September 5th 1975.
That morning after breakfast Morgan was on her way to the hospital wing with a bunch of books on her arms, a plan, and most importantly, a threat. Just in case it was needed. Which it mos definitely would be.
"Morning sunshines" said the girl cheerfully in a singing like voice entering the room with a big smile.
The four marauders were on the same bed trying not to fall off and laughing at god knows what.
Remus was still a bit pale, but other than that, he looked great. All things considered.
The boys had avoided talking about the whole Morgan Gaunt situation, except when one of them proposed to obliviate her which they had to be honest, wasn't discarded until they realized none of them had actually done it before, and were afraid of messing her up. More than she already was, that is.
Remus was the most scared, he knew Gaunt and wasn't sure what she would do, so that was constantly in his mind making him miserable. That and the fact that the full moon had been a disaster, he felt more guilty than usual. He knew his friends had downplayed the night's events for his sake and that they had been hurt in the process.
Sirius groaned when he saw her smiling face. Which shouldn't be a bad sign, seeing someone smile, but it was in her case, the girl wasn't exactly known for being friendly and happy. So it couldn't be good.
She approached the bed and grabbed the mug she was balancing on top of her books, dropping those after, "Brought you some hot chocolate, you're always eating some, so I thought you'd like it" Morgan haded the mug to Remus with an honest smile and sat down on the chair that was opposite the bed.
"Thanks, Gaunt" Remus nodded feeling a bit better for the gesture, and looked at her with a meaningful look, "For everything last night"
"Don't even mention it, probably my good action of the month" replied the blackhaired girl joking, but meaning it, of course she would help him. She wasn't that bad.
"Gaunt, now that you know our secret and you're not one of these idiots" started James out of nowhere and pointing at his three friends, "what was your first thought, stag or deer? I was very masculine, you could tell, right?"
"Prongs get over it, it was one comment" laughed Peter.
She laughed too and sighed pretending to get serious fixing him with a look, "Do you want me to be honest, Potter?"
He opened his eyes in alarm, "I'm not sure if I want you to anymore"
"I'll say it anyway, my first thought was.. Bambi"
Peter and Remus started laughing at James' resigned look, "Whatever, was I cute at least?" Asked Potter like a little kid.
Trying not to laugh, she answered, "The cutest, definitely, you'll get all the lady deers" She patted him on the back and kept laughing until James too cracked a smile.
Sirius was observing the scene unraveling in front of him with a frown. Morgan had a talent with people, she was charismatic and charming, and could win you over with a few words. She was very much like him actually. And like much purebloods, trained to get what they wanted, whatever it took.
Needless to say she was talking with his friends as if she had known them her whole life, about quidditch, that James loved, classes and books, that was Remus, and the latest gossip for Peter. It was almost as if it had been rehearsed.
Even he had laughed at some points, especially because it was an all against James kind of thing.
She had her long black hair down and straight today, which gave her, along with her high cheekbones, a sharp look.
He had been looking at her for the last couple of minutes when Morgan got him out of his mind, they were all looking at him, "Take a picture, it'll last longer" said the girl with a smirk, and as if telling a secret to the rest of the boys, added, "I know I'm hot, but I thought he was good with girls"
They couldn't help but laugh at what she said, he was certainly good but he wasn't really making a case for himself.
Sirius rolled his eyes at all of them, traitors, thought the boy to himself, "You are hot, one of the prettiest girls I know actually, but you ruin it by being such a bitch"
Morgan looked taken aback with his reply.
And she was. She expected Sirius to tell her to fuck off or insult her. Well he did insult her, but him admitting she was hot completely threw her off to be honest.
The guys were smiling like kids at the whole scene, it wasn't everyday Sirius got this worked up over someone, he was playing it cool, but they could tell.
Morgan recovered fast though, "Salazar, men should come up with more creative insults, honestly it's been centuries probably.. Plus I saved all your asses last night, you should be thanking me, all the lads did" added the girl sending a wink the boys way and just saying it to anger him.
But before he could reply Peter spoke up, "Hey how did you do that by the way? It was brilliant"
"It was, wasn't it?" Started the girl with a cocky smirk, "I saw the healing charm in a book, it was combined with another spell to bring someone back from the dead, so I thought, let's take the reviving part out and it should do it" said the girl snapping her fingers with the last sentence.
