Dangerous Revenge - a tale of the Marauders

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and any of the other characters in the following text do not belong to me in any way. And therefore I don’t deserve any of the credit or glory JKR rightfully receives for her marvellous and inspirational Harry Potter books. This fiction is purely for the enjoyment of myself and anybody else who wishes to read it. Also I intend to receive absolutely no financial gain from this story. This work is almost entirely of my own creation (apart from the characters obviously) however I have borrowed a few ideas and plot developments from the third and fifth Harry Potter books




This is my third fic and is very different to the previous two, I hope you enjoy it

please leave
Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=932746#post932746) here


It was a freezing cold day and the wind howled across the grounds of Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry. Out in greenhouse three the sixth year herbology class was looking at the important properties of wolfsbane as a powerful restorative and antidote for werewolf transformations. Not that this made any difference to the four boys who were sitting at the very back of the class not paying any attention to the lesson at hand. The shortest of these four boys was scribbling a few words on a piece of paper, half listening to what Professor Hortus was saying, at the same time trying to join in the conversation between the other three boys, but finding that the subject they were discussing was slightly out of his field of expertise.

‘ Moony I really reckon you should go for the third chaser spot on the team, the girls would love it and you never know who you might end up impressing’

Remus Lupin considered his friend for a moment and then snorted with laughter

‘James I am not going to join the Quidditch team just so I can impress the girls, you do a good enough job of that without needing me for a rival’

The boy with the scruffy brown hair and large hazel eyes grinned

‘Trust me there would be no competition between us Moony old friend, you would be more than welcome to all of those girls that I just couldn’t accommodate.’

The tallest and most handsome of the four boys gave a barking laugh ‘How can you refuse such a modest offer from James for the services of his…er… unwanted fan club?’

‘They are unwanted,’ said James Potter indignantly, he then grinned. ‘I can’t help that I am so thoroughly irresistible to the opposite sex, and that my expertise on the Quidditch pitch means that they’re flocking around me like nifflers around Gringotts, now can I?’ said James running his fingers through his already extremely messy hair.

The handsome boy laughed

‘James I don’t wish this to sound in any way unpleasant but I hope you appreciate that about a third of your ‘fan club’ are only hanging around you so you’ll introduce them to your famously handsome best friend the one and only Sirius Black.

At this James Potter let out a splutter of surprised indignation ‘That is such a lie’ he squealed in indignation ‘they hardly ever ask me to introduce them to you, it’s generally just me they ask questions about.’ James put on a high soft voice ‘James is it true that you are going to go and play for the Appleby Arrows at the end of next year, I heard that their best chaser is due to retire’. James rolled his eyes ‘I’ve only been contacted by one club and I don’t want to play for them, C’mon, how embarrassing would it be playing for the Cannons? I mean I’d rather play for Hufflepuff.’

Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, (or to use their given names Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and James Potter) were possibly the most renowned band of troublemakers in Gryffindor house. Clever and popular they were either loved or hated by their fellow schoolmates and were often the first people suspected if any mischief had been caused in or around Hogwarts.

James Potter was one of the most popular students at Hogwarts. When he was in the second year he was admitted into the Gryffindor Quidditch team. A decision that meant that since that day they had never lost a single game. James was exceptionally fast on a broom and flew seamlessly with the other chasers on the team; he was the highest scoring chaser that Hogwarts had had for over thirty-five years. It was this skill that contributed towards making Gryffindor winners of the Quidditch cup for three consecutive years after fifteen years coming runners up to Ravenclaw, a team who had been on particularly good form for as long as anybody could remember. As well as being an exceptional Quidditch player James was also unbelievably intelligent. He was frequently top of the class in his subjects, without having to put very much effort into his work. James had a natural aptitude for Defence against the Dark arts and Potions (possibly the most complicated subject on the syllabus after Arithmancy) and enjoyed showing off his talents as much as possible. Tall and scruffy haired, James was not especially good looking but he had charisma on his side and this made him unbelievably popular with the girls.

Sirius Black was James’s partner in crime. Cleverer, handsomer and quieter than James he possessed a certain silent disinterested aura, which made him even more intriguing to those around him than he realised. Sirius had collar length hair and brooding good looks and many of his fellow students believed that the word ‘cool’ had been invented for Sirius Black.

Although to the eyes of an outsider James was the ringleader of their gang, those inside the group knew that it was really Sirius. Sirius was less pushy and quieter than James so it wasn’t really all that obvious, but the four friends knew that James would do absolutely anything that Sirius asked. For the two of them, it was one of those rare friendships where they could spend an unbelievable amount of time together and still not bicker. James Potter and Sirius Black were as close as close could be. They were more like brothers than best friends and to others this sort of closeness was incomprehensible. At sixteen years old they lived for each other like a pair of old spinsters and they could hardly bear to spend a moment apart. This sort of closeness may seem slightly suspicious to many people, but for James and Sirius it was the most natural thing in the world, and to them their best friend was just an extension of themselves.

Remus Lupin made friends with James and Sirius the very day they had come to Hogwarts. They had been put into the same Gryffindor dormitory and had hit it off immediately. Although it was James and Sirius who had become best friends Remus was still very close to the two of them. Like Sirius and James he was very intelligent, but he was slightly less rebellious and better behaved than the other two.

When Remus Lupin was a small boy he had been bitten by a mad werewolf, and therefore the curse had been passed on to him. His parents had applied to Dumbledore in secret to see if he would be prepared to allow their son admission to Hogwarts where he would be able to gain a normal education like any other young wizard.

Remus had tried to keep the fact that he was a werewolf to himself, but his friends were so intelligent that they saw straight through his lies, and realised that he would always go away at the full moon. After a few months of the four friends being separated, Peter half-heartedly suggested that the friends should become Animagi (he had read about this in an old transfiguration textbook) so they could accompany Remus at a full moon without fear of being attacked. James had laughed and mocked Peter for this suggestion but Sirius saw it as feasible. After almost six years of learning the three friends finally achieved what they had set out to do, and could successfully turn themselves into their chosen animagus.

Remus Lupin himself was a pleasant, articulate and generally decent person. He didn’t approve of some of Sirius and James’s ways and wouldn’t go along with things that he didn’t agree with to make himself popular it simply wasn’t his style. Remus was popular with his friends because he was interesting, bright and amusing without having to try. He didn’t particularly seek people’s good opinion, but he found that it was forthcoming. Remus was also the fairest in the group, and the peacemaker, always making sure that arguments were resolved and that James didn’t try to get the others to gang up on people that they weren’t keen on.

The fourth friend in the group was Peter Pettigrew. To many people Peter seemed like a strange choice of friend to three of the most intelligent and well thought of students in the school. Peter was small, fat and fairly ordinary. In direct contrast to Remus he cared very much what people thought of him, and strove very hard to be as popular as his three friends were. He was not as intelligent as his friends and had to work twice as hard to keep up with them. He was one of those people who allowed themselves to be teased by their friends so that they would at least have that much attention. Although Peter was nothing special he was well liked by the other three. He was loyal, unassuming and always prepared to go along with any troublemaking that was suggested by either Sirius or James.

It was vital really that they were a group of four friends as opposed to a group of three (this way nobody was ever left out), and what with sharing a dormitory and lessons they were never out of each other’s company for very long.

Please leave Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=932746#post932746) here!!

After the Herbology lesson had finished, the four friends made their way (along with the other Gryffindors) back up to the castle. The wind whipped at their faces and made their eyes sting and water. When they got back to the castle the four of them were particularly eager to get into the great hall and have their lunches.

‘My stomach’s been rumbling for hours’ complained James as they walked through the entrance hall. ‘I hope it’s something decent for lunch’

‘Because usually the stuff they give us is inedible, isn’t it?’ said Remus sarcastically making the others laugh ‘Honestly James I don’t know why you’re always so hungry, we only had breakfast a few hours ago, and you wolfed that down

‘What can I say?’ grinned James ‘It’s hungry work looking this good’

Sirius snorted at his friend, idly wondering when his opinion of himself had inflated so stupendously.

For the first three or four years of their friendship James hadn’t been nearly as vain, but recently he seemed to have taken it to a new level. As far as Sirius was concerned this was hilarious considering that if the truth were told, in terms of looks solely; James really wasn’t all that special.

The four friends went and sat at the Gryffindor table and before they had been sitting a moment James was shovelling mashed potato onto his plate and looking around him for the stew.

Sirius looked up at his friends and said in his very idle way ‘I forgot to tell you at breakfast that my cousin Andromeda had her baby yesterday, she’s decided to call her Nymphadora’

‘Nice name’ muttered Peter to nobody in particular

James swallowed what was in his mouth and then said ‘ I feel that the biggest mistake that the lovely Andromeda ever made was taking up with that Tonks bloke. I always told her that I would be perfectly happy to accommodate her howsoever she wished, if you see what I mean. I have absolutely no idea why she turned me down’

Sirius laughed ‘Possibly because you were a thirteen year old midget at the time and she was twenty two and the prettiest person ever to come out of our family including me’

‘It doesn’t bother me that she turned me down’ said James ‘after all she’s got sisters’

‘Yeah’ said Sirius darkly ‘Bellatrix and Narcissa. Bellatrix is a nasty piece of work and left here last year. She gave me a really hard time when I got into Gryffindor, she reckoned I had let the rest of the family down. She loves to mix with the dark lot, does Bellatrix, needless to say my parents absolutely love her, I think she’s evil that one.’

‘What about the other one?’ pressed on James eagerly ‘she’s younger, what’s she like?’

‘Narcissa? Well she’s a bit like Bellatrix really. Not as clever as her though, but much more vain. Because she’s got a pretty face, she thinks that she can be horrible to anybody she likes and get away with it.’

‘She’s the one in the fifth year isn’t she?’ asked Peter thoughtfully, surveying the Slytherin table

‘Nope, fourth year, she’s always hanging around with my brother. I try to avoid her as much as possible. It was her that told me about Andromeda’s baby. Not that she seemed too pleased mind you. She’s another one obsessed with the so-called importance of blood. They’ve virtually disowned poor Andromeda, and my aunt and uncle have refused to see their grandchild. They say that it’s unnatural for wizard blood to mix with muggles. They reckon that the baby won’t be a proper Black and will take after her father and his muggle ways’

‘Sorry Sirius,’ said Remus thoughtfully, ‘But didn’t you tell us about a month ago that you cousin had had a baby then?’

Sirius smiled at his friend ‘That was my second cousin Molly, she had a baby about three weeks ago, a boy, I think they called him Charlie or something like that. Molly’s mad about children; she’s always said that she wanted loads. This is her second and she only had her first one last year’

‘Mental’ said James, all these beautiful young women tying themselves down with children, I really don’t know what the world is coming to’

‘How do you know what my cousin Molly looks like? You’ve never seen her.’ Laughed Sirius

‘They’re all good looking though’ said James ‘I’ve never met an ugly woman’

Remus laughed ‘You must have pretty low standards then Prongs because I’ve met plenty’

‘I don’t know’ said Peter rather thoughtfully ‘Lily Evans is a bit of all right, if you ask me’

‘We didn’t ask you’ said James shortly, clearly ruffled at the mentioning of Lily Evans’s name.

‘Things not going too well with her?’ asked Remus conversationally although there was something like amusement in his tone.

‘She’ll see sense soon enough, I’m sure of it’ said James although it sounded as if he was trying to convince himself more than anybody else.

‘Yeah’-said Remus kindly ‘I reckon she will’

The very first moment James Potter had set eyes on Lily Evans he had been completely smitten by her. Lily was in Ravenclaw. She was clever and very very pretty. Lily Evans had large brilliantly green eyes and long flame-red hair. She was tall, a prefect and very popular. She absolutely hated James. In her opinion there wasn’t a more arrogant person in the whole school, and she refused to have anything to do with him, much to James’s distress.

Remus was on quite friendly terms with Lily Evans (they were prefects together and both studied in the same Arithmancy class) and he often used to encourage Lily to get to know James better because she might learn to like him. However Lily was resolved to dislike him immensely until he changed his egotistical ways, and learned to be a better person.

‘What lesson have we got this afternoon?’ asked Sirius tactfully changing the subject

‘Double Potions with the Slytherins’ said Peter huffily. ‘I know that Professor Jigger is going to have a go at me because my homework is five inches shorter than he asked, but I really don’t have a clue about writing essays on the problems of using invincibility potions, and Remus refused to give me any help.’

‘I’m not going to be there to answer your questions when it comes to your N.E.W.T am I?’ said Remus testily. ‘Anyway Wormtail, I told you the basic answer is that invincibility potions do not protect the drinker against the unforgivable curses and the effects only last twenty minutes after consuming the potion’.

‘I quite liked that essay actually,’ said James earnestly ‘it beats some of the ones McGonnagal forces us to do, honestly, hers are a nightmare’.

‘Shall we go then?’ asked Sirius, he didn’t like to waste his time by speaking about his lessons whilst not in them.

The four friends picked up their bags and made their way down a flight of stairs to the left of the main staircase, which led down to the dungeons.

The dungeons were dark and musty and most of the students tried not to go down there unless it was absolutely necessary (like for their lessons). Gryffindor students especially liked to avoid the area because it meant bumping into the Slytherins whose common room was somewhere down there (the two houses notoriously hated each other and immensely disliked having to be anywhere near each other.

Today sixth year Gryffindor students had potions with the Slytherins. Unlike further down the school the classes were small, meaning that students could work on more dangerous and complex potions under the watchful eye of their Professor. This particular class only had thirteen students (and this was quite large for a N.E.W.T class) it comprised of six Gryffindors and seven Slytherins. The students from the opposing houses in this class disliked each other particularly, and went out of their way to cause each other trouble whenever they could, often to the detriment of their work.

The Potions master was a very frail old wizard by the name of Arsenius Jigger. Professor Jigger was famous for his knowledge of the magical properties of most potion ingredients and had produced a best-selling textbook called ‘Magical Drafts and Potions’. Professor Jigger was popular with his students because of his cleverness and enthusiasm to teach (an enthusiasm often long departed in teachers as old as himself).

The only real criticism that could be levelled against Professor Jigger was that he made it very clear who were his favourites in the class. In this class there was no dispute whatsoever as to who were Professor Jigger’s favourites, and it was surprising that it should be these two particular students, for they were as dissimilar as two boys of the same age could possibly be. Professor Jigger’s especial favourites in this class were James Potter and Severus Snape.

As I have already mentioned James Potter was exceptionally good at Potions. He could whip up a restorative quicker than many skilled potion-makers twice his age. James didn’t seem the sort of person who would have the patience to pore laboriously over potions ingredients, or have the gentle touch to ensure that complex potions were mixed effectively. Potions lessons had interested James Potter since before he went to Hogwarts and consequently he behaved far better and paid much more attention in this subject than in any of the other ones that he took.

Professor Jigger’s other favourite student was a boy by the name of Severus Snape. Snape was a Slytherin. He was scrawny, greasy haired and had a very large hooked nose, Snape was far cleverer than most of the students in the school and excelled at just about every subject. He was also widely disliked by his fellow students. He was a very solitary person who had few friends; often preferring to keep himself occupied by reading or working. The two people that liked Severus Snape the very least, were none other than Sirius Black and James Potter.

The reason why Sirius and James hated Snape so deeply was not really all that clear to those around them, or even to themselves. Basically it was a culmination of several different things that had cultivated a deep-rooted dislike.

