Chapter 9
When they get back to school, Oliver doesn’t outwardly go out of his way to avoid his brother but he doesn’t seek him out either. However, just because Oliver's ignoring his brother doesn't mean he has the restraint to ignore Peter. “Pete?” Oliver appears next to him in the hallways. Peter jolts slightly.
“Oh- Ollie, hi.” He clears his throat and scratches the back of his neck. His cheeks are flushed slightly. Oliver wonders if he’s coming down with something. “What can I do for you?”
A group of girls a few years older than them give them dirty looks as they walk around the two of them so Oliver grabs Peter’s arm and drags him to the side of the corridor. This way they’re not in anyone’s way. When Oliver looks back at Peter, he’s looking down at where Oliver’s holding his arm. They’re both in their robs, Peter in his Gryffindor ones and Oliver in his Slytherin ones. “Pete?”
“Huh?” Peter looks up at Oliver. “Sorry.”
Oliver laughs. “Don’t be. Anyway, what I wanted to ask you was if you could help me with Herbology? I have been having trouble with it and I know how you’ve always been excellent at it.”
Peter smiles. “I mean, I- I wouldn’t say excellent but I do know how to do it.”
Oliver raises an eyebrow at him. “As far as I’ve heard, you’re top of your class.”
“Well…” Peter looks at Oliver’s pleading face and gives in. The two of them have to get to class but they’re going to meet up in the library after classes.
This goes on for a while. Peter helps Oliver with Herbology and Oliver helps Peter with Charms in return, not that Oliver needs to do something for him. He’s said multiple times that Oliver doesn’t need to do anything to earn his help. Peter sets work for Oliver to do along with the Herbology homework that Professor Sprout gives him. Oliver’s got a lot to do for his classes so he doesn’t get to spend a lot of time with his friends. Most of the time he’s in the library. It’s not often that he’s in the restricted section, he mostly just goes in there when his friends are with him.
He’s sitting with Lily, Mary and Remus in a corner of the library, the four of them all doing different work. Oliver has to study for Herbology because if he doesn’t them Peter’ll be disappoi- fuck. He did the one thing that’s been hindering his work the most. Thinking about Peter Petigrew. Now all he can do is think about Peter Petigrew and his smile and his eyes and his laugh and his voice and-
Oliver thumps his head against the table. Then he does it again and again and again until his head hits something soft instead of the table. He stays there for a moment before sighing and lifting his head to look at Remus, who had been the one to put his hand out so Oliver would stop hitting the table. “I’m sure something horrible has happened but maybe, perhaps, it isn’t the end of the world to the point that you have to bash your head against the table?”
Oliver groans and his head goes down again. Remus had taken his hand off the table but he’s quick to put his hand up so he catches Oliver’s head. Remus had changed the most over the summer. He hadn’t spent any of it at the Potter’s so Oliver was extremely flabergasted when he’d seen Remus. He’d barely recognised him. He grew a lot and he’s less lanky, his everything catching up with his height. His hair got longer and fluffier (there was nothing anyone could do to stop Oliver from touching it, it looked so fucking fluffy). He’d gotten overall more handsome. He’d been good looking before, sure, but now he was growing up. He’s isn’t the only one that changed. Lily got taller and she seems more happy in her own skin. It makes Oliver feel happy knowing that she’s happy. Mary’s seems the most grown up in the group, besides being fifteen. She holds herself higher— she’s always held herself high but everyone’s head turns when she walks into a room, all in agreement that they’d do anything the moment she showed she needed (or wanted) it. Oliver supposes he’s changed too. His hair is getting longer and he mostly has it half tied up when he works so it isn’t in his face. His hair has been getting less curly and his skin darkened over the break. Probably because they went to Mexico to see their extended family for one of Oliver’s cousin’s wedding. They all spent a lot of time in the sun.
“Wanna talk about it?” Lily asks.
“No,” Oliver mumbles. Remus moves Oliver’s head so he’s leaning on Remus’ arm. Oliver mumbles a groan. “Anyone got a way to clear their head?”
Remus opens his mouth but Lily glares daggers at him and he closes it again, pouting. “He wants to clear his head though.”
“You are not teaching James’ brother how to smoke, Remus,” Lily hisses. “Absolutely not.”
“I think you should.” Mary looks up from her books. “What? It’ll be good for him!”
“No!” Lily says. “Also, we’re in the middle of the library- and don’t even think about taking him outside, Remus Lupin. It’s bloody freezing.”
Remus frowns. “Wow, Evans. I didn’t know you were such a party pooper.”
“Oh grow up,” LIly scoffs.
Oliver looks between Lily and Remus who continue to argue about whether or not Remus can teach Oliver how to smoke. Oliver wouldn’t be apposed to it, actually. Being taught how to smoke, he means. Barty would love it. As harsh as the comebacks are, this argument has gotten Oliver’s mind off of- oh damn it! Oliver sighs, putting his head back on the table. “He’s miserable!” Remus says.
“That doesn’t mean you can give him drugs, Remus!”
“I can.”
“But you shouldn’t.”
“But I can.”
“But you won’t.” Lily’s voice is sharp and final. Remus huffs and Oliver peeks to see Remus slumped in his chair.
“You’re no fun, Lils.” Remus tsks. “You know what would make you fun?”
