snow white (r. lupin)

prologue

Caroline Ennis was an exceptionally good actress. Even at fourteen, she was able to hide anything behind her stone-cold mask of indifference, and this was one of her points of pride. While those around her couldn't seem to stop themselves from making embarrassing blunders that came with being a teenager, she seemed to float above it all, simply observing, expressionless. Of course, that was in ordinary cases. She found this situation to be an outlier, something that she had no way to prepare for.

It happened three weeks into the first term of her fourth year, at breakfast. By this time, her eating breakfast at the Gryffindor table was nothing new. She was there for nearly every meal, excusing dinner, as that was were her friends were. She knew people in Slytherin, of course, and even liked some of them, but none other than Daisy were on the same level as the four boys who had recently taken to calling themselves the Marauders.

No one was sure how they became friends, and the five refused to discuss how Caroline had come to be a part of their little group way back in first year. Regardless, she was with them every morning, without fail. This morning was no different.

"G'mornin', Caro," James greeted, smiling warmly at the girl that he viewed as a little sister. Her lips turned up slightly in a small, but genuine smile of her own. After four years of friendship, the boys were all used to her odd, almost emotionless ways. They knew she cared about them, and that was all that mattered. By now, they had even gotten her to loosen up a little bit, though it was only really when it was just the five of them that she did so.

"Good morning," the other boys chimed in as she sat in her usual place between Remus and Peter, the two of them and Sirius speaking in an almost spooky unison.

"Never do that again," she said decidedly after a moment, glancing at each boy seriously as they started to laugh. "I mean it."

"What I'm hearing is we need to do that more often," Sirius said with a grin, lightly kicking the girl in the shin beneath the table. She scowled and kicked him back, pausing for a moment before taking his toast, slathered with grape jam, off of his plate. "Hey!"

"Oh, we're stealing food now?" Peter had a teasing grin of his own on his face as he grabbed the other piece of toast on Sirius's plate. Caroline looked down to hide her laugh as Sirius exclaimed in indignation.

"Can't be left out, now can I?" Remus said with a slight sigh, reaching across the table and laying claim of Sirius's goblet full of orange juice. He took a sip, humming in satisfaction as Sirius crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the three of them.

"James?" He turned to the other raven-haired boy, expression practically pleading for help.

"You're right, I should use a different spoon to mix my tea. Thanks, mate." He reached over and took Sirius's spoon from right beside his plate. "Cheers?" he suggested, holding up the stolen silverware. They held their stolen goods up as well, tapping them all together as if they were toasting with champagne rather than a spoon, orange juice, and two pieces of toast.

"You're all insufferable," Sirius grumbled as the boys finally broke and laughed, Caroline simply smirking as she took a bite of her pieces of toast. At that moment, owls came flooding into the Great Hall with the mail.

When a barn owl landed on their table and Remus acquired his daily delivery of the Daily Prophet, Caroline took the moment of distraction to lean toward the other three and said in a hushed voice, "I think I've found a way for us to help Remus with his little furry problem. I'm assuming you've heard of animagi?"

"Obviously, but how-"

Peter's question is cut off when another owl lands between their little huddle, forcing both him and the girl to lean back to sit in their seats properly. Caroline recognized it within moments; it was her mother's snowy white owl, Ziggy.