Chapter 24 – A Conversation
"Sit!" Professor McGonagall shut the door behind her charges, sweeping past them to stand towering over her desk.
Sirius and James exchanged uneasy glances as they followed her instructions. Their Head of House had charged into the Great Hall, hauling them into her office without letting them finish their breakfast.
McGonagall's desk was in disarray, parchment and books on top of one another covering the entire surface. McGonagall took a moment to shuffle some paper around and close two thickly bound books with no discernable title. She looked as haggard as the state of her desk, and the added stress of telling them off would not put her in a better mood.
McGonagall surveyed them sternly, adjusting her glasses. "Prefects reported you out past curfew last night."
Sirius groaned inwardly. He supposed he had expected the snakes would snitch on them. He'd still been slightly hopeful since there was an unspoken rule between the Prefects and the student body; only those caught out of bounds after curfew were reported. Technically the Prefects had only seen them, but one could never trust the Slytherins with this type of thing. And he didn't believe complaining to McGonagall about this would win them any points. He did wonder the reason for all the fanfare. It was only breaking curfew, hardly an uncommon offense among students.
"And not only were you out of bounds, but when the Prefects tried to confront you, you ran." McGonagall cleared her throat. "What do you have to say for yourselves?"
So that was the crux of the matter. It wasn't being out of bounds, but their disrespect towards authority.
"Sounds like hearsay," James stated nonchalantly, leaning back on his chair.
"You are denying it?" Professor McGonagall asked her eyebrows rising ridiculously high.
"I didn't say that. I would never suggest that a prefect would lie." James's words were laden with sarcasm.
"We only wanted some fresh air-" Sirius cut in, feeling his mouth tugging into a smile. "We'd been studying diligently all day and we just wanted to stretch our limbs and go for a stroll around the castle."
James nodded solemnly. "That's right Professor. These OWLs stress out the best of us. It was either that or hex first years as a stress reliever –" McGonagall's nostrils flared, so James hastily adding. "Kidding, of course, Professor. We'd never do that."
"This was once again deliberate disobedience of a school rule. You'll both serve detention tomorrow night. Separately. And the next night as well for not listening to your Prefects."
"They aren't our Prefects," Sirius protested.
"The Slytherin Prefects have the same jurisdictions as any other Prefect. You will afford them the same respect."
"So none then," Sirius replied coolly.
James shot him a look as McGonagall physically tensed, looking as if it was taking all her strength not to throttle him. "A third night in detention then to rethink your views on that matter."
"That's not going to change my mind, Professor," Sirius challenged. As far as teachers go, Sirius liked his Head of House. He almost regretted his words, knowing he would accomplish nothing by pushing her further.
"I would be careful, Mr. Black. You are still on probation." Her stare was so severe Sirius didn't dare utter another sound.
"Professor, you can't expect us to trust the Slytherins after they cowardly attacked Sirius less than two weeks ago," James implored.
Professor McGonagall considered James's words for a moment. "Slytherin Prefects were not part of the attack. In fact the Slytherin Prefects have the least detention record out of all the other Houses. Unlike the two of you who have constantly been written up for hexing students." Professor McGonagall leaned back in her chair. "You may go. I'll be in contact about your detentions."
"Splendid, Professor," Sirius muttered as he strode out of the office. James followed him giving their Head of House a quick nod.
They walked silently side by side until they were further down the hall.
"Three bloody detentions." Sirius groaned leaning against the wall. He'd acted as if he didn't care in front of McGonagall, but he wasn't looking forward to the reduced freedom.
"Less than I expected with your probation," James admitted.
Sirius sighed. "I'm sure her compassion towards me won't last after the prank goes off in the Teacher's Lounge."
James frowned. "She'll be sure to suspect us now."
"We were always going to be suspects. And as long as there is no definite proof-"
"The Prefects saw us very close to the Teacher's Lounge though."
"So what do you suggest? We turn ourselves in?"
"What's the point in that? We'd still get punished without the fun of-" James stopped speaking, holding his hand up to let Sirius know to keep quiet. They could hear a sudden flurry of footsteps, and around the corner three small boys came hurling past them. James and Sirius both stepped back watching the racing boys with matching amusement.
"Hey! Stop!" James commanded.
The three boys stumbled to a halt. Their eyes wide, they stared up at the older boys with trepidation. Hufflepuffs, Sirius realized, after observing the color of the boys' ties.
"Why were you running?" queried James, his stance authoritative.
Sirius almost pointed out the first years that they hardly had to answer to them just to make things interesting, when one of the boys spoke up. "We were racing."
