The Marauders

Chapter 5 - Broken Promises

CLONK! SMASH! The plate shattered as it hit the floor. Ceramic shards flew everywhere. Sound ceased and heads turned. Students and teachers alike stood covered in all manner of food and drink. Some still had hands full of mashed potatoes and biscuits. Gravy dripped from Professor Dumbledore's long nose.

"Bloody hell!" Sirius exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head.

Kira's eyes snapped open. She was stunned at the silence. Sirius turned slowly to see who had thrown the plate, and his eyes fell on Severus Snape. He stood a few yards away, a vicious smirk on his face and a malicious glint in his eyes. Sirius's knuckles cracked as he balled them into fists.

"You greasy, craven, son of a bitch," Sirius said, low enough that at a normal dinner, only Kira would have heard. But in the silence, every word reverberated throughout the Hall.

"Come and get me, Black," Severus spat. He slipped his hand into his robes and slyly pulled out his wand. Sirius twitched, but stayed where he was. Kira noticed Professor Kuraré start to move away from her table.

"Sirius, ignore him. Remember your promi--" Kira's words were cut off as Sirius abruptly launched himself over the mess of food and tableware and landed not three feet from Severus. Kira dashed after him as he pulled out his wand and pointed it straight at Severus's crooked nose.

"Rictu--" Sirius started, his wand glowing a deep red. Kira stepped quickly between Severus and the glowing wand, her robes swishing about her regally.

"I said let him be," Kira said, her eyes flashing dangerously. Her voice was calm, but her hands were shaking. Severus cracked his knuckles ominously, the sound echoing in the still Hall.

"Is there a problem here?" Professor Kuraré interrupted coldly. Kira's face turned pale.

"I believe, Master Black, that magic is forbidden outside of the classrooms. If you would kindly put away your wand and follow me." There was nothing welcoming in her voice. Severus's smirk twitched momentarily into a sneer.

"And you, Master Snape, Miss Lenya, kindly proceed out of the Hall," Professor Kuraré instructed, not once taking her cold black eyes from Sirius's blazing blue ones.

"That won't be necessary, Professor. I believe I can handle Kira and Sirius, as they are in my house. You may deal with Severus as you see fit," Professor Lenya said from behind her. If Kira was pale before, she was ghostly now.

"Yes, of course," Professor Kuraré responded icily. She stalked briskly from the Hall, motioning to Severus to follow. He hesitated, glancing from Kira to the Professor. Then he followed her out.

Sirius, however, noticed that as he passed Kira, he brushed her hand. But what bothered him more was that Kira did not draw away. Rather, he could have sworn she blushed.

@--} ******* {--@

The more carefully Kira closed the door, the more it seemed to squeak.

"Just shut the bloody door, Kira. We're awake anyways," Lily said drawing back the curtains of her four-poster. "How did it go? Did he get a detention?"

Kira sighed heavily and flopped down on her bed.

"I don't know. After threatening to take me home for break if I didn't shape up, she sent me off and kept Sirius to dole out his sentence."

Enna came and sat next to Lily on her bed.

"Kira..." Enna started, then hesitated. "You need to make a decision between Sirius and Sniv- er, Severus. You can't keep stringing them both along like this- you'll end up losing both of them!"

"I know, I know! But Sirius hasn't even asked me to the dance and Severus..." Kira's voice trailed off as she remembered her gesture in the hospital wing. Now she regretted it horribly. She frowned, her brow furrowed.

Lily shuddered.

"As much as I loathe the way Potter treats him, Snape really is a slime ball. Honestly, Kira, I don't know how you could even consider him over Sirius."

Enna sat quietly recalling her horror after discovering Remus's identity.

"Maybe he's not truly like that. That's just what people have labeled him as."

Kira and Lily stared at Enna, letting her wise words settle. Enna shifted, pulling her legs up and crossing them beneath her.

