Chapter 3
"Where is that boy?" pondered Professor Darkwood pacing back and forth across his office. He hated that little group of Gryffindors with a passion only equaled by his desire to get the Quidditch cup in his office. He was the head of Slytherin and the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. And his stomach was leaping in glee at how much trouble he was going to get that young Black in.
He knew the Blacks personally and knew how disappointed they must be in their eldest son. At least their younger son Regulus showed signs of promise, hanging with the right crowd and being accepted into Slytherin. He could only hope that Sirius would open his eyes and realize his mistakes before it became too late to change his ways and turn to his pureblood heritage.
He figured that he'd waited long enough and now was a good time to contact Minerva and have a long discussion about getting her precious Gryffindor suspended. Or maybe he should get in touch with Dumbledore… Decisions, decisions was his final thought as he threw a handful of shimmering green powder into the fire and saying the headmasters name clearly stepped into the grate and headed to the headmaster's office.
Peter returned from the hospital wing a few minutes before Professor McGonagall stormed into the boy's dormitories. Remus and James didn't have time to explain much before she made her entrance and exploded.
"WHERE IS HE? HE'S NOT GOING TO GET OUT OF DETENTION, JUST BY NOT SHOWING UP FOR IT!" she roared "Now where is he?"
Damn it thought James. "Uh… We're not actually to sure… but I don't think he was trying to get out of detention. He's had a lot on his mind." James said carefully
"You expect me to believe that you, his best-friends don't know where he his. By the way all three of you have a detention for tomorrow night with me, for lying to Professor Hurns about his whereabouts this afternoon. He was not in the hospital wing as you claimed, he wasn't even in that little scuffle with the Slytherins. I want you to tell me where he was then and where he is now!" her lips thinned with each word and by the time she finished they were barely visible.
"We don't know where he was or is, honest! He came back a few hours later and then he went out again. But he has his own problems and I'm pretty sure that he forgot all about his detention." Remus said with his best innocent face.
Apparently it didn't work quite as well as he'd hoped, because she raised one eye-brow and looked at him disbelievingly. "That's not quite the story that Mr. Rouling told me. He said that Sirius came back drunk and that you two were following along having a grand old time."
James made a mental note to kill Kreg Rouling later. "Er… it's actually kind of a funny story…" Macgonall's lips thinned even more, that wasn't a good sign "well maybe funny isn't quite the right word, you see Sirius is having some minor family problems right now…"
"Save it Potter, I just want to know where he is. Do you have something of his that I could borrow?" she asked tight lipped.
"Uh… ya, what kind of thing do you need?" asked Remus as he moved over to Sirius's trunk.
"Any old thing as long as he uses or wears it a lot." She replied dismissively.
Remus opened the trunk and pulled out the first thing his hand touched and was in the midst of handing it to Professor McGonagall when he realized that it was a porn magazine.
She caught a glimpse of the cover before he could throw it back into Sirius's trunk. She raised one thin eye brow, as he hurriedly shoved a sock into her hand.
She spun around and stalked out the door.
A few minutes later she was in Dumbledore's office, handing him the sock.
"What's the tracking charms radius?" she asked him.
"Approximately 3 miles in all directions, not too useful if you're searching for someone who's running away, but I doubt that Mr. Black has done that." Dumbledore said with his usual cheerfulness.
Placing the dirty sock in the middle of his desk, Dumbledore pointed his wand at it and muttered a complicated string of gibberish and several scarlet sparks jumped from the end of his wand and a glow encompassed the sock, a few seconds later the glow vanished.
"Well? Did it work?" asked McGonagall impatiently.
"Yes, I believe so. If you will follow me, I'll lead you to him." He said over his shoulder as he started down the moving staircase.
There was little conversation between the two as they made their way through the castle and out the huge doors.
"Ah, there he is, across the lake. Well come along now Minerva, don't want to be in this rain any longer than we can help." Dumbledore said cheerfully as he started the long trek around the lake.
McGonagall just grumbled in response.
As they drew closer Sirius looked up and jumped in surprise, he quickly put out the cigarette as discreetly as possible and leaped to his feet.
