Hungry Like The Werewolf
Whilst the rest of the Marauders had known of Remus's plan to try and catch the elusive Mischa at breakfast, they had not foreseen that somehow she would manage to persuade him to skive off a lesson. Remus was the one who encouraged them to go, and the only ever lessons he missed were the ones the day after the full moon, and even then he had them take notes for him. For him to skive off the first class of the first day of the school year was unheard of. Wherever he had been, the boys eyed him carefully during potions. In his seat beside Peter, his eyes were unfocused, and Peter had to nudge him more than once to take note of something important.
As Remus wandered down into the dungeons for his lesson with Professor Slughorn, Mischa walked round to the Herbology greenhouses where Professor Applebaum was just preparing to start her lesson. She took her usual seat beside Lily and opened her textbook.
"I saw you and Remus leave earlier, everything ok?" she murmured as they were left to their own devices to take notes from the opening chapter of '502 Magical Plants and Their Uses.'
"Yeah, we went to help Professor Felix."
"So I don't need to yell at Potter to leave you alone, no? Because I will just give me an excuse," Lily joked.
"You were right about Remus, so far I think at least. He was good with the animals."
"Not like you to let people help."
Mischa shrugged.
"Alright, keep your secrets then," Lily shrugged, "Can't promise the rest of the boys won't stay out of your way though, so let me know if they start anything."
After their third class, Remus sidled down to the Great Hall, half expecting Mischa not to be there at all, he was surprised to find that she'd stuck to her promise. Lily, surprisingly, had sat on her other side with the other Gryffindor girls, as well as Alice Paster who was currently engaged in a game of wizard's chess with their very own, Frank Longbottom. He had hoped that they might be able to have a quiet lunch where he might be able to ask her some more questions about her mother, but he could be patient.
"Hey, Remus, where are you going?" Peter asked as the spectacled boy walked past their usual haunt.
"I'm sitting with Mischa for lunch," he answered, "You can come sit with us if you want- just don't start anything, please."
The boys shuffled in a manner that was less than pleased down the table- except for James who had noticed that Lily was also close by and then moved to get the seat opposite.
"Hello again, Lily-flower, and how has your morning been?"
"Shut up, Potter."
"I adore the very ground you walk on too… so, is it too early to discuss Hogsmeade weekend?"
Lily refrained from answering, and instead inputted her opinion on whether or not Professor Stormbrow had got more attractive over the summer. James was less than impressed with her suggestion that he was, but his hopes were raised again when he realised she hadn't outrightly jinxed him like she had last year. Such was the bottomless glass of James Potter's optimism.
"Welcome back, Muggle," Sirius greeted cheerfully, tucking into his potatoes.
Remus shot him a warning glance, and James jabbed him harshly in the ribs.
Mischa could see from her seat directly opposite Sirius, that he wasn't apologetic in the slightest, and an apology would not fall from his lips any time soon.
"Did you have a good morning with our mate?" he asked.
"Sirius," Remus warned.
Mischa shrugged.
"So, what's the plan? You gonna try and split us up, befriend Remus so that we'll stop pranking you? Maybe he'll protect you against the Slytherins? A good friend doesn't force their friend to skip the first class of the year… but I don't suppose you would know what friends do, do you? Hard to know if you don't have any."
Before Remus or the girls had the chance to acknowledge Sirius' words, Mischa was out of her seat and already very much on her way to being out of sight.
"Are you kidding me, Sirius? I told her I didn't have a class, and she was helping me out! I asked to sit with her so I could ask her more questions, you ass hole."
Lily, usually a pillar of peaceful conflict resolution, and ever the composed mind, soundly slapped Sirius across the face, before chasing after Remus- Marlene, Dorcas, and Alice in tow.
"I wouldn't say I deserved that," remarked Sirius, rubbing his cheek before taking another bite of his food.
"You're really a piece of work after the holidays, Sirius," James hissed, surprising Sirius, "I know your summer was shit, and your mum's a psychopath, but you can't just take it out on the first easy target!"
James attempted to take another bite of his food, but, having lost his appetite and his patience, he instead pushed the plate away and chased after the love of his life, Remus, and Mischa- dragging poor Peter with him just as he took a bite of his bacon sandwich.
The moment Mischa was out of sight from prying eyes, she fled to the place she felt safest- the forbidden forest. A short fly out of the window and down to the tree line found her perched on one of the top branches a few metres into the dense foliage of the forest. Of all the forms she could possess, Mischa didn't much like birds at all- she could do it, but flying, and particularly flying in windy weather required a lot of concentration. As soon as she found her balance, she returned to being Ambrosia, the branch beneath her bending ever so slightly with the change.
