I know it's been a while since I updated, but if it helps, it's a really long one. I thought about cutting it into pieces, but I really wanted to get the whole Zurich sequence (oops, spoiler) into one chapter. I had a lot of fun on this one, but I'm afraid Sirius ran away with the story. Again. It's exams now, so consider this your Christmas present. Enjoy.

Swiss Capers

Chapter Thirty One

A discrete cough below her brought Nym's attention away from her book. At the bottom of the bookcase she sat on, looking up at her, was Jimmy, Morwyn in his arms. "Nym?"

Nym carefully marked her place and put the book aside. There would be time enough to read it later, but Jimmy was so quiet, a chance to talk to him was always welcome. Besides, he was one of the few people that didn't make her head hurt these days.

"I thought you were going home for the holidays."

"No." She motioned Jimmy up the ladder to join her. He came, dutifully, taking his spot beside her.

"Did you write your mother and ask?"

Nym looked down at her hands. "I wrote her."

"But you didn't ask," Jimmy guessed shrewdly.

She flushed scarlet. "No. I told her I was going to Zurich to visit Remus."

"And?"

"She hasn't replied."

Jimmy, wisely, decided not to follow that part of the conversation any further. "I would have thought you would catch the train to London if you were going to Zurich."

"It would make sense," Nym agreed. "But Sirius is coming to pick me up. He's coming too."

"Sounds like you have an exciting Christmas planned."

Nym nodded, her mind filled with imaginings of all the fun she would have in Switzerland with her brothers. "I can't wait. I really need to get away."

"From Hogwarts?"

"Yes. No. From the people. Some of them."

Jimmy glanced at her. "Is this about Rick and Mandy again?"

Nym sighed. "That's part of it. If Mandy isn't mad at Rick, she's crying because she thinks he'll never notice her. And as her best friend it's my duty, no, my privilege, to listen to her." She all but spat the last part in disgust. "And Rick, he knows she likes him. I think he likes her too. But every time they're together, he goes out of his way to antagonize her. He flirts outrageously with me, or with any other girl around, but if Mandy tries to say anything to him, he completely ignores her. And Zack… he comes crying to me because Minetta won't give him the time of day, even though he spends every Hogsmeade weekend looking for her, and when he finds her, practically begging her to go out with him. It's pathetic, and even though I want him to be happy, I just wish he'd give up. And now, oh Jimmy, I'm so sorry. I hate it when people come whining to me, and then I turn around and do the same to you." She put her head in her hands, fighting back tears. It wasn't fair for life to be so damned difficult for no good reason. For the thousandth time, she wondered why she didn't make it a little bit easier by not going out as Minetta. That would solve one problem easily enough. But she knew it was because she liked to have Zack chasing her, thinking she was desirable, even if he thought he was chasing someone else. It felt nice, but it hurt too.

"I don't mind," Jimmy assured her. He put Morwyn in her lap. "And neither does she. That's what friends are for, Nym."

Impulsively, Nym reached over and gave Jimmy a big hug. "Thanks, Jimmy."

He returned it a bit awkwardly. "When's Sirius coming?" he asked, red in the face.

Nym started. "Oh no! He'll be here soon, and I'm only half done packing." She slid down the ladder, holding her book and a very disgruntled Morwyn. "Thank you so much, Jimmy. I'll see you in a couple of weeks. Happy Christmas!" She bolted for Gryffindor Tower, frantically reviewing everything she had yet to pack.

As Nym reached to close the lid of her trunk, finally packed and hopefully filled with everything she would need in Zurich, a little first year girl poked her head in the dorm room. "Nym?" she asked, uncertain. Nym looked up, and tried to smile at the girl. Had she been so little and timid in her first year? Surely not. "There's a man outside the portrait hole asking for you."

Nym slammed the trunk closed and grabbed her cloak, beckoning the luggage to follow her as she hurried down the stairs behing the girl. "Thank you," she tossed over her shoulder as she barreled out the door and into Sirius's arms. "Paddy!"

He swept her up in a big hug, twirling her around so that she just missed hitting her luggage, which hovered expectantly nearby. "How are you, little one? Ready to go?"

Nym grinned up at her big brother. "I can't wait. I can't believe we're going to Zurich! Oh Sirius, I can't tell you how excited I am."

He laughed. "Can't you just? I know. We'll get to see Remus at the Academy. See the beast in his lair, so to speak." He laughed again at seeing Nym's shocked looked. "Lighten up, girly."

Nym shook her head and laughed in reply. "I forget, sometimes, that's all."

"So what's been happening around the old place while I've been gone?"

Nym told him, talking as they made their way down to the Three Broomsticks to floo to London, and from there to the international floo hub. She'd just finished telling him about Billy, and all the scrapes she had dragged the younger boy into already, when Sirius commented, "So, are there any special boy's in my little sister's life I should be having a chat with?"

