Mudblood
Sirius, James, Peter and Remus were sitting in the corridor talking when a red-headed girl went over to them. James eyes widened a bit and Sirius smirked at that. The girl smiled softly.
“Hello. I’m Lily Evans. First year. I’m in Gryffindor too. Could you maybe help me?”
James smiled widely and stood up.
“Of course, beautiful. I can help you.”
She raised her eyebrows at him and Remus dragged him down onto the bench again.
“Sorry for that moron. I’m Remus Lupin. What do you need help with?”
James looked a bit offended at being called moron but couldn’t even tear his eyes from her for a second, to look over to Remus. Next to them, Sirius and Peter were trying not to laugh. Lily gave them an annoyed glance before she looked back to Remus.
“I’m looking for my friend. Severus Snape. He’s a first year too. Slytherin. He told me all about Hogwarts before we got here. I’m a muggleborn and I didn’t know that magic even existed. But, either way, I’m getting off topic. I was supposed to meet him near the library but I’m completely lost.”
Remus stood up and took out a bit of muggle paper and a pen. Lily smiled widely seeing those items. He quickly drew a small map and handed it to her.
“Here. Just follow this and you should get there.”
“Thank you, Remus.”
She took the paper and ran off. The other three boys stood up, Peter and Sirius finally bursting out laughing.
“You should have seen your face James.”
Sirius looked after Lily and shrugged.
“You know what? I’m not going to say anything. She does look good. For a mudblood…”
He didn’t get to finish, because James fist collided with his face just seconds later. It was so unexpected that he got knocked off his feet. He looked up at James with wide eyes.
“What the…”
Once again, James interrupted, this time with words.
“Don’t you dare calling her that. God, I was so stupid. My father warned me to stay away from the Blacks. I should have listened. Gryffindor or not, you are just like all the others. A snake.”
Before he managed to say anything else, Sirius got up and started to run. His nose was bleeding but he ignored it just as he ignored Peter shouting his name. Remus turned to James but the boy had already stormed off into another direction. Peter sighed and pointed at where Sirius had ran.
“I’ll go talk to Sirius. Think you can take care of James?”
Remus nodded and the two boy’s split up. Peter, even though he was small and chubby, had good experience with running away from bullies and was quite quick. He caught up with Sirius and grabbed his sleeve.
“Sirius, wait!”
The young Black turned around with fury in his eyes.
“What?! Anything else to add?! Because I think dear mister Potter summed it up perfectly!”
Peter sighed.
“Can you please stop shouting?”
Sirius took a calming breath and tilted his head.
“Talk. Now.”
There was something commanding in his voice. Almost like it had been in his father’s voice before. Peter lifted one eyebrow.
“Don’t command me around. I’m your friend. Not a family member.”
At that, Sirius looked positively shocked.
“What?”
Peter sighed again.
“I know, okey? I know. My real father was a pureblood. I have no idea why he got together with my mother, since she was a muggle. But he did. She got pregnant. I was born. But when I didn’t show any magical abilities by the age of four, he left me and my mom. He said that he didn’t want a squib in his family. She married a muggle, Justin Pettigrew, and he adopted me. But I know how it is. I know how it works in pureblood families. Maybe not all of it. I had a muggle mother. I got some years to be a kid. But I know how it is to have rules beaten into you. I know how it is to fear that your next step might be your last. I know how it is to not know better. So please, let me help you. Remus is explaining everything to James right now. Let’s go back and talk to him.”
Sirius tilted his head again, almost like a curious dog. His eyes had softened during Peter’s speech and he was looking at the boy with curiosity.
“But I don’t get it. What did I do wrong?”
“You called her a mudblood. But let me guess that it is the only word you know.”
Sirius nodded.
“Yeah. That’s what they are called. That’s the only thing they have been calling people like her in my house.”
“That’s not good.”
Both boys turned around to see James and Remus standing behind them.
“Have you ever thought about the meaning behind it?”
Sirius shrugged.
“It’s a word. What else is there to it?”
James took a deep breath, visibly restraining himself from punching him again.
“Think about the meaning. What does the word mean?”
Sirius frowned and started to softly murmur.
“Meaning. Meaning. Mudblood. Mudblood. Mud blood. Mud in blood. Dirty blood.”
And suddenly, his eyes widened.
“Oh my God. Dirty blood. It means that someone has dirty blood.”
Remus nodded.
“And let me give you an example now. If I cut your hand, what color will your blood have?”
“Red.”
Sirius didn’t even have to think about that for more than a split second. He had seen his blood often enough to know. Remus smiled and nodded.
“And if I cut Lily’s hand. What color will the blood have?”
This time Sirius had to think. He frowned and looked behind him, almost as if he wanted to shout for Lily to come back and show him her blood. But in the end he decided that it couldn’t be different because that would be odd.
“Red.”
Remus nodded again.
“And what conclusion do you draw from this?”
