Meant to post yesterday and didn't make it! I'm so sorry! I'm really trying to post every Sunday now since I kept everyone waiting so long! I love you guys! Please hang in there!

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The tension that hung around the marauders was tangible, and they hoped no one else would notice. Sirius' knee bounced under the long tabletop and Remus chewed on his thumbnail instead of eating his lunch. The Great Hall was still filling up and they knew they had to wait until it was at full capacity to get the sort of exposure they wanted. They'd pulled pranks during meals before—their favorite was when they enchanted the sausages that were piled in the centers of the tables to start inching around like massive worms. A few students ended up with an awkwardly phallic hunk of meet crawling up their pants leg or down the front of their top. It was a long way to go for dick jokes, but it had been worth it. This felt different though. This wasn't a prank, it was a mission.

Remus jumped as Lily showed up at his side, a cup of pumpkin juice in each hand. The others straightened up where they sat as she set the two drinks down between them.

"Alright, I've got it set up. This one with the chip in the cup is the one with the serum in it, Sirius. DON'T mix them up.

"Right. The one with the chip."

"We'll stay in earshot, but you need to get her riled up as much as you can. The more people who hear her the easier it'll be to get the professors on our side."

"I still feel like just telling the professors about it would be easier," Peter suddenly piped in, though he sunk down on the bench as soon as the others turned to look at him.

"We're Marauders, Wormtail. We don't tattle. We avenge." The strength behind James' voice made him shrink even more.

"Of course."

"Alright. There's no sense sitting around talking about it. Let's just get this over with it."

Taking both cups, Sirius stood, gave his friends a quick nod, then started across the hall. He wasn't really afraid of Debbie, but he was nervous that he would be unable to control his anger around her. What he really wanted was to hex her arms off then dump her in the lake. But he was at least smart enough to know that was a bad choice. The last think he needed was to go down with her sinking ship. They'd talked a little the night before about how he might be able to start a conversation with her that would lead to her confession, but he'd decided that playing it by ear would be the best choice. Too much planning and he would seem suspicious.

Despite the tensions Debbie's behavior had caused in her circle of friends, she still sat with two other girls, and while it was hard for Sirius to guess what her reaction might be to his company, he wasn't surprised when she scooted away from him. After what she'd done, and their last meeting with her goons, it wasn't surprising that she was wary.

"I come bearing a peace offering" He hoped he sounded convincing, because peace was the last thing he wanted. "Thought we should have a chat."

She didn't look very happy about it, but after a few minutes she slid over to make room for him. Sirius had never felt so disgusting just from sitting next to a person, but he managed to hold the sick feeling in. Debbie said nothing as he set the pumpkin juice down in front of her, then took a drink from his own to keep from seeming suspicious.

"So what do you want?" Debbie's friends were still there and watching them like they were a ticking time bomb.

"I just thought that if we actually tried to sort this out we could take care of things without making a bigger mess than we've already made." He did everything he could to keep from staring at her untouched drink. He could talk until he was blue in the face, but until she had the serum in her system he knew he was just paddling up stream.

"Mess? I don't know what sort of mess you're talking about."

~So that's how she's going to play this.~ He took another sip from his drink, hoping he could subliminally convince her that she was parched.

"So you didn't try to corner Remus in the hallway recently?" He knew she couldnt deny that one since she'd seen him arrive at the last minute.

"If I remember correctly, we were just crossing paths and he hexed two of my friends."

It was hard for Sirius to decide how to get Debbie to talk. Should he press her? Play hard ball? Or should he soften her up with sweet talk? Would she even believe his sweet talk at this point?

"Is that what happened?" Maybe indifference was the way to go until he knew whether he still had any charismatic sway over her.

"Of course it is. Lupin's a liar. You're too close to him to see it, but he's been leading you around by the nose for months."

Sirius felt words hammer against the insides of his teeth. He wanted to tell her that she was full of shit, that Remus was too sweet to deceive anyone, let alone him. Instead of telling her to fuck herself, though, he filled his mouth with pumpkin juice. He'd changed his mind. He didn't want to be there talking to this girl—to the person who'd tried to kill his best friend. Once he'd drained his own drink he reached for Debbie's.

"Well if feel that way then obviously there's no reason for me to be here. I'm taking my peace offering back." This was a stupid plan, he'd decided. He would go back to Lily and tell her to jog on. He'd be able to come up with a much better plan.

"You can't just take things back once you give them to someone!" Before Sirius could even touch the heavy ceramic cup, Debbie snatched it out of his reach, turning her body a bit like she was guarding it.

It wasn't surprising that the moment he tried to take something away from her, she would suddenly want to keep it. That single motion was actually a great representation of her personality-she wanted what didn't really belong to her, and she only wanted it if you didn't want to give it to her.

"Honestly, I don't see what you find so great about him anyway." She tipped her nose as she turned back to the table, resting one arm on the top casually enough that Sirius could tell she was playing it up. With her other hand she finally brought the drugged pumpkin juice to her lips and took such a long and Sirius actually laughed out loud—very out loud.

