The Marauders: Year Four

The Minister for Magic

The Minister for Magic

James sat alone in a compartment near to the front of the train, across from the Prefect's compartment. Harry Warbeck, one of the prefects, stood outside his door, leaning against the wall, making sure he didn't go anywhere. The train operator, a soot-covered wizard with a bulbous nose names Jeremiah Kensington, had ordered that James be kept there while he assessed the damage.

"Never in 70 years of operating this train have I had a kid blow off a firecracker!" Jeremiah had bellowed in anger. And then he'd sent a patronus to the Ministry for Magic. "The aurors will be comin' fer ya!" he shouted, and then he had gone off to inspect the train.

James's heart was in his throat. He was certain to be getting expelled and the Aurors were probably going to come to drag him home where he'd face the wrath of his parents, who would be very, very angry. He looked at Harry Warbeck's form in the blown-out windows and wondered if he could take Harry on. James imagined ninja-chopping his way through the door and sprinting down the corridor to the exit, leaping from the train and running - running across the field that surrounded the train to the woods and living like a vagabond. It hadn't been so bad, the life Remus and Sirius had forged through all summer. Perhap winter would be doable... build some fires, knick some blankets, maybe...

Are you a wizard, use your wand, you idiot. Sirius's voice suddenly went through James's mind and he realized he'd been envisioning getting away without using any magic at all. He was just about to start working out what spells he would use against Harry Warbeck in a duel for a bid for his freedom when he heard a great deal of murmuring going on, getting louder, as students all along the train started talking, gossiping, shouting out news to one another.

James stood up and went to the window, sticking his head out the now empty frame to look at Harry Warbeck. "What's going on?" he asked.

"You aren't supposed to do that," Harry said, frowning.

James pulled his head back in. "Alright better? What's going on?"

"I dunno," Harry replied, "I'm guarding you, aren't I? Anything I heard you'd have heard..."

Another of the prefects ran over - it was Geoffrey Mulciber from Slytherin and he grinned menacingly at James, his eyes lit with delight. He looked at Harry, playing at not realizing James could hear him, he said, "This one's in big trouble. The Minister for Magic has just arrived, along with Alastor Moody."

Harry Warbeck's eyes widened. "The Minister!"

James felt like he would be sick. He sat back on the bench numbly, all thoughts of escape from the compartment came screeching to a halt. There was no doubt about it now - he was definitely getting expelled and more than likely sent to Azkaban itself. He clutched the bench, his knuckles white, wishing very much that he wasn't alone - although, Peter would have been no help at all about now. The first thing from James's mouth when the Jeremiah Kensington had come running down the aisle of the Hogwarts Express had been that Peter had had no part in the explosion. "He was trying to stop me doing it," James had lied, "He had no part in it. Honest." After all, the whole point had been to cheer Peter up, not to get him in trouble, and so James had shouldered the full responsibility. And because of his reputation of being a troublemaker, nobody had questioned it at all. In fact, even when Peter had insisted that it had actually been his idea, nobody listened, and James had been hauled off to the prefects compartment alone.

He wished Sirius was here with him.

There came the sound of very official, heavy footsteps in the corridor and slowly the sound of the students voices quieted all along the train as the sound got louder and closer and then Harry Warbeck jumped out of the way as Alastor Moody turned and looked in through the paneless window frames at James.