"Mr. Black, would you please accompany us back to the castle? We have many things to discuss." Dumbledore said as he put his hand on Sirius's shoulder and steered him back towards Hogwarts.
McGonagall just glared at him and Sirius felt a sudden surge of panic.
(Italics thoughts)
"Did Remus and James tell them? Oh god no! Maybe I can make a break for it. But where would I go? Aww, hell consequences be damned, if they tell my parents that they know about the punishments, my parents are going to kill me. Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit. What to do what to do what to do… If I can make it to the forest, once I'm far enough in I can transform into Padfoot and they'll never find me!"
McGonagall was still shooting him glares, disapproval written clearly across her face. As soon as she turned her head away from Sirius, he made a bolt for it.
Dumbledore felt Sirius tense under his fingers and knew a split second before it happened what Sirius was going to do. Dumbledore may have looked frail and weak, but he actually possessed a surprising amount of strength. He tightened is grip on Sirius's shoulder and stopped his attempt at escape. Sirius struggled briefly, but soon gave up.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit…" Sirius's thoughts continued on much the same line all the way to Dumbledore's office.
Dumbledore sat Sirius down in a chair and then moved behind his desk, to sit down as well. McGonagall sat down next to Sirius.
"So Sirius, Mr. Potter tells me that you're having some family problems." Dumbledore began.
But was immediately cut off by Sirius, "I don't know what he told you, but it's not as bad as it might sound. My family and I are just fine, James doesn't really know what he's talking about…" Sirius's babble was cut off by McGonagall clearing her throat.
"Mr. Potter only told that you were having minor family problems, which might be a reason for you missing your detention with Professor Darkwood." She said, thin lipped as usual.
"Oh… uh… sorry." Sirius said looking at his boots, but embarrassment and relief were evident in his voice. God I'm stupid, of course Remus and James would never rat on me! What was I thinking? Wait a minute did she say detention? Oh shit, I forgot detention. Damn it!
"A student came to me earlier and said that you came into the Gryffindor common room, under the influence of alcohol. Is this true?" asked Dumbledore.
Sirius didn't say anything.
"Might I remind you that it is against the rules to consume any amount of alcohol while on school grounds and it's also against the rules to be on Hogwarts grounds while under the influence of alcohol. As well as your under-age, but seeing as you didn't cause any damage your punishment will not be as harsh as it might have been. You are further more banned from any Hogsmeade visits. I will also be sending another owl to your parents, alerting them to this and if the problem persists we will have a meeting between your parents, you, Professor McGonagall and myself on ways to correct the problem."
"Yes sir. But must you contact my parents? Couldn't I just serve a week or two of detention instead?" Sirius asked hopefully.
"Is there a reason that you don't want me to contact your parents?" Dumbledore asked curiously.
"I…uh… no not really…" Sirius muttered. "May I leave now?"
"No not yet, I'd like to talk with you in private for a few minutes." Dumbledore replied.
McGonagall got the message and said her good byes and left the room.
"Sirius are you having problems at home?" asked Dumbledore kindly.
Sirius went rigid in his chair, "No, why would you think that?" he asked carefully avoiding Dumbledore's gaze.
"Just a few things I've noticed. O.k. that is all, you may return to your common room now." He said in the voice that said I-know-your-lying-to-me. "Oh and Sirius, please try to refrain from drinking Firewhiskey again."
"Yes sir, sorry for bothering you." Sirius said, turning quickly and was almost out the door when Dumbledore spoke again.
"And if you are having any problems, do not hesitate to come see me."
"Yes sir" Sirius replied and then ran down the stairs and into the corridor.
Shit, shit, shit! He knows, I don't know how, but he knows! Oh shit! My parents are going to kill me! I am so staying at Hogwarts for Christmas!
He entered the dormitories and was immediately pounced upon by James, Peter and Remus.
"What happened?"
"What are they going to do to you?"
"Can I come to your funeral?"
"McGonagall was sooo out for your blood!"
"Is that cigarettes I smell?" Remus asked sniffing "I didn't know you smoked."
"Uh… I don't know what you're talking about!" Sirius said feigning innocence.
"Ya right… accio cigarettes!" Remus said jabbing his wand at Sirius.
