Never Again

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Harry Potter, or any of the characters mentioned in this story, unless stated otherwise. Rated for possible sexual content, violence and language. Reader discretion is advised. Any similarities to real life are purely coincidence and I will not be held responsible! Thanks!

WARNING: WILL CONTAIN SLASH (male on male) and MATURE THEMES (sex, swearing, violence, etc) and AU-ness!! Ye be warned; seriously, this is VERY mature people. Reader discretion is strongly advised.

Author's Note: (Note: I am slightly addicted to the music of Moulin Rouge lately. 'El Tango De Roxanne', 'Your Song', and 'Elephant Love Medley' are particular faves!) Anyhoozer, this is already written before the third one was posted and it's going to feature a little righteous payback for everyone's favourite character… XD 'You don't have to sell your body to the night…' Cheers!

PS. – Pop-Tarts for Decimare, who helped with some torturous payback…she's not only talented at thinking up pervy things for me to write folks!! Oh, muchos gracias to my sister too for some torture ideas, and cookies to whoever knows where the Popsicle bit comes from ;)

XXX

Lily crept slowly down the stairs, knowing that if she wanted a few hours of quiet solitude with her book, it would be best to leave her fiancé sleeping. She just needed some coffee to perk her up, and then she'd slide back into bed before James noticed and spend some quality time with Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy before she got round to making breakfast.

She was just coming back out of the kitchen and heading toward the stairs, the aroma of her java stirred wakefulness into her veins, when she happened to glance down the slight hallway to the sitting room. A smile tugged the redhead's lips upward on one side and Lily shook her head at the spectacle before heading slowly back up the stairs.

"I wondered where you'd gotten to," James murmured, looking up at her and smirking as she jumped and whirled to face him.

"Did I wake you?" she asked, setting her mug on the nightstand before burrowing back under the thick comforter. James pulled her closer.

"No, not really," he murmured, snuggling into her, laying his head upon her breast, frowning and tugging her robe open. Lily smiled and giggled, reaching for her coffee. "Sirius stayed over," she murmured against the rim of her cup, trying not to smile at the memory of the dark-haired youth sprawled unceremoniously all over their couch downstairs.

"Mmm, really?" James muttered, tracing lazy patterns over her skin.

"Yes…he's downstairs. With Remus." James' hand paused and he opened his eyes again.

"What?"

Lily couldn't help but smile again as she set her coffee back down and picked up the battered, well-worn copy of Pride & Prejudice from the nightstand. "Sirius and Remus are downstairs, sleeping on the sofa. They look adorable too…"

James scowled and sat up, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "That sodding bastard," he muttered, throwing a leg over the side of the bed.

"James! What the hell are you on about? And where are you going? James?"

Lily watched as he merely shook his head, throwing on his robe and opening the bedroom door. Lily bit her lip, debating for a second, before sighing, tossing her book aside and following after her fiancé.

"James, what are you doing?" she hissed as she practically ran after him, colliding with him as he stopped in the doorway to the sitting room suddenly. "What is wrong with you?" she whispered angrily so that the sleeping men wouldn't wake, righting herself before gluteus maximus met wood floor.

"Were they like that when you saw them?" James whispered fiercely, pointing an accusatory finger in his friends' direction. The pair merely slept on, oblivious.

"If I tell you will you stop acting so infuriating?" James merely glared and Lily glared right back. "Fine," she finally snapped. "Yes, they were, though I don't see why it even mat- James! For Merlin's sake-!"

But the messy-haired Animagus ignored her, reaching down and smacking his best mate (none too lightly) on the arm. "Sirius, get up now."

Black opened his eyes slowly, yawning hugely and peering up at James, his grey gaze bleary from sleep and confusion. "Ow…why'd you hafta hit me?"

"I said, get up," James fairly barked. Remus lifted his head from Sirius' rather comfortable and very naked chest.

"Prongs, what-?" he began, but James forestalled him with a hand.

"Kitchen, Padfoot, now."

Sirius managed to extricate his aching body (it was murder to sleep on a too-short sofa, this was for certain) from underneath Remus' with little difficulty and stretched as he stood, now glancing over to Lily. "What's gotten his knickers in a twist?"

James growled and shoved the other black-haired man toward the hallway and kitchen. "You two stay here."

"What the bloody hell Prongs?" Sirius burst out once they were alone in the kitchen. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Tell me you didn't do what I think you did Sirius, please, tell me you didn't," James sighed, running a hand through his messier-than-normal bed head.

