#the other is behind the cork bark it will grow a bit taller in the future and look nice I promise

[encryptedlunacy]

Yeah these are the only ferns in my possession - that's a lie, I have a blue star fern in another pot, but it's not looking too hot rn so I'll correct myself and say the only HEALTHY ferns - and they just sit in a jar. I don't have to do anything; they ignore me, I ignore them, we have an arrangement.

[anotherlifesomewhereinthesun]

Becoming Animagi

Prompt #10: Becoming Animagi

Rating: PG | Word Count: 2,828 | canon | AO3 

Synopsis: James and Sirius become animagi, play some fetch, hug Remus, and surprise Lily Evans. Would you expect anything less?

Author Notes: I had no plans to write anything for this prompt, but then this happened. I just went with it, as you do sometimes. I’m so out of practice on writing regularly that the feeling still feels brand new. :)

It was Sirius who managed it first, but only by an hour or two. Years after, if asked for one of their greatest memories of all of the adventures they had together, becoming animagi together would remain the answer.  It was a pivotal moment not only in their development from children to young men, but in the evolution of their very friendship. Close as brothers when they started their journey towards illegally transfiguring themselves, their bond after was sacred and unyielding.

Three months into fifth year, two days after a full moon, there was a lightning storm. Remus was still in the hospital, Peter had not returned from detention with Professor Sprout from a prank in class gone awry. Sirius and James snuck out of the castle under the invisibility cloak. It was not past curfew - most people were at dinner, so the use of the cloak was a bit unnecessary. But it added an element of mystique to the proceedings, and if there was one thing that the boys could appreciate together, it was the added flare.

They headed straight to the Quidditch field, putting up Alertness Charms as they went that Remus had found and suggested they learn if they wanted to be successful at this ridiculous endeavor. He had long ago stopped trying to talk James and Sirius out of their plan. Instead, sometime in third year, he had stopped ignoring their schemes and adopted the role of research assistant. He devoted most of his time not consumed by Prefect duties and homework to coming up with new spells that would aid the other boys. Most of the time it meant helping Peter, who lacked the natural gumption that fueled most of Potter and Black’s successes.

The weather was atrocious. Rain pelted down on the two figures and the and bent the trees into gruesome stick figures, shedding the last of their leaves in an angry shake. “Lovely day for a stroll, isn’t it, mate!?” Sirius threw his arm around James’s shoulder and raised his face to the sky, feeling the rain beat down on his cheeks and wet his hair. James grinned and crowed a whoop of delight.

The two boys were already soaking wet and James could barely see thanks to the rain running down in sheets on his glasses.  His thick, wiry hair stuck up in giant, wet poofs all of his head, making him look like a tall, gangly troll. Sirius, who was broader but not taller than James, could feel his longer, shaggier hair curl up around his shoulders as it dripped down onto his shoulders.

“Do you have your potion?” James asked and spun around them in a circle, securing the last of their protective wards against anyone who would be stupid enough (like them) to be out in the middle of the storm. A roll of thunder answered him and Sirius laughed manically, high on adrenaline and risk. He groped in his damp pocket for the small vial and showed it to James.

“Mate, this is it. You’re ready.” James gripped onto Sirius’s arm, in an attempt to calm his friend, who suddenly looked slightly putrid green, but also to comfort himself. “We have arrived!”

They had never been this close. There had been a failed attempt last year and the abysmal failure over the summer. The summer’s failure had humbled the boys and they had resolved to each other then that their next attempt would be different. It would be better. It would be controlled. It would be focused. And now they could feel the difference in the air. While damp and slightly chilly, there was a crackle of energy on the wind, occasionally erupting into actual lightning overhead.

Sirius took a deep breath and then pulled out his wand. James said nothing as the other boy concentrated on the words he needed to say, the words he had been reciting at sunrise and sunset for the better part of four months, ever since their disastrous attempt in August, and then pointed his wand straight at his heart.

“Amato Animo Animato Animagus!”

James then handed him the potion. “Cheers, brother!” He thumped Sirius on the back and took a step back. Sirius popped the cork from the vial and downed it in one swig.

At first, nothing happened. Then, with a clap of thunder roaring overhead and the buzzing of a tripped Alertness Charm, Sirius screamed. His body began to morph from its human shape. Limbs twisted in unnatural ways, cracking bones. Hair began to sprout everywhere, as dark and as thick as Sirius’s long, dark curls. James couldn’t move. His mind whirred with adrenaline and excitement. He wanted to run to check on the buzzing from the Alertness Charm, but he also felt like screaming right along with Sirius. He did neither. He was unable to take his eyes from the gruesome sight in front of him.

