By the time I reached the dorm weak sunlight was escaping through the window. I removed my heavy cloak and scrambled back into bed, waiting for my thoughts to collect themselves. Of course they didn't, instead I lay there for fifteen minutes replaying the scene in my head. Sirius Black had morphed into a dog right before my eyes. How? Why? When? I had absolutely no clue. A fact-about the only one I knew relating to this subject-which only infuriated me further. Did anyone else know? Surely the other marauders would. But Sirius had changed with ease, so would have no problem concealing it from anyone. A permanent frown creased my features while I succeeded only in making myself more and more confused.
The alarm clock on my bedside-table beeped furiously. It's sudden loud tone made me jump out of my skin. I reached to turn it off and almost rolled out of bed. Grabbing the other side of my mattress to steady myself, I reached again and threw the damned contraption across the room. It only beeped louder. Pulling my wand from under my pillow I shouted the first incantation that came into my head. There was a loud bang and the beeping stopped.
"What the hell was that?" Shouted Narcissa, sitting bolt upright and looking dazedly around the room.
"Nothing." I said, in my best innocent tone. (Though if there was ever a time I could have been described as innocent, I highly doubted it.)
I quickly escaped to the bathroom before Narcissa discovered the burn mark in the middle of the floor. There were the faintest traces of bags under my eyes, which I eliminated with a blast of cold water. It felt good against my feverishly warm skin. I left the bathroom fully dressed and refreshed.
"I'm not helping you repair that carpet you know." Warned Narcissa as she passed me for her turn in the bathroom. "See you downstairs"
I rolled my eyes and flung on my school uniform, giving myself a quick once over in the mirror before heading to the hall for some breakfast.
As usual the great hall was filled with students, each adding to the buzz of chatter. Noticing Sirius's absence, I headed over to the Slytherin table, spotting Lucius and sitting down opposite him.
"Where's Cissy?" He asked, the smallest frown creasing his forehead as he poked his cereal around the bowl.
"Good morning to you too." I muttered sarcastically.
Lucius rolled his eyes. "The ever happy Gizzy strikes again."
"Oi!" I said, grabbing some toast and unsuccessfully scraping on some butter. It ended up in a large blob by the corner of my plate. I sighed irritably. Lucius chuckled into his cereal. Glaring at him I pulled out my wand, with a flick the butter was perfectly spread.
"So, you and Cissy are getting pretty close, want to tell me anything?" I said smirking and raising an eyebrow.
To my astonishment Lucius blushed. In my whole life I had never once seen him do that before. But there was a perfectly good reason...
"No, Gizzy, there is nothing he wants to tell you." Said Narcissa primly, sitting down beside me and taking a slice of toast with her dainty fingers.
"Suit yourself." I replied.
The three of us sat in an awkward silence. I rolled my eyes, wondering if I should just put them out of their misery and set up a date. Instead I finished my toast and jumped up from the table, muttering a quick goodbye and leaving them to it. If I knew Lucius, which I did, he wouldn't wait around much longer to make a move- and I knew when I wasn't wanted.
Lessons didn't start for another few minutes and I was at a loss. What on earth to do with myself? The corridors were surprisingly empty for the first day back at school and I wondered why as I strode along.
Five minutes and I hadn't seen a single person. Just as I thought that, footsteps sounded from behind me, they were swift, like a teachers, and since I was skipping class I decided it wasn't exactly the best idea to be bumping into people with the power to give detentions. Glancing around I hurriedly threw myself into a nearby door. I stifled a yell as I tripped over a bucket and went crashing into a jagged stone wall, catching myself at the last minute. I stood in the darkness, how cleshe of me: hiding in a broom closet. The footsteps pattered past and eventually I opened the door a crack and peeked through. The coast was clear, and I resumed my journey.
Inevitably, my thoughts wandered back to Sirius, the questions circling my mind were infuriating. I had to get answers, and there was only one place I could think of finding them. I shuddered...the library.
Luckily, by the time I had reached this strange room filled with those odd things called books, it was way past the beginning of first lesson. That meant no one would see me here, thank God, it would totally ruin my reputation. I was sure there was supposed to be a librarian or someone here, but no one else was in sight. I quickly set to work scanning the shelves for something that might help me in my quest for answers.
