Sirius hid himself in the thick of the trees at the edge of The Forbidden Forest as he watched Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey lead Remus into the secret passage at the Whomping Willow. He was nearly vibrating with excitement waiting for that nosey, sodding, twat to show up. Surely coming face to face with a snarling Werewolf would finally stop Snape's creepy fascination with Sirius and his mates. And it wasn't like he'd know who the Werewolf was. The plan was perfect.

The sun was setting over the mountains and the sky was taking on the purple hue of dusk. He knew it wouldn't be long until Snivellus arrived, he just hoped the idiot wouldn't get himself caught by the headmaster on his way down. Or worse, be spotted by James and Peter.

To get away alone that evening, Sirius had to lie and say he earned himself a detention and would be late meeting up with them. James seemed suspicious at first, because it was a rare occasion when the two of them weren't sharing a detention together, but Sirius made up some story about McGonagall catching him in the girls' lavatories earlier that morning. Peter and Remus had a good laugh at that one.

After what felt like ages, Sirius finally saw Dumbledore and Pomfrey exit the Whomping Willow and make their way back towards the castle. Sirius' heart began beating like a drum as he waited for Snape to arrive.

"He probably won't even show, the bloody coward," Sirius mumbled under his breath.

Pacing back and forth, he ran his hand through his hair. The sensible part of his brain started speaking up, making him question if what he was doing was right. What if James doesn't show in time and he would have to try to take on Remus alone if things were to get out of hand? He only meant to frighten Snape, not kill him, and if he couldn't get a handle on Remus, that very well could happen.

"Don't be a prat," he scolded himself. "Nothing is going to happen. It'll be a laugh, that's all."

In the distance he thought he heard someone coming and froze. Low and behold, the bastard actually showed up. Snape, glancing over his shoulder every few seconds, as if he had some sort of tick, was coming down the hill towards the forest. Sirius felt a nasty smile spread across his lips.

"Oi! Snivelly!" he called out.

Snape's head turned in Sirius' direction; his eyes were narrowed and he looked as if he was two seconds from aiming his wand at Sirius. As if Snape could have taken him in a duel, Sirius thought as he let out a laugh.

"Alright there, Snape?"

Snape snorted. "Spare me the pleasantries, Black. What is this all about?" he asked, cutting right to it.

Sirius glanced towards the mountains again. The sun was now set firmly behind them and the sky was growing blacker by the moment. It wouldn't be long before the moon was out and his plan would have come to fruition. They would need to start making their way immediately if they were to get there on time.

"You'll see soon enough," said Sirius as he began to walk towards the Whomping Willow with Snape still standing behind him. "That is, if you think you're brave enough," Sirius called over his shoulder.

Sirius heard a soft growl from Snape right before his slapping footsteps raced to catch up to him.

"So you're just expecting me to blindly trust you?" Snape asked with a cocked eyebrow.

He was right, Sirius thought, he shouldn't have trusted him at all. But Sirius was beyond happy that he at least was following him. He couldn't stop picturing the look on Snape's face once he reached the end of that tunnel and found a werewolf, mid transition, waiting for him on the other side. He had to bite down on his knuckles to keep for laughing out loud.

"Don't be thick - although, I know you can't help it."

Snape let out an annoyed grunt.

"Of course I don't expect you to trust me, any more than I would trust you. But I do know that you're going to follow me anyhow," Sirius said with satisfied grin.

"Fuck off, Black," Snape hissed as he stopped dead in his tracks. "This is mad. How do I know that you don't have all of your little mates waiting to ambush me?"

Sirius turned around and smirked. "Because if that were the case, it would have happened by now, Snivelly."

Without waiting for Snape to reply, Sirius spun and continued to lead the way to the secret passage way.

Sirius stopped when he was just out of reach of the Whomping Willow's murderous branches, took his wand from his pocked and waited for Snape to catch up.

