To Be Loyal
Chapter Eighteen
Disclaimer: HP is all J.K.'s…
"It is not enough to simply say that a Mudblood is lesser than you, Leroy. You must make them believe it. Attack their confidence and the parts of themselves in which they take pride. Words can be effective as spells when subjugating inferiors, and less messy. —Lucius Malfoy to Leroy Mulciber, spring 1971
A/N: Sooo… it's not a week, but twelve days isn't bad. It's a definite improvement. Hope you enjoy.
January 29, 1977
James, Sirius, and Lily were making their way through the crowds of students ambling up and down the Grand Staircase when they heard the anxious murmurs spreading from the ground floor. The three of them had chatted too long at lunch, and-Lily checked her watch again-they were going to be late to Defense Against the Dark Arts if they didn't hurry.
"What'd you think's going on?" Sirius asked, his head cocked curiously to the side as he studied a large group of students gathered around the curved wall of the Serpentine Corridor opposite the staircase. As other students passed by, they either joined the whisperers or cast a quick, furtive look at whatever had caught so much attention and moved on. Lily caught a glimpse of a poster depicting a white-masked figure and almost stopped breathing.
No, it couldn't be-
But she knew what she'd seen.
She ran down the stairs and strode forward, barely breaking stride to shoulder through the crowd until she was eye-to-eye with the printed headshot of a Death Eater, complete with skull-like mask and foreboding black hood. Stark white letters stood out in the black background of the poster:
MUGGLES AND MUDBLOODS
HAVE HAD THEIR WAY FOR TOO LONG
The handwritten note pinned next to it was worse; Lily scanned it quickly and curled her hands into fists, trying to beat back a surge of terror. She'd researched the pureblood supremacist ideology in great depth in her third year for a History of Magic essay, and she'd read a book and a few articles on the subject since. She could pick out the slanderous false claims and gross blood supremacy on the poster without even trying. She knew what this meant.
We should not have to accomodate the Muggles; if anything, they should bend to our will… Mudbloods and Muggle culture are poisonous stains on magical society and therefore should be cleansed…The Minister and the Wizengamot fail to take effective action, so we, the true Wizarding citizens of Britain, must rise up to take our rightful place… Pureblood wizards, do not tolerate the Mudbloods in our midst!
James and Sirius were at her side now, and James laid a hand on her shoulder. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes as she whirled to face them.
"Do you know what this means?"
"It's a load of the usual tosh," Sirius said darkly. "Some Slytherin bastard must have put it on the wall-"
"No!" Lily snapped back in a shrill voice that was almost a scream. "It's-it's just the beginning-"
"The beginning of a campaign of hatred," James finished, and her shoulders sagged in relief because someone understood. "I'm sorry, Lily," he said gently, and she grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly, but she couldn't bring herself to look up at his face. She'd read about this; she knew what was coming next.
"What're you talking about?" someone called from the crowd. Several students shifted awkwardly, but everyone seemed intent on hearing what they would say next.
James turned to face them, his expression solemn as he spoke to the whole group. "My dad fought in the Great War when he was young. Do you know how Grindelwald rose to power? He won some of his support with propaganda that convinced people that Muggles should be ruled by wizards 'for the greater good.' This is the same thing, except… worse."
Lily let go of James's hand and ripped the hateful piece of parchment from the wall before furiously tearing to shreds. Then she grabbed the edge of the first poster, intent on ripping it from the wall. The paper didn't even budge.
"Such a Muggle way to approach a problem," someone drawled from behind her. Lily turned in time to see Mulciber push his way through the crowd, flanked by Rosier and Avery. "Did you even think to use magic, Mudblood?" he sneered.
Lily stiffened. It didn't hurt-well, not much-to hear that name from him, but the fact that he was willing to use it so openly was scary.
