Frigid Fights
The boys were undoubtedly shocked by the news James had brought to them, but they were shocked more so by the fact that it had not even crossed their minds that Greyback could be the culprit behind the infiltration of the castle. The evidence was staring them in the face the entire time and they had still not seen it. Who else would have a reason �“ insane or not �“ to try and break into the castle? Only Greyback had the motivation to do so. But why had he done it on the day of a full moon? Remus wouldn’t be in any of the likely places that Greyback would suspect, which explained the wreckage of the Great Hall. Greyback must not have been familiar with a student’s schedule and went straight to the dining hall, not realising that everyone was still in class. This brought up another question �“ what had possessed him to do it in broad daylight?
They had later learned from Remus that he had not been in the castle at all when the intrusion occurred. Madam Pomfrey had elected to take him down to the Whomping Willow early, thinking that the bad weather would only worsen as the day transformed into night. She wanted to be back in the castle before then. Remus had not argued in the slightest against this; he could sleep just as well in the Shrieking Shack than in the Hospital Wing. The fact that Greyback had broken into the castle for a second time, however, made him eternally grateful for Madam Pomfrey’s intense dislike of being wet. The boys now only wondered if Dumbledore was aware of the situation. He must have been… How could he not be aware of it?
November brought with it a fresh blanket of snow that draped itself across the castle grounds. The castle went to sleep one night, completely green, and awoke the next morning completely white. The students, as usual, took advantage of the weather to have snowball fights, to go ice skating, or else to hex snowballs to follow around their enemies, periodically bashing them in the back of the head. A group of first years got it into their heads to build a snowman, only to have it crashing down as the result of the cruel tricks of some of the older, rougher students. The first years retaliated remarkably by charming the tree the older boys were sitting under to dump all of the snow on the branches onto the boys.
James, Sirius, Remus and Peter did not take to the snowy grounds as they had in the past years. Instead they locked themselves in the Room of Requirement for endless hours to work on the potion. They stored the cauldron in one of the numerous cabinets that had appeared when James announced they needed to keep it somewhere dark. They also took advantage of the sudden plethora of cabinets to keep the ingredients they hadn’t gotten to using yet. Unfortunately, the boys couldn’t spend nearly as much time as they would have liked in the Room of Requirement. People would start getting suspicious. It was simply not natural for the boys to not be causing some sort of havoc. So, they would prank someone at least once a week and claim that their quota was filled.
“Hand me the Lacewings, would you, Remus?” Sirius asked one evening. He was bent over the lip of the steaming cauldron, peering into the bubbling potion. Remus, who was sitting in one of the armchairs, flipping through the Animagus book, tossed Sirius the vial. “Thanks.” He uncorked the container and tipped the contents in.
“We really have to get moving on this,” James stated as he stirred the flies around the liquid.
“Well, is it our fault that someone has Quidditch practise every second of his life?”
“Blame Biggs for that, not me.”
Sirius snorted. “Of course. I’ll just walk right up to him and say, ‘hey, lighten up on the Quidditch practises, would you? James has got to be brewing an illegal potion!’ That would really benefit us.”
James rolled his eyes, but instead of retorting, he turned to Peter. “What time is it, Pete?”
Peter, who was tackling some homework at the table, not taking in a word of the conversation until that point, checked his watch. “Quarter to eight.”
Sirius frowned, annoyed. “Time to start packing up.”
“We should start bringing my cloak with us,” James lamented as he corked the several bottles they had used. They always intended to bring the Invisibility Cloak with them, so they could stay long past curfew, but no one ever remembered to take it on their way out. James and Sirius stowed away the cauldron and the unused ingredients, and left with Remus and Peter.
As they traipsed up the corridor, Peter asked, “What are you guys doing for the holidays?”
“Not going home,” Sirius answered at once, grimacing at the very thought of Christmas at number twelve Grimmauld Place.
“I’m staying here,” James replied contently. “I already told my parents before I left for school. Remember, we all agreed to spend the holiday here this year?”
“I was just wondering if plans had changed.” Peter turned to Remus. “What about you? Staying or going?”
