21 ~ Lestrange and Black

If freezing to death beside Lestrange counted as heroism, I clearly deserved a medal.

Sirius' POV:

     "And why are we splitting up now?", Lestrange asked. Her eyes were wide open and she seemed overwhelmed by something for the first time.          "Does it scare you?", my voice was provoking.     Consequently the Slytherin seemed to realise that she had just been fearful towards a Gryffindor. She shook her head, her curls bouncing up and down. Lestrange wrinkled her nose.     "Me and fear, pff!" She crossed her arms stubbornly in front of her chest, afterwards her steps picked up speed and she caught up to me, since she had previously been walking behind me and had kept looking over her shoulder. "If I am not laughing, a Slytherin shows no weakness! Does not even possess any!"          "And what was that just now?"     "What do you mean?"          "Well, that little trembling in your voice?"     "I do not know what you are talking about."          "Aha, then I must have imagined it."     I raised one eyebrow and grinned stupidly, because I had to admit that Lestrange was not that annoying when one had the upper hand. I watched her with sparkling eyes.     We had already moved some distance away from the others and I hoped that they were well. Of course one must not show Lestrange the sight that the other Marauders would soon find. Therefore I had to deal with her.

Yet is it the lesser evil?

     At present Lestrange stumbled through the snow, raised her voice: "Of course you are imagining it, but at least you have an education, Black, because imagination is one."          "One more than you."     "Ha, that-", she wanted to begin, but suddenly we were once again interrupted by a howl. Somehow it sounded more desperate than the first one.          My insides tightened. Lestrange was not unaffected by the howl either, because she flinched briefly, but this time she was more composed. It did not happen every day that one heard the howl of a werewolf, even though the moon was not full at all, not even visible in the sky.      Even for me it was something else to know that Prongs had probably been right all along with his supposedly stupid speculations about Ethan J. Aquila. I only hoped that after this day Lestrange would not make a connection to Phil. That her father had been a werewolf was known throughout the wizarding world.

It must be terrible, I thought.

     Despite everything I was torn, because on the one hand I would have liked to be with the other Marauders and supported them in this situation, but on the other hand I had to insist on logic; Lestrange must not find out anything about all of this. My only task was to avoid that the Slytherin noticed that Phil was a werewolf.      In the worst case she would then make a connection to Remus, because both were the same. The same exhaustion after a night of horror, the same dark, deep circles under the eyes before the full moon, the scars that stretched across the whole body, and this constant fear of not belonging.          "The wolves are becoming more aggressive as well", I said because of that.     The snake looked at me strangely. "Wolves?", she asked and did not seem convinced at all, "Black, you do not really want to explain to me now that those are normal wolves, do you? Please, I am not stupid. You maybe, but not me."          "What else do you think? Are werewolves supposed to start roaming the Forbidden Forest in broad daylight now, now you are being stupid, Lestrange", I laughed trying to remain calm, "you listened in on our conversation in the corridor when we talked about Phil and wolves. Here you have your wolves now. Shall we get closer to the howling, hm?"     "No...", she said slowly and we had stopped. Wind blew around us. The Slytherin looked back to where the howling had sounded from. "Why does one even run into the forest?", she asked herself and referred in her thoughts to Phil.          As a Lestrange she also knew the stories about Ethan J. Aquila, yet among our families these stories were foolish talk. One did not believe the tales that Aquila had managed to breed werewolves with consciousness.      He had also disappeared from the wizarding world many years ago. Therefore these stories had turned into rumours, and I hoped that they remained that for Lestrange, rumours.

It is insane as well.A werewolf who can transform like an Animagus into one...

     "I cannot answer the question either", I said and Lestrange looked at me, "Phil has only been here a short time and has not told us anything. I only know from Remus that she likes herbs and animals, lived her life somewhere on a forest property, until, I think, her mother died, who had moderately taught her at home, and Phil is now here at Hogwarts. Probably, because of her family name, she does not have pleasant memories, which the two of us can probably understand best. Perhaps the forest feels familiar to her?"     I invented some kind of story that was not entirely far from the truth, which I of course did not know. However I decided to remember the words, in order to inform the other Marauders and also Phil if necessary about my lie for Lestrange.     Luckily for me my words seemed to make Lestrange less sceptical, and when I had mentioned our families, she had turned her head back into the distance. None of us could deny that the Black family and the Lestranges were known for raising their children with love. What Phil had experienced, we did not know, yet the mere thought that something similar might have happened to her showed its effect.          Lestrange turned away. She walked past me, said: "Then let us search for this strange Phil. I do not need to know what kind of beasts live here, and also not why you and your strange friends know so much. You sneak around the castle anywayall the time, then it does not surprise me that you are already sticking your noses into the dirt in the forest."     And although I would have liked to reply something to her words, I bit my tongue. I had Lestrange where I wanted her, and together we wandered through the grey forest, while the snow made the world appear even whiter.

