THE CONCERN THAT RADIATED OFF OF EVERY one of Iris' friends was suffocating her to no end. She felt like she couldn't breathe without choking on someone's worry. It had only been a week since her date with Sirius and her friends had grown to be even more suspicious of her. She was never alone anymore no matter what! All of her friends had seemed to take it onto themselves to become her personal bodyguards. What they were guarding her against, she wasn't sure. However, she had a feeling that it had to do with those slimy snakes. She knew that there was something completely off with them, at least, more than usual.
She felt so... strange around them, and it was in no way a good strange. The feeling of... well, she couldn't really describe the feeling all that well. Perhaps the best way to describe it was that she had an obligation. For some odd reason, she felt like she had to do something for them. She didn't know what... but that she just had to do it.
Now that may cause a few red flags to pop up for anyone to tell a teacher or something. However, this is Iris we're talking about! Her pride was far too large for her to admit that she couldn't handle something like this. It was only three little snakes who wanted to intimidate her. She could handle them! She'd much rather drown in the Black Lake before she said that she needed help against the likes of Regulus Black, Lucius Malfoy, and Severus Snape.
There was also a small thought that nagged in the back of her head. She obviously wouldn't admit to it out loud due to her precious pride, however, the thought was still ever present. If she did go to get help from a faculty member or someone and told them exactly what was going on, then they would investigate what was happening to her. When they did that and it did lead back to those snakes... then they would get into trouble. Now, she is all for getting those gits into trouble and punishing them, yet that would also mean that Severus would get into trouble.
She was angry with him, yes. But there was still a small part of her that didn't want to get him in trouble. Whatever part that he may play in their scheme was somewhat unknown to her, but she didn't want him to get in trouble for it, truly. He may have not stood up for her a few months ago, but it would take a bit more than that to unravel the years of friendship that the two had between them. She could not forgive him completely, but she didn't want him to get punished along with them. He was still that annoying brother that she never wanted yet needed. She didn't want to sound like too much of a sap, but she would definitely regret letting their relationship crumble.
But besides her conflict with the Slytherins, the bad feeling with Regulus and Lucius, and her friends' concern intensifying, the past week had been quite uneventful. She had her normal classes with the occasional prank here or there with detention every once and awhile. She was still trying to enjoy the school year as Lily was forcing her to count down the days until they took the O.W.L. Lily had tried to get Iris to go to the library nearly every free period and night to study everything! Iris had certainly gotten her fair share of time in the library for the rest of her life.
At the moment, she was relaxing in the Gryffindor common room. She was reclined on the couch bundled up in a nice jumper with the fire lit in front of her. The redhead basked in the heat in content. Iris was happy to spend some time by herself. Sirius wasn't going to be spending time with her that night as he had told her that he was spending time with the other boys. Every once in a while, Sirius would spend one night with the Marauders and do... Merlin knows what. She didn't know what they could possibly be doing at night and she honestly didn't really want to know. What they got up to without her isn't her business.
"Merlin," Iris whipped around at the sharp yelp coming from behind her. She suspected that someone else had also decided to sneak down into the common room for the night. However, when she turned around to see who was behind her... there was no one there. Her eyebrows furrowed as she surveyed the room in its entirety. There was no sign of anyone being in the room with her at all. That fact was slightly unsettling for her. Though she brushed it off and thought that it was just her mind playing tricks on her. She did have an overactive imagination sometimes, despite being a teenager now.
Unknown to her, James and Sirius had their hands slapped over Peter's mouth as they tried to stand as still as they could. The poor bloke had accidentally stubbed his foot and cried out in pain. Of course, since Iris wasn't supposed to know that they were sneaking around after dark, they had to keep as quiet as they could. Silently, the trio watched as her narrowed eyes skimmed over their invisible forms before turning back around on the couch to get comfy again.
