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Chapter 51
La Résistance
James and Albus Potter were well-practiced in the art of sneaking out of dorms after nightfall. They waited until the dorm room was full of the sounds of deep breathing and then slid noiselessly from their beds. There was already an empty bed in the boys' dorm. That of the Wand Bearer, or prefect, that had brought them here on their first night. Every second night he would be sent out on patrols for a few hours and return later. There were two other male Wand Bearers, as well as the girl with the plait who they had barely seen since that first night.
They paused and listened at the door to the corridor but heard nothing. Gently they opened the door and slipped out. In the corridor they conned their silent navigation through the school to the dining hall.
The hall was empty and for a moment Albus felt panic at the thought that this could be a set up. But then a door opened and the girl with the Alpha marking stuck her head out,
"Over here. Quick."
They followed her into a small dark room. Neither of them had ever been in here before. It was the door that the house-elves who served their meals hustled in and out of to the dining hall. The room inside was like a small kitchen with a stove and counters and crates and sacks of vegetables or oatmeal. A handful of students now sat huddled, resting on these containers.
There were three of them; Rose, the dark-haired girl and a third dark skinned girl with a bored expression.
"You want to get out of here?" The dark-haired girl asked, the black scars on her pale face more striking than ever in the dim glow of light from a candle in the middle of the room, "So do we."
James looked around at them. Rose looked a little unsettled and the other girl was surveying him without interest, she looked to be about thirteen, the same age as he was. At an estimate, so was the girl who was speaking.
"My name is Noire, and this is Blanche," She continued, gesturing at the girl that James and Albus did not know.
"It means white." The other girl explained, speaking for the first time in dull tones, "It's ironic because I'm black."
"Uh-huh…" James nodded feeling thrown off by this impromptu gathering.
"We're the Résistance." Noire told them, "Those who don't bow down and accept the things that they try to teach you here."
"This is it?" James blanched, "There's only three of you!"
Noire's eyes narrowed above her scars.
"Five now." Blanche pointed out.
James looked at her.
"If you guys want to find a way out of here, we're your only shot." She continued. There was a faint French accent to some of her words but her English was fluent and well-practised.
James considered her for a moment. Her tone was genuine and solid but there was something tragic in her expression and it was that that made him trust her as Albus had trusted Noire when they first met.
"Most of the students here want to stay out of trouble. Being in the Resistance kind of makes that impossible. They don't see the danger in the things they're teaching in class." Noire continued.
Albus was glad he finally had a name to call her by.
"How's that then?" James questioned.
Noire turned to him sharply, "Everything they teach here is slanted. One-sided, if you like. The general feeling is that wizards are suppressed by Muggles and that this order is unnatural and should be replaced by the natural order - survival of the fittest."
"Of course some of us realise the danger of this." Blanche pointed out, "What separates beings and beasts is our ability to make order out of chaos."
"The Statute of Secrecy has it's problems but it's in place for the protection of Muggles and Wizards." Noire continued, "Without law and order the world would be subject to dark wizards, Muggle massachists and most probably a huge Muggle campaign to constrain magic - or to gain it for themselves…"
"But that's not even possible." James murmured.
"The point is that the idea is flawed from the core. It simply wouldn't work in practise." Noire sighed, "And the people who teach it are hypocrites. What they're doing here is totally unnatural. Deleting children's pasts and brainwashing them with their opinions and their ideologies, it's just sick!"
"The other children - do they think this is a school?" James asked her.
"How would they know any different? You wake up with a blank mind and someone tells you that you're at a school and have a fresh start at life, who are you to question them?" Noire said darkly, "They tell you that this is an oasis in a corrupting world and that you've escaped and can be part of creating a new natural order, why wouldn't you believe them? You've never known anything else. So you grow up with this idea in your head that you're on the side of right and reason without ever hearing a counter argument - and you join the movement."
"The movement?" James queried.
"Going back out into the world and working towards the new natural order." Shrugged Noire with a roll of her eyes.
