Chapter Five: A meeting in the forest.
Sirius, James, and Remus had easily covered up for the first three full moons of the school year, but now that the fourth one was approaching they were beginning to run out of ideas. Most of the ideas they were thinking about tonight to cover up where they went were either totally non- believable or just plain bizarre.
"It was much easier to cover up for just me." Remus said pacing around the sixth year boy's dormitory.
"She barely believed the last two." Said James. "Sirius you have any ideas?"
"Um.... We could tell her Malfoy and Snape hexed you two so bad that we had to be sent to the hospital wing and that I went to visit." Sirius suggested.
"Why us two?" Asked James.
"Cause I'd be the only smart one to jump out of the way of the hex." Sirius smirked at his friend who rolled his eyes.
"Eh, that'll do." Remus decided "I've got to get going to the hospital wing, will you guys distract Leigh?".
"Sure. See ya later, Moony." Sirius said getting up to go find Leigh.
He went downstairs to the common room and found Leigh in a chair in front of the fire. She was curled up with her legs pulled to her chest reading. Getting an idea on how to make her mad at him so she would be more distracted, Sirius crept up behind the chair slowly. Then, he leaned down and grabbed her by the shoulders yelling, "Got cha!" Her reaction was not what he had expected.
Leigh grabbed his hands and pulled him over the back of the chair. She pulled so hard that he fell forward, over her, and onto the floor. Leigh sat top of him, her knees on either side of his waist holding down his arms, which was how she was restraining him; one hand at his throat and the other pulled, balled into a fist. It all happened so fast, that if this had been another person, Sirius, rendered helpless, would be dead.
"Leigh? It's me!" Sirius said struggling to free his arms. Leigh was staring at him, but it didn't seem like her. Those eyes were a black color, not the normal hazel. "It's Sirius!" Leigh blinked several times, and the last time she closed them her eyes were back to hazel.
"Sirius?" Leigh asked looking down at him and then around her. Gathering up what happened she apologized, "I'm sorry, you just surprised me."
"Where did you learn that?" Sirius asked astounded that Leigh could hold him down, James could barely do that.
"Uh..... I...... um...... have a lot of brothers. Learned it from them." She stuttered unconvincingly.
"Sure. Eh... You mind getting off?"
"Oh yeah sorry." Leigh smiled sheepishly and stood up. Sirius winced as she did. There were definitely going to be bruises on his arms where her knees had been. Just then Leigh's head snapped around to look at the stairs. James was walking down Remus was most likely under the invisibility cloak walking next to him. James made eye contact and winked. Sirius knew that meant James was going to take Remus to the hospital wing, then leave and wait for him under the invisibility cloak near the Whomping Willow. (AN/ No they aren't psychic, they've just rehearsed this.)
"I left my bag in the Great Hall, and it's got all my homework in it. See you later." James grinned and then exited through the portrait hole.
"So, you want to play a game of chess?" Sirius stood up also and glanced over to where she had been standing and jumped. Leigh was gone. He looked over at the portrait hole just in time to see Leigh vanishing through it.
"Oh crap." He mumbled before running after her.
Outside in the corridor Sirius saw no one. He walked along the corridor until the first corner where he turned left. Leigh placed her hands on his shoulders and shoved him up against the wall.
"Where's he really going Sirius?" She asked quietly.
"James?" Sirius said.
"No the Easter Bunny. Of coarse James." Leigh snapped.
"To the Great Hall to get his bag."
"I know that's not where he's going. Why do you, him, and Remus disappear once a month?"
"Well the first month my Aunt Collie was sick, and both James and Remus know her well so we went to visit her. The second month James' grandfather died so we went to his funeral, third month Remus' older sister was made an Auror so we went to her ceremony in England. Now he's just going to get his bag."
"Well if that's all James will be back in a few minuets so I guess you, me, and Remus can go play Exploding Snap, waiting for him. How about it?"
"Ah... no." Sirius was searching for a fitting lie to tell her. "Don't tell anyone this, but earlier today Remus got... um hexed by Snape. James went to help him and ended up getting hexed too." Leigh raised an eyebrow and looked intently at Sirius.
"Oh really? When did this happen?" Thinking quickly, he was trying to find a time when he, Remus, and James weren't with Leigh.
"After dinner. That's why Remus didn't come back to the common room."
"James didn't look like he was hexed."
