✧･ ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
Genevieve raised an eyebrow. "A party?"
Sirius nodded eagerly. "A party."
Genevieve bit into her buttered slice of toast slowly. For the longest time ever, she had hated parties. She hated how loud the music was, and how the smell of stale beer and sweat always lingered in the air, and how annoying it was to hear a drunken teenager's rambling (or crying). "Right," she said begrudgingly.
"Think about it! If we win the match today then it'll be a celebration and if we lose—"
"—Which won't happen," James interrupted sternly.
"Then it'll be something to cheer everyone up," Sirius said and spooned a load of cereal into his mouth. "You can't go wrong with a party."
"Cool."
Remus laughed into his morning coffee. "I don't think she really cares, Padfoot," he pointed out after listening to her bland replies.
"Wait until he figures that out himself," Genevieve said lowly to him, and Remus had to resist a laugh at the wounded look on Sirius's face.
"What is it with you and parties?" Sirius asked with a scowl. "You never go to them and lack all enthusiasm whenever I talk about them."
"Even Remus goes to parties," Peter said, "he doesn't drink but he still goes."
"By force," Remus muttered and exchanged a glance with Genevieve.
"I just don't find them fun," Genevieve answered simply.
After overhearing the conversation they were having, Marlene suddenly perked up at the mention of parties. "I think parties are fun."
Sirius scoffed, his lips twisting into an amused smirk. "We all know you like parties, blondie," he asserted tauntingly, "At the last one you were making bird noises out the window and calling yourself the 'pigeon summoner.'"
Peter looked at a confused Marlene with wide eyes. "Did you actually manage to summon a pigeon?"
Marlene shrugged, her bewildered frown only deepening. "How am I supposed to remember? I didn't even know I did that until now. It was a long night."
As Sirius was about to make another jab at Marlene's drunken activities, the booming sound of thunder rumbled through the Great Hall. Shrill shrieks sounded from some of the students, mostly the first years, but Genevieve felt no sense of fear from the arriving storm. As heavy rain splattered against the Great Halls windows, Genevieve exchanged an excited look with James, Sirius and Peter, one they gladly exchanged. Almost instinctively, they jumped up from their seats and bolted towards the large exit door.
"We'll be right back," Genevieve told Remus, "Well, maybe. I don't know. Bye!" She quickly gave him a kiss on the cheek before running after the boys, leaving Remus both confused and blushing.
As they raced down the halls in direction to the Gryffindor common room, Genevieve's eyes went wide in disbelief. You just kissed him on the cheek, Gen! She had kissed him on the cheek before, but only ever when he was asleep. She was just happy that the boys hadn't seen her do it, Lily and Marlene on the other hand, now that would be an interesting conversation with them.
That guilty feeling that she had become all too familiar with churned at the bottom of her stomach as they journeyed on towards the common room. She was going against Remus and his wishes, something that he had made as clear as crystal, despite his wishes for her to not intervene. She gulped and tried her hardest to not think about Remus, something that she found herself doing a lot recently.
"Of course a storm would happen on the day of our match," James scorned as they entered the common room with the fat lady sending them a confused stare. "It's just our luck, isn't it? Our brooms will be harder to grip on now!" As they were walking up the stairs to the boys dormitory, James turned back around to face Genevieve. "Oh, by the way, an animagus transformation does not excuse you from playing."
Genevieve raised an eyebrow. "Because turning into an animal isn't much different from having a sore throat, is it?" She said.
"Precisely."
Genevieve whacked him in the shoulder as they walked into the dormitory, causing him to let out a high-pitched yelp. "That was sarcasm, you daft thing," she grumbled.
James fished out the crystal phial from the safe space it had been nestled in underneath his bed while rubbing at the shoulder Genevieve had made sore. While they weren't the most reliable people ever, Genevieve was more likely to break it than they were, so they kept it hidden away from Remus in there. The phial had taken up a deep, crimson colour. "Say the incantation you've been saying every morning and night then drink it," James instructed.
