Revenge Most Sweet

"Revenge Most Sweet"

by s1ncer1ty

~* 4: A Game of Chess * ~

"Good night, don't fear,

I always will watch over you, my dear.

Good night, sleep well,

I'll see you with the rest of them in hell.

And so, for now, farewell..."

~~ Toad the Wet Sprocket

Paradoxically, it was Remus Lupin who kept me from pummeling Severus Snape into oblivion, yet at the same time gave me the very idea to take the arrogant, smirking Slytherin out of commission for good.

James and I had been discussing our plan of attack one night over a late-night game of chess in the Gryffindor common room. His nightmares hadn't ended completely, but as he steadily came to terms with the incident that had nearly taken Remus' life, they had started to fade to the background somewhat. And as the dreams abated, he gradually fell back into all our lives, unable to stay distanced from his closest friends forever. Yet James was still something of a night owl, putting off going to bed until exhaustion overcame him completely. Some nights, with the ghosts of the past still fresh and wailing in my mind, I was more than happy to keep James company. And it was a prime opportunity to plot our revenge against Snape without fear of being overheard.

That particular evening, James and I had been arguing over whether it would be better to hex Snape with a particularly painful furnunculus spell or to just outright pound him with our fists, when a light cough and a shuffling of footsteps down the dormitory staircase brought our conversation to a sudden halt. Rubbing at his eyes, Remus descended the stairs, and as he spotted us immediately made his way to our table.

James leaned back in his chair and lifted a hand in greeting to Remus, while I quietly fumed over the chessboard, where a simple mistake had placed me at an undue disadvantage early on. "Couldn't sleep either, could you?"

"I got up for a drink and heard your voices downstairs as I was heading back to bed. Whose turn is it?" Remus asked as he slid with deliberate slowness into a chair beside us. He'd been doing a lot of sitting since returning from his monthly transformation -- something in his joints, particularly in his knees, hadn't completely resettled properly. And, although the chronic, painful-sounding cough had begun to ease in recent days, he was still easily winded by even the simplest walk across the courtyard despite the inhaled restoratives given to him by Madam Pomfrey.

"It's Sirius' turn," James replied with a smirk. "And he's about to get seriously whomped."

I frowned, both at the bad pun and the even worse state of my chess game. Normally, I could beat James blindfolded, but the anger that continued to fester within me -- made all the more exacting as James and I plotted our revenge against Snape -- had distracted me, and not three moves into the game I was already on the defensive.

"May I?" said Remus, an impish grin playing upon his lips.

I shrugged with a noncommittal grunt, and Remus took up a squirming bishop, placing it well away from James' inevitable attack in a move that, even if I had been at my best, would have been difficult to spot. That was Remus' specialty, and also his greatest weakness at chess -- the difficult moves were always painfully apparent to him, while the simplest of strategies often escaped him completely.

"You... wanker!" James sputtered. "That's cheating! You can't do that!"

"You let Remus help you all the time," I said, chuckling to myself. "Fair is fair."

"You don't seem to need Remus' help, though!"

"Can I help it if you're just a basket case when it comes to chess?"

"Bloody prats, both of you," James murmured, pushing his thick glasses up the bridge of his nose as he stared hard at the chessboard.

"I hope I didn't interrupt anything important," said Remus, settling back in his chair with a tiny sigh. "You looked like you were deep in conversation."

"Just deep in scheming what we're going to do to that bastard Snape," James said, more than a little bitterly, picking a knight into his hand and moving it across the board, where it felled one of my pawns in a decidedly brutal swoop. "I suggested hexing him until he runs home crying to his 'Mummy.' Sirius here just wants to lay into him."

"Hmph," I grumbled as I half-contemplated my next move. "It's too bad none of us know the cruciatus curse. Illegal or not, I wouldn't hesitate to use it on that slimy git."

"You'd do no such thing!" Remus suddenly exclaimed, looking quickly between James and me with an expression of horror on his face. "I -- don't want you to do anything to him. Not over this."

"Remus, you can't be serious," I said, blinking. "After what he tried to do to you --"

"It was an accident," he murmured.

James shook his head quickly. "No, Remus. That was no accident. We all know it wasn't. Don't delude yourself that it was."

"I -- I'm not deluding myself. I know it wasn't an accident," Remus said, his cheeks beginning to color in a mix of frustration and embarrassment. "I know it wasn't, you two know it wasn't, maybe even Peter knows it. But the rest of the school doesn't have to."