“Staying.”
“We’ll have the entire castle to ourselves,” James said happily. “We can use that for working on the potion.”
Sirius twirled a finger in mock celebration. “Just what I wanted to do over Christmas �“ work!”
“You came up with this idea, Sirius.”
“Actually, we both did, James.”
“Then why are you-”
“Relax, I was joking. Merlin, can’t a guy make a joke?” He looked at James in amazement. James always knew when Sirius was joking. Why was he suddenly so defensive about everything? He had been that way ever since the break-in on Halloween. If anyone had a reason to worry about the infiltration, it was Remus, and Remus was not saying anything. So why was James acting worse than Remus was? “What’s wrong with you, James?”
James raised an eyebrow, either feigning or truly not knowing what Sirius was talking about. “What do you mean?”
“You’re acting as if you’re the one who has to worry.”
“Worry about what?”
“James, you’re not dense, so stop pretending that you are.” Sirius spun around so he was facing James and, as a result, giving his friend no way to get around him. “You’ve been acting like this ever since you told us it was Greyback who got into the castle.”
“You don’t think that’s something to worry about?” James was incredulous. How could Sirius stand there, acting as if there was nothing out of the ordinary going on? Hogwarts was a sacred place, a safe place, and its walls had somehow been penetrated. It hadn’t happened only once, but twice now. If there was ever anything to be troubled by, it was this. It wasn’t as though it wasn’t directly affecting them either. It put one of his best friends in danger and James would not stand for it.
“I do, James,” Sirius admitted, hoping that he knew this already. “But you’ve been obsessing over it. Even Remus hasn’t been like you.” Sirius jerked a finger in Remus’s direction. “I would expect him to be acting the way you are.”
“Don’t think I haven’t wanted to,” Remus muttered under his breath so no one heard him.
“Sirius, Greyback got past Dumbledore!” James exclaimed exasperatedly. “Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
“It proves that Dumbledore’s human and can’t be everywhere at once. But he knows something’s going on.”
James grudgingly agreed with Sirius. As long as Dumbledore knew someone had gotten by his security, that meant something was going to be done to prevent this from happening a third time. Dumbledore was only human, as Sirius said. He was undeniably a genius, but he could occasionally slip up. James tried shrugging the thoughts that had been clouding his mind for some time away or at least push them into a dark corner where he would not think about them.
It was the first day of the Christmas holiday and the boys were hopelessly bored. They had long ago exhausted snowball fights and hexing snowballs to follow Slytherins around, yet they did not want to stay in the castle, where there was absolutely nothing to do. However, the only thing that anyone seemed to be doing outside was, in fact, having snowball fights. They were not in the mood to work on the potion, as they had done so for three hours the previous day and they could swear that their cauldron was about to turn on them for overuse. They could always visit Hagrid and see what new creatures he had procured. Then again, they weren’t truly in the mood for dealing with illegal magical creatures or the uneatable rock cakes he would push on them.
Finally, after endless deliberation, they elected to simply take a walk and do whatever came to them as they were walking. They collected their cloaks, scarves and gloves, and trooped out onto the snow covered grounds. The snow was shin deep, but was already giving signs of starting to melt. The weather was not nearly as cold as they thought it would be. James, in particular, was pleased about this. Snow didn’t do anything to damage a Quidditch match, but it was a pain having to stand in it during practises. They trudged through the snow, the legs of their pants soaked within seconds, and headed towards the Quidditch Pitch.
James led the way, getting it into his head that it would be fun to fly around for an hour or so. Despite the never-ending Quidditch practises he had to endure, he never got enough of flying. If it was humanly possible, he would have been born with a broomstick attached to him. Sirius loved flying as well, but he was not nearly as fanatical about it as James. He could get on for a month without ever swinging a leg over the handle of a broomstick. Remus and Peter, well, they did all they could to avoid ever going flying after their disastrous Flying Lessons during first year. Nevertheless, they joined James as he led the way toward the broom cupboard. He had left his own broom in the castle and did not want to run back and get it.
“Here you go,” he said, tossing Sirius a broomstick. Sirius clutched it and made his way into the pitch to wait for the rest of his friends.