Sirius' eyes narrowed. "Enlighten me James, what the bloody buggering fuck you're on about. Because if you're implying what I think you're implying…"

"You know exactly what I'm implying!" James snarled. "It wouldn't be the first time you've used a situation to your advantage that way!"

His mouth hardening into a thin, angry line, Sirius glared at his best friend. "So that's what you automatically assumed? That after all the shit Remus has been through, which, might I hasten to add, you aren't even halfway aware of, I was just going to fuck him? That I wouldn't give two flying fucks, so long as I got a good lay out of it?"

"It's not like that!" James retorted. "Stop twisting this! I've seen you do it a hundred times before, Sirius. You're all charm and comfort to some bird whose just broken up with her boyfriend or some such toss, and two seconds later, she's on her back on top of the Astronomy Tower!"

"That was when I was seventeen!" Sirius shouted. "And before I was ever involved with Remus! It's never been like that with him, James, and I thought you of all fucking people would know that without me having to tell you!"

A heavy silence fell. "So, did you or not?" James finally asked.

Sirius gaped at him for half a second. "Fuck you, Potter, it's none of your motherfucking business!"

"It is my business, Black! He's one of my best friends and-"

"So I am I!!" The tendons on Sirius' neck stood out with the force of his yell, abruptly halting whatever James had been about to say. "At least I thought I was! Fuck, the way you're treating me I might as well be guilty of killing him!"

"You almost did once," James tossed back. Sirius reeled as though he'd been hit and his brain shut down as adrenaline-laced rage flooded him.

"You fucking bastard," he whispered, reaching for his wand only to realize it was still in the sitting room. He glared with pure loathing at the other Animagus, mouth twisted into an angry sneer any one of his ancestors would have been proud of, and debated whether it would be worth it to beat his best mate into a bloody pulp in his own kitchen.

"Sirius," said a soft voice from behind him, and he jumped as a gentle hand eased the harsh tension in his shoulders. It wasn't until he realized he'd been hunching the muscles that he noticed it was incredibly like a dog's hackles raising, and he felt an insane urge to laugh. "Stop, please."

Sirius inhaled sharply through his nose and nodded curtly, not trusting himself to speak or do more but look at the floor.

The lycan surveyed James, frowning slightly. "That wasn't really very nice to bring that up Prongs," he murmured. "I forgave him, you forgave him, and it was unfair to bring it into your little tiff just now." James hung his head.

"Sorry Padfoot," he muttered. Sirius merely snorted, still pissed.

"Don't be an ass, Sirius," Remus chided, still speaking softly as though this were a friendly dispute about whether or not the Chudley Cannons would end up bottom of the league this year.

"Me? Me be an ass? Did you hear what he was asking me Remus? What he was implying about me?" Sirius snarled stepping forward, instantly regretting it when the werewolf flinched backward. "Sorry Mooney, I'm sorry, that was stupid."

"It's fine," Remus said, brushing the comment aside. "Really. And yes, I heard him. I think the whole of England probably heard you two shouting." Silence reined again, thick and heavy and tense, both of the darker haired young men waiting for Remus' response. "I can assure you James," Remus said at last, speaking slowly as though he were choosing his words very carefully, "that nothing happened that you should concern yourself with. Sirius was a perfect gentleman, in fact."

Sirius smiled triumphantly (and a little smugly) at his best mate. James still had that mulish look on his face however. "So how did you two end up half-naked, lying all over one another then?"

"For the record," Remus replied, smiling slightly, "Sirius is the only half-naked one here. And we were talking last night, and I guess time just got away from us."

"He fell asleep on me James," said Sirius scathingly. "And I wasn't about to just toss him off so I could go home. Besides, I was fucking knackered myself, so I figured I'd just get comfortable and bunker down."

"And you were shirtless, why?"

The longhaired Animagus laughed now. "You lived with him for seven years did you not Potter? Mooney drools when he sleeps and I didn't want my shirt to have saliva stains." Remus ducked his head to hide the blush of pleasure that Sirius hadn't minded a sleepy werewolf slobbering all over him. Michael had told him on more than one occasion that his unconscious habit of drooling excessively was weird, and disgusting…just like he was… The corners of his mouth turned down. He was a freak, just like his boy- …ex-boyfriend had always told him.

James had the dignity to look sheepish now that the sticky little situation had been explained sufficiently. "Oh…" said James, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Er…I see. Look, Sirius, mate, I'm sorry…I shouldn't have said those things, and I shouldn't have assumed that you would take advantage like that… Friends?" He stuck out his hand, but Sirius was looking at Remus with an oddly intense, pensive expression. "Pads?"

