Dramatis Personae

"FLIBBERTIGIBETT!" James shouted.

"Don't be stupid, that's our password!"

"I know. I was just ... practicing."

"Practicing for what? Hogwarts School of Lunatic Drama Art? If you don't remember the word just say so."

"..."

"Oh, move over!" Sirius said with a laugh. He always liked confused James. "FACIES HOSTIUM!"

"Let's hope that's not a bad sign," James mused. He was relieved that Sirius got his humour back. Handling a brooding Black always gave him terrible headaches.

"Don't worry. I think from now on we are riding straight to fame and glory. So, what do you say - shall we dare break into the demon's lair?"

James enthusiastically struck a pose, and threw in some Snape attitude. He was delighted to see Sirius slightly intimidated by the result. "BLACK! Enter and you shall be transfigured into a sheep!"

***

They didn't stop laughing until they reached the Slytherin common room, which was - not empty. Sitting nervously by the fireplace with their backs to the Marauders were Crabbe and Goyle.

"What are they doing here?" James whispered.

"Let's ask them. This shouldn't -"

"No! They'll know that Malfoy and Snape -"

"Don't panic! I know what to do, trust me!"

"You always say that and it's never true."

Sirius shot James an offended look. "Did I ever let you down on anything?"

James rolled his eyes - not that again! "Please! You know I trust you with my life, but -"

"Fine, then be supportive!"

"Don't -"

"HEY," Sirius called out to Malfoy's henchboys. "What are you two doing here?! Didn't I give you orders?"

The two Slytherins jumped up like bludgers. Sirius was enjoying this immensely while James tried to shrink away with embarassment, which with the body he currently occupated wasn't working very well.

Goyle was the first to find his voice again. "Lucius?! We thought you already -"

"Apparently not!" Sirius cut him short.

"Errr, yes ... alright ... umm ... we ... "

Seeing the horror in Goyle's face, James almost felt sorry for them - and very grateful for not having to put up with a friend like Lucius Malfoy.

At last Goyle managed to form a coherent sentence. "I know! You assigned us to look after Potter and Black. But on the way we - "

"Silence! I've heard enough of your pathetic stuttering. Severus, would you please ..." He turned away from his two cronies and waved an unpatient hand at James. Swishing his robe dramatically James stepped forward. "Why do you think Lucius and I are still here? Any suggestions? Goyle?"

"..."

"Crabbe?"

"Because - we - failed - to - occupy - Potter and Black?"

"Ah, five points for this completely unforeseen logical conclusion of yours, Master Crabbe. We have to deal with the failure-part later!"

And then, one irresistably simple idea struck Sirius. "Go and get them now. And make it right! Don't talk to them, just curse - " James nudged Snape's edgy elbow into Sirius' chest. "- petrify them. From behind. No bloodshed."

Crabbe and Goyle looked uncertain at this last remark and Sirius hurried to finish it up. "Understood? Go now, before I shed some of your blood, morons!"

They nodded hastily and hurried out of the room.

"Now was I good or what?" Sirius grabbed James' arm and dragged him up the stairs, which would hopefully lead to the sixth years' dormitories. "I just can't wait to see what's hidden in Snape's trunk!"

"You are ridiculous, you know that? Can't you just get yourself a hobby or a girlfriend!"

"I could. But that wouldn't be the same as ... Snape."

"I hope not!"

Fifteen minutes, several nervous breakdowns and one disturbing encounter in the seventh year girls' dormitory later, they found the right room - which was a mess! Obviously neither Crabbe nor Goyle nor Malfoy had much of that Slytherin ambitiousness as far as their own bedroom was concerned. But then, they were just teenage boys like everybody else.

Only one place was perfectly tidy, and Sirius got all exited. "That's Snape's. Can't wash his hair properly, but gets off on meticulous discipline. What a freak!" He immediately started dragging out Snape's trunk from under his bed.

"So, what are we going to do en detail? And why?" James still didn't have the slightest idea what Sirius was up to, but he was beginning to suspect that Sirius himself didn't know either.

"Patience. First we have to take care of the lock." He cast an opening spell which failed instantly. "No surprise here," he said and tried two more charms, with the same result. But the fourth one was a winner and the lock sprung open with a soft 'click'.

"I don't think that I know that spell," James wondered, but Sirius was occupied with inspecting the trunk's inside. "Fascinating!"

