Not J.K :-)
Jack and I had eagerly drawn up plans for a camping expedition when he had been at my house and the train ride was the perfect place to confer with the others. There was a distinct lack of teachers and because we filled the compartment we were fairly sure no-one would tattle on us as, the marauders especially, were far too busy catching up with each other to be interested in what we were doing, particularly at the beginning of the train ride.
Our frequent exploration of the grounds had given us a good idea of where would be safest, both in terms of not getting caught by teachers but also not being eaten by any hungry animals. This ruled out quite a few places as it meant we needed to be close enough to the school in case we needed to run for it, but also not in eye sight of any windows where we knew teachers would frequently look out of (teacher's lounge, offices, classrooms.) We had found a small hillock that abruptly ended to form a cliff instead of a gentle slope. Below the tiny cliff was a hollow. It was the opposite side to the Forbidden Forest and the cliff side faced away from the castle. We also felt that at the end of the month would be best. It would still be warm and the full moon would be out. Something that was essential to camping in Scotland in autumn.
Turns out it was going to be a Boys Only event. Lily and Emma decided that they would give the adventure a miss. We weren't asking permission, prophesying it would be refused and any future attempt firmly quashed, so we planned to scrounge whatever items we could to make up what we needed. I had intended to ask Gabby to help but had already discovered that whilst she would comply with most of our requests the Elder House Elves would quash anything that was completely against the school rules, rather more effectively than the teachers. Lily and Emma felt this was too rough and arduous for them, preferring the comforts of a warm bed, or at the very least a decent camp bed and tent. All of which would be either lacking or home-made.
With that decided I got out my Snapdragon cards and we played until we were rudely interrupted by the four stooges. Naturally this resulted in a battle, although the girls escaped fairly quickly, after their calming voices of reason had no effect. Unexpectedly the prefect in charge, instead of hexing us apart or docking points, put all of us in a body bind until we were five minutes from the station, whereupon he released us. By this time McFadden had gathered the rest of the prefects and the Head Boy and Head Girl to oversee us change, apparently we weren't trusted to do that without incident. Bloody tight squeeze getting so many of us into a compartment I can tell you. It was a bit embarrassing getting changed in front of the elder girls and after a few awkward, ineffective efforts to hide, I gave up and brazenly got dressed.
We were in such a rush to be decent before the train stopped that we didn't have time to get up to mischief. It wasn't just the overwhelmed firsties that stared at us, as we disembarked with our entourage of Prefects and their friends... but the whole student body. Not the most inconspicuous start to the year, and it only cemented our troublesome and disruptive reputation. It seemed that this outcome, albeit not on such a large scale, had not been wholly unexpected by the teachers because Professor Slughorn and Professor McGonagall were present to give us a bollocking as well as dock points. We were also told to report to the Headmaster promptly before classes started the next day.
Duly chastised and subdued we were marched, prior to the firsties, as a unit down to our tables. It was thoroughly humiliating to walk escorted past tables full of students ready to start the feast, not trusted to sit in our places correctly or uneventfully. Slughorn even stopped Jack and I from sitting together. Something which made the feast seem prolonged, as no one else in Slytherin had forgiven us for getting Malfoy stripped of his Head Boy badge, even though he had done an appalling job, and used it as a way to dominate and gain privileges.
After picking dispiritedly at the welcoming feast, having found communicating by telepathy beyond me at this point, I was glad when the puddings disappeared and the mass exodus to the Common Rooms began. Fortunately finding Jack in the throng was relatively easy and we felt more confident being together. We were unsure about what we would face in Slytherin, the vibe was distinctly unfriendly. Even the firsties avoided us.
Our welcome, as it turned out was both less horrendous and more humiliating than we had imagined. Instead of being hexed in abandon as we expected, we were forcefully led to the fireplace. Unusually the Prefects were silent, standing behind Jack and I, in what we had dubbed their 'power positions'. They had adopted these after the Malfoy incident, making it clear that any inter-house politics should be kept in the house.
Everyone stood facing us in absolute silence until Professor Slughorn entered. He stood a few steps in front and to the left of us and said that he had not been more embarrassed during his tenure. That we had brought shame on the House of Slytherin. He turned to us and added that he expected exemplary conduct in the future. After a pause he then proceeded with welcoming the first years.
There were no words for what I felt. The pain I endured during that moment. I was mortified and felt utterly ashamed and disgraced. Not only because we had been publicly upbraided which was degrading in its own right, but also because I respected Slughorn, particularly his potions expertise, and wished for that respect and affection to be returned. I stood, still as a statue, head bowed, swallowing repetitively as I screwed my eyes shut to prevent the sting at the back of my eyes from turning into tears. Too crushed even to look at Jack. I had never before this moment thought that Slughorn might hold my behaviour in contempt, or that he believed me to be indifferent of his opinion.