James nodded pensively. "I wouldn't continue in that direction if I were you." He jerked his head to the left exactly where he boys were headed.
"Why not?" squeaked another boy.
"McGonagall's office is that way. She'll tell you off if she sees you running."
The first years' fearful expressions turned into a mixture of surprise and admiration. "Thanks!" the first boy exclaimed.
Then they continued to look at James expectantly.
"Off you go," James encouraged, when he realized the Hufflepuffs were waiting for some instruction.
The boys nodded and were off racing back in the direction they came.
James noticed Sirius watching him. He looked slightly embarrassed. "What?"
As part of a popular clique, Sirius knew each of them had a significant influence on their peers and the rest of Hogwarts. There was some other innate quality about James that drew others in. It was in instances like these that Sirius took a notice of it.
"Nothing. I'm still hungry. Let's go back to breakfast."
The rest of the day went slowly. The anticipation of the prank on the Teacher's Lounge seemed to have slowed time. It was a relief to finally see Remus off to the prefect meeting.
While waiting for Remus's return, James, Sirius and Peter had settled in for an evening of homework in their dormitory. James and Sirius had claimed the two seats around the single table in the dorm, leaving Peter to settle on his bed.
Forty minutes later and Sirius was already ready for a break. Sirius leaned back in his chair balancing carefully on the back two legs. He stared into the starry night sky wishing he was outside. The moon was almost full, and soon enough they'd be out there having an adventure. He let the chair fall back into place with a soft thud.
"Prongs! Stop it!" Peter whined from his bed.
Sirius turned his head to see Peter throw a paper ball back at James. As with the rest (a pile of paper wads had formed on the floor), it missed its mark by a meter.
"Wormy, I don't know what you're talking about," James stated fighting a grin. "I've been innocently sitting here reading this fascinating chapter about peppermint oil."
"If that excites you Prongs, wait until you get to the chapter about Rosemary Essence. It's revolutionary," Sirius joined in.
Peter rolled his eyes. "I knew I should have gone to the library," he muttered. Peter returned to his essay though his eyes kept darting over to where James and Sirius were seated, clearly still expecting an attack. James was patient, waiting each time for Peter to be immersed in his work before tossing the next wad of paper. Sirius absentminded flipped through the Potion's book in front of him dreading to get through the required reading. Professor Slughorn maintained he randomly selected students for questions after a reading assignment, yet Sirius was more often than not one of the unlucky students to be called on. He supposed he could skive off the reading, though not knowing an answer had consequences. It meant staying after, being pestered by Slughorn, and completing the assignment under his watch. Admittedly, it was easier to just do the assignment.
Sirius managed to comprehend a full page when he felt James kick him under the table. As he looked up, James launched another paper ball at Peter.
"James!" Peter yelled, jumping to his feet angrily. "That's it! I'm leaving!"
"Sorry! Wormtail! I'm sorry! I swear I'll stop this time!" James called out, though the sincerity was lost as he struggled to hide the laughter between words.
Peter glared at his friends, but it did little to sober them. Peter lacked the same intimidating nature of his friends. His shorter, rounder stature and watery eyes gave him a less threatening presence. His mannerisms betrayed his low confidence.
Peter stomped across the room. He was almost at the door when it swung open revealing Remus. "Moony!" he squeaked in surprised.
Remus eyed his friend. "Everything all right?"
"This lot won't let me study," Peter stated pausing a moment to glare over his shoulder at James and Sirius. "Prongs has been chucking paper at me all evening!"
"Is that right?" Remus tried to stay solemn, but his amusement at the situation broke through. James and Sirius joined in with laughter.
Peter sighed shaking his head in defeat. "A lot of help you are."
"Enough about that," Sirius said dismissively. "How'd the meeting go?"
"Oh you know- the usual – bashing troublemakers, praising rule abiders-"
James, Sirius, and Peter all groaned. "Nothing unusual happened?" James pressed.
Remus made a show of thinking carefully before shrugging. "It was a bit windy in the room, now that I think about it – which is strange since we aren't outside-"
Remus was suddenly pelted by pillows.
"All right! All right!" Remus exclaimed, laughing, holding his arms up in surrender. "Stop and I'll tell you."
Sirius still holding a pillow in one of his hands waited impatiently.
"It was absolutely brilliant. I wish you all could have been there to see it. It was perfection."
James and Sirius whooped in excitement, and despite his annoyance even Peter cracked a smile.
"How did everyone react?" James questioned.