They all mentally sighed in relief before waiting a moment longer to start moving once again. They shuffled as quietly as they could across the carpet and watched Iris with careful eyes to make sure that she wouldn't notice them at all. To their delight, they made it to the portrait hole to finally leave the common room. The three of them slipped out of the room without any further accidents at all. Though they seemed to forget that Iris was quite the observant person.
The redhead listened to the almost silent click of the portrait hole swinging shut. She waited a moment more before jumping up onto her feet and making her way towards the exit. Iris waited a moment and listened through the painting to see what she could hear. There were some hushed voices speaking quickly together that slowly died down, from walking away from the door, Iris thought.
After waiting to make sure that whoever had left wouldn't see or hear her, Iris swung the door opened as quietly as she could and hoped out of the room. She checked both ends of the hallway to catch a glimpse of whoever had left and was able to see someone dashing around the far right corner. She could also hear the slight scolding voices that reminded her of some of her best friends.
Though she shouldn't be surprised! The Marauders were known for their pranks and they have to set them up the night before, so she should have suspected that it was them sneaking out. The question was though: Why did they sneak past her? She would think that after all this time, all the pranks that they have played together, the boys would have included her on most, if not all, of their pranks. Well, she'll just have to ask them about that as soon as she found out what exactly they were doing.
###
The journey through the castle for the boys was smooth. Despite the hiccup with Peter in the common room and almost getting caught by Iris, their journey was smooth. They didn't run into any teachers or prefects looking for troublemaking students like themselves. There wasn't much of a need for the invisibility cloak that night which is why they decided to not use it as they approached the archway that leads to the outdoors.
Unbeknownst to the three of them, their mischievous redheaded friend was following them at a distance as she kept to the shadows. Her sharp brown eyes were narrowed as she watched the trio leave the school and start trotting down a path leading away from the school. It was midnight, she knew that, and was unsure if it would be completely safe for them to be outside. Especially if they were heading close to the forbidden forest. Now she was all for getting into dangerous and exhilarating situations, however, she can kind of draw the line when there are too many factors playing against her.
It was dark. Pitch blackness blanketed the grounds and caused a chill to take over every inch of the school grounds. If the boys were going outside on their own, it most certainly is a recipe for disaster, in Iris' mind. And not the kind of disaster that they usually were the cause of because of their pranks.
She followed them stealthily through the cover of the shadows. Her curiosity was obviously getting the better of her. Iris was certain that she would come to regret staying up this late, but she thought that it would be worth it in the end. To see what exactly the boys were getting up to would be ideal. She also couldn't help but notice that Remus wasn't with them. That was completely unusual. That boy was usually there alongside the others, either partaking in the scheme reluctantly or trying to stop them from doing anything too rash.
The bright white moon that hung in the air stared down at them all and most likely scolding them all silently for being under its illuminating gaze. The trio of boys and their red-haired stalker walked for a while before they made it quite a ways away from the castle. Iris pressed herself up against a tree in order to make sure that the boys didn't see her as they started to walk out into a clearing. She was running out of places to hide now that they were out there and feared that she would lose sight of them.
However, what she didn't suspect was for the boys to head over to the Whomping Willow. The enormous tree loomed in the moonlight. It's branches ached and moved on its own as the tree itself was a living entity. No one would ever dare get close to the tree... well, besides the occasional first year who would be dared to see how close they could actually get. Every time that ended with the dared students taking a trip to Madam Pomfrey to get their bones mended.
Yet Iris didn't really know why the boys were headed right towards it. She was starting to become slightly worried over the fact that the boys may get hurt. What in Merlin's name are they doing? She asked herself but obviously didn't get an answer.
She could see that they were talking with each other, but she couldn't hear them in the slightest. "Just hurry up, Peter!" She was unable to hear James urge Peter.
Iris was able to see the meek, chubby teen nodded his head rapidly and take a quick breath before facing the tree. Anxiety pooled in her stomach as she watched her friend get closer to the restless tree. In turn, the tree noticed the plump boy's presence and was getting ready to strike him.