"Come on, Remus, don't tell me that you don't think tall, dark, and greasy doesn't deserve what's coming to him!" I said with a frown.

"Whether or not he deserves it is irrelevant," said Remus quietly. "If you go after him, it will only make things look more suspicious. Like what happened wasn't an accident. As long as everyone still thinks that it wasn't done deliberately, then... then we're safe."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this..." I began, but James silenced my anger with a wave of his hand.

"No, he has a point. Why draw attention to ourselves?" said James.

"We do that anyway," I groused, fingers poking at a pawn that poked back.

"Sirius, we can't do anything that might put Remus at risk of discovery for what he is. What happened with Snape was close enough. You said it yourself -- he already knows more than he should."

Remus colored at James' words, but held firm. "Please, promise me you won't go after Severus to try to hurt him."

"Remus, no --" I protested, my cheeks reddening with pent up anger.

"Promise me." There was an oddly chilly tone to Remus' voice, and I knew that he was dead serious.

I bit my lip. "I -- I promise, Remus. But don't you dare expect me to like it."

"I wasn't asking you to," he snapped, glaring at me for a moment more before the steely expression in his eyes faded to a soft smile, and he was once again our quietly gentle, subtly intelligent Remus Lupin. Our tame werewolf, our best friend. "Thank you, Sirius."

I tried to ignore the hard gaze of James upon me as I contemplated my next move. Yet despite the assessing glare and the intrusive squeaks of a nearby pawn eager to do battle, my heart was no longer into the game. It had moved far beyond a mere game of chess -- it was now our lives and our sanity at stake.

An accident. It had to be an accident. And Remus had only made me promise that I wouldn't go after Snape...

The pieces had to fall just right. It was only a matter of how, and when. Until then, there would be no completion.

~*~

Professor Dumbledore had excused Remus from potions class for the remainder of the term, much to the chagrin of Adder, and permitted him a session of independent study in its place. With Remus now absent, Adder took his frustrations out upon myself in particular and, to a lesser degree, my "cohorts" James and Peter. Each class only managed to lose more points from Gryffindor, as Adder seemed to delight in seeing just how far he could push me before I would break.

"You call that an infusion, Mr. Black?" he sneered at me one day, hovering fast over my shoulder, where my shrinking potion bubbled within its cauldron. "It looks like nothing more than the gruel they serve in the House Elves' quarters."

"Only gruel, eh?" I muttered through clenched teeth and a saccharine smile. "I'd been going for porridge. I suppose I'll have to work harder."

Adder smiled coldly, marked down a sufficient number of demerits onto a parchment, and again paired me with Severus Snape -- the one student who could be counted upon to give any purportedly inferior potions student the hardest time. This time, it was permanent. I was to be stuck with Snape for the remainder of the year. While certainly less than ideal when it came to class performance, it was a situation I knew immediately could be turned to my advantage.

Oh, I'd thought about my revenge for the longest time. I'd schemed, backtracked, and resolved for weeks that Snape would get what was coming to him, regardless of the promise I'd made to Remus. After all, he had only asked that I not go after the Slytherin greaseball directly.

I told no one of my machinations, not even James -- not when there was the chance that one of them could try to talk me out of it, or might restrain me from exacting my revenge. It would truly be an accident, just as much as Snape's own attack upon us had been an "accident." He would not get away with hurting Remus, nor for giving James the nightmares that still wracked nearly every night of his sleep, nor for nearly shattering our group of friends.

And as the final parts of my plan sprung to life within my mind, I waited with an almost overwhelming impatience to set the workings into motion. The second full moon after Remus' near-demise could not come soon enough -- and it was during another hideous double session of Potions with House Slytherin that it finally arrived, bringing with it my one chance of the month to exact sweet revenge upon Severus Snape.

My heart was pounding in my chest with combined fear and malicious anticipation as I prepared the ingredients of our potion and handed them one at a time to Snape, who, blissfully unaware, dropped them into a simmering cauldron.

"You're curious about Remus Lupin, are you?" I whispered across our workstation, where I was ignoring the sharp cries of a Kleffa root as I chopped the sentient carrot-like plant into small bits.

Snape tilted his inky, half-lidded black eyes towards me. "What does it matter to you?" he hissed.

"It matters plenty," I said as I passed him several neatly chopped pieces of still-squirming Kleffa root. "You certainly seem to think you know enough about him. If you ask me, you don't know quite enough."