“Remus John Lupin I swear to god if you don’t stop talking about smoking I will kick you out of our study group,” Lily warns. Woah. Oliver didn’t know Remus’ middle name was John. Well, whaddya know? You learn something new everyday. Also, this is a study group? Huh. Well, he supposes it is. They get together and they study for whichever class they need to do work for. They don’t usually speak to each other about their work but if they need assistance then the others are more than happy to help. Unless it’s Remus around a full moon. Then he wants nothing to do with other people and is only at the library with the group because he needs an excuse to get away from his dormmates and their clingy behaviour.
The argument between Remus and Lily dies down and everyone goes back to their work— except Oliver can’t focus. Maybe it would help to talk about it. “Have you guys ever had a crush on someone?”
They all look up at him. Lily raises her eyebrows. “Oh? Well yes.” A big smile spreads across her face as she leans forwards, closing her book. “Oliver, do you have a crush on someone?”
Oliver thinks it over for a moment. “I… I think so. Okay, I’m not sure because I- well, I’ve never had a crush on anyone before.” He fiddles with his quill and sighs. “I don’t know what to do.”
Lily gives him a sympathetic smile. “Oliver, it’s okay to like someone. Whoever this girl is would be extremely lucky to have you.”
Oliver groans and drops his head back down on the table. He knows his parents wouldn’t care whether it was a girl or a boy he fancied but he isn’t so sure about his fellow students. James wouldn’t care and Remus, the closet is fucking glass mate, but everyone else… He can’t talk to his friends about this because, no matter how much they love him, they’re so tightly wound up in their family’s business that they could either be supportive one hundred percent or they could hate him, tell everyone he’s gay and never speak to him again. Oliver isn’t sure how to deal with this.
“Ollie, whoever it is, you can talk to us,” Mary says. Her hand settles on Oliver’s arm. “We won’t judge.”
He lifts his head enough to rest his chin on the table. “Really? Even if it’s… someone a lot of people wouldn’t approve of?”
Mary smiles. “Ollie. We’ve known you for almost four years. You could like a teacher for all I care.” She takes her hand off his arm so she can gently nudge his head with her fist. His head lulls to the side as he smiles at her. She smiles back. “As much as you’re James’ little brother, you’re like ours too.”
Remus and Lily both nod. Oliver takes a deep breath. “Okay.” He bites his lips and starts to pick at the skin around his fingers. “It isn’t a girl,” he says slowly, avoiding all of their eyes. “It’s a guy.”
They’re quiet for a moment and then Lily’s grinning like an idiot. “Oh fuck yeah.” She reaches out to take his hand. “Hey, Ol, I’m so proud of you, don’t get me wrong, but why did you feel like you couldn’t tell us?”
Remus’ eyes widen and he leans forwards. “Did someone say something bad about it? Who was it? I’ll fucking kill them.”
Oliver shakes his head. “No no, no one said anything- no one else even knows.”
Mary tilts her head. “Not even Baby Black or any of those other guys?”
Oliver turns his head to lazily glare at her. “First, never call him that to his face, he’ll punch you. I’m serious. He’s done it before.”
“Noted.”
“And…” Oliver exhales deeply. “No. My friends have no idea.”
“Why not?” Lily asks. “If you don’t mind me asking.”
Oliver shakes his head. “Of course I don’t mind. The reason they don’t know is… well it could go very badly. I know they love me and I know they all try so hard not to be their parents but I don’t know how far rooted they really are.”
“They could hate you,” Remus says softly. He reaches over and rests his hand next to Lily’s on Oliver’s arm. “I hate that it’s true. It’s the same reason I-” He clears his throat and glances at all of them. Oliver smiles at him and he clears his throat again. “I… well um. It’s the reason I haven’t told anyone I’m gay.” He slumps down in his chair. “Especially Sirius. I don’t know how he’d take it.”
“Dude,” Oliver puts his hand over Remus’. “No offence, but I totally already knew.”
Remus blinks, his eyes going wide. “What?”
Oliver laughs. “Remus, of course I knew. Again, no offence but that closet was made of the clearest glass I’ve ever seen.”
Remus gapes at him. “You mean you-” He looks at Lily and Mary. “Did you guys-?”
Lily shakes her head. “No idea.”
Mary shrugs. “I knew.” They all look at her. “What?” She balances the tip of her quill on the end of her finger. “You don’t spend as much time with him and his little entourage as I do and not pick up on these things.”
Lily takes her hand from Oliver’s hand and whacks her best friend. “And you didn’t tell me?! What the hell, Mary?”
Mary’s quill goes tumbling to the floor as she tries to shield herself. “Easy, Lils. I wasn’t just going to out Remus.”
Remus smiles. “I appreciate that, Mars.” He pulls his lips into a thin line. “But just out of curiosity, have you noticed if anyone else is queer?”
As Lily finally stops whacking her, Mary drops her arms and grins. “Oh you’re not going to get those secrets from me that easily, Lupin.”
“Mary…” Remus narrows his eyes at her and she shrugs, leaning down to pick up her quill. She dips it into some ink and starts writing on her potion notes. Remus huffs and leans back in his chair, his hand falling from Oliver’s arm. He crosses his arms and pouts like a child. Oliver smiles at his friends. Lily also smiles. She chuckles at Remus’ childish behaviour.
“Anyway,” she says, turning to Oliver. “So this guy, would we know him?”