Sirius disliked Snape because they had been introduced as small children and Sirius had thought Snape was a boring, snivelly little kid. Sirius’s mother was very keen for her sons to mix with the children of other old wizarding families, and when Sirius and his brother Regulus had been very young they had been introduced to many children. Sirius later realised that these play-dates were a way of Sirius’s mother trying to make Sirius more like his brother, somebody that would grow up to understand the importance of blood, and wish to uphold the fine name of the house of Black.

Upon introduction, Sirius knew within a moment that Snape was not a boy that he wished to be friends with. Snape was skinny, very miserable and ugly and within five minutes Sirius had stopped calling Snape, Severus far preferring to call him ‘Snivellus’ a name which Sirius chose to continue using even after Snape had lost his previous ‘snivelly’ qualities.

When James found out in the first year that his best friend did not like Snape this fact did not endear Snape to James in the slightest, on the contrary it made him positively look for a reason to dislike him, and James soon found this reason.

James, like his best friend, naturally disliked anybody who he felt was weak either physically or mentally. Upon first encountering Snape and hearing Sirius’s unpleasant nickname James believed that Snape was clearly physically weak but also probably mentally weak (to warrant being called ‘Snivellus’). James got a nasty shock when, in their second week at Hogwarts he decided to taunt Snape and call him ‘Snivellus’ in front of a group of students. Snape, feeling aggrieved that a complete stranger was taunting him for no apparent reason, hexed James so that he spoke for two days as if he had been inhaling helium, something which, at this early stage of his school career James found rather hard to live down.

From that moment on James did his very best to ensure that Severus Snape regretted his actions, by endeavouring to make his time at Hogwarts as miserable as possible.

This particular potions lesson was set to be rather difficult. The students were due to make and test their invincibility potion. The students were to work in partners and allow their classmate to hex them with a choice of six or seven minor curses. If the curse failed then the student who it failed on would gain top marks, and any student that was successfully cursed (after being speedily cured) would then receive marks accordingly.

The potion was incredibly tricky (even by N.E.W.T standards) and therefore the first part of the lesson was conducted in total silence.

The fact that Professor Jigger insisted that each student consumed their own potion meant that there was a tense atmosphere in the classroom, as the students carefully measured (and re-measured) their powdered unicorn horn, and made sure that the potion was a glittering purple colour before they added the shredded mandrake leaves.

Peter was not an especially good potion maker, the main reason that he had taken Potions as a N.E.W.T was because his three best friends were in the class. He would have favoured a simpler more interesting subject like muggle studies, but had chosen not to take it in case James and Sirius thought that he was being wimpy. Now, Peter could be seen twisting his small hands together and twitching his overly large nose, he was looking nervously at Professor Jigger who was also making the potion at the front of the class. After the first lesson, the students were asked to consume their potion and get themselves into pairs (because there was an odd number of students in the lesson Remus Lupin was chosen to pair up with Professor Jigger). Sirius and James naturally paired up together which meant that Peter was left standing on his own, unfortunately for him, so was Severus Snape. Peter did not like Snape at all; he had no reason for this dislike other than the fact that his two friends hated this boy so deeply. Professor Jigger frog-marched Peter to the other side of the dungeon over towards a disgruntled looking Snape.

‘Right class’ said Professor Jigger in his strong musical voice ‘please take your potion now…everybody done that? Jolly good, now on the count of three please perform one of the spells written on the board. Allow me to make myself completely clear when I say only one of these spells. We don’t want any nasty accidents now do we?’ He said rather cheerfully

Peter looked at Snape and sniffed, he really hoped that his potion had worked, the last thing he wanted to do was sprout feathers from his arms and legs

‘One…Two…Three’ said Professor Jigger slowly and clearly

The dungeon filled with the swishing sound of many spells being cast all at once, Peter somewhat inexpertly performed his curse upon Snape and it had no effect whatsoever (something which annoyed, but did not surprise Peter in the slightest). Snape quietly muttered ‘detergio’ under his breath and a shaft of pale pink shot out the end of his wand straight into Peter’s chest. Peter stood completely still for about ten seconds, after he was convinced that he wasn’t about to sprout feathers or that his ears were going to start growing he allowed himself to let out a low relieved sigh. To his horror as soon as he opened his mouth he started emitting a quantity of floral smelling foam as if he had drunk a bottle of bubble bath. His mouth hung open in shock and the dungeon rang with the sound of laughter. One person who wasn’t laughing was Snape, he simply looked at Peter, his mouth turned up at one side, in a satisfied smirk.

‘Mr Pettigrew, kindly come to the front of the class so I can give you the reverse spell draught, anybody else who has been affected by their partner’s spell please come to the front of the class as well. Those of you, who have not been affected, take five house points apiece’.

Behind Peter were two Slytherin students, both girls who had been working together, one of them had feathers on her arms and hands, and the other girl like Peter was bubbling at the mouth.

‘This I hope will teach you two ladies to pay more attention in my lesson and gossip a little less’ said Professor Jigger sternly. He then turned his attention to Peter, who cowered slightly

‘And as for you Mr Pettigrew, I would have thought you had learned your lesson last time. Shoddy potion work is simply not acceptable at N.E.W.T level, and if you make another blunder like this I will be forced to take this matter up with Professor McGonagall. I expect better from you in future, do you understand?’

‘Yes Professor’ Peter muttered sullenly

‘Now please go and sit next to Mr Snape, you never know if you sit close enough to him, some of his talent might rub off on you’

Peter trudged towards the empty seat beside Snape. As he drew level he could see Snape’s eyes glittering malevolently. Peter clenched his fists; he could hardly bear the injustice of it all. Snape was the one who had made him splutter up foam and now he was being told to sit beside him in the vain hope that he would learn a thing or two about potion making. He seriously hoped that James would give him a hard time the next time their paths crossed.



please leave feedback for this story, so I know whether I should carry on or quit whilst I'm ahead, it only takes a few minutes and you would make a strange young woman rather happy :agree:
Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=932746#post932746)

After the lesson the four friends made their way up to the Gryffindor common room to do homework. Peter was complaining about Snape

‘He sat there smugly and kept whispering sly little comments when he thought nobody could hear’. Peter adopted a slower deeper voice than his own believing it to be like Snape’s.

‘Pretty pathetic don’t you think Pettigrew? Fancy not being able to even master something as simple as an invincibility potion. Maybe old Jigger’s right, maybe I could teach you a thing or two’ Peter reverted to his normal voice ‘I’d like to teach him a thing or two that’s for sure, wipe the smug look off that greasy idiot’s face’

‘Wormtail’ began Remus ‘please doesn’t take this the wrong way, but you did have to drink your own potion, if the potion was wrong that’s down to you isn’t it’

‘That’s not the point’ said Peter moodily

‘Wormtail’s right, that isn’t the point’ agreed James heartily ‘Old Snivelly has been getting too big for his boots recently…’

‘I think it is high time we paid young Mr Snape a visit’ exclaimed Sirius in a business-like tone. ‘Don’t you agree Prongs?

‘I’ve never agreed more old chap’ said James matching his friend’s rather comical tone

‘Let’s wipe the greasy smirk off his ugly face’

Remus looked reprovingly at Sirius and James ‘I’m supposed to be a prefect, and the last thing I should be hearing about is plots for revenge upon unsuspecting students’

‘Don’t worry Remus we shan’t incriminate you in any way’ said Sirius lightly

Remus glared at his friends, defeated ‘Fine, just don’t turn him upside-down again okay?’

James formed a face of mock innocence ‘As if we would’

The following evening Remus had to attend an important Prefect meeting in one of the Charms classrooms. Generally in the run up to Christmas, Prefect duties were greater as they were required to patrol the corridors more frequently and also assist the staff in putting up Christmas decorations.

Remus was feeling particularly unwell this evening (it was natural for werewolves to become groggy and sluggish in the run up to a full moon) but still attended the meeting along with the other Gryffindor prefect, a plain but incredibly pleasant girl by the name of Persephone Royce.

Generally Remus looked forward to these meetings. Although a few of the prefects were a bit pompous generally they were a fairly decent bunch, and Remus enjoyed spending time with Persephone and the others. Tonight however he was feeling so acutely unwell that at one point in the meeting he had to excuse himself completely and go and sit outdoors in the cool night air.

After he had been outside for a while Remus was approached by Lily Evans who had been sent outside to see whether he was alright or whether he needed to go to the hospital wing. Remus was pleased to see Lily regardless of the fact that he felt so unwell because he thought that despite her James Potter hatred she was a really nice girl (who, had James not already favoured her, Remus would possibly have asked out himself).

Lily sat down beside Remus on the frosty stone bench.

‘How are you feeling? She asked, her brilliant green eyes wide with concern ‘I was sent out here to check on you. I reckon Bassett was concerned you might pop your clogs before you got the chance to do your part of the decorating’ Lily grinned. Remus let out a small laugh

‘I can imagine that of her’ said Remus darkly ‘she’s a right funny one, I have no idea how she was made head girl’ he finished.

‘No’ said Lily vaguely. ‘Perhaps she possesses qualities that we don’t appreciate, or something. Dumbledore wouldn’t have appointed her if she wasn’t the best, would he?’

Remus looked at Lily and smiled (the aching in his body still hadn’t gone away) ‘I suppose not’ he conceded.

‘Anyway’ said Lily changing the subject briskly, ‘what’s the matter with you? I have to admit you do look a bit peaky, do you suppose it’s flu?

‘Probably not’ said Remus dismissively ‘I reckon I’m just overtired or something. I sometimes get like this.

‘Yes,’ nodded Lily ‘you do look ill most of the time’

‘Thanks’ said Remus pretending to be affronted

‘Oh I didn’t mean it nastily’ said Lily her face going pink ‘It’s just…’ she trailed off ‘Sorry I’m not very tactful’

‘Really? I hadn’t noticed’ said Remus his mouth twitching slightly

‘Sorry’ Lily said sheepishly, not quite getting Remus’s humour

"Lily, it’s alright I’m playing with you, I know I always look a bit under the weather, I’m not offended by you telling the truth.’

‘Oh’ said Lily again ‘That’s a relief, the last thing I want to do is offend you.’ As Lily said these words here already pink cheeks went even pinker. Remus pretended not to notice.

‘So shall we go back inside then?’ asked Remus trying to hastily change the subject, although he was very aware of how dry his mouth was.

‘Yes’ said Lily quickly standing up, she recovered herself slightly ‘that is if you’re feeling better.


Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=932746#post932746)

As Remus stood up, his stomach lurched sickeningly. ‘I think I’ll stay out here a bit longer’, he said sitting back down and grimacing slightly. You’re more than welcome to go back inside though, I know it’s a bit cold’

Lily shook her head ‘Nah’ she said ‘sitting with you is a good excuse to escape the meeting, Ralph Fawcett won’t stop looking at me and he’s really annoying’

‘I’ll tell James, if you like, he’ll sort it out’ said Remus wincing slightly, his body aching dangerously.

‘I don’t want him playing the hero for my sake’, said Lily firmly crossing her arms

‘Let him prove to you that he’s worth your time. You’re are wrong about him y’know’ said Remus loyally

‘What? Is his arrogance just put on to make the girls fancy him?’ asked Lily coldly

‘I reckon that’s just a front, he’s really decent when you get to know him Lily, you should give him a chance’

‘Tell me’ said Lily sharply ‘is his bullying just a front?’

‘Bul- James isn’t a bully’ exclaimed Remus

‘No?’ she responded archly ‘I wonder if Severus Snape would see it like that?’

‘Lily, James doesn’t bully Snape, they both give as good as they get’

‘No, Remus’ said Lily her voice shaking slightly ‘he does bully Snape. I wish you wouldn’t keep trying to encourage me to hook up with James Potter. I don’t want to associate with anybody who belittles others to make themselves look better. James Potter is a slimy maggot and I would prefer it if you didn’t speak about him so reverently in front of me’

‘I do not speak about him reverently’ said Remus hotly ‘I know his faults better than anybody, I just think you should give him a chance’

‘Look Remus, I don’t want to give him a chance, he’s not worth me wasting my time on. Now let’s leave it there, I don’t want us to fall out over this’ Her eyes were flashing dangerously

‘You’re right’ conceded Remus. ‘I’ll not mention him if you don’t want me to’

Lily’s eyes softened and she surveyed Remus intently for a few moments before she finally spoke ‘I don’t understand you, Remus Lupin. You’re nothing like anyone I’ve ever met before. You’re so loyal and peace loving and decent…’

‘You make me sound like a Hufflepuff’ interjected Remus. He now realised that the reason that his stomach was turning over so quickly was not simply down to the fact that he was unwell. Lily was also a contributing factor.

‘Seriously Remus. I’m so pleased that we are friends, I can’t think of anybody that I’d rather spend time with than you. I can argue with you and not want to punch you in the face, and you’re not hard to get along with like most boys…’

‘Lily, please don’t’ sighed Remus. He was finding it very difficult to stop himself from leaping on her and kissing her at this point, something, which was a bad idea for two reasons. Firstly he had to consider the feelings of James, one of his very best friends. And secondly there was the very real possibility that he might throw up all over Lily (he really was feeling that unwell).

‘Remus, I really like you.’ Lily whispered

Remus truly didn’t have a clue what to say to this. He had always got on really well with Lily, but had assumed that they were friends because they sat together in class and had to occasionally police the corridors together, he certainly would never have believed that a beautiful girl like Lily Evans would be interested in him.

Remus turned his head to look at Lily and was just about to open his mouth to say something when Lily leant across the space between them and kissed him firmly on the lips.

Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=932746#post932746)

The following day was Saturday, and as usual students breakfasted late. Sirius was sitting alone at the Gryffindor table reading the Daily Prophet and eating a bowl of corn flakes when Remus sat down opposite him, a look of concern etched across his sleepy face

‘Where’s James?’ asked Remus his voice slightly higher than usual

‘Quidditch practise’ replied Sirius, not troubling himself to look up from the newspaper. ‘He said if you’re interested in the chaser position the tryouts start at half past two’

‘I told him yesterday, I don’t want to be a chaser’

‘Like James said, it’s a great way to attract the female of the species’ grinned Sirius looking up for the first time. ‘Remus, what’s the problem?’ he asked, alarmed at his friend’s unusually fretful face.

‘Lily Evans’ sighed Remus ‘Only don’t tell Prongs’

‘What?’ asked Sirius seriously ‘She’s not started going out with that prat Ralph Fawcett has she?’

Remus looked as if he sincerely wished that that were the actual reason for his concern

‘Nope, it’s worse than that’ said Remus glumly

‘Spit it out then’ prompted Sirius, obviously preparing himself for an interesting piece of news.

‘Well’ breathed Remus looking embarrassed ‘last night during the Prefect meeting I felt ill, so I decided to go outside. Lily followed me outside to check to see if I was alright, and we got talking. I told her that she was wrong about James, but she reckons he bullies Snape and therefore wants nothing to do with him.

Sirius looked at his friend with a slightly puzzled expression. ‘We know that Lily Evans hates James, so what exactly am I not supposed to tell him?’

‘That Lily kissed me’ said Remus shortly, a flush rising up his neck.

‘What?’ barked Sirius loudly ‘She- Lily kissed…she kissed you?’