"If you ask me, Black, it's none of your concern."

"Oh, it's my concern, alright," I murmured easily. "I guess you think you have the answer, what with your dropping that beaker of silver dust last month. Convenient, wasn't it?"

Snape didn't answer, only snatched away the large wooden spoon and began scraping the thick film forming at the edge of the cauldron. The whole time, his black, assessing eyes never left my face.

"If it means so much to you to know Remus' deep, dark secret..." I whispered, leaning forward conspiratorially, speaking above the rapid fluttering of my heart. "Tonight as the sun is going down, head to the Whomping Willow. Keep out of sight... You'll see Madam Pomfrey escorting Remus there. When the coast is clear, go to the Willow and touch the knot with a stick -- that will freeze the tree. Then, follow the passageway beneath its roots."

"And from there...?"

"There, you'll find what you're looking for. Though I must warn you -- this knowledge has a price. I hope you're willing to pay."

"Tell me, Black, why should I believe you?" Snape hissed, staring at me coldly.

"I suppose you have no reason to," I returned smoothly and tossed some more bits of Kleffa root into the potion, watching as it fizzed to the edges of the cauldron. "But, if you don't want to put your curiosity to rest..."

"Shut up, Black. And stop adding so much Kleffa. I refuse to have this potion detonate over me because of your incompetence."

We didn't speak for the remainder of the class, save for the simplest of directions to work our way through another tortuous potions class. But I knew he would go -- there was no way he wouldn't go, if only to satisfy his overwhelming curiosity. And when he saw Madam Pomfrey leading Remus to his monthly safehouse, he would be sure to follow inside.

No evidence. No guilt. Snape was as good as gone. He'd taken the bait. And soon he'd be the one caught in his own 'accidental' trap.

~*~

At the end of classes and after supper, I followed on silent feet after Snape, keeping far enough behind as he dashed through the teeming hallways and out one of the side doors. Cracking the door ever so slightly, I watched as the wicked Slytherin darted across the field leading towards the Quiddich pitch towards the Forbidden Forest -- where soon Madam Pomfrey would be escorting Remus to a wrenching transformation within the heart of the Whomping Willow.

I couldn't help but smile to myself as I crept back inside and returned to the Gryffindor common room, where everyone -- save Remus -- was recovering from a harrowing day of classes and hard work. James was fine-tuning his broomstick in preparation for this weekend's Quiddich match; Peter was furrowed deep into a losing game of chess with a smirking Mundungus Fletcher; and I was beside myself with malicious amusement. Despite my resolve not to speak a word of this to anyone, I couldn't help myself -- in my overwhelming pride of what I'd accomplished, I simply had to tell someone of my victory.

"I just want you to know, Mr. Potter," I announced as fell into the soft chair beside James, "I have officially done my bad deed for the day!"

"Have you now?" James asked, not bothering to look up as he tinkered with the broomstick in his lap. His lips quirked into a slight grin. "Spill it, then."

"I caught slimy, dark, and hook-nosed in Potions today. I told him exactly where he can go," I said, leaning forward with a wicked grin.

"That's not officially a bad deed, you know, Sirius," said James offhandedly. "We tell Snape to go to hell literally every day."

"No, I didn't tell him off. Not this time around." Lowering my voice, I whispered to James conspiratorially, "I told him about the secret passageway at the Whomping Willow. I told him to follow Remus there tonight. Can you believe it? The sucker fell for it."

Suddenly, James snapped his head up, eyes wide behind his horn-rimmed glasses. "Sirius, you did what?" he whispered.

"It serves him right, after what he did to Remus. Snape has had this coming for over a month now."

"But tonight is the full moon! Remus isn't safe to be around tonight!" James continued in a horrified whisper. "Snape could be killed!"

"So what if he is, then?" I snapped. "After what he did--"

"You can't just let him go to his death! What about your promise? Remus could be found out!"

"For pity's sake, James, Snape tried to kill Remus!" My voice resounded desperately through the common room. As various heads popped up from whatever they'd been doing to stare at me, I dropped my tone once again and whispered to James, "It will be an accident. A complete and total accident."

With a shake of his head, James leapt to his feet and leaned forward, hissing in my face, "If he dies, Sirius Black, his blood will be on your hands."

"Then so be it." I uttered, glaring up at James in slow, smouldering anger. "I'm merely watching out for one of our own."

