Chapter Twenty One: Small Triumphs

They were the total laughing stock of the entire school. Well - of course they were. Every single student, in every single house, had somehow heard they had been caught skinny dipping in the middle of the night by Professor McGonagall before breakfast the next morning. And gales of laughter, grinning faces, winks and wolf whistles followed the pair of them wherever they went for the rest of the day.

No one seemed to remember that Peter and James had gone to Transfiguration in nothing but their tight little undies. It was as if that had never happened. All anyone talked about was that total nutter, Sirius Black, and his weird mate with the scars - and what they had got up to late at night.

Rita Skeeter even included an article on it in her last ever edition of School News Scoops.

The Pathological Attention Seeking of Sirius Black!

The headline read, followed by a story which outlined the whole sorry saga and cast several dark aspersions on Sirius's character, as well as coming up with several wild and lurid theories about how a nice boy from a good family had turned out so wayward.

Is it perhaps that a streak of madness lies deep within the genetic makeup of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black?

She wrote.

And has this madness resurfaced with their latest heir? Or was he just born bad? Perhaps he was not hugged enough as a child …

(Sirius snorted, when he read that. 'I wasn't hugged at all.')

… or he was dropped on his head. Perhaps he is a changeling, the real baby Black stolen from his crib and replaced with this wild and inhuman creature by mischievous sprites.

Or perhaps he is driven by a sense of arrogance and entitlement. Perhaps it is not enough to be from one of Britain's leading and most prominent pureblood families. Perhaps it is not enough to be the only Black in Gryffindor, or a known attempted murderer. Perhaps he craves attention - good or bad - so deeply that he will not stop until he is the most notorious, infamous wizard in our little world.

One can only shudder to think of the crimes he may commit while on the path towards this goal.

Though it wasn't only Sirius getting pilloried in the press. There was one paragraph dedicated to Remus as well:

As for our other late night, nude swimmer, the lesser known Remus Lupin, there was not much that could be found out about him. An average student who seems to suffer from reoccurring ill health, all blemishes on his record can be directly linked back to his association with the volatile Mr. Black. Perhaps this is an association he should reconsider.

The second year girls of Gryffindor were also found out enjoying a moonlit dip at the same time (though they, at least, were not nude). All swimmers have been docked fifty points each and received a detention.

The girls were all rather annoyed that their own derring do had been relegated to nothing more than a footnote at the bottom of the article.

But they were nowhere near as annoyed as Sirius and Remus were, when they saw the photo James had taken of them in pride of place under the headline, for everyone to see. (James swore blind he had not given it to Rita - and did not know how she had got hold of it. The boys didn't believe him … the only consolation was: at least their photographic selves were keeping themselves well and truly submerged in the water.)

The other article in that week's newsletter was the report that the Minister for Magic, Eugenia Jenkins herself, had been seen visiting Hogwarts one very early morning last week.

But for all the sensational and sometimes downright libellous suggestions Rita made as to why they had been visited by the most high ranking politician in the land, for once she did not get anywhere near the truth.

She did not seem to be aware that there had been another body found in Hogsmeade. And nothing, not even a whisper, of the attack appeared in the real newspaper. Mable Grable, it seemed, had been well and truly shut up.

'I don't get it,' James said, as the four of them read The Prophet that evening, finding nothing of interest. 'Dumbledore said the whole world was counting on the Minister. Why isn't she making it public what this Lord Voldemort is up to?'

But the others had no answer to that.

…

A few days before the end of term, the exam results were posted. Despite its proximity to the full moon and the fact that Remus had felt half dead at the time, he had still managed to come out top in Defence Against The Dark Arts (well, no one else had managed to totally reverse the effects of the jinxes they had cast on their partners). 'No surprises there,' Sirius said when he saw the grades posted, though there was definitely a hint of envy in his voice.

Despite his jealousy, Sirius had actually come top in Transfiguration and Charms ('but who cares about them?' he complained). Lily had come top in everything else.

'What did Natasha Perell have to say about me beating her in everything?' she asked Severus at break, the next day - and she had a hard time keeping the note of smugness out of her voice.

