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Sirius Consequences

"Someone mind telling me why Snivellus is staring at us again?" Sirius grumbled to no one in particular, helping himself to more toast. He and two of his best friends, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew, were breakfasting together at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. Their fourth, Remus Lupin, was in the infirmary recovering from the previous night. Remus was a werewolf, and every full moon he underwent a painful transformation which left him grounded the next day.

James grinned lazily at Sirius over his eggs. "Didn't you hear? He got a week's worth of detention with Filch for being out-of-bounds last night," he said, not bothering to conceal his glee.

Sirius snorted. "Bet he was trying to follow us again," he said. "Such a git. Why can't he mind his own business?" The four boys had disliked the greasy-haired Severus Snape from the moment they met on the Hogwarts Express back in first year. Well, to be strictly accurate, James and Sirius disliked Snape. Remus wasn't friends with him or anything, but pretty much kept neutral. Peter was a follower, and he followed whoever promised him the greatest rewards for doing so. Thus, Peter's pipers were James and Sirius, which afforded him the patronage of the most popular boys in school. James and Sirius hated Snape, ergo Peter hated Snape.

James looked at his watch. "Hurry up and eat," he instructed his friends. "Maybe Madam Pomfrey will let us see Moony for a few minutes before class."

Sirius and Peter grumbled; neither felt like trekking to the hospital wing before going down to the dungeons for Potions. The morning after the full moon was never easy for the three boys, who'd been up all night keeping Remus company. After running wild until dawn, only James ever seemed to have enough stored energy to appear as if he'd slept the night before.

The trio took a few last bites, then grabbed their satchels and headed for the infirmary. "Not that I'd want to be a werewolf," Peter griped as they were walking, "but at least Remus gets to spend the next day in bed."

James frowned at him. "I get what you're saying, mate, but I bet he'd trade with you in a heartbeat. You wouldn't last a day in his shoes."

Peter flushed. He wasn't the bravest of the three; sometimes it was impossible for Sirius to understand how Peter had ever been sorted into Gryffindor. Maybe the Sorting Hat's going barmy, he mused. Not all at once, mind, but more like how old people get Alzheimer's.

Remus was sleeping when they got there. The trip would have been for nothing, except that the exercise had at least woken the boys up. Somewhat more alert than at breakfast, they headed back down to Professor Slughorn's dungeon classroom for a double class with the Slytherins.

Sirius slammed his bag on the table next to James and hunted for his Potions text. He caught Snape looking at him and glared back. Why doesn't he just take a picture? he wondered. He can always throw darts at it later. Sirius hated Potions. Something about the dark, gloomy room caused his mind to go slack and he rarely retained anything from Slughorn's lecture. When Remus was there, he could at least count on his friend to help him later. All James's time was spent helping Peter, who wasn't especially bright.

So Peter's not a Ravenclaw, either. I'm surprised he ever learned to transform, really. What does that leave? Hufflepuff? Could anyone really categorise him as especially honest or hardworking? The short, fat boy wasn't a pathological liar by any means, but he wasn't above lying to save his own skin, even at the expense of others. And he was as lazy as a slug. I guess that leaves Slytherin, then. Like Snape. But Slytherins were, in the aggregate, heavy into the Dark Arts. Peter was much too timid for that. So he'll have to bunk in the Room of Requirement, then, Sirius summed up his thoughts. I'm sick of his snoring, anyway.

The potion for that class was an Enervating Draught. Sirius scanned the instructions on the board and began mixing ingredients. Across the way, Snivellus was, well, snivelling to a fellow Slytherin about his detentions; Sirius smirked as he listened to the boy's nasal complaints.

"I tried to tell him Potter and his friends were out, too, if he'd just go check their beds, but he wouldn't listen. That's how all the staff are; they'd never think to question their little pets. Everyone picks on the Slytherins. But I'm going to find out where that Lupin goes all the time. I hope it's something that can get him and his little entourage expelled. Especially Potter."

