A/N:
Hello again everyone!
A fairly longish chapter today. It was originally two chapters but I'm cutting away some of the filler to get back into the action quicker.
As ever, I hope you enjoy.
Rose was one of the very few students to pass through the hallowed halls of the magical institution who actually enjoyed their History of Magic class. There was something actually interesting about all the revolts, uprisings, battles and even the tedium that intrigued her. Which was why, naturally, she was one of only twelve students who applied to take the class after finishing their Ordinary Wizarding Levels. It was Rose, Caradoc Dearborn, Emmeline, Edgar Bones, several Ravenclaws who took the class for no other reason than it made them sound more intelligent, Kentich, and - though Rose hated every second he decided to turn up, Snivellus Snape. The usual dozen (actually eight today due to clashing schedules - Care of Magical Creatures was currently scheduled outside in the sunny grounds) wandered into class, settling themselves in their usual isolated fashion. Rose was surprised but not entirely unprepared for Emmeline, Caradoc and Edgar dropping down into seats very close to Rose's own usual window-side seat. Edgar got out a pillow, conveniently stashed in his bag, and settled down for a well-deserved nap. Rose didn't blame him at all. Binns had been lecturing on the same chapter of their textbook for the past three months, never seeming to realise that he'd already covered most of the material in his long, monotonous lectures. Emmeline glanced at Edgar, nodded to herself and pillowed her head on her arms, content to get in a decent hour's sleep before getting down to the serious business of lunch. Caradoc shrugged at Rose's inquiring frown, raising a book in sheepish explanation. Judging by the cover, inadvisable as that might be, Caradoc was catching up on some ancient runes reading that he probably should have done during the holidays. It seemed that there was hope for him yet, if he was neglecting to maintain the swottish ideal upheld by so many of his fellow Ravenclaws.
Binns started droning on about what was actually the most interesting and catastrophic battle of the goblin revolts, his droning voice making it seem about as interesting as dried toe nail clippings. Rose had long since given up trying to follow the lesson at all, and had followed Caradoc's example for a nice change. It was perhaps a bit childish of her to still be reading The Hobbit, but she had very fond memories of her father reading it to them when she was very young, and the urge to read it again had struck her suddenly around midnight last night. It was so easy to lose herself in the fantasy world that had populated her innocent and unknowingly magical childhood. In the back of her mind something niggled, a pointed reminder that perhaps something was out of place, but Bilbo's adventures with Thorin Oakenshield and his company drowned it out until the niggle stopped niggling entirely. Besides, as a Marauder she got dozens of niggles like that a day; things they observed but never entirely processed, like a portrait figure in the wrong frame, or a House Elf on a different cleaning route than usual. Little things that never really meant anything but were noticed as being out of place just the same. It was just part and parcel of the Hogwarts experience. Nothing amiss really at all. Of course, she had been known to be wrong.
The first sign Rose had of what was amiss came from Caradoc. It wasn't something she was necessarily proud to admit, observant as she had long prided herself on being, but nonetheless it was true. Caradoc had been reading a thick volume on Ancient Runes, the sound of it closing registered briefly in Rose's peripheral awareness. "Rose" Caradoc whispered, a frown audible in the low register of his voice. Rose huffed, ignoring the disturbance as if Caradoc was little more than a fly buzzing irritatingly around her. "Rose" Caradoc whispered again, slightly louder and more insistent. Rose growled and shook him off again. "For Merlin's sake" Caradoc groaned, muttering something about stubbornness and mulish tendencies. If Rose had actually heard him, she imagined she might be quite miffed about it. "Rose!"
Rose snapped her head towards him, burning him with the fire in her violet gaze. "What?!"
Caradoc held up his hands in the universal way of meaning no harm, warm amusement glittering in his bright blue eyes. Whatever he might have said at that moment, teasing as it undoubtedly would have been, he never got the chance to say. Edgar, roused a little by the whisper-shouts of his fellow students, stirred at his desk. His eyes opened, still unfocused with sleep. "We may have to resort to cannibalism" he announced, promptly dropping his head back onto his pillow with a loud snore in punctuation.
