Author's Note: I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I love reading your reviews and they really encourage me to go on with this. THANK YOU!!!

More good news: I have found a beta reader for this now: Sentrosi. Thanks to you too! From now on, I will pay more attention to the suit of armours ;-)

Chapter 4

Fighting a Boggart

Belinda calling him "Mudblood" was not the only consequence that followed his decision to tell her about Sirius betraying her...

In the evening when Remus came back from the library and wanted to go into the Gryffindor common room, Sirius, Alex, Chris and Peter (Remus had finally found out the name of the shy boy who was also in his dormitory) stood in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, blocking his way.

"Could I please get through?" Remus ground out. He did not get an answer. "Could you please move aside?" he tried again.

"No," Sirius said unperturbedly.

"I have the right get into the Gryffindor common room." Remus took a step forward. Sirius and Alex grabbed an arm of him respectively.

"No, you don't have the right," Sirius said nastily. "A little cowardice traitor like you has no place in Gryffindor."

Remus laughed disbelievingly at that. "Listen who's talking! A Black. I really wonder how you got sorted into Gryffindor. Probably your parents had to bribe the Sorting Hat with tons of silver."

Sirius's fingers clawed deeper into Remus's arm, which felt number and number with each passing second. "Careful, Lupin," Sirius hissed.

"Yeah, shut up, little nerd," Alex said.

Remus shook his head incredulously. "I can't believe you still support him after he's made a play for your girlfriend. That's pathetic, really."

Alex kicked his shin really hard. "Shut the fuck up!"

"Ouch!" Remus exclaimed in shock. Before he knew it, the two boys shoved him into a suit of armour, which shattered down on him with loud rattling. Laughing, the four boys ran away. Cursing under his breath, Remus got on his feet again. The helmet of the suit had painfully collided with his head. He wanted to go through the portrait hole but the Fat Lady would simply not let him through, insisting he had the wrong password.

"So, so, so, here we have the culprit," he heard a voice behind him. It was Filch, the caretaker, who eyed him with a smug smirk. "Have you any idea what a valuable suit of armour you have damaged?"

"I didn't do it purposefully, sir," Remus defended himself.

Filch laughed derisively. "Firstly, it doesn't matter if you did it purposefully or not, and second, I don't believe you anyway. Follow me in my office. We'll see if we have a fitting punishment for you."

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Filch did find a punishment for Remus: He had to clean all the suits of armour throughout the entire castle. Right after his lessons had finished, he had to start scraping rusty suits of armour. And while he knelt at the feet of an enormous suit and tried his best to polish the boots, Sirius and his friends took every opportunity to make snide remarks. After several hours, he had just finished four suits. That meant one corridor. Remus did not dare imagine how many suits of armour existed in the whole castle. Presumably, his two school years would not suffice to clean them all.

But as things looked now, he would have to repeat a year anyway. Filch did not let him go before 10pm and most of the time, he had to work beyond midnight and was consequently tired the next morning in class. All in all, it was not the brightest time.

One day, he had lost his temper. Alex had spat on a suit of armour he had just finished polishing. In his frustration, Remus had thrown the dirty cloth in Alex's face. It had been a stupid idea… Sirius's Tickling Charm and Alex's Finger-Removing Jinx had proved to be an unhealthy combination… It had neither caused tickling nor had it removed any of Remus's fingers. Instead, little strings of neon green seaweed had grown out of his ears. They had stayed there for three days. And, of course, had been the cause for more mockery.

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It was another evening after hours of senseless work. Remus was glaring moodily at the pile of homework in front of him on the desk. With the dull automatic movements he had required during the last days, he opened his textbook for Defence against the Dark Arts and grabbed his quill. Writing was difficult because his arm hurt so much from the exhausting work, causing his hand to tremble with the effort of scratching the quill over the parchment. He had to write an essay on Boggarts and normally it would have been easy for him but at this time of the day, his brain did not function properly anymore, and so it took him almost two hours to finish it. When he had planted the full stop after the last sentence, he leant heavily back in his chair and breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Too tired to move on to bed, he kept staring at the illegible scrawl he had produced. Suddenly, the parchment gently took off. Remus blinked a few times because he suspected his burning eyes were playing a trick on him. But then he noticed Sirius standing in front of the fireplace. The parchment floated into his outstretched hand.

"Boggarts do not have a constant shape but belong to the species of shape-shifters," Sirius read in a schoolmaster voice. "They take the form of the thing which their victims fears most." He glanced up from the parchment and smirked at Remus. "Well, I'm sorry to say but there is obviously a slip in the grammar. Their victim is in the plural but you inflected the verb into the singular form. I'm afraid you have to write it again." And with that, Sirius tore the parchment into halves. "So sorry," he said gleefully.

Remus could not muster up the energy to stop him. So he had to witness how Sirius gloatingly tore his essay into more and more smaller pieces and discarded them into the fire. When he had finished his "work" he looked up at Remus again. "By the way, there's still dirt on your left cheek. You should wash it."

