Capítulo 174: Bullies
September 16, 1973.
"Where could she be?" wondered a boy walking down the large, long corridors of Hogwarts.
The boy had messy blond hair and was wearing the Ravenclaw robes, which were a bit dirty for some reason. This was Xenophilius Lovegood. The famous journalist from the Meddler. Though hardly anyone knew of the journalist's identity.
Since Eustace was caught, the Meddler has disappeared. Xeno was sad about this, but they had to stop or they could be caught by the professors, and they would have to explain about the vaults.
Xeno, as a journalist and gossip investigator, knew that James and the others were hiding something in the vault incident. Especially since in the final paper where the location of the fear vault was announced, only a few people got there, and all those people were known to James: his close group of friends, Gwen, who seemed to be his girlfriend, or so Xeno thought, a big scoop, and Snape, who seemed to have approached James for some unknown reason.
However, Xeno couldn't figure out what James and the company had planned. There were no clues, and everything had gone well, so he put the subject aside.
'I wonder what they're up to...' thought Xeno with a downcast expression. Sirius, Lupin, Toby, James, and Peter were his first friends; as sad as it sounded, they were from different years, and he had been at Hogwarts for a full year when he met them.
Now that they no longer had the paper in common, they hardly saw each other as they were from different houses.
'Don't think about such things... I have a friend now,' Xeno thought, shaking his head as he continued on his quest.
He was exploring the castle for almost an hour until he finally found the person he was looking for. At the end of an enclosed hallway, under the shade, sat a girl on the ground.
The girl had almost pale blonde, shaggy, waist-length hair. Her green eyes were watery. Like Xeno, she had a distinct aura about her. Her fashion sense was also different. On her fingers, she wore strange rings and earrings that no normal girl would wear.
"Pandora! I finally found you!" exclaimed Xeno with a smile, walking hurriedly towards the girl.
The girl's name is Pandora Rosemary. A third-year Ravenclaw student just like Xeno.
Pandora, when she noticed Xeno approaching, quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and sketched a forced smile.
"Hi, Xeno..." said Pandora.
'What's wrong with her?' thought Xeno, confused by Pandora's droopy and somewhat hoarse tone. The girl, just like him, is always enthusiastic and different from the others. So, the two of them got along very well. The bad thing is that it took them a while to get to know each other, even though they were in the same year and in the same house.
Xeno's smile disappeared when he could see Pandora more clearly. The girl's blonde hair was dirty and gave off a foul smell. Her robe also had a yellowish liquid on it. It was rotten eggs.
"Who did this to you!?" asked Xeno, trying to control his anger.
"Nobody... Never mind, Xeno," Pandora said, not wanting to talk about it.
Xeno got angrier hearing the sad tone of Pandora, who was always enthusiastic and had a smile on her pretty face. The latter was for him, as he had fallen in love with her.
"You were students in our house, weren't you?" asked Xeno, sitting down next to Pandora and looking at her.
Pandora simply nodded slightly and said nothing.
'Those bastards... They never get tired of bothering us,' Xeno thought with a frown and helplessness. One would think that a house of wisdom like Ravenclaw would have no bullies, but the person who would think this was wrong.
Xeno had also suffered at the hands of bullies for being so different. However, he didn't care; he tried to ignore them. Even though they would make fun of him and his beliefs. Sometimes they would play unkind jokes on him, but he always tried to think positively.
'What was the cleansing spell James taught me like?' thought Xeno with a finger to his chin. He remembered the charm and wand movement and tried to replicate it on Pandora. The result was better than nothing. He cleaned up some of the eggs that soiled the girl's robe, but not all of them.
"Thanks," said Pandora, who was still slumped. She stood up and started walking; she wanted to go somewhere alone. Her room couldn't be, since she shared it with four other girls who started bothering her this year because of her main bullies.
"We must tell the professors! I'm sure Professor Flitwick will help us," Xeno said, getting up and following Pandora.
"They'll be punished for a couple of days, and then the bullying will be worse... It's best to ignore them until they stop targeting us," Pandora said, twitching her eyebrows.
'That'll just make it easier for them to bully you,' Xeno thought.
"I want to be alone, Xeno. I'll see you tomorrow," Pandora added with a slight smile.
"Fine," said Xeno, tightening his robe.
When Pandora was no longer in sight, Xeno turned around and started looking for his only friends who could help him. He found them faster than possible. In the middle courtyard, sitting on the grass, were Sirius, Lupin, Peter, and Toby, who were conversing in low tones.
When they saw Xeno approaching them, the group quickly stopped talking and looked at him.
