56 ~ Fight or Flight

Some distances vanish so slowly that nobody notices at first

Phil's POV:

     "Aquila!" came from behind me.     At first I ignored the shouting. I walked alone through the corridors of Hogwarts, two books against my chest, and my lessons for today were over. I wanted to get to the moving staircases in peace, but that peace was destroyed by shouting. That my attention was being demanded by a person I did not know well was obvious, since I heard my surname.          "Aquila, are you deaf?!"     I stopped. I was in a corridor of Hogwarts that housed only few other people and counted amongst the gloomy ones. Further ahead, however, there would have been a row of windows, which because of the situation I no longer reached.      I turned around.

What does she want from me?

     I thought, when I saw a brown-haired girl walking towards me. Her brown eyes as well glared at me and I had absolutely no idea what Sara Harmon wanted from me.     I raised my right eyebrow, because to me she was simply a girl who had something complicated going on with Remus, if I thought of his words.     "Aquila!" came again, even though I was already standing still and waiting until she reached me.          She stomped across the stone floor. I did not like her expression at all and it was one of those moments where my muscles tensed. Would one flee, or face the confrontation?     Almost two years ago my entire body would have tensed and I would have prepared to flee. Even now my body was tense, but that was not because of the coming confrontation, but because of the harshness in Harmon's voice.

What is her problem?

     "Good, so you're not deaf," she remarked bitterly when she came to a halt in front of me. Air streamed from her flared nostrils.          "And a lovely afternoon to you too, or what?" I asked slowly and looked at her, still confused as well as annoyed because she was speaking to me in such a tone.     I no longer wanted to be the quiet, frightened Phil, because I had only been that because the past had taught me to be. Through the argument with the Marauders, my stupid decisions and my friendship with the girls and Elizabeth, I had grown during the last two years, so that a Sara Harmon no longer threw me off balance immediately.     Because of that I studied her questioningly and noticed that she was two finger-widths shorter than me.          "Don't act innocent!" she snapped at me and took a threatening step towards me.     "I'm not acting innocent at all. I don't even know what you want from me, okay?!"          She pointed her finger at me, causing me to step backwards. "Besides being a filthy Aquila, you're a liar as well. Not to forget that you're a boyfriend thief!"

Excuse me what?

     That emotion appeared on my face as well, because she was insane and insulting.     "What does my surname have to do with this?" I asked her and hated when people defined humans by letters.          "Your false nature runs in your family, liar!"     "What exactly have I done?! What's your problem?" I no longer understood the world, but it turned out not to be a good idea to argue with a Harmon when she could not think clearly because of anger.          "You are my problem!" she shouted at me and the first students became aware of us. Even more so when, with one movement of her hand from top to bottom, she knocked the books from my hands. They hit the stone floor with a dull sound. My mouth opened. "Why would you do that?!"     I had become louder as well and pointed at my books. I truly did not understand her problem, then our gazes met and she explained herself, becoming even angrier: "Because of you everything's ruined! You stole him from me. That's why he doesn't want anything to do with me anymore! What happened yesterday in the common room is proof enough!"          "Who exactly?"     "Don't play dumb, Aquila! You stole my Remi from me!"          "I don't want anything from him. If he doesn't want you anymore, then it'll probably be entirely because of you! Probably because of your personality, which after this apparently is very special," I spoke my thoughts aloud.     In that moment I remembered Elizabeth's words, when I had told her that I often said exactly what I thought.

It'll be your downfall someday.

     That was exactly what happened in this moment. Harmon's nostrils grew even wider and her right hand began twitching. Before I knew it, that hand shot towards me and pain overcame me. Not pain compared to others I had felt in my life, but painful enough for a girl like Harmon.     I held my aching cheek, speechless and angry.          "You did not just do that..." I said quietly.     "Your words provoked it! You're a pathetic slut, Aquila!" she screeched at me.      When she once more wanted to raise her hand, my instinct to fight kicked in. In a flash I grabbed her hand and it happened so quickly that it almost looked unnatural. Even faster Harmon cried out and whilst holding her by the throat, she landed pressed against the wall.          I looked at her.      It was obvious that I was taller and stronger.