To Remus’s horror people sitting further down the table turned to look at him, apparently very interested in his love life ‘Keep it down Sirius eh?’ said Remus crossly. ‘I don’t want James to find about this’

‘Sorry mate’ whispered Sirius ‘should we go?’

‘Yes’ said Remus ‘I think it would be best’.

As they stood up to leave the Great Hall Remus noticed Lily sitting at the Ravenclaw table speaking merrily to her friends. Remus felt a slight jolt in his stomach as he passed. She looked up and beamed winningly. Remus felt his insides clam up and once again the colour rose up to his face.

‘Let’s get out of here’ Remus murmured to Sirius, and the two friends stalked into the Entrance hall and out of the front doors.

Once outside the two friends made their way over to the large beech tree overlooking the lake. This was a favourite haunt of the friends, and this early on a Saturday they were guaranteed not to be disturbed. Remus and Sirius had walked down to the lake in absolute silence, but as soon as they sat down it was as if a curse had been broken and questions started to spill out of Sirius’s mouth

‘Why did she kiss you?’ demanded Sirius, although his voice was slightly disjointed with disbelief.

‘Why does anybody kiss anybody?’ asked Remus hotly ‘Because she likes me of course’

‘What? She said that did she?’ asked Sirius trying very hard to keep his voice casual

‘Yes Sirius, she told me and then she kissed me, no warning or anything’ he sighed.

‘Admittedly the conversation was heading towards something romantic happening, but I was just about to tell her that I couldn’t go out with her because of James when she pounced on me’ said Remus a look of helpless frustration etched on his face.

Sirius looked intently at his friend, his handsome face contorted into a frown.

‘So don’t you like her then?’ asked Sirius after a few moments of surveying his friend

‘Of course I like her’ groaned Remus ‘But I’m not going to go out with her, what would that do to Prongs eh? I’m meant to be his friend, I can’t just steal his girlfriend can I?

‘She’s not actually his girlfriend’ said Sirius fairly. ‘The way you’re putting this is that you don’t care if you’re miserable or if Lily is miserable, as long as James can keep deluding himself that one day Lily Evans is going to wake up and discover that he isn’t the toerag she always believed him to be.’

Remus stared at Sirius for a minute or so, and then adopting a fairly earnest tone said

‘I really reckon that she will Sirius, I don’t know why she dislikes him so much, but one day I think that she’ll realise she was wrong. They don’t need me getting involved and clouding the water’

‘Read my lips Remus SHE-HATES-HIM. Why deny yourself the chance to be happy with a lovely looking girl like Lily, on the off chance that one day she’s going to have a sudden change of heart.’

Remus stood up, and to his surprise he was shaking slightly, he could tell that he wasn’t going to win the argument like this,

‘I can’t have a girlfriend Sirius, not Lily nor anybody else’ he shouted crossly.

Sirius looked slightly alarmed at his friend’s sudden ferocity

‘Er, why not?’ he asked, genuinely bemused

Remus could hardly believe that his supposedly intelligent friend could be so dense

‘Because of what I am of course. I’m sure as soon as Lily finds that small fact out, she’s going to want nothing more to do with me, she’ll be repulsed at the fact that she ever found a… a…werewolf attractive.’ An odd expression passed across Remus’s face and he shuddered.

Sirius stood up and clapped his hand on his friend’s shoulder ‘Moony, mate if she’s worth anything, and is as great as you, James and even to an extent Peter believes her to be, then she’ll understand’

Remus forced a small smile, although it wasn’t a cheerful one

‘Surely by now Sirius, after six years you realise that people have the strangest prejudices. Let’s face it whichever way you look at it werewolves are pretty dangerous, and if people don’t understand that I’m not going to go around on a biting spree every two minutes they’re going to be pretty wary of me.’

‘So is Lily like that then?’ asked Sirius

‘I don’t intend to find out’ said Remus quietly

Sirius remained silent for a minute or two, clearly pondering what to say next,

‘I’ll not mention this again mate, but I think this a really decent thing that you’re doing for James’

Remus turned to Sirius and said as naturally as he could

‘I’m not doing this for James I’m doing it for myself ’

‘Right’ said Sirius shortly.

Sirius knew as well as Remus did that this selfish attitude was just an act. Sirius knew it was possible that the fact that Remus was a werewolf played some part in his reluctance to start a relationship, but he was certain that the chief reason was that the very last thing that Remus would ever want to do was upset one of his friends.

Sirius suggested that the two of them went back up to the castle to find Peter who hadn’t turned up for breakfast by the time he and Remus had left the hall. The three friends were then going to go down to the Quidditch pitch and watch the rest of the tryouts before meeting up with James.

Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=932746#post932746)

Back in the great hall, Peter was helping himself to breakfast. He had his transfiguration book propped open against his empty bowl and was reading over a chapter they had covered in class previously, whilst eating a slice of toast.

‘Morning Wormtail’ said Sirius brightly ‘Pleased to see you’ve started your homework already’

Peter grumbled something inaudible. It annoyed him that Sirius only ever started his homework ten minutes before it was due in to be marked, whilst it took him most of the weekend to get it done.

‘Where’ve you been?’ asked Peter conversationally

‘Only down by the lake’ replied Remus quietly

‘Yes’ said Sirius ‘It’s a lovely day, we’re thinking about going to watch James play Quidditch in a little while. Do you fancy coming?’

‘No I don’t think so, I’ve got to do this, and then I’ve got two Charms essays for Flitwick and a four foot long essay on Defensive theory and strategy for Professor Poole.’ Sighed Peter, who had no desire to do so much homework on what could be one of the last sunny days of the year.

‘Oh come on Peter’ said Sirius teasingly ‘All work and no play makes Wormtail a dull animagus’

‘Shut up Padfoot’ said Remus ‘Peter has to study, and you shouting out about you-know-what isn’t very sensible either is it?’

‘Sorry boys’ said Sirius, not sounding remotely sorry at all ‘Can we go down there now then? I don’t want to stay inside when I can be watching Quidditch’

‘See you later’ said Peter glumly as he watched his two friends saunter out of the hall.

‘Poor Peter,’ said Sirius in an uncharacteristically compassionate voice. ‘It can’t be much fun for him, having to do homework whilst we enjoy ourselves. I think I might offer to help him with the defensive theory essay, at least then he might get to see some of the weekend. What do you think Moony? Moony’

But Remus hadn’t heard his friend, because at that moment Lily Evans had come walking towards him and Sirius with a determined look on her face. Sirius noticed her a moment before she started to speak

‘Hello’ said Lily brightly to them both ‘Can I have a quick word with you Remus please?’

Remus turned looking terrified to Sirius who gave a slight wink

‘Catch me up’ grinned Sirius ‘Bye then Lily’ and with that, Sirius continued walking out of the hall into the sunny grounds. Remus wished sincerely that he could follow his friend.

Lily watched Sirius leave and then closed in ‘Remus we need to talk. Can we go outside?’

Remus nodded meekly and followed Lily. The sunlight glistened on her hair as they stepped outside.

After a few minutes Lily stopped behind a rosebush and turned to Remus ‘I want to know where I stand after last night’ she said bravely. ‘When you stood up and suggested we went inside I was worried that I had upset you’ she continued ‘Was I a rubbish kisser or something?’ asked Lily, suddenly looking mortified as if the though had only just occurred to her

As unwilling as Remus was to be having this conversation, he couldn’t help but smile when Lily suggested this was why he had insisted returning to the Prefect meeting so suddenly

‘Of course not’ said Remus still smiling

Lily let out a small, relieved laugh ‘So where do I stand? she asked again

Remus stared down at the floor, finding it very hard to bring himself to say what he knew he had to

‘I think it would be best for both of us if we were just friends’ he said softly

Lily stared at Remus for a second ‘Don’t you like me?’ she asked looking into his eyes, as if she was trying to discover the truth from them.

‘It’s not that’ said Remus in a strangled voice. This was going to be even harder than he thought. ‘I just think that we would be better off staying as friends than complicating things by turning our friendship into something else’

Lily looked crestfallen ‘If you’re sure this is what you want’ she sighed ‘then I’ll respect your choice’

Remus certainly wasn’t sure that this was what he wanted, but he knew that this way nobody stood to get hurt too badly. ‘Yes Lily, this is what I want’ he mumbled almost inaudibly.

Lily looked as if she was about to cry, but she suddenly seemed to gather herself together just in time ‘Well I’ll see you around then Remus’ she said rather stiffly although her voice was shaking slightly.

‘Yep, bye’ said Remus trying to sound as if he wasn’t thoroughly miserable. He slowly turned around and walked alone towards the Quidditch pitch.

Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=932746#post932746)

If you're liking what you read, please give feedback, all comments are greatly appreciated!

Sirius had decided to wait for Remus at a safe distance, and was leaning against a tree looking handsome and unapproachable when Remus caught him up. Despite his inner turmoil, Remus couldn’t help but smile when he passed a group of twittering fourth year girls apparently flustered at the sight of Sirius, looking so disinterestedly handsome that early in the morning

‘Girls’ exclaimed Sirius a tiny smile playing about his mouth ‘They’re on a different planet’

‘Don’t pretend you don’t love it’ smiled Remus rolling his eyes at his friend

‘You’d think they’d never seen a sixteen-year-old boy before, the way half of them go on. It’s pathetic’

Remus decided to say nothing.

‘So how did it go with Evans?’ asked Sirius interestedly

Remus sighed sadly ‘It could have gone worse, I suppose. I think she was too upset to ask too many questions about why I didn’t want to go out with her’

‘Surely that’s for the best then’ said Sirius fairly ‘at least that way she didn’t have to ask too many questions’

‘I suppose so’ agreed Remus dully ‘I think she was about to cry though. I feel awful’ he added

‘Cheer up a bit though eh Moony?’ said Sirius brightly ‘Here comes James’

Sure enough when Remus looked up James was strutting cheerfully towards his two friends

‘Good morning boys’ beamed James ‘Isn’t it a lovely day’

‘Glorious’ said Remus sardonically ‘Why are you so cheerful?’

‘Well’ grinned James showing perfectly square white teeth ‘I was just asked by Serendipity Brewer to help her with her Potions homework, apparently she doesn’t understand the invincibility potion theory. The theory is, drink it and you’re invincible. Honestly, some people are so dense’.

‘If you think she’s thick then why are you happy about helping her with her homework?’ asked Sirius fairly

‘Because she’s gorgeous of course, why else?’ Said James as if his friend was completely mad.

‘What about Lily Evans?’ ventured Remus mildly ‘I thought you liked her’

Sirius gave Remus an uneasy look. Remus saw it but chose to ignore it

‘If I wait around for her I could be alone for a while, Miss Brewer is willing and able to cater for all my current needs’ smirked James

Remus looked very much like he would have liked to say something further but checked himself just in time; instead he looked down and absent-mindedly picked at a hole in the cuff of his robe.

‘Anyway,’ said James ‘I’m starting to go off Evans a bit. There are only so many times somebody can call you a creep without you taking it to heart’

Sirius tried and failed to suppress a smile

‘Where’s Wormtail?’ enquired James tired of the conversation already

‘Doing his homework, said Sirius I’m going to go and give him a hand in an hour or so’

‘Oh’ said James clearly disappointed, he had wanted to discuss with Sirius some ideas he had had about exacting revenge on Snape ‘There was something that I wanted to discuss with you’

Sirius gave his friend a swift searching look ‘It’s alright’ he said knowing what James wanted to talk about ‘I’ve got the perfect thing for young Snivellus’

‘Speak of the devil’ mumbled Remus quietly, clearly not pleased that Snape was walking towards them, his nose in a book and utterly oblivious to the three friends standing up ahead

‘Excellent’ said Sirius a nasty smile forming on his face

Sirius and James began to stalk towards Snape their faces full of malice. Remus hung back, unwilling to get involved. When Sirius and James were barely three feet away from Snape, Sirius let out a loud false cough making Snape look up sharply
‘Good morning Snivellus’ said Sirius nastily. Snape said nothing he just looked at the two friends his face contorted with fury and hatred

‘What are you reading?’ asked James in a would be friendly voice if it wasn’t so evident that he was about to cause trouble for Snape.

Snape swore quietly at James who ignored it. James knew there were far better ways to harm Snape than to wash his mouth out with soap again.

‘Snivellus be civil’ said Sirius airily. ‘James here was simply enquiring whether or not you were looking up an antidote which would make you slightly less of an ugly git’

James laughed, ruffling his fingers through his hair, as if to subconsciously state that he wasn’t as ugly as Snape

‘Why would I want to be a pretty boy like you?’ snarled Snape his sallow face flushing slightly

‘Ah Snivellus are you jealous of pwitty old Sirius?’ asked James his brown eyes glittering with evil glee

Snape’s lip curled evidently disgusted at such a suggestion

‘You upset our friend Peter yesterday’ said Sirius changing the subject. ‘Do you think his little accident in Potions made you look big and clever’

Snape looked angrier than ever, his thin lips had whitened and there were two angry red patches on his face

‘I don’t need that fat little idiot to make me look clever’ seethed Snape furiously, his tunnel-like eyes full of rage

‘Tut tut Snivellus’ said James in his falsely cheery voice. ‘What a very silly thing for you to do, to insult one of our best, one of our dearest friends. It seems that you’ve left me with no alternative. I’m simply going to have to hex you’

At the word hex Severus Snape pulled his wand out from inside his robes

‘I’m not scared of you Potter’ spat Snape; he then looked disdainfully at Sirius ‘Or your little sidekick’

Sirius’s eyes widened ‘Right that’s it Snivellus ‘Tarantaleggra’

A jet of purple light shot out of Sirius’s wand and hit Snape square in the chest. Within seconds Snape’s legs were doing some sort of crazy twitching dance, which Snape was thoroughly unable to control.

James couldn’t contain his merriment; he laughed so hard that he couldn’t stand, and lay on the floor tears rolling down his cheeks as he watched Snape continue his manic dance. Meanwhile Sirius leant against a tree, watching Snape, his eyes blazing with a mixture of satisfaction and anger.

Sirius was so immersed in his thoughts that he didn’t see Snape take his wand out from inside his robes and take aim at Sirius’s face ‘Stupefy’ shouted Snape and a jet of red light sped out of his wand and hit Sirius right between his eyes. Sirius looked slightly shocked opened his mouth to say something and promptly hit the floor unconscious.

By this stage Snape had managed to throw off the curse and was regaining his composure. James was still laughing hard, oblivious to his friend’s fate and Remus was still standing well back, very unwilling to involve himself in the scuffle although eager to see if Sirius was badly hurt.

Snape looked from Sirius lying in a graceful heap on the floor, to James still rolling around like an idiot. He stood for a second unsure of what to do and then bent down and picked up his book (which had been dropped when he’d been cursed) and swiftly walked away.

As Snape retreated towards the school, Remus scuttled forward to attempt to rouse Sirius. By this stage James had pulled himself together and had replaced his glasses that had fallen off during his hysterics. When James realised that he had not only missed his friend being hexed, but also had allowed the culprit to walk away, he felt a bit of a fool.

Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=932746#post932746)

James was, initially very keen to chase after Snape and humiliate him a bit more, and if that failed at the very least punch him on the nose. However after a moment’s thought he decided that the best thing for him to do would be to consult Sirius on the best course of action. Maybe the time had come to take this a stage further.

