"Absolutely not!" – Remus declined firmly.
"Why not?" – James asked impatiently – "This can help you, right? Plus, we're going to have plenty of fun!"
Glimpses of rolling hills and dense forests revealed themselves as the Hogwarts Express travelled north. Four boys and one girl were huddled closely together in one of the compartments, located in the last car of the train. It was past noon, and colourful candy wrappings were casually strewn around, giving a distinguished pop art vibe of the small space.
"You said you wouldn't attack us if we were animals. Then, we become Animagi – problem solved." – concluded Sirius decisively.
"I said I think I may not attack you." – Remus snapped angrily – "This is not a game. I can't risk your lives to experiment with my condition."
"Why are you uncertain whether you would attack us?" – asked Catherine, muffing Sirius' protests by shoving a cauldron cake in his mouth.
"I've been around animals before during transformation and I haven't attacked them, but I wasn't in close proximity to be sure." – Remus answered gloomily – "Even if I won't attack animals, it might not be the case with Animagi. What if your scent is different than the scent of an ordinary animal and that provokes me? It's not like I have anyone to ask about this."
"Maybe there's information in the Library?" – Peter suggested, looking very pale and clearly wanted this conversation to be over as soon as possible.
"There is a certain book I want to check." – said Catherine – "But it's probably in the Restricted Section, and I'm not confident there's going to be such specific information inside. I'm sure it's a rare occurrence for Animagi to hang out with a werewolf."
"Isn't it more important to find out how to become Animagi in the first place?" – James asked seriously.
"That's why we need that book." – nodded Catherine – "Unless one of you can get this information from someone else?"
"Isn't McGonagall an Animagus?" – Sirius asked, finally managing to swallow the cauldron cake – "I remember she showed us last year how she could turn into a cat."
"Indeed!" – confirmed Catherine – "But I seriously doubt she would provide second-years with detailed instructions. If we were studying for the NEWTs – maybe, but if we show too much interest now, she might get suspicious. Then it's going to be twice as hard to do it, having a teacher on our trails."
"Wait, I can't believe you're actually planning on continuing with this madness!" – protested Remus, looking from one face to the other in utter disbelief.
"Maybe I just want to be an Animagus." – grinned James – "How would that concern you, Remus?"
"You know very well what I mean." – argued Remus – "It must be extremely hard and dangerous to transform into an animal, especially for such young students like us."
"We can definitely do it! Right, Flame?" – laughed Sirius.
"Most likely, once we find out how to." – nodded Catherine.
"You're all unbelievable!" – sighed Remus, throwing his hands into the air with frustration – "Anyway, I doubt you would be able to find out, let alone do it. It's just too hard. That's why Animagi are rare."
"Challenge accepted!" – chuckled James and stood up stretching himself.
"You should have more confidence in your brothers, you know?" – teased Sirius.
"Did I miss anything? Are we all siblings now?" – mocked Catherine, looking at Sirius' displeased face.
"I don't have any siblings," – said James – "therefore, I'm on board with what Sirius said. We've been through a lot together already, and I feel you as close as family."
"Being close with someone is not a necessary condition for being your sibling." – Catherine stated flatly and gazed through the window.
"It's true." – agreed Sirius – "Hence, I prefer my chosen family to my blood one."
"In general, or just because you're agitated by your brother coming to Hogwarts this year?" – asked James with a mischievous spark in his hazel eyes.
"Regulus has nothing to do with it." – scowled Sirius.
"Your brother's coming to Hogwarts?" – asked Peter with curiosity.
"Yeah, the golden boy is the Black's family latest hope for glory. Obviously, after the 'blunder' of me being sorted into Gryffindor, they are all pretty tense for little bro's Sorting Ceremony." – sneered Sirius.
"What is he like?" – asked Remus.
"Regulus? Proud, self-centred, obnoxious, and of course dedicated to the noble cause of keeping the family blood as pure as possible. Toujours Pur! That's our family motto." – responded Sirius bitterly.
"Sounds pretty Slytherin-ish to me." – noted James.
"This wasn't how it was supposed to be." – said Catherine contemplatively.
"What do you mean, Flame?" – asked James.
"I mean, Salazar Slytherin was initially looking for cunning, ambitious, resourceful students who haven't always played by the rules." – continued the young witch.
"Yeah, and later he went bonkers and started preaching about Pure-blood ideology." – said Sirius sarcastically.
"I wonder how that happened." – mumbled Catherine mostly to herself.