At the time I couldn't understand the reason for the sudden harsh attitude towards our misbehaviour. Prior to this incident our more amusing jokes were often applauded by the students and any jokes or conduct that were deemed 'Unbecoming of a Slytherin' had been dealt with by the upper-classmen, either through the canings Malfoy provided or detention like punishments. Even Professor Slughorn had been impressed by the potions we had brewed out of bounds although he had at the time advised he was very disappointed in us and has seemed genuinely alarmed at our disregard for our safety and the rules.
Jack and I didn't leave position until the last Slytherin had gone to bed. As we bumped shoulders we mutely turned towards each other, bracing ourselves before opening the room to our dorm. Luckily for us our room-mates were asleep. Our beds were in opposite ends of the room, not next to each other as they had been the year before. Instead of departing we silently chose a bed, shut the curtains and burrowed under the eiderdown, taking comfort in each other's presence. I recall a disjointed night's sleep, spent mostly dwelling on the sense of shame curdling my stomach. Jack must have felt the same because he often accidentally kicked or knocked me in an attempt to get comfy, as if altering our physical position would make the emotions go away.
The only upside to this was that we were awake before anyone else. Having given up on sleep we got washed and dressed at half five. We were extra careful to ensure our uniform was neat and adhered rigidly to the dress code, even going so far as to shine our shoes. Unfortunately we needed to be at the Great Hall for breakfast to get our timetables, otherwise we would have escaped to the privacy of the library.
We were surprised to find, after following a rather subdued Professor Slughorn to the foot of the Headmaster's office, that not only were the Marauders present, under the watchful gaze of Professor McGonagall, but also Professor Flitwick with Frank, Chris and Richard. The atmosphere could have been cut with a knife, and even the usually boisterous Marauders were silent.
The sudden ruthless rule enforcement was explained during the subsequent meeting with the Headmaster. It turned out that my Pa had written a letter as promised, not only complaining about the on-going feud, but also about the standards and ethics he wished to be taught to his son. Unfortunately this was taken rather to heart by the teachers and, in retrospect, must have had resulted in a pre-term conference because the speeches and decisions that followed were altogether too polished and well thought out to be spur of the moment.
We were told in no uncertain terms that should any of us use our wands to hex or curse a fellow student we would receive 3 detentions, the loss of 30 house points and a letter home. If we did this a second time in the same term we would have our wands taken from us, only returned for lessons and homework. A Third time as we would be suspended for a week. If this happened a fourth time we would be suspended for two weeks. A fifth time and we would be expelled.
Any minor school rules (incorrect dress code, not doing homework,) being broken would result in loss of points at first and then if these were repeated-detentions. Any major school rules (breaking curfew, bullying), being broken would result in automatic detention, suspension or expulsion, depending on the severity and frequency.
The reason for my remembering these so well is not just because these rules became the standard for us, but also because we had to write them out 500 times that night in detention. To be perfectly honest we were all a bit shell shocked as we walked to our first lesson, fortunately History of Magic. I certainly got through that day on autopilot and it was only after prep, when we got together to discuss it and explain what had happened to the girls, that we actually processed what this meant.
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Now sitting here at this moment I cannot tell you what possessed us all to go camping at the end of September, considering our exemplary behaviour thus far that had been born out of fear of sudden expulsion. I believe to a certain extent, we felt that we deserved a bit of fun since we had been perfectly miserable all month, which we blamed on the teachers.
In retrospect the rules didn't stop us from having fun, we were still allowed to see each other, walk around the grounds, play all manner of games, and do the very things that we had been doing before, bar jokes and fighting. But because our interpretation of the rules made us feel guilty for having fun we had gone round school with our own metaphorical rain clouds above our heads. Even Jack, who could usually be counted on to be the first to snap out of a gloomy spell. Not only were Lily and Emma getting fed up with our behaviour, we were as well, and the much sought after camping trip was our antidote.
So the weekend before, Frank, Chris and Richard sat down with me and Jack to plan how we would do this and not get caught. There wasn't a formal head count at curfew, but due to our reputation any suspicious absence would be thoroughly explored. As a result we needed a plan to hide our absence. Our initial idea of me and Jack saying we were going to sleep over in Ravenclaw, and Frank, Chris and Richard saying they were going to sleep over in Slytherin would undoubtedly be checked and was therefore vetoed. Richard, having avidly read POW escape stories, hit upon the idea of making an approximate shape of ourselves in bed. Frank and Chris also knew of a few charms we could use to make the lumps seem more animated by making them produce breathing noises. We persuaded Lily and Emma to nick us a few sheets and pillows. Luckily the weather was still quite warm so we wouldn't need too much, they would put whatever they managed to get in the hollow by the cliff after prep.
