The Unlikely Genius
"So, Mr Potter, please start from the beginning." McGonagall's lips were a thin line. She was prepared for a whole day of interviews and had decided that she would get James Potter's out of the way first thing in the morning. He had a habit of taking absolutely nothing seriously. "Why were you in the Entrance Hall yesterday morning?"
"I'm afraid that is privileged information, Minny." Minerva took a deep breath, looking at the boy with a bored and stern expression. She knew it had been his birthday the day before and upon close inspection she could tell he was suffering from some sort of illness – it was not a huge leap to guess that her entire house would be just as hung over. The Marauders' parties were prolific despite the staff never being able to catch them in the act. It was going to be a long day.
"May you divulge any information regarding what you were doing before?"
"Nope." Potter's eyes seemed to gleam in delight; Minerva made a mental note to assign a particularly long essay after Easter. "Next question?"
"You understand, Mr Potter, that this is very serious?" The smile dropped from his face and Minerva felt a small victory.
"Of course I do."
"And I trust your father has informed you of the unstable nature of the wizarding world outside of this castle?"
"He has."
"Then would you please answer my questions as fully as possible?"
James Potter cleared his throat uncomfortably; he appeared to be thinking. Minerva watched the cogs turn.
"We were hanging out in one of the unused classrooms just off the Entrance Hall."
"Who is 'we'?"
"I'm sure you can guess, Minny." Minerva nodded. Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. The four of them were as inseparable as they were troublsome.
"And you heard nothing while you were in there?" McGonagall raised her eyebrows suspiciously.
"We were practicing silencing charms."
"I see, so around what time did you become aware of the situation?"
"When we left just after eleven."
"Can you describe what you saw?"
"There was already a crowd, we pushed our way through and saw the pig. I asked if anyone knew what had happened and people started accusing each other. Remus sent Pete to go get some teachers and then you arrived."
"Did you notice anything suspicious?"
"You mean other than the dissected pig floating in the middle of the room?" Potter's brow creased. "No, sorry. Everyone seemed just as surprised as me."
"Thank you, Mr Potter. If you can think of anything else please come to me."
"Sorry I couldn't be more help." The sixth year rose and exited her office. Once he had left Minerva lifted her wand to her temple, pulling the memory away and placing it in the pensive in her desk drawer. She had a feeling she may need to look back at these interviews.
xxxxx
James reached into his pocket as he left Professor McGonagall's office. His hand found the mirror and he pulled it out.
"Sirius Black." He waited for a few moments and he heard rustling and saw some black shapes and then his best friend's face came into view. He looked ill. "Where are you?"
"I'm not sure." James saw him look around and could see yellow in the background. "Oh, Merlin."
"Is that a Hufflepuff dorm?"
"I think so… whose bed is this?"
"I have no idea, but we have a problem. Meet me in eleven. Like now."
James sprinted down towards the empty classrooms manoeuvring around stray students and skidding to a halt outside the location of last night's party. Sirius appeared a minute later looking bleary and grumbling.
"What's wrong?"
"I had my witness statement thing with McGonagall and I had to tell her we were in here yesterday."
"Why can't Moony and Wormtail do clean up?"
"No time." James pushed open the door and was pleasantly surprised by how little mess there was. They set to work cleaning the floor and levitating the rubbish into a pile in the corner. "Whose bed were you in?"
"Not a clue, mate. Definitely a Hufflepuff girl's but she wasn't there."
"Do you know how I got back last night?"
"I don't know, I was stood with you for the first shot-off but then you disappeared. Did you wake up in your bed?"
"Yeah, and I'd been tucked in and someone had taken off my shoes." James strained his memory to recall last night but for some reason all he could remember was Snape. "I think it might have been Snivellus."
"You're joking?"
"No, I know I saw him."
"Shit…"
"Yeah." As James vanished the red velvet a memory hit him. "Oh shit. It was Evans."
"No way! You didn't…?"
"Nah, I think she just helped me up to bed."
"So are you guys like… friends now?"
"Nah, the universe hasn't completely imploded so I don't think so."
"Lucky her, you're a shite friend anyway."
"Talking to you always gives me such a confidence boost." James said sarcastically.