Nym paused, unsure how to respond, and then the whole situation came tumbling out. Sirius listened as she told him about Rick and Mandy, and Zack and Minetta and the whole stupid mess. When she finished she looked at him, dreading some sort of sympathy or kindly advice. Instead, all he said was, "Well, that sounds fun, doesn't it? Now Auror college, that's a whole other world of pain. Frank lied when he said second year was better. Wait, no, I take that back. It's much better at making your life a living hell."

"But you love it," Nym reminded him.

Sirius ran his hand through his hair, which he'd let grow long in what was becoming the style. "Did it ever occur to you I might be crazy."

"Of course. But I try not to hold it against you."

"I appreciate it, I promise," he returned dryly. He changed the subject again. "Do you think there will be many pretty girls in Zurich?"

Nym rolled her eyes. "Really, Paddy. Is that all you ever think about?" She cut him off when he tried to deny it. "I suppose there are, although I seem to remember you like them tanned and scantily clad. I don't know how many girls are going to be running around in bikinis at Christmas." She gave him a very pointed look.

"A man can dream, can't he?"

"Oh, and Paddy? The Swiss are nice people, but they won't tolerate you when you're drunk. Although really, we should have done something sooner when you started going around sniffing people's butts."

"I never."

"Did so. You were just so drunk you couldn't remember. Hell, with that much in you, I'm amazed you weren't comatose!"

Sirius glared at her half-heartedly. "You make it sound like I'm a drunk or something."

"No. But you do party a bit more than most people. Don't give me that look."

He rolled his eyes. "I ought to tell Remus to lock you up in a lab with those experimental magicians over Christmas."

Nym's eyes grew wide. "You wouldn't. Do you have any idea what it's like to be treated like a lab rat?"

"It would only be fair."

"It most certainly would not. I was only telling the truth. You want to know what you look like?" She crossed her eyes, focusing on her nose, and making it as canine as she could. Then she lay down on bench in the waiting area where she had been sitting, leaving arms and legs dangling in all directions as she pretended to snore obnoxiously.

She opened her eyes to see Sirius bent double, holding his sides as he laughed with that great, barking laugh of his. "Do you have any idea how dumb you looked?"

"I can't do justice to the original," Nym returned primly. He stuck his tongue out at her, for all the world like he was five.

"You were telling me about that girlfriend of Remus's that he had last time," he said when he calmed down. "How come he never tells me this sort of thing?"

"Because you aren't properly sympathetic, and you've never had to struggle with a relationship. Remus wants someone to whine to, not someone to offer to take him out to a bar and set him up with a pretty whore."

"Young lady, your language…" Sirius began, in a very good imitation of Lucius.

"Oh, stuff it. You use worse all the time. And she isn't his girlfriend. Apparently she's still going out with Julius Santos."

"Why do I know that name?"

"Because Remus complains about him constantly, and I wrote to tell you what an amazing git he was. He's not a slime ball like Snivellus," she added, scrupulously honest, "but he is definitely asking for some retribution."

"For?"

"Being a git."

"Ah. We'll have to arrange that, won't we? What say we get this girlfriend away from the git and with Remus, hey?"

"It'll be like a good deed at Christmas. Remus will get the girl he wants and Bianca will no longer have to put up with a git she's way too good for."

"He'll never go for it," Sirius told her, bringing to mind Remus's extreme reluctance to engage in any prank that wasn't completely harmless.

"Then we can't let him find out." Sirius stuck out his hand, and Nym shook it. "Let's do it."

Remus met them at the international floo hub in Zurich. He took one look at their ginning faces and shook his head. "Absolutely not."

"What are you talking about?" Sirius asked oh-so-innocently.

"Yeah," Nym put in. "Are you saying we aren't happy to see you?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "It won't fly, guys. I don't know what you have planned, but I won't stand for it."

"What we have planned," Sirius drawled, "is to have an amazing Christmas in Zurich with our friend. Are you telling me you won't allow it?"

Remus gave a little chuckle. "Fine. I'll pretend to believe you."

Sirius gave him a very hurt look, and went to collect the bags that had been sent along separately. "Alright, Nym," Remus said as soon as Sirius was out of earshot. "What are you two up to?"

"You aren't trusting at all, are you?" she retorted.

Remus ran a hand through his fly-away hair. He looked as old as ever, to Nym's eye, and there were lines on his face that hadn't been there before, but he didn't look unhealthy. "I would trust the two of you with my life," he said, his face completely serious. "Just not with my love life."

"Well that's deuced silly of you, isn't it?" Nym retorted.

"Nym…" he said warningly, but anything else he was going to say was cut off by Sirius's return.

"Mooney, you twerp, you never said there were so many gorgeous girls in Switzerland. Trying to keep them all for yourself, are you?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "How in Merlin's name do you manage, Paddy? I swear, you spend every waking moment chasing skirts, and yet they still haven't kicked you out of Auror College."

"That's my natural brilliance, that is." Sirius puffed out his chest in what he probably thought was a very dashing and manly way, but which Nym thought made him look a bit like a pigeon. Remus eyed him curiously, obviously thinking much the same thing as Nym.