After a little shaking and slapping from Remus, Sirius regained consciousness. He was initially very confused as to how he found himself laying on the grass with his friend hunched over him, however he soon regained the memory of Snape standing with his wand poised ready for attack.

Needless to say, Sirius was incredibly angry to realise that he had lost a challenge to Snape, somebody who he felt was to be ridiculed rather than feared, and he vowed that he was going to get his revenge on Snape however hard it was. He appreciated that turning Snape upside down and exposing his grotty underwear to a crowd of onlookers simply wasn’t going to cause the desired amount of distress. He wanted to do something that was going to scare Snape, truly frighten him, and make him realise that he wasn’t going to be able to mess with Sirius Black and get away with it.

James was very apologetic towards his friend, he felt deeply that he had let Sirius down and therefore was more than willing to help his friend repay Snape for the embarrassment and anger he had caused.

Sirius could see in the middle distance a group of people surreptitiously watching him. For a second he was slightly abashed and embarrassed, however he soon recognised that this group of third year Ravenclaws were truly beneath his contempt. Sirius picked himself up and sauntered down towards the Quidditch pitch as if the events of the last few minutes had not happened at all. He wasn’t going to let a greasy little squirt beat him, and he wasn’t going to allow anybody to labour under the misapprehension that he was a person who was going to allow himself to be put upon by a joke like Severus Snape.

James was keen to go back down to the Quidditch pitch, to continue his practise. He had a whole day of Quidditch in front of him and was keen to get back to it and be able to immerse himself so completely in it that he could leave aside schemes of revenge and instead concentrate on playing well and looking appealing to the huddle of girls who were seated in various parts of the stands, all looking expectantly at the predominantly male Gryffindor team.

James whizzed off to the broom shed to pick up his broom, and within a few minutes he was ruffling his hair, clambering onto his broom and showing off a series of spectacular spins and dives that made the people sitting in the stands gasp.

Sirius and Remus made their way up to the highest and most out of the way point of the stands and sat themselves down. Sirius was very quiet, and clearly deep in contemplation of ways of getting his revenge. Remus kept trying to engage him in conversation, but he really wasn’t interested. Normally this wouldn’t have bothered Remus, he was good natured enough to allow his friends to be a bit rude or preoccupied without it really offending or upsetting him, however he was already having quite a bad day and he didn’t really want to brood on it much further. Unfortunately, the stony silence from Sirius meant that he was forced to relive the discussion he had had with Lily only fifteen minutes previously.

Remus could hardly believe the injustice of it all. Unlike James and to a certain degree Sirius, Remus had never had that much of an interest in girls. He was always very studious and until he was about fifteen he’d never even had a crush on a girl (apart from the Canadian student teacher who had helped out in Herbology during Remus’s second year, but she didn’t count). Lily was one of the first girls that he’d ever been able to imagine himself going out with. She was clever and pretty, and they had been friends for a while (which was an important factor as far as he was concerned) and he knew that she liked him. He couldn’t believe how hard it had been rejecting the girl that most boys would have traded their wand arm to go on just one date with.

Remus seriously questioned that if the boot was on the other foot, would James sacrifice a relationship with a girl just to keep him happy? He wanted to believe that his friend would show the same degree of loyalty, but he really couldn’t be sure.

Before very long, Remus was very cold although the weather wasn’t anywhere near as bitter as he was feeling at the moment. After sitting for twenty-five minutes in the stands, he had successfully converted himself from being someone that was doing a good deed for his friend, to somebody who was being a fool to himself, making the sort of sacrifice that nobody in their right mind would be prepared to make.

Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=932746#post932746)

‘I’m going back to the castle’ he told Sirius mildly, although he felt like being far ruder. ‘I’m cold, bored, and I might give Wormtail a hand with his homework.’

‘Okay’ said Sirius who was still rather preoccupied. ‘I’ll see you at lunch’.

Remus made his way down from the stands and back towards the castle. He knew that part of the reason he was feeling so grouchy was because it was so close to a full moon. His mood was affected in a far more drastic way than most people’s were.

During the build up to a full moon Remus went through a series of different emotions varying between aggressive and surly to hyperactive and daring. These sort of moods generally only took place for three or four days, and as he got older he became more and more adept at coping with them.

He knew that the full moon was due to take place on Tuesday and as far as he was concerned, the sooner Tuesday came, the better. Remus hated the last few days before the full moon, he hated having to wait for the inevitable pain that he would go through. He also hated the misery that he felt deep inside him at this time in the Moon’s cycle, that told him, quite plainly that he would never like his friends.

For them the full moon was a time to enjoy themselves, they were able to break rules freely without fear of detection. They could run about in the Forest and grounds exploring everything that Hogwarts was hiding. Most importantly they could choose whether they became animagi or not. Remus had no choice. Every month without fail, his body would undergo this terrible and painful transformation.

Remus trudged miserably up to the castle, scarcely able to believe how cruel life could be. He was going to immerse himself in helping Peter do mundane homework that he could complete with his eyes closed and hopefully he would be able to put thoughts of Lily completely aside.



*****



Back in the stands Sirius was half watching the Gryffindors practise and half contemplating the ideal form of revenge to exact upon Snape. He was basking silently in the watery sunlight trying very hard to ignore the brown-haired girl who was sitting in the next row along slyly looking at him as she completed what looked to be a diary, when the ideal plan popped ready formed into his head.
He knew exactly how he was going to pay Snape back, and it would teach him the ultimate lesson, the only problem would come in the organisation of the operation. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to enlist the help of Remus very easily and Peter wouldn’t really be much help. He needed a rule-breaking mastermind. He needed James.

James eventually finished Quidditch practise and wandered up to sit next to Sirius. ‘Are you alright now Padfoot?’ he asked his friend looking very concerned

‘Yes, I’m fine, although I hate the idea of Snivellus thinking he’s got one over on us’

‘Tell me about it’ said James glumly ‘have you got a plan?’

‘Funnily enough I do’ said Sirius ‘although I don’t think we should really discuss it here. I’m starving and my bum’s numb from sitting up here watching you for hours. Let’s walk up to the castle to get a bite to eat, I’ll tell you on the way.’

James and Sirius stood up from the stands and made their way down the staircase. On route they stopped to speak to three separate groups of girls, including two fifth year Gryffindors, three of Lily Evans’ Ravenclaw buddies and lastly Persephone Royce, the other Gryffindor prefect and the only girl in Hogwarts who stood any chance of ever getting into Sirius and James’ clique.

‘Alright lads?’ grinned Persephone ‘Are you on the way back to the castle? Mind if I tag along?’

‘Of course not ‘Seph, ‘ grinned James smoothly putting his arm around her shoulder and leading her down the stairs ‘Why haven’t we had the pleasure of your company over the past weeks, you’ve not been avoiding us have you?’

Persephone smiled and wriggled out of James’s embrace ‘No I’ve not been avoiding you, I’ve just been a bit busy, the pressure’s really been on this term, I’m really noticing the increased workload, and I thought the OWL year was supposed to be the difficult one’ she babbled

‘We wouldn’t know about that would we, Sirius, mate?’ laughed James

Sirius shook his head. Persephone was one of the only girls that he voluntarily spoke to, but at the moment all he was interested in doing was telling James his grand plan and setting it into action.

‘No, me and Sirius have been loafing our way through school for more years than we care to remember, and we have no intention of starting work now Miss Royce’

Persephone smiled ‘you’ll come undone in the end James, you mark my words. You can’t walk into a cushy job straight out of school if you don’t know your stuff, it just won’t happen, and how then would you impress the enigmatic Miss Evans?’

‘Don’t mention her’ said James glumly ‘I’ve decided to give her a wide berth for the time being, hopefully my absence will make her heart grow fonder.’

‘It’s worth a try James. I know that if I mention your name to her again though, she has threatened to tie me to the whomping willow by my pigtails.’

‘I’d like to see her try’ said Sirius glumly. ‘How would she pacify the tree?’

‘She reckons there’s a spell that’ll stun it if you can get close enough, although she wont tell me what it is, it must have to be much stronger than an ordinary stunning spell though.’

‘Does the near fate of Davey Gudgeon mean nothing to her?’ asked Sirius, ‘we were told to keep away from that tree for a reason.’

Persephone giggled ‘You just sounded like Remus, I thought you were supposed to be an adventurer Mr Black, I hope you’ve not forgotten’

‘Don’t worry Persephone’ said Sirius darkly ‘I’ve not forgotten'

Please give Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=932746#post932746) here.
I would really appreciate it if I were getting a few more reviews (although am very grateful for the ones I have recieved so far).
If there isn't much interest in this fic then I will have to stop adding to it, cos there's no real point.
So if you like it (or if you reckon I should call it a day) please let me know

toryvic xx

Sirius was less than happy that he hadn’t been able to discuss the finer points of his plan with James on their way back to the castle, but he was sure that he would get the chance sooner rather than later.
If Sirius was correct in his estimating, then his plan could be put into action as early as that afternoon, and although there were certain parts of it which would require particularly careful planning, the psychological side of the whole process could begin immediately.

Sirius had decided that instead of waiting for James’ consent for this plan he was going to go ahead regardless, and the explain more about it to James, as the grand finale got closer. Sirius knew that Snivellus would grow to sorely rue the day he crossed Sirius Black
*****************

Remus, being Remus had found himself unable to remain a bad mood for very long, and when he got back to the castle he found himself in much better spirits. Before long he was laughing with Peter about nothing in particular and willingly giving him extra hints as to how he could really bump up his grades.

When Sirius and James returned for lunch with Persephone in tow, he was more than happy to see them and felt slightly ashamed when he thought of how resentful he had been towards James only an hour or so earlier.

Persephone sat herself down at the table snugly between Peter and Sirius. Remus had always marvelled at the fact that Persephone was intent on flirting with Peter despite the fact that she had absolutely no romantic feelings or notions regarding him whatsoever. She wasn’t the kind of girl that flirted to encourage or to tease, it was just her rather strange way of behaving, and generally nobody thought any the worse of her for it. Unbeknown to Remus, Peter was the only one of the four that at some point in six years, Persephone had not had some sort of romantic attachment to.

Whilst Persephone was flirting with a rather pink faced Peter, Remus saw fit to speak to the other two. Sirius looked quite pale and withdrawn, his mind was clearly on something else. James however was busy scanning the hall for someone or something unknown.

‘I hate to go on about it’ said James, subconsciously running his fingers through his hair which was still messy from it’s last ruffling ‘but Lily Evans keeps looking over here every thirty seconds or so.’

Remus had also noticed, but unlike James he noticed that Lily was actually looking ever so slightly to the left of James’s shoulder, in exactly the spot that he was sitting.

‘I’m going to ask her out’ said James resolutely. Persephone and Remus sighed in unison. Approximately once a week James would get it into his head that it was a good idea to ask Lily out. There was always a great variation in places that he would invite her. Sometimes it was to Hogsmeade, sometimes for a ride on the back of his broomstick, sometimes he’d push his luck and ask her to meet him down in the dungeons for what her termed "a cosy chat", and what everyone else knew to mean "a bit of a snog". ’ It made no difference at all where he invited her, the answer was always the same.

‘I thought you’d had enough of her’ said Persephone with a sly grin, what about…what’s-her-name…Serendipity Brewer?’

‘Minor details Seph, minor details’ said James staring over at the Ravenclaw table, where Lily was once again speaking with her friends.

‘Blimey’ said James, still staring ‘can you imagine what our kids would look like?’

‘I’d hazard a guess at flame haired midgets’ said Sirius finally involving himself in conversation much to the amusement of the other three who all snorted with laughter.

‘I’m not even that short’ said James defensively making his friends laugh even harder.



Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=932746#post932746)

Remus carried on eating his sandwiches, he couldn’t help but feel vaguely satisfied with himself, after all, here was James setting himself up for yet another fall as far as Lily was concerned, whereas he, was the person that she wanted to be with.

This was a bit puzzling for Remus. Lily was one of the most popular girls in the whole school and he wasn’t even the most popular person within his own circle of friends. Why did she like him of all people?

He sincerely hoped Lily would (sooner or later) accept James’s offer, it seemed stupid and a bit wasteful that here was this gorgeous girl that neither of them would get the pleasure of going out with, unless James got his act together.

‘Will you speak to her again Moony?’ asked James, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice.

‘It’ll be like talking to a brick wall’ muttered Sirius. James ignored him

‘Please, I won’t ask you to do it again Remus old chap’

‘You said that last time, said Remus staring fixedly at his sandwich.

‘I know I did, but this is going to be the last time ever, I’ve got a really great feeling about it for some reason.’

‘Earlier on you said you were sick of her knocking you back’ reminded Sirius

‘I know, but with a bit of luck she won’t knock me back this time’

‘I wouldn’t be so sure’ said Persephone ‘She’d look a bit weak if she accepted you now, especially after all the times she’s told you to take a hike in the past.’

‘Well it’s up to her’ said James with composure ‘I’ll make it very clear to her that this is the last time I’m ever going to ask her. Once she knows I’ve had enough of her messing me around I’m sure she’ll see sense.’

‘Uhm…Prongs, maybe she’s not messing you around’ ventured Peter ‘maybe she means every word she says’.

‘No of course she doesn’t’ said James his voice dismissive ‘Anyway, everyone knows what girls are like, they never say what they mean. She’s saying no when she really means yes, she knows I’ll stay interested this way’

Persephone suddenly giggled ‘You really remind me of one of the characters from that book we’re studying in Muggle studies…Proud and Promising’

Sirius tutted ‘Pride and Prejudice ‘Seph, I won’t be copying your notes in future, if that’s what your memory’s like for names’

These comments were completely wasted on Remus who studied Arithmancy whilst his friends studied the life habits, culture and this term, literature, in their Muggle studies class.

‘Who do you mean?’ asked Peter ‘that Collin bloke?

‘That’s right beamed Persephone, ‘Mr Collins’.

‘I am not like him’ protested James ‘he was a prat, and he never got the girl’

‘So just like you really’ retorted Persephone, making the others laugh.

‘You won’t be scoffing quite so much, when we invite you to our fiftieth wedding anniversary’ scowled James

‘I can’t see that happening somehow’ said Peter softly ‘let’s face it, you can’t even get her to commit herself to a date with you, let alone fifty years of marriage.’

‘You never know’ said Remus, ‘stranger things have happened’

‘Thank you Remus’ grinned James, ‘I’m so pleased you’ve finally got round to my way of thinking’

Remus gave as small smile, thinking it would be more sensible than saying anything further.

‘Does that mean you’ll speak to her then?’ asked James hopefully

‘Yes why not’ said Remus exasperatedly.

He momentarily wondered why he was involving himself in such a hopeless quest, but the look of gratitude on the face of one of his dearest friends, settled the matter.

‘I can’t promise anything though’.

‘Thanks Moony, thanks a lot’

**********



Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=932746#post932746)

After James had finished his lunch he wended his way back to the Quidditch pitch. They were holding tryouts for a new chaser that afternoon, which would involve a lot of formation flying and a bit of throwing and shooting. It was all fairly basic stuff and James knew he’d probably find it a bit boring.

The Gryffindor Quidditch team was yet to play their first game of the season. When the fixtures for the season were drawn up, it was always the case that the team, which required new players would play their first match, last of all. At the end of last season Claire Dalrymple, a strapping seventh year and the third chaser on the Gryffindor team had left Hogwarts with a view of tracing the history of Witchcraft in America. The week after they had broken up for their summer holidays James had received a post card from Claire, saying that Massachusetts was the best place she’d ever been to. However the local witches and wizards were very superstitious and were convinced that they were going to go the same way as their forefathers and therefore kept out of muggle company as much as was humanly possible.

