Because We Are Made Of Dreams

Firing Back

Tension between the Slytherins and the Gryffindors remained at its highest peak all week, and the entire school was waiting for the Slytherin students to reply. But the week passed without any reaction from the victims of the Marauders" prank, and the interest of the students started to wane by Saturday.

Marlene and Clara were getting ready for their first Quidditch training, and the two girls were more upset than ever.

"I can"t do this Clara, really, I can"t."

"Yes you can, Marlene!"

"No, I"m going to do bullshit."

"Of course you"re not," Lily reassured her," you"re going to be brilliant. Besides, you already know almost all the members of the team."

"True!" nodded Clara, though she was fighting hard to swallow back the lump that was going up her own throat. "It"s gonna be fine. Come on Marlene, we have to go, or we"ll be late."

Their broomsticks upon their shoulders, they went downstairs to the common room, to find James, Sirius, John Thomson and Caradoc Dearborn waiting for them.

"Ready?" James asked them.

"Sure," Clara answered lightly though it took all her will to reply with a steady voice.

"We"d better go then," said Sirius. "It"s going to rain this morning, and it would be great if we could practice without being soaked."

As they walked together towards the Quidditch pitch, it was quite clear the girls were very nervous, though the three boys did their best to make them laugh and relax. However, when they arrived to the pitch, they found their Seeker, an angry expression painted on his face.

"What"s wrong Mike?" James asked him.

"The Slytherins. They arrived five minutes ago, and they claim the pitch for themselves. They say they have booked the pitch for this morning."

"You"ve got to be kidding me..." sighed Caradoc.

James and Sirius exchanged a tense glance, frowning. Before anyone else could add anything, they were striding towards the changing room, their wands held tightly in their hands. Loud laughter could be heard from the distance, becoming more and more audible as the Gryffindor team approached the changing room, and Sirius"s blood started to boil. A quick glance towards James told him his friend was feeling just the same. Rosier came out of the room just as the two Marauders stopped in front of it.

"Potter, Black," Rosier greeted them with an evil smile. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I honestly hope for you that this is a joke, Rosier," James replied, his voice shaky with anger.

"That what is a joke?" he answered with fake innocence.

"You having booked up the pitch this morning," said Sirius, his voice cold as ice.

"Oh yes, apparently you had booked it. I"m terribly sorry, but Slughorn gave us an exceptional authorization to use the pitch this morning. You see, we have a new member to train."

Just as the words finished forming on his lips, Regulus walked out of the changing room, standing right behind Rosier. His chin high in an expression of pure disdain, he threw a disgusted look at his older brother, who merely clenched his jaws even tighter. Around his wand, Sirius"s knuckles had turned white.

"And I have three," replied James. "Surely you can see that we need the pitch even more than you."

But the Slytherin captain merely shrugged.

"Go talk to the teachers then. If you can give me a special authorization like this one..."

He dramatically handed a bit of parchment to James, on which the Gryffindor recognized immediately the writing of their Potions Master.

"... then I will give you the pitch with pleasure. But for now, you will have to leave. Except if you want to watch us play of course, I"m sure you could learn one or two things."

"About cheating and cowardice, I"m sure we would," spat Sirius.

Rosier let out a laugh. His whole team was standing behind him in the corridor by now, and he felt safe enough to play a bit with the Gryffindors.

"Well, I guess you could teach us a thing or two about cowardice too, Black. Though, you would be better at teaching treachery."

Sirius held James back as he was moving towards Rosier, rage twisting his face.

"We"d better go find McGonagall, and try to get an authorization to play," Sirius calmed his friend.

James breathed heavily, before turning slowly towards the exit. But the Slytherin had more ammunition to fire at them.

"By the way Black, I"ve heard you had a new friend. Half-blood this one. What do you think about that Regulus?" Rosier asked, laugh distorting his voice.

"Well, it"s not very surprising, he likes being among them, don"t ask me why," Regulus answered in a bitter tone. "Apparently, he likes being in the mud. Dirty blood suits him it would seem. Just one more of his whores though, it"s just a phase of his that will pass, like it always does."