"Are you sure it isn't because you flirt with the professors?" James would have said it in a bantering way, Wormtail would have sneered, but Remus just said it mildly, as though he was actually serious.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Oh yes, that would be it. 'Come here, Gutterburg, you old bat. Seventy years is no barrier to our love.'"

Remus grinned. "Just checking. Now Nym, about that homework…"

He was serious, too. How anyone who was so much fun could at the same time be so bookish and boring, Nym would never know. Sirius cut his friend off. "Never mind that now, Mooney. Nym told me the food at the Academy is fabulous, and I'm starved."

"Hardly fabulous," Remus returned dryly, "but there's plenty of it, and I don't remember you being too picky about what you eat."

"If this is about the turtle…"

"It wasn't, but it is now."

"That is completely unfair."

"You brought it up."

"Right. So just because I did one dumb thing in my life…"

"No. You just happened to bring up one of the dumb things you did out of a series of stupid things which you started doing the day you were born…"

"It was only one turtle," Nym pointed out.

Sirius gave her a look. "You're no help."

"As opposed to the hinkeypunk that was meant to be for the Care of Magical Creatures lecture…"

Now Remus was giving her a look too. "You just had to bring that up, didn't you?"

"I'm trying to be fair." She gave them a hurt look, trying for the enormous puppy eyes that Mandy used (without realizing how silly it made her look) when she wanted something.

"You're managing wonderfully, I promise," Sirius muttered.

He might have gone on, and probably would have brought up any number of foolish things that Nym herself had done, but they arrived in front of the metal and stone gates of the Academy. He paused and whistled his appreciation of the enormous, sprawling complex, most of it buried up to the windows in heavy snow.

"Yes, yes," Remus sighed. "That's the view to impress visitors. Come on," he led them around the buildings towards slightly more humble areas. "You're staying in with the students. Don't expect luxury."

It wasn't luxurious - the student quarters of the Academy lacked even a hint of the grandeur of the dormitories at Hogwarts - but is was warm and cozy and felt, to Nym, of home in a way that she couldn't remember anywhere else feeling since her mother had put her on the train that first day, two and a half years ago.

The kind, portly woman who ran the canteen fed Nym a bowl of stew that was good and plentiful, if not fabulous, and sent her to bed, while Remus and Sirius disappeared to discuss things that, they'd told Nym, there was simply no way they were going to discuss in front of her. She could have taken the invisibility cloak and spied on them, she supposed, but if anyone would spot what she was up to, it would be those two, and besides, the stew had been so warm and filling, all she really wanted to do was sleep.

Wandering through the streets of Zurich's wizarding community with Bianca, Nym felt incredibly small and not a little out of place. The other woman, wrapped in a long cloak of white, edged with blue, looked like a porcelain doll, or an artist's rendition of an ice princess. She had none of Narcissa's icy demeanor, though, for all she shared her coloring. Bianca was so sweet that at times Nym felt just the littlest bit sick, and couldn't help but be annoyed at the way Bianca's cheeks flushed rosily in the cold as she smiled and chatted to all the people she knew.

Nym doubted she looked so pretty and comfortable in the cold. She certainly didn't feel comfortable. She was, in a word, cold, and with two feet of snow over the last three days, and a definite chill in the air, she had every right to be. But that didn't stop Bianca, who was determined to take Nym out and show her around Zurich, even though it had only been eight or nine months since Nym had been here last, and she hadn't forgotten where everything was.

Bianca stopped them in front of a jewelry store, but didn't go in. Nym, who had been in enough jewel shops with Narcissa, was quite happy not to go into this one, although the cold of her toes suggested she might be able to put up with it. Nym followed Bianca's bright blue gaze to the gold and diamond engagement rings, and all but groaned in exasperation. "You aren't serious."

"And why not?" Bianca wanted to know, sounding just the littlest bit hurt. Nym might be five years younger than her, but sometimes she got the impression that the tiny black haired witch was quite a bit older than she was - in cynicism, at least. "Julius and I have been dating for a year now."

"And in that time, you've failed utterly in turning him into anything other than a total prig." Now Bianca really did look hurt, and Nym relented a little. "I know you care about him, Bee, but let's face it, he doesn't really care all that much about other people."

"He cares about me," Bianca asserted, perfect diamond tears glistening in the corners of her eyes. Yes, yes, yes, Nym thought tiredly, that's why he's been cheating on you for the last four months. She'd suspected ever since her last visit that Julius Santos had a bit of a roving eye, and almost as soon as they had arrived, Sirius had ferreted out that the man had indeed been cheating on his girlfriend. Which, he'd told Nym, made him feel morally justified in breaking them up. After all, he rather liked Bianca, even if she wasn't really the type he fell for, and he didn't want her to be hurt by a pig like Santos. "I'd do the same for you," he'd assured Nym, straight-faced. "Trust me, you're much to good for most of the swine out there."