Oliver looks down at his hands, unable to fight the smile crawling onto his face. “Perhaps.”
Lily leans forwards on her forearms, Mary lifts her head and Remus raises one of his eyebrows, all intrigued. “Who?” Lily asks.
Oliver clears his throat and opens his mouth but doesn’t get to speak due to the arm draping around his shoulders. “What’re we talkin’ about here girls?” Sirius says. Oliver scrunches up his nose but lets him do what he wants. It isn’t weird for Sirius to do this. He’s actually gotten quite close with Oliver. Sure, some part of Oliver feels bad because this is Regulus’ brother that he’s becoming friends with but then Sirius makes him laugh so hard his stomach hurts and he doesn’t feel as guilty. Besides, Sirius is so nice to him. Sure, he didn’t like Oliver at first because he was in Slytherin but it’s not like Regulus didn’t feel the same way about him being James Potter’s little brother. Also, Regulus doesn’t seem as against Oliver hanging out with his brother as one might think.
“None of your business,” Oliver says, pulling a Herbology text book closer to himself.
“Aw come on Ollie.” James pokes his cheek. “We’re just curious.”
Oliver flinches away a bit. Oh. He didn’t realise they were still… He thought he made it perfectly clear he didn’t want to talk to his brother. That he was ignoring him. Maybe he wasn’t as clear as he thought he was before James ducks his head in to kiss his cheek before pulling up a chair. Lily makes eyes between Sirius and Oliver with her eyebrows raised. Oliver’s own furrow in confusion. Lily extenuates her look between the two and Oliver’s still confused. Lily sighs and runs a hand down her face. “So, Oliver, you seem to like Sirius now.”
The gears in Oliver’s head finally click and Oliver’s eyes widen and then he closes them while making a disgusted face. “Eugh. Gross. Disgusting. No.”
Lily frowns at getting it wrong but Sirius seems outright offended. He takes his arm from around Oliver’s shoulders and punches his arm. “Hey! I thought we were friends.”
Oliver shrugs. “You’re my brother’s friend. That hardly makes you mine.”
Sirius frowns. “Prongssss. Your brother’s being mean to me.”
James looks up from where he’s whispering something to Mary. “Huh?”
“Ollie said we weren’t friends,” Sirius pouts.
“We’re not,” Oliver says.
“Ollie.” James crosses his arms. “Don’t you think you’re being a bit rude?”
Oliver rolls his eyes. “I’m a Slytherin. You should expect it by now.” This causes James to frown and Sirius to tense up. Oliver avoids his gaze by scribblings down the proper way to deal with mandrakes.
“You forgot to add earmuffs,” Peter says quietly, pointing to the beginning of his paragraph. “They’re the first thing you put on.”
“Shit, right.” Oliver puts an arrow pointing up and then writing down to remember to put earmuffs on first. He looks up and smiles at Peter. “Thanks.”
Peter smiles back. “Of course. I am here to help after all.”
“Ohhhhh,” Lily says. Oliver turns to glare at her. She has a smug look on her face. “I get it now.”
“Shut it, Evans,” Oliver mumbles, cheeks flushing. He continues writing down his method while Lily laughs.
“What?” Peter asks. Lily can’t stop laughing for long enough to explain. Remus and Mary seem to catch on to what Lily has discovered. They both grin and Oliver sinks down in his chair, embarrassed.
The next day is a quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor. Both houses play very well but Gryffindor ends up winning but twenty points. Slytherin isn’t very happy. Oliver flips over his brother every time he’s looking. Oliver and Regulus are standing on the pitch, a few paces away from the rest of the team. They’re talking about how Dorcas has been thinking about trying out for the team. They think she should totally try out next year. Then the three of them could be having fun playing quidditch! (Quidditch is not fun but they’re going to drag Dorcas down with them.)
The Gryffindor team walks past, James looking over and Oliver flipping him off with both of his hands. “Can I tell you something?” Regulus asks.
Oliver looks over at him, dropping his hands. “Of course, Reg. Anything.”
“I have a weird feeling when Barty’s around,” Regulus says. “I don’t know, I think he’s bad news.”
Oliver blinks. “The same Barty that we’ve been sharing a dorm with for the past three years? That Barty?” Regulus nods. “Why are you just now saying it?”
“I don’t know,” Regulus shrugs. “I get this weird feeling when he’s around. Nervous. And sweaty. And like I want him to-” He suddenly goes quiet. “Ooooh. Never mind.” He turns abruptly on his heels and walks in the direction of the changing rooms.
Oliver throws his hands up. “Wait- Regulus!” He sighs before running after his best friend. He doesn’t get to question him more about what the fuck that was because Evan finds them.
“Barty’s in the hospital wing,” he says, bracing himself on his knees as he tries to catch his breath.
“What?” “Huh?” Regulus and Oliver say at the same time, looking at each other like they’ll know what the fuck happened to have Barty in the hospital wing. The three of them run back up to the castle, Evan constantly protesting that Barty isn’t worth this. Oliver’s concerned on how much Barty has been rubbing off on Evan. They get to the hospital wing and walk in to see Barty sitting in a bed. He’s got his leg elevated and bandaged.
“What did you do?” Oliver asks. Him and Regulus still have their quidditch uniform on and his hair is sticking to his forehead with sweat.
“I twisted my ankle,” Barty tells them. He sighs. “Pomfrey said I have to stay here for a bit.”
