Chapter Three- The Meeting.
James had woken up at six to send another owl to Sirius. At seven o'clock the owl had returned, with James' message still attached to his leg. James scowled. If things went on like this he'd just have to call round at the Blacks' himself to see Sirius. True, Mrs Black had threatened to turn him into a toad if he turned up at their house again, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Or perhaps he could persuade Peter to creep in under the front door, in rat form. He didn't think the Blacks had a cat.
James spent the rest of the morning waiting for it to be half past ten so he could legitimately set out for the meeting. Ten o' clock would be a good time to arrive, James thought. Early because, after all, it was his meeting – his and Lily's – and he had to be organized about it. But not too early. Casually early. That was the trick. James had made the mistake in the past of seeming too keen about Lily Evans. Well, from now on he was going to be a lot more laid back about the whole thing. After all Sirius could get any girl he wanted and he never seemed to make any effort. Girls liked guys to be lazy.
So far it seemed to be working. James smiled as he remembered Lily Evans smiling at him when he went to visit her. She had actually thanked him. And he hadn't even tried to ask her out once.
"James? Are you going out?" James' mother popped her head around the corner carrying a washing basket piled high with clothes.
"In a minute."
"I don't know how you manage it. You turn out more dirty robes in a week than I used to in an entire season!" she said holding up James' muddy Quidditch robes. Laura Potter had been a Seeker for the Appleby Arrows before James had been born, and was still occasionally called in for a reserve, a fact that James was extremely proud of.
"I have to keep in shape for the match against Slytherin. Imagine if Gryffindor lost just because I hadn't been practicing."
"It looks like you've been swimming in them, not just practicing. How an earth did you manage to get them this muddy? It's June!"
Actually the mud had been the product of an unfortunate incident involving a wayward snitch, a wild boar, and a bog, but James did not intend to tell his mother about that.
"We're nearly out of Floo powder," he said, lifting the lid of the Floo jar and inspecting it.
"Oh, well, pick up some more from town, will you?" James' mother called from the washroom. "My purse is on the table." James picked out a couple of galleons from the purse and put them in his pocket. "And get some more Magical Mess Remover too."
"What did your last House Elf die of?" James called back.
"Overindulgence and a life of excessive leisure," his mother replied. "I just want to make sure you don't go the same way."
James snorted.
"Are you meeting Sirius?" she said, coming back into the room, her voice deliberately casual. His mother never talked much about the Black family in front of James, but from the scraps of conversation James had overheard he knew his parents worried about Sirius almost as much as he did.
"I don't know," said James sighed. "I've tried to owl him, but all my messages get sent straight back unopened."
His mother frowned. "I hope he's all right."
"I'll ask Peter and Remus if they've heard anything about him."
"Yes, do. And if you do see him make sure to invite him around. He's welcome at any time, make sure he knows that James."
"Sure." James smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry about it, Mum."
"Well. Have a good time." James' mother ruffled his hair. "You'll be back for dinner?"
"'Course," said James, ducking his head to evade a kiss. He took off his glasses, putting them in his trouser pocket, and emptied the Floo pot into the fire.
"Diagon Alley!" James called out, stepping into the flames. Immediately the green fire blazed up around him, a muted warmth licking at his ears, then he began to spin and his mother's face was whipped out of sight. Suddenly he was jerked to a halt and, stumbling out of the fire place, tripped over someone's leg.
"Ouch!" he said as his face met the floorboards.
"James?" A hand shot out, pulling James to his feet and helping him into a chair. James looked closely at the blurred face in front of him. It was Remus Lupin.
"Moony! You tripped me up." James said reproachfully.
"Sorry."
James dug in his pockets for his glasses and put them on. The room swam into focus. Remus was sitting on a chair in front of the fire, a book in one hand. Behind him a group of warlocks sat immersed in what appeared to be a serious discussion over their mead, and a family group sat behind them looking at menus.
"Busy for a Saturday morning, isn't it?" James said, looking suspiciously at the people surrounding them.
"Mmm," said Remus "I guess it's getting close to lunch time."
James frowned. He hadn't thought of it before but now it occurred to him it would not do well to be overheard. His dad could get in serious trouble if the Ministry knew what he'd told James.
"So, how are you?" Remus asked looking at him closely. "Have you heard from Sirius?"
James shook his head.
"Not a thing. You?"
"No. But then they've never let Sirius see me have they?" As a half blood, Remus had been the very first member of the Marauders to be banned from the Black residence.
"Well, I don't think they're too keen on me either. Not any more. So, how's ... everything else?" Full moon was only three days away.
