SPELLBOUND | remus lupin

seven - it's their fault

APR, 1976
TROPHY ROOM

Well, Remus thought as he ducked behind a trophy case containing a huge, glittering shield. The glass shattered and rained down around him as he threw his arms up to protect his face. This may have been a mistake.

△▽△

It had been three and a half months since the confrontation outside the castle, and ever since, the cruel pranks and hexes had rained down in a terrible fury.

Remus was glad; Camilla had stopped her stuck-up, selfish acting completely, preferring to whisper to friends in class with a dark look on her face and smirks twisting her mouth that didn't quite reach her eyes than to drawl and laugh and embarrass. It was new and a lot more exciting to see her having something other than bullying other kids to focus on, and it made him very satisfied, though he was actually beginning to feel a little bad for the red-head. After all, they hadn't just hurt Camilla's pride, they'd ruined her, and she'd lost any respect she'd gained over the years. He had no idea that one prank could do all that, and cause this war between them and Camilla's elite.

The seven of them were focusing the brunt of their revenge on the four Marauders, but over time, a few, namely Bellatrix Black, Evan Rosier and Rodolphus Lestrange, had widened their horizons to anyone that didn't fit their standards. That was when the trouble started. Muggleborns and half-bloods alike were being targeted, most just having their dignity scraped, but others getting seriously injured after being hung from the ceiling of the Great Hall, or being catapulted out of a window. They seemed to be having a lot of fun when it came to duelling and fighting.

In fact, the four Marauders were also having the time of their lives, thriving in the chaos, despite the constant hexing and duels in the corridors between classes towards the end. They tried the best they could to keep the crossfire away from other students, but the Slytherins didn't care, which was what was causing the most problems. It was what had led to them all being locked in the Trophy Room together in the middle of a serious, near-deadly battle.

△▽△

Remus took a deep breath, listening to the yelling and the shouted curses and swear words while different coloured streams of light pulsed around the room. Then he swung around the edge of the case he'd been crouched behind and yelled, "Rictusempra!" at the form of Lucius, letting loose a jet of silver that caught the platinum-blonde in the chest. He was pushed back, losing the grip on his wand and doubled over laughing, spewing profanities when he could breathe through the tickling. Grinning now, Remus dived for cover near a huge cabinet, and ended up shoulder to shoulder with Lily, who, along with Marlene and Frank, had joined the Marauders' ranks and therefore increased their chances of not being carted off to the Hospital Wing on stretchers.

"You good, Remus?" she asked, a smile lighting up her face. She found it as fun as they did, and he wasn't surprised. Lily seemed to be in her element in this mess.

"Yeah, I'm great." The wood of the cabinet above them caved in on one edge, and they leaped aside. As they took cover again, Remus snuck a look at the other side. He could see James and Peter out of the corner of his eye on top of a cupboard laughing wildly while they threw curses at Wilkes and Bellatrix, but no sign of the other Marauder as far as he could tell. "Though I'm a bit worried that Sirius and Marlene have gone off into a corner to snog and left us to get hexed. You?"

"Yeah," Lily snorted, "this is kind of fun, as long as you don't get hit." They exchanged smiles, and then Remus spotted a flash of red hair in the mirror-like shine of an untouched shield, not Lily red, but evil-Slytherin-Camilla red. She was standing lazily on the other side of the room, deflecting stray curses, but no one was attacking her directly.

"Hey, Lily, cover me," Remus yelled above the din as he focused on Camilla's unmoving figure. Then the fifteen-year old leaped into the open and shouted, "Stupefy!"

She almost didn't catch it, but reacted immediately and seemingly impossibly quickly. The brief surprise on the Slytherin's face didn't contend with the bitter hatred behind her expression. Once again, Remus was caught in a whirlwind conflict of guilty emotions. If he'd only known the effect it would have... He hadn't even stopped to consider what it would have done to her, and quite honestly, Remus had thought she didn't actually have feelings to hurt.

"Look who it is," Camilla hissed, walking towards him slowly in a predatory fashion, solely focused on him. Behind Remus, Lily threw up a shield around him as several hexes headed towards his exposed form. Meanwhile, a cruel smirk was spreading across Camilla's lips. "None of your friends out here to protect you and fight your battles for you now, Lupin." Furrowing his eyebrows in concentration, Remus frowned and raised his wand defensively.

"Look-" he barely managed to say, before a barrage of powerful curses came his way in a blazing fury. The Gryffindor boy noticed that Camilla continued her advance as she angrily spat spells, but he also noticed that she was so intent on injuring him that her own defence was weak, or he might even go so far as to say non-existent. Easily exploitable.

"You... humiliated... me!" Camilla snarled as she got closer and closer and Remus stumbled further and further backwards, hard-pressed trying to block her spells. He had one chance to end this, otherwise he knew he'd be up in the hospital wing with glass from the cases on the floor stuck in his back and a whole range of other nasty afflictions.

As Camilla paused for a split-second, Remus bellowed a countering spell of his own, the moment the doors of the Trophy Room (which had been barricaded shut) were forcibly blasted open. Remus's, "Expelliarmus!" collided mid-air with a bright blue hex and both he and Camilla were pushed away from each other in the resounding explosion. Remus flew through the air and landed against the wall a little way behind with a heavy thud and Camilla crashed somewhere in the distance, automatically yelling rude expletives.

Despite the vague ringing in his ears and the new throbbing headache, Remus heard a furious Professor McGonagall demanding the 'ringleaders of this serious and appalling escapade'. Furious didn't cover it. The teacher, in her long emerald robes, had gone bright red and her eyes pierced razor-sharp through every single student in the obliterated room. Everything went a bit blurry and jerky. A few nervous mumbled answers spilled from most of them, but Camilla's cronies were beginning to gain confidence and had started pointing at Remus. The same happened on the side of the Marauders, and James and Sirius (who had suspiciously come out of nowhere with a slightly disheveled Marlene) had begun loudly shouting Camilla's name and being dramatic about the whole thing.

"Quiet, all of you!" Professor McGonagall said shrilly. "I am wholly ashamed of everyone here, especially you, Mr Lupin and Miss Sanders." Camilla shot Remus a dirty look from across the decimated battleground. "Thirty points will be removed from your Houses." Angry outbursts were heard, but the teacher cut all of them off, still full of rage. "Each." Everyone went abruptly silent in shock, surprised at the mercilessness. Remus was confused that she would butcher her own House's chances of winning the House Cup, but his reasoning just showed how truly angry the Professor must've been. "I cannot express enough how furious, and embarrassed I am." She seemed lost for words, shaking her head, until she found them again, looking grave. "You will have detention for two hours every evening for however long it takes to completely repair and clean the Trophy Room. You will do this without magic. Filch is in charge of your punishment and you are not finished until he is satisfied." At that, Remus could feel the dread filling the pit of his stomach. Filch would never let them go; there would always be a trophy to shine or a shield to polish, or a cabinet to fix. He felt like screaming in frustration, gritting his teeth instead. But then McGonagall continued. "As for you two, Sanders, Lupin, come with me." Remus glanced at Camilla, who had a resigned smirk fixed on her face, apparently her default expression for this type of confrontation, and stood up to follow the Professor.