Sirius's pack of cigarettes flew out of his pocket and into Remus's hand. The Marauders looked at him with various degrees of surprise.
"Er… how did those get there?" Sirius tried to sound shocked and innocent, but failed miserably.
"You smoke! And you never told me!" yelled James reproachfully. "You're in deep family shit and we're trying to help and you're out smoking? I think you need to get your priorities in order here."
"James! It's not bad, it-" Sirius tried to interject.
"NOT BAD? NOT BAD? It's a horrible habit, it can kill you!" James yelled "You might as well go to Azkaban!"
"I doubt that smoking is as bad as Azkaban. James it doesn't matter, you don't give a shit when we smoke gillyweed and I do that almost every week. You've seen me get so drunk I can't even recognize you! And you suddenly care that I smoke normal fags? That's just twisted!" Sirius retorted.
"No but smoking is bad for you! It's dangerous!" James tried to explain.
"Oh and running around with a werewolf every full moon isn't?" Sirius said sarcastically.
"That's different!" snarled James and Remus together. They looked at each other surprised, Remus continued "That is very different—" he was cut off by Sirius.
"Really how? Because with one, I can die within a few seconds being torn apart by some bloody thirsty beast and the other I can die a nice slow death prolonged over years? It's still dying and frankly I don't care about that particular problem" Sirius snarled back and turned around and headed for the door.
"You can't run from all your problems Sirius. You're going to have to face them someday! And when that day comes we'll be standing beside you." James called after him as he stormed down the stairs.
"This isn't going quite as planned Prongs" Remus said turning to James.
"No, not at all" agreed James.
"I thought that we were supposed to be nice and comforting and such when Sirius came back!" pointed out Peter.
"Ya ya I know I fucked it up, but he was smoking!" James tried to defend himself.
"You've seen him smoke gillyweed before, why is it such a big deal now?" asked Peter.
"I don't know… cuz it was real fags I suppose. Smoking gillyweed is different. It's something that teenagers do… smoking is actually bad for you! It's worse than gillyweed." James tried to explain himself desperately and getting increasingly louder and more hysterical.
"James? Calm down, why are you getting so worked up? You're scaring Peter." Remus said slightly alarmed.
"Sorry, but I've bungled it bad and I'll bet all the gold in Gringotts that Sirius is going to go do something stupid and it'll be my fault. He's got a fucked up family and then I go and get pissed over some insignificant thing and …. God I'm stupid." James moaned holding his head in his hands.
"Look, the Map says that he's just in the common room, nothing to worry about!" Peter said bending over the Map.
"That's good. I'm going to go down to talk to him. See ya" James said walking out the door.
"Hey Sirius!" James said gently, sitting down beside Sirius on the couch.
"Hi James." He replied glumly staring into the fire.
"Sorry about what happened upstairs…. I shouldn't have said that…" James muttered, following Sirius's gaze into the fire. "I don't know why I freaked…"
"Its fine Prongs old friend, I shouldn't have said some of the things that I said either." Sirius replied with a wane smile. "it's been a long day."
"You've got that right Padfoot" James said leaning back into the couch, putting his arm around Sirius's shoulder, he relaxed in the heat of the Gryffindor tower.
The next morning when students poured out of their dormitories, they found the two boys lying in each others arms, heads on each others shoulders, their faces the pictures of contentment.
Rumors circulated the tower about how they were perhaps lovers, that there were two fairy boys in the Gryffindor tower. But of course no one mentioned it to Sirius and James's face.
They awoke when Sirius fell off the couch with a loud thud and a groan.
"You all right there Sirius?" James drawled sleepily.
"Ung…" was all he got in reply.
James leaned over the side of the couch and was grabbed and pulled off too, he fell right on top of Sirius.
"Urg… my plan backfired! I'm stuck under this great fat brute and there's no way of escape." Moaned Sirius, in a sleepily playful manner.
"You bastard, I was comfortable! Just cuz you fell off the couch doesn't mean you have to bring your misfortune down upon me." James groaned and sat up, so that he was straddling Sirius.
Sirius tried to escape but was trapped "your not going anywhere till I've exacted my revenge" James said with an evil grin.