Marlene grabbed Clara by the wrist, preventing her from answering. But even if her friend had not stopped her, she would probably not have had the time to reach the Slytherins. Indeed, before anyone could react, Sirius"s fist was flying directly towards his brother"s cheek. The boy fell to the ground in a thump, and in the blink of an eye the two brothers were fighting fiercely. Rosier and Mulciber managed to get Regulus back on his feet, whilst James and Caradoc held Sirius back. The Gryffindors rushed out of the pitch to prevent any more fighting. As they were back on the grass of the grounds of the Castle, they finally freed Sirius, who was still red with fury.

"What a band of cockroaches!" fumed Marlene.

"Can they really do that?" asked the other new chaser, astonished.

"Are you alright mate?" James asked Sirius.

He examined Sirius"s face, but the boy shrugged himself out of James"s careful examination.

"I"m fine."

The blood that was flowing out of his nose and onto his white shirt, just like the bruise that was already forming on his right cheekbone were saying quite the contrary. But James knew better than to push him, and he started to walk back quickly to the Castle.

"We have to go to McGonagall"s office, right away," said James to the others as they were following him back into the Castle.

"Do you think she will hear us out?" asked Clara.

"Of course, you know how McGonagall is when it comes to Quidditch. She will give us a goddamn parchment, and the Slytherins will get their arses off our pitch."

"I don"t think it"s going to help us to plead our case if Sirius is bleeding on her desk though," Marlene pointed out.

"I"ll wait outside," agreed Sirius.

They ran up the stairs to their teacher"s office, and James knocked energetically at the door.

"A minute please," came the voice of the professor from inside the room.

James started to pace angrily through the corridor, whilst Clara was examining Sirius"s face.

"I reckon your nose is broken," she said.

She withdrew her wand.

"What do you think you"re doing with that?" asked Sirius, suddenly worried.

"I"m going to heal your nose," she simply answered.

"No you"re not. Are you a healer? I don"t think so."

She rolled her eyes and sighed.

"My dad is an Auror, remember? I spend my holidays healing him. I can fix your nose, but if you prefer, I can let you bleed to death."

"I won"t bleed to death with a broken nose, Clara. See, you don"t know anything about healing people."

"Fine, keep bleeding and suffering then, I don"t mind, it"s not my nose."

Sirius sighed heavily.

"It is quite uncomfortable actually, go on. But if you hurt me, I"m going to kill you on the pitch, you can count on it."

"Deal," she laughed.

Without even speaking, with a simple gesture of her wand, she healed Sirius in the blink of an eye. They all heard a loud cracking noise, but Sirius felt no pain, and the bleeding ceased immediately.

"Thank you," said Sirius, drying his face on his shirt.

"You"re welcome."

The door suddenly opened, and a fourth year ran out of McGonagall"s office, an ashamed expression on his face. As he was disappearing at the corner of the corridor, the teacher invited the Quidditch team in, and all the players entered, except Sirius who remained in the corridor, resting casually against the wall.

"Aren"t you all supposed to be practising?" asked the professor, surprised.

"The Slytherins have a special authorization from professor Slughorn to use the pitch this morning. Could you give us one, so that we can train?"

The teacher frowned, taking a quill and a piece of parchment, but she stopped before the ink could touch the paper.

"Can I see this authorization?"

James handed it to her, and she sighed heavily as she finished reading the short note.

"Have you read it, Mr. Potter?"

"No I haven"t."

"Well, professor Slughorn has apparently allowed his Quidditch team to use the pitch because his students were not able to train thanks to the prank that was played on the Slytherin students last week, which caused two of his players to be taken to the Hospital Wing. Apparently they had swallowed cockroaches."

The Gryffindors fought hard against the laughs that were forming in their throat.

"It"s not funny!" their teacher admonished. "You are in this situation because of your own immature behaviour Mr. Potter, as well as Mr. Black."

"Professor, it wasn"t..." James started, but his professor interrupted him.