Sirius’s scream died on his tongue as he fell to the ground, his head elongating and disappearing in a dizzying spread of fur. His body was mutilated past the point of recognition, half human, half beast. James could see now it wasn’t hair after all, but fur and it was everywhere. Even as Sirius was shrinking in height, but not girth, the fur kept coming. Huge pads erupted from palms of his hand, which braced his fall to all fours.

The Alertness Charm buzzed again, this time closer. James had no choice this time but to turn away from the carnage in front of him and run back along their path, through the clump of trees that separated the pitch from the school.

“Lumos!” His wand’s tip erupted into a beacon of light and he held it up high, shining the light into the shadows of the small glenn. The path to the school snaked up the hill and out of sight. In the middle of it something froze. It was an animal of some kind. James hissed and approached, trying to scare it away. Closer, he could tell it was a small deer of some kind, perhaps not more than a few years old. The antlers on its head were not fully formed. It did not move, but regarded him with an interested expression and then turned, heading into the thickest part of the clump of trees and disappearing.

From down on the Quidditch field, James heard a deep bark. Whirling around again, he sprinted back down towards the pitch, searching for Sirius. Instead of the convulsing, mutilated body James had left stood a gigantic black dog. He was enormous, easily the size of the small Shetland pony that had lived in James’s back garden growing up. Absolutely covered in black fur, the dog barked again and lunged at James, who fell to his knees and through his arms around the animal. The fur felt different than regular dog hair, almost like human hair but with fur’s consistency.

“Sirius! You did it! This is…” He drew back to look into the dog’s face. The eyes were a dark brown, but danced with humor only James Potter would recognize. The dog sniffed at James’s face and then licked him with a huge pink tongue.

James laughed and pushed the dog away from his face. “Merlin, man, don’t kiss me. I know where that tongue’s been.” The dog grinned at him and then threw its head back and barked. Another clap of lightning sounded and James stood up, looking up at the sky. The dog ran around his feet, yipping and barking, making a right old racket. At James’s full height, the dog came up to almost his waist. Not expecting it, the dog jumped up to put its paws on James’s shoulders and was almost tall enough that James did not have to look down very far to see into its face.

“Easy, boy,” James said, his voice tight with affection. He was so proud of Sirius that he almost couldn’t talk. They had done it. Their plan was actually possible. Remus would not have to be alone again. At the very least, Sirius could be with him for every future transformation. The enormity of their success wrapped him in a cocoon of emotion and he reached up to pet the dog’s face again, rubbing his ears like he would any house pet.

Sirius - the dog - barked and dropped back to its front paws and then nuzzled James’s pocket where his own potion was ready to go. James pulled it out and examined the contents, then raised his head to the sky. There had been a lull in the storm and the rain had ceased in the excitement of Sirius’s own transformation and James needing to investigate the glenn.

“Think I should give it a go? It’s not the beginning of the storm anymore.”

The dog whined and then ran around James in a big circle, barking.  James laughed and then pulled out his wand and the Snitch he always carried it. He transfigured the snitch into a big rubber ball and then chucked it into the air, watching it soar across the pitch towards one of the far goal posts. Sirius howled and bolted after the ball, tail tucked behind his legs as he took off, trying out his new form.

James could not let himself feel disappointed about not being able to attempt his own transformation tonight. Their years of hard work had paid off. It was not often in James’s life, nor would happen often in the future, that he felt overwhelmingly proud of the work he had done. But in this moment, he did. He watched Sirius catch the ball in his mouth and dart back towards him. And he laughed. It had begun to rain again and he threw his head back and he laughed as the rain poured down around him and the sounds of a happy dog filled the air.

Almost an hour later, the storm had ended but the rain had not. Sirius had finally grown tired of playing fetch and had joined James in the first row of the Quidditch stands. The Snitch had been transfigured back from a ball to its original form and James threw it up into the sky and then jumped up to retrieve it. He felt drunk on their success every time he looked down at the dog laying at his feet.

It was now getting late, growing darker by the minute, and James wondered if they should head back to school. He was almost hesitant to suggest it, not wanting to ruin the momentous occasion but also desperately wanting to fill Remus and Peter in on the events of their evening.

“What do you think, boy?” James leaned down and stroked the dog’s ears. “Think we should head on back?”

At the suggestion, the dog growled and shook its great head. Overhead, a clap of thunder rumbled and James instantly glanced at the sky. Dark clouds, which had felt just like encroaching darkness, had rolled in from the west and lent an eery feeling to the deserted pitch.

