin guy, Patrick Wilson, rushed her. He knocked her unconscious and done some stuff to her that is not very appropriate for anyone to have to endure, especially a young lady." Sable's eyes got really wide and she almost started crying when she heard this. Remus went on as though nothing had happened. "When she woke up, Wilson had threatened to hurt her again if she told anyone. From then on, she never said anything. When Wilson got ... tired... of her, he tried his luck again, this time on one of the Gryffindor girls. You remember Anna Collins, don't you?"

"Yeah, she's the girl that always helped me with my homework in fourth year while you guys were at practice and Lily was watching you." she said.

"That's the one. Well, Wilson decided to make her his next victim. He cornered her in a classroom and hurt her pretty badly. He threatened her too, but she didn't keep quiet. The next day, she went straight to Dumbledore. He was not a happy headmaster to say the least. By the time it was over with, the entire school knew what had happened. The Hufflepuff came forward and testified against him, as well as Anna. Wilson was expelled, and the two girls finished their terms here. By that time, the damage to Slytherin's already shaky reputation had been damaged beyond repair. All of the guys in the other Houses started watching over the girls in their Houses, keeping them away from any and all Slytherins. They didn't even let any of the girls out of their sights. If you haven't already noticed, we tend to keep tabs on all of the girls in our House, even the younger ones."

"But that's only Lily, and now me." she said. "There were no other girls sorted into Gryffindor our first year."

"Exactly, that's why we are so concerned. You and Lily are so important to us, that if anything happened to either of you, the rest of us would probably curse everyone and anyone in this school until we found out who had hurt you." Remus looked up into the sad eyes of Sabriel Robbins. She seemed stunned by the new revelation. No one had told her about any of it in the letters they had exchanged, apparently.

"Is that why you guys got so upset when you saw me with Snape. Because you were afraid he would try to hurt me?" she asked, full of wonder. Remus nodded and frowned. "Well, was Snape implicated into any of the charges against Wilson?"

"No, but he was suspected since Wilson had forced both girls to swallow a potion that would keep them from becoming conceiving a child if things got a little ... out of hand."

"So everyone automatically assumed that Snape had brewed the potion and given it to Wilson." she asked. Once again Remus nodded.

"But Snape was acquitted of all charges when he took a truth potion, Vertiserum, and admitted that he hadn't made any contraceptive potions." Sable seemed to consider this information before she said anything else. Remus could see the emotions running through her like wildfire. It was almost scary the way she seemed to be so calm, but the shivers that ran through her were almost visible. "Now do you understand why James, Sirius, Peter, and I do everything in out power to keep the Slytherins away from you?" Sable nodded and looked over to the boy.

"I'm sorry, Remus." she choked, "If I had known, I wouldn't have said anything to any of them. I'm so sorry. I thought you guys were trying to control me, I had no idea that it was protection." She felt a single tear roll down her face and land on her hands. The shock of someone getting attacked at Hogwarts, and by a fellow student at that, was almost preposterous. She thought about how the violated girls must have felt. It was disgusting to even think about.

"Hey, it's alright." he said, "You didn't know. And none of us had enough sense to tell you any different." He gave her a friendly hug and grinned, trying desperately to lighten the dreary mood that had settled in the room. "Besides, we know better than to try to control you, or Lily for that matter. You both know enough curses, hexes, jinxes, and deadly potions that we would be running away, screaming for out lives. You'd never see us again after that!" Sable grinned and wiped the moisture from her eyes. She really felt bad for giving the guys such a hard time earlier, and she felt the need to apologize to James and Sirius.

"Remus, where's everyone else at. I think I owe two of our friends an apology for this evening." She said.

"Well, when I left, everyone was sitting in the Common Room." he replied.

"Fine, let me finish this potion and I'm going back up there to apologize to Sirius and James. And then I'm going to chew them out for not having enough sense to tell me what was going on around here!" she fumed.

"What do you have left to put in the Wolfsbane Potion?" he asked, eyeing the boiling cauldron in front of him.

"Just my blood, that's all." she said nonchalantly. Remus winced at the thought of having to drink another person's blood. 'I'm not a bloody vampire, for heaven's sake!' he thought.

"What exactly is this potion made out of?" he asked, stirring the murky liquid. Sable smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"Trust me, if I told you then you would never be able to keep a straight face when you tried to drink it." she said honestly.

"That bad, huh?" He asked skeptically. Sable only nodded and flicked open the blade of the knife once again. She pushed the sleeve back from her arm and made a small cut in her forearm. Her blood began to pool around the small cut and she quickly turned her forearm over the cauldron, causing a few drops to fall into the boiling mixture. The cloudy, murky liquid went to a translucent blue color, and then it went crystal clear. Sable sighed and put the knife down, quickly healing the little cut without leaving a scar on her creamy skin. She threw the knife into her pocket and turned around to face Remus with somewhat of a smile.

"Now all it has to do is sit for another couple weeks, and it'll be done." she said happily. Remus grinned and shook his head. 'How does she go from depressed and sad to happy and smiling in 1.9 seconds flat?' he thought wryly. "Now, let's get to the common room, I think I have some major explaining to do, once again." she sighed. "Have you noticed that I've been doing nothing but explaining stuff to you guys since I've come back. It's starting to become rather boring, if you ask me."

Remus laughed and led her through the door into her bedroom. It was soon going to be after curfew, and he didn't want to get caught out of the dorms without James' invisibility cloak handy. Sable put the knife on her dresser and went with him to the portrait.

"Okay, now, I haven't even been through these corridors yet." she reminded him. "So take it slow, will you?" Remus grinned and nodded.

"Yeah, we wouldn't want you to get lost, now would we?" he joked.

"No you wouldn't." she said firmly, "especially considering you told me one of these passages lead straight into the Slytherin Common Room." Remus suddenly sobered up and took her hand.

"Come on, it's not far." he said. "Just make sure you hang onto me. There is a set of steps going up into the tower that gets steep at certain places."

"Lead the way, fearless captain." she muttered. He pulled her into the corridor and they were completely surrounded by the black ickyness of the dungeons. 'I have a feeling this is going to be a very long trip to Gryffindor Tower.' she thought.


A/N - So, how'd it go? I hope you like it. This is one of my favorite chapters, and I think you can see why. All heck is about to break loose. Hehehehe. I'm evil, or so I've been told. Anyways, hope you enjoyed and remember to leave me a review telling me what you thought.