academic curiosity

*    *    *14

Ada muttered a few words that were not often said in polite society, or even rude society. "And you´re the Beater! But you're not even half the size of some of this lot who tried for it... What´s Deck playing at?"

`No, she´s not that much smaller than the others!" Alia pointed out somewhat harshly. Seeing that Lily didn´t take this the wrong way she added, "You were easily one of the best..."

"It´s true." Dale sighed. "The other four were dead terrible! Did you see Cogswell just watch the bludger knock that daffy Miranda off her broom?!"

"Well, I guess I´m on the team," Lily muttered with amazement. Her friends shook their heads with disbelief.

*    *    *

"That´s weird..." Alia pointed to a sign-up sheet hanging up outside the great hall. Lily saw that around the long white sheet of parchment pinned to the wall, a small group was staring at it with confusion, including Nearly Headless Nick who seemed miffed. He flew off in a huff, shaking his translucent hand and fluttering into the great hall.

"NO!" Ada suddenly let out, shoving a Hufflepuff second year out of the way and knocking aside a small Ravenclaw.

"Sorry!" Lily whispered, helping him to his feet.

"THIS IS OUT OF ORDER!" Ada was still crying out loud.

"What is it? What?" Lily dropped the Ravenclaw and dashed to Ada´s side. But she didn´t need any filling in from Ada. She could read the top of the form just fine.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Join... THE JUNIOR KNIGHTS OF WALPURGIS!

A wizarding club celebrating our pure blood ancestry and history... Join us for our charter meeting this Friday evening! Requirements and club projects will be widely discussed in our first committee. Wizard Power!!! Club President: Federico Colon, Vice President Tomoko Satori, Treasurer Bellatrix Black, Secretary Boris Crabbe.

------------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh Hell no," Lily cried, clutching Ada´s hand.

"Hell. No!" Ada repeated.

"Ah, and that´s about as much variety as you´ll get in a Gryffindor vocabulary!" a high voice mocked them. Both girls swiveled at the sound of Bellatrix Black´s voice.

"Oh! Isn´t it 'Treasurer' Bellatrix!" Ada spat angrily.

"What´s the meaning of this?" Lily asked, ripping the parchment off the wall and waving it around. "Hate-clubs are not authorized by the Head Master!"

Bellatrix snatched the sign-up away from her and stared at Lily menacingly.

"Well, this one was. Really, Evans. There´s no need for you to feel excluded from the wizarding community! You're welcome to start your own little club! The Mudblood Association of Hogwarts has a nice ring-"

"Clean out that mouth!" A voice came down upon them and suddenly Bellatrix was spitting pink goo. Lily gasped as she saw that it was soap from one of the lavatories.

Sirius, wand out, was upon her in seconds and Bellatrix pulled hers out despite the deluge off soap coming out of her face.

"Someone needs to teach you how to behave in society and if your blitzed parents won´t then as your cousin I´ll have to do you the favour. Don´t worry, you´ll thank me for it later..."

Bubbles shot out of her mouth as she outstretched her wand at his face. But the curse, whatever it was meant to be, failed and he was just brought to his knees.

Another voice rang out with a hex. It was James Potter with his wand pointed to Bellatrix's face.

Bellatrix wasn´t spitting soap anymore. But now she was rubbing her eyes madly and she let out a furious cry.

"STOP IT!" Lily shouted at the two boys.

But now Professor Flitwick had wandered by and stood dumbstruck with horror at the scene.

"Now really!" he moaned. "What´s happening here? Miss Black? Are you quite all right?" he pointed at Sirius who was about to hex her again, "Black! Put away that wand, you know there´s NO magic in the corridors! I´ve told you myself nearly sixty times! I´m speaking to your head of house about this!"

Bellatrix was still rubbing her red eyes, but she was smiling widely over the top of Flitwick´s head at her cousin and his friend. She turned to Lily and Ada and waved as the professor led her to the infirmary. A few Slytherins who had just came in ran to her side to get a story out of her. A few more nearby were whispering and glaring at Lily and the other Gryffindors. Turning towards them Lily showed off a hand signal some of the neighbourhood boys had taught her when she was eight. She put down her finger just as someone called her name.

"What was all that racket?" Dale sauntered through the doors of the great hall where he had already been eating breakfast. "Did I miss anything?"

