Chapter One; Waterloo
“JAMES I swear to Merlin if you get any more snow on my book, I will confound you next quidditch match!”
Delighted laughter echoed around the courtyard as James sarcastically bowed towards Remus, whose scowl only grew as Sirius started to gather more snow into his gloved hands. It should have been too warm a day for the snow to be of any use, but luckily this part of the grounds had already been eclipsed in shade so it was in pretty good condition. It wasn’t thickly spread on the ground like it had been this morning, but it wasn’t melted enough to just be ice. ‘Perfect for annoying Remus.’ James thought and quickly squashed it.
It was not the smartest thing to piss Remus off but Sirius- Ok look; he claimed to be smart but he was dumb as a brick at times, mostly around Remus if James was being perfectly honest.
Sirius had formed a ball of snow, roughly twice the size of a tennis ball. He brushed it down to try and make it more circular as he slowly eased his way closer to Remus. James decided this was not his problem and took a few steps back to watch with Wormtail who snorted at him and went back to attempting to complete his transfiguration homework on one of the benches around the never-frozen fountain.
James had often wondered if the fountain was enchanted to never freeze or if the fast-moving water prevented it from freezing. He snapped back to the present with the sound of Remus being attacked by Sirius.
The sight of Remus having large piles of snow on both his shoulders, his head and his book was something neither James nor Wormtail could contain their laughter at. The withering glare he shot them shut them up quickly enough though.
Remus brushed the snow off his shoulders and shook most of it off his head before turning his attention back to his book which was covered in snow. Scowl growing as he shook it in an attempt to save the poor thing.
“Sirius I was being-” Remus cut himself off before he could make the mistake that would cost him his remaining sanity. Unfortunately, Sirius had taken a break from laughing at Remus’s still snow-strewn clothing and hair (and book which Sirius would be replacing later if Remus had any say on the matter) and had heard his grave mistake. Ah yes, James had made a mistake in not stopping Padfoot the second he saw the look on his face.
“What, serious?” Padfoot needed to shut up before Moony skinned him, which wouldn’t take too long judging by the look Remus was currently giving him. Sirius’s dopy fools grin, paired with far too few brain cells, allowed him to blatantly ignore Remus’s look and laugh. ‘The worst thing his parents ever did was name him Sirius’ passed through the other three marauders' heads. Remus sighed in defeat and turned to remove more snow from his book, which was now likely unsavable due to the melted ice now seeping through the pages.
“You being serious Moony?” He asked, you could almost call it sweetly if not for the wide grin that stretched across his face and the slight shake of his shoulders. Moony wasn’t taking this today, he had finished brushing his book off and had placed it in his bag, scowl still on his face. He spoke before Sirius could continue his awful joke. ‘Thank Merlin.’
“It’s getting dark, we should go in.” He said instead of cursing Sirius to have yellow hair like James had been hoping for.
James looked up in slight surprise, it had gotten quite dark very quickly, one of the cons of winter. ‘You could almost see the stars’ James wondered as he squinted up trying to spot any of the seemingly thousands of constellations that they had learned in astrology.
His stargazing endeavours were interrupted by Peter calling out to the group while he packed his 'I’ll-copy-off-remus-later' homework into his bag.
“When has it getting dark ever stopped us?”
Sirius shrugged, still grinning, and began heading towards the entrance hall, pausing only when he reached the threshold to answer Peter. “It’s cold out here, and we have food and fire inside, so..” “And chocolate,” Remus input as he stood a small way away from Sirius at the entrance, arms folded, a frown on his face, snow still mixed into his brown curls.
“Ah I see how it is,” Peter grinned as he walked with James over to the pair of them, carefully trying not to slip on the ice, “Chocolate is all it takes to keep the marauders in for the night.”
“I know,” Bemoaned Padfoot as the four trudged into the hallway, snow falling from their boots and clothes onto the ground, “Imagine what Minnie would say if she knew all she had to do was give us some chocolate.”
He corrected himself quickly, “Well, give Moony some chocolate.”
The sound of Sirius choking on his breath when Remus’s elbow caught him full in his stomach felt like white noise to James as he searched through his pockets in an attempt to find his wand. He had misplaced it again, it was the third time this week. Stopping to double and triple-check his pockets, he allowed them to get a little further ahead before calling out. “Fuck, I left my wand out there!”
Sirius turned around, giving him a very ‘Sirius’ look, which would have been more effective if his face wasn’t still red from his coughing fit a few moments ago.
“James you fucking idiot.”
“It’s not my fault!” James defended himself as Peter and Remus sniggered slightly at his misfortune. “Look I’ll go back and grab it, go ahead I'll catch up.” James half said, half shouted over his shoulder as he made his way back to the courtyard.
