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"Alright, well, I hope you three enjoyed your time off during the summer," Milo began as he had Fred, George, and Lee back in his company, "because play time is over, gentlemen."
"Aww, Mum, five more minutes," George pouted with a whiny tone in order to taunt Milo and his motherly tone. The boy glanced over in the direction of the three and suddenly, the laughing and taunting came to an abrupt end. Apparently, Milo was not joking around, the boys didn't understand that he desperately needed the distraction more so than anything to keep his mind off his own personal issues.
Remus' schedule quickly became busy within the first few days of classes, considering he was a professor and while he welcomed Milo to come speak in private with him in his office, Milo decided against it. His godfather had his own problems, dealing with lycanthropy was no easy task, and as Milo had read up on it, stress made it all the worse when it came to full moon transitions. He didn't want to put any added stress on top of the stress that Remus already placed on himself. The two were very similar in the aspects of not seeing how great they were because they couldn't see how others viewed them for themselves.
The two both had their insecurities, living in the shadow of something, whether it was Lycanthropy or the idea of living in the shadow of The Boy Who Lived's older brother. They didn't think they were good enough because of the hand they had been dealt in life, but of course, everyone around them that knew them personally knew otherwise. It seemed to be a good fit between godfather and godson, but they both needed someone to pull them out of their ruts when their harmful thoughts became too strong for them to fight off.
For the time being, Remus had Elspeth and the distraction of his teaching, while Milo had his friends and the distraction of his classes and his animagus training. They were temporary solutions because the permanent solution to the problem would be to see themselves in better lighting. They had to see themselves the way other people viewed them and then they would truly find their happiness. But for the time being, distractions and friends were more than enough to keep them going at a steady pace in life. They had their moments of setbacks and days where they couldn't even bring themselves to look in the mirror, but at least they had support.
"Honestly, we have a lot of work to do and none of it is simple in the slightest, thankfully, I mapped it out and using the skills that each of us presents, we actually may be able to pull this off sooner than expected," Milo said with a small smile.
It had taken his father, along with Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew nearly three years to pull off the process and under Dumbledore's teaching it had taken his mother a school year. Milo didn't anticipate it to take as long as it did with the Marauders, mainly because they had to do everything on their own. But they had paved the way for others to attempt the same and with an actual Marauder on the castle grounds, along with Milo's mother being the Transfiguration professor, it was probably going to be a lot easier as long as they were committed.
"To even begin this process, we're each going to have to hold a Mandrake Leaf in our mouths for a solid month. It can't be taken out at any time during the month either, not even when we eat or sleep," Milo began and already, he could see the pale expressions on the Weasley twins' faces, while Lee took to biting his thumbnail. "If it does come out or if it is swallowed, we'll have to start all over again."
"Talk about no pressure added to the cause," Fred muttered as he ran his hand through his hair. "Alright, so a leaf in a mouth, that's not too bad. What else?"
"It would be best to place the timing near a full moon because when the month is up, we have to spit the leaf into a phial and it has to be in the range of the moon's rays. It has been in the moon's rays, if the moon is behind a cloud or something, once again, we'll-"
"Let me guess," Lee interjected, "we'll have to start over."
Milo nodded his head, hoping his companions were not becoming discouraged by the amount of work that was going to be placed into the matter. No one else said anything after that, meaning Milo was good to go with continuing with the further instructions. With a small sigh, he bit the inside of his cheek because it was where things were going to get even more complicated.
"This is where it's going to take a group effort," he told them, " Lee, I know you can get your hands on anything and I know you can get into any part of the castle if you want to, even without the map."
Lee grinned and did a slight bow in his seat.
"You'll have to get the mandrake leaves for us," Milo told him, " I don't know if Professor Sprout would have any remaining in the greenhouses or if she placed them all in the possession of Professor Snape's supply cabinet."
"Doesn't matter," Lee said, " if it's in the castle, I can find it no problem."
With a triumphant smile, Milo turned to the twins for the second part of the task. "Fred and George, you two are the best at Potions in this castle, even if Professor Snape can't stand it. And it's going to require some brewing, you think you two are up to it?"
The little-added flattery of being the best Potion students, stroked the egos of the twins enough that they readily nodded their heads, willing to take up the challenge. It brought a small chuckle before he continued on.