"I like to think I keep you grounded." They cleaned and tidied the rest of the room in a comfortable silence, each lost in their own thoughts. James was still struggling to remember the night before, he remembered Lily laughing at him as they sat on the floor about… something? And then he remembered seeing Snape and listening to… something else? What even happened last night?
xxxxx
Emmeline sat in the Great Hall. Her plate was piled high with bacon; her favourite hangover cure. She sat alone and was perfectly happy with this. Her head ached and her stomach felt vaguely uncomfortable. She remembered last night very well and the memory made her feel strange, she was not embarrassed or guilty so what was she feeling?
Her pondering was interrupted when the owls began to sweep over the tables. She searched for a familiar owl and was surprised when one she did not recognise dropped a letter before her. She opened it quickly when she saw her brother's writing.
Hey Em,
Well done on the essay, you were always better at Charms than I was. Does Flitwick still stand on that stack of old books? Give him a hug from me!
Emmeline snorted at the unlikely mental image of herself cuddling her Head of House. She continued reading.
There's a lot happening here. The fighting's getting worse, I'm sure you've read about it in the paper. Can't tell you much, sometimes our letters are intercepted but we're still fighting back.
Can't wait to see you over summer, gutted you didn't come back for Easter but I get why you stayed.
Write back soon!
Silas.
Emmeline read the letter twice over. The second paragraph troubled her most. It wasn't specific but she knew it was about the man known as Voldemort. The Prophet and the Ministry were doing a bang up job of keeping almost the entire wizarding population in the dark about all of the horrible things that had been happening. All she knew was that he used dark magic and was hurting a lot of people, muggles and muggleborns in particular. Silas Vance was six years her elder and still acted like she was a child, he didn't seem to want to tell her much about all of this but she knew when she left Hogwarts she would be joining the fight against Voldemort. She scowled.
"Something on your mind?" Emmeline looked up to see Benjy taking a seat opposite her. He looked tired but not too hung over. She could swear she felt her stomach drop out of her body. She cleared her throat.
"Just a letter from Silas." Benjy nodded. She hadn't discussed the troubles outside of Hogwarts with any of her friends. She didn't really want to. "It's nothing."
"So… Last night?" Emmeline did not look up from her bacon as she considered how to respond. What was there to talk about? She had kissed him. She supposed maybe he wanted to let her down easy, after all she knew Benjy had a date with Lydia Hunter in a couple of weeks. She would make it easier for him.
"No, I don't think so." Emmeline aimed for nonchalance. "We were both drunk. It didn't mean anything, right?"
"Yeah. I know. Right." Emmeline looked up to see that smile on his face. She thought she saw a flicker of something behind his eyes but it was gone so quickly she had no time to identify it. "I just remembered I have to go talk to Eve about the prefect meeting tonight."
"Oh, okay." She watched him go unhappily. Last night really hadn't meant anything she assured herself. He hadn't even eaten breakfast a voice at the back of her mind noted. And then she realised: Terrified. That was the unfamiliar emotion. She was feeling utterly terrified.
xxxxx
"Miss Prince, please take a seat." Alice Prince slowly walked towards the chair opposite McGonagall. Minerva observed the seventh year; she looked terrible. Alice sat down very slowly and looked incredibly relieved. "Are you feeling quite alright?"
Alice Prince put her face on the desk, sighing deeply. McGonagall watched as she closed her eyes. Minerva became worried the girl might genuinely be taking a nap in her office when she finally spoke.
"Never better, Professor. Am I in trouble?"
"No, please sit up, Prince." The girl sat up slowly and reluctantly, her eyes still closed. "I want to ask you about yesterday's events in the Entrance Hall," and then, "please open your eyes."
"If it's all the same to you, Professor, I think this will go much smoother with them closed." McGonagall sighed and then nodded but remembering the girl had her eyes closed she voiced her assent. "What was it you'd like to know?"
"Where were you before you saw the, ah… demonstration?"
"The Great Hall… No, wait, I was in the Entrance Hall and then it appeared."
"You saw it happen?"
"Not really… I left the Great Hall first and it wasn't there then and I turned back because Lily hadn't followed me because she was talking with some fifth years then I turned around again and there it was." Prince's eyes were still closed but Minerva thought she still looked very honest.
"Was there anyone else in the Entrance Hall?"
"Not when I came in but when I was waiting that little second year Hufflepuff girl walked past."
"Do you know her name?"