"Of course you did" groaned Sirius.
Peter instead could only come up with one word, "Wicked"
"What kind of books do you read?" Asked James genuinely curious.
"Necromancy ones" whispered the girl with a smirk.
"So speaking of me being brilliant.." continued Mor.
"We weren't"
"Shut up, Black" she fixed him with a glare. "I've been wanting to ask you about the whole animagus thing.."
Sirius started laughing darkly and Morgan tried really hard not to hex him right that moment.
Once he was able to stop he looked at his friends, "She just wants us to tell her how we did it, of course she fucking does"
She ignored him and looked at the rest with the most innocent look she could master, "I've been doing some research on it this year" she pointed at the books she had brought with her, "I think I have most of the process already, but there are missing points and it's not like there is a book of instructions really, but you lot did it, awesome by the way, so I was hoping you'd give me a few pointers, that's all"
Sirius being the most hot headed one snapped at her, "No way, forget it"
James looked at the boys and shrugged, it's not like they could say no, she knew everything.
"You would tell everyone about Remus, wouldn't you?" Accused her Peter.
"Of course not, it's not like there's anything wrong with him anyways, he is kind, sweet and definitely not a bad person, just bad luck" Morgan said all of this looking at Remus with a small smile.
She didn't know any other werewolves obviously, but she knew he probably didn't feel great about it. Well that was definitely an euphemism.
When she saw that they were relieved by her words and were close to denying her again for it, she declared "The ministry though, probably wouldn't appreciate three illegal underage animagus, should we ask them?"
She had an innocent look on her face but they all remembered who they were talking to at that moment. Sure, she might have been really fun and interesting to talk to that you'd forget that she was still Morgan Gaunt.
"So, when do we start?"
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September 6th 1971.
It was Saturday morning, and that meant, Hogsmead trip.
Honestly what most excited Morgan that day was the chance of using her own clothes after one week of the school robes.
So she put on a black dress and boots, with a jumper on top of it because the weather was starting to get chilly after the long summer they had.
Then the witch applied some make up and did her hair up in a bun, all with the help of multiple spells.
Morgan was a bit more elegant than usual Hogsmeade visits required and in Gaunt all black fashion because she had arranged a meeting with her parents for that afternoon.
"Liaaaa love, I need to fucking pee" shouted the girl knocking repeatedly on the door.
"Just a minute!"
"You said that half an hour ago"
"If you waited half an hour you can do another half"
"I swear to god, Ophelia-"
"I'm ready" the girl came out and kissed her friend on the cheek, "Sorry"
Morgan looked her up and down, "You're way too hot, why?"
She smiled sheepishly at her "Well don't get mad, but Nott asked me out and-"
Morgan glared at her, "We said no dates, that we were all going together with the lads, plus I don't want to spend all afternoon with them by myself, what happened to chicks before dicks?"
"I'm pretty sure you just invented that" said Ophelia unimpressed while putting on her lipstick in front of the mirror, "And don't worry the date is later, we can all still go as a group"
"I read it in some magazine, shut up" she took the lipstick out of her friend's hand to apply some herself, "I hate you, are you ready?"
"And I love you, let's go" said a very bright Ophelia.
Morgan covered her smile by walking in front of the girl.
Ophelia was the first person she had said I love you to, other than her parents. Pureblood kids weren't very used to the expression, they grew up learning to be smart and cunning and calculated, throwing love around to people was certainly not that.
Morgan had heard it before from her parents, and she said it to them often as a kid, but nowadays it was rare, they showed her love in other ways, as for her friends, most of them didn't receive any at all.
So it was a big deal with Ophelia, she had been the first one to say it when they were twelve, after Morgan had stayed the entire night awake comforting her for a prank some Gryffindor girls had played on her just for being a Slytherin and probably because they were jealous.
Needless to say, they ended up in the hospital wing and Morgan in detention. After that, for weeks no one from other houses dared to look Morgan's way, scared that she would do something to them because rumor had it that she did what she did just out of hate for those girls for being Gryffindors and muggleborns.
Morgan was a kid and kinda felt like shit for those rumors. But if everyone expected bad from her just for being in Slytherin, the least she could do was deliver.
