I am aware that this story is not entirely canon. I know that Bellatrix Black would have graduated from Hogwarts long before the Marauders arrived, but she is needed in this story, so I have her as only two years older than Sirius. Sorry. And I apologize in advance for the constant POV switching this story contains. Again, it is needed. Enjoy!

What She Saw

PART ONE

The rumors had begun in the Gryffindor dormitories. From there, they had spread steadily like a ripple in a pond to the rest of Hogwarts students. Because of the self-preferred – but not necessarily self-inflicted – isolation of the Slytherin House, the rumors had taken a significant amount of time to reach Bellatrix Black. But reach her, they did in the form of Lucius Malfoy. How he had discovered them can only be assumed. Lucius was a greatly skilled eavesdropper, if nothing else.

"Oh, Bellatrix," Lucius cooed dangerously as he entered her dormitory unannounced. The object of his attention merely flicked her wand from where she sat upon her bed, closing the door behind him with a sharp snap.

"What is it that you want, Malfoy?" she questioned, doing nothing to mask her annoyance at his sudden disturbance.

"Ah, Bella," he grinned as he sauntered to her bed and took a graceful seat at its foot. Bellatrix glared but held her tongue. "Can we not be on a first-name basis," Lucius continued, "now that your darling sister and I are betrothed?" He smirked.

Bellatrix's face soured considerably, but again, she held her tongue. Lucius was lucky he had caught her in such a patient mood. "Why are you here, Malfoy?" she inquired hotly, ignoring his previous statement completely.

Again, Malfoy smirked; even his eyes lit up. "I have information I am quite certain you would love to hear."

Bellatrix doubted the truth of this statement strongly, but she merely requested that Lucius, "Go on," with a simultaneous, careless wave of her hand. She did not even bother to look in his direction as he spoke.

"It pertains to your dearest cousin, Bella," Lucius continued, mirth creeping into his words. At the sudden stunned look on her face, Lucius cut her off abruptly. "No, I am not referring to young Regulus," he said, pausing for mere dramatic effect, "but rather dear Regulus' Gryffindor brother." Though she made no physical movement, Lucius was certain he had now caught her undivided attention. She stayed silent, processing Lucius' words, her eyes narrowing as she peered into his amused face. Clearly, he was expecting her to say something. She complied grudgingly.

"What has that little brat done this time?" she inquired angrily, adding a precarious side note before allowing Lucius to embellish upon his information. "If this has anything to do with what Sirius and his arrogant little friends do to poor, defenseless Severus," she spat the words vehemently with a roll of her heavily- lidded eyes, "I've heard it one hundred times before, and you will be sorry for it." Her eyes had grown wild as she spoke. She now sat directly beside Lucius at the foot of her bed, her hair falling over her shoulders. She looked mad.

Lucius grinned at her attempts to be intimidating. As if her threats and her physical nearness could intimidate him when he was set to marry her young sister. "It has everything to do with his little friends," Lucius clarified cryptically, "And nothing to do with Severus."

Bellatrix sat back once more, scrutinizing Lucius carefully as she ran her fingers through her dark tresses in thought. The boy did love to exaggerate. "Malfoy," she began once more in a dangerous tone, "I do not have all day. I would greatly appreciate it if you would get on with it." She smiled sweetly, but the look in her eyes made her appear quite insane.

With an exasperated sigh, Lucius growled, "All right, all right," before the longest dramatic pause of his entire life to date. He did not miss Bellatrix's second irritated eye roll. "Your ickle cousin Sirius is dating his little dormmate Remus Lupin." He did not pause to give her time to process this information. "And by now, there's a good chance he's probably shagging him too." Again, mirth settled heavily into Lucius' words. It died quickly at the look on Bellatrix's face as she gathered herself and realized just what Lucius had implied; not to mention the endless possibilities if what he said were true. She knew she needed raw proof; she needed to confirm it with her own two eyes.

