II.1. – The Betrayal

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.

            

  ELIE WIESEL

“…and then I mentioned in passing how to disable the Whomping Willow!”

James cracked up, crudely patting his best friend’s back. “Good one, Padfoot!”

Peter was laughing as well, and Sirius, in stitches, added breathlessly, “Now all left to hope is that the git doesn’t accidentally hurt poor Moony before he tears old Snivellus to shreds!”

The merry laughter continued for some more seconds before the Knut had dropped with James. He shot Sirius an intrigued glance and panted, “You are joking, right?”

“Of course I am!”

James relaxed again and went back to grin. “For a moment, you know –”

“Of course the stupid git won’t stand a chance against a fully-fledged werewolf!”

“You – you mean – you told him?” James stared in perfect incredulity. “You told him that Remus is – that he is a werewolf?!”

“I did not! What d’you think of me! I merely mentioned how to disable the enchantment on the Whomping Willow, silly! Serves him right, why does he stick his big beak into other people’s business!”

“Sirius,” James said very sternly, still gasping at his mate, “let us be clear – you – you told Snape how to get past the Willow? As in – how to get into the secret passageway? That leads to the Shrieking Shack? Tonight?!”

“I didn’t tell him. I told Peter while Snipelius happened to stand close – he got no one to blame but himself, eavesdropping on other people!”

“You mean – if we’re unlucky, Snape is on his way – right now – to see what’s up with Moony?”

Sirius was clearly offended by his friend’s reluctance to get the joke. “Don’t be so dull, Prongs! He won’t be able to give Moony away, once he –”

“Are you out of your head?! You practically sent Snape to his own death?!”

James was on his feet in a split second, not even bothering to get properly dressed before storming out of their dorm, or consult the Marauders Map for confirmation. “What are you doing?” Sirius cried after him, but didn’t get an answer.

James couldn’t believe this! If Snape had believed what he had heard – and why shouldn’t he – he’d been on their tails for months now, if that was enough – he’d go straight into the Shack, only to find – Remus’ secret – no one must know – but the worst – he would just – just – die! Poor Remus would kill him without knowing what he was doing even, and tomorrow – oh Lord!

“I’m not sure how I find your new take on leisure fashion,” the Ravenclaw Senior Prefect snarled when James sprinted past him in his pyjamas. “That’s five points – hey! I’m talking to you, Potter!”

James was out of the castle before Boot could have finished his indignant rant, and saw his worst premonition confirmed two minutes later. There it stood in perfect peace – the Whomping Willow, for once not whomping – and James’ heart missed several beats, but he didn’t slow down. Damn it! Damn him! ‘Nosy idiot, if Moony gets you, it’ll be no one’s fault but your own, you stupid prat!’

But another voice in his head told him that the Headmaster wouldn’t see it that way, nobody would – nobody that mattered in this respect! They’d send poor Remus to Azkaban – at least! Maybe they’d even kill him – could they do something like that? Put him down like a rampaging Hippogriff? And Sirius – but perhaps it’d be possible to keep Sirius’ name out of this, at least – if Snape was dead, he couldn’t betray whom he had got the secret from…

Once inside the passage, he stopped for a second, to catch his breath, and also because he hoped to hear something. If he could still hear Snape, this one couldn’t be too far into the tunnel, and in that case, all hope wasn’t lost yet. James would – what – yes, stun him and drag him back without any harm done, and they’d just have to come up with another obstacle keeping Snape’s curiosity at bay at the next full moon… Obviously, they wouldn’t be able to ask Dumbledore – Dumbledore must never find out – he’d be so mad with them all – could they be expelled for this…? Expelled – because of Snape! Ph! That must never happen! But what other chance did he have, right now?

He took up pace again, noticing with growing horror that he got closer and closer to the Shrieking Shack, and still no trace of bloody Snivellus! He shrank back with his own pun and made a silent prayer that Snivellus must not be bloody – not tonight, anyway! In the distance, he saw the tunnel take a sharp turn, and utterly miserable, James realised that this was the last turn before the exit, and behind that exit, a monster was waiting – a monster that happened to be one of his best friends! Fifty metres to the turning – forty – James’ lungs felt like bursting – but he couldn’t stop now, even though it might already be too late – thirty – twenty – and in that moment, a ferocious howl pierced his eardrum and let his blood curl.

“NO! Don’t – Moony!”