"Oh, Merlin I'm awful with names. She's very small, Indian-looking, muggleborn, I think?"
"Jalila Rusnak?"
"Yeah, that's the one."
"Anyone else?"
"No, Professor. It just appeared."
"Then what happened?"
"I was pretty surprised obviously, then Jalila sort of screamed 'cause it appeared pretty much right on top of her. And that's when everyone started coming out of the Great Hall. You probably know the rest."
"Yes, thank you, Miss Prince. If you think of anything else please come to me," The seventh year slowly rose from her chair and shuffled towards the door, "Oh and Miss Prince? Madam Pomfrey has a potion you should try, it might prevent you from wandering around with your eyes closed for the day."
Alice blushed and when the door closed McGonagall shook her head, her lips tight and trying incredibly hard not to smile.
xxxxx
James sat in the Great Hall, eating breakfast happily, a letter sat by his plate but he had decided upon its arrival that food was much nicer than anything his father had to say. It was not that he disliked his father, quite the opposite in fact, but his letters always held some sort of bad news and for now James just wanted to appreciate his scrambled eggs on toast without thoughts of dark wizards and muggle deaths ruining the meal.
"I've got my witness interview thing now." Remus said as he got up. James nodded absently, slowly chewing his food and feeling much better for having eaten something.
"Alright, I told McGonagall we were in classroom eleven so don't worry about telling her."
"Good, have you cleaned up?"
"Yeah, me and Sirius did it. That reminds me, there's a bag of rubbish on Peter's bed. We didn't know what to do with it."
"He'll be so pleased," the other boy said wryly, "I'll see you later."
James raised a hand in reply and Remus left. When James' plate was empty he finally turned to the letter with a sigh.
James,
I had heard something about that at the office. You know Sirius is always welcome in our home, don't let him think now he has money he should move out.
It's incredibly busy here at the moment. The department is being stretched thin and because no one knows the danger they're in no one is prepared when the Death Eaters or Voldemort comes knocking. I'm meeting with the other Heads of Magical Law Enforcement to discuss a strategy for asking the minister to make the threat public knowledge in a couple of days but I'm not convinced it'll work. After Nobby Leach 'left' and Shamus Martin took over, the Ministry's been taking a horribly anti-muggle stance. I'm afraid something incredibly horrific will have to happen before word gets out.
On a lighter note, your mother's seemed much better recently; she's been fiddling around in that greenhouse of hers the past couple of days. I think it's a good sign. She says hello and sends a big hug.
All our love to you and your friends,
Dad.
In his last letter he had informed his father of Sirius' intention to get himself a place to live now that his estranged uncle's fortune had finally been passed to him. Alphard Black had died several years ago but due to his family battling over the will it had taken quite some time for the money to be handed over. James was still insisting that Sirius stay with the Potters for another year and was glad to see his Dad was on board with the idea. Writing of his mother's good health was also happy news. She had been ill for months now, even bedridden some weeks and James hoped that this meant she was getting better.
Upon reading the middle portion of the letter James was glad he had eaten before reading. Frederick Potter was head of The Magical Law Enforcement Patrol, which meant that he was one of the few people within the wizarding world who knew about the threat that Voldemort posed. James genuinely wanted to know what was happening within the Ministry but always found himself frustrated and angered by the news his father sent. Dad was right though, it was clear to anyone paying attention that Nobby Leach, the first ever muggleborn Minister, had been forced out of office. The 'early retirement' bullshit that the Prophet had tried to spout just didn't make any sense. The man who had taken over, Shamus Martin, was from an illustrious and revered pureblood family. James vaguely remembered meeting him at one of his father's work parties; he had thought the man was a turd and he recalled his mother voicing the same sentiments.
James agreed with his father. It was just a matter of time before something awful happened.
xxxxx
"Hello, Professor." Lupin sat before McGonagall and she gave him a genuine smile. Hopefully she would get some sense out of him.
"Mr Lupin, you were present for the demonstration yesterday?" She had decided to settle on calling the slaughter a demonstration in the hope it made her sound neutral. She was of course greatly offended by the display but her affront would not help with the taking of statements.
"I arrived when the crowd was quite large, yeah."
"From the unused classrooms?"
"Yes."
"And what were you doing there?"