The redhead was just about ready to reveal herself and run over to them to stop Peter before he could get himself killed. Though the next things that happened caused Iris to freeze in her spot and stopping her from revealing herself.
The boy's body started to twitch as fur started to sprout on his skin. His mouse-like features started to become more prominent as his arms and legs started to reshape themselves into something completely different. His figure grew smaller and smaller until he was the size of a rat. Actually, as Iris squinted her eyes to see where her friend had gone, she was certain that Peter had transformed into a rat.
He's an animagus. Oh, Merlin, He's an animagus!
Iris was completely astonished by that fact. A friend that she had known for some time was keeping quite a large secret from her. Her wide eyes were glued to that rat that scurried across the grass and was in no way noticed by the Whomping Willow. The rodent got closer to the tree and hopped onto its trunk. It seemed to press a part of the tree that instantly froze the entire tree itself. Iris had never seen anything like that before. She may have been attending Hogwarts for a few months, however, she had never seen that tree be so still before.
Just as she was trying to calm her shock down from finding out that Peter Pettigrew was an animagus, the girl just about had a heart attack due to her shock to what happened next. Both Sirius' and James' bodies started to contort in the same manner as Peter's had, however, they began to transform in two different animals than Peter. Sirius landed on all fours and thick black fur consumed his entire body as he became a large black dog. James also landed on all fours but his arms and legs grew longer as did his neck as he became a stag.
Iris' jaw had hit the ground as she watched her friends, now in animagus forms, trot under the immobile tree and into an opening at its base. A few moments passed before Iris was able to collect her wits. She walked away from the tree she previously had been hiding behind and stumble into the clearing.
She wearily watched the Whopping Willow as it started to move once again. She knew then that if she tried to approach it... it would lash out at her like it usually did. Whatever Peter had done to it had worn off...
Animaguses! The boys were animaguses! That was why they disappeared once a night every month. But why keep it from her?
Hypocrite. Her mind scolded her. Yeah, she really was being a big hypocrite. Why was she wondering why they were keeping a secret about themselves from her when she was doing the same? She really needed to think things through.
Though, now that she thought about it... a smirk crawled onto her face as she started to scheme. She's certainly going to have fun with this.
###
The group of animaguses emerged from the entrance of the Whomping Willow. The stag and dog climbed out of the opening at the trunk of the tree as the rat rode on the tanned stag's back. As normal, the three of them all lead the large creature that followed after them at a leisurely pace. They emerged into the bright light of the moon and they all basked in its alluring glare.
Sirius barked happily and started to trot away happily towards the forbidden forest. James and Peter followed behind as Remus came out as well and stared at the large moon in the sky. He howled loudly before taking off towards the forest. The other three animals all glanced at each other. Remus had never acted like that when they came out. For the most part, he tended to be calm and quiet while every once in a while running off towards something like another animal. They weren't sure what to think of that.
They made sure to keep a closer eye of their wolfed out friend just in case they ran into some student sneaking out like they were. The group has had some close calls with running into other students. As Remus in his werewolf form tends to go after human beings, they have had to come up with some creative ways to make sure that nobody was hurt and their escapades were not discovered.
The group entered the forest and began to venture in at a quick pace. Remus led the group at the front while the rest followed closely behind. It was a few minutes of walking that Remus suddenly stopped in his tracks. He started to sniff the air and spun around in his spot for a moment as if looking for something.
Worry started to bubble up in the three of the animals as they thought Remus had caught the scent of a human. Sirius sniffed as well to be certain what may have caught Remus' attention. He was able to smell the earthy scent surrounding them as well as the many magical plants that were all over the place. Though he sniffed again, he was able to pick up something that seemed... out of place in the forest.