"Now, this next step will involve me going into the Forbidden Forest. We have to collect dew that hasn't been exposed to sunlight or human steps for over seven days. If we can't get that...well, you already know what happens. It's all about precise timing unfortunately and if we miss a step or the timing isn't right..."
He decided not to focus on repeating that they would have to start over if they screwed up a step as he sighed and then went on to explain the final bits. "The potion has to remain out of sunlight during the entire time, I've looked over the map and there are a few places that I think it would be safe to keep it inside the castle. "
"Alright, so once it's all brewed, then what?" Fred asked. "Do we just call cheers and throw it back?"
"I wish it were that simple," Milo huffed, "but when the potion is complete we'll have to wait for lightning from a storm to strike. And every day that we have to wait for that, we have to recite Amato Animo Animato Animagus at sunrise and sunset."
"My respects for your mother have tenfold, Milo," George said rubbing his hand over his face, " the fact that she managed to do this. I thought she was tough at first, but Merlin..."
The boys seemed to sit in silence for a few moments in the empty classroom, marvelling at the fact that someone had managed to go through the entire process to become an animagus. They thought of his mother, but Milo's thoughts trailed to the three teenaged boys who had done it on their own in order to help their friend. Milo thought of his reasoning behind it, of exploring the natural habitats of creatures without disrupting them. But now with the idea of his brother facing peril, Artemis' words, and the idea of his parents watching over him under the protection of the Ceryneian Hind, Milo felt like it would come into great need later on.
He remembered his mother talking about how she had been an asset to the first war, disguised in her animagus form to retrieve information. If he could be even half of what she was to the war to his brother, he probably could save Harry and convince Artemis otherwise that his brother was not tainted and did not need to be cleansed by death.
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Remus was sitting at his desk in his office, smiling to himself at the success of how his first few classes had been going. He had been incredibly nervous about how he would be perceived by the students, but they seemed to be enjoying his company as much as he enjoyed their reactions to his teaching methods. He sighed in relief and hoped that the rest of the year would continue as such.
"Swanky office, you got here," a voice caused him to jump and nearly knock the cup of hot tea that was resting nearby him. He turned to see Elspeth standing by one of his bookshelves picking out one of the books. He sighed in relief before giving her a look, she knew better than to sneak up on him. Although it never stopped her from doing it, how she managed to do it left him confused even from the time they were teens.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, curious as to why she wasn't back in Hogsmeade resting after a long day of keeping the dementors in check from going after some students. The guards of Azkaban clearly didn't have much respect for boundaries and while they were hunting down Sirius, they often got a little too close to students, especially the stupid students that decided to push their luck and approach them.
"Oh, you know," she said folding her arms and walking towards his desk, " I enjoy my strolls down memory lane. Plus, I wanted to see how you were liking it as a professor. Considering you look mighty cosy behind the desk, I assume you might be looking at this as a career."
Remus smiled as he couldn't really deny her words. "It's been nice, but it's only been a few days. The Honeymoon phase, isn't that what they call it?"
"Indeed."
"How long does it last?"
"I don't know," Elspeth claimed, "the Auror honeymoon is pretty short-lived and you don't even get to have se-"
"Elspeth!"
"Oh come on, Remus, we're both adults here...at least, most of the time."
He went to make a smart retort when there was a knock at the door. Assuming it was a student, the man stood up and made his way to answer it, however, as he opened it up and found Milo on the other side, he had to admit he was a little surprised. He turned to Elspeth to tell her that their godson was there, but as he turned, the woman had vanished.
"Dammit, how does she do that?" He muttered under his breath. Milo cleared his voice.
"Uh, Uncle Remus?"The boy called to him a low tone, bringing Remus turn back to him.
"Oh right, Milo, come in."
"I won't take up much of your time, Uncle Remus," Milo promised as he entered and closed the door behind him. "I actually just needed to ask you a question about the...ahem...process."
Remus paled slightly, he thought by that point in time that Milo had forgotten all about it and given up to focus on other things, but that didn't seem to be the case. It didn't help that Elspeth was more than encouraging while he hoped that Milo would find a different "hobby."
"I wasn't aware that you were still working on it," Remus said walking back towards his desk.
"Well, I took a break over the summer, but I believe we're still on track, I just thought I would come to you for a bit of assistance."