"Er.... There were boils all over his back, very nasty. So he's going to the hospital wing."
"I think I'll go visit him then. Would you like to come?" This was not good. Leigh was going to catch him in a lie. Suddenly something caught his eye. Running along the corridor towards them was Ms. Norris. She meowed loudly and looked behind her.
"What's that precious? You see someone?" Came Filch's voice.
"Filch! Hurry, let's spilt up, it'll confuse Ms. Norris." Sirius started to turn but Leigh pushed him back up against the wall.
"We'll finish this later." Then Leigh darted off and Sirius ran the other way. He hid behind a suit of armor while Filch passed Ms. Norris at his heels. After they finally passed Sirius stepped out and ran to the Entrance Hall. He opened one of the huge oak doors and crept outside. He could see footprints in the snow and followed them. Sirius saw James and ran over to him.
"What took you so long?" James asked.
"Leigh. She's on to us mate." Sirius and James then transformed into their Animagi forms and ran down the tunnel and met were-wolf Remus in the Shrieking Shack. Deciding not to go into Hogsmeade they went off into the Forbidden Forest. Romping around and randomly chasing each other.
Sirius had run off from the others. He had just seen something that looked like a cat run off into the shadows. His natural need to chase cats kicked in and he ran off after it. Finally catching up to the cat he discovered it was Crook. Wanting to settle his score with the 'Evil Kitty', Sirius ran after it barking and growling. The cat arched its back hissing.
"Hey!" Someone shouted jumping between him and the cat. Sirius looked up and saw that it was Leigh. He back up a few steps because she had her wand pointed directly at him. "Leave him alone." For some reason Sirius had to listen to her, something in her eyes was making him listen. Leigh smirked, then set down at the base of a tree. Crook stepped up into her lap, purring.
"Now what would a dog like you be doing in the Forbidden Forest?" She asked shooting a spell at a nearby plant and watching as it grew legs and scampered away laughing. "You shouldn't be here."
"Neither should you." Sirius said. While Leigh had been looking away he transformed into his human form.
"Sirius?" Leigh yelled jumping up to her feet.
"You rang?"
"You're an Animargus?"
"Me? No way." Leigh lowered her wand and leaned up against the tree.
"Then where's that dog."
"Ah, what dog?"
"The one that was standing right there a second ago."
"There was no dog."
"Yes there was. It had black hair, like you, black eyes, like you, then it had this stupid look about it, like-"
"Ok! Ok! Yes it was me. I'm an Animargus."
"Illegal Animargus?"
"Um...." Then he was saved from finishing his sentence when a giant stag trotted into the clearing. It looked at Sirius, tilting its head sideways.
"Whoa." Leigh gasped staring at the stag. "I've never seen one of these in the forest before."
"What do you mean? You've been in here a lot then?" Sirius asked. He didn't understand why she was so surprised at seeing Prongs. I mean it's just a deer after all.
"Maybe." Leigh stepped forward and lifted her hand. She gently touched the stag's nose. The stag pricked its ears forward and looked down at her. "How many hands do you think it is?"
"Excuse me?" Sirius said.
"Hands. Meaning how tall is it?" Leigh looked away from the stag towards Sirius. Then from behind her Leigh heard,
"Well, I'm 5' 9, counting the hair, 6 foot." James said as he finished transforming from stag to human. Leigh yelped and jumped back from him. She looked from Sirius to James stuttering something neither of them understood.
"Try sentences." Sirius suggested.
"Ok." Leigh breathed crossing her arms. "Is there anyone else here who is an Animagi I should know about?"
"No." James said.
"Then where's Remus?"
"He's.... Er... Remus is," James was stop in the middle of his sentence staring behind Leigh.
"Don't move." Sirius said quietly also looking behind her.
Leigh could hear something growling. She couldn't stop herself, so slowly very slowly she turned around. Standing in front of her was a huge, gray wolf, but something told her that it wasn't a normal wolf. The wolf started forward towards her and Leigh took a step back. The wolf bared its teeth and jump forward at her but before it made contact the giant stag that was James charged standing between her and the wolf. Then Sirius grabbed her arm and set off at a run towards the castle.
"What about James?" Leigh panted looking behind her at the stag.
"He'll be fine. Werewolves don't," Sirius stopped in mid sentence.
