The branches of the Whomping Willow narrowly missed hitting Eloise as she stumbled backwards, conveniently into the arms of Sirius,
"Careful, Gorgeous. Don't want you falling too hard." he said smirking, standing her back up.
"You know, Elle." Peter's voice called from few metres away, "Now you're in control of your metamorphmagus abilities, does that mean you can turn into any animal?" Eloise thought for a moment,
"I'm not sure, Pete, let's find out." Eloise looked into the excited faces of her three friends, "Give me an animal." she said bravely and they all smiled,
"A cow!"
"A whale!"
"A tiger!" the answers rung out at the same time and Eloise turned to Sirius,
"A tiger? Well I suppose that was the least insulting." she glared at the other two before closing her eyes. She focused on the orange and black stripes of the feline and she gradually felt her body shift, it was similar to turning into Puff but it lasted considerably longer. Whiskers sprouted out of her face at a greater length, her teeth grew long and sharp, claws forced their way through her fingers and a strong tail curled out of her back. She opened her eyes, her senses heightened. She looked at the boys, each with a look of wonder etched clearly on their faces,
"Fucking hell." James spoke as he stepped towards his sister, his hand gently stroking her fur. A purr was heard from the large tiger as he nuzzled her heard closer to James' hand,
"Turn into a bear." Eloise faced Peter and closed her amber eyes, soon enough she felt herself rise slightly, her hands and feet getting bigger and her whiskers being sucked back into her head. She opened her eyes once more and was faced with big brown paws, she looked into the faces of the boys and decided to wow them further, she stood up on her hind legs, paws out in front of her as she towered greatly over her friends. A laugh came from Sirius as he stared up at the bear,
"What are you going to be for helping Moony, Elle?" he asked and Eloise thought for a moment. The large creature shrunk, her brown fur turning white and her large build being replaced with a miniature one, soon enough Puff stood in front of the three boys.
Puff bounded towards the tree and kicked the knot on the trunk, crawling through the entrance with Wormtail scurrying behind her and Sirius and James yet to transform due to the small tunnel. The Marauders reached the trapdoor at the end of the tunnel and Sirius pushed it open, climbing though and proceeding to transform into Padfoot, swiftly followed by Prongs. Eloise heard a strangled growl from upstairs and leapt forwards, taking two stairs at a time. She reached the room and caught sight of Remus...or should she say Moony. The werewolf stood in the centre of the room, raggedly breathing and spit dripping from his mouth. He caught sight of the small rabbit and his eyes un-narrowed, shortly enough the stag, rat and dog joined Puff in the doorway and they collectively walked towards the wolf. Prongs initiated the exchange, bowing his antlers to show the alliance between the animals, the werewolf lowered his head slightly, returning the bow. The stag bounded joyfully towards Moony, patting him with his hoof and showing off by kicking his hind legs in the air. Wormtail joined him, the pitter patter of his hurried steps echoing around the wooden room as he ran around in a playful zig-zag pattern. Puff took no time in joining in with the fun but the growl of Padfoot stopped her, the black dog nudged her leg warily and Puff immediately understood: he was worried about her getting hurt again, despite the fact that the last transformation went by without much fault. Puff had an idea, she ran out of the room, earning a slight whimper from Padfoot. She returned only moments later, but not in the form of the little white rodent. Instead, in the door, stood a big brown and white husky, not as big as Padfoot of course, but bigger than the rabbit. She had soft fur and hazel and green eyes which met the grey ones of the dog next to her, her tongue lolled out of her mouth as she let out an excited bark.
~~~
Remus Lupin was lying asleep in a bed in the Hospital Wing like every month, the difference was that for the past two months, Remus had acquired considerably less scars, the people around him taking some for him. James Potter was sat in a chair on the boy's left, a fresh scratch under his eye and plenty on his arms. His sister, Eloise Potter sat cross-legged on the end of the hospital bed, only one scratch on her nose due to the protection of a certain Sirius Black. Sirius sat on the side table, scratches on his cheeks and hands, having had pushed Eloise out of the firing line of the werewolf's claws on multiple occasions. As for Peter Pettigrew, being a small rat came in handy and he came out of the Shrieking Shack sporting solely a single cut on his neck, visible as he sat on the bed next to the sleeping boy. Remus' eyes flickered and he awoke, he looked sleepily at his friends around him but his eyes widened at the sight of the red line on James' face. He turned to Eloise and she smiled briefly at him but his eyes travelled directly to the cut on her nose,
"You're hurt, you're all hurt." Remus whispered and Sirius put a hand on his shoulder,
"We're fine mate, don't worry." he said softly and Remus grabbed his hand, observing the dried blood and many grazes,
"Sirius..look at you! Look at them!" he gestured to the other three and ran a hand through his already messy hair, "I told you this was a bad idea." Eloise placed a hand on Remus' leg,
"Remus, it was a brilliant idea if I do say so myself, and not one of us regrets it." Remus sighed and Eloise pulled out her wand, taking Sirius' hand out of Remus' grip. She waved her wand over his palm and, as she did, the red, jagged lines disappeared, being replaced with untarnished skin. Eloise showed Remus Sirius' now unharmed hand and smiled, "Any cut or scratch we get is worth it, because you don't have to hurt yourself." her words didn't seem to calm Remus much as he sat up,
"So it's better to hurt you is it? To scratch and bite you? My best friends? I'm a monster Eloise! I deserve to scratch myself!" Eloise shook her head firmly, her eyes glossed with tears,
"You are not a monster Remus! You are a kind, caring boy who reads books extensively and has far too much love for chocolate." James put a hand on his sister's shoulder,
"Yeah, stop being such a drama queen. You fold your socks, Remus. Do forgive me if I'm not trembling at the sight of you." Eloise, Sirius and Peter laughed as James smirked at Remus, who was trying desperately not to smile. The young boy looked at his friends, the ones who had become animagi for him, who has accompanied him three times now in his dangerous state as a werewolf. He couldn't have felt more loved, surrounded by people who were prepared to do anything for him. When they had found out about his lycanthropy, to say he was scared was the understatement of the century. He thought they would resent him, that they would fear him and hate him, he was wrong of course. Every month they would meet him in the Hospital Wing, ever since their Second Year. Peter bringing boxes of Honeydukes' chocolate, Sirius and James cracking jokes to lighten him up, Eloise bringing him notes she had written of all of the lessons he had missed. For the first time in his twelve years of life, the morning after his transformation, Remus Lupin didn't feel so bad. Now, at fifteen years old, he wasn't bleeding or covered in cuts and bruises, he was full of happiness.