Traits which do not only give advantages in the animal kingdom.

     I looked at her. The shock in her eyes transformed into confusion about the situation, until finally despair. My opponent had to admit to herself that she had been the one provoking things.          "Don't even try it," I said threateningly when she searched for her wand in her bag.     Our gazes met and carefully I let her go, though inwardly I still simmered.          The tension loosened slightly when a voice amusedly said: "Woah..."     It did not surprise me that I spotted the Marauders when I looked to the left. They had just come down the corridor and I attributed the exclamation to James Potter or Sirius Black, though the latter looked more suspicious because he curiously looked back and forth between Harmon and me.     "She's insane!" Harmon suddenly shrieked and eyed me fearfully.

Ah, so you've finally decided on an emotion?

     "Exactly," I replied sarcastically and picked up my two books, "I was the one who got physical first, obviously."          After those words she gifted me a venomous glare, but she still seemed determined to play the victim.     "Remi..." she almost whimpered, enough to make one sick.          My gaze moved to Remus, who looked at me apologetically. His eyes studied my right cheek, which was definitely red, though he could not give me more attention because a certain Harmon had to cling to Remus, who held her at a distance.     He seemed to have ended the whatever-it-was between them, and even though I was glad that he no longer had anything to do with such a strange, more angry girl, I was partly angry at him because I had landed in this shitty situation.

Though it's not his fault.

     Even so, my current agitation was directed at all people right now, so Sirius Black's stupid laughter, no, very inappropriate laughter was absolutely not funny.     I squeezed past the onlookers, who naturally were not defending Harmon's behaviour, and I heard the beginning argument between Remus and Harmon, then I was gone.

Remus' POV:

     The brunette disappeared angrily, though for a brief moment I had feared she would hit me, but instead she had begun crying.          "One thinks Thursdays are boring, then something like this happens!" Padfoot laughed as the onlookers dispersed. We Marauders remained standing where we were.     "And that's brilliant now, or what?" I asked and rubbed my face, ruffled my hair so that it stuck up.          "Entertaining rather, brilliant it obviously isn't. Being hit and shouted at is never brilliant. Speaking from experience," he at least clarified.     "At least you ended things with her," Peter said, but I merely shrugged my shoulders.          "That still doesn't give her the right to go after Phil."     "It looked as though our dear Phil had everything under control," Prongs replied and referred to how it had looked as though Phil had become physical first, at least until one saw her cheek.          "Interesting that Harmon made a connection to Phil. Coincidence? I hardly think so," Padfoot teased.      I sighed deeply.

He really can't leave it alone...

     "It happened because of your idiotic behaviour yesterday," I explained coolly and was tired of my friends annoying me about Phil.          "Those are accusations now," James teased, which caused me to glare at him and roll my eyes.     "Before any of you says anything about Phil again, first manage a normal relationship yourselves, thanks. Otherwise I won't take you seriously," I snapped at them, "I'm going to find Phil."     With those words I left them behind, because they had been annoying me with their stupid assumptions ever since the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff, which had partly gotten me into the situation with Harmon in the first place.     To Prongs and Padfoot, every normal relationship with the opposite sex had to become something serious immediately. They simply were the way they were, but I did not want to get worked up over them because I needed to find Phil.     I wanted to apologise for Harmon's behaviour, even though I could not help the fact that she had attacked Phil. I had merely told Sara Harmon that I could not return her feelings, though she had probably viewed my relationship with Phil as the reason for it. Not entirely without reason, because when Phil and I had returned from studying yesterday, I had ignored Harmon in the common room. Then James and Sirius had joined us as well and decided to annoy Phil and me.     Granted, I had felt uncomfortable in that situation, but not even that gave Harmon the right to act like this.

