121 Suspicious attitude

One day in mid-January, James as usual went to the Room of Requirement to continue his training and study routine. He went alone, as Lupin had fallen behind on several assignments, as he spent more time studying more advanced subjects and left aside assignments in History of Magic, Astronomy, etc.

That day, James finished his training later than usual. He usually stays in the room for about three and a half hours. He leaves the room at half past eleven at night. This time he stayed five hours, as he lost track of time while studying a very interesting subject.

He was creating a new charm for his contact lenses. His father and grandfather had already created charms that made the lenses more wearable and extended their life span.

James wanted to create a charm on his contact lenses that would protect them from a blinding flash of light. Specifically from Lumos Solem.

The Lumos Solem spell produces a blinding flash of sunlight. However, you must have sunglasses as otherwise the spell itself will blind you. Although, you can make specific movements of the wrist to modulate the volume of the light so that it is not so blinding.

James wants to cast the spell with the most powerful light to blind the enemy, but he does not need to have sunglasses on. Otherwise, he would also be affected by his spell. He could close his eyes just as he casts the charm, but it is not as effective, as he loses valuable time to attack his blinded enemy.

Because of this, he was creating a protective charm designed to shield his eyes from the intensity of the Lumos Solem's light. Similar to sunglasses, but James doesn't want his vision obscured like sunglasses.

'It's late already...' thought James, looking at the clock that read past one in the morning.

Rest is important. He can't get three or four hours of sleep every day. If he keeps that up over time his effectiveness will diminish. He can do it every other day, but not for too long.

On the wooden table, there were many papers written in ink, erasures, ideas of the new charm, etc. Creating a charm takes longer than learning one that is already created.

"Tomorrow, I'll continue..." muttered James. All the scattered papers came together and flew neatly into James' hands, and he put them in his wallet.

The invisibility cloak that was on a hanger flew gently towards him. He covered himself with it and walked out of the room in the direction of Gryffindor Tower.

The Room of Requirement and the entrance to the Gryffindor common room were nearby. On the same floor, namely the seventh. James on his way always had to pass through a door that was locked. No matter what you try to use Alohomora won't open. The marauders already tried it.

Then, he goes through Classroom 7A. As far as James knows this classroom is where Arithmancy classes are held. A kind of magical mathematics. And finally, you reach the corridor containing the portrait of the Fat Lady.

However, this time you found something unusual. As he was passing through the closed door of Classroom 7A he heard faint murmurs coming from inside the classroom.

Curiosity got the better of James, and he approached the door. The classroom had no windows for James to observe. He could only lean his ear against the door and try to listen.

As usual, he had cast Silencio Barriera so his footsteps and breathing would not be heard. He didn't think it was Filch and his cat, as Filch wouldn't close the door if he was looking for students breaking the rules.

'Could they be a couple sneaking around seeing each other?' thought James trying to listen. He remembered the rumor and the picture Xenophilius showed him of Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy.

However, as he put his ear to the door and listened a little better he realized it wasn't about that. He heard two male voices. One deeper and huskier than the other.

They sounded like an adult and a young student about James' age because of their higher-pitched tone of voice. It was hard to hear behind a door and having the invisibility cloak over him.

'I can't hear well...' thought James with a frown. They were whispering, and it was complicated to hear the conversation. Now he was more curious, why would an adult be meeting with a student at one in the morning?

A few minutes later, James heard footsteps approaching the door so he stepped back and watched carefully. He wanted to know who it was.

The door opened slowly and the person James saw surprised him. It was DADA Professor Eustace Burke. Behind him stepped out a student in a Hufflepuff uniform.

The student looked about James' age. He had large square glasses, brown hair, freckles, and a nervous look. His aura showed no signs of confidence or assurance.

'Professor Eustace...? Who is that student?' thought James with many questions in his head.

This smelled very bad figuratively. James dismissed the idea that Professor Eustace was teaching him about DADA because the student was behind or had doubts. That couldn't happen. It was obvious that Eustace hated children and teaching.

'I'll be damned if I was helping him catch up,' thought James, and nothing happened.

"You'd better hurry up. And don't get caught again by that damned caretaker. I won't be able to save you again, you good-for-nothing," Eustace said grumpily and in a threatening tone. The student just nodded his head repeatedly. He looked like he wanted to leave the place as soon as possible.

"Go back to your common room. You have a week," added Eustace, leaving the place and passing by James.

The Hufflepuff boy saw the professor disappear into the darkness, and sighed in relief, but when he realized that he was alone in the dark corridors of Hogwarts and that Filch was hovering he began to tremble and walk back to his common room quickly.

