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Threatening a Werewolf


Over the weekend, nobody noticed that three of the first years kept disappearing to talk in shadowy areas in the hallway. Nobody noticed that they spent half of Saturday in the library, pouring over an old book of maps and Hogwarts: A History. Nobody noticed.

On Sunday, a second meeting of the Order of the Phoenix was held in the Secret Meeting Room and Regulus reported that he hadn’t yet heard anything back from Kreacher, but that he was sure Kreacher would report back very soon with news on where Harold Minchum was. Alabaster Jackson pulled James aside after the meeting and asked if he, James, really believed Regulus was trying at all to find Minchum or if he was just pretending to keep them all distracted.

“I believe Regulus, completely and absolutely,” James answered.

“And did you check his wrist?” Alabaster asked.

“I did,” James replied.

“He doesn’t really have it then? The Dark Mark?” Alabaster asked.

James answered smoothly, “I saw nothing to make me doubt Regulus Black.”

Meanwhile, James noticed that in Remus’s absence Sirius and Lily were talking a lot, whispering to one another in the hall on Monday morning on the way down to Potions class, and Sirius carried her cauldron for her, laughing at her jokes and happily pulling out her chair at their desk in the classroom. Lily thanked him as Sirius went over to his own table, where Severus Snape was reading his textbook.

James looked at Lily, “Well aren’t you in a good mood this morning.”

She glanced at him, “What?”

“Flirting about with Sirius like you just were.”

Lily raised her eyebrow, “Flirting about with Sirius?”

“Yeah,” and James imitated the way she’d giggled and patted his arm, “Oh Sirius, you’re so funny, such a crack up really, oh Sirius --”

“You’re a git, Potter,” she said with an eye roll.

“Well stop flirting and perhaps this wouldn’t be a problem,” James answered sourly. He pulled out his potions book from his bag and flipped to the page Slughorn had written on the board.

“I’m not flirting,” Lily replied, “Merlin’s beard, do you even know what flirting is.”

James said, “Of course I do.”

“You don’t act like you do.”

“You flirt with me all of the time.”

Lily scoffed, “Potter, I do not flirt with you.”

“Yeah, alright,” he replied. “Except you do.”

Lily looked like she would’ve liked to hit him with the wooden spoon she held. “When have I ever flirted with you?”

“Every day.”

Lily put her hands on her hips, “When. Name one specific time.”

“Mistletoe,” he hissed.

“You were taking advantage of a situation, manipulating my feelings. Wooing me when I was down and all that rubbish. It doesn’t count. Name a different time.”

“Nearly kissing me in the Library. And the Shrieking Shack during Bambi. Actually kissing me in the Common Room.”

“Hung over, stupid, and drunk.”

“You weren’t hung over because you were never drunk.”

“I was too!”

“You never touched a drop of firewhiskey to your mouth that night and I know it for a fact.”

“How do you know? Tell me, oh wise, all knowing god of a man!” she snapped.

James leaned closer, “Because Sirius said so.”

“Well how should he know?” asked Lily. She was flushing, could feel her face growing hot.

“Because he said you took your first taste of firewhiskey Friday night. Told me all about you two snuggling as friends downstairs, he wanted to tell me incase somebody had seen you before you lot woke up and broke it off. Wanted to be sure I heard it from him and not someone else.” James stared at her, “He said you tasted the firewhiskey and called it disgusting. You’d never had it before, therefore you were not drinking the night that we kissed in the library, and so you were not drunk and you were not hung over and you kissed me of your own accord. Now who took advantage of who?”

Lily’s face burned. “Shut up.” She turned to her cauldron.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” James turned to his cauldron, too, and they started brewing.

Across the aisle, Snape was trying not to see James Potter’s mind, but he couldn’t help it. Seemed he always saw the things he thought about Lily Evans, as though Snape’s brain was simply wired to see all of that. He didn’t know how to turn it off and it made his blood boil and he took it out on Sirius.

“Are you stupid? The instructions clearly say to drain those before you put them in,” he snarled, grabbing at the vial Sirius was about to mix into the cauldron, stopping it just in time.

“I’m not stupid.”

