26 ~ The Harvest

Revenge, I noticed, was a language girls spoke fluently, especially when boys had been particularly foolish.

     After the Hogsmeade day, a little more than a week had passed. Slowly, a monster called O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s lurked for the fifth- and seventh-years. The library was constantly occupied, just as it was now at this very moment.     I entered the library, where there was bustling activity. The school librarian Madame Stuart looked as though she would soon draw her last breath, which would not be far-fetched. The old woman made her rounds and looked at every witch and wizard as if they were creations of evil itself.

A look that gets under your skin, no, down to the bones.

     And since Madame Stuart was in such a good mood, I avoided the path towards her and turned right into the library. It was Thursday afternoon, yet many people were present. However, I found books on Herbology as well as Charms. I had already given up on Transfiguration.     As I was about to decide to study somewhere else, since Professor Sprout had offered me to use the greenhouse whenever I wanted, which I had already been allowed to do in the summer, I spotted one very particular person. None other than Remus Lupin sat at a table by himself and studied.      For some reason I approached the boy, who was like me, and I noticed that he was not entirely studying.          "In the library eating is forbidden," I explained calmly behind him, and he jolted.     Quickly Remus hid the chocolate bar between his thighs. I had to smirk. The boys had always been annoying, which was why I did not feel bad that I had startled him.          "Phil!" he hissed in one breath.     I stepped to his right. The few books were in front of my chest and I looked into Remus' green eyes, which were widened. I nodded at his words and briefly my smirk turned into a smile, then a quiet laugh.     Remus eyed my lips strangely. It occurred to me that I rarely laughed, or smiled broadly. Recently in Hogsmeade I had returned Remus' smile.     "As long as Madame Stuart doesn't catch me, eating isn't completely forbidden," he explained, and nodded towards the chair next to him at the end of the table. I sat down.     "Very important is that you clean the hand with which you touch the food again before you touch a book. Some books have a protection charm against dirt and begin to screech or close immediately."          While Remus told me this, I took out my writing utensils. I placed my inkwell on the table, took out my notebooks.     When Remus had finished explaining, he eyed the books I had brought with me. "Shouldn't you already know everything about Herbology soon?"     Indeed I had spent the last year learning almost exclusively Herbology. I felt comfortable in this subject, because I was good at it. I also liked Professor Sprout very much. After her I then liked the professor for Care of Magical Creatures Kesselbrand. Slughorn was a strange fellow to me, yet he had not had much to criticise about me so far.           In contrast to Professor Heffordson, who taught Charms.     Since it had become known that I could not fully access my magical powers, he had at least become more lenient and explained more theory to me. He also seemed to speak with Dumbledore about whether I could take my O.W.L.s with more theory. In Transfiguration I did like Professor McGonagall, yet she also knew that I would not pass my O.W.L.s in her subject.

To this day I do not understand Transfiguration.

     In general, however, I did good work, if one considered that I had only been at Hogwarts for a little more than a year. Through my individual lessons, which Dumbledore still held with me when other professors had no time, and through the fact that I did not attend regular classes, I got through the material faster.      Dumbledore had told me that I would take my O.W.L.s alone in the summer, because he wanted to give me more time. That he still wanted to have me in sixth year classes seemed to remain his plan. I had absolutely nothing against it, because I no longer wanted to be excluded from lessons.          "I know," I answered Remus' question and left the world of my thoughts.     My gaze went to the Herbology book, then I looked to the Charms book and pulled my face into a grimace. This gesture was enough for Remus to understand. He was the only one I had told that my magical powers were a total catastrophe. He and his friends were the only ones who knew what I was, and that would remain so.          "I nearly set Heffordson and my cloak on fire at the same time recently. Recently describes yesterday..." I muttered and unscrewed my inkwell.     Remus next to me got twitching corners of his mouth. "If Padfoot or Prongs 'are being annoying again, you should sit down in a room with them," he said meanly and turned a page of the book. With a side glance I noticed that he was studying Arithmancy, so I did not understand it.