"Don"t try to deny it. It is true we have no proof whatsoever, so we can"t punish you all properly for your behaviour, but it doesn"t mean we are idiots. I know perfectly well that you and Mr. Black are responsible. Where is he, by the way?"

James remained very calm, and gave the professor his most convincing smile.

"He had forgotten his gloves, he went back to the Tower to pick them up while we were talking to you Professor."

But you couldn"t get away so easily with Minerva McGonagall...

"So if I open the door now, and walk to the corridor, I will not find Mr. Black waiting outside..."

"Of course not," James tried, but he knew the situation was critical.

"Well, I"d better go and check myself then."

"No need really, Professor..."

"Oh yes! You two are always together, there"s something else you are all trying to hide from me."

Before any of them could react, Professor McGonagall strode towards the door, opened it quickly and dragged Sirius inside.

"I hope for you, Mr. Black," she admonished, her face red with wrath," that you have a very good explanation for the state of your face."

"I"m afraid I fell Professor..." Sirius started.

"Don"t start lying to me Mr. Black!" she warned him. "I"m not an i***t. I know you probably fought - against whom?"

Sirius lowered his eyes, looking at his feet.

"My brother."

"Why?"

Sirius shrugged, but didn"t answer.

"Will a month of detentions help you to speak?"

Sirius didn"t say anything, so Clara opened her mouth to start explaining what had happened, that Sirius had simply reacted to his brother"s insults towards her. But Sirius stopped her, finally answering himself.

"I simply got mad at him because of the pitch, Professor."

"Are you sure there is nothing else, Mr. Black?"

"Yes Madame, I"m sure."

McGonagall sighed, rubbing both sides of her long nose with her fingertips, before speaking again.

"I"m afraid there is nothing I can do for you. Professor Slughorn clearly wanted to teach you a lesson clearly, and I guess you do deserve one. Mr. Black, you will spend your three next Sundays with Mr. Filch, in detention. Off you go now."

They tried to protest, but she wouldn"t listen, so they finally turned away and left the room. As they were exiting the office though, McGonagall called Sirius back.

"I hope you know," she said kindly to him, all traces of anger gone from her expression," that if you need to talk, about anything, my door is always opened to you, just as Professor Dumbledore"s is."

"I know Professor, thank you. But there is nothing to discuss really."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I am, Professor."

"Off you go then."

The students all headed back to the Tower, defeated. They let themselves fall onto the sofa and the armchairs by the fire of the Common Room.

"I can"t believe it!" murmured Caradoc.

"Well, at least we know why they did it and how," said Mike, sighing heavily.

"I"m off to bed, it killed my mood for today, I"ll be good at nothing anyway," declared Caradoc.

He got up and ran up the stairs, closely followed by Mike and Thomson.

"I"d better go and try to find Lily. Are you coming too Clara?"

"Sure."

The girls left the room, abandoning their broomsticks on an armchair. After a while, James finally looked at Sirius, who was lost in his own thoughts.

"What do you reckon we should do?" he asked his friend.

Sirius turned his attention slowly towards him, his jaws set and his fists clenched. When he answered, his voice was cold and merciless.

"Fire back."

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The boys remained in their dormitory all day, and by the end of the afternoon, Clara and Marlene had started to be quite anxious.

"It"s not good," sighed Alice." The situation with the Slytherins is going to be even worse than it already is."

"And after the boys have done their next pranks, the Slytherins will react too... and it will never end," added Lily

She had a sad expression on her face, and Liam put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Well, if you want to stop them you can Lils, I mean, you"re a prefect after all."

"It"s more complicated than that."

"Why?"

She looked at her boyfriend, her green glance determined.

"They do it for the right reasons. I didn"t understand at first, but I think I do now. They do it to protect each other, they do it for their friends, and I would probably do the same."

"You would prepare a stupid prank to avenge the wounded ego of a friend?"

"Of course not. I would probably not use the same method, but I would defend my friends too, whatever may be the consequences for myself. And it"s not only about egos. You heard what Clara and Marlene said, Rosier and Black insulted Sirius and Clara, they said she was a w***e, it"s not just an ego matter, it"s much more serious."