“You do a brilliant act of it, then,” snapped Snape.

“Sod off, you greasy headed ghoul,” Sirius growled.

Severus glared at him, “If you were wiser, you would hold back some of your ruder comments, unless of course you want me to let slip certain little secrets that you keep.”

Sirius glowered.

“Now drain that and pour it in before it’s over done without them and you mess up our potion - and my grades - with your idiocy.”

Sirius’s jaw was grit tight as he poured out the liquid from the jar and threw the rest into the cauldron violently.

“Temper, temper, Mr. Black,” drawled Severus.

Sirius’s fist closed tight at his side.

Severus smirked, seeing the flash of Sirius’s thoughts, and said, “Hexing me won’t help you either. If you hex me, I promise I’ll make sure every bleeding person in this castle knows what he is.”

“You’re wrong,” Sirius’s voice trembled. “He isn’t.”

“So why, then, does it upset you so much when I say it?” Severus smiled. “Expulsion from the school again? Not to come back this time… How much better life at Hogwarts would be without any Marauders…”

“And what do you think you’ll get the rest of us for? Huh?” Sirius asked, rolling his eyes.

“I’ll find out soon enough.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, I’ll find out where it is you lot go when you sneak off at night,” he whispered, “And I’ll catch you at it, and I’ll see to it that everyone knows what evil things the Marauders get up to and then you’ll be finished. Probably practicing dark magic…”

Sirius scoffed. “You’ve no idea what you’re nosing about it, Snivellus.”

Snape took up his wand, “Sonorus,” he said, pressing it to his throat and he opened his mouth to speak --

“Stop. Stop, I’m sorry. Severus.” Sirius blurted out quickly.

Severus smirked and lowered his wand from his throat. “Very good, you learn quickly.”

Sirius balled his fists again.




“I HATE HIM, I WANT HIM DEAD!” Sirius cried out dramatically, arms flailing. They were in the hospital wing with Remus, who was looking peaky and terrible again, thanks to the approaching full moon this time.

“Well, dead is a little extreme,” James said admonishingly from his perch on the window sill beside Remus’s bed.

“Perhaps just… maimed or slightly injured,” Peter suggested.

“HIS FAT NOSE IS IN OUR BUSINESS, TRYING TO RUIN EVERYTHING! GET US EXPELLED!”

“Look, it doesn’t matter, even if he goes to Dumbledore --” Remus started to say, but Sirius interrupted him.

“He isn’t threatening to go to Dumbledore, he’s threatening to cast the sonorus and tell the whole bloody castle! Don’t you get it?” Sirius’s face was so red he was nearly purple with anger.

“You gotta calm down,” said Remus pleadingly.

“OF ALL OF US, YOU SHOULD BE THE MOST UPSET!” Sirius shouted at him, “IT’S YOUR BLOODY SECRET HE’S TELLING!”

“Yes precisely, so you calm the hell down!” Remus snapped.

“I CAN’T!” Sirius cried, “I LOVE YOU TOO MUCH TO CALM DOWN!” He paced and paced. “What’re we going to do about this idiot? He needs to be taught a lesson. I can’t bloody believe the nerve of that arsehole… threatening us when we’ve got a werewolf on our side that could bloody kill him as look at him, and he thinks he’s so bloody fabulous that he could threaten us? As though he could go against a werewolf!”

James sighed, “You’re going on like a madman.”

“I AM A MAD MAN!” Sirius shouted, “I’m a very, very, VERY MAD man!”

“You know what I mean.”

“Mental,” Peter said.

Sirius whirled about, “I don’t know that the three of you realize what it is I’m saying Snape’s doing. Especially not you, Remus. He is threatening. To tell the whole school. All the Students. That Remus Lupin. Is a werewolf. Do you hear me now?”

Remus shivered.

