Christmas was over, lessons had started and the second years settled quickly back into the normal routine, it was hard not to when they had Professor McGonagall for the first lesson of their first day back. For most people this was fine, but not for the Marauders. They needed something to relieve the pressure, and they had found just the thing.
"Why him?" Peter's voice squeaked from the corner of the dormitory.
Sirius rolled his eyes; trust James and Remus to leave them now so he had to explain it all to Peter. James was in a Herbology detention and Remus was downstairs talking to the girls so the duty of explaining the new plan of action had been designated to Sirius.
"Because he's a greasy-haired, suck-up." Sirius said with contempt in his voice. "Plus, he's a Slytherin."
This was not the real reason they had targeted this specific person. It was simply that he was better than both Sirius and James in Potions and they seemed to take it to heart.
"Oh," Peter said quietly, starting to understand but not totally there. "And what are we going to do again?"
Sirius fought back a burning desire to strangle Peter there and then.
Once more the plan was explained to Peter. He would attract the boys' attention, shout something at him or do whatever it is that Peter does to get a persons attention and then the other three would engage themselves in a five minutes of doing whatever spells they could think of and then leave and hope Peter got away safely.
"Why do I have to be the lookout, keep-him-busy guy?" Peter asked when Sirius had finished explaining for the sixth time.
"Because," Sirius said slowly, trying to think of a good excuse. "He'll get suspicious if we go up to him and start talking. You can spell him next time, ok?"
Peter seemed happy with this as he nodded and he went back to rooting in his corner of the dormitory.
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"Alright, there he is," Sirius hissed at Peter the next weekend. "Hurry up."
The four of them had waited outside the library practically all day waiting for him to come out. They'd missed breakfast and lunch and the anticipation they'd felt at the start of the day was slowly fading. But now, as he finally left the library, books piled up past his nose, the grins reappeared and eagerness took over.
"Hey Snape," Peter called. "How does it feel to know Slytherin are going to lose every Cup this year?"
The boy shrugged, these weren't things that mattered to him. Peter looked back at the Marauders for help; they just stared at him blankly.
Peter took a nervous breath before trying again. "Why do you spend so much time in the library? Do the books act as substitutes for the girls you can't get to go out with you?"
The boy stopped walking this time and turned to look at Peter, he scowled before turning back again and continuing to walk.
"The girls won't even go out with you out of pity," Peter said, feeling more confident at the obvious effectiveness of what he was saying. "That's got to feel bad."
There was a loud bang as the bottom book hit the floor and the one above that fell on top of it. Book after book hit each other but the boy strode past them, his hooked nose and cold black eyes staring hard at Peter.
"Look, I don't know what you want," he said, icy tones cutting into Peter. "But…gah!"
He had tripped on the hem of his robes and hit the wall with smack. Four Marauders stood around his unconscious figure, one looking scared, two grinning at their fortune and one semi-smiling, but obviously having doubts. Peter, James, Sirius and Remus began to work, feeling unconsciousness was not an effective way to relieve the stresses they felt.
By the time they had finished, some fifteen minutes later, the boy was wearing a fluffy lilac hat, his face was over-exaggeratedly coated in what appeared to be make-up and, as though this weren't enough, he had been put under the jelly legs curse. Satisfied they had left to appease their growing hunger.
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"Was it you four?" A shrill voice demanded.
Before the others even knew for sure who it belonged to, James was speaking.
"Evans, lovely to hear you, from where I imagine is over by the portrait."
The boys were sat in the furthest corner of the common room, debating what to do with their evening.
"Shut it, Potter and answer the question." The sharp voice spoke again.
James' brow creased in thought. "Well now I'm confused, how can I stay quiet and answer your question? You're just giving us contradicting orders there."
"Potter," it spoke again in somewhat of a warning tone.
"James, may I sug-"
James ignored Remus' advice, choosing the bolder tactic instead.
"Evans, I don't have a clue what you're talking about." He said, almost sounding believable but not quite because of the smirk on his face.
"Severus Snape." Lily said simply, giving him keywords to refresh his memory. "I'm talking about Severus Snape. Was it you four?"
"Who's Severus Snape?" Sirius asked in a way similar to James.
Lily let out a frustrated growl. "Was it you four?" She asked again.
"Evans, we don't know what you're talking about." James lied once more.
At this point Lily seemed to snap. Her wand was out within a second of him finishing talking and, as though the look on her face weren't menacing enough, she had some words to share with him.
"James Potter you lying little toad. There was no need for what you did, no need at all; you're just a bully and a poor excuse for a human being." She pointed her wand at him threateningly. "You're going to apologize to him tomorrow, in the Dining Hall, at lunch I think. There'll be more witnesses. You three too, don't think you're getting away with it."
Sirius rose to his feet, amazed that Lily thought she had the authority to command him. "And if we don't…?"
She flicked her wrist casually, making the wand make a subtle movement up and down, as she did so she muttered something under her breath. "I can cause you a lot of embarrassment, Black."
His robes had vanished, as had the clothes he wore underneath. There stood Sirius Black, dressed in nought but a pair of underpants on a cold January night. Any other person would be embarrassed to be seen in such a way, would cover themselves up in anything nearby and escape to get clothes on, but now Sirius Black. Not when he had dozens of girls staring at his thin frame and bare chest, which showed signs of becoming well-toned, and not when it was obvious that this mass of ogling was annoying Lily no end.
'How am I supposed to teach them a lesson when they enjoy it?' She thought miserably. Scowling at everyone, she stormed up to the girls dormitory, putting Sirius' clothes back on as she went. This didn't stop the girls from continuing to stare at the boy, who any stranger to the school would think was a demigod the way the girls acted around him.
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The next day no apology came, but Lily did not challenge the boys for one, much to their surprise. They had expected somewhat more of a challenge from their regular goody-two-shoes, but none came and it made them nervous. But not as nervous as they should have, as they would have been, had they known what was going on in the school dungeons.
The boy was stood in an abandoned classroom, hunched over a cauldron. Continuously he stirred, adding ingredients every now and then and occasionally consulting a book beside him. He had special permission to be here, being Jenkruss' favourite because of his "Expert skills at all Potion-making". She allowed him the room to help him practice. If she knew what he really did he had no doubt he would have her help with it, but he didn't tell her. This was his special project. He would show them.
"They'll rue the day they messed with Severus Snape." He muttered, following it with classic evil laughter. Laughter that soon turned to choking coughs as he added another ingredient and the potion blew up in his face, releasing several different colours of gas clouds.
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A/N: Sorry it's been such a long wait, and after it, it was so small. I've been in a real writing slump; I didn't want to write the chapter but I had to introduce Snape at some point. So yeah, my apologies.
I hoped you all checked out the previous chapter "Alice", before this one. Neither are the best chapters, but they're necessary. And if you haven't already there's another story of mine you can read, "Miracle", another L/J.
Um…Will update again as soon as possible, I just have a couple of history essays to write, I'm going to do one now, and the other probably at the weekend so I'll have a few nights to write, and I'll try and make it nice and long for you all :D
Rae