Chapter 54
Get Out/Fit In
James looked at Blanche and tried but failed to read her expression. She didn't look scared or nervous but the atmosphere said otherwise. She caught his eye and he opened his mouth but she pressed her finger to her lips. James shut his mouth and nodded, glancing around at the sleeping bodies.
Blanche reached behind her head and pulled a hair clip out of her hair, which was, as usual, plaited back into little cornrows.
Hunter's bed was the second from the door in the long row. She crept up to the top of the bed, James hovering several feet behind her. Kneeling down next to the bedside locker, she began to work on the lock with the hairclip.
James watched over her as she worked, eyeing the boys as they slept soundly in their beds. Hunter was a large bloke, built and broad. But fast asleep he was totally harmless. James hoped it would stay that way as he watch Blanche twisting the clip around in the lock. Every time Hunter stirred or grunted both James and Blanche would freeze but the Wand Bearer remained snoring peacefully.
James hated the silence. He always had. It set his teeth on edge and the slightest interruption made his hair stand up on end. He wished that he could be of more help within the Résistance. He wondered if himself and Albus hadn't shown up, would Blanche be here now, endangering herself to find a way out of this oppressive school, or would the Résistance have crumbled with the loss of Gris, as the authorities had surely hoped it would.
A small click signaled that the drawer had come unlocked. James bent over to see as Blanche slid it open. The inside was almost bare except for a shining mahogany wand. James stepped back as Blanche picked it up delicately like she was afraid it would snap between her fingers.
James looked around at Hunter again and then at Armel and the rest of the sleeping bodies. Albus appeared in the doorway, dull candlelight sweeping in.
"There's someone coming!" He hissed, eyes wide and frightened behind his glasses.
"Quick, shut the door." James said, taking action.
Albus did. James took the wand from Blanche hastily.
"You need to hide." Albus hissed.
James ushered Blanche down to the end of the room quickly, trying not to panic.
"James, get into bed, Blanche hide underneath it." Albus insisted following them.
"The wand-" James protested.
Albus snatched it glancing around instinctively in case anyone had seen them.
Albus's eyes spun searching for an idea. James leapt into bed as the door clicked open again. With the wand in hand Albus legged it around to his bed but before he could get in he turned to see Marc – and he was looking right at him.
Albus couldn't move anymore. He was frozen stiff with panic. In a few long strides, Marc covered the distance from the door to Albus.
"What are you doing?" Demanded the Wand Bearer.
"I- I must have been sleepwalking again…" Albus lied.
"Get back to-" Marc never finished his sentence. He had seen the mahogany wand in Albus's hands.
"Where did you get that?" He asked in a voice so low and threatening that it sent chills down Albus's spine.
"I don't know." He said quickly, "I found it, just now."
Marc said nothing forcing Albus to look up into his face to judge his reaction. He met Marc's eyes nervously and the older boy held his gaze for what felt like years. Albus wondered what he was thinking behind that stony glare. He was far from convinced that the older boy had bought his lies when Marc said,
"Give that to me." And without waiting for a response took the wand from Albus's hand and strolled away, "Go to bed." He added.
Albus got into the bed, watching as Marc returned the wand to Hunter's bedside locker and muttered an incantation. Without another glance at Albus he began to undress for bed.
Nothing stirred but Albus couldn't shut his eyes. An hour passed before Blanche emerged and slipped quietly out of the room. Still nobody stirred and the inhabitants of the boys dorm slept soundly until the siren went off to signal them to wake up the next morning – without any idea of what had transpired the night before.
"What went wrong?" Demanded Noire the next morning, her breakfast crashing onto the table in her haste, "Blanche couldn't tell me properly last night."
James sighed and ran his hand through his untidy hair wondering how to tell Noire about just how disastrous their mission had ended,
"Blanche got the wand alright but Marc returned before we could hide it."
"Did he see you?" Noire asked, eyes flashing with alarm.
"Just me." Muttered Albus bashfully.
"And you had the wand?" Noire asked with a pained look.
"Yeah, he took it off me and locked it up again." Albus explained.
"He didn't report you?" Noire asked with evident surprise.
Albus shook his head.