"Have you gone completely mental?! This thing will kill both of us," Snape shouted as soon as both boys arrived near the wild tree.

Sirius huffed as he gave his wand a small flick and sent a small stick towards the tiny knot which would immobilize the swinging branches. "Give it a rest, would you?"

When he looked at Snape, he saw that his black eyes widened as the Whomping Willow completely froze. He sputtered for a moment, before his expression turned indifferent again.

"How did you do that?" Snape demanded.

"Well if you weren't paying attention I'm certainly not going to tell you," Sirius told him.

Snape rolled his eyes and ground his teeth. "Fucking Black," he mumbled.

Knowing they couldn't waste anymore time, Sirius waved Snape forward. "Well? Are you coming?" he asked then crouched down to get into the secret passage way.

It had been a few months since Sirius had travelled through the tunnel in his human form and he had forgotten how difficult it was to walk through. Being a taller boy for his age, he had to walk hunched over so his head did not hit the dirt ceiling above him. When he turned around to make sure Snape was behind him, it did give him a little bit of vindictive satisfaction to see that he was also having a difficult time, as he was a hair taller than Sirius.

Sirius held back a laugh when he caught the anxious look on Snape's face, which looked much whiter with the silver glow from his wand, just barely giving it light in the darkened space they were in. Snape's eyes scanned the almost perfectly circular cut of the long, dirty path ahead of them. Parts of tree roots broke through the earth above them, and small trickles of water ran down the walls. If it hadn't been magically made, Sirius would have worried as well, since it did look like the tunnel could possibly collapse at any moment, but since he had been through there once a month for the last several months, he knew they were safe.

"Not thinking of turning back, are you?" Sirius called back once he started half-crawling again.

Snape exhaled loudly. "Just keep going, Black."

Together they went on in near silence, aside from the occasional snide comment coming from Sirius, with a retort from Snape, for nearly three quarters of an hour. Then finally Sirius saw a soft yellow light just ahead of them. They were nearly there. The adrenaline that normally coursed through his veins before a good prank filled him to the point of near laughter. After all his careful planning everything was finally coming together. Snape would see Remus and become so frightened that he would run and never look back. Once and for all, Snivellus would leave them be.

"Almost there," Sirius said quietly, more to himself than to Snape, although Snape responded.

"Finally," he grumbled.

A twisted smile formed on Sirius' mouth upon hearing the relief, which he knew would not last long, in Snape's voice. Without being able to control it, a sinister chuckle escaped him.

At long last they had reached the door leading to the Shrieking Shack. Sirius stopped and placed his hand upon it and turned around to Snape.

"Sure you don't want to go back to the school? Last chance," he taunted in a singsong voice.

Snape rolled his eyes and shook his head. Even though he seemed to be trying to appear unaffected by their surroundings, a hint of apprehension showed in his black eyes. Sirius could tell that he was frightened.

"Good. Well come on then," said Sirius as he began to push open the door.

Just before he opened it entirely, he heard rushing footsteps coming up through the tunnel. Someone was running towards them, and Sirius' heart felt like it dropped down his body and through the ground beneath him when he heard a voice shout out.

"Sirius! You absolute and complete twat! What the fuck in the name of Merlin are you playing at!" James' voice echoed all around them.

"Bollocks," Sirius whispered.

Then the hairs on the back of his neck stood straight when he heard a bone chilling howl come from above. It was a howl he recognized. One that Remus had only used when he was transformed and caught the scent of human flesh. He was too late, Remus was already fully in his wolf form.

Snape went paler, if that was even possible, and began trembling as he slowly backed away. The reality of what he had actually done began to dawn on Sirius, and he realized that he either had to immediately transform and give away his secret, or get Snape out of there as quickly as possible. As Remus' snarling started to become closer, Sirius felt bile rise in his throat; he knew he had only about twenty seconds to make a decision, or they all may have been killed.

Fucking hell, Sirius thought.