Chapter Fourteen: Christmas Renewed
Don't own any of it.
There was a question about why Lily was referred to as "Redtail" in the last chapter. Her animagus form is a reddish colored deer and she was given that nickname in chapter 31 of Making Promises (I went and checked in case I had put it in there randomly on accident!). So…here's part two of the most wonderful time of the year! (Oh and I don't own that either!)
I arrived in the Great Hall and took a seat across from Snape, diagonal from Dumbledore. I was the first student to get there and the others would probably show up in a matter of minutes.
"How was your visit?" Dumbledore asked kindly.
"I owe a trouble-maker a prank," I replied, grinning. "DJ Bell, the annoying little jerk, got me to scream over a couple of Cornish pixies," I said shaking my head.
"Do you even know him? He's a second year," Snape asked, confused.
"You remember Amanda Jones?" I asked, somewhat quietly. He nodded.
"The other Gryffindor book worm, right?"
"Yes, DJ is her son," I answered. "Keena would babysit her friends' kids from time to time. So, sometime today or maybe tomorrow, I get to see what the rest of them have in store for Keena,"
"Just one more question," Snape said. I looked at him questioningly. "Did Lupin get a picture of you?"
I just gave him a glare and moved over a seat so that I was across from Dumbledore. "Why is it everyone laughs at me when I do something stupid like that?"
"I believe it is because it is amusing to watch." Dumbledore said, attempting to hide his own chuckle as the lone Slytherin came in.
He sat down a seat away from me and diagonal from Snape. He was followed moments later by two Ravenclaw first years, both of whom looked torn between sitting on either side of the Slytherin or forcing me out of sitting with any of my friends. Rolling my eyes, I moved over so I was back in front of Snape again. The Slytherin gave me an odd look but said nothing and the Ravenclaws sat down, giving me a grin of thanks. The doors opened again and I turned to see Ron, Hermione and Harry entering and looking around the Great Hall in mild surprise at the lack of tables before they chose to sit on the other side of the two Ravenclaws.
"As you can all see, we're sitting at only one table, it seemed rather foolish to use all of the house tables when there are so few of us," Dumbledore smiled at the students. When the conversation failed to pick up, he picked up a cracker. "Severus? Would you join me?" he asked.
Snape rolled his eyes, but tugged on the end none the less. I burst out laughing at the look on his face as the vulture hat came out of the cracker. "Did you put that in there?" he asked me quietly.
"No, but thanks for the idea," I smirked.
"Cornish pixies," he reminded me and I shot a glare at him before grinning again. "What?"
"Oh, I was just wondering if there were perhaps anymore crackers hanging around, you never know which ones have a green dress or maybe a plastic red pocket book."
He scowled at the large grin on my face. "Touché,"
The food had just arrived on the table when the doors opened once more. I rolled my eyes as the rest of the table turned to see who it was.
"Sibyll, I didn't know you would be joining us," Dumbledore smiled.
"Yes, what a lovely surprise," McGonagall muttered, giving me a quick glance. Apparently she would have liked a little warning.
"Yes, I was crystal gazing and Saw myself coming to join you. Who am I to tempt the fates?" she said breathily. Dumbledore drew her chair and she sat down, diagonal from me. "Then again, there are those who believe that they can do so. It never does seem to turn out as well as they would like,"
"Pity," I muttered, staring hard at my plate as though willing for the food to just appear directly there. I blinked in surprise when a slice of turkey landed on my plate. I looked up in time to see Snape dishing himself a piece. "Thanks,"
"Not at all," he replied.
"But it is a pity," Trelawney continued as though Snape had not intervened at all. "For had they not tampered in the first place, they would not feel the terrible guilt that comes along with such a failure,"
"Guilt can be dealt with," I said, looking up and feeling defensive.
"I would hardly call Fire Whiskey dealing with it," she said, still sounding airy as though nothing were out of the ordinary.
"I would hardly call using crystal gazing as an excuse make up for the real reason one would join a Christmas dinner," I muttered so quietly that she didn't even acknowledge that I'd said anything. That or she just didn't want to reply.
The table continued to eat in silence until Dumbledore asked if everyone were ready for desert. The table in general gave nods or quiet "yes's" and suddenly ice-creams and cakes covered the table. I poked at my vanilla ice-cream, lost in thought and feeling very strange.
"Is something wrong?" I looked up to see both Snape and Dumbledore looking at me curiously. I thought for a moment before answering.
"Nah just tired. I think I'll turn in," I said, standing. "Merry Christmas everyone," I said before leaving.
I shut the doors behind me and paced for a moment, thinking furiously.
