Oblivion - Sirius Black

Danger and Dresses

        Indigo Bloomsbury doesn't have a lot of friends. They find her strange and annoying. They say she's too intrusive and has no boundaries. Indi has a hard time admitting her feelings about the people around her. However, Indi can be quite popular at times, especially for being a party girl. She brings drinks and knows the best fashion. Nonetheless, she's well-liked with everyone, just never enough for them to stay.

Indi tries not to let it bother her by thinking about her large family. Her parents are so much in love it's nauseating and her cousins visit all the time in the summer. Indi's brothers are always watching out for each other and taking care of their family. Uncles and aunts visit randomly and grandparents cook a lot, but Indi wants a friend.

When she ran into Poppy, it was better. Finally a person actually seems to want her around and loves their conversations, no matter how strange. In the span of two days, they were as close as James and Sirius. Poppy introduced her to Charlie and Fimmy, who became fast friends too.

Indi finally had her own friends.

*✶⋆*★

         "So, I was thinking about the color white for my dress, but then I thought it would be too much like a wedding, besides I'd probably spill something on it." Indi talks, sketching out a dress.

Poppy shrugs. "I thought some shade of purple would be really pretty on you."

Indi gasps and looks up from her parchment. "That would be absolutely perfect! I've always loved the shade amethyst shade of purple. Imagine it with a layer of sparkles too!"

Poppy smiles as she jots down more stuff that's needed for the ball. It's getting closer very fast, so the preparations have to be finished in a week or two. "The thing is, what material would our dresses be made out of?"

"Adelaide already said it's fine to use some of her fabric." Indi, spins on the muggle chair that Poppy created for the room.

"Yeah, but are we using satin? Silk? Velvet?"

Indi shrugs. "I don't know, but will it be cold, because we might need something to put on top of it."

"No, it'll be warm enough, unless you plan on going outside." Poppy shakes her head and readjusts her cream colored oversized sweater. She's borrowing it from Indi, who stole it from her mother.

"Well, it's getting dark and I get cranky if I don't sleep." Indi sweeps all the papers in her arms until she gives up and looks at Poppy. "I'm too lazy." She flops on the bed, almost immediately asleep.

Poppy sighs and collects the papers nicely and places them in her bag. "You're crazy." Poppy's nice enough to put her wand on her bedside. Indi's roommates must be used to noise at night since they haven't stirred for two hours. It's way past curfew, meaning Poppy's going to have to hide from Filch.

Poppy knows that it's a perfect opportunity to just go outside again, so she takes it. The sky carries the breeze snowflakes that fall softly, not too crazy. Poppy tugs on the sleeves of her sweater. It's not a good idea to stay outside at night and with snow it's worse. Not to mention her lack of warm clothes. The leggings do nothing against the wind and the sweater is practically useless.

Poppy takes one last breath of winter air, before turning towards the castle and walking back towards the door. However, a loud howl is heard, making her stop in place. Poppy looks into the sky and sees the full moon beaming down. She's in deep shit. Everyone's heard the howls at the middle of the night.

It's not long before Poppy starts sprinting back towards the castle, her heart beating faster with panic. Once she's inside, she's safe. Run is chanted over and over as she takes each step faster and faster. Poppy halfway there when a howl is heard again, except it's much closer than before.

Poppy looks back to find herself faced with the werewolf. They are pretty far apart, but Poppy is a snail compared to a wolf. She's prey and he's predator. Poppy's breath stalls with fear. They stare at each other, neither one moving. Poppy knows if she looks away from its eyes, he will attack. She turns fully to look at the wolf double her size.

It's huge and grey. She can make out its ribs, but she also notices the animals around the wolf. He doesn't dare look straight at them, but from the corner of her eye, she can see a deer with huge antlers and a shaggy black dog. The dog barks and jumps in front of the wolf. Poppy knows if the wolf attacks it will probably be that dog's funeral.

Poppy moves ever so slowly and grips her wand tightly. Her hands sweaty with fear, but her fingers are numb with cold. Poppy feels as if she's looking into the eyes of death. The need to breathe gets uncomfortable, but the very movement of breath could set the wolf off. Her eyes burn for the need to blink.

Poppy searches through her brain for any spells that can save her. She racks her brain through Lily's tutoring session that she barely remembers. Poppy skips over the fights and goes back to the stuff she brought up. Lycanthropy is the proper term for the curse. They have no control over their actions, so she doesn't want to harm the wolf too bad.

The moment the spell pops up she blinks. The wolf howls again before sprinting towards Poppy with great speed. The dog goes to stop him just as Poppy raises her wand. "Homorphus!"

A yellow light shoots out of Poppy's wand and strikes the wolf in the chest. The moment it hits him, he howls for the fourth time and stops. He gets on his hands and knees. The dog and deer watch confused as the wolf cries out. It's howling turns into whimpers of pain from a human body.

Everyone recognizes that it's Remus in his human form. The dog and deer look up to the sky like they're human and glance at the moon. They stare between the human Remus and Poppy. She breathes with shaky breaths as the fear is replaced with relief. "What?" Remus murmurs confused.

"Remus, are you okay?" Poppy asks, but doesn't risk getting closer. The spell was incredibly hard to do and doesn't last long. "Don't get closer!" She yells as he glances up at her with his tired and scarred face. "The spell's only temporary. I don't know how long it'll last."

Poppy's not exactly shocked it's Remus. She's had suspicions for a while, but wasn't planning on exposing his very obvious and important secret. Poppy respects privacy. She glances at the dog and deer. A small animal runs through the grass too, making her realize that there's a rat too. They seem pretty human as they understand her words.

"We'll talk about this tomorrow." Poppy shouts before running back into the castle before Remus can transform back into the murderous werewolf.

*✶⋆*★