A Confrontation in the Three Broomsticks
James, Sirius, and Peter returned to Hogwarts with the ingredients for the Animagus Potion, planning to begin work as soon as possible. At school, they reunited with Remus, who was able to relay news of the castle.
"Eric Thompson is back on his feet," he reported almost as soon as his roommates greeted him. "Madame Pomfrey let him out of the hospital wing late last week. He'll be starting classes again, but he still can't speak a word. Aubrey will have to fill in for him again as Quidditch commentator unless someone else steps up."
Again, James thought of Evan Rosier and the other Slytherin students, and he wondered if Thompson was really faking his muteness. Regardless, his condition prompted James, Sirius, and Peter to think of a way to go about Hogwarts without speaking for the duration of a month, and they finally came up with an idea halfway through January.
Wearing smiles as broadly as the Mandrake leaves in their mouths would allow, they trooped into the Great Hall in single-file, meeting Remus after one of his patrols. Taken aback, Remus stared at their chests, around which they had slung chalkboards stolen from the History of Magic classroom and shrunk to a manageable size.
"Are you hoping that your professors will rate your performance in class?" Remus questioned once they had sat down, and all three of them shook their heads. "Did you want me to draw honorary prefect badges on your chests? I am not doing that, Sirius . . . Well, what are they for?"
Grabbing his chalkboard and spinning it around, James quickly scrawled onto its front and showed it to Remus.
"You'll explain later? How soon is later? And why aren't you talking to me?"
The others shrugged and began to eat, which proved to be more difficult than James had anticipated. When the time came for them to head to their first class, they had barely managed to fill in a few bites with Remus staring at them, and James had almost swallowed his Mandrake leaf three different times. Considering this, he decided to look up a spell for stop growling stomachs, and he trooped to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom with the others.
During the short walk, Remus tried to make casual conversation, but he soon gave up when the others responded only with facial expressions. To replace talking, Remus stared at the walls and ceiling as they made their way across the castle, looking vaguely uncomfortable.
"I hope you know what you're doing," he finally whispered before they entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, where Pollux stood waiting for the students.
As they filed past him, James and Sirius flashed their professor a smile, although Peter looked too wary of their professor to follow suit. Pollux's eyes darkened, but he did not say anything about their strange attire as they sat near Remus and waited for the lesson to begin.
Once the remaining students had entered, all taking turns to stare at the three chalkboard-clad Gryffindors, Pollux strode to the center of the room and flicked his wand at Sirius as he did, forcing his feet down from the desk in front of him and pinning them to the floor. Magically flipping his book open to the appropriate page, Pollux cleared his throat and addressed the class.
"Your essays about Stinging Jinxes are due today, which will determine those of you who have allowed your brains to sit idle during the holidays. We now begin our discussions on the Impediment Jinx. Let's start with . . . Potter. What are your observations of the spell's nature?"
Knowing that Pollux had picked him to determine how much of a hindrance he was planning to be that day, James turned to his board as every eye in the room looked at him. After a few moments of rapid scribbling, he displayed his message to the class: It slows people down.
"It slows people down?" Pollux read slowly, one of his bushy eyebrows lifting. "How very eloquent. And yet your efforts seem very slow this morning, Potter. Can you explain why you are choosing to use a chalkboard instead of speaking so we can all hear?"
Yeah, James wrote, and left it at that. Turning a scowl on Sirius and Peter, Pollux snapped at them instead.
"Would either of you care to explain what measure of foolery you're engaging in?"
We're forming a boycott, Sirius wrote down.
"A boycott? And what are you boycotting?"
This class, Sirius scrawled, drawing a few gasps from the other students. And the prohibition of free speech.
"I do not prohibit free speech!" Pollux growled, and James quickly wrote on his board.
So you admit that people would think so.
"I didn't—"
We didn't mention your name, Sirius pointed out.
Pollux clamped his mouth shut and broiled in place for a few moments, his face growing a darker shade of purple each passing second. Sitting casually, the three boys only grinned at him silently until their professor finally turned on Peter.
"Are you going to defend your mates' foolishness? Why don't you speak up?"
After a few moments, Peter's response finally came with a sheepish shrug. They write faster than I do.
"I assure you that you're the only ones who find this amusing," Pollux said to them, looking down at his notes as if the conversation had ended. "Detention for all three of you this week."
I hope it won't be lines, James wrote, and the class snickered as Pollux slammed his hand against his desk.
"IF IT TEACHES YOU TO KEEP YOUR CHEEKY QUESTIONS TO YOURSELF, SO BE IT!" he yelled, nearly spitting in his frustration. "AND GET RID OF THOSE RIDICULOUS CHALKBOARDS BEFORE I SMASH THEM MYSELF!"