"Whatever James told you we were doing there is exactly what we were doing there, Professor." Lupin said smiling calmly. McGonagall nodded stiffly, wishing she wasn't so curious as to what the Marauders got up to. It always ended up being frustrating.
"Very well. What did you do once you arrived?"
"I pushed my way to the front of the crowd thinking I'd have to break up a fight. That was obviously not the case once I got there. When people did actually start fighting I got James to conjure curtains while Peter came to get you and I moved people away. Lily helped after a couple of minutes and that's when you arrived."
"Was Miss Evans not already present?" McGonagall thought back to Alice Prince's version of events with some confusion.
"Yes but she was… quite upset, I think."
"I see. Did you notice anything odd?"
"No, everyone just seemed surprised and upset." He paused briefly as if considering whether or not to continue. "Do you think muggleborns are in danger, Professor?"
McGonagall sighed wearily at the young werewolf. Honestly, she didn't know the answer but she pretended otherwise.
"No, Mr Lupin, I think this is the just act of some incredibly foolish people. If you can think of anything else please come straight to me."
xxxxx
"Unbelievable." Lily muttered to herself. She read the anonymous note again.
Leave Hogwarts now. You and your kind are in danger.
The anonymity was pointless she thought. Sev was obviously behind it. He had been her best friend for years for god's sake, did he think she wouldn't recognise his handwriting? His owl had even dropped it onto the table! What an idiot. She looked up the Gryffindor table to see James Potter still sat there. She marched towards him and slammed the note down in front of him. He looked up from his own letter in surprise.
"Evans, am I in trouble?" She glared at the note and then at him.
"Just read it."
He read the note and looked up at her, his face blank.
"I didn't send it."
"Obviously." Lily said, irritation biting at every syllable. "It's clearly Sev."
"Why are you showing this to me?" She stared at him in disbelief.
"Maybe because you were there last night?"
"Was I?" James seemed incredibly casual about the whole thing. Lily's irritation grew, why was he pretending like the whole thing had never happened? "I don't recall."
"Are you joking?"
"I like to think my jokes are a lot funnier than this."
Lily was enraged. If he was going to pretend like last night had never happened then fine! See if she cared! She would figure out what Sev was doing on her own.
"They're not." She said haughtily. "I thought you were taking this whole thing seriously but never mind."
"I genuinely haven't the foggiest what you're on about, fill me in?"
"Yes you do!" Lily's voice rose and for some reason she felt genuinely upset about Potter's apparent apathy towards the matter. "You said you thought he wasn't threatening me!"
At this he laughed.
"Evans, I don't-"
"Save it. I'll deal with this on my own." With that she snatched up the note and marched from the Great Hall. She could hear Potter shouting her surname but she did not turn back. Fuck him and fuck Severus Snape, she thought.
xxxxx
"You wanted to see me?" Lily Evans' head appeared around McGonagall's door. Minerva nodded and gestured for Lily to take a seat. The redhead was scowling and seemed to be in a foul mood. "Is this about the thing yesterday?"
"Yes, I'm interviewing all students who were present at the demonstration."
"Okay, what do you want to know?"
"You were present for when the pig appeared?"
"Yeah, I was just leaving the Great Hall and it just appeared out of thin air."
"Could you describe how it appeared?"
"Well, it was pretty gross?"
"No, could you describe the type of magic used?"
"Oh! Well it wasn't apparition. More like the charm they use to make the food appear at dinner, you know?" Lily seemed to consider something. "But the writing sort of wrote itself, like the blood appeared in a puddle and then it formed words."
"Thank you, Miss Evans, if you can-"
"Actually, Professor…" Lily seemed to be considering something.
"Yes?"
"Never mind, it doesn't matter."
McGonagall thought that perhaps it did matter but she did not press the issue.
xxxxx
Mary sat in her chair in the common room, scowling at a Charms textbook. Lily had always helped her with Charms but due to the other girl's absence Mary had fallen behind dramatically. She heard a knocking on the common room window and was surprised to see Vanessa's owl, Nico, perched there. She hurriedly let the owl in and removed the letter addressed to her. Giving Nico a quick stroke she let him back out of the window.
She ripped open the letter quickly, excited to see what her dorm mate had written.
Mary,
That's amazing! Has she apologised to everyone or just you? Have you told her what's happened since she went missing?