"Who cares?" – snapped James – "What's important is that every dark wizard attended that damn house."
"This might be a little bit of overstatement." – said Catherine with a smile.
"I would never understand why you keep defending the Slytherin House, Flame. Especially when you see how its members keep treating you." – exclaimed Sirius, annoyed.
"Not every person who has ever studied there was the same, Sirius." – insisted Catherine, disregarding the snort of derision, coming from her friend.
"Plus, I may have more in common with Slytherins than you think." – she added softly, staring through the window at the tall mountains in the distance.
Regulus Black ended up in Slytherin, fulfilling his family's wishes and expectations. Catherine couldn't help but notice that despite his nihilistic attitude towards the fate of his sibling, Sirius was still disappointed. He compensated for it by being loud with his jokes and even louder with mocking Slytherins. While this behaviour was extremely immature, the young witch somehow felt for her friend, thinking about her own turbulent relationship with Greg.
It was good that the start of the term distracted Sirius from dwelling on his family situation and he put most of his efforts into practicing for the upcoming Quidditch tryouts. James had also decided to try and secure the position of the new Gryffindor's Seeker. Therefore, the two of them spent every free hour they had on the Quidditch pitch, most of the time accompanied by Peter who was extremely excited about the possibility of his friends becoming Quidditch players.
Remus and Catherine joined him on the stands a few times, but they quickly got bored and a little embarrassed by the squeaking Peter, who was jumping up and down on his seat. So, by mutual agreement, they returned to pursuing their own interests. In Catherine's case, that involved searching in the Library for any useful book on how to become an Animagus. Unfortunately, she didn't have much luck. The general information on the subject was not enough to even find out where to start. The young witch often glanced longingly at the back of the library where the Restricted Section was, but she had no means to enter at the current time, and she doubted any professor would sign a permission for her.
Furthermore, Catherine was having enough on her plate already with the new and harder lessons the second-years encountered in every class. The girl was particularly motivated to advance her Transfiguration skills. This was easier said than done. The Gryffindors spent their first week discovering entirely how much they had forgotten during the summer. Catherine was forced to admit that it was also the case for her, although she was catching up much quicker than most of her classmates.
Mary McDonald was almost in tears after spending thirty minutes trying to turn a copper coin into a firefly without any success. Lily attempted to help; however, her instructions didn't make much of a difference. The coin went all dark and deformed but didn't show any signs of life. Professor McGonagall was very unhappy and gave poor Mary additional homework. Catherine noticed that her classmate spent every evening in the Library, although it was doubtful how effective that strategy was because she looked rather stuck and panicked most of the time.
On the other hand, Lily was once again giving Catherine the silent treatment after their brief encounter on Diagon Alley. The black-haired girl thought that her friend might appear very sweet and nice, but she did have a mean streak. For example, Lily made a point to purposefully demonstrate friendliness with Snape every time Catherine or Sirius were nearby.
During one of the next Transfiguration classes the Gryffindors were supposed to turn a raven into a water goblet.
"Don't forget students, the incantation is Vera Verto." – reminded them the teacher while walking around the classroom, stopping here and there to correct someone's wand movements.
Catherine needed just two attempts to make the spell work. She was exploring the ordinary glass goblet on her desk, wondering if she could have transformed the bird into a silver goblet instead, when she noticed Mary was looking around helplessly. Her chestnut hair clung to her sweaty face, and her brown eyes were brimming with tears.
"Sirius," – whispered Catherine, poking her friend who's been sitting in front of her next to James – "Can you create a little distraction, please?"
The boy didn't turn around. He casually knocked his quill off the desk and, when he bent down to pick it up, used the opportunity to ignite a faux firecracker. It exploded with a magnificent loud bang, creating complete chaos and ruckus. While the Transfiguration teacher was attempting to figure out what had happened and determine if James and Sirius were somehow hurt (which they were claiming with a true theatrical dedication), Catherine quickly left her seat next to Remus and crossed the classroom. Mary was sitting beside Peter that day, just in front of McGonagall's desk, so she could observe their work more closely. That didn't seem to improve the performance of the two Gryffindors, because Peter was also in deep trouble, considering his goblet had spawned feathers.
"Move!" – ordered Catherine shortly and took Peter's seat next to Mary.
The other girl looked at her classmate in surprise.
"Catherine, what…" – she tried asking.
