Kings and Queens // James Potter

Notes

edited 10/12/2016

The three warenders, as James liked to call them, were extremely clever. 

Not once in three years working together had they gotten caught hanging out together without an excuse. Not once since they were thirteen, starting this battle with high spirits and tough attitudes, had they left any clues as to what they might be doing. 

Of course, a lot had changed in the past year. The war had gotten worse, and they were fighting more and more frequently. They came back to school in worse shape than ever, and hardly had time to get back to the dorms and shower before it was time to go to breakfast with their houses. 

They started to get sloppy. 

Planning meetings had to occur at any given moment; they started to meet in the library at lunch, or during classes they could afford to skip. Eventually, they simply began to pass notes in class. This would prove to be a bad move. 

Obviously, these notes couldn't be found under any circumstances. Usually, they'd remember to burn the notes with a simple charm at the end of class, or just stick them in their bag or pocket on their way out. Sometimes Jacob would save them in a folder that he kept under his mattress. 

As the three sixth years depleted their energy, it began to show. Their teachers were aware of the circumstances, of course, and allowed them to take longer on assignments and cut class more frequently to catch up on sleep. Often, Courtney would be seen slouched behind her open textbook, sleeping into the words. James would doze off against his hand, only waking up when Remus would gently nudge his foot. (It was a common problem for any of the marauders to sleep in class; they had a no-questions-asked arrangement as to why they were so tired, and simply woke each other without concern.) Jacob had always been prone to sleeping during class; he was often seen with his head on the table. 

They also began to eat less; more often than not, the three had begun to skip dinner and leave early, and sleep through breakfast. 

These two problems ultimately led to their carelessness when it came to secrecy. No longer could they be bothered to come up with excuses as to why they were seen with each other; they didn't care if they were seen walking into the great hall together. The only thing that kept them secret was the notes. 

And then Sirius Black found them. 

It had been a class that Courtney and James shared, with Courtney sitting a row in front of James and Remus. They'd passed notes the entire class, managing to remain unnoticed. After class, they got up and left without a word, failing to notice the stack of papers drifting to the floor. 

Sirius Black, who sat a few rows in front of the two, noticed on his way out, picked them up, and began to read. 

J,

we need to leave before dinner tonight. make an excuse. Jacob says it's a big one.

-C

C,

alright, I'll say I have detention. meet at the office right after classes. What's the deal?

-J

J, 

The death eaters are going to ambush the order near HQ at around 7:00.  We need to warn them and fight.

-C

C, 

I still think it would be better to just keep them at a new HQ for now. It's risky now that they've been found.