The Little Sister

05 || rewritten

It didn't take long before Madie fingered out her brothers friends already knew he was a werewolf. During the first full moon, she forced herself to stay in her bed, unable to sleep, and visited her brother the next morning, but the second full moon of the year, which took place at the end of September, and Madie once again found herself unable to sleep.

At first she tried to, tossing and turning in her bed, but she could her the quiet howls of her brother in the distance. She wasn't completely sure where Dumbledore was keeping him, and Remus refused to tell her, but it couldn't be too far away if she could hear him.

Sliding out of bed, she snuck down to the common room, trying to wake any of her roommates. The fire had died down quite a bit and she stood on one of the large window seats, peering out into the night. A cloud moved off the moon, casting a glow over the grounds.

"Couldn't sleep either?" A tired voice, James she would learn, said and she whirled around to find Peter, James, and Sirius standing in their pajamas. Sirius pointed his wand at the fireplace and muttered something, which made the flames grow.

They were holding a handful of books, something that surprised Madie. She had brought down her own homework, but hadn't thought they would be one to study when they couldn't sleep.

"He's louder in our room," Peter said. Madie seemed to miss the fact that they were talking about her brother, maybe it was because she didn't want to think about him suffering right now, and turned her attention to the books they had.

"Whatcha got there?" She asked, nodding to them and hopping off the window seat. James held one of the books out to her. Becoming an Animagus in today's society. She muttered the words as she read them. "Why do you have this?"

"We read that animals aren't affected by werewolf bites," Sirius said and Madie's eyes darted around the room, as if someone might be hiding down there. "So we kept researching."

"We're trying to figure out if humans in animagus form could also be not affected," James said, plopping down on one of the sofas. He was holding some sort of blanket as well, which he folded and carefully placed near him. "We weren't sure if we should look in more werewolf books or animagus books, so we just got both.

"And why would you need this information?" She asked, settling on the edge of a chairs arms and crossing her arms over her chest.

"We don't want Remus to be cooped up and alone." Peter was the only one still standing, but he quickly sat down, pulling a pack of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Jelly beans from his pocket.

Madie's eyes darted between the three boys and she chewed on her lip. "He told you?"

"Well, no." James shared a look with Sirius.

"We suspected something last year and then over the summer, we kinda noticed that all the times he couldn't hang out were during the full moon."

"Plus he was always in the hospital wing." James rolled his eyes. "He hid that real well for a while and then tried to play it off as being clumsy."

"So we suspected something was up and last month, not only confirmed it, but we asked him about it." Sirius shrugged, opening one of the books he had.

"And it doesn't bother you?"

"Why should it bother us?" Sirius said, sliding a finger down the index page.

"The poor chap folds his socks," James pointed out. "That kinda bothers me. I mean, who even folds their socks?"

"He turns into a...a...." Not wanting to call her brother a monster, she struggled to find the right word. "This creature every month."

Sirius stopped looking down the page, instead turning his gaze to Madie and tapping the page as he talked. "So he's a monster, or creature as you say, once a month. He can't help it. Some people are monsters everyday and they can help it."

Madie chewed on her lip, turning her gaze to the fireplace. That explained why she had seen his friends whispering outside the hospital wing last month and why Remus had looked nervous the week after the full moon. She had thought something might've happened during his transformation, but there was nothing unusual among his scars and bites, and she had be taught a long time ago not to ask questions about it.

"So you're researching animagus?" She said, sliding off of the arm and onto the chair. There wasn't much room between the arm and Sirius, but she ignored it, instead reaching over him to drag one of the books he wasn't using to her own lap. "Okay, I'm in."

"Wait what?" Sirius looked over in surprise as Peter sputtered and nearly choked on a jelly bean.

"If it turns out being an animagus would help Remus, then I want in."

"You can't just want in," James cried, already ready to jump out of his seat.

"And why not?"

"Well for one, Remus would kill us if we let you become an animagus," Sirius said, pulling the book out of her lap. "It's extremely dangerous and –"

"If you let me?" She crossed her arms over her chest and turned to look at the boy. "You're not letting me do anything."

"Well, even if we do manage to become animagus, Remus would kill us if we le – he doesn't want you going near him when he's, well when he's out there." Sirius gestured towards the window at the same time Remus let out a particularly loud howl.

"I don't really care. I want to help him too. So I'm going to become an animagus, whether it's with or without you."

"You can't become an animagus!" Sirius and Madie glared at one and other.

"We don't even know if becoming an animagus would even help him!" James cried and the two blinked, looking over at him. "Sirius, give her the book back. We have to sneak these books back before anyone notices, so we don't need any distractions. Madie, we'll have this discussion later."

Sirius grumbled, but handed her the book and she began to flip through it before pausing and looking back up. "What do you mean sneak them back? Where did you get them from?"

"We just borrowed them from the restricted section," Sirius said, waving a hand.

"Without asking," Peter chimed in and Madie raised an eyebrow.

"Without asking? How did you manage that?"

"We snuck into the library."

"I'm surprised you knew where the library was, let alone could sneak into it," she said, flicking a strand of hair away from her face. "How'd you manage that?"

Peter opened his mouth to say something, but James slammed a hand over his mouth. "We're just that great."

Her eyes narrowed. "I don't believe you, but I'll find out when you go return them, now won't I?"

They grumbled in response and she turned back to her book.

It would take them another three years to actually become animagus, briefly angering Remus in the process, but by the end of Madie's fourth year, the four of them had nearly succeeded.

∞

April 14, 2019

Wow, it's been a weekend. I learned how to saw volcano (and other words) in sign language, went thrift shopping for so many hours, and went to my first frat party (a year after I got my degree lol) and that was all in one day. As long of a weekend as it was, I enjoyed it all. I honestly never thought I would enjoy that type of party, but it was a ton of fun. 

Okay, but onto more pressing matters: Whatcha all think of this chapter? I am begging for some comments and votes. I can't make this better if you don't tell me what you love and hate. fml. 

Okay, but that's all good night. Sorry this chapter was so late.