It had gotten even darker when James stepped out of the hallway and into the courtyard a few moments later. The sound of small insects and running water now the only sounds to be heard, along with the light crackling of the lanterns framing the entrance to the hall and the single trill of an owl somewhere above him. If it got much darker he would never find his wand. He breathed into his hands to warm them slightly as he made his way across the icy path to the fountain.
Moving his hands along the stone seats, he searches in the shadows that his eyes couldn’t see into. Dragging his hands over the rough stone and ice, carefully trying to not knock off his wand if it was there.
The smooth feeling of his wand, intricately carved mahogany etched with details, made him sigh in relief.
‘Thank Merlin’
James quickly shoved his wand into his pocket and made his way towards the entrance once more. He quickened his step when his shoes hit the stone of the castle hall, making to reach the fat lady with the marauders instead of after. ‘Don't want Moony killing Padfoot now do we?’ James privately thought, but if he did Sirius had it coming.
He turned the corner, left towards Gryffindor tower then up, when a black blur hit him.
‘Fuck, what was that,’ was the initial thought, followed by, ‘Is that Regulus?’
Regulus Arcturus Black. Sirius Black's little brother. More than a foot shorter than James, dark unruly hair, that, unlike Sirius, was straightened and tied back neatly. He was still wearing his school uniform, though it looked distinctly ruffled and he had dropped something when he crashed into James.
“Damn, Baby Black,” James reached down to pick up the thing he had dropped, which turned out to be a book, “You ok?” He asked, examining the book without looking at Regulus, which he probably should have been as the question was directed at him and not the book.
The book was faded and torn, a page was clearly about to fall out, and there was something staining the cover. Quickly turning it over to get a better look, James caught a glimpse of the title before it was whisked away by a pale hand.
Startled and blinking rapidly, James looked down at Regulus.
Regulus looked disoriented, James noted, his eyes were slightly wild, glancing every way before setting on James. He tugged the book closer to himself as he stepped around James and began walking past into the courtyard. He looked unsteady on his feet, not quite in a ‘drunken’ way but a more ‘I’ve just rolled out of bed’ way.
James watched him for a moment, before turning towards the Gryffindor tower, his mind still on why Regulus had a book titled; ‘Secrets of the Darkest Art’?
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James had all but forgotten the interaction (not nearly, not even close. Why was he holding a book like that? Sirius’ brother?) when he arrived at the common room no more than ten minutes later, heading straight for the dorms. It wasn’t late, but because of the cold paired with the dark, there were few people around. Save for a few gossiping 3rd years and a small group of stressed-looking 6th years.
‘Regulus’ year.’
Would they know? He wondered, would they know if Regulus was getting mixed up in stuff he shouldn’t be involved in? ‘They would only see him as a Slytherin.’ The ‘like you do’ silently adding itself onto the end of his train of thought.
His feet dragged on the steps as he walked up them, ice still falling from one of his shoes. Up to the seventh-year dorms, as he approached he could hear the sounds of laughter and the muffled voice of Remus yelling something. Shoving the door open with his shoulder, James was left blinking by the bright light and sounds coming from the dorm. Quite the opposite of the dimly lit hallway he had traversed on his way here.
“It’s not that funny Sirius!” Remus threw his hands in the air in a manner of absolute exasperation. Peter was laying down on his bed, cotton pyjamas already on, laughing hysterically at the scene before him. James couldn’t blame him, it was a sight. Sirius was standing, more shaking than actually laughing, practically buzzing with glee. His dark hair was a mess as usual and his jacket was off making a home for itself on the ground. Remus, on the other hand, was half dressed, still in his slightly-wet pants from earlier, but wearing a white shirt that looked made to be slept in. His brown hair was in a mess that could rival James’ on a bad day, he looked as though he was trying very hard not to strangle Sirius with whatever he could get his hands on.
James entered and closed the door quickly, crossing the room towards his own trunk and grabbing the first things resembling pyjamas that he could find. If he could escape into the bathroom before he was dragged into this, he would.
“It is! You haven’t slipped up since fourth year! Tell him Prongs!”
Mentally cursing Merlin, Gryffindor and Magic herself, James resigned himself to his fate and answered, “I dunno Moony, it’s kinda funny.”
The triumphant cry from Sirius and the bellowing laughter from Wormtail almost made the look Remus gave him worth it.
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Tuesday Morning was a loud, angry and somehow slightly relaxing affair.
It was still dark at eight, so many students had thought their alarms had been mis-set, like they do every year around this time. This resulted in the chaos that is Tuesday mornings.
It was nowhere near as bad as Monday mornings, (which were something James got up an hour earlier to avoid), but it was loud, and full of people shouting at each other over something or other.
