Chapter 13
The choosing
The rest of the Christmas holiday was a depressing one. Linnea knew she had to get back to normal at least on the outside before she returned to school. To her knowledge not many people knew about her parents and frankly she wanted to keep it that way. Alexia and Piper helped her with her school work and her telekinesis, while reassuring themselves that helping Linnea hide from her feelings was the right thing.
When they returned to school two days in the busy atmosphere helped more than the entire three weeks at home had. Linnea loved getting back into learning again; it was her way to escape anything. Not to mention the marauderettes were setting up for there first meeting of the year. It was going to be on the full moon. That seemed to be a particularly slow night for teacher wanderings.
The telekinesis meetings with Lupin had become more of counseling sessions than actual practice sessions, but Linnea practiced enough on her own to cover that. Professor Lupin had, as he seemed to think Sirius would fear, become more of a friend than any other teacher Linnea had ever had.
"Well I don't know about you guys but I am feeling quite refreshed after my weekly History of Magic nap." Piper said as Amerie and Linnea sat down for lunch.
"You know one day we are going to stop giving you our notes for that class." Amerie said slightly indignant yet smiling all the same.
"Oh no you won't Miss. Skye I may have to stop helping you in potions." Piper smiled mischievously.
It was true that one of the main reasons the five of them fought for top spot in their year was because they played to their strengths in study sessions. Linnea was simply incredible in charms and defense against the dark arts, but was pretty sketchy in potions which is where Piper and Alexia come in, with Amerie and Parvati dominating Transfigurations. And of course, History of Magic was merely a question of concentration. If you can stay awake long enough to get the high points of his notes you were all set.
It was there last class before their marauderette meeting and the girls couldn't be more ecstatic. They chattered quietly in the back of Professor Lupin's class, drawing more attention then than they should.
"Girls really I am going to have to separate you if you don't cool it." Lupin said finally getting a bit perturbed at the girl's constant disregard for the rules. The girls straightened up immediately but couldn't help fidgeting with excitement. When class was finally dismissed they made their way back to the dormitories to drop there stuff off before dinner.
"Holy cow!" Piper exclaimed.
"Only in India." Linnea smiled back.
Piper looked at her indignantly. "Geeze I was only going to say how this felt like a really long day, and maybe asked if you agreed. You know make small talk."
"I know, my goodness I was only joshin."
Amerie just smiled at the two of them, they could have gone on for hours really saying nothing at all, just discounting what the other person said, but they had no time for that.
At eight o'clock Piper, Amerie, and Linnea made there way to the Hufflepuff common room to collect Alexia and Parvati for a bit of a "study session" in the library. The girls found there way to the whomping willow and used a large branch to still the tree. Linnea kept a vigilant watch on the map to make sure they were safe.
The girls quickly scrambled into the tree before it started moving again and stopped in front of the door. They looked excitedly around at each other. Linnea counted off, "three, two, one..."
"Mooney," they all said in unison and the door swung open.
Piper and Amerie ran to the back room to grab some of the books they had found earlier while Alexia and Parvati went to find chairs and anything else they could use. Linnea simply walked over to the table and ran her fingers across the unfinished wood. It was a beautifully crafted table with designs etched on all the legs and the outside of the frame. As she gazed over the littered table an idea came to her. In a flash the papers once sprawled all over where now neatly stacked at one end. With another blink the dust found its place on the floor by the broom. She stepped back slightly and concentrated all her mind on the table and spun in 90 degrees and moved it no more than a foot toward herself. Suddenly she turned around and saw four sets of eyes watching her in awe.
"What?" she asked defensively. 'I was just practicing."
"That was...Awesome." Alexia exclaimed. "How the heck did you pull that off, that table has got to weigh 200 pounds man, that's solid."
"Yeah whatever, that's not what we are here fore," she said quickly.
The girls would have fought it, but with curfew coming near they had limited time.
"OK well I guess the first thing we need to do if we are going to try this animagus thing is figure out what animal we want to become." Piper said looking through the material she had carried to the table. "Let's see we have to study up on our animal, learn its movements and thought patterns, that is so we can control the mind when we transform, and we have to be able to transfigure any living thing into the animal before we can hope to animagus into it. That's so we have control over what we turn into."