He ran on, hearing another dreadful noise, a human scream this time, one of terror and shock, followed by some incantation and he saw a flash of red light around the corner – he was almost there, and so was Snape, judging the yell. James braced himself for the worst and burst around that one last corner, seeing his greatest fear dispelled, but that was as good as it would get. Snape was not dead, but only a hair’s breadth away from death, so much was certain.

There it – he, Remus, James reminded himself – was, already transformed into his werewolf-self, a smouldering wound in his fur on the throat, but ready to strike. Snape was lying on his back, muttering one protection spell after the other under his breath, but the werewolf closed in inch by inch, not overly concerned by Snape’s muttering. Well, there weren’t many spells that could take out a werewolf, as James well knew. Snape cast a Blasting Curse that threw Remus back for ten feet, thus infuriating the beast even more.

“Get up! Get up!” James screeched, fumbling with his own wand and pointing it at his best friend.

But Snape didn’t get up, instead he lashed out his wand and shouted a spell that James had never heard, missing Remus the slightest bit because this one leaped forwards in this second – and the spell severed half of the werewolf’s tail. James vaguely realised that this spell would have killed Remus if it had hit him fully, and instead of hexing the beast, he instinctively pointed his wand at Snape on the ground.

“Don’t! Don’t kill him!”

Again, Snape didn’t listen, didn’t even turn his head, but repeated the movement and – “Sect-”

“Expelliarmus!” Snape’s wand flew threw the air and landed somewhere behind James and his next spell drove Remus, or what used to be Remus most of the time, back again. “I said don’t kill him, arsehole!”

“I don’t give a damn what you say, Potter!” Snape retorted on top of his lungs, but at least he got to his feet again, backing away from Remus. What could he do? What on earth – he couldn’t transform into his Animagus form; the tunnel was much too narrow for that – he wouldn’t want to give Snape another go at murdering Remus either – these protective spells wouldn’t keep Remus at bay for long – Lord, what could they do –

“Get your wand, stupid,” he yelled at Snape.

“What d’you think I’m doing,” was the furious reply, and from the corner of his eye, James saw Snape stooping, groping in the darkness. He shot another Blasting Curse at Remus, followed by a series of flashlights to support Snape’s search for his lost wand. “When you have it back, count to three, and then we’ll both send a Stunner at him – maybe that works!”

“I already tried a Stunner, dimwit!”

“But now we’re two, retard!”

Two more Blasting Curses before Snape had got his wand back, and indeed, the blithering idiot for once did what he was told – at the count of three they both shot a Stunner at the werewolf who was once more ready to strike and dangerously close by now. James’ curse hit the beast’s chest, Snape’s hit him right between the eyes, and James bit down the urge to remark on that admirably aimed shot. They had hit him in the leap, and in mid-air, the monster’s limbs slackened and he crashed to the ground with a sickening thud.

James grabbed Snape’s lapels before this one could try to disable Remus ‘for good’ with that weird spell of his, pulled him around and away. “Now let’s get out of here, I don’t know how long the effect will last!”

Snape didn’t resist and followed him back towards the school, but clearly couldn’t refrain from being his all-too-well-known, nasty self even if his life depended on it. “Are you completely insane, Potter?! Why –”

“Why I didn’t let you murder him? Go figure, bastard!”

“Why did you take my wand away, you fucking jerk?!”

“Because – oh, forget it, grease ball!”

Suddenly, Snape stopped, and James slowed down, shouting over his shoulder, “I know you’ve got the condition of a two-hundred-year-old hag, Snape, but could you at least try to get out of here in one piece?!”

“Reducto!” Snape yelled, and with a very loud noise, a good part of the tunnel ceiling came crashing down. For a second, James thought that tonight’s shock had robbed Snape of the little wit he might have left – did he intend them to be buried alive or what?! But then he realised that Snape had used a rather mild version, leaving most of the tunnel perfectly intact, but making a bit of an obstacle just in case Remus would follow them once he had recovered from the Stunners.

Again, he refrained from commending the smart move and simply went on in the feeble light of his wand, a little slower now. Snape threatened to catch up with him, so he took up some more pace, until they were both practically running again. At least, that stopped Snape from speaking – that bloke really was no athlete, so much was certain. And as much as James liked to make fun of this fact, he thought he couldn’t be more grateful about it now. He wouldn’t bear to hear Snivellus’ accusations – justified for the first time in his entire wretched life.