I do not even wanna.

     "Lily would be pleased. You lads have been particularly annoying again lately." I opened the Charms book instead of the Herbology book. "Not to forget the exploding taps today in the dungeon."          "Theoretically, we would have been behind it," Remus began and calmly copied down a sentence, "then it was exactly the lesson, after the Slytherins had Potions. All Gryffindors were warned in class that day."     "Tell that to Lily once."          "Lily has been in the toilets in the dungeon?!" asked the boy with the brown hair in shock and I searched for the right page in the book. I nodded in response.     Remus cursed. At that same moment I found the page and let him do it. At least his reaction confirmed that they had been responsible for it, which everyone knew anyway.          "I am supposed to tell you that you and the others should enjoy your time in the dry."     After my words I filled the quill with ink, began to study. Remus, however, sighed, but then he also began to study and we remained silent for the rest of the time, as always.

     When evening came, my head was smoking, Remus decided to stop studying. I followed his lead and soon there would be dinner. Before that I would go to the dormitory, since I did not want to take the few borrowed books into the Great Hall.     I cleared my workspace. Remus waited for me. He often did that, but for the time being I had not questioned it. We did not talk much, mostly like today as well. A few sentences, then it was quiet.

However, I have nothing against it.

     After I had finished and my loan had been approved by Madame Stuart, we stepped out of the library. Together we walked through the corridors of Hogwarts. I caught myself looking back and forth. I still did not feel welcome, but I knew that it was connected to my surname.     Either I got strange looks from others or they did not pay attention to me at all. The latter was preferable to me, yet I had also already grown used to the looks. Today there were fewer, and I believed that it was because of Remus. In general I got fewer looks when I did not walk through Hogwarts alone, and by now it was almost indifferent to me that I drew the attention of others.

Yes, indifferent...

     Later we reached the moving staircases, then the common room. Once inside, the other Marauders sat around the fireplace and surprisingly the girls were present as well. Both groups looked at us.     When Remus went to his friends, the girls waved me over to their corner.          "Phil!" Dorcas hissed. "That took long enough!"     "What took long?" I asked, and my voice was quiet as well. The girls sat on a sofa, then the whispering began.          "Do you know how long we've been sitting here watching the idiots there?" Mare commented. Alice nodded miserably.     "Why are you watching them?" I asked back, did not understand.          "Revenge," came a cool answer. Lily had spoken. She sat in the middle of the couch and looked over the edge of her book. Her green eyes sparkled angrily, then she snapped the book shut.          "Revenge, Phil, sweet revenge," she made clearer and stood up.          "Come, Phil," Dorcas said and dragged me along.     Alice and Mare walked beside Lily and I let it happen. I knew why Lily wanted revenge, yet what this revenge was, I of course did not know. The girls seemed to have come up with a plan during my absence. A plan that confused the boys.     They sat laughing in the armchairs, while Potter and Black sat on a sofa, but their laughter stopped when they noticed that we were approaching. At Lily's icy look even my laughter would have vanished.     The four could not even raise their voices and watched as the girls positioned themselves beside Lily. I stood at the edge to the left beside Dorcas, knew just as much as the boys. My gaze landed on Lily, who gave each of them a deadly look. She drew her wand. Alice, Mare and Dorcas followed her lead.     A blink later the four of them performed the same wand movement. With the matching spell, a separate flood of water poured over each of the boys. And now I understood Lily's words, which I had been supposed to deliver to Remus or some other Marauder.

Enjoy the time in the dry...

