The inevitables

“What did you want to say?” I had finally settled down from my storm of laughter.

“Not here.” He grabbed my hand like any brother would and stared pulling me to the boys dormitory. I really should have been cleaning and helping my mates… o followed Sirius into the boys dormitory.

“Is this about your super amazing idea?” I asked when we walked in. James and Peter were in the room, Remus was mysteriously absent. As they were boys, their room was remarkably dirty with clothes (Sirius and peters undoubtedly) lay everywhere and something smelled rotten. I sat on James’s bed, which was clean and tidy just like our mum taught us.

“Animals!” Sirius expressed with such passion that I wished I knew what he was talking about. Animals was a broad subject and I had no idea how that would help Remus. Unless he meant we should get him animals?

“Please elaborate.” James looked just as confused as I was. I looked down to see he still had on his matching bracelet, I felt special.

“We turn into animals! Then we can go on the full moon with him because werewolves don’t hurt other animals just people! Remus said it himself, the wolf hasn’t ever killed another animal.”

We fell quiet for a moment. The idea did seem genius. We couldn’t do anything as humans, besides care for him after the fact. But Remus has rarely ever been please by our efforts to help him on the day after. I don’t think he likes being seen as weak or ill. Plus, we could prevent the wolf from attacking itself then Remus would have less scars to deal with.

“But what if he hurts us?” Peter spoke timidly, he was never one to go against Sirius. Sirius was intimidating, especially when he was passionate about something.

“He would never hurt us!” Sirius fired like a cannon ready to fire on anyone.

“But he wouldn’t be in control, he may not hurt us but the wolf…” now Peter seemed afraid. The wolf may have been scary, and this was incredibly dangerous. Running around with a werewolf was definitely something my parents would never approve of, no one would. He could kill us without even realizing.

“Have some bloody faith! He is our friend and your being a little bitch about it! Oh I’m scared a wee wolf is going to off me even though he’s my best mate!” Sirius taunted Peter. If it wasn’t so rude, it was actually quite a good impression.

“Sirius knock it off.” James scolded, “Remus may not hurt us but he wouldn’t go for it. You know how he’s shy about all this. He was ready to pack up the minute we found out.”

“He was ready to off himself and you lot when I found out..” I bit my thumb nail. This was risky and we would have to do it in secret.

“Maybe he wouldn’t be thrilled to start, but he hates being helped anyways. This is our chance to help him like he’s helped us. He’s our moony after all!” Sirius huffed out and sat in James bed with the two of us. His fire was bright as always, but it was slowly dimming.

“How would we do it?” I asked.

“What?” James followed my question with another.

“How do we become animagi? I doubt it’s in the library at school nor at our homes. Even if it was in the restricted section, we’d need some reason to get there. Then it’s supposed to be a very long and complicated process, we would have to get registered and the whole process would be monitored by the ministry and there’s no way they would allow us to become-“ I stopped myself. Sirius knew the ministry handbook inside and out, he knew that we could never become legal animagi. “You want us to do this illegally.” I revealed.

“What? Sirius we can’t..” James started. He shifted uneasily and scooted towards me and away from Sirius. “We can’t break the law.”

“Becoming animagi is dangerous in itself and you want to do it without government help?” Peter questioned Sirius, who in return shot up and glared at Peter.

“If you’re such a wuss then you can leave Pettigrew! In fact you all can bloody leave if you’d like, but I’m doing this!” There was that fire that caused Sirius to almost be evicted from his house on multiple occasions.

“Sirius it’s a good idea.” James came in as the calm middle man he was, “but right now there are too many barriers. First Remus, then finding where to learn to do this, and then actually doing this. And before we we solve the last two problems, we need to check in with Remus. Is that fair Sirius?” James spoke softly and loving, not unlike how my mother spoke to us when we blew out of proportion. James slowly made his way to Sirius and by the time James got there, Sirius was calm and content. I had watched our mum calm guests and relatives countless times, but I don’t think I could ever replicate it as well as James can.

“That’s fair.. we’ll get more details hashed out then we tell him.” Sirius nodded. His idea was good, it just wasn’t finished. The four of us will complete it, and hopefully Remus won’t start packing his bags.

*****

After cleaning and everything, I needed time alone. I wanted to get away from my dormitory but I also needed to decide what to do about Sirius’s plan. I headed down to the room of requirement with nothing but my thoughts. The was I see it, becoming animagi was the only way to fully help Remus. We could make him medicine or creams but all of that is after the full moon. This is the only option that actually helps the werewolf part of it all. And as much as I wanted to start becoming an animal, I couldn’t get over how dangerous it would be. First off, Remus would never forgive himself if he ever hurt us. He would probably start packing again. I couldn’t bare to lose him as a friend and then the club would have to disband! Secondly… becoming an unregistered animagi as the age of thirteen was practically the same as jumping off the astrology tower. There was a chance to survive and execute it perfectly, but the risk of dying was greater. Maybe Violetta would help me decide. Or maybe I just needed a moment without Sirius Balacks voice in my head telling me it was the right thing to do.

“Do you ever watch where your going? Or is your bad side as bad as your brothers?!” Regulus Black yelled at me after I ‘accidentally’ bumped into him. Was it purposeful? Slightly, but only because he’s a real prat to first years. I mean he’s barely a second year and he and his creepy friend Barty have already started bullying the first years.

“You’re hilarious. At least I’m not known as the worse sibling.” Regulus got on my nerves no matter how good looking he is. He and Sirius look similar but Regulus had more edge and grace than Sirius. Regulus something about him that was just… just… um, completely and utterly vial.

“According to who? The circus that’s known as Gryffindor?”

“That’s better than the snobs and pricks that Slytherins known for.”

“At least our house isn’t filled with muggleborns tainting our magic!” Regulus huffed, he was so scary just like his mother. I was surprised that he didn’t use the slur for muggleborns like the rest of his house mates.

“Do you not realize how horrible you sound? Do you ever think about your words or do you just repeat whatever your mother says?”

“I… you know nothing! You..! You’re-!”

“Can’t speak without your mummy telling you who to hate?”

“votre famille ruine la définition de pur!” He spat out like he had forgotten English. I suppose, him being in the Black family it made sense he knew French. But I always associated that language with the suaveness of Sirius, not his little brother.

“vous ne savez rien de pur. ma famille est dix fois plus pure que la tienne ne le sera jamais parce que contrairement à toi, c'était en fait de bonnes personnes.” I kept a straight face as I spoke. Regulus could never get under my skin because I didn’t care about his supremacy words. He looked surprised that I knew French, I liked surprising him.

“I’m… I’m not them…! I don’t do what they do to him!” Regulus now surprised me. His voice broke and for the first time, I realized he had never once made eye contact with me until now. It was like he was trying to break free from some spell that kept him from being a decent human. I wondered if Sirius was ever like this too. I wanted to help him, he seemed to crave anything I could give him. But he needed to prove himself, prove that he wasn’t them.

“Well, you certainly don’t act like it. You may not curse or hit Sirius, but you do all those things to other kids. Being kind to one person does not give you the right to be unkind to others.” My mind pictured Snape, who was unkind to everyone but Lily and how Lily was blind to it all. I loved Lily, but I would not be like her. I could never help someone who constantly proves that he shouldn’t be helped. I turned and started to walk away, I could visit Violetta another day.

“But if I did act differently…” Regulus called after me, I didn’t want to turn back. I was worried his good looks would force me to help him.

“Then maybe people wouldn’t think you were such a big prat.”