He shrugged. 'She didn't say anything.' (This was a lie, but he wasn't going to tell Lily what all the Slytherins had said about her down in the privacy of their own common room … or tell her that he had said nothing to defend her.)

'Really? What about the others?' She arched an eyebrow at him - looking deeply sceptical. 'No one had anything at all to say about them having the pants beaten off them by a "mudblood"?'

'Don't call yourself that.' His voice was sharp.

'Why not? Isn't that what they all call me anyway?'

'You're a witch, Lily, and a powerful one. You have loads of magic and it's obvious you belong here.'

'Would you say the same about Mary?'

He flushed. Her tone was belligerent. She was goading him, trying to trap him - and he didn't like it. 'This isn't about Mary.'

'That's not an answer.'

'Well, Mary hasn't come top in everything, has she?' he said - rather defensively. As if this proved something.

Lily wasn't taking it though. 'Neither has Natasha Perell. Or you, for that matter.' Rosy circles appeared on her cheeks and her voice became heated. 'So tell me, Sev, why you and Mulciber and Natasha are all happy to accept her as a witch, but think that me and Mary don't belong?'

'It's …' he closed his eyes for a moment and pinched the bridge of his nose. '...Look, we're a secret society. We have to stay hidden because the world of the muggles, the world of your parents, persecute us.'

'My parents have never persecuted you, Sev. No muggles have. They don't even know magic exists. You can't persecute something if you don't know it's there.'

'Exactly! That's why we have to stay hidden. Stay safe. When people like Mary, like these Kneazles, come from the outside … They don't know our ways. They don't understand how things are.'

'So?'

'So - they're not like us. I want you to fit in, Lily. I want you to be safe and accepted. And you can't do that if you go around advertising that you come from the other world. You're telling everyone that you're not one of us.'

'But I am one of you! I just came top in half the exams!'

'Then you need to act like it,' he snapped.

She stared at him, and her green eyes were blazing. 'What do you even mean by that?' she asked, sounding both incredulous and disappointed. 'Do you mean I should work hard? Because I do. Or that I should hone my magic? Because I have. Or that I should behave like all the other witches in the castle … Because I do that as well. There are more girls here listening to The Kneazles than to the likes of Abraxas Malfoy.'

Severus inhaled sharply, hissing through his teeth, but Lily only raised her voice and kept on talking. 'Or do you mean I should lie about my family? Pretend I'm not the first person I know to come here… Because what you actually mean, Severus, is that you and your friends just don't want to admit that someone like me can be better at magic than you.'

'That's not -'

'Save it. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to pander to your prejudice and pretend muggleborns can't be powerful. I'm done being quiet. I'm a "mudblood" and proud to be one.'

'You can't take that attitude.'

Her eyes flashed dangerously. 'Are you telling me what to do?'

'No - I … I just want you to be safe. If you knew what was coming, you wouldn't say these things. Look, Lily,' and he tried to take the frustration out of his voice, tried to entreat her. 'Let's not argue. We'll be back in Cokeworth soon - just us two among all the muggles. We're going to need each other - to keep each other sane - to remind ourselves where we really belong… I'll be back with my dad. I've avoided him for almost a year, and I can't stand the thought of being trapped with him again. I'm going to need you. I do need you, Lily - and when we're there I need you more than ever.'

She looked mutinous for a moment longer - and tutted.

'Please, Lily - we need to get each other through the summer. You'll see for yourself that you belong here with me - and not there with them. I can't bear it if you're not talking to me.'

'Well … alright then.'

And Severus visibly relaxed.

'But you need to tell those friends of yours that they're wrong. You need to tell them that if a muggleborn can come top in the exams then muggleborns belong here every bit as much as they do.'

'I will do.'

A wrinkle appeared between her eyebrows. She frowned at him. 'I hope so,' and then the bell rang and she walked away.

Severus watched her leave, feeling a weight lift from his shoulders. She would be all his soon - would be his solace in that living hell that was his home. And he could talk to her, make her see that she needed to leave her old world behind completely - that, if she didn't want a life in Cokeworth, then she would have to work to be accepted by those with purer blood. Would have to work to fit in with them - and not just expect them to fit in with her.