Speak of the devil, Nym thought wryly. There was Sirius, bounding through the snow towards them. "Oh, Nym, it's that dog again." Now she thought of it, Bianca was really just the littlest bit tedious. It didn't matter how many times she explained that the dog (Snuffles, she called him, much to Sirius's annoyance) was utterly harmless, Bianca persisted in being slightly afraid of him.

Snuffles jumped on her, knocking her backwards into the snow and shoving his cold wet nose in her ear. "Snuffles, no, gerrof!" Nym cried, trying to shove him off. Even as a dog, Sirius weighed more than she did. There was no way he was moving until he wanted to. "Look at me, you big brute, I'm soaked." He got off, and sat in the snow, drooling happily. "Disgusting dog." Sirius barked at her, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Come on, Nym, let's get you inside. We'll have a pot of hot chocolate. You must be frozen, no thanks to that mutt." She shot Sirius a glare that was supposed to be mean, but Bianca wasn't the sort that was particularly good at nastiness. Snuffles barked, and happily bounced through the snow, leading them back to the inn that Bianca kept with her mother.

As soon as they got inside, Bianca's mother took one look at Nym and swept her up in a thick blanket and deposited her in front of the fire, tutting and fluttering like a mad thing. "Please, Mrs. Backer… Mother Eva," she amended, recalling the woman's insistence that Nym call her that, "I'm fine, really. Snuffles and I were just having fun."

"Oh, that dog," the woman said in exasperation, bringing Nym and Bianca each a heavy mug of chocolate. "There ought to be a law against animals like that."

Sirius, sprawled on the floor, grinned up at her in his doggy way, drool falling from his open muzzle to the floor. It probably never occurred to Sirius how inelegant dogs actually were, Nym mused. As a human, Sirius would never put up with anything even remotely damaging to his dignity, but here he was, rolling around and drooling. Although, to be fair, he could be as annoying as he wanted, and no one would dream of getting back at him, and that would very much appeal to someone of Sirius's nature.

A gust of cold wind blew through the room as the door opened, admitting a man with immaculate hair and clothes. Probably charmed them to keep the snow off, Nym thought in disgust. Or, rather, paid someone else to do it. Julius Santos flashed around that smile of his that he thought was so winning and came to sit with Bianca and Nym.

"Hello darling," he said. He looked down at Nym. "You're Lupin's little friend, aren't you?"

"Oh Julius, you've met Nym before." Several times, and he never failed to forget her name. Bianca didn't seem to notice this, let alone consider it an annoying sign of Julius's conceit, but it irked Nym no end.

"Ah, the Black girl." He said it dismissively.

Now, Nym was not overly proud of her family. Most of them were mean, arrogant pricks, and she suspected that Regulus wasn't the only one among them who would happily kill her, given the chance. But she was damned if she was going to let some git like Julius Santos think he was better than her.

"Nymphadora Amelia Teresa Cassiopeia Black Malfoy Tonks, heiress to the Malfoy estate." Oh yes, he would remember her now. Anyone with a name like that (minus the Tonks part) had pure blood running back a thousand years, and even here in Switzerland, they knew the name Malfoy. It wasn't actually a part of her name, Nym admitted to herself, but since Narcissa and Lucius did occasionally introduce her as 'Nymphadora Malfoy,' she figured she was entitled to use it when needed. And it wasn't strictly true that she was heir to the Malfoy estate - she hadn't been since Draco had been born - but Santos didn't need to know that. The point was, as Lucius had constantly reminded her, in the wizarding world, the more names that you could pull out of your ass and claim as your own, the more respect you got. Well, those were his sentiments, although she paraphrased them a bit. For once, Nym could almost forgive her mother for giving her such a horribly long name.

"Forgive me, Miss… ah… Malfoy, you cannot believe how sorry I am not to have remembered." But you'll remember now, won't you, Nym thought acidly. You don't remember plain little Nym Tonks, but Nymphadora Malfoy, well, you won't forget her in a hurry. "A very great family, the Malfoys. I can't express how honored I am to know you." Disgusting, Nym thought.

Bianca looked delicately shocked by the turn of events. "Julius?"

"Yes sweetheart?" he said it absently, Nym noticed.

She hesitated. "It's nothing." Let her chew on that one for a while, Nym thought. See what a weasel her boyfriend is.

Sirius seemed to decide that he had been ignored for long enough. He planted his paws on the table, gave Nym a reassuring lick on the cheek, and went and put his head in Julius's lap, were he proceeded to drool as though it was what he had been born to do. Snuffles really could drool when he put his mind to it. Nym could still remember that time in her first year when she had been woken by Evans's screams after waking to find herself sleeping in a veritable puddle of drool. James had not been amused, but Nym hadn't been able to look Evans in the eye for a week without breaking into a fit of giggles.

"Erg! Get off, you stupid mutt!" At least, Nym was pretty sure that was what Santos said. It was largely punctuated with swears and screaming in Italian. He jumped up, shoved Snuffles away, and violently kicked the dog in the ribs.

Nym was out of her own seat in an instant, screaming right back at Julian. Before the man had even registered the diminutive girl's anger, he'd been blasted backwards into a wall and Nym was coaxing a winded Sirius into the back room of the inn.

