Behind the smiles

Boggart IV

One Slytherin, Avery, smirked.

"Looks like you marauders aren't brave at all...can't even face a bloody boggart!" He taunted, making the other Slytherins laugh.

For once, Sirius had no retort. He was still stunned by what he had seen. Peter was still trembling slightly, his eyes on the floor. Remus had not moved from where he stood at all, still staring at the spot where the boggart had been.

"What, Black? Lupin? Pettigrew? You're all cowards, really!"

James turned red and stepped in front of his three friends. "You shut up, Avery!"

"And why, Potter?" He taunted, sneering menacingly.

"Because they, unlike the rest of us, are ACTUALLY AFRAID of things that MATTER!"

Sirius snapped out of his trance, Peter stopped shaking, Remus looked at James, and everyone in the room was silent.

When James was angry, he had a way of getting everyone to listen to what he had to say.

"Peter was afraid of death...aren't we all? It's more sensible than being afraid of worms...or clowns." Some people looked around nervously. James was turning even redder.

"Sirius was afraid of becoming one of you cowards!" He gestured angrily towards Avery and the Slytherins behind him. "He was afraid of losing his friends...which, mind you, will NEVER happen."

The Slytherins in the room glared at him, but James kept talking.

"And Remus...Remus...." He glanced at Remus. Nobody really understood the depth of Remus' worst fear. He was not merely afraid of his own friends dying...he was afraid of himself and what he could do to them during the full moon. Only James, Sirius, and Peter saw it...the scratch and bite marks, caused by a werewolf.

"Remus is afraid of his friends getting hurt. And THAT is very, very brave. He was not afraid of hurting himself, he was afraid for us...for our lives. THAT KIND OF FEAR IS DIFFERENT!"

He turned toward Avery now, his eyes leaping with fury. "And YOU...you're afraid of spiders...I'm afraid of death eaters, everyone in this room is afraid of something and faced it...some fears though....some are impossible to face!"

James leaned in closer to Avery and spoke in a low, deadly voice. "YOU are the real coward, Avery."

He turned around and marched out of the room. Remus, Sirius, and Peter followed him silently.

Everyone was still quiet. James Potter had a temper...but never like this. Usually, he would just tease back, or throw a hex at whoever started it. This time though, it was personal...

That day, the marauders weren't seen during the next class, or the ones to follow. it was as if they had disappeared. The next day though, they were back to their usual selves. Smiling, joking, laughing. It was as if the whole thing hadn't happened. Eventually, everyone forgot about it as well.

What the students in the DADA classroom had failed to notice though, was that during that one lesson, they had seen the real marauders. The friends who would face their worst fears for each other, the boys who understood each other perfectly, and the brothers that would stick together no matter what.