disclaimer: oh, I am so sick of writing these...so I won't, but I think you get the point by now
a/n: haha! it's only been a week or something! I'm so proud of myself. Lol. But, just so you know, the end of this chap isn't half as happy as the first half. Some brutal stuff goes on. And, just so you know, I am expecting to hear how much you absolutely hate Actaeon, because I hate him too.
Brittney: is this soon enough for you?
Pad's gurl: I know...there really is no excuse for me not getting that last chap up sooner, but I told you, I had died...twice
Moony's Mystery: guess what! there's some action at the end of this chap, just so you know. and that flashback idea was good, i think i just might use that

Enjoi

"Mr. Potter," Victor Actaeon said with a cruel and heartless smile.

"Mr. Actaeon," James said, not letting his voice betray his emotions. "It's been, what? Nineteen months since I last saw you? Much too long."

"Where is he, Mr. Potter?"

"Where's who?" James said, although he knew well that Actaeon was referring to Sirius. "And I insist that you call me James, Victor. It seems rather foolish for us to be so formal with each other, with a history as –er –thorough as ours." He added, fully enjoying the look on Actaeon's face as James used his first name. He seemed to think it rude for James to use his first name.

"Don't be smart with me, Potter," Actaeon snapped.

"I'm sorry, Victor, I can't help it," James said before he had time to think better of it. "It's just so simple, you see." He smirked as he saw a muscle twitch unpleasantly on Actaeon's face.

"Don't make this any worse for yourself, Potter. You're in deep enough trouble as it is. Answer my question."

James feigned ignorance, "What question would that be?"

Actaeon stepped slightly closer to James as he let out something that sounded like a cross between a snarl and a growl. "You know what question I'm talking about, Mr. Potter."

"I'm afraid I don't," James said, still taking pleasure in watching the other man's blood pressure rise before his eyes even though he knew he was, in fact, making matters much worse for himself.

Actaeon growled again. "Where is he, Mr. Potter?" he asked again, sounding very impatient.

"Where's who?" James asked again.

"You know who I'm talking about!" Actaeon snapped.

"I'm quite certain I don't, Victor," James said, smirking as his muscle twitched again. "And if you don't mind, I really would like to be on my way. Lily and I are expecting company for dinner tonight."

Actaeon took another step towards James, forcing James to retreat further into the room, the one thing he didn't want to do. "Mr. Black," he said.

"Victor, you must be confused," James said, smiling innocently. "I'm Mr. Potter. James Potter. Mr. Black, if I'm not much mistaken, is still alive."

Actaeon's eyes blazed with a cold fury. "Where is Mr. Black, Potter? I know you've been hiding him."

James blinked several times, trying desperately to act surprised. "What? I already told you, Mr. Black is still very much alive, or at least Mr. Sirius Black is. How could I be hiding a living man here?"

"You cannot pretend that you do not know that Mr. Sirius Black died several weeks ago," Actaeon said coldly, his voice void of any emotion save contempt.

"What?" James repeated again. "Sirius is...Sirius is dead?"

He smiled ruthlessly. "Yes, Potter. He fell through the Veil several weeks ago. However, he has not shown up yet, and he's had more than enough time to have dealt with all the necessary matters. It only stands to reason that someone, that someone being you, got in touch with him before anyone from the ministry could."

James tutted. He liked tutting and watching how frustrated people got when he did. "First of all, I don't see how you automatically assumed that I would be the one to hide Sirius, which I'm not. If he just fell through the Veil, why would I need to hide him? Everyone here should know by now that he is innocent, and if they don't I can easily set them straight. Just because I am Sirius's best friend does not give you, of all people, the right to assume that he would immediately come to me when he died. He was very popular; it's very possible that he would go to someone else. Second of all, why do you get to decide what's more than enough time for him to deal with 'all the necessary matters'? Hmmm? As far as I'm concerned, Sirius, and everyone else for that matter, has every right to wait as long as it takes them to make any decision that would lead them here. The way I see it is," James shifted position so that he was now leaning against the wall, "Sirius has quite a lot to think about before he decides. He, as I'm sure you have noticed, has been watching dutifully over his godson, which happens to be my only child. He is going to obviously want to watch over my son, and yet I'm sure that this place would be calling strongly to him as well, as a sort of haven, you know. It must be bamboozling for him; he was never very good at making life altering decisions," James finished almost lamely. Not for the first time, he was very glad that Actaeon was not an Occlumens, seeing as how he just lied through his teeth for his entire little speech.

Actaeon searched James's face for any sign that me might be lying. Finding none, he just assumed James was lying anyways. He paused for a moment before he said anything. It was obvious to him that James was not going to reveal any information willingly and that he was going to be very coy about hiding the information he wished to keep secret. All in all, it meant he was going to have to chose a different approach.

He took a deep breath before saying, quite calmly, "You know, Potter, I could arrest you, again, for simply being down here. It's off limits to all who aren't part of the Ministry."

"We've been through this before, Victor. I know you can arrest me for being down here because you've done it before. It doesn't seem to have left that much of an impression, now has it?" James said, keeping his tone the same as before, but silently trying to come up with explanations to Actaeon's new approach.

"No, it hasn't. Which is a shame really," he said, smiling to himself as James studied him with wary eyes, "because until you do, I'm just going to have to keep arresting you."

"So? What's your point? I happen to like our one-on-one meetings like this, Victor," James said, still not letting his guard down. "It gives me a sense of purpose. If I weren't here, who would you get to play your little mind games with?"