And so it was sort of true, what everyone thought, but only because they themselves had provoked it. Honestly it was a vicious circle that she didn't have the energy to try to break.
On their way down they saw all their friends in the common room already waiting for them, and from what the girl could hear, for Nott as well.
"Even the girls are ready before he is" groaned Lestrange.
"That's because he finally has a date with ms. Greengrass over here" stated the girl cheerfully.
"Morgan shut up" snapped the blonde girl clenching her teeth.
"What? It's not like they're not going to notice when you both disappear, plus we're all happy for you, it was about time" she turned to the boy beside her.
"Hello darling", said Mor kissing Reggie on the cheek, and getting into a conversation about his classes. He was a year younger than the rest of the group, so he didn't spend as much time with them, but always tried to find time to meet up with Morgan anyway.
"So I was told you made my brother look like, and I quote 'a completely and utter idiot' "
She laughed, "which time? I already lost count and it's only been a week since classes started" they all started walking out of the common room.
He rolled his eyes at her and pushed her shoulder with his, "At DADA class, must have hurt his Gryffindor pride"
"Oh definitely did, but I don't blame him, I'm just way too good" she flipped her hair back and Reggie laughed at her.
She had always been that way, it sounded like a joke, but she actually meant it.
They were all walking out of the castle's doors, Morgan with Ophelia at the middle front walking as if they owned the world. Nott and Reggie at each side, with the rest of the guys behind.
The rest of the students looked, some liked them, most of them didn't. Probably didn't help that they were always hexing people, but in their defense, people were annoying and war started the second students from other houses booed them at the sorting.
Morgan thought it was so damn stupid on their part, because maybe they didn't like Slytherin as a whole, but the minute they wanted something from one of them, which they always did because most of the students sorted in the house were from powerful families, they seemed to forget all about it. And let's not even get started on the house prejudice topic because the girl could give you a thirty minute presentation on it.
The snakes had kind of a truce with the Ravenclaws, they were very similar sometimes, and Hufflepuffs weren't really the hating type, but you'd get surprised once in a while.
So really the problem was Gryffindor, who were friends with everybody and whether they liked it or not, they were manipulative as fuck. All the charisma was used to sway people, intentionally or not, which Morgan thought was a great trait.
Probably the problem with her and why she was in Slytherin, thinking that controlling people was fun, but she liked control, the world was a big stage, if you can get to be the director, then you already won.
Morgan's highlight though, was every time a Gryffindor asked her out, and it was often. After all she may be a bitch sometimes, but she was a charming and smart bitch. The rejection was fun.
And all of that came to her mind when she saw a sixth year Gryffindor girl whispering in her friend's ear, all while sending nasty looks Lestrange's way.
When Morgan passed by her side she murmured, "Locomotor Wibbly" and the girl fell on her face.
Without even sparing her a glance she kept walking and Lestrange gave Morgan a small smile.
Long story short, the boy refused to go out with the girl.
Morgan knew he could be an ass most of the time, and she had to keep him in check or else he'd go rampant killing muggles for fun. Probably an exaggeration.
But he was still part of the group.
Once they were in the village she turned around to look at her friends with a smile on her face, "ok so what do you feel like doing? I was thinking Hog's head for drinks, honeydukes after, Lia and I are going to the salon too, and I'll leave you all free after that, enough time for your date" Mor pointed at Lia and Nott, "and to go do whatever it is you all do"
Mulciber rolled his eyes at her with a teasing smile, "Good thing you asked what we wanted to do and even replied for us"
Reggie and Avery snickered and Malfoy looked bored at the whole situation. He was always like that.
"Oh fuck off, you love me" said the girl matter of factly and saw how Ophelia blew a kiss at her.
Evan walked towards her and put an arm around her shoulders, "That we do" he looked at the rest and motioned for them to move, "let's go, idiots"
Morgan shook him off after a couple of steps, without even noticing the hurt on his face, and took out a cigarette from her boot, with just a thought she lit it and smirked. She had left her wand at Hogwarts on purpose, practicing wandless magic, and wordless, which she was getting really good at, required more energy than she was willing to give on a weekend so forcing herself to do it was the only option. It's not like anyone would try to kill her at Hogsmeade, and if so she was good enough to at least gain time and run the hell out of there.
