Chapter Nine
Upbringing
"Honestly, James," said Sirius, stalking into the dormitory the next Monday evening, dumping his bag on the floor, and leaning against the door frame, "what do you see in Evans? She's such a..swot."
"A, I don't see anything in her, and 2, she's not a swot," replied James.
"1, yes you do, B, yes she is," Sirius answered, a grin spidering over his face. "She's so..so good at Potions."
"And your point is?" demanded James.
"I'm not," explained Sirius. "Why do you fancy a girl whose better at anything than me? You shouldn't like anyone who can do anything better than me."
James rolled his eyes. "First of all, if I couldn't fancy a girl who did something better than you, I couldn't fancy anyone, and second of all, I do not fancy her."
"Ignoring your first comment. You do too."
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
"Do not!"
"Do..." Sirius grinned. "Do not!"
"Do too!" yelled James. Sirius and Remus dissolved in laughter (and Peter tried to figure out what was going on) as James realized what he said. "Do not, not, NOT!" he backtracked.
"Just admit it, James," laughed Sirius. "You're..what's the word? Smitten."
"I AM NOT," yelled James, burning a fiery red.
"Yes you are," insisted Sirius. "And there's no point denying it! C'mon, she's not that bad."
"You just said she's a swot," James reminded Sirius. "And I do not fancy her. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.."
"I don't have any objection to her, exactly," said Sirius as James continued to "no, no, no, no, no, no.." "She bugs me, but I don't have much against her. I don't even mind that she's a Mudblood, or that she's best friends with Snivellus of all people, ugh, or even that Slughorn seems to like h – " Sirius stopped. "What?"
Remus had stopped laughing and James had stopped protesting. A dead silence had fallen in the room.
His friends were glaring at him. Remus looked horrified, James looked furious and even Peter was staring at him in shock.
James strode over to where Sirius stood, looked him in the eye, and pointed his wand. "Say that again, Black, I dare you," he growled.
"What?" cried Sirius, genuinely bewildered, more because of the random usage of his last name than anything else. "What did I do? What did I say?"
This only further enraged James. He threw his wand aside and – POW!
"What was that for?" Sirius shouted, rubbing his nose where James had punched him.
"You called Lily a – " James mouthed wordlessly, like a fish out of water. Once again, he drew his arm back and moved to punch him. Sirius, stronger and more agile, caught his fist in midair and yelled,
"WHAT IS SO BAD ABOUT THE WORD MUDBLOOD?"
There was a ringing silence.
"You don't..er.. know?" asked James, almost sheepishly.
"Not all," replied Sirius angrily. "We use it all the time at h–12 Grimmauld!"
There was another silence.
"Well, that explains it," said Remus softly.
"Sorry, mate," said James quietly. "I thought you knew.."
"Knew what?" cried Sirius.
"Not your fault, of course," agreed Remus. "To be brought up where you were.."
"CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON?" yelled Sirius, ready to tear out his hair in frustration.
"Sirius," James began, sitting his friend down, "it's..the word Mudblood is..it's a.."
"A repulsive thing to call someone," supplied Remus quietly, "created in medieval times at the beginning of Hogwarts when Salazar Slytherin thought that only "pure" wizards with two parents and four grandparents that were wizards/witches were "real" wizards, and those who weren't should not be accepted in Hogwarts. He called those who had Muggle parents, or even grandparents, unclean, dirty even. Hence, Mudblood." Remus paused, caught his breath, then continued. "Although at first used broadly enough, both for half-bloods and for Muggle-borns, it is now only used for Muggle-borns, for the most part. It is an extremely offensive term, basically implying that your blood is dirty, impure, wrong. That you are dirty, impure, wrong."
No one commented on Remus's remarkable ability to sound like he'd swallowed an encyclopedia.
Sirius sucked in his breath. "I'm sorry," he moaned. "I didn't know..it was my..what do they call it? Upbringing."
"You haven't had the best upbringing," said Remus softly.
"No, I haven't," agreed Sirius sadly. "Oh, man, I'm such an idiot. I'm sorry, I should've known..it should've been obvious..mudblood..I'm such an idiot..I'm sorry.."
"'Sokay, Sirius," said James, patting his friend on the arm. "It's not your fault. It was your.. upbringing."
"I wish I could just rewind," mused Sirius. "And get another childhood. One where I had good upbringing."
"We'll fix you," ventured Peter.
His friends laughed, but gently. James agreed. "Yeah. We'll..fix you. We'll give you another upbringing."
A/N: This chapter is, okay, a little pointless, I just really wanted to do it. I like it, personally, but that's just me.