"Well, I had an owl from Peter yesterday; he said he'd be here."
"I meant more in terms of the furry little problem."
"Oh, that. Not bad," Remus said, glancing away. "My mum keeps trying to feed me up. I keep telling her I don't like to eat much beforehand, but she thinks I need my strength building up."
James snorted. As he knew from personal experience, if there was one thing the Wolf didn't need it was more strength.
"You should tell her you'll make up for it afterwards. You always eat like a pig when the full moon's over."
Remus smiled. "Well, it's an exhausting experience. What's your excuse?"
James was about to retort when the door opened and Peter came in, blinking at the sudden dimness of the pub.
"James, Remus!" He hurried over, a grin breaking across his face. "Boy am I glad to see you. I thought my mum would never let me go."
"You should've told her you were meeting Remus." James advised. "Parents always love it when you go to meet Remus."
Remus shook his head.
"It's true. Furry little problem aside -"
"Will you stop calling it that?"
"Remus is what is considered the model of responsibility. His Prefectness is here, let us bow down and all that."
Peter laughed and Remus tried to scowl.
"So, what's the meeting about, Prongs?" Peter asked interestedly.
James glanced significantly around the pub. "I'll tell you later. When the others get here. Really, we need somewhere more private."
"You want somewhere private?" A voice said in James' ear making him jump.
"Sirius!" said Peter in surprise. "You weren't here a minute ago."
"I crept in through the Muggle entrance." Sirius said smugly. "They don't call me Padfoot for nothing, you know."
"Did you get my messages then?" James asked, in surprise.
Sirius scowled. "No. I met Evans in the Tech Screptam, she told me." Sirius plunked himself down in a chair. "Is anyone going to buy me a drink?"
"Buy your own," said Remus, smiling.
"What's in the bag?" Peter asked, and James noticed the crumpled paper bag in Sirius' hand for the first time. Sirius grinned.
"This, my friends," he said, "is pick 'n' mix."
"Is what?"
"Muggle sweets," Sirius clarified, and held out the bag to them. "Try one."
James looked dubiously at the multi-coloured mess in the bag. James liked Muggles, but he wasn't sure he wanted to sample their cooking. However when Remus took one he decided it must be safe, and he picked out a sweet. It was green and had the consistency of rubber.
"Wine gum," said Sirius, who appeared to have suddenly become the world expert on Muggle confectionery. "Good choice. That's a chocolate mouse." he said to Peter. "They don't squeak or anything but they taste all right."
"How come you're buying Muggle sweets?" Peter asked, nibbling at his nervously.
"Oh, I was just looking around the shops and I found them. You wouldn't believe half the stuff these Muggles sell. I found this place where they were selling these little tanks with trunks on them like an elephant. The assistant said they were for cleaning the floor with!"
"What?" said James.
"Weird," said Peter fervently.
"Yeah, I know. I thought even Muggles had brooms."
"So … how come you're visiting Muggle shops, then? Do your parents know you're here?" James said carefully. You never knew how Sirius was going to react to a mention of his family.
"Simple. My mother thinks I'm spending the morning swotting in the Tech Screptam like a good boy."
"And she really believes that?" Remus asked sceptically. Sirius grinned.
"No. She believes I'm courting Macmillan."
James almost choked on his sweet. "You? Courting Bobbie?"
"Uh-huh. Her parents own the library, apparently, and she's been covering for me nicely."
"And your parents are OK about you, er, courting her?" Peter asked.
"Oh, yes. Nice little Pureblood girl, why wouldn't they be?" Sirius was beginning to look moody again.
"So ... didn't you say you could get us somewhere private?" James diverted him.
"Oh, yeah. Easy." Sirius smirked. "Watch this."
Sirius got up and strode confidently over to the bar.
"Ho, Tom!" Sirius spoke in a cold lazy tone and James was strongly reminded of the old Head Boy Lucius Malfoy. A short balding man with bad teeth seemed to pop up out of nowhere in front of Sirius.
"Why Master Black! What an honour."
"Indeed," Sirius said coolly. "My friends and I would like a private parlour. It is far too noisy out here.
"Of course."
Tom scuttled out from behind the bar and through a side door. Sirius nodded at the others to follow. They found themselves in a small, cosy looking room in which a number of plushy sofas were grouped around a mahogany table.
"Will this suit you, Master Black?"
"It will do," said Sirius, still in the same lofty drawl.
"Is there anything else you would like?" Tom asked deferentially.
Sirius exchanged a look with James, his eyes gleaming.
