'Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Warning: None for this chapter.

Chapter 24 – Revelations & Aftereffects

When the trio of Remus, James and Lily reached the Great Hall, they were unsurprised to find that they were the only occupants. As they crossed the threshold of the cavernous room, the torches in the ancient wall sconces brightened. In the enhanced illumination, the three friends easily made their way to the Gryffindor table, settling into their usual places. Moments later, the little house elf, Puggins, appeared at Remus' elbow.

"You is wanting coffee, Master Remus?" she asked, batting her eyes adoringly at the young werewolf. James rolled his eyes skyward, having witnessed variations on this particular performance in the past. This was Lily's first opportunity to see it, however, and she watched the exchange with amused interest.

"Lily? James?" Remus asked his companions, pointedly ignoring James and looking instead at Lily.

Accepting the offer of coffee and smiling at Puggins' promise of a "surprise" as well, the friends fell to their own thoughts as they waited for the house elf to return. When she did, with a large pot of coffee, creamers and sugar, the students were grateful to also see a tray of what the house elf called, "morning snacks" as well. Heaped high on a large platter was an array that included steaming almond cream croissant, fresh blackberry scones and, separately, a plate of plain bagels with rich, creamy peanut butter in a lovely porcelain bowl. The latter, Puggins placed directly in front of Remus, patting his arm affectionately then turning and briskly trotting back to the kitchens.

James snorted as he reached for a scone. "You've definitely got an admirer, Remus."

Remus shook his head. He couldn't tell James the origin of this particular treat with Lily sitting there. But it had firmly cemented his affection for the little house elf. After a particularly awful full moon during his second year, Remus had found himself in the hospital wing for several days. Comfort food had always helped speed his recovery and his mother, knowing his particular fondness for Muggle-baked bagels, kept a steady supply delivered to him at school. She also sent jars of peanut butter that not only satisfied the young wizard's addiction to it, but also kept up his protein levels. His supply, however, had been depleted and due to a bout of flu, his mother had been unable to travel to London to restock. The house elf had come to the hospital wing with Poppy's breakfast, as the healer would not leave the young werewolf on his own after such a traumatic night. When Puggins asked about breakfast for Remus when he awakened, Poppy had explained Remus' preference and how he was waiting for his next package from home. No one ever knew how she'd done it, but the elf had managed to find a way to stock both items in the kitchen from that point forward. Remus was grateful as it saved his mother time and money.

Slathering peanut butter on one half of a warm bagel, Remus simply nodded and smiled at his friend.

"Jealous, Potter?" Lily asked, adding cream to her coffee.

"Desperately. Can't think how I'll go on," he replied. Stirring his own coffee, James turned in Lily's direction and added, "You've an exceptionally sharp tongue this morning, Lily. Not particularly attractive – which is definitely not in keeping with the rest of you." He smiled and hurriedly looked back at his own plate.

Remus noticed a slight tremble to the other boy's hand and, judging by the color now suffusing Lily's face, his nerves were well founded.

"How dare – what do you mean by," Lily sputtered, then paused to gather herself before continuing. "Just because the rest of you seem completely enthralled by the great Sirius Black doesn't mean that I have to join you. He's cruel, arrogant and completely self-involved. He'll sleep with anything that moves and now he wants to add Kate to his long list of conquests. He's done nothing but hurt her and he's proven that he'll use anyone to get what he wants. Sirius took up with Delilah Hornsby as part of a plan to end a forced engagement to another witch – if there even is an engagement at all. How long before he uses one of you as the means to an end? To get to someone? To get something he wants? No one calls him on his behavior, certainly not either of you. He doesn't understand what it feels like for the other person; what it's like to feel the kind of pain his words and actions cause."