This morning, Remus was the unlucky victim of the ‘The suns not awake so I’m not awake’ mentality that plagued them all at some point. He was once again half dressed with his school shirt on inside out (He had yet to notice this) and his shoes on the wrong feet (He had noticed this and was trying to rectify his mistake before Sirius could find the Muggle camera Lily had given him for his birthday last year).
“Sirius, you take a photo of this and I will tell Mcgonagal who smuggled catnip into her classroom.”
“My camera is away, my lips are sealed.”
After what was approximately 45 minutes of yelling, cursing, and attempting to take pictures of Moony without being caught, James, along with a very disgruntled Remus, a cackling Sirius, and a homework-finishing Peter had finally made it to the great hall in time for breakfast.
Taking their usual seats, close enough to the head table to appear innocent but not close enough for the teachers to actually hear anything they say, they quickly filled their plates. Loud chatter of students surrounded them as the castle came alive in the early morning light. Sun streaking through the sky, lighting up the arched ceiling in pastel pinks and blues. A few brave stars still lingering, fighting onto the edges of the sky as the day awoke in a glorious cacophony of colour.
It went entirely unappreciated by pretty much everyone as they chatted away underneath.
James reached for a metal serving spoon placed idly on the table to scoop up a large portion of the eggs, as Peter once again asked Remus to do his homework for him.
“Moonyyy, come onnn!” James looked up slightly to respond to him, “You need help Pete?”
Groaning, Wormtail slammed his head into the table, reaching across the table to throw a sheet of parchment at James. Catching it in his left hand while his right was reaching for toast, he gave it a quick look over and snorted. “Wormtail, you can’t transfigure wood into cheese. It's one of Gamp’s laws.” Placing his freshly acquired toast onto his plate and dusting his hands, he quickly spread the parchment in the space between them and pointed, “Look, you can’t create food out of nothing, so technically…”
“Technically it what Prongs?”
“I’m not just telling you, you gotta do it yourself.”
“Have I ever told you you're an ass?”
“Not often.”
Snatching his parchment back, Peter quickly scratched out several lines and started scribbling, his quill making a shrill screech noise as he corrected his work.
“You need a new quill, Pete.” Lily Evans had decided to join them for breakfast today it seemed.
Lily Evans was, in James' most humble opinion, the greatest person of all time. Funny, talented, gorgeous, intelligent, and just down right incredible. Did he mention gorgeous? And better than all that, she was his girlfriend. Him! He truly thinks he's the luckiest guy at Hogwarts to get the Lily Evans to notice him.
Ok so it had taken a few years, and he was a prat for most of that time, but he had figured himself out and Lily had noticed. In fact, she had asked him out. Him!
Most days James couldn’t believe it, just like he couldn’t believe it had been two months and he couldn’t believe it was going so well.
Peter's quill had stopped its assault on their ears while he answered, “I know, I haven’t had time to go get one.” Laughing Lily sat down to the right of James, she had learnt that where all the marauders sat was incredibly important. It was important in the same way a fire alarm in a burning building is important. Not very effective and should have gone off earlier.
Sirius sat across from James, so that he wouldn’t antagonise the Slytherins and so his focus was kept on James and Remus who sat next to James (Mainly Remus), Peter sat across from Remus as the quieter of the four, they liked to have the invisible barrier of silent confusion between them. They also liked messing with the two purebloods, but they weren’t going to bring that up for fear of the ‘seating chart’ being changed again.
Shuddering at the thought of 1974, when they sat in a line all facing the Slytherin table, James let his gaze slip past Lily and onto the said Slytherin table.
Regulus sat there, his hair once again perfect and his uniform immaculate. He ate silently, seemingly staring at nothing. James turned his head slightly to see where he was looking. Nothing, just the corner of the enchanted ceiling. Shaking his head mentally, he turned back to his friends, tuning in just in time to hear Sirius say that bread, bacon and syrup was a good combo and suddenly he was fully invested in the mess Padfoot had just created.
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Snow was lightly falling from the sky tapping softly against the stain-glass windows as James made his way into the library.
The hubbub of tired and cold students died down almost instantly inside the library's thick walls, under the watchful eye of Madam Pince no one dared so much as sneeze loudly.
James even after experiencing her gaze for half a dozen years still shivered when her gaze reached him, her eyes narrowing as she watched him with such intensity he thought he might catch fire like a phoenix.
He had a sudden flash back to third year when Sirius, Peter and him had gotten themselves banned from the library for three weeks due to chocolate stains on some of her prized books, Moony, of course, was never caught.
“No one can prove it was me, and it wasn’t me!”
Cracking a slight smile at the memory, James made his way through stressed, studying, and sleeping students who littered the desks and floor around the library over to the defence against dark arts section. The very little light that shone down from high above, floating lanterns and books made the journey more treacherous. Hundreds of dark towering book cases, thousands of books, this was not going to be a small task by any means.