"Strange boy" Rose remarked with a puzzled sort of frown.
"Speaking of strange" Caradoc began, moving away from the disturbing direction of Edgar's announcement. "Snape and Kentich never turned up for class."
Rose glanced behind her, noting the empty desks. "Your point?"
Caradoc was silent for a few moments, wondering how best to phrase what he had to say. "Er, is it possible that you Marauders might have inadvertently caused some kind of temporary inconvenience to Messrs Snape and Kentich, thus preventing them from being able to attend the lesson as had been scheduled and anticipated?"
"Which is just a long winded way of asking if we pranked them, right?" Rose grinned, ignoring Caradoc's endearing habit of sounding like he'd swallowed a dictionary every time he felt nervous.
"Pretty much" Caradoc allowed, relieved that he wasn't going to be the recipient of a Marauder revenge prank any time soon.
"No, we didn't" Rose smiled, inclining her head as a thought came to her. "At least, not as far as I am aware of. James and Sirius might have, but I think they're down in Care of Magical Creatures and I'm not sure they would have had time to pull off a suitable prank before having to get to their lesson."
"So where are Snape and Kentich then?" Caradoc asked, twisting in his seat to frown at the evidence of their obvious absence.
"They could be on an Apollo rocket to the moon for all I care" Rose replied seriously, not wanting to let on that their absence concerned her.
Caradoc smirked, huffing a little laugh. "Fair enough." He raised his book again, glancing at her just briefly over the top. "Benjy mentioned a meeting you want to have with the lot of us soon. Just let me know when and I'll be there." He smiled in self depreciation. "Benjy says I have no life, and really he's not wrong."
"We'll let you know" Rose promised, pretending to go back to her book as well. That infuriatingly smug little niggle was back, and this time she decided to pay attention to it.
Under normal circumstances, when the Marauders had someone they needed to find within the castle or grounds, they would immediately consult their greatest magical achievement (aside from the whole unregistered animagi thing). The Marauders Map was their crowning achievement, and they'd only finished it at the beginning of the year (technically over the summer, but they'd needed to be at Hogwarts to complete the last of the tricky location spells). Rose would have loved to be able to do that right now, but it was beyond her. The Marauders Map was currently all the way in Gryffindor Tower, buried in James's trunk, and guarded with enough protection spells that it would take her about ten minutes just to unlock the darn thing. James had told her as much that morning, as the idiot had forgotten to undo the protection spells when they had arrived back at Hogwarts at the weekend. So, with that course of action unavailable to her (which she intended to remind James was the entire point of making the bloody thing in the first place), Rose had to hope that Snape and Kentich were, in fact, shoved in some broom closet somewhere, preferably with rabid ferrets in their underwear. As enjoyable as that thought was (probably even corporeal patronus or boggart worthy), Rose doubted that it was actually accurate. Her instincts told her that wherever they were, Snivellus and Kentich were up to something.
Now more than ever before, Rose wished that Professor Binns was actually capable of being interesting with a subject that she did find interesting. It would have been the perfect distraction from constantly wondering where the Snakes were and what they were up to. She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes, hoping to be distracted by the colourful splotches that appeared before her, but it wasn't the splotches that distracted her. A flicker of motion, hardly anything anyone who didn't play quidditch would have noticed, danced just in her vision, way down on the grounds below. Rose's heart leapt. Perhaps James and Sirius had come to relieve her of this maddening concern, or perhaps Hagrid was taking his new puppy (Kong) for a walk. Kong was a sweet little thing, a bit slobbery, but absolutely adorable. Despite the fierce name Hagrid had chosen for him, the puppy wouldn't hurt a fly, and in fact Remus had said that Kong seemed afraid of flies as well. Rose subtly adjusted her stance in her seat, moving as close to the window as she could wrangle. As a seeker, Rose's vision was excellent (if she did say so herself), which was useful in her current circumstances. She faked yawning, stretching so she could peer down to the grounds and the flicker of motion she could still detect. Cold fingers trailed up and down her spine, sinking deep into her stomach. If she could have slapped her head in frustration at her own stupidity without attracting the wrong kind of attention, Rose would have done so immediately. It was obvious. It was so incredibly obvious that Rose couldn't believe that she hadn't considered it earlier. That they hadn't considered it earlier.
