A week later, Isobel still hadn't finished making her lists and her plans. She wanted everything to be ready, all laid out simply, before she told Dumbledore she was going to change the future.
Trust yourself and your instincts. Always.
That's what he had said in his will. Well, she was trusting herself not to make things worse, and trusting her instincts when they told her his was the right thing to do. But there was so much to do to make sure it went well, so much to plan. First, she couldn't do this alone, like they had last time. This time, the whole Order and a few of the students would learn her secret and fight to kill Voldemort twenty years early. They would have back-up, and they would have information, and they would win.
They also had a timeframe. Voldemort had to be defeated before Trelawney gave the prophecy, or all would be lost and only Harry or Neville could end the war. However, she didn't know when the prophecy had been made; she estimated it around end of 1979 to beginning of 1980, but there was no way to be sure, the only thing she could do was work as fast as possible, keep an eye on the current Divination teacher, and hope against hope.
She wondered how her friends would react to her secret and her story, knowing she was a time traveller and best friend to the son of two of them. She hoped they wouldn't be angry at her secrecy, but it wouldn't be a big deal if they were. Her private life – friendship – had no importance in her mission to change the future and save the world. It would make it harder, though. Isobel fought for justice and for her friends back in the future, but it would be better to have friends to remind her of what good came with life, and to help alleviate the stress and seriousness of the war that was to come.
Isobel couldn't wait to get out there, start fighting, make a difference. She wanted to protect and she wanted to kill, she wanted Death Eater blood to run through her paws and stain the white fur around her fangs. She wanted to end it soon, no matter how much violence and death and sorrow it took, though preferably the death and sorrow would be on the enemy side. Every night in her dreams, Isobel saw all the people she had killed and all the people that had been killed in front of her; decidedly it was a lot. She did regret having taken lives, but she didn't regret that those people were no longer able to hurt anyone anymore. She regretted the situation more than anything, to be honest, but she would do what had to be done to fix it.
The young woman sighed, torn out of her reverie and planning by her alarm clock. She had been awake for an hour, going over her notes in bed, behind the safety and privacy of her curtains, but now it was time to act like a simple student and go to class. She rose from her bed reluctantly, and headed towards the shower before any of the other girls got up, else there be pandemonium in the bathroom. Once she had taken her shower, she went to wake Lily up, shoving her hard out of the bed after a few minutes of soothing words and gentle shakes that obviously were not working, and went back to the bathroom to brush her teeth, ignoring Lily's glare.
Classes passed agonisingly slowly, and the white haired witch had to sit next to the Marauders to avoid falling asleep, their fun conversations and witty jabs at each other making her snort at the most inopportune moments but keeping her awake. She kept an eye on the clock, painfully aware of the full moon that would be rising a few hours later, wishing she could do something to help, but confident that the boys could handle it.
It was on their way to dinner that evening that the first exciting thing of the day happened.
As they walked along the corridor, chatting loudly, Isobel heard a sob. She stopped in her tracks, ears pricked, gaining the attention of the others.
"Izzy, mate, you alright?" called Sirius.
"Yeah... I just thought I heard something..."
Just as she was about to shrug it off as nothing and keep walking, the sob sounded again, this time accompanied by a plea, and Remus heard it as well. Isobel set off towards the sound, walking quickly, anger already mounting, the others following behind. The sobs were growing louder, as were the pleas and the small cries and gasps of pain.
The group barged into an isolated room of the corridor, to find the first year girl from the week before laying on the ground, tear tracks down her cheeks, and about seven Slytherins over fifth year pointing their wands at her. She was cut in several places, it seemed they had been throwing weak severing charms at her limbs and chest, laughing at the pain they inflicted to the little girl. Isobel was the first to move, followed closely by Sirius. Forgetting their wands, the two simply stepped forward and slammed their fist into a Slytherin's face, and before long, spells were flying, punches were being thrown, and a small battle was taking place in the abandoned classroom.
Sirius had blood running from his nose onto his robes, Lily had cuts across her arms, much deeper than the first year's, James had boils on his neck... it seemed only Isobel and Remus were untouched, though the first's knuckles were raw. Peter was in the corner, healing the small sniffling girl and keeping an eye on the fight, ready to step in and defend his charge if anyone got too close. The cowardly boy had definitely grown in the short while Isobel had been there; he wasn't yet as brave or confident as his friends, but he was getting there.
