The three boys sat in three identical wooden chairs in front of a very disappointed and angry Dumbledore. Snape's former expression of frozen terror had faded into a grimace of complete hatred. His black eyes narrowed at James as his lip twitched. James was frowning and staring at Sirius, occasionally letting out a stream of exasperated air. Sirius had his jaw clenched, his lips angrily pouted, and was staring at a book on Dumbledore's shelf titled The Television: A Muggle Obsession.

Dumbledore was sitting behind his huge mahogany desk, his long fingers interlacing as he spoke. "I am quite surprised at this incident." He said firmly, "As aware as I am of your…..dislike….for each other, I never imagined that it could escalate to this."

Sirius looked at his shoes. James glared at Sirius.

"First of all, I think it is necessary to tell you, Mr. Snape, that Mr. Lupin's condition is not to be shared with anyone. Just because his friends made a rather large mistake does not take away his right to his privacy. I need your promise that you will tell no one of what you saw in the shrieking shack tonight."

He looked at Snape in question – his normally convivial blue eyes full of seriousness. Snape's upper lip twitched again as he looked away quickly. Breathing out loudly, he looked back at Dumbledore. After a moment, he nodded.

"Good," he nodded back, his face remarkably calm behind half-moon glasses. "Well, Mr. Snape, I also must tell you that in response to the wrongdoing you committed regarding Miss Evans, you are to be closely watched by Professor Slughorn at all times during Potions class, and will also be subject to a search should he suspect stolen ingredients." Snape's head dropped, greasy hair falling into his eyes. Dumbledore softened his tone. "Furthermore, I feel it necessary to tell you that what you did was below you. Love potions are for those who do not wish to find real love and you do not deserve such fake affection. Next time, I recommend you take a different tack." He looked at James, peering over his half-moon glasses with slightly raised eyebrows. "I imagine, Mr. Potter, that this is the reason you and Mr. Black reacted so extremely tonight."

James glanced at Sirius.

"James had nothing to do with it, sir," Sirius said, noticing his friend's glance. "I did it alone."

"Ahhh.." Dumbledore sighed and stroked his beard. "And may I ask why, Mr. Black?"

Sirius glared at Snape. Snape turned his body away from him, his eyes full of hatred. Sirius licked his upper lip in anger and then spoke. "Sniv…I mean Severus had been following Remus around for years, I thought it would be best just to let him find out. He deserves whatever Remus would have done to him."

Snape's face contorted and he shook angrily.

"Now Mr. Black," Dumbledore's voice grew louder, though he was still calm. "No one deserves that. And don't you think it would have been rather hard for Mr. Lupin to handle the responsibility of harming someone in his altered state? Perhaps you should have considered him."

Sirius looked down for a second and then back to Snape. "Perhaps," he spat.

"Mr. Snape," Dumbledore said, sighing. "I think you can go. If I need to talk with you again, I will call you."

Snape nodded and stood, still brutally aware of the daggers Sirius' eyes were shooting at him. He slouched to the door, his shifty eyes looking from James to Sirius constantly.

"Remember, what you have seen tonight is to remain a secret," Dumbledore called as Snape reached the exit.

Snape nodded again and slipped out quickly.

When he had left through the door leading to the stairway, Dumbledore turned back to James and Sirius.

"Mr. Black," he closed his eyes for a second to regain his composure. "I think you know that I am severely disappointed in your actions."

Sirius' head dropped.

"It is obvious to me that you went into this without any thought or any consideration for the ramifications. Your treatment of Mr. Snape has always been terrible but tonight's "prank" as you may call it was quite indefensible. Your punishment will have to be rather severe. You should thank your friend for stopping Mr. Snape before more serious things had occurred. If they had, I would have no choice but to expel both you and Mr. Lupin."

Sirius gave James a dirty look. He was always Dumbledore's favorite. James sent it right back. Dumbledore noticed this exchange, pursing his lips in contemplation, but seemed to ignore it. He directed his next words at James.

"Though I have no doubts that you acted more out of care for your friends then for fear of harm to Mr. Snape, your actions are commendable Mr. Potter. I know that Mr. Snape's previous actions have been somewhat aimed at you and while you haven't exactly been silent about your feelings concerning them, tonight you showed deep compassion and true courage, traits that both of you have the ability to develop. Mr. Black," he looked over at Sirius. "I suggest you take a close look at Mr. Potter's example. You have the same abilities, I would prefer you choose similar actions."

Sirius looked over at James again, disgusted at this ridiculous favoritism.

"I want to tell the two of you about a group of people that I am beginning to form along with an old Auror friend of mine, Alastor Moody." He put his hands on the desk. "It is an organization designed to fight Lord Voldemort."

James and Sirius perked up in their chairs.

"The two of you have more talent than many wizards twice your age and when you finish your time here at Hogwarts, if times are still as dark as now, I would be honored if you would join."

Both boys nodded furiously, enthralled by the offer.

"I say this on condition," Dumbledore continued, waving his hand to emphasize the point. "After tonight, I must say that I am somewhat worried about your maturity level. You too. Mr. Potter." James had glared at Sirius. "Your treatment of Mr. Snape also contributed to this incident. You two must grow up if you are going to be of any real use to us. Your cavalier attitudes and your rather inflated egos could get you, or other members, killed. Both of you must learn that you are both fallible and mortal before you will be able to join the fight."