"OUT!" Bellatrix screeched at Lucius, rising from her bed and pointing furiously towards her door, "NOW!"

Knowing better than to disobey Bellatrix Black when she held a look like that on her face, Lucius hastened to the door. But he did not leave before adding nonchalantly, "I've heard they often rendezvous in empty classrooms when they cannot get their dormitory to themselves." He winked deviously before disappearing around the corner of the doorframe.

And thus, Bellatrix was left with her thoughts and plans.

James Potter had held in the secret of Remus and Sirius' relationship for several months. They had asked for his silence and he had obliged willingly. After all, it was not his place to share this knowledge with anyone. That is, until a certain redhead became suspicious and started asking questions. James had never intended to tell her, but she had tricked him into it! He repeatedly explained this to Remus and Sirius, but they never did entirely forgive him. They just wouldn't listen to what James had to say to defend himself, no matter how many times he tried. And here James was again, recounting the events and blubbering apology after apology, even though the secret had started to spread at least three weeks prior.

Remus was glaring at him from his perch on Sirius' bed. James couldn't help making a mental note about how much more open the two of them had been since James' accidental revealing of their relationship to the general public. Shouldn't they be thanking him or something?

"Really, James," Sirius began again, "Why'd you have to go and tell Evans? I mean, it's bloody Evans. Little miss Gryffindor popular. Obviously she was going to tell all of her friends. What were you thinking, mate?" Sirius was pacing the length of the room repeatedly, shooting reproachful glances at James and comforting smiles at Remus. Apparently, an older student – more than likely a Slytherin – had jinxed Remus when his back was turned for being a 'flaming ponce'. Yeah, James felt bad for that, and he felt even worse for the fact that the Slytherins had finally found out. This did not bode well for Sirius, as the majority of his family occupied that house.

"I told you, Sirius," James said in exasperation, "She was acting like she already knew. I thought she'd glimpsed you two snogging or something. How was I supposed to know it was all just some rumor flying around the Gryffindor girls? It must have started somewhere, and that wasn't my fault."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "You still confirmed the suspicion."

James sighed. Yeah, he did, but he didn't do it on purpose. There was no winning with these two. It used to be Sirius and himself who were unstoppable, but lately, the tables had turned in a certain werewolf's favor. James wouldn't have minded if they weren't ganging up on him.

After several seconds of silence, James lifted his head to where Remus still sat on Sirius' bed. His face looked softer. He called Sirius over to him, wrapping his arms around his chest in a comforting gesture. He was speaking quietly in Sirius' ear, though James could not hear him. A smile was slowly spreading over Sirius' face. James felt as though he was intruding on something private – not that that hadn't happened a million times before. He chose to look away as he realized just what that look was in Sirius' eyes. It was successfully making him feel very awkward.

Not long after, Sirius and Remus stood as one. Remus immediately made for the door, but Sirius held back.

"We'll try to back off you, mate," he said, smiling at James, "You're probably telling the truth. Evans is a nosy bugger. She probably saw us together and decided to use your sickening obsession over her to her advantage." Sirius' smile turned mischievous as James made to throw a pillow at him. With a quick wave, Sirius and Remus were both out of the dormitory, leaving James feeling slightly queasy about what he knew was about to go on somewhere in the castle between his two best friends. Couldn't they be subtler?

He decided now would be a good time to hunt down his beautiful redhead, rather than stay in this empty dormitory with his lunch swimming uncomfortably in his stomach.

Bellatrix planned to leave dinner early that night, determined to catch her dearest cousin Sirius in the act of what nearly half of the school was now accusing him of. She had never found any reason to listen to the pathetic, childish gossip of the surrounding Hogwarts houses until her conversation with Lucius Malfoy the night before. For the entire day, Bellatrix had listened quite carefully any time her cousin's name came up – which was more often than she had originally expected. It was hard to admit that he shared her blood. Mudbloods and half-bloods fawned over him incessantly. It was disgusting. Most of the males commented on his little friends' latest pranks and hell-raising, but the girls were far more enlightening. A girl of unknown age, whose house Bellatrix did not know or care to know, sat gossiping with her friend through their entire shared History of Magic class.

