Little Riddle | James Potter

Two

Scotland's September weather was undoubtedly lovely, a pleasant mixture of sunny days and refreshing winds. It would be a total waste to spend the free hours the students were given during the afternoon inside the castle considering they would soon be battling the clouded skies and pouring rain. The Hogwarts student body was well aware of this, which explained why the grounds were crowded by different groups of people sitting all around, engaging in mindless chatter and partaking in any activity they found entertaining. Amongst them sat the Marauders, lost in their own little world, unbothered by the occasional glances they received from onlookers, mostly first years, who wanted to know what the mischievous four were up to. James and Sirius kept throwing rocks at the lake in an absurd competition of who could annoy the giant squid first, while Peter helped Remus with all of the parchment scattered around. Needless to say, they weren't giving their audience the show they wanted.

"What is that all about?" James muttered right after throwing a pebble and watching it disappear in the water, he then gave the scattered parchment a quick glance without really bothering to read it.

"Spells. To remember for duelling," Remus replied absentmindedly, his attention focused on the many notes rather than in his friends.

Sirius, sitting by James' side, couldn't help but sneer. "Oh, come on, Moony. You know we don't need that."

"We don't. Others do." The young lycanthrope shrugged, still not giving his friends his time of day.

"I'm late! I know! I'm sorry!" Startled by the voice of the girl they never saw approaching, the four boys jumped in their spot, looking up at her with wide and scared eyes. Noticing their reaction, she offered them a sheepish smile which attempted to conceal a laugh. "Sorry."

"Merlin's beard!" Sirius exclaimed loudly, clutching his chest with the dramatics fit for Sirius Black. "Scared me to death, woman!"

Another sheepish 'sorry' left her lips as she took a seat next to Remus, who she handed a long parchment roll to, "This is what I came up with. I wrote and classified every spell I know that's useful for duelling. I think it would be easier if we focused on a type of spell each week?" She pointed out some of the notes she had written as she spoke, completely unfazed by Sirius' and James' bored expressions, "So let's say we start off with some easy jinxes one week, but then we hit them with hexes. Then protective spells then curses, and so on."

Remus flashed her a satisfied grin as he flicked through the notes, "This is brilliant, Lexi."

"Oh, so now they're on a nickname basis." Sirius pointed out before turning to James with an indignant huff. "I feel left out."

Remus rolled his eyes at his friend's theatrics. "It's not our fault we're the only ones making an effort."

"Ok, then." The long-haired boy sat up straighter, a defiant smile playing on his lips. "How about we meet in the room of requirement someday soon? So the four of us can have an actual duel?"

"Sounds good to me," Alexis commented, adding a nonchalant shrug to the gesture.

"You say that now," Sirius taunted her with one of his signature arrogant smirks.

"Oh, please! I took you on back in third year, remember? A walk in the park!" She scoffed, refusing to let Sirius' taunts be the end of the discussion. Meanwhile, his friends didn't even bother with trying to be subtle with their laughter, causing him to frown and reach for her parchment to read the spells she had written. "Oh, by the way," drastically changing topic, Alexis reached inside her bag and pulled out a jar containing a white substance which she handed to Remus. She wasn't sure if the timing was right, but the odds of his friends not knowing about his condition were slim to none, so she thought there was nothing risky about delivering the ointment right there and there. "Figured you were running out."

The boys' gazes softened immediately as they recognized the jar's substance, and Remus had to fight the urge to embrace her so tightly she ended up losing consciousness. "You didn't have to, really," he uttered in disbelief, although not hesitant to reach for it, "I know how complicated this is to make, and it takes months for it to be ready. I don't want to be such a burden to you."

"Don't sweat it," she waved her hand dismissively, "I brewed the ingredients during summer, it was nothing, really."

James' grin widened. "You've been working on this all summer?"

"Yeah, well." The heat began to make its way to her cheeks, causing them to tint a pink colour. "I had a lot of free time, I guess."

Sirius smirked and raised an eyebrow. "And you decided to spend it making a potion for Remus?"