"I mean to say..." she started, not once thinking about the words that tumbled from her mouth. "Take Remus for example. For as long as I've known him, he's been kind, funny, and smart, cute, and then I went and screwed everything up by believing all the stereotypes. Just because Remus is a werewolf, doesn't mean--"

"WHAT?!" Kira and Lily shouted simultaneously. Enna jumped, shocked. He eyes widened at the realization of that precious secret that she had let slip. She opened her mouth to recover, but only succeeded in looking like a codfish. The damage had been done. Nothing could repair it now.

Vera stirred in her sleep, muttering indiscernible phrases. Kira, Lily and Enna glanced over nervously and silence reigned for a moment while the three stunned girls waited for her to drift back to her dreams.

Kira joined the others on Lily's bed and started to ask Enna how she knew this, but Enna help up her hand to stop the flood of interrogations about to pour forth. She took a deep breath and thought a moment on what she was about to say.

"Lily, you said Professor Rizia assigned us moon charts for homework, right?"

Lily nodded, a frown creasing her forehead, matching the one Kira already wore.

"Do you recall when the last full moon was?"

Again, Lily nodded and responded, "Yea, that was... last night."

"Right. Last night, while you two slept, I was half-way into my dreams when I remembered my History of Magic essay lying unwritten in my bag. I ran downstairs and managed to get at least half of it done. I was on my way back up the dormitory steps when..."

They sat on Lily's four-poster canopy bed with the red velvet curtains drawn, listening with rapt attention to Lily's tale of the previous night. She explained how in the Great Hall earlier that night she had realized that James, Peter, and Sirius were Animagi and how each had taken a nickname.

"We have seen these names before. James is Prongs,"

Lily let out a small gasp.

"Sirius is Padfoot,"

Kira's frown lightened.

"And I'm guessing Peter is Wormtail, thought I haven't the slightest inkling of what type of beast he can change to. James made me promise not to tell a soul what I had seen, but you are my closest friends. I trust you to keep this secret as if your lives depended on it. I know Remus's does. He may be a werewolf, but that's only one night a month, whereas us women are bitches for an entire week of the month. The rest of the time, he's the same old Remus we've always known."

Lily smiled hesitantly, not completely convinced, but enough to trust Enna's judgment. Kira's eyes glittered with anticipation. She couldn't wait to ask Remus what it was like, being a werewolf. Half-breeds had always fascinated her, and it didn't bother her in the least.

"Not a word to anyone," Kira promised.

They talked quietly about other things- Quidditch, the upcoming vacation, and the Ball. Kira was the first to retire to her own bed for the night.

Her thoughts reeled as she snuggled deeper into her covers. Her dreams were haunted by the choice she had to make the next morning. She carefully weighted the consequences of each decision. On the one hand, was Severus. With that choice most likely lay the loss of Sirius's friendship, and she realized with a pang that she couldn't live without that. He was as close to her as either Enna or Lily, and losing him would be like losing a small piece of her. On the other hand was Sirius. With him was Severus's broken heart, the loss of his respect, and the fact that he had been the only one to actually ask her to the ball.

That's not true. Sirius did ask you, just not personally. It still counts though... Sirius is Padfoot.

She drifted off to sleep, thoughts weighing her dreams like lead.

@--} ******* {--@

Sirius collapsed, exhausted into his bed. Professor Lenya had been lenient, only sending him away with a warning to behave. In fact, she had promised to dock as many points from Slytherin house as she could the next day- especially from Snape.

Snivellus- that sleazy son of a bitch. Sirius knew now that he had been courting Kira for a while now. Judging by her reaction to him, he was more of a threat than he ever was.

Sirius's eyes dropped closed and he floated into trouble dreams.

@--} ******* {--@

The room was black as pitch. No light penetrated the stifling darkness. It lay thick around him, impenetrable, suffocating. His fingers fumbled in the pocket of his jeans for his wand.

"Lumos."