"Surprised, obviously. Amused, mostly. I think it broke the ice actually."
"So did anyone suspect us?" Peter asked. Sirius struggled to not roll his eyes. Lately Peter was becoming more of a worrywart than Remus.
"Actually-" Remus hesitated. "We don't have anything to worry about."
"They didn't suspect us at all?" James asked incredulously.
"Oh no they suspected us. I – er- made a deal with Professor McGonagall."
Sirius felt his draw drop. James and Peter were gaping at Remus as if he'd sprouted a second head.
"Professor McGonagall questioned me right after the meeting. I knew it was only a matter of time before you three would be hauled in as well-"
"Which we would have handled, as we discussed. We all knew we'd be suspects. I don't know why you panicked," Sirius interjected.
"I didn't panic, Padfoot. Look what happened this morning in front of McGonagall. You received three detentions, James two."
"If this was about detention, James and I were more than willing to take the full blame." Sirius was annoyed, letdown. Marauders didn't make deals with teachers.
"I don't care if I get detention," Remus explained exasperatedly. "I was trying to protect you. Sirius, you are on probation. And James, has to be careful not to miss Quidditch practice. He's lucky the two detentions he was assigned didn't fall on practice days as it is or he could be benched the next game."
"I don't think he'd actually bench me," James murmured. Though the fact James had never pushed Gallagher to see if he'd go through with his threat spoke volumes.
"Well I appreciate not being assigned detention," Peter relayed. He shrunk back as Sirius sent him a glare.
"Thanks, Wormtail," Remus replied softly, giving Sirius a pointed look.
"Before this goes further, what's this deal you negotiated?" James asked.
"While I was being questioned it occurred to me there might be one thing the Professors care more about then punishing the students behind the prank, and that was how we breached the Teacher's Lounge. It turned out I was right. In exchange for telling them about the secret entrance, we received immunity."
"Immunity for just telling them where the entrance is?" James repeated.
Remus nodded. "I physically showed Professor McGonagall and Professor Keenan where the entrance was located. I think they realized too late that we must be sneaking out quite often in order to stumble upon a secret entrance."
"Honestly I'm surprised they agreed," James said.
"Maybe they didn't want to deal with overseeing more detentions," Peter offered.
"That's true," remarked Remus. "I also think it helped that the prank was entertaining. No one was hurt. No one was humiliated."
"I think you made the right call," James affirmed, nudging Sirius unsubtly. "Right, Sirius?"
"Yes. Fine. It was quick thinking, I suppose," Sirius relented. "I – I don't like the idea of us making deals with the Professors."
Remus laughed. "They aren't the enemy."
Sirius tried to smile back, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. He couldn't help being so distrustful of adults. Hadn't his Uncle Alphard claimed the same thing only last year when Sirius had vented to him about his parents' unfair treatment. "From what I hear, you are being deliberately difficult. They do care for you, Sirius. Stop seeing them as the enemy."
Sirius tossed the pillow he'd still been holding back on the bed, and dropped back down in his seat. He stayed uncharacteristically quiet for the rest of the night.
Sirius exhaled irritably as he looked up and down the empty hallway. Tonight he was serving the last of the three detentions for being caught after curfew. Tonight's detention was with Professor Keenan. Sirius knew he hadn't left Gryffindor Tower that early (just barely brushing off Lily Evans who had called out to him from the top of the girls dormitory). Clearly he didn't need to be worried about getting here on time as Keenan was late.
"Didn't you hear me calling you before?"
Sirius jumped. "Evans? What are you doing here?"
Lily Evans, her red hair in one neat braid, sat beside Sirius on the cold stone floor and gave him an appraising look. "Same reason as you, Black. I was only calling after you, so we could walk to detention together."
"Sorry, I thought-" he began, "I don't usually have detention with others."
"You mean you aren't usually assigned detention with Potter. I've heard the stories."
Sirius grinned. It never failed to lift his heart when others spoke about their marauding. "So what did you do?"
She smoothed her skirt and leaned back against the stone wall. "Misuse of magic."
Sirius was immediately intrigued. Evans only occasionally received detention, so the source of the detention usually made for a good story. He knew James would want to know the details. "That could be anything. Can't you be more specific?"
"It's really not a very interesting story," she informed him. "I've never had detention with Professor Keenan before. How is he?"
Sirius shrugged. While he wasn't ready to start singing Keenan's praises, there was no reason to be untruthful. "He's fair."
"I hope he continues teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts next year," Lily stated. "We've had such bad luck with teachers. It would be great to go through OWLs and NEWTs with the same teaching style. Especially in such an important subject."
