Seventh Year
It was only the second week into school, and already Remus was exhausted. He slowly walked across the common room, headed up to his dorm and a long night of needed rest, when he noticed the figure lying on the couch. He walked to the couch and looked over the back. There slept a girl on her side, black hair covering her face, a blanket laying over her hips and legs, and her shirt riding up above her ribcage.
That wasn't what caused him to stare; he had a girl he was completely in love with after all. Rather, it was the multitude of scars that ran across her back, around her waist, and up her stomach. They rivaled even his in ferocity.
He traced one, fascinated that such a small creature had been through so much, and lived.
He was so busy tracing the scars, he didn't notice the hand on his wrist till it had yanked him over the couch and dropped him to the ground, throat pinned beneath the girl's knee.
"What are you doing?" Zoe demanded.
"What happened to you?" Remus demanded back.
"That's none of your concern." She said, self-consciously tugging at her shirt.
"I'm your friend, so I think it is." He said with that look in his eyes.
"Don't look at me like that." She said, emphasize heavily on the don't. "I don't need, nor want, your sympathy."
Remus shook his head, "It's not sympathy, it empathy."
"What?" She demanded.
"I know how it feels to have things you feel you must hide." He said softly.
"Are you really that stupid?" She asked, completely serious.
"I know -" He started, but she stopped him with a hand to his mouth.
"I already know you're a werewolf, and it's nothing to be ashamed of." She said with a roll of her eyes, standing and helping him up then seating herself back on the couch.
Remus sat next to her, completely stunned. "What else do you know?" He asked, a little scared to find out the answer.
"I know you're a werewolf, and James, Sirius, and Peter are illegal Animagi." She said with a shrug.
"How in the hell do you know that?" He demanded.
"Dawn, Anya, and I saw the four of you the second full moon of our second year." She explained with a shrug and a yawn, figuring Lily and Ashley knew about her and Dawn already, and it wasn't likely the boy's would nark.
"How did you see us without us knowing?" Remus demanded once more.
"Well, Dawn saw you, then let me and Anya know, and we followed you." She said, making it sound simple.
"Not possible, we would have seen you." He said thoughtfully. "And anyways," He said, thinking further, "they couldn't change till fourth year."
"Yeah…" She said hesitantly.
"What?" He demanded.
"Well, after the first time, when they'd walk you to the tree, we'd watch them turn away and go back. Well, every full moon after that we would watch, just to make sure nothing happened. Then one time we noticed the boy's not leave, we started down the tunnel to see what was happening, but we saw the animals and figured they'd finally learned to transform." She said with another delicate shrug, as if she hadn't been putting her, and Anya, and Dawn's, life in danger.
"You could have been bitten." He said, voice cracking unsteadily.
"So." She said with, yet another, shrug.
"You would have been infected and it would have been my fault." He whispered softly.
She laughed at that.
"You find that funny?" He shot at her.
"No, I find your total lack of trust in me funny." She shot back.
"What?" He asked, confused.
Zoe scoffed. "You really think I'd put my sister in danger."
Remus cocked an eyebrow. "You said she saw me, she could have followed me without telling you."
Zoe shrugged. "Werewolf bite doesn't affect animals." She explained, as if anyone should know that.
"Yeah, or Animag-" Remus paused. "No." he said, almost to himself, "not possible."
"What's not possible?"
"There's no possible way that you three were Animagi since second year." He said thoughtfully.
"Your right." She said with a shrug.
Remus gave her a duh stare. "I know."
She rolled her eyes. "Dawn and I have been Animagi since the first month of our first year, Anya I'm not sure." She informed him.
Remus just stared.
"What?" She asked innocently.
Remus couldn't form coherent thought. "What? How? Not Possible."
"Dog, Eagle, and Fox. Advanced magic. Not true." She said, answering each question in order, though he probably hadn't expected it.
Before he could say anything more, down walked Anya and Dawn themselves, as well as James, Sirius, Peter, and surprisingly, Lily.
