Snap, Crackle, Bang!
Chapter 25
Kagome nodded, following Sirius out of the hall quickly, leaving a confused trail of her dorm-mates in her wake.
They reached a secluded spot, at the very edge of the hallway, where nobody was around.
"Kagome, love, listen," Sirius took her hands, making her frown at him.
"What were you doing in the forest?" Kagome asked, getting straight to the point.
Sirius paled at that, his dashing smile faltering, "Love, I- look," How could you possibly explain that your best friend was the creature trying to eat the new student and that you and your friends had to turn into animals to help him every full moon?
"I know that you were the dog- I don't know how, but you were. James was the stag, and Peter was there too, but I don't know what he was," Kagome said firmly, removing her hands from his grasp to put them on her hips, "And what was with Remus?"
"Please, Kagome. You can't tell anyone," Sirius begged, "I'll explain everything if you promise to keep it a secret."
"Okay," Kagome agreed quickly, never once hesitating.
His stormy grey eyes met her blue ones, she could tell by his voice that he was relieved.
"Thank you, love," He smiled, "As long as you keep this a secret we won't have a problem."
"So, Sirius, going to explain?" She asked, her blue eyes shining with determination.
"A-" He paused, seeming unsure of where to start or what to tell her, "When Remus was a kid, he was bitten by a werewolf, I don't know if you have those in Japan-"
Kagome supposed it meant he was somewhat like a wolf-demon, though she had heard of werewolves from her brother, who loved to read comic books, especially western-style ones.
"Meaning he turns into that thing every month, on the night of the full moon," Sirius explained solemnly, all sense of flirtation gone from his voice.
'Like a reverse half-demon,' Kagome thought, nodding, 'He's human all month and then one night he turns into a werewolf.'
"It's terrible for him. There's no cure, he'll have to live with the fact that he turns into a mindless killing machine once a month for the rest of his life," Sirius sighed, "So, in our second year, we decided to become animagi-"
"Animagi?" Kagome asked, confused, but finding it easy to sympathise with their situation. She understood why they would want to keep it a secret- it would mean becoming an outcast, just as her dear half-demon friends, Inuyasha, Shiori and Jinenji were, if people knew that Remus was a werewolf.
"We can turn into animals. It's a pretty complicated process, took us the most of three years to get it down. You know that I'm the dog, James is the stag, and Peter is the rat. Merlin knows how you knew, but you did. We just wanted to help our friend- it's why I couldn't get detention in potions, I had to be there for him," Sirius turned to her, his voice wavering slightly, unsure of what she was going to do, "You're going to keep this a secret, right?"
"Yes, I will. I can tell you just want to help him. People can be so cruel, especially to people who are different, it's good of you to do something like that for your friend," Kagome smiled- there was definitely more to Hogwarts' resident playboy Sirius Black than most people knew. She had been wrong in her initial judgement that he was just a 'womanising pig', as Mary said.
"Thank you, love. I- we appreciate it. If you don't mind me asking, how did you know that it was me?" Sirius asked,
"I can read auras, I could sense it was you," Kagome shrugged.
"What? That sounds like something we'd do in Divination," Sirius laughed, fondly recalling the many times that he and James had gotten kicked out of that class.
"I'm from a long line of priests and priestesses, on my Mothers side. My Father was a wizard, and I just happened to inherit both abilities," Kagome explained quickly, "The 'wandless magic' was just a barrier, I was still learning before I left Japan." Sadness flooded through her, she realised she hadn't completed her training with Kaede, the kind elderly woman who had supported her throughout her trips to the past and was desperate to help her improve for the final battle.
"I'm guessing then that you don't want anyone to know about that, since you were in the Forbidden Forest of all places?" Sirius' nerves had calmed considerably. As he looked into her eyes he could just tell that she wouldn't tell anybody. Her 'barrier' was perhaps just the Japanese priestess equivalent of a shield charm, which he had seen her cast when Bellatrix tried to use a hex on Mary MacDonald, and it was noticeably different.
Kagome shook her head, "We can keep this just between us."
"That's perfect, love." Sirius grinned, relieved.
"What did Sirius want?" Lily asked as Kagome sat down at the table, the Marauders being only a few benches away.
Kagome looked at Sirius, then back at Lily, "Oh, you know, he's just being flirty."
"Ugh," Lily wrinkled her nose, "You think he'd get the idea that you weren't interested."
"James clearly hasn't," Kagome shrugged, earning a sigh from the redhead.
"Unfortunately so."
"I love this class!" Mary beamed, practically skipping through the halls.
"Speak for yourself," Lily snorted.
"You're just jealousssss," Mary sang, referencing the fact that every animal that Professor Kettleburn had tried to introduce her to absolutely hated her.
The five girls walked to the edge of the forest, where their Care of Magical Creatures class was held.
"Welcome, again, class!" Their professor grinned at them, reattaching his fake, rusty-red arm.
James stood behind Kagome, tapping her on the back so that she would turn to face him, "Thanks," He whispered to her with a smile, which she returned.
"Oi, Evans!" The Potter boy turned his attention from Kagome onto the redhead that he had been pining after for years.
Lily gave him a glare, not bothering to speak to him.
"Hogsmeade?" He asked, loudly enough that they had the attention of the whole class.
"No, you toerag," Lily huffed.
"Hey! Mr. Potter, Miss Evans, care to pay attention?" Professor Kettleburn sighed.
"Sorry, Professor," Lily apologised sheepishly, though James just grinned.
Kagome, being the only student close enough to the Marauders, could hear their hushed whispers.
"Great distraction, mate," Sirius smirked, proudly showing James a glass container, thirty or so docile bright blue BilliWigs inside of it.
"Thanks, Padfoot. One of these days she'll say yes," James nodded wistfully, "But for now, making half of slytherin float is my main priority."
The day had flown by, most of her classes remained uneventful, though she was slightly on edge, not wanting to be unfortunate enough to get bitten by one of the BilliWigs that Sirius and James would undoubtedly set free on the school.
"Sickle for your thoughts?" Mary asked Kagome, who was sat on the red sofa in the Gryffindor common room, her small ginger kitten in her lap.
"Don't you think it's cruel of James and Sirius to target the Slytherins just because of their house?" Kagome asked, looking to Lily and Mary.
"Exactly, Kagome! Most of them haven't done anything wrong," Lily nodded.
"Oh, please. Lily, most of them would be more than happy to set you on fire just because you're muggle-born. Those snakes have no compassion, they're mostly purists- they think that unless you're from a pure-blood wizarding family you're less than them," Mary huffed, "I'm never going to forgive them for what they say to you Lily!"
Kagome sighed, even in this new magical world people would still judge each other on their blood, something that they couldn't control. Whether it be Remus, who would undoubtedly become an outcast if people knew that he was a werewolf, or Lily, who was called horrible names because her parents weren't magical, people would be cruel. It filled Kagome with a kind of vengeance- if she ever saw anyone be mean to Lily, or another muggle-born student because of their blood, she would hex them into next week- or at least yell at them.
Please review, they keep me motivated. I really appreciate constructive criticism, especially on the pace of the story- is it moving too quickly?