"Why?" Remus said wearily. "If I washed it, you'd find something else. You'd suddenly realise my haircut is ridiculous or my cloak is old-fashioned – so where's the point in washing my face?"

Sirius opened his mouth to reply something but then he closed it again, frowning. Apparently, he was at a loss for words. If Remus had not been so tired, he would have felt a triumph at having rendered Sirius Black speechless for a moment.

Remus stayed sitting there like that, gazing into the dying flames of the fire, for a long time. He lacked the vigour to experience anger or hate at the moment. And where was the point in it? Where was the point in doing homework? Where was the point in studying? Where was the point of being at this school?

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The next morning, his muscles were aching (he had fallen asleep in the armchair in the common room) and he did not have his homework for Defence against the Dark Arts.

"I forgot my homework," he told Professor Ötzli in a subdued voice and stared down at the empty piece of parchment in front of him.

Professor Ötzli, who was collecting the rolls of parchment with the essays from everyone, frowned disapprovingly at him. "Well, Mr Lupin, you're new at this school and you certainly cannot afford just forgetting your homework. If such sloppiness starts already now at the beginning of the term, things look bleak for your future." Remus turned crimson red and kept his gaze fixed on his empty parchment. "Five points from Gryffindor," Professor Ötzli said strictly.

What next? The other Gryffindors already hated Remus and it would get even worse if he started losing points as well.

"Well. At the beginning of the lesson, you will write a little test so I can check who only copied other people's homework and who really learned something." With a flick from Professor Ötzli's wand, parchments with the questions distributed themselves among the students.

All the questions were about Boggarts and as Remus had already acquired knowledge on the topic last night, he would at least not disappoint Professor Ötzli again. Peter Pettigrew, who sat next to him, obviously had more trouble answering the questions. He nervously chewed at his quill and kept throwing quick side-glances at Remus's or Sirius's answer sheets. Apparently, he had not found something useful on Sirius's answer sheet, so when Professor Ötzli was at the other end of the classroom, he leant towards Remus and whispered desperately, "Help me!"

Remus moved his parchment somewhat for Peter to see it better. The chubby boy sighed in relief and immediately started copying Remus's answers in lightning speed. In the meantime, Remus hoped strongly that Professor Ötzli would not notice anything.

Fortunately, everything went well, and when Professor Ötzli collected the answer sheets, Peter whispered a "Thank you".

Then they learned how to fight a real Boggart. It was really creepy. All the time, monsters and horror scenarios turned up in the classroom. It was an emotional roller coaster: At first, everyone shrieked in panic or disgust, then the whole class erupted into laughter, then they screamed again…Remus was sweating and his heart thudded loudly in his chest. Most of the students did very well. But then, when it was Peter's turn to fight the boggart, things got out of control.

Peter saw himself lying in a pool of blood. The living Peter's face turned almost as chalk white as the corpse's skin. He staggered backwards, unable to say or do anything. Two students caught him and thus saved him from collapsing on the floor.

"Bring him outside, he needs fresh air," Professor Ötzli ordered. "The next one!"

It was Lily's turn. There was a little plop and Peter's corpse stood up. It looked as if the little, chubby body was stretched, and then he opened his eyes, and the eyes were red.

Although Remus had never seen him before, he knew immediately who it was. Livid scarlet eyes… slits for nostrils… a white and gaunt face… a long, black cloak… The students backed away in panic and gasped in shock.

Lily lifted her trembling hand and pointed the wand at the dark wizard whose name Remus did not even dare to think but she did not say 'Riddikulus' but "Expelliarmus!"

The tall wizard laughed a maniac laugh and menacingly approached Lily. She staggered further backwards and kept trying to disarm him.

"The next one!" Professor Ötzli shouted and even he sounded slightly nervous.

Just why doesn't anyone do anything? Remus wondered desperately. Someone just had to move forward, and as soon as the Boggart turned to them, the image of He Who Must Not Be Names would vanish. But no one dared getting closer towards the Dark Lord.

"I will kill you, little Mudblood," he hissed. "But at first I will take care of your filthy muggle-parents. I will torture them in front of you, oh yessss."

"No!" Lily sobbed, her whole body trembling.

Finally, Remus pulled himself together and took two big steps forward. The Dark Lord eyed him for a moment out of his glaring red eyes. Then, the place where the most evil wizard ever had just stood was empty. Instead, a silver full moon hung above Remus's head. He could not disengage his eyes from the sight. It was as if the moon hypnotised him. Dimly he became aware how everyone settled down again. Everyone but Remus. There was nothing which would make a full moon look ridiculous. Remus just stood there, not able to keep a clear head. But then, very slowly, an unbidden thought crept into his hazy consciousness:

What if I transform? Here and now, in front of everyone else. Then they will know. No, worse, I will attack them!!!

At long last, he found the strength to react. He turned on his heels and stormed out of the classroom. He ran and ran and ran, without knowing whereto. Just away. Away from the full moon. That was all that mattered. Away from its pale, silver light. Away from its gravitational (or magical?) pull.

