I'm Remus Lupin's Sister (Marauders Fanfic)

Chapter 9 - Jealousy Keeps Me Warm

After the attempt with Bellatrix went wrong, my friends and I took a little pause from the search for the stolen necklace. Not because we felt like it, nothing seemed more important than that, but because we couldn't take a pause from our lives. The days were becoming shorter, and not only because it seemed to darken faster than ever, but also because we had so much to do that we barely had any pauses from when we woke up till we fell asleep – or didn't fall asleep at all.

The teachers seemed to think their subject were the only one we had, because they all gave us loads of homework every day. There was no way we could avoid doing the given assignments this year, seen as it would affect our future. Even James and Sirius did all the given homework. Remus wasn't very willing to show us his essays anymore, and that made it all less possible.

On top of it all, the first Quidditch match was approaching in company with November. The castle was now so cold that most of the students wore headwear, gloves and scarves when they walked from class to class. Sneezes and coughs weren't rare to hear, and the hot chocolate, warm coffee and freshly brewed tea was popular at every meal.

The room in seventh floor seemed to have vanished. I took a detour and checked every day, but the tall, polished door was gone. None of the boys had ever seen the door, and when I showed them the wall where it was, none of them could figure out a way to find it.

The opening match in Quidditch this year was Gryffindor against Ravenclaw. The two houses were normally friendly and polite against each other, but the tension was strong. Especially the week before the match, the two teams and houses were on a less friendly foot.

On our way to a Transfiguration class, James got in a nice little fight with an opponent.

"Maybe the Bludger you'll get in the face will stop you from drooling over Lily Evans," said one of the two Ravenclaw beaters, who I believed was named Eric Tiller.

"Densaugeo!" muttered James, and Tiller's front teeth enlarged to the extent that he couldn't close his mouth.

The onlooking Gryffindors roared with laughter and gained disgruntled scowls from the Ravenclaws. The laughter from the Gryffindors stopped quickly as the door to the classroom was opened. Professor McGonagall stood there with a strict look, her eyebrows almost looking like one, thin line.

"What's going on here?" she asked and her eyes went from Tiller, who was panicking and trying to close his mouth, to James, who still had his wand in his hand. "Potter," she barked. "What is this kind of behaviour?" Tiller was now trying to talk, but his words were muffled and sounded more like desperate cries. "Someone take Tiller to the Hospital Wing. No, Tiller, just relax. Madame Pomfrey can handle it. Go now."

"Professor," said James. "He was-"

"I don't care about what he did or what he said," said Professor McGonagall interruptedly. "You are not supposed to use magic in the hallways. I don't know how many times I've told you this. Detention, Potter. Next week. Meet at my office five o'clock on Monday and Tuesday. And don't look at me like that, you know you deserved it."

The class followed her in, the Ravenclaws looking satisfied.

"At least the detention won't come in the way for Quidditch practice," I said after the class had been dismissed.

"That's only because she wants to win as much as us," said Sirius with a smirk. "If not more."

"I think Tiller looked great with those teeth," said Peter. "It was an improvement."

I laughed, and Remus shook his head.

*

The day of the match was the second clear day in a row. Instead of rain, sultry air and fog, the sky was clear of clouds, there was frost on the grass and the temperature was below zero.