James missed Claire, she’d been like an elder sister to him. When he’d joined the Gryffindor team she had taken him under her wing, they’d been good friends for three years. James knew full well that her replacement would have to be nothing short of wonderful for him to be satisfied with them.

The other Gryffindor chaser was a boy called Oscar Bennett. He was in a fourth year and pretty unassuming. Oscar was muggle born, and at his primary school he had played a game called basketball, which he assured James was not a million miles away from Quidditch, although James didn’t see the similarity. Oscar was, like James a very successful chaser however he wasn’t a particularly good flier, and as a result had suffered from quite a lot of injuries. The dual purpose of today’s tryouts were to get a first team chaser and also a reserve, just in case Oscar had another debilitating incident on his broom.

As James strode across the lawns he allowed his mind to pass to Lily Evans. He truly wished she liked him. James hadn’t had very much at all to do with Lily until their fifth year when they had been in the same Charms class. James had sat behind her for a whole year and within about five weeks of their very first lesson James had asked Lily, in his usual way, to go with him on the first Hogsmeade visit of the year which was over the Halloween weekend.

James had been surprised and rather nettled when Lily had turned him down flat.

‘I’m sorry’ she’d said ‘I don’t think we’d have anything in common to talk about’.

James spent the next year and a bit trying to prove to Lily that the opposite was true, but all to no avail, she simply wasn’t interested in him.

James found himself thinking about her first thing in the morning and last thing at night. She often popped into his head when he was idly not paying attention in his lessons and it seemed like he saw her everywhere he looked.

James had tried hard to impress her and make himself seem more appealing, but no matter how hard he tried James was always met by the same stony reception, she really didn’t want to know.

James had tried everything to get her out of his head, he’d had a string of willing girlfriends over the past year. These girls had served two main purposes, these were, to take his mind off Lily, and to check whether she reacted in any infinitesimal way, when she saw him with another young lady on his arm.

Unfortunately for James the only expression she ever wore when she witnessed him in the company of these girls, was disbelief at their stupidity.

Another thing that James hated about his situation with Lily was the fact that she was convinced that he was an arrogant berk and as such wanted nothing to do with him.

James did his best to prove to her that this wasn’t the case and endeavoured to be less arrogant in the hope of winning her round. The only real problem with this, was the fact that James didn’t think he was arrogant, and therefore found it hard to try and change.

This was why this was going to be his very last attempt at winning her round. The constant rejection was really beginning to wear him down, He believed that somewhere deep within Lily there was the capacity for her to like him. He’d noticed once or twice that she’d given an involuntary smile at a comment he had made and he’d found such instances encouraging. This is why he was getting Remus to test the waters. He was confident that his friend would be able to bring her to her senses, and then he’d be able to give up on unimportant girls like Serendipity Brewer and instead focus on devoting his time to the beautiful Lily Evans.

*********

‘So how did it go?’ asked Sirius as a rather drawn looking Remus sat down opposite him in one of the best chairs in the Common room.

Remus groaned. ‘Padfoot it was awful. She looked at me as if I’d insulted her and seven generations of her family. She couldn’t believe that I had the cheek to try yet again to set her up with James, despite the fact that she’d told me in no uncertain terms last night, that she never wanted me to mention him again.’

‘Oh dear oh dear’ said Sirius ‘Did she hit you?’

‘No’ said Remus flatly ‘but it was a pretty close thing’

‘And she definitely doesn’t want to go on a date with James?

‘Definitely not’ sighed Remus, ‘and she certainly won’t want to go on a date with me now either.’

‘But that was the plan wasn’t it?’ said Sirius ‘you said it yourself, you didn’t want to muscle in on James’s territory.’

‘I know I said that’ moaned Remus ‘but the problem is Sirius, I really like her.’

Sirius didn’t speak, he had enough to think about at the moment without taking on board the worries of his friends as well. He really didn’t understand what all the fuss was about

Lily Evans, as far as he was concerned she was just like any other girl, reasonably attractive but more trouble than she actually was worth.

‘Forget about her Remus’ said Sirius trying to sound sympathetic ‘after all there’s plenty more fish in the sea.’

‘Huh, that’s easy for you to say’

‘And how do you work that out?’ asked Sirius

‘Well you could have your pick out of any girl in the whole school, and probably a fair few of the teachers as well come to think about it.’

‘You’re making me blush’ said Sirius, with a half-hearted attempt at a joke

‘But it’s true’ continued Remus. ‘Whereas I get very little female interest, in fact to the best of my knowledge Lily is the first girl ever to have liked me.’

‘Rubbish’ snorted Sirius ‘Persephone had a crush on you for two years’

‘What?’ asked Remus amazed, ‘why didn’t anyone tell me?’

‘By the time we found out she’d already fixed her attentions elsewhere’

‘Oh I see. Anyway I know that there’s nothing I can do about Lily. Although it really makes a nice change for me to be the one that someone likes as opposed to you or Prongs, and it would just be so nice, if for once I could be the one with the pretty girlfriend.’

‘Then go for it’ said Sirius exasperatedly, feeling that they were going around in circles

‘But what about James?’

‘What about him?

Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=932746#post932746)

Later on when he was in the bath Remus couldn’t help but mull over what Sirius had said to him, Why should he be the one who missed out? Apart from the obvious fact that he had an evil man-eating fixation once a month, he was more or less a good catch, and a decent sort of bloke. Admittedly he sometimes looked a bit woebegone, but in the main, he was as normal and as pleasant as they came, and Lily liked him…or at least had liked him before he had been so stupid

He couldn’t help but wince when he thought of the look of revulsion that Lily had given him, when he had asked again whether she could feel anything for James.

He had known all along that it was truly stupid for him to ask this question, but a misjudged sense of loyalty towards James, had meant that he had followed his friend’s wishes as opposed to what he knew to be right.

As he half swam around the huge bath in the Prefect’s bathroom, he made a sudden resolve. The next full moon was on Tuesday night, today was Saturday, and assuming that he was up to it, on Wednesday he intended upon going to Lily, apologising for his unbelievable stupidity. He would tell her exactly how he felt, and, if she was able to forgive him, he’d really like to go out with her.’

Details about he would deal with James’s reaction and also how he would hide from Lily the fact that he was a werewolf escaped him at that particular moment. All he knew was that everything else would just slot into place as soon as he was honest with Lily about his feelings.

Getting out of the bath and pulling on his towelling dressing gown, Remus felt easier than he had done for a couple of days. At last he could see a light at the end of the tunnel, he knew that soon everything would be okay, and that he’d be able to look forward to spending time with Lily.

********

At a quarter to five, a hot and rather sweaty looking James traipsed into the Gryffindor common room.

Sirius and Peter were busy playing exploding snap, and by the burn mark on the back of his left hand, Peter was obviously losing.

‘How did the tryouts go? Asked Peter, rubbing his sore hand.

‘Great’ said James flopping down into a chair, still in his Quidditch robes ‘we took on a third chaser and I reckon he’ll be really good’

‘Another boy?’ asked Sirius raising his eyebrows, ‘how does Violet feel about that?

Violet McKinnon was the Gryffindor Quidditch captain. She was in the seventh year, and was the first female beater on the Gryffindor team for 150 years. She was, big, burly and terrifying to most people.

‘She was alright about it actually’ said James stifling a yawn ‘her little brother Titus got the place.’

‘Is he any good?’ pressed Sirius, he had never been too bothered about playing Quidditch (the last thing he wanted was a whack in the face with a bludger to damage his looks) although he was very interested in the team’s continuing success.

‘Not bad, he’s pretty fast as well, considering how massive he is. Seems like a bit of a practical joker though, which could be interesting’ explained James.

‘I know Titus pretty well’ said Peter ‘the McKinnons live quite near us, Titus and Violet’s parents are good friends of my mother.’

‘Much of a joker?’ asked Sirius

‘He has his moments’ said Peter fairly ‘I wont tell you about the frog-spawn pasties he made a couple of years ago, especially not this close to dinner time.

Sirius grimaced slightly, and James just laughed ‘Where’s Moony?’ he asked, taking off his glasses and cleaning them on his robes.

‘Bath’ said Sirius

‘Isn’t it a bit early for bath time?’ asked James, making a big show of pulling off his moist and slightly muddy jumper, for the benefit of the assembled gaggle of gazing and giggling girls who were sitting at the adjoining table.

‘I reckon he’s in a bit of a bad mood’ said Peter, ‘he’s been a bit off with me all day, I suppose he’s just taken himself off to calm down.

‘Nah, it’s probably not that, he just loves the Prefect bathroom so much, that he wanted to do a few lengths before dinner time.’

Sirius and James had found their way into the Prefects bathroom when they were in the third year. They had been out on one of their moonlit wanderings, one evening, whilst researching for the Marauder’s map, and had stumbled across the room quite accidentally.

They had both thoroughly enjoyed the water fight that they had had in there. Squirting each other with foam and running around on the tile floors, laughing so loudly it was a miracle that they were never caught.

At the mention of the bathroom, James can over all misty eyed

‘Oh to be a prefect’ he sighed

‘What?’ asked the other two, shock evident on their young faces. ‘Have you lost your mind?’

‘No’ smiled James ‘but just think of it, walking into the Prefect bathroom on an evening like this, and coming across a freshly bathed Lily Evans, towel wrapped around her body, and her hair hanging wet and unkempt around her milky white shoulders.’

Sirius and Peter both snorted with laughter

‘You’ve lost the plot Prongs’ laughed Peter shaking his head

‘And what you’re saying is also mildly concerning’ said Sirius darkly ‘Milky white shoulders indeed.’

James grinned apologetically ‘anyway, anyone have any idea how Remus got on with Evans?’

‘No idea mate’ said Peter shuffling the deck of cards, ‘do you want to be dealt in?’

‘Uhm…no thanks’ said James running his hands through his hair in frustration

‘I’ve spoken to him’ said Sirius, taking his hand of cards off the table.

‘And?’ asked James curiously

‘She doesn’t want to know mate’ said Sirius ‘Moony tried his best, but she just started shrieking at him’

‘I’m going to get changed before tea’ said James wearily, he stood up and slouched towards the boy’s staircase.

*********
Once upstairs, James opened their dormitory door and sat down on his bed. He couldn’t help but feel dreadful. He really wanted Lily to see the best in him, but he really didn’t know how he could make her see. It was a bit strong to say that he was in love with her, but he certainly couldn’t imagine not having her around him. He wasn’t even sure why he felt this way about her, or what it was that made her so special, all he knew was that he couldn’t keep taking these sorts of blows, they hurt him far too much.



After James had pulled himself together and gone back downstairs to the Common room, Remus had returned and was observing the card game, which was now being won by Peter, who was looking significantly smug.

‘Alright Prongs mate?’ asked Remus ‘I take it that Sirius told you what Lily had to say for herself.

‘Yeah he did mention it’ said James flatly, ‘still never mind, plenty more girls in the common room, eh?’

There was something in the way that James said this that suggested strongly that he didn’t mean it. Sirius and Remus both exchanged uneasy looks.

‘Let’s go down to dinner’ said Sirius, standing up quickly, he didn’t like to see the discomfort in his two best friends’ faces, and seriously wondered whether Lily Evans had any idea of just how big a stir she was causing amongst this particular group.

Slowly and without their usual enthusiasm the four friends made their way out of the common room. Sirius led the way, looking thoughtful, closely followed by Remus and James, both of whom looked pensive, their thoughts obviously firmly upon one young woman in particular.

Brining up the rear, was Peter, easily the happiest of the group, nothing to worry about except for the small blister on the back of his hand, and retaining his winning streak as far as Exploding Snap was concerned.

Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=932746#post932746)

After a very subdued dinner, James decided that he’d go for a walk in the grounds. It was a relatively mild night and he simply wasn’t in the mood for the idle conversation of the common room. He wanted to be alone, he wanted to think, and, if possible he wanted to formulate a plan.

James was just walking out the front doors of the castle, when Sirius jogged over. ‘Hang on mate, I was wondering, can I come along?’

James wasn’t accustomed to refusing his best friend anything, and therefore consented. The two of them meandered around the rosebushes, both immersed in thought, the moon (which was almost full) shone down on the pathway making it shine silver.

After a little while, Sirius spoke, ‘I know it seems pretty hard at the moment James, but she’s only a girl, I know you’ll get over her soon.’

‘Obviously you don’t’ snapped James ‘I know it sounds pathetic Padfoot, but I think I love her mate.’ Sirius didn’t say anything at all, how could he? – he knew that Lily didn’t care about James, she couldn’t even stand the sight of him, what made it worse, was the fact that she cared for someone else, and that person cared for her as well.

‘Just leave it for a while, eh?’ said Sirius in a low voice ‘nobody likes to be hassled do they?’

James sighed ‘I know, it’s just so cruel, the only girl I want is the only one I can’t have.’

‘That’s life though isn’t it’ said Sirius, absently detaching himself from the rosebush which had caught the sleeve of his robe. ‘We can’t always have what we want, but we learn to live with it’

‘So really I should stop moaning?’ asked James

‘I think it might be an idea’ said Sirius conspiratorially ‘After all nobody likes a love sick whiner.’

James smiled, he wasn’t exactly sure why, but nobody could cheer him up like Sirius could. In a few seconds Sirius had managed to put all of his problems into perspective. So Lily Evans didn’t want him? So what? There were plenty more Grindylows in the lake, his life wasn’t over, just because a girl didn’t like him. Yes it hurt, but so what? He had his friends, admirers and a top of the range broomstick, what else did he really need?’ Sure, he’d be happier if Lily was half as crazy about him as he was about her, but if she didn’t want to know, he couldn’t make her like him, it was a simple as that.

After a few more moments of walking in silence, Sirius spoke.

‘I’ve thought of a way of getting Snape back for his little stunt earlier on’ he said trying to sound as casual as possible.

‘Oh yeah?’ asked James interestedly ‘Is this what you wanted to talk about earlier on?’

‘Yep’ said Sirius shortly, ‘it’ll definitely sort him out once and for all, but you mustn’t tell the others.’

‘As if I would’ grinned James. Although generally the four friends did everything together, there was always a part of both Sirius and James, which was devoted purely to each other. Whilst they were all involved in regular mischief-making. It was usually the most high-risk exploits that were left to this pair.

‘We-el’ elongated Sirius, rubbing his smooth chin, thoughtfully, ‘if everything goes to plan, I should be able to guarantee that we won’t have to look at the ugly face of Snivellus Snape again.’

‘You aren’t going to top him are you?’ asked James worriedly ‘cause Azkaban is the last place you’d want to end up.’

Sirius waved his hand at the implication. ‘Nothing to worry about on that score, I’ve worked out a way of us being able to keep our hands completely clean.’

‘Okay, cool’ said James with the slightest hint of uncertainty in his voice. ‘So we are going to kill him?’

Sirius rolled his eyes conspicuously and James looked slightly abashed ‘I never said we were going to actually kill anybody’

‘But he might die?’ asked James

‘I suppose…technically…he might’ said Sirius airily ‘but hopefully it’ll just be him getting roughed up a bit, and wetting his grubby little underpants with fear.’