James just watched as the boy walked further and further away. He didn't follow him. It would be useless, and he didn't want to enter the common room of another house again.

He silently resumed his walk to his common room. As he entered his dormitory he noticed that everyone was asleep. He lay down on his comfortable bed and stared up, thinking.

'A week for what? He seems to be looking for something... But what exactly?' thought James.

He was already suspicious of Professor Eustace Burke. His close relatives owned a store selling dangerous objects and were dedicated to the dark arts. The bald man seemed to detest teaching and dealing with children.

His goal is not to teach the next generation so they can defend themselves against the dark arts.

Another question that was niggling at the back of James' mind was, why was he using a Hufflepuff student for his quest? The freckled and bespectacled boy seemed to be against his will. It was likely that he was being threatened.

And that would be great news for James and all the students who hate Professor Eustace. If you find evidence of such behavior the professor will be expelled for threatening a student.

If all these theories about Professor Burke are true he is likely a dark wizard. Is he a Death Eater? Or is he a dark wizard who is not attached to any group?

'I can't jump to conclusions... I'll follow that Hufflepuff boy tomorrow,' thought James, closing his eyes.

He should add a new task to his routine. Find out what Professor Eustace was up to.

...

Tuesday, January 16, 1973.

At breakfast that day, James scanned the Hufflepuff table, looking for the boy he saw yesterday next to Professor Eustace. It wasn't hard to find him. He was at the head of the table eating breakfast alone, like a loner with no friends.

James decided to follow him at night. The professor gave him a time limit of a week, so he certainly prowls the castle during the nights looking for something unknown to James.

"Hey, James!" exclaimed Sirius, and James turned his head.

"What's up?" asked James, turning his eyes away from the freckled boy.

"What's up? A new Nimbus broom is out! Look!" said Sirius excitedly, holding a weekly magazine from the Nimbus company over James' face.

James pulled the paper from his face and read the news on the front page which read, [New Nimbus 1010! Its speed surpasses its predecessor the Nimbus 1001...]

'A new one that fast...?' thought James, who was excited by the news, but a little angry. His Nimbus 1001 wasn't even three years old, and he was already due to buy a better one.

For Sirius, it was worse. Since he bought the Nimbus 1001 last summer, so he still hadn't even used it for a year and already had to buy another, more expensive one.

"Its aesthetics are spectacular," James commented, looking at a picture of the Nimbus 1010. The broomstick was jet black giving it a dark, but cool look.

"Yeah, it's cool! We should buy it. We'll get this year's championship with that broom!" said Sirius excitedly.

"You're paying to win..." said Lupin.

"It's always been that way. If you have an old broom your flying skills better be great or you'll be dead weight," Sirius said not at all embarrassed.

"Buy it? Where are you going to get the money? Its price shouldn't go below four hundred galleons," said James, knowing Sirius's financial situation.

His mother wouldn't even give him an extra knut anymore. There was no way he would have to spend four hundred galleons after buying the Nimbus 1001 for three hundred and fifty.

"True..." said Sirius with a grimace, remembering that now he couldn't abuse his identity being the heir to House Black. Less so with the last argument, he had with his mother that he ended up going back to school many days before school started.

"Ask your brother for money. He doesn't seem to hate you," Lupin said as he ate a piece of toast with jam.

"Tsch, I won't ask Regulus for money. I am not a beggar. I'll get the money by my means. My uncle Alphard is a great entrepreneur and investor. He's taught me a few things," Sirius said with a confident smile.

"Oh, what business will you surprise us with?" asked James.

"Mm... Let me think," said Sirius, putting his hand on his chin and closing his eyes.

After a few minutes where the other marauders were looking at each other and eating in silence, Sirius opened his eyes with a smile.

"I know, illegal business!" said Sirius with a big grin.

"Don't say it so loud!" said Toby. It would be bad if a teacher overheard and decided to punish him.

"How did you come to that conclusion...?" asked Lupin in disbelief.

"How do you plan to make money at Hogwarts? All ways will be illegal if the professors find out. We have to create something like the Joker. A smuggling business. That bloody clown must be swimming in money," said Sirius speaking in a slightly lower tone.

"It will be hard to compete against the Joker when he's already had a smuggling network for years," said James, and everyone nodded.

"We should focus on another business. It is impossible to try to compete with the Joker. It will be very laborious and it may take us years to beat him. I need to buy the broom this year," said Sirius.

"Today after school. Meeting in our dormitory. In an hour we will choose which business we will start," added Sirius.

Sirius knew that James had an hour of free time after school so he had accommodated that time for the activities to be done by the marauders.

'Since when did we all go into business?' thought the others with their eyes rolling.

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