     The boys were completely soaked and the others in the common room enjoyed the spectacle. Potter's hair stuck to his face, water dripped from his glasses. Their robes clung to their bodies and all except Remus had jumped up. Pettigrew seemed to have swallowed water, because he coughed. He even hunched his back.           Remus sat still in the armchair, nodding knowingly. He looked down at himself and his hair hung into his face as well, yet he accepted his fate. I caught his gaze, but only briefly, because immediately Black drew everyone's attention.     "What was that for!" he roared and looked like a wet dog.          Yes, fitting.     "Use your head, then you'll figure it out yourself," Lily replied coolly, crossing her arms in front of her chest.          "We deserved it," Remus said calmly.     Lily nodded. "Then ask him," she said, setting herself in motion. We others followed and together we went into our dormitory.

Remus' POV:

     "Yes, we deserved it..." Prongs grumbled, as we were in our dormitory and had already changed. He lay on his back on his bed, stared at the ceiling. His glasses lay beside him and he was thinking too much. Of course, with our prank we had not intended to hit Lily. And of all the people it could have hit, it had been the girl James liked.           Yes, fate had come up with something nice there.     "I still think they shouldn't have done it," Padfoot complained. He wore only trousers and of course had to consider which shirt he wanted to wear to dinner. "I mean, Wormtail nearly drowned in the flood, right?" He looked at Peter, who sat on his bed with a towel on his head. The blond-haired boy nodded eagerly.           I had to laugh.     "Why are you laughing?"          "I just find it funny that you can't admit defeat," I began, "if we had paid better attention to make sure only Slytherins entered the toilets, we would have stayed dry."     "Moony, Padfoot doesn't like logic," James remarked, and the one mentioned snorted. Then he reached for a shirt and put it on. But after he started twitching, he took it off again and reached for the next one.

Yes, one does not have to understand him.In the end, however, he found a black shirt that did not trigger any twitching in him.

     "I can very well lose," Sirius said, made a sweeping hand movement, "we simply have to live with the fact that the girls hate us even more now."          "Great..." Prongs sighed. Since he had admitted his crush on Lily at the lake, he handled it calmly, so no.     Shortly afterwards it became quiet between us and I had to think about Padfoot's words. I did not believe that the girls hated us; we were not that bad. Phil had also behaved normally today. She had even laughed, which I had never seen from her before. At least, when we were alone.     Although Phil had already been at Hogwarts for more than a year, I did not know much about her. Most of the time she spent by herself or with Lily and the other girls. In those situations, however, I never saw Phil talk much with the others either.     A year ago I had resolved to become a person who looked after Phil. However, it had turned out to be more difficult than expected, because often I did not see her, and when I did, she did not speak much. Even when I asked questions, I often received only a nonverbal answer.     She seemed at least able to tolerate me, if she did not sit with me in the library only out of politeness. I also did not know why I wanted to be there for Phil so much. Whether it was because we were both werewolves, or that we Marauders had found Phil, I did not know. Perhaps it was because I wanted to take care of someone, since otherwise I was always the one who needed emotional support from others.      However, Phil did not seem as though she needed that support from me; she seemed to have found it in Lily. Nevertheless, I could not prevent myself from continuing to find her interesting.

Interesting...?

     I could not continue thinking about her. In the next moment something slammed into my face. I startled.          The thing was quickly identified as a pillow and it was Sirius'. I shook my head, glared at him. My three friends, however, were already all standing and wanted to go to dinner.     "All right..." I grumbled, also stood up.          "What are you thinking about so intensely that you don't notice that someone says your name three times?" Padfoot asked.     I only shrugged. "Nothing important," I replied, then quickly put on my shoes and went to the door. In the corridor I ran my hand through my hair, which was still damp, and the others followed.     When we arrived in the common room, we were allowed to enjoy Lily's deadly look once more. The girls were also heading to dinner. With her head held high Lily walked past us and disappeared through the portrait hole to the outside.     "If you really mean it seriously with her, mate, then good luck and strong nerves." Padfoot clapped Prongs on the shoulder. He pulled his face into a grimace, but Sirius was right.      If James really tried to approach Lily, he could only hope that he survived it unharmed.