Finally, all snakes were down and Peter made his way across the room to heal everyone's injuries, as he was the best at it. Remus had broken a finger when a bludgeoning hex had clipped him, but was otherwise okay, while Sirius hadn't used his wand at all and had several cuts, bruises and broken ribs.
"Are you okay?" Lily asked the young girl once she had been healed. He girl simply nodded and gave a small smile through her tears. "What's you're name, kiddo?"
"Charlotte."
"Well come on, Charlotte, we've got dinner to get to."
The girl smiled and murmured a thanks before turning to leave, but at the door she hesitated. She turned to look at the snakes on the floor, got a hard look in her eyes, before rushing forward and kicking the closest one as hard as she could in the guts.
"Bastard." She muttered, making Sirius bark out a laugh.
"Who is this kid? She's bloody amazing! Come on mate, let's get some dinner." He called to her. "You're eating with us today, I like you."
Charlotte smile up at him when he tucked her under his arm and led her towards the Great Hall, ignoring everyone's eye rolls as they followed.
Dinner was loud, Sirius and James doing everything they could to make Charlotte laugh, resulting in her spitting out her drink in someone's face more often than not. The Slytherins came in late, shooting glares at the Gryffindor table and making the small first year sink into Lily's side. Isobel noticed that Remus growled slightly whenever he caught sight of the aggressors, his eyes turning golden for a brief moment.
After dinner, Isobel walked back to the dorm with Lily, leaving all the Marauders free to help their werewolf friend during the night. The girls did their homework and studied the next lessons for a while, until Lily went to bed just after the moon rose. Remus was already changing, and when Isobel moved to sit by the window, she could hear his pained howls mixed with Padfoot's barks and Prongs' hooves on the wooden floor if she strained her ears. She stayed up, listening to the werewolf's pitiful wines as the pain of the transformation subsided.
Isobel planned on staying up until late, maybe even all night, watching over her friends as they played in the Shack, but once the pained cries subsided, she heard a loud threatening growl that made the hairs on her neck stand straight, straining her ears so far they hurt.
There were sounds of running, yelps mixed with growls, until finally a pitiful cry split the air. Isobel threw open the window to hear better, and the stench of blood assaulted her nose. The thought of one of them being so injured that she smelt it from so far away made her hands shake as she grabbed her wand and sped out of the portrait. She ran hard and fast along the corridors, instinctively keeping her ears open for any teachers or prefects, and banged open the castle doors, immediately transforming as soon as her feet touched the grass.
Her steps grew wider, her senses even keener, and her speed greater as her snow white paws sunk into the ground. Within seconds she was in the tunnel under the Willow, not even giving the tree enough time to react to her intrusion. From this close she could hear Peter's squeaks of fear and the sound of teeth ripping flesh as growls and pained deer noises echoed in her ears. She ran faster even, worried at the lac of sound from Sirius, changing back into her human form in a blink to open the door with a flick of her wand, which was already in her hand, before she changed back to her animal form.
The fight was terrible. There were pools of blood staining the floorboards, a piece of antler was stuck in the wall, and a heap of black fur matted with blood lay in the corner, guarded by a giant stag who stood with his head down, antlers pointed towards a big grey wolf. Blood ran freely from a few wounds on James' flanks, and just as Remus leapt for his friend, claws out and jaws wide, a white wolf collided with him, throwing him into the wall.
The stag stepped back on shaky legs and watched as the two wolves faced each other, both the size of a small car, with their hackles raised threateningly. The grey – Remus – lunged, aiming to catch the back of the white's neck in his powerful jaws, but she reared, avoiding the bite with a growl and swiped at his face, striking true and splattering more blood around the room. Remus yelped as the female pounced, fast as lightening, and grabbed Remus' ear in her mouth, shaking her head to tear the flesh.
As the wolves fought, James went to the unconscious dog in the corner and started licking his wounds, stopping only to swipe his antlers at the canines that were rolling on the ground in a frenzy closer than comfortable.