"Hey, Xeno. what's up?" asked Sirius, trying to act normal. They were talking about the vaults and the potions they were missing to be ready.
Sirius was already getting impatient. He wanted to explore the forbidden forest as soon as possible, but the preparations were taking longer than he thought.
"Something wrong?" asked Lupin as he noticed Xeno's helpless expression. Usually, the boy had a laughing smile on his face and an enthusiastic aura.
"Hey guys... Aren't you with James?" asked Xeno, sitting down on the grass.
"He's taking a fifth-year transfiguration exam," replied Lupin, with a strange expression on his face. He was still amazed at how far James was progressing in that subject.
"Oh, the rumor was real. I hope he passes," Xeno said without as much enthusiasm as usual.
"What's the matter? You don't look well," Sirius said, straightening up. He considered Xeno his friend. He shared and talked with him a lot when they worked together on the paper. That was the same reason why this year he also tried to continue the friendship, but it was harder because of how busy he was with the vault thing and so on.
"It's nothing," said Xeno, not too sure about telling them the problem. He wanted James' help specifically. Since they were to face a group of girls who had siblings in their sixth and seventh years, Only James could defeat them if there was any confrontation.
"Tell us. We'll help you with anything," Sirius said with a confident smile, placing his hand on Xeno's left shoulder. Lupin and the others nodded in agreement.
"Guys..." said Xeno with a renewed smile. This is what it feels like to have good friends. He began to tell them about his problem. Not the part where he was bullied, but the part where Pandora was bullied by the upper-class girls from Ravenclaw.
He could fix his problems on his own. He didn't want to intrude on Sirius and the others and get them in trouble.
"Girls are sometimes worse than boys," Toby commented, shuddering, knowing all that Pandora suffered at the hands of the Ravenclaw girls.
"Girls are scary," muttered Peter, shivering and looking at the grass.
The marauders had already met Pandora. Though they had spoken only once when Xeno introduced them to her this year at the beginning of September.
"We should just give them a beating, and the next time they bother Pandora, they'll suffer another beating again," said Sirius, cracking his knuckles like a Muggle gangster.
"Don't be a random bully... They're girls, and if we attack them out of the blue, our punishment can be severe," Lupin said with a thoughtful expression. He had to find a solution that would work in the long run. It was no use protecting Pandora for a few days, and then the bullying would return with more force than before.
"We challenge them to a duel and humiliate them like James did with Rabastan. Now look at that cocky boy. He's got his tail tucked between his legs and won't make eye contact with us," Sirius said with a smirk.
"I don't think it'll work," said Lupin, shaking his head.
"Our enmity doesn't exist with those girls. They will most likely ignore us when we challenge them to a duel or use their older brothers to fight us," said Toby, who also started a way to help Xeno and Pandora.
"Got it!" said Sirius, and an imaginary lamp lit up above his head.
"What?" they all asked, looking at him expectantly.
"We tell Gwen to challenge them to a duel and beat them up. They'll be scared shitless when they see her violent personality. Even Snape is afraid of her. Only James can control her. I'm surprised at how he puts up with her," said Sirius, who was still talking without noticing that the expressions of Lupin and the others had turned ugly.
Lupin was waving his hand for Sirius to stop talking about Gwen's violent personality and how James could put up with her.
"What's the matter? What's with the faces?" asked Sirius with a raised eyebrow. At that moment, he felt a presence behind him. He slowly turned around and noticed a pretty blonde girl with a frown looking at him. Her aura seemed to be below zero, and her blue eyes gave off a scary coldness. It reminded Sirius of James when he was angry.
"Gwen... It's not what you think," began Sirius, panicking. It was rare to see him panic. Even with his mother, he wouldn't get that nervous, but this girl was very violent, and her spark was short with most people. Plus, she was very good at dueling. She was better than him and the others. Only James could win against her.
"Who are those girls?" asked Gwen after Sirius stopped making cheap excuses.
"Tell her, Xeno! We're going to get revenge!" said Sirius, drawing attention elsewhere. He had to direct Gwen's violence towards those Ravenclaw girls. He didn't want to have another duel with the blonde girl and end up frozen in a block of ice. The aftermath was not pleasant.
Xeno started naming the Ravenclaw girls. He knew them as he was a great gossip researcher, and the girls were from important families.
'Phew... Since we started Hogwarts, her personality has improved a lot. What could have happened?' thought Sirius, relieved and looking at Gwen, who was listening attentively to Xeno.
"Tianne Windsor," Gwen repeated the name of one of the stalkers, and a creepy smile formed on her hegemonic face.
'What we're doing is right, isn't it?' they all thought as they saw Gwen's beautiful, creepy smile that sent shivers down their spines.
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