"My point is, this all must be very hard on your dear, sweet wife," Actaeon said, his eyes glinting with malevolence.

"My wife? What's Lily got to do with any of this, Actaeon?" James snapped. Instinctively, he pushed himself away from the wall he was leaning on, preparing himself to break Actaeon's nose if it came down to that. Inside his pocket, his hand was gripped hard around his wand.

"I am merely saying, Potter, that the lovely Lily Potter must get awfully lonely while her husband is locked up for being a man of an endlessly contentious nature," Actaeon sneered. "She probably desperately wishes for someone to comfort her during those long nights without you there."

James stood, fighting very hard to keep himself from ripping Actaeon apart at that very moment. He knew fully what Actaeon had been implying with his last comment and the thought of that man going anywhere near his beloved wife was more than enough to make his blood boil. "You will leave Lily alone," James finally hissed, his voice trembling ever so slightly with anger. "Or you will suffer the consequences."

"And what consequences would those be, hmm?" he said, taking a simple pleasure out of how absolutely furious James looked. He took another step forward, forcing James to retreat to the back wall. "The way I see it, you are absolutely helpless here, and certainly in no position to place demands or make threats."

James, now fully backed against the wall, had unconsciously drawn his wand out. He was going to use it, whether he realized he was or not. Actaeon eyed the wand warily. He had been in a duel once before with James and had most certainly come out on the wrong side. While he couldn't be killed by any attack James might make, he knew well enough that he could feel pain. James, as he had discovered during their previous duel, was an extremely powerful wizard and had a great deal of experience in dueling, almost as if he had been doing it all his life. Alone, Actaeon was no match for James. Preferring not to risk his own hide to the younger man's wrath, he said, "However, if you tell me where Mr. Sirius Black is, if you hand him over to me, then we can just forget all of this and you can go home to your wife and not have to worry about anything."

James quickly assessed the situation. His best friend or his wife. Not a great choice. He knew there was no way he could turn Sirius over to a despicable man like Actaeon, especially not when they were so close to getting him home. But he wasn't about leave Lily vulnerable to the very same man. But then again, he knew quite well that Lily could and would defend herself if the need ever arose, and besides, Sirius was there and he'd never let anything happen to Lily. He could still apparate back home. Granted, Actaeon would go there to find him, most likely with back-up and probably a search warrant. Those would both take time to get, however, giving him time to get Sirius out of the house with the scrolls they had just stolen. With Sirius safe in hiding for that time, they couldn't possibly pin any crime on him. James knew, even as he thought of the idea that it wouldn't work. Sirius wasn't the type of person to hide while he believes others to be in danger; he'd never consent to it.

James sighed. He was going to have to let himself be arrested again, and secretly he knew that Lily would kill him for it. "I've told you more than once, Victor dear boy, that I have no knowledge of Sirius Black's whereabouts. Heck, I still thought he was alive."

"Well, you leave me no choice, Potter," Actaeon said, looking even more pleased with himself. "You are under arrest, again, for breaking and entering into the Department of Mysteries. Come with me."

James checked himself to keep from laughing. "Come with you? I might be mad, Victor, but I'm not that mad. If you want to take me in, you'll have to do it by force."

James smiled maniacally as the color left his foe's face. Obviously he remembered their last duel and how it had turned out. Actaeon quickly whipped out his wand and immediately attacked; he wasn't going to wait for James to make the first move, seeing as how it would probably be the only move he would need to make. James dodged to the side as the curse hit the book shelf behind him. He countered, and thus began their duel.

This was nothing new to James. He had been dueling with people since he started school when he was eleven. As he had gotten older, they had gotten more and more dangerous and difficult. His quidditch reflexes allowed him to dodge and duck attacks that would have cause him to falter and also allowed his to strike back with great aim, even though his target was also moving. He could see Actaeon start to get nervous. He was making mistakes and sweating profusely, even though they hadn't been fighting very long.

It was then that James made his mistake. He had started to get slightly over confident at seeing the other man's nervousness; he figured he had the upper hand and started getting careless. Well, not careless, but rather he let his guard down. He hadn't realized that this was what Actaeon had been waiting for. In all honesty, he wasn't half as nervous as James thought he was, it was all a ploy to get James to back off for a moment. Seeing his window of opportunity, he dodged James's attack, and shouted out with a voice full of venom, "Crucio!"

James immediately collapsed. He yelled in pain without even realizing it. It felt as though he was being burned to death and having his skin ripped off all at once. While it was not the first time this cursed had been used on him by this man, it was easily the most painful. Still screaming, he desperately wished for someone to hear him, to come down and find them. He wished for anything so long as the pain would stop. He wished for death without realizing that he was already dead. Suddenly, the pain subsided, if only very slightly, and James lay in a crumpled heap on the ground in front of Actaeon. He tried to blink the tears from his eyes, but he couldn't and started to sob uncontrollably at Actaeon's feet.

Actaeon stood above James, smiling wickedly at the other man's pain. For some odd reason the sound of James's pained voice had been like music to his ears. And now, now he was crying as though he wasn't there. Actaeon crouched down next to James, and pulled him into a sitting position. Crouching behind him, Actaeon pressed his wand into James's back and whispered harshly in his ear, "Say goodnight, James. When you wake, you're going to be in Hell." After a small pause to make sure James understood what he had said, he said simply and without emotion, "Stupefy."

That was the last thing James heard before the pain faded completely and he blacked out into a dark oblivion.

a/n: alright...so exactly how much do you hate Actaeon? just wondering. See you in two weeks tops...I think