Turn to Black / Beware of the Dog

As I said, I never got the chance to talk to him until we officially met in our fourth year. We were both in the Gryffindor Quidditch team, he was one of the beaters and I was the other. We had clicked instantly, flying incredibly fast past all the others, laughing shooting gold and red sparks in the air while our team captain shouted at us. I had the biggest crush on him back then but, he didn’t see me as someone more than just a friend, when it had come to the time of the Yule Ball, I had so high expectations of him asking me to the ball that, when he didn’t I had wept in the girls bathroom for half an hour. Sirius was a jerk, everyone knew it, no matter how much fun we had together, it would change nothing. After the ball, he would keep being friendly and flirty with me. At one potions class, we had arrived early to the classroom with Alice and we were getting ready for class, chatting casually about how Arthur and Molly were constantly flirting and how odd the professor of Divination looked in bright green robes. I sat down at a desk and started taking out my ink and quill from my bag.
“Hey” I heard a soft and teasing voice from behind. Shivers danced down my spine and I turned around to face to owner of the voice. Sirius. I rolled my eyes and placed my bottle of ink on the desk with a loud noise. “Hello Sirius” I said, trying not to stammer or sound excited. But who was I kidding? I was excited, after all, he was Sirius Black, my first crush and the ever so charming best friend of James Potter. “Do you mind if I sit here?” he said and sat down next to me –without waiting for my reply- placing his feet on a chair close by. He smiled arrogantly and ran his fingers through his hair. He was so cool, so careless with his shirt slightly unbuttoned; his loose tie and dirty sneakers. How could I ever refuse-?
“Why not?” I said without looking at him, trying to emphasize the sarcasm in my voice. I was still sad and angry with him, since he hadn’t asked me to the ball. But of course, I hardly doubted the tone in my voice. After all, was I not merely just another simple girl to him? As the students filled the classroom-the lesson had to start sometime of course- the three best friends of Sirius pushed through the other students and sat down in the back, throwing their books on their desks. “Sirius, come here!” shouted James from across the classroom. Sirius stood up and leaned over to me before towards the back to sit with his friends; “Maybe next time m’lady.” he said flashing a mesmerizing grin and I watched him go while I waited for my heart to settle down, still stuck in that moment when he leaned over and his face was inches away from mine.
“Oh come on Daphne!” said Alice and kicked me from under the desk. I didn’t dare to turn around to catch his eye during the rest of that class but the flying paper birds kept landing on my desk with pretty words written on them.

We kept chatting and fooling around in Quidditch practice but outside practice, I tried to be distanced to him, I wanted him to go after me. Again, of course he didn’t, he wasn’t a lover boy, girls chased him and he simply smiled at them and strutted away, maybe sometimes let them play with his hair and have his arm around them. He had left my mind for the summer, but fifth grade… he wasn’t going to leave my mind in fifth grade.

