No Shrinking Violet

Full Moon and Naps - Part 2

'Black. I told him some home truths about his family today and to repay me he set me up to come down here, said it was time for me to satiate my curiosity about where you four go every month.'

He seemed to finally regain his sense as he spoke, and he shrugged me off, he did it surprisingly gently, there was rustling from behind us as Sirius emerged with Peter perched on his head, both still in their Animagus forms. I glanced at James only to turn away immediately with red cheeks.

'For goodness sake James, cover up!' I pleaded.

I traded an awkward look with Severus as Peter and Sirius changed back too and changed into the clothes Sirius had been carrying in his mouth. As soon as the three boys were decent Severus launched himself at Sirius and the two began pummelling each other, James and Peter tried to intervene, but it seemed that Severus was stronger than he looked, and Sirius was running on pure hatred for the Slytherin boy.

When they were finally separated they were each sporting injuries and it was the voice of Dumbledore that had knocked some sense into them. We all stood stock still as we waited for the Headmaster to tell us we were expelled, instead he motioned for us all to follow him to his office, I couldn't even look at Sirius on the walk to the office and when he tried to hold my hand I pulled away from him.

Dumbledore stared at us all from behind his half-moon spectacles, blue eyes roaming each of our faces searching for malicious intent and innocence alike. None of us dared to move, waiting for him to break the silence.

'Mr Snape, would you mind explaining to me why you went down the Whomping Willow tunnel tonight.'

Severus glared at Sirius for a moment, deciding whether to drop him into the abyss of Dumbledore's wrath, with a quick inhale he made his choice and the devious smirk on his face told us all exactly what it was.

'It was Black sir, he told me how to get into the passage and that there would be something interesting waiting for me at the end of the tunnel.' his tone was practically victorious.

'I see, Mr Black, is this true?' the wise old man looked at Sirius with disappointment.

'Yes sir.' Sirius looked down shamefaced.

'Miss Evans, what part did you have in all this?'

My attention was dragged away from my boyfriend as the headmaster spoke to me.

'I saw Severus going down the tunnel, I didn't know it was him at the time though, and I ran out to stop him from getting hurt.' I admitted.

'Very well, Mr Potter, Mr Pettigrew I think you had better go assist Mr Lupin, the night is not yet over, Miss Evans, please return to your dorm. As for you two,' he turned back to Sirius and Severus. 'I think we had better have a chat.'

I gave Sirius one last confused glance before returning to my room where I sat for hours with my muddled thoughts until I saw my friends emerge from the Whomping Willow as the sun began to rise. Once again, I raced from my room, this time running towards the hospital wing.

^.^

Remus was propped up in a bed with bandages around his leg from where Sirius had bitten him, Peter clutched an ice pack against his head and James was sitting at the end of Remus' bed with no shirt on as Poppy bandaged his ribs.

'Are you alright?' I asked them.

'I'm going to throttle your boyfriend.' Remus seethed.

I opened my mouth but closed it again, I didn't know what to say. Sirius had almost killed someone, just because we didn't like Severus didn't mean he deserved to die. I found myself regretting hitting him earlier in the year as I recalled the look of fear on his face last night, how he had trembled under my hands as I comforted him.

'Speak of the devil.' Peter muttered.

Turning around I was faced with Sirius and I found myself backing up to stand next to James who was glaring at his best friend. Hurt flashed across Sirius' face as I backed away from him and he caught the glares his friends were giving him. Poppy finished taping the bandages on James' ribs and left us to have some privacy.

'What the hell were you thinking?' Remus growled.

'I wasn't thinking okay? I was angry at him and I didn't think.'

Sirius ran his hands through his hair with a dark look on his face, I wasn't intending to speak up, but I couldn't stay quiet.

'Do you even care about Remus?' I spat, he turned to look at me with confusion marring his face. 'Did it ever occur to you how he would feel if he hurt someone? Killed someone? Even Severus Snape. Did you ever for one moment think of the fact that he would tear himself apart? Or were you too wrapped up in your own issues? You're supposed to be one of his closest friends and you put him in the most difficult position imaginable! You put all of us in that position!'

I watched his face contort in anger before he spoke.

'Nobody asked you to come running to the rescue Violet! You could have stayed in bed comfortable and cosy!'

'And let someone innocent walk into the werewolf's den? Let Remus hurt someone because he can't control himself when he's the wolf, so he can beat himself up over it for the rest of his life? That's not what friends do Sirius!' my chest was heaving with temper as my blood boiled in my veins, I had never been so angry with Sirius in all the time that I had known him.

'Severus Snape is far from innocent!' he roared.

'That doesn't make a difference! He doesn't deserve what you did, nobody deserves that! What kind of person send someone into that situation knowing they could die?!'

By now we were standing so close our noses were almost touching, screaming at each other, I was surprised Poppy and Madame Helix hadn't come running.

'It was a mistake!'

'A mistake? A mistake is spilling ink on someone's homework or taking someone else's cloak, this was much worse than a mistake! This was -'

'What was it Violet? Say it!' he mocked.

'Attempted murder, you almost killed someone Sirius.' my voice was so low I don't even know how anyone heard me, but they did, and I saw the horror flash through Sirius' eyes before it was masked by anger once again.

'You know where the door is.' he said coldly.

I glanced around to see the other three boys looking at the two of us with a mixture of shock, discomfort and anger.

'Get better soon guys.' I told them with tears in my eyes before leaving the hospital wing. I had no idea what just happened or what it meant for Sirius and me, all I knew was that I needed to get some sleep.