“How did you manage that?” Regulus asks.
Evan snickers and Barty pouts. “You know how the stairs move?” Barty asks.
Regulus and Oliver glance at each other. “Yeah,” Oliver says.
“Well I didn’t,” Barty mumbles. It takes a moment to settle in but when it does, Regulus and Oliver start bursting out laughing. They’re laughing so loud that Madam Pomfrey has to come over and shush them. While his friends continue to make fun of Barty, Oliver walks over to see how Madam Pomfrey’s doing. She looks to be restocking potions.
“Hello, my dear,” Pomfrey says, smiling fondly as she sees Oliver walking over. She flicks her wand and a potion floats onto a shelf. “How’s Mr. Crouch?”
“Fine,” Oliver says. He looks over and sees Barty trying to stop Evan from writing and/or drawing something on his bandages. He smiles fondly at them. “You know, Evan was so different when I met him.”
Pomfrey hums. “Is that so?”
Oliver nods while sitting down in one of the chairs. “Yeah. Regulus too, obviously, but Evan’s changed quite a bit. It’s Barty, I think. He’s rubbed off a lot on Evan.”
“Do you think that’s a bad thing?” Pomfrey asks.
Oliver looks over at his friends. “No. I don’t think so. They’re happy now. All of them.” He smiles. “I like to think so, at least. I love them. I truly, truly do. They all mean everything to me and they make me happy.”
“I’m sure you make them happy.” Pomfrey finishes with her potions and turns to Oliver. “And I’m not just saying that. You’re truly amazing and they’d be absolute idiots if they didn’t agree with me.”
Oliver smiles. He’s glad to have Madam Pomfrey. He’s noticed them becoming quite close, actually. Huh. There’s yelling and Oliver looks back over to see Barty on the floor while glaring at Evan who’s sitting on the bed laughing his ass off. Regulus is trying his hardest not to laugh too. Oliver sighs and turns back to Pomfrey. “Do I need a parental signature to commit murder?” She just looks at him. “Because that can be arranged. I’m sure my parents would-” Madam Pomfrey hits Oliver with a towel and he laughs, apologising (not meaning a word of it) before walking back over to his friends. He doesn’t see the way Madam Pomfrey smiles fondly after him.
Barty gets let out about an hour later because Madam Pomfrey can’t stand their noise. They’re worse than when James, Sirius and Peter come see Remus, she’s sure to tell Oliver. They get back to the dorm and Oliver and Regulus get changed out of their quidditch gear. They then all go to their beds and chat about nothing. Then they start throwing pillows at each other. That’s how it started anyway but now it’s just them throwing Barty’s pillow between them all. Regulus and Oliver’s beds are closer together and so are Evan and Barty’s so Oliver and Barty have to really hurl the pillow across the gap between their beds.
“So how’s the ankle?” Evan asks as he chucks the pillow at Barty, hitting him in the face. Barty shrugs and picks up the pillow. While Regulus and Oliver are just passing it to each other, Evan and Barty have still been throwing it to hit each other.
“Better.” Barty throws it to Oliver who catches it. “Pomfrey’s good at what she does.”
“She is,” Oliver says. He passes the pillow to Regulus who passes it back to Oliver and it goes around again. It continues to go around until it’s just Barty and Evan chucking the pillow at each other. Oliver and Regulus aren’t surprised it has come to this. Those two have been fighting a lot recently. Recently meaning for the past three years. It isn’t malicious and it never has been.
Regulus seems to be keeping up the conversation but he continuously glances over at Barty and Evan with a sad expression. Oliver’s confused as to why. It’s not like they’re actually going to hurt each other. They wouldn’t. Ever.
“What’s wrong?” Oliver asks when Regulus glances over again.
“What?” Regulus looks over at Oliver and all emotion drains from his expression.
“No, don’t do that.” Oliver wiggles his finger at Regulus. “I’m sick of that mask.” He drops his hand. “Come on, talk to me. What’s got you down?”
Regulus shakes his head. “Nothing. I’m fine.”
Oliver sighs and picks himself up off his bed and throws himself down on Regulus'. He lies on his stomach and rests his head on his hands. “Spill, Black.”
Regulus sighs and falls back, looking up at the ceiling. He folds his hands on his stomach and Oliver scootches closer to look at him. “I think I-” Regulus squeezes his eyes shut.
“Regulus,” Oliver starts. “You’re one of my best friends. Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
“I… I think I…”
Oliver stays quiet, letting Regulus decide when he’s ready to speak. Regulus groans and covers his face with his hands.
“Forget it.”
“Regulus-”
“I have a crush on Barty.”
Oliver pauses, his brain taking a moment to register what was said. “Huh?”
Regulus’ normal pale skin is flushed a slight pink. He scrunches up his face. “I’m not saying it again.”
Oliver pushes himself up with his hands so he can look over Regulus better. “No no you don’t just get to say something like that and then not repeat it! I have to know I heard you correctly!”
“What’re you two yelling about?” Evan asks from across the dorm. Oliver freezes and Regulus tenses. It seems they both forgot they were in the dorm. With Barty. Fuck.
“Nothing,” Oliver says. He manoeuvres himself into a sitting position. “You two finished fighting?” The best strategy he can go with here is to let Evan and Barty get distracted and then ask Regulus about it later. Oh. That must be what Regulus meant earlier at quidditch! Bloody hell, how long has Regulus had feelings for Barty and not known it? It’s anyone’s guess at this point.