"Shove off," James ordered, drawing his wand and putting himself between Lily and the Slytherins. Sirius stepped to James's right side, glowering. A Gryffindor girl that Lily didn't know took a bold step forward toward James and Sirius, but her friends held her back. Mulciber drew his wand, and suddenly wands were emerging from the robe pockets and sleeves of almost everyone in the crowd. A few students hurried away from the confrontation, but they were in the minority.
Lily gave Mulciber a fierce smile as she drew her wand and incinerated the poster of the Death Eater without leaving so much as a scorch mark on the wall. "I could outclass you in spellwork any day of the week, Mulciber," she said.
Mulciber ran his eyes up and down her figure, and Lily swallowed hard. "I don't think so, Mudblood, but I'm sure there's something else you're good for." Lily recoiled and automatically reached for her wand. In response, Mulciber drew his wand more swiftly than Lily would have expected.
James lunged forward and slammed his fist into Mulciber's nose, and the Slytherin howled in pain. "I don't know, I think the Muggle way can work pretty well sometimes," James snarled.
As always, Sirius was right behind him, and chaos ruled. Some of the students were trying to flee, but most had picked a side of the conflict and started firing hexes. Ice spread across the floor; a pair of conjured scorpions advanced on Sirius, who was dueling Rosier, and the portraits yelled protests as jinxes scorched the stones around them. Shouted incantations from students of all four Houses filled Lily's ears, and the altercation expanded to cover the whole corridor as the duelers put space between each other.
Lily dodged a curse and pushed past several students to get to James, who was caught in a crossfire between Mulciber and Avery. Spells ricocheted off stone as James dodged and deflected their attacks, sometimes forcing one of the Slytherins to evade a spell from the other. He twisted away from a Cutting Curse from Mulciber, met Avery's blast of purple flame with a Shield Charm, and cast a spell that stuck Avery's shoes to the floor. Sirius, who had slowed Rosier's scorpions down with a creative application of the Dancing Feet Spell, caught Avery literally flat-footed with a Stunner.
"Everte Statum," Mulciber incanted, and James was sent flying back through the air toward Lily. She barely had time to mutter "Arresto Momentum" before he slammed into her, almost knocking her over.
"Sorry, Lils," James muttered as he used her shoulder to steady himself.
"Let's get 'em," Lily replied succinctly, choosing not to think about the new nickname right then.
Ordinarily, Lily wouldn't have said she enjoyed dueling, but that duel with James-well. Their different styles seemed to compliment each other perfectly. When Lily cast a Water Jet Charm that slammed Mulciber against the railing of the staircase, James immediately followed with a transfiguration that caused hands to sprout from the stone and seize the huge Slytherin. Rosier cut in with an unfamiliar blue-hued curse, and James ducked just in time for Lily to jab her wand in the Slytherin's direction and block it. James stayed low and fired a Jelly-Legs Jinx that let Sirius to get the drop on Rosier.
Lily spotted Snape, Travers, and Olivia Atkinson, a seventh-year Hufflepuff, racing down the corridor to join the fight. She took a moment to visualize her goal before shouting, "Avis!"
Six hawks materialized and dive-bombed the group, forcing them to shelter beneath Shield Charms to avoid the predators' cruel talons. "Nice one!" James congratulated her, but they both knew that they'd only slowed down the reinforcements.
Conjured ropes wrapped James from head to toe from behind, and he winced as he tipped and began to fall over. Lily lunged forward and staggered slightly as she caught him, at the same time shouting, "Protego!"
James's attacker's Stunning Spell bounced off her shield and hit its caster, dropping him. Lily frowned at the sight of the Hufflepuff crest on the boy's robes before reminding herself that not all blood purity sympathizers were Slytherins. She easily severed the ropes binding James. who got his wand up just in time to block a Cutting Curse from Mulciber.
The huge Slytherin had freed himself from James's spell, and he made straight for James and Lily. He blocked any spell that came near him, and when Gryffindor girl Lily didn't know got in his way, Mulciber lunged forward and floored her with a punch to the jaw.
"Come on, Mudblood!" he roared at Lily, brandishing his wand. "Let's see how good your spellwork really is!"