*    *    *

"I don´t get it!" Gonzalo Watkiss was saying to Frank and Joe a few seats below Lily and Ada in Transfiguration. McGonagall had gave them a telling off at the start of class that no one quite understood. Even Lily had scowled at her teacher in response. It wasn´t like Bellatrix didn´t deserve what she got earlier that morning. Black and Potter both got detention for a week, which was more than extreme even for McGonagall. And anyhow, their extreme punishment just made them look more heroic.

"What´s wrong with starting a stupid bloody club? Why´s everyone geeking out?" Gonzalo turned to Frank and then to James Potter.

"Put it together Gonzo!" Potter replied, rolling his eyes. "Don´t you know who the `Knights of Walpurgis´ are?"

Lily did perfectly well, what with Ada´s sordid fascination with Lord Voldemort.

"It´s that bloody yobbo dark arts cult!" Frank explained with equal impatience. "Honestly, where have you been the past two years Watkiss? Mars?"

"So what then?" Gonzalo looked around at them, perfectly unconcerned. "We have a whole blooming class on the Dark Arts. Why not a club?"

"A club that hates Mudbloods?!" Lily said to him rather loudly and they all turned in surprise.

"Lily!" Ada hissed at her side and then McGonagall had turned from the black board, where she had been drawing a diagram of a man turning into a aardvark.

"EVANS!" she screeched. "I´m shocked! YOU of all people! That language!!" She flew towards their table and everyone in class had let their mouths drop open.

"Thirty points from Gryffindor! And I´ll see you after class!" She spun away and went back to drawing her diagram, albeit much more darkly and jaggedly.

Nobody had any more words, but half the class was perfectly contented to stare at Lily, dumbfounded and a bit bewildered at what had just happened as not everyone had heard her say the forbidden word.

"Thirty!?" Lily turned to Ada and Dale for support. "This is complete bilge-"

"Allow it!" Dale replied quietly, sketching a replica of the professor´s black board design. "You aren´t here to break taboos!"

"I hear talking back there!" McGonagall suddenly called, not turning from the black board.

Soon all the noise that could be heard were nervous quill scratchings.

After class everyone filed out rather faster then usual, despite the fact that all they had to look forward to next was Potions.

"Miss Evans," McGonagall acknowledged from behind a stack of books on her desk.

"Professor," Lily matched her tone begrudgingly. She didn´t see why she should be punished for saying the truth. And she would refuse to feel badly.

Maybe it was Lily´s tone or her stoic expression, but the professor softened and sat down. With a wave of her wand she sent the huge stack of books away towards a shelf across the room.

"I understand how you feel..."

"Really?" Lily asked benignly. "So why am I in trouble?"

McGonagall paused and went on, "Trouble? You´ll know when your in trouble with me Evans. What I am is concerned."

"About what?" Lily interjected.

"About? Well, let´s see. About what, when, where, why and at this precise moment,who, Evans. Could you possibly think of a reason why I´d be concerned for your sake?"

"Hmm..." Lily didn´t bite.

"Don´t be coy now. Your a muggle born and as such you may find yourself being inconvenienced-"

"Most definitely-"

"Do NOT interrupt again, Miss Evans. Now, as I was saying, you strike me as a very politically astute young woman, which everyone not discluding myself appreciates. It´s only intelligent in these... Times. As you might have deduced, the whole foolish pure blood issue is on the rise again... You have read a history book I assume, yes of course. What you´ve seen in the corridors is highly unusual behaviour at Hogwarts... This school has generally always preferred open-mindedness and equality. However we can´t control what silly nonsense people fill their children´s heads with when they´re at home! I can tell you right now that Bellatrix Black is of a particularly old house that prides themselves on being pure blood. Their name is no coincidence, they´ve a long ugly history of dark arts magic. Do you get what I´m saying right now?"

"I think so," Lily replied thoughtfully. "You´re telling me to keep out of her hair. But professor, um, I´m not afraid of her or her stupid family. They´ll hate people like me forever either way. Besides that, it wasn´t me that sent those hexes on her."

"Sirius Black is Miss Black´s cousin, as you know. Potter is from a pure blood family as well. A clash between them goes less noticed then even the smallest altercation with a muggle born. You´re not the only one at this school that Miss Black has fought with, of course. There was a wizarding duel last year..."

`Your kidding!" Lily sighed with ecstasy, wondering who her newfound ally was.