As expected, Evan and Barty get distracted by bullying each other. They decide to go down to the common room and sit with Dorcas for a bit. Oliver picks the spot on a smaller couch fit for two people next to Regulus. Barty sits on the floor in front of Regulus and leans his back against Regulus’ legs. Oliver pulls his legs up to cross them underneath himself. If it were anyone but Regulus, Oliver would tease him in some way about Barty being close to him but this is Regulus. Oliver wouldn’t want to put Regulus off physical touch for the rest of his life. He’d hate that. It’s taken them almost four years to get to a point where they can have brief touches and the occasional hug. Oliver, Barty and Evan can get away with an arm around Regulus’ shoulders because Regulus spends quite literally all day with them.
Apart from Oliver holding back teasing Regulus, he doesn’t know where to go from here. Barty is a very flirtatious person. He flirts with everybody. Well, it’s mostly just their friend group but he does say some flirty comments towards the teachers when he feels like it. Depending on the teacher. He does it to Mcgonagall and Slughorn, mostly. Oliver has no idea why he does it, it’s not like he’s bad in any of his subjects. Barty is one of—if not the most— smartest witch/wizard Oliver has ever met. He excels in his classes without even having to study. He does extremely well.
Anyway, we got off track there. Barty flirts with people. People who aren’t Regulus. Oliver wonders if it bothers him. Maybe it does. It bothers Oliver when he sees someone flirting with Peter (he wants to rip their heads off with his bare hands). Would Regulus grow to resent his friends because his crush flirts with them? Is Oliver allowed to flirt back? He usually does. Would it be weird and suspicious if he didn’t? Does that mean he should? To keep up appearances?
“Don’t hurt yourself by thinking, Potter,” Regulus says in a quiet voice to him. “You look like someone just killed your owl.”
Panic spreads through his chest. “Is Ashe-”
“Oh she’s fine,” Regulus waves him off. “I was being funny.”
Oliver blinks, a grin crawling onto his face. “Funny? Regulus Black being funny?”
“Cut it out,” Regulus snaps but there’s a smile pulling at his lips. “I’m very funny.”
Oliver hums. “Sure.” He sighs and leans back against the couch. “Keep telling yourself that.” Regulus shoves him and he falls against the armrest laughing. He sits back up and nudges Regulus back. Regulus smiles at him before yawning. Usually, this would be when Regulus would excuse himself and go upstairs to get in bed but this time, he does not. He leans his head on Oliver’s shoulder and closes his eyes, reaching over to thread in fingers through Barty’s hair. Oliver freezes. He doesn’t want to do the wrong thing and fuck this up. He really doesn’t want to because Regulus is making extreme strides in his social skills.
Barty’s head tilts back, knocking against Regulus’ knees. He hums but doesn’t otherwise acknowledge Regulus’ fingers. Oliver finds himself smiling because this is actually one of the most adorable things Oliver has ever witnessed. They’re so cute.
Oliver’s in a good mood for the rest of the week. That is until Lily comes marching into the library, soaked head-to-toe, angrier than Oliver’s ever seen her. She slams drenched books onto the table, water flying everywhere. Lily’s clothes stick to her body. She’s wearing jeans and an white long-sleeved shirt with orange flowers. She grabs the bottom of her shirt and rings it out over the table. Oliver doesn’t know whether or not he can laugh at this. Mary and Remus seem to be in the same predicament.
“I hate your brother,” Lily snaps. “I was asking Professor Kettleburn for help with my OWLs and you know what I got? A trip into the lake, is what I got.”
Oliver covers his mouth with his hand, trying his best to hide his snickers. “Oh Lils- how did that even happen?”
Lily throws her arms up. “I don’t know! Kettleburn was near the lake but I didn’t think I’d have to be so careful. One minute Potter was chasing a dog around, giving it treats and throwing something around. The next I was in the lake, a Selkie dragging me down.”
Oliver isn’t laughing anymore. “What?”
Mary and Remus don’t seem to find this all that funny either. “Are you okay?” Remus asks.
“Did you get hurt?” Mary adds.
Lily shakes her head. “I’m fine. I got pulled out by that Ravenclaw Ollie’s always around.”
“Pandora?” Oliver offers and Lily nods.
“Yeah, Pandora. She dived in and pulled me away from the Selkie and back to the shore.” Lily sighs and plonks herself in her usual chair. They sit at the same table and have the same seats. Mary sits with her back pressed against a window, Lily’s on her right and then it’s Oliver and then Remus. Sometimes they’re close together, sometimes they’re spaced out. It just depends on what everyone’s working on and who needs assistance. “I actually don’t think I have ever been more terrified.”
“Wait, so what has this got to do with my brother?” Oliver asks.
“He’s the reason I was in the Black Lake,” Lily tells him. She sits up. “Him and that fucking dog- I swear. When did he even get a dog?”
“He tends to pick up strays,” Remus puts in and Lily shrugs, not being able to tell he’s telling a ball faced lie.
“I guess that’s plausible. Anyway, as I was talking to Professor Kettleburn, Potter threw some stupid toy at me and the dog pushed me in. I would’ve been fine, just wet, but a Selkie must’ve been around because it grabbed me and pulled me away from the shore.”
“And then Pandora pulled you out?” Oliver asks and Lily nods.
