Odele & Regulus

07

"Are you really going to ask Professor McGonagall to teach you how to transform into an animagus?" I turned and looked at Regulus before nodding. I frowned as it seemed as if he didn't think it was a good idea. As I watched my best friend, I realized he seemed worried and I just nodded. "You make it out to be a bad thing. Becoming an animagus isn't a bad thing, Regulus. In fact, there are some careers that if you are an animagus you go farther quicker. I just want to be better then what people expect of me. I know it will be a long process and it might not even work but I want to try. It means a lot to me and I just wish you could support my decision and even if you don't that you wouldn't try and stop me. Please." He watched me for a few more moments before sighing and nodding. "Fine. If you need anything let me know and I'll do what I can to help you."

The appreciation I felt for my best friend accepting my decision warmed my heart. Soon I was in front of the office of the Transfiguration professor and knocked lightly on the door. When the door opened I took a quick inhale of breath as the Professor looked down at me. "Oh, Miss Lambros. Mr Black. Is there something I can assist you with?" Taking a bite of my lip I stood there before taking a deep breath my nerves got to me. "We would like to learn how to become animagus and wished to see if you could assist us, Professor." My gaze turned to Regulus as I was surprised when he said 'we'. He didn't seem like he wanted to learn but he just smiled at the professor. The professor looked at the both of us as my gaze rose back to her. Nodding I smiled at her as well, "Yes, professor. Would you be able to help us become animagus, please."

McGonagall seemed to contemplate our request and for several moments I believed she was going to deny the request but she smiled and nodded. "Of course. I would love to help two of my best students. Meet in the Transfiguration classroom Friday after dinner has concluded and we shall begin. I suggest reading up on becoming an animagus and refreshing yourself on the lessons. I will see you both then." A slight giggle escaped my lips and I nodded happily. "Of course, Professor. We will be there." With a nod the door closed and my arms wrapped around my best friend in an excited hug. He laughed but patted my back the best he could as my arms were restricting him from moving. "Alright. She said yes. Now may we please go to the courtyard and watch people get pelted with snowballs."

Laughing I nodded before we headed toward the courtyard. As we walked along I began to wonder why he was wanting to learn as well. Lost in my thoughts I was surprised when I felt a flick on my nose. As it had hurt I winced and rubbed my nose before glancing at Regulus. "Why in Salazar's name did you do that?" Regulus shrugged as we continued on our way. "You were deep in thought and weren't responding when I said your name. I flicked your nose to bring you out of your thoughts. It worked." I glared at the dark haired male being slightly upset that he had opted to flick my nose like I was a dog but I just sighed instead. "I was wondering why you decided to learn how to become an animagi too."

Regulus shrugged and made a slight humming noise as we headed to the door. "I took what you said about it looking good on a job application to heart. Although I would like to play Quidditch professionally my family expects me to work at the Ministry and it would look good if I wish to work there." When his words touched my ears I stared at him in surprise. He was thinking of his future career when he asked about becoming an animagus. With a laugh I fell in step beside him while on our way outside. "Typical Regulus." For some reason I wondered if he was telling the truth but deciding against questioning the Black brother we continued outside.

Making our way into the courtyard the snowball fight was well underway. Seemed it was older students against younger students. We headed over toward the fort that seemed to belong to the Slytherin 5th years and were informed immediately what the plan of action was. Before long Regulus and I were creating snowballs and tossing them at the 'enemy'. Overall the fight was friendly and in this time of war brewing it was nice to just be a kid and have fun.

A couple hours after we arrived outside, Regulus was collecting snow to make more weaponry when he was pelted in the head and knocked over. He dramatically pretended like he was dying and I rolled my eyes before looking over to see who had claimed my best friend's 'life'. My eyes locked with a set of gray eyes that matched my best friends and laughter was filling the air. It seemed the Marauders had taken out many of the other forts and some of the survivors were running for cover behind our fort wall. Ducking behind our fort wall I took a quick survey of everything around me as well as what I had seen from the four boys. Soon a plan was formulating in my head and a smirk that would rival a Malfoy's slipped onto my lips.

I rallied the survivors and began giving them their orders. Most listened while others just ignored me but it wasn't long before our plan was taking shape before my eyes. Some 4th year Hufflepuffs were collecting snow while the 2nd and 6th year Ravenclaws made them. A couple 1st year Gryffindors were fixing damage to our fort. I saw the surviving Slytherins, which was very few, piling up the snowballs in preparation. We were still taking enemy fire as I peeked over the fort making sure I wasn't seen. Calculating the movements of the Marauders, we sat and waited. They would run low soon as all three were throwing things at us. I started to slip down to hide when I realized what I had just noticed. There were only 3 males throwing snowballs. That meant one was hiding.

My eyes scanned over the walls of their fort and I quickly realized Remus was not throwing snowballs. As I ducked back down I briefly wondered if perhaps he was the one providing the other three with their ammo. It was the only possible answer. So if we take out Remus the other three would fall. But how could we when he was so well hidden? That's when I noticed that snowballs were floating off of our piles and through the air when no one was touching them. Squinting I watched where they went and a gasp escaped my lips as I realized it was going to one of the forts that had previously been destroyed. The snowball then went to the fort of the Marauders.

Slipping out my wand I informed them to cover me and I would be back. So I concealed myself with a charm and slipped out of the fort and headed around to the Marauders. This was a delicate goal and I didn't want to get caught. I crouched down and watched as the pile of snowballs grew though no one was making them. They were just landing on the pile. Using my wand I caused the snowballs to melt and watched as the boys tried to figure out what happened. Using that as a cover I went back to our fort and hid behind the wall before removing the charm. It wasn't long before they were losing as I cast a charm on our snowballs that if they were stolen they would instantly melt.

With a smirk I glanced around at my crew and nodded. At my signal we all quickly stood and started chucking snow at the boy's fort. After they had been demolished, Sirius stumbled passed the fort all dramatic pretending he was dying from a fatal wound. Before long several of us levitated snow over him and covered him up. That entire day was filled with fun and laughter. We allowed the worried of war and the outside world fall away for one afternoon and we were just kids. House rivalry didn't matter. We were having fun playing in the snow and being kids. I wish we could be like that all the time but that wouldn't happen. No matter how much myself or anyone else wished for it.

By dinner time everyone was enjoying themselves and talked about what they wanted to do in the snow and what their plans for the holiday were. Unlike the rest of my classmates, I obviously didn't have plans for the holiday and so I wasn't talking about it. Instead I opted to read a book while I was eating. It wasn't until Aurora sat next to me that I stopped. "Did you get to play in the snow?" The child smiled up at me as she ate and nodded. "I built a snow fairy. I was trying to test a coloring spell I found in a library book but she didn't come out right." Tilting my head I became curious, "Which book? Maybe I can help." The red haired child took the book from her bag and showed it to me.

"Ah. Ars Cantus Forma. I checked this out my first year. They are easy spells but they can be difficult when you try the words or wand movements." Aurora smiled as she flipped to the spell she was attempting on the snow fairy. "Hmm, glacies pingere. Do you want to show me the wand movement after dinner? Perhaps we can see how to improve together." The small child beamed and nodded at me. "Okay!" Aurora continued eating and I couldnt help but smile at her excitement. She was the most precious child I had ever met. She was so innocent. I wanted to protect her with every fiber of my being. She was important to me now. No one will be able to harm her in anyway as long as I am in her life.