It's not like I'm an addictive drinker, I only ever do when I think too much about the war and that hasn't been in years...! Then again, I've never counted Halloween as part of the war... In fact, I've only ever gotten truly smashed once and I can't even remember it happening and all Remus did was make me promise never to touch alcohol without him around again...course that means it was probably bad...but he didn't expressly forbid it...technically...and I haven't wanted one so bad in a long time either...stupid Trelawney, bringing up shit she doesn't get...stupid Remus making me feel guilty about wanting what I...what Keena...doesn't matter, I'm in the same body and I know what I want...it's Christmas, doesn't that make me entitled to what I want...?
My mind made up, I went to Snape's quarters and left a short note saying I'd be out the rest of the night. My first stop was to the kitchens after I'd transformed into Keena; I figured they'd look in Hogsmeade first and I only wanted one before I went to see Remus again. The house elves looked delighted to see me and all wished me Happy Christmas.
"Hey all, are Skippy and Twinkie around?" I wasn't sure if the six Potter house elves were still at Hogwarts or not, though that was where James ordered them to go when we had left Potter mansion.
"Right here, Miss Keena," Skippy said, pulling gently on my pant leg.
"Is there some trouble, Miss? You is being a naughty girl," Twinkie said, sadly. "What would mistress and masters be saying if they is knowing?"
"Oh, not you both too!" I groaned, sitting on the ground next to them. "You can't honestly believe all that nonsense,"
"Miss is not being bad with master Sirius?" Skippy asked, her huge eyes somehow expanding. I shook my head. "See, Twinkie? Skippy is being right! Skippy is always saying that Miss is never being bad and Miss is always doing good for her friends! Master Sirius is the only one being bad," she concluded, folding her arms and her ears flattened against her head as she settled a glare at Twinkie.
"Twinkie is sorry, Miss," Twinkie said, her arms folded behind her back and facing the ground in shame. "Twinkie is not knowing what to think, Miss,"
"Don't worry about it, Twinkie, you aren't the only one who hasn't believed me," I said, patting her on the arm.
"So what does Miss be needing?" Skippy asked.
"Something to drink," I replied, quietly. The Potter house elves had never approved whenever the lot of us had anything stronger than butter beer.
"But Miss, you is knowing what happens when you is drinking too much," Twinkie said sharply. One of the Hogwarts elves stopped in shock.
"You is disobeying your mistress?" he said, glaring at her with his hands on his hips.
"Mind your own business, please," I said and the elf bowed away. "And it's only one then I'm going to stay with Remus. I swear, please?"
Both elves sighed and exchanged a look before Twinkie snapped her fingers. It was a small goblet but it hardly mattered. I drank it all in one go and gave them both a hug before racing up to Remus' room. The moon hadn't quite risen yet so I knocked on the door before going in.
"Made up your mind yet?" I asked, breathlessly.
"Why were you drinking?" he asked instead of answering. "I thought you said you were done with that phase?"
"Damnit, it was one time, I don't even remember doing it! And today was one drink. Not even a full glass," he snorted in disbelief. "Go ask the house elves, they'll tell you," I glowered. "You wouldn't even notice if it weren't that time of the month," I added.
He didn't reply, just rubbed his head as though he had a headache. "I owled James and Lily to see if they wanted to go with us and they said they'd meet us by their cottage," he said instead. "Course that means I'll be able to smell them as humans which could possibly override the potion all together…" he muttered.
"But it won't because you've spent the past full moons in here, haven't you?"
"I have, but I put up a charm so that I wouldn't be able to smell anything outside of this room,"
"Okay, but there have been humans in here so did you spray the room down with some kind of air refresher?"
"Yep,"
"Moony, you are strange."
We waited until just after midnight to leave. Against Remus' permission, I transformed into my human self to open the door to his office. He growled angrily when I approached him and grabbed him by the scruff in order to pull him out of the office. Then he started whimpering when I let go. I changed into Blacktip so I could understand just what his problem was.
"I thought you said you wanted to go out tonight?" I said quietly.
"I do! I just didn't think through how we would get out of here. What if the werewolf takes over?" He asked, panicking slightly.
"Then I lure you outside." I answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. I thought it was at least.
"How would you…do…?" He stopped walking and looked horrified.
"What's your prob—ew! Get your mind out of the gutter, you horny old man! You know the only thing that gets you away from humans is the sound of another wolf howling! Honestly…" I grumbled under my breath the rest of the way down to the Great Hall before opening the large oak doors.
He raced past me out the doors and I shut them behind me before transforming back into a wolf and following him to the forest. He stopped running once he reached the trees of the forest and waited for me.
"Slowpoke,"
"Speed demon,"
"Thanks,"
"Whatever, let's just hurry up and find them. This is Lily's first night with us, isn't it?" I added as we began making our way through the forest. He nodded in reply. "How d'you suppose she'll handle it?"