James turned back to the shed, took out a broom and placed it on the snow, saying that it belonged to him. He then removed two more and held them out to Peter and Remus, who did not take them.
“I’m sorry, were you mistaking us for people who can actually fly?” Remus questioned in astonishment. James was very well aware of the fact that neither Remus nor Peter fancied flying, nor were they talented at it.
“Oh, come on,” James moaned. “Sirius and I aren’t going to make fun of you.”
“In front of our faces,” Peter muttered under his breath.
“Oh, yes, because Sirius and I frequently talk about you behind your backs,” James scoffed sardonically. “If you haven’t noticed, we never get the chance to do that because you’re always around.” He rolled his eyes, frustrated. “When have we ever done that?”
Peter narrowed his eyes. “I’m not always around.”
James opened his mouth, no doubt ready to say that Peter was, indeed, always around, but was distracted by a snowball connecting with the back of his head and Sirius’s cry for them to hurry up. James pushed the broomsticks into Peter and Remus’s hands, yanked up his own, and dashed over to where Sirius was hovering about five feet in the air, impatience etched across his face. James hopped onto his broomstick and kicked off the ground until he was hovering five feet in the air, level with Sirius. He raised an eyebrow at Remus and Peter, who still stood resolutely on the ground.
Remus rolled his eyes at the absurdity of the whole thing. James was never going to rest until they were in the air, so they might as well get it over with. Slowly, taking as much time as he possibly could, he mounted the broom. He blocked out James and Sirius when they began whooping in triumph, and lightly kicked off the ground. Peter remained on the ground; there was no way they were going to get him in the air. If Remus wanted to humiliate himself when he fell, that was not Peter’s problem. He let the broomstick James had shoved at him fall to the ground.
“This isn’t so bad, right, Remus?” James called to his friend, who was hovering in the same spot, unable to move farther.
“If I don’t fall, it’ll be the most fun I’ve ever had on a broom,” Remus called back shakily, as his broom dipped slightly.
“Grip it tightly,” Sirius advised, flying over to help. “If you hold it too loosely, you’re going to fall.” Remus hastily did as Sirius instructed, his hands gripping the handle so tightly that his knuckles turned white. “Now to get Peter up here.”
“Good luck with that,” Peter shouted, sitting down on the cold, melting snow.
Sirius cast a look towards James, who grinned back mischievously, knowing exactly what Sirius was thinking. They were going to get that boy in the air whether he liked it or not. James caught up with Sirius and they flew side by side downwards to where Peter was sitting, his back facing them. Sirius went to Peter’s left and James to the right. The space between Peter’s arms and his torso was wide enough for the boys to slip their arms through and try to lift Peter into the air with them.
This plan, however, was better in theory than in actual execution. For one, Peter had planted himself rather firmly on the ground and had the resilience to stay there. Another, he was not the easiest person to lift. James and Sirius tugged under their friend’s arms, but he simply sat there, laughing loudly. Instead of pulling Peter into the air, they only succeeded in sailing, headfirst, into the snow. The two lay there for a moment, their mouths filled with the freezing snow, listening to Remus and Peter’s shouts of laughter. James turned to look at Sirius, and winked.
Instantly, James had leapt to his feet and flung a snowball at Peter. Peter, completely unsuspecting, took the snowball in the face. This only caused Remus, who was still hovering in the air, to laugh louder.
“I don’t know what you think is so funny, Lupin,” Sirius called, his back facing his friend as he balled up some snow. Before Remus could react, he took a snowball to the ear.
“Excellent aim, Black!” he yelled through his laughs, slowly bringing the broomstick to the ground. He did not trust himself to be flying when his friends were chucking snowballs in every direction. The odds were that he would not remain in the air for long. He was not laughing for long, however, and was met with a snowball mixed with a rather large chunk of ice that connected painfully with his nose. Remus dropped the broomstick to the ground and his hand went straight to his face. “You bloody git,” he snarled. “That had ice in it.”
