Chapter Text
Remus was having breakfast together with James and Peter in the Great Hall. Apart from the faint buzzing of a snitch zooming through the air, it was a peaceful moment. For the past fifteen minutes everyone had been quiet, allowing Remus to enjoy his book while eating his cereal.
Then Sirius came strutting up to them and sat down.
He leaned his head in toward the middle of the table, causing the other three boys to peer up at him under their eyebrows and lean in as well. James grabbed the snitch and tucked it in his pocket, letting his full attention be on Sirius.
"We're lucky. I was just in the library looking up the registry on animagi, and as it turns out there is one at this very school with us." he whispered.
Peter and James' eyes widened, whereas Remus merely pursed his lips. They all leaned back as Sirius swivelled around and pointed with a full finger and arm at a girl sitting at the Hufflepuff table, her eyes currently tracing the pages of a book.
James leaned forward again and squinted. "Is she reading the school’s official code of conduct?"
"Looks like it." Peter confirmed.
Remus couldn't help a small smile tugging at his lips. "Hazel Pembroke." he said without thinking.
Sirius' eyes went wide. "You know her?" a pleased grin spread across his face. "Perfect."
Remus' friends all looked at him. His smile disappeared. "I don't know her." he was quick to say.
They all quieted, but their attention didn't leave the unsuspecting boy.
Remus' eyes fell briefly again on the reading girl. When he looked back at his mates next and found them still staring, he soon realised that they were waiting for him to explain himself. "We have several classes together!" he let out, a tad defensively at that. "I've just… seen her."
James raised his eyebrows and the boys looked between each other. Remus stopped in his tracks, knowing full well that in about ten seconds he would be fully blushing, and relishing in the sweet few seconds of privacy he had left.
But he was lucky, as Sirius soon stole everyone's attention back. "Hazel, guys. Remember her name." he bored his eyes into James and Peter. Remus could tell that this was important business to him. Anything involving doing something dangerous was important to Sirius.
Everyone nodded including Remus, despite not having been one of the ones addressed.
James looked over at Hazel. "Now we just have to go over there and kiss ass and be really nice to her and make her share all her ancient wisdom with us and devote all her time to helping us become animagi ...and to also swear an oath to do it in secret."
Peter nodded (albeit tentatively) once again, but James was still able to smile confidently.
Sirius was the first one to jump up from his seat. He began charging toward the Hufflepuff table while Peter and James climbed over the table from the other side, receiving some nasty comments from their fellow diners. Remus, on the other hand, groaned and stood up as painstakingly slowly as he possibly could.
It wasn't just the fact that he didn't want his friends to do this for him. Becoming animagi was a great risk, and hanging out with a werewolf (even as a fellow animal) was an even greater risk. But aside from all of that, something about going over to Hazel, the girl he would usually spot in class with either a book he had read and loved, or a book he would eventually come to love after seeing her read it and deciding to pick it up for himself — seemed in the moment like something incredibly daunting.
Once they had caught up to Sirius he turned to them and mumbled, "Only problem is… she's a prefect." For the first time Remus could actually spot a flicker of doubt on his friend's face at his own plan.
"Just an inconsequential little detail." James sarcastically remarked and rolled his eyes.
After that they all slowed their pace significantly. Suddenly none of the four seemed to want to arrive at their destination. Yet a few seconds later — found that they had.
Hazel was underlining a passage in the book. Remus stared at her as he sat down opposite her. Her boyishly short brown hair was sticking out from all sides, curving out on both sides at the back of her neck. Her petite figure; her large brown eyes scanning the words before her; it all made him want to get up and run in the opposite direction, while at the same time wishing she would look up and say something to him.
Just as they had all sat down though, without so much as glancing their way she shut her book and stood up to leave. She was just reaching for her bag when…
"Where are you going?" asked Sirius, dumbfounded.
After realising that she was being addressed Hazel stopped, but her bag kept flying and landed around her shoulder while she finally took a moment to acknowledge the foursome. Her eyes landed on the boy who had spoken. It took her a moment, but eventually she remembered to speak.
"It's 7:30." she answered, like it was self-explanatory.
"So?" Sirius replied and folded his arms over the table.
Hazel hugged her book across her chest. "So I have to get to class."
Sirius furrowed his brows. “Do you have class at 7:30 in the morning?" he asked, like it was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard.
At this point Remus couldn't hold back anymore. He pinched the bridge of his nose and angled his head down, cringing at his friend's idiocy and hoping to Merlin that it wouldn't reflect badly on himself.
It was Hazel's time to furrow her eyebrows. "I don't. I have class at 8:00, and if I don't leave for it now I'm going to be late." she looked at her wristwatch, as if accounting for the precious seconds missed by the diversion, then looked around at the rest of the boys too and added, "In fact we will all be late, since you guys take herbology with me."
Several other students around them were now also standing up to leave. But Sirius was not deterred. He gave her a crooked smile, "And since you take that class with us, you know that we are always late for it. Why don't you join us, just this once?"
Her eyes darted between the boys. "But if I do that then…" She trailed off, seemingly unsure of how to finish her sentence.
They all waited for her to gather her thoughts.
