I'd Do Anything For Werewolves (But I Won't Do That)
In anticipation of the Hogwart's Express arrival Mischa rose from her admittedly comfortable place on Sirius's lap and attempted to leap forward onto the floor. Remus had arrived some time earlier, but the allure of back strokes had seduced Mischa against making a bid for freedom then. She found her leap prematurely cut short however by Sirius's hands around her waist.
"You'll have to wait a bit longer, train's pulling in. We'll probably see someone panicking on the platform and give you back then."
Mischa looked at Sirius like an idiot, fortunately, James was the one to voice her thoughts.
"Pads… the cat can't understand you. Let her go, cats are fine finding their way."
"Nope, gonna keep a hold on Her Fluffiness until we find out who she belongs to."
"'Her Fluffiness'?"
"Well she is quite majestic looking, isn't she?"
"Think she's gonna bite you, mate."
"Nah, she lik-, son of a bitch!"
Choosing her moment as Remus slid open the compartment door, Mischa ran through the crack, and made her way to the train doors. Having not had an opportunity to change into her robes, she instead made her own way to the thestral drawn carriages, where she saw Lily Evans climbing into one with Marlene McKinnon, and Dorcas Meadowes. Seeing her opportunity for a free ride, Mischa ran forward, leaping onto the steps and then into the carriage itself.
"Ambrosia? What are you doing out of a cage?" asked Lily,
"Grab that cat!" came a cry as four boys scrambled their way onto the carriage. Lily, not quite knowing why the order had been given, scooped Mischa up in her arms.
"Why do you want Ambrosia?" she asked suspiciously, eyes pointed sharply in James' and Sirius' direction.
"You know her name?"
The girls all looked between one another.
"She does live in our dorm room- would be a bit weird if we didn't," Dorcas replied, "She's Mischa's."
"Ah, the ever-elusive, fucking Mischa Dalton," replied Sirius, "Wasted half of a perfectly good train journey talking about that bloody girl."
"Why? Mischa's alright."
Sirius grumbled under his breath knowing he could hardly announce that they were chasing after her because Remus had an inclining her mum turned into a furry man eater every month.
"Sirius was thinking about trying to ask her out. You know him, fleeting tastes and what not," James supplied with a wide grin. "He'll chase her for a while and then return to normalcy and make out with Marley in a broom closet somewhere. That's usually how it goes, innit, Marley?"
"Piss off, Potter," she retorted with a grin, "Usually is the way it goes though. Sirius is a slave to my allure."
"I am not a pet! And I am not that bloody predictable!"
Several pairs of eyes stared back at him. If Sirius was indeed like anything, it was a pet. Utterly beloved by his friends, prone to fleas, and loyal to a fault. His relationship with Marlene McKinnon was more a force of habit than a case of uncontrollable sexual chemistry. Sirius, for all of his faults, was a product of his home. He needed affirmation, comfort, and Marlene was more than willing to be the giver. She knew the two didn't have a long-lasting romantic future ahead, but a debilitating crush on the scruffy haired Marauder had her powerless to refuse a quick snog in a dark corner.
Mischa watched Sirius flounder from the comfort of Lily's lap.
"Wonder where she is anyway," Dorcas chimed, "Usually she sits with us in our cabin, but I didn't see her at all. I wouldn't have thought she'd let one of her animals where it's dangerous either."
"One of her animals?" Remus asked curiously,
"Oh she gathers them from everywhere," Marlene muttered flippantly, "Went down to the pond once and there she was swimming with grindylows. Wouldn't have done it myself, but they seemed perfectly happy to play with her. Animals seem to gravitate towards her, it's uncanny."
"Professor Felix thinks she's the zoological version of Merlin himself the way he talks about her. He damn near lost his mind when she started bathing the kappas without having to bribe them- apparently that's how he lost his other thumb, you know," Lily added, "It was quite bizarre."
"Is there anything actually normal about her?" Sirius asked.
Silence hung heavy in the air.
"She likes bacon for breakfast," Dorcas volunteered.
"Fuck me Remus, we've cracked the enigma," Sirius sarcastically stated.
"We're nearly there," Peter pointed out, "Best hold onto the cat if you don't want her to run off again."
"It's fine, she knows her way around the castle and the grounds," Lily said, placing Mischa back on the floor, "Merlin knows I'm not carrying her everywhere, she weighs a ton."
"I should be happy to carry that load for you, Lily-flower. What pains you, pains me… a problem shared, is a problem halved."
"Shut up, Potter."
"You say 'shut up', but I hear your heart's true words, especially now that we write to each other in the holidays."
"I sent you one letter!" Lily hissed, "And it was to tell you to stop sending me lilies!"
As the carriage came to a halt, Mischa once again ran to freedom and shot immediately for the front entrance of the castle. Not having ever cared for the welcome feast, Mischa instead made her way down to the kitchen to see the house elves, and score some goodies that weren't on the menu.
"Miss. Dalton!" squeaked Pip, "You're not in your robes!"