"Milo, you do realise that I didn't actually...become one, correct?" Remus said grabbing his tea. "I was there for some of the processes but really, it was your father and...and...they did the work."
"I understand, it's just, well, I was wondering if you had any insight of where I could find dew that hasn't been touched by sunlight or human feet for seven days?" To add to the question, he flashed Remus an innocent grin. "You've ventured into the Forbidden Forest more times than I have, I figured-"
"Black tulips."
Remus and Milo screeched and turned around to see Elspeth, Remus was fully prepared to attack the woman as she had snuck up on him twice in one day, in a span of twenty minutes. She chuckled at their reaction but Milo quickly recovered before smiling in her direction, happy to see the woman again. He had yet to see her on the castle grounds, but he was pleased that she had the answer he was looking for.
"If you find the black tulips in the forest, you'll find dew there. No sunlight travels to that section, that's why it's such a sight to find them," Elspeth said as she sat on top of Remus' desk. The man gave her an odd look as to how she remembered such a thing. "What? My memory hasn't started to fail me yet. I can remember things too, Remmy."
"I didn't say that you couldn't-"
"Black tulips," Milo nodded to himself before looking back and forth between his godparents. "Well, this was a nice talk, so thank you! Love you two, see you...around? I guess. Yes."
"We have class tomorrow!" Remus called after him but the boy had already run off into the corridor. The man sighed. "What are we going to do about him?"
He waited for Elspeth to respond but the woman was gone again. "Would you stop doing that?!"
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Milo was heading out of the castle with Paden resting inside his robes for warmth, in hopes of sneaking into the Forbidden Forest and seeing if he could find the black tulips that Elspeth had discussed. In the distance, he could see the dementors and he knew if he was caught roaming around, his mother would probably skin him alive. But he was determined to get the process rolling and he needed to find the tulips so he would even know where to collect the dew. However, before he even made his towards the Black Lake in the direction of the forest, he found his name being called, bringing him to freeze.
He recognised the voice that called his name, bringing him to look over his shoulder and see Cedric. He was frozen in place as much as he wanted to run away as fast as he could to avoid any conversation or confrontation. Cedric ran over to him to catch up, taking the opportunity that Milo had stopped walking.
However, when he did get too close for his liking, Milo took a few steps back to keep his distance and it brought Cedric to a halt.
"I-I-I can't talk right now, Cedric, I have something to do," Milo told him as he went to turn.
"Well, can I go with you and we can talk?" Cedric asked him. Milo seemed more than hesitant about the offer to discuss anything but as Paden chirped softly in the boy's ear, he eventually nodded his head. He didn't say anything as he continued on his way. Although as they walked along, Cedric didn't exactly start talking until he noticed that they were approaching the Forbidden Forest.
"Milo, what are you-"
The look Milo gave the boy over his shoulder brought Cedric to fall silent in a matter of a second. "I'm just looking for something, that's all," Milo said."You don't have to come with me-"
"No, it's alright," Cedric said, "it's not a problem, I just...Milo, can we please talk about what happened over the summer? It wasn't...it wasn't supposed to happen like that. I didn't expect all of that to happen, I just-"
"It's nothing, Cedric. We both know how this conversation is going to go, we can keep going through the repetition of you saying it's wrong, us trying this out in secret, and then you tell me it's wrong again. I don't want to keep doing that, I don't want any of that...I'm not going to set myself up for that-"
"Then why were you in my bed?" Cedric asked and the silence of the edge of the forest took over. Milo was still and he stopped breathing for a few seconds, he didn't think Cedric knew about that, he figured he had gotten away with that going unnoticed completely. Paden had now emerged completely and was looking back and forth between the two boys.
Milo rubbed the back of his head and looked away, really not thrilled about being placed on the spot so easily.
"I don't..." Suddenly, a weird and uncomfortable sensation washed over Milo causing the boy to fall down to his knees abruptly. He tried to hold himself up but he was suddenly overpowered very quickly as he fell face first into the grass. He could see Paden trying to get him up while Cedric ran over, but he couldn't hear either one of them. Confusion washed over him before darkness did.
He wasn't completely unconscious as he could still hear his own thoughts.
What's happening?
However, as he opened up his eyes again, he saw that he was back in the Forbidden Forest, but Cedric and Paden were gone. In the distance, the boy could make out one thing... a stag. But not just any stag, the Stag Queen, himself.
"Dad."