Hello everyone! This is the first chapter of a fic I’ve been writing! This one is kind of boring but I had to introduce the story haha also, it will be a long fic with some fluff, some smut, some angst, so please be careful while reading! Smut parts will be marked with “!!!” before it starts. If you notice any mistakes, send me a message please, as English is not my first language. Also, if you prefer oneshots, just send me a request! Hope you like it, lots of love :)
The cat slid through the common room door, taking advantage of the student that had just opened it to enter. It walked happily but with caution, going through the shadows. Not many students were in the hallways at this time of day, it was almost curfew. It continued along the school and out of the great oak doors in the hall, into the gardens. The day had been sunny, the hot days from the summer giving their last goodbye before autumn, and now, long after sunset, the air was still pleasantly warm, just as any other summer night. Perfect for a night walk, many would say.
One of those many would be Beatrice, who didn´t particularly appreciate the curfew hours of the school. It was a Friday night, why couldn’t she be out of the dorms, if she was of age, if the weather was so inviting and they had nothing to study yet? The first week of school had gone by in a hurry, she could tell the year would be busy, with their N.E.W.T.s on the way, and she wanted to enjoy the free time while she still had it.
Having reached an opening on the forest, near a pathway that led to a little lake, the cat looked around. It could hear no sound besides the occasional owl and could see no one. And so, within a blink of an eye, there was no longer a cat there, but a young girl. She fixed her hair quickly, looked around once more to make sure that no one had seen her, and went down the little path. Ahh, what could be better than listening to the calm sounds of the water at night, no one to bother her but her thoughts. She enjoyed the quiet and the being alone. She loved her friends, but she missed having time to herself, being surrounded 24/7 by people.
While she wrote some stuff on the little notebook she carried with her, focused on some ideas that had come up, she heard noises around her. They were distant but seemed to be getting closer. She listened attentively. It couldn’t be teachers, for their voices seemed rather young, which was a relief. She quickly folded her notebook inside the robe of her school uniform, and transformed back into the grey cat, hiding between the bushes and listening.
“Guys, I really don’t think this is a good idea” she heard one of the people say “It’s just our first week back, we’ll have plenty of time to do stuff all year”
“I have to agree with that” she heard another voice say, and this one she recognized, it was Remus, another 7th year student and a prefect. She met him on the prefect’s carriage at Hogwarts Express back on 5th year, although she had noticed him before, for his group of friends was rather popular. They sometimes did Prefects Duty together, and he was a nice guy, a little awkward but cute. She could only assume that the other voices belonged to the rest of the guys of the group. She did not know them intimately, only from having classes with them, but she knew who they were. James, Sirius and Peter.
“C’mon Moony, it’s our last year at school, we have to take every single opportunity we have to seize the day, create memories, live the dream – “
“Doing stupid stuff, you mean” she heard Remus say again, but she could sense a grin in his tone “Look, you know I’m all for it, but I just don’t think today is the day”
They continued their discussion about their plans, now as close to Beatrice as the main forest road would allow them. She waited patiently for their voices to become distant, so that she could transform again and continue her thinking process, but the voices didn’t seem to move at all. “Dear god, are they just going to stay there chatting all night?” she thought to herself.
While they were still chatting, she climbed the tree so that she could see them just a little, hoping that they would go away soon. However, instead of them going away, she could hear someone else coming along the path. They obviously couldn’t hear it, as her feline audition was far more powerful, but she knew that they would only notice that somebody else, probably a teacher, was coming this way when they had no way of escaping, since they were so focused on their discussion.
She thought for a second. Did she want to ignore them, and possibly let them end up on detention, or did she want to warn them in some kind of way and risk being caught herself?
Sighing, she climbed down the tree and hurried up the path, reaching the main road. She meowed once but they didn’t hear her, so she hissed loudly. They stopped their sentences mid-way and looked at the cat, but as soon as they shut up, they heart the footsteps coming closer, just around the turn. The cat hurried down the path again, considering her mission complete, and they followed her, as they had no place else to hide.
She quickly hid in the bushes again, out of their sight, but she could see them still. They hid clumsily behind the bushes next to her and waited for the footsteps to go away again.