“She did. Got soaked herself.” Lily smiles to herself. “It was very nice of her. God, I don’t even know how many times I thanked her.”
Oliver smiles. “I’ll make sure to thank her myself.” He picks his wand up from the table. “Would you like me to make you… less soaked?”
Lily looks very relieved as she nods. Oliver thinks of the wand strokes before reciting the incantation. Lily’s clothes dry and so does her hair and her skin. The moisture rises from her books and then evaporates into the air. Lily smiles and leans back against her chair (which also got dried). “You’re a miracle worker, Oliver.”
He smiles and pockets his wand. “I know.”
Oliver doesn’t leave Remus, Lily and Mary until Madam Pince is physically shoving them out of the library and when he does say his goodbyes, he goes straight to his dorm and plonks down on his bed. He doesn’t get to see Pandora until the next day (Wednesday). Oliver, Pandora and Regulus spend their free period together in the Restricted Section. Oliver drops his bag next to the table they’d dragged in there and starts off looking for the book he needed for Divination. Pandora’s very good at Divination (being a seer and all— oh my goodness, the professor just loved her and she’s already made a new friend because of it. Sybil Trawlawny. She’s a bit… strange but so is Pandora. They’re both in Ravenclaw which is something they bonded over. Also the whole seer thing. Trelawney's one too. The two of them together is... unnerving.
“Oh, Panda?” Oliver calls to her. He grunts as he gets on his tippy-toes to see if he can spot the book he’s looking for. He can’t.
“Yes?”
“I’ve been meaning to thank you for yesterday,” Oliver says. He settles back down on his feet and sticks his head out from behind one of the stacks. “You know, with Lily?”
Pandora smiles at him. “Of course. Lily Evans is your friend, I wasn’t going to let her get hurt.”
“Evans got hurt?” Regulus asks, pausing mid set up to look between Oliver and Pandora.
Pandora shakes her head with a laugh. “No, silly. Of course she didn’t. That’s why Oliver’s thanking me. James and Sirius almost got her dragged off by a Selkie.”
Oliver nods. “And I’m glad you-” He pauses. Didn’t Lily say James was with a dog? There’s no other dog besides Padfoot that Oliver can think of that James would have but it’s not like Pandora could know that. Oliver looks at her and there’s something that shines in her eyes. She winks and Oliver huffs out a laugh. “I’m glad you got to her. She does mean a lot to me.”
Pandora nods. “Of course.”
Oliver smiles as he goes back to looking for the book. Once Regulus is done setting up, he goes looking for his own book for research. Oliver tunes out most of what Regulus and Pandora are arguing about. That is until Regulus drops a very heavy looking book onto the table. Oliver looks over to see Regulus glaring daggers at Pandora who seems to be trying her hardest to not look smug. She’s looks to be trying extremely hard.
“I just looked at the average height for men in the United Kingdom and it’s 5’10. I’m 5’5. It’s close,” Regulus says.
Pandora offers him a comforting smile and pats his arm. “It’s okay, Reg. You don’t have to fit in the box.” She pauses, look off into the distance. “Although you probably would… More easily than others.” Oliver snickers while Regulus gapes at her.
“I hate you,” Regulus says.
Pandora smiles, her eyes fixing on Regulus again. “That’s alright.”
A look of panic crosses Regulus’ face. “I don’t. You know that’s all just talk, right?”
Pandora laughs and grabs his arm. “Of course. That’s why it’s alright.”
Regulus slumps and leans against her. She hugs his arm with her eyes shut and a smile on her face. Oliver smiles at them. He goes back to looking for his book. He finds the one he’s looking for and sighs in relief. He pulls it out and turns to walk back to the table but he stops. He looks at the book that was next to the Divination one. Animagi; A Guide. Huh. He reaches out to pull the book from the shelf. He looks at the cover. It’s got weird looking symbol on it. It’s like a diamond but a star at the same time. He walks over to the table and sits down, not looking up from the book.
“What’ve you got there, Olive?” Pandora asks. Oliver sets the Divination book on the table and opens the one about animagi.
“Animagi?” Regulus shifts in his seat so he isn’t leaning on Pandora anymore. She lets him go. “Why do you need a book about animagi?”
Oliver shrugs. “Looks fun,” he mumbles. He flicks through the book for a moment, looking at the steps of becoming an animagi. Why is there a book? Why? By reding the book, Oliver can tell why it’s in the Restricted Section. The process is dangerous and supposedly painful. It makes Oliver cringe when he remembers that James, Peter and Sirius would’ve had to go through this when they became animagi.
“What do you think your animagus would be?” Pandora asks.
Oliver shrugs. “Dunno. What about you?”
“I-” Pandora doesn’t get to speak because Regulus is making a choking noise.
“What the fuck is wrong with you two?! You can’t actually be thinking of becoming Animagi.” Pandora and Oliver glance at each other. “NO!”
Oliver slumps down in his chair. “But Reeeegggggg. It would be so cool to be animagi!”
Regulus blanches. “You and I have different ideas of what cool is.”
Oliver crosses his arms over his chest. “I’m doing it with or without you.” He grabs the book and puts it in his bag. “Barty and Evan’ll do it with me.” He gets up and leaves, Pandora and Regulus scrambling to follow. If they don’t then they’ll get trapped in there until Oliver or a teacher lets them out. Obviously, Oliver isn’t a monster. He goes slowly to the door so Regulus and Pandora can follow. Pandora’s slowly and less hurried than Regulus.
