A/N: I keep doing it; I thank you for your reviews, but I don't answer your questions. Well, for some of them I can't obviously. But your questions will all be addressed in good time. Red-Devil15, Vega's name doesn't mean anything special. I have a thing for names of stars, and Vega is the brightest in the Lyra constellation. Westenra is taken from Dracula. Lucy Westenra is a character that is turned into a vampire. I think that was all of them, if I've missed any and you really want an answer, just ask me again.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX The Intricacies of Black Thoughts
The first day of classes had come and gone rather quickly, leaving the others with a dull pain in their temples. The students groggily trudged from their classes to the Great Hall for dinner.
"Isn't it a fantastic plan?" asked Sirius, shoveling a spoonful of mashed into his mouth, "It would get Snivellus off our backs forever."
"That's a terrible idea. Snape is a git, yes, but he doesn't deserve to be torn apart," Remus frowned, a loud sigh escaping his lips, "No one does."
His thoughts often turned back to that night, he could remember everything with an unnatural clarity. The sounds, the smells... it was like it had happened a few days earlier.
In his mind, Remus vividly recalled the night he was torn apart, never to be put back together again. A heavy chill hung in the air, turning his breath to foggy clouds. Once he had reached the forest, the only thing he could hear was the sound of twigs snapping beneath his foot. That was until the howling began.
Looking back, Remus still didn't understand why he didn't turn back right then. He had always been adventurous, often teasing Ophelia to the point where she would comply with whatever plan he had concocted.
He fought against the voice in his head, that was telling him to run straight back to the house and bolt the door behind him.
But Remus ducked under the hanging branches and into the darkened wood.
He chuckled to himself and glanced round the table at his friends. It was funny how much those steps had affected his life.
"So how 'bout it?" asked James, "I think if we work it out just right we could pull it off."
"What do you mean pull it off?" Remus repeated.
"Well of course we don't want to kill the prat," he explained, "Just... mess him up a bit."
Remus rolled his eyes, "What you are failing to realise is that I can't control how savage I am when I've transformed. I don't have a switch that I can flick over from kill to maim. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to think of a new plan."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," agreed James, reluctantly nodding his head, "We'll think of something in no time."
But Sirius was less easy to convince. He was already scheming of ways to lure Snape to the Shrieking Shack, each more elaborate than the last.
The next full moon was more than a fortnight away, which gave him plenty of time to come up with something.
"What's with you?" asked Ophelia, as they headed back to the common room, "You have that faraway look in your eye."
"What do you mean?" muttered Sirius.
"I just told you..."
He smiled, "I was thinking about how to get Snivellus."
"Already?" she groaned, "It's only our first day back and you're plotting of how to prank Snape?"
"I can't help it, I see his greasy litt--"
"But you can help it," Ophelia argued, "I don't remember you once bringing up his name over the summer."
"That's because I didn't have to see him. Here, I meet him in the corridors, in the Great Hall..."
"But you're not forced to speak to him."
Sirius turned to her, smirking in an incredibly cute way, and for a moment Ophelia forgot what they had been arguing about. "Why are we talking about Snape? Why are we talking at all?"
She laughed as his arm draped itself over her shoulders, "Good point, Sir."
They made their way into the common room, which was bustling with First and Second Years, telling each other of their day.
"Want to come up to the dorm?" asked Sirius mischievously, "Strictly to get away from the little ones."
Lily popped between the two, "Only if I can come, right?"
"Me too," giggled Vega, "I want to see the boy's room."
"I actually just wanted... never mind. Let's go," said Sirius, leading the three girls up the winding stairs.
As they entered the room, James was pulling off his robes in a hurry, paying no head to the visitors. His maroon jumper went over his head, exposing a nicely tanned--
Lily squeaked but made no effort to look away. Sirius covered Ophelia's eyes with a calloused hand, while throwing a sweater at James with his other.
"Cover up, mate," he chuckled, as Ophelia fought against his grip.
"What the bloody hell are they doing up here?" screeched Remus, his voice becoming high-pitched.
"What are you so worked up over? You're fully clothed," said James, sitting down at his desk.
"Can I look now?" Ophelia pleaded.
Sirius took his hand away from her face, "Why, exactly, are you so eager to see James without his shirt on?"
"Don't worry about it, Padfoot, a lot of girls want to see me topless," answered James, leaning back in his chair.
Lily began to laugh quite loudly, until she had to grab a hold of a bannister to support herself. She straightened up and wiped the tears from her eyes, "Thank you for that, James."
Ophelia sat down on what she assumed to be Sirius' bed. "Don't get upset, Sir. I'd much rather see you without your sh--"
"Might I remind you that your brother is in the room?" Remus shrieked, "I really don't want to hear about... about.. whatever you two get up to."
"Don't think on it," Sirius reassured him, "We haven't done anything big lik--"
"Why are you still talking?"
He shrugged and flopped next to Ophelia. Vega stood awkwardly until she and Lily sat down with James.
"You still haven't explained why you brought them up here," said Remus, returning to his reading, "It's against rules."
"Actually it's not," replied Lily. Everyone turned to look at her. "It's only restricted for boys to go into the girls dorms, but not the other way around. That's why we could come up the stairs."
"Right," Sirius frowned, "Besides, the common room was practically spilling over with squeaky-voiced gits. Where else could we go?"