"Then why don"t you all go find a teacher?"

"I don"t think Sirius want the teachers to get involved in his own troubles with his brother," answered Clara.

"Why?"

The girl merely shrugged.

"I just know it"s complicated with his family, and I guess he doesn"t want the whole school to know what"s really going on with his brother. I don"t know really, but I"m sure he has a good reason to avoid the teachers. He could have told McGonagall how Regulus had insulted me, and I reckon she wouldn"t have been so hard on him, he could have avoided detention, at least some of it."

"I think we don"t know enough to say if they are right or wrong to react to the Slytherins" provocations the way they do," said Marlene. " But I know I won"t cry for the Slytherins when the boys strike."

"Me neither, for sure," Clara agreed.

"Well, I"m starving. We"d better go to the Great Hall," proposed Frank.

At diner, the Marauders were still absent. Clara and Lily worked late to finish their essays for the coming week, and it"s only at midnight that James and Sirius finally came out of their dorm, heading for the kitchens.

"I"m starving too," said Clara. "May I come with you?"

"Sure," Sirius shrugged.

"Actually," started Lily," do you mind if we have a word, Potter?"

"No, of course not," answered the boy.

"I"ll bring you back some food," Sirius told him.

"Thanks mate."

Clara and Sirius disappeared through the hole, leaving James and Lily alone. The Gryffindor boy sat next to her on the comfortable sofa, facing the warm and welcoming fire.

"What can I do for you, Evans?"

"I was just wondering what you were up to this time?"

James sighed, clearly annoyed.

"If you want to give me detention, then do it now, but don"t make me waste my time."

"I don"t want to give you detention, I just want to know if you"re alright, and what you"re planning to do."

"Since when do you worry about my well-being?"

She frowned hard, her cheeks reddening as anger rose inside her. James sighed again deeply, taking off his glasses and passing a hand on his weary face.

"I"m sorry Evans, I"m just tired. I didn"t want to be mean."

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I"m fine."

"You"re planning something, aren"t you?"

"We are discussing it."

"What do you mean?"

"Remus is wiser than us I guess, and more cautious. He reckons we should wait a bit."

"I agree with him."

"I don"t know. We can"t let them get away with this either."

"Maybe you should wait a couple of days, see how things are evolving."

"Maybe. It doesn"t depend on me."

"What do you mean?"

"It"s about Sirius"s brother, so he is the one to decide what we should do. If he wants to act, then I"ll be by his side. But if he wants to wait, then so be it."

She looked intensely at him. After a few seconds, James felt quite uncomfortable, and he shifted.

"What"s wrong?" he asked her.

"I didn"t know you were that loyal to your friends."

"There are plenty of things you don"t know about me, Evans."

"Clearly."

He smiled at her.

"Well, good night Evans. You shouldn"t kill yourself working so hard you know."

"Maybe you should work a bit more."

He laughed genuinely.

"I already work enough, thank you."

He got up and started to walk towards the boys" staircase.

"Potter," Lily called him back, "be careful okay? I mean, it could quickly become more than a few pranks or a few insults, and I don"t want any of you to get hurt."

James propped up an eyebrow, running a hand through his messy hair, and Lily fought hard not to roll her eyes. This habit was so bloody annoying...

"Merlin, are you actually worried about me Evans?"

"Of course not Potter, I"m worried about Remus. He"s my fellow Gryffindor prefect, remember?"

"Of course, I should have known."

"Good night Potter."

"Good night Evans."

He climbed up the stairs, entered the dorms and let himself fall onto his bed. Remus and Peter looked at him, surprised.

"Where is the food?" asked Peter.

"And why are you back so quickly? Alone?" added Remus.

"Lily and Clara were in the Common Room. Clara wanted to talk to Sirius, and Lily to me. So Sirius and Clara went to the kitchens, and I had a little chat with Lily."

"It explains the stupid grin on your face, for sure," joked Remus.

"Shut up Moony," James laughed too.

"It would seem you two are on speaking terms, congratulations."