"Well, I rather fancy a nice bottle of Firewhiskey myself, how about you, my friends?"
"Oh, yes, er, topping," said James attempting to imitate Sirius' upper class intonation.
The barman's mouth quirked up at the corner. "I'm afraid I cannot break the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Drinking, not even for you, Mr Black."
"Ah, well," Sirius said cheerfully, suddenly dropping his superior manner. "A crate of butterbeer, then."
"A whole crate?" the barman said dubiously.
"We've got more friends coming later," Remus explained. "Could you show them in here, if anyone asks for us?"
"Of course." Tom bowed and went out of the door. James looked around the comfortable parlour.
"Not bad," he said appreciatively. "I didn't even know the Leaky Cauldron had private rooms."
"Comfortable chairs, too." Peter bounced a little on one of the arm chairs.
"One of the few perks of being a Black." Sirius threw himself down onto a sofa putting his feet on the armrest. "Snap your fingers and someone is sure to come running."
"Wish the same could be said about the Potters." James muttered.
"Nah. Everyone knows you lot are too nice to make your underlings properly miserable."
"Says who?" Remus muttered. James shoved him good naturedly and then plonked himself down beside him.
"Luxury," he commented.
"Evans mentioned you, James. When I met her in the library," Sirius said suddenly.
James sat up and then, belatedly, tried not to look too interested. "Yeah?"
"Yeah." Sirius smirked. "I might've known you'd be using your summer holidays to stalk her, Prongs."
James flushed. "Is that what she said?"
"Aww, look, he's blushing!"
"You look like a tomato, James," Peter guffawed.
"Well I - well, at least I haven't been having assignations with Macmillan in the library," said James, deciding the best form of defence was attack..
"Oh, so you admit it now, do you?" Sirius mocked. James glared at him.
"I went to tell her about the meeting stuff. That's all."
"Oh, so you couldn't have just owled her like you did me?" Remus joined in.
"Shut up, all of you." James gave up.
Sirius sniggered loudly, and James hurled a cushion at him. At that point the door opened and Tom entered followed by Lily Evans who looked (James couldn't help noticing) very pretty in a white blouse and Muggle jeans. James opened his mouth to say hello and got a mouthful of fabric as Sirius threw the cushion back in his face.
"Hello, Lily. We were just talking about you," Remus said innocently as James tried desperately to fight off Sirius and the aforesaid cushion.
"Mmph," James tried to object, but his mouth was full of fluff.
"Oh?" said Lily dubiously.
"Yeah," said Sirius, relinquishing the cushion and looking up. "Yeah, James was telling us -"
"Is that the butterbeer, Tom?" James said loudly. He had no idea what Sirius was about to say but he was sure it would be something humiliating.
"Yes, sir, will twenty-four bottles enough for you?" Tom said politely but James noticed a slight sarcastic turn to his voice.
"Yes, thank you, Tom" Sirius had reverted to his I Am a Black, Fear Me voice.
"Well, I fancy a drink." James said quickly. "Want one?" he asked Lily.
"All right." She was still looking at him oddly. James ruffled his hair nervously. "You, er, have a bit of fluff on the corner of your mouth."
James wiped his mouth, his face warm. Sirius sniggered.
"Are Bobbie and Raina here yet? They promised me they'd come." Lily was looking around.
"No, but it's still early." Remus looked at his watch. "Only five to."
"Who else is coming?" asked James. "I invited Frank."
"Well, I asked the Bobbin sisters and Bobbie will bring her brother. And Raina's bringing her boyfriend." Lily looked slightly disapproving as she said this.
"Oh dear." said a voice said from the doorway. Bobbie Macmillan had entered with her brother. "She isn't, is she?"
"Why? What's wrong with her boyfriend?" Sirius asked interestedly.
"Nothing." said Lily. "He's just so… so.."
"So hearty." said Bobbie with a pained expression.
Remus looked like he was going to laugh. "Oh dear."
Alice and Amy Bobbin were the next to arrive with Frank Longbottom. James remembered playing with the Bobbin sisters when he was younger (they were distantly related to him in some complicated manner James couldn't remember). He'd always liked playing with them as a child because of their soft voices and wide smiles and they, in turn, had made a pet of him. He grinned at them across the room and Alice winked back.
"Help yourselves to butterbeer," he announced grandly. "If you give the money to Peter here, he'll sort out the bill in the end."
"Why me?" Peter grumbled.
"You're good at it," James replied. "You know I can't add up to save my life, and Remus is even worse."
"Hey!"
"And I have to leave early." Sirius pointed out.
"Hello, everyone! Oh, butterbeer, excellent," a voice boomed.