The sound was muffled as if someone held a hand over his mouth. Light blazed from his wand tip, illuminating an eerie scene. Gnawed bones and decaying bodies were littered across the dusty, wooden floor. They were the bodies of simple woodland creatures. Squirrels, birds, here a rabbit, there a fawn. The stench of rotting flesh and blood rose. He fought the urge to retch.

He slowly turned scanning the gruesome sight. More dead bodies appeared, gored by some horrific beast. A badger, a doe, a stag-- he halted, staring horrified, not daring to breathe as the mangled grey brown form started to shift and change. Tears sprang unbidden from his eyes and splattered down his cheeks as he stared at the lifeless body of his best friend.

Anger arose in his like a flame. He spun around at the sound of footsteps behind him. They rang out clear and loud, drawing closer with each footfall. A strangled sob was heard, followed by a slap, and a female whimpered. A tall figure appeared, his greasy black hair hanging around his pallid face in strings. The figure heaved a petite girl between then, her auburn hair wet with nervous sweat, her once rosy cheeks pale and drained.

Sirius's hatred and rage flared anew at the sigh of Kira lying whimpering on the floor.

"You..."

His voice shook with anger and he stepped forward, wand raised, the spell to kill on his lips...

@--} ******* {--@

"Sirius, c'mon mate, wake up," Remus said a little louder, shaking Sirius at the shoulders.

"Wuh, huh... hey, leave off, I'm awake," Sirius groaned sleepily, "What time is it?"

"1:30," James answered from the other side of Sirius's four-poster. "You were mumbling things in your sleep, and then..."

"Yea, mate, what were you dreaming about? You started crying," Remus said, stifling a snigger.

Sirius was silent for a moment.

"Nothing," he said quietly, "Just a nightmare." His skin was wet with cold sweat, and his cheeks were damp with tears. He peeled off his undershirt, the cold air sending goose bumps across his damp skin. Remus and James exchanged worried glances.

"That's not the only reason we woke you up. Hand it to him, Remus," James said.

Remus pulled out a small scrap of rolled parchment and handed it to Sirius.

As he read, Sirius again felt anger boil up inside of him. Both James and Remus readied themselves for the outburst, but it never came. Sirius's mind was spinning with thoughts of vengeance. Simple spells and curses wouldn't do. This was war. One that Sirius would win.

His smile was cold and mirthless as he bid his friends goodnight. He knew he couldn't sleep now, but with James and Remus gaping at him, ready to pounce at the slightest movement, he need only pretend to sleep.

Remus shrugged and cocked an eyebrow. He shook his head and clambered into his own bed.

James lay awake, knowing that Sirius was also thinking. He knew Sirius far to well to believe his cock and bull indifference act. Behind that mask lay the plotting of a scheme so terrible James didn't think even he, Prongs, could go through with it.

@--} ******* {--@

Kira came late to breakfast. Her eyes were mist and grey. Dark circles sagged beneath them giving her a sickly appearance.

Sirius wasn't yet there and Lily wouldn't even look at James. Remus and Enna had gone back to the Common Room, so Kira and Lily chatted quietly, leaving James to sulk in his porridge.

At a lull in their conversation, Kira chanced a glance at the Slytherin table. Severus caught her eye and looked at her expectantly. She dropped her gaze and excused herself from the table. Lily start sympathetically at her friends retreated back.

James coughed, drawing her attention.

"Lily, I'm sorry about yesterday. You were right- I'm just a brainless prick. Please, Lily, hear me out," he pleaded as she rose to leave. She whipped her around, harsh words at the tip of her tongue. But before she could open her mouth and let the insults fly, her emerald eyes locked with James's hazel ones.

In those eyes she saw sincere sorrow and genuine care.

"I know I don't deserve you. My brain just seems to go limp when I'm around you and I don't know what I'm saying or doing..." James was saying, but Lily wasn't listening. She felt like she had seen straight into James's soul, through the cocky outer shell to his honest core. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized she could be falling in love with him.

