Chapter Three: Of Friends and Foes

Dark Arts had never been a strong point for Remus. He knew the basics and excelled at identifying and dispelling magical creatures, yet he could not get his head around curses. The possibility that one wizard could hate another so much that he would want to inflict serious pain upon his adversary was a concept completely foreign to the benign werewolf. Like most boys his age, he knew a few spells to impose minor discomfort on his friends. But when it came to revenge, Remus was hopeless. He tried over and over again to think of someway he could plot against Sirius, but nothing cruel enough ever seemed to come to mind.

Mentally berating himself for not being evil enough to scheme against his friend, Remus didn't even notice when his name was called by Professor Burnsworth.

"Lupin! Oh, for Merlin's sake, Mister Lupin!"

Remus was jolted back into reality by an elbow to the ribs, courtesy of one Sirius Black.

"S-sorry Sir," Remus said, jumping to his feet and glaring at the owner of the aforementioned elbow.

"Thank you for joining us, Mister Lupin. I hope I'm not wasting your valuable time but it is my job to see that you don't completely fail your NEWTs next year so if you'd kindly pay attention, I will continue with today's lesson."

"Yes Sir. Sorry Sir," Remus repeated, lowering his eyes and resuming his seat.

"No, don't sit down boy, get up! Get up!" The professor said, striding over to where Remus sat between a smug Peter and one chortling Sirius. "If you had have been listening," Burnsworth continued, grabbing the disgruntled werewolf's right arm and haling him up to the front of the class, "you would have known that today we are practising duelling, and you, Mister Lupin, have been partnered with Mister Snape who has kindly been waiting while you dilly-dally about."

Remus didn't know what to say. He had never been rebuked by a teacher before. He had seen Sirius and James weasel out of trouble a thousand times, yet all excuses swiftly evaporated from his mind leaving him bereft of any defence he could possibly offer for his actions.

"I…I…" Remus attempted, but the words wouldn't come.

"No excuses! You have wasted enough of my class time already. Now bow, boys. Good, good. Wand at the ready, Mister Snape. Not like that boy! Right arm raised, left hand lowered. Honestly. Mister Lupin, at your leisure."

Standing in plain view of the entire class, Remus watched Snape advance on him. It wasn't the manner in which the dark haired boy stalked towards him, nor was it the snarl curling at the left corner of his mouth, but his cold black eyes boring into Remus' own amber orbs that made werewolf tremble. Behind the dark stare Remus saw something else and instantly he knew that unlike himself, Severus would have no issue with disembowelling him in front of the entire sixth year.

Swallowing his fear Remus straightened his back and set his shoulders. Walking to the centre of the room to meet his opponent, Remus heard James' familiar voice drift into his mind. If you dread failure, you are dreading something that has not yet come to pass and in turn, fail from dread. Assuring himself that he was not to fail, Remus turned and faced his dread. It was waiting for him, lip curled, wand poised.

Remus reached for his own wand in its usual place of residence, in his left robe pocket, only to hear Sirius pipe up from the back of the room, "Professor. Remus may have some difficulty completing this task."

Remus turned his fierce gold eyes from Snape to Sirius. The bastard was grinning at him. All previous confidence lost, he could only glare at his cocky friend. So, Sirius didn't think he was up to the task of duelling with Snape, did he? Remus felt his temperature begin to rise again. Sirius could make his blood boil as no other could.

"And why is that Mister Black?" Professor Burnsworth asked exasperatedly. It seemed Sirius was trying more than Remus' patience today.

"He appears to be missing a key item for the task of duelling," Sirius said smugly raising an all too familiar nine inch maple wand with a unicorn tail hair core.

Remus felt his own hand grope at his left thigh in desperate attempt to find the wand he knew Sirius held firmly in his right hand. How could he have been so stupid as to forget his wand in a duel? He might as well have turned up to a Quidditch match without a broomstick. Feeling the humiliation seep through his body, drowning his anger, Remus turned his eyes to his professor. Burnsworth shook his head at the young werewolf before indicating to Sirius that he may return the wand to its owner.

