Maybe Memories

Becoming an animagus was probably the smartest thing I ever did during my time at Hogwarts. Telling Estelle how I felt was the other.

The four new animagi found Remus sitting in the common room with his nose buried in a book. Sirius plopped down next to him, and Estelle next to Sirius. James sat on the arm of the couch closest to Remus and Peter sat on the floor.

"Potter! That's not meant for sitting!" Lily Evans exclaimed.

James rolled his eyes, "Give it a rest, will you Evans?"

"I will not!" Lily protested.

"Well, then...will you go out with me?" James said grinning sheepishly.

Lily made a face, "What?"

"James, stop!" Estelle hissed, "you idiot!"

"You heard me, Evans," James replied, "Will you go out with me?"

"How many times have you been hit in the head with that blunger?" Lily snarled.

"Come on, yes or no?"

"No," Lily said firmly, "Not now, or ever in a million years."

James pretended to act like he didn't care and turned his attention back to Remus, who was no longer reading his book.

"You're a bloody idiot," Remus said.

James grinned.

"Hey, Remus," Sirius said quietly, "we're going to call James, Prongs from now on."

Remus looked at him as if he'd gone mad, "What are you talking about?"

"His animagus is a stag," Estelle whispered.

Remus smiled, "Really?"

James nodded, "And Peter is a rat."

Shaking his head, Remus was fighting a wide grin, "I can't believe you guys..."

"Guess what?" Sirius said, "Mine is a dog and Estelle's is a cat."

Remus chuckled, "We should've seen that coming."

"Full moon is in two weeks," Sirius said, "I can't wait."

"Speak for yourself," Remus muttered.

Estelle gave a half-smile.

They stayed in the common room late talking about it, and planning things out. Remus and Peter were the first two off to bed. When Lily finally gave up on getting them into trouble and headed to bed, James did the same. This left Sirius and Estelle alone.

Neither of them moved.

Sirius put his hand on hers, "This was such an amazing thing today. I'm really glad you were there to share it with me."

Estelle looked at their hands, then back at Sirius, "Yes, me too."

He nudged her hand, and very slowly, their fingers locked. He could feel the butterflies swelling in his stomach while his heart rate was five times what it should have been.

She let out a heavy sigh, "Sirius..."

"What?" he questioned, feeling his heart sink so suddenly it made him nauseous.

"I told you before, I don't think it's a good idea for us to be more than friends," she said after a brief pause.

"And, why...not?" he questioned, trying not to sound as hurt as he was.

"I really, really don't want you going against your family wished on my accord," she said, "It makes me feel guilty. You --"

"I honestly don't give a damn what my family thinks!" he spat, "I don't care one little tiny bit. I want to be with you, and that's all I care about. I...I love you."

With her eyes glassy, she looked down at their hands, "I...Sirius...I love you too but--"

Quickly, he let go of her hand. He put both his hands on her cheeks and pressed his lips to hers.

She gasped, "Did you just kiss me?"

Laughing, he moved his hands, "Yeah."

For a moment, she simply stared at him. Once in his life, he was afraid he had made a mistake by acting on impulse. Although, he waited for her to react, to say something...anything at all.

Hesitating, for only a second, she put her arms around his neck and kissed him. It felt like a dream. His arms slinked around her waist and pulled her closer. The rest of the world just didn't exist. He deepened the kiss, losing his hand in her blond locks. Only with slight hesitance, he slid his tongue along her bottom lip. Her mouth opened wider, and their tongues danced and fought for dominance.

Estelle pushed Sirius back on the couch and sat on top of him. Their lips hadn't left each others. Minutes, maybe hours passed, for all he knew.

The dream state was wearing off...

"It's probably, very late..." Sirius said, sitting upright.

She nodded, blushing.

They embraced each other in a tight hug before Estelle got up, "Goodnight, Sirius."

After she left, he sat there and stared at the ground for a moment, smiling. Soon, he left for the dormitory and changed silently. He sighed contently and lied in bed.

Two weeks seemed to drag on, with homework as the anchor. When the night of the full moon finally came, Estelle had to sneak off to the boy's dormitory. That way, she James and Sirius could get under the invisibility cloak while one of them held a rat.

As quietly as possible, they crept out of the dormitory. They had to crouch, because it had been quite a while since more than two of them tried to fit under the cloak together. After a cramped trip, they reached the Whomping Willow.

"Brace yourself, guys," Estelle said, "Remus will likely be in the process of changing, so I suggest preparing to change forms."

They inched through the tunnel. When they reached the other end, they could hear the horrible screams of agony coming from Remus.Their entrance was followed by a quick removal of the invisibility cloak.

"Remmie..?" Estelle said quietly.

Remus was hunched over, hands against the wall. He looked awful, and the sounds of suffering proved he felt as bad as he looked. Sirius' face twisted, partially appalled and partial sympathetic as Remus' back arched and curled. Awful popping noises and groans were echoing through the room. The worst part was, there wasn't a thing any of them could do about it.

Aside from Remus, Estelle was going through the most discomfort. Her hand was clasped over her mouth and she was on the verge of tears.

With his hand on Estelle's shoulder, Sirius watched, mortified, as Remus continued shifting. His hands curled into paws, his face elongated, very, very slowly as he cried out.

Quickly, the three of them that weren't in their animagus forms, shifted into a cat, dog, and stag. Prongs lowered his head, that way the rat could climb onto his antlers and avoid being stepped on.

Still, he pain that Remus was going through was horrific to watch. Before the knew it, Remus was no longer himself at all, but a wolf-man, standing on it's hind legs.

Unsure of what to do, the dog moved in front of the other animals, feeling obligated to protect them if something went wrong. The werewolf turned, noticing the presence of the others. It starred for a long moment before approaching.

The werewolf sniffed the shaggy dog, and the dog sniffed it in return. Curiously, the cat moved from around the dog, tail swishing, to get a better look at the almost puppy-like werewolf. When the werewolf noticed the cat, it seemed quite amused my it's swishing tail.

The animals and the werewolf seemed to grasp the idea of each other. The shaggy, black dog trotted happily behind the werewolf out of the tunnel. The stag took graceful strides behind them, while the cat followed far behind the stag, observing the group that she would be dealing with very carefully.