James took a deep breath, spared Remus a brief glance and prepared himself for the full brunt of the redhead's considerable wrath. "Lily, I'm going to tell you something and I want you to listen to me. No," he held up his hand when she prepared to interrupt him. "I listened to you, and despite the fact that you said some bloody awful things about my best mate, I kept my mouth shut. Now, I'm going to ask you to be just as honorable while I have my say. You can say whatever you'd like when I'm finished. Are we agreed?" Lily gave him a curt nod and James went on. "We have no illusions about Sirius. We know that he can be an arrogant prat and that he doesn't always come up with the most brilliant of plans – when people he loves are involved. I can appreciate how from your perspective he can appear cruel and self-involved, but you don't know him as we do. You don't know the reasons behind some of the things he does. We do. But the details belong to Sirius, not to us; the story is his to share. While I won't betray his confidences, I will give you enough of a picture that you will hopefully have a better point of view of him. But before I go on, you must promise me that you will not repeat anything I'm about to say to you. If you can't do that, this conversation is over. Do you promise?"

As Lily listened to James speak, her eyes never left his face and gradually, her expression changed. Her anger receded somewhat and a look of curiosity settled in its place. There was another emotion – surprise – that registered in her green eyes. Remus had been watching her closely and knew that Lily was seeing James in an entirely different light. This was not the slaphappy, immature, lovesick Marauder, trying everything he could think of to ensnare the fair Miss Evans. This was a quiet, determined young man, defending one of his best friends and flirting dangerously with breaking a confidence in order to spare that friend further verbal assaults by the young witch. Lily's perspective of more than one wizard may change this morning, Remus mused.

"I promise," Lily said quietly. "Go on."

With another, longer look at Remus, James nodded once and resumed speaking. "You've not had a lot of experience with Purebloods, have you?" Lily shook her head. "Of course, there's me, but my family is not what I'm talking about. There's a whole segment of Purebloods who embrace the more dark side of our world: old traditions, ancient magic – dark ancient magic – and the unshakeable belief that their blood is more pure than anyone else's. They despise Muggles and Muggle-born. They don't take kindly to their offspring rebelling against their beliefs, either. To retain their superiority, this lot tends to marry within their own families – cousins and the like. The Blacks are one of those families. Sirius is an offspring who rebels – often. He was sorted into Gryffindor, which should give you some idea; the balance of the Dark Purebloods is in Slytherin, as you know. Perhaps the reason I really resent your reference to Sirius as 'cruel' is because I've met his mother – a woman who defines the term," James' voice turned bitter. "I can assure you that Sirius fails to meet the family standard in this area – as they feel he fails to meet so many others. Lily, you have no idea what Sirius suffers at the hands of that woman – or at her wand. I will not go into detail save to tell you that it is abuse – pure and simple. And the abuse extends to both the verbal and the physical types." Lily's soft gasp was the only sound as both she and Remus pictured the young man in question and considered his life away from Hogwarts – the life of which he seldom spoke, and never in any detail. "You should have a vague notion of how his family feels about him; you were privy to that lovely little demonstration in Hogsmeade with his cousins and Malfoy. If his ideas are half-arsed, it might be because he's so bloody scared that he'll lose somebody who might actually care about him – and there are precious few of them in his life. If it seemed that he was running around with a couple of birds at school, it just might have been because he needed to do it for something more than …" James blushed, but bravely carried on. "… more than the usual reasons. And, apart from Delilah, he hasn't done that in a very long time, has he? Not since Kate. He's no more monster than we are. And he does know how it feels to be hurt by the people who are supposed to care about him – and by people who say they do but only lie for their own purposes. He would never lie to make things easier for himself, Lily. He was right when he said that. I think we can all agree that based on this bloody stupid plan of his, Sirius doesn't really know how to make things easier for himself; he doesn't think about doing that. Never has, actually; too Slytherin for him. Maybe that's part of why he was sorted into Gryffindor." James sighed and ran his hand through his already impossibly unruly hair. "I'm done. I won't say anything more." He looked up at Lily, stunned to see that her face had paled and her expression was no longer hard or unyielding. "You promised, Lils. Remember that. You can't say a word to anyone. And you can't let on to Sirius that you know anything. He has few enough people who've earned and deserve his trust; I'd like to continue to be one of them. And, of course, there's the fact that he'd have my guts for garters if he found out."

