Cats and Dogs

Chapter 22

“Wake up, now. You’ve got to take this potions.” I heard Madam Pomfreys voice say and I felt her hand shake my shoulder.
My eyes fluttered open and she smiled, “Hello deary - now sit up please and drink this.” she held out a goblet, waiting for me to sit up and I slowly complied.
“What is it?” I asked once she gave me the glass and I peered in to see a deep crimson liquid.
“Blood Replenishing Potion,” I made a face and she rolled her eyes, “drink it. You’ve lost a lot of blood.”
I sighed and put the goblet to my lips and then slowly sipped it and my face went sour as the thick coppery liquid slid over my tongue and down my throat. “Gross.” I stated as Madam Pomfrey took the goblet and looked up.
“Alright Professor, you can speak with her now.” She turned around and made her way to her office and I looked to my right and saw Professor Dumbledore sitting on the bed next to mine.
“Professor!” I said in surprise, not knowing he had been there the whole time.
He smiled softly and his blue eyes were twinkling as usual, “Your friends are in bed, though they did not go so willingly.”
I smiled and his eyes fell upon my right hand that was now laying at my side and I was surprised to see it wasn’t heavily wrapped in bandages, in fact there wasn’t a single one. I raised it and examined my palm and there were two pink parallel scars that reached one side of my palm to the other.
“I’m afraid not even my wand could remove the scars. And it took me a few tries to close them. They were very stubborn.” Dumbledore stood up and walked to my side and lifted my hand, examining the scars.
My eyes widened, “You had to heal me?” Silly little scratched seemed far too unimportant for the Headmaster himself to heal.
He nodded, “Oh yes, Madam Pomfrey was unable to, like I said I even was having trouble with them.”
“But why? They were only caused by some broken glass -- there was nothing magical involved.”
“But how did the glass break?” he asked, peering at me over his half moon spectacles.
I frowned, “Er… well… I guess I was a bit angry and it… sort of exploded -- but the glass itself wasn’t magical!”
“Yes, but when you got angry you lost control of your magic and it surged through the glass. So for a moment, yes, that glass had turned magical when it cut you.” My eyes widened and then fell. “There is no need to feel ashamed, Amilia.” He said, reading my mind. “Many great Wizards and Witches have lost control of their powers, I, myself, being one of them.” He smiled. “I am, however, concerned as to why you lost control. And -- though do not let this go to your head -- I am impressed that you were able to make your power go through a non-magical object.”
I scoffed quietly, “I think it would have been more impressive if I actually knew that I did it…” Dumbledore was quiet, waiting for me to answer the first question. “Oh… er… I… Well… um… I… I don’t know.” Was all I managed to say.
He smiled, “Ah, to be young and to feel love’s keen sting…” I gaped at him. “If you feel well enough you may head back up to the Gryffindor Tower or you can stay here for the night.”
I threw off the covers and got out of the bed and Dumbledore was smiling softly as if he knew I would do that. “Thank you, for healing me.”
He nodded, “You are very welcome.”
I smiled lightly and then left the Hospital Wing and made my way to the Gryffindor Tower. ’Ah, to be young and to feel love’s keen sting…’ What the bloody hell was he talking about? I snorted out loud.
“Hush! Did you hear that?!” I heard male voice whisper harshly.
There were murmurs, “No. Honestly, Yaxley, you’re too paranoid at two in the morning.” another male voice said snidely.
“Shut it- both of you. Do you want to wake up the whole seventh floor? If you haven’t forgotten, Yaxley, Mulciber, this is the Gryffindor’s floor.” A firm voice stated and I recognized it as Nott’s.
“Did you ask Snape to join us?” my eyes widened at this familiar voice and my heart was beating hard.
“Yeah, but you know how he is, Black, grades first, loyalties later. He said he should be able to make it to our next meeting.” A cool voice stated and I also recognized it as Avery’s.
Regulus scoffed, “’Grades first, loyalties later’, aye? Sounds like he’s just watching out for himself. Staying in the common room doing his homework while we’re out here risking our necks-”
“Watch it, Black. That’s our friend your talking about.” Mulciber stated.
“Besides, I’m not sure I even want him here.” said a cold voice.
“Oh, and why’s that, Parkinson?” said yet another male voice that belonged to Rosier.