It was a strong scent of vanilla. He tilted his head at the smell as his eyes scoured for the source of the smell. It seemed that James and Peter may have caught up on it as well as they too started to look around in confusion. They started to walk in the direction of where the smell was coming from and came to the edge of the forest where a small pond rested.
There in the clearing at the edge of the water stood a petite red, white and black fox. The fox's head snapped in their direction and tilted its head at them. Every single one of them was wary of the other. The fox's attention seemed to be mainly on the werewolf that was a tad bit bolder and started to approach it. The fox was frozen in its spot as Remus started to get closer to it.
Remus bent down to the ground to get a better look at it. It wasn't uncommon for the group to run into other animals in the forest, but they had never come upon a fox. Are foxes even native to the forbidden forest? Neither of the three boys were completely sure. The only one that most likely would be was currently wolfed out and sniffing the fox.
The wolf seemed to grow curious about the other animal's appearance and strange smell before growling deeply at it. It wasn't a noise to intimidate the smaller animal, it was more like a greeting. The fox jumped at the noise in fright and whined slightly. At the sight of the poor animal growing scared of their friend, James, Peter, and Sirius approached the duo slowly in order to not frighten either of them.
Sirius approached the fox slowly as James and Peter, still on James' back, walked towards Remus to put themselves between the fox and wolf. The fox shrunk back slightly as the larger dog approached it. Sirius bowed his head to show that he didn't want to hurt the poor animal. Since they had become animaguses, the boys had grown to learn about animal ques and interactions. They knew that they needed to show that they meant no harm in order to gain its trust and warn it to go away in case Remus lashed out against the poor creature.
The fox eyed Sirius closely and seemed to become somewhat more confident as he placed a barrier between himself and Remus. He knew that seeing Remus in that form was quite terrifying for a human, he wasn't sure how it was for an animal that hadn't seen him before. The fox took a timid step toward the large dog and nudged its nose toward him. Sirius allowed the fox to look at him closer and sniff him.
The fox eventually grew bolder quite quickly and walked closer to Sirius. He was able to see her fur closer and had to admit that it looked quite soft. Most of the animal's body was a rich scarlet with its paws a pitch black and a patch of white reaching from the bottom of its snout and down its chest. Its ears were perked up as if listening to everything that was around it. The animal was alert and seemed to be ready to dash if something went wrong.
The fox started to investigate Sirius further and walked around the dog. It's luscious tail brushed up against Sirius snout on purpose. The dog barked at that and watched as the slender fox trotted away from him slowly. The smaller animal looked up at James with Peter still perched on his back.
The stag and rat looked at the animal in curiosity. The fox walked around them as well and stared at them with wide eyes. After a moment of investigation, the fox came to a stop in front of Remus. The large wolf leaned down on his front paws and tried to brush his snout against the fox. Surprised, and most likely frightened, the animal backed up and away from Remus. That only earned a growl from Remus which scared the fox even more. James walked over to the pair and tried to separate them again to defuse any sort of tension. However, he wasn't expecting the fox to look at him and shake its head.
James stared at the fox in confusion. Most animals would have run off at this point, well, they more likely would have run off at the mere sight of Remus. Yet this fox didn't seem to want to run off. It was scared, yes. However, it didn't seem to want to run off. James backed off slightly and allowed the fox to approach Remus again.
Remus sniffed the small animal and the fox did the same. They appeared to be sizing each other up and getting used to each other. There was a long moment of the duo staring at each other and moving around each other before Remus growled loudly at the fox. Now, it wasn't a growl that meant any sort of harm, if anything it was playful!
The fox yelped happily and jumped up and down excitedly and brushed up against the werewolf. The other three animals all sighed in relief that Remus and the fox had gotten along so easily.
Remus nudged the fox playfully and started to jog away from them. It was obviously a sign that the werewolf wanted to run around like that usually did at night. With no hesitation, the fox runs after him and seems to be ready to enjoy itself the same way that the other group always did. It seemed like the group now had an added companion for their journey.