Clearing his throat as the three boys placed their chalkboards on their desks, Pollux faced the rest of the class. "As you should have all picked up in the reading, the Impediment Jinx does far more than simply slow things down like our dear Potter has chosen to explain. On page 297, the author explains the dangers of hampered reflexes in a duel, dangers such as serious injury or even—"
Cutting off mid-sentence, Pollux glared at the back of the room as the sound of scratching chalk interrupted his lecture. Everyone had turned to look at the source of the noise, and several giggles erupted across the room as James finished drawing a yawning face on his chalkboard.
"Stand up and walk to the end of my desk, Potter, or I'll have you in detention for the rest of the school year!" Pollux barked. James flashed a lopsided smile at the tittering students before joining Pollux at the front of the room. At a scathing look from their professor, the class quieted and went back to studying their books, but they continued to throw Sirius and Peter furtive glances every so often in the hopes that they would interrupt the lecture again.
Even though he had to spend the entire period standing beside Pollux as he droned on, James decided that their efforts had been worth it. Only a day after the start of their "boycott," he spotted several other students in the hallways wearing chalkboards, blank pages ripped out of their textbooks, and even rolls of parchment hung. As more and more students began to follow their lead, James realized just how many of his classmates disliked Pollux, and the thought made his chest swell. Even Remus had nothing disparaging to say about his roommates' recent shenanigans, although he shook his head every time he brought up the subject.
"Have you any idea what you've started?" he said three days after their Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. "I've had to solve an argument between two third-years in our House carried out completely over paper! It took ages to sort it out, and I missed confiscating another student's package of Stink Pellets because of it. It's become near-impossible to get anything done in a timely manner."
You know good and well that we always keep at least twenty Stink Pellets in our room, James pointed out. What would you have done with the package once it was taken?
"In all honesty, probably given it to you," Remus admitted, shaking his head. "You always know just how to put them to use."
Remus John Lupin, you're a prefect! James admonished, and Sirius and Peter were trying too hard to keep their mouths shut amid their muffled laughter to write anything.
Later that afternoon, when the number of silent students had reached a peak, James ran across Eric Thompson in the Great Hall. The Ravenclaw was standing by Aubrey near the entrance, holding a one-sided conversation, but he turned and motioned when James and his roommates entered.
"Eric wants to know why everyone's wearing chalkboards around their necks," Aubrey narrated for his friend, his narrowed eyes betraying his own disdain.
We're protesting Professor Black, James explained. No speaking for a month.
Eyes popping, Thompson recoiled, and Sirius wrote on his chest. You should join us! It'll be easier to talk to people.
"I should think not!" Aubrey reprimanded, looking aghast as well. When Thompson started rapidly gesturing, Aubrey nodded and added, "He's trying to learn the Wand-Spelling Charm. We shouldn't have to associate ourselves with your little demonstration."
Forget we asked, Sirius spelled with a roll of his eyes, and the two Ravenclaws continued to stare at them as they walked down the Great Hall.
"You can't blame them," Remus spoke when they had left. "Not everyone has a reason to get on Pollux's bad side."
They have plenty reason, Sirius argued. He's teaching, isn't he?
We understand if you don't join us, Remus, James put in. We know that you're supporting us in spirit. Shaking his head, Remus said nothing, but James could see the sparkle in his eyes.
He's not likely to get detention, at least, Peter pointed out, sticking out his lower lip a little and scowling at the ground. Nodding, James and Sirius grimaced slightly as they thought of their after-school commitment.
One challenge that James had not anticipated was Captaining his next Quidditch game, but it turned out just fine. By the time of the match, only Frank and Javin were still speaking freely, and James put Frank in charge of calling out instructions to the rest of the team while in flight. Michael and Raul could read each other's movements perfectly without needing to speak, although Javin would occasionally yell warnings to his teammates when the Bludgers had escaped them. Half of the Hufflepuff team had joined the boycott as well, and the game was unnaturally silent even with Aubrey's voice echoing over the stadium.
"I did it! I caught it this time!" Javin celebrated after outracing the other Seeker in a close run. Unfortunately, his enthusiasm was only met by a few raised fists and claps from his teammates. Maybe to make up for it, Tertia patted him hard on the back a few times.
"See you all for practice, then?" Frank asked since James could not, and the team nodded exaggeratedly before departing.
As far as Pollux was concerned, James, Sirius, and Peter would remain in detention until they had returned to speaking again, but James was determined to get away to Hogsmeade this time, even if he had to sneak in with his Invisibility Cloak. Fortunately, he did not have to go to such lengths, because Pollux announced that he would be busy the weekend of the trip visiting extended relatives in London. This statement was followed by a pointed glower at Sirius, who stared back with as much malice as his face could muster.