“Don’t tell me you haven’t seen that way he is with that filthy Mudblood, Evans.” spat Parkinson.
“Parkinson’s right, how can we trust him?” asked Nott.
“He’s in Slytherin, ain’t he? Plus, he doesn’t like the Evans girl - you heard he called her a filthy Mudblood a while ago.” Avery said.
“Forget about Snape, for a moment,” Yaxley stated impatiently, “we got to figure out how to use this room. I don’t know how it came up last time.”
“Bloody idiot. It’s the Room of Requirement,” Regulus stated. “You’ve just got to walk back and forth in front of it thinking about what you need the room for. So, just think what you were thinking last time, and hurry.”
There was silence for a few moments and then a gasp, “Look - a door!” Parkinson yelled.
“Shut it!” Several of them yelled.
“Who’s out there?!” my eyes widened at the sound of Filch’s voice and I quickly turned into a cat and ran around the corner and I saw the group of Slytherins rush through the door. Regulus was the last one to enter and turned around to close the door and froze when he saw me standing there looking at him with narrowed cat eyes.
At the sound of Filch’s heavy wheezes Regulus shut the door and I saw it disappear. “Ah, what’s this?” I turned around and met eye to eye with Mrs. Norris. She hissed at me and swat at me with her claws out and I quickly backed up and then ran quickly towards the Gryffindor Tower.
“Password?” The Fat Lady asked with shut eyes and a yawn.
I quickly turned into my normal self, “Delirious.”
“Correct.” and she swung open and I quickly scrambled into the common room, breathing heavily. Once I caught my breath I slowly and quietly went up to the girls dorm and then slid into my bed and shut my eyes. But it was a while until I was able to clear my mind of what I had overheard and go to sleep.

~~~

“Amilia!” my eyes shot open and I saw Lily standing over me with a smile and slightly worried eyes.
I groaned out a yawn and stretched and shut my eyes, “It’s Sunday!” I groaned loudly, “I want to sleep in!”
“It’s twelve.” she stated.
I peeked open one eye and looked up at her. She had her hands on her hips and she was smiling lightly, “Okay, fine.” I sighed and sat up and then rubbed my eyes.
“Come on, I’m sure the guys want to see you!” she grabbed my hand and pulled me out of my bed and dragged me towards the door.
“Lily! I’m still in my pajamas!” I squeaked with wide eyes but she still pulled me down the stairs. “Lily, I’m going to break up with Regulus!” I whispered.
She stopped abruptly and turned around with wide eyes and I could see a bit of excitement in them. “What? Why?When?”
I rolled my eyes, “I said I’m breaking up with Regulus, because, and I’m not sure yet. I need to… kind of… use him a bit.”
Her jaw dropped, “Use him?”
I heard a loud yawn from downstairs, “Can we go back up and talk about this?”
She nodded hastily but froze, “Amilia?! Was that- Oof!” Our eyes widened when the stairs turned into a slide and we fell on our arses and slid down and tumbled into the common room. I rolled onto Lily who had knocked James off of his feet causing him to fall onto me.
“Urg! Ah, gerroff!!” Lily screamed from under me.
James gasped, “Lily-Flower!” James pushed himself off of me, pushing one of his hands on my face, and the other… shall remain anonymous -- and then hastily pulled me off Lily, tossing me aside and onto the floor.
James gently picked up Lily, “James!” she said angrily as she stood up, “You just threw Amilia onto the floor!” she sent James a hard, disapproving look and I slowly got up.
“I’m alright-”
“Amilia!” James gasped and ran over to me and pulled me into a bone crushing embrace. He let me go, “Whiskers, we were very worried about you.” he put his hands on his hips.
I looked at him oddly and then shook my head, “You’re weird.” I stated and then sat on the couch.
Lily sat on my right and James on my left, “Sirius and Remus thought you were still in the Hospital Wing so they left a few minutes ago.” James stated.
“Your hand!” Lily reached over and lifted my right hand and looked at it, “You’ve got scars?”
“Yeah, Dumbledore couldn’t get rid of them.” I stated.
“Dumbledore?” Lily and James said in unison, both with surprised expressions.
“Yeah, Madam Pomfrey couldn’t heal it either, Dumbledore said he even had a bit of difficultly healing it.”
“But why?” asked Lily.
“I lost control of my powers and it went through the glass so it actually became magical, so that’s why my wounds wouldn’t heal.” I explained quickly.