Lily narrowed her eyes at him before raising her wand high. When she slashed down, a whip of Bluebell Flames lashed Mulciber across the face, making him stagger. She advanced, dancing easily away from her enemy's retaliatory Cutting Curses. A shadow of hatred and malevolent satisfaction crossed Mulciber's face, and he thrust his wand forward, a deadly curse undoubtedly on his lips-
Just then, a familiar, stern voice shouted, "That's enough! Wands down, all of you!" and Mulciber's wand soared out his hand. Lily turned in time to see Professor McGonagall catch it, wearing an unusually apprehensive expression.
"Quite," Professor Fenwick agreed from the other end of the corridor. Several students, including Remus and Alice, had followed him out the classroom door and were avidly watching the scene. Wands clattered to the floor as students followed Professor McGonagall's order.
"You as well, Avery," Professor McGonagall added severely.
Avery, who had tried to sneak his wand into his robe pocket, protested. "Potter started this, Professor. He broke Leroy's nose."
"Your name is Leroy?" James spoke up from behind Lily, sounding astonished. Professor Fenwick glared at him, and he shrugged. "Okay, yeah, I punched him, but-"
"He was-" Lily tried to interject, but Avery spoke over her, his tone full of deceptive indignation.
"We were just walking down the corridor, Professor-"
"I highly doubt that Mr. Potter broke Mr. Mulciber's nose without a reason," Professor McGonagall cut him off.
Avery scoffed. "And I'm sure you'll take his word for it, Professor. Your blatant favoritism-"
"I heard what Mr. Mulciber called Ms. Evans, " Professor McGonagall said. Her tone was filled with ice. "I'm quite certain that my alleged favoritism couldn't conjure something like that out of thin air, Mr. Avery. I will hear both sides of this altercation fairly. Ten points from Slytherin for an arrogant and false accusation."
Sirius and James clapped and cheered, and Professor McGonagall didn't even reprimand them.
After that, everyone fell into line quickly. Professor McGonagall and Fenwick rounded up all of the students and began putting the unconscious or jinxed duelers to rights while Lily and James waited patiently to be taken away for questioning and Sirius checked on the girl Mulciber had punched, who turned out to be a fifth-year named Ava Williams. James said that he remembered her from the speech he had given in the Common Room.
"This is getting familiar," Lily muttered to herself. Their group of friends had been involved in half a dozen minor duels over the past three weeks, which had more often than not resulted in interrogations from the teachers and punishments for the Slytherins. Serves them right for picking on Muggleborns and young Gryffindors. More often than not, other students had come to their aid, which Lily was both appreciative of and worried about. I don't like how this conflict is expanding to include more and more of the school.
"You all right? I'm glad you got to face him down," James said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I had your back in case you needed it, but I thought I'd let you handle it."
Lily turned around to face James and found that he was grinning at her, his eyes alight with mirth and adrenaline. Not caring about the large audience around them, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him hard.
James was taken aback for a moment, but then he responded enthusiastically and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her closer. When she'd seen that poster, she felt as if the floor had been yanked out beneath her feet, her sense of safety at Hogwarts finally all but destroyed. James had anchored her immediately, given her the support she'd needed, and now his lips were on hers and she didn't want to be anywhere else.
"Mr. Potter, Ms. Evans." There was an implied reprimand in the Gryffindor Head's voice, but it lacked any real force. "I must remind you of the rule against public displays of affection in the corridors."
They broke apart with James flushing red, although Lily didn't really feel embarrassed. Several other students quickly looked away when Lily glanced in their direction. She smiled at James and took his hand to try to quell the irresistible excitement she was feeling.
"Do you want to be officially together?" he whispered nervously, and she nodded immediately.
"Also, thanks for earlier," she said quietly. "It's nice to have someone stand up for me after a… comment like that." She shuddered at the memory of Mulciber's words.
James nodded firmly. "Anytime." Lily squeezed his hand tightly in gratitude.
