^revalation time bitches
The Marauder's Corner of the library was currently occupied by six Gryffindors, five of them very confused and the other one very determined. There was a steady stream of late afternoon sunlight flowing through the diamond shaped panes of glass collectively placed into a window frame, creating a buttery pattern on the mahogany table. A steady rustling of books rearranging themselves on the oak shelves could be heard, along with the occasion thud of a particularly heavy text being taken down from a high up shelf and Madam Pince yelling at some second year Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors in the distance for not logging their checkouts properly.
After the class commenced, Remus had shoved his essay in his brown leather bag and rushes Marlene, Sirius, Peter, Lily, and James to the library for some privacy as quickly as he could.
"What is going on, Remus?" Lily asked as they all tried to catch their breath from the tall boy's fast pace to get there.
Without a word, Remus pulled out his essay on the Imperius Curse and slid it to the middle of the table. James, Sirius, and Marlene all three opened their mouths to protest, but Remus held up a hand.
"Wait, just wait," Remus said hurriedly, cutting them off before they could say anything against the idea already forming in his head. "Hear me out before you try to argue with me."
All of their mouths shut, and Remus took in a long breath before talking in a slow, lone tone so that none of them would misunderstand him.
"Think about it you guys," Remus said, looking at the essay. "Out of nowhere, Hollis just starts acting like a whole new person. It may not be a new version of herself, but a whole different mindset that someone else here has."
Still, none of the Gryffindors agreed with Remus. But they hadn't sat down either, which Remus took as a sign that they were still just waiting to be persuaded. Sirius and James were both staring at the bookshelves behind Remus deep in thought, while Lily was running a hand through her vibrant red hair. Marlene and Peter both wished they had some food to try and process what Lupin was saying better.
"And, also, it fits the time frame," Remus said with eagerness as he placed both palms flat on the table with his sleeves rolled up. "What else could have possibly happened in-"
"Ten minutes," James finished, tearing his eyes off the books and onto Remus.
"Eight fifty to nine pm on Valentine's Day," Sirius repeated. "But that just can't be it, come on, mate."
Right when Remus thought he had convinced the most cynical of the group, here they were again.
"Why not?" Remus asked, raking a hand through his thick auburn hair in exasperation. "Please tell me why not."
All heads turned to Sirius. So far, Lily, Marlene, and Peter were just thinking while half listening to what the others were arguing about, until now.
"Well, it is an Unforgivable Curse, Remus," Marlene pointed out with hesitancy. "Remember, you can go to Azkaban if you get caught using one of those."
Remus's eyes widened in exasperation and he turned his back on the rest of the group for a second, letting out a huff of breath as he stared at the bookshelves towering about him.
"And who would risk literally going to Azkaban to control Hollis?" Lily added on, and the other four nodded along with the ginger. "Not that we don't all love her, but that does seem a little bit of an extreme cost if they were caught. All of this is figurative, just to clarify that as well."
Running a hand along his brow, Remus turned back around to the five Gryffindors.
"Have you seen the amount of Death Eaters running around our school?" Remus asked dubiously. "How far do you think their morals really extended?"
This was met only by silence. None of them wanted to think that Remus was right.
"Well, just saying that you are right about this," James said with caution, not wanting to make a verbal misstep. "Then how do we know it was even a student who cursed her?"
Lily slowly nodded along with James, and he smiled slightly.
"Yea, Potter's right," Lily said to Remus. "How would we know if an adult broke in just to curse her?"
To Remus's surprise, Sirius started to participate again.
"No, we would know," he said firmly. "It had to be a student."
Behind him, Marlene started to pace in front of the window, blowing air out of her lips with unintended theatrics.
"I agree," she said, twisting an already curly strand of blonde hair around her finger. "Maybe like some sort of test mission?"
Peter's nose wrinkled at these words, remembering how Hollis had acted in herbology a week or so ago.
"That's a pretty sick test mission," Peter mumbled, and James nodded in agreement.
"And the Imperius Curse is common place for Death Eaters to control the ministry," Remus said quickly, his tongue barely able to keep up with his thoughts as he tried to promote the likeliness that this is what had happened to Hollis. "So why not just use it on a kid as well?"
They thought about this for a moment.
"The Order?" James suggested half heartedly.
Sirius shook his head, along with Marlene.
"No, because she's acting differently," said Sirius, deep in his own ideas. "If they wanted a spy, they would make her act normal."
