Hello everyone. I hope you've all had a lovely month, and I now depart with you a new chapter. I'm doing a lot of studying at the moment so my talking is going weird and fancy, it'll go down soon enough. Don't worry though, the chapter isn't weird fancy talk. Anyways, I hope you all like this chapter, I'm not super proud of it just because it's not hugely important, but I do hope it'll be a good read. Favourite, follow, review, all of that fun stuff, and enjoy!

xxx

Transformations

Genevieve straightened from her slump against the wall as a duo of unfamiliar Death Eaters made their way towards the cells. There was a scuffle of movement in reaction to their presence, prisoners rousing from thought, wide-eyed and afraid. She bent over, shaking Sirius awake. He blinked blearily, pulling himself upright. One of the two Death Eaters glanced their way and for one terrifying moment, Genevieve was sure that they had come to kill them, that they'd decided keeping prisoners wasn't worth the bother.

But they hadn't come to kill them, they hadn't come for her or any of their cell mates at all. Instead, they had turned to the cell across from them.

"Up!" They bellowed. "Get up and put your hands where we can see them."

"What are they doing?" Sirius asked, alarmed.

Genevieve said nothing, her eyes seeking out Fish. The woman was slowly coming to her feet alongside her fellow cellmates, raising her hands above her head.

"Anyone tries to run and they'll get a little something extra while they're out." The guard warned as he stepped forward.

He pulled a key off his belt and unlocked the cell door, allowing his fellow Death Eaters to march within the cell. They grabbed the nearest prisoner by the scruff of his neck, forcing his arms behind his back and pushing his head down as they lead him through the cell door and out of sight. In their absence, the guard brandished his wand at them, daring anyone to make a break for it. So worn down by all that must have happened since they'd been taken, Genevieve knew that there was no way for them to escape, but she still wanted to yell for them to run while they had the chance. But instead of running, the prisoners were backing themselves up against the walls of the cell, anything to stop themselves from being next. The Death Eaters paid no mind to this as they returned, taking prisoners away one by one.

A muted scream echoed down the hall and Genevieve's stomach plunged. From within the werewolves cell there was a sudden scurry of movement in response to the scream. A prisoner had begun protesting as the Death Eaters made to lead her from the cell, thrashing and yelling in their grip.

"No! You can't—you can't keep doing this, I won't—"

The woman voice was cut off as a fist collided with her stomach, the air rushing out of her in a soft gasp. She said no more, becoming limp in the arms of her captors. They hauled her out of the cell and down the hallway, the woman making no more effort to fight back. Genevieve looked up at Fish, trying to catch her eye. But she couldn't, not with Fish staring down the hallway, watching for the Death Eaters return.

When they did emerge from the darkness, they set their sights on Fish, the closest to the edges of the cell. Her eyes were wide and glued to the floor when they neared her, the loud spoken and confident woman Genevieve had spoken to a few hours ago retreating within. She put up no resistance, folding underneath the Death Eaters hands as they pushed her head down and her arms behind her back. As they lead her from the cell, she was tripping over her own feet.

"What are they doing?" Sirius asked again as the last of the occupants of the cell disappeared down the end of the hallway, the guard kicking the cell door shut.

"They're werewolves." She said. "That's why they take them, why they're here at all."

"What? How do you know?"

Genevieve looked to the spot that Fish had disappeared from her vision. "The woman from last night, who told us to be quiet, we talked more after you fell asleep."

"Oh. Is… Was she okay? Uninjured?"

"I don't know." She said, desperately wishing she had thought to ask while she still could. Siobhan would have wanted her to know, and f or all Genevieve knew, she'd never get the chance to ask again.

"I do know who she is though."

Sirius hummed curiously, the sound scratchy and unpleasant.

"Her name's Fiona Cecil, or Fish I suppose. Her cousin is my Quidditch captain."

"Crabbe?" Sirius asked, his brows rising to meet his hairline. She could hardly blame him, the thought that someone who shared blood with Crabbe would be strong enough to survive this wasn't even close to believable.

"No. Siobhan always fills in for him, Siobhan Fawley that is."

"Is she the shouty one?"

"Sometimes." She said. "Fish was taken a few weeks ago, the kidnappings were all over the prophet. Siobhan was a wreck, they're really close."