"I swear it, Maryann," the first girl said, her voice quiet but excited, "I heard it straight from Lily, who heard it straight from James, who dorms with Remus and Sirius. If anyone is going to know the truth, it's James Potter. And if James Potter is going to tell anyone, it'll be Lily Evans."

The second girl – Maryann – was nodding in agreement. "I understand that, Debbie, but I'm still not sure. Lily may have been lying about the whole thing."

The first girl – Debbie – shook her head, "Lily would never do that and you know it. She really likes Lupin, why would she try to sabotage him?" The girl held out her had as though expecting her friend to physically hand her the answer.

"Maybe she likes Remus so much that she's spreading this rumor to keep all the other girls away from him." At this, Bellatrix had to roll her eyes. She was well-aware of who Lily Evans was and she was well aware of what James Potter thought of her. The more she listened, the stupider this Maryann girl sounded to her. Was it really so hard to believe that there were honest people in the world? Bellatrix almost laughed at the irony of her thoughts.

"Maryann, that's rubbish and you know it."

Maryann fell silent with a shrug.

Sighing exasperatedly, Debbie attempted to continue their conversation. Both girls were still completely oblivious to Bellatrix's eavesdropping. "Well, if you really want to see who's right, I know just the way."

The second girl smiled deviously. "I knew you were doing something over at the Gryffindor table this morning. You were eavesdropping on James and Sirius, weren't you! I couldn't figure out why on earth you would want to go speak with Peter Pettigrew. That boy is so awkward." Debbie nodded sheepishly, to her friend's delight.

"Yeah," she said, "I heard Sirius saying he had plans in the Transfiguration room tonight when James asked him to go play a round of Quidditch at dinner." She paused for dramatic effect. Bellatrix rolled her eyes, being thoroughly reminded of Lucius.

Maryann took over excitedly. "Let's skip dinner, Debbie! Oh please! Then we'll know for sure if what everyone's saying is true!" Debbie nodded again, this time both girls dropped into a pathetic peal of giggles. Even good ol' Professor Binns could not ignore their volume.

He looked up indifferently from the book he was reading from. "Do you have a problem, Dorothy?" he asked. Abruptly, both Debbie and Maryann shut their mouths. To Bellatrix's great pleasure, they did not open them again all class. She left History of Magic with mirth and something akin to excitement in her heart. Tonight, she would get all the evidence she needed to quell her own suspicions.

As Remus and Sirius left the Gryffindor tower after their latest confrontation with James, they had light hearts and gleeful expressions. Remus had convinced Sirius to skip dinner with him to do more appetizing things. Little did Remus know, Sirius had already decided to do just that. He held Remus' hand as they practically skipped down the corridor to the Transfiguration classroom. As soon as the door snapped shut behind them, they were all lips and limbs. Remus had the decency to cast a silencing charm against the doorway before Sirius carried things too far away.

Not long after, the two Hufflepuffs – Debbie and Maryann – were huddled outside the very doorway that blocked the rest of the school from the doings of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. The door had no window, and the girls knew they would have to do some fancy wand work to see into the room without alerting Sirius and Remus to their presence. They put their skills together, crafting a one-way mirror of sorts into the room through the door. They could not hear anything, but the sight that met their eyes was enough to quell any doubts Maryann could have ever had. There were lips and tongues and limbs all tangled together in a twist of half-discarded clothing.

"Oh my word," Debbie whispered. Maryann nodded in agreement. They tried to look away, but they couldn't bring themselves to tear their eyes from the intimate sight. They stood transfixed for several moments as the passion inside the room reached a boiling point. Their jaws hung open and their eyes were wide. They didn't even hear the sharp click of heels across the tiled floor until a menacing shadow fell over them. Debbie was the first to turn; who she saw made her squeak ridiculously in fright.

