Veiled Revelations

Chapter Two

Snape's offer

The Marauders made their way off of the train, saying hello to Hagrid on the way up to the horseless carriages. James and Sirius had gotten into a heated discussion about Quidditch teams, and Remus and Peter were doing their best to stay out of it by walking in front of them. When they reached the carriages, they began to file into it. Remus stepped back to talk to James about N.E.W.T.s, and Peter and Sirius went into the carriage to "warm it up for ya". After much protesting, Sirius still entered after Peter, and James and Remus gave it a few minutes to air out. Finally, they decided that it was safe to enter.

"Back again, Lupin?" drawled an icy voice from behind them, just as James stepped onto the stairway in the carriage. Had he been a werewolf, Remus's shackles would have raised and he would have bared his teeth. However, as he only spent one night a month as that monster, a tired, human Remus Lupin turned around to face Severus Snape. James stopped halfway up the carriage steps and turned.

"I would have thought that you wouldn't have dared to come back after being discovered as what you are. You are a disgrace to the title of prefect, as we saw in the train compartment." Snape said, only loud enough for Remus and James to hear. Remus held his hand up to stop James from running back down.

"We'll see, Severus," Remus said calmly. Had James not been so pissed off, he would have marveled at Remus's constant composure.

"Yes, I will see, Lupin, but I doubt you will. I'm sure Black will conjure up enough foolish games with you and everyone will know. You'll be out of here in no time at all. Soon, Hogwarts will be clean," Snape threatened.

"Clean of what, Severus?" Remus asked casually, but secretly testing Snape, seeing whether he'd go so far as to name Voldemort. Voldemort had slowly been growing in power since their second year, and was now considered something of a threat to the wizarding world, especially since the rumors started of his massing armies.

Snape snickered and stepped closer. Remus knew only he could hear Snape now. "I'll be blunt, so even your bestial mind can fathom it: I want to get rid of Mudbloods, Lupin. And I want to get rid of half-breeds..." Suddenly, Snape stopped talking and a horrible glint rose in his eyes, and Remus didn't like it at all. "Unless... of course, a half-breed decided to be useful to a greater cause. One that will recognize them as an equal. As useless as they are here, why not consider a lifestyle that will allow them to live?"

Remus said nothing. He was trying to make out was Snape was trying to tell him, and wasn't entirely putting up his defenses.

Snape saw the weakness, saw the lack of barrier, and moved closer so that he was no more than an inch from Remus's face, talking directly into his ear. He spoke softly and quickly, so that Remus did not have time to think.

"We can give you freedom and privileges that you know the rest of the wizarding community will deny you. If you come with us, you'll be able to do whatever you want, whenever you want." Remus's throat was tight and his heart was pounding. Did Snape mean what he thought he meant? The wolfish part of his mind was slowly taking precedence. Snape said the next part slowly and deliberately, knowing exactly what to say, and watching the werewolf's eyes the entire time.

"Think of the blood, Lupin. Think of the human blood. We would supply you in plenty. You would never have to spend another full moon alone in a shack. You could hunt at will, Lupin. Forget duty. Think of pleasure...Think of it in your mouth...finally...after all these years of desire you could finally taste it. It must taste so good..." He said the last part so sultry that Remus actually began lose the strength in his knees. Just one bite...that's all he wanted...just one taste of human blood... Remus's defenses were completely gone, his mouth was slightly open and sweat was beginning to show on his face. Snape's face brushed against Remus's, and a very odd feeling crept through him. The calm composure was only a mask of his inner feelings.

"Think on that, Lupin," Snape said with satisfaction as he walked away, leaving Remus barely able to stand on his feet.

"What was that all about?" James asked as he stepped down to Remus, who was extraordinarily pale.

"Moony?" James placed his hand on Remus's back. Remus jumped and turned his head quickly to look at James. James almost took a step back, because for a fleeting instant, he had seen the eyes of a werewolf staring out at him through Remus's kind face. After blinking, it was just Remus's tired grey eyes, staring somewhere off to the left of James's face.

"I'm fine," he whispered, his voice thick with some emotion that James couldn't identify. "He...he just said..."

"Yeah, I know," James said, gently patting Remus on the shoulder. "Half-breed crap. It's okay mate. Let's go with Sirius and Peter."

They headed into the carriages, James signaling the other two not to say anything. Sirius quickly and casually started talking about some seventh year girl named Dorcas Meadowes who had "sprung up" out of the ground. The tensions seemed to ease up, and Remus almost looked normal again.

