Chapter Two

'Open up, fat boy.' Sirius hammered again on the bathroom door. 'I'm dying for a piss and Hermione won't let me have a slash in the kitchen sink.'

'Go away, Black,' Lucius's voice issued lazily from the inside. 'I'm sure you must have other bathrooms in this tip you call a house.'

'I can't find them; Kreacher keeps hiding them.' Sirius gasped; he really needed to pee. 'What the fuck are you doing in there anyway?'

Lucius pulled the door aside so quickly that Sirius almost fell into the bathroom; it was so full of steam that he could hardly see. He gave the naked Slytherin an up and down look, from the bare feet to the damp silver-blond hair. 'I see you haven't shrunk anyway,' he growled as he pushed past him, fiddling with the buttons of his trousers.

'Why didn't you just turn into a dog and go out and piss against a lamppost?' Malfoy drawled from the doorway.

'Why don't you keep that smart mouth of yours shut?' Sirius called over his shoulder.

'Hurry up, Black; don't take all day. I want to get shaved and dressed,' Lucius snapped. 'This dump is freezing.'

Sirius began to button up his trousers. He ran the hot tap for a moment, until it became evident that Lucius had used all of the available hot water; he searched for a towel and found that they were all scattered damply on the floor. 'You only just got here, you fat tart,' he complained. 'Couldn't you have arrived clean and left some water for someone else?'

'You're a wizard, Black, or so you would have us believe; why don't you make some more?' Malfoy turned away as a door closed further along the corridor.

'And don't use my razor to shave your legs, Shirley,' Sirius snarled back at him from inside the bathroom.

'That's a pretty sight on a cold day.' Lupin's voice came wafting along; it seemed to be laced with amusement and something Sirius couldn't quite place. 'Is this the Malfoy version of hanging around on a street corner?'

Sirius frowned to himself as he saw the still-naked Lucius give what looked like a tiny warning shake of his head. He was about to give that some thought when he heard a screeching, which could only have come from Kreacher, issuing from the direction of the kitchen; he hoped someone had strangled him.

*****

Draco had kicked the elf into a corner by the time Sirius got back downstairs, and he and Harry were trying to scrape a grey gluey mess, which appeared to be sticking to the floor, into a cup.

Sirius looked at it, and looked at the two boys. 'Don't tell me that's Lupin's Wolfsbane.'

'That was Lupin's Wolfsbane,' Harry said flatly.

'How did he get it?' Lupin asked from behind Sirius. Sirius thought he sounded a little panicked.

The two boys shrugged, but Sirius had already grabbed Kreacher at the neck of his tea towel, and his huge eyes were bulging even more than normal.

'What in the name of all that is sacred is going on?' Snape's voice sounded over the cacophony of screaming elf and master as he appeared in the doorway.

'This ... fucking ... shitebag ... of a ... traitorous ... piece ... of shite ...' Sirius punctuated almost every word with a slap on the elf's head. '...Has stolen Lupin's Wolfsbane, and flung it over the floor.'

*****

Malfoy looked at his plate with an unusual lack of enthusiasm. 'Might one enquire as to just what species this was when it was alive?'

Sirius gave him a hard look. 'A fucking dodo, eat it up like a good boy. It's good for you.'

Harry snorted into his glass of cola as Hermione nudged Ron, and Draco rolled his eyes.

'If I don't know what it is, how am I supposed to eat it?' Lucius asked, oblivious to the fact that he didn't make any more sense than he usually did.

'For a man who seems to believe that the food chain begins on his plate, you are being a touch pedantic, Lucius,' Snape said from the opposite side of the table, where he sat smoking a thin black cigarette.

'I don't see you making any attempt.'

'I am not hungry. Anyway, Lupin and I shall have to stay the night at Hogwarts now; it's too late in the day to make it there and back on time.' He gave Kreacher a venomous look to where he was sniggering under the sink. 'I am quite sure that the Hogwarts elves will be able to produce something edible.' He managed not to raise his eyebrow at greyish meat the rest of them were chewing bravely.

'If we get a move on I can eat at Hogwarts too.' Lupin smiled and pushed his own plate away, with what looked to Sirius like relief. 'It'll be quiet there anyway.' He cast a glance at the window to where the dusk was already falling in counties far to the east, dragging his kind to their torment. Winter nights were the hardest; the moon rode in the sky for a long time on winter nights.

Sirius watched Lucius; he didn't look too pleased with the prospect of being left behind, he clearly didn't fancy Snape abandoning him so soon after arriving. He grinned to himself; maybe he'd give the fat bimbo one while Lupin and Snape were away; at least he'd get up close and personal with one Slytherin, even if it were the wrong one. He didn't realise Snape was watching him until he caught his eye; for a moment Sirius thought he read confusion in the black depths as Severus looked away quickly. Maybe he wouldn't do Malfoy after all; maybe he'd just wait another twenty years for Severus.

*****

'I could kill that ruddy elf,' Harry fumed. 'Now we'll have to wait until tomorrow to try this stuff out.' He picked up the bottle of green liquid and shook it before giving Ron a look. 'Are Fred and George sure this won't kill them?'

'Oh, yeah, it's just a strong aphrodisiac with some kind of charm in it. They said they've tried it out on themselves.'

'You didn't tell me that,' Harry said. 'What happened?'

'They didn't remember much about it, but they both woke up with hangovers in the same bed.'

'That doesn't say much,' Draco said with evident disappointment.

'It does when Fred had locked George at the other end of the house before they took it.' Ron gave him a sly grin.