Her eyes finally focused on Sirius, and Remus felt relieved at not being the subject of her flitting attention. "...Then I'll be late." she finished simply.
"So?" Sirius asked once again. "Be late just this once."
"But... I'll be late." she repeated.
James stared in bafflement at the girl. Sirius looked off and sighed, although with a small tug at the corner of his lip. "Can't you be late just once?" He suggested once more.
Hazel stared off toward the exit. "I guess I could..." she pondered, sounding like it was the first time she had ever considered it.
She ended up sitting back down, but the existential crisis was still ongoing if judging by her expression. Sirius and James didn't seem to mind that detail however, and jumped right in. They began to explain their plan (leaving out the werewolf aspect) with utmost detail, all to her still vacant expression.
Remus took a moment to reflect on his newfound knowledge about the girl before him. There was something awe-inspiring about being in the presence of someone who must be so skilled and knowledgeable to have been able to complete the process of becoming an animagus.
And she was so young. And sort of innocent and sweet looking...
"Remus, stop staring at her." James said then, causing Remus to immediately look away and for Hazel to start blushing.
After that Remus' defensive systems kicked in and he soon found himself muttering, "I'm not staring. I just don't understand why we need her."
Hazel narrowed her eyes at Remus, but she mostly looked surprised at his statement.
The boys however had all mutually tensed at Remus' snarky tone.
"Well she's an animagus, and we're not." Peter explained to try and salvage the situation.
"Yeah Remus, catch up." James joked and patted him on the shoulder. He turned to Hazel, hitching with a chuckle and gesturing at Remus as if to imply that he was the reason for it.
But Hazel wasn't laughing. "Not just for the fact that I myself have completed the spell successfully, but a large part of my family are animagi." she explained. "For us it's a rite of passage of sorts. The wisdom of how to best succeed at it has been passed down through generations of us." Her eyes singled in on Remus and she continued, "I sit on a world of knowledge about this particular spell. All the helpful tips and tricks for getting it right. I know the ins and outs of it like the back of my hand and to be perfectly honest, I'm not confident that you guys have it in you to pull it off." Her eyes drifted toward James, who was shaping his hair, trying to get it to stay put in the particular way he wanted it. "...At least not without my help." She finished, raising her brows cockily at Remus.
"I think we'll try our hand at it ourselves, thanks." Remus countered, receiving more than one dissatisfied stare from his friends.
He knew that he was destroying their plan. But he supposed it was probably fine. He was sure they could probably do it without her.
Probably.
And to be perfectly honest, the idea of being in close proximity to her more than he already had terrified him. It was definitely best they just do it themselves.
Hazel didn't seem fazed by Remus' refusal to take her advice, and she already had more ammo at her disposal. She waved her hand casually in the air, "The choice is yours. But if I were you I'd take all the help I could get." Then she placed two elbows on the table and leaned in, "...Unless you want to end up with bat-ears, like my uncle."
James' eyes went wide and his hand stopped tending to his hair.
"Or with a tail, like my grandfather." she continued, then watched as Peter's eyebrows bent in despair.
"Or with scaly elbows, like my cousin."
A violent shudder went down Sirius' spine.
But Remus remained composed. "Clearly the ancient wisdom in your family hasn't got you very far."
Peter stared dumbstruck at him. But Remus ignored him. He refused to drop Hazel's gaze.
"Like I said," she began slowly, "it's a complicated spell."
"You managed to do it, how hard can it be?" The words slid out of Remus' mouth like a reflex. But as soon as he'd said them, he suddenly found it incredibly difficult to keep eye contact with her. He looked away.
Hazel pursed her lips. Then without another word rose to her feet, snatched her bag and stomped off to herbology.
Remus' friends watched pleadingly as she went. But no words came out of either of them. Instead they turned toward the culprit, who was presently looking down at the table in a sullen state.
He wasn't sure what had just happened, or what had driven him to act in the way he just had, but a feeling of strong dissatisfaction with himself was rapidly manifesting.
As soon as Hazel's short frame had disappeared out the door and left the now empty Great Hall, Remus resorted to leaning down and bonking his head against the table repeatedly.
"Remus." Sirius began in a matter of fact tone, yet with an underlying scathing quality. He continued, "May I remind you that we are trying to get this girl to do us a ginormous favour?"
Remus stopped bonking his head, and like the naïve boy that he inevitably was, still believed he could get away with some good old nonchalance of his misdemeanour, "So?"
Sirius was too baffled to continue his line of questioning, therefore James picked up the torch, "So — it would benefit us if you could help butter her up a little." He poked Remus' side with his elbow. "You know… instead of repeatedly insulting her." he finished awkwardly.
"Yeah. Why on earth would you do that?" Peter asked.
Instead of replying Remus made a face, with his forehead still pressed against the table nonetheless.
"You're like the sweetest person on this earth." James let out.
Remus grimaced once again.
"I once saw him apologise to a bludger while we were playing quidditch." Peter interjected.
More bonking ensued on Remus' end.
"But the one time we actually need you to be kind, you do a 180° personality change." Sirius exclaimed, finally out of his temporary muteness.
Remus sat up, but met neither of his friends' eyes. He proceeded to unenthusiastically grab his bag and stalk off before any of them could press him for any more answers.
Published: 3 January 2023