“The whole school knowing your secret. Whispers going around the school. Everyone talking about it. Eventually you getting chucked out of school when there’s an official inquiry because it’s illegal for you to be here, technically, because you’re a half breed. There’s only so much protection Dumbledore could offer. And then you’re in werewolf detention centers once a month for the duration of the moon cycle. And you’re alone. And there’s bloody nothing any of us can do about it. And everyone knows your secret and it’s a big scandal and you never get to be a teacher because nobody understands that you’re human and you’re not a fucking terrifying monster, you’re my bloody boyfriend and I love you and I need you here and you’re perfect like you are and the most gentle kindest --” Sirius’s emotions had gone from anger to near sobbing before the end of all that and he stopped his pacing a moment, choking on his own words… Then suddenly regained his anger and slammed his fist on the little tray table that Pomfrey had put some lunch upon for Remus to eat that he was blatantly ignoring. The plates clattered with the force of Sirius’s punch and all three of the others jumped in surprise by it, too. “I WON’T LET THAT WANKER DO IT TO YOU! I WON’T LET HIM RUIN YOU LIKE THAT! I’M SORRY I’D RATHER SEE HIM SUFFER THAN YOU! I’M SORRY IF I’M A HORRID PERSON BECAUSE I’D RATHER SEE HIM DEAD THAN LOSE YOU!”

Remus looked quite traumatized by all this. “Sirius --”

James got up from the window sill. “Alright, you, you’re done for the day. Time to go before you say more idiotic things that needn’t be said.” He grabbed Sirius ‘round the shoulders. “Rey, we’ll see you later, I’m sure once he calms down he’ll want to come and apologize…”

“APOLOGIZE FOR WHAT? FOR SPEAKING THE TRUTH?” Sirius roared, “SEVERUS SNAPE IS A SNAKE! A SNAKE WITH TWO TONGUES! HE SPEAKS LIES AND FILTH!”

James rolled his eyes, “Bloody hell you’re an idiot.”

Peter looked at Remus as James shoved Sirius out the door.

“Are you okay?” Peter asked.

Remus sighed, “I wish he’d calm down.”

“I know, me too.”

In the hallway, Sirius struggled out of James’s grip and whirled about to look at him. James was giving Sirius a look of pity. “Don’t look at me like that!” Sirius snapped.

“What’s going on with you, mate? You’ve been like a bleedin’ ticking bomb, just waiting for a pin to be pulled. Ever since holiday.”

“Fuck you,” Sirius snapped.

James grabbed him by the wrist as Sirius tried to turn away. “Stop. Stop pushing me away.”

“YOU stop pushing ME away,” Sirius said.

“Mate. I’m not.”

“Then help me stop Snape before he hurts Remus. Help me stop him.”

James sighed, “Sirius, I don’t want him to hurt Remus or you or anyone else, but being angry like this isn’t helping. I don’t understand where it’s coming from --”

“HE’S ATTACKING MY BOYFRIEND, JAMES! And how many times has he fucked you over with Evans? The two people that matter most to me in the ENTIRE WORLD are you and Remus and he’s FUCKING UP EVERYTHING for you both! I HATE HIM.”

“I get it! Half the castle gets it because bloody hell you’ve yelled it enough… but Sirius, you’ve gotta get a grip before you hurt yourself. You’re going to make yourself ill being wound up this tight. Look at you, you’re shaking. Going to give yourself a stroke, you are!”

Sirius sighed very heavily and turned to lean against the wall, his forehead thumping as he landed. He closed his eyes. “James. I always have a plan. I always know what to do. I don’t know this time. I don’t know how to make him see that he shouldn’t be messing with us, with Remus, that he shouldn’t be playing against a werewolf.”

James sighed too and leaned against the wall as well, but with his back to the wallpaper beside Sirius. “I don’t know, either, Padfoot. But at least we’re not going out this month so he won’t be able to follow us - that gives us time to think up something to do to keep him from finding the tunnel and the Shack, yeah? So Rey’s safe for another month, at least.”

Sirius stared at his boots for a long moment.

“Can’t threaten a werewolf that isn’t there,” James chuckled.

Sirius looked up very slowly.

“Sirius?”

He looked over at James. “You’re a bloody genius, Potter.”

“Me? What’d I do?”

Sirius ran down the hallway, “YOU’RE A BLOODY GENIUS!!!!” he crowed… and off he went, running ‘round the bend.

James had a very bad feeling sink into his stomach.