Holding up a finger, Lily vaguely pointed to Marlene as she thought of what the blonde girl had said earlier.
"What did you say a few minutes ago about a test mission, Marls?" Lily asked, wishing she had a sugar quill to bite on.
Marlene snapped her fingers in thought a few times before answering.
"I said maybe they chose one of the Death Eaters here to curse her, to like prove his or her worth to the Dark Lord," Marlene repeated, and the other five nodded along with this theory.
"Yea, that makes sense," Remus said, glad that he wasn't the only one who had to think about this now. "So he chose a student to carry out his work."
There was just one more silent question among them.
"But who?" Peter asked, voicing all of their thoughts. "Who would even do that to her?"
Raking a hand through his spiky black hair, James spoke for the first time in a while.
"Theodore?" he suggested, and a lot of them nodded along. "Because, I'm sorry, but there's just no way that Hollis would ever let him kiss her without some particularly strong influence."
Remus cringed slightly as the hazel eyed boy said this. Just simply the image of that Slytherin's lips on Hollis's and his hands Merlin knows where made his blood boil and all motivation return.
"And we've all seen the Dark Mark he flaunts so much," Sirius said with a frown at just the thought of the snake and skull tattoo.
"Plus, we all know he's wanted Hollis for practically years," Lily said with a sour tone, thinking of the many ups and downs he had put Hollis through. "So he's certainly a suspect."
Pulling out a quill and flipping over his essay, Remus wrote Theodore Nott on the piece of parchment in dark red, almost black ink with a frown that he simply couldn't hold back whenever he thought of Theodore.
"Okay, who else?" Remus asked, sliding onto the table so that he was now sitting on it. "Who else would want to curse Hollis?"
Once again, all six minds practically turned themselves over in thought. Sirius got a dark look in his eyes and opened his mouth, but James held up a hand before he even could get the words out.
"It wasn't Regulus, mate," James said firmly. "He cares too much about Hol to do that to her."
Sirius frowned, James had guessed right who he had been about to suggest.
"Wait, but what about a professor?" Marlene asked, holding up a hand. "I know we said it was probably a student, but Bounce is a pretty shady fellow."
James took another quill from Remus's bag and added Abrigor Bounce to the list.
"What about Evans?" Remus suggested, thinking of Hollis's older brother with narrowed eyes.
The other four simultaneously shook their heads at this suggestion.
"They may loathe each other, but at a point, they are family," Lily said softly. "That had to create morals to some extent."
Remus wasn't quite convinced, yet he still set down his quill from when he had been about to add Evans Rosier to the list. Remus really needed their support here, and he didn't want to risk that by somehow taking things too far.
"But, not to be cynical," Sirius said, and everyone groaned. "How do we even know if we're right here? We can't just ask Hollis."
Remus's eyes narrowed slightly at this, and he looked around the library for a few moments to help him think before his thoughts landed.
"Yea, but we might be able to ask her in animagus form," Remus muttered, and Marlene and Lily's eyes widened.
"Hollis is an animagus?!" Marlene cried, and the four boys instantly shushed her, Sirius placing a hand over the blonde girl's mouth.
With a bit of sheepishness, Marlene lowered her tone.
"Hollis is an animagus?" she whispered, and from Lily's expression, she demanded an explanation as well.
James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all exchanged a hesitant glance, but the damage was already done.
"Us three are as well, actually," James said, gesturing to him, Sirius, and Peter. "So we could reach her through those forms."
Marlene looked to Remus questioingly, but Sirius meaningfully widened his eyes at her to signal not to ask Remus anything else about why he wans't one as well.
"I'll be right back," Remus said, and a few minutes later he had a thick, dark purple volume titled The Effects: Animagi Edition.
The six of the huddled around the book as Remus flipped to the section on the Unforgivable Curses and began to read out loud.
"The Imperius Curse does not halt it's effects when it is used on an wizard that is capable of transforming into an anigmagus."
"Or witch," Lily muttered under her breath.
"However, if a wizard is capable of managing a transformation against the curse, then when they are in animagus form, they will have free thoughts as long as they can hold it," Remus read, his tone growing hopeful. "Even though it is possible, it is extremely rare for a wizard to be able to hold this form for longer than a few minutes."
There was just silence as they saw this window of opportunity.
"Well, whoever wrote this, they obviously haven't met Hollis."
wow that was just a shit ton of revalations
by comment notifications just arent working - that's why i don't reply if i don't :(
1.9k words
what do u wanna see?
VOTE! - it rly helps