In all their conversations on what might happen when they got back to Hogwarts, it had simply never occurred to them that the Slytherins might skive off their lessons to meet. There was something inherently Marauderish about such an act that had made the very thought unthinkable to them. But, here she was with irrefutable proof in front of her eyes. Snivelly, Reggie, Kentich, Mulciber, Avery and Aubrey were gathered together, and all up to their greasy necks in whatever was going on down there. What she wouldn't have given for a decent eavesdropping spell, or for Peter positioned somewhere unobtrusive within the unremarkable garden. As it was, she was trapped here in class - which she couldn't leave without attracting attention from Caradoc at best, and Caradoc, Emmeline and Edgar at worst. Her thumb nail tapped against her bottom lip, the only outward tell that she was thinking hard.
She glanced out of the nearest window and frowned at the suspicious cohort still conspiring together far too far away from her. Rose couldn't think of a single way to make it to the rockery in time. If she'd been in the Care of Magical Creatures class when she discovered the shiftiness, then there wouldn't have been a problem - just a quick jog and a disillusionment spell and Bob's your uncle. But... Rose physically skidded to a stop in the middle of the corridor. Godric, she was being so thick today. Missing everything, she really was. She wasn't in the Care of Magical Creatures class but James and Sirius were - and James had the cloak with him. They'd be able to sneak up on this shifty bastards without the Snakes ever being any the wiser for it. Rose giggled in absolute bemusement. There was only one thing for it. She pulled out her wand, sending a simple message patronus to James (Sirius would immediately understand the importance of it that way) saying nothing more than 'rockery'. It was hardly an unbreakable code, but it was the best she could do with time running out. Once her message was away, Rose heaved a resigned sigh. Now for the slightly tricky bit. Waiting for James and Sirius to tell them what, if anything, they had discovered.
After dinner, the Marauders got their extensive portrait network to pass on the meeting time and place to the rest of their 'Resistance' as James had dubbed them. Peter had thought it the best and safest way to inform them all, whilst still adding in that's little indefinable Marauder mischief that would confirm that it was them the message was coming from. Remus just said that they wanted to make the others have coronaries on their way there. Both were probably true, if only one was reflecting them in the best possible light. In a repeat of the first time the group all met, the Marauders arrived at the Attics first. James and Sirius took to pacing back and forth, muttering things under their breath that only the other one could hear. Peter tucked himself into his usual alcove, indulging in a light after dinner snack, and watching the pacing Marauders like a spectator at a quidditch game. Remus and Rose ignored their companions (they'd be paid more than enough attention when it came time to hear what exactly had happened in the Rockery before lunch), curled up on oversized beanbags and grinning at each other. For all that a war was going on around them, and for all that it often felt overwhelmingly like their world was crumbling around them (a feeling Rose liked to pretend didn't exist), there was still something in just being all together that pushed the darkness away, that made the light in the world shine just that little bit brighter. If Dumbledore was there, he'd say it was their love for one another, and real enjoyment of the company and friendship that explained it. Rose couldn't say for sure. Maybe he was right.
Marlene crossed her arms, midnight blue eyes glaring daggers at the figure of James as she continued to pace back and forth. "Okay, Potter" she snapped, past the testing of her patience. "We've been here for" she exaggerated checking her watch "fifteen bloody minutes already. So far you lot have said nothing but a half-hearted greeting to the lot of us." A pointed finger, snapped James's mouth shut. "Some of us, and I'm sure this might be news to you, actually had plans we cancelled to be here tonight at your super-secret meeting. Some of us" Marlene continued, a bitter kind of sarcasm in her voice "actually thought that this had to be urgent, given the way your portrait network scared the living daylights out of us on our way back to our common rooms after dinner. So please tell us what was so bloody important that we had to haul ourselves up here at eight o'clock on a Monday night?"
