Chapter 6: The Beginning of the End

It was the night of the full moon in January. James was in his dorm, inspecting the Invisibility Cloak, when Sirius walked in, whistling off-key.

"You sound happy."

"Oh, I am." Sirius crashed onto his bed as if his broomstick had failed. "I just did what Moony's too nice to do."

"Why do I have the feeling I ought to be scared?" James asked the ceiling. "What did you do, Padfoot?"

"Well, Snivellus stole Moony's girl, didn't he?"

"More or less."

"So Moony ought to get him back for it. But, like I said, he's too nice."

"Yeah..." James wasn't liking the sound of this.

"He's too nice most of the time." Sirius grinned evilly. "He's not going to be too nice tonight."

"Tonight..." James jumped to his feet. "Padfoot, what did you do?"

"I told Snivellus how to get past the Willow," chanted Sirius, rolling around on his bed in glee. "I told him how to get into the passage..."

"You bloody idiot!" James bolted for the door.

Have to run. Have to run. Have to get there before he does.

He risked one of the passages Filch knew about – it led from the fifth floor to a secret door on the outside of the castle, on the same side as the Willow – and was rewarded by seeing a cloaked figure cautiously approaching the tree, which was whipping its branches around. James picked up speed, seeing Snape bend over, pick up a long stick lying in the snow – McGonagall had probably left it there – and maneuver it carefully through the thrashing branches to prod the knot on the trunk.

No, no, no...

The tree froze in place. Snape darted in and disappeared down the passage. James speeded up still more, moving faster than he ever had in human form, as a human scream and the howl of a werewolf sounded simultaneously from among the roots of the tree.

He was at the tree, he was in the tunnel – Snape was standing frozen not three feet in, as Moony hurled himself down the passage, howling –

James threw his arms around Snape, hauling them both backwards and out of the passage, shoved the other boy out of range of the Whomping Willow's branches, and slammed his hand down on the knot before diving out of range himself as the tree reactivated, bashing a branch down hard against the tunnel's entrance. James heard Moony's bay of frustration and caught a glimpse of his friend's gleaming eyes and teeth before the werewolf turned and loped back down the passage, back to the Shrieking Shack.

Thank all the gods, he didn't see Evanie – this is going to be bad enough –

"That was Lupin," said Snape in a voice that still shook, but was starting to regain its sneering qualities. "No wonder he always looks ill. How long have you known, Potter?"

"None of your effing business," snapped James, standing up and brushing snow off himself. "Come with me."

"Why, so you can hand me over to a vampire?" Snape retorted. "Like Black tried to give me to the werewolf?"

"We're going to Dumbledore. With or without your cooperation." James hauled Snape to his feet. "Come on."

He wasn't sure whether he was madder at Snape or at Sirius.

You complete moron, he wanted to scream at Snape, why the hell would you do anything Sirius told you to, even if it was to tie your shoes? Couldn't you tell he was setting you up for something?

But that compared to what he was planning to say to Sirius like a chicken's egg compared to a dragon's.

Sirius was having a fine time imagining Snape's face when he got into the passage. Would "horror" be the best word for the expression, he wondered, or would it be "terror", or "pants-wetting fear"?

Maybe all three. He grinned.

And then Moony gets a chance at him – maul him up, maybe even rid the world of a slimy git...

The door to the dormitory slammed open with such force that it bounced off the wall and nearly closed again. Sirius looked around, startled.

James was standing framed in the doorway, glaring at him with eyes that looked like fire. Sirius almost checked himself over for spontaneous combustion. "Hey, Prongs," he said, wondering what had happened.

"Get up." James' voice, in direct contrast to his eyes, was as cold as the night outside. "Come with me."

Sirius frowned. "Why?"

"Don't ask questions. Let's go."

What the hell is he so mad about?

Still, he got up and followed James out of the dorm, out the portrait hole, and into an empty classroom. He was surprised to see several other people already there – Aletha, Peter, Lily, and...

"So you tore yourself away from your greasy boyfriend long enough to slum with your Housemates, did you?" he said sarcastically to Danger. "Nice of you."

"Shut up." James' tone brooked no disobedience. "Sit down." He Summoned a chair with his wand and placed it facing the other four. Peter looked confused, as did Lily, Sirius noticed as he took a seat. Aletha was eyeing him curiously, and Danger seemed to be attempting to burn his hair off with her glare.

Her and James. What did I do to get them so mad?

Well, I can see where Danger might be a little pissed at me...

"Sirius Black," said James, getting his attention.

Uh-oh, that's his Head Boy voice.

"Earlier tonight, you told Severus Snape something that could have gotten him killed."

Lily gasped softly. Aletha's eyes widened.

"And one of our friends would have been responsible for his death."

Peter made a noise of understanding. Danger was sitting very still, her lips a thin line.

"Do you deny this?" James finished.

"No, I don't." Sirius' usual disrespect for authority had just activated, combined with his extreme dislike of being wrong about anything. "The bastard deserves it. I wish Moony'd killed him."