What do you mean? Of course you should forgive her! It's Lily. I owled Sam to tell her the good news, I hope you don't mind.
Is everything okay there? It's pretty boring here.
Can't wait to see you when I get back!
Ness.
Mary sighed. She didn't know what she had expected but she felt disappointed all the same. Was it just her who wasn't so willing to forgive and forget so easily? Why was everyone pretending like Lily hadn't completely abandoned them? Mary knew for a fact if it had been anyone else the whole of the school would have turned against them. She felt bitterness well up inside her and tried to push it away. Lily may have had everyone else wrapped around her little finger but Mary never had been. Lily had left her and that wouldn't be acceptable just because she'd been given a half-hearted apology.
xxxxx
Peter Pettigrew sat before McGonagall. He looked nervous. Minerva considered the boy. He was not a particularly talented wizard and always seemed to be incredibly nervous, she sometimes wondered at the Sorting Hat's decision-making process but she shrugged off the thought, the hat had not been wrong yet.
"You were in an abandoned classroom before the demonstration?"
"Yes, Professor."
"What were you doing there?"
"Nothing, Professor."
"You weren't practising Charms?"
"No, maybe. Yes?"
"Which is it?"
"What did James and Remus say?" Minerva sighed impatiently. These interviews were proving to be more tiresome than she had anticipated.
xxxxx
Benjy bit his lip unhappily as he waited in the Head's office. He was early for the prefect meeting but that was not unlike him. He was early for almost everything. He was trying hard to read the potions textbook he had brought with him but it wasn't going tremendously well. Unbidden his mind flashed back to this morning in the Great Hall and Emmeline's words echoed in his head.
I don't think so. We were both drunk. It didn't mean anything, right?
Right. Benjy tried to push the words away but they kept returning only interrupted by thoughts of the kiss from the night before. Elation and disappointment circled around his brain. He tried very hard not to be bothered by the whole thing but the truth was that it bothered him greatly. He had always liked Emmeline. Wait no, that was dramatic; he had always felt drawn to her, that was much more accurate. Benjy considered that everyone had that one person that they had always been interested in. That one person that no matter whom you currently fancied or how long you hadn't spoken you still got those weird stomach wiggles for. That was the only way Benjy could describe and rationalise his feelings to himself.
The other prefects began filing in and he waved at Lily and Remus, mustering a smile and indicating they should come sit with him. They did, stopping to greet almost everyone in the room.
"It really isn't!" Remus half shouted as they took seats on either side of the Ravenclaw, though Benjy could hear humour in his voice.
"Benjy, isn't it possible for people to breed with trolls?" Lily looked to him for some sort of back up but Benjy simply widened his eyes.
"I honestly wouldn't know." Emmeline would probably know, he thought but quickly scolded himself. He felt pathetic. "It'd explain Mulciber though. Look it up?"
"I won't, it's Remus that needs to be educated, he should go look it up."
"Bet you a galleon."
"I'll take that bet!"
When Edgar Bones the Hufflepuff Head Boy walked in, the room gradually silenced. He and Malika Bata, the Ravenclaw Head Girl stood casually at the desk patiently waiting for silence. Ronnette and Tristan rushed it uttering a simultaneous apology before taking the seats next to Lily. All twenty-four prefects were now present.
The meeting went much the same as most do. Ophelia, Rodolphus and Ezra were reprimanded for docking too many points; Tristan and Ronnette were scolded for not taking their responsibilities seriously enough. Missing incident forms were collected and as the meeting drew to a close Ed only had one more point to address.
"Now, this technically isn't on the agenda but I wanted to discuss the events in the Entrance Hall yesterday," He smiled grimly, "now obviously I know that no one in here agrees with what happened-"
"Speak for yourself." Malika interrupted matter-of-factly.
"Excuse me?" Edgar asked, obviously slightly bewildered.
"I said speak for yourself," Malika's eyes glistened, "there are some in here who agree with the Blood Supremacy Organisation."
"And who would they be?"
"Well me for one."
"I don't think-"
"Oh, be quiet, Edgar," Malika seemed ready for a fight, "It's freedom of speech."
"No. There's a difference between free speech and hate speech."
"I don't think people should be punished for having an opinion."
