SOFT SUNLIGHT
Summary: Set in 1973, the Hogwarts' Marauders' third year, this multi-chaptered fiction develops and expands upon the framework of what we are told happens at this part of history… and what we aren't.
Warnings: Adult language, Homosexual relationship, Heterosexual relationship,
Main Pairing: Sirius/Remus
Other Characters: James, Peter, Lily/Severus, Andromeda, Bellatrix/Rudolphus, Lucius/Narcissa.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the twisted imagination and the ridiculously slow laptop I am typing this onto.
A/N: This was my first attempt at writing slash. It isn't amazing, but I am proud of it, and I would appreciate constructive criticism if it is truly helpful and not abusive.
Chapter 5: Secret Meetings And Long Speeches
Secrecy was, however, the order of the day when Sirius felt a tap on his shoulder and stared. He was waiting up for Anni, the others having stayed up all last night planning how to rescue him while he slept.
"It's me, you idiot."
"Anni?" It sounded like her. As Sirius squinted at the place her voice was coming from, he thought he discerned a shadow, and then she dropped the strong Disillusionment charm she wore, and he could see her.
"Where are the others?"
"Asleep, the rebels. Wait a sec."
Sirius crossed the common room in three fluid bounds and disappeared up the stairs. A moment later he was back, dragging three sleepy creatures behind him.
***
"Have you decided what animals to all be?" Anni asked them.
"Something small, like a mouse." Peter suggested.
"A horse, or a lion," interjected James.
"A cat." Sirius contributed.
"Cat's too small," argued Anni
"Not a lion." Remus countered.
"What's wrong with a cat?" Sirius asked.
"What's wrong with a lion?" James put in.
"Lion's too big," answered Anni.
"Is a mouse too small?" Peter worried.
"How does it work, once we've finished arguing?" Remus asked pointedly.
Anni pulled out her wand, and pointed it at her right wrist. She hesitated, then jumped upwards, becoming fluid and smaller, somehow. She kept going, higher and higher, and her body was smaller and her wings were wider. As she was about to hit the ceiling, she stopped, and the four on the ground blinked. In her place was an eagle, which soared gracefully down to them again, her wand held between her beak. She placed it carefully down and fixed them with beady eyes. Remus' mouth fell open in shock, and James and Sirius also looked overwhelmed by the power and speed displayed in the transformation.
Unpredictably, Peter was the first to gain the confidence to break the silence. His voice was strong and he was less shy than he had been with Anni ever before, the hush gone from his heart.
***
"I know how that works! I actually know something! You choose a focus point, send the spell towards it and, only its not really a spell, its more of a willpower intention thing, but you aim at the focus point and imagine yourself as the animal then you just fade from one to the other and you are the animal you imagined yourself as for an indefinite choice of return time period and then to change back you have to just imagine it and it works but you have to have your wand or you come back naked and you can make the change permanent by wanting to for three days and having one other animagus bless you while you are in animal form and a surprising number of people decide to make the change permanent even though most of them still want to be able to talk and after a length of time you start to think more like the animal like there was a hundred and two year old wizard who was a tortoise and we only know he was a tortoise because his great grandson, who owned him, told us and we used a spell to determine it, he thought like a slightly more intelligent than most tortoise so if they don't want mind deterioration and want the gift of speech back or want to use magic again they come to a place where it is researched and that's where dad works, in the only one in Britain, and that's why I'm shy, because I don't speak to many other humans but I'm fine around animals because there are forty seven various animals at our house, its huge, and most of them can speak and some can use magic and all of them know exactly who they are and live almost normal lives as their respective animals and that's how I know so much about animagi even though I've never seen one transform either way before and very rarely have I seen one who wasn't permanent because as far as we can discover the changes can only be performed when the change is made permanent and all of the people at home have had changes made and I've said so much I'm almost dying of lack of oxygen but I'm suddenly brave and I don know if it'll last so I'm getting it all out now before I get scared again and that is definitely the most I have ever said to someone even if they were an animal and I shall only be fit for bed after this and but I am so proud of myself and I'm definite of what I want to be, I want to be a rat."
***
There was a long minute's silence. Predictably, this time, James spoke first.
"Buggering hell, Pit, that's the most anyone's ever said ever!"
His words awoke the rest, for no one had moved during the whole speech.
"One slight bit was wrong though. I can speak without a permanent change."
****