"If you'll hold your sodding horses and sit down for five minutes, then we'll be glad to" Sirius smirked in reply. Marlene tilted her head at him, but dropped into a seat, glaring at him in challenge. "Thank you." Sirius turned from a glaring blonde to a smirking redhead, Rose of course. "Rosebud, I'm going to start us off, then you can jump in when it's time."
"Sure" she allowed, the first tingle of anticipation beginning in her fingers.
Sirius pushed James down to sit on the old chaise that Rose usually claimed, beginning to pace the few feet in front of the group. "A few weeks ago, before the official start of the holidays and we went back to Cokeworth to assist with Rose and Lily's sister's wedding, we were staying at our flat in Diagon Alley." Grey eyes found Edgar and smirked wickedly. "Yes, Bones, we have a flat in Diagon Alley, get over it." James snorted, only Sirius could act like an arse at a time like this. "Anyway, there we were in Diagon Alley one afternoon, when who should we see but old Stoaty Travers-"
"Is he still on the loose?" Benjy frowned, humming a considerate note. "I thought he would've been thrown in Azkaban by now for sure."
"Still out and about, polluting the good air we all breathe" James confirmed, a little tickled at the mental image afforded him by Benjy.
"Exactly" Sirius clipped out, glaring at James for interrupting his flow. "Travers decided to go for a little jaunt down Knockturn Alley, and we - being the upstanding citizens we are - decided that following him would be a good idea-"
"You dragged my little sister down Knockturn Alley?!" Lily yelled, glaring at James as if trying to make him spontaneously combust where he sat.
"What are you glaring at me for?!" James squeaked, flailing a hand in the general direction of Sirius. "He was there too!"
"You're the leader!"
"Oi!" Rose resisted the temptation to smack their hotheaded heads together. "Belt up the pair of you!"
"Yes, Mum" Lily muttered, sticking her tongue out at Rose in a display of childishness she hadn't seen in a very long time. Rose made a face back at her, waving her hand at Sirius to tell him to get on with it again.
"Where was I?" Sirius asked the room at large, distracted by the typical bickering.
"Knockturn" Remus supplied helpfully, still ensconced in his beanbag.
"Right you are" Sirius agreed, tapping his hand to his chin. "So, we followed old Stoaty down Knockturn, where lots of shifty folks did shifty things, and we disillusioned ourselves so nobody would take offense at our appearance and try to, you know, duel us or anything-"
"You're not completely stupid then" Marlene muttered, her gaze still cold and challenging.
"Give him a chance to finish" Remus sighed, blithely ignoring the growl from his friend.
Sirius took a deep breath, corralling the last of his patience. "We followed Travers until he met up with some old school pals, and all went into the Cursed Dagger, where we stopped and could go no further as a group."
"The Dagger?" Marlene hissed. For a moment, Rose wasn't sure if she was going to hex Sirius or the next Slytherin she saw. "Sweet mother of Merlin. Why in Godric's name would he go in there?"
"What's the Cursed Dagger?" Mary asked, innocent of the workings of Knockturn Alley.
"A pureblood only pub" Frank informed her, wrapping his arms around Alice. "No good ever comes from going into that place."
"Just like my parents' house" Sirius muttered drolly.
"So what happened after the Dagger?" Alice asked, knowing there was more to the story than that.
"Those two prawns decided to stakeout the Dagger in case they could overhear something important" Remus gleefully announced, only too happy to throw them under the bus.
"Of bloody course they did" Caradoc groaned, muttering various aspersions on the sanity of the Marauders under his breath. He turned his bright blue eyes on them, expression close to resigned hopefulness. "Did you at least overhear something of interest?"