"Bit of trouble on the way here, nothing big. I was wondering if I could have some of your fruit tartlets?"
Pip snapped her fingers, and they appeared on the small table in front of Mischa.
"Thanks, Pip."
"Welcome, Miss. Dalton!"
House elves, in Mischa's experience, were among the most underrated of all magical creatures. They made their way through their lives serving their mistresses and masters without question, and it had afforded them a gift. Invisibility. There was no creature, no creature at all, that was ever more well informed as to the goings on of the world, than a house elf. Very few owners of house elves took the trouble to order them to be silent about the things that they heard, and so, should they find themselves in amiable company, it was absolutely possible that they might choose to let slip a detail or two that might prove useful to the listener. Gossip was the currency of the realm.
"Miss. Dalton?" enquired Pip, "We believe Mr. Potter, and Mr. Lupin are heading this way."
Mischa quickly rose from the bench and carried her now, several, empty plates over to the washer.
"Don't suppose you want to drop me off in Gryffindor tower, do you, Pip?"
"Miss. Dalton is becoming lazy," Pip warned, "Just this one time."
"I owe you!"
Just as the two boys, following their impressive map, swung open the portrait of the fruit, Mischa was gone.
"She was just here, I swear!" exclaimed James, looking around the kitchen.
"Well, she's up by the tower now."
"What? But you can't apparate in the castle grounds."
Remus looked at the house elves, who were now immaculately cleaning around them, and not daring to look the two of them in the eye. House elves were not permitted to go around apparating students, there were strict rules regarding house elf treatment at Hogwarts, and using them like the knight bus, or like personal alarm clocks was not allowed.
"I think she may have had some help, Prongs."
Following Remus's eye line, James nodded.
"Well, she's resourceful, got to give her that."
Mischa crawled through the tapestry hole, and sidled her way up to the girl's dormitory having beaten most of the students up from the great hall. Pip had been kind enough to share the Gryffindor password since there was no one around. The girl's dormitory, she happily noted, was slightly larger than their one last year, and as had become the usual, she got the breezy bed next to the window. It had never much minded her, certainly not as much as it had annoyed Lily in the first year, but she had realised that no one ever offered to swap.
"Mischa? When did you get here?" Lily asked, emerging from the bathroom. Having had the dutiful role of prefect, she had been forced to leave early and escort the first years up to the common room.
"Just now. Good feast?"
"Yeah it was alright. Remus wanted to speak to you, and the boys had ahold of Ambrosia most of the day so make sure they haven't charmed her to make you float again."
"She's fine, I saw her on the way up here."
"Where were you on the train? Remus said they looked for you but all they found was Ambrosia."
"They must have missed me, I was sat with a bunch of first years near the front."
"Do you know what Remus wants with you? He seemed a bit out of it during the meeting and dinner."
"Not sure, could be anything when those four are involved."
"Mmmm, well, that's true, but Remus usually isn't one to get involved that much when it comes to targeting people in our house."
Whilst this was indeed true, it could hardly be said that Remus was innocent when it came to the Marauders schemes, as Mischa well knew. Sirius and James had more of a chaotic genius to their pranking, they were the creative types, Peter simply agreed to whatever he was told to do, and Remus? Well, Remus was the one who had to figure out how they were going to achieve it. The brains behind the entire organisation.
"I don't think so," came Dorcas' voice as she and Marlene entered the dormitory, "I'm fairly certain Sirius was planning on asking Elodie Cromwell out at the end of last year, but she ended up shacking up with Rufus Pryor. That's crashed and burned- hi, Mischa- I think he'll ask her out now."
Mischa gave a small wave to the two girls.
"I'm telling you, I'd bet galleons that he's going to ask out Isabelle Ffior, he wouldn't stop staring at her through dinner," argued Marlene,
"That's because she had her shirt unbuttoned so low he could see her boobs."
"I still think he'll ask her out again anyway. How are you, Mischa? Good holiday?"
"Yeah, quiet. You?"
"The complete opposite, we went to France for most of it to see my aunt. They're so relaxed over there you wouldn't think that there was any trouble at all with these attacks, it was lovely, but mum ended up being called back to work early at the ministry."
The rest of the girls shared stories of their holidays, ranging from relaxing at home, to holidays abroad, Lily had spent most of the holiday with her cousins in Cornwall, but the air was thick with tiredness and soon the chatting gave way to yawns. After a brief race to the bathroom to see who would be able to use the shower first, they all returned to their respective cots. Mischa sat, her legs perched over the end of the bed, and her trunk, and brushed through her pale blonde hair, lovingly running the brush through the curls until they were soft as silk. Her thick, light hair reminded her of her mother, who Mischa took after far more than her father, and when she felt alone she remembered as a child, when her mother used to take the same loving care of her own tresses, and she would watch as though hypnotised by the repetitive action. Unfortunately, Mischa also had her father's unruly curls, so by morning, it was sure to be an irredeemable knotted mess once again and it would find itself restrained in a bun until the following evening.