"I tell you," Sirius grinned, leaning back in his seat on the carriage next to Remus. "Give me five minutes alone with that girl in front of a fire. I slowly lift up my arm..." This he demonstrated, with Remus shaking his head at being the dummy, and James and Peter cracking up. "Gently place it on her shoulder. She trembles, go on tremble, Moony."

Remus just shook his head in shame.

"Ah, c'mon. You're ruining it."

"I am not trembling for you, Padfoot."

"Oh fine. Anyways, I hesitate, very gentlemanly-like, and then place it on her shoulder." Remus rolled his eyes and shuddered as Sirius placed his hand on his shoulder.

"'Oh, Dor,' I say as I lean in to her, so close to her ear -- oh, stop twitching, Moony, this'll only take a second. Anyways, 'Oh Dor, you are, by far, the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.' And so, with that, my hand slowly travels down her shoulder--"

"Carriage ride's done!" Remus shouted and jumped up as the carriages stopped, throwing Sirius's arm away from him.

"Dammit!" Sirius cried. "That was the best part! You should have seen. I was gonna go in for the kill!"

"Glad I missed it," James laughed as they walked up the stairs to Hogwarts.

"Me, too," Remus said sincerely and followed James to the Great Hall.

They sat down at their respective tables, and suddenly realized how hungry they were, hungry enough to forget quiet words and ugly Slytherins (for a time), and waited not-so-patiently for Dumbledore to give the announcement for dinner.

After everyone's favorite phrase "Tuck in." food sprang onto their plates, and they dug in. Dumbledore gave the usual announcements after the food (Don't go into the Forest, Filch'll kill if he finds certain things, Quidditch tryouts for Hufflepuff and Slytherin), and then James and Remus led the way to Gryffindor Tower. They gave the password ("Figgy Pudding "), and showed the first years to their dormitories. Up in their own dormitory, the Marauders changed into their pajamas, but only sat on their beds, talking for most of the night.

The next morning, they did the usual fight for the showers (Remus crept in as James and Sirius's battle heated up, but was thrown out by Peter, who had snuck in at the beginning), and then headed down to breakfast. Their timetables were handed out to them, and they all had the same classes for the day: Double Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Double Potions, and Astronomy.

They had had a different Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher every two years. Hagrid had said that the job was jinxed, and it wasn't a baseless suggestion. Over the last six years of their Hogwarts lives, the three Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers had all left for various, bizarre reasons. Their first teacher, who had left in their second year, had just disappeared right after the final exam, and there was no reason given at all for his disappearance, but they suspected either foul play, or Sirius and James had driven him crazy. Their second teacher hadn't been too bad. He had been attacked by an Acromantula in the Forest when he and the Marauders accidentally ventured into it, and resigned the day after (via owl from St. Mungo's). Their third teacher had been so prejudice against anything other than human, and had given Remus a hard time the entire two years for being a werewolf, that the Marauders themselves had assisted in turning him away (a very clever trick of letting the teacher see Sirius as "the Grim" once a day for a month. It eventually drove him mad, and he ran out screaming about his impending death).

They had only glimpsed their new teacher at the staff table the night before. It was a she, for a change, and she was in her mid-thirties. She had long, block straight black hair and a rich set of wizarding robes, and she greeted them with a nice smile as the seventh years entered their class. The Marauders arrived late, and ended up in two person desks in the front of the class. James and Sirius were in the direct middle of the three rows, and Remus and Peter were to their left.

"Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts class, seventh years," she said in a silky, somewhat sultry voice. "I am Araminta Meliflua, your current Defense professor. Please take out your books and quills. I would like to review what you've learned so far."

As she turned to write on the blackboard, Sirius muttered, almost inaudibly, "I've seen her somewhere..."

"Sirius Black," she snapped suddenly, turning so fast that the entire class jumped. "Ten points from Gryffindor for muttering in my class."

Sirius's mouth had dropped open. Snape and the other Slytherins sniggered, yet Meliflua hadn't taken any points off of them. James wondered if she was another of those pure blood mania teachers. "Ten points...?" James hissed.

"Now, what did you leave off with?" Remus raised his hand, throwing a glance at James. This was now their way of figuring teachers out. If they were prejudice, Remus was the perfect person to expose it. All the teachers knew he was a werewolf. "Yes Mr..?"

"Lupin," he answered, testing James's suspicions. A look of realization came upon Meliflua's face as she realized what he was. Well, now was the time to find out.

"Thank you. Yes, Mr. Lupin?" she asked impassively.

"We had left off with Lethifolds before...uh...Professor Liek left." He hardly concealed his smile. The memory of scaring Liek half to death was still freshly beautiful in his mind.