"I won't say a word," Lily said softly. She played with her spoon distractedly.

Remus pulled out his wand and tapped their mugs and immediately steam rose from the beverages they contained. Each of the friends lapsed into silence as they sipped their coffee.

Lily's brow furrowed as she thought of all she'd heard. I'm luckier than Black is, she thought to herself. At least I have Mum and Dad; always have, actually. Even before anyone knew why I could do the things I could do. They didn't make me feel like a freak or something to be hidden away or hated. Petunia, on the other hand…Lily closed her eyes, remembering surreptitious pinches and hair-pulls suffered at the hands of her older, non-magical sister. Petunia was fine when others – particularly their parents – were about, but once alone, the verbal torrent of insult that streamed from her lips went straight to the core of every insecurity Lily held. It was Petunia's derisiveness, coupled with Lily's own ambition that drove the red-haired witch to be at the top of her class at Hogwarts. Lily shook her head, suddenly seeing her behavior toward Sirius in an entirely different light. And I can't let on that I know anything about what James has told me, so I can't apologize for anything I've said to him. She sighed. Maybe there will be an opportunity – later, at some point when James' confidence won't be compromised.

Lily looked over at the dark-haired wizard seated next to her, watching him as he, too, seemed lost in his own thoughts. She might have her own insecurities, but she wasn't stupid; Lily knew that James fancied her – perhaps more than fancied her. While she had to admit, he was attractive, it was hard for her to take him seriously when he never rose to the challenge of her temper or … as much as she hated to admit it … her poor behavior toward his friends. But that had obviously changed, she mused. From calling her eavesdropping what it was to telling her off – albeit quietly – for her treatment of Sirius, James had clearly matured. He risked her wrath and made no compliment of it. It certainly deserved some consideration; it deserved respect. She groaned inwardly – although it was only half-hearted. What is the world coming to? I'm thinking about 'respect' and 'James Potter' in the same thought. She smiled, remembering the Quidditch match the day before. Admit it, Lily; you're hooked; well and truly hooked. But it would never do to change her stripes all at once. No, she concluded. You may have won the war, James Potter, but it will be a very gradual surrender.

XXXXXXXX

"This is the strangest thing I've ever experienced," Kate whispered to what appeared to be the empty space beside her.

"If that's true, then you've led a really sheltered life," came an amused voice from said empty space.

Kate glanced to her right as they stepped down from the staircase and moved toward the entrance to the Great Hall. When Sirius had run back to the dorm for 'a guaranteed disguise', Kate had not been expecting to see him return with an Invisibility Cloak. As he had explained, if they encountered students other than James, Lily and Remus on the way to the Great Hall, it would make no difference where Kate sat for breakfast. They would have already been seen together. Sirius had the brainstorm to grab James' Invisibility Cloak and cover himself on the trip downstairs. If they got to the Hall and found their friends to be the only occupants, Sirius would reveal himself and hide the Invisibility Cloak. Standing before Kate in the Common Room, Sirius had draped the cloak around himself, creating the eerie image of his disembodied head floating in the air. At her gasp, he had smiled and properly donned the garment, completely disappearing beneath it.

"Amazing," Kate had breathed. "I'm almost afraid to think of what you lot get up to with this." She could fairly hear Sirius' smile beneath the cloak.

"As well you should be."

Arriving at the Great Hall, the two students peered inside and were relieved to see their friends – alone – at the Gryffindor table. Kate felt a rush of cool air and heard the soft swoosh that meant Sirius had removed the cloak.

"I think we're safe," he said quietly and the two entered the Hall and made their way down the long table to where Lily, James and Remus were seated. To be completely safe, Kate went round to the other side and sat next to Lily; far enough away from Sirius to maintain a façade of separation if other students wandered in.