Sirius had heard them, and he was grinning openly as he clapped James on the shoulder. "I'm happy for you, mate." He turned to Lily and put his hands on his hips. "Now, you better be good to him, or you'll deal with me."
"I'm sure I will," she laughed.
A green and silver firework whizzed past them and exploded overhead in a shower of sparks, and Lily cocked her head questioningly. The three of them turned to find Snape, Travers, and Atkinson lying incapacitated halfway down the corridor. The would-be Slytherin reinforcements had managed to defeat all of Lily's hawks, but they clearly hadn't gotten far afterward. Severus was hanging upside-down from a rope tied to his ankle and a torch's bracket, and an Inflating Charm had made Travers swell the size of a beach ball and float up to the ceiling. Atkinson was on the ground, moaning and clutching her ribs. "It was a phantom!" she shrieked when she saw them looking, clearly scared out of her wits.
James and Lily exchanged worried looks, but Sirius laughed heartily and waved at nothing. Lily wondered if he knew something they didn't.
"Homenum-" James started, but Sirius grabbed his arm before he could finish the wand motion for the Human-Presence-Revealing Spell.
"I know who did this," he said confidently as he clapped for the mysterious attacker. "Don't worry."
James shrugged and lowered his wand reluctantly. "Care to share, mate?"
Sirius grinned. "Nah."
"Life's always got something new to throw at us," Lily remarked wryly. James drew an arm around her, and she laid her head on his shoulder and smiled.
The dread that had overwhelmed her when she'd seen the image of the Death Eater was still present, but Lily wasn't about to let it consume her.
After Professor McGonagall finished interrogating the Gryffindors in her office, she begrudgingly took twenty points from her own House for their part in the altercation. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, who had had students on both sides of the fight, were also questioned by their Heads of Houses, and Fenwick and Slughorn took the Slytherins.
There was little reason to go to the last few minutes of Defense Against the Dark Arts, so James, Lily, and Sirius took their time walking back to the Common Room, chatting. The experience of simply walking alongside Lily, holding her hand, seemed to block any unrelated thought from entering James's mind.
That was, until she mentioned that her birthday was in two days.
"What?!" James cried, throwing his free hand in the air. "You couldn't have mentioned that sooner?"
An unusually shy smile passed over Lily's face, and Sirius chuckled. "Didn't cross my mind."
James said little else for the rest of the walk, taking the time to mentally take stock of his knowledge of Lily's likes and dislikes and figure out what he might be able to get her on short notice. Charms, Potions, certain eras of history, chess, mystery novels, he listed mentally. He knew that earrings would be a safe bet, but that Lily didn't like anything too fancy.
As they reached the portrait hole, James remembered an idea he'd had moments after the battle had ended. "Sorry-just remembered something I wanted to ask McGonagall about. Do you mind if I-"
"Can I come?" Lily asked, and James blinked in surprise.
"Go on, I'll see you later," Sirius said, shooting James a smile that made him think Sirius was up to something before entering the Common Room.
James and Lily had to descend seven flights of stairs to reach McGonagall's office, but a lively conversation about the charms and transfigurations they had used during the fight made the walk worth it. James had just finished explaining the spell that had made hands grow out of the stone railing and bind Mulciber when he realized that they'd walked right past their destination.
James knocked firmly on the door and entered when he heard McGonagall's crisp voice say, "Enter."
James and Lily filed in and stood before McGonagall's crowded yet orderly desk, which dominated the small office along with the large fireplace built into the back wall. Towering mahogany bookshelves lined the side walls, and James mused that they were entering a gauntlet of knowledge. The afternoon sunlight trickled gently into the candlelit office through the back windows and glistened on the snow-covered surface of the Quidditch Pitch.
"Yes, Mr. Potter, Ms. Evans?" McGonagall asked, looking up from what appeared to be an incident report that she was writing about the fight. James winced, noticing that it had already surpassed three feet of parchment.
