Walburga Black was true to her word and kept her oldest son isolated until the moment he boarded the Hogwarts Express.
"Do you think he'll be here?" Branwen leaned out the door of the compartment, looking desperately for their friend. It wasn't until the train was already swaying down the tracks that she saw him stalking down the aisle. "Siri!" She darted out and threw her arms around his neck. "We were so worried!" She dragged him back into the compartment. "Found him!"
The boys all jumped up at their friend's entrance. They embraced with the awkward affection unique to boys becoming simultaneously aware of and embarrassed by their masculinity. "You okay, mate?" James finally asked. "I've never see you so....clean."
It was true that their friend looked entirely unnatural. His hair, which had been cut to ear length, was split down the middle and plastered to his skull with what appeared to be a gallon of Sleekeazy's gel. Both his white button up shirt and black slacks looked almost too starched for movement.
Sirius only grinned though. He ripped his spotless shirt off and used it like a towel to rub his hair. Most of the gel came off in oily streaks and his hair ended up ruffled in an unintentionally attractive way. Branwen looked away quickly though,because she saw the bruises that littered his arms and knew why they were there.
"Well, you lads ready for the best year ever?" James leaned back in his seat, throwing an arm around Sirius.
Branwen frowned. "What's going to make this year better than the others?"
"Well, first of all, Bon-Bon," he reached across and mussed her otherwise perfect hair, "you are going to become the new star Seeker of the prestigious Gryffindor Quidditch team!"
"Oh yeah!" She brightened up. "Well, if I make it through try-outs."
Remus smiled. "We've all seen you fly, Bran. Fairchild would have to be blind not to pick you."
She blushed.
Sirius continued. "Plus, this is the year we finally get to go to Hogsmeade."
"Yes!" James pumped his fist in the air. "Wait, how did you get your mum to agree to sign your form?"
He shrugged. "Sometimes her nasty pride works in my favour. She didn't want anyone to question what one of the Noble and Most Ancient Blacks could have done to deserve staying at the castle."
Branwen huffed and pouted, "I hate being a year younger. I don't want to stay at school alone."
"Well," James poked her on the nose, "if you're nice to your big brother, I'll let you use the cloak to come with us."
"That's so boring though, having to stay hidden. I hate the stupid tradition of giving the Cloak to the first-born Potter. They should give it to the smartest."
"That would still be me," James laughed.
"You wish! Who was the first to figure out about Remus? Hm? Who saved your arse that time you scorched Mum's favourite rug? And the time you flew your broom down Tottenham Court Road?"
"Yeah, and who's been paving the way for you at Hogwarts? Making sure you ace all your classes?"
She scoffed. "Not you, that's for sure."
The door to the compartment slid open and Lily Evans stuck her head. "Potter. I should have known. Look, as much as I sympathise with your sibling rivalry, some of us are trying to get homework done and your voice carries like an Erumpet in season!"
"Homework?" Peter asked. "But we haven't got any yet."
"Severus and I are looking ahead to some of the more advanced Potions."
James rolled his eyes and pinched his nose in an imitation of the hook-nosed Severus. "Don't tell me you're still hanging around that snivelling Slytherin."
Sirius rocked back and forth in laughter.
Lily whipped out her wand and cast it at both boys. In a matter of seconds enormous green bogeys in the shape of bats were flying out their noses.
"Lily!" Branwen jumped up. "Cut that out right now!"
She rolled her eyes. "Finite."
The bats vanished and James and Sirius were left with drops of blood trickling from their noses.
"What was that?" Peter asked in awe.
"The bat-bogey hex. Which you would all know if you paid attention to your studies." She tossed her auburn hair over her shoulder and marched back to her own compartment.
James, still holding the cuff of his sleeve to his nose, gasped. "I am so in love with her."
Remus smirked. "Only you would be in love with a girl who hates your guts."
"Boys," Branwen rolled her eyes. "Anyway, you've forgotten the most important part of this year," she stood and made sure that compartment door was locked, "we have to start the Animagus process." She pulled out a piece of parchment on which she had written all the instructions. It was intimidatingly large.
"What's first?" Peter asked.
"Well, first we have to hold the leaf of a mandrake in our mouths for a month."