Almost simultaneous to their arrival, two coffee mugs magically appeared before them.

"Lovely," Kate said, holding her cup out for Remus to fill. "Thank you."

"Are you alright?" Lily asked Kate, her eyes firmly fixed on her friend. She wasn't sure she could look at Sirius right now without giving away her jumbled thoughts and feelings.

"I'm fine," Kate assured her. "What did we miss?"

Remus glanced at James and Lily. "Oh, not much. A bit of clarification, perhaps. Nothing too…" he trailed off, glancing at Sirius who raised his eyebrows in silent question.

"Detailed," James finished for him.

At that, Sirius relaxed. "Kate knows about … things," he leaned over the table. "She thinks that the five of us might be able to work out a way to deal with this situation."

The group turned to look at Kate, who flushed under the attention. "I just think that together we should be able to come up with a plausible way of making the engagement go away."

Lily put her hand on Kate's arm. "What are you proposing?"

"I haven't come up with anything close to a proposal, Lily. I do have some questions, though." Kate turned to Sirius. "You mentioned that you'd had a conversation with Ofelia. I'm assuming it took place yesterday afternoon, yes?"

Sirius nodded. "Yeah; just before we saw you in the hallway. Why?"

"Well, it just seems to me that if she was willing to sit down and speak with you about something neither of you wants, she might be willing to meet with the rest of us to combine strategies. After all, this means something to her, as well. Do you think she might agree?"

Before Sirius could answer, James shook his head. "It's awfully risky, Kate. Blimey, we don't even know her. And, she's in thick with Snape, who's best mates with Malfoy, who's a little too close to Sirius' family. I don't know, mate. This could go pear shaped pretty damned fast, if you ask me."

"James is right, Sirius," Remus agreed. "You don't know this girl very well at all. Her affiliations are already suspect: your family, her brother – in addition to Snape and Malfoy. It could end badly for you at home."

Sirius quietly listened to the comments around him, remembering the sincerity in Ofelia's eyes as she spoke of Kate, and of her own determination to thwart their families' plans. He thought, too, of what she left unsaid; of her own reasons for doing so. Sirius may have had his faults, but he had a fair talent for assessing character; he thought he'd read Ofelia correctly.

"Remus, I can't imagine a situation that wouldn't 'end badly for me at home'," Sirius said dryly. "Ofelia's not what I expected. There's more to her than meets the eye. I think we should give it a try. I know, Jamie," he paused as James snorted his disbelief. "Look, if nothing else, she is in Slytherin and is close to most of the people we have to worry about … well, more to the point, the people I have to worry about."

"The people we have to worry about," Kate corrected, catching his eye.

Sirius smiled, visibly relaxing. "When Ofelia and I talked, she made it very clear that she did not want this engagement any more than I do. She said she was working on a plan but didn't want to share much about it. I think it's worth a try."

"We'll have to find a place to meet where we won't be seen," Kate said. "We can't afford to have someone barging in and reporting us to Sirius' cousins."

Remus cleared his throat. "I might have just the place," he offered. "I can think of at least one project it's helped the Marauders complete."

James and Sirius looked at each other and smiled. "The Room of Requirement," James said. "Brilliant, Remus! Now, all we need to do is decide when we'll get everyone together."

"No time like the present, Jamie," Sirius responded. "I'll catch Ofelia after breakfast and sound her out. If she's in, we'll pick a time and I'll come and find you lot. Agreed?"

"Agreed," they all chorused.

Finally able to put his nerves aside to eat, Sirius reached over Remus for a croissant.

Eyeing Lily as he took a bite of the pastry, Sirius chewed thoughtfully for a moment.

"You're quiet, Evans," he said, taking another bite. "Lost your taste for my jugular, have you?"

Lily looked up at him then away again, quickly. "I guess I've spoken my mind already. Kate, people are starting to come to breakfast; we should probably move to the other end of the table before the Slytherins arrive." With that, she rose with her cup and walked briskly to a seat a good distance away from the Marauders.

