54 ~ The Fear Is Only In Your Head

There is a special kind of rivalry built entirely on refusing to back down

Remus' POV:

     The Christmas holidays were over and after dinner there was a massive rush towards the common room. So massive that I lost the other Marauders and was dragged away by someone.     "Remi dear," my ears heard and inwardly I flinched. Standing before me was none other than Sara Harmon, looking at me with large brown doe eyes. She was holding the hand she had grabbed. The girl seemed happy to see me.          Hesitantly, I returned her smile.     "Sara, hey," I greeted her, but I could not say more because she pulled me down towards her by my tie. Shortly afterwards our lips met. I did not know how I was supposed to react.

What even are we?

     I did not know, but this moment was not the right one to think about it, which was why I kept her kiss brief and held her at a distance by her chin.          "I'm happy to see you again..."     "Oh, really!" she rejoiced and placed her hand on mine, which rested against her chin. We looked at each other. Her joy grew, but so did my overwhelm.     Whatever was between Sara and me had happened quickly, too quickly for me, and I did not know how to deal with it. She seemed nice, even if clingy and impulsive, but every person was different. Maybe she was a nice girl.          "Yeah, really," I therefore said, "Tomorrow our day shouldn't be too long, if you want to spend time together after lessons? You could tell me about your holidays?" I suggested and her eyes began to sparkle.     "Oh yes, gladly!" she practically squealed and gave two kisses to my hand, which she took from her cheek.          "Then I'm looking forward to it, but I have to go now."     She nodded, then our paths separated and I exhaled in relief.

She is a, yes, an interesting girl...

     "They didn't do that!" I heard as I stood in front of our dormitory and furrowed my brows, "Don't touch anything!"          Even more confused, I opened the door and looked at my three friends, who stood in the dormitory and looked alarmed.     "What did who do?" I asked in confusion, understanding nothing. I studied Padfoot, who held a piece of parchment in his hands, whose origin was unknown to me.     "From now on I'll refer to Phil and Lestrange as 'they'," he explained to me and made it clear that he was holding a message in his hand.     "Lestrange was at Hogwarts during the holidays?" Prongs asked. Sirius shrugged his shoulders.          "Yeah, judging by the words here."     Padfoot was absolutely not pleased, then he began reading aloud what was written:

"Good evening and restful holidays to the gentlemen!

What could be better than being welcomed by a message from us? Nothing, exactly! Your dormitory was astonishingly easy to find, and now you're certainly asking yourselves why our message. Well, that's easy to answer, because I, Elizabeth Lestrange, have had to endure you complete idiots for long enough. Dear Phil agrees with me that it is time not to let you get away without punishment anymore.

But back to our previous words, welcome back to Hogwarts and enjoy your evening!

With very friendly regards, Phil and Elizabeth.

PS: Mutt, you need to tidy your side of the room, and spending the holidays at Hogwarts truly is more productive, should anyone wonder why I stayed."

     "Let me see," I said and reached for the parchment, which Padfoot handed to me, "Indeed, it is not Phil's handwriting."          "I don't care whose handwriting it is, with this they've crossed a line!"     "What if they just shoved the letter under the door?" I asked.          "Why would Lestrange then know that I haven't tidied up?!"     "Good point," Prongs said, but inside me I felt guilt flare up. Perhaps I might have complained to Phil once or twice that Padfoot was messy, because so was Phil. However, the theory that they had been inside the dormitory sounded more plausible, or at least Phil had been inside our dormitory. I could not imagine that a Slytherin had been inside Gryffindor Tower.

They could have been here at night.