“I think it might storm again,” James whispered, hope and excitement both leaping together in his chest. He pulled out his own potion and held it up to the dog’s face. As if to answer his summation, lightning flashed and James could see the reflection in the dog’s big, brown eyes. Sirius started to howl and James began to laugh again. “Okay, let’s try!”

It was hours later when James and Sirius finally donned the invisibility cloak and slunk back up the hill to the school. James had, with little doubt once he had watched his best friend do it for himself, mastered the animagus form and had transformed into a gigantic stag.

They were drunk on youth, ambition, success, and luck. Thus, as they stumbled back into the Great Hall, an hour past curfew and most of their long legs sticking out of the bottom of the invisibility cloak, it could have been a disastrous end to their evening had they been found by anyone other than Lily Evans and Remus Lupin.

However, since that fateful night was no one’s but theirs, disaster was averted. James slid the cloak from their frames at the sight of Remus descending the stairs and waved. Sirius bobbed on his feet with palpable excitement.

“Remus!” Sirius hollered, charging forward towards their friend. “We did it!”

Remus, who had been talking in low murmurs to Lily Evans, froze. He looked instantly to James for confirmation, who nodded as he bounded up the stairs after Sirius and pulled Remus into a tight hug.

“It’s true, mate. Every word.” Too enthralled with their success, he barely remembered Evans until after he had let go of him. Instantly, his hand went to his hair. Ever since the beginning of that year, Lily Evans had made him nervous.

“Uh, hey there, Evans.”

She frowned at him in response. “Potter. Black. You two are out after curfew. Remus, I really don’t think we can just let them…” She turned to Remus, who was still speechless and was now almost sagging against Sirius. Whatever color he had regained from surviving another full moon was gone.

“Remus?” Her eyes went to Sirius and then they narrowed. “Black, what did you mean, ‘you did it?’ Did what exactly?”

Sirius beamed. “Changed the course of history, Evans! We’re…we’re Marauders!” He pulled at Remus, clutching him now around the waist with one hand. Remus had apparently lost all powers of speech. “Come on, pal. We’ll show you ourselves. Right now. We just need to go and collect poor Pete from purgatory down in the greenhouses.”

“But it’s after curfew…!” Lily began, but Sirius wasn’t listening as he pulled Remus towards the door leading out of the Great Hall. James cut in.

“Look, Evans…” He paused. The enormity of what he and Sirius had achieved that night hit him squarely in the face. James had thought he knew the consequences well enough when they had come to their decision all of those years ago about becoming Animagi, but they had been children. He was older now, maybe not a man yet, but clearly someone who was now required to wrestle with the consequences the actions of his youth brought.

Lily watched Sirius and Remus disappear outside and then looked up at James, her frown deep and disturbed. “Tell me, Potter, why I should not confiscate your invisibility cloak and march you straight to Professor Dumbledore’s office myself? I am never surprised by your audacity, but your brazen disrespect for the rules and your willingness to allow your friends to be swept up along with you is disgusting.”

On a normal evening, this would have made James at once disappointed and angry at the same time. But tonight her words did little to goad him. He was too busy riding the high of their triumph and basking in Remus’s stunned reaction. It felt too good. Everything would be okay from here on out.

“Evans, can I ask you something?” He bent over to retrieve the cloak that had fallen to his feet when he had hugged Remus.  “Have you ever done something for a friend that would change their life? For the better? And you didn’t do it because someone told you to or because it would be a good laugh? But because you knew it would help them in ways - huge ways - and they would never ask you to do it but you know it’s the right thing and you did it anyway?” Words tumbled out of him at her and he finally shut his mouth, or otherwise he would have kept going.

Her face fell in shock at his honesty and without thinking, she nodded. Then she realized what she had done and blushed, breaking eye contact with him and looking at her feet.

Potter grinned. “Well, to answer your question, I can’t tell you what I did tonight because it’s not my secret to tell. But I can tell you that I made Remus’s life better. His life, after tonight, will never be the same. You don’t have to understand - or even believe me! - but if you like Remus at all, you’ll let us have this one night.” He folded his arms across his chest and smiled at her.

Lily shook her head at him, in annoyance, dismay, and a touch of bemusement. “Good grief, Potter. Get out of here. Before I start to think you’re pulling my leg to get out of trouble.”

James reached for her, impulsively, and drew her into a brief hug and then kissed her on the cheek. He didn’t realize he was doing it until the deed had been done and then it was his turn to blush and her turn to stammer. “Uh…thanks, Evans! Later!” Bolting down the stairs, he whipped the door open and disappeared into the dark night.

