metanoia

Chapter Twenty

"Oh come on, mate. It's a good idea," Sirius defended Alex as Remus, Letti and her were arguing over the next full moon.

Lisette whipped her head around to face the boy, glaring at him, "No one asked for your opinion, Black. This is between the three of us."

"So here's the million dollar question-"

Letti rolled her eyes at Alex, fearing the next sentence to follow after learning in Astronomy that the next full moon would be during a total lunar eclipse, "Oh brother..."

"No, no, no, hear me out okay," Alex prompted holding her hand up to quiet Letti. Seeing that she had everyone's full attention, she continued in voicing her curiosity about the upcoming Full moon, "So since the moon isn't technically out because it will be in Earth's shadow, does that mean that you two won't fully transform?"

Remus considered this for a moment before sharing a look with the other lycanthrope, both silently trying to figure out the answer. James and Sirius stared at the blonde in shock, not having thought about the technicality of the night upcoming. She sits on the Marauder's bedroom floor, eye level with the bedframes and their shins, letting them contemplate her question as she zones out.

     The Full Moon lights up the midnight sky, like a single spotlight illuminating  the still dark night. The woods remained deadly quiet, untouched by those that didn't belong. As the two teenagers caught sight of the celestial object that hung alone in the night sky, their bodies began to change and shift into inhuman structures because they weren't human.

Writhing in indescribable pain, both the male and female, transformed from man into wolf. Howling at the sky that they only saw through a small dirty window, the pair trot around the small confinement that was the wooden shack, occasionally swiping at the other in a fight to establish dominance.

Outside the locked door of the shack stood four teenagers, three lads and a short blonde girl. Their hushed arguments continued until the blonde transformed into a grey wolf, nudging the others with her wet nose. The shorter chubby one shrunk down as well, falling to the floor, becoming a creature so small; a rat, that next to the wolf he looked like an ant. The wild haired one shrugged at his companion, him too, crouching down into a black shaggy dog.

"Fine, but we honestly should never do this again after tonight. They're getting to be too much for the four of us to handle together," the bespectacled boy hissed at the canines in front of him, turning into a stag.

Alex snapped herself out of her daydream/ premonition, pulling her wand out of her hair, opening the Marauder's Map, then pointing to the entrance to Lisette's Shack, "Okay, before you two start arguing about this again, please just hear me out. Normally Letti and I go in here, no problem. Maybe just this once, instead of walking two miles through those tunnels to get there, you two could spend it together. Look, Damocles Belby developed a potion called Wolfsbane a few years back, it's supposed to dull the werewolf and allow you to keep your human mental state. I've been trying to perfect it since 3rd year and I've finally done it. This will help too. If it doesn't work then fine, but please just try."

Remus considered what she had to say, and she did have a good point. He's read about this potion but since Potions was never really his strong suit, he never attempted it. If she successfully made a batch for them, then maybe this could be good for them. Remus looked to his friend, leaving the final decision up to her, "If she really did it and it works, then we could spend it together and it would not be a problem. It's not that bad of an idea with the Wolfsbane."

Letti scowled at her fellow lycanthrope, realizing that Alex's idea was a good one despite her reservations, "Fine. But Cycle starts in a few days, do you have the Wolfsbane ready, Allie?"

Shocked that they agreed to her idea, Alex excitedly jumped off the ground, wrapping her arms around Remus' neck first for being on her side then her best friend, "Yes, yes, yes and I have enough for both of you."

In the days to come, each of the lycanthropes had to drink a goblet full of the potion a day. The potion was absolutely disgusting and every time they went to make it semi-tolerable, Alex would attack them, explaining to them how it would make the Wolfsbane ineffectual if they added even the slightest bit of sugar. On the night of the Full Moon, the pair snuck down to the Shrieking Shack to transform. In the silence of the room, Lisette and Remus felt their aching bodies begin to rip itself from their normal human figures. There was a terrible snarling noise. Their heads lengthening. So did their bodies. Both of their shoulders were hunching as hair sprouted visibly onto their faces and hands, which were curling into clawed paws. Until they both fully became their wolf counterpart, looking at each other curiously because neither of them ever truly saw another of their kind until then.

"Guys," James whispered to the other three as they stood outside the door, hearing only the shuffling of their friend's feet, "It's time. I really hope this works, Twilight, because this is going to be bloody torture if it doesn't."

"It'll work, I've been perfecting that potion for years. I have spent every knut and sickle Letti and I could spare, which was none for your information even with Letti pickpocketing what she could, to buy those ingredients. It will work," Alex defends her potion, more trying to convince herself that she did right by them than convince them that her handy work was infallible.

One by one, the remaining Marauders turned into their respective animagus while entering the room containing their drugged friends ending with Alex. Peter scurried in first, seeing the two overgrown wolves staring at each other. Sirius and James trot in shortly after, preparing themselves for the worst, but see that Remus and Letti were tame thus far. Even when they caught a glimpse of Alex's blonde hair as she was transforming into her grey wolf Animagus, they both remained in their tired unmotivated state. 

Over the years with Letti, Alex has learned that in order to show that she wasn't scared of the werewolf she had to stand her ground and stare down the wolf. But this evening there was no standing ground, once they transformed Moony and Star curled up in a ball and didn't move, they didn't even look at their Animagus friends.

In the light of dawn, Lisette and Remus returned to their human state unscathed. They inspect themselves, finding that the only pain they had was from when they initially transformed. The Marauder's all looked to their Potion brewer, astonished that her Wolfsbane was actually perfect. Alex smiled at her friends triumphantly, she'd been right.

Alex smirked at her mates, "I hate to say I told you so but-"

Her smug I-Told-You-So speech was cut short by the bone crushing hugs she received from Remus and Letti. "Thank you," they chorus together in her ears, crushing her in their embrace.