Meliflua nodded curtly. "Yes, that is what the notes say. Five points to Gryffindor, Mr. Lupin."

"How'd she not know his name and knew mine?" Sirius whispered almost silently.

"Ten points, Mr. Black," Meliflua said, her back turned to them.

Throughout the course of the lesson, Sirius had a total loss of fifty points for Gryffindor, for doing simple things. He'd lost ten points for writing too loudly, ten points for taking out his wand before Meliflua had finished her instructions, and ten more points from Gryffindor for looking up at the ceiling.

Needless to say, Sirius was in a foul mood as they headed to Transfiguration. He marched off to the classroom in sullen silence. James and Remus exchanged a look, and talked lightly of the upcoming Quidditch season. Peter walked silently behind Sirius, scared to death of what he would possibly do to him out of anger. Sirius kicked at a crack in the floor.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Black, for degrading school property," Meliflua called from behind them. Sirius couldn't take anymore. He spun around on his heel.

"Ten points from Meliflua for being a lying, prejudice, bi--"

"Detention, Black!" She said, delight etched on her face. "See me after your lessons."

"In your dreams!" Sirius snarled, and turned his back on her. James saw her face turn an angry shade of purple as she called after him.

"BLACK! SIRIUS BLACK! YOU HAVE DETENTION EVERY DAY THIS WEEK!"

Sirius let out a loud bark like laugh, waved over his shoulder with a certain finger, and trudged down the steps towards the Transfiguration classroom. On his way, he was in such a fury that he wasn't entirely paying attention to where he was going. He slammed right into some fifth year Slytherin, who toppled back a few feet. Sirius barely stumbled.

"Look, kid," he growled as the Slytherin got to his feet. "You'd better watch where the hell you're going coz I don't want any crap right no-- " Sirius froze as he recognized the Slytherin as his own younger brother, Regulus Black. "What the hell are you doing here?" Sirius asked in a daze.

"I go to school here, idiot," Regulus said quietly, picking up his books that had scattered all over the floor. Sirius stooped and picked one up.

"You dropped this."

"I hadn't noticed."

Sirius handed him the book and Regulus fussed with his bag a little. Sirius cleared his throat. "So...uh...how're things?"

"At home?"

"At your home, yeah."

Regulus swallowed. "Same as normal."

"That bad, huh?"

Regulus fumed, holding back some serious emotions. "Look, Sirius, if you just want to get up and break mother's heart like you did, than fine. But don't go dissing home when I'm still living there, okay? I don't appreciate it."

Sirius shrugged. "Fine whatever, Reg, but you know mother doesn't have a heart."

"She does, too, Sirius! You just never--"

"--Got to see it because she was bitching at me every day?"

"She...she did love you, Sirius..."

"Is my name on that accursed tapestry? Now that I'd like to know."

"Why don't you come by and see for yourself?"

"You think I'd be welcome?" Sirius laughed. "Yeah right. I'd be cursed so badly before I stepped into the door that I'd lose all my good looks."

"The Black family good looks!"

"No, Regulus. No." Sirius stepped away from Regulus. "This is the Sirius good looks. It has nothing to do with the Black family."

"Then why do you keep the last name?"

"Coz it sounds good. Sirius Black. It's got a nice ring to it." Laughing mirthlessly, Sirius made his way to Transfiguration, with his brother Regulus watching him the whole way down. Feeling more miserable than he had after leaving Meliflua's class, Sirius went into the Transfiguration classroom. He was positively fuming when he made his way to the seats they had sat in before during the last school year. As usual, Remus and Sirius occupied the two-person desk in the very back, left from the door corner, and James and Peter sat in the two-person desk right in front of them.

"Did you see the way she was looking at him?" Remus asked in a concerned voice when he and James and Peter were alone before Sirius's arrival. "It was pure hatred."

"Tell me about it," James nodded. "The rest of the class was muttering, and they got no points off."

"She's obviously on pure-blood mania, but Sirius is as pure (blood, at least) as they come."

"I know. I just don't get it," James mused, shaking his head. He felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned to see Professor McGonagall the Transfiguration professor, and deputy headmistress.

"Excuse me, Potter, Lupin," she said sternly. "If the meeting is over, may I conduct my class?"

James made a low bow. "Certainly, Professor. I believe we're done. I give you my consent." She raised an eyebrow at him, and he, Remus and Peter took their seats. Sirius waltzed in at that moment (waltz is not really the proper descriptive here), and without a glance at the professor, sat next to Remus.

Remus didn't say anything, as A.) Sirius was in an obviously foul mood and B.) Remus didn't know why he had been late to class so decided not to risk death.