"The werewolves from Wales?"

"Yeah."

Another scream cut through the air and Genevieve jumped. Sirius pressed a hand to his mouth, his skin glowing green in the darkness. He bent over, shaking as he tucked his head between his knees. If they had been friends, Genevieve might have laid a comforting hand on his back, but they weren't friends, so she didn't know what to do.

"Fuck." He swore. "This is so fucking… It's inhumane."

"Somehow I doubt that makes a difference to the Death Eaters" Genevieve commented dryly.

"They're human." Sirius spat, pulling his head out from between his knees.

His sickly parlour had quickly been replaced with flushed cheeks and angry eyes. The rage that she could see in his eyes—it made her want to cry. She could see just looking at him that it was personal.

"You know someone then? Who's been bitten?" She asked.

"Yes."

"Do I know them?"

"Yes." He repeated. "I… Remus."

Genevieve felt as if she should have been more surprised than she was, but it made sense. Lupins sporadic overnight stays at the Hospital wing, his apparent exhaustion, all his unexplained illnesses and hell, even his heart number she'd studied in Arithmancy, it all made more sense equipped with the knowledge of his lycanthropy.

"How long has it been since he was bitten?" She asked.

"When he was four," Sirius answered. "James, Peter and I have known for three years now. Figures I might as well tell you since we're going to be stuck here til we die."

In a sense, it seemed better that Lupin would be unable to remember much before the bite, that it was all he'd ever known. That way, he wouldn't be able to miss what he'd lost. But on the other hand, the fact that he would never know life without lycanthropy seemed even crueller. There were so many things he would never experience, and all because of something that was entirely out of his control.

"We've been trying to help him with the transformations," said Sirius. "But there's only so much we can do."

"Is there anything you can do?"

Sirius' ears went pink. "Yes. It's a bit… Well, it's illegal."

"Illegal?" She asked, perturbed. "What on earth is there to help that's illegal? You haven't been giving him people to feed on have you?"

"No!" He exclaimed, Genevieve's piss poor attempt at a joke going straight over his head.

"We… We became animagi."

"You what?" She asked, eyes wide and heartbeat quick. "Why would you even do that? How would you even do that?"

"Animals can't become werewolves, and if we're there for his transformations, we can stop him from hurting himself so much."

"How did you figure that out?"

Sirius shrugged. "Peter's bloody good at research when he wants to be. He started looking into ways to help the day we found out."

"What animals? Your animagus forms that is, what can you become?"

"Peter transforms into a rat, James transforms into a stag, and I'm a dog that's about the size of a house."

A snort of amusement slipped past her lips.

"What?" Sirius asked defensively.

"It just makes a lot of sense is all, your animagus form being a big, mangy dog."

He pushed at her shoulder. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"Not really." He grumbled, grinning. "It's not like I can transform properly anyway."

"You can't?"

"Not without a wand, and I'm not likely to find a wand to practise with around here, not since they've taken everyone's away." He looked down at the stone slabs beneath them. "James has managed it before though, only once, but still."

"He transforms into a stag right?"

"Yeah. Evans patronus is a doe, so he likes to think it's a sign she secretly doesn't hate him."

Genevieve's jaw dropped. "Evans can cast a corporeal patronus?"

"We all can, it's how you find the animals form."

"Merlin's knickers, that's amazing."

Sirius tipped his imaginary hat.

"Is that where all the weird nicknames come from?"

"You betcha, Padfoot, Wormtail and Prongs, nicknames are our speciality."

At the topic of nicknames, she was hit with a wave of memories. "Remember when you would call me Princess?"

Sirius' lips quirked into a smile. "You were pissed as hell about that for a while there. It stopped being fun once you wouldn't get angry anymore."

A scream cut through the air and Genevieve's enjoyment quickly died, her cheeks flushed with shame. Fish and a dozen more were being subjected to god knows what kinds of torture only a short distance away, and here she was giggling about a couple of nicknames.

The first scream was followed by one more, two more, three more, she gave up counting after the number of screams hit ten. There were so many that they were blending together, a cacophony of pain. She couldn't stop herself from imagining what was occurring, and just the inaccurate images she fabricated made her sick to her stomach. Beside her, she felt Sirius' shoulder brush against her own. He picked up her hand, interlocking their fingers as Genevieve had done earlier. Together they waited for the screams to stop.

