A/N: Ellllllo to you all!

Special thanks to Silverkonekotsukari who offered this wonderfully appropriate quote for Sirius:

All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity:
but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.
—T. E. Lawrence from "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom"

MUCHO LOVE TO EVERYONE!

Disclaimer: I still don't anything HP related!

MORS MORDRE

Regulus glanced at the ancient clock that was mounted on the wall. It was a stupid old thing that you had to concentrate on to see past the archaic patterns before reading the time. It was a useless piece of junk and should have been thrown out long ago had it not once belonged the great Salazar Slytherin himself.

The clock chimed. Neither Lestrange or Snape had returned and it was well past the rendezvous hour. At first it angered Regulus that his part in the plan was to have no part of it but he quickly grew bored and occupied himself with a few chapters of "Dark Artisans of Power" By Grafult Kokenhabor. However, no matter how much of an interesting read it may be, the informative and graphic descriptions of wizards using unorthodox magic could not absorb his full attention that night.

Restlessness itched at his thoughts until it finally gave way to anxiousness. He wasn't exactly worried yet but it was an uneasy feeling that he didn't like.

He flipped the heavy tome shut. He'd had enough. Unable to withstand being kept in the dark any longer Regulus tentatively left the relative safety of the Slytherin common room. He was more than aware that tonight a werewolf roamed the grounds. Careful to watch his back he snaked along corridors and stairways until he reached the designated dungeon.

There was nothing but a wide pool of steaming water. So much for Snape's cage…

"Didn't work." He observed derisively.

Pressing on he reached the secret exit. Immediately he held a hand over his nose in distaste at the carcass that lay in his path. Seeing it made him glad that he hadn't had an active part in the plan as his conniving peers would have seen to it that he would be landed with the worst task; in this case, body picking.

With an even greater caution he went up and up along the twisted tunnel hewn crudely out of solid rock until the cold met his face with an arctic bite.

Tracing the decided route to the Forbidden Forest it didn't take him long to find Lestrange holed up like a devious bear in the snow along the way.

"You're late." He said letting his irritation show. The older Slytherin jumped in surprise and pushed the newly arrived Regulus away with irritation. "Just shut up and watch!"

Regulus refused to be silenced and opened his mouth to answer with a retort before he looked up ready to dismiss whatever it was that held Lestrange's attention so avidly. He could just about see a lone figure facing what was unmistakably a werewolf. Regulus gasped.

Even a troll could put two and two together. This was Lestrange's plan to get revenge on Sirius, seeing the dark hair and height of the person Regulus mistook James for Sirius. All animosity for his brother was immediately forgotten.

"The werewolf was supposed to be locked up!" He shouted at Lestrange. "That's my brother out there!" He pointed wildly. "He wasn't supposed to fight the werewolf!"

Lestrange did not look in the least bit bothered and wasn't about to explain that his brother was in fact somewhere over the hill riddled with madness.

"Watch him die."

Both of them. How fitting it was that he should get rid of both blood traitors, a Mudblood and eventually a vermin wolf all at once. They disgusted him in life and deserved each other only in death.

"WHAT?"

"It'll be interesting." Lestrange mused. Had Regulus really been so naïve to believe that a potion like the Draught of Delierum would not eventually kill the poisoned? If so he had completely overrated him. The honoured Blacks had grown decrepit over generations save for his darling Bella and perhaps her sister of course.

Regulus began to back off. "You're crazy!"

"No, your brother is." Lestrange smirked nastily. "What do you think you are doing?" he asked mockingly when he saw Regulus ready his wand. "Going to fight off the werewolf to save your blood traitor?"

"I'm not going to let him die like that." Regulus replied tightly. "He has dishonoured our family and he will be dealt with accordingly the Black way. Dying at the teeth of vermin debases even him."

Lestrange threw his head back and laughed heartily. "Go home boy, your guts are wasted here. That 'wolf will have you dead before you can even cast a spell. You're no match for it."

"I…" Regulus was in his 6th year but his skills were mediocre and far under par from his brother's. He understood this as well as Lestrange but what could he do? With a grunt of frustration and semi-formed determination he got up and sprinted at full speed back to the castle.

