King Of My Heart | R. BLACK

11 | unwelcomed lessons

The four fifth year Gryffindor's had stayed up the whole night and a few nights after that coming up with a plan.

None of them - sans America - wanted to cause physical harm. They merely wanted to teach the Slytherin's a lesson.

No one had tried anything with Angela. They were convinced that it was probably because she had gained quite the reputation for herself after she won the duel against Barty Crouch Junior. They decided, however, to go along with the plan anyway.

It was a good plan, it was just difficult to execute hence the multiple all nighters.

By the time they had been - hopefully - successful with their goal, they were all beyond exhausted.

They entered the Great Hall, America's head rested on a petrified Trevor's shoulder. They took a seat at the table and America yawned, "Do you think it worked?"

"Won't take long to find out," Angela replied as she gestured to the Slytherin.

A third year had accidentally bumped into one of the elder Slytherin's and they were livid. It was impossible to hear but it was clear that the Gryffindor's plan had worked as the Slytherin grabbed at their throat.

Angela grinned as, further down the table, a group of Slytherin's began to sneeze uncontrollably.

When a Gryffindor down the way began to babble nonsense, they knew it had worked in its entirety.

They had originally set out to target the Slytherin's but had ultimately decided that it was time to take all of the prejudiced students at Hogwarts down a notch. Even those in their own house.

While no one in Gryffindor - that they were aware of - had ever called a muggleborn a mudblood, mudblood wasn't the only slur that existed. They had gone through every slur that they had ever heard and used a Taboo jinx. Anytime the word was said, it triggered a different charm, hex or jinx on the witch or wizard whether it be the Babbling Curse, Langlock, Steleus or some other one they had came up with.

"I call this a success," America muttered before she rested her head on the table, sleep immediately overtaking her.

Daisy frowned, "There's a lot of people affected."

"That's their own fault, Dais," Angela pointed out. "Maybe they'll finally learn. And if not, we'll just teach them another lesson."

The doors to the Great Hall opened to reveal three out of four of the Marauder's. Out of instinct, those affected had immediately sprung at them, asking how to fix it through sneezes or incoherent attempts.

Sirius leaned toward James and muttered, "Did we do this?"

James shook his head in confusion, "No, I don't think we did. Moony?"

"Nope, not us," he confirmed, "Our next prank isn't planned till next Thursday."

"Hmm," he replied in thought. "Then who-" he stopped mid-sentence as his sight landed on a group of rather tired looking fifth years. He approached them, his friends following behind. "So she's finally willing to prank but doesn't even invite her big brother to assist?"

Angela rolled her eyes, "It was last minute and I would hardly call it a prank."

"Last minute my ass," America muttered, "I haven't slept in a week."

"I'm impressed with you lot," Sirius nodded approvingly. "You show real potential. Though I'm not entirely sure what you did."

"All slurs are Taboo," Trevor explained. "At least all those we could think of. You say one, you get hit with a nasty jinx or hex."

Peter approached his friends, his nose red and irritated. "I can't," he began with a sneeze, "stop," he sneezed, "sneezing."

They all turned to look at him in both alarm and surprise.

Angela raised an eyebrow, anger taking over, "What did you do, Peter?"

"I," he sneezed, "was with," he sneezed again, "my girlfriend."

"Oh, ew!" Angela exclaimed as she covered her ears as though that would make the thought go away. Trevor grimaced and America let out a tired laugh.

Daisy remained confused until it registered, "Why would you call your girlfriend that?"

Sirius let out a laugh as he patted his friend on the back, "Oh, Peter..." He gestured toward the door, "Come on, we'll get you sorted out."

Remus followed the two out leaving James with the fifth years.

James looked around the room, "How many slurs did your list include? I didn't even know there were this many."

"I think we got to fifteen before Angela started crying about how cruel people were," Trevor explained. "There's probably more but we didn't get them. We'll add more if we have to."

"There's a lot of people affected."

"You didn't think it was just the Slytherin's who were assholes, did you?" America asked.

James shook his head, "Well, I knew, I just didn't know."

"Can anyone explain why this Slytherin tried to talk to me and then started sneezing?" Lily asked as she approached the group. She looked at James, "I assume this was your work."

"Nope," he replied though while he appeared proud, he was frowning slightly. "This was all my sister."

Lily turned to Angela, "Oh, no."

"It's not the same thing," Angela said pointedly, "This is a lesson. What my brother does is child's play."

"Hey!" James exclaimed in protest.

"You should fix it," Lily suggested.

Angela snorted, "Sorry, not happening. The only words that cause a reaction are words that shouldn't be said to begin with."

"They'll just replace them with something else."

"And we'll add those to the list," Angela shrugged. "Eventually, they'll learn. Or not. Either way, good prevails."

Lily frowned slightly, "So why was Peter sneezing earlier?"

James stifled a laugh, "It's better you don't know that." He turned to the red head, "Hey, which Slytherin was it that tried talking to you?"

"Why?"

"Don't tell him," Trevor warned, "He's going to go all macho man and kill them."

"I am not going to kill them," James countered. "I just want to have a talk."

Angela rolled her eyes, "They're being punished James, trust me. You can put the hero act to rest for now."