McGonagall, despite herself, smiled. "It was quite a mess. The whole fourth floor hallway had to be blocked off for two weeks."

"Who?" Lily asked hopefully. "I swear I won´t tell!"

"Miss Wingham, she´s our team´s Seeker. She´s also Muggle born. Might I add that, like you, she is a highly gifted and apt pupil? The point is Evans that this belief that pure blood wizards are somehow more worthy to magic is completely irrational. Bellatrix Black is no more talented than any of the half bloods or Muggle-borns at the school, though she is an above-average student! I would say that you easily top her in nearly every subject, especially mine and most especially Charms! Has Professor Flitwick talked about this with you?"

Lily shook her head with wonder.

"Yes, well, you´re at the very top of your class in his subject! It´s going to be recommended to you that you start taking advanced lessons with some of the seventh years. I don´t need to enlighten you on what this would mean for the future when you are pursuing a career..."

"Gee whiz," Lily mumbled. "Gee whiz!"

McGonagall must not have ever heard the expression before. She looked puzzled, but then she turned back to her work on the desk. "That´s all, unless you have any questions for me Miss Evans." She looked up at Lily´s shaking head. "You know that I´m always nearby if you ever do need help... With anything."

*    *    *

On the way to lunch Lily noticed that the sign-up sheet for the Junior Knights had not been replaced. But she quickly heard from Ada and Alia that there were at least three more throughout the castle and Morgaine knew how many more lurking about the castle.

"We´ll have to just search every one out and take them down!" Dale informed them matter-of-factly. He saw the incredulous look on their faces and said, "What? After Lily´s display in Transfiguration I can´t get it out of my head now... Why should we take this lying down? I am after all just as mud-blooded as Lily!"

"So you think Dumbledore will let them have their meeting?" Alia asked them.

"Must," Ada said through a mouthful of oatcake. She swallowed. "You have to get an approval for any extracurricular activity in before you start. Somehow that unhinged tart managed to weasel her club by Dumbledore and the rest. Probably used her parent´s influence." She ended this by muttering a creative expletive that got a few raised eyebrows.

"Look at them!" Lily jabbed a finger at the Slytherin table.

Bellatrix and Federico Colon, the tall prefect were making a show of laughing at the obvious point loss in the Gryffindor house glass. They were behind all the other houses now.

"YUCK IT UP CLOWNS!" she shook a fist at them, but they were too far away to hear her.

"Quiet yourself!" Ada admonished. "I can´t eat with you bellowing like that."

"They´ll get there´s!" Alia added, looking over her shoulder at them darkly and exchanging a wicked smile with Ada. Alia had become a lot less worried about boys and a lot more interested in revenge since tagging along with Lily´s small group. And of course it did help that she was the unofficial `Encyclopedia Hogwarts´ as Ada often put it.

Alia had the dirt on nearly everyone of interest at Hogwarts, and how she came by the information Lily could hardly conceive.

*    *    *

"Where are my baffies?" Ada was throwing a stuffed bear, a box of cockroach clusters, a calligraphy set and various other belongings of her roommate's around as she searched their dorm.

"I heard you screamed the word `Mudblood´ out in class today!" Marva Sequim made pleasant conversation.

"Sure," Lily replied, taking notes from `Tooth and Claw, The Ultimate Dangerous Creature Resource´ by Hortense Gorey.

"Cool, is it okay if I say it now? I mean, I´m pure blood. But everyone always frowns if pure bloods say it."

Lily looked up and grinned as Ada rolled under Alia´s bed moaning, "Where are my BLOODY BAFFIES?!?"

"No, only a Mudblood can say it. We as a minority are reclaiming it."

"For realsies?" Marva replied.

"No!" Lily exclaimed, tossing aside her quill. "Don´t be daft Sequim! I lost Gryffindor thirty bloody points for it today, so don´t you go losing us the house cup!"

"Afty, mates!" Alia came in and sat on her bed to remove her filthy shoes. "Lily, why didn´t you go to practice?"

"What?" she mouthed, her stomach aching.

"P-R-A-C-T- well, damn it it´s a long word. But why weren´t you THERE? Deck hardly noticed but Potter and Cruz were..."

"I forgot!" Lily smacked her forehead. "It was today?!"

Alia nodded.

"Okay," Ada came up on the far side of Alia´s bed covered in dust. "Where. Are. The. Baffies."