When they got to the pub they all sat together at a corner table while Lestrange and Avery went to get their drinks. Being such a large group getting a table at the Three Broomsticks had always been tricky, but they preferred the privacy Hog's head gave them anyway.
"So my brother is getting married, the wedding is right after the Christmas ball. We'll be related, kid" said Rabastan when he and Avery came back with the drinks ruffling Reggie's hair.
Reggie pushed his hand away and after taking a sip from his coffee he nodded, "That's right, Bella is going insane already, something about your mother being a bitch or whatever"
Ophelia laughed at that, "Mrs. Lestrange hates her, mother told me"
Morgan nodded, "Oh she does, but she also loves the idea of her son getting married to a girl of The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black" she pretended to fake Mrs. Lestrange' voice on that last part.
"I also heard Lucius and Narcissa are discussing marriage" ventured Nott.
Reggie groaned, "Yeah every Black is getting rushed into marriage lately"
"Of course they are, your family doesn't want any more drama after the whole Andromeda's muggle boyfriend thing" said Mulciber matter of factly.
"Yep, burned right off the tapestry" finished Regulus.
Morgan made a disgusted face, "That tapestry is so creepy, it literally shows how we're all fucking related"
Everyone could at least agree on that.
"Morgan darling, I heard a rumor you wanted in on the Quidditch team" started Malfoy grabbing his drink as did the rest when the boys brought them, "And tryouts are tomorrow, you're doing it?"
Morgan sent an amused look his way, "I am actually. Why? Worried about the competition?"
There were currently two openings on the team, one chaser and one beater.
The spots had been occupied by Malfoy 's brother, Lucius, and Lestrange's, Rodolphus.
She wanted the beater position, which would do wonders for her anger issues, she was sure.
He rolled his eyes at her, "Not one bit, I want to be a chaser anyway, and I know that's not your thing, but-"
He was interrupted by a loud bark right outside the door, which she ignored.
Morgan raised a brow signaling for Malfoy to continue, but he didn't, whatever he wanted to say wasn't worth it, so she said instead finishing the conversation, "Well that's great, because the spot is mine"
Then a bark again.
Morgan turned to look and groaned internally when she saw a big black dog with familiar gray eyes.
"I'm going to the loo" stated the girl and left before anyone could respond, getting out of the pub through the back door.
When she got to him she signaled for him to follow her to a closed space hidden from people.
"What could you possibly want? Plus why are you a dog right now? I mean I understand that you feel more like yourself being a shaggy creature and all, but honestly why?" People was looking at her weirdly, but she continued anyway, "And can you even understand me? Or do you just speak dog language when you're a dog-"
"Merlin woman shut up" snapped Sirius once he turned back. "I wasn't in the mood to deal with your petty followers, so dog form it is"
She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned on the wall behind her with a bored look on her face, "Well your dog needs a bath, urgently. Now speak, I don't have all day"
"You are unbearable, did you know that?" He brushed his fingers through his hair as he did when he was stressed. He didn't want to talk to her, but someone had to, and he had lost the bet, so while his friends were buying supplies at Zonko's, Sirius was stuck with the devil impersonated. "We are meeting later tonight at the Room Of requirements"
She raised a brow at him and shook her head as if disappointed, "What happened to going out on a couple of dates first? Boys are so desperate nowadays"
Sirius scoffed, "I wouldn't touch you with a ten-foot pole, don't worry about that"
"You always make that stupid frown with your lips when you lie" added the girl while looking at her nails just to rile him up. It was true though.
"I should be worried for that observation, sounds like stalking behavior to me", he took a cigarette from his jacket, but every time he lit it, it would keep getting put out.
He saw the small smile the girl couldn't avoid and hissed at her, "Hey drop it, you're insufferable"
She had been putting out the cigarette with just a thought, repeatedly. "Weird way of saying that I'm a delight"
"A delight would be never seeing you again, but alas I'm being blackmailed by you, which is the reason I came here for" started the boy, "Tonight we start your animagus thing"
She smiled happily at that prospect, "That's perfect, I'll be there"
Sirius had always been amazed by her mood swings, one second she was happy, then trying to kill you, and the next flirting with you. You never saw it coming.
Without saying anything else he turned back into a dog and she rolled her eyes at him, "Show off".
