𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖛𝖊𝖓𝖘 𝖔𝖓 𝖋𝖎𝖗𝖊

41

"You lot go get fixed up, I'll go speak with Dumbledore." Circe tells her friends before moving to walk off towards the headmaster's office. Hopefully, Snape hasn't already blabbed his mouth to anyone who would listen - it is still early after all.

Remus quickly shakes his head and gently grabs her arm - fearing that'll he'll only add to her injuries if he grabs her any harder. "You're the worst off out of all of us. Please get checked up first." He pleads, extremely nervous about the bleeding lump on her forehead. "We can go talk to him later."

"You know what, I'll go." James decides for the group. Circe's already done a pretty decent job of fixing him up. He can last a little while longer before seeing Madame Pomfrey. "We need to get ahead of all of this."

"I don't care about any of that. All I care about is making sure that you're all okay." Remus tells them, still feeling at fault for everything that happened last night. Sirius may have instigated it all, but he had done by far the most damage.

Peter frowns. "But Moony -" He tries to argue before the doors to the infirmary swing open.

"There's no need to come and find me, I've already had a visit from Mister Snape informing me of everything." The headmaster tells them in an eerily calm tone. If Snape had told him everything, does that mean that he also knows about James being an animagus? "I've already sworn him to secrecy. However, I would also like to hear your side of the story."

Remus opens and closes his mouth. He doesn't really have a side to the story, other than what his friends have told him, as he doesn't remember anything from when he was a werewolf. "I'm sorry, professor." He apologises. "I don't know what happened -"

"I had already assumed as much." Dumbeldore responds, with an eerily kind of sparkle in his eyes as he glances at the three students sitting with him. "Yet, somehow, I believe your friends will have some insight as to what happened."

James has to stop himself from gaping. He knows. At the very least, he knows that he's an animagus - that he broke the law. The boy glances at Peter, who appears accurately nervous given the situation, then at Circe. Her eyes are glazed over as she stares off into the distance unmovingly. "Professor, I -"

"You can all piss off." Circe snaps, suddenly returning back to reality. "I'm not going to tell you anything." Her breaths are heavy as she looks around, realising she isn't at all where she thought she was.

Remus looks over towards her in concern. "Circe? Are you okay?" He slips his hand into hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze. The boy can only assume that it was a vision of some kind.

"What?" She asks him, confused by the nature of the question. Why wouldn't she be okay? Sure, she has a few bumps and scrapes, but they're all superficial wounds. The only reason why she wouldn't be okay is because of the pure rage bubbling up in her stomach due to Sirius' betrayal - only that wouldn't make Remus look at her with such concern. "I'm fine."

Dumbledore's gaze lingers on the girl for a few moments. "If that's the case," He clears his throat. "Let's return to the matter at hand. Mister Potter, what was it that you were saying?"

James spares Circe a concerned, yet confused, glance. "Sirius told Sniv - Snape - how to get into the Shrieking Shack." He informs the man, silently patting himself on the back for correcting himself in time. "He came in just after the sun set, and Remus - not that this is his fault in any way, shape, or form tried to attack him."

"Which is when a certain stag helped him escape." Dumbledore adds knowingly. "Is that correct?"

"Uh - yes, professor." James nods, wondering whether the man is going to turn him in for breaking the law. Even if he is turned in, he doesn't think he'll regret becoming an animagus to help Remus. He would do it all over again if given the opportunity.