Once they were out of the tunnel and had activated the mechanism working on the Whomping Willow again, Snape fell to his knees, just out of reach of the tree branches, and clutched his sides, panting and gasping for breath. James gazed at him, figuring out if he could dare to try an Obliviatus on the old fart right now. Snape was an idiot, but one had to hand it to him – he knew his way with curses, he was bloody fast, and as his curse against Remus had shown, hardly missed his aim. But James also knew that his chances would never be better again than right now, with his victim out of breath and slightly distraught. And he had to Obliviate him in the first place, because there was no chance on earth that Snape wouldn’t seize this marvellous opportunity and go blabbing about Remus little – erm – problem.

He had just made up his mind to give it a try, at least, when he heard the most unwelcome voice. “Oi! Whatcha fellas think yer doin here at this time o’ nigh’?!”

James let his wand glide back into his pocket and turned around with what he knew to be his most pleasant smile. “Mr Ogg, Sir –”

“Quit that gobbledygook, mate! Yer forbidden te leave the castle at nigh’time, I bet someone’s told ya that!”

Nope, charm never did the job with Ogg, but it didn’t matter anyway, because the Headmaster himself appeared on scene, wearing a furious look that was mingled with relief right now. In his tow were Peter and Sirius, the former looking frightened, the latter appeared to be sulking. James opened his mouth for an explanation, but Dumbledore stopped him at once, and said that he didn’t want to hear a single word but that they were okay for the moment. “My office is the proper place to explain.”

Under his breath, Peter explained that it had been him who had alerted Dumbledore – after James hadn’t come back, he had become anxious that something serious might have happened. James only half-listened. On the one hand he thought that Peter was a soft little idiot – running off to the Headmaster when he could have come down to the Shack himself, he must know how numbers really mattered when confronting a werewolf! And together, they might have managed to overwhelm old Snivellus before this one could give his distorted version of the story! On the other hand – Dumbledore was better than anyone else they could have come across, he would sort it out, at least in respect to Snape. He would obviously Obliviate the evil git so he couldn’t go blabbing, and at least Remus was going to be safe, right?

His mind was racing; what could he do, he’d have to do something, or they’d be in such awful trouble! He squinted over to Snape, who was eerily silent, his face a mask void of anything much. No fear, no anger, no glee – no nothing, and James knew the nasty git long enough to understand that it could hardly come worse. Snape made mistakes when he got angry, but right now, he was in his Narcissa-Black-imitation-mode, meaning he was cold and calculating, and James could only hope, really, that Dumbledore would stick up for Remus. ‘Oh Sirius, boy, wait until I get you…’

Ironically, Severus Snape was thinking pretty much along the same lines. ‘Oh Black, wait until I’m through with you!’ Twenty minutes ago, he had looked his certain death into the face – he still couldn’t grasp the full meaning of what he had seen. He had known that this was it, that he wouldn’t leave that tunnel alive again. Well, obviously he had erred, because he was here, alive and breathing – well, trying to breathe again, anyway. Neither could he believe that he had truly allowed Black to set him up like this – Black had planned this all along – that bastard, that cursed piece of rotten filth – he had always thought that Black and Potter were the most obnoxious, hideous, repulsive people on the planet, but… No, he wouldn’t have believed that Black was so ruthless, sending someone he disliked straight to his death.

Obviously, Madam Pomfrey knew about Lupin. He had seen her take him down to that secret passage time and time again. And if Madam Pomfrey knew, so must the Headmaster. McGonagall, sure. And Slughorn, too, thinking about it. And they had told Lupin’s mates – so that these could use their knowledge to their own ends. Black had tonight, and Potter… Well, Severus hadn’t yet figured out Potter’s part in this game. Truth was that Potter had just saved his ass, even in his shock and outrage, Severus couldn’t deny that. But he also understood why he had done so. If Lupin had killed someone, he would have been made responsible and gone to Azkaban for it. Potter had come to that tunnel tonight because he had wanted to save his buddy Lupin, not because of Severus.

They arrived at Dumbledore’s office and the Headmaster wanted to know what had happened, starting with Severus. So that was what he did, he told him. He told him how he had become suspicious about Lupin’s mysterious absences, how he had tried to find out what it was all about, how Black had called him out on it, and when Severus had told him to leave him alone, how Black had made sure that Severus would overhear him talking about the Whomping Willow –

“That’s not true!” Potter interrupted forcefully, speaking up for the first time. “Sirius did no such thing! You spying after us, there’s hardly a conversation we could be sure of you not overhearing!”