"But we don't transfigure animals until the seventh year, and that's only minimal sized." Alexia said looking concerned.
"We also have Amerie and Parvati on our side." Linnea said with a small smile. The two girls blushed and smiled despite themselves.
"OK so whats's it going to be girls." Alexia said. "What are we going to be.
"A bird," said Amerie rather quickly
"A fox," said Piper directly after.
"A cat" Parvati responded.
Alexia looked at Linnea expectantly. It was quite apparent that all the girls had spent more than the past few moments contemplating what they were going to turn into. Linnea, however, had absolutely no idea.
"Well, I'm going to be a Unicorn." Alexia told them all quiet proud of her decision.
"Um, you can't do that." Piper said looking down at the papers once more. "You can't gain magical power in the transformation and Unicorns definitely have that."
"Oh." Alexia said quietly. "Then I have no idea."
Linnea, however was looking at the table through the entire conversation. "A wolf" she said quietly to herself. "I'm going to be a wolf." she said a bit louder. It appears that Mooney was a wolf.
"What? Where." Parvati said with interest.
"No he wasn't." Amerie said suddenly looking rather frightened as her eyes reached where Linnea's were. "He was a werewolf."
Silence filled the room.
"Are you sure?" Piper asked looking down at the fading pictures.
"Quite sure," Amerie replied becoming rather somber
Everyone turned to Amerie and once again an uneasy silence settled over the girls until...
"Oh my gosh you guys we only have five minutes to get back to our dorms. This meeting is adjourned." Alexia raced out the door looked at each other in panic and followed quickly after her.
That night safe in their beds the Marauderettes quickly fell asleep, save one. Linnea lay in her bed sobbing unheard, as tears created a pool on her pillow case. She could never let the other Marauderettes see her in this state. They would never allow this type of weakness. The loss of her parents was something she alone was going to have to deal with. She was very glad Lupin lessons would continue soon.
The rest of the Christmas holiday was a depressing one. Linnea knew she had to get back to normal at least on the outside before she returned to school. To her knowledge not many people knew about her parents and frankly she wanted to keep it that way. Alexia and Piper helped her with her school work and her telekinesis, while reassuring themselves that helping Linnea hide from her feelings was the right thing.
When they returned to school two days in the busy atmosphere helped more than the entire three weeks at home had. Linnea loved getting back into learning again; it was her way to escape anything. Not to mention the marauderettes were setting up for there first meeting of the year. It was going to be on the full moon. That seemed to be a particularly slow night for teacher wanderings.
The telekinesis meetings with Lupin had become more of counseling sessions than actual practice sessions, but Linnea practiced enough on her own to cover that. Professor Lupin had, as he seemed to think Sirius would fear, become more of a friend than any other teacher Linnea had ever had.
"Well I don't know about you guys but I am feeling quite refreshed after my weekly History of Magic nap." Piper said as Amerie and Linnea sat down for lunch.
"You know one day we are going to stop giving you our notes for that class." Amerie said slightly indignant yet smiling all the same.
"Oh no you won't Miss. Skye I may have to stop helping you in potions." Piper smiled mischievously.
It was true that one of the main reasons the five of them fought for top spot in their year was because they played to their strengths in study sessions. Linnea was simply incredible in charms and defense against the dark arts, but was pretty sketchy in potions which is where Piper and Alexia come in, with Amerie and Parvati dominating Transfigurations. And of course, History of Magic was merely a question of concentration. If you can stay awake long enough to get the high points of his notes you were all set.
It was there last class before their marauderette meeting and the girls couldn't be more ecstatic. They chattered quietly in the back of Professor Lupin's class, drawing more attention then than they should.
"Girls really I am going to have to separate you if you don't cool it." Lupin said finally getting a bit perturbed at the girl's constant disregard for the rules. The girls straightened up immediately but couldn't help fidgeting with excitement. When class was finally dismissed they made their way back to the dormitories to drop there stuff off before dinner.