Thank Merlin for small miracles, she thought in relief when they were safely out of sight. Sirius hadn't changed form, although she wouldn't have blamed him if he'd become human again and blasted Santos into kingdom come. It would just have been a bit difficult to explain to Bianca, and Mother Eva, and Santos, and everyone else. Plus there was a chance someone back home would get word of it, and Sirius didn't need the Ministry breathing down his neck about being an unregistered Animagus.

Almost as soon as they were out of sight, Snuffles sat down, and then a fully human Sirius was sitting on the ground in front of her, holding his ribs. "That fucking bastard," he wheezed. "That bloody, fucking…" Nym hushed him.

"Let me see the ribs." Sirius glared at her weakly. "Oh, get over it. Let me see." He opened his jacket and moved his shirt, all the while glaring at her rebelliously. Nym touched the reddening ribs gently with a finger, mindful of Sirius's hiss of pain. "You're lucky you didn't break any ribs. Then we would have had to get Remus to fix you up, and he'd want to know what you were up to."

"Lucky, you mean, because then I would have had to change back and kill the bastard," he gasped as a jet of light from Nym's wand hit the bruise. It seemed to glow purple for a moment, then faded. Nym tested the now clear skin, taking in his wince.

"It'll be sore for a bit."

She didn't miss the ironic look he sent her. "I know, youngling. I taught you that spell, remember?"

"You did not," she shot back, a smile tugging at her lips. "James did."

"But those were my bruises you learned on."

"Aye. And just what possessed you to go into the Two Broomsticks that day, that's what I'd like to know. Did you think just because they're gay they couldn't beat the crap out of you?"

"Language, young lady. And there wasn't a single one of them in there that could take me."

Nym rolled her eyes. "Well then, wasn't it lucky for them that it was four against one? Now, get up, and let's get back and watch the fun."

Sirius stood up, his customary grin firmly back in place. "We taught you well, didn't we, youngling?"

Back in the front room, there was a small crowd around the fallen form of Julius Santos. Bianca was on her knees, fretting over him, while Mother Eva hovered anxiously nearby. A pair of young wizards, probably Healer students from the Academy, were checking Santos over, poking, prodding, and asking inane questions.

"Who are the three Chasers for the Prague Puffskeins?" one asked, using his wand to shine light in one of Santos's eyes.

"The… how should I know?" Santos demanded.

"What was the name of the third town that Saint Barthelbey the Multifarious exorcised of wombats?" demanded the other, his wand prodding Santos's fingernails.

"Are you both completely barmy?"

"Who," the two wizards stopped their poking, "just hexed you into a wall?" Sirius was standing - looming - over them. He looked impressive, to Nym's eye. His hair was long and windswept, but it looked like he'd intended it to be that way, and it was nearly as deep a black as the long dragonhide coat that had been a birthday gift from Peter, James and Remus. Knee high dragonhide boots, over black trousers, gave him the look of a buccaneer. It was no wonder he got attention when he rode up on that flying motorbike of his. His expression, though, drew all eyes away from his clothes. He looked ready to nail Santos to the wall, very like the rare bugs in some eccentric naturalist's collection.

"Nymphadora…" Santos looked very pale, and he seemed to be getting paler by the word, "Amelia Teresa Cassiopeia Black Malfoy Tonks." Well, his memory was certainly intact, Nym thought wryly. She had a time remembering all that sometimes, and it was her own name.

She was well aware of the way the two young wizards drew away from Santos slightly, but was completely oblivious to the reason. Sirius, out of the corner of his eye, admired the picture his little cousin made. She had grown from a skinny little kid to a delicate young woman, who managed to look graceful and dignified as a duchess despite her youth (and if she still frequently dropped plates and tripped over chairs, at least there were none nearby at the moment to spoil the pocture). Narcissa hadn't, despite Nym's claims, dressed her up like a doll - she'd dressed her like the heiress to a very powerful wizarding family, in elegant custom-made black robes. And when she was as icy-faced as she was now (did she learn that from Lucius?) he couldn't believe a cowardly worm like his younger brother had ever dared to take her on.

"And why?" Sirius asked, his voice still perfectly flat.

Nym spoke up before Santos could. "He kicked Snuffles." And despite it all, despite of those hours of work that Narcissa had put into making Nym look like the perfect ice princess, she was still only thirteen, and little for it. Those three words… Sirius could have sworn they were magic. He could have sworn that every wizard in the room now saw not only an affront to the dignity of a very old and powerful wizarding family (with a reputation for nastiness that he'd never felt it appropriate to mention to Nym) but also an upset little girl who seemed no more than ten, whose pet had just been cruelly hurt by a bully. He could almost feel sympathy for Santos evaporate from the room. It didn't matter that the dog was huge and not the least bit friendly looking - Peter had once told him he looked like the Grim when he was in his Animagus form. Neither the dog nor the girl could be particularly threatening if she called him Snuffles. Who called a dog Snuffles? Sirius thought in a momentary flash of irritation. Really, he could put up with so much, but Snuffles? With a growl of irritation he turned back to the present situation.