Sirius barked loudly and ran after them in order to catch up to Remus and the mysterious fox. James followed after quickly to make sure that they didn't lose sight of their friends and the fox. The night was going to be quite eventful now that a fifth animal had joined their unusual pack.
###
Remus grunted softly as he took a potion from Madam Pomfrey's hand. He thanked her gruffly and started to gulp down the potion greedily. He was laid out on one of the many beds in the Hospital Wing with a killer headache and an aching body. It was just like any normal morning after a full moon. The boy had learned to deal with everything that came with the changing once every month.
However, he had fewer scars on his face than he usually got when he was younger. Whenever he went through his monthly changes he always woke up with fresh scars littering his face from his own beastly self harming himself. That was due to being locked up by himself and unable to go after any humans as his instincts wanted.
Yet, nowadays, due to his friends becoming animaguses and taking him out of the Shrieking Shack at night, his body had not been littered with as many scars as in the past. Yes, he still had the occasional new scar that he wakes up to find on his face but it was not as deep or visible as they were like they use to be. Remus was so grateful for his friends.
After only knowing each other for a few years, James, Sirius, and Peter were willing to illegally become animaguses in order to make his transformations more bearable. If that wasn't true friendship, he didn't know what was.
Speaking of those friends, the three other boys came bounding into the hospital wing quickly. Remus could already tell from their wide smiles and the spark in their eyes that something had happened last night. Going by their smiles, he was certain that it wasn't anything bad, per se. However, Remus could say that they all had a different definition of what was "bad" and "good".
James hopped over to the left side of Remus' bed while Sirius took the right and Peter too the end of the bed. "Monny! Good to see you awake!"
Remus smiled weakly, as he was still tired from the previous night, "yeah, I hope Madam Pomfrey will let me go to morning classes, I don't want to miss any more school than I already have."
The others rolled their eyes at him, "Merlin, Moony, you're the only werewolf I've heard of willingly wanting to go to school instead of lying in for the day after a full moon."
Remus chuckled, "I'm the only werewolf you know, Padfoot."
"That doesn't matter right now," James started and earned Remus' attention.
The boy raised an eyebrow, "then what is?"
"Last night, after we got you from the shack you ran off towards the forbidden forest-"
"Okay? Don't we do that all the time," Remus asked as he didn't see anything out of the ordinary with that.
"Ah, let me finish!" James exclaimed. Remus raised his hands in surrender and submitted to the glasses-wearing boy. "Well, you ran off rather quickly and we thought that something was up," the two others nodded their heads in agreement. "We followed you to make sure that nothing was wrong and we found... a fox!"
Remus' eyebrows furrowed, "...a fox..?"
Sirius nodded his head enthusiastically, "yeah, it was by the pond just standing there!"
"So what happened?" Remus asked wearily. He knew what he could be like while as a wolf, he just prayed that he didn't hurt the poor animal. Though now that he thought about it... what was a fox doing in the forbidden forest? He was quite certain that foxes weren't native to the area... Strange.
The other three were just about bursting to tell him about what happened. "It befriended us!" They blurted out.
Remus became even further confused, "and it was alright with... befriending a werewolf?" He really didn't believe that that actually happened. How could he! Nearly every animal, magical or not, would fear a werewolf. Sure, a werewolf would not go after an animal or anything as they only wanted to attack humans, but seeing a creature like himself would still be terrifying.
"Well," Sirius tilted his head from side to side, "not at first, it was more comfortable with me, James, and Peter, but it warmed up to you after a while."
The werewolf only stared at his best friend in utter bewilderment, "you're kidding, right?"
Sirius shook his head, "nope."
Remus laid back into the bed some more and started to contemplate what his friends had just told him. A normal person wouldn't think too much on that fact, but Remus was starting to overthink about it. "A fox that isn't afraid of a werewolf?"
James chuckled, "weird, isn't it?" Remus hummed and tried to settle his rigid posture propped up against the head of the bed. Yeah, that is completely weird...