Lestrange sneered at his retreating silhouette. "Useless fool." People like Regulus did not get far in life. "If you start something you had better have the guts to finish it." Fortunately, he had the intention of finishing it all.

---

Lily threw Sirius' cloak off, it was hindering her movements heavily. It lay on the snow, wet and ruined with her blood. With reluctance she abandoned it and braced against the cold-

"Oh My- Sirius!" Like a ghost he materialised into view. With a stuttered run she went to him, collapsing to her knees just as she grabbed him about the arm.

"Who's there?" He demanded throwing her off. Lily braced herself with her weakened arms, her surprise quickly fading when she saw that his eyes were sealed shut.

Conjunctivitis curse.

With a flick of her wand it was partially lifted and he cracked an eye open to look at her with amazement.

"Me! It's me!" She cried dangerously close to crying. It was the best that she could do for the moment and already it was making her giddy.

He looked bewildered. "Lily?"

"Yes!" She had been terrified for him when he'd baited the Centaur away and was incredibly glad to see him unhurt… The sight of him, no matter how haggard gave her strength. His familiarity was like a single hot flame in her frozen state and it fuelled her hope or maybe it was simple relief that both she and he could help James together?

She staggered to her feet with a renewed surge of energy. "Come on! We need to get help!" She called while taking lead heading to the castle-

-Her scream was cut short even as it formed in her throat-

-A spell smashed into her back, stealing her of air and sending her forwards. Shocked she rolled over to her back gasping, her back on fire with pain. So sudden the attack had been that she thought that she was dead.

This death hurt.

"Muwhahahaha!" A deranged laugh echoed around her and she realised that she was not expelled into a frozen purgatory but definitely alive for she felt all wounds afresh.

Lily got up so quick that her spine cracked. "Sirius?"

He hovered not too far brandishing his wand and laughing strangely. "Rapincio!"

Blessed with a sound instinct Lily reacted instantly. "Protego!" Her shield barely cushioned the blow of a nasty hex in time. "Sirius!" She screamed from behind her solid shimmering shield.

"YOU'RE DEAD!" he screamed back. His hair was wild about his face, his one good eye open at a slit and the other congealed shut all together. He was almost unrecognisable. Snow caked all over him and it was obvious that he was freezing. Why hadn't she noticed any of this before?

Her heart pounded. Sirius could be aggressively mean when he was feeling insensitive, and he never came out of a physical argument without being the victor but he never set out to hurt anyone, let alone a friend deliberately. For all his tongue and cheek tough talk he always took pride in his honour. Attacking a friend from behind in such a way was not in his nature.

This couldn't be Sirius.

By any standard tonight was a night that she would never forget. Logic and reason was something of an abstract idea and strictly non-applicable to anything. What should she do? What could she do? He was not the same Sirius as before but in her mind she couldn't quite separate the two.

Because they're the bloody same person for crying out loud!

It was very hard not to remember how he spoke to her about James before the Centaur as she pondered her next move. His sincerity, honesty and good will to understand…

With a massive exertion of her magical skill Lily held her shield and began to push forward straight to him.

No matter what she had to reach him.

Spell after spell hit her protective barrier and it shoved her a few steps back each time but still she pressed on, determined to reach her goal.

He was wearing himself out. She could see and feel him physically weakening with each spell until he doubled over breathing heavily. He was totally spent and didn't even retaliate when she came within arm's distance. She cautiously lowered her shield and when it was apparent that he couldn't even lift his wand anymore she raised a hand and slapped him hard across the face.

"You idiot! What's wrong with you!"

Luckily and unbeknownst to Lily, Sirius was already in a what would be considered a post-violent stage of madness and now he talked largely in seemingly unrelated sentences. It was a good thing too, had he been as powered up as he was before she would have been defeated long before she could even raise a shield.

He stared at her gormlessly as if the slap had never happened. "I can fully assure you that I won't be overly impressed if that thing decides to rip my arm off and then beats me to pulp with it."