With nothing else to go off, James approached the first row, tilted his head and started reading the titles at rapid speed, glasses almost slipping off. Walking, nearly shuffling sideways along the row, dark hair slipping slightly into his eyes, he was sure he looked slightly insane.
Reaching the end of the 7th row, James realised that it was unlikely for ‘Secrets of the Darkest Art’ to be in with the regular books. It was much more likely to be in the restricted section.
But how to get there?
Even as headboy, nobody could just walk into the restricted section without at least an examination by Madam Pince. She watched that section carefully as first years had a habit of wandering into it and seventh years had a habit of stealing from it. As adults the school couldn’t technically stop the seventh years, but Madam Pince had her ways of discouraging any wandering eyes, hands or minds.
It would not look good for him to be seen with such a book in these times. Even if he didn’t particularly care for his reputation, he could do without the questions that would surely come his way.
With Madam Pince’s eyes still on him, James knew there was surely no way to get into the restricted section.
He would need a distraction.
Luckily, on his way through the library he had spotted something he would usually ignore.
A small group of second years, a usual mix of Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors, eating quietly while finishing their homework. If they were caught, Madam Pince would give them one hell of a lecture, James knew. It was mean, and a little petty, but it would work and it would provide a very good distraction. Pince’s lectures tended to draw a crowd.
With a heavy heart for his fellow rule breakers, James approached her. She sat behind a large wooden desk stacked with books, the only movement being the slight flick of her wand as she charmed books to mend, sort and stack themselves into neat, tidy piles. Her brown hair slicked back and pinned in a neat bun that reminded many of Professor McGonagal, many wondering if they shared any tips on fighting the students as well as hair.
Her eyes never left him as he approached her as casually as he could, walking smoothly up to her with his most ‘I’m innocent, no really!’ look on his face.
“Madam?” He continued on after making sure she was paying him attention and not just sleeping with her eyes open, and before she had a chance to ask what he wanted, “I thought you should know that some people are eating over there.” James made a vague gesture to the left, a bit behind him with his hand pointing slightly. Her lips pursed instantly, standing without comment to him making her way over to the poor students who hadn’t looked up to see their impending doom just yet.
Wishing them luck mentally, James quickly slipped to the right of her desk, the second he was out of sight of the lecture now going on behind him, he ran. Almost tripping in his haste to get into the restricted section. It was removed from the rest of the library with a faded purple rope attached to floating once-gold orbs, all of which had thick layers of dust covering them. The books here whispered and moved of their own accord, ancient tombs of magic contained by nothing more than rope, a deep unsettling urge to leave coursed through James body as he approached the rope.
Easily stepping over the faded material, he made his way into the restricted section with an ease he didn’t think he possessed. Hurriedly reaching the first shelf, he once again tilted his head and began to trail his eyes over the spines of these much more dangerous and temperamental books. Rushing now, he didn’t have long before Pince got sick of lecturing the poor kids, threw them out, and returned to her desk, from which she’d have a perfect view of what James was currently doing.
Two shelves.
Three.
Four- Wait there!
Snatching the book and shoving it under his jumper, leaping back over the rope with an inch to spare, James disappeared back into the libraries’ labyrinth of towering shelves, hushed students, and watchful eyes.
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James sat in front of the fire in the head boys dorms, darkness closing in on the windows as stars battled the clouds to be seen.
He rarely used the head boy-girl dorm rooms. He liked his friends, most of the time anyway, but sometimes he had come here to study away from the common room, or simply to sleep, so it wasn’t strange for him to be spending the night away from the seventh year dorms.
He had his head leaning back against a faded arm chair that had been placed there by some previous head boy or girl. It was covered in worn out patches and obnoxious purple flowers with green details that had caused Lily to threaten to burn it when she had first seen the monstrosity. James liked it, it added character to an otherwise far too boring room.
The book was on his lap. He had been trying to open it for a while now, his mind going into overdrive as he worried.
What if Regulus was mixed up in something really bad? Would he have to stop him? Tell Sirius? What could he even do?
The what-ifs wouldn’t stop until he read, he knew. Running his hands over the faded and torn cover, a dark smudge covering the left hand side of the back, he picked up the book and flipped through, breathing quietly, hair dropping into his eyes as the light of the fire illuminated his face, reflecting in his glasses.
Someone, James noted as he flipped through the book, looking for any obvious signs that Regulus Black had borrowed this particular copy, had annotated most of the book. Black ugly scratches across whole pages and tiny notes hidden in between lines of text. Old ink, sunk deep into the pages, mixed with a magic that made James hands cold to the touch, and caused him to shiver at the strength. These notes had been taken many years before Regulus had even been born, let alone borrowed this book.
James flipped back to the first page and began to read.