The three of them leave the library. “You can’t,” Regulus practically begs.
Oliver shrugs. “I can and I fully plan to.” He, Pandora and Regulus take the stairs down to the dungeons. They go to the Slytherin Common Room with Regulus continuously saying they shouldn’t become animagi.
“Please calm down, Regulus,” Pandora says. She flicks her wand as they walk up the stairs to the boys’ dorm. Her and Dorcas still refuse to tell them which spell they’re using. “It takes a month to complete and the boys don’t have that kind of attention span.”
“Excuse you?” Oliver opens the door to the dorm. Barty’s half falling off his bed. He grins at them.
“What’re you lot arguing about?” His face is getting redder by the second and Regulus walks over to push him up into a sitting position.
“Nothing,” Regulus says. He sits down next to Barty. “Oliver’s just being stupid.”
“I’m not being stupid.” Oliver drops his bag onto his bed and digs out the book. He sits down and opens it.
Barty’s head perks up. “What’s that?”
“Nothing,” Regulus snaps, glaring at Oliver. They both know that if Barty knew about the animagus thing then he would do everything in his power to get Regulus to agree to do it with them. The sucky thing about that for Regulus is the fact he would do anything Barty asked.
Oliver smiles innocently at him before turning to Pandora. “You were right. How does someone keep a Mandrake leaf in their mouth for a month anyway?”
Pandora shrugs. “Plenty of people have done it.” She sits down on the floor. “You could talk to Professor Mcgonagall if you wanted to know more about it.”
Oliver huffs. “If I started randomly asking about animagi then she’d get suspicious.”
“You don’t know that.” Pandora gets that glint in her eye that she always does when she’s thinking about something that happens in the future. Sometimes it’s a bad glint, sometimes a good one. Oliver suspects this one’s good. “If you’re very sneaky, she’ll never know.”
“Did you say animagi?” Barty asks, almost falling off the bed when he tries to go over to Oliver. Regulus grabs his arm and keeps him on the bed. He doesn’t let go and Barty pouts. “But I wanna see the book.”
Regulus raises his eyebrows and huffs out a laugh. “You want to read a book? You? Salazar, I think you might need to be checked out.”
Barty grins. “You could check me out any time you wanted.” He winks and Regulus scoffs. He lets go of Barty’s arm and stands up to walk over to his bed. Barty can’t see but Oliver can, pure as day, the red at the tips of Regulus’ ears. “Shut up,” Regulus mumbles as he walks past Oliver.
Oliver holds up his hands in surrender. “I didn’t say anything.”
Regulus scoffs and throws himself down on the bed. Oliver looks at Barty while Regulus can’t see either of them. He gestures his head towards Regulus and Barty’s eyebrows pinch together in confusion. Oliver’s always thought he looked a bit like a possum when he’s confused. Maybe that’ll be his animagus. Oliver gets back on track by pointing at Animagi; A Guide and then at Regulus. It takes a few seconds for Barty’s brain to catch up with him and he snaps into action. “Ohhhh.” He gets up and walks over to Regulus, plonking down next to him. “Hey Reg?”
“No,” Regulus says. Oliver can see that his eyes are closed, his face neutral, however, his hands are balled into fists.
“You don’t even know what I was going to say,” Barty pouts.
“I’m not doing it and neither are you.”
Barty sighs and crosses his legs underneath him. He grabs one of Regulus’ hands and his eyes shoot open. Regulus’ eyes snap to his and Barty’s intertwined fingers and Oliver glances at Pandora. Regulus doesn’t like physical touch no matter how good he’s been getting with the group. Oliver thinks it’s different with Barty though. Sure, Regulus looks very surprised but he doesn’t recoil even a little bit. The reason Oliver looked at Pandora is because he assumes she knows about Regulus’ crush on Barty. By the way she glances back at him, he knows she does. Pandora knows a lot about everyone’s personal lives. She never tells them and doesn’t even hint at them. She does try to act surprised when something happens but she’s a horrible liar.
“Regulus, please,” Barty says. “I’m sure you know us well enough by now to know that we’ll do it with or without you.”
“So why are you asking me?”
Barty shrugs. “Just because we’ll do it without you doesn’t mean we want to do it without you.”
“It wouldn’t be right without you,” Oliver says. Regulus looks at him and then at Pandora and then to Barty. He sighs.
“Fine.”
“YES!” Barty yells. Oliver cheers as well and stands on his bed to dance. Barty laughs from where he’s still sitting next to Regulus holding his hand. Neither of them pull away and they stay like that, Barty tracing shapes on the back of Regulus’ palm, until Evan and Dorcas show up. Oliver pitches the animagus idea to them and they’re both so in.
They get to work. The most time crunching task is to have a Mandrake leaf in their mouths for an entire month. It’s mid November when they start to they should be finished before Christmas. Mcgonagall seems to dislike Oliver the least among their friend group so he’s tasked with talking to her about becoming an animagus. She seems sceptical at first but Oliver knows her weak spots. He knows she loves the marauders whether she’ll ever admit that out loud or not. Oliver doesn’t specifically say that he knows about his brother being an animagus but he makes it seem like he’s trying to cover up the fact that he wants to learn more about them for his brother. She falls for it.