He never even saw her coming. One second, Danger was in her chair, the next, she was kneeling on his chest, wand in his face. "Don't ever say that again," she snarled, before Aletha and Lily pulled her off him. "Ever."

"Dumbledore wants to see you," said James as Sirius got to his feet awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head where it had impacted with the stone floor. "But he said we could talk to you first." He turned to the other four. "Ladies and gentlemen, you've heard it from his own mouth. The verdict?"

Peter stood up. "I don't know you," he said to Sirius, and turned his back.

Sirius stared. "What the – Wormtail!"

Lily let go of Danger's arm. "At least the worst James ever did was humiliate Snape," she said coldly. "You tried to kill him, and you're not even sorry." She turned her back as well.

"You don't exist," said Danger, pulling her other arm free of Aletha's grip. "For which be grateful, since if you did I'd feel free to curse you into a tree in the Forest and leave you there." She joined the other two.

Sirius couldn't believe this. It had just been a joke, that was all – everyone was overreacting –

"And here I thought you'd changed," said Aletha, getting all his attention. Her voice was choked, but not with tears. Sirius had never seen her angrier. "You actually thought it was funny, didn't you? To almost get someone killed? You make me sick. I can't believe I thought I loved you."

She turned and marched out of the room, not looking back once. Danger, Lily, and Peter followed her.

"Come on, Black," said James, breaking Sirius' stunned silence. "The Headmaster's waiting."

By the time Dumbledore finished with him, Sirius felt as if he'd been run over by the Knight Bus. Repeatedly. And then used as a Bludger in a World Cup match.

And that was before Remus got a hold of him.

"Hello, Padfoot," a voice said coolly the next afternoon, startling Sirius into banging his head against the door of the cupboard he was cleaning out on his hands and knees as part of his punishment. He backed out of the space to see Remus leaning on a wall nearby.

He opened his mouth to start explaining, but never got the chance.

"So you wanted me to kill Snape for you," Remus continued. "Sorry I couldn't oblige. Perhaps you could get Evanie to do it. I'm sure most sixteen-year-old girls love finding out that they've killed someone. And Peter would adore having his girlfriend, the only one he's ever had, go on trial for murder. Or maybe, because she's a werewolf, they'd just... oh, what's that phrase... ah yes, put her down."

The worst part of this, Sirius thought, was the way Remus never lost his expression of calm reason, or lifted his tone above a polite speaking level. "There'd certainly be an inquest into what a werewolf was doing at Hogwarts – Dumbledore'd probably lose his job over it, and Evanie and I would have to leave at the very least – who knows, this might even have sparked some nice race riots before it was done. After all, the world would be a safer place without werewolves. Why let them live? They're a danger to everyone."

He turned and walked away, but turned back before he reached the corner. "Oh, and before I forget – thank you for giving Snape the ability to ruin my life."

He was gone. Sirius sat in the middle of the mess he'd made of the closet, an old joke running through his head.

So why did you take all your clothes off, douse yourself with steak sauce, and go running into the dragon's cave?

And the reply, spoken wistfully by the man's ghost.

Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time...

In a school the size of Hogwarts, nothing stayed secret for long. Two days after it had happened, everyone knew that Sirius Black had tried to murder and/or maim Severus Snape (the details were foggy), and everyone's sympathies, even the Gryffindors, were with Snape.

Sirius found himself in the unprecedented position of having literally no one to talk to. No one would acknowledge his existence unless they had to. He'd been removed from the Quidditch team, so he couldn't even count on Aletha having to shout his name to get his attention for a move.

He'd returned to his dorm, exhausted, after his first all-day detention (he had six, plus evening detentions every night for three weeks) to find every piece of clothing he owned covered in red paint. When he tried to Scourgify them clean, the paint came off the clothes, all right – but it stuck to him instead, resisting all his efforts to get it off. He had to go to detention bright red the next morning, and class the day after that.

The worst part of that episode, though, had been realizing that Danger and Evanie hadn't even really tried to get the paint out from under their fingernails. In fact, he suspected Danger of staining her hands deliberately, to inform him who was responsible. She obviously knew he didn't dare do anything in retaliation.

He ate alone, he worked alone, and he made it a point to shower alone after the third time someone stole his towel. It was rather like living at home again, except that now he didn't have the consolation of his friends elsewhere, or the satisfaction of knowing he was right. Instead, he had to get through his classes and detentions, do his homework, eat his meals, and try to sleep at night knowing he deserved everything he was getting.

He'd been able to maintain the façade of not caring to the rest of the world, and even to himself for the first week. After that, his internal attitude had crumbled, and he admitted in his own mind that he would have given anything for one smile from Aletha or one joking comment from James or Remus or Peter. He tried to apologize to them, but he got the same answer from everyone, even Remus – "It's not me you need to apologize to."

Which left him with only two options. Either he apologized to Snape, or he'd be stuck without friends for the rest of his life.

He was still trying to decide between the two when the February full moon came around.