She said the incantation precisely with a clear voice. Just as Genevieve was about to gulp down the liquid, Peter abruptly said, "What happens if this goes wrong?"
Everyone turned to look at him with unbelieving eyes. "Let's not think about that, Wormtail," Sirius laughed awkwardly.
"But it's a possibility."
"If it goes wrong, it goes wrong," said Genevieve. Peter wasn't too satisfied with this answer, but he stopped voicing out his worries and instead bit his nails nervously.
"You've got this, Genny," encouraged Sirius, his eyes wide with eagerness to see what would happen. She sent him an appreciative smile.
"Amato Animo Animato Animagus," Genevieve said clearly once again. She held up the phial to have one last gaze it, an almost humorous snort threatening to be released. It was almost funny how she might be half an animal in only five minutes from now. Thoughts of Remus riddled their way into her brain, and although she hesitated for a second, she pushed down the guilty feeling and smiled weakly. "Bottoms up, I guess." With that, she brought the phial to her lips and gulped down the bitter tasting liquid that felt more like a syrup.
For the first few seconds, Genevieve had thought that it hadn't worked. It was only when little tingles started making her body, and when she suddenly felt like her windpipes were closing up, that she realised the effects were taking over. Genevieve's knees went weak as those tiny pin pricks changed into a seething burn that ran through her body. Blood no longer ran through her veins, instead a scolding fire travelled around her body. Writhing around on the floor, Genevieve clutched at her throat as she struggled for breath.
"Is this supposed to happen?" Genevieve gasped, her green eyes shimmering as tears flooded in them, but she kept her head down so they couldn't see this.
"All part of the process, Gingy," James said helplessly. He wanted to reach out and hug her, knowing exactly how much pain she was in, but he knew that doing just that could mess the process up, so he stayed back and watched her writhe around on the floor in agony. "Just hold on a little longer."
"Merlin, I have not missed this bit," Sirius muttered. His fingers were inching further and further towards the cigarette packet in his quidditch uniforms pocket. He only ever had one when he was stressed— but then again, that was all the time.
"Shut up Sirius," choked out Genevieve at the same time she felt her heartbeats multiply. A final yelp of pain left her lips as she felt the fire that was once coursing through her veins turn back to blood, leaving her tucked into a ball on the floor. She looked up at the others, hoping her eyes weren't red and blotchy. "Is it finished?"
"It should be," Peter answered. He sat down on the ground cross-legged next to Genevieve and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I hope it is."
"I don't want to go through that ever again."
"You won't have to if we did this right," Sirius assured her.
"Picture transforming in your head," James began, "It should just come to you naturally."
Genevieve nodded. She tried her hardest to think about transforming, but whenever she did the animal she turned into was blurry. She felt her whole body shift shape suddenly, something painless yet strange. The boys in the room gawked at her.
Sirius's mouth open and closed like a fish before he finally said, "That's certainly not a butterfly."
In a form of animal which wasn't a butterfly — according to Sirius— Genevieve looked down at herself. Thick, silver fur had replaced her usual fair skin and her breathing felt a lot more heavy. She imagined her human form again, and to her surprise it actually worked and brought her back into her normal form. She looked down at herself, relieved to see hands instead of paws.
"What was I?" Genevieve asked worriedly, looking at them with wide eyes. "Guys?"
James's lips twisted upwards slowly until they formed a magnificent grin across his face. "Genevieve, that was absolutely marvellous. You are absolutely marvellous."
Genevieve huffed. "Yeah, okay, I know that, but what was I?"
"A wolf," Peter answered. He was smiling too.
With her eyebrows furrowed and her bottom lip tucked between her teeth, Genevieve shook her head confusedly. "No, that can't be right. Why was I a wolf?"
The boys all exchanged a look with each other, each of them wearing smiles on their faces.
"We should get going to the Quidditch pitch. Don't wont to be late to our own game," James said finally, already walking out the room with the others trailing behind him, leaving Genevieve confused and lightheaded about the event that had just occurred.