Content that they would at least escape Pollux's disapproving eye for a few days, James enlisted the help of his roommates before the Hogsmeade trip. Positioned at the end of the dungeon corridor, Peter and Remus waited for Sirius' signal while James waited near a small doorway.
"Why can't you just find Lily on your own, again?" Remus sighed, looking over his shoulder at James. "There's got to be an easier way to do this."
Cutting him short, the door to Slughorn's office opened, and the various members of the Slug Club began to stream out. Facing James' way, Peter gave him a thumbs-up, and James slipped through the door to meet the attendees on the other side.
Once across, James arrived just in time to hear Sirius' Stunning Spell take effect. Lily and a few other members of the Slug Club had already made it to the corridor where James now stood, and they turned around to examine the sound of someone's body slamming into the wall. Wondering if Sirius had decided to target Snape or Regulus, James cleared his throat and raised his chalkboard above his head, waiting for Lily to look his way.
Eventually, she did look back and froze, having spotted the short message scrawled onto his board: Hogsmeade?
"Think again, Broomstick-Brain," Lily huffed before brushing past him, and he lowered the board. Still, he gave the other Slug Club members a sheepish grin before jogging past them to rejoin his roommates.
On Saturday, James accompanied his friends to Hogsmeade, even after the disappointment of Lily's dismissal. He hoped that they might run across her anyway, even though she would likely be with her friends.
"Why don't we grab a table and sit for a while?" Remus suggested to the other three when they walked by the Three Broomsticks. "Maybe a warm butterbeer will loosen your throats."
Nodding vigorously, the others trooped inside and waved hello to Madam Rosmerta, the inn's bartender, before sitting in front of the counter. Almost as soon as they had received their drinks, a series of giggles from behind caught James' attention, and he turned to see a group of girls watching his friends from a table. When James looked their way, Hillary leapt up and started winding through the crowd towards the bar counter, waving while the girls behind her looked on with thinly-disguised glares.
You should really fix that spike of hair at the back of your head, Sirius wrote to James on his chalkboard. You're too noticeable.
James grunted an agreement, but Hillary had forced herself between them a moment later. "Potter, I thought you might stop here! My friends and I were just talking about your last match. Incredible flying, by the way. They didn't believe me when I told them that we talked between classes, so I decided to say hello."
When no one responded, Hillary looked over the group with a small frown. On James' other side, Remus was slowly swirling his butterbeer uncomfortably, and Hillary finally seemed to notice the others' chalkboards.
"Are you still using those silly boards?" she asked James. Beaming, James nodded and drummed his fingers on the counter to fill the silence. "You're absolutely mental to badger Professor Black like that! I can't imagine doing anything to upset him. He scares me." Leaning forward a bit, she went on, "But you know, you can drop the act when he isn't here. Can't you talk to me?" Keeping his mouth firmly sealed, James gave her a shrug, and Hillary rounded on the others. "I bet you still talk to them! What about Lupin?"
Shaking his head, Remus put down his butterbeer. "I've tried. I don't think you'll be able to do any good."
Scowling, Hillary turned on James again and sniffed. "Well, if you ever want to talk, you know where to find me."
As she waltzed back to her table, James made a show of wiping his forehead, and his friends stifled their laughter.
"What's so funny, cousin?" another voice broke in from behind, and all four roommates spun around. When he had turned halfway around, Sirius recoiled when Bellatrix placed a foot on his stool and leaned over him
"OI—" he started to shout, but he remembered a moment later the Mandrake leaf in his mouth and clamped his jaw shut. Seeming to find this amusing, Bellatrix pressed her face closer to his and smirked when he hit against the countertop.
"What's the matter? Kneazle got your tongue?" Her eyes trailed down and rested on the chalkboard around Sirius' neck. "What's this?" she asked, tugging it. "A new fashion statement of yours? Now I see why your robes are covered in dust."
What are you doing here? James wrote on his board, causing Bellatrix to look his way at the scratching noise.
"You're all wearing them! Is this part of some prank?" she exclaimed, also glaring at Peter. When her eyes landed on him, Peter shrank down and pressed against Remus. "What about you?" Bellatrix demanded of Remus. "Are you with them? Can you speak?"
"Er, you're not Andromeda, are you?" Remus finally asked, and Bellatrix sneered at him.
"I should think not, that ungrateful wench! She was my sister, until she ran off with that good-for-nothing Mudblood." Turning a sickly smile on Remus, she added, "But thank you for reminding me of that disgrace. I can tell you've been spending too much time with Sirius."