Sirius was so incensed at that last remark that his hand trembled as he was adding powdered chiles to his potion, and a large lump of powder shook free and plopped into the liquid. He swore as his mixture began to sizzle, and scurried to move his things out of the way as the cauldron boiled over. He managed to save his satchel and some ingredients, but his Potions text got soaked. At least it didn't explode, he reasoned.

BANG! Never mind. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Snivellus laughing uproariously. His hands itched to punch that ridiculous beaky nose. We'll see how he laughs then, he screamed inwardly. Leaving James and Peter to clean up the mess, Sirius grabbed his bag and stomped out of the nasty-smelling dungeon.

Sirius's mood hadn't improved much by lunchtime. To make it worse, he was again sitting in the perfect place to listen to Severus Snape drone on.

"They had to move Davey Gudgeon to St. Mungo's. Madam Pomfrey was afraid he'd lose his eye," a Slytherin named Talmidge Morris was telling Snivellus.

"It's his own stupid fault for playing chicken with the Whomping Willow," Snape said in a lofty voice. "You'd think we were first years, the games these kids play."

Sirius rolled his eyes. If anyone acts like a first year, it's you, Snivellus. I've heard first years with broken bones whinge less than you do over a paper cut.

"I don't know why they had to plant the bloody thing at all, unless it's for the N.E.W.T. Herbology students to study," Talmidge continued.

"I don't know why, either, but I know that Lupin goes out there every few weeks. Potter and his friends always sneak out the same night, and then Lupin's in the infirmary the next day. There must be a way off the school grounds around there somewhere, although what the Willow has to do with it is beyond me," Snape mused.

Sirius smiled to himself as he listened to their conversation. A plan was forming in his mind to get back at Snivellus, and to stop the git from bothering him and his friends once and for all.

Every month at the full moon, Madam Pomfrey escorted Remus to the Whomping Willow, a magical tree at the edge of the school grounds that would use its long, whippy branches to attack anyone coming near it. The tree could be stilled by one who knew the technique, but few knew that its roots concealed a secret exit to the village of Hogsmeade. Specifically, the underground passageway ended at the Shrieking Shack, where Remus was supposed to stay during his monthlies to ensure that he didn't hurt anyone. The quiet teenager was the most gentle of boys at any other time, but a werewolf doesn't know himself during the time of transformation, and will attack any human that crosses its path.

For a long time, although the boys were friends and roommates, Remus had kept his secret, terrified that he would be shunned if Peter, James, and Sirius found out about his lycanthropy. Werewolves were outcasts in the Wizarding world, and under any headmaster other than Dumbledore, Remus would not even have been allowed to attend school at Hogwarts.

When, finally, the unfortunate boy's story had come out, James and Sirius (and, by extension, Peter) had surprised him. Not only did their friendship remain intact, but the three boys had painstakingly worked out how to make the Animagus transformation. James's animal was a stag, giving him the nickname Prongs. Sirius, following the tradition of P'an Hu and the star he was named for, had the form of a large, bearlike dog; he was given the moniker Padfoot. Finally, Peter (who'd needed the most time to learn the advanced magic) found himself taking the shape of a rat. He was called Wormtail. Remus, for obvious reasons, was called Moony.

Sometimes hate is just love that lost its way. For all Snape loathed the four comrades, he seemed to have a sick fascination with shadowing them. He had long been suspicious of Remus's monthly absences. Perhaps he even suspected the truth; they'd studied werewolves back in third year, and Defence Against the Dark Arts had always been Snape's second favourite class, after Potions.

Actually, Sirius mused, it would be his favourite class if it actually taught the Dark Arts, not just Defence. Snape had come to Hogwarts with more knowledge of Dark Magic than any eleven-year-old should have. But whatever the motive or rationale behind Snape's actions, it had long been a concern of the self-styled Marauders that their nemesis would blow the lid off Remus' secret.