James shuffled his feet hesitantly, then forcefully tamped down his nerves to make sure he didn't stammer. Professor McGonagall didn't appreciate it when people failed to speak clearly.
"Today's confrontation made me realize something, Professor."
"Oh?"
"Things are only going to escalate," he said firmly. Lily stiffened next to him, and he reached out and squeezed her hand. "I need your advice. Today's fight revealed that other students will step in on our side, but not all of them have practiced dueling as much as the Marauders and I, and they're disorganized." James began to pace back and forth in front of the desk. "We need a unified front, a way to coordinate and direct our efforts to where they're needed most."
"You need an organization," McGonagall said, nodding.
"Yes!" The half-formed idea solidified in James's mind, and he stopped in his tracks "We can start a Defense organization, but it'll be more than that-we'll organize groups to protect likely targets like Muggleborns, just like we did for Sirius, we'll practice new spells and approaches to dueling, we'll encourage everyone to take down propaganda before it gets significant attention, and-"
"The staff will be able to help on that front," McGonagall interjected crisply. "I will be advising Professor Dumbledore to institute a specific rule against written messages of hate speech and Death Eater propaganda in Hogwarts-the latter, of course, is illegal in any case-and I'm sure he will agree."
"Brilliant," James said absently. He was already running through likely candidates to fill different leadership roles within the organization. "Do you think he'd let us call it Dumbledore's Army?"
"That has the potential to garner unwelcome attention from the Ministry, should they hear of it," McGonagall said severely. "Minister Minchum is a tad paranoid when it comes to Professor Dumbledore. I support this plan, Potter, but you must be careful to keep it under the radar, as the Muggles say. Raise a ruckus, and you will invite unwelcome scrutiny."
"Yeah, my dad's mentioned that. Makes sense," James murmured. He tapped a fist against his chin thoughtfully. "How about the Defense Association?" McGonagall nodded in agreement.
"What about a faculty advisor to stay in contact with the staff?" Lily asked.
"I would suggest Professor Fenwick," was the Deputy Headmistress's answer. "You could coordinate your lessons with the Defense curriculum, and he would provide you with a direct line into the Order."
"What? What Order?" Lily asked.
James traded glances with McGonagall, who nodded slightly. "The Order of the Phoenix is a secret organization founded in 1970 by Professor Dumbledore. Its purpose is to resist Voldemort and his Death Eaters."
To her credit, McGonagall's face remained taciturn despite James's use of the feared name.
Lily took it in stride. "Right. Well, I'm sure you can fill me in later. Have you thought about where this group can meet?"
"Maybe an empty classroom…" James mused, then shook his head. "Too small. I'll have to think on it." He took a step toward the door. "Thanks, Professor. I really appreciate it. I'll work on getting this thing off the ground." He and Lily made to leave.
"Potter, Evans, hold on a moment." Professor McGonagall beckoned them back inside. She gave them a serious look over the top of her spectacles before beginning. "What I say next goes no further than this office, understood?" James and Lily nodded, and she continued. "I admire your initiative, Potter, and you two are among the few students in this school that I trust completely. It is because of this that I want to reassure you that the professors of Hogwarts stand firmly, if unofficially, behind your efforts to push back against the dark shadow of bigotry and oppression that Lord Voldemort has cast over this school." McGonagall's hard green eyes locked onto James's hazel, and he stood up straighter and met her gaze solidly. "It is our unfortunate reality that my generation must call upon yours to fight this battle, but I believe that you are up to the challenge."
"Thank you, Professor," Lily said quietly. Her bright green eyes were alight with the fierce determination that James admired so much.
James brought his right hand up in a casual salute that belied the message he was trying to convey. McGonagall's serious nod told him that she understood, and he turned again to leave, gesturing for Lily to go first.
"Oh, and Potter?" Professor McGonagall called when he was halfway out the door. He gave her a quizzical look over his shoulder.
"I'm very happy for the both of you," she said, and a full-fledged grin spread across James's face.
