46 ~ The Charm of the Redheads

Remember: he's still a Marauder...

James' POV:

     The joy was immense. We had won the match for ourselves. Happy faces were to be found everywhere in the changing room, at least except for one. Padfoot was currently fetching his clothes, which he had been hiding, even securing magically, since the incident with the itching powder.     Yes, the prank had bruised his ego, badly. The ego of us other Marauders had also sustained some damage, but Padfoot had a special relationship with Lestrange. One that was based on hate, at least for the most part.

If the two of them hated each other that much, they would stay out of each other's way. They clearly derived pleasure from the bickering.

     That was my theory and in that moment I spoke cheerfully: "She won't pull the same prank again."          My gaze went to my best friend, who was inspecting his trousers, shrugging his shoulders.     "I wouldn't put anything past that snake..." he muttered, but then pulled his trousers on.          "I think if anything else is coming, then we should watch out for Phil. She could serve as a messenger for the prank. Still waters run deep, as they say," I made my opinion known and still didn't know to this day what I should think of Phil. Moony had the most contact with her. That’s why she could always turn to the rest of us.     We had also played a big role at the beginning of her story at Hogwarts, yet I knew little about her. Generally what her character was like, but logically speaking I didn't know much about Lily either. Still, I couldn't help the fact that I found her attractive, that my stomach developed such a disgusting tingling sensation whenever I saw her. My head also switched off completely and I would never have said some of those stupid comments otherwise.

Sometimes I could curse myself...

     But well, I had to live with being the way I just was. So I changed. Padfoot got dressed too and the mood remained balanced.     A little later we left the changing rooms. All of Gryffindor was thrilled. The Hufflepuffs on the other hand were dejected, yet almost everyone took the defeat with pride. So we came to a standstill on the pitch and as always the team was surrounded. The friends of the team members came onto the pitch, as did others who wanted to congratulate us.     That’s why I also saw Remus and Peter, who were coming from the stands. Interestingly, the two of them were walking with Phil and the girls. Moony seemed to be talking to Phil and while he spoke, he laughed briefly.     "The charm of the redhead," Padfoot whispered conspiratorially beside me, having an arm around my shoulder, "Moony has fallen for it. The second victim already."          I looked at him from the side, then I rolled my eyes while he winked.     "What?" he asked, "Am I wrong?" and I couldn't say anything to that. For me too, Moony found Phil too interesting, even if he would never admit it to himself. He would crush his feelings with his logic. He was so good at it that his feelings only caught up with him many months later. Then, however, he was crushed by them and he despaired.     Because of that, there was only one way to stop Moony from suppressing his feelings, or burgeoning interest; one would have to constantly remind him. That way he would have no time to repress it, and we as friends would have our fun annoying him. Of course, Remus had never had it easy dealing with his feelings. He was always thinking too much and he never seemed to follow his heart when he found a girl pretty.     And yes, Padfoot was right, because the charm of the redhead definitely existed for me. Likewise, Phil wasn't ugly, but of the sweet sort of girl. She understood Remus, understood the problems which he had as a werewolf. Since Phil had been at Hogwarts, Moony sank less into self-hatred after full moons.

Wait...

     Only in this moment did I ask myself - yes, I was slow on the uptake -, what Phil told the girls when she was missing every month. Yes, she was often not in the hospital wing after full moons, seemed to handle the transformations better, but even we had noticed in first, second year that something was wrong with Remus.     So, we had asked Phil once right at the beginning what she told the girls. At that time she had said that she wandered around the castle often anyway and the girls knew that. Otherwise she had said that she probably handled the transformations better due to her nature as a full werewolf and the girls didn't ask questions if she was tired for once. All things she had told us at the end of fourth, beginning of fifth year, but what about now?

I'm thinking too much.

     I came to this conclusion, because I felt it was weird to think about it when we had just won a match. Because of that I dismissed the thoughts.     An overjoyed Meadowes ran past Padfoot and me, heading towards her friends. The girls were already on the pitch. Wormtail and Moony came over to us.     "It was great, wasn't it?" Padfoot asked modest as always, but he was right. We had played so well that not even the Snitch-catch had saved Hufflepuff. Because in the end the seekers had put up a fight and unfortunately our seeker Timiffy had been hit by a Bludger. Hufflepuff had ended the game that way, but we had won anyway, although one had to say that the victory felt even a touch better this way.     Hufflepuff had, however, had an almost completely new team since sixth year, which didn't harmonise well yet and where perhaps a few players would need to be replaced.     "Yes, it was the best game I've ever seen in my life," came from Moony as an answer.          "Why do I hear sarcasm?" Padfoot asked.     "You're just imagining it."          "No, I'm not, not yet at least. In the common room during the little victory party I might imagine something like that. Just think of the Firewhisky, friends!"     And with these words and the call of a party, cheers rang out from the others of our house of lions too. The victory parties after every match had always been great. However, the older one got, the better they became. My words needed no explanation.