"Yes" Sirius intoned, the seriousness of his voice immediately halting all the fond teasing of them all.
"That sounds ominous" Dorcas murmured, dark brown eyes glimmering with worry.
Remus nodded cheerlessly. "That's because it is, Dorcas. Very ominous indeed."
James clapped Sirius on the shoulder, deciding to take over this briefing himself. "We surprised Voldemort with our resistance at Hogsmeade. It apparently opened his eyes to the fact that not everyone was simply going to lay down and either die or ignore what was going on as long as it didn't affect them too much." James carded his hand through his hair again, more for comfort in the familiarity than any desire to impress Lily. "In short, Voldemort believes that we Marauders are a valuable and dangerous resource for the light, and he wants his own army within Hogwarts - to fight the bigoted fight inside the castle as well as out."
"Sweet Merlin, tell me you're kidding" Marlene uttered, unable to comprehend the horror of such an implication.
"Believe me, McKinnon, I would love nothing more" James sighed, for a torturous moment looking as young and defeated as they all honestly should have been by the prospect ahead of them. Starting to fight a war, in a place where they felt safe, against people they had been to school with for the past six years. Dumbledore wouldn't let it escalate too badly, but there was only so aware he could ever be, insistent as he was on believing the best of all of them.
Lily leaned forward, an expression of empathy hidden within her emerald eyes. "There's more, isn't there?" The absence of a scathing 'Potter' added to the end of her question was the kindest thing Lily could offer him at the moment, James slowly nodding, hazel eyes fixed on Lily.
"There is" James confirmed, his posture straightening before their very eyes. He turned to Rose, a commander addressing a trusted aide. "Lady Astra?"
Rose stood from her comfy perch within her beanbag, carding her hair away from her face. "After James and Sirius came and told us all what you know now, we all decided to wait until returning to Hogwarts before resuming our surveillance of the Slytherins most likely to take up Voldemort's indirect call to arms."
"Which students are we talking about here, exactly?" Hestia wondered, speaking for the first time since entering the Attics.
"The usual suspects" Remus replied, endlessly patient as ever. "Higgs and Aubrey the younger are the ones who we heard mentioned as being the first approached, the bearers - if you will - of the offer of being of use."
"Experience has taught us that several other Slytherin students are almost certain to be approached, and when approached gleefully to accept" James continued, carefully avoiding looking at either Lily or Sirius. "I'm sure we can all think of someone who fits the profile of a disciple of Voldemort."
"Mulciber" Mary breathed, for the first time not turning into a pale, shaking shadow of herself at the name.
"Avery" Benjy added, several unpleasant run-in already within their history.
"Narcissa Black" Edgar suggested quietly, casting a cautious look at Sirius.
"Undoubtedly" the disgraced heir agreed bitterly. "She's all but betrothed to Lucius Malfoy, and that scumbag is buried in this up to the neck."
"Who else?" Remus prompted, very much like a professor just waiting for a brilliant student to find the answer.
"Nott in fifth year" Caradoc suggested, utterly unaware of the dangers of mentioning that particular name, associated as it was so closely with another. Sirius' jaw clenched but he nodded his assent.
Marlene, never exactly associated with tactfulness, bit the metaphorical bullet. "I'll say what were all thinking but too afraid to say" she announced, willing to face painful truths. Rose admired that in her, in many ways Marlene was the bravest of them. "There are two names which while in the past have been close to some of us, that would love nothing more than to be of service."
"Just spit it out, Marley" Lily asked, her tone resigned and plaintive.
Marlene smiled apologetically. "Severus Snape and Regulus Black."
"Snivelly and Reggie, got it in one" Sirius smirked bitterly, fist clenching and unclenching with the anger he always felt at the thought of his little brother fighting the war on what (they all fervently hoped was) the losing side.
"Anyway" Rose interrupted, hoping to cut Sirius' anger off before he and James made their inevitable trip to Hogsmeade to get good and plastered. "There's still more."