"I don't think people should spout their vile opinions." The room was deadly silent. Benjy looked around at his fellow prefects, they were all listening intently to their leaders. "And while I'm Head Boy I won't allow people to marginalise muggleborns."
"Well, while I'm Head Girl I won't allow people to marginalise purebloods."
"I am pureblood, Malika!" Edgar said with bewilderment. "And I find it offensive to be grouped with people who think that way!"
"Just because you're offended doesn't mean you're right, Edgar!"
"Just because you think you're right doesn't mean you actually are!" The Heads were now standing nose to nose, their voices had risen to shouts and the other twenty-two students sat uncomfortably waiting for the outcome. They sat in silence until someone else piped up.
"Malika," Luca Bolton, the fifth year Ravenclaw prefect, spoke, "don't you think you're being a little ridiculous? I mean muggleborns make up almost a quarter of the student body."
"Maybe they shouldn't be part of the student body at all." Benjy's head turned to a group of Slytherins, he couldn't tell who had spoken but when he felt Lily tense next to him he realised it must have been her old friend Snape.
"Muggleborns have every right to be here, maybe even more than slimy arseholes like you." Ronnette hissed at the Slytherin.
"Fuck off, you little blood traitor whore, no one asked for your idiotic opinions." Lestrange spoke as though he didn't really care what was coming out of his mouth. Several people voiced displeasure in Ronnette's defence, Benjy included but Lestrange didn't seem to hear them. "In my opinion the Organisation has it right, mudbloods don't belong here and they've been made to feel far too welcome."
Several people gasped at the use of the m-word but the muggleborns in the room did not even flinch. It was nothing Benjy had not heard before and he was quite used to the name. He looked to Alina, Mia, Garnett and Lily, they were the only other muggleborns in the room and none of them had weighed in on this argument and did not look like they would. Benjy decided to stay silent.
"No," Edgar said, anger seeping through his words, "what's been made far too welcome is prejudice, five points from Slytherin for using such filthy language."
"Five points to Slytherin for speaking your mind," Malika countered, looking at Edgar daring him to challenge her.
He didn't and with a triumphant look she left. The Slytherins followed, smiling nastily. Benjy was slightly hurt when Harry and Eve from his own house left too. When he looked around he was surprised to see that Sylvia Christophers still remained, she had not followed her fellow Slytherin house members to the door.
As the room erupted into angry shouting Benjy got up and made his way over to the Slytherin fifth year.
"What are you still doing here?" he asked as he threw himself into the seat recently vacated by Ophelia Dixon. "Aren't you all 'fuck the mudbloods', too?"
"I'd be careful," Sylvia said, raising her eyebrows. Benjy had never noticed how melodic her voice was, it was like she was singing as she spoke, "it seems I'm your only Slytherin ally at the moment."
"True," Benjy conceded, "why are you still here though?"
"I don't know if you'd noticed but a lot of my house are shitty people," Benjy nodded thinking that nothing more obvious had ever been stated, "but we're not all like that."
"And what are the not shitty Slytherins like?"
"Less shitty." Benjy laughed at this but a shout brought him back to the main conversation in the room. Again he noticed not a single muggleborn was pitching in. He was surprised mostly by Lily's silence, he had expected her to be the most outspoken but she sat staring at the floor her lips pressed together. She might be back but she still wasn't quite herself. He heard Sylvia shift beside him, clear her throat and speak up to the rest of the room. "This is all very interesting but is anyone actually going to do anything?" All the eyes in the room turned to her. Many had obviously not realised she had remained behind unlike her fellow Slytherins.
"Why do you care?" Nathan Lord asked, his tone was distrustful but not aggressive.
"Because I'm kind of tired of everyone acting like they're better than other people. Muggleborns aren't complete scum," after a brief pause Sylvia continued, "neither are Slytherins."
Edgar cleared his throat uncomfortably and many expressions in the room looked a little guilty.
"I think next week we should all come back with some ideas about what we should do about this Blood Supremacy Organisation. I just wanted to say that if anyone knew anything they should go to McGonagall. She's heading up the investigation." Ed stated.
"Well I haven't heard anything." Sylvia said defensively, Benjy saw a few people looking pointedly at her. Apparently many people thought that Slytherin house was behind the demonstration. "If I had I'd have gone to McGonagall straight away, honestly."
