The Magical Monkey That Broke Up

Where Potter is, Black will surely be too.

Oh, this refers to Sirius, not Narcissa.

That being said, while these two wouldn't actually go to the bathroom together, the statement becomes relatively true when the duo appears far more frequently than individuals do.

The destructive power of a single magical monkey is not to be underestimated; two magical monkeys could even make older students avoid them.

This is a very subtle matter. Strictly speaking, apart from Avery, who was being targeted, no one particularly disliked the two of them.

Although James loves to show off and play, he often imitates Quidditch ball-striking motions and runs around in the corridor, making the boys laugh and the girls look down on him.

But people generally don't dislike this kind of person. Even if they find him annoying, they wouldn't necessarily feel disgusted by him.

But all of this... was changed by that nighttime outing.

Ugh.

James suddenly fell silent, as if unsure how to react.

Edmund couldn't guess what was going on in his seemingly simple, but actually not very complex, mind.

He just wanted to hurt the other person, and he succeeded.

Recently, Travers seems to be trying to change course, shifting his fawning attitude towards Edmund elsewhere. In exchange for petty gains, he actually received some gossip that was somewhere between useful and useless.

This included the statement, "Porter and Black had a fight." "No, more than that. They ended up at the school hospital and almost lost another 20 points."

Well, Edmund was not at all surprised by this result.

He even felt that this came later than he had anticipated.

The friendship between the two seems like a "perfect match," but it is actually full of hidden dangers.

James is a little wizard who loves to show off and has the ability to do so.

His father, Fremont Porter, was a master potion maker, and it's said that he quadrupled his family's fortune with his patented hair-smoothing potion. As his youngest son, James was undoubtedly pampered.

...That sounds familiar, doesn't it?

The Soman family has the same configuration.

Given the Potter family's situation, with more "roughneck heroes" in Gryffindor, everyone else would probably just be playing supporting roles to him.

This year's team is truly brimming with talent. The Lions not only acquired the newly rich Porter, but also brought in the most rebellious player in history, Black.

Blake, noble, pure, and richly wealthy.

The eldest son of the current head of the family became a Gryffindor—anyone with even a basic understanding of the wizarding world knows how big of a story this is.

This is where James and Sirius become a "perfect match." They are both prodigies, possess abundant material wealth, and are both rebellious.

The former was spoiled; the latter...

Edmund was also curious; he was very interested in the inexplicable hatred in Sirius's heart.

But he couldn't stand Sirius's personality, for a simple reason: they were somewhat similar.

They are all arrogant and can't stand others being better than themselves.

If Edmund's sense of superiority stemmed from his innate understanding of his actual abilities, then Sirius's sense of superiority was somewhat influenced by the belief that he was the only one who was truly awake in a world of fools.

He completely disregards those he despises.

And that's the difference between him and James. Well, how should I put it?

Although, although James is really only "newly acquainted with human nature", he is particularly lacking in distance and unable to recognize the appropriate boundaries when interacting with people.

But James still treats people like human beings, at least for now.

That sounds a bit odd, doesn't it?

Let's take the "incident" that caused these two to temporarily break up as an example.

This is valuable intelligence obtained in exchange for three bottles of amber honey wine.

According to the astute Professor Slughorn's judgment, only Potter and Black likely intended to go out that night.

As for Lupin himself, whose face was so pale that even the professor believed the two men's excuse that "we need to get him to the school hospital"?

He appeared to be completely coerced.

Edmund had no idea what the story behind it all was.

But if he had to choose between the two to decide who orchestrated the prank, he would first rule out James, who is always reckless.

Although this kid doesn't care if you fall and bleed because of a little joke when he wants to "make a joke" with someone.

Compared to Sirius, who doesn't care about anything, James is more, uh, more "soft".

Even though this person might burst into laughter while clutching their stomach because you knocked out two teeth;

But if you give in to him and act really sad... he might actually apologize to you in a fit of anger and unease.

Uh, probably.

Speaking of which, I heard that during his first week at Gryffindor, the prefects realized that James Potter had a terrible personality.

So he approached James' friend, hoping Sirius could pull him back from behind...

It's hilarious; now that I think about it, it's completely upside down.

Edmund was therefore convinced of his opinion: Sirius Black's character was far worse than James Porter's.

If James's brutality could be considered merely at the level of school violence, then Sirius was the kind of criminal inmate who truly didn't care about human life.

This is not entirely surprising. In old Mr. Soman's stack of documents on pure-blood families in England, the Black family, including fixed assets, seemed to be even stronger than the Malfoy family overall.

Such a pure-blood family—a pure-blood family that strictly adheres to the theory of pure blood, and has even seen instances of inbreeding…

Even if someone told Edmund that his children drank a glass of freshly squeezed Muggle juice every night, Edmund wouldn't find it strange.

Therefore, even though Sirius Black seemed more common-sense than James, and appeared to be just listless and uninterested in everything... Edmund was unwilling to become close to him.

They are somewhat similar; both grew up in extreme environments and became the kind of people who had to actively choose their partners rather than be chosen by others.

Such personality traits often conceal hidden dangers. While it's unclear how the usually taciturn and studious Remus Lupin offended Sirius, Edmund is almost certain:

This must have been orchestrated by Sirius.

I'm afraid James isn't really keen on supporting him.

...Although the two were "harmonious and loving" most of the time, and had a perfect understanding.

In reality, James is still very curious about many things. Although his methods are a bit crude, he is still exploring and wants to "figure things out".

Sirius's values ​​were almost fully formed; he had his own opinions on many things, but he kept them to himself.

If these two were to have a conflict, the resulting damage would likely be as massive as a "thunderbolt explosion."

He was right.

The reason James has remained silent until now is that even though things have almost come to a standstill, he is unwilling to speak ill of Sirius behind his back.

But this matter cannot be explained simply by "not saying bad things".

Even LeBron James felt this "joke" went too far:

Remus is not an outsider, much less one of those Slytherin bastards; he doesn't deserve this.