"You kicked a little girl's dog."

"I… he… it drooled on me!" Santos's eyes were very wide now. Oh, bad move, Sirius thought, not without malicious glee.

"Dogs drool."

"Do you have any idea how much this suit cost?"

"Do I care? You attacked my little sister's dog." He wasn't a Malfoy; he was even less of a Malfoy than Nym was, but that didn't matter. Just let Santos think he was. "And I demand satisfaction." Ah, that time honored phrase. Santos was very pale now, very pale indeed. Time to rub a bit of salt in. "Or, you can duel my sister."

Which would he choose, Sirius wondered idly as he watched the conflicting emotions on Julius Santos's face. There really wasn't any way out of a duel now, not without looking like an utter creep and a coward in front of Bianca, her mother, and any number of people from the National Academy, some of whom had to know Santos. He could duel Nym, but that would make him look like a bully, picking on a little girl, even though Sirius well knew that Nym could beat this prat in a heartbeat. Which left the man no choice but to duel Sirius and that, Sirius well knew, was not an option that appealed over much to the cowardly Santos.

Sirius knew he looked scary. He'd dressed exactly to that purpose. He'd never tell Nym, but he'd been planning this confrontation ever since he met Santos their first evening in Zurich, after Nym had gone to bed. He'd taken one look at Santos - his expensive clothes, his face and hands completely devoid of any of the scars that came of a lifetime of looking for trouble and finding it more often than one even cared to look, his pride and lofty mannerisms - and his mind had kicked into overdrive. And now it was Christmas Eve, and the opportunity had just been too good to miss. And he couldn't miss it, he knew: Santos had let slip that he planned to ask Bianca to marry him at midnight tonight. So he'd dressed to impress, knowing just the effect he wanted to create, and he'd hoped for his chance to come, fearful all the while that he'd have to make some opportunity and Remus would see his hand. He was a little worried as it was that Remus would see his hand in this, suspect that he was deliberately breaking up Bianca and Santos, but he hoped his friend would be open to the suggestion that he and Nym had just reacted to events, and had no inkling of the potential consequences. As long as not too many details got around - and Sirius, knowing gossip, suspected they wouldn't, or at least not accurately - he was confident that Remus could be convinced.

"Alright." The older man was sweating already. Good for him.

Mother Eva seemed to recover her senses. "Not in here, you won't," she said fiercely. "I won't have you destroying my inn." Even before she had finished speaking, Sirius had caught Nym's eye, and gestured obliquely towards the distraught innkeeper.

"Oh, Mother Eva, of course not. The Academy will have a dueling court. Please, we would never distress you so."

Sirius swept her an elegant bow. "We wouldn't dream of impinging so discourteously on your hospitality, Mistress Backer," he said. "I cannot tell you how I treasure your goodwill." He took the plump woman's hands in his. "You have been so good to my little sister. I could not repay that kindness by causing you distress." The woman nodded tearfully.

Merlin, but he's a good actor, Nym thought in admiration. A few words, a fierce look, and a nice coat, and he's got the entire room under a spell. "However, I cannot allow this offence against my sister to go unpunished." He sent a flat look at where Julius was trying to console Bianca, who didn't look like she particularly wanted to be consoled, at least not by him. You'd never know how much he hated so many of those pureblooded families, Nym thought in awe. You'd never imagine he was a bloodtraitor. "Shall we go, then? No sense in wasting time." And just like that, he swept out of the room, taking many of its occupants with him. That was one of the things about Sirius that Nym had noticed: people followed him just to see what would happen next. And with Sirius, they were so rarely disappointed that some of them took to following him more often. He'd practically had a fan club at Hogwarts; it was no wonder Wormtail had idolized him.

The dueling room was a long room, elaborately made but with very little by way of furniture. Almost nothing, in fact, except for a few benches near the ends. Less things to damage, Nym supposed. A slightly raised platform ran down the middle of the hall, obviously for the duelers, and there were a couple of screens set up here and there - presumably for the spectators to hide behind if things got ugly.

Inside, Sirius chose his end and stripped off his coat, throwing it carelessly across a bench. His white linen shirt with its loose sleeves made him look like a bucaneer readying for a swordfight. Nym thought she heard a couple of nervously exctied giggles from near the doorway.

Sirius did a couple of stretches, not so much to loosen up as to keep people's eyes on him. Let them think he was comfortable and confident. Which, in all fairness, he was. He'd kept an eye on Santos the past few days, and was well aware that the man had not made it into the Academy based on his spell-casting. He was an astronomy student, and a decent hand at potions, but Sirius had always been strongest in those subjects that required talent with a wand, and his year and a half at the Auror's College had not only made him quicker, it had taught him a few underhanded tricks that had saved his neck more than once since.