A burly, curly-haired boy James vaguely recognized as being a reserve on the Hufflepuff team had entered and had immediately gone for the butterbeer crate. Behind him was Raina Blake. James had once heard Blake described by Hagrid, the Hogwarts groundskeeper, as "a sharp girl". James had thought at the time what a remarkably accurate description that was. Everything about Blake was sharp: sharp chin, sharp elbows … sharp tongue.
"My name's McLaggen, Rudolph McLaggen," the curly haired boy announced enthusiastically to the world at large. James saw Bobbie and Lily exchange a glance.
"Budge up." Blake had grabbed a Butterbeer and plonked herself down beside Peter. James noticed Peter shifting nervously to one side, eyeing Blake's elbows fearfully. "I'm not going to bite you, Pettigrew," she added with a pitying look.
Peter blushed as Sirius snorted.
"How're you?" asked Lily, leaning over to give her friend a hug.
"Not bad. Auntie's acting like a madwoman though. It's the Crouches' Midsummer Ball in two weeks, Merlin help us."
"Sounds, er, fun?"
Blake snorted.
"Oh yes, great fun. Who wouldn't want a crowd of sweaty ministry officials and their wives trampling all over the house and discussing their stupid decrees and restrictions? You know, you all have to come or I'll be bored to tears."
"Is that an invitation?" Sirius asked.
"Oh yes," said Raina, addressing the room at large. "You're all invited. Only, you'll have to bring a partner or the seating charm will malfunction."
"Gosh, thanks, Raina." Amy looked rather thrilled at the prospect of an invitation to the Crouch Ball. James was less enthusiastic. He'd been to Balls before, and in his experience they weren't much fun. Still, he thought, eyeing Lily out of the corner of his eye, it might be an opportunity … judging from her slight frown at Raina's words she didn't already have a partner in mind.
"Are we going to start then?" Blake's voice cut across his thoughts. "Aren't you going to tell us what we're all here for?"
James scowled. It was so typical of Blake to try and control everything.
"Er, yes," said Lily. "Ummm … Potter, perhaps you'd tell them."
James began to feel nervous as every eye in the room fixed on him. "I don't want to do it," he said.
"It was your idea."
"It wasn't!"
"It must have been," said Lily. "Well, it was at least half your idea."
"I tell you what." James had had a sudden flash of inspiration. "I'll make you a deal. Come with me to the Crouches' Ball and I'll tell them about the plan."
Lily gave him a scornful look and jumped to her feet. "Fine, I'll tell them," she said. "Um, well, the thing is ..." Lily took a deep breath, and then charged in. "The problem is that the Death Eaters are going around attacking Muggle-borns, and the Ministry is trying to keep it secret -"
"Attacks? What kind of attacks?" Frank asked, looking anxious.
"Why would the Ministry do that?"
"How do you know all this?"
"James' father works for the Ministry." Lily explained.
"He's Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," James chipped in. "Hardly anyone knows about it, it's top secret. They're afraid of panicking people. But even with the precautions the Ministry is taking, how can we be certain the Muggle-borns will be properly protected? How can they stay safe if they don't even know they're in danger? We think that something ought to be done about it."
"We should go to the press." Alice said, her cheeks flushed. "They've no right to hush something like this up. We ought to expose them."
"But dad - my dad - will get in trouble if we do." James said. "It wouldn't take them long to find out who'd done it. We need to warn people without drawing attention to ourselves."
"If we make a list of all the Muggle-borns we know we could owl them all." said Peter. "It could be anonymous. No one would know it was us who sent it."
"Owls are traceable," said James. "And the Ministry has stepped up security because of the attacks. Dad said they do random stop and searches of owls sometimes."
"Besides, people don't always take anonymous letters seriously. They might just think it was some idiot out to scare them. It'd be more convincing if we saw them face to face," Lily pointed out.
Clarence Macmillan frowned at her. "That'd take an awful lot of doing," he said. "How many Muggle-borns are there out there? And none of us can Apparate. We can't even do magic out of school. It'll take forever to warn them all."
"But we have to do something. We have to try." Lily's eyes were too bright. "We can't just leave them to get slaughtered."
"I know that," Macmillan said quickly. "It's just, it's a big job and we have to be practical. We're only teenagers. It's not really our responsibility, is it?"
"The people whose responsibility it is are refusing to tell them anything," James pointed out. "If they aren't going to help, we should."
Macmillan sighed. "Yes, but -"
"If you can think of a better way, then say so," Sirius cut across him. The boy opened his mouth, and then closed it again, shrugging.