"She's right," Kate said quietly. "I'll go join Lily for breakfast. We'll catch up in the Common Room after you've spoken with Ofelia, yes?"

Sirius nodded. "Thanks, Katie – for everything."

With a smile, Kate picked up her own mug and went to join her friend.

"I'll be glad when she doesn't have to do that anymore," Sirius muttered to his friends.

James nodded. "Listen, Padfoot, I know Lily was pretty rough on you earlier, but I have a feeling that she might be a little less judgmental in future." He rose but leaned downward to Sirius before leaving. "Do me a favor and cut her some slack 'til she proves me wrong, yeah?"

Sirius considered the request – and all that James had done for him, especially over the past two weeks. "Yeah, Jamie," he replied. "Anything for you, mate."

"Thanks. I'm going to grab a shower. I'll see you two upstairs later."

Remus and Sirius watched the other boy walk the length of the table, slowing down to give Lily's hair a gentle tug as he passed behind her.

"Our little Prongs is growing up," Sirius said, amusement in his voice.

"He's not the only one," Remus poured more coffee into his mug. "You've obviously handled your conversation with Kate with at least some degree of maturity. She looks to be in a much better frame of mind this morning."

"It's not going to fix itself overnight, though, Moony. I hurt her and now I've got to earn her trust again. I promised that I wouldn't hide things from her again and I'm going to keep that promise." Sirius fidgeted with his hands for a few moments, worrying a bit of rough cuticle before forcing himself to still. "I told Kate some of the shite about my family. She didn't run screaming from the room. Said that she could understand some of what I did after hearing it."

"You couldn't have honestly expected Kate to run away from you, Pads; she cares for you very much – too much to do that," Remus said quietly.

"She said something like that to me. She said that she forgave me and that she did care for me, but that it didn't take away the sting of what I did," Sirius looked up at his friend. "I really want to take that away; I'm going to take it away."

Remus smiled. "I know that you will. I think that confiding in her as you did probably made a good start. I'm glad, Sirius."

"Hmm. I just have to make sure my family doesn't catch on. I have this nagging feeling that Kate isn't entirely safe from them," the boy's expression grew dark.

"Have they threatened her?"

"Not in so many words, but my mother referred to her father as a 'coward' and her mother an 'idiot'. Said Kate had 'questionable family loyalties'. I've seen where comments like those can lead."

"One of the reasons your conversation with Ofelia is so important." Remus lifted his chin in the direction of the doorway. The topic of conversation was walking through the doorway – alone, for once. "Maybe that's a sign," the werewolf smiled.

"Moony, you know I don't believe in Divination," Sirius rose. "But this certainly does seem like an opportune moment to have a word with my fiancée, doesn't it?"

Sirius walked toward the door to the Hall, catching Kate's smile as he passed where she was seated. Feeling a warm sense of relief settle over him, the young wizard intercepted Ofelia as she started toward the Slytherin table.

"Good morning," he said. "Might I have a word?"

Ofelia nodded, her expression quizzical. "Shall we step outside?" As she asked, her glance slid over to the Gryffindor table.

"No need; here is fine," Sirius' voice dropped. "Listen, I took your advice and told Kate the truth."

Ofelia's eyes widened. "All of it? Is everything alright?"

"Yes – well, 'yes' to the first question and 'I think there's potential' to the second. How's that? Kate's come up with a very interesting suggestion – one that involves you." Sirius drew a deep breath. "She thinks we might be more successful breaking our engagement if we all worked up a strategy together. I did not give any detail – actually, you didn't give me much anyway – but I told her that you were working on something by yourself. Kate said that perhaps you might be willing to work with us instead of independently. You don't have to divulge anything you don't want to," he added hastily, noting that Ofelia's face had begun to close. "But we might be able to do a better job of it if we all worked together. What do you say?"