Severus wasn’t surprised and arched a brow. “Is that so? I wonder why they would talk in stage whisper then, right behind the shelf where I sit every evening in the library?”

Potter fluttered his hand impatiently and turned to Dumbledore with the most innocent expression. Oh, come on! No one could possibly fall for this shit!

“Sir,” Potter addressed the Headmaster, “I know very well that all of us have a reputation for trouble-making, but seriously – there’s a difference between a prank, between cursing someone for fun, and sending someone into the arms of a werewolf! Neither Sirius, nor I, would ever do anything like that!”

‘Who d’ya think you’re fooling?’ Oh, joyous night – it would see the fulfilment of one of Severus’ dearest wishes – Black’s expulsion! Not even Potter with all his smooth lying would be able to talk his pal out of this crime! “Potter – tell me one thing,” he said with a soft smile. “If it hadn’t been Black’s deliberate intention that I should hear him talking to Pettigrew about the Whomping Willow – why did you think you’d have to come looking for me in the first place?”

Potter’s cheeks flushed an ugly scarlet. “Oh, shut your big trap, Snivellus!”

“Mr Potter!”

“But, sir –”

Dumbledore lifted his hands. “I am sure Mr Black, reckless and irresponsible as his behaviour might have been, didn’t think through the possible consequences of his actions –”

“What?!” Severus cried, totally taken aback.

“Exactly!” Black cried, nodding wildly.

“Because this carelessness could easily have warranted Mr Lupin’s expulsion, incarceration even, and I dare say Mr Black wouldn’t have wanted that.”

“What?!”

“Exactly!”

“I must impress on you how serious this matter is, on all of you. You –” Dumbledore pointedly looked at Potter and Black. “– must be aware what would happen if Mr Lupin’s problem was spread in the school.”

The two boys nodded uncomfortably and shot Severus a strange glance.

Dumbledore went on, looking at Severus now, “And the same is true for you, Mr Snape. Mr Lupin would be the one punished if anybody outside of this room got wind of tonight’s events, and you will agree with me that it’s hardly Mr Lupin at fault here.”

Severus could merely stare at him, but nodded nevertheless, if vaguely so. He didn’t give a damn about Lupin; he was an idiot, sure, but next to Black, he easily appeared like a decent human being. As long as Black got his just punishment, he didn’t care for anything else much.

“Do I have your word,” the Headmaster continued gravely, “that you shall not speak to anybody, in this school or outside of it, about anything that has come to your knowledge tonight, or about the incident as such?”

“I have no grudge with Lupin – not because of tonight, anyhow,” Severus growled and shook Dumbledore’s outstretched hand.

“I have your word of honour then?”

“Yes, sir.”

Oh, this was worth it, judging by Black’s and Potter’s stunned faces! “But sir,” Potter gasped, “aren’t you going to Obliviate him? He’ll tell the whole school, and by tomorrow –”

“Mr Snape has just given me his word, Mr Potter. That is good enough for me!”

“But he’s a Slytherin!” Black cried indignantly.

“He certainly is, but why do you suppose that would make any difference? The Slytherin code of honour might not be the same like that of Gryffindor, but it doesn’t follow that it is of any less value. I have all trust in Mr Snape’s integrity to stand by his word, and so should you. Let us not forget who has provoked this situation.”

“He did!” Black snapped, paper-white, and stabbed his finger at Severus. “That nosy little –”

“Mr Black, calm yourself at once!” Dumbledore cut him short and his lips resembled McGonagall’s in this moment. “I don’t know how you came to know about Mr Lupin’s secret, because I sincerely doubt that it was he disclosing it. Which would mean that you have been – nosy, you call it – as well! Be that as it may, I am very surprised and displeased how recklessly you have gambled with that knowledge!”

That deflated Black visibly, and if Severus wasn’t mistaken, even Potter shot his buddy an angry side-glance. Pettigrew didn’t look happy either.

