Chapter 37

Sirius couldn't be happier that he had Adria by his side again, he admits that he was being a bit of an idiot with the amount of times he had left to spend times with girls. But what Sirius didn't know was that his constant disappearances was making Adria jealous, rather than upset with losing her friend, and what Adria didn't know was that the constant girls that Sirius talked to was him - attempting - to get over the raging feelings that he felt for her.

He couldn't like Adria, he just couldn't, there was no chance that she would ever like him back, so the results turned him to talking to other girls. He couldn't get the thought of her out of his mind, which caused him to go for the girls particularly opposite from her, and whilst he couldn't deny that it was a major confidence, and ego boost when the girls he talked to, talked back, that girls actually wanted to talk to him the only problem was that they just weren't the girl for him, no matter how much he tried to supress it.

But with every girl that Sirius continued to talk to, and even though he made sure to make a lot more time for her, it ate away at Adria with so much pain that she hid behind grins and teasing him.

But no matter what, the thought of Adria sent Sirius into a frenzy of feelings that where so foreign to him that it was rather terrifying that one girl could do this to him, but she wasn't just one girl, she was Adria.

The moment he spoke to her again, the moment the feelings for her engulfed him and pulled him back into a pathetic excuse of a boy that pinned after a girl he could never have, but he just couldn't help it.

Whenever the sound of her laughter hitting his ears like a soft melody that he could listen to on repeat or her smile widening at a joke someone told her and the side of her eyes crinkling whilst they gleamed with happiness, showing the colour of perfect blue which he couldn't get enough of. Or whenever she bounced down the steps from the girls dormitory with a spring in her step that put a smile on his face for the day ahead, with her notebook clutched in her hand and he sees she has styled her hair in that loosely pleated braid that make the loose strands of hair frame her face so effortlessly that it takes everything in him not to stare at her for longer than what was normal in a friendship.

So, supressing his feelings was second nature to him, but they always managed to creep their way back through him whenever she seeped through his thoughts, or he could hear her laugh from the other end of a classroom, he couldn't get away from her.

But he didn't want to.

He just didn't want to jeopardise their friendship, because her being in his life in any way possible was better than her not being in his life at all, so hiding the feelings he had for her was fairly easy when the thought of losing her at all was at stake.

Currently, seeing as his friendship with Adria was back to normal, the two sat in the common room with the other three boys, whilst Peter told them the story of how a real life girl talked to him.

"Pete, I'm a girl," Adria laughed as she leaned against Sirius, her hand absentmindedly tracing his hand that sat atop the red and gold couch, "I talk to you all of the time."

"Yes, but you don't like me," Peter stated the obvious, rolling his eyes, "she talked to me first, Ads, I didn't even know what to do!"

"Merlin, please tell me you talked back?!" James groaned, throwing his head back as his legs sprawled over the arm of the armchair.

"Well, I did...kind of." Peter blushed, mumbling his response as the four others groaned.

"Peter, we aren't a foreign species," Adria laughed, "what is the girls name?"

"Thea..." Peter whispered, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

"You're not talking about Thea Jenkins?" asked James, his eyebrow raised whilst Peter nodded silently.

"Good for you, Peter, but it could've been a prank," Remus trailed off, a sympathetic smile on his face whilst Adria glared at him.

"That's terrible, Remus!" Adria exclaimed, looking at the three boys, excluding Peter who all had looks on their faces that thought the same thing, "I'm sure, um Thea, is it? I'm sure Thea really wanted to talk to Peter!"

"Ads, Thea is like really hot," Sirius mumbled, making her elbow him in the stomach, earning a groan which he deserved completely.

"Peter can get any girl he wants," Adria announced, "no matter how hot, or pretty they are, you're all just jealous because a girl actually talked to Peter!"

"Hey, girls talk to me!" Sirius exclaimed, earning a look from Adria as she rolled her eyes.

"Yes, and how much do you pay them?" she teased, earning a scowl.

"I don't need to pay them anything," he smirks confidently, "they're very, very, very more than willing to talk to me." he smirked suggestively, whilst Adria made a sound as if she was going to be sick, which it really did feel like when the envy bubbled in her stomach.

"Well, I'm sure that Thea is very, very, very willing to talk to Peter!" she exclaimed, "you guys are just gonna discourage him, and Peter's handsome, I don't see why girls wouldn't talk to him!"

"You think I'm handsome?" asked Peter, turning to face her with a goofy smile wide on his face, Adria nodded her head with a kind smile, leaning over to pat his arm.

"Yes, of course, Peter," she grinned, "now the next time Thea talks to you, and there will be a next time, okay? The next time she talks to you, you're gonna talk back confidently, because she's just not gonna bother if you're going to ignore her."

"But what if she's only talking to me to get closer to Sirius, or James, or Remus, or even you!" he exclaims, his arms flailing around whilst Adria let out a chuckle.

"Then I'm sure I can deal with her the muggle way," Adria shrugged, cracking her knuckles jokingly whilst Sirius scoffed.

"You punched someone once and then ran away!"

"Well you ran away too," Adria replied, glaring at him once he shut up.

"Well, Pete, if Thea really is only talking to you to get closer to us, then I can guarantee that she will be top of our prank list," James grinned.

"The only prank of yours that I would condone!" Adria piped in, earning a smile from Sirius that she couldn't see as she leaned on him, with her head facing the wall.

