Squib 14 January 1974
Lily was glad to go back to school. They had done homework every day, because her mother had bought more blank books and set all three to making neat copies of Miriam's book. You could only do copy work so long at a time before your hands cramped, so they had also spent hours playing 'Pong' and 'Pac Man', and outside throwing snowballs. They continued with karate and self-defense classes, where it was clear Petunia was far ahead of them. Petunia participated in her first karate competition, in Manchester. Last, there had been the wonderful news that both her Mum and Eileen were going to have babies! She needed to start knitting layettes right away! They didn't know yet whether they were having boys or girls, so she was going to need neutral colors. Maybe yellow and pale green?
Miriam came down the train, passing out biscuits shaped like snowflakes, blue icing with white designs, all different. She and her mother must have spent days making so many! Again, they were delicious and everyone ate several. Lily was quit polite and asked Miriam to watch her doing some of the detection she had already learned from the book. The biscuits came up clean, of course. Miriam said she was doing them correctly, and congratulated her on learning so fast. James came past about then, and also accepted biscuits. Then he stood there casting detection at the plate until all the girls laughed! A that, he grabbed a box from her stack and took off.
Back in their own compartment James dropped the box of biscuits on the seat next to the others, who dug right in. James munched one, dripping crumbs and ignoring manners as he fumed. "It didn't work. All that work with the candy and the potions and the spells, and it didn't work. Lily's father actually refused to accept delivery of my father's Friendship Gift at Yule. Dad stripped the spellwork and gave it to Mother. No point in wasting it! Mum loves the little flower garden almost as much as the Bulstrodes loved the cursed coffin! We thought that was threatening – they thought it was romantic! Lily was brushing that cat again and barely noticed when I stopped by. Instead of kissing me, she laughed at me! They all did! I stole their biscuits and ran, and I could hear Miriam's booming laugh behind me all the way into the next car! I'll make her so mad at me that she'll break the Betrothal! The prank war is ON!
For my Betrothal gift, Miriam gave me this rare book. We need to memorize it, and use it, because I'm sure this is how she and the Snakes avoid our tricks. I haven't tried these on any of our candies – they are all gone – but I'm sure one or more of these betrayed us. So, anything we do has to avoid anything in this book. Miriam knows all of these."
Siri examined the book. "I've heard of this. I think my Family has a copy in our Library. We were taught a lot of these as children, though I never sat down and memorized it. I can work with this. I'll do layered pranks. There will be something one of these will detect, which can be easily canceled or avoided. But, I'll put in a second trick that won't show up! I'm sure there are some! Remus, we need more research!"
The boys straightened up and leaned their heads together to plan. This required more nudging and scooting than normal. They seemed to have more knees and elbows than they should, and their feet took more floor space. Perhaps this compartment was a small one?
Lily had a new project. She was to start a Muggles Club. No restriction on anyone joining, but the purpose would be for the muggle born students to help each other, sort of a study group. The older students could explain confusing topics of Magic culture. Then, they would help each other with their correspondence lessons. Their parents meetings had resulted in all of the muggle born being enrolled in the same National program Lily and Sevi were taking. Discovering there were no equivalency tests offered at Hogwarts had the parents plenty upset! Discovering their children were intended to be brood mares or shop clerks, with little possibility of advancement was bad. Knowing they were trapped in the Magic world, with little chance of returning to the mundane education system – no records, no college, nothing but dead-end lives, had their parents seeing red. Almost 40 children were beginning the lessons. Since she and Sevi had already finished those assignments they had extra reading books, and graded assignments to use for guidelines.
For her first meeting she brought the book Miriam had loaned her, and her hand copies. "This is a book you may never see outside this room, but it is essential study for all of us muggle born. Smart pure bloods memorize it before beginning Hogwarts."
At this point one of the firsties started to squeak up, "But, WE'RE..." Several hands covered her mouth and she was yanked back into her seat.
"We're muggle born, and at the bottom of the social status here. I only have this book until the end of term, so you need to do what I have already done – make your own copies! Keep them secret, keep them safe! Disguise them as something else, maybe Diaries or Journals. That case in the corner contains blank books. Dad will send us more as we fill those. I really suggest making two copies, one for you to study, and one to send home for your family Library. Note that this is two books, one on each side. You can NOT use standard copy charms. The first time you try, you will get a bad smell – that's the warning. If you persist, a book charmed like this will become unusable. It's a firm Copyright protection. But you can hand copy or take notes. Since we have one '6-month student copy' and three hand copies of each side, the first seven of you should get a blank and start your first copy. We COULD spell-copy the hand copies, and we will if time gets short, but copy work is an excellent study technique and you need to learn these quickly! We'll arrange some practice.