Ofelia looked beyond Sirius to where Remus, Kate and Lily were doing a very poor job of pretending they weren't watching the two of them. Noting the absence of any open hostility, Ofelia made up her mind.

"Yes," she said.

Sirius' eyebrows rose in surprise. "Yes? Really?"

Ofelia nodded. "Really. But, Sirius, what I said to you yesterday still holds. I will not discuss certain aspects of my decision."

"Understood. No one will expect it of you. And if someone does overstep, I'll be there to take care of it." Sirius thought of James and his overall lack of trust of the young witch standing before him.

Ofelia exhaled slowly. "Thank you. When shall we meet, then?"

Sirius thought for a moment. "This afternoon, right after lunch, so – what, 2 pm? Meet me in front of the statue of Millicent the Morose in the far end of the 5th floor corridor."

"2 pm, 5th floor, Millicent the Morose. I'll be there," Ofelia confirmed. "I must go." She looked behind Sirius where Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape stood.

"Ah, the lovebirds," Lucius murmured, stepping to Ofelia's side. "Enjoying a cozy breakfast for two, are we?"

Sirius did not miss Ofelia's slight shift away from the unctuous wizard, whose proximity to her exceeded the boundaries of acceptability. He recalled Ofelia's comments from their earlier conversation and his eyes narrowed.

"Unfortunately, I have already eaten," Ofelia lied smoothly. "Regrettably, we were unclear in our communications last evening, Sirius. Perhaps we can spend time together later today?"

Sirius smiled. "Of course. I'll look for you later, then."

"If you gentlemen will excuse me," Ofelia stepped away from the three wizards and through the doorway through which she had so recently entered.

"Pity," Malfoy murmured quietly. "A most pleasant breakfast opportunity lost."

"She's taken, Malfoy," Sirius said, his voice low. "You would do well to remember that. Or perhaps my dear cousin, Narcissa, would be interested in hearing how easily you can shift from one blonde witch to the next."

Malfoy's hand shot to his pocket and, Sirius was certain, the wand that rested there. Severus put his hand on the tall wizard's arm before he could react. "He's not worth it, Lucius. Why penalize our House with a certain loss of points over this pathetic little Gryffindor? There will be other opportunities, I'm certain, where the risk will be less pronounced."

Malfoy maintained his position for a few moments longer before shaking off Severus arm and striding angrily to the Slytherin table.

Sirius, himself, was seething over Snape's words. "You'd best watch yourself, as well, Snivellus," he gritted out. "Else you just might discover what 'this pathetic little Gryffindor' is capable of doing to you!" As he turned to leave the Hall, he felt Severus' grab his robes.

"Don't promise what you are incapable of delivering, Black. I know spells and hexes that would have you writhing on the ground in agony, longing for the ability to draw enough breath to beg me for mercy. It would be my pleasure to demonstrate them," Snape's deep baritone voice vibrated with hatred and Sirius had no doubt that the Slytherin wizard desired little else than to make real his threats.

"You'll never hear me beg you for anything, Snape. And, as far as Dark Magic is concerned, you would do well to remember that I'm a Black. I assure you that your spells and hexes are nothing compared to the teachings from my childhood. And it would be my pleasure to take you on a little trip down memory lane, if you're ever dimwitted enough to try anything with me!" Sirius looked down with disgust at his robes clutched in Snape's hand. "Turn me loose. Now!"

Severus' eye twitched dangerously but he released the Gryffindor's robes, spun on his heel and left Sirius standing there, breathing heavily. With the barest of glances toward where Kate and the others were seated, Sirius left the Hall, intent on putting as much distance between himself and Severus Snape as humanly possible. As he crossed the entryway, Sirius started for the staircase before abruptly changing his mind and heading, instead, for the huge oak front doors. A walk around the lake always calms me down, he thought.

As the cool air hit his flushed face, Sirius knew that he would need to keep his emotions well under control if the strategy he hoped they came up with later was to have a chance of succeeding.