IT'S MAGIC ❤︎ WHY DONT WE

thirty two

zach has yet to come back to classes. he continues to stay with remus while his friends take notes and visit him during breaks. other students have become slightly suspicious, but there wasn't any proof zach wasn't sick.

the pains have gotten worse. zach physically could not move, no matter what remus gave him the pain came back. he didn't want his friends to see him like this but they still continued to visit.

tension between jack and daniel has grown. they could barely look at each other and when they did, it was like burning balls of hatred and fire were flying at each other. it was rare for there to be silence between them.

whenever they encountered the other, something was said. at this point, his friends wouldn't hold him back. jack deserved to have the full experience of daniel's wrath. he was livid.

most teachers turned a blind eye to the feud, quite like how they do with harry and draco's rivalry. only teacher who doesn't let it go unnoticed is remus. he knows all too well about feuds between gryffindors and slytherins.

and some nights, when zach couldn't sleep, remus would tell him all kinds of stories from when he was a student. but tonight, it was the friend group's monthly slumber party night. once a month the group sneaks out to the astronomy tower and spend the night up there together.

this month, remus allowed them to spend the night with him and zach in his sleeping quarters. remus even supplied them with whatever they requested. it was a candy and chocolate galore. but when zach couldn't fall asleep, he asked remus to tell another story.

most of the other seven were awake, so they listened intently. "okay, let's see... back in our third year, peter and i had brought sodas with us for the train ride. with no idea that james and sirius hadn't a clue about them." remus started to tell.

zach giggled, how could anyone not know about sodas? remus continued his story to the now eight students, "when they asked to try one, of course peter and i exchanged looks. it was an opportunity to mess with them, we had to take it." he said as if it was outrageous or illegal to have done anything else.

"so we told them to shake it first. otherwise the flavours wouldn't mix. so they did and when they popped the can opened it sprayed everywhere. oh i don't think i had ever laughed so hard."

the students laughed at the story, "do you have any other stories professor?" christina asked him. the others nodded, wanting to here so much more. "oh of course i do. i have at least seven years worth of stories to tell."

"okay. oh, i will never forget the day james and sirius learned muggle christmas songs. they would not stop singing –terribly might i add. the amount of times peter and i heard deck the halls and rudolph the red nosed reindeer..." he shook his head, chuckling lightly.

"i bet you're sick of those songs now." daniel grinned, "oh i definitely am. but listening to the songs reminds me of the times the four of us were still together." he sighs. "well now i'm sad, tell a funny one remus." zach requested.

his friends were still shocked with zach calling their professor by his first name. "well you kids know the whomping willow right?" the eight nodded, some perking up for this next story. "back in our fifth year, we were in the common room. i was reading my book, peter was trying desperately to study while james and sirius rambled on about gods knows what."

zach giggled. "then suddenly, i hear a part of their conversation. sirius was thinking that if he hit back, the tree would stop hitting. he and james were arguing about it, and i could not believe them." he shook his head as he continued. "i just said, 'you can't honestly think that the whomping willow will stop hitting you if you hit back.' but those two were so convinced it would work."

"they left the common room, saying they were going to test sirius' theory. about an hour later, james came back to the common room to ask for help. sirius had gotten himself stuck somehow when trying out his theory." the eight students laughed. none of them could believe that he was talking about the same sirius black who got locked up in azkaban.

daniel then asked him a question about his time at school. "professor? the feud between gryffindor and slytherin, was it worse when you were at school? and how would you handle a feud with someone you used to be best friends with?"

remus sighed, thinking back to all the times they messed around with the current potions master. "oh i know all too well about those kinds of feuds. and trust me, the rivalry between the two houses has been terrible for decades."

"the four of us, we had quite a feud with professor snape–" "our potions teacher?!" tate exclaimed, "the one and only. back then we had a nickname for him. we weren't totally the nicest kids. but he was far worse. the lot of us would get into battles, one hex after the other."

"my advice to you daniel, don't let it become how ours was. if you used to be friends, do your best to reconnect that. there's nothing more important or valuable than friends." remus told him. "but professor he's terrible to zach. how could i ever be friends with him again?"

the professor sighed, "those who are cruel tend to be fighting their own battles in secret. i'm not saying it's right, but maybe there is something you don't know about that makes him take it out on others." daniel nodded, understanding what his teacher had told him.

•••

it was meant to happen today. zach's transformation. it's been a whole week of the hufflepuff experiencing those terrible pains, and now he's meant to transform. all professors had been informed just like when remus was a student at hogwarts.

zach was escorted out of the castle by remus, madam pomfrey, professor mcgonagall and professor sprout. the pain was so bad he couldn't walk out by himself, they were carrying him.

it was a sight the other seven could not watch. their dear friend being carried out of the castle by their teachers while he was in terrible pain. remus assured them he would be okay, but their minds couldn't help but wander around from scenario to scenario of zach being hurt.

remus stayed with zach the whole time, he refused to leave. just like his friends had refused to leave him back in his school days. he even gave zach his marauders ring in hope of encouraging him to push through this.

and he did. zach finally felt a release after hours and hours of sharp pains. that release came when he transformed. when he changed from a small young boy into a fierce red fire dragon. yes you saw that right. zach's inner creature was a dragon.

when the transformation came to an end, zach didn't remember what he did when he changed. it was as if he had blacked out for that time.