"Remus," Sirius said slowly, sidling closer and lifting the corner of Remus' mouth with one finger. "What's up? You have that look."

The lycanthrope made an attempt to smile, but even James could see that it was forced. "Nothing's up, I'm fine. Really. I was just thinking that if not for me you two would have murdered one another by now most likely." It was almost frightening to Remus how easily the lie came out, and with sheet dint of will, he managed to relax himself despite Sirius' continued closeness and the suspicious looks his friends were giving him.

He smiled again, and it looked real enough, so Sirius dropped it. He didn't see the hollowness in his friend's eyes, or feel the lycan's aura shift as he turned and smirked at James and threw himself bodily all over the other Animagus, clearly past the little disagreement. Remus smiled outwardly, but inside it felt as though he were peering through a grimy, dirty window at the easy way his friends interacted. Would he ever be like that again? Could he ever have Sirius drape his delectably fit body all over him without feeling nausea rise up in his throat instinctively? Or had Michael stripped him of even that one joy forever…

XXX

The night was velvety and black, just the way the cloaked man preferred it. A softly murmured Charm and the streetlight sputtered and died, layering shadows thick on the cloyingly hot pavement like meat piled between slices of rye on a deli sandwich.

His purpose was simple. Find the man and punish him. Oh, and punished he would be… Teeth glinted in the semi-light from another streetlamp as a smile twisted upon the cloaked man's lips. Revenge really was sweet.

He didn't bother to look both ways as he crossed the darkened, empty street; so intense was his focus on that single ray of light emanating from the third floor apartment window. His fingers were sure and confident as they gripped his wand and the bitterness filled his heart. He strove to regain his composure as rage threatened to send him into a blackout of hexes and screamed curses. He wanted to remember this moment. Wanted to store it away in the back of his mind for later reference, to be able to savour the delicate web of emotions that flowed through him like his magical prowess at will.

He didn't bother with the clunking elevator that was almost permanently stuck at the top floor, didn't need to consult the floor plan behind scratched plastic. A simple tap of his wand gained him entrance to the stairwell and his smile only grew with each step, his heart thudding audibly in anticipation of this moment.

So long had he wanted this. So long had he craved the opportunity to pay back the man who'd tried to destroy what he held most dear to him. And now that it was here, he relished it like a connoisseur over a glass of perfectly aged wine. The delicate bouquet of his anger in the back of his mouth, the soft sounds of his unhurried breathing as he climbed the stairs, the mad thrumming of his heart as he exited to the third floor corridor.

The carpet, despite being tacky and dusty and at least ten years old, served its purpose, muffling his footsteps as he made his way ever closer to the last door on the left. The chink of golden light spilling from under the tiny crack in the door shone on his well-polished Italian dragon scale shoes. At last, at last!

He drew his wand almost sensually down the crack between the door and its frame, listening to the telltale soft click of the lock sliding free. His hand didn't shake as he turned the knob and stepped swiftly into the apartment, glancing hurriedly over his shoulder to ensure he hadn't been spotted.

Pots and dishes were stacked, unwashed, in the sink in the brief snatch of vision he had as he passed the kitchen; empty bottles lined the coffee table in the living room, eerily reflecting a distorted version of himself back. The bedroom door was almost closed and he edged it open slowly, his heart beating frantically in his chest now. It was tempting, now that he had come so close, to come barreling through, but he wanted to see the surprise flicker across the bastard's face. Wanted to watch it change to horror as he copied every one of the bruises he'd seen and imagined onto the blond's body. Patience…patience. It really was a virtue to the cloaked man.

He stood at the foot of the bed, watching as the sonofabitch slept fitfully. Oh, if only he knew what were coming to him, he wouldn't be asleep at all… Another smile, cold, calculating and cruel, twisted the handsome features of the man's face into a mask that oozed terror.

Suddenly, the blond man sat up, his eyes hazy from one too many drinks, but recognition clear in them. "Black!"

Sirius smiled. "Michael," he replied, smile morphing into a sneer. "I would say it's nice to see you, or that you look well, but it would be ever so rude to lie to you."

"What the fuck are you doing-?" Michael snarled, throwing the blankets away from his nude body. Sirius' mouth turned down.

"I fear I may vomit," he said coolly, inwardly gleeful as Michael's face went from angry red to enraged magenta.

Michael managed to get to his feet, swaying alarmingly in the process, and Sirius' grip on the magical piece of wood in his right hand tightened. "I don't know what the fuck you think you're doing Black, but-"

Sirius' eyes narrowed and he casually lifted his wand as if to inspect it for flaws. "You know, it's a funny thing, magic… It can be used in such a way that even a wizard can't claim bodily harm from it." His eyes were shining as he pointed the stick at Michael. "Fascinating, isn't it?"

