Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

Chapter 6

James sat as straight as could at the family breakfast table and tried not to wince at the clinking of silverware against the fine bone china that went off like an explosion in his aching head. He regretfully realized when he awoke that morning with the sudden and violent need to hurl whatever contents were sloshing around inside his stomach that he was horribly hungover. Had his parents noticed? No, no, he didn't think so. And, anyway, they had probably never had a hangover in their life. His parents? Getting piss drunk? No, absolutely not, could never have happened.

His father shook out that morning's Daily Prophet, earning a glare from his mother who did not believe in reading at the table. James shoveled eggs into his mouth and absently scanned the front page.

"DEATH EATERS SWING VOTE IN THEIR FAVOUR; Talks of a 'Lord of Magic' circulate, Montrose Shacklebolt decries it a cult and demands proof of power, but people want change."

"NEW SPRING FASHIONS IN; Latest robes from Paris feature tasseled cords under bust for this upcoming spring."

"MR AND MRS RASMUS NOTT BACK FROM HONEYMOON; See their collection of art purchased while in Greece and Italy on page 17."

Lucy Snowe, a Muggleborn witch of twenty-eight years, has been reported missing as of last week. Her last known whereabouts were in the Leaky Cauldron where she had reportedly gotten into a row with a patron. It had started as a spirited debate about the political organization known as the Death Eaters, during which Miss Snowe had taken offense. She was noted to have stood up on a table and shouted, "Why are you so afraid of saying his name? Voldemort, Voldemort, Voldemort! There! I said it!" before storming out of the establishment. She has not been heard from or seen since. The Aurors are still attempting to find out the identity of the man she had fought with. Miss Snowe had once been engaged to pureblood Jeremiah Smith, although it was broken off when– James felt his eyelids droop as he scanned the article. Lily would have an absolute cow over it. "Why do they always have to bring up a woman's marital status?" She demanded time after time in the common room. "We're more than just objects to be bought and sold and married off! And her blood status! Why make note of it at all? Isn't it good enough that she's a witch, same as the rest of us? They have to drag out her entire family tree too?"

It took James a moment to realize it had been a while since his father had turned the page, and now his mother had abandoned her own rule and was leaning over Fleamont's shoulder, her eyes growing ever wider as she read. "What?" James demanded, growing annoyed at their lack of response. "What's going on? What does it say?"

Fleamont looked at his son, then back at the paper, and then once more at James. He set the paper down. James snatched it up and what he saw made his heart drop. It was a picture of himself and Sirius, drunkenly stumbling around his motorcycle. He watched as this black-and-white version of Sirius figured out how to get the thing turned on and then they were zooming off, out of the frame. "ROUND THE NIGHT CLUBS OF MUGGLE LONDON" the headline read. 'Bright Young Things' James Potter and Sirius Black were seen partying into the early morning hours Christmas Day with Muggles at a night club. They, and their half-blood companions, made the papers last summer when Mr Potter got into a physical altercation with Rasmus Nott during a ball hosted by his bride's family.

"It's an absolute disgrace the way these young children run amuck," Mr Cornelius Carrow was quoted as saying after the fight between Potter and Nott. "No honour, no discipline, no respect for tradition. They're no better than those Muggle hoodlums you see running around these days. I tell you, one of the few good ideas the Muggles came up with was the workhouse. Not all Muggles are shiftless and lazy and prone to criminality – quite a few of them are, but not all – and this mixing of degenerates with respectable Muggles has sullied the whole lot! Used to be a wizard could visit Muggle London and not have to worry about his safety, but now they've got those bombs and pistols and they're so violent they have no qualms about using them! A reckoning is about to commence, I promise you that!"