Alice snapped her head up, worry in cornflour blue eyes. "More?! What more could there possibly be? Has Voldemort been smuggled into the castle and is now hiding in one of the upstairs lavs?"
Sirius snorted, darkly amused. "Amusing as that thought is, Fortescue, sadly no. The murdering bastard is still on the loose, free to murder away anywhere the fancy takes him."
Marlene sat forward, bracing her hands on her knees. "Okay, let's hear it" she invited, her midnight gaze flickering from Rose to James as she tried to gauge who would be breaking the next lot of undoubtedly unpleasant news.
Rose stepped forward again, giving a glance across to James to let him know he'd need to jump in soon. "This morning, after Transfiguration, we all went on to our separate classes" she began, trying to ease them into possible unpleasantness she didn't even know herself. "Remus and Peter went to Arithmancy, James and Sirius to Care of Magical Creatures, and I to History of Magic." She smiled over to Caradoc, Emmeline and Edgar, seeing the confusion in their faces. "Being as History of Magic is incredibly dull, even on some occasions for me, it should come as no surprise that we decided to be pretty much anything other than listen to Boring Binns."
"Best naps of the school day thanks to him" Peter remembered fondly, a little put out that he'd had to lose the class to keep Arithmancy, which he was quite good at.
"Quite" Rose agreed, fingers worrying the fraying cuffs of her favourite white jumper. "Edgar and Emmeline favoured the fall asleep immediately approach, while Caradoc and I caught up on a little light reading." Caradoc snorted at the implication that his 1000 plus page Ancient Runes book had been anywhere close to light. "At some point during the lesson, Caradoc noticed what I had dismissed as inconsequential" she said, blushing lightly in embarrassment. "Snape and Kentich, who normally attend the lesson with us, were nowhere to be seen."
"Maybe they were just skiving?" Edgar suggested innocently, well aware that they would not have brought it up if it was something so simple. "I'm sure you're familiar with the notion, you lot certainly do it often enough."
"First of all, don't be so thick" Sirius growled, the tiniest hint of mischief soothing the possiblity of his retribution. "And secondly, piss off."
"Can't blame a bloke for being hopeful" Edgar shrugged, utterly unphased.
"We can and we will" James smirked, lightening up the tense and heavy atmosphere.
"Snape and Kentich?" Marlene prompted, eager to move things along.
Rose worried her cuffs again. "Meeting outside in the rockery not far from the History of Magic window."
"Alone?" Frank asked, all business.
"No" James replied, nodding gratefully at Rose as he took over the briefing again. "Aubrey, Avery, Mulciber and Regulus."
Hestia frowned suspiciously at them. "How can you know that? I can get Rose seeing it from the window, but if it was Rose watching she would have carried on talking. So, how do you know?"
"Message patronus" Rose replied, shrugging at the simplicity of it all.
Marlene nodded, accepting that as truth. Her gaze turned to James. "I assume that you and Black got there in time to at least hear something?"
"We couldn't get much, and what we did is pretty much gobbledygook" James sighed. "It was almost all in some sort of allusion and code."
"Potter" Lily snapped, tired of them beating about the bush. "If it wasn't suspicious, you wouldn't have summoned us here. So stop faffing about and just tell us already!"
"Mulciber seemed to be the ringleader" James began cautiously, weighing his words carefully. "We caught what seemed to be the end of their discussion. He was saying that they couldn't afford to simply take their word for it, that there was too much at stake for such imprudent methods. That they required a demonstration of loyalty. That now that they had been sounded out, more instructions might come if and when it was decided that they could be trusted."
"Reggie didn't look pleased about that" Sirius smirked, a touch too much teeth to be anything other than worrying.
"A demonstration of loyalty" Marlene repeated, the danger of it clear in her tone. "You're going to have to keep an eye on them, make sure that nothing bad happens in the castle."
"Or on the Hogsmeade trips" Emmeline supplied, silence settling in after her words.