Now Sirius thought that if he played his cards right, he could get the stupid prat off their backs for good. All he had to do was tell him how to get past the Willow. The tree sported a knot on its trunk which, when touched, caused its branches to stop moving. Peter, as Wormtail, could slip under the gyrating tree limbs to do it; Snape would have to use a stick or something. The trick would be to share the information in a way that didn't arouse suspicion in the Slytherin's mind.

Sirius frowned. Come to think of it, what does Madam Pomfrey use? She's no Animagus. He made a mental note to ask Remus how the two got in. Anyway, once Snape got to the Shrieking Shack, he'd end up stumbling into a full-fledged werewolf in the pitch dark. Sirius, Peter, and James would still be in the dorms, waiting until everyone was in bed before sneaking out under James's Invisibility Cloak. Snape would get the shock of his young life, Dark Arts or no Dark Arts. That's if the shrieking and howling doesn't scare him silly before he even gets there.

So comfortable was Sirius with transforming himself that it never entered his mind to fear for Snape's safety. After all, he and James and Peter were never in danger from Remus as Moony. Sirius had forgotten Remus's observation that his human mind was never more than slightly alert during that time, and then only in the company of his friends in their non-human forms. Severus Snape, not knowing what to expect, would be scared stiff. He'll probably piss himself, it'll scare him that much, Sirius thought with glee. That ought to shut his trap and seal it closed.

He was trying to work out how to best initiate the conversation when luck intervened; he noticed a dark shape looming over him and looked up into Snape's sneering face. Well, speak of the snivel, he thought in amusement.

"Hey, Black, how's your loony friend today?" Snape heckled him. "Skipping class again?"

"He's sick, you prat," Sirius said through clenched teeth, his excitement dimming momentarily.

"Yeah, sick, or visiting his sick mother, or someone died, I know, I've heard all the excuses. I know he sneaks off the school grounds a lot — I saw him heading for the Whomping Willow — and I'll bet those are the days he's 'sick,' as you put it. What's he do, go out drinking in Hogsmeade?"

"Oh, piss off," Sirius growled. Still, he smirked inwardly at the thought of how Remus, old Marian the Librarian himself, would act if he were drunk. But he was going to have to watch his temper if he wanted to follow through on his new idea.

"I just don't understand how he gets past that tree," Snape wheedled. "If it's that easy, some other student could find out, and they could really get hurt. Look at what happened to Davey."

As if you care if anyone gets hurt. "If I tell you, will you leave me the bloody hell alone?" he snapped, feigning annoyance. Severus nodded enthusiastically, though there was a sly grin on his face. Still thinks he's going to get Moony expelled, Sirius thought in disgust. "Well, there's this wonky knot on the side of the Willow; if you use a long stick, you can probe it without getting conked, and the tree stops moving."

Snape's eyes gleamed. "I see," he purred.

"Just don't let on it was me that told you," Sirius cautioned, barely holding back a grin as he tried to work a note of pleading into his voice. "Remus'll never speak to me again if he finds out."

"Oh, don't worry," Severus leered. "He won't hear it from me." With that, the lanky boy got up and left the Great Hall. Sirius smiled at his retreating back.

He could hardly wait until the next full moon.

The days passed slowly as the moon went through its waning phase down to new, then waxed through crescent, first quarter, and gibbous up to full again. It wasn't as if Sirius spent every waking moment thinking about Snape's upcoming . . . adventure, but when it did occur to him, he had to bite back a laugh when he imagined the look on old Snivelly's face.

As bits of his conversation with Snape played back at odd times, Sirius often felt a tug at the corners of his mind, as if he'd forgotten some detail. Of course, he assumed that anything he'd missed would simply make the prank less satisfying. He still had no inkling of what he'd started in motion.

The evening of the full moon found Peter, James, and Sirius lying on their beds in Gryffindor Tower, waiting until the castle was quiet enough so that they could sneak out. Remus had already left with Madam Pomfrey some time earlier, and was undoubtedly at the Shrieking Shack already.