He put his hands back together and rested his chin on them. "You two may go. I will let you know when Professor McGonagall and I have agreed on a sufficient punishment for you, Mr. Black."

Sirius scowled and the two stood. They walked to the door. Sirius' longer legs got him there first and he shut the door in James' face. James jumped as the door almost hit him. He threw the door open and the two stood angrily next to each other on the moving staircase.

"Why'd you do that?" James asked, his eyes furrowed behind his glasses.

Sirius shrugged sarcastically. "What didn't Dumbledore tell you? I'm immature and I have an inflated head."

"He said that to both of us, idiot," James spat back. "Or were you too busy glaring at me to listen. What is your problem?"

"My problem is you," Sirius growled. "Always being Dumbledore's favorite. Always getting out of everything."

"I didn't do anything. Blimey, Sirius, I saved Snape's life." He managed to catch the door into the corridor as Sirius shut it in his face again. "I also saved your hide and Remus'. If you hadn't been so stupid…"

"I did it for you, you bastard." Sirius was walking very quickly along with his rant. So quickly that James could barely keep up. "To stop your whining about him messing with Evans again."

"I didn't mean try and kill him," James yelled at his best friend's back. "Merlin, Sirius, you don't ever think, do you? It's just, hey, let's do it and not think about what would happen."

"I thought that's why we were friends," Sirius threw over his shoulder.

"Sure, it's fun sometimes. But that can get you in massive troubles, Sirius."

"Oh spare me the lecture, I've already had one." He stormed up the stairs.

"This is serious…"

"Oh," said Sirius sarcastically. "Are you going to make a Sirius/serious pun? Oh you're so witty, James Potter."

"Get over yourself, Sirius," James boomed, taking two stairs at a time to keep up. "I have never said I was better than you and no one else thinks I am either."

"Is that what you think this is about?" Sirius laughed mirthlessly and turned around suddenly as they reached the landing. "You think I feel inadequate around you. On the contrary, Potter. I am not the one who has spent three years on some girl who absolutely despises me."

James looked at Sirius with an expression of absolute rage. "Don't bring up Evans."

"Why not?" Sirius said, gray eyes storming. "She's the one who caused this whole thing anyway. If you weren't completely nuts over her, I wouldn't have had to deal with Snivellus. Apparently, I'm the mature one. I'm the one who handled the whole bloody situation."

"I wouldn't call what you did handling the situation, Sirius." James spat, his chest rising and falling in anger. "And as for you being the mature one, I don't think shagging the entire fucking school without any regrets could exactly be termed mature."

Sirius took a long deep breath, narrowed his eyes, and leaned towards James. Then in a low, callous voice, he said, "at least I'm getting some."

He turned back around and trudged up the stairs. James walked a few feet behind him, absolutely fuming. When they reached the portrait hole, Sirius muttered the password and entered the common room. Sitting on the couch was Dorcas Meadowes. As Sirius and then James entered the room, she stood; trying hard to conceal the look of concern and shock on her face.

"What happened?" she asked, her wavering voice betraying her emotion.

The two boys glared at each other, but almost immediately looked away.

"He did exactly what I thought he would," James spat.

Sirius turned to Dorcas with a look of angry shock. "Do you know what happened?" he asked pointedly.

She shook her head. "When I came back up James was in the common room, looking pretty mad. So I figured the two of you had fought and I told him I had seen you and you were after Snape. He sort of shot up and shouted something about a cloak. He ran upstairs and almost immediately come back down. Then he burst out of the room and now you're both back." She looked Sirius in the eye for a second and then suddenly turned away, picking up a book. "I was up reading. Couldn't sleep."

Sirius gaped at her and then shot. "YOU TOLD HIM?"

Her mouth opened in surprise and she nodded. "Was it a secret?"

Sirius' face contorted. "You absolute bitch, I can't believe it. You told him."

"I asked you before not to call me a bitch."

"Oh Shut up Sirius," James spat. "You should be thanking her too. Without her telling me, how the hell would I have known?"

"If you hadn't known, this whole thing would have worked out fine," Sirius said quietly, without looking at James. "Snape would have been taken care of and everything would have been great."

"What about Remus, you stupid git?" James glared at the side of his friend's head. "What would he have done?"

Dorcas had turned and was walking up the stairs to the girls' dormitories as quietly as possible.

"Meadowes," Sirius called. "Let me tell you now, I don't care about our deal. I never want to talk to you again, hear me?"

She turned and, rather reluctantly, nodded, then hurried up the rest of the stairs, disappearing behind a door.

"You bastard," James let out a lot of air. "She saved your hide."

"Like you?" Sirius turned towards the stairs. "Is she trying to be Miss Perfect too? Maybe you should go after her instead of Evans? That would be perfect. The snitch couple."

James bristled. "Don't take this out on her, Sirius, she was just trying to help."

"All these people trying to help me," he said sarcastically without turning around. "You'd think I was a damn cripple."

James stood at the bottom of the stairs with no wish to follow this angry version of his best friend and no response to give him. Sirius soon disappeared behind their dormitory door. James made an angry noise, walked over to the couch, lay down and tried to make himself comfortable. He had a pretty good sense that sleep tonight would be virtually impossible