“I didn’t plan it that way!” Sirius quickly defended. He really hadn’t planned on this; it was just a bad coincidence. Feeling guilty, he went over to Remus to see the damage he had inflicted. But, just as he got close enough to see what was wrong, Remus’s foot shot out, kicking Sirius in the shins. “Merlin!” Sirius gripped his shin and hopped up and down, his eyes shut in pain.
“That’s what you get!”
James folded his arms across his chest and shook his head seriously at Peter. “It wouldn’t surprise me if these two murder each other someday.”
Peter couldn’t help but agree. “They’ll probably finish each other off at the same time.”
“Seriously, Remus, let me see what I did.” Sirius was standing a few feet away from his friend, just in case he got any more clever ideas. Remus let his hand drop from his face and Sirius saw it was steadily turning purple. “Well, at least you have ice for the bruise.” He smiled cheerfully, dropped the ball of ice into Remus’s hand, and patted him on the head.
“If you need ice for the bruise you’re going to have on your shin, I’ll be happy to supply you with some.” Remus snatched up a handful of snow, put one hand on the back of Sirius’s head and used the other to press the snow into Sirius’s face. Sirius yelled something indistinguishable and ducked down to grab an armful of snow, ready to dump it unceremoniously on Remus’s head when the opportunity presented itself. Amidst the shouts of the two boys, James and Peter watched interestedly.
“Yeah,” Peter said exasperatedly to James. “They’re definitely going to kill each other someday.”
“We should bet on how.”
“I bet you three Galleons and a whole pack of Chocolate Frogs that Sirius pushes Remus over a cliff.”
“Well, I bet you double that Remus uses that cricket bat his mum has and let’s Sirius’s head get better acquainted with it.”
Peter laughed. “One of us should really write this down; we don’t want to forget about it when it happens.”
James chuckled. “I’ll run and get my quill and parchment right now.”
The shouting of Remus and Sirius suddenly stopped. Sirius huffed and turned to Remus. “They think we’re a form of gambling!” he said, outraged.
Remus looked equally outraged, though the corners of his mouth were twitching upward. “And they’re betting on which one of us is going to kill the other first. How lovely.”
“Well, personally, I think you wouldn’t stand a chance against me.”
Remus quirked an eyebrow up. “Excuse me? You were cowering like a baby when I pulled out that cricket bat at my house.”
“You wouldn’t have had that if it wasn’t for your mum.”
“I could have found something that would have done equal damage to that thick skull of yours.”
Peter grinned broadly. “Look what we’ve started, James.”
“Another brilliant show, Pete.”
“They should really be paid for what they do. It’s that good.”
The arguement that was ready to commence between Sirius and Remus stopped once more. “Did you hear that, Remus?”
“I did, Sirius.”
“Peter said we should be paid for our wonderful entertainment.”
“I think we should be.” Remus and Sirius wheeled around on James and Peter and the smiles instantly vanished from their faces. “Pay up.”
James took a step back. “Are you serious?”
“I’m always serious when it comes to money, James.”
James gaped from Remus, to Sirius and, finally, to Peter. Remus held out a hand and looked at James impatiently. Unable to believe that he was actually going to do this, James stuck his hand inside his pocket and pulled out two Galleons �“ one for Remus and one for Sirius. He held out the first to Remus, who did not take it, but chortled loudly. James groaned, rolling his eyes. “Now what?”
“Did you honestly think I was going to take your money?” Remus asked incredulously.
“You seemed pretty set on it.”
“I just wanted to see if you’d actually do it.”
“Oh,” James said swiftly. “In that case, I’d like a Galleon.”
“What?”
“An eye for an eye, a Galleon for a Galleon.”
“I believe that’s for revenge.”
“What do you think this is?”
Remus groaned and fished through the pockets of his robes for a Galleon to keep James quiet. When he finally produced one, James chuckled. “I just wanted to see if you’d actually do it.”
“Git.”
The fourth year boys’ dormitory in Gryffindor Tower was particularly loud on Christmas night. This could be attributed to the fact that James had presented Sirius with two-way mirrors that allowed them to speak to each other when they were separated, usually in detention. They were walking around the room, speaking the other’s name into the glass, cheering happily when the other’s face replaced their own. Remus and Peter sat on Remus’s bed, watching the spectacle with mildly confused expressions on their faces. They didn’t understand why James and Sirius couldn’t just talk to one another without the mirrors. If they really wanted to test them out, one of them should have at least left the room.