While these work, the rest of you need to split into subject areas. You need to plan one visit every week in each section, to help you keep up. We'll hold Maths over at that table, Grammar and Composition over there, and the main Reading Discussion group on those couches. Languages and translation work get that big table by the windows. Remember this is a Literature based program, so much of your History and even Science will be from the Biographies you will read, and they come in several languages. We haven't figured out a way to do Sciences Labs here, yet, so you will have to set up your Notes and plan to do the actual Labs every Break at home. We've posted a standard reading schedule on the Board, and are passing out a week's worth of assignments. Keep up! This is a LOT of reading, every day! If you get behind your Group, you may need to spend Sunday Morning catching up instead of sleeping! If you lose a book, we have a few extras you may borrow until your parents send a new one. Lose one of those, and you will be buying TWO new copies. There will be some of the older students in this room almost every day. This is 'our' room. I signed for it as a 'study group'. The Book will only be here when I am here, but you can work with me in other places by arrangement. Binns class is a good choice. The Great Hall is not. If you are having trouble with bullies or pure bloods, tell US."
Alice brought along a sixth-year Hufflepuff boy who was also doing the course, and was glad to find a group to work with. Ted brought his sweetheart, a Slytherin, who also was doing the lessons. Both also began making copies of the Book. Andi already knew most of the things in it, but not all. Remus came quietly with Frank, but when he realized what they were doing he began the program as well.
Miriam was one of the regular visitors to the new muggle study group, and was honestly pleased to see so many studying the useful Book. She brought the half blood Slytherins, starting them in the program with Andi, and brought weekly treats. She turned out to be a fair tutor. Pure blood or not, she had finished the correspondence program and taken her "A" levels! Her parents intended to send her to business college, like her brothers. They still planned this, once the newlyweds settled into their new lives. James would be busy at Hogwarts a great deal of the time for the next four years, and Miriam would need something to keep her busy.
Her treats were amazing. The snowflake biscuits were followed by snowmen (again cartooning her family), beautifully realistic flowers, and birds. One week there were marzipan animals , the next there were fruit slices that looked and tasted exactly like the real thing, but were clearly biscuits by their crispness and crumbs, then by maple leaf candies! When the fairy cakes with sugared real flowers appeared, fit for a Princess, Lily could no longer conceal her wonder, "How does your Mum have time to make all of these every week? Isn't she getting your dress ready, and all of the other preparations?"
Miriam had just bitten a violet topped lemon cake, and swallowed politely, tipping it to keep the blueberry filling from spilling. "This isn't Mum. It's Mum keeping the Aunts busy! We have a huge house, and most of them are there already, helping her. Honestly, they were driving her a bit crazy, so she suggested they each take a week to send me suitable treats at school. Many of these will also be served at my Wedding. The Aunts are MY Aunts, meaning they are more than competitive with each other, and are now vying to see who can make the most extravagant school boxes. Keep sharing them with everyone, because there will be more!"
There was one more regular visitor, unwelcome but persistent. James stopped by to annoy the study group at least once a week. Sometimes Sirius or Peter were with him, but they ignored Remus if they saw him. They would jeer at the muggles for trying to keep up with the muggle schooling, when obviously they would be part of the Wizarding world for the rest of their lives. They were wasting their time! Miriam was taunted for associating with the lower classes, and urged to notice Severus if she fancied a poor half blood. Then, if it were a day she had brought boxes of fresh treats, the Marauders would snatch some boxes and run. They were assuming that she would not bring tricks to the study group, though any she shared in other locations were suspect. Miriam's laughter followed them down the halls each time.
The Marauders were pranking constantly. One of their favorites was an exploding potion painted on stairs or hallway floors. People who had Revealo turned on saw it easily and walked around, but anyone not paying attention would set it off simply by stepping on it. This resulted in that student taking a tumble, dropping book bags and homework, and usually being late to their next class. To catch the more alert students who avoided the floor potion, there was usually a second trap of something sticky spread on the handrail or latch. Sometimes several spots in series encouraged the unwary to step in a trick stair. Other tricks were taken from muggle catalogs! Apparently some muggles were very creative with pranks, so whoopee cushions, buzzer rings, x-ray glasses, dribble cups, and other insults flourished. Water guns, even squirting flowers, were loaded with disappearing ink. Huge stains would appear on your robes, but vanish as they dried. You couldn't use the inkwells provided in the classrooms – your notes would disappear as they dried, too!
James was still sharing his own treats from home, but avoided the Slytherins. These were no longer tricks. He was just keeping the good feelings going while the Marauders created as much chaos as they could. Of course they had been caught in many of their pranks, but with so many children feeling friendly toward them, the Marauders were rarely complained about - except by the Slytherins. The staff classed this as retaliation, and tended to ignore it.
The janitor, still mopping in the drafty halls, now wore striped gray mittens and a watch cap, with a wide striped scarf over his striped pullover. It was a little hard to distinguish him from the striped ball of fur tumbling at his heels. Lily gave the half grown kitten one of her catnip balls. It could be seen carrying the toy everywhere they went, cuddling it while he worked.
The castle was cold enough that almost everyone was wearing layers of sweaters. In the drafty halls you would even wear scarves, caps, and thick gloves. Even the pretty Defense teacher was wearing layers, including her black teacher robe. The halls were COLD. The rooms would be warm, but you barely warmed up before you were off to the next class. All meals included hot drinks, either tea or cocoa, and there were jugs of hot spiced cider on the common room tables at night.