The silence that followed Emmeline's ominous addition was thoughtful rather than oppressive. Each of them was quite content to remain where they were, lost in their own considerations. Rose was privately grateful for their continued presence. Every minute that they were all here together, was a moment that Sirius and James couldn't sneak off and do anything stupid while under the influence of Abe's home brew or a couple of bottles of Odgens. Remus subtly curled his fingers around her wrist, the glint in his pale green eyes saying his thoughts were straying into areas he didn't want nor need to delve into. Rose slipped her hand into his, allowing him to use her as a distraction and a way out of the negative space he was inhabiting. He smiled sadly at her, acknowledging what she was doing. Lily caught her eye, glancing at Remus as if asking her if Remus was okay. She nodded in reply, smiling as brightly as she could, given the circumstances. As she looked around the room, it occurred to her that she was watching her friends accept and come to terms with the fact that this was going to be their lives now. Marlene and the other Gryffindor girls had known it but it clearly had only finished sinking in with this irrevocable proof. Remus bumped his shoulder into hers companionably, offering her a piece of the Easter egg he had pulled from seemingly nowhere. Rose smiled fondly and accepted the proffered piece. No matter the situation, Remus could always be relied upon to have a seemingly endless supply of chocolate secreted about the place.
"You know" James mused, brow creased in a frown of confusion. "There is one small thing that doesn't have an explanation."
"What's that, Prongs?" Peter asked, tilting his head at him as if worried that it was going to be bad.
James huffed a mirthless laugh. "Kentich" he stated, as if that was an explanation in and of itself.
Marlene frowned, something that seemed to be the theme of the evening. "What of him?"
James tapped his fingers on his arm, mulling on what it was that disturbed him. "He doesn't seem to have an obvious motive. If he left school and got recruited, I could probably understand that, but now?" He shook his head. "It doesn't make sense. Mulciber is a sadistic creep, I get his involvement. Aubrey, Avery, ditto. Snape, well, our feelings on Snape are well known, as is his inclination towards this path. Narcissa has a sister who already is a suspected Death Eater, she's all but engaged to a man who we strongly suspect is also in Voldemort's circle." James began to pace as he warmed to his theme. "Regulus, well the Black family is well known for their pure blood mania and hatred of anyone and everyone they consider to be inferior - with possibly two or three exceptions." Sirius inclined his head, accepting the assessment for what it was. "But Kentich? He's a nobody. Passable talent, pure blood but nothing special. There's no apparent reason why he should be so singled out."
Frank sat forward, something in his face saying he knew something they didn't. "You really don't know?" Frank asked, staring at James and Sirius. "Mum said it was a big deal when it happened."
"When what happened?" James asked, sitting forward himself. Rose looked between the two, confused at what bit of wizarding world gossip James wasn't privy to. Better than a bunch of curtain-twitching old ladies, James usually was.
Credit to him, Frank didn't hold the knowledge over their heads like some people would have done. He met James's gaze evenly and growled. "Kentich senior was arrested but never convicted of assaulting three muggle borns at a quidditch match in 1963."
"Well it's good to know scumbaggery runs in the family" Sirius drawled, the careless tone masking the anger that they were all feeling. It was a case as old as time, a rich pure blood having his crimes against the muggle borns swept under the rug in some sort of systematic unstated approval of their bigotry.
"Curfew's coming up" Remus whispered, afraid to speak louder in case he broke whatever bubble was holding them all together.
"We'd best start getting back" Lily agreed, pushing herself to her feet. Before she left, taking everyone with her, she turned a stubborn gaze on James. "Promise us one thing before we go" she demanded, leaving no room for disagreement. "Whatever happens, we're in this together. Equals, not the Marauder backup, only brought in when you think we can handle it." In the face of Lily's stubbornness (one of the many facets of her personality which he simply was powerless to resist), James could do nothing more than nod his agreement. If war really was lurking behind the castle walls, they'd need everyone they could get.
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