Dramatis Personae

Hope you liked it so far. You might notice that people start to get more and more neurotic in the following chapters. Well, that's one of the side effects of being someone else, and it was fun to write!

So, on with the show ...


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"Part, fools, put up your swords, you know not what you do."

First Thought

Remus was on his way to the Great Hall when he heard someone scream. 'Sirius!' was his first thought. He couldn't put a finger on it, but he was always vaguely concerned about Sirius. Well, on second thoughts, he knew exactly why he had these worries all the time. His friend had a misguided talent to get himself into trouble every time Remus turned his back on him. "And they lock me up on full moons", he said to no one in particular. Then he started running.

Remus found his friend standing in front of the portrait hole. He was slamming his fist against the Fat Lady with grim determination, a litany of supposedly possible passwords flowing rapidly out of his mouth.

"What are you ... are you crazy? Stop that!" Remus raised his voice, and the other boy spun around with a shriek. Remus took Sirius' arm to calm him down. "Don't touch me Lupin!" Sirius' voice was a bit too shrill to be ignored. "Oh, awright. Just calm down, will you!" Remus let go of him, stepping back.

Lucius' thoughts were racing. He'd expected Severus to show up, not that lunatic Lupin. Perhaps he shouldn't have made such a noise about the password. But - he could still save the situation. They had planned to question Lupin anyway. Better get started then! "Oh, Remus, my old friend, it is you! I must confess to you that I have forgotten our password - oh dear. Bloody hell." 'This isn't so difficult after all', Lucius thought. 'And Severus said I'm a bad actor!'

"Aahhhmm ... so ... are you alright, Sirius?" Remus could smell there was something wrong. He took a few steps forward again, reaching out to his friend. This time Sirius didn't back away, just gave him an odd look. "FLIBBERTIGIBBET!" said Remus and they entered the Gryffindor common room.

Inside, Lucius flung himself on a nearby couch with a dramatic gesture, overdoing a bit on the Relaxed act. The room was empty and he was ready to play his part. "I am feeling fine, take my word for it. Can we talk about something else now - please?"

Remus didn't know what to make of this. Although Lily was waiting for him, he couldn't leave his friend in a state like this. "Come on now, what is it?"

"As for something else: I wanted speak about, you know, the thing we are hiding -"

"So, you did come up with something for our next rendezvous in the Shrieking Shack? The chains aren't holding much longer, I seem to put too much pressure on them." Lucius turned deadly pale in an instant. "Is James coming too?" Remus continued, completely oblivious to the fact that Lucius' face was now converting to a sickening green. "We could use one more hand to -" There was a gurgling sound. "SIRIUS", Remus shouted. "Are you going to throw up? Shall I help you to the bathroom?".

"Nooo!" Lucius got up, hauled himself through the portrait hole and was out before Lupin could get a chance to put his filthy arms around him again.

Remus stood calmly in the middle of the room. He wasn't sure of much in his life but one thing was absolutely clear: Sirius Black was going to get himself in really bad trouble some time soon.

First Victory

Severus was pretty much sure that Black and Potter had found out about the Polyjuice Potion. And if they had taken it too, this whole freakshow was going to be like Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors, only without the kissing in the end. Detention and broken noses - that's what they would get, at least. He should never have participated in this kindergarten play anyway. This was Marauder-style! Running around in costumes, playing hide and seek with hotheads acting like first-years. He was a Slytherin! - and he should be allowed to scheme like a Slytherin, with profound planning and cleverness. But Lucius thought that to beat a Marauder, they had to act like a Marauder. That was so darn stupid! This would only lead to underestimating the enemy. Sure Potter was a sissy, but Black had made it all too clear last year what business he meant. And Severus would never forget that. But Lucius kept him on a short leash with this, and Severus was going to lose his temper any time soon. The encounter with Lily Evans was horrible enough to -

"Severus! Where have you been? Why did you leave me alone?" Lucius nearly ran him over, his voice like screeching chalk in Severus' head. And that did it.

"Be quiet!" Severus threw himself up to his full height - but didn't manage his usual towering over Lucius because bloody Potter wasn't as tall as him! "You are making too much noise. Filch will kill you. Or - I - will. And call me James! Haven't heard of the word 'undercover', have you?" He didn't reach the appropriate degree of menace, Potter's voice was way too soft to sound even slightly threatening.

"He took my ... he was telling me to ... he said ... I should!" While Lucius was trying to work things out, Severus made some calculations about Lucius' mental stability. The results were not promising.

"Who? What? Speak in full sentences - I'm running out of patience." Two minutes later, Lucius had told him everything, and Severus' mood shot up from pitch black to almost happy. He knew what Lupin must have talked about. But even if Dumbledore hadn't sworn him to silence about the Shrieking Shack incident, he wouldn't have told Lucius. This was just too good to be true, and his chance to make Lucius pay at least a little for the inconvenience he'd forced upon him. Severus tried to straighten himself up once more, but instead resigned to glaring.

"If you are not capable of handling Lupin - I'll do it! FLIBBERTIGIBBET!" And with a swish of his robe he slid past the other boy and entered silently.

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Lucius had stared at the entrance for several minutes when he heard someone laughing real loud - Lupin. Another few minutes passed and another hearty laugh was heard - Potter's voice! 'Having fun behind my back, I bet,' Lucius thought. He would have a word with Severus about this. Making a fool out of people was supposed to be his part. After another five minutes full of disturbing visions of what the two boys were possibly doing in there, the portrait opened and Lupin showed up, followed by Severus.

"Sirius, why didn't you tell me?", Remus said with a comforting smile. "There's nothing to it, really. Everybody gets that from time to time!"

"I - don't - know?" All the words seemed to be drained out of Lucius, but luckily he didn't blush again.

Severus jumped in for his friend, holding something right in front of Lucius' face. "I've got the cloak!" His eyes were sparkling smugness. "So, why don't you give Remus an apology for being all scary on him, and we go back to business?" Pushing Lucius like this was a risk, Severus knew that. But he couldn't have resisted even if Lucius had pointed a wand at him. But Lucius just looked at him with a blank expression and then turned his face to Lupin.

What happened next was something Severus had never expected to see, not in his worst nightmares, not despite knowing about Lucius' frequent overreacting. His friend flung his arms around Lupin, pressing him so tight that Severus could hear Lupin gasping heavily for air. There could have been a cracking sound too, but Severus, being in shock, thought that this was rather his imagination than reality. After a few seconds, which seemed to last forever, Lucius disentangled himself from Lupin, kissed him on the cheek and said "Sorry!" as if nothing had happened.

The silence that followed was - intense. Neither Severus nor Remus dared to say anything. And when Lucius was about to open his mouth, which would have certainly brought death and mayhem and with it, Severus got back on his mental feet. "Fine", he almost shouted. "Now that that's done, let's go!" He grabbed Lucius' arm and yanked him along, fully aware of the fact that their cover was certainly blown to smithereens.