Remus' POV:

     "Butterbeer?" Padfoot was currently asking far too many people. It was a clear indication that he was an extrovert. I, on the other hand, had to walk beside him and hand him the Butterbeer from the crate, which he was promoting at that moment.     He happened to be standing by a group of girls right now, making eyes at a blonde. She was totally into it and I scanned her other friends.     I knew that they were in the same year as us, and that the brunette next to the blonde was named Sara Harmon. I only knew it because I had recently faced her in a duel in Defence Against the Dark Arts. For that reason, I returned her smile, as she seemed to remember me, but luckily Padfoot was finished with his chatting. He continued on his way.     "That was Katie," he explained to me. I just nodded, but he carried on of his own accord: "I saw her at Quidditch practice the other day. She told me I play fabulously."     "So an easy catch then?" I asked Padfoot, studying him. We wove our way through the common room. Music was playing, it was warm, and the hum of voices echoed from all sides. It was already dark outside, but the room was illuminated by warm light.     "Why that tone, Moony-kins?" I rolled my eyes, "But her friend seems to like you."          "I had a duel with her the other day. No idea what you're reading into that now."     "Nothing at all. You could talk to her, have some fun, if you know what I mean?"          "Who's supposed to talk to whom?" a cheerful James joined us. We were standing at the edge of the common room and I would have loved to stop Sirius from talking, but it was too late.     "That girl over there was making eyes at Moony."          "She just smiled at me!" I countered immediately.     "Like I said, she was making eyes at him, Prongs," Padfoot explained and I rolled my eyes once more, then I set the empty Butterbeer crate down, but took the last bottle out for myself.     "The brunette there?" the spectacle-wearer asked. Padfoot confirmed.     "She's still looking at Remus even now, ha!" Prongs continued happily. To endure the two of them, one would need more than Butterbeer.          "And what am I supposed to do now, in your opinion?" I sighed.     "Talk to her."          "But I don't want to."     "Why not?"          "Don't feel like it, and just because."     "Is it because of Phil?" came the question I had expected. I gave Padfoot a nasty look.          "No," I replied sternly, the sounds of boisterous teenagers in the background.     "If it's not because of Phil, then give the girl a chance," Padfoot said and I sighed. I didn't want to talk to a girl I didn't want anything serious from.

You can just do it like Padfoot and Prongs. Those two often talk to girls just for the sake of it, flirting every now and then.

     My inner voice spoke to me so foolishly, but inside I felt a barrier within me.     "Is it because of Phil after all, do you like her?" Prongs prodded this time. He got a nasty look too.These questions bothered me, because I couldn't answer them. I wanted to be able to answer them, but I couldn't.          "No."     "Then go to the girl, she's still looking at you."          "God, you're annoying!" I snapped at the two of them, finally turned around and did something stupid. I went over to this Harmon girl to prove something to the boys. To myself too?     I only found Phil interesting in terms of character, nothing more. Therefore, I could speak with Sara Harmon. As the saying goes, nobody ever died from a conversation.

Phil's POV:

     I studied the Butterbeer bottle in my hands, which was still half full. I was sitting on a couch with the girls, while Alice and Mare sat on the floor stacking cards. It was quiet for a moment, but that silence didn't last long.     "Well, what are the ladies up to then?" a voice asked and it was Black. He had come over to us with Potter. They stood before us with a strange bottle and small shot glasses.          "What do you want?" Lily looked towards them.     "To offer you some great Firewhisky." Black held the bottle provocatively in the air. His eyes were slightly glazed and I assumed the bottle was the reason for it.     I, on the other hand, looked past them. Strangely, I spotted Pettigrew alone next to a table where he was sorting drinks. He seemed to have a compulsion for symmetry, but that caught my attention less than the fact that Remus wasn't with him.     I spotted the latter at the edge of the common room, where he was talking to a girl I had never seen before. She was leaning her shoulder against the wall and laughing. Then she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.     I didn't know whether I should find her behaviour or the fact that Remus was talking to a girl stranger. I found it odd, because everyone knew that Potter and Black often flirted with various girls. But that Remus did such things too was new to me.

He's still a Marauder, Phil.

     My inner voice told me that and it was true; Remus was, in part, like his friends. Friends who wanted something from us.     "No, thanks," I heard Lily say as the boys held a shot under her nose.          "Prude?" Prongs prodded. Lily glared at him.     "No, but I have a brain!"          "And a stick up your arse, Evans," Black provoked.     "We just don't want any Firewhisky," Dorcas said, breaking the tension.          "Then you're all prudes," Black replied, but Mare shrugged her shoulders.     "And?" she asked.          "Nothing," Black began, "more fun for us."     "Much more fun," Potter confirmed, "I'd have loved to be on the dance floor with you, Evans."          "Well, I wouldn't. Find someone else. Plenty of girls surely want to dance with the glorious James Potter, so no."     "Yeah, then I suppose I'll have to do that, but you would have been my first choice."     With those words, the two of them disappeared and offered their whisky to someone else. Lily, meanwhile, cursed them for a while, but we had our fun towards the end, and without Firewhisky. The Gryffindors were happy and the common room had been in a boisterous mood for a long time.