What felt like hours later, after discovering that all the windows in our dorm were, in fact, not widows at all, but instead had been enchanted to look like a view higher up in the castle (since the dorm rooms were in the dungeons), I gave up. Not a single book I had found gave me any information at all on human transformation. I was beginning to wonder if I hadn't just imagined it all. Sighing, I realised that I had probably missed about half of the charms lesson I was supposed to be at, I didn't mind but I was more likely to be caught here. I got up quickly, my chair scraping the floor loudly as I did. It was then that I found it. The book had been staring me in the face all the time. A dark green, musty looking cover held the title "Animagi: Human to Animal in 27 days". I stared for a few seconds; the information I needed had been right by the edge of the table to which I had brought piles and piles of books. I distinctly remembered staring at it only a few minutes ago and wondering if it was all a lost cause. Now, I'll admit, that was stupid. I quickly flipped open the book, a small cloud of dust making me cough slightly as I flicked through the pages.
A diagram took up about half of the second page; it showed a man bending down and seeming to shrink until eventually, three or so pictures later, he was fully transformed into a small tabby cat. Underneath was a caption "Becoming an animagus is an incredibly complicated procedure, it is recommended that any wizard or witch attempting should do so with help from others. Since 1843 it has been compulsory to register with the ministry before undergoing the procedure, therefor it is strongly recommended that all readers do so. Anyone who does not register will be breaking the law. It is illegal for children under the age of 19 to attempt the magic described in this book."
Bingo.
The marauders were 15. It would be the perfect blackmail, should I ever need, or want, to use it. I had once heard James call Sirius Padfoot; I realised now that he must have seen him as a dog. Wormtail, Moony and Prongs now let me think. Well Wormtail probably meant that Peter was a rat, I always thought he looked like one. Prongs I wasn't sure about, and Moony? I flicked through a few more pages of the book but it didn't help. Some of the magic looked incredibly complicated though, and as much as I hated to admit it, I couldn't help but admire the marauders for achieving it all on their own. Questions still wore away at my mind, why did they do it? Why take such risks when they could just wait until they were of age? At least I knew I hadn't just dreamt it now. I had some answers.
A loud crash broke the silence and made me jump out of my skin. The castle seemed to shake underneath my feet. My heart beat three times faster as I got up and the shaking got worse. It felt like the castle was going collapse anytime now. In times of crisis the human body was supposed to have two options: fight or flight. Mine chose flight. I could barely feel my feet touching the ground as I sped through the corridors, breath coming in gasps as another crashing sound reached my ears. The stairs were ahead but I didn't slow down. A low roar sounded from the floor below, my skin pricked with fear and I could feel adrenaline rushing through every vein in my body and making my skin tingle. I was looking straight ahead, not down when the stairs reached my feet too fast. My legs gave way beneath me and I screamed as I tumbled helplessly and pathetically down the staircase. Pain exploded in my side and shattered every nerve in my body. Another scream pierced the air and I faintly knew it was mine. The confident walls that had built up Gizzy Benoite came tumbling down brick by brick, tear by tear as a chunk of the Hogwarts roof fell dangerously close to me. "Oh bloody great. I'm going to die aren't I?" I yelled desperately at the gap in the roof. The heavy footsteps that were drawing nearer and nearer went unheard to my deafened ears. "God, I am."
"No, you're not." Shouted a deep voice, tone reassuringly calm over the crashes that were growing louder. I craned my neck and saw familiar windswept back hair falling over high cheekbones.
"Sirius." I breathed. Irrational relief spread through me, considering we were still in a building that was falling down all around us.
"Can you get up?" He asked.
I shifted my right leg experimentally. It seemed to move but my side burned as I stood and I almost fell right back down again, Sirius's strong hand supported me though and I limped forward a step. Then another.
We were making slow progress and each rumble made me more jumpy. The only thing that got me to the oak doors was Sirius's voice in my ear, muttering reassuring words, telling me it would be OK, we'd get out.
"Why are you doing this?" I gasped; another stab of pain hit my side. "You could have just left me."
"I may be a Black, but that doesn't mean I'm like the rest. Just because we didn't get on doesn't mean I'm gonna to let you get crushed." He told me as we finally stepped through the doors.
I caught a glimpse of almost all the school grouped together on the grounds, the sun glinting in the morning air and excited chatter before I was engulfed in a painful hug. Narcissa appeared to be trying to squeeze me to death.
(A/N Sorry about the Library Bashing hehe. I know it's taken a long time for me to update I'm truly sorry but I have had a lot to do! Please review, the more I get the more likely I am to update sooner! D Oh and thank you to everyone who has already!)