~~~
Eloise was sat with Lily and Mary in Gryffindor Common Room when she felt someone sit next to her on the sofa,
"Excuse us, Mary, Evans." James winked at the redhead before making a gesture with his hand to tell them to go away. Lily rolled her eyes and sneered at James before walking up the stairs to her dorm, Mary close behind,
"Do you want to tell me why you shooed away my friends?" Eloise asked, turning to face her twin,
"Just wanted a little Potter to Potter chat." he said innocently and Eloise raised an eyebrow. James sighed and leaned backwards, his head falling onto Eloise's lap, "I haven't seen you in agesss." he said, dragging out the 's'. Eloise laughed and played with James' hair,
"I saw you in Charms an hour ago, dear brother." James huffed,
"That doesn't count." he said in a 'duh' tone, "I haven't seen you, just us, in ages." he looked up at Eloise, pouting out his bottom lip, "You've been spending all your time with Sirius, just because you love him." Eloise scowled and smacked his head lightly,
"I don't love him! Shove off, Potter." James smiled,
"You can't deny anything, little Potter! You kissed him!" he shot back and Eloise crossed her arms,
"Actually, he kissed me," she said quietly, "And we told you, it was just between friends." It was James' turn to cross his arms,
"Between friends my arse!" Eloise rolled her eyes and changed the subject,
"So why did you really come to talk to me?" she asked and James pretended to look confused, "Don't play games with me, Prongs, I can read you like a book." James sighed and sat up from Eloise's lap,
"You know how I'm failing potions?" He said slowly. Eloise sighed
"Yes, James I'm aware, we have the same genes and somehow you're a moron." James slammed his hands down on the sofa, causing several first years and Eloise to jump.
"Well, the thing is, I'm not actually failing Potions, nor am I a moron. My potions partner is none other than Snivellus Snape." Eloise nodded,
"Yes I know, what's your point?"
"I'm being sabotaged!"
~~~
"That's not the right ingredient, Severus." Eloise said loudly and somewhat patronisingly as she smiled sweetly, walking to stand at his and James' desk. The black-haired Slytherin looked up and glowered at Eloise,
"Why yes, it's supposed to be lacewing flies, not sopophorous beans and we all know that causes a right mess." Sirius butted in, leaning his elbow on Eloise's shoulder. Slughorn, who was attending to some students at the table next to them looked up inquiringly at the mention of a mess, "Why, would you look at that! James has the correct ingredients in his hand." Sirius pointed out and James nodded,
"Well, I was about to put them into the cauldron, but Snape told me I was wrong." he said innocently, looking pointedly at Professor Slughorn who had wandered over,
"Well, Severus! I would've thought you'd know the right ingredients to this potion, what with your skills." Snape continued to glare at the three Gryffindors stood in front of him,
"Well this isn't the first time, Professor, Snape has often told me I was wrong you see, but I always check the instructions." James made a show of pointing at his potions book and reading out the third step, "Add three sopophorous beans." he looked at Snape and Eloise bit her cheek to stop herself from laughing, "See, I told you it wasn't lacewing flies, Snape." Slughorn patted James on the shoulder,
"Well, seeing as this has happened more than once I'm afraid, Severus, I have to dock a few points from Slytherin. To avoid any further trouble, why don't you move and sit next to Miss Potter." Eloise inwardly groaned as Snape collected his things and swapped places with Remus who gave her an apologetic smile as he sat next to a grinning James. Eloise sighed,
"Well that didn't go as planned." she walked to her seat and sat down. James frowned,
"What does she mean? We got the slimeball away from me." Remus tapped James on the shoulder,
"You do realise that Snivellus is sat next to Elle now, Einstein." James' face fell,
"Shit the snake's by my baby sister! Merlin's beard if he does anything to her I swear..." he growled and glared intensely at the sallow-faced boy now sat next to Eloise.
Eloise was fiddling with the potion knife in her hand as Severus Snape added ingredients to their potion,
"By the way, Snivellus," Eloise said, not looking up from the small blade that she held in her hand, "If you ever try anything with me," she looked up slowly to see Snape looking nervously at the silver flashing as it weaved around her hand "You'll leave this class missing a finger."