Finally, when his lungs felt as if they would explode any minute, he slowed down and leant heavily back against a cold stonewall. He had no idea in which part of the castle he was currently. It did not matter. Everything was fine as long as he was still human.

Then he heard the faint chime of the bell which signalled the end of the lesson. There were voices – chattering students – a few corridors to his right. He followed the noise and saw that it were younger students who came out of the Potions classroom. He just followed them like a sleepwalker, simply blissful to be a human among other humans.

Gradually, his agitated breathing calmed down and soon his earlier behaviour seemed almost ludicrous to him. A little Boggart-moon certainly did not have the same affect on him like the real moon, right? Being able to think straight again, he also realised that his bag with books and writing things was still in the classroom for Defence against the Dark Arts. So he did not follow the other students who hurried for the Great Hall to eat lunch but changed the direction and walked back empty corridors.

But his belongings were not in the classroom anymore. Had someone taken it for him? Possibly Lily? He decided to check in Gryffindor Tower. Perhaps someone from his classmates knew where his bag was.

When he arrived at the portrait hole, several people were already waiting for him. Sirius, Alex, Chris and Peter blocked his way once again. But they were not the only ones. On the whole, there were at least fifteen other students, boys and girls from all grades. Remus had a very bad feeling when he found himself face to face with that group.

"Are you, by any chance, looking for this?" Sirius asked amicably and held up Remus's bag.

"I bet he's already afraid of not being able to do his homework quickly enough," Alex taunted him. Some of the group laughed maliciously.

"I'm betting you aren't going to give it back?" Remus tried very hard to sound calm when he spoke to Sirius.

"Hey, you aren't as stupid as I thought," Sirius said mockingly.

"So? What do you want?" Remus asked tensely.

"I'm just interested in what it was that your Boggart turned into."

Remus's insides cramped convulsively and he had the sudden urge to vomit. If Sirius, of any people, found out about his secret… He did not even dare to finish the thought. "It was what I fear the most," Remus said almost defiantly.

"I'd like to know it more specifically," Sirius said, and he sounded really dangerous.

"But I will not tell you."

"Then you won't get your bag back."

"That's okay with me." Remus shrugged and turned to leave but he did not get far. The other students had subtly closed a circle around him. He got more and more worried when he met all the curious or hostile glares. "What is that supposed to mean?" he asked nervously.

"Just tell us what your Boggart was and we'll leave you alone," Sirius explained.

"You can't force me to tell you!"

"Are you sure?" Sirius smiled.

Remus gulped. "I will not tell you and that's all there is to it! Could you please let me go now?"

"No," Alex said firmly. "First we want to know why you're afraid of a silver orb."

Remus glared angrily at him. "I swallowed a marble when I was a little kid and I almost choked on it!"

"How very funny." Alex drew his wand. The others followed his lead.

Remus did not even bother to reach for his own wand. Firstly, there were far too many opponents, and secondly, they all were better at this than him. He had never duelled against anyone before.

"We would really like to avoid violence," Sirius claimed, "so you better tell us now."

Remus just silently shook his head as an answer. Then someone muttered something and suddenly he was hanging upside-down in midair. Little by little, strange things happened with his body, things he could not control at all. One moment, he was spinning quickly around, next moment, his arms and legs twisted in odd angles. Sometimes it felt as if something bashed against the back of his head. Again and again he could hear people shouting to him to finally tell it, and they threatened him with more pain if he did not speak.

He would never tell them. Never. No matter what they did to him. He gasped in pain and shock when he received a brutal blow into his stomach. He tasted blood and his eyes burnt as if he had rubbed soap into them.

"That's enough!" someone suddenly shouted and then it was over.

Remus dropped down to the floor in an ungraceful heap. He simply rested there, his head covered under his arms. He felt dizzy and there was a rushing in his ears. He did not dare to move. A teacher, he thought. Please let it be a teacher. Hopefully, the other students had to see Professor Dumbledore now. In the meantime, Remus would run away. Just away, without taking any of his belongings with him. He just needed to get away from these students. There is just the question how I'll be able to 'run' like this, he though in an odd moment of self-irony.

"I'm against torture," he faintly heard a voice. "It's not right, it's what Death Eaters do. Behave in a more civilised way, okay?"

Remus slightly lifted his head in order to see who was talking. Unfortunately, there was no teacher to be seen.

"So what? What are we supposed to do with him?" That was definitely Alex's voice.

"If we let him go, he's going to snitch on us at once." Remus identified that voice as Chris's.

"I don't think so," said Sirius.

"Well, and what if he does?" Chris insisted.

"Dunno," Sirius said undecidedly.

Remus let his head fall back into his arms. He did not really get what they were talking about.

"I thought you wanted to know what his Boggart was."

"Yes, sure."

"Alright then, no torture. What if we imprison him?"

"And then what?"

"Then we'll hold him prisoner until he tells us the truth."

"I'm alright with it."

"Okay."

"Let's do it then."