###
The girls had an even harder time waking up Iris that morning. She was completely dead to the world and unwilling to get out of her bed. Even Lily's infamous wake-up calls couldn't do anything to wake her up. All she did was try to swat the water away while covering herself in her soaked covers. The girls worried that Iris was going to get hypothermia due to the cold water and her reluctance to get up.
But Iris did eventually get up on her own. Of course, it was when the other girls had already gotten ready and were heading out the door. They bid her a sarcastic good morning before warning her that she would miss breakfast if she didn't get up. At the prospect of missing breakfast, Iris sluggishly got herself ready as quick as her tired body would allow and met the girls in the Great Hall.
Iris appeared in the Great Hall with a loud yawn as she plopped herself across from Wendy and Marlene and next to her sister. She grabbed some food and a drink and began to scarf it all down. She didn't have much time to eat since she woke up so late. However, she couldn't bring herself to completely regret it. She smiled to herself as she remembers the cause of her being so tired.
Finding out about the boys' big secret was a big shock to her. Though she really had to admit that running around the Forbidden Forest with a werewolf was terrifying at first. She came to the conclusion that the werewolf was, in fact, Remus Lupin. Dear Remus, who would not hurt a fly, who apologized for bumping into someone when it wasn't even his fault and who tried to keep his rambunctious friends out of trouble was a werewolf! Iris honestly didn't know what to do now that she knew that. Though she did know that she would not let fear dictate her actions.
Most people may become fearful of the person they found out to be a creature of the night. However, Iris was certain that Remus didn't choose to be a werewolf. Most people didn't. So she wouldn't hold it against him in any way. Remus was still the sweetheart he always is. She glanced down the table a short way to see a very tired looking Remus talking with the other boys with a small smile on his face. No, there was no way Iris could ever fearRemus, even if he was a werewolf.
Iris stood up abruptly from the bench and started to climb out of her seat. "Where are you going, Iris?" Lily asked her when she saw her twin get up, "you haven't even eaten yet..." That was very unlike Iris.
Iris hummed, "I will, just got to talk to the boys for a moment." The three other girls shared a glance before shrugging their shoulders and watching as Iris walked over to the troublesome Marauders.
When they noticed that the redhead was coming over in their direction, they instantly ceased their talking and awkwardly picking up on another topic. "Professor Binns' essay was quite difficult, right?" Remus nervously chuckled. Iris had a feeling that they were talking about last night. Oh, Merlin, she couldn't wait to see there faces when she told them the truth.
"Morning boys!" She jumped into the seat next to James.
"Hey, Iris."
"Morning!"
"'Ello, love."
"Hi."
She at all the boys with a sweet smirk, "what were you boy's talking about?" They all jumbled on their words and tried to come up with some sort of coherent lie. However, their words only bumped against each other and made no sense at all. It is just watched them for a moment and tried to allow them to come together with a single lie. Yet they still hadn't come up with something before an awkward sentence enveloped them all. Iris eyed them all critically with a smile still on her face. The boys all shared a glance with each other as uneasiness washed over them. "Really? Hm. That's nice. I hope your night was well," she watched them all flinch at that. "Mine was quite nice. I suppose that's why I'm so tired now."
Sirius watched from across the table as his lady-love giggled lightly, her tone and expression didn't really sit well with him at that moment. "Why would you be tired, love."
"Well, darling, I was out all night, the moon looked so wonderful. Wouldn't you agree."
James sputtered, "w-why would we know?"
Iris shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know... You boys are usually awake for a long time after curfew. Perhaps you saw it."
"O-oh, well, I guess it would be nice, it was a f-full moon after all..." Remus chuckled out nervously.
The redhead nodded her head slowly and looked away from him, "yeah, yeah..." her voice was soft, "I know."
"Why are you telling us about your night, Iris?" Peter squeaked.
