shooting star [s. black]

xiv.

Cassiopeia sighs as she gets out of her room, locking the door behind. She walks through the Commons, making her way out of the Ravenclaw tower and slowly walking through the halls. Fortunately today is Saturday, so she didn't have to worry about going to classes. She takes a deep breath, hoping the fresh air would help reduce the throbbing pain in her head. It had been a sleepless night, unable to get some shut eye.

She reaches the doors to the school's hospital wing, and knocks on the big wide doors. She slowly opens the door, peaking her head in to see Madame Pomfrey turning around holding potions in her hand. She notices set of screens with curtains strategically set to block the view to one of the students, she supposes.

"Ah! Cassiopeia. What can I do for you darling?" Madame Pomfrey asks as she walks behind the curtains, before coming back to look at her and having set the potions down.

"Just a bad headache, do you have anything for it, by chance." Cassiopeia asks softly and Madame Pomfrey nods with a warm heart. A head pops out from behind the curtains and as Cassiopeia glances at the person, her eyes widen. "Sirius?"

"Cassie?" Lily pops out from behind, followed by James and Peter. Cassiopeia looks at the four in confusion, wondering why they're here. "What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" Cassiopeia asks, emphasising on you. Sirius looks at something behind him, before going back behind the curtains.

"She asked first." James says stubbornly as Madame Pomfrey walks away, shaking her head at them.

"She kind of already mentioned why she's here." Sirius points out as he walks out from behind the curtains to face her. He seems extremely worried and tired, making her worry as well.

"What's going? Where's Remus?" She asks softly and he takes a deep breath, before nodding towards behind the curtains. Cassiopeia hesitates at first, before walking up to them and looking at the bed to see Remus lying on there. Her eyes widen in panic as he weakly gives her a sheepish grin. "Merlin's beard! Are you okay? What happened? That doesn't matter, right now. How are you feeling? Is that a stupid question? Of course, you seem in pain. Is there anything I can do?"

"Don't worry, Cassie. I appreciate your worry. This... this is nothing new." He tries to assure, but she starts to worry even more when he says it's nothing new.

"Bloody hell, Remus. What do you mean this is nothing new? You look nearly as pale as Moaning Myrtle." She breaths out, making him wave her off. He looks up at Sirius.

"Will you explain everything to her?" Remus asks Sirius.

"You sure?" Sirius asks, making Remus nod.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I just want you be okay." Cassiopeia says softly and Remus smiles gratefully.

"I'm sure." Remus says softly and Sirius smiles at him, before taking Cassiopeia's hand.

"Come with me." He hums and pulls her towards the exit of the hospital wing, before they leave Madame Pomfrey gives her a flask, making Cassiopeia smiles gratefully. As soon as they're outside, Sirius leads her to one of the ledges and has her sit on it. "What I'm about to tell you is something only the others inside know, the other girls and a few professors. No one else can know."

"Pinky promise I won't tell." She says as she sticks out her pinky finger for him and he chuckles as he wraps his own pinky around hers.

"Cute. Anyway, Remus is a werewolf. And last night was a full moon. They can get pretty rough at times. Last night being one of those nights. Peter, James and I, we sort of became Animagus to help him through the full moon." He explains and her eyes widen in shock, her lips parting slightly.

"Whoa." She breaths out. He watches her carefully, trying to see if he can tell what she's feeling or thinking. "That's really nice of you, James and Peter. You four are such good friends. I'm glad Remus doesn't have to go through this alone."

"You're not going to runaway and hate us?" He asks softly, his eyes wide and she shakes her head as she pushes herself up, before pulling him in a hug. He freezes, unsure what to do, but he slowly wraps his arms around her waist.

"Now why would I do that? I'm starting to like you guys way too much." She hums and he chuckles, burying his nose in her shoulder. "I'm curious to know what you are as an animagus to be honest."

"I'll let you guess." He hums as he pulls away, making her pout. He takes her hand again and helps her down the ledge, before leading her back inside the hospital wing.

"Lion? No. That's way too cheesy. Imagine being a Gryffindor and having a lion animagus." She hums, making him snort and shake his head. "A bunny!"

"Okay, now you're just trying to ruin my reputation." Sirius says, making her giggle as the others look at them in amusement.

"Is she trying to guess what you are?" Lily asks, making Sirius nod in confirmation.

"Hint. We call him Padfoot." James says, receiving a playful glare from Sirius. Cassiopeia's eyes widen in realisation.

"Of course! Black dog. Sirius Black. The painting. Merlin's beard. It all makes sense now." She breaths out and Sirius smiles at her in admiration. "Would have been great if you were a chihuahua."

"Imagine, him just yapping at us in the little body of a chihuahua." James muses, making Remus chuckle weakly as Sirius groans.

"Darling, you're being mean." Sirius pouts and she shakes her head, before looking at the boys.

"So, I understand why Padfoot, why Moony. What about Wormtail and Prongs?" Cassiopeia asks as she looks at James and Peter.

"I'm a Stag. He's a rat." James explains and Cassiopeia nods in understanding.

"Makes sense. Makes sense. I absolutely love this." Cassiopeia grins happily, fiddling with the flask. Lily notices it and looks at her in worry.

"You okay?" Lily asks and Cassiopeia looks down, remembering the real reason she had come and just like that the pain in her head had come back.

"Yeah. That. Just a headache." She hums as she opens the flask and drinks the content, before putting it aside. "Nasty, stuff if you ask me."