"So people actually graduate from this place?" Albus asked.
"Of course." Replied Blanche, "It is a school."
"Only a couple of kids have passed through so far. Four, I think." Noire remembered, "Including Adam, Manon's brother."
"She's the girl Wand Bearer - the first girl to reach Élite, actually." Blanche explained.
"Oh, we know her all right…" James muttered bitterly.
She had been the one to catch him that night when he was searching for Rose.
"She's a real hardcore believer." Noire muttered, the resentment clear in her voice, "And she's strong too. Physically and magically. The ideal student so to speak."
"Is that her real name? Manon?" Albus asked.
Noire shrugged, "I suppose so. When they become Wand Bearers, students have the option of uncovering their past. It's up to them whether they take their name back up or choose another one. Or keep the symbol that they're given as their name… But they never choose that. Having a real name sets them out against the rest of us."
There was a pause from the group. James let the knew information settle.
"So what does the Resistance do?" Albus asked.
"For one thing we question every piece of information they give us in class instead of just accepting it." Noire stated, "Sometimes we cause trouble for the staff here, if we can. Though that has proven problematic recently..."
"How so?" Questioned Albus.
"We lost our leader." Blanche muttered bitterly, her eyes to the ground.
"After our last attempt to run away, when we got caught, they took Gris - they knew he was our leader, so they took him away to be punished and we haven't seen him since."
"What happened to him?" Albus asked looking pale.
"We have no idea." Noire sighed, "It's been four or five months now…"
"What did you do? When you tried to run away?" James quizzed her.
He noticed that Blanche was still looking down. The expression on her face was one of defeat.
"We picked a lock to a stairway but got lost," Noire replied, "All the doors there were sealed with something more powerful than regular locks."
"Colloportus charm, most likely." Said Rose, speaking for the first time.
Noire nodded, "We haven't tried anything much since, not without Gris," She said sadly.
There was a sound outside of their little den and everyone fell silent. When no other noise followed Noire resumed talking,
"We ought to get back to our dorms, Manon and Marc, her partner, will be coming back soon on their rounds."
James nodded and poked his head through the door. The coast was clear. He ushered each member of the Resistance out into the dining hall before following himself. In an aside to Noire before they split for the separate dorms he asked,
"Why are you telling us all of this?"
Noire looked at him, her gray eyes serious but a smile playing at the edges of her lips,
"In case you haven't noticed, we haven't got a lot to lose."
James raised an eyebrow.
"Besides," Smirked Noire, "We know all of your secrets… At least now it's an even playing field."
The next morning Blanche wasn't at breakfast but at lunchtime James saw her at the end of the queue. Albus was behind her but James cut in front of him.
"Hey!" Whined Albus, "No skipping."
James ignored him,
"Hi," He said addressing Blanche.
She turned her melancholy dark eyes at him and smiled.
"What's for lunch?" James asked feeling slightly awkward.
"Meatballs." Replied Blanche.
"That doesn't sound too bad." James said cheerily.
So far he was not a big fan of the food at the school.
"I'm a vegetarian." Blanche grimaced.
"Oh." James muttered.
"How do you know?" Albus piped up, "I mean, how do you remember something like that?"
"I don't really," Blanche said sadly, "I just know I am. I don't remember why or how long for or anything like that."
Her face was so tragic. Unsmiling mouth and long eyelashes brushing her cheeks from downcast eyes.
"Must be hard…" James sympathised, "Not knowing who you are."
"Yeah." Sighed Blanche, "Do you really think there's a way to fix it?"
James didn't reply, confused for a minute.
Blanche quickly continued, "You said to Rose that if you get her out of here you'll find a way to get her memory back."
"Oh!" James said remembering, "Of course. I mean, there has to be right?"
He looked at Albus who merely shrugged and turned away.
The house-elves shoveled some meaty chunks onto James plate along with some vegetables.
