The anti-bullying organization
Don’t worry, we have a plan -Moony
Mary was crying on the floor, this had been her third time being called a… a mudblood and it was still the beginning of the week. Lately the Slytherins have gotten around to using those types of words more freely and loosely. Lily started getting attacked too, not by Snape but by pretty much everyone else. Mary and Lily were repeatedly called the m-word, dirt, disgraces, tainted, and fake wizards. Marlene was called a half breed, a wannabe, a psychotic example of mixed breeding, and a half-arsed wizard. I’ve mainly been called a blood traitor. They do not like being too rude to us (Peter, Sirius, James, and I) because they want us on their side. They want us to join them, to be a part of the horrible side of the war that we do not speak of.
“I hate Halloween!” Mary yelled in the middle of her sobs, “they all use the teachers leniency from the holiday to be ten times extra mean! I hate it! I hate them!” Marlene and I sat next to Mary and hugged her. Lily went down to get us some food from the great hall, she was in the dorm when we came in with Mary crying. I looked back at my note. The boys had a plan? That could mean that the Slytherin common room would be on fire by tomorrow morning or they’ll all be itching for the next week. Whatever it would be, they deserved it.
“Moony- er Remus says the boys have a plan. I think it’s legal.” I tried to make Mary feel better, but I was normally lost when these things happened. I felt guilty, all of my friends were called horrible names because of something they can’t control, something they could never have had a say in. And now because of that they get bullied and I don’t. At least not as much as they do. I want to help them, I want to say it will all be ok and that we can rise above, but would that mean anything? It’s like they’re all drowning and I’m on dry land saying ‘it’s ok just swim!’. It helps no one! What right do I have telling them they’ll be alright when I have no idea what they’re going through.
“Good, they can all get their insides ripped out of them, I hate them!” Mary sniffled and rested her head on Marlene. Marlene was also uncomfortable with emotions, her family was more like a team dynamic than a family. They give pep talks and are there for each other, but never had gotten into the deep emotional talks. Intense emotions sometimes confuse Marlene, like the feeling sullen. It’s not exactly sad nor is it fully disappointed, it’s a mixture. Marlene sometimes struggles with that combination of emotions, I think there’s a word for that but I’m not sure.
“It’s ok to hate them, it’s ok to want them dead. We just can’t actually kill them unfortunately.” I sighed and Mary laughed in between sniffs.
“Maybe not dead, but we can get rid of them!” Marlene smiled like she had just murdered them. Mary and I looked at her concerned. “We can keep track of everything they do to us! Every slur they say, every hex they do, every evil secret they had!” Now I also smiled like a crazy person, it was the perfect idea. If we had documented every single thing they did, they may just get expelled or have to move schools! We could be the heroes of Hogwarts!
“I love it! We can be a secret group running around and collecting information to ruin them!” I cheered.
“We’ll be the… the anti-bullying organization! I’m sure in a year we’ll have enough information to get them out of here!” Mary finally fully smiled, she had such a pretty smile.
“A year? It’ll take like a month max!” Marlene smiled and we laughed, this was perfect. Suddenly, Lily rushed in with the same smile we had.
“The boys are doing Mutatio Verbi!” She announced. In Latin Mutatio Verbi literally means the change of the word which is exactly what the spell does: changes words. Seriously, Hogwarts should have a Latin class or something. “Remus changed my name from Lily to ‘lumpy elephant dung’ to James. He was so pissy about it, it was so funny!” Lily blushed at any and all mention of Remus, she so obviously had a liking to him. I felt bad because James so obviously fancied Lily, but Lily wasn’t interested at all.
“Which words?!” Marlene asked excitedly.
“All the nasty things they call us, Remus wrote the list and Sirius changed it into cute words!” Lily smiled, mostly at the idea of Remus, but also at the anti-bullying thing. I liked the idea of what the marauders were doing, it was genius. They couldn’t insult anyone nor could they complain about the words they could no longer say. It would have to be up to the Slytherin house to solve it, this could be around for a while.
*****
We sat next to the boys the next morning, that's when they did it. James sat next to Sirius who was beside Mary who was also next to Marlene. On the other side of the table sat Peter, Remus, Me, and Lily. Sirius starred at the Slytherin table, this was the first time he looked like he wanted to go sit at the table.
“Nothing’s happening.” Sirius groaned, his patience was thinner than his wand.
“Well they’re not going to start insulting each other, are they?” James smiled at himself and continued his breakfast.
“We have to push them into it. Pete, go and—” Sirius’s normal guinea pig was always Peter.
“Oi, I’m pureblood!” Peter loved that information about himself. It was like it was his only even level with Sirius and James and he had to protect it.