‘I like the sound of that’ grinned James evilly. Snape had made him look stupid once too often, and now was the chance to fully repay him for thinking that he could show up Padfoot and Prongs and get away with it.

‘So what actually is the plan?’ asked James, seating himself on a bench at the end of one of the pathways.

Sirius was unsure what to say, and what to leave out. He wanted desperately to share his plan with James, but it was so dangerous, that there was a part of him that was really worried that James might try and prevent him from carrying out the specifics. Contenting himself that James was as reckless and vengeful when it came to getting one over on young Severus as he was, he finally began to explain.

‘Well, you know on Tuesday it’s going to be a full moon’ said Sirius

‘Yes of course I know, I’ve been looking forward to it for a couple of weeks, it’ll be nice to be able to run around in the forest again.’

Sirius didn’t agree to this statement, but instead sat down on the other end of the bench.

‘Well I was thinking. You know how nosy Snivellus usually is, and how he always seems to be hanging around trying to overhear our business.’

‘Yes I do’ said James grimly ‘although he’s not been too bad this term, he must have found himself another hobby.’

There was a pronounced look of disgust on Sirius’s face, ‘he’ll still leap at the chance of poking his overlarge nose into someone else’s business, if it’s too irresistible for him to refuse.’

James raised his eyebrows ‘so how are you going to link this to us getting him back for earlier?’ asked James agog.’

Sirius’s face was alight with evil glee ‘Remus’

‘What about him?’ asked James ‘he won’t want to get involved in us trying to get one over on Snape, he’s a prefect for one thing, and for another…’

‘Moony won’t be getting involved – personally’ explained Sirius, glaring handsomely at the moon.

‘Meaning?’

‘Well, meaning that I’m going to tell young Master Snape, how he can find out the truth about why Remus goes away once a month.’

James looked puzzled ‘surely that’ll upset Remus, after all he’s always made it clear, that nobody outside of the staff and us three, know about his...uhm…condition.’

‘Snivellus won’t even find out that it’s Moony’ explained Sirius coolly

‘He’ll just see a whopping great werewolf which’ll either scare him to silence, or will bite him, so that he too becomes a werewolf. Either way, I’ve got a feeling that he won’t be giving us that much grief from here on in.’

‘And you don’t think that this is a bit of a hefty punishment for what he did today?’

‘No, do you?’ asked Sirius questioningly, starting to regret bringing James in on a plan which he could have carried out alone.

‘Not exactly, I just wonder whether it’s a god idea to involve Remus in this, I mean, what if he kills Snape? He’ll have that on his conscience for the rest of his life.’

Sirius looked stubborn ‘Don’t think about Moony, he’ll be fine, we’ll just tell him that Snape had followed us down to the Whomping Willow and before we could tell him to clear off and go back to the castle, he had met his…untimely fate.’

James looked slightly chilled at this ‘You’re certain that this is the best way to get Snape back?’

‘Certain’ said Sirius standing up. ‘I’m going to go through with this with or without your help Prongs, I am not going to allow a jumped up little Slytherin like Snape, knock me out, and then think he can get of scot-free. If you want to be involved, that’s cool, but if not, I can go it alone!’

‘I never said I didn’t want to be involved, I’m just as angry about what he did as you are, all I’m saying is, I don’t necessarily think that it’s a good idea to incriminate Remus in this as well.’

‘Fine’ said Sirius suddenly flaring up ‘then tell Remus, that under no circumstances is he to try and bite Snivellus’s greasy head on Tuesday night, but I’m still going to tell Snape, how to get into the Whomping willow, and if nature takes it’s course, so much the better’

‘And you don’t think that killing Snape will weigh on your conscience a bit more than you can bear?’ asked James

‘No, it won’t at all, I hate Snape, and have no qualms about teaching him a lesson’ growled Sirius.

‘Fair enough’ said James heavily, ‘I’m not sure how keen I am to be involved in this though’ he sighed

‘Well that’s up to you’ said Sirius, obviously nettled at the fact that James didn’t think it was the greatest idea.

‘I don’t think I could handle the guilt if we killed him’ said James simply. ‘I won’t try and stop you if you think this is what you want to do’ he said earnestly ‘but I don’t want to be involved in this, it’s too risky.’

Sirius looked rather cross, but knew that there would be no point in arguing further. Although James usually liked to go along with whatever Sirius suggested, he wasn’t weak like Peter, he knew his own mind, and could be as stubborn as an ox. If he didn’t want to be involved, then there was nothing Sirius could do to convince him otherwise.

‘I hate it when you take the moral high ground, groaned Sirius, the anger in his voice dispersing rapidly

‘I far prefer it when you’re whining about Lily Evans thinking you’re a scumbag’

James gave a low laugh, and, standing up followed his friend back up to the school, leaving the almost round, silver moon hanging lonely in the sky.


Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=932746#post932746)

On Sunday, Remus woke up feeling very unwell. It wasn’t rare for his body to ache and for him to feel rougher than he generally did when the full moon was approaching, but today was worse than usual.

It had been his intention to speak to Lily at some stage during the day, to apologise about his previous behaviour and try to explain his feelings. He now realised that this simply wasn’t going to be possible. If he moved to much he was surely going to be sick.

Whatever he had to say to her, would simply have to wait until he felt better.

He made his way down to the common room clutching his bed cover. It was still early and the sky outside was grey.

The common room was empty. The fire had burned out a while ago, although there was still heat in that corner of the room. Remus went and sat down in his favourite seat, and watched sunlight slowly pour into the room. Eventually he dozed off, only to be awoken accidentally some time later by a second year girl who had got up early to search for her cat.

‘Are you alright?’ asked the girl sheepishly ‘you don’t look at all well’

Remus smiled ‘no I’m feeling a bit delicate, but I thought I’d wait until it was properly light before I disturbed Madame Pomfrey’

‘I didn’t mean to disturb you’ said the girl ‘I came downstairs early to look for my cat. Have you seen him?’

‘No I can’t say I have’ said Remus politely. ‘But if I do I’ll be sure to let you know.’

The girl smiled gratefully, and then went through the portrait hole, to begin a more thorough search of the castle and grounds.

Remus let out a low sigh. On mornings like these he truly wondered how he was going to cope with having to endure this illness and agony every month for the rest of his life.

Life as a ‘grown-up’ was something that intrigued Remus. He had never really given much thought to the idea that he’d ever be someone that got married and had lots of children. He loved children, but he knew so little of the true nature of werewolves from reading only biased reports, that he was worried that any children he had, may end up as some sort of strange child/wolf hybrid, something which he certainly would not be able to stand. In which case, what sort of life could he look forward to as a bachelor werewolf?

He half-heartedly had hoped that he would be some sort of interesting uncle to the children of his three best friends, who (due to being relatively handsome and normal) were sure to have a veritable herd of children between them.

All this reasoning was before Lily Evans had come along. Now he questioned whether he really was doomed to be alone. Maybe Lily wasn’t ‘the one’, but that didn’t necessarily mean that there wouldn’t be another ‘one’ along at some point. After all, as Sirius had said Persephone had gone through a phase of liking him…and if Lily had confessed that she felt the same way, it kind of followed that there should be another one along at some point.

Remus snuggled up under his bed cover and waited for morning to set in properly. Before too long a steady stream of students came down the staircase. Almost everybody breakfasted late on a Sunday, but the early risers were prone to sitting around in the common room in their pyjamas before gearing themselves up for a shower or stumbling downstairs for eggs and bacon.

It wasn’t long before he was joined by Persephone who insisted on squeezing onto the end of the small sofa, despite the fact that it meant squashing Remus’s feet.

‘You’re up bright and early for a Sunday morning’ she yawned jiggling about to get comfortable and making Remus wince slightly at the pressure.

‘Yep. I’m feeling a bit rough’ he said ‘when I’m ill I can’t sleep properly, so I came down here so my fidgeting and tossing didn’t disturb the others.’

‘Do you want me to send an Owl to my Dad?’ asked Persephone (her father was a healer) ‘I’m sure he’d be able to recommend something to help you get over it quicker or pep you up a bit’

‘Cheers ‘Seph, but there’s really no need I reckon I’ll be fine in a couple of days’ he said in a flat voice

‘Good, ‘cause I don’t much fancy the idea of going to that awful Christmas decoration committee meeting without my favourite boy in tow. I’d probably end up thumping Lola Basset without you there to forcibly restrain me.’

Remus smiled weakly ‘It’s not until Wednesday is it?’

‘Nope, so you better be feeling alright by then, otherwise I might have to take my rage out on you, you sickly thing’ she grinned.

‘Charming bedside manner you’ve got there Miss Royce. Truly charming’ joked Remus making his friend stick out her tongue in response.

‘Are you going to escort me to breakfast then?’ she asked after several more minutes of companionable silence

‘No’ groaned Remus apologetically ‘I don’t feel up to going downstairs just yet. I might feel better by lunchtime.’

‘Lunchtime?’ she asked horrified ‘I’ll have starved to death by then’

‘Obviously I don’t expect you to stay with me all that time’ he said laying his head back down on the arm of the chair in an attempt to alleviate the thumping in it.

‘I can hardly leave you in this state’

‘I’ve been fine on my own all the time I’ve been down here’ said Remus reasonably ‘anyway, there are loads of people on hand if I have a funny turn’

‘Well I’m bringing it back up with me’ she said firmly ‘do you fancy a bit of toast or something?’

Remus shook his head

‘Ok, well I’ll see you in five minutes’ she said with a smile

Remus was just starting to nod off again when she returned, pink faced and holding a coffee mug.

‘I just ran into that bloke in Slytherin that James and Sirius torment. You know the one with the grey undies and the big-’

‘-Yes I know who you mean’ said Remus quickly before she could finish her sentence ‘what about him?’

‘He was really, really rude to me in the corridor. I accidentally walked into him, and just because I slopped the tiniest drop of coffee down his front he seemed to think he had the right to verbally abuse me. It’s not like it’s even all that hot’ she said crossly, dipping her finger into the cup ‘look’

Remus couldn’t help but smile, despite the fact that hearing his friend whine wasn’t doing anything to make him feel any better.

‘Snape’s got a problem with everybody. I wouldn’t take it personally’

‘I’ve never done anything to him though, and he was really mean.’

‘You’ve got off lightly with verbal abuse’ said Remus softly ‘most people would have been hexed in the chops for something like that.’

‘ooh maybe he fancies me’ said Persephone sarcastically

‘Who fancies you? you gorgeous girl’ asked a familiar voice as James slumped into the common room, his hair even scruffier than usual

‘Oh nobody’ she said draining her cup. ‘Now that you’re here, you can start looking after poor old Remus, he’s feeling a tad delicate today.’

‘ Oh he’ll be alright’ said James unsympathetically unlike Persephone, he knew that there was nothing wrong with Remus that wouldn’t right itself in a few days.

‘What a wonderful friend you are Mr Potter’ said Persephone with a sardonic nod of mock appreciation ‘I’ll be back soon, but I want to have a nice early bath, before most people get up.’ The boys nodded ‘Are you going to go and see Madame Pomfrey, Remus?’ she continued.

‘Don’t fuss over the poor bloke’ said James ‘he’s ill often enough to know how to carry on, without your reminders, now clear off and have your bath before that Prefect from Slytherin with the hairy shoulders beats you to it.’

Shuddering at the thought, Persephone turned on her heels and trotted towards the Portrait hole.

‘So, I take it you’re feeling really ill today?’ asked James once they were definitely alone.

‘Yep’ said Remus, ‘rough as a badger’s bum’

If you like I could go and talk to Professor Jigger. Last night I was reading a copy of ‘Potion Maker Now’ before going to sleep, and I read an article about a Potion that the formulators feel will soon be developed to numb all of the negative side effects of Lycanthropy. I could always ask Jigger if he knew how to make the Potion, or if I could have a crack at it for a bit of extra credit.’

‘I don’t see how it’ll work’ said Remus ‘nothing else does.’

‘It’s for the pain of transformation more than anything else’ explained James ‘but it supposedly keeps the person’s brain at a ‘human level’ the whole time, instead of flickering between man and wolf.’

‘Can we talk about it some other time?’ asked Remus, slightly huffily, ‘it’s not exactly making me feel any better, just talking about it.’

Alright’ said James, ‘I’ll look into it and let you know.’

Remus was slightly surprised at his friend’s helpfulness. James had always been a good friend, but today he seemed to be being uncharacteristically attentive to Remus’ plight.



The truth was, James had had a very bad night’s sleep, just like Remus.

He’d tossed and turned for hours thinking about what Sirius was planning to do, and where he stood in the matter. Allowing Sirius to execute his plan would cause problems for more than just Snape, and this worried James.

Did he really have it in him, to sit in the common room twiddling his thumbs, whilst Remus quite innocently devoured one of his fellow students? Could he remain silent whilst his best friend sent Snivellus out to be killed like a lamb to the slaughter?

For someone usually so bright and sure of himself, James was worried that this time he simply didn’t have an answer.


Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=1204357&posted=1#post1204357) I always, always appreciate feedback, so feel free to take a little time!!! ;)

*********

Sirius stalked into the Great Hall at a quarter to eleven that morning. There were only about half a dozen students scattered about the hall, and all that was left on the tables were a couple of racks of cold toast and a few dregs of orange juice.

He sat down and unfurled a slightly wet copy of the Sunday Prophet, and buttered himself a piece of toast. Sirius had slept deeply the previous night, although his sleep had been riddled with dreams of Snape taunting him - if anything, waking up that morning had stiffened his resolve. He was going to make Snape pay for making an idiot out of him.

The only thing that bothered Sirius was James. He knew that James wouldn’t tell anybody about this, but he was already starting to grow tired of the reproachful looks that he received. This was partly why he had remained in bed so late that morning. In fact, it was only thought of missing breakfast altogether that had roused him up out of his bed.

After munching thoughtfully at his breakfast, and hardly absorbing a single word of the paper, Sirius decided that the only sensible course of action would be to go for a walk.

It was a very cold morning- the grass still had - in places, the faintest traces of the previous night’s frost. There was a chill wind in the air which rasped against his cheeks and gnawed at his fingers. Deciding resolutely that now wasn’t the time for him to return to the castle for his coat or a pair of gloves, he pressed on, until he was on the verge of the Forbidden Forest.

It took every ounce of restraint that Sirius possessed to stop himself from transforming, and darting off into the forest. As Padfoot he knew that his troubles and anxieties would seem far less important- the only problem was, he knew that the way he was feeling at the moment, he would be happier not to transform back into his usual self.

Instead, Sirius strode onwards around the perimeter of the forest. He needed to think.

There was only one flaw in his master plan, and he kept playing it over in his head, in the vain hope of an answer just popping in ready-formed.

The problem was, how was he going to convince Snape to go down to the Whomping Willow without arousing too much suspicion? As Sirius pondered this thought he got steadily more cross. The problem was, Severus Snape was no idiot. With just about anybody else, Sirius would have extended the hand of fake friendship, and invited them out on a moonlit stroll, where they would ultimately get gored by a werewolf. Snape was far to clever to fall for anything as half-baked and simple as this. Sirius was going to have to employ all of the cunning he possessed to pull his plan off effectively, and he knew it.