Sirius made a noncommittal sound. He supposed it would be better to keep Keenan around than to start over with a new person. There was always the possibility the new teacher would be worse. Any further conversation between the two was brought to a halt. As Keenan approached, Sirius and Lily stood.
"Sorry for the wait."
"It's quite all right, Professor," Lily answered.
"No, it's not. If I expect you to arrive on time, I should hold myself to the same standards. Go on in." Keenan held upon the door; Sirius stepped aside to allow Lily in first.
Their detention task that evening was fairly easy. There were boxes of books piled into the classroom that they needed to sort into three piles – good condition, poor condition, and a third pile for books in between. They also had to record the title, author, and subject of each book. They were allowed to speak to each other only about the task at hand, which wasn't really difficult as they didn't chat regularly.
The hour and a half went by quickly. Keenan praised their progress and then excused Lily, requesting Sirius stay behind. Sirius frowned immediately on guard for being singled out again. Lily glanced back at him before leaving.
Several minutes later and Sirius was none the wiser about why Professor Keenan had kept him back. The Professor was rambling on about nothing and Sirius was becoming suspicious. Then there was a soft knock on the door. Keenan immediately strode over to open the door revealing Regulus. In sharp contrast to Sirius's wrinkled, dusty robes and loosened Gryffindor tie; Regulus's school robes were spotless, wrinkle free, and his Slytherin tie perfectly knotted.
"Sirius, you are free to go. However, I hope you stay and listen to what Regulus wants to say." Keenan looked between the brothers and swept out of the door, only pausing briefly to pat Regulus on the shoulder. It was clear they had planned this, and Professor Keenan had only asked him to stay behind so he'd be forced to speak with his brother.
Feeling tricked and cornered, Sirius immediately went on the offensive. "Awfully friendly with a Muggleborn Professor, what will dear old Mum say?"
"I've noticed Professor Keenan has a soft spot for you, I am merely exploiting that fact for my own use," Regulus explained haughtily. "I believe Mother would be proud."
"What message does Mother want you to deliver?" Sirius spat.
"I'm not delivering a message on her behalf," Regulus said. "Or Father's behalf. I do have a mind of my own."
"Then start thinking for yourself."
"I am. Just because I made different choices than you, doesn't mean I haven't given it any thought!"
"You've given this a thought and you still believe in this pureblood nonsense?" This was in fact worse in Sirius's opinion. If his brother was blindly following the pureblood ideology that was one thing, but actually believing in it, that was much more worrying.
"I don't want to argue about that." Regulus cleared his throat. "I was there when Lestrange received your note."
Sirius shrugged. "I was rather hoping there would be an audience."
"And now Lestrange is out for you blood."
"As opposed to before when he had warm fuzzy feelings for me?"
"It wasn't personal before. You were just a blood traitor. Then you went ahead and trespassed-"
"I snuck in and left a note. Don't be so dramatic."
"Well the Slytherins are angry – Lestrange is livid. They feel violated, and it's only because of me you haven't felt his wrath."
"What?"
Regulus straightened up to his full height, and his voice full of importance revealed, "Don't worry. I've taken care of it. Lestrange has been instructed to stand down."
Sirius gaped at his brother. He was sure he had heard wrong.
Sensing Sirius didn't seem to grasp his announcement, Regulus immediately launched into an explanation. "Lestrange has become a bit of a loose cannon. He's very passionate about The Cause. He knows a lot of dark curses and he can get carried away. I've seen it happen first hand. So I wrote to father, and he took care of it. Lestrange will not dare disobey a direct order from his relatives."
"Why – why - would you write to father?"
"Why wouldn't I? He has the influence I needed. I think running away was one of the stupidest decisions you've ever made, but I don't want you dead."
"He doesn't care about me."
"You're wrong. Mother and Father – they don't want you dead either."
Sirius let out a humorless laugh. "Yes, because then they couldn't watch me suffer the rest of my life."
"Who's being dramatic now?" Regulus asked stepping closer. "They haven't touched your room since you left."
"What?"
"I know Father gave you an ultimatum. I know Mother burned you off the tapestry. Your room though, it hasn't been touched. And Kreacher told me he's to dust it every other week."
"Are you mad?"
"Sirius, they didn't want you to leave. The days after you left were horrible. It was like someone had died." There was a desperation in Regulus's words that was hard to ignore. "It's too late for you to be reinstated as heir, but they could give you back the gold and-"
"Stop," Sirius shouted. He stared at his brother in bafflement. Did Regulus truly not understand what had happened that early winter morning? "Mother cursed me. Father left me penniless."