“See, I knew today wasn’t a good day, we were almost caught” said Peter
Sirius tried to insist that they could still have an adventure that night, but the other ones seemed a little less eager “C’mon, not even you James?” he had said, but James said that he too was tired that day from Quidditch Practice and felt like hanging out on the Common Room. So they left soon after that and after making sure no one else was coming that way. Sirius looked around the place a little longer, lingering on the bush where Bea was hiding, but the callings of his friends made him leave just after that, and Beatrice was once again left alone with her thoughts “Finally” she had said.
The next week went by just as fast as the first one. Beatrice still had a lot to study, but she was a good student, and she managed to do her work rather fast. While her friends were still occupied with their essays and homework, she spent a lot of time reading and making notes on her little notebook. Just as she had done last week, Friday night she runned away from the common room and into her little hideout in the forest. It was a moment of the week she valued deeply and the one from last week had been ruined. But just as she thought that at least she could make up for her wasted time on the week before, she heard noises again, a single person this time, and coming directly at the clearing. She quickly transformed, rather annoyed, and sat on the grass, a frown still visible on her cat face.
Through the bushes, dark and big, appeared a big dog and Beatrice wished she hadn’t transformed. “It’s just a dog, stupid” she muttered to herself. She didn’t know that they were dogs on the forest, at least she had not found one yet until this time, but she didn’t really mind. Dogs were good company and she didn’t want to shove him away, as he was only laying near the water, and seemed pretty friendly, despite the long black fur. She moved away from the bush where she sat, as to have enough place to transform into a person again, but as soon as she moved, the dog seemed to notice that she was there and looked at her, with his big black eyes.
Afraid it would attack her, she transformed back within a second and looked at the dog to confirm that it was friendly before coming closer or patting him. She was surprised that, instead of seeing a happy face or an angry one, she saw a rather confused one, as if the dog was wondering what had just happened. And then, the dog disappeared and there was a man in the same place where he was.
She screamed, being caught off guard, and backed away, scared.
“Shhhhh shhh I’m sorry” the man said, worried someone might hear them, while he approached her. She opened your eyes and saw Sirius Black in front of her. “What, what…” Beatrice said, confused.
“Well, I understand the scare, but I don’t get why you are confused, taking into account that you are one as well” he said smugly, and crossed his arms, looking at Beatrice.
She stared at him for another second and then straightened herself, now coming back to her senses and feeling a little embarrassed. “Of course I know” she said, rather stiffly “I just was surprised” Beatrice hesitated. Was he a registered Animagi? Was he going to tell on her?
“I know you are not registered, but I am not as well” he said, seeming to have read her mind. “I just came here for a bit of quiet and then saw you there, I mean, the cat, and then you transformed and I was surprised…”
“How do you know I am not registered?” she asked. “You don’t even know me”
He eyed her with a soft grin on his face, like he wanted to tell her something but decided not to. “No, I don’t” he answered simply “but I know that there is not a single registered Animagi student on this school”
He, of course, didn’t know her properly but she was no strange to him. Of course they had had classes together, and he knew she was an amazing student, but he had only taken more interest in her three years ago, after a Quidditch game. It had been Ravenclaws against Gryffindors, and she was at the door of the changing room waiting for someone while he was waiting for James to go back to the Common Room and celebrate their victory. She was sitting on the bench and he was against the wall, bored and annoyed that James was taking so long to take a shower. As he had nothing to do, he looked at the girl next to him. She had nothing specifically that made her unique, but the mixture of all her features was very pleasing. With dark brown hair, golden eyes and a little scar on her nose he found rather cute. Even with her seated, he could tell she was really tall, as her Ravenclaw uniform showed a little more leg that it intended to show. He knew her last name was Crayford, but nothing besides that.
James didn’t seem to be appearing any time soon, and so he sit on the bench next to the girl and decided to talk to her. She looked up at him while he sat next to her, smiled softly and moved a little to the side as to give him more space, and then returned to her book without a word. He wanted to say hello, but before he could think of a reason to talk to her, a girl, who he recognized as one of the Ravenclaw’s chasers, came out of the changing room with a sour expression, probably from losing the game, waved at her and they left together.