James stopped mid sentence when he saw the hard look in her eyes melt away and a smile replace her scowl.

"I accept," she said quietly.

"What?" James questioned, confused.

"I'll go to the ball with you," she explained, her voice still quiet. Then, pulling a piece of parchment from her bag, she leaned over the table and whispered in his ear, "Prongs."

James stared, dumbstruck at the parchment in his hands as Lily left the table. The latest message from Messr. Prongs was fading off the page.

Messr. Prongs may not be able to express this properly, but he wishes Miss Lily Evans to know that he has fallen in love with her.

@--} ******* {--@

Kira stumbled down the dark hallway. She needed to find Sirius and tell him either he ask her to the ball personally, and not through some scrap parchment, or she would go with Severus. She heard footsteps ahead of her and a wavering wand light appeared at the end of the passage. Severus Snape stepped closer to Kira's frantic form.

"Kira! There you are, I've been looking for you," Severus said, speeding up to reach her faster.

Kira stopped short, surprised by his sudden arrival.

"Severus," she said, meaning to say more, but nothing more came.

"Listen, I don't mean to sound pushy, and I guess you already answered me, but I just wanted to make sure. You did get that note I sent you, didn't you? I had my owl fly it over. I didn't want to run into any of those bast--"

"You sent another note?" Kira asked puzzled. "The only note I have is the one you gave to me in Potions."

"Yes, I had Kerfis fly it to your Common Room. You didn't get it?" Severus looked worried.

Kira shook her head, a dull ache forming in the back of her skull. She didn't need any more confusion. All she needed was to find Sirius and...

"No, I have it."

Kira spun around and Severus's eyes narrowed. Sirius stood a yard away, gripping the note in his clenched fist.

Sirius's mind had been bent on one thing all morning- find Snape before Snape found Kira, and he had failed. He knew that if he tried to harm Snivellus in any way it would only push Kira into that scummy meathead's waiting arms. He thought fast, thinking of a something to say to Kira to guide her away from Snape.

He caught her eye for a moment and tried to express his feelings for her, but she ducked her head. Then his gaze met that of Snape and he felt a heavy weight in his stomach. He gripped the note tighter in his right hand to keep from reaching for his wand. If anything he wanted Snape to curse him. Maybe that would sway Kira's affection.

Their eyes were locked in a battle of will. Each was glaring daggers of hate at the other. The tension was almost palpable.

"Kira," Sirius said suddenly breaking his gaze away from Severus and locking instead with Kira's. His expression softened, his heart pounding with the love he felt for her. He couldn't tear his eyes away from those deep blue eyes. He swore he could see the ocean in her eyes.

"Yes, Sirius?" Kira said wearily.

Sirius hesitated. His heart pounded harder, and he realized not only was it because of his love for her, but he was as nervous as hell.

Just say it! He told himself.

"Would you go to the ball with me?" he asked nervously.

Kira stared.

Great. Not only do I have to decide now, but I have to do it in front of both of them. Bullocks.

Severus started to say something, but Sirius snapped at him.

"Shut up, Snape. I asked her a question- let her answer!"

Kira's expression hardened.

"I believe I can speak for myself, Sirius. You don't have to be rude about it. Severus has already asked me to the ball. I believe he deserves an answer first."

"You're actually considering going with that dung heap?"

The words left Sirius's mouth before he could stop them. He was inwardly kicking himself. How could he have been so stupid? He knew he's done it. There was no way in hell that Kira would say yes to him now. He was screwed over by his own big mouth.

Her mind was made up in mere seconds. Her eyes flashed and she turned to Severus.

"I'd gladly go to the ball with you, Severus."

With that, she turned her back to Sirius and walked with Severus in the opposite direction. Sirius was left standing, utterly disappointed in himself, and full of hatred for that bastard Snivellus.

I'll get him. Just wait. He'll pay for this, make no mistake. He'll pay...

XXXIV