"Were-wolves?" She thought for a second then a look of understanding that came upon her face. "You mean Remus is," Sirius didn't look at her. He had let it slip. She knew about Remus now and nothing could change that except a memory charm. Several minuets of silence and running later they broke out of the forest near the lake.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Leigh asked looking up at Sirius. He didn't answer for a minuet and looked at anything but Leigh. "I knew one of you was a were-creature but I didn't expect it to be Remus."
"You knew?" Sirius said. He glanced at her expecting her to look sad or scared something like that but her face was completely calm and she was smiling.
"It wasn't that hard. One: You always disappeared on a full moon, and Two: I came in on you three talking to each other and one of you was called Moony but I didn't know which one was. Why didn't he tell me?"
"Remus didn't even tell us at first. James, Peter, and I guessed." He looked away from her again and could see Prongs trying to push the struggling Moony down the tunnel under the Whomping Willow. "Remus thought that you would treat him differently or be scared of him because of it."
"He's so weird sometimes. I better get back to Gryffindor tower, suns rising. See you later." Leigh turned and walked back up to the castle leaving Sirius alone.
It was two days after the full moon. Remus had just come back from the hospital wing and was sitting with James and Sirius in their dorm.
"So she knows now?" Remus asked.
"Yeah. But she said that she didn't care." Sirius said.
"That's right." Said Leigh's voice. The three looked up to see her standing in the doorway. She walked over to Remus' bed and sat down next to him.
"But, I could have killed you last night! Or worse you could have been bitten or-" Remus was interrupted from continuing by Leigh.
"But I wasn't! You are one of my best friends and I don't give a flip about what all those stupid books say, they don't matter."
"What they say is true! I am a monster, I was thinking about eating you, and-"
"Did they say that Remus Lupin was a monster? No," Leigh grabbed his shoulders and shook him gently. "They said were-wolves. You are Remus Lupin the cute, cuddly, fur brain who doesn't get it when people say they don't care what you are. They care who you are." She pulled him into a hug before letting go and standing up. "The rest of you fur brains better hurry up. We have Herbology in fifteen minuets."
And for the rest of the day Leigh acted as though nothing had ever happened in the forest or earlier that day. The next full moon she didn't even ask where they were going just sat on the couch reading.
Sirius, James, and Remus had easily covered up for the first three full moons of the school year, but now that the fourth one was approaching they were beginning to run out of ideas. Most of the ideas they were thinking about tonight to cover up where they went were either totally non- believable or just plain bizarre.
"It was much easier to cover up for just me." Remus said pacing around the sixth year boy's dormitory.
"She barely believed the last two." Said James. "Sirius you have any ideas?"
"Um.... We could tell her Malfoy and Snape hexed you two so bad that we had to be sent to the hospital wing and that I went to visit." Sirius suggested.
"Why us two?" Asked James.
"Cause I'd be the only smart one to jump out of the way of the hex." Sirius smirked at his friend who rolled his eyes.
"Eh, that'll do." Remus decided "I've got to get going to the hospital wing, will you guys distract Leigh?".
"Sure. See ya later, Moony." Sirius said getting up to go find Leigh.
He went downstairs to the common room and found Leigh in a chair in front of the fire. She was curled up with her legs pulled to her chest reading. Getting an idea on how to make her mad at him so she would be more distracted, Sirius crept up behind the chair slowly. Then, he leaned down and grabbed her by the shoulders yelling, "Got cha!" Her reaction was not what he had expected.
Leigh grabbed his hands and pulled him over the back of the chair. She pulled so hard that he fell forward, over her, and onto the floor. Leigh sat top of him, her knees on either side of his waist holding down his arms, which was how she was restraining him; one hand at his throat and the other pulled, balled into a fist. It all happened so fast, that if this had been another person, Sirius, rendered helpless, would be dead.
"Leigh? It's me!" Sirius said struggling to free his arms. Leigh was staring at him, but it didn't seem like her. Those eyes were a black color, not the normal hazel. "It's Sirius!" Leigh blinked several times, and the last time she closed them her eyes were back to hazel.
"Sirius?" Leigh asked looking down at him and then around her. Gathering up what happened she apologized, "I'm sorry, you just surprised me."
"Where did you learn that?" Sirius asked astounded that Leigh could hold him down, James could barely do that.
"Uh..... I...... um...... have a lot of brothers. Learned it from them." She stuttered unconvincingly.