"Leave 'em alone, Lestrange," someone else cut in, and James turned to see the bartender for the Hog's Head Inn standing in the shadowy corner of the bar. Aberforth had not made so much as a movement prior to addressing Bellatrix, so James had not noticed him before. For such a tall wizard, Aberforth knew how to blend into the background, and James barely had time to wonder why Dumbledore's brother was not manning the Hog's Head before Bellatrix responded.
"Or what, Aberforth, you'll kick me out? This isn't your haunt, if I remember. It's much too clean."
"Oh, go insult someone who'll care. But no one wants you spewing your anti-Muggle fantasies in here." Taking a few steps forward, Aberforth gestured towards the door. "Your cousin and me especially."
"I'm waiting for Rodolphus," Bellatrix snapped, and the very person swept in a moment later. Standing side-by-side, he and Bellatrix reminded James rather strongly of Sirius' parents.
"We can be off now," Rodolphus said, looking over the others gathered nearby in the meantime. A moment later, he asked, "Is there any trouble?"
"Not any to waste our time with," Bellatrix answered, and made to turn around. Before she did, she threw a final sneer at Aberforth, and she and Rodolphus slammed the inn door behind them.
"Thank you, Aberforth," Madam Rosmerta spoke up unexpectedly from behind the counter. "I thought they'd never leave! I don't like to refuse customers, but those two have got to be the nastiest pair I've ever laid eyes on. It's all I can do to keep a smile on while they're here."
"I'd kick them out of the Hog's Head if they ever thought it was good enough for their type," Aberforth grunted. "Thankfully, I've never seen them within a hundred meters of it."
You should chase them off next time, Sirius wrote to Madam Rosmerta, and Aberforth nodded at him.
"I'm glad to see you're not letting them push you around," he commented. "I've had my own share of unpleasant family members."
"If you don't mind me asking, why aren't you at the Hog's Head?" Remus interjected.
"An order of business," Aberforth grunted. Remus looked too timid to ask him anything else, and anyway, Aberforth began lumbering to the door. As he did so, he said to Rosmerta, "Give me an owl if the Lestranges come through town again. I'll chase them off with a herd of goats if I have to."
When he had left, James and his roommates turned to themselves again while Madam Rosmerta whisked away to take care of her other guests.
I'm glad that's over, Peter wrote with a sigh.
I would have thought that Bellatrix would be meeting with my grandfather today, Sirius commented. Instead, we had to bump into that sadistic, hateful, twisted, horrible, cold-blooded, spiteful, malicious, bitter . . .
When Sirius had run out of room on his chalkboard, Remus turned to face him. "Was that a leaf I saw in your mouth earlier?"
James and Peter nearly upset their butterbeers, and Sirius scrambled with his piece of chalk. After a few moments, he had scrawled out a hasty reply: It's nothing, just part of an experiment we're doing.
"What sort of experiment?" Remus prodded, his eyes narrowing, and James took over.
It helps with keeping quiet. See? he added, pointing at his clamped jaw. After what seemed like an hour of staring, Remus finally shook his head.
"Whatever you say," he relented, and James felt his shoulders relax. Meeting his eyes, Sirius sent James a look saying thank-Merlin-this-isn't-the-strangest-thing-we've-done-before.
To the bartender, however, Sirius wrote: Hey Rose, do you know what Aberforth was here for?
"He bought a few rounds today, so I reckon he wanted a change of pace," she answered. "I'll see him once every few months, but he usually keeps to the Hog's Head. With that said, he's been lurking around town more often than usual, but if you know him, you know it's a lost cause trying to figure him out. Glad to have him here just now, though. More mead, Talbott?"
Whisking away, she left the boys sitting in a row at the counter, where they quietly sipped their butterbeers until the bustle of the inn had died down a little. Unfortunately, with the departure of numerous customers, James and his roommates became even easier to pick out from the crowd, and they hurriedly took their leave after a few unsolicited giggles and waves from Hillary's table.
"Do you think they'll stop if I tell them how you accidentally hexed your mouth shut last year?" Remus asked James on the way out, and Peter, having just gulped his last mouthful of butterbeer, began hacking violently. Even after a few moments, his coughing fit did not stop, and Peter grasped at his throat as James and Sirius leapt forward and tried to save him. Despite his roommates' efforts, Peter quickly grew purple, and Remus grabbed his wand.
"Depuro!" he exclaimed, and Peter clapped his hand to his mouth to stop his Mandrake leaf from flying out as his throat cleared. Raising his hand in a thumbs-up, he gave his friends a watery smile, which Remus answered with knitted eyebrows.
"I hope you'll get your voices back soon and stop acting like sods," he commented before turning away. Sharing sheepish looks, the others trailed after him without a word, their vow of silence doing most of the work.