"As long as this isn't a permanent arrangement," he muttered, biting the end of his sugared quill.
"It's my room, too!" hollered Sirius, falling back against his pillows. He glanced round the room, as if noticing for the first time that Pete wasn't there. "Where's Petey?"
James looked to their friend's bed and shrugged, "I don't know. But he does have a life outside of us."
"No he doesn't."
"Well I know he doesn't, but I didn't just want to come out and say that," he answered, "I was trying to be tactful."
"I'm sure he'll turn up in a bit," said Lily, hugging one of James' pillows against her chest, "It's not like him to be away from the action."
"Did you hear that, Phe? Action." Sirius raised his eyebrows at Ophelia, sending her into a fit of giggles.
A while later, once the girls had retired to their own dorm, Sirius borrowed a scrap of parchment and a quill from Remus and set to his work.
As soon as he touched the tip of the quill to the paper, the plan seemed to flow from the ink and onto the page. During one of their daily barbs, Sirius would let slip where the Marauders snuck away to. Even further, he would give him the day and time that they could be found there.
As the day neared, Sirius planned what he would say to Snape when the time came. And such a time came when Sirius was running late to Wand Combat. Snape was on his way from the Great Hall when the two wizards ran into each other.
"Watch wear your going, Snivellus," growled Sirius, before remembering his scheme, "And while I have your attention, stop following me and my mates around."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Black," he hissed, collecting the books that had fallen on the ground.
"Don't lie to me, I saw you and your bunch slinking around the Whomping Willow."
"What would I be doing out by the Whomping Willow?" retorted Snape, before a light of realisation came to his eyes.
Sirius continued, knowing that Snape was soaking up every word. "I caught you poking the knot at the base. If I catch you there tomorrow night, I swear to Radagast I will hex you to next Sunday."
The long-nosed boy straightened up, gritting his teeth, "You'll have to use the Imperius before I would ever listen to a word you said, Black."
He threw his robes behind him and slithered down the hall. Sirius went to class feeling extremely proud with himself. He took his seat between James and Ophelia with a smug look plastered across his handsome face.
"What are smiling about?" asked Ophelia distractedly, keeping an eye on Professor Nostrom, "You look a tad deranged."
"Do I have to have a reason to be happy?" he grinned.
"Of course not. You just look like someone hexed the corners of you mouth up."
"I bet I still look devastatingly gorgeous, though," replied Sirius, taking out a quill and making some short notes on his parchment.
James leaned over to his friend, "Next Saturday, mate."
"What are you talking about?"
"The trip to Hogsmeade, that's when I'm taking Lily out. On a date," he added, as if it needed to be clarified.
"Nice one. Does she know yet?"
James frowned, "Well... not exactly. I mean, she did agree to go out with me. We just hadn't agreed upon the day or anything."
"So you haven't agreed upon the actual date than?"
"Not exactly..."
"I'd get on that if I were you," suggested Sirius, slapping his friend on the back, "It'll be a lot more fun if she's actually there."
"You're probably right."
"Of course I'm right," he chuckled, "I'm Sirius Black.'
The following night, James, Lily, Ophelia and Sirius were squandering what few remaining minutes of daylight were left to them, by hiding away in the common room.
Sirius found himself almost giddy with the knowledge that in a few short hours his problems with Severus Snape would be done with. He was discovering it terribly hard to keep this secret to himself, as every few minutes he would howl with laughter.
"...My instructor was telling me how well I'm progressing. Much better than any other he's taught," continued Lily, "I think he's embellishing a bit."
"It's not that hard to believe, Lil," Ophelia replied, "You were a Prefect, and first in line for Head Girl next year."
"That's not true, any--" she stopped and frowned at Sirius, "What are you laughing at?"
"And this time don't say nothing," James warned him.
Sirius looked around the room, his eyes shining, "Remember that little plan you and I talked about a while back, ol' Prongs?"
"Not particularly, we make a lot of plans," he replied, daring a quick glance at Lily.
"It involved our favourite Slytherin," Sirius hinted, "And a certain night of the month."
Lily looked between the two, "What are is he talking about?"
"Sirius had this stupid idea a few weeks back," began James, shaking his head, "He wanted to lead Snape into the Shrieking Shack while Remus was there."
"Sirius!" scolded Lily, "That's terrible. I'm glad you didn't end up going through with it. It would have been disastrous."
"Which reminds me, we should get going. Don't want to leave Moony on his own, now do we?" said James getting to his feet.
"Oh, he won't be alone!" howled Sirius, slapping his knee.
Ophelia rolled her eyes and slapped his arm, "Tell me you didn't."
"Why would I want to lie to you?"
James' fallen face was ashen, "That was incredibly stupid. Come on; we have to go stop him."
"Why? Where's the fun in that?"
"The fun will be in saving someone's life," snapped James, his voice shrill and annoyed. He took Sirius by the wrist and led him out of the dorm.
"It was only a joke," cried Sirius, as they rushed down the corridors.
"It stops being a joke when there's a chance someone could be killed," answered James, as if he was talking to a four year-old.
They ran-- or rather James ran and pulled Sirius --from the castle, until they reached the Whomping Willow, gasping for air.
A long, drawn out howl echoed from the tunnels beneath the ground. They were too late.