     My steps stomped through the snow. I intended to make a wide arc with the Slytherin, then come out by the castle. Of course it was a very great pleasure for me to walk with her in winter and in a snowstorm through the forest. Naturally it was meant sarcastically, because if we were honest, Elizabeth Lestrange was not the embodiment of joy.          "Watch out, Lestrange!", I suddenly called out. I held her by her shoulders and stood in front of her, because she had almost fallen.     "What a mess!" Lestrange pulled her face into a grimace and looked at her right foot, which was stuck in the snow up to the middle of her lower leg.           I giggled maliciously.     "Do not laugh so stupidly, mutt!"          "Why always 'mutt' actually?", I asked curiously and continued holding her. I looked into her green eyes and did not understand. Lestrange could not know that my Animagus form was a dog, yet her derogatory nickname for me was fitting.

Unfortunately...

     "Your long hair reminds me of a matted stray mutt."          "Are you serious?"     "What?", she asked with feigned innocence and looked up at me, "if one does not want to know the answers to questions, then one should rather keep the questions to oneself. Not my problem if you are sensitive."     After her incredibly kind words she finally pulled her foot out of the snow, whereby her boot remained stuck. The girl whimpered and found herself forced to additionally hold onto me in order to reach for her boot. She placed her hand on my shoulder, acted as if it were the worst thing on earth to touch me.     I only laughed all the more because of that. "See, if you did not always stick your nose into other people's affairs, then you would probably be in the Great Hall now having lunch, with a warm cup of tea."     Lestrange glared at me. "You can let go of me again."          "Oh, I thought you were enjoying my presence right now, since we are such good friends?"     She pushed my hands away from herself, but since she was still standing on one leg, she lost her balance and I grabbed her by the waist out of reflex. This time the closeness to the Slytherin felt different for me as well. I had to admit that I had never come so close to a girl before; but I simply had to remind myself that Lestrange was not a girl - she was a disgusting snake.     At this moment our faces were close, very close. I noticed how uncomfortable it was for Lestrange.          "Is my closeness so uncomfortable for you?", I mocked because of that. "So bad that the blood traitor Black, mind you, has twice prevented you from falling into the cold snow?"     I looked at her, discovered many snowflakes in her hair. Some were sitting on her black eyelashes as well.     "Well, not only your mere appearance reminds me of a mutt, but also your smell, Black! It almost makes one sick!", she snapped and freed herself from my grip, afterwards she put on her boot and said: "Let us continue."

     And as the spoiled princess Lestrange wanted it, so it happened. We continued our way, this time in silence. We made a wide arc and eventually arrived at the castle.      Luckily for us the snowstorm had stopped, yet I was already frozen through to my bones. It had clearly been too cold to go for a walk with Lestrange, but thank Merlin we had not heard any further howling.     The other Marauders had hopefully found Phil, and as I reached the castle with Lestrange, who had been continuously complaining about the cold for the last half hour, in tow, I recognised a familiar figure. Prongs stood by the entrance. He tapped impatiently with his right foot on the ground. His Gryffindor scarf was set in motion by a gust of wind and in the following moment we arrived beside him.     From his fogged glasses I could see that they had not been back here for very long, then my friend cleared his throat: "Do not worry, we found her", he clarified immediately and Lestrange even showed an emotion. She nodded briefly, afterwards she simply walked past James into the castle.     "Well, was the adventure too much after all for dear Lestrange?", I teased.     She turned around. From her bluish lips I could see that she was truly cold, yet unfortunately I felt absolutely no pity for her.

Yes, partly the others found Phil faster through their help, but since Lestrange had been so stubborn not to tell us the location, she had had to freeze.

     "Through your mere existence I am reminded again and again what hatred is, Black", she said calmly.      Afterwards she turned around, turned into a corridor. She left us behind and for a moment I had to let out a dry laugh, yet I remembered again the reason why I had even been in the cold with the snake.          "What happened, Prongs?"     We set ourselves in motion. I ran my hand through my hair, wet from the snow, and my companion raised his voice: "Exactly what it sounded like", he replied, took the path towards the hospital wing, "Phil seems to be able to transform into a werewolf whenever it happens and keeps her consciousness."     After his words I did not know what to say, but I did not have to, because Prongs continued speaking: "She is feeling completely awful. Moony surely needed fifteen minutes until she even stopped crying and the shock left her. Wolves chased her and wanted to tear her apart. Nasty, I tell you."          "Our Moony was able to calm another person?", I asked in surprise, since Remus was normally always the one who needed others.      His calming of other people mainly consisted of bringing chocolate, which he brought right to one's bed. Remus found it difficult to cheer others up without letting his logic come into play or bringing them food.          It was the wrong situation to think about that, and even before James could speak an answer, I asked: "She is in the hospital wing?"     "Yes, Moony and Wormtail are there. Dumbledore is probably already with them."     We continued our way, and I still did not know what to do with all the information of this morning.