     "So what are we supposed to do now?" I asked and ran a hand through my hair. I had actually hoped for a relaxed start after the holidays.     "Don't sit down, Wormtail!" Padfoot snapped at Peter, who had wanted to sit on his bed.          "But I'm tired."     "We're all tired, but we need to make sure they didn't do anything," Sirius insisted; in matters like these he was paranoid.     And after those words we set to work searching the entire dormitory. Padfoot especially feared itching powder on his bedsheets, which was why he immediately threw them into the shower, because that caused the itching powder to lose its effect. Afterwards he dried them with a spell, but once the entire room had been searched, we had found nothing.     In any case, we would get little sleep. Slowly I was getting the impression that Phil and Lestrange had only been playing with our minds. In any case, I wondered how much Phil had changed during the last two years, though it only made her more interesting. I was also still a Marauder, and if one gave us a threat, we would take it seriously, though we would also use it against those people. The rest of sixth year would therefore become more interesting than I had expected.

Phil's POV:

     "Oh, Christmas was sooo lovely, my brother ate too many biscuits and threw up!" Dorcas laughed and Mare pulled a face.          "What's supposed to be lovely about that?"     "Afterwards he panicked and nearly threw up again."          "Isn't your brother only in first year already?" Lily asked.     "Yeah, he is, but he's not exactly the brightest; only one person in the family can be, after all." after those words Dorcas patted herself on the shoulder and the girls were currently unpacking their luggage.     It was the evening of their arrival. I had to grin constantly whenever I thought about the boys already having found the letter. Naturally it had been difficult to find their dormitory, but I had very nicely asked another boy who belonged to Gryffindor. My lie had been that I wanted to place presents into their room, and he had believed me. I had, however, only shoved the letter beneath the door without entering the room, though the boys had to think otherwise because of the words in the letter.

Thanks, Remus, I thought, because he had often enough told me that Sirius Black was a messy person, even if James Potter was occasionally worse.

     "And what amazing things did you do, Phil?" Dorcas wanted to know. She was lying on her bed and currently looking at a black shirt because she did not want to unpack her suitcase, even though she had not brought much with her.     "Nothing, Elizabeth stayed at Hogwarts too, so we spent most of the time together. Otherwise I read and studied a bit."     "Yeah, none of us really understands the thing with Lestrange, but maybe she's only half as bad," Dorcas replied and I rolled my eyes. The girls did not continue the topic further, however, and we talked about the holidays. Then Alice was teased because she could now see Frank Longbottom again.     Everything was normal, at least until tomorrow, because the boys were still the Marauders.

     Monday had taken its course. Whilst the rest of Gryffindor still had Defence Against the Dark Arts, I had made my way to the greenhouse. There I had spent time with Pomona Sprout because she had wanted to show me something after the Christmas holidays. She had received new plants. Naturally I had gladly looked at them with her.     "In any case, I'm happy you had time for me, Phil," she was currently telling me and we had finished a few preparations for spring.          "I like doing it," I confirmed and it was the truth. Even if I had had less time for the Herbology professor ever since I started attending lessons, I enjoyed spending time with her. Often she also told me rumours she had overheard, which she should not have, but still did.     "Yes, but I'm keeping you from meeting your friends."          "They still have lessons."     "I've still got a class of second years now as well. Naturally they don't like Mandrakes at all, but luckily they don't need repotting yet. In spring, however, they'll be in puberty again."     She began laughing and I joined in, because Mandrakes in puberty were a thing of their own. Pomona had told me that once they had held a screaming party at night that had resembled those of teenagers.     "But I don't want to keep you any longer, and I've still got a class too, but I've got biscuits for you."          "Biscuits?"     "Yes, biscuits refined with different herbs, as a little thank you."          "Thanks, but that wouldn't have been necessary," I replied when she pressed a small box of biscuits into my hand.     "But I like doing it and now off with you before the professors start saying I keep you as a house elf."     After her words I said goodbye to her and on the way out of the greenhouse I looked at the biscuits.

Hm, biscuits.