"Better than nothing," she added with a shrug. She meant every bit of her statement, though, because the orphanage she had to spend her summers in was such a grim place, illegally brewing potions was truly better than nothing. She kept awkwardly fidgeting with her skirt, unsure of just what to do with her body language while the Marauders observed her with knowing grins. It made Remus' heart swell to think of how the girl had actually worried about him even though they were simply acquaintances, and the rest of the boys noted that her act of kindness was beyond meaningful for him.

"Oh, Lexi?" Peter broke the silence, directing to Alexis with his commonly shy demeanour, "I was wondering if you could tutor me again this year?"

"Of course, Peter," she nodded as she stood up and fixed her skirt. "I better get going now. See you, lads, around." This time she was met with a chorus of "see you" and "goodbye" as she made her way over to the castle, leaving them to talk about her like they had been doing for the past three days.

Truth be told, she didn't care about them. She didn't care about Remus' little problem, or about Peter's dreadful memory of historical events. But that was simply because feeling such emotion was more demanding for her than it was for common people. She didn't care because she couldn't, she was physically unable to. So she attempted to do the closest thing to caring she could muster and helped them with anything that seemed like an inconvenience while being as friendly as possible, despite her sentiments not being a hundred percent sincere. She was tired of scaring people away, after all.

Being a heartless b***h was not fun.

The Hogwarts library lived up to its expectations. It was easy for those who wandered to get lost on the piles amongst piles of centuries worth of knowledge. You could be looking for a book about the Troll Rebellion, but then a book about medieval spells calls your attention, and then you find 'Birth Control Spells: A Wizard's Guide to Avoid STDs' and you were doomed. It had happened to Alexis one too many times, ending up under piles of random books. Few of them were actually needed, most of them were to entertain her curiosity. She was a firm believer that the library was the most peaceful place in Hogwarts. The uncharacteristic silence allowed her mind to focus but also to wander. And even if it was just useless information, like Catullus Spangle's autobiography, she always walked out of the library with more knowledge than she possessed before.

Today, however, was not the case. The place for peace and quiet had been disrupted by Hogwarts' biggest weasels. For some unknown reason, the Marauders had decided to gather around in the library, not doing anything productive whatsoever and not allowing anyone else to do so either. Alexis remembered Sirius mentioning how the library gave him a headache. Turns out he was the headache.

She closed her book exasperated. It was clear today wasn't going to be the day she finished the wizard adaptation of that muggle novel, so she gathered all of her belongings and sent the books back to their respective shelves with a flick of her wand. She saw the four Gryffindors leaning over the table, murmuring excitedly over each other. They looked secretive and suspicious, and after all, Alexis visited the library on a daily basis because she was a curious one. She subtly cast a spell to eavesdrop on them whilst flicking through the nearest book to appear unsuspecting.

"-But we still don't know their new password."

"So you mean to tell me you bloody idiots came all the way here and interrupted me just to tell me about a plan you haven't even figured out yet?"

"Relax, Moony. We got this. We just have to find out what their new password is."

"--And look for Malfoy's and Snivellus' dorm."

"--And turn everything pink."

"--And fill it with dog-sized rats. Many of them."

"--While they're asleep."

"--Without getting caught, obviously."

"See? No big deal."

"You bloody twa--"

Alexis pulled the book she'd been holding closer to her face to hide her smile and her muffled giggles. She had always remained indifferent towards their pranks, but she had to admit this one sounded promising. She quickly reached inside her bag and hurriedly scribbled on a piece of parchment before turning her note into a paper airplane that she levitated in the direction of James' head. He frowned at first, thinking someone had thrown a paper ball at him, but when he turned he was met by Alexis sitting all by herself in the table behind them, making a paper airplane fly over their heads with the help of her wand. He reached over and caught it, reading its content out loud for the boys to hear.

"Toujours pure.

Left hallway. Fifth door to the right.

Colovaria.

Take some books with you. Do Snufflifors - Geminio - Engorgio.

Bewitched sleep. Remus probably knows how to do it.

Xx"

She walked past them, giving them a cheeky wink before exiting the library. They all followed her with their gaze in silent awe, which Sirius broke as he sighed dramatically. "I think I'm in love with her."

