The Fox And Her Troublemakers

Phase 1

Cécile's P.O.V.

Over the next couple days, I brought Sirius three meals a day, and we chatted while he ate. Afterwards, I would go up to the castle and stay awake for hours trying to figure out how to get the damn rat.

I figured Ron wouldn't just let some random person hold his rat. He seemed very attached to it. I finally decided I would have to become friends with him, Hermione, and Harry first, and then get the rat second.

As a result, I've been hanging out with the three of them a lot over the past couple days. I think I might continue talking to them, too. They're pretty great people. My friends have no idea why, but haven't really complained much. Except for Alex. Everyday, when I went back to my dorm, she asked me why I'm hanging out with third years so much. I think she definitely knew I was up to something. Regardless, every time she does ask, I just tell her 'because they're cool.' Which they are, but it's only half true.

As of right now, I was walking down to breakfast. When I walked through the doors, I went straight over to the Gryffindor table, sitting down next to Harry. "Hello, Golden Trio," I greeted.

"Morning, Cécile," they said back.
"What'cha doin?"

"Not much, we were going to go see Hagrid before classes start. Do you wanna come?" Harry asked me.

"I'd love to," I said to them, "but I'm afraid I have things to do." Things like feeding a supposed mass murderer, I thought amusedly to myself. With that, I grabbed some food from the table, putting it in a napkin, claiming to be 'saving it for later,' and left the Great Hall, heading towards the whomping willow.

I put the napkin in my pocket, before quickly running towards the hole in the tree. I touched the knot, and the tree stopped moving about a foot from hitting me in the face. I sighed in relief, before continuing into the hole.

When I got to the hatch in the floor, I opened it up, calling, "Innocence," before climbing through it. Innocence was like our code word of sorts. That way, Sirius knew it was me, and wouldn't attack me when I came through.

Once I made it up, I seen Sirius come out from a corner in his dog form. Actually, I don't know whether it's a dog or a wolf. He's either an extremely dog-like wolf, or a very large dog. I don't know for sure which. "I need to think of a name for your dog form. And then we could make it, like, your code name or something," I said, laughing a bit. Sirius-the-dog made a sound sounding very close to a chuckle, before transforming into a human.

"That's a good idea. James, Pettigrew, Remus, and I used to do the same thing," he said, smiling fondly.

I thought hard for a moment. "Your new code name is Perfect Friend," I said to him.

"Ok, then you're going to be Beautiful Soul." I nodded, grinning. And then his statement from before registered in my mind.

"Remus? You mean, as in, Professor Lupin?" I asked him. Sirius let out a loud laugh, before nodding.

"Probably. Makes sense that Remus would end up being a Professor."

"Well, he just started this year, actually. He's the defence against the dark arts teacher, and probably the best we've had. Everyone thinks the job is cursed, so we don't get a lot of them, and the ones who we do get, usually end up being evil..."

Sirius laughed loudly again, "that's so ironic... Remus being the defence against the dark arts teacher..." He trailed off, chuckling to himself.

"Why is that ironic?" I asked him curiously.

"What?" He asked, apparently not realizing that I heard him, "oh, never mind that. What's for breakfast?"

"Waffles, pancakes, and a treacle tart. Your favourites," I told him, grinning.