*****

Up in the Common Room, Moony, Wormtail and Prongs were half-heartedly doing the last scraps of homework before going down to the Great Hall for a warming Sunday Dinner. Remus was feeling, as predicted, slightly better, and he felt that a small meal and a change of scenery would be just the thing to buck him up a little bit.

Peter was midway through a Muggle Studies essay which he was writing, entitled ‘Describe the main modes of transport used every day by muggles, and discuss the similarities and differences between those used by wizards’

Peter was rather good at Muggle Studies and therefore was having little problem completing it, and he certainly found it preferable to all the muggle literature they had been studying of late.

‘I can’t wait ‘til Tuesday’ he said in a hushed voice to the other two ‘I’ve done nothing but work this weekend, it’ll be a relief to stretch my legs.’

The other two both delivered him weak smiles, which suggested that neither of them were as excited as he was.

Peter put his head down and continued writing, his brow furrowed slightly.

For him, more so than the others, becoming an animagus had been a major achievement. Being magically weaker than the other three (and particularly poor at Transfiguration) finally being able to get the hang of transforming made him far happier than he’d imagined it would. In fact there had only ever been one thing that he’d found a disappointment about the whole affair. This was the fact that of all the possible animal forms he could have taken, he had been lumbered with taking the form of a rat.

It wasn’t even the fact that he was a rat, that annoyed Peter, if the truth were told, he’d always had a peculiar affection and fascination for rats. The only thing that annoyed him slightly, was the fact that Sirius and James were able to become large powerful beasts which could run, fight a frolic freely, whereas he was something small, and (apart from the role he played in opening the Whomping Willow) fairly redundant in the whole affair.

He hated being the weakest, but was so glad to be in the company of ‘the coolest’ boys in school, that he was prepared to bear the slight indignity.

‘Shall we go down then?’ asked James consulting his watch, ‘I refuse to write another word on an empty stomach’. The truth was, James had hardly written a word all morning. He had been very preoccupied and was worried that the others were going to notice something was wrong if he didn’t make moves to distract them.

‘Does anyone know where Sirius has got off to?’ asked Remus as they made their way down the main staircase ‘He’s been in a funny mood since yesterday’

‘I think he said something about going for a walk’ said Peter vaguely ‘I’m sure he won’t want to miss dinner.’

Sure enough, before the three friends had been sitting at the Gryffindor table very long, Sirius came striding into the room, his cheeks flushed by the cold. With a triumphant grin he sat down at the table and poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice.

‘I’d rather have a butterbeer, it’s freezing outside’ he said genially taking a long swig. ‘Sorry I didn’t stop to chat earlier on’ he explained ‘I had a couple of things I needed to sort out.’

‘All sorted?’ asked Remus, shakily pouring himself some water.

‘Yep’ said Sirius briskly ‘nothing to worry about’ his voice was bright, but he determinedly avoided the reproachful look that James shot in his direction.

The plan was now full formed, and tomorrow would be Sirius’s opportunity to execute it.



Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=1204357&posted=1#post1204357)

Monday dawned, grey and icy cold. In the night Remus took a turn for the worse and as such spent much of the day in the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey attended to his every need.

Because of Remus’s unusual condition, he spent a lot of time in the hospital wing, and as such he and the young matron got along rather well. She was well renowned for being very strict with her charges and encouraging nothing but total bed rest and quiet.

However, on days when the hospital wing were empty of students she was far more lenient, and, due to her soft spot for the young boy, would often have conversations with him, or play chess.

Madam Pomfrey could remember clearly Remus Lupin arriving at the school as an eleven year old boy, newly bitten and afraid. She’d only been Matron at Hogwarts for a couple of years and found herself inclined to especially look after who she termed ‘her best patient’.

Today was one of Remus’s worse days. He had slept even less on Sunday night than he had the evening before, was off his food and generally feeling awful. What was more, he had a slight inkling that there had been some sort of trouble between Sirius and James, who were both in very strange moods.

He knew that there was probably nothing for him to worry about and that the chances were, that by the time he saw them both (the following night, in Animagus form) everything would have corrected itself and they’d be back to normal.

******

James had been rather unnerved by the change in Sirius’s spirits yesterday, but had decided not to enquire into the reasons behind them. As far as he was concerned he was better off not knowing. Throughout the day James had found his attention wavering as he thought about what was going to happen the following day. Several times he considered trying to reason with Sirius, to make him see that what he was planning was not only very dangerous but also ridiculous. There was something however that held him back, and this was the fact that he had no desire at all to fall out with his best friend.

Similarly Sirius was very careful all day to make sure that there was no opportunity for cross words to be exchanged between the two of them. In fact, they spent most of the day in companionable silence, passing few jokes and generally getting on with their class work.



That evening Sirius went looking for Snape. He knew that he would have to employ all of his cunning, his best shot at reverse psychology and plenty of bluff to get Snape to believe a word that he said, but if he was sly enough Sirius knew that it would work spectacularly.

Sirius found Snape in the library, sitting alone down one of the aisles, poring over a large book, and making notes on a long piece of parchment .

‘Mind if I sit?’ asked Sirius loftily, making Snape jolt in surprise (he hadn’t heard Sirius approach)

‘I do actually’ said Snape rudely, turning a page and looking down at his work.

‘No need to be like that Snivellus’ said Sirius in a bizarre cheery voice which didn’t match the calculating look he was giving the other boy.

Snape put his quill down on the table. ‘What do you want Black?’ he growled

‘Just a little chat Snivellus, just a little chat’ breezed Sirius

‘Where’re your little pals?’ asked Snape, his eyebrows knitting together.

‘No idea’ said Sirius, taking a Herbology book down off the shelf, sitting down and leafing through it idly.

‘What do you want?’ asked Snape again, his eyes burning into Sirius. It seemed wholly strange that Black would be so calm around him, considering the last time they had come face to face, Snape had ‘stupefied’ him.

‘I’m not really sure’ said Sirius cryptically. ‘You’re alone, I’m alone, we’re both in the library, I thought it might be nice for the two of us to have a little chat, you know, spend some quality time together.’

It was so obvious to Snape that Sirius was up to something, that he didn’t even bother to look up from his work. He was half tempted to curse Sirius again, for a bit of peace and quiet, but the fact was, Snape was by nature, peculiarly curious, and it did seem extremely strange that Sirius Black was trying to engage him in conversation. Snape decided to humour him.

‘So what do you want to talk about Black?’ asked Snape, careful to keep his tone neutral.

‘How about, you tell me what you’re writing’ said Sirius with a smile, his heartbeat increasing slightly, spying the contents of Snape’s textbook.

‘I’m making notes for my Astronomy project’ said Snape curtly ‘Professor Gallius wants us to make a predictive lunar chart, for the next twenty four moon cycles, starting from the full moon tomorrow.’

Perfect. This was going to be like taking candy from a baby.

‘That’s pretty basic stuff isn’t it? Asked Sirius, ‘it seems like the sort of thing he’d have first years doing….not someone as intelligent as you Snivellus.’

Snape scowled. ‘For your information, it’s particularly laborious, because it means we’ve got to work out the moon’s precise position in the sky, as well as the dimensions which would be visible from earth.’

‘hmmmm’ mused Sirius ‘I hope Gallius asks our class to do it as well, that homework won’t take me five minutes.’

Snape, who had been working tirelessly on that particular piece for two hours, took the bait straight away. ‘and why’s that?’ he enquired menacingly

‘I’d just ask Remus’

‘You reckon Lupin would be able to do this in five minutes?’ snorted Snape sceptically ‘I don’t think so’

‘Oh I do’ said Sirius loftily. ‘In fact he’d probably be able to tell us the moon cycle for the next ten years’

‘Your faith and admiration for your friend is truly beautiful’ said Snape cruelly

‘Oh it has nothing to do with faith and admiration Snivellus’ smirked Sirius ‘it’s more to do with the fact that it’s something he’d definitely remember’

‘And why would that be?’ asked Snape impatiently.

Sirius stood up. ‘I’d have though that someone as supposedly intelligent as you would know the answer to that.’

‘To what?’

‘Huh, clearly swotting up in the library isn’t everything’ smiled Sirius

‘If you’re not going to tell me anything Black, why don’t you clear off and let me get on with my work.

‘I’m going anyway’ returned Sirius, ‘but what you’ve got to ask yourself Sev’ is, what possible reason could there be for Remus to know the exact cycle of the moon?’

Sirius let his words hang in the air for a few moments, and carefully watched the effect they were having upon Snape. He could sense the cogs turning inside Snape’s head.

Snape’s eyes narrowed into slits ‘you’re trying to wind me up aren’t you?’

‘Why would I do a thing like that?’ asked Sirius feigning innocence

‘I don’t pretend to know how your mind works’ spat Snape ‘although you’re probably trying to make a fool out of me’.

Sirius laughed ‘You’re pretty paranoid aren’t you Snivellus?’

‘With good reason’ said Snape angrily, wishing more than anything that he’d hexed Sirius when he’d had the chance.

Sirius didn’t say anything for a moment, he was enjoying himself too much to spoil it with words, and the best bit was yet to come.

‘I know a good way how you can find out whether I’m trying to wind you up or not’ smirked Sirius.

‘As you’ve already told me, tomorrow night is the full moon, so what better opportunity is there for you to find out whether I’m bluffing or not?’

Snape gulped, suddenly unsure of himself ‘Wh-what would I need to do to find out? He asked his eyes boring into Sirius.

‘The Whomping Willow’ said Sirius simply

‘What about it?’

‘Go there tomorrow night, and you’ll see that I’m serious.

‘But…how will I get close…I saw what it did to Gudgeon’ stammered Snape

‘On the trunk, there’s a knot, that’ll stop the tree from moving, find something like a stick, and prod the base. From that you’ll be able to work out what to do.’ Explained Sirius smoothly.

‘I’m sorry Black, but I’m not that stupid, whatever you’ve got planned, you might as well just forget about it, I’m not going to fall into your little trap’

Sirius laughed ‘It’s up to you Snape. Look, or don’t look, I really don’t care. Goodnight’

Sirius strutted out of the library, his head held, high, satisfied and relieved that he had achieved what he’s set out to.

It didn’t matter that Snape said he wasn’t going to go and look, Sirius knew that this was just a bluff. Snape’s curiosity would get him there…and as the old phrase said ‘Curiosity killed the cat’






Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=1204357&posted=1#post1204357)

It was a rather subdued Sirius that returned to the Gryffindor common room a short while later. And, to his slight annoyance nerves were beginning to set in. There was nothing he wanted more than for Snape to go down to the Whomping Willow the following evening, but at the same time doubt was starting to creep into his mind. Potentially plenty could go wrong. For one thing, Snape might change his mind at the last minute, and just not bother showing up. Then there was the possibility that he would go down to the tree, but wouldn’t actually encounter a transformed Remus. Then of course, there was the possibility that Remus would find Snape and kill him.

Sirius wasn’t altogether sure that he actually wanted this to take place. True, he didn’t remotely care about Snape dying, but there was always the concern that Remus would end up tearing him to pieces, and the implications for what could occur after that were endless.

Despite his hatred for Snape, Sirius certainly didn’t want one of his best friends to suffer for his actions.

When Sirius arrived back in the common room James, Peter, Persephone and one of Persephone’s friends were sitting by the fire playing a raucous game of exploding snap.

He walked over just in time to see the stack of cards blow up in Persephone’s face.

‘Very attractive’ he said, pointing to her charred tie and face that had been blackened slightly by the blast.

‘Want to join us?’ asked Persephone, squishing closer to her friend so that there was room on the settee for Sirius to sit down.

‘Thanks’ he said, looking apprehensively at James, whose face was impassive.

Soon, Sirius was able to forget about the final stage of his next task and instead allowed himself to be immersed in the game.



That night, after all the other students in the Slytherin Common room had gone to bed, Severus Snape sat at his usual small table, paying no attention to his Astronomy homework, which had suddenly become far less interesting than previously, since his encounter with Black.

Snape hated not being in control of a situation, yet he was certain that the situation he now found himself in, was so far out of his control, that there was a remote possibility that things were going to get pretty interesting soon.

His plan was quite simple really. He’d already told Black that he wasn’t going to go down to the Whomping Willow the following evening. All he had to do, was wait until much later, and then go down there and explore, where there wasn’t the possibility of Sirius Black an his stupid little friends waiting to catch him out and make him look ridiculous.

Snape sighed. He really didn’t know why he allowed an idiot like Sirius to get under his skin. Snape was usually cool under pressure, tending to stay aloof and calm when the going got tough, for some reason though, he found himself unable to behave in his normal way where this knot of Gryffindors were concerned and it annoyed more than he could bear.

Still, if Black’s hint about Lupin meant what he thought it did, then he’d have no reservations about making his discovery widely known.

****************

The following day passed quickly for everyone except for Sirius and Remus.

Immediately before the full moon, Remus was rather prone to fits of high energy followed by extreme lethargy. He also noticed over the course of the day that his sense of smell was heightened, so that at one point he thought he was going to be driven mad by the smell of casserole which was wafting across the castle from the kitchens.

Despite the fact that his transformation was always particularly painful, Remus was desperate for the evening- and the full moon to finally rise so that he could get it all over and done with.

Sirius on the other hand, hadn’t even wanted the day to begin, and he was disgusted when he awoke with a feeling of guilty gloom in the pit of his stomach. It had absolutely nothing to do with Snape, as far as he was concerned the boy had it coming, his main problem was the fact that Remus had to be involved as well.

Once Sirius was out of bed, and eating his breakfast, he was pleased to note that all bad feeling had disappeared completely. Instead he was able to watch Snape, confident in the knowledge that the smug, smirking look that the greasy boy wore, would not be there for very much longer. Snivellus was going to wet his greying underpants with fear when he found out what was in store for him, and Sirius couldn’t wait.

Unfortunately for Sirius though, he had to wait. For some reason the day couldn’t have passed more slowly.

He spent most of the morning sat in Herbology paying no attention to the samples of fertiliser that he was supposed to be analysing. James and Peter were getting up to some sort of mischief that Sirius simply wasn’t interested in engaging in.

James was still putting on a bit of a show as far as Sirius was concerned. He wasn’t altogether sure whether Sirius was still intent on carrying out his plan or not, and James had deliberately not mentioned it since Sunday, his thinking being, that what he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him. This method of thinking was enhanced by the fact that he hadn’t seen Remus since Sunday night. This meant that he could block out any worry or guilt, simply by not thinking about Remus or the forthcoming event that was due to take place in only a couple of hours time.

At around six o’ clock that evening, most of the students were sitting in the Great Hall enjoying their dinner. Sirius sat, playing with his dinner and barely touching a morsel of it. It was only a couple of hours to go until his plan would come to fruition, and Sirius felt a powerful mixture of emotion inside him. He was many things, excited, worried, and apprehensive and somewhere inside him there was a burning desire to show Snape that there was no point messing with Sirius Black.

Placing his fork down, Sirius got up from the Gryffindor table.

‘I’m going for a walk’ said Sirius blandly to his assembled friends.

‘Are you alright?’ asked Peter, ‘ you seem to be going on loads of walks these days’

‘Of course I’m alright’ dismissed Sirius shortly. ‘I just fancy…surveying the grounds before our little jaunt this evening.

Peter’s face lit up. ‘I’ve been looking forward to tonight all week’

‘Well you won’t have to wait much longer.’ Said Sirius simply

‘I’ll see you up in the common room in a little while’

‘See you’ said James, looking shrewdly at his friend as he retreated, past the house tables and out into the entrance hall.