The only real difficulty Jack and I had concerned getting out the House. We tended to be shadowed by upper-classmen when we were in the commons and Avery and Mulciber in our dorm would soon squeal if they smelled a rat. We decided we would leave the commons and our dorms quite a few times that night, hopefully causing some confusion as to when we supposedly went to bed. If anyone thought to check with a bit of luck our charmed lumps would be enough.
Oddly enough getting out the commons on D-Day was easy due to the Slytherins celebrating their Quidditch victory over Hufflepuff. Jack and I had been food errand boys all evening which suited our purpose as no-one paid any attention to us when we snuck out, thinking we had gone to get more supplies.
The whole affair was surprisingly uneventful. We all managed to meet up without a hitch. Jack and I had even managed to scrounge a few sandwiches and drinks. Lily and Emma had stood good to their word and a few pillows and blankets were in the hollow. We dare not start a fire, but needn't have worried because the weather was so mild. We spent a lot of the time talking, covered under blankets huddled together. Very little sleep was had by anyone, but despite our exhaustion come sunrise we all felt festive and ...well...relieved, like a weight had been lifted from our shoulders.
We made sure to get back to our dorms as dawn broke, although we weren't half as careful getting in as we had been going out and a few of the paintings did notice us. It was more luck than judgement that ensured we got to our beds safely where we promptly fell asleep until late morning.
As predicted the camping trip instigated the return of our jubilant outlook in life and dispelled the gloomy aspect of our countenances. Particularly as not long after the marauders were caught out of bounds, and subsequently got a detention. Jack was toeing the line a bit more, I think the telling off made more of an impression on him than it did me. Not only that but he was far more concerned about his parents reactions than I was. For some reason anything short of expulsion didn't seem that terrible to me. To be honest I didn't think Pa would react that badly to any detentions or house points, not for silly things like breaking curfew- it was more my character that he was bothered about. Besides, Spinner's End was in the rough part of town. Kids got detention all the time and it was common to play truant, some even did it with their parents permission if they could earn some money instead.
It seemed that Richard had a slightly more adventurous streak in him, although he was a bit tally-ho with it. Jack more often than not came with us after we badgered him. It was an alternative kind of fun actually, Richard tended to like games where we weren't really breaking rules, at least not really serious ones, but there was more risk to them... sneaking past teachers to get mundane objects, putting a fine coating of sugar on the floor in the main hall without being seen by any of the portraits.
There was one brilliant prank he thought of to disrupt transfiguration, my least favourite class. He had figured out, through careful observation via the keyhole, that Professor McGonagall had a store room of objects she used in her lesson. This store room was located towards the front right of the class and shared a wall with the classroom. We spent hours and hours of lessons carefully chipping a hole in the mortar using our quills and small, deliberately weak spells, whichever would be least noticed. Eventually we made it so the hole was big enough to hold a wand tip at the entrance and went through to the other side. About half way through the lesson Jack cast a spell to make all the shelves collapse, causing an unholy racket. Of course McGonagall stopped the lesson to have a look and we plugged the hole with some dirty putty so she wouldn't spot it. The whole class was roped into helping restore the room and she gave us and the marauders filthy looks but she never did prove anything.
The many detentions the marauders received did not seem to deter them from petty bullying, in fact if anything it made it so they were more subtle. They soon realised that any attempt to get us to draw our wands was largely unsuccessful, and on the one occasion it had happened we all got punished equally (every one of us got three detentions and 30 house points taken). So they took a different approach. I was comforted by the fact they knew little about my home life so any remarks they made about that I just ignored. Alas my mismatched albeit well fitting clothes and ragged books were the subject of many of their hurtful remarks. Luckily usually I was with friends who ignored them, or actively told them off, and calmed me down so I rarely got into trouble. Instead of out and out fighting we started to play funny jokes on each other, nothing beyond the water balloon, change your hair green, make you squawk like a parrot for half an hour, variety that only incurred loss of house points and the odd detention.
Before I knew it October arrived, and with it the holidays. I had already written home stating I planned to return- not least because I wanted to get some fireworks for Bonfire night, regardless of the rules, but also because I wanted to hear news about the Mill. Both Mam and Pa had been suspiciously quiet about it, but I knew that the other lads, particularly Terry and Jim would know the rumours if nothing else.
Jack, Lily, Emma and Richard all boarded the train with conkers bulging out our pockets. We planned to roast them to make them hard when we got home and teach the pure-bloods how to play. Chris and Frank were staying at Hogwarts as they wanted to do a bit of exploring on their own and looked forward to showing me and Jack a few hiding places.