Hogwarts Marauders [Year 1] ✓

Chapter 31

Meow!

In the silent night. The shriek of the cat was like a needle to your ears. And why wouldn't it be, no one has ever recognized her in her animagus form. Even when they have seen her before, but here he was, he didn't even know she was an animagi but recognized her, now that's something you don't see everyday.

"Fancy seeing you here, Minnie.” He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.

“How did you know it was me?” she asked.

“My dear Professor, I’ve never seen a cat sit so stiffly"

She eyed him, waited him to tell her the truth. But he sat there, looking at the night sky, seemed to be lost in the there. As if he was a part of it. The darkness and the light, both were the part of his past, and somehow that's all you need to understand to live your life. Without the darkness. You can never understand the importance and value of light, and the truth is it holds the same importance as the dark.

McGonagall watched him, her expressions changed, there was a smirk playing on her lips now, and she chuckled lightly. She liked the moment, it was like she was helping her own son get past his problems, no, scratch that, it wasn't like that moment, it was that moment. Sirius is her son.

"C'mon Sirius tell me now how did you know it was me?"

"Nope!"

"Sirius!"

"Not happening."

"I have the whole box of cranberry chocolate chip cookies at my office."

"So yeah, I was telling you how I knew—" he started.

McGonagall chuckled, "Oh! were you?"

"—Yes! So as I was saying, I am the heir of Moste Ancient and Noble House of Black, some of us, by which I mean, me,  can see the Aura of the animal or person, if we concentrate enough, that's how I recognized it was you."

"You can see the Aura?" McGonagall exclaimed, she had heard of people who can see or sense someone's Aura but that's the fort time she came across someone who could.

"Yeah, I guess?" Sirius was perplexed now, it's not usual you see McGonagall react so excitedly about something. "Why? What about it?"

"I will let you know Sirius, maybe next year, but for now I think you should head to your dorm, it's very late" Sirius nodded in agreement and together both Sirius and McGonagall made their way down the astronomy tower.

°°°°

Sirius managed to avoid thinking about Remus for the whole two weeks leading up to Christmas. Remus aided him in his bid to forget by avoiding their little group as much as possible as soon as the holidays started. He tended to disappear into the library as soon as he woke up for the day, or otherwise headed outside, in spite of the bone-chilling cold of Scottish winters.

Christmas at Hogwarts was like nothing any of the boys had ever experienced before. The gamekeeper
Hagrid, dragged in four massive twenty foot fir trees, still glistening with snow that he left in a melting trail from the main doors to the Great Hall James, Sirius and Peter had thoroughly enjoyed watching the
caretaker, Filch, having an apoplexy trying to decide whether to confront the huge man about the mess of
slush, mud and pine-needles or to avoid an early, and possibly rather violent death and just clean up after
him.

Once the trees were in the Great Hall, the few remaining students watched in delight and awe as they were decorated by the professors. Flitwick
floated giant, glittering baubles and tinsel to bedeck the branches so that each of the four trees was adomed in the house colours. McGonagall raised her wand and glittering flurries of never-melting snow and great, glistening icicles covered the trees and the great arching buttresses of the Great Hall

Kingsley charmed the suits of armour to sing badly off-key Christmas carols with accompanying dances until a third year Hufflepuff was found held as a hostage by the armor in return for him being painted pink. God why did the armor want to be pink, that's the most stupid an armor can ever think of, then again why the hell is armor thinking, all the stupidity was now growing up on me, James snapped out of his mental argument.

"So you ready for the prank Siri, Rey, Pete?" James asked. And was replied in a unison of yes.

"Perfect!"

°°°°
Oh Merlin you stomped my foot! Remus whisper-yelled.
"Sorry mate" James gave him the innocent look and Remus rolled his eyes.

"Oh let's find flich's cat and drown her." Sirius suggested. "Sirius! No! Just keep your inner Marauder in right now and stick to the plan, act like a normal person rest of the time." Remus ordered.

"Sirius doesn't," said James with a grin. "He has an Outer Marauder and an Inner Common-Sense that desperately tries to make itself heard over the din."

"Sounds more like a description of both of you" Remus pointed out dryly

"Well, so what?" Sirius said. "Being a Marauder is much funner than being a normal person.

"More fun" Remus corrected

"Exactly! Sirius gestured expansively. "We're the Marauders and it is our duty to cause as much havoc and mayhem in this school at possible. It's practically a calling."

"A vocation" Remus put in the crooked smile blooming into an all-out grin.

"A what?" Peter asked.

"Vocation"

There was a short silence.

"Yeah," James said eventually. "One of those thingies."

"Yeah!" Sirius said emphatically.

"Yeah!" Peter agreed

"Yeah!" said James again.

There was another short silence.

"You guys have no idea what a vocation is do you? Remus said, rolling his eyes. And was met with all the pouty grins. He face-palmed himself. "Just stick to the plan, you bunch of  dunderheads!"