The Black closed his eyes for a few seconds. When he opened them, there was some sort of understanding there.
“There is no difference. Her blood is just like mine.”
Then he frowned and asked quietly:
“But what am I supposed to call her then?”
“Muggleborn. That’s the correct term. Mud… Well, you know what I mean. It’s used as an insult. Mostly by people who think they are better than others.”
Sirius kept frowning.
“But… Some people ARE better than others.”
Remus looked a bit put off so James took over.
“How?”
“Their blood status. Their family. The people they associate with. Dark wizards and witches also get further in life.”
James got an angry glint in his eyes.
“They do? How? By torturing and killing people? By treating others like dirt? By throwing members of their family out? My MOTHER was a Black. Before she married my father and her family threw her out because they were associating with muggles.”
And Sirius suddenly looked as if he understood.
“Blood traitors.”
James grabbed him and slammed his back against the wall.
“What did you call me, Black?”
For a second it was quiet. Neither Remus or Peter dared to move. Then James leaned a bit closer to Sirius.
“Ever since I heard my parents talk about it, I’ve hated everything that has to do with the name Black. But I was willing to give you a chance. Because you seemed different.”
He then let go of the boy and moved away. Sirius was frozen to his spot. The other three waited. In the end he looked up and said quietly:
“They are my family, James.”
The anger slowly faded from James eyes. He sighed heavily.
“I know. Just… Try to not act like a jerk.”
He said it almost like a question and Sirius grasped at the opportunity.
“Like you?”
They smiled and it was fine. They turned around and started to walk away bickering over if Lily Evans liked James. Then Sirius stopped, turned around and smiled to Peter and Remus.
“You two coming? We’ll be late for the next lesson. It’s with the slytherins. I want to see that Severus.”
Peter frowned.
“Why?”
An evil grin appeared on Sirius face.
“To see if James has a chance with Evans or if the slytherin will win.”
James tried to push him but Sirius took off down the corridor. James followed, cursing like a sailor. Remus raised his eyebrows.
“These two will be hard to split up.”
Then he became more serious and said quietly:
“We’ll have to keep an eye on Sirius. He’s from the most pure wizarding family that exists. There are many things that he will do wrong. We’ll have to keep an eye on him.”
Peter nodded.
“And on James language. Honestly Remus, where did he learn all that?”
Just then, they heard professor McGonagall’s voice screaming from the next hall:
“POTTER! WHAT KINDA LANGUAGE IS THAT?!”
Sirius laugh could be heard seconds later.
Snape took a deep breath.
“At least you didn’t say it to her face.”
Sirius looked at him in confusion.
“What?”
“You didn’t… Not like me. And you didn’t know. You didn’t understand it.”
The Black frowned. Next to him, Remus smiled at Snape, encouraging him to go on.
“Wait a second. You’re… Making up excuses for me? I… This has to be the weirdest day in my life. And I thought my father trying to put uncle Alphard over his knee was at the top.”
Molly actually choked on her saliva when she heard that.
“Your father did WHAT?”
Sirius shrugged.
“He was drunk. It was one of the parties. He had too much to drink. Uncle Alphard spit him in the face. By accident, of course.”
Then suddenly Harry stood up and marched over to Snape.
“You knew my mother?”
Snape looked at him for a moment before he decided to tell the truth . The boy deserved it.
“Yes. Me and Lily were friends before we got to Hogwarts. We lived not far from each other. We continued our friendship until I made a horrible mistake.”
Harry frowned. It was hard to wrap his mind around the fact that Snape had been his mother’s friend.
“I…”
“It was our fault.”
Everyone turned to Sirius.
“Mine mostly, but James wasn’t exactly innocent. He was bored so I found him something to do. Snivellus Snape. We started to go against him. Two on one. Remus didn’t join in on things like that. And Peter always liked to watch more than participate in hexing others. So we got Snape in the air, upside down. And then Lily came. She was furious. Wanted us to put him down and leave him alone. Snape said that he didn’t need help from a mudblood.”
Harry’s eyes shot over to Snape but he didn’t get a chance to say anything because Sirius continued.
“Lily rushed off and me and James pulled Snape’s pants off. But from the beginning it was our fault. If we hadn’t pushed him so far, he would never had said it.”
Snape rolled his eyes.
“I was hanging out with Death Eaters, Black. It would have happened sooner or later. But it was good that it happened then. At least I had enough mind to go to her and apologize.”
Harry glared at him for a moment, before he went back to sit with Ron and Hermione. Meanwhile, McGonagall was still staring at Sirius.
“You… Really believed that?”
Sirius nodded slowly.
“I was raised thinking that it was the only right thing. It’s not like I had so many other choices. But I learned my lessons later. Mostly from James fists.”
Seeing that Molly wanted to say something about that, Remus quickly waved his hand towards the wall. Sirius glanced over at the werewolf and smiled gratefully. To be honest, Molly was sometimes getting on his nerves.