[corpuscaiiosum]

Past, Present, and Future part 1: A LIS AU

Welcome to Blackhell

Arcadia Bay was much the same as it had been five years earlier.  Some new buildings sporting the name “Prescott” had gone up, and some old ones had been torn down, leaving empty spaces memory tried to fill back in.  For the most part though it was still small, and silent, and smelled of salt. At least that’s what Max could determine from her window seat of the bus that had carried her the long miles from seattle.  The other passengers had gotten off at various earlier stops, leaving her alone with the driver and her own thoughts, the latter of which she tried to drown out with the buds tucked into her ears.  The last note, of the last song of the playlist she’d made for the trip faded out just as the bus came to a stop.   “Good timing.” She thought to herself and set the headphones back into one of the pockets of her messenger bag and retrieved her camera from another.  She did her best to frame the tear in the fabric of her seat over her left shoulder and took the shot.  As she slid the printed photo and camera back into her bag her mind wandered to the photo spreads she’d seen of her soon to be teacher Mark Jefferson and a giddy little thrill ran up her spine.  The bus driver was already standing with her over stuffed duffle bag in hand when she finally disembarked.  She thanked him for the ride as she stretched her legs for the first time in hours, and took the bag up, slinging it over the shoulder opposite the strap of her other bag.  Max was home.

The bus stop was only a short distance from the two whales diner and as she looked up at the glowing neon sign she wondered if Joyce still worked there.  That uncertainty sent a surge of shame through her chest that tied her stomach in a knot.  “If you could actually have brought yourself to stay in touch maybe you’d actually know.” She took a single step towards the diner, then spun on her heel and hurried down the sidewalk.  “Coward” she admonished herself and started the short walk to Blackwell, choosing to walk rather than wait for the local bus: She’d seen enough of the inside of one of those for the day.  In the half hour it took to get from the shoreline to the front steps of Blackwell Academy she’d bounced between guilt over her avoidance of the Price family and nervousness over the coming year.  The result was a growing sense of dread as she got to the front door.  Barely registering the missing person’s poster stuck to the glass Max pushed her way into the main hallway.  The principal’s office was easy enough to find, only a few feet from the entrance.  She stepped inside to find herself in the small administration area outside of the office proper.  Another girl her own age was knelt down in front of one of the low filing cabinets.  Max stood there awkwardly for what felt like fifteen minutes watching the brown haired girl sort through the various folders and papers until anxiety well up in her enough to force a “Uhm Hello?” a bit too hurriedly from her lips. The kneeling girl jolted in surprise before she turned to see who had spoken.  “Ugh I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, I’m…my name is… Maxine Caufield”  She cringed silently at her own use of her own full name, but she pushed forward.  “I’m new, I’m supposed to meet principal Wells?”  The other girl had risen to her feet small smile on her lips, hazel eyes sparkling.

“Right, Principal Wells was expecting you, he had to step out for a while but he told me if you got here while he was gone I should go ahead and take you to the dorms to get you set up.”  She closed the filing cabinet she’d been working on with one foot then took a key from the cork board behind the office desk, and motioned for Max to follow her.

“I can make it on my own really” Max insisted “We took a tour of the campus last year, I know my way to the dorms.”  The other girl turned and smirked cooly.

“Ah yes, but then how would I justify  blowing off organizing those file?  I’m Rachel by the way, I’m Principal Wells’ administrative assistant”  Max laughed lightly at the joke and followed Rachel back out into the hall.  

“Nice to meet you Rachel” Max said adjusting the strap of her duffle bag on her shoulder as they stepped back outside

“Nice to meet you too caufield…do you need a hand with that?”  Max shook her head even as she struggled to find a more comfortable position.  The short walk to the dorms was like a second unofficial tour with Rachel pointing and explaining things a normal guide wouldn’t think to, or be expressly forbidden from mentioning.

A small moving van stretched across two parking spaces in the lot outside the dormitories, a pair of burly looking men moved boxes from it, and disappeared into the open service entrance.  The movers were seemingly overseen by another girl their age. She was shorter than Rachel, but taller than Max. Her blonde hair was clipped short and she wore an honest to god string of pearls around her slender throat.  She barked one last order at the blue collar pair to be more careful with her things.  Max spied camera and lighting cases and her heart sank with the knowledge she’d likely be sharing a classroom with this girl.  The blonde girl took notice of them, and donned a smile the way a soldier dons body armor as she approached.