"No James please, just let me go" Sirius cried desperately writhing beneath James.
Any passer-by's who hadn't believed the rumors about Sirius and James being poofs were suddenly filled with uncertainty.
"James, get off you great fat pillock! We're going to miss breakfast!" Sirius yelled.
James was off him like a shot "BREAKFAST! Come on Padfoot, we need to get ready!" James cried pulling Sirius to his feet.
Sirius and James stumbled into their dormitories nearly colliding into Remus and Peter who were trying to find Peter's owl.
"Hi guys, we'll be back, just need to shower, see ya!" James said all in one breath.
Sirius and James disappeared into the shower room only to reappear several minutes later, wet and shiny.
"O.k. we have four minutes to go! Let's get a move on" Sirius yelled pulling on a shirt, whilst Remus and Peter watched.
"And we're done! Let's go, I'm hungry!" yelled James already half way down the stairs.
"We're right behind you!" called Peter.
They marched into the Dining Hall as if the events of the day before hadn't happened at all. Sitting down at their usual place at the Gryffindor table, all four of them heaped food on their plates and started wolfing it down.
Everything was fine until owl post.
James's pov:
I was reaching for the milk when the owls soared into the Dining Hall, the buzz of conversation in the hall barely paused to acknowledge the owls as they flew to their various recipients.
I got a letter from my mother about how we would be going to Italy for Christmas to visit my great-grandfather Laurence. I tossed it nonchalantly into my bag and started to ask Sirius whether he preferred gifts from Zonkos or from Honeydukes, when I noticed the red envelope in his hand that was beginning to smoke at the corners. The look on Sirius's face was… pained. That's the only suitable word for it.
Sighing he ripped it open and then a stony look settled on his face and he looked strait ahead through out the entire rant of the howler.
SIRIUS BLACK HOW DARE YOU CONTINUE TO ASSOCIATE WITH THOSE HALF-BREEDS AND MUDBLOODS? AS IF GETTING INTO GRYFFINDOR WASN'T BAD ENOUGH, YOU GO ABOUT BEFRIENDING SCUM LIKE THE POTTERS!
YOUR FATHER AND I ARE EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED IN YOUR CONTINUED RIDICULLING OF THE SON OF OUR GOOD FRIENDS THE SNAPES! WE HAVE ALSO RECEIVED WORD THAT YOU HAVE BEEN HUMILIATING YOUR COUSINS!
WE THOUGHT YOU'D LEARNT YOUR LESSON LAST SUMMER BUT APPARENTLY WE HAVN'T MADE OURSELVES PERFECTLY CLEAR! YOU ARE NEVER TO MAKE CONTACT WITH THOSE POTTERS EVER AGAIN AND YOU ARE TO STOP PLAYING YOUR LITTLE TRICKS ON THE SLYTHERINS!
AND WHATS THIS ABOUT YOU LEAVING SCHOOL PROPERTY AND GETTING DRUNK? WE THOUGHT YOU COULD SINK NO LOWER; YOU HAVE DIRTIED THE HONOURABLE NAME OF BLACK YET AGAIN! IF YOU DO NOT CHANGE YOUR WAYS SOON THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES!
AND DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT COMING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS! YOUR FATHER DOESN'T WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE AROUND HERE TILL THE SUMMER.
AND SO HELP ME GOD, IF I RECEIVE ONE MORE OWL FROM DUMBLEDORE, I'M GOING TO BLAST YOU OFF THE FAMILY TREE.
The howler screamed its message to the great hall several more times and then turned into a pile of ash on Sirius's sausages.
I glanced carefully at Sirius, he never like it when people went all sympathetic about his problems and all, so I had to be careful.
Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of his face and it was devoid of emotion. That was a bad thing; usually you could tell what mood Sirius was in by his face, except for when he was something really bad had happened or was in pain.
Everyone in the Dining Hall was trying to catch a glimpse of Sirius, most were subtle about it except for a couple of stupid Hufflepuffs who were standing on their table talking in loud whispers about the stupid bloke who had gotten a howler.
I made a mental note to kill the two boys later, damn third years.
Remus was talking quietly to Sirius "stay calm Paddy, don't give them anything else to gossip about, just stay calm."