     I snacked on two, then safely stored them in my shoulder bag and continued on my way. I walked past the courtyards, then decided to step into a large one. Snow lay everywhere and reached my ankles. It was cold, my breath danced in the air and the sky was a grey blanket above my head. No wind blew, but it seemed as though it would soon begin snowing. I pulled my scarf tighter around my neck.     "Hey!" a voice behind me rang out, which belonged to Elizabeth. She stomped through the snow towards me because I was standing in the middle of the courtyard.     "So, in a thoughtful mood?" she asked teasingly because I had been staring at the snow all by myself.          "No, but it's beautiful," I explained myself, "Why are you here?"     "Lessons are over and I happened to walk past you, but whilst we're at it: did the boys say anything to you because of the letter?"          I looked at her and she had clasped her arms behind her back. She rocked forwards and backwards, but I had to disappoint her. "They ignored me in Care of Magical Creatures and Charms. No idea what that's supposed to mean."

But I'm about to find out...

     "Lestrange!" came from behind us and she turned around. I turned around as well, though I only saw something white explode against Elizabeth's face. She staggered two steps backwards. It could only have been a snowball.     The culprits were naturally the Marauders, who had either found us by chance or had followed Elizabeth. The second option was more likely.     "Black!" Elizabeth snapped back, but just as she wiped the snow from her face, the next ball followed, and I was hit too. Something cold struck my right cheek and I raised my arms protectively. It was crystal clear that this was the boys' revenge for the letter, even though it had done nothing to them.     "Why are you doing this!" I therefore shouted when three snowballs hit me at once.          "Don't act innocent, Phil!" came from Sirius Black, but my ears heard footsteps drawing nearer. Instantly I lowered my arms from in front of my face because the boys had stopped their attack, for the moment.     "Hello, Remus," I tried innocently and looked upwards.     Standing in front of me was Remus and he had raised one eyebrow, but behind me I sensed someone else as well. Peter Pettigrew stood behind me. I knew things were about to become unpleasant.

But do we really deserve it? In my opinion no, but the boys don't care about that.

     "Please don't?" I therefore tried in the next moment, but when I heard Elizabeth's threats against Sirius and James from the right, I knew I would not be spared. Remus shaking his head made that clear too.     Remus came closer to me and grabbed me and I could already imagine that Peter would soon stuff snow into my coat and face. I fought back accordingly, but Remus held me firmly. He had turned me around and pressed me against himself, just like back then in the secret alcove, but when I felt snow against my face, I struggled. I kicked towards Remus' legs with mine.     When he loosened his grip, I twisted out of it. Remus reacted immediately, however, and this time we faced each other. The whole movement consequently brought us crashing down and I flew backwards into the snow. I grabbed the collar of his cloak and threw some snow at Remus, who pulled a face.     Since he was leaning over me, however, I quickly lost the privileges of my hands. My legs were useless because of Remus, and once my forearms lay to the right and left beside my head, I stopped struggling. I looked upwards at Remus, who gazed at me with superiority. In that moment it was clear that he absolutely did not wear a halo.

Still, his gaze is intense... Or am I only imagining it?

     I could not stare at him any longer because a mischievous grin stole onto his lips, then he nodded towards Peter, who showered me with snow. I twisted from side to side, but Remus was sitting on me. Everyone knew he was not small.          "St-, stop!" I whined after a while.     A little later I was freed. Remus got off me and his weight left my body. I scrambled upright and freed myself from the snow.          "Touch me one more time and I'll kill you!" Elizabeth was already snapping, having been held by Sirius.     "Then don't write letters with empty threats!" Sirius snapped back and the two stood facing each other. I, however, got to my feet and heard Elizabeth's laughter. Even though she was completely soaked, she could still laugh.          "So did you spend the whole night searching your dormitory, hm?"     She received evil looks from the boys, which were answer enough. Naturally we could not know that Sirius Black had even washed his bedsheets, but even so it was funny enough that it had worked.          "Fear is often only in your head," I said and everyone looked at me.     "So now you're a little poet as well?" Sirius asked dismissively, afterwards, however, he spoke words of farewell: "In any case, your threat shall be expanded by ours. We shall gladly give you your war, which you'll lose."          "We'll see about that," Elizabeth replied calmly and crossed her arms in front of her soaked cloak.     "Yeah, we will, but now have a lovely evening, ladies. Get changed or you'll catch cold," James said in an artificially kind voice, then the Marauders disappeared, but they were right; the battle had begun.