"Alright, well I suppose that's all," the Head Boy sighed and took a seat behind the desk at the front of the room, "see you all next week."
xxxxx
Lily sat still while others started to leave the Head's office.
"Coming?" Tristan asked her. She shook her head.
"I'll catch up," she told her friends and they shrugged and left together. Benjy came back and took his seat from before, sitting beside her.
"What's wrong then?"
"Nothing," Lily said frowning, "why?"
"Because normally you're the first to kick off about muggleborn rights," Benjy had a worried look on his face, "and today you've got nothing to say?"
"It's not the same anymore, is it?" Lily sighed. Before she'd fallen out with Sev life had been easy, right and wrong had been very obvious to her but now everything was all mixed up and she couldn't tell what she should be doing or saying.
"How is it not the same?"
"Because I used to feel like we actually belonged here. It made it so much easier to fight. Now I'm just feeling like I'm intruding on a world that doesn't want me."
"Don't you want to be at Hogwarts anymore?"
"Of course I do, I love it here." Lily sighed again and a lump formed in her throat, she struggled to speak around it. "I don't want to have to leave but I can't pretend like this stuff is meaningless anymore. People genuinely think you and I shouldn't be here."
"I don't know about you, Lily, but I don't intend to leave Hogwarts until I have my N.E. ." Benjy shrugged and Lily looked at him doubtfully. "Maybe this only applies to me but I'm actually pretty good at magic. Great even. I'm not going to pretend otherwise because some idiots think I don't have the right to it." Lily smiled at him warmly but sadly. He continued. "When you were little didn't you dream of something like this?" He gestured around the room. "Before you knew about Hogwarts didn't you just want something amazing like this to be real? We're living a fairy tale, Lily. Hogwarts is amazing. Maybe I'm being selfish but I'm not giving it up."
Lily didn't know what came over her but she launched herself at Benjy and hugged him hard. He had said exactly what she wanted to hear. She felt so much better.
"You're right. I'm sorry for being so pathetic." Lily pulled away from the hug, smiling. "Next week I promise to kick off magnificently."
"We're both pathetic, I didn't say anything either."
"Then we'll both have to kick off." A thought came to Lily. "We'll stick up for all the others too."
"Alright then, we'll fight against blood purity, one tantrum at a time."
"I think we should make an unbreakable vow."
"I think that's way over the top."
"Fair enough." Lily smiled. Benjy said goodbye and left. Now she was alone with Edgar Bones. She liked Ed, he was nice but he was very obviously upset by how the meeting had gone. "Cheer up, Ed."
The Head Boy looked up and smiled at her reluctantly, he still looked sad.
"Want to join mine and Benjy's pact to stick up for muggleborns?"
"It'd be an honour." He said wryly. "Why aren't you heading off to dinner?"
"I just wanted a chat with you actually," Lily said, "how's the family?"
"Well, I think." The Bones family were muggleborn advocates and Ed's parents, William and Ruth, had come to visit Hogwarts every year to hold a meeting open to all muggleborns, welcoming them to the wizarding world. Henry was several years older than Edgar but came back every year with his parents for the muggleborn meetings. Amelia was a couple of years older than Edgar and was the middle child; she had been a kind Head Girl and had moved on to work at the Ministry. "Henry just got married actually, she's a muggle. She thinks he's amazing."
"Oh my gosh, tell him congratulations from me."
"I will. Amelia's moving up in the Ministry quite fast and Mum and Dad are battling against all the anti-muggleborn shite this Voldemort bloke has sparked."
"Who is Voldemort?" Lily was confused and frustrated; she had been hearing the name more and more recently but whenever she had asked everyone seemed far too uncomfortable to explain the situation to her.
"He's basically fighting for muggleborns to be kicked out of wizarding society, I think." Ed frowned but continued. "From mum's letters it sounds like he's got quite a following… I think he's behind some of those muggle attacks. And I think he's pretty into dark magic."
Lily frowned at this but remembered Benjy's words. She was going to be selfish, she didn't care what some idiot purists thought. She was going to live her fairy tale and evil never won in fairy tales.