"Bellatrix!" she said, shrilly. Her distraction caused the magic she and Maryann had crafted to fail. The portal into the classroom disappeared as Maryann turned with a look of similar fear in her eyes.

Bellatrix put on her most frightening demeanor, her Prefect badge glistening on her chest. In a sickly sweet voice, she asked, "Why aren't you at dinner?"

Both girls visibly gulped. Maryann tried to stutter a reply, but Bellatrix cut her off with a careless flourish of her hand. The girls winced, expecting a spell to follow the movement. However, Bellatrix merely stated, "I really don't care, but you seemed quite enthralled with something behind that door. Now, what could that have been?" Her tone turned mocking, and she smiled. The girls seemed speechless with fright. Bellatrix rolled her eyes, flicking her wand in their direction. As easily as if they were on wheels, she moved them several feet away from the door. From there, they nearly ran from the corridor.

With a deep, crazed breath, Bellatrix pointed her wand viciously at the door to the Transfiguration classroom. With a deafening bang, it blew open as though a hurricane had smashed into it. And on its other side was truly all the proof Bellatrix had come looking for. Upon one the many identical desks sat her cousin, Sirius Black, with his shirt undone and thrown half off of his shoulders. Upon his thighs sat a flushed and tousled Remus Lupin, his shirt in a similar fashion to the boy beneath him. At the sight of her, Sirius's eyes darkened to a stormy gray. Gently, he lifted Remus from his lap. The tawny boy seemed to have hardly noticed what had happened, his eyes were so full of lust and desire.

"Bellatrix," Sirius stated soberly, fixing her with a dark glare.

His expression only fueled her excitement. "Well, now," she began, smiling cruelly, pointing her wand towards her half-naked cousin and his lover. "What is this, dearest cousin?" Her grin widened as Remus gathered his bearings and stood beside Sirius with an identical leer on his face. They both had their wands out. Bellatrix paced before the door she had blasted open, carefully keeping an eye on both of their wands. This did not need to turn bloody – not yet. "I bet Auntie Walburga will love to hear about this." She cackled in that crazed fashion she would one day be famous for. "I'm quite sure she never saw this coming, not even from you," Bellatrix continued, looking from Sirius to Remus with increased mirth.

"Fuck off, Bella," Sirius said in a low, dangerous voice, as he raised his wand into a dueling stance. Remus followed suit.

"No need for that, boys," Bellatrix replied, raising her wand as well. "I've only come to see if the rumors were true." She turned as though she were going to leave, before maliciously speaking to Remus alone. "Do take good care of my cousin, boy," she spat cruelly, "The poor orphan will need all the love and comfort he can get." She laughed again, exiting the classroom before either boy could say another word to her. She hardly noticed the spell that soared over her head, exploding against the wall on the opposite side of the hall as she swept away.

Sirius was left breathing very heavily, his face contorted in great amounts of rage. His wand was still smoking from the force of the wordless spell he had shot at his heartless cousin. Remus lowered Sirius' arm, trying to calm him, though both boys knew their situation had taken a dire turn. Remus tried not to think about what exactly this relationship was going to cost Sirius as he helped him to button his shirt.

Sirius batted his hand away, his chest heaving. Remus heard him mutter a growling, "Fuck that bitch," before he swung his wand violently at the door Bellatrix had blasted open. It flew shut with a crash, locking into place perfectly. He turned back to Remus, his eyes still a tumultuous, stormy gray, his eyebrows knitted in frustration over them. He reached for Remus roughly, dragging him back into his previous position atop Sirius' thighs. "Don't let her ruin this," he said gruffly, before attaching his lips one more to Remus' neck.

Remus could see no other option but to go along with it. He could never deny Sirius anything he wanted. Especially when what Sirius wanted was him.

Hope it was all right. There are two more chapters to this story, so if you liked it, please alert it. They are already written and simply need to be edited, so they will be up shortly. Review if you care to! =]