He turned back - and saw James Potter and his grim gang of goons watching him. His hand reflexively grasped for his wand. But Potter seemed not to care.

'You talked your way out of that one, didn't you, Snivellus?' he said - and his voice was cold and contemptuous. 'God - you play her like a violin, don't you?'

Severus flushed angrily. 'Sod off.'

'Not your wittiest comeback. We saw all that, Sniv. the way you appeal to her vanity, the way you play up to her hero complex - all that rubbish about needing her, one mention of your big, bad, muggle dad …. And then she does exactly what you say.'

'Furnunculus!' Severus fired a jinx - but the four boys scattered, the jinx missed them all - even fat, little Pettigrew. It rebounded off a suit of armour and flew back towards Sev, who had to fling himself on the floor to avoid getting hit.

When he looked up again, all four of them were looming directly over him - wands drawn and pointed. 'You should be careful, Sniv,' James said to him. 'All this stuff you're saying - the horrible rubbish that you're spouting - that you're getting from the paper … Lily might not know what's out there - but we do. We know all about that Dark Lord you're so fond of. We probably know more about him than you do. You want to be careful. Don't want to get in over your greasy head.'

Severus stared up at them all, they all seemed very tall from down on the floor - and all so unbelievably smug and righteous. From the arrogance of Potter to the sneering grin of Pettigrew, who was clearly delighted to not be the one under attack for once, they were all utterly loathsome in their own way. He gripped his wand - but Black swung his foot and kicked it from his hand.

The hypocrisy of Black - who everyone knew was unstable, was the only person in the castle who had tried to kill someone - and there he stood, thinking he was better than Severus. A better person. One of the good guys. It was written clearly all over that haughty, handsome, blood traitor's face of his.

'Lolligo!' Potter fired off his own hex and Severus's arm turned into a giant, purple tentacle with suckers on it. He flapped it around rather uselessly, while Black barked with laughter.

'Nice one, James, pompeio,' and with a flick of his own wand, Severus's head vanished to be replaced by a grinning pumpkin. Severus swore and tried to crawl away - heading for his own wand - though his tentacle was making it hard to balance. He could hear Potter and and Pettigrew wheezing with laughter, and Black's murderous bark of mirth.

As he inched his way towards his wand, Black raised his boot again and kicked him right up the backside - the boys all laughed again, and Black's wand was raised once more. Then the second bell, telling them they needed to get into class right this minute, rang - and Lupin put his hand on Black's arm.

'Leave it alone, Sirius, come on - let's go. Before you get in even more trouble… dissuo .' He muttered the incantation and Severus felt a wooshing sensation pass over him - and then his arm and head were normal again, and Lupin was leading Black away; the other two were tagging along behind still chortling.

Even though he would be late for lesson, Severus did not move for a long time. He sat on the floor and seethed - at the thought of the four of them; their hateful faces shining in vindictive pleasure - mocking him and hexing him while being oh so sure that they were in the right. Filthy hypocrites.

And it made his blood boil that the only reason he had got away so lightly was because that sickly little prick, Lupin, had got cold feet and made them leave before they were caught. That he had vanished the evidence of Black and Potter's wrongdoing so they wouldn't get into trouble. Black deserved to be kicked out of school - and Potter was no better - and there Lupin was, tidying up their mess for them and pretending they had done nothing wrong. The cowardly bastard.

God he hated them. God one day he would show them. One day he would have them at his mercy - the way they just had him … and he would show them none.

…

'James shouldn't have made that crack about Snivellus's dad,' Sirius said that night, once the others were asleep and he had climbed into Remus's bed for a late night chat.

'I thought all was fair when it came to Snivellus?' Remus smiled.

'Look - I'm all for the nastiest hexes there are - razor filled testicles upon his chin and all that … it's a long story,' he said, when he saw Remus's look of surprise. 'But home stuff … if Snape's dad is a bastard - and Snape gets trapped with him, can't escape … James doesn't understand that. He shouldn't be making cracks about it. I hate to say it - but I know how Snape is feeling right now … I don't want to go home. Not that that place is home .'

