Chapter 2- Prejudice
Sirius knew he was getting a detention today. As soon as he walked in the door of Professor Umbridge’s classroom for his Defense Against the Dark Arts class he knew he was in for it. James likely would too, and possibly even Peter depending on how bad it got.
Unlike the rest of them, Moony knew how to sit down and shut up, no matter how much he hated what that old toad was saying. Today would be much more difficult, that much was clear from the ‘Werewolves’ scrawled in Umbridge’s obnoxious cursive handwriting on the chalkboard at the front of the room.
Even I know that wasn’t the assigned reading from last class and I didn’t even bother reading it! What’s next? Second year charms spells? Ancient Runes for seventh years?
Umbridge appeared to be straying completely from the established course material, instead taking the liberty to impose her own views on the students in her classroom, how lovely.
James shot Sirius a look as they went to take their seats next to Peter and Remus respectively. His eyes seemed to convey the exact thought Sirius just had, we’re not gonna let this one slide. Sirius had already begun thinking of small prank ideas.
As they sat, a hand reached out to touch Sirius’s own. Moony fixed him with a knowing glance, his eyebrows knit together. Stupid boyfriends, always reading his mind, always distracting him from perfectly good pranks with beautiful hair and shiny eyes.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Remus muttered under his breath, averting his eyes when Sirius brought out the big guns: the puppy dog eyes.
“Ohhhh come on Moonyyyy!” Sirius begged, hanging on to Remus’s sleeve, tugging it this and that way as he swayed in his seat, “You never let me do something stupid anymoreeee. Just one measly prank, the tiniest! I swear it! I’m sure she’s about to deserve it even more-”
"You're already on her bad side because of what happened in McGonagall’s class last week. Whatever she says… just-”
Sirius laced their fingers together underneath the table. Umbridge hated public displays of affection, not to mention she was a homophobic bigot on top of all the other awful things about her. The wild scuffling and roughhousing was common behavior for the marauders, especially from Sirius, but genuine, quiet affection, especially from Sirius, would likely raise a few eyebrows.
He smirked at his boyfriend, “I can’t make any promises today, Moony. We’ll see what she says, but I’ve got a feeling we’re gonna lose some house points here today. If she says a thing out of line…” Sirius emphasized his point by throwing a sucker-punch at the air in front of him, complete with sound effects performed by himself.
“Hem hem.”
All the murmurs of the students died down, their eyes turning to Professor Umbridge, who was standing beside the chalkboard, smiling sweetly as if she wasn’t about to spew the most prejudiced bullshit ever for the next hour straight.
“Good morning children, today’s lesson is one of my own creation. Now, you previously covered the topic of werewolves in your third year at Hogwarts correct?”
A few murmurs of agreement came from the crowd of students, unsure of where she was going with this lecture.
“Yes, very good, well while you may have already covered the basics of werewolves and their attributes, today we will expand upon that knowledge. Today you will be learning how to defend yourselves against these monstrous creatures and their vicious attacks.”
Sirius felt Remus tense beside him, oh that old bat was so in for it.
“Now,” Umbridge began, “If you were out in the wilderness and you come across a werewolf, what should be the first thing you do before it notices your presence?”
James’s hand shot in the air, “Mr. Potter?”
“Run away of course! Everyone knows how advanced a werewolf’s sense of smell is, so if it hadn’t noticed me by then it’s best to leave it-”
“No.” Umbridge cut him off sternly “That is why you are here to learn Mr. Potter. In this scenario, if the werewolf had yet to notice the presence of a witch or wizard, it would be the perfect time to take advantage of the monster’s lowered defenses.”
“Hold on just a minute-” Sirius piped up, “That seems like a really aggressive move to make against a creature with its guard down. Isn’t this supposed to be a defense against the dark arts class? I don’t think-”
“Hem hem.” Umbridge interrupted Sirius’s rant, fixing him with a downright evil glare.
Merlin, Sirius thought, this woman really must come from hell itself.
“Ten points from Gryffindor for speaking out of turn Mr. Black.” Umbridge grinned venomously, “Now who can tell me one of the weaknesses of a werewolf?”
When none of the students made a move to raise their hand, Umbridge scanned the room, her eyes like daggers searching for a victim, and they found Moony.
“Mr. Lupin?”
Moony sputtered slightly, but hid it well. Nobody in the school knew his secret aside from the other marauders, Madame Pomphrey, Dumbledore, and McGonagall. There was no way she could know, and Sirius could tell she didn’t from the way she treated Moony like all the other students, like shit, but still the same as everyone else, thank Merlin for that.
“Erm- silver?” Remus answered.
“Very good! A summoning spell or transfiguration could be very handy to arm yourself with a silver dagger or other weapon. Silver can do quite a bit of damage to a werewolf, so it is imperative that you know this weakness and how to use it to your advantage!”
Sirius felt sick at the thought.
“Anyone else? Ms. Evans?” Umbridge called on Lily with an upturned smirk, of course underestimating the muggle-born witch’s brains despite Lily proving her wrong time and time again all year long. Prejudiced bitch.
