Peter was the next person to arrive at Potter Manor. Calypso had been staying with James and Sirius for a week and there was certainly never a dull moment. They'd ventured out into town and wreaked havoc on the Muggles and other wizarding families they came across. After a week with only each other for company, Peter and Remus were to join them, but when Peter arrived Calypso could tell something was wrong.
"Please don't hate me. It was an accident, I swear." Peter started out looking rather nervous when he spoke as he entered Potter Manor. Calypso frowned, concerned, while James and Sirius narrowed their eyes at him.
"What is it, Pete?" Calypso asked, confused. Peter sighed ashamedly and reached into his pocket, pulling out a crushed mandrake leave. "Oh, Peter."
"Merlin," James exhaled a deep sigh as he placed his head in his hands.
"What're we gonna do?" Sirius asked, sounding exasperated.
"Well, we can't do this without Peter. It has to be all of us together. That's the whole point of us becoming animagi." Calypso said.
"But we've come so far." Sirius groaned.
"I could practically taste victory." James said wistfully.
Peter blushed profusely, embarrassed that he messed this up for them.
"I can get us some more from the Herbology classroom, no problem. But we still have to figure out how to make the potion that we need at the end, so . . . maybe this was a good thing. It gives us time to actually think through what we're about to do and really be prepared." Calypso said.
"I feel really bad guys, I'm so sorry." Peter apologized again. Sirius clapped him on the back.
"It's fine, Pete." He reassured him.
"We can try again over summer break. It'll be easier then." Calypso suggested. She removed the mandrake leaf from her mouth and threw it away. She skipped over to her trunk and pulled out pumpkin pasties, happy to be able to eat them once again.
They asked Peter about what happened. Turns out, he choked on the mandrake leaf when he was sleeping and was forced to spit it out. Remus arrived soon after Peter finished the story.
"Remus!" Calypso exclaimed, throwing her arms around him. Sirius and James exchanged a glance when Remus blushed before Calypso pulled away. She furrowed her eyebrows, wondering why he was so red in the face.
"How've you been, mate? It's been too long." James asked. He pulled Remus into a hug as Calypso slipped beside Peter and Sirius while they, too, greeted Remus.
"It's been a week, James." Remus said.
"A lot can happen in a week. For example, Calypso got hit with the Cruciatus Curse." James said. Calypso hit James on the back of his head.
"Thank you for that." Calypso said sarcastically. James merely smiled at her.
"By who?! Merlin, Calypso, are you okay?" Remus asked frantically. She waved her hand dismissively.
"I'm fine, Remus. Really." Calypso said.
"Who did that to you? Have they been apprehended?" Remus asked.
"Apprehended." Sirius repeated.
"My father did it, so there's no point. He'll walk free and then he'll hurt me even more. Or he might even hurt one of you guys and I can't have that, now can I?" Calypso asked before turning with a mischievous look on her face. "I'll be back in a bit."
When Calypso was far enough away, the three other boys turned to Remus with expectant looks on their faces.
"What?" Remus asked, unaware that his budding crush on one of his best friends was painfully obvious.
"Why don't you just tell her?" James asked, falling onto the couch.
"T-tell who what?" Remus asked. It wasn't that he didn't trust the other three, but he wanted to keep this private. He hoped they wouldn't mess this up for him.
"Why don't you tell Calypso that you like her, duh?" Sirius said. He sat down beside James and folded his arms behind his head.
"In case you failed to notice, Sirius, she doesn't exactly like me back." Remus scratched the back of his neck.
"She might if you told her. You could show her that you're interested in her instead of blushing everytime you come in contact with her." Sirius explained.
"How do I do that? It's Calypso. I don't think she's ever even looked at anyone in that way before. I don't know what she likes." Remus said.
"You'll never know unless you try." Sirius shrugged.
"Look what I found," Calypso sang happily, running into the living room with a vinyl in her hand. She placed it on the record player and the Muggle artist Otis Redding started playing. Calypso grinned brightly and grabbed Peter's hand to drag him up with her. The pair started dancing with one another and the other three looked on with smiles on their faces. "Well, don't tell me you three are just going to sit there, c'mon!"
Calypso pulled Remus and James by their hands towards her as they danced around in James' living room. Calypso turned and saw Sirius was still sitting off to the side. She twirled over to him.
"Why are you still sitting there?"
"I don't dance." Sirius said, shrugging lazily. Calypso laughed before grabbing his hands and pulling him towards her.