Dumbledore went on, calmer, “I will desist from punishing either of you for being out of bed after curfew. I’m sure Mr Snape has learnt that lesson in the most painful way tonight, and as for Mr Potter – well, we’re all lucky that he disregarded the respective rules this one time. As for your punishment, Mr Black –”

Severus hardly dared to breathe, so much he was itching with excitement. Finally! At last! This would be the last time he’d have to see that mug! It was almost worth being nearly killed. Well, almost.

“I cannot emphasise enough how serious this is! You have gambled with two lives tonight, and a third – Mr Potter’s, who I believe you call your best friend – due to a very deplorable lack of judgement. Therefore I think that detentions are in order, regardless of your upcoming OWL exams.”

Severus’ jaw dropped. Detentions?! Like in – cleaning the floors?! Like in – chopping flobberworms?! What about the expulsion, the temporary stint in Azkaban, the taring and feathering…?

“You will help Madam Pince storing away the returned books every night until the end of term. When you have finished, you’ll report to Mr Pringle, who is bound to have more work to do. And make no mistake, Mr Black – I will check on you to execute your work to be as responsible and thorough as it was irresponsible and ill-judged tonight. Have I made myself clear?”

Black nodded slowly – he must be as dumfounded as Severus felt numb. Storing away books, and clean the Owlery for the next three months? That was Dumbledore’s idea of punishment for wanting to see another student dead?! Potter wasn’t content either. “But Professor,” he exclaimed, “how is Sirius supposed to study for the –”

“This is my last word on the subject, Mr Potter! In every respect! I would have been forced to expel the unfortunate Mr Lupin if anything else had happened, so expulsion is the only other means I have in case my orders are not followed by all of you. If I am to hear one word about this incident, regardless from which side; if I see that Mr Black isn’t doing his work as he ought to, I am determined to resort to this harshest punishment in my power. You understand?”

All four boys were dismissed and sent back to their dorms – ‘without any detour, Mr Black, Mr Potter – or I will know’ – and once they were out of earshot, Black hissed, “One word about Remus and you’re dead, Snape!”

Severus could only sneer. “I learnt tonight that this is no empty threat, didn’t I, Black?”

“Oh, cut it out, both of you,” Potter snarled testily and shot his mate a withering glance.

“But –” Black began, but was muted by another angry look from Potter. “What?”

“I think James means –” Pettigrew tried, but shut his mouth after catching Potter’s gaze, too. They had reached the corner where the Gryffindors would ascend to their tower, and Severus had to turn downstairs. They parted without a goodbye, which was only natural, but he had indeed reckoned with a ‘sorry’ from someone, at least. But neither of these prats would ever admit to have been in the wrong; what had he been thinking! And what had he expected of Dumbledore, too! To actually trust that this one would expel a member of his own old House, or dearest Sirius Black in particular – preposterous! How could he have been that naïve! Even if Black had succeeded with his murderous plan, Black’s punishment would probably have consisted of nothing worse than being banned from watching the next Quidditch match! Narcissa and Lucius had been right, Dumbledore was a soft old fool, and biased, and unfair! Lucius had always said, ‘Forget about the rules, boy! The only question that matters is what you can get away with, and that depends!’ And Potter! Acting like quite the hero, as if he had bothered the slightest bit for Severus’ life in this instance! That Potter had shown up to get him out of the werewolf’s claws was owed to the fact that this werewolf happened to be his mate, and not much else!

Severus returned to the dungeons in a mixture of shock, frustration and bottomless fury, but the three boys mounting the stairs to Gryffindor Tower were hardly more high-spirited. James and Peter were silent, on the latter’s part this was due to helplessness, on the former’s the wish to keep himself from exploding. He still couldn’t grasp what Sirius had done. To bring poor Remus into such a terrible situation! And worse even – he was genuinely shocked that the boy that he considered to be his best friend, that this boy appeared to be ready to have someone killed – even if it was that total butthead Snape!

“Great,” Sirius muttered shortly before they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. “Three months of polishing medals in the trophy room. Yee-ha. As if I had nothing better to –”

James swivelled around and glared at him. “Shut up, Sirius, just shut up! You could have been expelled for this shit! And frankly, I think you would have deserved it, too!”

“But it was only –”

“Don’t complete that sentence, pal, or I swear, I’ll curse you like not even Snivellus could ever be cursing you! Don’t you have any idea how bad this was?! What would have happened with Remus?! With you?! Are you really that keen to spend the remainder of your days in Azkaban?!”

“Tone down your voice, young man!” The Fat Lady narrowed her eyes.

