Maybe it was because it was snowy out and they were now castle-bound, or perhaps it was because as soon as they got back from holiday they would be studying werewolves, or perhaps it was simply because the woman continued to be horrible; whatever the reason, punishing Professor Pittiman became almost an obsession in the following weeks. James and Sirius were constantly brainstorming while Peter giggled nervously and Remus feigned deafness.
"This one would vanish all of her clothes," Sirius said thoughtfully one evening as they lounged around the common room. He was flipping through James's book yet again.
"Why in the name of Merlin would we want to see her naked?" James cried, choking in disgust. He reached over and tried to snatch the book, but Sirius held it out of reach.
"Good point," he said, wrinkling his nose. "Still, a good one to note for future use …" he eyed a group of fourth year girls that were sitting around the fire and Remus shook his head disapprovingly.
"Where's your girlfriend?" he asked without glancing up from his Transfiguration textbook.
"Dumped her," said Sirius with a frown, his attention back on his book.
"What? Since dinner?" Remus exclaimed in exasperation, causing both James and Peter to snicker. Sirius scowled.
"Yes," he said shortly. "Right after dinner."
James tried to hide it when his snicker turned into an outright burst of laughter by pretending to have a furious coughing fit. Maureen MacDougal had spent most of dinner trying to feed Sirius's food to him and calling him "Sweetheart." Anyone watching could have seen that Sirius did not find this the slightest bit cute or endearing, but the giggly second year girl hadn't taken the hint. Frankly, James was impressed that Sirius waited until after dinner to break up with her instead of doing it right then in front of the entire school.
Sirius wasn't fooled by James's fake cough and looked up from reading just long enough to shoot him a withering glare.
"What about this?" he said, changing the subject. "You charm her shoes and she'll be forced to walk everywhere backwards until it's reversed." He considered for a moment and shrugged. "It might be funny if she had to walk everywhere backwards for a day." He flipped to the next page and his jaw dropped open before he burst into roaring laughter.
"What is it?" James asked, trying once again to take the book, but Sirius jerked it away.
"This one would make her fart chickens," he choked out between laughs. A shocked Peter sat up so fast that he fell off of his chair.
"Fart – chickens - ?" he repeated.
"Perfect!" cries James as he finally successfully stole the book. "It's not even all that difficult! It's really just a variation on the bat-bogey hex."
Remus seemed unable to decide whether he was amused or alarmed, the result being a strange facial tic that made James laugh even harder "Listen," he said finally, apparently settling on alarm.
"Save it, Moony," Sirius interrupted.
"No, really," Remus insisted, not looking directly at them. "Thank you guys. Really, I appreciate it and everything, but—" he shifted his gaze to them and shook his head, looking a little bit defeated. "You guys are going to be in so much trouble when you get caught. It's not worth it."
He might have stood a chance of convincing them if he hadn't run his fingers through his hair in frustration just then; the movement allowed them an unusually clear view of all of his scars.
"Don't you have homework to do?" asked Sirius, nodding to the textbook in his lap. Remus sighed and looked at the book for a moment. Then he shut it and dropped it on the floor, but he didn't continue his lecture; he just stared off into space.
It had been a halfhearted effort at best. James wondered if it was because Remus knew he was fighting a losing battle or if it was because Remus himself wanted to see the woman suffer. He had never known his friend to be vindictive; but then, he had never known him to get bottom marks on an essay either.
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James always looked forward to Christmas. His mum would cook his favorite foods for him and he and his dad would sit around and talk or play games and his dad would tell him stories of his own Hogwarts days. Story time generally occurred when his mum wasn't around because she disapproved of many of the stories, especially the ones that involved the Invisibility Cloak. Out of consideration for his friends, however, James tried to contain his excitement as the holiday approached. Remus was staying at Hogwarts, just like he had done the year before. Sirius, like James and Peter, was going home for Christmas, but unlike his friends he was not at all happy about it.
"Why don't you stay?" Remus asked the night before the holiday began.
Sirius shook his head. "I should," he muttered, "but Regulus guilted me into going. Said it would be mean of me not to, seeing as how it's the first year with my dad gone." He spoke of his dead father without the slightest trace of sadness; this didn't surprise James. That fact that Sirius had spoken with his brother, however, did.
For the past three and a half months Sirius had done an exceptionally good job of pretending that his little brother didn't exist. Back at the beginning of term he had stopped talking, seemed to have stopped breathing while Regulus was being sorted (and Regulus took an unusually long time to sort). James suspected that in that moment, Sirius had hoped just a little bit that Regulus would be in Gryffindor too. Still, when the Sorting Hat had shouted "Slytherin," Sirius had successfully managed to look bored and apathetic, and had hardly looked at his brother since. Every once in a while James spotted Regulus watching Sirius, but Sirius ignored him. As far as James had known, the two hadn't exchanged a single word since arriving at Hogwarts, so he was surprised to hear that they had discussed their Christmas plans together. So, apparently, was Remus.
"You spoke with Regulus?" said Remus, looking a little bit hopeful. Sirius gave him a withering glare that quickly killed the question, and Peter hurriedly changed the subject.