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<●>>>>>>>>>>>>>
After a few hours of hanging out at the pub and going to the salon with Ophelia, the guys decided to go buy some sweets, and Lia and Nott left together for their date.
Morgan instead, was alone in a very old looking bookstore on the outsides of Hogsmeade waiting for her parents to show up.
She'd been waiting for twenty minutes, which meant they were twenty minutes late. She had a bunch of books on her arms she had found in a box that were on discount. Annotated manuals on potions and charms with instructions to make them better, well deadlier, that Morgan thought were rather good. They looked written by someone expert on dark magic, and no one would want for that exact reason. She was focused on them when she heard an apparating sound outside, she rushed to pay and went outside.
Alexis Gaunt was standing there with an annoyed look on her face and Morgan thought that escaping was probably her best option at the moment. But not time for that now, she had already seen her stepping out of the store.
"Mother, how are you? I missed you" greeted the girl kissing her mother's cheek.
The woman smiled at her, though it looked rather forced, "Missed you too, Morgan, sorry for the delay" she extended her arm and the girl took it.
Seconds later they were standing in an alleyway, which if Morgan had to guess was in muggle London.
"I was thinking we could have some tea, there's a great place right around the corner" stated her mother who started walking in that direction with Morgan having to catch up.
The situation was kind of weird, they usually stayed at Hogsmeade when her parents visited or once in a while they went to the Manor, especially if Mor was homesick.
She followed in silence while her mother got them a table in a nice garden on the back. And by the way people greeted Alicent she came by often.
"So what are we doing here? I mean it's nice, but weird" shrugged Morgan once they were at the table looking at the menu.
"I know, I just thought it'd be better to talk in a private place," replied her mother.
"Not very private" Mor pointed to all the people on the other tables. She knew what her mother meant though. Away from other noisy wizards. "Where is father anyway?"
She saw how her mother made a face of annoyance for a second, but not directed at her, definitely at her husband, "He had a meeting, he sends his apologies and this, open it later, it's from both of us" added the woman giving Mor a tiny box. "Do be careful with it."
She saved the box in her bag and when the waiter came by they both ordered. Morgan wanted the chocolate cake badly enough to take the risk of putting her mother in an even worse mood, it's not like she controlled everything Mor ate, but she certainly had strong opinions. However, it didn't seem like she cared this time, Alexis had her mind occupied with something else, and the whole situation was tedious for Mor. A Gaunt in a bad mood was terrible, and this was Alexis, so it was even worse.
"You said in your letter you heard some.. concerning news from your friends?" Asked Mor's mother, taking a sip from her cup.
"Yeah, about some muggles dying, like repeatedly"
"Well people die, Morgan" shrugged her mother.
"Yeah no shit" said the girl annoyed and poking the piece of cake with her fork, "I mean that several families were killed, and all the sacred Twenty-Eight have been kinda sketchy about it"
"What do you mean sketchy?" Her mother was definitely stalling.
"I don't know, it's just what I heard, forget it" Morgan knew she wouldn't get anything out of her mother if she didn't want to talk.
Alexis put her tea down and looked at her daughter straight in the eye, "Look, there is some random psycho with a delusion of grandeur that's been gathering followers among the pureblood society, but don't worry we're handling it"
"So you're saying he killed them. What does he want?" Asked the girl intrigued.
"Power, doesn't everyone?" Said simply her mother. "But don't worry, darling, we're taking care of it. Do let me know if your friends tell you anything else though, will you?"
Morgan nodded and drank from her tea lost in thought. So there was some crazy bloke killing muggles and gathering purebloods to do it with him. It seemed kind of old really, it's not like he was the first prejudiced wizard in the world to do it. People should be more creative.
With a more upbeat tone her mother asked, "So how are your classes going?"
Poor thing, she was trying.
After an hour or so they apparated back to Hogsmeade and said their goodbyes. The meeting wasn't as terrible after the whole dark wizard subject passed and they talked about the normal stuff.
Morgan started walking back to Hogwarts with a cigarette in her hand and a frown on her face, all the carriages had already left and it was getting rather late. But her day was far from ending, she still had to meet up with the four Gryffindors which she dreaded to be honest.
She just wanted to go to bed.
4.6k words.
Sooo this got long.
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