"Shh, quickly before McGonagall sees us." – Catherine whispered, grinning – "You're doing it wrong. You put too much effort into the wand movement, and this disrupts the length of the magic waves. In Transfiguration, you need to let the magic sink into the object and envelop it; there are no sudden movements. Try again and picture what I told you in your mind."
Mary paused for a few moments then pointed her wand towards the raven in a much slower manner.
"Verrra Verto." – she said looking how the bird flapped its wings impatiently.
"Try again, but this time do not prolong the first part so much." – instructed Catherine, throwing a glance at McGonagall who was currently scolding Sirius for wasting her time after apparently not finding any visible injuries.
"Vera Verto!" – said Mary again.
This time her bird turned into the desired goblet without fail. Mary gasped in surprise and relief. Catherine dashed to her desk just in time because the Professor finally turned her attention back to the rest of the Gryffindors.
"Enough of this nonsense! I'm going to find out who did that and rest assured that they are going to be severely punished. There's a lot to learn in my classes and you need to approach them with the necessary determination and hard work. Let's see how much you progressed on the task." – said the teacher going back to her desk, her beady eyes stopping on Mary.
"Good job, Miss McDonald!" – said the Professor after inspecting the goblet – "I see that the extra work I assigned to you and the closer monitoring did pay off. You should keep on the good work. Five points to Gryffindor."
Mary's face became bright red, and she looked in disbelief at her Head of House.
"You owe me one." – whispered Sirius with a grin.
"Like you didn't enjoy it." – Catherine whispered back.
"I did, but that's not the point." – he insisted.
"Okay, okay. We shall see about that." – Catherine shushed him, noting down the topic of the essay they needed to write for next week.
That evening while the Gryffindor second-years were hanging in the Common Room and most students were laughing at Sirius' jokes, Catherine felt someone gently tugging her sleeve. She turned around and saw Mary who was standing there, smiling timidly, holding a small box in her hands.
"Hi." – she said.
"Hi, Mary." – answered the black-haired girl eyeing the white box – "Can I help you?"
"No, I mean yes." – stammered the other girl – "I wanted to thank you for today, you really helped me a lot and I have such a hard time with Transfiguration. These are banana muffins my nana sent me this morning. I want you to have them."
"Oh!" – exclaimed Catherine, feeling uncomfortable – "I thought you could use some help and you really don't need to mention it. I can't take your muffins, though."
"Please!" – said Mary imploringly – "Share them with Sirius and James. I know they helped you take McGonagall's attention away from me." With this Mary shoved the box into Catherine's unwilling hands and went to sit next to Gwyneth Jones, who was chatting happily with a few older boys.
"These are some nice muffins, I'm telling you." – said Sirius, enjoying the last bite of his cake – "Totally worth the trouble."
"I didn't do it to get a reward." – protested Catherine.
"You could have helped me instead." – complained Peter.
"What are you talking about?" – snapped Catherine – "You were right next to Mary; couldn't you also follow what I told her?"
"I couldn't undo the transfiguration I had already done. I just needed to remove the feathers from the goblet." – insisted the boy.
"Yeah, just that." – laughed James – "Except your goblet was still croaking too."
"Whatever, you're not entitled to my help. I'll do it if I feel like it." – snarled Catherine and left for the girls' dormitory.
Once alone, she undressed and put on her pink nightgown. Then the girl stood in front of the mirror, unbraiding and brushing her straight, ebony black hair that almost reached her waist.
"You're really weird, you know?" – she heard a voice that startled her, making her jump and look around.
"For how long you have been hiding there?" – asked Catherine, looking at Lily, who was now sitting cross-legged on her bed.
"I wasn't hiding, I was just here reading at peace. It's too loud downstairs." – answered the red-headed girl – "It was really nice what you did for Mary today. But I wish you didn't have to cause such chaos to do so."
"I did what I felt was right." – said Catherine flatly.
"That's the thing. You always do what you think is right and sometimes you are just wrong!" – Lily exclaimed looking at her friend intensely.
"Are we still talking about today?" – Catherine asked, irritated.
"I guess what I wanted to say is… I'm tired of being angry about your fights with Severus." – snapped Lily – "I don't want to hear about them. I don't want to witness them. I don't want any of you to badmouth the other one."
"Suit yourself." – said the black-haired girl, climbing to her bed – "But I also want you to stop defending him in front of me."
"Okay, okay!" – Lily gave up – "Gosh, Daisy, why can't we all just get along and be friends?"
"I guess it's just not how the world works." – mumbled Catherine groggily.