“Fire.” muttered Lily, glaring right back at Umbridge.
“Yes, er- correct Miss Evans. Fire or Fiendfyre can be incredibly effective when used against a werewolf.” Umbridge quickly moved on, “Now students, after hearing all the best methods and the weaknesses of werewolves, what is the best way for a witch or wizard to defend themself from a werewolf?”
“Well actually professor, if we want to be actually decent human beings to other human beings, the best way to protect from a werewolf is to learn more about the species to be better protective of both parties.” Sirius spoke, standing up and not even waiting to be called on.
Umbridge glowered at him with disgust written all over her face.
Oh that’s right you old toad, I’m controlling this lecture now.
Sirius thought he could see her left eye twitching.
Murmurs of agreement filled the room as Sirius continued.
“A wizard can protect themself from a werewolf without having to try to hurt the creature, they are still human 29 nights of the month and they probably have a whole life outside of that one night with a full moon! It’s not like they asked to become a werewolf, you can’t just sentence someone to death for something they can’t control, that’s just evil, that’s what we’re learning not to be in this class!”
Sirius punctuated his point by sitting back down, making a move to put his feet up on the desk when Umbridge interjected on his victory.
“Mr. Black, you seem to be sympathizing a lot with a mindless killing machine of a monster, that attitude will get you killed if you are not cautious.” Umbridge mused with feigned concern.
She smiled evilly, that woman had to be part snake, there was no possible way she wasn't!
“No, Mr. Black, the best way for wizards and witches to protect themselves from werewolves is to hunt down the beasts and slaughter them before they even have the chance to cause distress-”
“Professor-!” Sirius quickly rose from his chair again, Remus’s grip on the back of his robes was the only thing keeping him from either storming right up to Umbridge and socking her square in the face, or from storming straight out of the classroom altogether, Sirius wasn’t sure which one.
“Another ten points Mr. Black, back in your seat, now! As I was saying,” Umbridge continued loudly before anyone else could complain, the crowd of students was a mixture of fear and poorly concealed anger, “Werewolves are extremely difficult to kill when fully transformed. The task of doing so, while incredibly brave, has been seen to bear the severe consequences of death or curse on more than one occasion.”
Sirius’s breath caught in his throat, grasping what Umbridge meant to say next just before the words left her lips.
“The safest and most effective way to protect from vicious, monstrous werewolves is to hunt them down and slay them while they are detransormed.”
Moony looked like he was going to be sick, but no one except Peter noticed as the rest of the class was busy crying out in shock and outrage or sinking lower into their chairs to try to avoid the carnage.
“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Sirius broke free from Remus’s grip, and jumped up from his seat along with James and a few other students in the classroom, all opposing the sinister suggestion from Umbridge.
“HOW IS THAT FOR PROTECTION?”
“WEREWOLVES DON’T DESERVE TO DIE JUST FOR EXISTING!”
“YOU’RE BASICALLY CONDONING MURDER!”
“AREN’T WEREWOLVES BASICALLY DEFENSELESS AFTER A MOON?”
“YOU’RE A PATHETIC EXCUSE OF A HUMAN, HOW COULD YOU-”
“ EEEENNNNOUGH!” Umbridge screeched, her pupils so thin they looked like slits when her gaze finally found Sirius, the culprit of the last insult said aloud and the clear ringleader of this… rebellion.
“Detention tonight, Mr. Black, my office.” Umbridge grinned at him wickedly, then turned her gaze towards the rest of the classroom, including a few students who were still standing in defiance, “And twenty points each from every house with a student up from their seat without permission.
This put an end to the ‘uprising’ in the classroom. As much as the majority of the students in the classroom hated her, she was still a teacher with the power to destroy your social life and free time with limitless detentions if given reason to.
Sirius sat down with a huff, still glaring daggers at the back of Umbridge’s head as she scribbled on the board, hoping somehow if he wished hard enough, his gaze would make her head explode.
- - -- - - - - -
Luckily the rest of the lesson had been about the actual assigned reading listed in the curriculum, not some off-the-rails bigoted bitch fest like the start of today’s class. As horrible as it was to be a werewolf at this point in time, Remus was happy the textbooks he was assigned to read by Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic did not include step-by-step instructions and suggestions on how to kill him while detransformed, in broad daylight. That shit just came from his insane professor with a prejudiced agenda and a pink addiction.
It’s the little things.
Remus gazed over at his boyfriend in the seat next to him, Padfoot was pouting as he gazed pointedly out the window, deliberately not listening to the lecture, making his point despite receiving detention earlier in the class period.
The pit in Remus’s gut had diminished mostly, hearing not only Sirius and his own friends, but so many other students who didn’t even know his secret come to the defense of werewolves against Umbridge’s cruel ideology had, for some crazy reason, given him hope for the future.
Perhaps it was possible that his own generation would be the ones to help make things better for his kind… maybe part of him was just blindly hoping because he was in love.
Remus sighed, exasperatedly and lovingly as he looked at Sirius.
What am I going to do with you?