'We won't leave you there all summer. James says you can go to his - for ages and ages.'

'What if my parents won't let me go?'

'Then James will tell his mum and dad about you getting locked in your room for a week and Mr. and Mrs. Potter will turn up in London and forcibly remove you from the house, besides …' He gave Sirius a gentle shoulder barge, 'I bet your parents will be delighted to get the blood traitor out from under their roof.'

That made Sirius laugh. 'Too true. They probably have some secret meetings, kissing their Dark Lord's backside to be getting on with. They don't want me hanging around - telling the world what they're getting up to. I suppose it'll come down to what's most important to my mother - having me out of her way, or keeping me miserable.'

'We won't leave you there all summer, Sirius, I promise.'

…

But despite Remus's promises that all would be well, Sirius was starting to act on edge again - as the term ground to an end and the time to go home loomed up at him. Once more he was restless and snappish and constantly tapping his quill or his foot - or else staring off gloomily into the fire, as if seeing dark things in the flames.

Between them, the other three boys agreed to not leave him alone - not even for a minute - in case he had another moment of madness, an outburst of impetuous anger that would lead him to do something so reckless, dangerous and stupid that even Dumbledore would not keep him in the castle.

They got up when he did, went to bed when he did and walked with him to his detentions. There was always one of them waiting for him when he left detention as well, no matter how late they finished (that being the time they considered most likely for him to do something mental, if past patterns of behaviour were anything to go by). They even followed him into the toilets or hung around while he showered.

'It's like being under arrest,' he grumbled, though they could tell he was glad really to have their constant support. And, when he wasn't locked away in a perpetual detention, they always made sure they were making the most out of every moment they still had together: skimming stones on the lake, their competitions up the Astronomy Tower wall, sitting together in the common room with A Question of Quidditch on the wireless while Peter drew and Sirius tinkered with whatever complicated little device James or Remus had managed to find for him that evening.

As the week drew to a close, the lessons became more fun (apart from Big Macca's - she kept them nose to the grindstone until the bitter end) and they spent their final Potions lesson (their last lesson of the year) doing an end of year quiz.

Snivellus and FlatuLily won, of course - but the boys didn't do too badly. James' dad was an old potioneer and James knew one or two secret ingredients, even if he had no interest in the subject himself. And Remus wasn't bad on the theory … it was just in the practicals that he was a danger to himself and everyone around him.

Sirius was no use at all. He just sat there all lesson, his body rigid, and clock watched … seeing the minutes left at school drain away. The quill in his hand tapped relentlessly on the desk - and at one point the banging got so loud that people started to turn and look, and the Slytherins pulled faces and made rude gestures at him. He tapped all the harder.

James glanced at him uneasily - and then looked at Remus. Remus reached out and placed his own hand over Sirius's. 'Don't do that,' he said quietly. Sirius only looked surprised - as if he hadn't even realised it was happening. He stopped tapping his quill - but a moment later his leg began to jig up and down beneath the desk.

The bell rang - the day finished - and they headed upstairs. They needed to pack before the feast - as they would be catching the train first thing the next morning.

…

The feast should have been a lot of fun. The golden plates and goblets were shining in the candlelight (perhaps in no small part due to Sirius's polishing skills) and the house elves had outdone themselves in creating delicious stews and roasts and pies for them all to tuck into. However the whole occasion was taking place under the green and silver banners of Slytherin House - as they had won the cup, yet again - and the table second to the right was the loudest and most raucous.

And worst of all - the four boys were subject to baleful glares from all their fellow Gryffindors. The Slytherins had won the cup mostly thanks to the points they had gained for winning the Quidditch championship - and there was a distinct feeling among the Gryffindors that the Great Hall should be festooned in scarlet and gold this evening.