Noire studied him carefully. She seemed to be thinking hard. James finished the last few bites of his breakfast and cleared his space at the table. Noire still sat without speaking, staring into space with glazed eyes and a dark expression. James felt like a failure. What would they do now? How would they ever find a way out of here?
He left the dining hall and headed to class, combing his hand through his hair to try and make it lie flat. Whatever about getting out of here, he did have one plan on his agenda. He didn't know how Noire would feel. Something made him think she would disapprove but he had reasons. Good reasons. So he was making this decision himself.
With a deep breath he turned into class three. Lagunov was already sitting at his desk. A mug of steaming coffee in his hand and some papers spread before him. When he saw James approaching the desk he discreetly turned them face down.
"Sir," James began respectfully, "I want to move out of this class and into Élevé."
"Ha!" Laughed the teacher.
James hurried on, "I know I haven't been here long but I want to learn more. They say you have to pass a test and I think I'm ready, or nearly ready at least. I've studied all about the Statute of Secrecy and it's injustices and I want to prove that I'm ready for more." He said all of this in his most serious tone with just enough eagerness to catch the professor's attention.
"You think you're ready to learn more?" Scoffed Lagunov.
James nodded and didn't let the teacher's incredulity get to him. He had a mission to fulfill here and he wasn't going to fail two in the same day.
"Well you sure are ambitious, I'll give you that." Muttered Lagunov.
"I am, Sir." James said quickly, "The other children, they look down on people in Faible."
Lagunov nodded, "Of course. They are miles ahead of you morons."
"But I'm not a moron, Sir," James responded calmly though his temper was beginning to prickle, "I don't belong in this class. I'm way too good for this. Let me show you! Give me a chance."
"We've never had a student graduate Faible in so little time before." Lagunov cautioned him, "I personally don't believe you can do it."
James held the teacher's gaze with determination.
"But if you're sure you won't make a fool of yourself then I see no reason why you can't sit the exam." Lagunov continued, a cruel disbelieving smile creeping on to his face, "I'll give you till the end of the week to prepare. I'm curious to see what you're really made of."
"Thank you, Sir." James replied trying not to smile but to continue looking ambitious and serious.
He turned from the teachers desk and approached his usual seat as Albus entered. When Albus saw him grinning he stared at his brother in astonishment. Noire and Rose soon followed and Lagunov began his booming rant with rapture. In that class, James answered every single question.
"What's going on with you?" Albus asked James that afternoon when classes had ended. It was a Saturday and although they still had morning lectures there was no Physical Training classes at the weekend but students could arrange their own activities in the hall.
Right now, teams were being picked for a game of football. Albus found this weird mix of magical and Muggle cultures bewildering and yet at the new school it was highly encouraged. It was almost as if they were borrowing from both worlds. If he hadn't spent time growing up with his Muggleborn, second cousin Willard, Albus probably wouldn't even have known what football was.
"What do you mean?" James replied without taking his eyes off the activity in the hall.
"I mean your know-it-all impression in class today." Albus snapped grumpily.
James smirked, "I did know it all."
"But you don't believe all of that, do you?" Albus demanded, "You said that the Ministry in Britain was oppressing the rights of minorities."
"So?" James asked still smirking.
"James!" Albus cried, "Dad works for the Ministry!"
He was angry now. James was acting his usual idiot self and he was sick of it.
"Dad works for the Ministry's justice system. And you know what Lagunov was saying wasn't true. All of his facts are outdated and the Ministry went through multiple reforms and updates in the last twenty years. Lagunov never mentions that, does he?"
"Of course not, Al." James replied carelessly, "That's because he wants a new power structure and the Ministry is in the way, so why would he make it sound good? That would be counterproductive."
Albus gaped at James, "That's not the point!" He cried earnestly, "How could you say it?"
"Because!" James snapped, finally turning to him with a wicked expression, "Not to do so would be counterproductive for me. I told you, Al, I'm getting out of Faible. I want to know what they're saying in Élevé about how they're going to achieve this new order and how it will work."
"But it won't work, James, that's the problem. 'Everyone for themselves!'; 'Only the strong survive!'; It's barbaric." Albus argued.
"Exactly, that's why we need to know what they're planning." James countered, "And that's what I plan on finding out."