"Well, all her animal instincts will be screaming at her to run if I'm not mistaken but she'll be stubborn and probably look like a deer caught in the lights until we convince her I'm not a threat,"
"That was well thought out,"
"It's what I'm good at,"
"True enough,"
As the cottage came into view, Moony stopped suddenly, teeth bared and sniffing something. I frowned (or did the equivalent of so in my wolf form) and sniffed the air as well. Nothing seemed out of place. There was a slight scent of James and Lily and a stronger one of myself and Sirius. Sirius.
"Moony?" I tried tentatively. "You're still there right? You're still you?"
He growled ferociously in response, making a move towards the cottage where, judging by their scents, the three of them were still human. I positioned myself in front of him and blinked before I growled threateningly. His normally blue eyes had shifted back into the yellow of the werewolf.
"Out of my way," He growled, beginning to pace. "Prey is inside! Traitor!"
"He is not your prey, Moony, remember who you are,"
"I know who I am, and he is a traitor!" He answered, his eyes flashing blue for a moment.
"Stop letting the werewolf have control! Think of the other two! You'll hurt them on accident if you don't have full control!"
He stopped pacing and sat down. His growling slowly quieted until the clearing was completely silent. He opened his eyes and they were blue once more. I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Merlin, Moony, don't scare me like that! Keep yourself in check or we're going back to the castle."
"Since when are you so responsible?"
"Since when are you so murderous?" I shot back. He whined and looked at the ground. "Now, are you ready to see them?"
"I'm not sure I can handle seeing him. Why is he even here? What has he done? How could you have let him in here?"
"Your eyes are changing color again," I replied coolly. He paced around for a moment before sitting down. "Thank you, now how about if I go grab James and Lily and let them explain a little before Sirius comes out?"
"Fine,"
"Good, stay,"
"I'm not a pet,"
"Sure you're not," I teased, heading for the house.
I looked back at Moony to see that he had buried his nose in the snow and was looking at me as though daring me to laugh, which I did of course. I transformed back into a human and knocked on the door. James opened it a crack and looked at me worriedly.
"We heard growling and barking and stuff, is everything okay?" he asked, moving aside so I could squeeze myself through the crack between the wall and the door.
"Yeah, he just smelled Sirius and flipped out a little," I said. Looking around I realized it was only James and Lily in the house. "Speaking of the prat, where is he?"
"He said he was planning on meeting you both at the entrance of the forest," Lily said, sounding confused.
"He can't've been there; we didn't even smell him,"
"Maybe he thought you'd enter at a different part of the forest," James reasoned. "I mean, the Forbidden Forest isn't exactly what you would call small, is it?"
"God, I hope you're right, James," I said. "C'mon, I'll go look for him while you two explain what the deal is to Moony,"
"Shouldn't you stick around for that? I mean, what if he loses control? You're the alpha or whatever, right? And therefore the only one who could stop him," Lily said, sounding nervous and a little bit on the panicky side.
"Alright, calm down, I'll stay with you guys. But he better believe you fast or we're in trouble. Since when does Sirius do anything the smart way?" I said, moving back towards the door and transforming when James opened it. "Oh shit," I growled, looking around but seeing no Moony.
"Where did Remus go?" Redtail asked sounding even more nervous in her deer form.
"He probably just caught something's scent," Prongs answered, trying to keep her calm.
"Or someone," I muttered, sniffing around where Moony had been. Sure enough, I could smell the path he had taken and it included Sirius' trail.
"Lily, maybe you had better stay here," Prongs said as I began following the trail.
"Like Hell I'm letting you go out there alone!"
"I won't be alone, besides, I've got antlers, you don't and I know how to deal with a werewolf," he answered.
"I'm not playing the weak little wife who can't do anything!"
"And I don't want you playing the dead little wife who was stupid and stubborn," I countered. "If you do follow, it'll have to be at a very long distance. So long that you'll have to stay out of scent which means you're stuck in the cabin. James is right, you'll have to sit this one out,"
"But what if one of you gets hurt?"
"Then you'll have to expose yourself to the world before the destruction of a horcrux. C'mon, Prongs, he's beyond angry and Padfoot won't want to hurt him,"
He nodded and Lily made a huffing sound before going back to the cabin. The trail we followed ended up leading us closer to the Shrieking Shack than I would have thought and when we got there all we heard was growling and snapping noises, but no barks or howls of pain. When we got within their line of sight it was to see Moony with his teeth bared and ears back, growling at Padfoot, who was growling just as fiercely back. Moony's eyes were golden yellow again.
"What are you doing, Moony? You promised you wouldn't let the werewolf have control!" I accused, coming to stand in between them.
"He's a traitor!" he growled.
"I am not!" Padfoot snapped back. "Tell him, Prongs!"
"Moony, listen, it wasn't Sirius," the werewolf growled in disbelief. "It wasn't, we switched secret keepers! Sirius figured out that Lily and I were supposed to die and he thought it would be his fault so he wanted the switch!"