"Sure. Eh... You mind getting off?"
"Oh yeah sorry." Leigh smiled sheepishly and stood up. Sirius winced as she did. There were definitely going to be bruises on his arms where her knees had been. Just then Leigh's head snapped around to look at the stairs. James was walking down Remus was most likely under the invisibility cloak walking next to him. James made eye contact and winked. Sirius knew that meant James was going to take Remus to the hospital wing, then leave and wait for him under the invisibility cloak near the Whomping Willow. (AN/ No they aren't psychic, they've just rehearsed this.)
"I left my bag in the Great Hall, and it's got all my homework in it. See you later." James grinned and then exited through the portrait hole.
"So, you want to play a game of chess?" Sirius stood up also and glanced over to where she had been standing and jumped. Leigh was gone. He looked over at the portrait hole just in time to see Leigh vanishing through it.
"Oh crap." He mumbled before running after her.
Outside in the corridor Sirius saw no one. He walked along the corridor until the first corner where he turned left. Leigh placed her hands on his shoulders and shoved him up against the wall.
"Where's he really going Sirius?" She asked quietly.
"James?" Sirius said.
"No the Easter Bunny. Of coarse James." Leigh snapped.
"To the Great Hall to get his bag."
"I know that's not where he's going. Why do you, him, and Remus disappear once a month?"
"Well the first month my Aunt Collie was sick, and both James and Remus know her well so we went to visit her. The second month James' grandfather died so we went to his funeral, third month Remus' older sister was made an Auror so we went to her ceremony in England. Now he's just going to get his bag."
"Well if that's all James will be back in a few minuets so I guess you, me, and Remus can go play Exploding Snap, waiting for him. How about it?"
"Ah... no." Sirius was searching for a fitting lie to tell her. "Don't tell anyone this, but earlier today Remus got... um hexed by Snape. James went to help him and ended up getting hexed too." Leigh raised an eyebrow and looked intently at Sirius.
"Oh really? When did this happen?" Thinking quickly, he was trying to find a time when he, Remus, and James weren't with Leigh.
"After dinner. That's why Remus didn't come back to the common room."
"James didn't look like he was hexed."
"Er.... There were boils all over his back, very nasty. So he's going to the hospital wing."
"I think I'll go visit him then. Would you like to come?" This was not good. Leigh was going to catch him in a lie. Suddenly something caught his eye. Running along the corridor towards them was Ms. Norris. She meowed loudly and looked behind her.
"What's that precious? You see someone?" Came Filch's voice.
"Filch! Hurry, let's spilt up, it'll confuse Ms. Norris." Sirius started to turn but Leigh pushed him back up against the wall.
"We'll finish this later." Then Leigh darted off and Sirius ran the other way. He hid behind a suit of armor while Filch passed Ms. Norris at his heels. After they finally passed Sirius stepped out and ran to the Entrance Hall. He opened one of the huge oak doors and crept outside. He could see footprints in the snow and followed them. Sirius saw James and ran over to him.
"What took you so long?" James asked.
"Leigh. She's on to us mate." Sirius and James then transformed into their Animagi forms and ran down the tunnel and met were-wolf Remus in the Shrieking Shack. Deciding not to go into Hogsmeade they went off into the Forbidden Forest. Romping around and randomly chasing each other.
Sirius had run off from the others. He had just seen something that looked like a cat run off into the shadows. His natural need to chase cats kicked in and he ran off after it. Finally catching up to the cat he discovered it was Crook. Wanting to settle his score with the 'Evil Kitty', Sirius ran after it barking and growling. The cat arched its back hissing.
"Hey!" Someone shouted jumping between him and the cat. Sirius looked up and saw that it was Leigh. He back up a few steps because she had her wand pointed directly at him. "Leave him alone." For some reason Sirius had to listen to her, something in her eyes was making him listen. Leigh smirked, then set down at the base of a tree. Crook stepped up into her lap, purring.
"Now what would a dog like you be doing in the Forbidden Forest?" She asked shooting a spell at a nearby plant and watching as it grew legs and scampered away laughing. "You shouldn't be here."
"Neither should you." Sirius said. While Leigh had been looking away he transformed into his human form.
"Sirius?" Leigh yelled jumping up to her feet.
"You rang?"
"You're an Animargus?"
"Me? No way." Leigh lowered her wand and leaned up against the tree.
