Boys Will Be Bugs

Chapter 16: Werewolf

Madam Pomfrey was right; it took a while for Remus to notice any effects from the potion, or at least he did notice a few, but none of them seemed to be pertaining to anything he actually wanted. He had to take more showers because he was sweating through his clothes, and spots kept breaking out all over his face and arms. He had to keep telling himself that these were all signs of testosterone running through his body instead of oestrogen, that this was all good, but frankly, he was just feeling uncomfortable.

James's birthday took his mind off it, on the twenty seventh of March.

Since it was still term time, none of the boys in the dorm were able to buy James any gifts, but they tried their best. Owain and the others opted for a hand drawn card, signed by all of them, which Peter drew himself— they were surprised to find out that Peter was actually quite adept at art. Everyone that is, except Remus. The two sat quite close together in lessons, and Remus was always catching sight of Peter doodling cartoons on his books, or his arms, or even the desk he was sat at, and at a closer look, the cartoons were actually very good, with surprisingly intricate details.

Even so, despite the card, Peter still wanted to help Remus and Sirius with their gift, when he ran into them in the library. The two of them were trying to be as quiet as possible, although they'd already been told off twice for giggling too loud. It was Sirius's fault. He kept getting distracted and doing exaggerated impressions of the librarian.

"What are you doing?" asked Peter, leaning over their table to get a good look.

"We found a Remembrall in the bushes outside," explained Sirius. "We're trying to transfigure it into a snitch."

"Not a real snitch," continued Remus. "We're not good enough for that, but we want it to at least fly around. Maybe give it some wings."

"Can I help?" Sirius thought about it, and then lit up with an idea.

"You can paint it! Make it all detailed." Peter seemed happy with that idea, and he went to fetch his paints from upstairs. Regardless, though, they needed all the help they could get with transfiguring the Remembrall, so Peter sat down across from them and they all spent the rest of lunch break trying to achieve their goal.

By the end of lunch, they'd successfully managed to get it to fly at least, and luckily keep it only a few metres above the ground so it didn't fly off into the stratosphere. Remus had managed that; he was very much improving in his charms lessons, and was almost top of the class. With the help of an advanced curriculum book, a simple Wingardium Leviosa did the trick. The only trouble was—

"How do we get it to stop flying?" said Peter. The answer was quite a bit beyond their capabilities, and they sat there scratching their heads until the bell rang.

"Shit," muttered Remus. "We don't have time to give it wings now." They began to pack up their books.

"It doesn't need wings," Sirius decided. "But if it doesn't stop flying, how's Peter supposed to paint it?"

"How are we supposed to wrap it?" replied Remus.

"We can put it in a cage. A small one, and wrap that up instead," suggested Peter. Sirius held the remembrall tightly in his hand to keep it from escaping.

"Yeah, yeah good idea," said Sirius. "Owain's sister's got a pet mouse, she'll have a cage small enough."

"I'll ask Owain to ask her," Peter added. "And I can paint it fine, I'll just hold it. Might get a bit messy though..."

Owain's sister, Anwen, luckily had a cage to spare, and happily gave it to them. It was rectangular and small, perfect for the modified Remembrall, which they trapped inside after Peter had finished painting it. Peter had done a good job; the details made it look almost real and the only giveaway was the slight traces of fingerprints where Peter had held it. He'd returned with gold paint all over his hands.