"I've just thought," said Amy after a moment. "These Death Eaters. They're pretty dangerous aren't they? What if they find out what we're doing? You don't think they'd come after us, do you?"
There was a long silence.
"I don't think so," James said at last. "I mean, like Macmillan said, we're just kids. Why would they take any notice of what we do?"
"I suppose," said Amy doubtfully.
"But we'll need to make sure we're careful," Blake spoke up. "No one had better tell anyone anything about this. Not even your parents." She looked as though she rather relished the thought of such secrecy.
"It could be dangerous," said James slowly. "And it will probably take a long time. If anyone decides they don't want to do it, then we'll understand. But the rest of us are going ahead with it, so if you do decide you want out you can't tell anyone else about this."
"We'll do it," said Frank firmly.
"Yeah." Peter nodded.
"Of course we will," said Sirius scornfully. James looked closely at Macmillan, who shrugged. "All right."
"Then we're all agreed?" asked Lily looking around the room. Everyone nodded.
"Perhaps we should make a list," Remus said, "of all the Muggle-borns we know. We can divide up the names and go around separately to warn them."
"We ought to go in groups," said Macmillan. "If it's likely to be dangerous. It's best not to go walk around Muggle London alone anyhow." James saw him glance at his sister.
"Fine," James said. "If we all find a partner we can do this in twos. Sirius?"
"Sure." Sirius nodded. Peter went with Remus, Lily with Bobbie, and Blake with the boyfriend whose heartiness so offended her friends. Frank teamed up with Bobbie's brother and Amy and Alice stayed together. Remus inscribed all their names at the top of the list.
"Well, then," he said. "List of known Muggle-borns, and their addresses if you have them. I'll pass the list around, if you all fill in what you know."
"If you like we can look through the public records archives in the library. It has most names and addresses of households inhabited by witching folk recorded in it," Bobbie Macmillan offered. Her brother frowned at her.
"Is that legal?" asked Remus.
"It's in a security vault," said Macmillan reluctantly. "But the public have access to it on request."
"Good," said James. "Well, that makes things easier."
The list was passed to him and he jotted down all the names he could remember.
"I'd better get going, if we've finished," said Sirius. "Mother will be at the library at twelve and she'll be out for my blood if she finds I'm not there."
"Wait a minute," said Lily. "We haven't decided when we're going to meet again."
"Or where," said James. "It'll look suspicious if we're always hanging out in the Leaky Cauldron."
"How about the Tech Screptam?" Sirius suggested. "My mother thinks I'm going there anyway. And it sorts out what we'll tell our parents." He grinned. "Homework project."
Bobbie and Lance exchanged glances.
"Well, all right," said Lance unwillingly. "But you'll have to be quiet."
"We could meet in the Adalbert Waffling room," Bobbie suggested. "No one ever goes in there."
"So nine o'clock on Monday morning?" Lily suggested.
Remus bit his lip.
"I can't do Monday." James said loudly. "It's my mother's birthday."
"Oh, all right. Tuesday then."
Remus shot James a grateful look.
"Well, I'll be off again," Sirius said, clapping James on the shoulder. "See you Tuesday."
"'Bye."
"I should go too," said Lily. "My grandmother's staying and my mum will probably go mad if left alone with her too long."
The meeting was breaking off into clusters and heading towards the door. Lily hugged her friends and left, with a vague "see you" over her shoulder to the rest of them.
"She never answered my question," James mused aloud.
Remus gave him an oddly pitying look. "Well, she did give a speech in front of the whole room instead of agree to go out with you. Isn't that an answer?"
"No?" James said hopefully.
Remus shook his head.
"Well, anyway, I'd better go too," James continued. "My mum wants me to buy some stuff for her and I wanted to visit Zonkos."
"Me too," said Peter, who had come up behind them carrying a fistful of money "I'll come with you. Oh, and it's five sickles each for the butterbeer."
"OK," James pulled out his money bag and handed over the coins. "You coming, Moony?"
"No, I said I'd meet my parents here."
"All right. See you Tuesday then."
"Good luck for Sunday night," Peter added, encouragingly.
"Yeah." said James. "Wish we could be there with you."
Remus gave an unconvincing smile. "I know. I'll be fine. See you."
"Do you think it will be dangerous?" asked Peter as they stepped out, blinking, into the bright sunlight of the Leaky Cauldron's back yard. "This warning people thing?"
"Nah," James said. "Like I said, why anyone would care what a bunch of kids are up to? We're meeting in the library; we're hardly going to be conspicuous."
He had no idea how wrong he was.