Sirius groaned, but James said, "You're going to be in charge of that, Bran. You'll be doing Mandrakes in Herbology this year. Besides, Sprout likes you best, so you're least likely to get detention."
"Fine. We also need to have a chrysalis of a Death's Head Hawk-Moth. Well, one for each of us. I don't know where to find those."
"We're taking Care of Magical Creatures this year," James indicated himself and the others. "We'll talk to Professor Kettleburn about it."
"Oh yeah, I forgot that you guys get to take electives this year. What else are you taking?"
"This git talked us into Ancient Runes," Sirius gave Remus a soft kick to the shin.
"Luckies," Branwen pouted. "I wanted to take that class."
"Merlin, you two are such nerds."
Branwen and Remus smiled at each other.
The rest of the journey passed uneventfully, as did their arrival at Hogwarts, and beginning of classes. It wasn't until the second week of the school year that Branwen made the first move on their ambition Animagus plan.
Their lesson for that day in Herbology was centred around repotting young Mandrakes. As the class drew to a close and the students removed their protective earmuffs, Branwen raised her hand. "Excuse me, Professor?"
"Yes, Miss Potter?" Sprout sent a repairing spell in the direction of Llynley Cartwright who had managed to break at least three of her pots.
"Well, I was wondering, will these be our Mandrakes for the year? I mean, will we have the same ones each class?"
"I'm not sure that it matters, dear. All the plants are identical."
"Yes, well, you see....I've grown attached to this little guy," she awkwardly patted the plant's broad leaves. "I've named him and everything."
"What exactly have you named him, Miss Potter?"
"Stanley."
Sprout rolled her eyes. Branwen Potter certainly had some very odd questions. Still, she was better than her brother who, only yesterday, had "accidentally" shot a bean pod up his friend Peter's nose.
"Very well, Miss Potter." With a flick of her wand, the name Stanley carved itself into the clay pot. "Would anyone else like to keep their own Mandrake?"
Charity Burbage raised her hand. "Mine is named George."
With Sprout's attention on Charity, Branwen grabbed one of the nearby shears and neatly clipped four broad leaves from "Stanley" just before the bell dismissed them. She pressed them gingerly between the pages of her textbook then followed the rest of the Gryffindors toward their History of Magic class.
That evening, Branwen motioned excitedly to her brother and friends. "I have them!" She pulled out the leaves and handed one each to James, Sirius, and Peter. "And it's perfect timing. The full moon is in two days and the book says that we have to keep them in our mouths from full moon to full moon."
"Um, question," Sirius raised his hand as though he were in class, "how are we going to eat with this thing in our mouths."
"Yeah," Peter rubbed his stomach. "I don't know about you guys, but I can't go a month without eating."
"Well, um...."
"What about a sticking charm?" James suggested.
"Yeah? And where are we going to stick it?" Sirius sniggered.
Remus rolled his eyes. "Your mouth, idiot. You have another problem though. What excuse are you going to give for keeping your mouths shut? Everyone knows you can't go five minutes without some kind of ridiculous comment."
"Laryngitis? Peter suggested.
Remus shook his head. "No good. Any kind of illness and you'll be sent straight to Pomfrey."
"A bet?" Sirius suggested.
"I don't know," Branwen mused, "We may be able to get it past Binns and Slughorn but I think McGonagall will see right through it."
"Well, she can't force us to talk, can she?" Peter asked.
Sirius shrugged. "Minnie is a force to be reckoned with."
"Well, maybe we don't need to come up with an excuse. With a sticking charm it may stay in enough for us talk at least a little bit. I suppose it will have to if we're going to able to eat with it."
Peter wrinkled his nose. "Does that mean everything will taste like Mandrake?"
"Who knows?" Branwen shrugged. "But it'll be worth it. Just remember why we're doing this. When we're done, Remus will never have to be alone again."
Their friend ducked his head, but they could still see a red tinge beneath his light brown hair and he mumbled, "Thanks."
Two nights later, the friends followed Remus to the Shrieking Shack. "This'll be the last time we can talk to you, I suppose. At least, in long conversations," Branwen said reluctantly. "So, be safe." She wrapped him in a tight hug.
"Yeah," Sirius clapped his shoulder, "good luck, mate."
As Remus clambered up into the Shack, the other four pushed their leaves to the tops of their mouths and performed the sticking charm.
