57 ~ The Games Begin

The storm arrived long before the clouds reached the castle

Phil's POV:

     "I heard you strangled a girl from your house?"          "I didn't strangle her!" I defended myself, "I only pressed her against the wall by her neck."     "Same thing," Elizabeth said calmly and sat down beside me whilst I rolled my eyes. We were in one of the study rooms and, as all too often, I was doing as much homework as possible today, because tomorrow was the full moon, unfortunately on a Sunday. Whether I would be fit for lessons on Monday remained to be seen, but Professor Kesselbrand had offered to take me into the Forbidden Forest today in order to explain Monday's lesson to me. That way I could sleep longer and would then only have to attend Charms. Unlike Remus, I only attended a few subjects in which I had passed my O.W.L.s.          "No, I defended myself against Harmon," I clarified further and finished my final essay.     I put away my quill and closed the books I had used, then looked at Elizabeth. She sat to my right and seemed to have no intention whatsoever of using the study room for studying. The Slytherin had teasingly raised an eyebrow, which made me sigh.          "What?"     "Nothing," she said and shrugged her shoulders, "I like that you're coming over to the dark side." a wink followed.          "That is not the dark side!" I hissed, but she merely began laughing, causing others to send her warning glances.     "What? Are you not allowed to have fun for five seconds in here?" she asked loudly and stood up, "A laugh won't kill you lot."          Nobody replied to that, as a result of which the girl looked down at my things. "Finished?"     "Yeah, finished," I confirmed. Not long afterwards we left the study room together.

     After I had returned my books, I explained to Elizabeth that today I was voluntarily going into the Forbidden Forest with Kesselbrand. She had tried convincing me to simply enjoy my Saturday, but I could hardly explain the real reason to her.     So I had not let myself be persuaded and currently we stepped out of the castle. Snow still covered everything. The world shone in white. Today there was no wind and the sky was even blue, although many thick clouds could be seen in the north.     "So you're off to play swot now?" Elizabeth asked me.          "Ha, ha," I gave as an answer, though it was confirmation enough.     "First we still need to discuss something."          "And what?"     "Our revenge on the brainless idiots. I refuse to tolerate Black rubbing snow into my face; I have far too much pride for that," she referred to the incident after the holidays and I had to agree with her. The letter alone should not have provoked the boys into doing that, which was why we had declared war on them.

One does have to start it somehow though.

     "And what are you planning?" I could not stop a small grin from stealing onto my lips. Granted, I was tired and the constant reminder of tomorrow's full moon was doing nothing positive for my mood, but I shared Elizabeth's opinion; we could not simply let this go.     "Well, good thing you asked, dear Phil," the Slytherin began and her green eyes lit up, "The Gryffindors have Quidditch practice today because they're playing against Ravenclaw next weekend."          "We don't have to sneak into the changing rooms again, do we?" I asked pitifully, because I could not be bothered with that.     Thankfully Elizabeth shook her head, her waves and slight curls bouncing from side to side. "No, but do you know exactly when they have practice today?"          "Late afternoon, five o'clock, it was very spontaneous," I explained and the girl beside me nodded.     "That is why we work so well together, Phil," she laughed, "I come up with pranks and with your knowledge about the brainless idiots and Hogwarts we can carry them out. Brilliant!" Elizabeth rubbed her hands together. She looked ahead and it seemed as though she was currently imagining the worst pranks she could play on the Marauders, specifically Black.

Yeah, a little frightening, though her hatred towards the Marauders is understandable to some extent. They constantly play pranks on the Slytherins and Elizabeth herself has often become a victim because of it. One also mustn't forget that Sirius cannot stand her and the boys dislike Snape as well, which has led to less than pleasant memories between both sides.

     "We'll prove to them how it's really done, ha!" she said, "So, are you coming to the Quidditch pitch after your visit with old Kesselbrand, but outside and further away, whilst Gryffindor are practising?"          "I will," I gave as an answer, whereupon our paths separated.     I walked along the path towards the gamekeeper's hut, where I met the Professor of Magical Creatures, though today he had no intention of going into the forest. Instead we drank tea and he explained Monday's two lessons to me. I felt reminded of my early days at Hogwarts, when I had still had private lessons.     All in all, the beginning of my day had gone well and in the evening there was a lovely addition, because Elizabeth had once again outdone herself.     She seemed finally to have found someone in me with whom she could take revenge on the boys in this very specific way. I had absolutely no objections to that, because the Marauders could handle a few pranks perfectly well. Naturally they did not think so, but I did not care.

Sirius' POV:

     My Beater's bat spun in my right hand. I aimed at the Bludger racing towards me. The ball came closer until it was hurled away by my bat. Very graciously, I aimed directly at Prongs, who was just catching the Quaffle, because during practice it was always brilliant to knock your teammates off their brooms.     Consequently the Bludger flew towards the bespectacled boy, who spotted it at the very last second and dodged, though his right hand was hit. He dropped the Quaffle and Meadowes caught it.          "Good shot!" the second Beater Jackson beside me said. He was a boy with straw-blond hair.     "Cheers, but watch out!" I replied as a Bludger shot towards us. It stood out against the slowly greying sky.     Once again a wave of force shot through my arm as I smacked the Bludger away. This time it approached our Seeker Timiffy, who had been hit by one during the last match. The ball chased the boy on his broom, but he dodged and the Bludger crashed into a tower. Afterwards Jackson and I split up and I flew around.     The three Chasers passed the Quaffle to each other and practised exchanges, whilst our Keeper, and simultaneously Captain, Grint blocked the shots on goal. The brown-haired boy was a seventh year, just like Jackson and another Chaser, all of whom would be gone next year. So if Prongs and I were to play in the house team again in seventh year, the team would gain some fresh wind.