"What on earth are you on about?"

"Steak! Could have killed a Hippogriff."

Lily blinked uncertainly until it dawned on her that somehow he must be confunded or something, which explained his wildly awry confusion. "Oh…Sirius…" She touched his face again, this time gently. She could barely feel any heat under her fingertips and it worried her. He wasn't far from hypothermia. He didn't move from her touch or seem to feel it. He just stood there, slightly hunched with his teeth chattering uncontrollably.

She held out her hand. "Come here, Sirius, we need to get help." She said trying to coax him.

He slapped her hand away. "No!"

"Sirius-" Without intending to Lily reached out again but her wand was still in her hand and she ended up jabbing Sirius in the side with it. Her wand protested loudly with a loud firecracker bang and Sirius responded with a yell.

"Oh that's all right! Take a wand and stab me with it!" he howled and began to run away from her.

Lily shook her head. "No I didn't mean- come back!" But he outran her by far. She half tried to chase but-

James!

Her loyalties lay split in front of her. On one hand there was James and Remus and on the other there was Sirius. Demanding seconds ticked away with pressure until she turned and ran for the castle with an even greater urgency before.

---

James threw himself at the werewolf just as it pounced. The move was not planned, he had simply reacted instinctively, which would have been fine had he been in his stag form but as a human he was nowhere near as strong or resilient.

The 'wolf snarled as it was knocked off course and it tried to take a huge swipe as it fell away but James twisted and landed on his shoulder hard. He was up in an instant, being off balance meant vulnerability.

He fired a spell as quickly as he could, a powerful stunner that threw the 'wolf further away before he confunded it. With a yelp Remus tried to shake the confusion spell off but a solid hurling hex tossed it high into the air.

By the play of fate, the werewolf was hurled over the hill and landed not too far from Lestrange where it whimpered and fell momentarily still. The Slytherin stared at it with his mouth open. It couldn't be defeated so easily! It couldn't! He dug himself out of his snow hole muttering curses.

"Useless!" He shouted angrily and went to kick it. The 'wolf twitched and he quickly flew back to put some distance between it and himself.

"OI!" James bellowed having climbed the hill in time to see him kick Remus. "What the hell do you think you're doing!"

"Finishing off blood traitors." He answered unexpectedly, the cogwheels of his power lusting mind twisting.

It was time. He told himself.

Incompetence had fouled his revenge. Snape's incompetence, Black's incompetence and hell even the incompetence of the pathetic werewolf had ruined it all. If he got nothing from tonight he would at least take Potter's head to the Dark Lord to show his worth!

James' eyes narrowed. Of course Snape wouldn't be alone in his destruction, it was only natural that Lestrange would be involved too. It didn't matter who instigated whom into this, James wasn't going to let either go. Lestrange definitely wasn't going anywhere without a fight and he knew that the Slytherin could sense this-

-Before any spells were exchanged the werewolf leapt once more-

-Ignoring Lestrange altogether it pounced on the only prey that would sate its unholy blood lust-

Caught off guard it landed heavily on James and together they rolled down the hill. James wrestled for his life. Claws tore easily into him but all he could see were teeth. One bite and it would all be over. If he lived then he too would surrender his soul once a month and that was if he was lucky. Death appeared imminent as he quickly tired. The 'wolf was wearing him down and it knew it. Every bone crushing snap it made took away more of James' energy. The second he failed then victory was to be had-

With a last desperate kick James managed to throw the werewolf off but it was back in an instant with a frenzy of snapping jowls and flying spittle-

"MOVE!" A voice yelled from above and James did. He dove to the right hoping that whatever it was that he was moving for, he had moved enough.

Snape swayed unsteadily atop the hill but he tossed the large jar of potion anyway. In mid air, he pointed his wand and managed to hit a spell on it causing the glass to explode. A shower of water poles rained down-

-Slammed into the snow like picks in soil surrounding the werewolf in a cage made out of water-

-The werewolf snapped furiously at the bars and growled, shaking foam from its wide maw-James blinked, unable to believe his eyes. He sat up. Unbelievably Snape had just saved his life.