Mid-September at Hogwarts has always been met with a lot of excitement because it was usually then when the Houses scheduled their Quidditch teams' tryouts. Gryffindors were particularly thrilled because that year they needed to select a new Chaser, a Seeker, and a Keeper. The result was an exceptional volume of applicants and more than twice their number watching from the stands, supporting a friend or just being curious. Catherine and Remus were sitting together with Peter, who took out a large cardboard sign, where he had written with bright red paint 'Go James!'.
"Neat, right?" – beamed the boy – "And look at what Fabian Prewett taught me!"
With that he tapped the cardboard with his wand and a new writing appeared, forming the words 'Go, Sirius!'
"Great, Peter!" – said Remus with a forced smile, glancing at their classmates who were laughing, pointing at them.
"I'll go to the last row so I can see better." – chirped Catherine and left the now desperate Remus to keep company with the overexcited Peter.
The Gryffindor's team captain, the sixth-year Patrick Blackwood, was giving instructions to the team and the applicants before they got on their brooms and flew into the clear blue sky.
It seemed that they were first to pick the new Chaser. From what Catherine could see, there were at least eight candidates for that position. Even though, Sirius was the youngest one, he was already as tall as the fourth-years, and he was also strong and agile. The young witch had to admit that he did have a gift for flying, despite the fact that James was probably better. Among the other applicants, however, Sirius was definitely the quickest. The only person who could even compare to him was Callista Bones. It was a close competition, and both of them scored four goals with the Quaffle. Next, the applicants attempted a combined attack together with the rest of the Chasers. Catherine thought that Sirius looked more in sync with the team, but she was not sure that was indeed the case. Eventually, Patrick decided to award the position to Sirius, and Callista was kept in reserve.
The Seeker's trials were much more one-sided. James was the quickest, the most skilful, and without a doubt, the person with the best overall strategic thinking among all of the four applicants. The crowd on the stands also showed appreciation, admiring how the second-year didn't miss the Golden Snitch even once. He landed happily near his teammates and waved towards the stands, clearly enjoying the reaction.
Catherine stood up, wondering if she should go down and congratulate her friends or wait a little bit till the crowd disperses, when her attention was caught by the next applicant for the Keeper's position. Not only did he stop every attempt for scoring, expertly guarding all three goalposts, but he also performed a blind save which earned a wave of 'awws' from the spectators in the stands. Patrick looked ecstatic, and it wasn't a surprise that he chose that player to fill in the last open spot. At that point, Catherine had already joined her classmates on the fresh grass, and she was about to go to Sirius and James when the new Keeper landed skilfully next to her and removed his headgear.
"Greg?!" – Catherine exclaimed in awe.
"Hi, Flame." – he smiled – "Have you seen me up there?"
"Yes, that was truly amazing! I didn't know you were that good." – she complemented her brother, who looked at her with an unreadable face.
"Well, you've never shown much interest in my hobbies." – he said softly.
Catherine felt upset. She wanted to say something snarky, but for once she was not sure what it should be. The truth was that Greg was absolutely right, and she knew deep inside that her behaviour towards him was far from the best. Despite harbouring strong opinions about her, the girl couldn't deny that her brother had consistently shown her kindness, even when she didn't reciprocate. Even though, he was overprotective and bothersome at times, Greg was also the person who cared the most about her in their family. While she couldn't force herself to like the boy and not envy him, she should have at least repaid him for the efforts he had invested and the times he had suffered because of her.
"I'm sorry." – mumbled Catherine, lowering her head.
"Don't be." – she heard Greg's voice in her ear and quickly lifted her head in surprise.
His handsome face relaxed into a smile, and he playfully ruffled her hair.
"If you want some private lessons, I'll be happy to teach you anything you want." – he said charmingly.
"Ah…thanks." – answered Catherine, confused, noticing that people were looking at them.
"What are big brothers for?" – Greg whispered, bending down towards her, and planting a quick peck on her cheek, still cold from the breeze on the stands.
"What were you and Greg McMahon talking about so intimately at the pitch?" – asked Sirius during dinner that night, while all the Gryffindors were loudly discussing the results of the tryouts.
Catherine almost choked on her baked potato and had to take a long sip of water to swallow it.
"Nothing really, I just congratulated him for getting a spot on the team."
"You seemed pretty close out there." – insisted Sirius gloomily.
"Well, it was rather loud, so it was the only way we could hear each other." – said Catherine, mentally cursing her lack of discretion in front of so many people.