Finally, the white she wolf was able to weaken Remus enough to throw him against the wall, making him hit his head hard enough to be knocked out. She stepped back slowly, limping because of a wound on her right foreleg and licking the blood off the fur on her muzzle. She let her fur lie flat, decreasing her size by almost half, but never letting her eyes leave the unconscious werewolf.
Peter. She huffed, knowing that though he wasn't a canine, he wound understand he as they were both Animagi. Change. Heal.
With a scuttling sound, a shaking brown rat emerged from a hole in the wall.
What? He squeaked.
Transform. She growled. Heal Sirius, I keep guard.
Peter seemed to hesitate, before scuttling rapidly towards the dog and stag. He sent a look towards the wolves and transformed, revealing a sweating seventh year. The boy crouched as he took out his wand and murmured spells over the bloody dog. For hours, only Peter's whispering and the sound of flesh stitching back together was heard for over an hour, at which point a pitiful whine was heard. Sirius was waking. He lifted his head groggily and sniffed the air, is eyes snapping to Isobel when he smelt the unfamiliar scent of a second wolf. She simply flicked her ear in acknowledgement before returning to her vigil.
Once Sirius was able to stand, Isobel lifted her head and sniffed the air, growling when she caught the scent she was looking for. She prowled towards a wall and picked up a bundle of robes that Sirius recognised as his. The wolf sent him a disgruntled look and disappeared into the tunnel, taking the robes with her to bury outside.
Idiot. She growled softly when she came back.
As Remus didn't wake until dawn, the four Animagi allowed themselves to rest, though always keeping an eye or ear on the werewolf.
The Sun rose and they were all roused by an echoing crack and a howl of pain. Remus had woken up and his transformation has begun. For almost half an hour, the Animagi flinched at every crack and cry Remus gave, Isobel being the worst, whining and twisting her head to try and block the sound from reaching her ears. When finally a panting, sweating, very naked human boy lay on the floor, the she wolf yelped and almost fell in shock as she tried to hide her eyes as quick as possible, getting guttural chuckles and an amused glance from the other boys. She growled at them and they hurried to cover Remus' modesty as they waited for the grogginess to leave him.
"Ugh." He groaned finally. "What happened?"
"Um... there was a fight." James responded. "Sirius forgot he had blood on is robes from yesterday and when you caught the scent you went wild."
"Hmm... did I hurt anyone?"
The boys shared a look, clearly hesitant to let Remus know what had happened. A sharp look from the werewolf made Sirius sigh and blab immediately.
"Yes, you pretty much almost killed me before you started on James, but before he could get to hurt, someone saved us."
At that, everyone's eyes turned to Isobel, who was sitting on her haunches, ears pricked and still in wolf form. She was beautiful, and Remus' breath caught in his throat as he saw her. She had soft gleaming fur, as white as snow, though it was stained pink around her muzzle and on her paws and forelegs, she had long pointy ears and an intelligent caring look in her yellow eyes. She sat calmly, watching the interaction between the friends, and completely missing the pointed looks they were giving her. At least until James cleared his throat.
"Well?" he pushed. "Aren't you going to change? You now know who we are, and we'd like to thank the girl that saved us.
Isobel suddenly leapt up, a panicked look in her eyes as she looked for a way to escape. A wine escaped her throat as she realised she'd have to get past the boys to get to the tunnel, and she had no choice but to show herself. Her ears drooped and within seconds, she felt the tingling in her limbs that signified she was training. The Marauders' jaws dropped as the transformation completed, revealing their white haired, yellow eyed friend that had mysteriously appeared in the middle of the Great Hall.
"Isobel?!" said Sirius.
"Hello." She replied with a shy smile.
"Holy shit." Whispered Remus, whose head was lolling from side to side in exhaustion.
They stared for a while, until Isobel cleared her throat and nodded in the pale werewolf's direction, bringing their attention back to he matter at hand. They stumbled around, flustered, as they tried to lift Remus to his feet, who was not helping at all as he was still staring at Isobel mouth agape, making her blush or a moment until she rolled her eyes and simply left.
"Oh my god, she's a fucking Animagus!" Sirius whispered as soon as she left.
"I know!" replied James. "Come on, we need to go."
Hey heaved Remus over their shoulders, apologising as he hissed in pain, and half carried him into the tunnel, following Isobel's lead.