Out in the grounds it was a clear and bitter night. Every star in the sky twinkled with a brightness and fervency that was magnified. Because it was still early, the moon hadn’t risen yet, but Sirius was sure that when it did, it would cast a bright silvery glow across the dark grass.

Sirius went and walked around the lake, the very shallowest edges of it were frozen into frosted swirls. Sirius stood at the edge of the lake, watching his breath rise in great clouds in front of his face. After about fifteen minutes, he heard a noise that made him look back towards the castle. Madam Pomfrey was leading a rather sickly and agitated looking Remus down the lawns towards the Whomping Willow. It was usual for this little journey to take place during Dinnertime so very few people would notice.

Sirius waited until the two distant figures were truly out of sight before he walked deftly and silently back up to the castle, his face etched with satisfaction.




Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=1204357&posted=1#post1204357)

Sirius swaggered up to the Common room, immensely pleased with himself, Remus was currently holed up in the Shrieking Shack awaiting the arrival of his friends- for their monthly adventure.

Severus Snape would be anxiously sitting in his own Common Room, ignoring his homework and watching the clock for a suitably late time to go out on his night time stroll.

Sirius was amazed at how easy it had all been, and felt a mixture of triumph and relief when he thought that very soon his plan would be in action.

In the Common room, Sirius was pleased to notice that his two friends were going about their normal evening business. Peter was sitting with his homework spread out in front of him, although he seemed far too interested in what was going on around him to pay too much attention to what was, a rather important piece of research.

James on the other hand was the centre of attention as usual. Young Mr Potter had been uncharacteristically reserved over the past few days, and there had been a definite lull in commotion and general noise in the Common Room because of it. Tonight however, James was impressing a gaggle of eager students with tales of his Quidditch pitch heroics, ruffling his hands through his dark hair in his usual unnecessary way.

Sirius took his place at a seat a few feet away from James and already some of the attention (of some of the younger girls particularly) seemed to wander in the direction of Sirius who had draped himself effortlessly in front of the roaring fire.

‘Sirius’ll back me up’ said James indicating his friend

‘On what mate?’ asked Sirius, secretly pleased that he deadlock between the two of them had finally lifted

‘The fact that the chasers from the Falmouth Falcons team offered for the two of us to go and train with the rest of the team, when we were on holiday last summer’

‘It’s absolutely true’ said Sirius in a manner which seemed to challenge anyone to disbelieve the word of either James or himself.

‘We were a bit busy’ shrugged James, ‘but they did give us free tickets to watch them take on the might of the Caerphilly Catapults’ he explained ‘it was a corking game, went on for six hours near enough’

Sirius, said nothing and just smiled. To be fair, the chasers in question were only on the reserve team, and James’s mother was distantly related to one of them, but it was an impressive story nonetheless when taken out of context like this.

Sirius sat listening to James’s tall tales for the next hour or two. He kept quiet most of the time, every now and again checking his watch, and noticing that the time had barely crept by since his previous check.

Once or twice he’d exchanged a few words with either Peter or somebody else, and once even ventured into a half hearted conversation with Persephone about a piece of Charms homework that she was having a slight problem with. The time kept crawling by, but he was pleased to notice that after what seemed like half of his life had passed him by, people had finally started filtering out of the Common Room and up to their dormitories.

It wasn’t long before Peter, James and Sirius were the last remaining students in there. The gaggle of James’s admirers, having long since departed.

Peter looked very excited and seemed to be bouncing up and down in his seat in anticipation.

‘Are we going to go then?’ he breathed eagerly, about twenty minutes after the last person had gone up to bed.

‘Yep’ said James smoothly ‘I’ll just pop upstairs and grab the cloak and then we’ll be off’

‘I’ll go’ said Sirius, he was feeling so anxious about not missing what occurred between Snape and Lupin and wanted to speed the expedition along as much as possible, and saving a few seconds by doing James’s errands for him was something he was more than willing to do.

After bounding up and back down the staircase, the three of them arranged themselves under the cloak and made their way out through the castle.

***********

Severus Snape was extremely unsure about how he was going to get out of the castle undetected. True it wasn’t a particularly long walk from the Slytherin Common room up to the entrance hall, but there was still the very real possibility that he would get caught on his way out, and that would scupper his plans completely.

Luckily for him, being relatively slight and particularly slim, he would be able to lurk in the shadows quite well, and it was so late that it was unlikely that he’d see anybody at all, but he wasn’t overly keen on leaving anything to chance. The office of Appolyon Pringle the caretaker was all the way up on the fifth floor, and Snape thought that it was very unlikely that he’d be having a stroll so low in the castle at that time of night.

A walk from his Common Room to the front door, would, in broad daylight ordinarily take about three minutes. This evening it took him twenty. At one point on his journey he thought he’d heard a vague and distant shuffling, but after straining his ears for a moment, he realised that he’d been mistaken.

Eventually he reached the front doors of the castle, and after opening the doors very quietly, he slipped out into the cold grounds.

***********

Out in the grounds, James discarded his faithful invisibility cloak and hid it behind a bush. The three of them made their way down the sloping grounds towards the Whomping Willow which was shining bright and strange in the moonlight.

After they’d walked about thirty feet, Peter transformed and wriggled off into the darkness, leaving the other two behind.

‘Shall we join him?’ asked James with a grin ‘I know he’s been bizarrely over excited for the past day or two, but I’m pretty glad to be out of the castle myself.’

‘I’m not going to until we’re a bit closer to the tree’ whispered Sirius. Although the truth was, he didn’t want to transform yet, he wanted some sort of confirmation that Snape was going to emerge. He also knew that he was more likely to get this confirmation in his current form than he was if he was frolicking about the place as an enormous dog.

No sooner had his thoughts turned to Snape, than he saw out of the corner of his eye, the dim light of the castle Entrance Hall reflected on the grass behind him.

‘Someone’s coming’ whispered James, his voice worried ‘quick -over here’ He grabbed Sirius and pulled him behind a large bush, where they had a clear view of both the front doors of the castle and the Whomping Willow.

After a few seconds, Sirius recognised the distant figure of Snape tramping purposefully across the lawns down towards the violently moving tree.

‘It’s Snape’ said James pointlessly. ‘What the hell is he….’ He trailed off, looking accusingly at Sirius, who was too busy watching the moving figure to care too much about his friend’s indignation.

Sirius remained completely still. Half of him was desperate for Snape to edge closer to the Willow, whilst the other half of him knew that if he got there, something explosive was bound to happen.

Everything seemed to be in slow motion except for Sirius’s mind, which was whirring uncontrollably. Snape was now only a couple of feet away from the trunk of the tree. The branches were thrashing around dangerously, their loud creaks, the only sound puncturing the calm, and Snape seemed to be looking around for a branch.

After a few more seconds the Whomping Willow, inexplicably shuddered to a halt. Then, for some reason time seemed to freeze.

****************

In the Shrieking Shack the transformed Remus Lupin was busy gnawing at his own calf, when something happened that moved his attention away from his bloodied leg.

The usually stale air of the Shack and it’s long tunnel suddenly seemed to freshen, almost as if a far off window had been opened. The werewolf sniffed the air gratefully, suddenly he detected the smell of something else on the air, something he hadn’t smelled in a long while. Desperate longing coursed through his whole body, so acutely that he thought he would be driven mad by it, and he had to be up, out of the musty building and into the crisp moonlit night.

The werewolf bounded up through the tunnel, every step getting him closer to his goal, he was hungrier than he’d ever known and he knew that his appetite would soon be sated



Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=1204357&posted=1#post1204357)

James was so angry with Sirius, that he could have quite easily thumped him. True, he had known about Sirius’s intentions, but there was a part of him that truly didn’t believe that they would have been carried out. Now however, there could be no room left in his mind for doubt . Ahead of him, standing petrified in the moonlight was the still form of the Whomping Willow, and the skinny frame of Severus Snape. If everything had frozen in Sirius’s mind, things were only beginning to start in the mind of James. He had to stop this, he wasn’t going to allow for Sirius or Remus to go to Azkaban, his hatred for Snape wasn’t strong enough to take the risk for that to happen. Thinking quickly, James decided what he had to do. In a split second he had transformed into the silver-grey stag, and had vaulted the bush behind which he was hiding, and cantered towards the tree.

********

Snape was beginning to feel as if this was all some sort of hoax. He was expecting Black and Potter, or even one of the professors to emerge, and either ridicule or reprimand him for being so stupid. And it would have been fair enough, he was stupid. He had allowed his curiosity to lead him outside under the most ridiculous of false pretences, and now he was going to pay the price for his gullibility, and he deserved to as well.

Then he heard it, and his heart seemed to jam in his ribs. Scrabbling and growling it’s way up the tunnel, the werewolf was coming closer. He tried to run, to cry out, but he couldn’t make himself, his feet were cemented to the grass, and his voice was lost somewhere on the wind, the second he opened his mouth.

********

The werewolf scrambled up the tunnel, hunched forwards and wild with hunger, every bound that he took was getting him closer to the smell that was driving him to these lengths. Soon, the air became less earthy, and fresh, and he could make out the light of moon, his enemy and hypnotiser. A few more feet and he was out in the air, baring his teeth and preparing to get his first taste of something so delicious, so necessary that it drove him wild. He could see the human ahead of him, pale and terrified in the moonlight, but there was no time for consideration. The werewolf leaped at the boy who fell gracefully to the floor, like a dead leaf.

*********

Even as a stag, James’s heart was in his mouth. He could see Remus as the wolf, and he could see Snape, but it was necessary that neither saw him. He knew that there had to be two stages to this, for it to work, and, if it did it would be nothing short of a miracle.

He watched as the werewolf advanced on Snape, all the time in his mind urging the boy to flee.

Once James was at a safe distance, he regained his normal form, his keen eyes scanned the dark floor, knowing there was no time for magic. He found a fairly sizeable stone and threw it, half hoping that it would either hit Remus or distract him off Snape for a moment, anything that would give James a few more seconds.

James, despite his extraordinary chaser skills, couldn’t see incredibly clearly in the darkness, and therefore the stone veered off course and hit Snape in the side of the head. He fell lightly to the floor (he was already quite weak with fear) and the werewolf bore down upon him in an instant completely oblivious to the appearance of the other boy.

Quick as a flash, James turned back into his alternative form and leapt forwards at the werewolf, his head bent and his antlers ready for battle. The werewolf only had a second to glance up from it’s prey before it was sent catapulting into the darkness yelping in pain and surprise. In a moment the werewolf was back, ready for a fight, although again Prongs was too quick, and barged the werewolf again, his enormous antlers shining brightly in the light of the full moon.

This time Prongs managed to throw the werewolf towards the tree, and, knowing that it would have no strength against the enormous and persistent stag, it turned tail and fled back down the tunnel down to the Shrieking Shack.

James transformed back into his true form and ran over to the unconscious form of Snape. He considered for a moment leaving him out in the grounds to be found in the morning but his conscience pricked him. He pointed his wand at the lank haired boy ‘Enervate’





Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=1204357&posted=1#post1204357)

Gee I know it's been a while, but as it's Christmas I thought I'd post some more, hopefully I'll have more to post before the festive season is over



********

Snape opened his eyes, dimly aware of a throb in his head, his first thought was of the werewolf that had, only a moment before been bearing down on him. There was no werewolf now however, instead there was somebody kneeling over him. Snape squinted slightly to focus properly, and the pale thin face of James Potter swam into view.

‘Are you alright?’ asked James worriedly.

Snape forced himself to his feet, and stood shaky for a second. ‘Fine, no thanks to you’ he spat, his face twisted with fury and his voice positively awash with spite.

‘You had a pretty nasty shock there’ said James, who despite himself was concerned for the other boy, who regardless of his obvious rage, was looking incredibly shaken.

Snape swore at James – the last thing that he wanted at that moment, was rubbishy, half hearted concern, especially if it was from a person like Potter, who, tomorrow, would take great delight in mocking him in front his usual bevy of Gryffindor admirers.

‘I’m going back to the castle’ he snarled, and turned away, all he wanted at that moment was to curl up in his bed, and forget, the awful mistake he had made by following Black’s advice.

‘No, wait’ said James, grabbing Snape by the elbow as he tried to go.

It was a knee jerk reaction for Snape, as James made contact with him he spun around and delivered Potter the hardest punch on the jaw that he could possibly muster. Swearing in a way that would have made Knockturn Alley streetwalker blush. Snape stormed away.

‘What in the name of Hades do you think you’re doing Snivellus, I just saved your life and you nearly broke my bloody jaw you idiot’ fumed James.

‘Saved my life? Yeah right, I know you and your pathetic little friends, tricked me down here, so your big hairy chum could tear me to shreds.’ He snapped… ‘tell me, how does the law deal with uncontrollable, blood thirsty werewolves. Is it a case of sentencing them to a stay in Azkaban, or does the Ministry for the disposal of dangerous beasts deal with them? Because if it’s the latter, it could mean that, your usually mild mannered pal might be finding himself coming face to face with a shiny sharp axe….or is it only a silver bullet that’ll kill a werewolf, I’m sure they’ll know best how to deal with it’.

James’s face flushed angrily. ‘I don’t think it’d be very wise for you to do that Snivellus, if you think we make your life a misery now, you’ll be in for a rude awakening. This is just child’s play compared to what we…what I have the ability to do, I don’t think you want to push me.’

Snape was just about to express the fact that he wasn’t remotely afraid of the other boy’s threats, when a voice pierced the chill night air.

‘Mr Snape, Mr Potter and Mr Black kindly come here’

It was Dumbledore, walking across the lawns. The moon was reflecting off his half moon spectacles and he didn’t look angry, just incredibly solemn.

Sirius (who was still lurking behind the bush, observing the commotion) felt his stomach drop. He’d always been popular with Dumbledore (despite being sent to him more times than he cared to count) the fact of the matter was, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Dumbledore wasn’t going to take kindly to him trying to kill another student.

Still, there was no other option, he was simply going to have to face the music. Standing up, and removing a twig from his hair, Sirius strutted confidently over towards the headmaster, he certainly wasn’t going to cower, he might be an idiot but he most certainly wasn’t a wimp.

‘I want to hear no excuses or explanations until we are back in my office’ said the headmaster ‘however I feel this may well be a situation where it’s best to say as little as possible so as not to be incriminated further. Now follow me’

It was a dismal walk back up to Dumbledore’s office. James led the pack, angry yet dignified- true he had done wrong, but at least Snape was still alive, something which certainly wouldn’t have been the case if he hadn’t been around.

Closely following James was Sirius, resigned in his defeat and slightly miffed that his plan hadn’t worked, and that he was soon to find himself being reprimanded by the headmaster as if he was any old idiot.

At the back of the pack was Snape, absolutely beside himself with anger and disgust. In front of him were two boys who he hated equally, one who, in the last fifteen minutes had tried to kill him and another who had just saved his life. He wasn’t altogether sure which one he bore the most ill will towards at that moment in time. It was certainly a very close run thing.

Snape knew one thing, there was no way he was going to hold back when giving his account to Dumbledore, he was going to make sure that the headmaster knew that one of his precious Gryffindors was capable of murder.






Feedback for Dangerous Revenge (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=1204357&posted=1#post1204357)



Merry Christmas one and all!!!!