By them he of course meant every other person in the school.
I put my arm around Sirius and tried to be cheerful "You can come to my place if you want; you know that you're always welcome there."
Sirius turned to face me and in a flat voice said "Can't, they'll pull me out of Hogwarts or something if I disobey them. And yes James they'll find out.
"Well that's a problem…" I replied. I really hate how I don't think things through.
"Uh… we've got charms now!" Peter piped up. Thank god for Peter, he's always good at diverting attention.
"Your right, well we'd better get going! Don't want to be late." Remus said with forced cheerfulness.
Several Gryffindors who had gone back to eating looked up again and gawked at Remus. He had forgotten that we, the famous Marauders, never got to class on time! Oh well, I guess there's a first time for everything!
"Well come on then!" I said with a care free grin "let's go!"
And that's how the Marauders shocked everyone by being the first people in the charms classroom. During this brief period of solitude we did our best to comfort Sirius and cheer him up. It wasn't working very well.
We'd just gotten him to crack a small grin when the Slytherins walked in. Shit, I'd completely forgotten that we had Charms with that scum. Just our luck!
I sighed when Lucius Malfoy sauntered over, but all he did was set his bag down on the desk two over from us and turn his back from us. He's planning something… I know it! God how I hate Slytherins.
Professor Flitwick walked in right then and started taking attendance; he fell off of his pile of books in shock when he saw that we were in class on time.
Sirius allowed himself to chuckle at that and soon we the Marauders were roaring in laughter, watching as Flitwick tried to clamber back on his pile of books with the help of Lily Evans. Now that's a nice looking girl! Great hair, a smile that makes me feel warm and fuzzy, although she rarely smiles at me… those eyes, oh god those eyes are so beautiful and she has a really great ass…mmmm…Lily Evans….
Remus's pov:
Sirius appeared to be returning to normal or as normal as he ever got. Flitwick finally got back up on his pile of books and began to direct the lesson.
I grinned in excitement, I LOVE charms class! Its one of my best subjects, of course I'm good in almost all subjects but Charms was defiantly in the top three.
Ooh! Today we're learning the stunning charm and the revival charm, I'm good at that! I learnt that one ages ago! Sirius taught it to me, oh ya speaking of Sirius better make sure he hasn't done anything stupid. Nope he's just staring out of the window, not doing anything dangerous. Wait a minute is he fingering his wand and it just so happens to be pointing at Malfoy… Oh no!
A second later a small jet of red and orange light shot out of the end of the black ebony wand and wrapped itself around one of Malfoy's chair legs. I glanced back at Sirius just as a resounding crack echoed around the class room and Malfoy went tumbling to the floor.
Sirius put on his best innocent look, it fooled Flitwick but no one else fell for it, they all knew the truth, including Malfoy. Sirius never knew when to leave well enough alone. I groaned.
Professor Flitwick went on as if nothing had happened after restoring the chair. "I'll now divide you into pairs" the class groaned "Miss Evans with Miss Perkins, Mr. Rookwood with Mr. Weasley…" I faded his voice out, only tuning back in whenever a familiar name caught my attention "Mr. Potter with Mr. Zabini…" back out… "Mr. Lupin with Mr. Knott…" I grabbed my bags and made my way over to Knott, he wasn't a too bad… Compared to Malfoy and Snape he was down right nice! "Mr. Pettigrew you can go with Mr. Dolohv…"
Sooo bored, uh oh… Knott was looking at me with an evil glint in his eye, never a good thing. Must think quickly… why must they always pair students of different houses together? Why? What-to-do-what-to-do-what-to-do? "Stupefy!" I muttered. Knott slumped forward onto his desk. Excellent!
"Excuse me Mr. Lupin, but if you were listening to the instructions earlier you would know that you are to practice the charm on those toads in front of you first and then move onto your partners." Flitwick said in an annoyed tone.
"uh… oops!" I said hopefully, his annoyed expression didn't waver for one minute "eneverate!" (a/n: I think that's the right spell… if not…oh well!)
Knott blinked, shook his head and then glared at me. I turned away, but I could feel his glare on the back of my head.