"Yeah, so Snape has a lot of books! But didn't we know that already?"

Sirius ignored James' teasing and was eagerly working his way through books and neatly folded black clothes. After his ruffling through the books quickly rearranged themselves into alphabetical order while the clothes folded themselves together again.

"That's fascinating!" James comented.

"Damn, I thought we'd find at least four or five potions we could use for the test next week!"

James froze. "WHAT? - That's what it's all about?"

But Sirius didn't listen. Instead he picked up a small flacon with a purple substance, reading the inscription. "Ha, I knew he'd put a label on it! Prolonging Potion." Sirius whistled through his teeth. "That's a tricky one. We don't need it for the test, but I think I'll keep it anyway. Snape won't have made it for beneficial purpose!"

"What does it do exactly?"

"It prolongs all kinds of transformational states. We could, for example, make the Polyjuice effect last longer than it usually does. Or we could trap someone in their transfigured animal form, an animagus or -," he stopped, "someone like Remus! That bastard! I can't believe - "

"How long?"

"Depends on how concentrated Snape has made it. I guess it ranges between a day and a week."

"You're right," James said slowly. "We better keep it. But we don't know for sure if Snape made it for Remus."

Sirius gave him an unusually stern look. "Really, you shouldn't be so naive all the time! He's bad news! Snape not simply doesn't like us, he hates us. You know that, don't you?"

James didn't reply and just in case he'd missed anything, Sirius started his second inspection. He was back to brooding again and that rearranging spell didn't help!

"I say we take something real valuable too, something we could keep up our sleeve in case he tries another foul move. Something we can use as a ... ransom?"

"I don't think that's a good idea."

But Sirius already held up a book. "This looks good. 'Potions and their Masters: A History'! It must be very - "

"Put it back!"

"Why? He was going to poison Remus -"

"We don't know that! And we don't steal things."

"We don't steal it. We just borrow it!"

"I said, put it back!"

With a sigh Sirius threw the book on Snape's bed. "Alright. You won. Satisfied?"

Something shiny caught James' attention. "Hey, what's that?"

"What's what?"

"How should I know?"

Between Snape's sweaters lay a filigree black artifact, perfectly disguised among all the other black stuff. It was shaped like a feather with red and emerald runes on it. They were shifting positions and changing form while the boys watched with awe - till James reached out for it.

"Wait - ," but he'd already grabbed it. With the sound of sliding silk it began to transform. James gasped, but kept his hand steady, and a black raven with emerald eyes and a red beak was emerging. It had only the size of a remembrall but they could see its strength and agility.

"It's beautiful!" both boys whispered unisono.

The raven gracefully stretched its wings and flew to the other side of the room. It perched for a few seconds on the top of a cupboard before it fixed its eyes on James, screeched, and shot down at him like a throwing-knife.

Sirius was shouting something but James couldn't hear it. He tried to move, but he couldn't do that either. All he could see and think of was that red razor-sharp beak coming at him full speed. 'I'm going to die in Snape's bedroom!' was his presumably last thought.

Then he saw a shadow darting between him and the bird. Then something hit ...

***

James wondered if he'd been knocked out for a few minutes, because the next thing he saw was Sirius standing over him. "Okay, you won this time," James choked. "Snape almost killed us!"

Sirius was trembling and sat down on the bed. There was blood on his robe.

"Sirius?" James came to his feet.

"I'm fine," Sirius said weakly. "Just a minor cut. That bloody bird rammed itself halfway through my shoulder, can you believe that? I had to drag it out by its tail. I did a spell to stabilize the wound and do away with the bloody feathers."

James winced at the images forming in his head. "What happened to the - bird?"

"Bloody coward! Transformed itself back after hitting me. I - ," Sirius smirked manically, "- stomped it."

James bit his lips. "Alright. That's it! We are going straight to the hospital wing. And no arguing!"

"I think that's fine with me."

They made their way back to the common room and then out of Slytherin. James almost ran despite his friend's injuries. So this time Sirius got the pains of keeping up with him.

After minutes of overwhelming silence, Severus finally tried to defuse the situation. At least Potter's soft and admittedly pleasant timbre was useful now. So he started his speech with the most successful event of the evening.

"We've got Potter's cloak, and that's what we came here for, right?"

