Animagus
Remus was a werewolf. It was obvious, Camila didn’t want to pry into his business, but there was only so much pain for him she could take. “Rem?” She whispered from her position curled against his chest.
He hummed in response, nuzzling into her hair like the wolf he is. “I know about what happens every full moon.” Remus instantly stilled; muscles stiff again her back. “And I’m not afraid. I’ve known for years really. It would have been hard to miss.” He held a hand over Camila’s mouth to still her rambling.
“You shouldn’t need to be dragged down by me. Employment rates are near non-existent, and I wouldn’t be able to provide the life I want for you Camila-”
Remus was interrupted with a finger on his lips. “I haven’t known you longer than a month, but I see who you really are. I know that you are kind, caring, but more than that, you are loyal. You would never once betray your friends, your family. I know you would jump in front of an Avada before letting them get hurt. I’ve known you for a month and yet I want to spend the next thousand months with you. I don’t care if you can’t find a job, if you become a hermet and want to live in the country, I’ll be packing my bags in a second. You can’t get rid of me Remus.” When Camila saw tears brimming in the corner of his eyes, she grimaced, “As long as you will have me.”
With a nearly inaudible growl, Remus hugged her tighter. “No one makes my soulmate feel sad.” It appeared Remus was right; Camila had started to cry along with him. The sat crying together for a whole of a minute before they had to get interrupted. By Sirius Black of all people.
“Were you two about to bang?” He said all too casually for the topic he wanted to discuss.
Camila instantly went red faced and tucked her head into the space underneath Remus’ chin. She lay there listening to the two friends’ squabble. Her boyfriend soon got sick of it and threw one of the pillows on the couch next to them at Sirius.
Remus and Camila spent the next hour laying on the couch, talking quietly of what’s to come in the future for them. Just before Camila drifted off, Remus whispered to her, “83.”
She looked up at Remus questioningly before he continued, “You said that you want to spend the next thousand months with me. That’s 83 years.”
Camila chuckled up at her soulmate, “Yes Remus, I promise to love you for 83 years.”
“Padfoot!” Camila called down the hall after their Charms lesson finished. “One second Rem.” She ducked out from underneath Remus’ arms and chased the black-haired boy down the corridors. “I need to ask you something goddammit.”
She quickly cast a jelly legs jinx when she had a clear shot of Sirius, and he collapsed to the floor laughing.
She cast the spell that would put his legs back to normal and helped the poor boy back to his feet. “I need a word Padfoot. It won’t be long.” She whispered as she dragged him into a nearby alcove.
Sirius winked at her, “Well if I knew Moony wasn’t doing it for yo-” his flirty remark was cut off by Camila hitting his shoulder lightly, sighing in exasperation.
“I know you are an Animagus. Along with James of course.” It was all very out of the blue, and Sirius was blessedly silent for the first time in his life. “Now I know he won’t allow it until I finish the spell, but I need your help. I can’t keep up with the schedule of the incantations. I can’t tell you how many times I have missed sundown and had to start over.” She continued.
Sirius was outright gaping by this point. “You- You- I can’t believe this. Since when!”
“I think we should take this to the Common Room, bring James up to speed a bit, you know?” She grinned at his slack jawed expression. “Careful, we won’t want the name ‘Flycatcher’ to stick.” Camila winked at him as she tugged on the sleeve of his robes.
It took nearly an hour, but Camila had finally explained everything. Her first year of school when she’d found out about the Animagus being unaffected by the werewolf bite, her next six years of accidentally swallowing the mandrake leaf, forgetting to say the incantation, and the struggles of going through the transformation without a group to help her find information and help throughout the process.
The boys were dumbstruck, but they soon accepted it and agreed to help her with the transformation.
Nearly half a week until the full moon, and there was only just a sign of rain. Whether it would thunder or not, everyone was itching to find out. Except Remus.
Remus was still out of the loop unfortunately. Camila didn’t want to get his hopes up just to disappoint him (like she disappointed her parents), so she asked the boys to keep it on the downlow. Sirius and James tried to convince her to tell him, because they knew he would be ecstatic by everything she could possibly do, but as soon as Camila pointed out the potential for pranking Remus with her animal form they backed off, already planning before they even knew what she would transform into.
That night when Camila was relaxing with the boys in their dorm room, Sirius was the first to notice the rain. The rain that slowly progressed to thunder.
James was so excited Camila thought it would most definitely make Remus suspicious, but he was blessedly oblivious. As much as she didn’t want to leave her place at Remus’ side, she gave up and pleaded a headache, and left before anyone could question her.
It would have been even more suspicious for all three of them to leave Remus in the dorm room, so Camila left to do it on her own.
It took no longer than half an hour before the transformation was done, and she was back in her own dorm room, settling in for a long night of no sleep, the anticipation of helping Remus with his lycanthropy too exciting to let her rest.
Remus was sitting in the common room, his favourite book on his lap as a small kitten meowed from the stairwell. He looked up slowly, finishing the paragraph before spotting the fluffy chocolate coloured kitten perched on the bottom stone stair.
He checked his page number, then set the book down to pick up the kitten. “Is it too cold in the big stone castle?” He gently picked up the cat, gently cradling its small body in his large hands. Remus took the kitten over to his seat on the couch and let it sit on his lap while he continued to read, slowly patting the fluffy fur.
Camila purred from her spot perched upon Remus’ knees, slowly stretching out and rolling for a belly rub. Remus obliged with a small smile before a chocolate coloured Camila crawled up to his shoulder, nuzzling into his shoulder.
Remus huffed out a laugh when Camila’s tail flicked in front of his eyes, obscuring his view of the book. “Do you want me to talk? Pay attention to you?”
Taking a few creative liberties and hoping it wouldn’t break her cover, Camila nodded her small cat head.
Observation: He was not suspicious in the slightest.
Remus instantly started confiding what must have been his deepest secrets. Guilt struck through Camila like a bullet. This was a massive invasion of his privacy. She quickly put a furry paw over his nose to try cover his mouth, it was the shock that really made him slow his rambling trail.
Observation: Now he seemed slightly more suspicious.
Camila hung her head in shame. The prank had failed so quickly. Barely half an hour of sitting with Remus, and he’d already caught me.
“CAMILA?!” Remus launched up and out of his seat, nearly throwing Camila across the room in the process. Only her Animagus form helped her from landing on her back on the coffee table.
She shifted back into her human form and rubbed the back of her neck nervously. “I can’t believe this. Sirius Black! Get your arse down here!” He yelled up the stairs. A grinning Sirius and James descended the steps, somehow Remus knew the boys would be in on it.
“Surprise?” She said uncertainly.
“You’re an Animagus?” Remus whispered. He sounded so sad, so broken.
Camila couldn’t help but bring Remus in for a hug. “Of course. I couldn’t let you go through that month after month. For the rest of your life.”
After an hour of debate, Remus finally consented to Camila accompanying the boys to the shrieking shack, and they spent the first full moon without any fuss.
The wolf inside of Remus seemed to relax around his soulmate. Normally the boys said that Moony was violent, and unstable. But now, Remus simply laid down with Camila cradled protectively between his chest and paws, not letting Sirius or James near her until the effects of the moon had fully worn off.