Peter was reading over his Transfiguration essay. As usual, he had mostly cribbed James's paper, dumbing it down a bit so McGonagall wouldn't get suspicious. Still, one thing within his control was spelling, so he did what he could with that.

James, as was his custom, was playing with a Snitch. He often played on his bed, the rule being that he had to catch the tiny golden object without touching the floor. Fracturing his wrist after falling off the bed at the beginning of the year hadn't dimmed his enjoyment of this activity in the least.

Sirius was bored. "Can I get your Cloak out, James?" he asked.

James's Invisibility Cloak, while large, simply could no longer cover the three fifth years. So when the boys snuck out on the night of the full moon, only James and Sirius would hunch underneath as humans; Peter turned into a rat and rode in James's pocket. Neither James nor Sirius could risk transforming in the dorm; it would have looked rather odd for an antlered stag and bear-sized dog to come lumbering out of the portrait hole. Not to mention the Fat Lady would scream bloody murder.

"Sure, mate. We'll have to be careful this time; Snivellus was pissed when he got detention last month. Let's walk and not talk, okay?"

"Mm-hmm," Peter murmured distractedly. The tip of his tongue was clenched between his teeth as he concentrated.

Must be a hard word, thought Sirius in amusement. Two syllables, at least! Out loud, he said, "Don't worry about old Snivelly. We'll probably meet him coming back from the Willow, screaming his fool head off."

"How goes that?" James asked idly.

"Last month I told him how to get past the tree," Sirius explained. His eyes were twinkling with suppressed mirth.

James's hand closed on the Snitch in a death grip. He sat up slowly. "You did what?" he asked in disbelief.

"I told him about the knot so he'd take the passageway after Remus this time. Once he gets a load of what's in the Shack, we'll never hear another peep out of him."

His friend's eyes were wild. "How could you do that? Are you off your bleeding nut?" he asked hoarsely.

Peter looked up, nervous at the sudden change in the atmosphere.

Sirius looked at James in surprise. "What are you on about, mate? He's been after us forever. When he bumps into a wolf in the Shrieking Shack, he'll probably go in his pants. He'll never bother us again."

"Remus will kill him, you nutter! He won't know any better!" James shouted.

"Don't be stupid. We never get hurt." Sirius was starting to feel uneasy. Why was James looking at him like that?

"We're in our Animagus form! Snape can't do that! He'll get bitten, and they'll blame Moony!" James had leapt up and was pacing the room.

Sirius's face went dead white. His head suddenly felt disconnected from his body as he realised what his friend meant. The missing piece of the puzzle clicked into place, and Sirius felt his mind slipping into a blind panic. "Oh, bugger," he whispered. "I didn't —"

"I've got to stop him," James said frantically. He leapt off the bed and wrenched open his trunk, hunting for his Invisibility Cloak. He was in too much of a hurry to find it easily, and half the contents of his trunk ended up strewn on the floor. Peter sat petrified, useless as always.

Sirius watched, his terror increasing with every second. He honestly had not considered the possibility that Snape would be hurt by Remus. He was so used to accompanying his friend on his monthly excursions that he'd forgotten the danger a werewolf presents. Perhaps the impression had taken hold in his mind that he and his friends were immune simply because they were wizards, not because they were Animagi. His head had been full of getting Snape off their backs; now, it looked like that might happen in a more permanent way than he'd expected. As scared now himself as he had ever hoped Snape would be, Sirius slid off the bed and hovered over James.

Finally, the Cloak emerged; James threw it over his shoulders, making his head appear to be floating in midair. He started for the door, knocking over a box of Every Flavour Beans with his foot and cursing as they scattered all over the floor.

"Wait, James!" Sirius called. "I'm coming with you."

"Don't bother. You've done enough already," his best mate spat, not slowing his pace. He threw open the door, then gave Sirius a last look of disgust as he lifted the Cloak's hood, obscuring his face. The door slammed on empty air, apparently of its own accord.