"It'll all work out." Lily said confidently, it was something she hadn't been sure about in a while but she was certain of it now. "Fairy tales always have a happy ending, right?"
xxxxx
"Mr Black," McGonagall sighed with relief. It was the last interview. She reflected on the others that had taken place this afternoon. After Peter she had talked to Jalila Rusnak who had cried the whole time, Harry Sullivan who had simply made snide remarks, Luiza Peterson who had sat and talked about how the giant squid liked to eat pigs sometimes, Herman Wintringham who had insisted McGonagall let his band play a concert in the Entrance Hall in exchange for information and then a string of belligerent Slytherins who had all declined to make any comments, "please take a seat."
"Alright, Minny?"
"Wonderful, Mr Black." She rubbed her temple irritably. "You know why you're here, please just tell me what you saw."
"A dead pig with some people stood around it."
"Is that the most detail you can provide?"
"I'm not a detail orientated person, Minny." He grinned. "And it was fucking disgusting which made paying attention difficult."
"Language, Black." Minerva hoped her mouth hadn't twitched in amusement. "So you have nothing else to add?"
"You know I always have something to add," he leant on the two back legs of his chair and McGonagall thought he looked far too comfortable in her office, "have you ever heard of this 'Blood Supremacy Organisation' before?"
"No," Minerva kept her voice as stern as usual but he had piqued her interest, "have you?"
"I haven't," Black said happily, McGonagall's disappointment must have shown on her face because Black sighed and tried to explain his thinking, "it's not much of a blood purity group if they haven't asked the eldest Black son to join, is it?"
"What are you getting at?"
"Use your brain, Minny. My family motto literally translates to 'always pure' and they haven't asked me to join or any of the purebloods that I speak to." When she still looked at him frowning he made a noise of frustration. "There can't be very many people in the group if they've not asked members of the most bigoted family on earth to join."
"Perhaps they knew that you wouldn't react kindly to being invited?"
"Very true, but before my family kicked me out last year that wasn't really public knowledge, which means it was either set up within the last seven months," Sirius seemed very pleased with himself, "or whoever's in charge knows people pretty well because everyone they've asked has obviously joined or someone would have heard about it."
"Thank you, Black." Minerva said sitting back in her chair. "This has been… Enlightening."
"Anytime, Minny." She watched him leave smiling to herself. She thought using genius as a description would often be exaggeration but perhaps the word might actually apply here.
xxxxx
Sirius entered the Gryffindor common room after his interview with McGonagall feeling pleased with himself. What he had intended to say was some improvised spiel directly blaming his brother for the demonstration but as he had walked to his Head of House's office his ideas had hit him. He was almost certain she was impressed.
Sirius threw himself down in an armchair which his three friends all sat around, he saw they were playing exploding snap and ordered them to deal him in.
The wireless sat in the corner blaring PixieFace's latest song and Sirius hummed along absently, listening contentedly to the sounds of his housemates talking and shouting and laughing all around. He felt a brief moment of complete peace before the wireless crackled strangely.
"Ugh, it's such a piece of shit." Sirius glanced over as Tristan muttered and slapped the wireless. The noise continued, crackling louder and louder. People started covering their ears and shouting for someone to turn it off when the crackling stopped and an awful voice began to speak.
"Brothers and sisters, my true family," the voice sent chills down Sirius' spine, "our society has come under attack from an insatiable disease. This is our message." Sirius hoped it might be over but he felt his entire body tingle in fear when he heard the next voice speak. It was a woman whose voice he vaguely recognised. He had heard it before but he couldn't place it.
"H-hello witches and wizards of G-Great Britain," the woman was clearly sobbing but she continued, "my n-name is Ruth Bones and I have been instructed to deliver a m-message."
"That's Ed's mum…" Sirius heard Lily Evans cry and saw her marching towards the machine and start turning the dials, she seemed unable to stop it though. James got up and Sirius watched him try to help Evans. He felt sick. "Turn it off now!"
"The Dark Lord Voldemort d-demands that at the beginning of the next academic year there w-will not be a single m- I don't want to say-" The whole room flinched as they heard the woman scream in pain, she panted and cried for what seemed like years but finally continued, "a single mudblood w-within Hogwarts castle. H-he makes this demand trusting that many will understand the c-consequences should his demands not be m-met." The Gryffindors sat with bated breath for a couple of moments hoping it was over but she suddenly started shouting and Sirius clenched his fists, cringing at her panicked cries. "I did everything you asked! Please I- No! Will!"
And then the wireless went back to crackling. The common room remained silent.