"Why didn't you transform when the Death Eaters attacked Hogsmeade?" She asked quietly, her voice barely audible above the screams. "You could have gotten away."

He fingers twitched beneath her own. "I panicked."

"No, you didn't." She said carefully. "Not enough to forget about something like that."

"Well what else would you have had me do? Leave you alone to be taken by the Death Eaters?"

Yes, she wanted to say, because so much of her believed it. But a small, selfish part of her reared its ugly head, whispering that she needed him here with her in this cursed cell. Without Sirius, she would be dying. But she couldn't put any of that into words, not words that made any sense, so instead, she blew her breath through her teeth, trying to tune out the screaming.

"Cleaning, muggle, dust."

xxx

Regulus had been expecting it when word travelled that Dumbledore was gathering the relatives of those affected by the attack. What he hadn't been expecting, was for Slughorn to approach him about the meeting with kindness and sensitivity. The often inebriated professor had been impressively tactful for someone who often lacked any tact whatsoever. After informing him of the meeting, he had even gone as far as to provide directions to Dumbledores office. Unnecessary as they had been for Regulus, who had visited Dumbledores office when his parents pulled him out of school to attend his Aunt Belvinas funeral last year, he still appreciated the sentiment.

With nothing better to do, Regulus had managed to arrive at Dumbledores office early, and it appeared that he wasn't the only one. Dicken Clearwater was standing a few feet away, glancing back and forth between Regulus and the carpet. He remembered another Clearwater being listed as one of the many who was placed under St Mungo's care. Melissa, he thought her name had been.

Clearwater fixed his gaze on Regulus' face, striding over to him.

"I don't like you." He said, rather bluntly in Regulus' opinion.

"And?"

Clearwater bristled. "And I think that you treated Ryan like shit."

Regulus averted his gaze. "I know."

"But… for reasons beyond me, Ryan still cares about you, so I'm going to do my best to be civil."

"Pity and care aren't interchangeable Clearwater." Regulus corrected, meeting the boys gaze head-on.

Clearwaters brows rose. "For someone who does so well on exams, you sure are thick."

That said, he turned away, crossing back to the other side of the room. A few more students had filtered in, dotted across the office. And hovering in the doorway, was Andy. She clutched a sheet of parchment in her fist, searching the office. Regulus tried to catch her eye, wanting to apologise for ignoring her earlier, but before he could, her gaze became fixed on a spot across the room. He watched with mounting confusion as Andy made her way over to Slughorn and a blonde woman dressed in odd clothing. His cousin pulled the woman aside, gesturing at the parchment.

"Regulus!"

He turned away from Andy just in time for the air to be forced from his lungs, a small figure barrelling into him and making him wobble on his feet. It was Rosalie, and she was clinging to him like a lifeline. Regulus wasn't sure he'd exchanged more than ten words with the girl in all the time he and Dorcas had been friends, so to say he was surprised was an understatement.

Cautiously, Regulus wrapped his arms around her, stooping so that her head would rest higher than just above his belly button. He had never noticed how small she was before, even for a first year. Thinking about Rosalie's height made Genevieve run through his thoughts and he felt a pang of fear at what might be happening to Sirius and Genevieve at that very moment. Pushing the thought aside, he focussed on the girl he held. She was wearing the beanie that Dorcas had worked so hard to finish in time for Christmas Day. In addition to the knitting, she had spent days practising tracking charms so that she'd be able to enchant the hat, a remedy to Rosalie's persistent habit of losing her belongings.

"I miss her." Said Rosalie, her arms tightening around his torso.

"I know."

He glanced up, meeting the gaze of the prefect that had escorted Rosalie to Dumbledores office. He nodded at them, watching as they turned and left the office.

Rosalie pulled her face away from his chest, her arms still wound tightly around him.

"You're coming to the funeral?"

"Yeah, so long as I'm allowed."

She pressed her face back against his robes. "I'll have Mum send you the details. Andromeda too."

His breath caught in his chest. "Thank you. So much."