Before Zoe could stop him, Remus shouted "Did you hear that Zoe and Dawn have been –" He stopped and looked at Lily with wide eyes.
"What?" Sirius demanded, but Remus just shook his head and glanced, once more, at Lily.
Finally, taking pity on him, Zoe rolled her eyes, "Lily knows, she's known since sixth year."
Remus' eyes seemed to get even bigger.
"Just about mine, Dawn, and Anya's secret." She clarified, not wishing to scare the poor boy any further.
"Actually," They heard Lily say quietly, "I know about Remus too."
Zoe heard Remus groan, "Who told you?" He asked.
"No one, just figured it out." She answered even softer.
"Anything else, Lily petal?" Sirius demanded with a pinched sort of tone.
"And about James and Sirius and Peter… and Ashley." She said nodding as she said each name.
"Well, since Lily seems to know all our secrets, what's this about Anya, Dawn, and Zoe?" This also from Sirius in a very sarcastic tone. "Wait… Ashley?" He demanded confused.
Lily rolled her eyes. "I don't know what animals you are. Just that you are." She answered shortly. "And yes, Ashley."
Remus looked from Dawn to Zoe to Anya, then realized it wasn't his secret to tell. "You have to ask them." He said.
Zoe looked over at Remus, surprise written all over her face, but Dawn, being Dawn, decided secrecy was boring. "We're illegal Animagi."
Zoe watched with a laugh as Sirius's jaw dropped, James's not far behind. "Since when?" They demanded in unison.
"Since…" Dawn stopped, looking towards the ceiling then nodded. "First year." She finished, looking back at the group and smiling, then frowning. "Except Anya of course, she was before she came here, she won't tell me when, but I'm guessing early on in her life."
"Not possible." They both said, once again in tandem.
"Want us to prove it?" Dawn asked, always happy to prove her skill.
"Sure." Sirius said with a grin, wondering what animal the strong, silent Zoe was, probably a cougar or owl. Or Dawn, the sweet, bubbly girl who never had an unkind word to say, most likely a dog. Anya, she was probably something exotic.
Dawn giggled, then ran towards the portrait hole, everyone – not already up – lurched to their feet, and everyone already on their feet, lurched forward - except Anya of course, who walked sedately.
She led them all up to the Astronomy Tower, somehow not getting caught by any Professor or Prefect - that wasn't Lily, James, or Remus of course.
"Ok, you ready?" She asked them. When they nodded she giggled, "Might want to step back." She said.
James and Sirius rolled their eyes and stepped back slightly, but Zoe, Remus, and Lily stepped back a significant amount, leaving the other two boys in front of them. Anya stood off to the side silently.
All the sudden, Dawn turned and flew towards the side of the tower, jumping off. The boys all ran forward, but Lily, Anya, and Zoe just stood, bored, until they saw a transformed eagle - a very big eagle - fly up, causing both James and Sirius to fall backwards. The eagle's feathers' where almost the color of her blond hair, and it's blue eyes stared down at the two boys, the same laughing gleam as Dawn's own.
"Wow." They said, watching her touch the ground and transform back into her human form.
Dawn gave another giggle. "The Eagle; King of the Birds. Fierce and Proud, very few would ever dare to mess with you, in either form." She said, as though reading from a textbook.
Sirius and James continued staring at her, then shook themselves and looked towards Anya, who'd walked forward. "Is this necessary?" She asked.
Dawn giggled, "You know you want to." She said childishly.
Anya rolled her eyes, but complied.
Anya transformed, turning herself into an elegant looking fox, coat of the deepest coal with just the tip of her tail, her ears, her chest, and her socks a becoming white.
Dawn giggled again "The Fox; Foxes may be associated with cunning, but with a shrewd nature also comes intelligence." She said, once again sounding very much like a textbook.
Anya transformed back into a human, then turned towards Zoe.
Zoe sighed, rolled her eyes a little, then transformed. Instead of a cat or bird, such as Sirius expected, Zoe transformed into a black dog… almost identical to Sirius, only elegant looking. This caused not only a few eyebrows raised, but a bit of a gasp from the boys.
