**A/N: Yes, I know, another one! And so soon! I'm not quite sure how I feel about this one—Alex is more vulnerable, and that was really hard for me to write. I like writing strong characters, which Alex certainly is, she just shows it differently. It's just hard because she's a shy girl being thrust into the Marauders' world, so her thoughts and actions are sort of caught in between. Anyways. Animagus listings time! WOO! So. If you don't care, just keep scrolling down, and you'll find your chapter somewhere. If you're reading this now and thinking, "Oh, I wish I'd done that!" you can review again on this chapter and I'll do it again next week. If you don't like your animal, sorry! I'm doing what I can! If you're really personally offended by your animal, then you might need to take a chill pill. Anyway, without further ado (in order of review):
Guest 1: Rabbit. Say what is necessary, then high tail it out. Seems like your style.
LittleMissMia123: Miniature Doberman. From that review alone, I get the hyper energy of a puppy, but there's also that streak of badass that seems to be there, present in this case in the form of a cute spiky collar. Though it's highly doubtful that you think of yourself as this.
Guest 2: Otter. Generally happy, I'm guessing, and likes something different about each person. (Plus you like Les Mis, so you get bonus points)
Cetacea-of-Time: Squirrel. Excited, high energy, few words before the (assumed) next topic.
BoudicaFlamespirit: Horse. I know it's your picture and all, but it so works for you. Excited, yet questioning what people seem to want from you.
Guest 3: Cat. Watching and waiting, not getting super emotionally attached.
NightHawk97: I got this one. Phoenix. Bird, right? So fits with your theme. Also pretty loyal (I mean Fawkes is anyways) and you've reviewed every chapter for the past two stories so… Not to mention that phoenix tears heal, and your little snippets of knowledge have more than saved this story quite often.
AikoRose: Ocelot. They're big on the "friends stick together" type thing. Also thought it'd be fitting to make yours a jungle cat (haha silly me ;)).
momotone: Chupacabra. Virtually nothing is known about them.
Kyoki no Megami: Komodo dragon. I know you said you'd probably be a cat, but something here just made me say "badass lizard."
Woodshrew: Sao Tome Shrew. Like a woodshrew, only ridiculously rare and really cool looking
Chapter Fourteen
Sirius had been right—I was only able to stay in animal form for about a minute. The transformation from animal to human was surprisingly less painful than human to animal. Rational behind this? No, probably not. Gratefulness on my behalf? Immense.
So despite being rather late, I decided to head down to dinner for the first time in a long time. I'd be ahead of Sirius's deadline, as long as I got the chance to tell him, as well as eating delicious dinner food. I practically sprinted to the Great Hall.
I walked into the hall at the height of dinner, at which point the eating disorder girls were leaving, and when the main courses had already made the transition from platter to plate, but were not quite decimated yet. I avoided the disdainful looks from the group of unnaturally skinny crowd, putting my head down and skirting around them, then making my way to the Gryffindor table.
As I passed by Sirius, I stopped, then bent close to his head and whispered, "Met your deadline."
He stopped chewing and grinned at me, his mouth bulging with food.
"Think—uh—jungle cat," I continued, patting him on the shoulder and turning to walk away. He caught my wrist, holding up a finger and signaling for me to wait while he finished chewing.
"Sit," he said, swallowing with difficulty and sliding over.
"Sirius—" I protested.
"Nope. Sit," he cut me off pulling me over and plopping me down.
I sighed, but didn't get up. James was grinning at me from across the table, Peter was eating on his right (I don't even think he noticed me), Sirius was shoving some of everything on a plate and handing it to me from my right, and Remus, on my left, was concentrating really hard on eating.
"Why are you smiling at me?" I asked James behind a small chuckle.
"Lily thinks you'd be a good influence on me," he grinned.
"Speaking of, Prongs, how are things going with the Head Girl?" Sirius wiggled his eyebrows as he talked.
James's smile widened. "Swimmingly, Padfoot, swimmingly."
"Then why is she not sitting with us?" Sirius asked, seeming to already know the answer.
James blushed and looked around—"Well she seems not to be here at all…"
"Right. And why would that be?" Sirius prodded.
James thought for a moment, then slapped his hands down on the table. "Prefect schedules! Damn! I was supposed to bring dinner to the common room and work with her!" he cried, grabbing a plate and sticking what remained of the food on it before dashing out of the hall.
Sirius chuckled. "What would he do without me?"
"Don't let it go to your head, now," I chided, elbowing him lightly.
"Ow! You know, you don't deserve that potato." He scooped the potato from my plate and plopped it on his own.
"Is that how you treat the girl who's been devoid of dinner for over a week?" I sniffed.
"Is that how you treat the king of Hogwarts?"
"Arrogant prat." I stuck out my tongue.
"Oh, you're a feisty kitty aren't you?" he said, dropping his tone.
"Just as you're a little 'ruff' around the edges," I retorted, smugly turning back to my food.
Sirius was quiet for a moment, then, "I'm impressed."
I mock bowed my head. "Don't be so surprised."
"Well with a mentor like me, I hardly have reason to be," he smirked.
I elbowed him again, trying to ignore when Remus got up and left, his plate still piled with food.
*What You Wish For*
"He hates me now, doesn't he?" I said softly to Sirius as we made our way back to the common room, Peter trailing behind us.
"He does not."
It took every ounce of spunk I had left, but I raised my eyebrows. "Did you see him at dinner? It was like I wasn't even there."
"He's just embarrassed," Sirius sighed. "He won't even tell us exactly what happened."
I snorted. "Well don't expect me to tell you either."
"I'm not. You know, this could get better if you told him."
"Sirius, I'm not sure how that conversation would begin."
"How about, 'Hey Remus.' That should work."
"And then, how do you know it would change anything?" I felt incredibly close to tears, mentally kicking myself for my ridiculous girlishness.
"It would change everything! You wouldn't be so—so—breakable!" He'd started to get frustrated, and his hands were running through his hair in exhasperation.
I hung my head and kept walking, furiously blinking back tears.
"Alex," he called after me, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."
"It's fine," I said, sounding slightly strangled. "It's not your problem. I get it."
"Damnit—this was about making your life more exciting, not miserable." He'd caught up to me at this point.
"It's fine," I said, looking up at the ceiling to hold back tears. It was too late though—my voice had cracked, and with it, my resolve. Tears flowed steadily down my face.
"Hey," Sirius said softly, wrapping me in a hug. Pressed tightly to his chest, I took a breath, which came out sounding more like a strangled sob.
"It's just a lot to take in," I said shakily. "I'm not used to attention, or even people, really—" shaky sob "—and then Remus, I just, I don't know. And then becoming an animagus—" sob "—I thought that would fix things, but it's not that simple." I felt so stupid crying to Sirius like this. I felt bad for him to have to put up with this, and I felt dumb for having this breakdown to begin with.
Someone suddenly cleared their throat. My eyes flew open, fearful of who had seen my meltdown, and saw Peter standing there awkwardly. I'd forgotten he was there. I backed away from Sirius, my eyes trained on the ground.
"You probably need this more than I do," he said quietly, holding out a bar of Honeyduke's Finest chocolate. At that moment, it just seemed so sweet that my eyes filled with tears all over again, and I pulled him in for a hug too.
"Okay," I said, calming myself down. "Let's be done with this for tonight."
Sirius and Peter both smiled at me. Genuine smiles. I almost cried again.
"Come on," I continued, feeling loads better. "I bet I can kick both your asses at wizard chess."