Once the points they had lost for skinny dipping after dark had been deducted, Gryffindor were actually rounding out the year dead last and - when the results were read out by Dumbledore - the boys once again found themselves being pelted with bits of chalk and scrunched up parchment by their housemates - just as they had been the year before.

To add insult to injury, the Slytherins were all still wearing their "Potter is our King" badges, which they flashed in his direction every time the teachers weren't looking.

Sitting between James and Remus, Sirius was as taught as a bowstring and he glowered darkly in Regulus's direction - watching his brother crow over Slytherin's win, and seething. James and Remus exchanged alarmed glances behind his back - but they were not as surreptitious as they thought.

'I know you're looking at each other,' Sirius suddenly announced, his jaw was clenched. 'I'm not a nutter.'

'We don't think you're a nutter.'

'We're just worried about you, mate.'

'I'm not a child - you don't have to worry about me.'

Remus put his arm around his shoulders. 'Yeah we do - who else is going to, if we don't?'

…

Once the feast was over, they all went up to their dorms for one last night (the Gryffindors rather thankful it was all over, and talking about how - if only those idiot boys could learn to control themselves - next year the house cup would be theirs).

The idiot boys in question got changed rather more quickly and quietly than the students in other dorms - where end of year spirits were running high. Sirius's gloom and their worry for him meant they did not feel much in the way of celebrating, and for them it was just a matter of getting into pajamas and switching the lights off. James looked but did not say anything when Sirius got straight into Remus's bed.

…

Even though they had been all packed and ready the night before, somehow the next morning was a massive, manic rush - and last minute items that needed to be shoved into already locked trunks kept springing up from nowhere. Remus found a pair of his socks under Peter's bed, while Sirius's hat had somehow wound up under James' pillow and there was an argument over whose toothbrush was whose and the sudden realisation they had all been using the same one for the past two weeks.

They were late to breakfast, which was just as hurried as the rest of the morning, and had to wolf down toast and porridge before it all vanished and they were turfed out of the Great Hall ready for the train. And then - still feeling like they hadn't quite caught up with themselves - they were out in the courtyard, surrounded by all the other students, their trunks, their brooms, their squawking owls and their squealing cats (and one or two toads making a last minute bid for freedom). People swapped addresses and promised to write and visit, first years pushed their way through the crowds - laughing and shoving … and then the carriages arrived and they were all whisked away down to the tiny village and the even tinier train station.

Across the platform they caught sight of Rita Skeeter shaking her head in disgust as she was (even after her excoriating articles on the matter) still forced - by the London centric hegemony of the Ministry - to catch a train that was going to nowhere near where she lived. At least it would be the last time for her; her seventh year was finished and Mable Grable had better watch out, because there was a new reporter with a poisonous quill headed to The Daily Prophet.

The steam billowed, the train gave a loud, piercing whistle and the boys scrambled onboard before they got left behind. They huffed and puffed down the tightly packed corridor, dragging their trunks until they found somewhere safe to stash them and then they went looking for a compartment all to themselves.

They caught sight of FlatuLily and her friends in one - flicking through magazines and talking loudly about Bobby Darrow - and gave them a wide swerve. They saw the Slytherin first and second years all packed into another, Snivellus and Regulus visible among the crowd. Remembering Christmas, Peter scurried off down the train as fast as he could and - though James was reluctant to give up the opportunity to bust the door open and start hexing the lot of them - they followed on behind until they came to the very last compartment, which was totally empty, and claimed it as their own.

There was another screech of the whistle and the train started to chug away out of the station. Remus peered out of the window so he could get one last look at Hogwarts before the summer, feeling inordinately relieved and grateful that he was not expelled or under arrest and would be returning in September. And that next year he would not have to worry about protecting his secret, because his friends knew and still loved him anyway. He hoped that the summer would pass quickly, and they would be back before they knew it.

It was only once he had torn his eyes away from his vanishing school and turned back to his friends that he realised just how stiff and still Sirius was sitting - like a guard dog on alert. James was watching him rather worriedly - and gave a hopeless look at Remus, as if telling him he didn't know what to say.

Remus gave Sirius's arm a comforting squeeze, 'we'll get you out of there as soon as we can,' he said softly. 'And we'll write everyday and send food until you leave.'