Since Oliver’s the only one that knows about Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, he also is tasked with talking with them. His own task, of course, because he refuses to out his friends. James, Sirius and Peter are more than happy to talk about their transformation. Sirius also shows Oliver how he turns into Padfoot. Oliver spends a bit of time playing with the dog before he takes his notes and leaves. Him and his friends all put the leaves in their mouths at the same time on November 18th. That date because of the full moon. Oliver’s doesn’t know them all by heart yet but Remus is always crankiest the day of a full moon. He’s learned to pick up the signs and always gets him chocolate.
Regulus and Oliver are best at potions so they’re tasked with completing it. There’s this thing with a spoon that Oliver doesn’t understand so he lets Pandora take care of it. Every sunrise and sundown they have to put their wand to their hearts and say ‘Amato Animo Animato Animagus’. Evan is the first to sense a second heartbeat and freaks out. Oliver assures him that he isn’t doing anything wrong and he’s actually better than the rest of them. This makes him smug and Barty irritable. Since they have to wake up so early, Oliver has been taking coffee lessons from Regulus. Regulus takes his coffee black but Oliver can’t handle that so he still puts in milk and honey. He has two cups a day now.
A month passes and it’s almost the holidays. The only thing they need is a storm. Lucky for them, on December 20th, there’s a storm. Unfortunately for them, the storm happens in the middle of the day. They have to go at the first sign of lightning so they all sneak out of class and follow Pandora wherever she put the spoon thingy. It’s in the Forbidden Forest. She says that hanging from a tree is the only place she could think of that the sun never reached and feet have never touched. Oliver admires her creativity.
They each have their potions. “You ready?” Oliver asks.
Regulus swallows thickly. “Never.”
“Bottoms up,” Barty says. The six of them spread out so they can’t see each other. This limits the amount of danger the others could get into if their animal selves don’t approve of the others. Oliver takes off his glasses and puts them with his bag that he rests against a tree. He takes a deep breath and points his wand to his heart.
“Amato Animo Animato Animagus,” he recites. He feels another heart beat along with his own. It slams against his chest. The potion bottle slips from his fingers. Oliver continues to take deep breaths. If James can do it then so can he. This is it. Oliver closes his eyes and whisps of orange float in the dark. They begin to form. Oliver’s nervous. The orange whisps flick together to form a fox, orange and white. The tip of its tail in black and so are its paws. The fox blinks its eyes open, the golden orbs looking into Oliver’s soul. Then the fox in running at Oliver. His eyes snap open and he gasps but it comes out as a small whimper. Pain explodes through his body and it feels like every bone in his body is breaking. They’re snapping and cracking and Oliver screams. He feels liquid running down his cheeks and drops of it fall to the floor.
The pain subsides after at least ten minutes and it leaves Oliver lying on the floor. He goes to get up but he has four legs instead of two. He stands on his shaky legs. He sees his wand sitting on the floor next to the potion bottle. He starts to walk, figuring it out for the second time in his life. It takes a good five minutes before he catches the hang of it. He scoops his wand into his mouth and takes it to his bag. He places the wand inside before going to grab the bottle. He puts that inside his bag too. The he takes the bag in his mouth and goes off to find his friends.
He gets distracted. This is such a new experience and he suddenly wants to go into every hole he sees and play with the faires. They laugh at him but he’s laughing too. He’s having the time of his life. He’s yapping to the fairies. This is fun. He’s having a wonderful time. Apart from the part where he was in extreme pain, of course. Other than that, it was good. He continues to run around the forest and play in the rain but he eventually gets ahold of himself and remembers that he did run out of class with his friends.
Oliver makes his way back to his bag and transforms back into himself. It takes him a few tries which scares the absolute shit out of him. He gets it eventually and goes off to find his friends. They all meet up and Barty talks animatedly about his adventures as a raccoon. Nobody was surprised by his animagus form. They also weren’t surprised when Regulus’ was a black cat and even less surprised when they found out about Oliver’s fox. Dorcas’ is very funny because hers is a black panther with a golden pattern on it like a leopard. It’s funny because she’s a big black cat and Regulus is a small black cat. Everyone but Regulus finds it hilarious. He seems to think that it’s stupid. Pandora’s animagus form is a small white snake that has a pink diamond pattern on its back and Evan’s is a snow tiger. It probably has a more scientific name but none of them care and just call it a snow tiger. They decide to leave their animagus adventures to the one for today and go back to their classes.
They get detention from Mcgonagall. Regulus’ parents never owl him. Oliver’s parents do.
Dear Ollie,
We got another owl from Minvera letting us know that you and your friends ran out of class and then came back completely soaked. I can’t say I’m surprised, though we expected more from you. As much as we know you and your brother are having a bit of a weird patch, you certainly seem to be acting more like him than you ever did before.
When you get back home for Christmas you will be on dishes for the entire break. We hate to do this but you must suffer the consequences of your actions. We expect you to be on your best behaviour for the rest of the term. Regulus too. In the owl we got from Minerva, it was brought to our attention that he should also be told that he shouldn’t do that again and that he needs to suffer some consequences too. We’ve decided to let this slide (don’t tell Minverva) but we expect better from the both of you.
We’ll see you soon, Ollie. Tell Regulus we wish him a happy Christmas.
With all our love,
Euphemia and Fleamont Potter
P.s I hate how she puts her name first :(