James and Peter didn't bother to keep their voices down as they planned when to leave the dorm and what door to exit the castle by. Sirius lay on his bed, trying to convince himself that not having detention was a nice change, but it wasn't working – probably because all that being free of detention had done was give him more spare time in which to be ignored.

I can't go on like this much longer.

Tomorrow, Sirius decided. He'd find Snape tomorrow.

Moony was unhappy. The female who was like him was with him, as were the two males who were not prey. But one was missing. Where was the fourth, the dark one, like him and yet unlike?

He searched the house, upstairs and down, and even ventured again into the tunnel where he had once seen prey, but was turned back by the waving branches of the tree. He growled at it, recalling a time when the female had not been there but the three males had, and when the smallest one had stopped the tree moving so that he and the others could go out. He wanted that to happen again.

The others had joined him now. He turned to the smallest one, picked him up in his jaws, and placed him at the mouth of the tunnel, glaring first at him, then at the branches. Let me out, he demanded in animal-speech.

The smallest one looked at the large one who was not prey, appealingly. The large one looked back, in a way that the human Remus would have identified as resigned, and moved his head up and down.

The smallest one scurried out of the hole, and a few moments later, the branches of the tree stopped moving. With a satisfied grumble, Moony hoisted himself out of the tunnel's mouth, followed by the female and the large one, who bowed his head so that his antlers would not snag.

They would search the forest for the dark one, Moony indicated. And if they did not find him, they could still play in the snow, and perhaps hunt.

Secretly, he hoped for real prey to hunt. The sort that walked on two legs. The large one and the dark one had always stopped him from hunting this kind of prey in the past. But the dark one was not here now. And the female could keep the large one occupied, while Moony attacked.

He howled at the mere thought of such pleasure, of the taste of blood in his mouth and the screams of the helpless prey. The female joined his howl. Together, they galloped towards the forest.

The howls caught Sirius' attention. He ran to the window of his dorm and peered out.

Those idiots! What are they doing? The shapes of three animals were clearly visible in the moonlight – two wolves and a stag, and Sirius knew the rat had to be there somewhere, he just wasn't visible from so high up.

I have to get out there. There's no way James can control two werewolves on his own. Peter's no help, he's so tiny either of them could make a mouthful of him – like Moony almost did once – unless he's got some kind of power over Evanie because of their relationship, and I don't think he does…

He was running down the dormitory steps, for once grateful that no one would look in his direction in the common room. No one would be able to say where he'd gone. He flung himself down the flights of stairs, using secret passages wherever he could, wishing he'd thought to activate the Map, but he wasn't going to go back for it now. Time was of the essence.

He skidded to a halt at the door to the entrance hall, staring in horror.

Tell me I didn't just see that.

But he had.

The great oak doors had just swung shut. Someone had left the castle.

With two werewolves loose on the grounds.

Sirius flung himself at the door, trying desperately to get it open – it didn't matter now who saw him change, it didn't matter how much trouble he got in. All that mattered was that Remus and Evanie didn't get a chance to kill anyone.

The doors were open, he was down the steps and onto the lawn, running four-pawed through the snow, passing the cloaked human, who had fallen to his knees at the sight of a werewolf charging straight at him. He hit Moony in mid-leap, knocking them both to the ground. The werewolf recovered first, snarling at him, but Sirius was up in time to get between him and the unknown human.

Please, whoever you are, run, he pleaded with the unknown. I don't know how long I can hold him…

And then things got immeasurably worse. A howl of triumph sounded across the snowy lawn, and the other werewolf was bounding towards them, eyes fixed on her prey – Sirius spared one instant to see James, staggering to his feet with one leg obviously out of commission –

No help there.

He slammed into Evanie, stopping her headlong charge, and whirled in time to catch Moony's tail with his teeth. The werewolf snarled, turning on him, and raked his face with its claws. Sirius stumbled back, half blinded by pain, but recovered in time to get to the side of the human, who, far from running as Sirius had hoped, appeared to have fainted.

Why do I know that scent?

He found an instant, between licking his wounds and preparing to defend against two irate werewolves, to glance down at the boy's face.

Good God.

He was standing across his brother Regulus.

What the hell is he doing out here?

But there was no time to think about that. Remus and Evanie were closing in, teeth bared, growling deep in their throats.

Sirius growled back at them, prepared to sell his life dearly.

If you have to kill someone, at least let it be someone who had a chance, he thought. Let it be me. Maybe you'll think a little better of me after I'm dead.

A howl rang out over the grounds of Hogwarts.

(A/N: All right, I may have to take the fluff warning off this. The plot just insisted on being written. So it's here, and it's involved, and it's strange, and if anyone figures out how this particular cliffie's going to be resolved, I will be highly impressed – oh yes, and nice guesses, everyone, but no one got it. Well, someone did get it, but they dismissed it as wrong. ;-)

And yes, I know that in canon, the Shrieking Shack incident occurred in sixth year (Snape refers to Sirius as being sixteen when it happened), but it works better for my purposes now. This is, after all, an AU. Of an AU. Hugs to all!)