The night seemed to stretch on endlessly as they didn't dare to open their mouths, worried that, despite the charm, the leaf would fall out. When they were finally back in the hospital wing, Branwen kept flitting around, miming all the things she thought Remus might need: a glass of water, a cold cloth, more blankets. Finally, he caught her by the wrist and said, "Bran, you're driving me up a wall. Just sit." So she sat, hands in her lap, until he drifted off to sleep.
They went two days with the leaf. By eating carefully and speaking in single syllables, they got along fairly well. Before the moon, Remus had also helped them charm a set of slates to spell out their longer thoughts when they tapped it with their wands.
The boys continued to drift into the hospital wing over the next few day to visit with their friend. Peter brought him his homework and James and Sirius kept him entertained with pantomimes of happenings around the school.
Branwen didn't visit until a few days later. She walked in slowly, her face pale and drawn.
"Bran?" Remus was on the mend and able to lift himself onto his elbow. "Are you all right?"
She sat on the chair at his bedside and tapped her slate. "Quidditch try-outs today."
"Is that all?" Remus chuckled. "Bran, don't tell James or Sirius, but you're the best flyer I've ever seen. And that includes the time my dad took me to see the Caerphilly Catapults. You'll outstrip them all."
She flushed a bright pink and gave a tight smile. "Come to watch?" she murmured.
"Yeah, of course."
Later that afternoon, Branwen emerged from the girls' locker room, dressed in dark sweats and a scarlet Holyhead Harpies sweatshirt. She clutched her new Nimbus 1001 in a white-knuckled grip. She had been flying before she could walk, but there was something especially nerve-wracking about appearing in front of her friends and the other members of the team, all older than her.
She glanced toward the stands, then smiled. Remus was there. He had a sling around one arm and a bruise that was slowly diminishing over his left eye, but he was there and her heart swelled. Peter was beside him andthey held a banner between themselves that read: No One Better Than Potter Junior. No Choice but to Choose Her!
Peter also held a smaller sign that said, "This was James' idea."
Heartily cheered, Branwen strode confidentially onto the pitch.
Bailey Fairchild was standing at the centre of the field, surrounded by three other Seeker hopefuls. "All right, ladies and gents," she announced as Branwen approached, "I'm going to have the other players practise around you, so it feels more like a real game. I'm not interested in if you can catch a Snitch in perfect conditions.
"You'll all be competing against each other. First one to catch the Snitch has a spot on the team." She mounted her broom and the other players followed suit. With a blow of her whistle, she kicked open the box containing the four balls and the game was on.
The three other Seeker candidates did their best to follow the path of the tiny golden Snitch out of the box,zooming into the distance. That was their problem, Branwen thought smugly.
She chose to soar high above the pitch and began to scan the area below. The laps she made around the stadium were almost lazy compared to the frantic zipping of her fellow contenders. Her eyes were busy though, flitting around every nook and cranny in search of the tiny golden orb.
She had almost begun to doubt her own strategythough, when, suddenly, there is was, hovering at the top of the highest goalpost.
She bit her lip, considering her options, then made a decision.
With an unearthly burst of speed, she dove toward the bottom of the post. Two of the other Seekers spotted her and immediately followed, diving for the ground despite not seeing the Snitch themselves. At the very last second, Branwen yanked her broom up, soaring parallel to the post. One of the contenders was too late. She smashed into the ground with a resounding thud. Branwen didn't stop to see if the cracking sound was that of bones or broom. She was too busy racing vertically, the last Seeker hot on her tail.
With her fingertips stretched as far as possible, she reached the Snitch only a fraction of a second before her opponent. It wasn't enough to keep the noses of the two brooms from colliding though. Already in a precariously unbalanced position, Branwen tumbled backward, head over heels, toward the ground.
"Arresto Momento!" It was Remus' voice that rang out, cushioning her fall.
The next thing she knew, she was dropping softly onto her back. Unharmed from the fall, she nevertheless experience a violent choking at a blockage in her throat. She gasped for breath that wouldn't come.
Bailey ran over. "Ace flying, Potter! You're on the team!"
The other team members surrounded her, shaking her hand and patting her on the back. Still, she coughed and coughed, her eyes brimming with tears.
"Bran," Remus was at her side, "what's wrong?"
She opened her mouth, then wailed, "I swallowed it!"