“Oooh, why did you loose control?” James asked with a smirk. “You know… Sirius was just outside with Lena-”
“It has nothing to do with that.” I stated quickly sending James a glare.
His eyes widened and then a stupid grin spread over his face, “So defensive. Wouldn’t you agree, my Lily-Flower?”
“Yes, I would, -- and stop calling me that.” I sent her a glare while she smiled sweetly.
I stood up, “You’re both mental. I’m going down to the Great Hall for breakfast-”
“Wait,” Lily stood up, “are we going to talk about… You-Know-What?”
“Voldemort?” James stood up, looking alarmed and I rolled my eyes.
“No, no. Something else, James, calm down.” Lily put her hands on his chest and kissed him lightly on the lips and he then grinned like an idiot.
“Um, later. I’ve got to work out a plan.”
“A plan? Plan for what?” I heard Remus say and I turned around and he smiled, “Ah, Amilia, feeling better?”
“Amilia’s in there?!” Sirius scrambled out of the entrance and then quickly stood and his eyes landed on me. He took quick long strides over to me and then grabbed my hand, “Are you okay? How are you? Are you still bleeding?” he examined my hand.
“I’m fine, I’m fine, and no, obviously I’m not bleeding.” I pulled my hand out from his warm grasp.
He frowned for a moment and then he seemed to regain his composure and grinned, “Alright,” he roughly patted my shoulder, “I’m off then.” he walked back over to the portrait hole and turned and looked at James, “Lena awaits.” he wiggled his eyebrows and I felt a heat boil in my blood and he left the common room.
“I suddenly don’t feel hungry.” I whispered and sunk back down into the sofa.
“Ah, Peter my boy!” James said happily as Peter descended down from the stairs.
Peter grinned and scratched his head tiredly and I frowned, “Don’t you ever talk?” I suddenly asked.
His beady eyes widened and he nodded and I raised an eyebrow.
“Leave him alone, Whiskers, he’s just shy around girls! So, er, Mooney, tonight… Your furry little problem.” he peered at Lily through the corner of his eye and saw her furrow her eyebrows in confusion.
“I don’t understand, everyone says you’ve got a rabid rabbit, but I’ve never seen it!” Lily huffed, obviously not liking being out of the loop.
I let out a laugh and Remus sighed darkly, the bags under his eyes were darker and he seemed a bit more on edge, “Yeah.”
“Whiskers, you coming this time?” James asked.
I opened my mouth to answer but was cut off by Remus, “No. She’s too small.”
Lily looked more confused.
“Hey! I could take you down with three of my paws tied behind my back!” I said in my defense and James laughed.
“Take Remus down? What paws?” Lily asked, her eyes looking over all of us with deep suspicion.
“Er, this discussion is hereby closed of… discussing. Alright, I’m going down for some breakfast, anyone care to join me? Lily?” he looked at her hopefully.
“No, Amilia and I have got other things to talk about.” she stated and I sighed.
“We’ll go.” Remus said and Peter nodded and they all left the common room.
“Okay, talk.” Lily demanded.
“Last night when I was coming back up from the Hospital Wing there was a group of Slytherin boys out on this floor.”
“What time did you get back?”
“Around two.”
“What were a group of Slytherin boys doing out at that time?” she asked curiously.
“I think they’re planning something. They were trying to get into some weird room… what was it called? Er… Room of Requirement!”
Her eyes widened, “Room of Requirement? I’ve never heard of it before. I’ll have to check the library… What else did they say?”
“They… were talking about Snape.”
Lily froze and then cleared her throat, “Oh? What did they say?”
“Er… Well, they were a bit annoyed he didn’t go-”
“So he wasn’t in the group?”
“Well… no… but Avery -- he was there, big surprise -- said Snape was going to try and make it to the next one. He couldn’t go to this one because he was doing homework or studying or something.”
Lily said nothing for a while and then inhaled a sharp breath, “Well, what he does with his own time is no concern of mine. He chose his own fate.”
“Er… right…”
“Wait, what’s any of this got to do with Regulus?” Lily asked.
“He was there. He seemed determined to get down to business.” I stated coldly.
“Oh, Amilia… I’m so-”
“Why? I’m the one who’s gonna dump him.” I smiled. “He was a jerk anyways,” I mumbled, “even though I knew you guys wouldn’t approve of me dating him, I still told you guys because I wasn’t ashamed… he was. What a prat.”