"Maybe Bellatrix stole them!" Alia joked.

"That´s not funny," Ada told her solemnly.

"There they are!" Marva pointed to a pair of lurid pink ear muffs.

"No. Those aren´t my baffies. Those are ear muffs. My baffies look like bunnies and they have little bows and I always wear them!"

"I can´t believe I skipped out on the first practice!" Lily moaned, feeling very sick very quickly.

"Why do you care?" Ada replied. `You don´t even want to be on the team, any way."

"Still! This won´t make me any more friends!"

"Who needs bloody more friends? What we need are enemies... Since that Nico Quietus kicked the bucket we haven´t had any jiggery pokery! Not that I´m blaming her for getting lost and apparating into a stupid boulder, may she rest in peace, but really, it´s been a while since we´ve had some good, clean, innocent fun... Now all of a sudden everything is so bloody grave all the time!"

Lily knew that Ada had just extended Quietus the best respect she could afford so wasn´t at all offended for her sake (the part about getting "lost" did, but now was hardly the time to get into another row).

"Y´know. You´re really right about that," she said. It had been a very long time since their problems had been normal kids stuff. But... Now that Lily recalled she hadn´t had any normal problems since she hopped on the Hogwarts Express in the fall of 1970.

Jimi Hendrix had died, the muggle British army opened fire on a peaceful civil rights protest in Derry and the Dark Mark, as it was officially known had been spotted for the third time last month. And Lily didn´t foresee a time in the near future when she wouldn´t be bothered for being the daughter of a plumber and a drug store cashier. Of course, she couldn´t feel too badly. Petunia caught plenty of mess about it from her hoighty toighty muggle `girlfriends´ at that pretentious academy she was attending, not that she would openly admit it.

"Here they ARE!" Ada shook her furry feet at her roomies triumphantly.

*    *    *

Lily had not gotten very far the following day before she was accosted by her team members. She had taken the first dirty look and `talking to´ with silent acceptance. But by the third confrontation, this time with Miranda, she had had enough. It was the fourth that affected her most. Wanda Wingham had stepped in her way in the corridor rather shyly and asked her if she would like to borrow her school planner to use for the future. Wanda was a personal hero of hers lately and it was a pain to disappoint her comrade against The Bellatrix.

Then in the corridor after lunch she passed Black herself.

"Blood filth," she snapped, her glossy black hair flowing behind her as she walked past without slowing.

"Skank," Lily commented.

As soon as they rounded the corner, Dale whipped out a long parchment. "Got another Junior Knights of Walpurgis sign-up form! This is only the fifth I found, but Joe said he got a couple earlier this morn- What the-"

From a solid statue of a one-eyed witch suddenly a group of boys emerged. Potter among them, quickly folded a strange parchment into his robes at the sight of Lily and her friends.

"What are you doing down here?" Sirius asked them as if all the world he hadn´t just stepped out of a secret passage.

"None of your beeswax arseface!" Ada told him.

"Were going to class." Lily sighed at them. "You know... HERBOLOGY?"

"Oh? Well at least she bothers to show up for something," Potter muttered with supreme indifference. She wasn´t an asset enough to the team to be missed terribly. If she had been Wingham they would have been crying and begging for her to come back to them.

Lily didn´t have a witty comeback so she didn´t say anything as they walked around and past the boys. But she was seriously starting to not feel bad about forgetting practice. At this rate she wished she could forget the following one tommorrow as well!

"The first meeting for their club is tomorrow... I´ve already got two people from Hufflepuff and three from Gryffindor to join our action outside the meeting place... Me, you Ada, Joe, Bashir, and you of course Lily make the number of Gryffindors eight..."

"Tomorrow?" Lily repeated. "But I have stupid practice tomorrow!"

"No, don´t tell me this!" Dale waved a hand in her face. "Not after I organized the whole shebang all week long! You can make both, can´t you?"

"No, the Slytherins meet at exactly the same time as practice starts!" Lily moaned, throwing up her hands. Why hadn´t she put these two facts together earlier? It was significantly more important to her to protest the Junior Knights of Walpurgis than anything.

They reached the Green House and paused outside the door. The class didn´t begin for another four minutes.

"Tell em yer sick," Ada offered wisely.

"I can´t! I already blew off the last one... I´d be burned alive at the stake."