"I thought the plan was to find Rose and get out of here?" Albus grumbled.
James ignored him.
"You just want to be in the same class as Blanche." Albus muttered bitterly so quietly that he wasn't sure whether James had even heard him.
"Know thy enemy." James mumbled under his breath before striding off toward the football teams, one of which was one-player short.
Albus watched as the team reluctantly agreed to let James in. He sighed and sat down against a wall where Rose already sat reading a book.
"What's wrong?" She asked looking up at him just as James scored a goal, confounding his teammates.
Albus looked up at the teachers who stood together at one end of the hall and noticed that they too were watching the game.
He sighed again and looked at Rose's troubled face, "What isn't wrong?" He asked her desperately.
She closed her book and set it down, smiling kindly though her eyes were sad.
"Okay, which problem is worrying you right now?" She specified.
Albus glanced at the football game and wondered which was more troubling, James's attitude or the failure of last night's mission. In the end he told Rose about what James had said just because it was the most recent of the two.
"He doesn't mean it, Comet." Rose assured him, "What harm is he doing anyway?"
"He could be concentrating on getting out of here, for ne thing. Instead of getting hung up on fitting in." Albus grumbled.
"What can we do?" Rose asked, "Noire's out of ideas after last night didn't pan out. If we can't get through those doors then how can we possibly find a way out of here? The only other door left unopened is the one to the Directeur's office."
"There has to be another way." Albus responded, denying the alternative.
"Marc knows what we're doing now." Rose murmured anxiously, "We should lie low while we come up with something."
Albus thought about last night and about the strange way that Marc had acted. He had expected the Wand Bearer to report to a member of the staff immediately when he saw the wand in Albus's hand. Instead he had just acted like nothing had ever happened. Had he gone to them this morning? If so, why hadn't anyone come down on Albus like a ton of bricks? Stealing a Wand from an Élite student had to be one of the worst crimes that a student could commit.
For the next few days Noire was unusually subdued. Eventually she admitted that she was out of her depth at a secret meeting in the house-elves' kitchen.
"I don't know what to do." She sighed, "It was always Gris who came up with the ideas and executed them. Without him, I'm totally stuck. I can't lead the Résistance. It was Gris who made this club possible and led us in our fight against the school but now, Gris's gone and we are defeaten."
"Stop, Noire." James grumbled, "We just need a new plan." He insisted.
"Do you have any ideas?" Noire demanded, "Because I'm saying I don't, okay?"
"We'll think of something." Rose stated calmly, "We just need some time to think."
"There are no windows and only one, locked, door. We've tried twice now to get through it and we're not even close." Noire sighed with frustration, pacing up and down the tiny patch of floor that was clear of crates.
Albus racked his brain, searching for something to say.
Noire groaned again with frustration, "Meeting dismissed." She muttered, "We'll meet again but for now just keep your heads down and wait for the right opportunity to show up."
Albus left, heavy with the feeling of defeat.
On Saturday, James remained after class with Lagunov to sit the test. He knew that his friends had mixed feelings about it but the way he saw it, if they were waiting for an opportunity to arise, why now put the time to good use and maybe make some opportunities for yourself. If he impressed Lagunov and managed to earn his trust then perhaps he could learn something that would ultimately help them to get out of here.
He still had the same final goal in mind, he was just going about it a different way. If anything, he wanted to get out of here more than ever. Now he didn't just have Albus and Rose to get out of here safely but Noire and Blanche too. Surely, there was someone waiting on the outside for them too.
Concentrating on what he had to do, he opened the paper and began the exam. The first few questions were all based on things that Lagunov had told them in class and James was well prepared with the answers that he knew the teacher wanted to hear.
Next there were two essay questions, one about the biggest problems with today's power structure and one about how 'you' would structure society if you could change things. James thought about Noire and what she would say about the power structure in this place. He smiled to himself but continued on, giving the professor back exactly what he knew he would want to hear.
In the second essay, he tried to be more creative instead of just purely sucking up, in case the teacher got suspicious. He stuck in a few original ideas about abolishing the banking system and other 'power-hungry institutions'.
When his time was up, he handed up the paper and exited the room. Tomorrow morning, he would get his result.
Review please! Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