She took a deep breath. The girl really had to work up the courage to tell them the truth. She had spent a very long time after she snuck back into her dorm thinking about telling them her secret. There was literally only one other person who knew about her secret and they were in another country! It took quite a bit of internal debate on whether or not to tell them. However, she convinced herself on the basis that she knew their secret and they didn't choose to let her know.
"I guess I may have... Seen you three leave the common room..."
Sirius huffed and hit Peter over the top of the head, "you git!"
"I guess it was Peter who yelled last night then." Peter bowed his head in shame which confirmed for her that he was the one to alert her to their departure. "Well, that's beside the point, I followed you out to the Whomping Willow. I have to ask, how did you get the tree to do that?" She was completely fascinated and eager for their reply as the four grew pale now knowing that she most likely knew their secret. She stared at them as they become silent, and she now knew that they would most likely be silent for a while. She sighed, "look, I don't mind that you didn't tell me the three of you were... animaguses," she whispered to make sure nobody could hear her beside her friends. "I understand, entirely!"
"Really?" James coughed out. "How exactly can you understand?"
"Well, you know me..." She smirked, "people tend to say I'm a tad bit foxy!"
Lily suddenly appeared behind her twin, "Iris! Come on, eat this so we can go!" She shoved a piece of toast into Iris' hands before dragging her up. There seemed to be no arguing with Lily as she was trying to get her sister to leave the Great Hall and head to class a little early.
Iris took the bread and allowed herself to be dragged but shot the boys a final meaningful look. "I'll see you boys later."
The boys mulled over her words as they knew that it meant something... They honestly needed to find out quickly. She knew that they were animaguses and most likely that Remus was a werewolf. Yet she didn't mention it so maybe there was a chance that she didn't know. Remus didn't react to a human being nearby last night... only a fox.
Remus' eyes grew wide as he snapped to look at James and then the duo across from them. His warm, hazel eyes were wild and confused, "'foxy'! She said that she's 'foxy'!"
Peter stared at him in confusion, "that was strange..."
"Well," Sirius commented slyly, "you must admit that she is quite foxy."
"No, don't you get it!" Remus continued on loudly but quickly tried to control his voice. "She knows that you lot are animaguses... and possibly that I'm a werewolf. And what did we run into last night?"
James' eyes sparked with realization, "a... fox..."
"You guys can't be serious," Sirius commented as he knew what they had started to think. He scoffed, "Iris was not... that fox!"
"How do you know?"
Sirius puckered his lips, "well, we tell each other everything. I think she would mention the fact that she's an animagus!" It seemed logical to him. He and Iris shared everything with each other and for her to keep that large of a part of her from him seemed impossible and baffling. Then again... He did keep that part of himself from her, so he had to admit that he didn't tell her everything.
"But it would explain why she said 'foxy' and how she didn't freak out completely about finding out."
Remus agreed, "that's true. If someone found out, you'd think they would start shoutin' at us, right?" They all mulled over the statement for a moment. Around them, the sea of students started to leave the Great Hall and head to their first class for the day. It was wholeheartedly true. Any normal person would start yelling at them for being unregistered animaguses but not Iris. As she said, she could understand them better than anyone else if she was an animagus.
"So you really think that she was the fox from last night?" Peter asked quietly.
They were consumed by silence once more before all of them glanced in the direction that the girl had gone. Iris was still being dragged by her sister, however, she was constantly looking over her shoulder in their direction. Once she saw that they were looking at her, she smirked widely and winked. A spark of understanding and reassurance burned in her eyes as they all stared at each other. Then just as the moment happened, Lily pulled Iris out of the room and towards their first class.
It only took them a moment before the group of boys hastily stood up from their seats and started to run out of the Great Hall. They pushed past their fellow students roughly in order to try and get to Iris quickly. In their haste, they all shouted after the redhead as they wanted to question her on everything that had to do with her animagus secret.