“Oh yeah, fair play. Um… Moony, go and trip one of them or something. Do it to Snivellus. Or my cousin, yeah, get Cissy!”
“No.” Remus almost whispered, he too was laser focused on the slytherins. “We’ll just wait. Patience, Black, patience.”
“But it might take days.”
“It won’t.” Mary piped up, she knew most of all. She hadn’t spent much alone time with Sirius yet and since they’re all purebloods, I doubt they knew what was going on. To be honest, I would have no idea if I didn’t have the mates I did. “You three must be blind if you haven’t seen what’s going on around here.” The boys stared at her.
“What’s been going on, then?” James stopped eating and looked at her just like our mother looked at us when serious topics came. “Do you get called stuff, MacDonald?”
“It’s been worse this year. You must know, Remus?” Mary shrugged, Marlene tried to lose all eye contact with the boys, Lily and I started shoving our faces.
Remus instantly began focusing his attention on anything but the rest of the marauders, the Slytherin table, the Halloween decor, anything else. James looked broken.
“So…” James tried to continue, tried to ignore the things his best mate said, “Have all the muggleborns been getting it, then? Even… even elephant dung – oh for fuck’s sake, Remus! Please fix me!” My brother has gotten very comfortable with cuss words, I have not. I do not see the point of them, they seemed so angry and vilified I didn’t want to use them, and I did not understand why James wanted to either. Sirius had a good reason to use them, his childhood was horrible and he was so angry and emotionally wrecked because of it. Remus had a good reason, because of his father he was torn to shred from the inside out and Remus had no control. Marlene, Mary, and Lil were picked on every single day for something they had no control over. Peter was always frustrated about never being as smart as the rest of us. He deserved the strong words of swears. James and I? We have the perfect parents, perfect childhood, perfect friends, and we were both all O students. Why would either of us use those harsh words when we didn’t have to?
“If you’ll do my Potions homework.” Remus replied with a smirk on his face.
“Fine! Anything! I’ll give you my bloody broomstick if you’ll just—”
“Finite.” Remus pointed his wand at James. James stared at him, looking stunned. He cleared his throat,
“Lily Evans.” James grinned, I wanted to slap him. Was that really worth the swear?
“What now, Potter?!” Lily turned to the boys, she and Marlene were talking about something but honestly, I was more worried about the words James uses.
“Will you go out with me?”
“No.” She turned away, but this time she pulled me with her. “Your brother’s an idiot.” She smiled.
“A kinda cute idiot though.” Marlene smiled, oh no. Not her too! I thought we were in this together as the only ones not into a boy.
“Please take him! Then he’ll leave me alone!” Lily laughed.
“Absolutely not, Sirius I can handle but I will not sit here and listen to one of you blush and swoon over my brother!” I made a disgusted face as if I had just eaten a lemon.
“Now he’s even more attractive!” Marlene giggled sinisterly. I rolled my eyes.
“Look!” Peter cried, suddenly, pointing a chubby finger in the direction of the Slytherin table. Mulciber towered over a hufflepuff second year, Mulciber looked ready to blow.
“Yes,” Sirius whispered, his smile was from ear to ear, he practically jumped out of his seat. “Go on, you big troll…”
Almost the entire school had ignored them, either in fear of being next or they were just used to it by now. The Hufflepuff, who was fearful for their own life, shook as the monsters shadow loomed over them. Their pumpkin juice splashed all over them and the floor and just a tiny bit on the slytherins shoes. Now the kid was really going to get it, now the show was expected to start. Mulciber grabbed the scrawny child by the tie and pulled them almost off the ground. The two tables watched for something to happen, I saw Snape smile his ugly grin.
“Clean that up, you angelic sweetie-pops.”
I put my hand to my face to hide any laughter, the hall had gone silent as everyone heard the ‘insult’. The hufflepuff was so confused I swore they laughed.
“What did you say, Mulciber?” Snape asked, he seemed to be both confused and a little agitated.
“Angelic sweetie-pops!” Mulciber looked as red as a tomato.. “No! I meant – darling sugar plum! No! Goody-gumpdrops!”
The entire hall erupted in laughter.
“Bloody hell,” Sirius smiled evilly, “Mulciber’s really got a mouth on him, eh? I didn’t think they’d use half of those.”
“Sit down, you idiot.” Snape tried to get rid of the attention but it was far too late, everyone had heard Mulciber, everyone had watched the slytherin edge weave round.
“That was brilliant, Sirius!” Mary hugged him, I wondered if she was just looking for an excuse to hug the boy she’s liked for over a year now.
“We’ll have to get that list from Sirius, to start our track for the ABO.” Marlene said in between laughter. We had started to call the anti-bullying organization the ABO because it was easier and faster.
“Perfect!” I grinned, everything was going according to plan.