"Seconds?" he asked. There was no reason for him to think that Santos would cheat, and thus require a Second to step in, but his grandfather had always insisted that a proper gentleman had a Second, and if there was one thing Sirius had taken away from his heritage besides a distaste for pride and nobility, it was a deeply ingrained knowledge of how to conduct a duel.

The two inane question-askers from the inn volunteered. They, of everyone, still seemed the most shell-shocked by Sirius. In a spare second, Sirius pulled Nym aside. "Take care of Bianca, lass. And for Merlin's sake, make sure Mooney doesn't interfere." The girl nodded and darted away to where Bianca stood near the center of the platform, looking pale. He watched her say something quietly to the older woman and lead her away to a side bench, and ignored what his second was saying.

He'd planned and schemed to get Santos to attack him, to yell at him, to do something to justify this duel. It hadn't been personal, then, it was just mischief that would coincidentally help out a friend, protect a rather sweet girl, and punish a git. But now… that stupid prat had kicked him. Now it was personal, and Sirius was determined to make this humiliating enough that Santos would never forget it, not if he lived to be five hundred and seven.

But at the same time, he mused as he stood back to back with his opponent, he couldn't seem cruel, or he'd lose everything he'd gained with that little performance back at the inn. Santos had to be seen to get a couple of shots off, although he'd be damned if he was going to let any of them hit him. But if the other man didn't even fire any in his direction, it really wouldn't look that good, now would it?

…one…

He should have let Nym do this.

…two…

It would have been more humiliating for the man, and Nym wouldn't have to hold back, but could vent months worth of rage, on behalf of herself and Remus, without worry.

…three…

Yes, that would have been satisfying, but ultimately, this would better help them achieve their goal.

…and turn…

He threw up a quick ward against the curse that Santos sent his way. He'd learned, these last few months, to judge a spell by the streak of light it left. Whatever it was that Santos had sent, it was rather nasty, although not particularly complicated, and the slight wobble suggested he either wasn't very good at it or he was scared. Either option worked well enough for Sirius. Was it a body bind, he wondered idily as he sent a quick spell at Santos, who suddenly had his feet swept out from under him so that he landed, quite painfully, on his back. He'd be a bit winded. Good, Sirius thought savagely, serves him right for kicking me. Another short spell had Santos pressing one hand to his side and wincing as he felt his ribs, which felt like they'd been kicked.

Julius's next spell singed the hair on his neck. Merlin, just because the man was obviously completely useless at dueling did not mean he didn't have to pay attention. That had only narrowly missed him and, unless he missed his guess completely, it had been meant to set him on fire. Not a nice person, that was Santos. His next spell didn't just dump the man on his ass, it lifted him up to flip through the air first, so that he landed with a resounding crash.

And still the man tried to hex him! Was he really so stupid? Or was he simply a masochist, and enjoyed all the pain he must now be feeling? He sensed, rather than saw, Mooney come in. Nym intercepted him effortlessly, and took him over to help her keep watch on Bianca, who was now close to tears. He kept his main attention focused on the man in front of him, though. Santos had already proven himself tricky.

"Cruci…"

"Expelliarmus!" This time Sirius didn't hold back, but threw himself into the spell. Santos's wand ripped itself out of his hand and flew, arrow-like, across the room to embed itself, still quivering, in the opposite wall. Julius himself flew the other way, hitting the wall with a bone-crunching crack and sliding down it to lie still.

Sirius took his time walking across the stage to his fallen opponent. For a wonder, not another person in the room moved, although he could distantly hear someone - Bianca, probably - crying softly. He stood over the man a moment, frowning. So there might have been need for Seconds after all: Santos had cheated, and had he been a hair slower, he might well have been the one lying in a heap on the floor. He didn't look around, but sensed other people moving up behind him. All that had just happened solidified with crystal clarity in his mind in a single instant, and he kicked Santos hard in the ribs. "The Cruciatus curse?" he demanded. He could, distantly, hear people murmuring behind him. The other man, curled around the side that Sirius had kicked, didn't answer. "An Unforgivable curse?"

There were more people in the room now. Of course, Sirius thought a bit absently, there would be wards all over the room in case someone took it into their head - much as Santos had - to cheat and use dark magic. There were professors and researchers and security wizards, pushing through the crowd of interested onlookers. He hadn't bargained on this, that was for damn sure. Why was it that every time he or James tried a prank on their own, without Remus watching over their shoulders, it suddenly got so much bigger than they had originally planned?

"Mr… Santos," the security wizard glanced at his partner for confirmation. "Can you stand up, please? We'd like to talk to you and Mr..."

"Sirius Black-Malfoy, at your service, sir."

"You and Mr. Black-Malfoy in private," the security wizard finished, obviously won over by Sirius's polite manner.

And Nym, his darling Nym, suddenly she was there, looking the height of affronted dignity and righteous anger. "First you kick Snuffles, and then you try to curse my brother. I hope they throw you in Azkaban, you…" She had her wand out, and looked ready to blast Santos into another wall. She was so perfect in word and manner that he could have hugged her just then - the moment she spoke, the security wizard had become another of the crowd that adored and sympathized with Miss Nymphadora Black-Malfoy.