"I don't believe you. I just don't..." Without another word, he turned upon his heels, robes spinning in a great, black arc behind him, and James bolted towards the exit.

I didn't understand -- why would James, of all people, want to look after Snape's well-being? Especially after nearly killing a fellow Marauder... The git was getting what was coming to him! Well, James would be on his own if he were that intent upon saving the day. With a low growl, I pushed myself from my chair and started up staircase to the dormitory, ignoring the muted stares from my fellow classmates.

The dormitory and its rows of four-poster beds were empty, and I threw my schoolbooks angrily to my bed. I was preparing to throw on my cloak, to get far, far from the likes of anyone, when a soft voice behind me stopped me dead in my tracks.

"Sirius, don't you ever stop to think?" Spinning on my heel, I beheld short, pudgy Peter Pettigrew staring at me with wide, yet hesitant, eyes. Peter, whom we'd cast into the background of our group in the wake of Remus' and James' suffering, was now the first to speak up after overhearing the heated argument between myself and James.

"What?" I demanded, lacing my arms across my chest. Peter never disputed me, and his words only brought my anger closer to the surface.

"It's just --" he stammered at first, before uttering in a breathless rush, "Did you ever stop to think about Remus?"

"What about Remus?" I snap, and Peter flinched away from my slow-burning anger.

"What I mean to say is --" he stammered beneath my stony glare. "Did you ever stop to wonder what Remus is going to feel? When he awakens tomorrow and finds Snape dead by his own hand?"

"Huh?" I blinked, for the moment only understanding Peter's statements on a base level. I didn't want to think about them. Yet I couldn't stop the disturbing thought from flitting across my mind -- what would Remus think when he awoke the next morning?

"And what do you think is going to happen to Remus, once it's discovered that he did kill someone?" Peter swiftly continued, taking fast advantage of my stunned silence. "He won't be allowed to remain at Hogwarts, you know."

"Do you believe Professor Dumbledore would fault Remus?" I said in a suspicious murmur. "If it were Snape's overwhelming curiosity that led him there -- if it were an accident --"

"But it was you who led him there," Peter added. "And it certainly wouldn't be an accident. It would have to be covered up. Dumbledore wouldn't let something like a student's murder go public. Otherwise, the school would never see the end of angry owls and Howlers from panicked parents."

"No," I muttered with a swift, denying shake of my head. It wouldn't dawn upon me. It couldn't. I wouldn't let it spoil what should have been my shining moment of revenge... "No, Peter. It wouldn't be like that. It couldn't be considered murder, could it?"

He went on as if he hadn't even heard me speak. "But really, Sirius, it isn't the aftermath that really worries me. It's what something like this would do to Remus. I don't know about you, but I think it would just kill him."

"I only wanted revenge against Snape, for what he did to Remus, and to James, even to you," I whispered tremulously.

"You got your revenge, but you got it at Remus' expense," Peter added, his eyes narrowing as he began to realize the brevity of his own words. "And, Sirius, I think that is... is..."

"Unforgivable," I finished for him. Oh, God... I understand. In my rage against Snape, I hadn't bothered to imagine what Remus' reaction might be when he awoke and discovered that he'd killed another student while under the wiles of an uncontrollable dementia brought on by the full moon. I'd twisted a simple request of his for mercy, for the ability to keep his lycanthropy from becoming a widespread secret, and warped it to my own advantage. I'd deluded myself into thinking that by hurting Snape, I would end our own wave of hurting, and didn't stop to think of the consequences that might arise for the one whose suffering I was trying the hardest to alleviate.

"Come on. We need to go and help Jamie. And you need to stop whatever it is you set in motion."

"I think you're right," I murmured, before dashing towards the door leading to the Gryffindor common room and out the portal into the school proper, Peter following fast on my heels. "Peter, I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me," he uttered as he ran. "The one you'll want to apologize to would be Remus. And James. If they even make it through the night."

And for the first time in over a month, I no longer cursed neither Snape nor the wiles of fate for breaking our group of friends down -- but instead, I cursed myself. The Marauders would never again be the same, and it was because of me -- for truly, I was no better than Snape, and I deserved no such friendship from any of them. As Peter and I sprinted through the halls, out the great entryway and across the Quiddich pitch to the path leading to the Whomping Willow, I hoped against all hope that we would reach James in time to save him and Remus from what may very well have been the biggest mistake of my life...

finis