James nodded. 'My mum has already said you can come next week. And stay til right near the end. My dad's angry about the stuff people like Malfoy are writing in the paper, he'll be delighted to steal the heir of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black right out from under their noses and teach him all our blood traitor ways. We'll have loads of fun - we can practise Quidditch.'

'I don't really like playing Quidditch.'

'Well I can practise Quidditch and you can take stuff apart like a right nutter - and do the crossword. And we'll visit the muggle town. And Remus and Pete can come to stay after the August full moon. It'll be the best summer ever - you'll see.'

Sirius nodded, though he still didn't look quite convinced.

…

At lunch time they went to find the trolley witch (James was paying - naturally) and bought up whole armfuls of cauldron cakes, pumpkin pasties and liquorice wands. As they walked back past the Slytherin carriage, the door slid open. Mulciber was standing there, wand out, sneering out at them. The rest of the carriage had gone quiet - and all heads were turned to watch what was happening. Regulus kneeled up in his seat.

'Managed not to get kicked out this year, then, boys?' Mulciber said.

James scowled. 'Could say the same to you.'

'None of us are mental. None of us tried to kill someone.'

'Piss off.'

'Black's a nutter. A dangerous nutter. And he only hangs around with blood traitors like you because we won't have him. He's proper mental - a disgrace to his family.'

'I said "piss off".'

But the three of them had drawn close ranks around Sirius, ready to hold him back if he exploded in anger and started throwing curses left, right and centre. They weren't back in London yet - there was still time to get expelled … And, from the supercilious smirk on Mulciber's face, he knew that too.

'Think you can keep him on the straight and narrow? Acting like his bodyguards - keep the mental patient under lock and key.'

'Come on,' Remus muttered, starting to pull Sirius away. 'Ignore them.'

'He should get used to that,' Regulus piped up. He got to his feet and walked towards them. 'Being under lock and key. It's what's waiting for him when he gets home. I bet Kreacher can't wait…'

Remus wasn't even aware of making the decision. One moment he was walking away, one arm gripping Sirius and then all of a sudden he was handing his lunch over to Peter to hold - and turning back and throwing a punch, burying his fist as hard as he could right into Regulus's gloating, irritating, nowhere near as handsome as Sirius's face.

Regulus staggered back a couple of steps and then lost his balance and fell on his backside. His nose started to spurt blood. He stared up at Remus for a moment … and then burst into tears. 'How dare you strike me? You filthy half blood!'

Everyone in the carriage was now staring down at the crying boy on the floor. Peter looked a little scared - but James and Sirius looked surprised and utterly delighted in equal measure. Remus glanced at them both - and blushed. 'I didn't mean to…'

'That was brilliant, ' James crowed, 'come on,' and leaving the Slytherins staring at Regulus in disgust and disappointment, while he wailed on the floor and held his stinging nose, the four of them made their way back to their own compartment.

By the time they got back, Sirius had perked right up - though, as he said through a mouthful of pasty, he would definitely be made to pay for his filthy son of a muggle friend hitting his mum's precious pureblood prince. 'But everyone in Slytherin saw what a pathetic little twerp he is. They won't forget that,' he said cheerfully.

'They're all pathetic, little twerps,' James said. 'Snivellus, Regulus - the lot of them. They're not fit to wipe your nose on. And their ideas are as ugly as their faces.'

Sirius gave his bark of a laugh. 'Yeah - if Regulus is the type of follower this Dark Lord is going to get then he won't get very far. Voldemort's a tosspot and his mates are even worse.'

They all laughed and settled down to eat their lunch, safe and happy in the knowledge that another year had passed and Sirius was not expelled, Remus was no longer under suspicion of attacking people and Voldemort would turn out to be a flash in the pan. There and then gone - and soon forgotten.

They finished eating, played exploding snap, did the crossword and allowed the train to rattle them off towards London, looking forward to a glorious summer and a well earned rest.

A/N This marks the end of the boys' second year. Their third year will start in the next chapter.