@jegulus-microfic March 16, Word count 565
“No. No way. This is not what we agreed, Crouch,” James rarely got angry. But where his friends are involved, he’d move mountains to protect them.
“Oh come on, Potter. We’ll be careful. Seriously, who’s it gonna harm?” Barty scoffed.
“There cannot be eight unregistered animagi running around Hogwarts,” James argued back. He couldn’t put Remus at risk like this. He’d go back to being covered in injuries every month, and they’d end up expelled at the least and in Azkaban at the worst.
“James!” Regulus hissed under his breath. He was staring at Barty, whose brow was furrowed as he thought over James’s words. His tongue flicked out, licking his lips before he narrowed his eyes at James.
“Wouldn’t it be nine unregistered animagi?” Barty asked. James felt his blood run cold. He’d fucked up. “You, Sirius, Pettigrew and Lupin,” Barty’s voice purred around Remus’s name and, as if just to punctuate Barty’s musings, the unmistakable howl of a werewolf broke the silence. Barty’s mouth fell open and his eyes widened. “No way! I thought that was just a rumour Snape was spreading. It's true?!”
“What’s true?” Evan and Dorcas asked, but before James could shut it down or Barty could tell them, Pandora plucked a purple flower from the ground. She reached up and tucked it behind Barty’s ear, stroking his hair flat.
“Oh, he’s talking about Remus being a werewolf.” She said in her airy voice before adding a flower to Regulus’s hair. He ducked down and let her position it where she wanted. Next, she tapped James’s arm, and he was so bewildered he crouched down and let her do whatever she wanted. “He’s very lucky to have friends like you,” she whispered into his ear.
“Please, Potter,” Barty asked again in a sickly sweet voice. James pinched the bridge of his nose. This wasn’t something he could decide on his own. “Look, what if we just do the mandrake leaf? That way, you’ll have an entire month to mull it over, and if you guys decide we’re too much of a risk for Lupin, then we can discuss learning at a later date,” James looked at Regulus, who seemed just as taken aback as he was. He didn’t know what to do. Regulus moved closer to him and addressed his friends.
“Fine, you can do the mandrake leaf, but if we decide it’s not going to work, you won’t advance onto the next step,” Barty whooped.
“Deal,” he held out his hand, and Regulus handed over one of the leaves.
The five Slytherins looked up at the full moon shining above them and placed the leaves under their tongues.
“Well, that felt a bit anticlimactic.” Barty sighed right before another of Remus’s howls drifted over to them on the wind.
“And on that note, we’re going to bed, come along, Pandora,” Dorcas gave them a short wave, grabbed Pandora and Evan by the wrists and stalked across the lawn with them back to the safety of the castle, Barty following at his own leisurely pace.
“Well, that could have gone better,” Regulus huffed, taking James’s hand and pulling him towards the castle after his friends. “Might as well make use of the empty dorm room.” Now, that was something James could get behind. He picked up his step, scooped Regulus up into his arms and strode back to the castle.