Sirius had caught my attention once more at the beginning of the fifth year. But it wasn’t his charm this time; he looked tired, depressed and somehow angry. James was pale as well and they were duller. When it came to Remus, well I thought he looked somewhat guilty but I couldn’t really figure out if it was the right word for the emotion constantly placed upon his face. James and Sirius were closer to Remus than ever, not that they were distant before but they seemed tighter. It was weird, since they would usually be kicking Severus around or joking around with each other in the school garden. I wanted to go ahead and ask Sirius if he was alright, but I didn’t. If it was something he wanted to tell me he would. He would smile and wave a hand as in a hello. Lily had recognized it as well, how different they were. But she was too proud to go ahead and ask James. Then one day, Sirius learned my secret and that was the beginning. The beginning of us, in other words.
Professor McGonagall, our Professor of Transfiguration had learned about me being a born Animagus.It was after class when she had stopped me from leaving with my friends to talk to me. Apparently my mother had mentioned it in a letter. I didn’t know why she had done that, I was angry with her. “Great.” I thought, I didn’t want people to know. I had never met anyone else who had the same condition as mine and that was why I thought it was more like a weird feature rather than a skill. You can’t expect a fourteen year old girl to enjoy becoming a wolf any time she can. A wolf, oh yes, that was my Animagus shape.
“Why didn’t you tell me before, child?” I looked down and forced a smile; she continued speaking; “So that was why you kept holding back in class, being so silent and so- so inactive!” “I don’t want people to know Miss” I murmured, looking away, “I don’t like it.” I said. Professor McGonagall had her eyes wide open and her mouth pursed, “You don’t like it? That makes no sense, my girl! Being a born Animagus is a rare skill! A rare ability! Please do attend more actively in class from now on Daphne. Don’t hold back when you can be much more successful in this class!” she had said and patted me on the shoulder. I smiled and thanked her- was it a matter of option?- then left the classroom. I was heading for the Great Hall for lunch, everyone had already gone and the halls weren’t full with many students.
“Psst!” someone grabbed me by the arm and I found myself being dragged into an empty classroom by Sirius. “Merlin’s boxers, (shit sorry had to) what is ...?” I stammered but Sirius closed the door behind us and told me not to shout. “I just want to talk to you.”
That was unexpected. What was it that he wanted to talk to me about, something so urgent and secret? He sighed and started to talk …
- I heard the professor talking to you. You’re an Animagus!
- What? You listened?!
- I just stopped when I heard you two talking… Don’t worry, I won’t mention anything to anyone, just wanted to ask something from you…
I was surprised and curious, “What is it?” I asked silently. He looked up at me with troubled eyes and spoke; “I need you to teach me and James how to become an Animagus.”
I must’ve heard him wrong, “To learn how to become an Animagus?! Sirius, only very powerful and skilled wizards are able to become Animagi. Don’t get me wrong, you are a skilled wizard and so is James but the process of becoming an Animagus is long and arduous, and has the potential to backfire and cause the transformation to go horribly wrong!”
I looked at him apologetically and started walking towards the door. “Daphne! Wait,” he called out and pulled me back from my arm. “Just, sit down for a moment and listen to me, please.” He said. I sat down to a desk and dropped my bag on the floor. “Fine,” I said, “I’m listening to you.”
“You need to teach us how to become an Animagus, I can’t ask a teacher for it, no one, no one should know about this! I know I can trust you with it, you can teach us, right?” He looked so desperate. Now I was even more curious and confused. “I know how to learn to be an Animagus, Sirius, yes, even though I have never taught anyone but one thing I don’t understand is why?”
This time he sat down as well and covered his face with his hands. It was so unusual seeing him in such a condition. He was not the cool, charming Sirius he usually was; he was a concerned, desperate boy. After a few minutes of silence he dropped his hands and spoke; “A friend of us needs our help. And we can only help our friend by learning to become an Animagus! I really can’t tell you more, Daphne, I’m sorry, I can’t! I know this makes no sense but we need your help; I need your help with this.”
I didn’t understand, it made no sense but I could see it in his expression that he was serious and that this was important, very important. Moreover, he needed my help, and that was almost good enough for me. Still, I said “It will take time, a lot of time, years! Moreover, I have no experience in teaching it!”
“We have been practicing since last year, but it is getting harder, more and more tiring than ever… and we need help. I know you can do it, please, help us?”
We sat in the empty classroom for a few minutes, in complete silence. I was thinking, trying to figure out what was going on. “That’s why you and James have been so pale and… so different for a couple of weeks, isn’t it? The learning process, it is getting harder.” I said. He nodded silently without looking at me. I could tell now, how the process must’ve been weakening him and James.
“Fine,” I heard someone say and it was me, before even realizing what I had said, I had said it already, “I will help you.” Sirius jumped up from his chair and hugged me in excitement. It was the first time we had been so close, physically. His arms were wrapped around me, so strong and his wavy hair brushed my face. He started laughing and thanking me. I gently hugged him back as he kept thanking me and then we parted. “Come on,” he said and we left the classroom, “I need to tell James.”
James was furious. He was furious when Sirius told him that I was going to teach them how to become an Animagus. He pulled Sirius down to the table from his tie; a few potatoes rolled of their plates and fell to the ground as Sirius sat down. A few people sitting at the table turned to look at them suspiciously. I kept standing, as James whispered in Sirius’ ear, angrily; “Why did you tell her? We can’t trust anyone! No one can know! She can’t teach us, Sirius! We’ve been doing so well by ourselves!” Sirius pushed him back; Remus shot confused looks at them and me from across the table. “She is a born Animagus, James,” said Sirius moving his lips without making a sound while saying ‘born Animagus’, “We can trust her! She can make it easier for us, come on, don’t lie, it hasn’t been easy at all!” James glanced at me before turning away from Sirius. For a moment tiny flickers of flames danced in both their eyes. Sirius sighed, James played with his food for a minute then dropped his fork and spoke; “She can help you. But I’m going to keep practicing on my own.”
For a moment Sirius was going to say something else, he raised his hand to touch James by the shoulder but instead he turned to me and said; “We’ll start practicing tomorrow, alright?” “When, where, Sirius?” I asked but he just said; “Tomorrow, we’ll talk.” So I went to sit with Alice and the other girls. What else could I do? I told none of them about what Sirius asked me. I felt bad for making him and James argue over the matter. James didn’t trust me even though I haven’t done anything to him. He even liked me, we had talked before and we were friends, not very close friends but still… that only meant that whatever was going on was a serious secret. Not to lie though, it felt great knowing that Sirius trusted me. Our friendship after all, hadn’t been nothing to him.