39 ~ Revenge as a Makeshift Cure

Laughing felt good, even if nothing was truly fixed

Phil's POV:

     I was sitting in one of the study rooms on the fourth floor, since it was slowly getting too cold outside. It was Friday and tomorrow was full moon. For that reason I could concentrate very well, so no.

I want to sleep...

     Unfortunately, I could not, because I had to work on an essay for Care of Magical Creatures. We had to hand it in on Monday and I knew that I would not feel well after full moon. That was why I tried to get everything useful out of my head, but as I said, I failed.     My head dropped down next to my parchment onto the tabletop. I wanted to close my eyes when something hit me on the head.          I startled immediately and sat bolt upright. A chocolate bar had landed beside me.     "You look like shit, eat something," I heard a voice that sounded unusually kind. So it was no surprise that it belonged to Elizabeth. The Slytherin stood in front of me and nodded towards the chocolate bar.      Slowly I reached for it. Elizabeth sat down opposite me.          "You really look like shit, did you even sleep?" she leaned forward to study me. I tensed, hoping she would not make any connection to full moon.     "I have had a lot on my mind lately," I said after taking a bite of the chocolate.

Only half a lie.

     "You argued with the brainless ones, didn't you?" came the question that hit the mark. For a moment I was surprised, but all of Hogwarts knew that Elizabeth Lestrange was always well informed.          "It was more of a disagreement."     "Same thing. They hurt you with their words?"          I nodded and took another bite of the bar. "They interfere in my life," I made clear.      My companion had pulled one foot onto the seat of the chair, then she nodded. "The idiots always love interfering. Severus and I have been victims of their childish pranks often enough, but that is exactly what we should do. We take revenge on them, well you do, but I will help. I have many unfinished scores with them."          "Judging by that look on your face, what are you planning to do? Poison their tea?"     Laughter sounded in response. Loud laughter, which earned the girl irritated looks from the students studying nearby.     "I keep noticing that Gryffindors have darker thoughts than Slytherins," Elizabeth said cheerfully, "but I was thinking of a normal prank, even though your suggestion would solve the problem forever."     Slightly embarrassed, I shrugged my shoulders, then Elizabeth explained her plan, which sounded extremely good. She also seemed to have planned it for quite some time.

     So she told me about her plan and we got to work. Quickly we left the study room and stored our bags away. I had gone to my dormitory and Elizabeth had fetched what she needed from her room.      The Gryffindors would have Quidditch training late in the afternoon, which was the most important part of our plan. It involved a very specific item called magical itching powder.     Magical because it was itching powder that behaved like fleas. Once on clothing it later came alive through body heat and spread rapidly, jumping onto others. It even passed through clothing.

Yes, very nasty, but Elizabeth seems determined to slip it to Black and Potter, went through my mind.

     Pettigrew and Lupin were present at almost every Gryffindor training session. So when the other two came out of the changing rooms, the magic would begin.     However, the plan required that we get into the boys' changing room unnoticed and back out again, which according to Elizabeth would not be a problem. We would also have to hide on one of the Quidditch towers afterwards, where we would have the best seats to watch our prank.     And that Elizabeth simply wanted to see Black suffer was obvious. I, on the other hand, was not a great fan of this action, but the Slytherin wanted to cheer me up, even if this revenge would only serve as a temporary plaster.     That a prank would not harm the boys, however, was obvious. They would most likely only make a connection to Lestrange, because they would not imagine that I would play a prank on them.

Good for me.

     I left the world of my thoughts when I noticed footsteps beside me. I was on the ground floor and Elizabeth came towards me from the dungeons.     "This is going to be brilliant, ah," she said happily and we started walking, "Black will hopefully scream like a girl. Great that you're doing this with me, here have another bar."     She pressed the sweet into my hand and I felt like a dog. I had known Elizabeth for too short a time to realise that this was how she showed affection towards other people.          "Thanks," I replied and continued to follow Elizabeth.     We walked out of the castle and still received strange looks. The other students of Hogwarts found the sight of a Gryffindor and a Slytherin interesting, and it was.     I still did not know what to make of it, but I would continue to follow my instincts. For me, Elizabeth's company was not a bad thing.With that thought we left the castle and drew closer to the Quidditch pitch.

But is it the right thing to do?Will I feel better after a prank?     Hardly, yet I did it anyway. I had agreed and for that reason I would go through with it. At most I simply would not laugh. Yes, we could get caught, but my instincts told me that Elizabeth knew what she was doing. They also told me that a Lestrange would never carry out a plan if she was not convinced of its success.