"No No No NOOOO!" Lestrange screamed at Snape. "It was going to finish him!"

Snape glared at him, a hand pressed over a bleeding nostril of his swollen and broken nose. "It won't achieve anything."

Things could not have gotten worse. Had the plan not been screwed up they would have the werewolf blood by now and the potion would have been enough to kill within ten minutes once administered. One lethal dose that was hard to trace in a post mortem wizard or Muggle way. Lily, that blasted Potter and the insufferable Black was all involved now.

Snape could see Black running stupidly in wild circles from his high vantage viewpoint. Immediately below Potter stood with his mouth open like a fool beside the cage. More or less on the same level as him Lestrange stood in a spitting rage.

"You're own your own now." Snape informed him. With a cold intelligence that all Slytherin possessed in one form or another he had evaluated his best path of retreat in seconds. To them it was the basic rule of survival: looking after your own back. Like he wanted to save Potter! It was his only choice.

Lestrange cackled. "Spoken like a true Slytherin. I was beginning to think that you had become a blood traitor. The Dark Lord would have been most disappointed."

Manipulating Lestrange was too easy. Without even trying he'd offered an opening. "I would never disappoint the Lord. You may have made a mess this time but I refuse to be dragged down by it. I plan to stay here and carry out the Dark Lord's will. He wants me to stay and for that I will clean myself of your doings!"

It was a gamble. Lestrange was caught as good as red handed. He could either take all the blame or take him down with him. Snape hoped that it would be the former. Lestrange was an idiot, if he believed that the Dark Lord wanted him to stay then he would make sure he stayed.

Snape could deal with Potter, especially now that he had just saved his life. He would play the hero while Lestrange took the blame. "Or dare you defy him?" he challenged.

Lestrange's eyes glinted, underneath the hard stare Snape could detect the wavering indecision. With a dark stare of his own he returned it with all his willing might until Lestrange looked away a little unnerved that Snape should have a glare that shadowed the Dark Lord's. "Then I await the good news, if the Lord and I do not hear anything substantial from you before graduation then consider your life forfeit."

Snape sneered but said nothing. He spoke as if he was the Lord most trusted Follower but in reality he was nothing but a worthless dog.

Without warning Lestrange pointed his wand above his head. "This is for you My Lord!" he shouted with a maniacal laugh. "MORS MORDRE!" Failed as this mission may be but the Dark Lord will leave his signature; it was only a matter of time before Hogwarts was his.

Green smoke erupted from the end of his wand and flew up forming an eerie skull that glowed bright with green sparks. Snakes writhed and fell from its mouth.

The mark rose. It was already visible to all in the immediate vicinity and soon it would have reached high enough for all to see…

By the time Lily reached the stairs the doors swung open and Dumbledore strode out followed by Regulus. Framed by the massive archway the great wizard froze; his features turning ice cold when he saw what was rising in the sky.

Lily twisted around and her jaw dropped. "No!"

James staggered back. "Oh Shit! Shit!" The Dark Mark! Without thinking he threw up the tip his wand at the Mark. He couldn't let it rise or fear will finish the school for sure. "I won't allow it!" He yelled. "He will not touch Hogwarts!" Inky blackness shot out from his wand and chased after the green, distorting the image that was mostly formed. James poured everything he had into stifling the Dark mark but all it seemed to do was delay it's complete form.

From the corner of his eye he could see a pale shadow swoop in.

Tatty?

She soared in gracefully followed by a camouflaged flicker that he knew was Chewy. Together they flew in circles around the Dark Mark. Faster and faster they flew until they summoned enough magic and speed to dispel the mark altogether. With a ear splitting hiss of a protest the skull dissipated into a mist of green.

About bloody time. James thought distantly. He heard Lestrange scream shortly after a distinct cat screech and with the sound of a residual shout, everything went black and James Potter fell unconscious.

---

A/N: Has anyone seen the new GoF movie yet? I loved it!

Next chapter: GRAVELY BONKERS. I'm quite fond of it for some strange reason. The chapter was mostly written up even before this one was finished so it should be up soon!