All of that, however, was only thoughts for the future.

     Right now the upcoming match against Ravenclaw mattered. Even though we had won the last match against Hufflepuff, the team that won the Quidditch Cup was still the one with the most points overall. That was why our Seeker Timiffy seemed to feel under pressure, because Slytherin had scored many points during their last match against Ravenclaw.     "Right, that's it!" Grint shouted and ended practice, whereupon all of us flew down to the ground exhausted. I cast one final glance at the castle. Up that high, even a light cold wind blew.     Granted, flying on a broom was nothing new to me, but I still loved it - the feeling of freedom. A feeling I had rarely experienced, though I did not want to think about that, and almost everyone was already on the ground.     I descended and once I reached the ground, the towers of the pitch seemed much larger. We headed into the changing rooms, though Jackson first caught both Bludgers, and after changing, Moony and Wormtail came down from the stands.

Remus' POV:

     "And when the Bludger flew at you!" Padfoot laughed when we met them below at the pitch and smacked Prongs against the shoulder.          "Yeah, hilarious..." James muttered and rubbed his shoulder, because the boy beside him had not held back.     "I found it exceedingly entertaining," Sirius continued.     Afterwards Peter and I had to listen to every little detail about their practice. We did so gladly, however, and Wormtail was currently trying to repeat the strategy for the upcoming match in his own words, whilst Prongs and Padfoot listened and threw in comments of their own. Padfoot was even so deeply absorbed in the conversation that he failed to notice two girls looking at him.

Yes, a new wonder of the world.

     "So everything next match depends on catching the Snitch, right?" Wormtail asked. The two confirmed it, because catching the golden ball earned the most points. Winning a match was one thing, but ultimately it was the points alone that brought one to the coveted Quidditch Cup.          "Exactly, which is why our Seeker feels under pressure, but he'll manage," James explained and we were the last ones leaving the pitch.     I watched the people ahead of us who had come to observe practice and now wanted to return to the warm castle. Snow lay everywhere and Hogwarts towered before us. The sky was well on its way to darkening, though the approaching clouds contributed to that as much as the coming evening.     So my attention drifted to the sky, before my gaze moved forwards again. Strangely, the students ahead were moving out of the way of something, which was odd behaviour.

What's up ahead?

     That was what I wondered, but the next moment the question answered itself when I spotted a very familiar red head of hair. Phil stood beside Lestrange, who had her arms crossed over her chest and stood directly in the middle of the path. Phil, on the other hand, seemed uncomfortable occupying the way, though she too looked at us.     "What does the snake want now?" Padfoot asked, having noticed the two.          Prongs and Wormtail ended their conversation. We looked at them.     The next moment Lestrange raised her hand, which was why we stopped some distance away.     "You know," she began, and she had always had a deeper voice, as well as a tendency towards the dramatic, "revenge is merely a construct we create ourselves, isn't it?"          "What do you want?" Sirius snapped and was not pleased whatsoever to be confronted with the Slytherin.     She looked at him, then a grin appeared on her lips as she said: "Me? Black, can you really not count anymore? I mean, you've always been stupid, but we're here together." she looked towards Phil, who nodded.          Padfoot looked as though he wanted to wring Lestrange's neck. "Fine, what do you two want?" he corrected himself, "I'm assuming this isn't about to become a pleasant little chat, is it?"     "Not quite," this time it was Phil who answered and looked at us.     I recognised that tomorrow's full moon was affecting her body as well. I was not the only one feeling tired. My inner tension had steadily grown over the last few days and I only wanted it finally to be after the full moon.

Unfortunately one cannot simply fall into a deep sleep before the full moon...

     "Right, so? What do you want?" Prongs asked, though it was already obvious that nothing good would follow when one stood opposite a Lestrange. Interestingly enough, Phil's presence was also the greatest indication that this truly would not become a pleasant conversation.     "We merely want to show you how it's properly done," Lestrange explained, "Oh! And we want to tell you that after today, the games are officially open."     After those words she did not even let us respond anymore and swung her wand, which had already been waiting in her right hand to be used. Her spell was a perfect nonverbal one, and the next moment demonstrated that Lestrange was a talented witch.     Shortly after the movement of her wand, the surrounding snow around us crunched threateningly.           It signified our downfall.     Immediately enchanted snowballs shot out of the white blanket, which the two had hidden there earlier. The balls flew towards us and there were far too many for us to defend ourselves against. Padfoot grunted when one hit him in the stomach. The first snowball that struck me shattered against my shoulder, then another against my thigh.     It was obvious that this was revenge for our attack on Phil and Lestrange, and unfortunately it was a good one. Snowballs flew at us from everywhere, which was why the next one hit me in the face, whereupon I shielded my face with my right forearm. From the distance came the familiar laughter of Lestrange, though Phil laughed too, after which they seemed to disappear. Their attack continued for quite some time, however.     Eventually Peter threw himself to the ground and the rest of us had no choice but to endure the situation. Once the attack had ended, there was no trace of the two.     We could do nothing except head back to the dormitory. Our clothes had become damp from the snow, though Phil and Lestrange had been right about one thing, because the games had begun, though first the coming full moon would need to be survived.