     A little later we reached the Quidditch pitch. The towers rose before us. It was always a breathtaking sight. The sky was overcast today and against this grey canvas figures on brooms stood out. Gryffindor was training; the Quidditch season would soon begin.     "So, act inconspicuous," the dark-haired girl beside me said quietly, conspiratorially, and we stepped onto the pitch, but immediately turned left and disappeared from the others' view. Elizabeth squeezed herself under the stands, which were normally reached by stairs.      The girl, however, seemed to want to sneak to the changing rooms from below, which made sense, because otherwise we would have had to walk along the edge of the pitch.          "Come," she urged me and her green eyes sparkled in the darkness.     I nodded and squeezed myself through two wooden beams as well, then stood with the Slytherin beneath the stands.     It was dim and the wooden structure pressed down on our heads. The wooden beams all looked intact, so I did not fear a collapse. And since today was only training, the towers and stands were empty.     We did not have to walk long because the changing rooms were nearby. For that reason I looked through the wood towards the pitch. A queasy feeling settled in my stomach.     "How are you going to get into the changing rooms now?" I whispered, but Elizabeth only glanced over her shoulder and placed a finger on her lips. We had reached the changing rooms, only needing to step out from under the stands and slip inside unnoticed.     "Spells," she whispered in response, "I am not very good yet, but I can cast a small protective spell in front of the changing room. It only lasts a very short time, since it is not anchored anywhere, but long enough for you. You run, hold the door slightly open, then I enchant one of the players' brooms, cast another shield and you open the door further. The distraction alone will probably be enough."     Speechless, I looked at Elizabeth.           She laughed quietly.     "What?" she asked, "Do you think my parents do not force me as a Lestrange to learn spells? My older brother's wand is very similar to mine, I practise with it during the summer so the Ministry does not notice that an underage witch is casting spells. Actually the Ministry only detects spells in certain areas, so I could also use my own wand, but better safe than sorry. Muggle-borns can never cast spells during the holidays because it is the only magic from their homes and they are not allowed to cast spells as minors. Interesting, but this is not about those differences. What matters is that I know many spells, and you do not need to know more than that," she added with a wink.     I could only nod because her words made sense. For a moment, however, I felt guilty that I had to wonder whether she also learned the Dark Arts from her parents.     I shook my head and pushed those thoughts aside. It could begin.

     Surprisingly, a few moments later we were in the boys' changing room and I looked around curiously.          "Boys are not clean creatures," Elizabeth said disdainfully and wrinkled her nose, "but let us see where Mongrel's clothes are. Accio Sirius Black's trousers."     She swung her wand and from the corner on the right a pair of trousers came flying. The girl dodged them and then picked them up by the trouser leg.     "Let us begin," she said, slowly walking to the place where Potter and Black had rid themselves of their clothes, "Oh, it just keeps getting better!" Elizabeth rejoiced and held up a pair of underpants. My eyes also fell on the black boxers, but what was supposed to be so great about them, I did not know.     "Don't look like that, sacrifices have to be made for good pranks," she laughed.          Her laughter quickly faded, however, because we were not allowed to be loud.     "Very little of the powder is enough, since it multiplies quickly," she explained, and when the white powder landed on the black fabric, it adapted to the surface, "I took the one with the slow effect especially. Better safe than sorry."     After the boxers came Black's trousers, then his shirt and even his socks. Elizabeth was somewhat more merciful with Potter, since he had not taken off his own jeans for training - only Black seemed to be the fussy one of the two, since he had brought a complete change of clothes.     "I would never have thought Black would insist on cleanliness, although, with his hair he does look very feminine," Elizabeth said with a nasty grin and I noticed that she was a person who was always talking. It did not bother me, since I liked being silent.     "Maybe he also has a shag appointment afterwards, who knows." she shrugged her shoulders, as a result she reached for Potter's shirt, his spare socks followed.          "Do you see it as your own revenge?" I asked. Glittering eyes met mine.     "Well, they hurt you, but yes, Black would have been enough for me at least-" she broke off, "Ooh, what is that?" Delighted, Elizabeth reached into Black's shoulder bag and pulled out a packet of wine gums.     "We're taking thoshe with us as a reward," she smacked and helped herself to the sweets, "We'll have to wait on the tower for a while anyway," her voice sounded normal again when she had swallowed, putting the packet of wine gums into her black coat.          "Why wait?"     "We must not risk the brainless ones finding out that we left the pitch shortly after their training. Slytherin has training in an hour, then we simply walk back to the castle calmly. Before that, however, we will watch the spectacle. They will probably run screaming into the castle, ha, ha!"     Her familiar laughter left her throat. As a result we had to disappear, which was no problem with Elizabeth's magic. This time she enchanted a Bludger that would almost have knocked Dorcas off her broom, but she caught herself. So did Potter, whose stomach the Bludger had flown into. Yes, Elizabeth was a Slytherin.