Michael couldn't tear his gaze away from the smooth-polished length of Sirius' wand, unconsciously backing up a step. "You…you can't-"

"Shut up," Sirius growled. His wand slashed through the air and a surge of bittersweet satisfaction ripped through him as Michael flinched. Another smile curved his aristocratic lips as the velvety length of black material floated down onto his upturned palm. "Turn around," he crooned, twirling a finger. Michael's fists clenched.

"Fuck you."

One eyebrow cocked mockingly. "I know you probably want to, but it's not going to happen. Now…" he aimed his wand at the flaccid length of the other man's cock, smirking as Michael covered his bits instinctively. "Turn around."

Michael turned, his knuckles white from holding fists so tight. "I swear to fucking god, Black, I'm going to hunt you down like an animal and kill you. I will rip you limb from fucking limb, and not even Remus will be able to save you."

The strip of cloth was suddenly tight around Michael's neck, choking the tall blond and his hands scrabbled futilely at his throat. "IF you ever, ever, say his fucking name again, then I'll be the one with blood on my hands, do you understand me?" Sirius hissed against Michael's ear. The blond choked and sputtered and the Animagus merely twisted the fabric, ensuring Michael got the message before he released him. "Now, stop distracting me." His elegant fingers smoothed out the strip of cloth and bound it snugly around Michael's eyes.

"You're fucking sick," Michael rasped as Sirius shoved him bodily toward the bed, barely containing his laughter as Michael stumbled and fell onto the mattress.

"Maybe," he replied lightly, "But I'm not the psycho who gets off beating the shit out of people."

"Then why are you here?" the other man snarled, submitting when the point of a wand pressed brutally between his shoulder blades.

Sirius couldn't control the giggle this time as he leaned down to murmur in the blond's ear. "To give you exactly what you've got coming you piece of shit."

"I'll kill you, I'll snap your fucking neck, I swear to fucking-"

"Yes, yes," said the Animagus in a bored voice, pulling the stick of gum from inside his pants pocket and looking coolly clinical as he Transfigured it into a violently pink Popsicle. He tasted it, smiling. Mmm…cherry, his favourite. "Now you just lie there and try not to make a peep. I have something special in mind for you…"

"What are you doing?" Michael demanded, unable to keep the shiver of fear from his voice. "What are you doing?"

"This, my illustrious arch nemesis, is what I like to call delicious torture. In my hand I hold something so incredibly hot, that to you, it will feel cold. It will melt your skin if I so much as brush it across you." Sirius climbed onto the mattress, his wand still pointed painfully into Michael's back. "It will tear the flesh from your bones and it will be agony."

"You won't do it," Michael whimpered, eliciting a smile from Sirius again. The lingering sweetness of the Popsicle was nothing compared to the sweet tang of revenge. "You won't, you won't…"

"Won't I?" Sirius purred, licking the drips from his Popsicle. "I rather think I will… Tell me, how many times did you watch Remus bleed and not do anything about it? How many times did you," Sirius dragged his wand painfully down Michael's spine, delighting in the grunt of pain that wafted up as a bright red stripe erupted in his wand's wake, "leave a mark upon his skin? How many Michael?"

"Don't," Michael pleaded, almost sobbing now. "I…I never…never meant to… I never meant to! I never meant to!"

"Such lies," the Animagus hissed, pressing the Popsicle against Michael's back, nearly laughing at the terrified screams of pain. Bright pink, cherry-flavoured juice pooled in the dip between the man's shoulder blades as tears streamed hot and bitter from his eyes.

Michael's hands were clenched on the headboard, unable to move due to the wand stabbing into his kidney, unable to breath as his mind reeled from the pain. "Stop, stop you bastard stop," he wailed and Sirius' mouth turned down in disgust.

"You're pathetic," he growled. "You never deserved someone like Remus…never. Say it! Say you never deserved someone as good as him you sick son of a bitch!"

"I never deserved him! I never deserved him, please…please, stop!"

"How many times did Remus beg you to stop?" Sirius whispered, wand almost breaking the skin as he jammed it harder against Michael's flesh. "And would you ever stop?"

"No," Michael whispered. "Please…please… God I can feel it, I can feel the blood…"

"That's right, you never stopped," Sirius purred. "And you know what that means…"

"No! NO, no, no!! Please…PLEASE!"