Sirius twisted the piece of parchment in his hands. He, Remus, and Peter were sitting on the floor around the fireplace, waiting for James and Lily to return so that they could begin Sirius's plan. After Sirius had relayed the events of the fight to the occupants of the Common Room, Remus had begun helping Peter with his Potions essay while Sirius stared pensively into the flames.
Sirius would have sacrificed half of his meager savings to learn how the note had been placed in his robe pocket without his knowledge. He turned it back over to read the message again.
Sirius,
I need a favor. Just want to pick your brain for something important. If you're willing, go to the place we met last time at 7:00 p.m. next Saturday night.
If you'll come, tear the note up before burning it. If not, burn it whole. I'll know which you did.
For what it's worth, this isn't a trap.
-C
Can I trust her? Sirius wondered. Everything he knew about Cynthia Nott seemed to point to sincerity. He didn't think she'd ever been friends with any of his main Slytherin enemies, and they'd only ever dueled during his vengeful streak against her House in fifth year. Also, something about her had put him at ease-she'd held him upside down with a spell with the intention of interrogating him, and he'd given her the answers she was looking for without even thinking much about it. Their conversation had dipped from an odd sort of banter into an emotional confession and back again, and Sirius had been left with vertigo.
It made him nervous. He felt unbalanced, as if he was struggling to keep his feet on uneven ground.
She could be faking all of it. You can't trust a Slytherin, part of his mind whispered. You never know what lies they might be telling the world, or who they might take from you when your back is turned-
Of course I don't trust them, he thought fiercely, crumpling the paper into a ball in his fist. Lily and the others had talked about this topic and length, and he knew that they thought Voldemort was leading pureblood sympathizers down the wrong path. He also knew that they were wrong. The self-styled Dark Lord was taking advantage of the rotten parts of Wizarding society, not creating them.
Slytherins and Blacks and Notts don't have to be evil, he told himself, but so many of them are. Bullying innocent first-years and choking Snape just for being a bastard is still wrong, but we need to strike back hard against anyone who might stand with Voldemort. The others haven't seen the kind of damage they can do.
Sirius extended an arm over the flames, the parchment tightly clasped in his fingers. He remembered her electric blue eyes smiling at him. You need to experience the joy of a good movie, Cynthia had said. That decided it for Sirius.
He shredded the note and tossed the pieces in the fire. No pureblood bigot would resort to learning about Muggle culture to trick me, he thought with certainty, although the unbalanced feeling hadn't gone away. I should do this. She could be an important ally in the future.
And a friend. The thought sprang up unbidden. One who might be able to… understand what James can't.
"What was that all about?" Remus asked, jolting Sirius out of his contemplation. He glanced over at his friend and frowned.
"The parchment, the furrowed brow, the odd series of expressions, et cetera," Remus said, a hint of fond exasperation entering his tone. "What's so important?"
Peter, who had been focusing intently on his essay, glanced up quizzically. "What?"
Sirius was saved from answering by the portrait hole swinging open and James and Lily climbing through. "Congratulations!" he shouted as he flicked his wand. A tiny red and gold firework shot out of the tip and exploded, and every Gryffindor in the Common Room cheered and applauded. "I knew you'd win her over one day, Prongs!"
Taking Sirius's surprise in stride, James bowed deeply to the crowd. "I'd like to thank my incorrigible best mate, Sirius Black, for always believing in me, as well as Remus Lupin. I really couldn't have done it wi-"
Lily rolled her eyes and gave James a quick peck on the lips, shutting him up, before wrapping an arm around his waist and tugging him over toward the hearth. Sirius beamed as Lily glared at him, an expression that dissolved when he ushered her and James onto a small, snug couch. James put an arm around his new girlfriend, and a lively discussion about the fight in the Serpentine Corridor quickly sprung up, with Gryffindors around the room avidly listening in. Sirius looked around the room at the cheering faces, momentarily free of the specter of the war, and grinned.
He lived for these moments.