"What's with the house-elves?" He asked Blanche as they left the counter, "Who do they obey?"
"Le Directeur." She replied nonchalantly, "He gives all the orders around here but I've never seen him."
"Where is he?" James asked with astonishment. He had never seen anyone around giving orders but he had heard mentions of Le Directeur before, the night he was captured perhaps.
"He has an office but he never comes out." Blanche replied.
"Weird." muttered James.
Blanche nodded and sat down at one of the dining tables. James sat down next to her.
"You can't sit here!" Blanche said suddenly looking alarmed.
"Huh?" James sputtered, "Why not?"
"Élevé students never sit with Faible students." Blanche whispered looking fearful.
James was shocked. He had thought that they were getting along pretty well and now here Blanche was kicking him out of his seat.
"Fine." He muttered feeling hurt.
"Wait-" She called but he was already on his feet and moving swiftly away.
He sat down grouchily at a table where Noire dined alone. James poked his meatballs with his fork but didn't eat.
"She's not trying to be mean." Noire said evenly without lifting her eyes from her plate.
James looked at her and tried to hide how irritated he was. It didn't matter Noire just kept eating peacefully.
"She has to sit with her own class." Noire explained, "If she doesn't they'll punish her in class or stop her from progressing further."
"Whatever." Mumbled James, pretending not to care.
Noire looked up and he was caught off-guard by her slate grey stare,
"It helps to have someone in Élevé, James."
At this point Albus sat down,
"Thanks a lot James!" Albus grumbled, "They ran out of meatballs and all I got was leftover toast from breakfast."
"We really have to give you new names…" Mused Noire.
"What do you mean?" Asked Albus as he scooted over to make room for Rose at their table too.
"I mean, if we keep calling you James and Albus, someone's going to hear us and know your secret." Noire pointed out.
"Oh, right." Albus muttered thoughtfully.
"Got any nicknames?" Noire asked.
"Al?" Albus replied.
"That won't do." Rose muttered.
"You need a name too." Noire observed.
Rose nodded.
"Okay, what about middle names?" Noire suggested.
"Severus." James said pointing to his little brother.
Noire pulled a disbelieving face.
"I'm Sirius." James smirked and waited for her to fall for his pun.
"Severus, really?" Questioned Rose instead as Noire calmly chewed another bite of her lunch, "And you?"
"No. My name is Sirius." Grinned James.
Rose looked puzzled. Noire swallowed,
"How ill-fitting…" She murmured, "Anything else you can tell me about yourselves?"
"We're pretty good at Quidditch." James replied, thinking of the first thing he could.
"Okay! What broomsticks do you have?" Noire demanded.
"I've a Flaming Phoenix." James replied proudly though a twinge of loss pierced him when he thought of his beloved broomstick back at Hogwarts.
He missed Quidditch.
"Flaming? Flame? Phoenix?" Noire muttered out loud.
"I used to have a Torpedo 58 till it broke." James offered.
"Torpedo! That sounds pretty good." Noire commented.
James thought about it. Torpedo was a pretty good code name.
"Mine's a Comet." Albus said, "And you have a Red Robbin." He told Rose.
"Oh!" Rose said with surprise. Processing this new piece of information.
"Red," Grinned Noire, "Sounds pretty fitting to me."
Rose twirled a strand of dark red hair between two fingers thoughtfully, "Alright then but make it Rouge, like Noire and Blanche mean black and white."
They all agreed.
And so the Résistance had it's members; Noire, Blanche, Rouge, Torpedo and Comet. Having code names made it feel much more serious. James began to wonder what they would be planning but then a shadow fell across him and he looked up.
"Here," Said Blanche in a small voice, "Have these. I'm not going to eat them. I didn't mean to be rude earlier."
James nodded, "Thanks."
Blanche left the hall and James knew that there was no hard feeling between them.
"Okay, now that's just doubly unfair!" Grumbled Albus.
James grinned and tucked in, ignoring his brothers muttering.