Lily smiled lightly, “So, does that mean, you and Sirius-”
“What? There is and never will be, a ‘me and Sirius’.” I stated firmly.
Lily sighed, “I wish I could convince you like you convinced me.”
I rolled my eyes and then decided to change the subject, “Would you like to help me with my Ancient Runes homework?” I smiled and gave her puppy dog eyes.
“Alright,” she smiled, “but only if you go out with Sirius!” she added quickly.
“What?!”
She laughed, “I was only joking.”

~~~

Lily and I worked on homework for most of the day while the Marauders did some last minute pranks, until James decided to ‘take a walk around the school’ with Lily making her blush and nod wordlessly.
“Gross.” I mumbled with a scowl.
“Don’t be bitter, Amilia.” Sirius stated sitting next to me at the table. “What’s all this?” he said gesturing at all my homework.
“It’s called homework, you know that thing you have to do to get good grades, not that you would know.” I stated coolly.
He rolled his eyes, “I have good grades. All because I don’t show off doesn’t mean I’m stupid.”
“Ha!” I let out a wicked laugh, “You? Not show off? Ha!” I stood up and began to gather my things and then looked around. “Where’s Remus?”
“Waiting in the Shrieking Shack. Its almost sunset.” Sirius stated, stretching and yawning. “James said you were joining us this time, am I correct?” his face suddenly serious.
I nodded, “Yeah. What kind of Marauder would I be if I’m not even doing any group activities?” I smiled but he didn’t.
“Look, this isn’t just some group activity, its dangerous. And well… you’re just a cat.”
I raised an eyebrow, “Just a cat?”
“Oh, did I say just a cat? I meant a- wait, I feel like we’ve been over this before-”
“Look, whatever, I can take care of myself. Last time, well, I wasn’t exactly expecting to be attacked by a stupid black dog-”
“Hey!”
“But, now that I know what’s going on, well, I’m looking forward to stretching my cat limbs.”
“I’m not a stupid dog…” he mumbled.
I rolled my eyes, “So…” I swallowed a large lump in my throat and let out a rigid sigh, “how’s things with Lena?”
His eyebrow raised slowly, “Fine… Why?”
I shrugged, “Just wondering. We are friends, aren’t we? Aren’t I allowed to know how my friend’s relationships are going?”
His eyes narrowed, “Sure, I guess…” he said slowly. “So, how are things going with… the prat?”
That almost made me laugh and I had to fight back my smile, “Uh, er, well,” I sighed, “I’m going to break up with him.”
His eyes widened and he sat up straight in his chair, “What? Why? Did he hurt you? Emotionally or physically? What did he do?!” he stood up suddenly.
My eyes were wide and my mouth was ajar and I couldn’t help but notice a fluttering sensation in my stomach causing me to smile lightly and this seemed to make Sirius relax. “He didn’t do anything. I just… it’s complicated and really stupid.”
“Oh… well, er, good riddance.” he smiled weakly and then sat back down. I chewed on the inside of my lip feeling the air become heavy and awkward. “So… did you finish your Ancient Runes homework?” he asked.
I nodded, “Yeah, why? Do you need help?"
He grinned and leaned back, “Nope. Finished it ages ago.”
I smiled and shook my head and I heard the portrait door open and Lily and James came into the common room.
“Oh, Sirius, Amilia… alone.” James wiggled his eyebrows and Sirius scoffed.
Lily hit James in the arm and mouthed him to shut it, and then sent me a smile, “I’m going to bed. See you guys tomorrow morning.”
We all waited until we heard the girl dorm door open and shut. “Alright,” began James, “I’m going to go get the Cloak and then we’re going to go down. Remus is already in the Shrieking Shack and Wormtail is waiting for us. I’ll be right back,” he ran over to the stairs but stopped and turned back and looked at us with a smirk, “You two behave while I’m gone!” he ran up the stair before Sirius or I could argue.
“He’s an idiot.” Sirius mumbled.
“I agree.”
We were silent as we stood next to each other, waiting for James and I felt Sirius’s hand brush mine, “Sorry!” he said quickly taking a step away from me, “Muscle spasm.” he mumbled.
The flutter in my chest subsided and I sighed quietly.