"As I was saying, Mr. Malfoy you're partnered with Mr. Black here, I believe you two are cousins? You should get along just fine!" Professor Flitwick said with a small grin as he turned his attention to partnering the last few students.
"Actually we're cousins four times removed. A Malfoy and a Black haven't married in quite a while." Malfoy said in a voice fairly dripping with distain.
Now Flitwick isn't as oblivious as he looks, apparently Sirius's "innocent" look didn't fool him after all and he's getting his revenge now by assigning Sirius a partner whom he hates! Of course his little plan will probably blow up in his face and he'll have a corpse to haul out of the class room or something, but its revenge for now…
Sirius leaned back in his chair and put his feet on his desk, almost squishing his toad. "I'm not coming to you, cousin." He said using his aristocrat voice.
Malfoy moved to sit down in the seat that James had recently vacated, pausing he cast a spell detecting charm on the chair before sitting down. "I'm surprised Black, after sabotaging my previous chair I would have expected something nasty on this one!"
"So sorry to disappoint!" Sirius replied shortly, still using his aristocrat voice.
I turned my attention back to stunning my toad, a simple task; all you had to do was concentrate. After successfully reviving it, I returned my attention to Sirius and Malfoy.
Malfoy's toad wasn't moving, I assumed it was stunned. There was just enough noise in the classroom to prevent me to hear what he was saying but I could see Malfoy's mouth moving. Sirius was doing his best to ignore him. Sparks shot out the end of his wand as he muttered stupefy. Over and over again he tried to stun his toad each time he failed. I saw him snarl "shut up!" at Malfoy and try again. This time something did happen although not what was supposed to happen. There was a flash of green light and the toad gave an ominous shiver and without warning exploding, covering Sirius in little chunks of frog. The whole class had gone silent as they all turned around to stare at Sirius and the bits of dead frog aghast.
I heard Malfoy laugh and say "Come now cousin, its in your blood. Stop fighting the inevitable; we're not as bad as you think. Join us, your always welcome!" he added something in a lower undertone that I missed but it was obvious that Sirius heard.
I knew by the look on Sirius's face that Malfoy had gone too far. He spun around, sending frog blood and guts flying. He made a sharp slashing movement with his wand shouted something that was lost in the noise of students scraping back there chairs so as to get away from the two duellists. Malfoy staggered backwards clutching at a long bloody slash down his chest.
"SIRIUS, NO!" James yelled jumping up and grabbing hold of his friends arm, Sirius shoved him away, causing him to slip on some frog parts that had landed on the ground and fall.
Sirius was thrown backwards by Malfoy's spell; he went flying past my head to crash into the stone wall. There was a sickening crack; by the looks of it he'd broken an arm. He struggled to his feet his left arm dangling but he was still clutching his wand
"We are nothing a like you and I" he snarled at Malfoy.
"STOP RIGHT NOW!" Flitwick yelled.
It is surprising how loud that little man can yell, you wouldn't think it possible from such a small being.
Malfoy and Sirius were only feet apart; both their wands were pointed at each others hearts, their heavy breathing was the only sound in the room.
"DROP YOUR WANDS, NOW!" Flitwick yelled, stepping forward.
Neither of them moved. I caught James eye and without any words we agreed. Raising our wands simultaneously, we cried as one "Stupefy!"
Both Sirius and Malfoy slumped to the ground. The entire class breathed a sigh of relief.
"You may go for an early break" Flitwick said with a sigh "write a three foot long essay on the uses of stunning and revival charms, have it finished for next class."
Just like a teacher to give homework even during the middle of a crisis.
"Mr. Lupin would you please tell Professor McGonagall what has happened and to come to the hospital wing immediately, Mr. Potter could you find Professor Darkwood and deliver the same message, Mr. Pettigrew could you do them same but with Professor Dumbledore. Please hurry!" Flitwick said all in one breath.
"Yes sir!" I said in unison with James and Peter, as we ran out the door and in opposite directions.
End of Remus's pov
Flitwick transfigured two chairs into stretchers and then magiked the two boys onto them. He carefully guided them through the twisting corridors of Hogwarts to the infirmary and to the safe care of Pomfrey.