"Holy cow!" Piper exclaimed.
"Only in India." Linnea smiled back.
Piper looked at her indignantly. "Geeze I was only going to say how this felt like a really long day, and maybe asked if you agreed. You know make small talk."
"I know, my goodness I was only joshin."
Amerie just smiled at the two of them, they could have gone on for hours really saying nothing at all, just discounting what the other person said, but they had no time for that.
At eight o'clock Piper, Amerie, and Linnea made there way to the Hufflepuff common room to collect Alexia and Parvati for a bit of a "study session" in the library. The girls found there way to the whomping willow and used a large branch to still the tree. Linnea kept a vigilant watch on the map to make sure they were safe.
The girls quickly scrambled into the tree before it started moving again and stopped in front of the door. They looked excitedly around at each other. Linnea counted off, "three, two, one..."
"Mooney," they all said in unison and the door swung open.
Piper and Amerie ran to the back room to grab some of the books they had found earlier while Alexia and Parvati went to find chairs and anything else they could use. Linnea simply walked over to the table and ran her fingers across the unfinished wood. It was a beautifully crafted table with designs etched on all the legs and the outside of the frame. As she gazed over the littered table an idea came to her. In a flash the papers once sprawled all over where now neatly stacked at one end. With another blink the dust found its place on the floor by the broom. She stepped back slightly and concentrated all her mind on the table and spun in 90 degrees and moved it no more than a foot toward herself. Suddenly she turned around and saw four sets of eyes watching her in awe.
"What?" she asked defensively. 'I was just practicing."
"That was...Awesome." Alexia exclaimed. "How the heck did you pull that off, that table has got to weigh 200 pounds man, that's solid."
"Yeah whatever, that's not what we are here fore," she said quickly.
The girls would have fought it, but with curfew coming near they had limited time.
"OK well I guess the first thing we need to do if we are going to try this animagus thing is figure out what animal we want to become." Piper said looking through the material she had carried to the table. "Let's see we have to study up on our animal, learn its movements and thought patterns, that is so we can control the mind when we transform, and we have to be able to transfigure any living thing into the animal before we can hope to animagus into it. That's so we have control over what we turn into."
"But we don't transfigure animals until the seventh year, and that's only minimal sized." Alexia said looking concerned.
"We also have Amerie and Parvati on our side." Linnea said with a small smile. The two girls blushed and smiled despite themselves.
"OK so whats's it going to be girls." Alexia said. "What are we going to be.
"A bird," said Amerie rather quickly
"A fox," said Piper directly after.
"A cat" Parvati responded.
Alexia looked at Linnea expectantly. It was quite apparent that all the girls had spent more than the past few moments contemplating what they were going to turn into. Linnea, however, had absolutely no idea.
"Well, I'm going to be a Unicorn." Alexia told them all quiet proud of her decision.
"Um, you can't do that." Piper said looking down at the papers once more. "You can't gain magical power in the transformation and Unicorns definitely have that."
"Oh." Alexia said quietly. "Then I have no idea."
Linnea, however was looking at the table through the entire conversation. "A wolf" she said quietly to herself. "I'm going to be a wolf." she said a bit louder. It appears that Mooney was a wolf.
"What? Where." Parvati said with interest.
"No he wasn't." Amerie said suddenly looking rather frightened as her eyes reached where Linnea's were. "He was a werewolf."
Silence filled the room.
"Are you sure?" Piper asked looking down at the fading pictures.
"Quite sure," Amerie replied becoming rather somber
Everyone turned to Amerie and once again an uneasy silence settled over the girls until...
"Oh my gosh you guys we only have five minutes to get back to our dorms. This meeting is adjourned." Alexia raced out the door looked at each other in panic and followed quickly after her.
That night safe in their beds the Marauderettes quickly fell asleep, save one. Linnea lay in her bed sobbing unheard, as tears created a pool on her pillow case. She could never let the other Marauderettes see her in this state. They would never allow this type of weakness. The loss of her parents was something she alone was going to have to deal with. She was very glad Lupin lessons would continue soon.