The door to the office opened and closed one last time, Regulus' parents emerging from the staircase beyond, not a hair out of place. They eyed Rosalie with distaste, and before he could pause to think, his gaze had hardened into a glare.

"Students," Dumbledore called from his desk, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. Rosalie turned her head to face him, but her grip on Regulus didn't loosen for a heartbeat.

"I realise that this is a very difficult situation for all of you, which is why we are giving you the option to return home, or to St Mungo's, for the next week. Given that classes resume on Wednesday, this does mean that you will miss some classes, but we are planning to set up a study group to help students catch up after returning. For those of you who have relatives in St Mungo's, we have arranged for your guardians to meet you at the portkey landing point. We are also offering up the Hogwarts flow network to the relatives of Ms Meadowes and Mr Black, and the direct line will remain open until the end of the week so that you may return. Should anyone else wish to return to school early, arrangements can be made. Does anyone have any questions?"

The room was silent.

Dumbledore sighed, his wrinkled hand twisting at his long beard. "Very well. Could those who wish to travel to St Mungo's go to either the horseshoe Professor McGonagall is holding or the hat with Professor Slughorn. They will escort you to the landing point."

A scurry of movement rippled through the office, students rushing towards the teachers and reaching out to the portkeys.

"Is everyone touching a portkey?" Dumbledore asked once the students had settled.

There was a wearisome but excited chorus of affirmation and with a flick of his wand, Dumbledore had sent them on their way. Regulus felt an ocean of jealousy surge up inside him knowing that they would all get to see their family. For all he knew, he'd never see his brother again, never be able to fix things. He'd lost three of the most important people in his life, two potentially forever, and one definitely forever. And meanwhile, those who had just departed the office would be having tearful reunions with their loved ones, smiling and laughing and crying. Everything that he wanted.

Swallowing dryly in an attempt to soothe his scratchy throat, he squashed the jealousy down.

"Your father is due to arrive any minute Miss Meadowes, your mother as well Miss Black. They'll take you home."

Rosalie nodded, her sharp chin jutting into Regulus' ribcage.

"Miss Meadowes," Dumbledore continued, cautious. "I'm sorry for your loss."

There was a jostle of movement in his arms as Rosalie turned her face away from Dumbledore, Regulus' skin growing cool and wet beneath his button-up shirt. Startled, he realised that she was crying. He wasn't much of a peoples person on a good day, and he didn't have half a clue how to comfort someone. Nevertheless, he tried, rubbing small circles into Rosalies back. At the action, some of the tension seemed to escape her shoulders, so he continued.

Looking over Rosalies mop of hair, he realised with a jolt that the only people left in the office were Dumbledore, his parents, Andy, Rosalie, the blonde woman and himself. The blonde woman must have been Genevieve's elusive mother, or at least that was how he had thought of her before he learnt the truth of Genevieve's parentage. With the muggle clothing and her presence alongside his own parents, it was the only person she could have been. She certainly didn't look like Genevieve though, not with her soft features and shock of blonde hair.

The fireplace flashed green, drawing Regulus' attention as Mr Meadowes stepped out from the embers.

Rosalie slipped free of Regulus' arms, sprinting towards her father. Regulus straightened up, his back cracking as Mr Meadowes drew his daughter close, holding onto her for dear life.

The fireplace flashed green once more and Regulus' aunt stepped out, calmly coming to stand beside Andy. There was no tearful reunion like Rosalie and her father, merely a quiet acknowledgement of the existence of the other. Arms empty, Regulus made his way to his own parents, standing silently beside them.

"Shall we go?" His mother asked, through they both knew full well that she expected no response.

So, with no response from Regulus, or anyone at all for that matter, his parents swept towards the fireplace, nodding at Dumbledore as Regulus trailed behind them. The headmaster stepped forward to offer the pot of flop powder as Regulus' father glided into the fireplace, miraculously managing to remain dignified in such a position. Orion took a scoop of powder, spoke their home address, and with a flash of green flames he was gone. Walburga quickly followed suit, offering the room a scathing glare before she too was gone.

Following his parents' example, Regulus climbed into the fireplace, taking a handful of flow powder from Dumbledore.

"Number 12, Grimmauld Place."

His vision was engulfed with green, and Hogwarts disappeared.