“Rachel it is like so good to see you, looking good as usual.  So you going to come party with us again this year?”  That insincere smile snapping into a venomous smirk as cold green eyes searched Rachel’s face for a reaction.

“I don’t think so Victoria I’ve done a lot of growing up this summer and some how getting wasted with you and Nathan just seems, so…last year.” Victoria’s smirk faltered for just a moment but swiftly returned as she spit back.

“It’s good to see you finally lost the dead weight.  It really was dragging you down, nice to see you’re actually beginning to claw your way back up.” Rachel’s calm mask shattered and her face flushed red, hate seething behind her eyes.  Max saw the way her way her hands had balled into fists and the growing fear on Victoria’s face.

“Uhm, I’m starting to get a little tired, and I’d like to get to my dorm.”  Max broke in. For the first time Victoria turned her attention to Max.  That judging gaze swept over her once and Max lamented the sweat pants and torn blue t-shirt she’d opted on for; Both looking all the more raggedy when compared to the designer top and skirt Victoria sported. Rachel too had turned towards her, distracted from her rage at the realization she’d forgotten Max was standing there.

“Oh, right I’m sorry.” Rachel said chagrined “Victoria Chase this is M…” Victoria rolled her eyes and waved dismissively at both of them as she turned back to the moving van. “Don’t care, bye now.”  Rachel exhaled a heavy sigh through her nose and shook her head.

“Come on Caufield, lets get you set up.”  Max followed Rachel stormed off towards the front entrance to the dormitories.

“The hell was that all about?” Max asked when she was sure they were out of Victoria’s earshot.   Rachel pressed the palm of her hand against her forehead and sighed again.

“It’s a long, annoying, convoluted story and I’d rather not tell it right now.”  Max nodded and they went inside.  When they reached the girl’s floor Rachel gave some half hearted directions to the showers and bathrooms as they made their way to max’s room on the far side of the hall.  “You got everything you need?”  Rachel asked and Max nodded again, hoisting the duffle bag from her shoulder.  

“My parents are coming down this weekend to bring my stuff but I’ve got what I need for now.”  Rachel rested a hand on Max’s shoulder.  The touch made her skin tingle and the smile that seemed to shine from her curved lips brought a blush to Max’s cheeks.

“Welcome to Blackhell Caufield, it’s empty now but the devils are on their way.”  Rachels eyes danced at the secret joke and  dropped the keys she’d taken into Max’s hand with a laugh before stalking off back towards her own room.  

It was Max’s turn to sigh as she entered her new room.  It was bare, save for a bed by the door and a desk by the window on the far wall.  For the first time since leaving her parents in Seattle Max felt truly and utterly alone. Even the small room seemed cavernous with just her standing in it,she felt sure that if she uttered a sound it would echo back on her, but she said nothing.  A sudden flood of sadness and unsurity filled every inch of her. She let her bags thud to the floor as she fell atop the bed, tears already flowing down her cheeks.  The rational part of her mind told her that what she was feeling was natural, and that she’d been through this before the first time she spent the night away from home, and when they’d all left for Seattle. Unfortunately knowing what was happening did nothing to slow the tears as they streaked down her face.

Max awoke shivering to a darkened room, the sun gone down and taken the temperature with it. She fumbled for her phone in the pocket of sweat pants.  The display showed a missed text from her mother, and that it was now well past midnight.  With the phone’s flashlight she found the lightswitch, and with the lights on she quickly turned the valve on the old radiator to get the hot water flowing into it; As it creaked into life Max dug in her duffle bag, first to pull a cotton pajama top over her head. She relished the instant change in temperature as she continued to search for the waterproof bag that contained her toiletries.

A few minutes and a pit stop at the bathroom later Max was under the hot water.  It had been a long day and the shower was equally effective at washing the stinging salt from her face and the chill in her bones.  She was still nervous and unsure of what was to come but the homesickness had subsided for now.  Things were beginning to feel stable, to feel real.  Once dried and dressed she made her way back out of the showers, thoughts of her now warmed room and the sleeping bag she’d laid out on the bed pulled a satisfying yawn from her.  As she brought the cellphone up to light her way the beam settled on the message board on the wall.  A copy of the Missing Person poster she had ignored earlier had been pinned there as well.  Goosebumps rose along her arms as she let her bag and towel fall.  She struggled to keep the light steady as she moved closer to look at the picture of the strawberry blonde girl.  She changed in five years, and that let Max hold onto an extra second of denial before she read the name. “Chloe Price: Missing since 5-24-13”