She saw the boys, Remus, James, and Peter, a short time later, coming down the hill looking studiously at a piece of paper. Sensing that they might be on to her location somehow, she descended the tree she was in and began running for the lake. The wind had picked up a little, and there was a drizzle of rain that kept students indoors so she knew it was unlikely she would run into anyone. Of course, luck hadn't been on her side most of her life, and it certainly didn't appear to be changing its mind any time soon as she broke the tree line, and found herself face to face with a large black dog lazily looking over its shoulder at her.
Mischa froze as the dog rose and began trotting towards her.
Instinctively her fur stood on end, and she began hissing aggressively in the hope that Sirius would let her by without giving chase.
Not put off in the least, he turned back into the boy she knew and raised his hands in the eternal gesture of peace.
"Hey, Fluff," he stated, "It's only me, you know me."
Oh. Oh, she did. Mischa thought to herself, her claws not peaking out from her paws.
"Sirius?" came a voice from behind her.
Her distraction was all that Sirius needed to scoop her up into his arms.
Mischa was livid.
As the three boys looked at their paper, and then back up at the scene before them, realisation dawned one-by-one in each of their eyes.
"Sirius… drop the cat," Peter bade,
"What? Why?"
"Seriously, put her down, Pads."
"Look, I'll take her back to Mischa, apologise, the world will be all rainbows and sunshine again."
Mischa, looking as devious as it was possible for a cat to look, twisted herself in Sirius's arms, and managed to scratch him across the cheek. In his surprise, Sirius dropped her and glared.
"Right, that cat is dead," Sirius growled.
"Mischa," Remus chided, "Don't push him."
Sirius' head snapped to look at his friends.
"Mischa?" he parroted.
Knowing when her cards had been called, Mischa rolled her eyes and returned to her normal state. All three boys glanced at her dishevelled state… and the fact that a mere couple of seconds ago, she'd been covered in fur.
"No way," Sirius gasped, "You? You actually managed to become an animagus? You who can't even make a feather float?"
"Yes, me," she hissed. "And I've been doing it a lot longer than you!"
"Remus told you?" James asked, interrupting what was sure to become a cat and dog fight.
"She already knew, she's known about me since first year. Her mum's like me too."
"Oh," answered Sirius, looking stunned by the revelation that she had not betrayed the four of them despite having plenty of reasons to.
"Yes, 'oh,'" Remus mocked, "That's what we were talking about this morning- what you knew I was going to ask about."
"Well, let's face it Moony, what would be the chances that her mum actually was a werewolf? I thought you would just make a tit of yourself, and we'd go back to normal."
"You thought wrong then, didn't you?"
As the boys batted around various questions regarding Mischa who was stood right beside them and yet also being utterly ignored, she glanced down at her watch and noted that she had best be on her way to divination. As it was, since the boys were there and she wasn't willing to disclose all of her secrets on the one day, she would be forced to walk to the top of the tower, and there was no way she would make it on time. Leaving them to their ramblings, she wandered back to the path, and with a quick pace began her journey.
"Hey, you don't just get to leave in the middle of a conversation!" argued Sirius,
"I have a class," Mischa yelled into the wind, not bothering to turn around.
"Oh shit," came a chorus of replies, as they too ran to catch up with her.
"Hey!" waved Alice Paster when she saw Mischa enter. "I saved a seat for you!"
As Mischa took the seat and removed her quill from her bag, she thanked her lucky stars for Trelawney's propensity for tardiness.
"I heard what Sirius said, he's a prick," Alice whispered over the crystal ball sat ominously between them on the table. "Not true anyway. I've always liked you ever since you slapped Bill Turnstuck in second year because he hexed Lily."
Mischa smiled stiffly; she distinctly remembered being the recipient of itching charms for several days after for her trouble.
"You're quiet, but you're good," she summarised with a smile.
In her usual fashion, year after year, Professor Trelawney announced the deaths of several students during the coming year, and the chosen ones, as the chosen ones in the years prior had, did their best to look distraught at their upcoming demise. One student went the extra step to mourn the fact that it was therefore unlikely he would be able to see one of his bands at a concert during the following year's holidays and fell forward onto his knees. The death premonitions were a highly anticipated moment at the start of the year, and there were sure to be a few 'last year to live' parties, come Friday night, a couple from last year were planning, 'I made it,' parties, Mischa had overheard.
Despite having a joined fifth period, the boys made no contact with Mischa at all. Apparently peace had been brokered and the Marauders were back to their usual business. Mischa knew that they would have questions for her, and that her encounters with them had not come to a blissful end just because they knew she could turn into a cat. A niggling on her shoulder told her that all she had experienced before Remus-gate was merely the spark that catapulted into the full wrath of the Marauders. After dinner, she went back down to the stables to help Professor Felix and Hagrid with the creatures, and she sat on the edge of the lake, her legs swinging back and forth over the bank edge.