"Well, I guess we"re not there yet. But who knows? Maybe she doesn"t hate me so much anymore."

"I don"t think she hated you..."

"Yes, she did Moony."

Remus shrugged.

"Anyway, it"s great if you two can talk without howling at each other."

James grinned again, staring at the ceiling.

"Thanks Moony. I reckon it"s great indeed."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Whilst James and Lily were talking in the Common Room, Clara and Sirius were walking silently towards the kitchens. They didn"t speak until Ollie had given them some snacks (some of her special chocolate cakes, of course), and they had started back to the Tower. Sirius was lost in his own thoughts, and Clara knew he wouldn"t say anything if she didn"t ask first.

"How is your face?" she finally asked.

"Okay. Don"t worry about me."

His jaws were set, he was frowning slightly. It wasn"t hard to guess that he wasn"t alright at all.

"You"re going to plan something against the Slytherins, aren"t you?"

Sirius stopped in the middle of the corridor, and looked intensely at her.

"Are you going to try to stop us?" he asked bluntly.

"No, I"m not."

"Good, "cause it"s none of your business."

He headed for the next flight of stairs, but Clara stopped him.

"I reckon it is my business, since I"m the one who was insulted this morning."

"It"s about my brother, so it"s not your business."

"I just want to be sure you"re okay."

"I am, don"t worry."

"No you"re not. I"m not stupid, I can see it. What can I do to help?"

"I"m taking care of it. Don"t worry, he"s not going to get away so easily after what he said."

"Sirius, I"m grateful for what you did for me this morning, really I am. I know I haven"t thanked you properly yet, but I do it now. Thank you for taking my side. But it"s just words Sirius, and I don"t want you to get into trouble with your brother, or with the Slytherins in general, because of me."

"He can"t get away with what he said Clara."

"I don"t want you to avenge me or anything. You already fought against him, that"s quite enough I reckon."

"It"s not enough, not for me."

She got closer to him, speaking slowly and carefully choosing her words.

"I know you"re trying to do something good. I know you think it"s the right thing to do. I also know the Slytherins deserve whatever you and the guys are planning to do. But I"m afraid you will get into even more trouble, because of me. You already have detentions..."

"It"s just detentions Clara, I"ll survive."

"I don"t want you to get hurt, because they will react too, and I"m afraid they will be more violent than you. I don"t want you or any of the boys hurt because of what a Slytherin has said about me. Do you understand?"

"It"s not just any Slytherin though, he"s my brother."

Clara sighed heavily.

"It"s your choice to make, but I want you to know where I stand on this, okay?"

"Okay."

"Can I ask you one more thing?"

"Of course."

"Why didn"t you tell McGonagall the real reason you fought your brother?"

Sirius shrugged, before answering earnestly.

"It"s my brother, and I didn"t want McGonagall to get involved in this. What could she have done anyway? Give him detention? I reckon he"s going to need more than that to stop. Besides, I didn"t think it was a good idea to tell everyone what he said. Many would have learned why he had had detention, and they would have talked, about you and me. And I don"t reckon it would be good for your reputation to be taken for one of the girls I snog, so..."

She didn"t answer for a while, staring at him.

"Thank you Sirius. It"s really kind of you to take care of me like you did today."

"Any time. That"s what friends are for after all."

They smiled to each other, before heading back to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Sirius entered his dormitory, to find his friends waiting for him.

"So, what did she want?" asked James.

"To thank me."

James nodded, as he passed a cake to Remus.

"We have to make a decision Padfoot," said the werewolf.

"What do you all think we should do?" asked Sirius.

"I think we should wait," said Remus firmly.

Peter merely shrugged as an answer, his mouth full of cake. Sirius turned to James.

"Prongs?"

"Maybe we should wait a day or two, see how things evolve. If they try anything else, we fire back. If they don"t, maybe it"s not worth an open war. You already broke his nose after all."

Sirius smiled weakly, before nodding slowly.

"We wait then, but if they do anything, they"ll have me to deal with."

Remus took another cake before looking sternly at Sirius.

"You mean, us."