"Please, miss, we'll take him out and make sure he's properly punished. You can put your wand away," the security wizard said kindly. Nym looked at him suspiciously for a moment, then nodded. When the man turned his back to look at Santos again, Nym caught Sirius staring and raised her eyebrows. Her eyes moved very deliberately to where Remus was talking to a tearful Bianca. Sirius gave her a slight nod of his head. He'd always known his little cousin was quick on the uptake, and here she was again, moving the guards towards the conclusion she wanted before they even had time to consider the issue. She was a gift from the gods of mischief, that was for certain.

He allowed the security wizards to escort him from the room. Walking proudly out the door with his back straight, he knew the final impression he was giving the onlookers: the pure blooded prince who was out to see that justice was done. Santos would never recover from this.

"What did the two of you do?" Remus demanded as soon as he and Nym had taken an inconsolable Bianca and her tearful mother back to their inn and made sure they were alright. "And don't you go giving me that look, Nym. Yeah, that 'what are you talking about, Remus, we would never do anything' look. What did you do?"

Nym hesitated. She'd have to tell him something. There was no way he would believe that all this had just happened. He'd known from the moment they arrived in Zurich that they were up to something. Still, she could always pull the innocent act with Remus, at least more than she ever could with James or Sirius. "We never meant… oh, it all got so out of hand." Would tears be appropriate at this point? No, they wouldn't. So why could she feel them forming in her eyes? "Sirius, he wasn't trying to do anything, really, he just drooled in Julius's lap to get a rise out of him. But then Santos, he completely over-reacted, and he kicked Sirius, really hard! And I, I just panicked, and I hexed him into a wall and then it just, it just escalated!" she finished in a rush.

"Hush, Nym, it's okay." He wrapped her up in a big hug, holding her tightly as she finished crying out all the stress of the last hour. It had started as a prank, but somehow it had gotten so out of hand: Sirius could have been really hurt! "I'm not mad," he promised. "Really, I'm not. I can't believe I thought you would actually set this up. I'm sorry, Nym." She hiccupped.

He soon sent her up to bed with a big mug of tea, but Nym was too excited to go to sleep just yet. She owled James, sending him a long letter telling him all about Santos and Bianca and the duel, and a picture of her with Remus and Sirius covered in snow from a snowball fight they'd had a few days before, with the Swiss chocolates she'd got him and Lily for Christmas. She had sent a copy of the same photo to her father, along with more chocolates, as a Christmas gift; she still wasn't on speaking terms with her mother, but she'd sent enough for both of them, knowing he would share.

After another week and a half of being fussed over by older Metamorphamagi and scrutinized by half the researchers in the Experimental Magic department, plus lots of side trips around Zurich and the surrounding country, it was time for Nym and Sirius to go home to England. Mother Eva had given her a big hug farewell, and tucked a bar of chocolate into her pocket 'for the journey'. Remus and Bianca came along to the floo hub, the latter all but hanging off Remus.

Bianca was nice enough, Nym decided as she said goodbye to the woman, but rather too flighty for someone as wonderful and kind and stoic as Remus. In hardly any time at all, the woman had gotten over Santos and moved on, and Nym had had to listen to long musings about how wonderful Remus was. Bianca would go on and on about how he had always been there for her, and how understanding and kind he was, and how grateful she was to have him. In short, it was very like listening to James go on about Lily, except that it lost something when Nym remembered that Bianca had talked about Santos much the same way just two weeks before.

Still, Remus seemed happy enough for the time being, although he still occasionally shot Sirius suspicious looks over Bianca's head. He had what up until then he had only dreamed about, though, so he never glared very hard. And Nym wasn't about to try anything to change it, even though it would spare her darling brother future heartache. Knowing Bianca, if she was detached from Remus, she'd probably move on to Sirius without a thought, and that would be a headache and a half.

In the floo terminal in London, Sirius caught her eye. "I give them four months, tops," he said.

"I'm saying six, ten at the outside."

"We'll give Prongs nine to a year, then, you take five to eight, and Remus gets anything over a year."

"Will he bet on his own relationship?"

"No, but if he wins, well, it's its own reward, isn't it?"

Nym considered this. If Remus and Bianca did indeed stay together for a year, that would be reward enough for Remus for it to be considered that he had won the bet.

"What are the stakes for the rest of us?"

"Winner gets a kiss from Snivellus?" Sirius suggested innocently.

Nym snorted. "If that's it, I'll forfeit right now."

"Fine, how about one of those giant bars of chocolate from Honeydukes?"

"You made yourself sick last time you tried to eat one of those on your own. And you still didn't finish it."

In a typically juvenile fashion, Sirius stuck his tongue out at her. "If I win, you can make a bet on how much of it I'll eat. Otherwise, belt up youngling."

Nym snorted. "Fair enough." They shook hands.

"Now let's get you back to Hogwarts so you can learn how much smarter I am than you," Sirius told her with a wicked grin.