QLFC: Season 10, Round 3
Team: Kenmare Kestrels
Position: Captain
Prompt: Roommates
Word Count: 1362
Warnings: Bullying, Anti-Muggleborn bigotry, mild manipulation and blackmail, offscreen canon death
Notes: I think I had way too much fun writing this XD. Thank you to all my lovely Betas!
James "Jimmy" Harrison Kenton was born on the third of July, 1927 to Katherine and George Kenton. Two Muggles. That was the truth. The lie, however, was that Katherine Kenton, who had died when James was eight, was a half-blood witch. He had told that lie for the first time before he even knew what the lie was.
"None of you are Muggleborn, right?" Florentius Lestrange asked, looking around the dorm room.
Jimmy looked around at his new dormmates. All day he had been surrounded by things he didn't know. To begin with, he'd asked a seemingly endless number of questions. Most people seemed happy to answer them, but the way Florentius had asked his question almost made Jimmy afraid to ask.
"What's a Muggleborn?" Tom, one of the other boys that had just been sorted into Slytherin, asked.
Florentius scoffed, and several of the other boys sniggered. "Muggleborns are people whose parents were both Muggles. They're not really witches and wizards, at least not of any value. My parents say they shouldn't be allowed to come to Hogwarts at all!"
"My father was a wizard, I think," Tom said.
"Good," Florentius replied. "I know the rest of you are Pureblooded, except…" He turned to look at Jimmy. "I don't recognise your name, Kenton."
"My mum was a witch," Jimmy lied, his heart pounding so hard that he didn't even think about the lie.
It didn't take long for James to be glad that he had lied. The next morning he learned that one of the girls in their year, Margaret "Peggy" Christopherson had admitted to being Muggleborn when Anatolia Lestrange, Florentius' twin sister, had asked the same question. Almost everyone in Slytherin refused to talk to her after that. James still did even though his dormmates warned him not to. He and Margaret were friends all the way until their fourth year.
"You'll never guess what Tom just told me," Florentius said, standing between Jimmy and Peggy and the Black Lake, the sun making it hard to look up at him. "He told me that you two had a rather interesting conversation about your mother while you were partnered for Potions."
Jimmy's heart leapt to his throat. He had been feeling vulnerable; it was the anniversary of his mother's death and his father was fighting the Muggle war, so for the first time ever he admitted that he was Muggleborn. Tom had said he understood. That it was alright. That he really didn't mind that much. Clearly that had been a lie. Tom had told Florentius.
"Did you tell Peggy that you're a mudblood too? Or have you lied to your only friend?" Florentius asked.
"Leave us alone, Florentius," Peggy said. "Or I'll tell Anatolia what happened with Susan last month."
"Like she'd believe you over me!" Florentius scoffed.
Peggy shrugged. "She might not believe me, but she'd believe that letter you sent to Susan."
Jimmy had never seen fear in Florentius' eyes before, but it was there as he turned and walked away with one last crude remark about the two of them over his shoulder.
As soon as they were gone Peggy turned towards Jimmy. "I thought your mum was a witch," she said.
James didn't blame Margaret for being angry with him. For four years she had been bullied and belittled for being a Muggleborn, and here he was, sharing a dorm with some of the worst offenders, pretending to be what he wasn't. She had promised not to tell though, and that night when he returned to the dorm to find all but Tom asleep he had begged Tom to tell the others not to tell. Tom had agreed, as long as he was "useful". James didn't know what being "useful" meant, but he was afraid, so he agreed and none of his dormmates mentioned the truth about his mother again.
The next year Margaret was the first to be Petrified. It was the first of June when she was found in the third floor girls' bathroom, clutching the sink and staring wide-eyed into the mirror. Fifteen other Muggleborns were petrified and finally on the thirteenth of June Myrtle Elizabeth Warren, a Muggleborn Ravenclaw, was killed. James was never Petrified. A sickening feeling in his stomach told him that it was Tom, but instead a third year Gryffindor named Rubeus Hagrid was expelled.
Nothing much happened after that. Tom seemed to get smugger and colder, but none of the professors seemed to notice. He didn't leave James alone, though. He never let him forget that he held control over his secret.
"Jimmy, I was wondering if you might do me a favor?" Tom asked, the small smirk on his lips seeming to say as long as you're useful.
"What do you need?" Jimmy asked.
"I'm working on a potion. I'm afraid I can't tell you which potion it is, but I'm missing a rather rare ingredient. Professor Slughorn has some in his office, and I wonder if you might obtain some for me while he's at the staff meeting tonight."
Jimmy's heart was pounding. "Of course," he said. "What's the ingredient?"
Tom smirked again. "I need ten Venomous Tentacula leaves."
Ten… Jimmy gaped at Tom. "Ten of them? Aren't those worth ten Galleons each?"
"Don't get caught."
He hadn't gotten caught. But it was a strange feeling for a sixth year student who knew his father had barely been able to afford his books, even with his military pension, to be holding one hundred Galleons worth of potion ingredients in his hand. There had only been one left in the jar Professor Slughorn kept them in. He was bound to notice. And he did notice. Later that week Margaret got three weeks of detention for admitting to stealing them, and Tom had sent James a knowing smirk.
Their last night in the dorm had been very different from their first night.
"Life is going to be a whole lot different after tomorrow," Florentius said.
"It's almost paradise here," Edwin Avery said. "It would be if there weren't any Muggleborns."
"I was wondering about that," Tom said. "You've all been such loyal friends these past seven years. If I were to… begin a campaign to put Muggleborns in their place, permanently, can I count on your continued loyalty and support?"
There was silence in the room. Jimmy looked down at his hands. Clearly this question, this conversation even, was not for him.
"Of course," Florentius said. "You've shown yourself to be a powerful leader, and putting Muggleborns in their place is a cause the Lestrange family has been fighting for for generations. When you begin your campaign, I will be right beside you."
"So will I," Edwin said.
One by one, each of the others agreed, until silence once again filled the room.
Jimmy felt all eyes on him. He looked up as Florentius took a breath as if he was about to say something.
"What about you, Jimmy?" Tom asked. Everyone turned to look at him. "Can I count on your loyalty to my cause?"
Jimmy's heart seemed to stop as he made eye contact with Tom. As long as you're useful. The words were almost audible in his mind. "Of course," he said.
James didn't hear from Tom for years after that. It wasn't until 1963 that he saw Tom again. James was on his way to work when Tom stopped him. He looked sickly, but the smirk he wore was the same as that night in their dorm room at Hogwarts, but darker somehow.
"Do you remember our last night together at Hogwarts? The question I asked in the dorm?" Tom asked. As long as you're useful.
It felt like Jimmy's heart was in his throat, blocking his airway and making it impossible to breathe. His first thought was to lie, but something told him that Tom would know. "I remember," he found himself saying. He felt dirty, disgusting. It was good Peggy had ended their friendship, now he was betraying every Muggleborn ever born.
"I hear you work at the International Magical Office of Law," Tom said. "I believe you might be… useful."