"Sure, that's why he kissed you on the cheek." – chimed in Gwyneth Jones and giggled, elbowing Mary who blushed.
"He did what?" – shouted James.
"Don't be daft!" – Gwyneth scolded him – "He's so handsome, not to mention that he's a rich aristocrat. I envy you so much!"
"It's not like that!" – cried Catherine desperately – "He just thanked me for congratulating him. I guess it's common to do it this way among his people."
"You don't need to make excuses. Just enjoy your luck. I doubt he would show you favour for a long time. Boys like him are social butterflies." – Gwyneth concluded and left the table laughing.
Catherine quickly finished her dinner and walked out of the Great Hall.
'Damn you, Greg! You did it on purpose, didn't you?' – thought the girl, climbing the stairs towards the Gryffindor Common Room.
What an annoying situation that was. Now everyone would be convinced that she liked Greg McMahon and tried to earn his attention. Setting aside the disturbing nature of such insinuations, now various girls from every house would look at her as a potential rival.
'And he's only thirteen.' – she thought distractedly – 'Sometimes I forget he has as much Slytherin blood in his veins as I do.'
"Crimson Velvet." – the young witch said to the Fat Lady and entered the Common Room, where a few Gryffindors were playing exploding snap, and immediately went silent upon seeing her. With a groan, Catherine swiftly got to her dormitory and threw herself onto the bed.
"What's with people and gossips?" – she mumbled to herself before falling asleep.
The answer to this question became apparent during the next few days when tales about the Gryffindor's new Quidditch players spread, together with the juicy addition of Catherine Plantier congratulating Greg McMahon with a kiss. How Greg's innocent peck on the cheek turned into Catherine being the one kissing him was not clear. While the young witch did try to elucidate the misunderstanding, the more she explained, the less people believed her. Greg also reprimanded a few people who gossiped about them, but it didn't seem to help either. This whole situation put Sirius into a notoriously bad mood, although he did sympathise with Catherine, and he shouted at a few Hufflepuffs who were gossiping loudly in the hall as they passed by.
"I'm so tired of all this!" – complained Catherine while Gryffindors were waiting for their Potions class.
"Don't mind them. They don't have anything bad against you, so they started making up things." – James tried to console her.
"Easier said than done." – groaned Catherine, looking at the Slytherins arriving for their shared class.
"Look at that!" – said Snape when they joined Gryffindors in front of the Potions classroom – "The new Quidditch stars and their fan club."
"Envious much, Snape?" – chuckled James – "Didn't see you among the new Slytherin players."
"I have better things to do than flying around on a broom." – snapped Snape, but Catherine noticed red spots appearing on his pale face.
"I'm guessing, washing your clothes is not one of them." – laughed Sirius.
"Well, Black, you keep practicing, and maybe one day you'll also receive a kiss from Plantier."
"Don't involve Catherine into this." – growled Sirius and took out his wand.
"Oh? Did I strike a nerve?" – sneered the Slytherin boy – "Come on, Plantier, pet your dog, or he might end up running around to other people."
"What exactly is your problem, Snape?" – asked Catherine, who had had more than enough drama for the week.
"My problem? I'm just using the opportunity to chat with the local celebrities." – Snape answered sarcastically.
"Ah, so that's what this is all about." – smiled Catherine coldly – "You're so envious that people pay attention to James and Sirius for their athletic abilities that you're hardly able to keep this snake tongue of yours in your mouth."
"Envious?" – laughed Snape – "About Quidditch? A wizard's power is not determined by how well he flies on a broom, making a fool of himself."
"Sour grapes!" – chuckled James – "You wish you could be in our shoes."
"Not if this one is to kiss me, thank you very much." – said Snape, gesturing in disgust towards Catherine.
"I warned you, Snivelly!" – hissed Sirius and pointed his wand at Snape – "Engorgio!"
Snape's already sizeable nose started swelling, and in just several seconds, it was comparable to an aubergine. Gryffindors burst into laughter, and quite a few Slytherins joined them. Apparently, Snape was not very popular among his classmates either, or they just used every opportunity they got to diminish and humiliate someone. Snape looked at Lily in horror and ran away, swearing profoundly. By the time Professor Slughorn arrived, the second-years managed to calm themselves, but Snape didn't return until the end of the class.
"I wonder how big his nose got." – Peter contemplated as they were leaving the dungeons.
Catherine chuckled loudly. Laughing at other people's misfortune was not considered kind or compassionate, but there were some rare individuals who deserved it, Severus Snape definitely being one of them.