"Well, you're going to dance with me." She said before winking at him as she swayed with him whilst singing he softly sang the song. The other boys joined in with him. She laughed when Sirius grabbed her by the waist and lifted her into the air.
The laughter and music could be heard throughout the house as Euphemia and Fleamont listened on, smiling sweetly at their son's friends.
"If every day is like this, I don't want to go back to Hogwarts and that's never happened before." Sirius confessed after everyone had fallen asleep and they spent the day together. Sirius and Calypso were seated together outside looking up at the stars. It was cold, so they had wrapped themselves in blankets and held hot chocolate in their hands.
"I'm more than ready to finish third year." Calypso said.
"Speaking of, have you ever liked anyone?" Sirius asked, deciding to investigate Remus' situation. Calypso frowned, wondering how that was a 'speaking of'. A blush spread across her cheeks as she looked nervously at Sirius. "Oh, come on, you have to tell me."
"Well, I don't have to tell you everything." She spoke quietly. She knew Sirius would tease her if he found out she used to like me.
"I thought we were best friends?" Sirius pouted.
"We are!" Calypso rolled her eyes.
"Have there ever been guys that have liked you?" Sirius asked. Calypso nodded her head slowly, growing curious as to why he chose to start this topic of conversation.
"Sure, I guess." She said,
"And if a guy did like you, what would you want him to do?"
"Uh . . . well, I-I'm not sure exactly. Nothing extravagant or big, it'd just be the little things he did. He'd have to make an equal effort and want to get to know me, I guess." Calypso shrugged. She wondered why he cared. "Have you ever liked a girl? Besides those girlfriends that you've had?"
"Oh, yeah, I had a huge crush on you in first year, surprised you didn't notice." Sirius said nonchalantly. Calypso's eyes widened.
"Really?" She asked, shocked.
"Don't sound so surprised. All the guys liked you at one point, especially when we first became friends. It's natural, I think." Sirius shrugged. Calypso furrowed her eyebrows and thought about what he said. "It's nothing you can avoid, Cal. You're just so . . . great, you know? You're brilliant."
Calypso stared at Sirius when he shrugged again, brushing over the compliments. Her cheeks turned pink and she was grateful it was too dark outside for Sirius to see her.
"Do you like anyone now?" Sirius asked.
"Well," Calypso started off with an excited smile beginning to form on her face. "I have had my eye on this fourth year Ravenclaw. He has nice eyes and he said that I was pretty, plus he likes books."
"When did he say you were pretty?"
"His friends were talking about who was pretty in Ravenclaw and ranking girls as prettiest to ugliest — the jerks. He wasn't really participating and he was telling them to stop, but at one point, he looked up from his book and said, 'that third year that hangs out with those Gryffindor boys — Calypso — she's very pretty'. Then he went back to reading. He didn't know Dorcas was listening, but Pandora had been experimenting with potions and created one that can heighten your senses so Dorcas heard the whole thing."
"Interesting." Sirius hummed thoughtfully.
"But, none of it really matters now because I'll probably never talk to him." She said. She looked up into the sky before chuckling, "It's you!"
"What is?" He asked curiously, turning his head up to see where she was looking.
"Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. At least your parents got one thing right about you." Calypso said.
"What?" Sirius asked.
"Well, you're like the star. You stand out within your family and you're one of a kind. You never let life bring you down."
"What does Calypso mean?"
"She that conceals. Mum got it from a Muggle myth about a nymph that forced a hero, Odysseus, to stay with him on her island for seven years. I wasn't a big fan of hers when I read the book, but Mum said she chose the name because it sounded pretty. I don't think Ophelia has it any better. Her's means 'help'." Calypso chuckled.
"What's your middle name?" Sirius asked.
"Hida. That means warrior. My dad came up with that one . . ." She said with a frown before turning to face him. "Sirius? Do you think that we'll ever become animagi? I'm not discouraged or anything, but the book said that it's a long endeavor. What if one of you decides that we shouldn't do it anymore? Or someone finds out?"
"You shouldn't worry, Cal. We will become animagi. Even if it takes us ten years to finally get things right, it'll happen." Sirius assured her.
"Hopefully, it won't take us that long." Calypso said before smiling. "I wonder what life will be like ten years from now. We'll have graduated from Hogwarts. We'll be free. I can't wait to see what happens to us."
"At least we'll be doing it together." Sirius said, hesitantly. He sounded as if he needed clarification of the fact.
"Oh, don't you worry. I'm not going anywhere. You're stuck with me forever, Sirius Black."