"So who did you use then?" Moony asked condescendingly. "If you didn't use Sirius, me or Keena, who did you use?"
"Wormtail," Prongs replied, spitting out the name as if it were poison.
"No, he's dead. He killed him!"
"No, he didn't!" I argued. "Moony, for Merlin's sake, your thinking like a werewolf! Would you think like Remus for two minutes, please?"
He growled, but paced none the less, his growling becoming quieter as he moved before he finally sat down. He opened his eyes, glaring in his form, but they were blue again.
"Kindly explain," Moony said, breathing evenly and avoiding looking at Padfoot.
"We've been trying, mate," Prongs said exasperatedly.
"Right, sorry, so Wormtail was the secret keeper…why not me or Keena?"
"Keena's connection with us made her way to obvious," Prongs explained.
"Okay, so why not me?" he asked again.
"Because…I…we…Peter didn't have the brains…it made sense…"
"It made sense to you that I was a traitor because I was smart enough to pull it off? My loyalty never even played a role? The fact that Keena never trusted Peter didn't make a difference?"
"Stop right there! You just admitted that it couldn't've been Sirius because I never trusted Peter! Ha! You knew all along!" I yipped in triumph.
"Blacktip?"
"Yes, Prongs?"
"Can you stop gloating for a moment and concentrate for oh, I dunno, half a minute?"
"Yeah, sorry," I answered, sitting down.
"Moony, it wasn't like that. I knew I was supposed to die, right? Well, I didn't want it to be your fault or Sirius' so that left Wormtail,"
"So you wanted to die?"
"No! I wanted to go out with as few people I love dying as possible! I knew neither of you guys would ever let anything happen to me or Lily, Wormtail I wasn't so sure about."
"But we could have stopped you from dying in the first place," Moony reasoned.
"Moony, we kinda took care of that," I said, nodding towards Prongs. "They're alive now, aren't they?"
"Well, yeah, but what about Harry?"
"That's what I wanted to know," Padfoot muttered.
"Well, we've been over that part," Prongs muttered, turning to face the ground. He ended up tangling his antlers in a bush. "Bloody hell…" he groaned and he began tugging at the bush.
"Bloody hell is right," Padfoot agreed, sniggering as we watched Prongs try to disentangle himself.
"C'mon, you buggers, it's Christmas, help a mate out?" Prongs begged.
"Alright, hold still," I said, coming over and changing into a growled in protest but Moony had already buried his nose into the snow, though I could tell he was glaring at me. "Moony's potion makes him harmless to me, he's got his own mind right now,"I explained. Padfoot barked. "Don't speak dog like this, Padfoot, remember?" I said. "Prongs, stop moving, you're making it worse," I added, slapping him on the side. He grunted at me but stopped moving. "There," I said before shifting back into Blacktip.
"Thanks," he replied, swaying his head from side to side. "That made me dizzy,"
"C'mon, we've probably got Lily worried sick by now," I said, ignoring Prongs' whining. We began heading back through the forest when Moony and Padfoot fell behind Prongs and I so that they could talk amongst themselves.
"Things are not going to go back to normal right away, are they?" Prongs questioned.
"Probably not," I answered, keeping my ears forward so I didn't eavesdrop on purpose.
"What happens if Sirius were to sneak into the school again?"
"Depends on whether or not he catches the rat," I answered, not wanting to discuss the situation. I doubted very much that Dumbledore would change his mind about his threat.
"Let's say for arguments sake that he doesn't," Prongs suggested, noticing the tone in my voice. Or rather, the growl I had used.
"Still depends as to whether or not he was sighted by anyone,"
"Again, let's say it happened and he got away."
"Then I (or Kailey rather) would either get expelled and sent to an insane ward or expelled and landed in Azkaban," It was easier to tell him the truth at this point. He would probably just ask Moony if he thought I was lying anyway.
"And you didn't tell us that because why, exactly?" he demanded. We were nearing the cottage now; I could smell Lily's fear.
"Because of your reaction. I've got an escape plan anyway,"
"That makes me even more nervous," he muttered, looking back to see where Padfoot and Moony had begun wrestling in the snow. "Maybe it won't be so bad after all,"
The door slammed from behind us and Moony and Padfoot stopped to look and see a small reddish deer coming cautiously over to stand between Prongs and I. Her large green eyes were glued to Moony who had not removed his teeth from Padfoot's ear while one of his eyes was very near to being clawed out by Padfoot.
"R-Remus?" she asked nervously. He removed his teeth from Padfoot's ear and turned his gaze to me.
"Told you she'd be like a deer in the headlights," the werewolf grinned.
Alright, I think that's long enough for this chapter! Obviously I've got some explaining to do in the next chapter, but ask questions anyways, I'll probably answer in the bolded author's comment thing that heads the story! Sorry it took me so long to update, but the holidays are crazy! Please remember to review and up next will be chapter 15!
:-D