I need to speak to her about it later, went through my mind as I followed after Phil, or rather the corridor she had taken, because naturally I did not know where she was. I passed Moaning Myrtle's girls' toilet and it was logical to me that an upset Phil would be there.

     "Phil?" I therefore asked as I opened the door a crack. Thankfully nobody was in the corridor, though even so this girls' toilet was avoided. Nobody wanted to speak with Myrtle about her terrible school years and watch her dramatically vanish into the toilets, which for a ghost was a great effort. Even so, after a certain amount of time the performance became boring.     "Phil, are you in there?" I peered into the toilet and quickly received an answer: "Yes!"          Because of that I entered the girls' toilet, which caused an uproar.     "You're not actually coming into a girls' toilet now?" Phil asked when she seemed to hear my footsteps, but I saw no reason not to do so.          "I doubt anyone voluntarily goes into this toilet to do their business," I said and reached the sinks, where Phil stood. There was no trace of Moaning Myrtle, for now.     "What do you want?" Phil asked me and in that moment I realised that I myself did not know.          "Apologise for Harmon?"     "I assume you didn't set her against me, so it's not your fault."     I stopped in front of Phil. Her right hand tightly held her satchel and with the other she moved her fingers. Her blue eyes looked at me, studied me, whilst I shrugged my shoulders.

I truly don't know what to say to you, Phil, I thought.

     "I was worried about you," I therefore said quietly and clenched my jaw. Now she shrugged her shoulders, bit down on her lower lip, which she always did when she did not know what to do or when she was thinking.     "In that case you don't need to worry about me," she then said, "Though it doesn't make you look very good as a prefect if you tolerate things like this."     Towards the end she sounded teasing and strangely enough that relieved me. I continued looking at her and wanted to look at her cheek, but stopped my hand mid-movement. Phil's eyes followed my hand, after which she touched her own cheek.          "I mean, I didn't even deserve it..."     "One never deserves to be hit," I said immediately and was reminded again that during the argument Phil had told me that her stepfather and mother had been violent.     Because of that I waited for her reaction, though no major one came. Phil tilted her head back and we looked at each other.     "Perhaps you should rethink your taste in girls," she said instead of an answer.

She simply isn't only the quiet, reserved girl they all see.

     "Thanks, I know..." I grumbled.          Interestingly enough, I only noticed now that we were close. It was not unpleasant closeness, however, because otherwise I would have noticed such a thing much earlier.     What was also strange was that in this moment I noticed that Phil was a person who radiated calmness, even though she was not necessarily relaxed. It was more her presence, that I felt comfortable in her vicinity, that silence did not immediately have to mean something bad. Only now did I truly realise how fond I had grown of the girl in front of me during the last two years. Not in a romantic way, because I had never thought about it this way.     I simply liked Phil as she was, was happy to see that during her time at Hogwarts she had undergone great development. Sure, now I had to endure more teasing from her, or her friendship with Lestrange, the announced prank war, but all of those were positive developments to me.      Phil was less shy and showed more of her real character, just like now.          "If you know that, then good, little Remi." At her final word I briefly thought I had misheard.      But I had not and Phil's provoking expression was proof enough. Because of that I tapped two fingers against her forehead, which caused her to swat at my hand.     "That isn't funny!" I complained. I had hated Harmon's nickname ever since she had used it the first time.          "I find it highly amusing, Remi, even if I first have to get hit by a lunatic for it."     I wanted to reply again when a high voice rang out: "What's funny?" it asked and from the ceiling came the head of Moaning Myrtle. The ghost flew through the room, then floated in front of the toilet cubicles.     "Lots of things are funny," I explained to her, "But unfortunately we have to go again."          "Yeah, we do," Phil confirmed.     Consequently we disappeared from the girls' toilet beneath Moaning Myrtle's protests.