"Speaking of pranks," James trailed off, "I have a great one."

"And that's my que to go," Adria announced, attempting to get up when Sirius pulled her back down with a pout that drove her crazy.

"I'm not getting involved in your amateur, humiliating little pranks," She sang, bopping Sirius on the nose before standing up properly, "also I'm going to see McGonagall about operation A."

Operation A was the name the four came up with so they could talk about the animagus process in the company of Remus, who always seemed confused when they topic came up, thankfully.

"I hate operation A," Remus grumbled, his eyes darting around at his friends with a glare whilst they all just grinned innocently.

"All will be revealed soon, my tall friend!" Adria grinned, leaning down to kiss his cheek jokingly before bidding a quick good bye to them.

"What was that?" Sirius asks Remus as their smaller friend left, an evident frown on his lips that he tries to supress but it's quite clearly obvious.

"What?" Remus laughs, his long fingers tapping lightly on the book on his lap, a habit he picked up from Adria, Sirius gestured to his cheek, tapping it slightly, and completely oblivious to the full blown, knowing grin that James shared with Peter.

"Just Adria joking about," Remus shrugged, "why, you jealous?" he teases, his head titled to the side jokingly whilst Sirius rolls his eyes.

"C-course I'm not," he scoffs, crossing his arms over his chest defensively, "I'm not jealous of anything!"

"Whatever you say, Sirius." James scoffs, "now, this prank!"

-

Adria was supposed to go and visit Professor Mcgonagall a while ago when they had suggested it that evening in the library, but the stress of losing her best friend and the nerves from the try outs that she had yet to receive word on had pushed the thought to the back of her mind. She had transfigurations class soon, during the week at some point but seeing as the boy's pranks where something she didn't want to get herself involved in and she had nothing better to do, she set off for the classroom.

So, as she walked down the corridor, the chilly, autumn weather of October blowing through her, she couldn't help but shiver as her cheeks tinged pink under the small freckles that dotted over her face.

Adria knocked lightly on the large door in front of her that connected to Professor McGonagall's classroom, and after a few moments of silence when nerves piled in her stomach, she heard the faint, stern, rather intimidating voice of the older professor call, "come in."

She took a breath as she entered, a polite smile on her lips as she shut the door behind her, greeting the Professor with a short hello, she made her way towards McGonagall's desk, "do what do I owe this pleasure, Miss Hopkins?"

"I was wondering, Professor," Adria spoke, feigning confidence to make herself seem much more casual than she was, "last year we were lectured on Animagi, and ever since I've been fascinated with the thought. I was wondering if you would care to elaborate on what one must do to become an Animagus."

Professor McGonagall arched an eyebrow at her young student, who showed her teeth with a wide grin and added, "completely hypothetical, of course."

"Well, Miss Hopkins," McGonagall spoke after a few moments of silence that sent a frenzy of nerves into the pit of Adria's stomach, "as your Professor, I am sorry to tell you that I cannot give away such information." Adria frowned, but nodded her head silently, seeing as there was no point of arguing with McGonagall, they were just going to have to learn another way.

"But as someone who once had the same fascination with Animagi, so much so that I became one," Professor McGonagall paused, showing the faint ghost of a smile on her lips, "I tell you that the restricted section of the library has a wonderfully detailed selection of books about the subject."

"The restricted section?" Adria repeated, "but Professor I can't-"

"You have my permission, Miss Hopkins," McGonagall interrupted her, handing Adria a slip with Minerva McGonagall sribbled across it in ink that the professor had just written down there. The fourteen-year-old smiled widely as she nodded, gripping the slip in her hands she folded it and stuffed it into the pocket of her comfortable cardigan.

"Thank you, Professor," she beamed, "have a great day."

"As you said," Professor McGonagall spoke calmly, "I trust that this is all completely hypothetical, and all for your own knowledge?"

"Of course, Professor," Adria nodded. She felt terrible for lying, and realised then and there that she had been friends with the boys for too long when she noticed that she sounded far too convincing.

She nodded once again at Professor McGonagall, a small smile on her face as she exited the classroom where her smile widened to grin when she came to another realisation that their plan to become animagus could actually work, that they could actually be able to help Remus battle his lycanthropy, instead of just sitting back to watch.

She made her way down the hall, bringing out the slip of paper from her pocket to look at it once again, thankful that Professor McGonagall was completely oblivious as to what she and her best friends were doing.

[A/N honestly I hate Peter Pettigrew with a passion like what a bitch, but that's older Peter who betrayed his friends and all, so as I'm writing younger Peter into this book I'm going to write him properly, with a storyline as I would any character I love, because it kind of makes him betraying his friends that bit more painful if you think about it.

For starters, he was part of the Marauders, he must've been pretty cool, or likeable at some point, so writing him like that, that makes you think "hey, he's actually not that bad" when he turns to the dark arts makes it worse, because you once liked this little dude, and would've liked him to be a good guy and not turn his best friends to voldy, so anyway, yeah, Peter Pettigrew is equal to all of the other characters in this book, and I'm only stating this so you all don't think I actually like him lmaooo

It also makes you realise what fear can really do to people, and whilst im not justifying the actions of that rat, i'm just saying that you could have great friends like the Marauders but in times of war and violence, anyone could turn on their friends, even people like shy, quiet Peter Pettigrew]