He tried to find her and introduce himself in the next few days, but each time he saw her she was with her group of friends or with her head buried on her books or notebook. But there were lots of pretty girls around the school, lots of girls who seemed much more interested in knowing him than Crayford seemed, because even though she was always perfectly polite with him, casually helping him in Potions Class when nobody was looking or even letting everyone borrow her (amazing) notes, she had never once looked at him with any especial interest, and so he forgot his wish of getting to know her. But it didn’t mean he wouldn’t look at her with some interest every once in a while, in a class or during a game, while she was concentrated or writing with a Muggle pen on her notebook.
He couldn’t say he was sorry to have run into her. She was now prettier than ever, her dark hair even longer, the glasses she wore suited her face perfectly and –
“What?” she said, snapping him out of his reminiscing. He had been staring at her for a few minutes now, in complete silence.
“Nothing” he smiled, but she didn’t seem very happy. She was not looking mad, but tense and awkward. “I’m sorry, I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Sirius Black” he extended his hand towards her, like it was the first time they were seeing each other.
“I know who you are, we have classes together” she grinned “But well, I’m Beatrice. Call me Bea”
He knew at last her first name. “Well, Beatrice, looks like we are both outlaws. I won’t ask you to explain why you are an unregistered Animagi and I hope you won’t ask me well”
Bea smiled, she could sense the confidence in him, in his smug smile. She seemed to forgot she wasn’t supposed to be out of bed, and specially not in the middle of the forest with a guy that had a reputation of conquering every women he wanted.
“Well, if we have established we are not going to tell anyone about this then I think I better get going” she said finally and turned around, but was stopped by a soft grip around her wrist.
“I’m sorry if I scared you okay? I didn’t know you would be here, well, I didn’t know anybody would be here. I just wanted to be alone and remembered this place from last week and came here” he shrugged “You don’t have to leave, I can leave if you want to, but I wouldn’t mind your company”
She thought for a moment. It was her special place but she didn’t want to be rude to him and make him go away if he also needed to be alone. “Well, I guess there’s place for two.” He smiled openly “But I’m working on something, so if we could just be in silence, I would appreciate that”
“Of course” he obliged and sat down, next to the lake again, watching her sit down slowly as well, and beginning to write on her notebook again. He really wanted to ask her why she was always with that notebook, and why she used Muggle pens instead of a normal quill, but didn’t want to bother her and make her go away. He just had to think of a good reason to talk to her and initiate a conversation, which was something was usually very good at, but then again, the girls he talked to normally also wanted to talk to him.
But he couldn’t think of anything, so he just continued to seat there, waving his wand and making little constellations of light on the air in front of him, which seemed to spark her interest, because she looked up from the notebook, although she soon returned to it, and half an hour passed, she got up.
“I think I’m going to get going” Beatrice said to him “It’s getting late”
He got up quickly, almost stumbling on his feet, and waved her goodbye, unable to think of a reason to ask her to stay, but she had already gone.
“You look very thoughtful” said James to Sirius “What happened?”
“You are saying that like I don’t ever think” he answered, laughing, now coming back to reality.
They were in their common room, and after spending all day doing homework, were now enjoying a well-deserved break. But Sirius mind had been on Bea all day, he wanted to know her. She was pretty and intelligent and seemed interesting, being an Animagi just like him. He usually didn’t take this interest in girls, but usually he already knew everything he wanted to know. Why was she so secretive?
“Ugh, just tell us already, you always look like this when you are planning something” said Remus, looking at him “Tell us what happened last night and why you have been acting like you are on an exam since you have been back”
“You guys know a girl named Beatrice Crayford, right?” he asked bluntly. He knew she was a prefect, and as Remus was one as well and James was Head Boy, they surely knew her.
“Yeah of course, what happened with her?”
“Nothing, I ran into her last night, on the forest” he didn’t feel like it was his place to tell them she was an Animagi, even though he totally trusted in them.
“Well, it doesn’t seem much like her, being a Prefect and breaking the rules” said James, while eating a bit of chocolate they had gotten from the kitchen.
Remus laughed “You are one to talk, James Potter, Head Boy”
“Well I’m an exception” he replied
“Shut up Prongs, and let Moony tell me about her” Sirius replied, impatient
“Why do you care Padfoot? Please tell me you have not decided she is your next victim”
“I would not call me conquests the victims” he laughed openly “But no, I just want to know her, why is she always with that notebook?”
“You are a weird, weird guy” sighed James and they got back to work, but Sirius mind was still in the girl. Why did he want to meet her so bad? He could have any other girl.