"Yes, but you aren't listening. They had to do that to keep face. They could do so much worse. Father has barely used a knut of his political power."
"Even if any of that was true, the only way I'd ever step a foot in Grimmauld Place is if I was dragged there in chains after being tortured for hours." He'd never be allowed back in the house without some payment or humiliation – probably both.
"You don't mean that," Regulus protested.
"I don't mean it? I ran away in the middle of the night!"
"Yes, but you're a Gryffindor! You're rash!"
"You're wasting your breath."
"You will regret this," threatened Regulus.
"I certainly regret agreeing to speak with you," snapped Sirius. He needed to hold onto his anger for it was the only thing stopping the other emotions swirling around his mind to surface.
Regulus shook his head in defeat and disgust. "I don't know why I even bothered. There's no reasoning with blood-traitors."
Regulus stomped out of the classroom banging the door shut behind him. Sirius stood still for several moments before finally dropping into the closest seat, breathing in and out to regain his composure.
It was the sincerity of his brother's words that had gotten to him. Sirius knew Regulus was loyal to the family. His brother had always been a follower, never thinking to question. None of his brother's words had indicated this had changed. However, his brother had genuinely wanted Sirius to return home, and Regulus had risked the displeasure of the family in order to protect Sirius from Lestrange. And it was that fact that was making it so difficult to write his brother off as a lost cause.
"Black?" a female voice asked quietly.
Sirius jerked his head up. He didn't know how long he'd been sitting in solitude.
"I was waiting for you, so we could walk back to the common room together," she began. "I just saw your brother leave, and then you didn't come out. Are you ok?"
"I'm not heading back to the common room," Sirius said shortly. Hoping she'd understand that this was his polite way of asking her to 'bugger off'.
Lily took a seat on top of one of the desks. "My sister and I fight a lot."
Sirius was not friends with Lily Evans, but being in the same house and the same year meant he knew certain things about her. He knew about her Muggle parents and Muggle sister. He knew her sister did not like magic.
In the same respect Lily knew about his brother. And since his family drama often ended up the topic of gossip, she knew quite more about his relationship with his family than he ordinarily would have divulged to a housemate.
"I doubt it's about the same things."
Her face flitted into a smile. "No. Probably not. I always thought if she was a witch, we'd still be the best of friends. We'd be at Hogwarts together, but there are always other things to argue about. We could be sorted into rival Houses or compete for the best grades or fall in love with the same boy." She sighed. "Did you used to be close to your brother?"
Sirius was tempted to be rude, but her earnest look softened him, and he found himself responding. "We were closer, but my parents always had a favorite. So there was always competition between us."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No," Sirius responded. "You wouldn't understand anyway."
"Because I'm Muggleborn?" she retorted, her green eyes meeting his grey ones in a challenge.
"Because you have a family that cares more for your happiness than anything else."
She hesitated. Sirius had meant his statement to be shocking, if only it weren't also true. "Your brother walked right by me. He looked upset...like he cared."
Sirius shook his head. "He's aggravated. Not upset. We are going to be on different sides of the war very soon. We might as well not be brothers."
Lily bit her lip. "You can still change his mind," she replied softy.
"Like you'll change Snape's?" Sirius retorted. He was only guessing that she was no longer just referring to his brother.
"Yes, why not?" Lily's cheeks were flushed indignantly.
"Sometimes it's too late. Sometimes the choice has already been made."
"And sometimes not," she affirmed.
Sirius knew Snape would have long been ostracized in Slytherin if he hadn't demonstrated some bigotry towards Muggleborns and Muggles. Snape was obviously keeping this side from Lily. It would be wasted effort trying to get her understand. She'd think his accusations were grounded on his dislike of Snape.
So Sirius did something unexpected. "Accompany me to the common room?" he asked.
Lily titled her head. "I thought you weren't going in that direction."
"Changed my mind. Plus, I just thought of how jealous James will be when he finds out I've spent the evening with you."
"Oh honestly!" Lily exclaimed. She blushed slightly, and the amusement on her face, indicated to Sirius that's he'd successfully lightened the mood. It was certainly needed with their heavy topic of conversation.
Their trek back to Gryffindor Tower was amiable. While Sirius did not believe he'd ever seek her out again to speak about his brother, she did not have to say it out loud to know she'd be willing to listen.
Author's note: Thanks for reading! More character development than plot development in this chapter. I'm mostly happy with the chapter. Please review!