Sirius walked up to the front of the class, cool as you please. Smarmy git. Remus thought bitterly as Sirius closed the distance between them. Extending he right arm, Sirius handed Remus his wand, confident grin in place. Yet just before Sirius turned back to take his seat, he pulled Remus close and whispered softly in his ear. Remus felt the words tingle down his neck and down to his stomach, pouring heat into every part of his body and making his skin prickle with delight.

"Dread to fail, fail from dread. Good luck Moony."

Remus watch the dark haired boy return to his seat before tearing his eyes back to face his opponent who was waiting impatiently for him at the other end of the classroom, wand poised, eyes sharp.

Raising his right arm, Remus felt his heart beat kick up a notch. He needed to relax. Deep breaths, he told himself. Ok. Calm down. It's only a class room duel. Relax. All you have to do is get his wand and then he can't attack you. Everything's good. Wow Sirius' hair looks good like that. So glossy and black and ruffled… Oh, shut up you silly ponce! Just get the wand. Disarming spell. Disarming spell. Expelliarmus! Expelliarmus!

"One, two…"

"Expelliarmus!"

The entire class watched at Remus Lupin shot Severus Snape spinning through the air only to come a halt on when his buttock collided, rather loudly, with the stone floor. Remus heard cheers go up from the Gryffindors while the Slytherin's shot him death glares from afar. Sirius and James had jumped up onto their desk singing 'Remus, Remus just look around, you've been Snape's slimy arse right into the ground.' accompanied by a rather hysterical jig involving many elaborate spin and complex hand gestures.

Feeling suddenly empowered, Remus ran forward and kicked a bewildered Snape's wand from the clutches of his right hand.

"Yield." Remus said softly, bearing down on his fallen opponent.

Snape shook his head and slowly raised his humiliated body from the ground. "No," he sneered at the triumphant werewolf. "He cheated!" Snape called, turning to Professor Burnsworth for support.

"That's bollocks!" Sirius yelled jumping down from the desk and running to Remus' side.

"Absolute bollocks!" Agreered James, joining Sirius by Remus' side.

"Don't be a sore loser Snivellus." Sirius spat, advancing on Snape.

"Please Black," Snape snorted, meeting Sirius' stony glare. "Do you really thing that your benign friend here could possibly defeat me in a duel? He cheated."

"That is a very serious accusation Mister Snape," Burnsworth replied, coming forward from the crowd. "How do you believe that Mister Lupin has cheated you?"

"He began before the count of three." Snape replied, completely sure of himself. Remus tried to think back to the beginning of the duel. Had he been so jittery that he had cast before he was permitted? He'd never cheated before in his life. Not even when the Marauders had all sat down for a drunken game of strip poker and there was the possibility of Sirius having to get very, very naked. But what if he had cheated? Looking to Sirius for reassurance, Remus found only pity in his dark grey eyes. So he had cheated. Sirius' pity was well deserved, for Snape now had the upper hand and there was not telling what would happen.

"As is stated by the rules of sportsman like duelling, I have the right to demand a re-duel. A right I choose to invoke and one that my adversary must comply with."

"Mister Snape, this a classroom duel, I hardly believe that--"

"All the same Sir, it is my right." Snape replied quickly, narrowing his eyes and smirking at Sirius.

"Fine!" Burnsworth said exasperatedly throwing up his hands in defeat. "You and Mister Lupin shall have a re-duel. But here are my terms, Mister Snape. You shall both practise together. I want a rehearsed duel to be performed for the rest of the class. It must display all the normal attributes of a normal duel, and the ending must be an unexpected for all involved. Congratulations boys, you two are duelling partners. Enjoy the next week."

Author'sNote: Hey hey! Sorry it's taken me so long to get this one up. I've been writing limericks with my cousin, cerasi1 under our newpen nameof Cirinde Nenharma. Check it out if you're in the mood for some crazy humour. Also, I apologise for there being minimal SiriusRemus interaction, and a serious lack of Remus revenge. Many people commented on how much they were looking forward to it, but don't worry. It'll come, it'll come. If there are any spelling error or sentences that don't make sense, I apologise again. My beta reader is detained and it's probably better that I get this up before LeoDraconis had my head. Wow, that was a lot of apologising. That's about it from me. Thanks to all who have reviewed so far, I love getting feedback. Hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter, Of Werewolves and Wantons, up soon. Should be a good on with lots of SiriusRemus tension.

Cheers,

EC