"The dog." Dawn said with a smile. "Very loyal. Will always help those they care for in times of need."
Zoe transformed back into human form "Can I go to bed now?" She demanded, walking away before anyone could even answer.
"Sorry about her, she doesn't seem to find it as much fun, nor as cool, as everyone else would." Dawn said apologetically as Zoe walked away.
Remus shook his head, "I kind of figured it was the other way around." He said, but when Lily gave him a questioning look he continued, "You know, Dawn was the dog, Anya was the fox, and Zoe was the Eagle."
Dawn nodded. "It would make more sense, since everyone knows that no one messes with Zoe, but I guess that's the point of the Animagus."
Everyone gave her a questioning look.
"To see ones true self." She said with a dainty shrug. "That's why Zoe's a dog." She explained.
The boys gave her a questioning look.
Anya huffed and rolled her eyes. "Vink about it voys. Zoe vant's vreedom above all elze. Zhe's alzo loyal an' loving an' alvays vanting to 'elp. Just as Ziriuz iz." She explained, her accent very heavy, due to the sleepiness which had yet to wear off.
James thought that over, then looked at Lily with a grin, "So what do you think you'll be?" He asked her with a raised brow.
"Oh," Lily said with a dainty shrug. "I already know." She finished, then walked off without another word, leaving four very speechless people behind her.
"We have to find out what Lily's Animagus is." Sirius heard James say firmly.
Dawn rolled her eyes. "Why can't we just ask?" She asked.
"I just did." James explained, "She wouldn't tell me."
"Why not?" Dawn asked again.
James shrugged. "No idea."
Sirius laughed. "Well, does anyone know Ashley's form?" He asked.
Zoe sat down beside Dawn. "Yeah." She said as she grabbed for toast and cranberry jam.
James huffed. "Well, do you know Lily's Animagus?" He asked.
Zoe shrugged. "Of course I do." She answered as she buttered toast.
James and Sirius gasped. "How?" They demanded.
Zoe rolled her eyes. "Your Patronus shows your Animagus. She helped me master my Patronus, but she had to show me her own to do it."
"So all we have to do is get her to show us her Patronus." James said, hitting the table with the side of his fist as though he'd just made a grand discovery.
Zoe rolled her eyes once more. "Good luck." She said with a sigh.
"Well, how do you know Ashley's?" Dawn asked sleepily.
Zoe rolled her eyes. "She and I go out all the time. It's easy to sneak out as animals." She laughed a bit. "And all of you know it as well if you'd think a bit harder." With that, she stood. "Don't do anything to stupid." She threw at the boys as she headed to find Ashley, toast in hand.
Sirius and James looked at one another, but as Remus began to laugh, they switched their gaze to him. "What?"
"You don't remember sixth year?" Remus asked.
James and Sirius shrugged. "What part?"
"When you saved Lily." He answered.
The boy's thought back, then turned to the two girls left at the table. "That was you?" Sirius asked.
Dawn and Anya nodded. "Though I'm not sure who the cat was." Dawn told them.
Anya then began laughing as well. "Think aboot it." She told Dawn. "Iv you and I are accoonted for, and we know Zoe, then who muzt Ashley be?"
Dawn bit her lip before she to figured it out and let out a snort. "Wow, how did we not figure that out sooner?"
James and Sirius looked at the three who understood whatever it Sirius and James had yet to understand. Remus, of course, finally took pity on them. "Think back to all the animals that night."
"Dog was Zoe." Sirius said.
"Eagle was Dawn." James continued.
"Fox Anya..." Sirius bit his lip before it clicked. "There was that rather large cat." He said, snapping his fingers as he remembered. "And you were all smelling it and whatever."
James snickered. "How did we miss that?" He asked.
Everyone else shrugged as they finished there breakfasts and stood for class. "At least now all we have to do is figure out Lily." Sirius said with a smile. "How hard can it be?"