Instantly, he covered his mouth, though he was still grinning wildly behind his own fingers. This really was so much easier than he though. ~She's such a stupid twat. ~

"Excuse me? What did you just call me?"

"What?"

"You just called me a twat!"

"It's true! I heard him," one of the other girls piped up.

~Did I say that out loud? ~

"Yes! You did say that!"

A low laughter began around them, the space a little quieter now. He had their attention, which is exactly what he wanted. He would tell her she's hearing things and then guide her back toward the desired topic now that she had the serum in her system.

"Well it's true. Honestly, you're the biggest twat I've ever met." That's not what he meant to say. "in fact, if the magistrate changed the name of the galleon to the 'twat,' there would still be more twat in you than there is in Gringotts." That's definitely not what he meant to say.

"How DARE you!" Debbie was on her feet now.

What was he doing? Why did he say that? It was almost as if he couldn't keep his thoughts to himself—like he couldn't lie…

~The serum. ~

Instantly, his eyes were on the mug with the chip on the rim. He'd given it to her, like he was supposed to, but when he looked at his own cup he saw a chip in the enamel at teh very bottom, just peeking around the edge.

"Shit."

"You stupid asshole! I hate you so much!"

"Why? What the hell did I ever do to you?"

"You broke my heart!"

Everyone was watching now, the hall silent as Sirius and Debbie shouted at the tops of their lungs.

"So? I did the same damn thing to half the other girls in this school! But you don't see them running around pushing people off balconies!"

Whether she actually had Veritaserum in her drink or not, he could still get her to confess. They had the audience they wanted.

"Well someone had to take revenge on you for what you've done to the girls here! So I decided to get rid of the problem!"

"Remus? How is Remus the problem?" He was too angry now to realize he'd basically gotten her to confess already.

"He has you under his thumb! You follow him around like a fucking dog! When you were with me you would drop me in a second if he asked you for ANYTHING! You always chose him over me. You choose him over anyone! Him and that stupid little gang of yours!"

"Well of course I chose him over you, because I'm in love with him! I couldn't care less about YOU!"

The Great Hall really did go silent now, even the soft hum of whispers dying into an uneasy stillness. Then his words replayed in his head.

"Shit."

That was definitely not what he'd wanted to say. His body knew it too because his heart was racing now, and he could feel his whole body breaking into a cold sweat. It was like a nightmare. This was what had driven him to shut Remus down when he'd tried to confess to him on the Quidditch pitch. It was what had made him so blind to his own feelings for so long. Now, there he was, standing in front of the entire school, his confession fresh on his lips and their shocked, judging eyes on him. He wanted to run. He wanted to laugh and tell them all that he was just joking. But then he remembered the hurt look in Remus' eyes, the way he'd shouted at him with tears brimming at his lashes, and when Debbie muttered an "excuse me?" he didn't need the veritaserum to guide his answer… though it probably helped him through it.

"I said I'm in love with him!" Instead of humiliating, the words felt empowering now. "Did you hear that?" He turned to shout at the crowd who was still staring in silence. "If I dated you, I'm sorry, because my heart was always with him! And it will ALWAYS be with him! He means more to me than anyone, and I'm sorry for that, but it's true."

The other students passed a few uncertain glances between them, though whether it was because of the content of his speech or the randomness of it, it was hard to say. Feeling suddenly so light that he thought he might float away, Sirius turned back to look at his friends. James and Lily were beaming, Peter had his head on the table, but Remus stood with his mouth hanging uncharacteristically agape. He looked perfectly stunned, and his face was a shade of red Sirius had never seen before. Mesmerized, Sirius turned his back on Debbie, wanting to run to his best friend, to his boyfriend, and scoop him into his arms.

He'd only taken about four steps when his new lover's face changed from reverent shock to horror.

"Sirius!"

He knew something was wrong only a second before he heard Debbie's shrill, unsteady voice shriek from behind him.

"Expulso!"

Then blue light filled his vision and the felt what must have been a wrecking ball smash into his back, driving all the air from his lungs. Then everything was black.

TBC

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If you want to check out my original work try my boys love erotica novel, Hungry For You. You can find it in paperback, kindle edition and on Kindle Unlimited. Just search "Hungry for you by Michelle Kay"

-Cole, an incubus who lives in an underground facility with other super-powered teens, struggles with self hatred for what he is and for the emotional damage he's doing to his best friend who has been "feeding" him to keep him alive. Bastian is a new recruit from Germany who can't tell lies, but also knows when you're lying to him and has an eerie, uncertain connection to Cole's past. Follow them as they find out if their connection is true love, or if it's something far more sinister.

You can also follow me on Facebook ( AuthorMichelleKay) and Tumblr ( blog/mellopie) for updates on new fanfiction, new original work, and for my convention schedule.

Thank you so much for reading!