     I took a bite of the chocolate bar. Elizabeth lay on her back beside me, throwing Black's sweets into her mouth. We were sitting with our backs to the wall that belonged to the spectator tower. Above us was a protective spell from Elizabeth and of course I had not known that such spells existed, since I did not attend Defence Against the Dark Arts. Elizabeth's shield that made us invisible held perfectly, since she had attached it to the wood. It also made clear that she was a talented witch at sixteen years old.     "The problem is that we have to burn the wine gum packet," the Slytherin beside me said.          I raised a brow, taking another bite of the bar.     "If Black sees that his sweets are missing, he might get them with Accio. I do not want them to know that we are on the tower."          I nodded in understanding, therefore she burned the empty packet, though she still memorised the name of the flavour.     "I never thought that this mongrel would ever bring me anything good, but I'll buy these next time too when I'm in Hogsmeade."The packet caught fire and burned. Elizabeth rubbed the ash with her shoe, staining the wood black.

Besides theft and assault, we can now add property damage to the list, brilliant.

     With these thoughts I looked at the black mark and the dark-haired girl ate the last wine gums that were in her hand. Afterwards she strangely checked her whole body.     "Everything has to sit tightly against my body," she explained her actions, "The glorious Marauders will think it was me, so they must not be able to get anything with a Summoning Charm. They will probably flee into the castle anyway, since the powder is unbearable, but still. Mistakes cost lives in the worst case."          I nodded again, but this time Elizabeth seemed paranoid to me.     "But enough of the Lestrange family philosophies, let us admire our work."          With these words she rose, just barely looking over the wooden wall. She probably did not trust her spell entirely.     My eyes peered over the partition as well and the team had stopped training some time ago. The first ones came out of the changing room and on the stands I recognised familiar faces. Rem-, Lupin and Pettigrew moved towards the pitch, then it happened; everything went according to plan.     Shortly afterwards Black and Potter came out of the changing room. They approached their friends, with Lupin looking every bit worthy of the coming full moon. Why he was not in his bed today, I did not know, but I was on my feet as well.          "Oh, I feel a tingle in my stomach," Elizabeth rejoiced in a nasty voice. Her grin was deceitful.     I took my gaze away from her grin. Tense, I stared down at the pitch. The Marauders came together and exchanged a few words. Black seemed to be talking about training, until it happened.     Suddenly Potter shook his right leg, then jumped onto his left and cried out. His friends looked at him in shock. Lupin supported him, but his hand touched Potter's back - a mistake. There too the powder began to take effect and the boy shook his hand. It did not take long before Potter was jumping from leg to leg and scratching his upper body.     "Scratching warms the powder even more," Elizabeth whispered beside me, but then she had to press her hands over her mouth. Black got an itch in his crotch and his face was unbeatable. He cried out, did a hopping dance as if he desperately needed the toilet.

Hilarious.

     As a result the prank unleashed its full effect: Potter's head turned red, he threw off his shirt along with his jumper, then his shoes; the itching spread from Lupin's hand to his head and back and he thought he could kill the powder with blows; Pettigrew had got something in his face and looked helpless; Black shook himself, trying to scratch his entire body at the same time. Far up on the tower we did not hear the conversations of the others, but we heard the boys' screams. Elizabeth looked as if her head was about to explode and I had to grin as well.     "What is this, damn it! Ahhh!" Black shouted, but seemed to realise that it was a prank. He searched for the guilty parties, but found no one, because the itching was too strong. So strong that the boys soon took flight, with Potter running into the castle bare-chested and without shoes, even though it was October. Black had a problem in other places, so he did not think of taking off his top, but instead kept jumping up and down, scratching his arse as well as his crotch.     When they left the pitch screaming, Elizabeth exploded and fell backwards onto the black mark. Her laughter was infectious, so I joined in as well. Together we would possibly die of a lack of oxygen. I did not care, however, and I could not remember a single moment in which I had ever had such a fit of laughter. Revenge was, as I said, only a temporary plaster, but it was a pretty good one.

     We kept laughing for a long time. Only when the Slytherins had training did we leave the pitch. I led Elizabeth through a secret passage into the castle, but we moved forward only slowly. Again and again Elizabeth staggered laughing into a wall and I had to laugh with her. We did manage to get quietly into our dormitories, although at dinner we avoided each other's gaze, since no one was allowed to laugh.     In any case, the girls told me the story of the screaming Marauders. An event that all of Hogwarts would remember for some time yet, and with these thoughts the day passed.      A day before full moon, which this time would not go normally, I did not know yet.