"Then where's that dog."
"Ah, what dog?"
"The one that was standing right there a second ago."
"There was no dog."
"Yes there was. It had black hair, like you, black eyes, like you, then it had this stupid look about it, like-"
"Ok! Ok! Yes it was me. I'm an Animargus."
"Illegal Animargus?"
"Um...." Then he was saved from finishing his sentence when a giant stag trotted into the clearing. It looked at Sirius, tilting its head sideways.
"Whoa." Leigh gasped staring at the stag. "I've never seen one of these in the forest before."
"What do you mean? You've been in here a lot then?" Sirius asked. He didn't understand why she was so surprised at seeing Prongs. I mean it's just a deer after all.
"Maybe." Leigh stepped forward and lifted her hand. She gently touched the stag's nose. The stag pricked its ears forward and looked down at her. "How many hands do you think it is?"
"Excuse me?" Sirius said.
"Hands. Meaning how tall is it?" Leigh looked away from the stag towards Sirius. Then from behind her Leigh heard,
"Well, I'm 5' 9, counting the hair, 6 foot." James said as he finished transforming from stag to human. Leigh yelped and jumped back from him. She looked from Sirius to James stuttering something neither of them understood.
"Try sentences." Sirius suggested.
"Ok." Leigh breathed crossing her arms. "Is there anyone else here who is an Animagi I should know about?"
"No." James said.
"Then where's Remus?"
"He's.... Er... Remus is," James was stop in the middle of his sentence staring behind Leigh.
"Don't move." Sirius said quietly also looking behind her.
Leigh could hear something growling. She couldn't stop herself, so slowly very slowly she turned around. Standing in front of her was a huge, gray wolf, but something told her that it wasn't a normal wolf. The wolf started forward towards her and Leigh took a step back. The wolf bared its teeth and jump forward at her but before it made contact the giant stag that was James charged standing between her and the wolf. Then Sirius grabbed her arm and set off at a run towards the castle.
"What about James?" Leigh panted looking behind her at the stag.
"He'll be fine. Werewolves don't," Sirius stopped in mid sentence.
"Were-wolves?" She thought for a second then a look of understanding that came upon her face. "You mean Remus is," Sirius didn't look at her. He had let it slip. She knew about Remus now and nothing could change that except a memory charm. Several minuets of silence and running later they broke out of the forest near the lake.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Leigh asked looking up at Sirius. He didn't answer for a minuet and looked at anything but Leigh. "I knew one of you was a were-creature but I didn't expect it to be Remus."
"You knew?" Sirius said. He glanced at her expecting her to look sad or scared something like that but her face was completely calm and she was smiling.
"It wasn't that hard. One: You always disappeared on a full moon, and Two: I came in on you three talking to each other and one of you was called Moony but I didn't know which one was. Why didn't he tell me?"
"Remus didn't even tell us at first. James, Peter, and I guessed." He looked away from her again and could see Prongs trying to push the struggling Moony down the tunnel under the Whomping Willow. "Remus thought that you would treat him differently or be scared of him because of it."
"He's so weird sometimes. I better get back to Gryffindor tower, suns rising. See you later." Leigh turned and walked back up to the castle leaving Sirius alone.
It was two days after the full moon. Remus had just come back from the hospital wing and was sitting with James and Sirius in their dorm.
"So she knows now?" Remus asked.
"Yeah. But she said that she didn't care." Sirius said.
"That's right." Said Leigh's voice. The three looked up to see her standing in the doorway. She walked over to Remus' bed and sat down next to him.
"But, I could have killed you last night! Or worse you could have been bitten or-" Remus was interrupted from continuing by Leigh.
"But I wasn't! You are one of my best friends and I don't give a flip about what all those stupid books say, they don't matter."
"What they say is true! I am a monster, I was thinking about eating you, and-"
"Did they say that Remus Lupin was a monster? No," Leigh grabbed his shoulders and shook him gently. "They said were-wolves. You are Remus Lupin the cute, cuddly, fur brain who doesn't get it when people say they don't care what you are. They care who you are." She pulled him into a hug before letting go and standing up. "The rest of you fur brains better hurry up. We have Herbology in fifteen minuets."
And for the rest of the day Leigh acted as though nothing had ever happened in the forest or earlier that day. The next full moon she didn't even ask where they were going just sat on the couch reading.