Four To The End (prev Shifting Lines) Book Three (Marauders Era)

Chapter Ninety-Six - Despite All My Rage I'm Still just A Wolf In A Cage

Author's note: CW emetophobia and broken bones

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With the next Quidditch game coming up on the weekend, the school began to get into the Quidditch frenzy and Ravenclaws and Slytherins began arguing more than usual. In Care of Magical Creatures, Kettleburn had to pull apart some of the students and threaten them if they continued. This wasn't even their final game, either; Slytherin still had to fight Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw still had to fight Hufflepuff. But with the way everyone was acting it felt like a final game, one that would determine who won the cup.

In Astronomy that night, Remus found out that some of the Slytherin team had been bragging about an 'easy win', as well as some rude things they had said about the Ravenclaw team. One of the Ravenclaw players retaliated by hexing one of the Slytherin players. So now everyone was more riled up than usual.

"It was the Keeper," Buckling told the Marauders as they left the tower. "He's the one who hexed someone on the Slytherin team. Flitwick's furious."

Peter groaned. "Doesn't surprise me," he said after Buckling walked off. "He's... got a temper."

"I know you hate your cousin, but I'd still rather Ravenclaw win," James said.

"It's fine. I know."

The following morning Remus was surprised when he walked into the Great Hall for breakfast and found Ravenclaw decorations everywhere. He, Lily, and Cassie stood still for a moment, their surprise disrupted when a Prefect approached them.

"Oh, you're Gryffindors, sorry."

The vaguely familiar voice slid into Remus's brain and he looked to see Shacklebolt, the sixth year Prefect whose voice made Remus want to melt like butter under an incendio spell.

"I've been questioning all the Ravenclaws," he explained, giving them each a warm smile which didn't help the wobbliness in Remus's legs one bit.

Lily and Cassie sort of stared wide-eyed up at him, and Remus wondered if they had ever come across one another before. Remus assumed not as, once they took their seats, the two girls immediately began whispering about how cute Shacklebolt was. They both kept giving him furtive glances and wondering if he was single.

"You're not," Lily snapped at Cassie.

"I could be," she said, then covered her mouth, turning towards Remus. "Please don't tell him I said that, it was only a joke. I swear!"

Even with the (wrong) hurt he sometimes felt about the two of them being together, he'd never do such a thing. "I won't," he promised, filling his plate with eggs and sausage. He wanted to agree about how good Shackebolt looked—or rather, sounded. He was good-looking, but it was his voice that made Remus shiver. Maybe he'd tell Lily later, but with Cassie there he had to keep silent and even roll his eyes when they started up again, making annoyed faces.

Some of the other Prefects were busy taking the decorations down, all of them complaining. One of the fifth year Ravenclaw Prefects, who was working on the ceiling above the Gryffindor table, even accused James and Sirius of doing it.

"They didn't," Remus said when Lily gave him a curious look. "They were in bed all night." He knew because he had had a nightmare at around three in the morning, and Sirius had come over to check on him. Perhaps he and James had snuck out between one-thirty and three, but he doubted it.

When they left to go to Arithmancy, they found more Ravenclaw decorations in the Grand Stairwell; including one banner that said the Ravenclaw team would turn the Slytherins into meat minced up so well that pixies could eat them.