“Sorry… Victorious,” James muttered the password, and the portrait gave way with a last disapproving gnarl. He returned to be silent until they had reached their dorm and he put a couple of silencing charms on the door. Very slowly, he turned around to face Sirius. “I would never have believed what a total bastard you can be.”

Sirius scowled back. “Nobody would ever have found out what had happened,” he said defiantly, making up for his dawning embarrassment by extra stubbornness. “There wouldn’t have been left enough of Snape to snitch on any of –”

“That’s not the point, idiot! That’s not the freaking point! Gawd! You really don’t get it, do you! You would be willing to make Remus a killer? You would be willing to get bloody Snape murdered? You think it’s a joke to betray everything, honour, common decency, your best friends even?! You really are a Black!”

Sirius blushed and spat, “Don’t you dare!”

“Or what? Want to get me killed, too?” James saw his friend grab his wand, but he didn’t move. “Go ahead, mate. Do it. Make it complete.”

“Shut up, James!”

“Oh, with pleasure! One last thing though – once in your life, Sirius, only one blithering time – would it really kill you to admit that you’ve been acting like a royal jerk? Is that really asking for too much?”

They didn’t talk to each other for the next three days; even when Remus had returned, and both Sirius and James had explained to him what had happened – he had already been wondering about a couple of curse marks that he had no explanation for – and Sirius had been practically on his knees to apologise to their werewolf buddy, they still kept to their icy silence. Sirius had made sure that neither James nor Peter were present when he had begged for Remus’ forgiveness. He didn’t want to back up their triumph over him, but what was more – by now, he had realised how wrong he had been, and this realisation put him to so much shame that he shrank away from facing his friends. James had been right. Damn him, but he had been right. They had all been right, even Peter, the little nut, not to speak of Dumbledore. Yes, he had been irresponsible, incredibly short-sighted, his demeanour had been that of a royal jerk indeed, a Black through and through. For the first time in his life, he had done something that he suspected his mother would approve of – getting a filthy half-blood killed, alas! In short – he was an evil git, no better than even Snipelius and his sodding Slytherin gang. The Sorting Hat must have sorted him to Gryffindor by mistake!

They had all been cowed with dread that Snape would break his word. Remus had been so sick with fear, he had spent a couple of days in the Infirmary for real. James had been practising Obliviate day and night, just in case. Sirius had contemplated to learn a few curses to spell any Slytherin in the know, but James’ lecture had eventually done the job. As far as he could see, the only thing he could do was hang his head in perfect misery and report to Mr Pringle every evening.

But surprise, surprise! For some unfathomable reason, nothing happened. Nothing at all. Not a single Slytherin did as much as hint on Remus’ secret. They were all acting perfectly normal. Well, in their case that meant that were as nasty and obnoxious as usually, hexing anyone in their way, and making all kinds of rude jokes otherwise. But for once, the Marauders found themselves appreciating that routine. Snape had not blabbed. Which could only mean that he was saving the big revelation for a better purpose, and knowing old Snivellus, that was an ill omen, but what the heck. At least for the time being, Remus’ butt was safe.

“Now would you two please, please reconcile?” Remus asked that night, looking decidedly dismayed. “Sirius – James didn’t really mean what he said to you.”

“I did,” James insisted, but added in a flush, “I mean, the part about acting irresponsibly and bringing Remus into this predicament…”

“Right. He did not, however, mean what he said about you being a Black and all that crap. And James – Sirius is very, very sorry, too; he told me. He didn’t think about any consequences at all, he was simply unnerved by Snape. By no means did he intend to either get that one killed, or me into any kind of real trouble. Isn’t that true, Padfoot?”

“Yeah,” Sirius replied in genuine contrition, not daring to meet James’ eye. “I’d never have deliberately betrayed my friends’ trust… Plus… I know you were right, Prongs, and I’m glad that you – well, if it hadn’t been for you – you know! I shouldn’t have… And I swear I’ll never again…”

“T’s all right,” James said, and before Sirius knew what was going on, his best friend had groped his hand, shook it, and gave him a big hug next. “Never again –”

“I’ll never cock it up again, I promise!”

“Never again,” James repeated and patted his back, “shall the ugly git come between us. Or anything else either. We’re friends, nothing else matters!”

“Never!”

“Never,” Remus and Peter joined the chorus.

 *****

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