Sirius stabbed the Popsicle into Michael's back; dragging it ruthlessly down his spine, slashing it back and forth across him, pink juice splattering artfully across the sheets as his hoarse screams echoed dully around the room.

A funny smell wafted up and Sirius frowned at the damp spot spreading across the mattress. The blond had wet himself. He got up from the bed, licking a stray drop of Popsicle juice from his hand and tossed the mostly melted, sticky mess onto the mattress beside Michael's prone body.

"If I ever, and I mean ever, see your face again, I won't be nearly so kind," he replied. One well-aimed punch landed on Michael's kidneys, forcing him to double up in pain, rolling in his own urine as sobs wracked his body. Another blow to the head, and darkness swept over the blond's field of vision as unconsciousness swelled up around him.

Sirius smiled as he closed the apartment door softly behind himself. Maybe he would get a Popsicle on the way back to James and Lily's… He smiled wider as he let himself out of the apartment building, pulling his cloak tighter around himself. Yes, he would have that Popsicle, and maybe even bring Remus one. Chocolate…he knew Remus would enjoy it. As for him…well he'd always loved cherry.

XXX

Remus smiled softly as Sirius crept into the guest bedroom in James and Lily's snug little cottage in Godric's Hollow closing the book on his finger. "Where've you been?" he asked, tucking his legs up under himself as Sirius sat on the end of the bed.

"Just had some…business to take care of," the Animagus replied. Remus' brows contracted and he opened his mouth to speak, but Sirius diverted him by pulling a small, white-paper-packaged something from behind his back. "I brought you a present."

Remus smiled and Sirius felt his heart lift; it was the first genuine smile he'd seen Remus smile in what felt like forever. It was like the sun bursting dazzlingly from behind a cloud after a rainstorm, sparkling on the puddles and warming the earth. Sirius couldn't help but smile back. "What is it?" Remus asked, reaching for it. "And why is it…cold?"

Sirius' grin turned lopsided. "Open it and find out, silly." Remus smiled again and hastily tore the packaging away, chuckling softly as the chocolate Popsicle almost fell out onto the bedspread.

"Thanks…you didn't have to y'know," he murmured, glancing up at Sirius through his lashes as he put the Popsicle into his mouth. He sighed at the rich, delicate lace of flavours as the treat melted on his tongue.

"Au contraire Moonshine, I think I did. You deserve a present every now and then." Sirius leaned over on one arm, watching as Remus slowly devoured the treat, his pink tongue looking far too fetching catching the wayward chocolaty drips. The brunette had to shake himself mentally. He wasn't supposed to be thinking like that… Merlin, but the boy was just oblivious to the torture he was wreaking on Sirius' libido…

And, as a result of said raging libido, Sirius couldn't stop himself, when Remus was finished, from reaching out and swiping a rebellious smudge of chocolate from the corner of the lycan's mouth, licking his own finger clean. "You missed a spot," he supplied helpfully.

Remus shivered, suddenly very aware that Sirius was close, emitting an inviting warmth and aura of casual intimacy. He had always been like that, but for some reason, at that moment, Remus was hyper-aware of it. He imagined what Sirius' lips would look like wrapped around his own fingers and his cock twitched traitorously. He cleared his throat and looked down at the comforter, pulling at a loose thread.

Sirius frowned and tilted Remus' chin back up with the slightly saliva-slicked finger. "Don't do that Remus."

"Do what?" Remus asked, whispering for some reason. Sirius shifted closer before he could stop himself.

"Look down all the time. I want to see your eyes. They're too…" He blushed inexplicably.

"Too what?" Remus murmured, gaze shifting from Sirius' own bright gaze to his mouth. Unbidden, images of Sirius looking up at him through a tangle of black hair, his lips around the smooth length of the lycan's phallus, sucking, tasting, licking assaulted Remus and he had to close his eyes as he drew a shuddering breath.

Sirius had been about to say 'too beautiful to hide', but feared what his friend's reaction might be. For some unknown reason, his hand lingered on Remus' chin and he dropped it, sorely tempted to smooth it down the lycanthrope's front, across his too-prominent collarbones, dipping into his shirt… "They're too beautiful to hide," he whispered back, hand dropping into his lap.

Remus' eyes snapped open, his body tingling from the sexual tension lingering in the air. "Sirius," the lycan breathed.

"Hmm?"

"Kiss me."

XXX

Author's Note: (dodges sporks) SORRY!! I know I'm evil… Review anyway? :D OH! And after you drop me a line, be sure to check out my belated-birthday-ficcy by Serindraxx!! (www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/s/4993932/1/Love_Game)