Lucius kept on walking.

"On the other hand, we certainly blew our cover. But Lupin's so daft, maybe he still thinks we are Potter and Black."

Lucius didn't even blink.

"Anyway, we have to find the real Potter and Black. I met Evans - that's the reason I was late, by the way. She was teasing me about my secret plans for tonight - secret plans with Black!"

Still no response.

"I mean, if Potter runs out on his supposed-to-be-girlfriend on Yule Ball evening - this plan has to be very important! My theory's this: Black, I guess, found out about your plan and started the counterattack, doing the same as we did - namely taking the Polyjuice Potion. They snatched Crabbe and Goyle or they got stuck on their own somewhere, and went out to have fun at our expense. And because those Marauders are so totally into this harmony-thing, they didn't tell Evans and Lupin, because they wouldn't go along with their plan, too risky bla, bla, bla! So, the point is -

Lucius' blow hit him full force. The pain was strong and sickening and he was, despite all his precautions, taken by surprise. Lucius grabbed the collar of his robe and pinned him to the wall. The impact dislocated some pebbles and Lucius' grip was making it hard to breathe. 'That's just great,' Severus managed to think. 'It's banging-Snape-against-the-wall again!'

"Don't do that EVER AGAIN! Am I making myself clear?" Lucius' eyes were blazing.

The answer got stuck in Severus' throat and only made it out of his mouth by sheer willpower. "Yes," he hissed, blood running over his lips. 'First broken nose of the night,' he thought sarcastically. 'What a surprise.'

Lucius brought his face as close as possibly to his, and Severus fiercely held eye contact. "What did you tell Lupin?"

"NOTHING! Just that Black had a fight with McGonagall after Transfiguration class, that he tried to cheat on the double-frog-snail-test, and that he lost points, and that he's in some kind of identity crisis, like 'what am I doing with my life after school', etc." He tried to catch some breath. "If this is about my loyalties - I didn't sell you to the enemy! I was just trying to save - the situation."

Lucius tightened his grip, increasing the pressure on Severus' neck.

"Let GO of me!" He spit the words in Lucius' face, despite knowing that it would be healthier to just sit it out.

"Do you think this is a game? May I remind you that Black is far stronger than Potter! Oh, of course you could poison me with one of your stupid concoctions tomorrow, or next week, but - I think we both know who's depending on whom in our friendship, don't you? You owe me, Severus."

Yes, he did. He remembered his first year at Hogwarts quite well. It was a nightmare - till Lucius became his friend. At first, Severus thought it was because of his good grades, because Lucius could made him do the tricky homework for him. But after some time he realised that there was more to it - respect perhaps, God knows why. Severus was the only person who could talk to Lucius pretty much as he liked, even disrespectful and bad tempered. But only to a certain point, behind which Lucius got mean. He had only crossed this line once before today - not something he wanted to remember. Sometimes he thought that Lucius was, in the real sense of the word, crazy - and dangerous.

"So, did that lousy Evans tell you something else?"

"We ... she and Potter have a date after the ball!"

"Hm, could be useful," Lucius mused. He was still concentrated on staring Severus down. "Good boy!" he said with a jerky smile. Severus glared back at him with a murderous expression and Lucius released him. "I want Black and Potter found! I want them found quickly so they don't get any more chances to walk around as us, losing us points! I want to break their bloody necks!" He sighed heavily. "Metaphorically speaking. We split - you go looking for Crabbe and Goyle. Find out what happened to them. Curse them if necessary. Next, we have to search systematically. I'll go to the Great Hall and Slytherin tower. We meet there in twenty minutes. And clean yourself up, you look horrible. By the way - I was just keeping up with the act when I hugged Lupin, I'm sure you noticed that!" With the last remark he squeezed Severus' shoulder, the storm apparently was over. "And, if you run into Evans or Lupin again, don't be nice, for God's sake!"

"I was only being nice because you wanted that bloody cloak. And with the appropriate result as you should have noticed. I don't think my efforts are properly acknowledged here," he snapped. So they were back to normalcy. Only Severus' anger wasn't gone. But he could hold it back, he always could.

"You'll get your acknowledgement, I promise. Just let's get this over and done with! And give me the cloak."

Passing the cloak to Lucius, Severus wondered what the fact that Lucius was his only friend might say about himself.