"So why aren't you going home?" he asked Remus.
"Same reason as last year," said Remus. "I just don't feel like it."
"You don't feel like it?" Sirius repeated blankly, the scowl fading as the conversation turned away from his family.
"My whole family is getting together for Christmas again," explained Remus, "and some members of my family like me more than others. My aunt, for example, adores me. My uncle, on the other hand, once tried to convince my parents that it would be a mercy if they just killed me while I was still young." He smiled twistedly and shrugged at them. "Sometimes I can handle it, but I just don't feel up to it this year. I'd rather stay here."
James felt slightly sick and was suddenly desperate to be home, far away from Gryffindor tower, far away from Hogwarts and Pittiman and all the unfairness and confusion, and back in a place that was safe and made sense.
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Unfortunately for James, Christmas was not all he had expected it to be; he was extremely upset to find that home was not the refuge he had remembered. His mother was thinner than she had been at the beginning of September, and she often seemed flustered or upset. His dad's hair was grayer and he always looked worried. In fact, there was an air of apprehension in the Potter house that James had never felt before.
He thought perhaps he was imagining it. It was normal to worry about one's friends, he assured himself, and perhaps those worries had simply followed him home. He told himself that his mother wasn't really blustery and snappish and that his dad wasn't really unusually quiet.
The holiday was a long one. He read his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook, which told him very little about werewolves that he hadn't already known. He wrote to Sirius frequently, refraining from mentioning his parents' strange behavior; he knew without a doubt that Sirius was having a worse holiday than he was. He practiced Quidditch in the backyard, but without any real enthusiasm. By the time New Year rolled around, he was spending a lot of time lying around on the couch downstairs, staring at the ceiling.
His stay at home was abruptly cut off five days early when one of his dad's old friends died. His parents were going to travel to Finland, where the man and his family lived, to attend the funeral.
"We'll be gone for a few days," his dad told him. "By the time we get back, it'll be nearly time for you to return anyway."
James didn't answer as he loaded up his trunk.
"You don't mind going back early, do you?" his dad asked, a bit anxiously. James looked up and saw that saw that his hazel eyes, which were exactly like his own, were almost pleading. "I mean, you said Remus stayed, so you'll have a friend there."
"It's fine, Dad," said James. The holiday had been a bust anyway. What did it matter if he went back early?
"I have to go," his dad said. He seemed to be talking to himself more than to James. "To show my respect. He deserves respect."
He was acting very strange about the whole thing. Of course, he had been acting strange ever since James had gotten home.
"Of course. I understand," said James, even though he didn't really. "What happened, anyway?" His dad looked at him blankly. "To your friend, I mean. Was he sick?"
His dad didn't answer at first, his face inscrutable. "He was murdered," he said finally, and James blinked in surprise.
"Murdered?"
"Yes."
James waited, but his dad didn't elaborate. "Why? By who?" he asked, trying to process this information; he'd never really known anyone who had been murdered before.
His dad paused, seeming to choose his words carefully. Finally he sat down on James's bed and asked, "Have you ever heard of someone called Lord Voldemort?"
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"Yeah," said Sirius. He scowled at first, but the scowl quickly gave way to a wearied frown. "My family was talking a lot about him too. Though I suspect they were saying very different things than your family," he added, looking slightly ashamed.
"What's he lord of?" asked Remus as he pulled his pajamas over his head.
James shrugged. "Dunno. My dad didn't say. But apparently he's killed a lot of people in the last few months."
"He's been around for years, killing people and gaining followers," said Sirius. "I've heard him mentioned around the house, but I didn't realize he had gotten so powerful. I generally try to ignore those conversations."
"What does he do?" asked Peter. "Just wander around killing people?"
"He's one of those people who believe that only pure-bloods are really magic," said Sirius disgustedly. "He's trying to 'purify the race.'"
James had never really given much thought to the whole pure-blood issue. It had always just been something that alienated Sirius from his family; the actual concept was never important. Now he felt a horrible mix of guilt and relief whenever he thought about his own heritage. He was a pure-blood; he parents were pure-blood. They were safe. He couldn't bring himself to look at Remus and Peter as this thought crossed his mind yet again.
"What's the ministry doing about it?" Peter asked nervously.
"There's a special group of Aurors that they've assigned to tracking down him and his followers," said Sirius, "but from what I understand, they aren't having much success. Don't worry, Peter," he added. James looked up at those words and saw the fear on Peter's face. "My family says Hogwarts is untouchable. They say he won't mess with Dumbledore."
Once the lights were out and all of his friends had fallen silent, James rolled over in his bed and pulled his pillow over his head, burying his face in the sheets in frustration. First Pittiman and the werewolf thing, and now this pure-blood thing. It didn't make sense, he thought, that the older he got and the more he learned about magic, the more helpless he felt.
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Author's Note:
I thought I'd drop a recommendation to y'all; I read an excellent fic the other day about the Snape prank: "The Way Things Were," by Lady Bracknell. It's definitely worth checking out, especially if you're in love with Remus like I am.