'Why don't we try it on Sirius and Lucius?' Draco beamed. 'At least they won't be at one another's throats all night.'

'Err, I'm not sure the alternative is acceptable.' Harry smiled slowly; he didn't want to admit the plan had some merits any more than he wanted to admit that he was actually quite pleased that Draco had come after all. He'd been a bit nervous about trying to spike Snape's food with anything that might turn him green or dead; he would be the automatic choice to get the blame. Now that Malfoy was here Harry could shift some of the responsibility onto his more than deserving shoulders.

*****

Lupin paced the floor of Snape's rooms as the Potions Master tried to read. Dusk was falling fast and the moon would be rising soon. This was always the worst time: the anticipation, the fear that just maybe this time the Wolfsbane wouldn't work. He wished he were alone, and yet he craved the company of even this cold and occasionally hostile man.

'Sit down, Lupin. I can't concentrate with you pacing up and down.'

Lupin continued pacing, padding across the floor and back, marking time to something else, as Snape watched him. Severus laid the book aside as he placed something that had been tugging at the edges of his consciousness for a long time. He waited until the werewolf's back was to him.

'Can I ask you a personal question?'

Lupin spun, confused for a moment. 'Perhaps I don't want to answer any personal questions,' he replied, with a telltale hint of the aggression he'd been trying to suppress all day.

'Perhaps I shall ask it anyway,' Snape replied. 'How long has it been going on for?'

'What do you mean?' The werewolf flushed slightly, clearly uncomfortable as he dropped his gold-flecked eyes.

'How long have you been having an affair with Lucius?'

Lupin seemed about to deny it, and then appeared to see the futility in that. 'How long have you known?'

'I didn't know. Not until just now,' Snape said quietly. 'I have long suspected that Lucius had a fancy for you, for want of a more appropriate expression, but that was all I thought it was. I confess to being surprised.'

'That he should soil himself with half-blood?' Lupin challenged in a way that was quite unlike him on days when the moon wasn't tugging at his awareness. 'Werewolf half-blood.'

'No ... I am surprised he was able to keep the secret from me.' Snape smirked. 'Discretion is not normally his long suit.'

The werewolf seemed mollified; he gave a self-deprecating little laugh, as though acknowledging that he'd overreacted. Lupin found his moods very difficult to control as the moon rose somewhere beyond another horizon, creeping inexorably nearer to sweep him into her merciless path.

'How long?' Snape raised his eyebrow.

'A long time. I'm good at keeping secrets.' Lupin seemed to smile to himself. 'I've had a lot of practice.'

*****

Sirius was beginning to wish Dumbledore had never started whatever stupid scheme he had embarked upon; this was turning out to be about as lousy a Christmas as he usually had. Lupin was away at Hogwarts, and he didn't even have the pleasure of goading Snape. Harry seemed preoccupied, and he hardly saw him; Ron and Hermione were constantly chatting to one another in confidential whispers; and even insulting Lucius had lost a lot of its merits now that he didn't have an audience.

He'd reached the bottom of the stairs when he heard the Slytherin's voice issuing from the kitchen; he knew the others were upstairs. Lucius must have begun to talk to himself; all that inbreeding, he supposed.

'I am not staying here,' Malfoy's voice had risen to a whine.

'Yes, you are, Lucius. You will stay here until I am satisfied that every one of you has his or her special wish.'

Sirius recognised the annoyingly placating voice of the dead Headmaster.

'My special wish is that I am back at the manor before the night is out, Dumbledore.'

Sirius pushed the door open. 'Mine too,' he said flatly and gave Lucius a hard look.

'I confess I had not allowed for the outside influence of the elf,' Dumbledore said mildly. 'Never mind though. Perhaps it is for the best that Lupin has the peace of Hogwarts for his change tonight. We can begin again tomorrow.'

'Begin what?' Lucius flared. 'I have no interest in some foolish game.'

'You'll be interested in this one.' Dumbledore seemed to sit back in the portrait. He smiled across to the door in some type of satisfaction as the kitchen door opened again and Draco and Harry came in, with Ron a few steps behind. Sirius noticed that he had subconsciously thought of Draco and Harry and then added Ron as a rider, instead of the other way about. He frowned to himself.

'Let's play cards,' Draco said brightly.

'Let's not bother.' Lucius twisted his lip at the boy.

'Do you have to be so unpleasant?' Draco asked mildly.

'Unpleasant?' Lucius looked at him in surprise, and then gave the horrible kitchen a sweeping glance. 'In view of my surroundings, anything I say or do should be considered pleasant.'

'I don't even know what that means,' Sirius snarled.

'Stop it, both of you,' Harry flared. 'You've no idea how boring and childish you sound.

Sirius looked surprised, and Lucius moved to the door in preparation for a grand exit.

'Where's Hermione?' Sirius asked the boys, as Malfoy flung the door open.

'She's found some doxies upstairs,' Ron replied.

Sirius watched Lucius back away quickly from the door. 'Where?' he asked, as he dragged a hand through his almost-white mass of hair.

Sirius noticed his hysteria with satisfaction. 'I cleared most of them out of your room, fat boy, don't worry,' he said. Perhaps there was a little fun to be had with Malfoy, after all.

'Just once more with the smart remarks, Animagus.' Malfoy flared his nostrils. 'And I'll hex you into next week.'

'Have a drink and relax,' Draco said smoothly, as he handed his father a glass and Harry handed one to Sirius. Both men tossed the drinks over their throats, glaring at one another as the two boys took a backward step and watched them carefully, and Dumbledore frowned out of the portrait.

*****