Tom Riddle had gotten far too entranced with the Dark Arts, he'd reached a point of no return. His hunger for power had blinded him, and nothing could get on his way now, not even his sister. She had tried. She knew he was very tolerable with her, never threatening or lashing out at her even if she'd crossed the line. She was the one and the only person he would never dare hurt, so she'd tried to use that to her advantage and talk him out of it, tried with all her might to make him understand that maybe the world was a cruel place and life was unfair, and maybe they would never get to experience the beauty of it as others could. But it was still worth the view. Worth the experience. Worth the company. Alexis tried, maybe hopelessly, to see the light in a world that had left her in complete darkness. That was a weakness for Tom.

She took another look at the letter he had sent, swearing it even smelled like him a little. It had been three years since she last saw him. Ever since he graduated from Hogwarts. He had made it perfectly clear that he didn't want her getting involved in all of the dangerous activities he was partaking on, and so he chose to leave her, all alone. He never went back to the orphanage to visit her, but she didn't really blame him though, it was a grim place that held nothing but bad memories.

Albania. He was going off to Albania for a couple of weeks and wouldn't be able to write to her. Her chest ached as she ran her fingers through his writing. It was painful for her to see the only person she ever cared for slip away. The only family she ever knew. Tom was all she had, and he was turning into a monster. Tears welled up in her eyes as she hid the letter under her pillow and left her dorm, still wearing her now-creased uniform. It was nighttime already, so she had to be extremely careful as she made her way out of the dungeons and into the grounds, knowing she would be in deep trouble if Filch found her wandering around.

She walked the silent and lonely grounds, only then realizing it was a full moon. Her mind immediately went to poor Remus. She didn't really know what he did during this time of the month, but she genuinely hoped he was someplace safe. After walking around for a bit, she stopped abruptly as she saw four figures sneaking out of the castle as she had done minutes before. The darkness only allowed her to see their silhouettes, so she curiously but cautiously walked closer, remaining in the shadows and out of view. Some Hufflepuffs had decided to have a little fun that night, going in what appeared to be a double date. The snogging began soon after, making her scrunch her nose in disgust and walk the other way.

She was a safe distance away from the Hufflepuffs when she saw more movement coming from somewhere in the forest. She couldn't tell anything apart due to the shadows that contorted everything around them, but in just one split second she saw him, causing her heart to pound almost painfully and her lungs to fail in the task of getting oxygen. Her new dear friend Remus came into view, except this wasn't Remus anymore, this was his alter ego.

She stepped back carefully, hiding behind a pillar as the werewolf remained near the edge of the woods. He hadn't seen her yet and she wanted to keep it that way. She rubbed her eyes to check if sleep had gotten the best of her, but the bizarre scene occurring right in front of her eyes had indeed not been a product of her imagination. The werewolf was now accompanied by a majestic stag, a big black dog, and... a rat? It took her a minute to notice, to pin the dots together. Remus hadn't been wandering around the forest befriending any random animal he could find. No. These were his friends, his human friends. She couldn't help but chuckle as the realization hit her. Peter had to be the rat. And wasn't James' nickname Prongs? And bloody hell, Sirius was a dog! The irony.

Suddenly, a dog whimpered in pain, making her return her attention to the group and notice how the scene had drastically changed. The animals were no longer playing around and were now in the middle of a fierce fight. Sirius and James tried to control Remus but the werewolf had completely lost all of his senses. He was now attacking anything that got in his way, making Alexis frown, wondering what had caused him to have such a drastic change. But then she heard it, the Hufflepuffs' loud laughter. The werewolf attacked both the stag and the dog in one swift movement, leaving their bloody bodies on the ground as he ran. Alexis panicked, jumping out of her hiding spot and running after him in an utterly spontaneous and not properly-thought out move.

James and Sirius looked at her alarmed. She now had the werewolf's attention as he darted towards her instead. She could see James struggling to get up while Sirius only whimpered in pain. She quickened her pace and concentrated, leaping slightly into the air before setting her feet back on the ground. But her two legs were no longer carrying her, and instead, she ran with four black legs.

You see, the Marauders were not the only unregistered animagus.