As James and Sirius continued to test out the mirrors, Remus and Peter settled for trading the Chocolate Frog cards Peter had found under his bed. He had lost them in second year and found them hiding under a loose floorboard. This Christmas was very unlike the ones from the previous years. For one, this was the first time they had spent the holiday together in the castle. Another was that there was no news of Muggle attacks like last year. Yes, this Christmas was the easily preferable one.
“Sirius Black,” James said clearly into the mirror, his breath fogging the glass. Slowly, James’s face disappeared and was replaced with that of his best friend.
“You know, guys, I think they work,” Peter said, turning over a card of Morgana so he could read the back.
“You can never be too careful, Petey,” Sirius said, finally setting the mirror down on his bed.
Peter grimaced. “Don’t call me that.”
“Why not? I think it’s adorable!”
“Don’t ever say the word adorable again.”
“Point taken.”
James and Sirius, at long last, put away their mirrors and joined Remus and Peter as they broke into Remus’s large box of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans that his parents had sent him, along with a dark green jumper embroidered with a Chinese Fireball. James was convinced that if you took a handful of beans at once, you wouldn’t be able to taste the disgusting flavours. Sirius challenged him, naturally, betting five Galleons that it would be just as disgusting. James took this wager, shaking on it with Sirius, and scooped up a considerable amount of the colourful beans. Looking determinedly at his opponent, he grinned and dumped them into his mouth.
Sirius was right. It took James a moment to register the actual taste, but when he did, he spat them onto the floor. He was convinced that there were boogey, vomit, and dirt flavoured beans in there. He mumbled mutinously as he paid Sirius and shoved the box back to its owner. Remus took the box back, carefully selecting what turned out to be a cherry flavoured bean. He, Sirius and Peter laughed as James sped from the room, his destination most likely being the kitchens.
“He should’ve listened to me,” Sirius chided, shaking his head and grinning largely.
“That was an easy five Galleons,” Remus commented, picking his way through the box.
“And, for which, my friend, you can have two of them.” Sirius ceremoniously dropped two of the Galleons into the Bertie Botts box.
Remus looked at the pieces of gold in amazement. “Feeling generous, are we?”
“Well, you are my fellow entertainer according to him,” he jerked his head at Peter, “and Mr. I’m Going to Make Myself Puke with Jellybeans.”
James returned moments later, clutching four bottles of Pumpkin Juice. His bottle was already half gone, a surprise to nobody. He chucked the remaining three at his friends and joined them, sitting on Remus’s bed. They uncorked their bottles and drank.
“You know,” James said, lowering his bottle thoughtfully. “This year has been one of the tougher ones, I think.” He didn’t have to say what he was talking about and no one else was going to mention it. The last thing they wanted to talk about on Christmas was Fenrir Greyback and what Remus was in for. “But it’s almost half over,” he added optimistically.
“Yeah, and we’ll be fifth years soon,” Remus added, marveling at the thought of their education at Hogwarts being half over come the summer.
“With the dreaded O.W.L. exams,” Sirius groaned, shuddering.
“Yeah, but after that I can drop Divination!” Peter cheered happily, punching a fist in the air.
“We told you not to take that class, Pete.”
“Next time I’ll take your advice.”
“Anyway,” James went on. “How has it taken us four years before we all spent the holiday here?”
“Let’s see…” Sirius began ticking the occurrences off his fingers. “First year, we all went home. Second year, you were going to France and Peter was going to Belgium. Third year, he went home. Fourth year, we all had nothing to do.”
James rolled his eyes. “I didn’t ask you to name everything.”
“But you said-”
Remus quickly cut in. “Make your point, please, James.”
“The point is that the four of us are best friends and, therefore, should have spent the holidays together years ago.” He raised his bottle in the air.
Sirius, Remus and Peter followed the suit. “Hear, hear!”