━━━madness within!

BIRDIE POTTER HAD to admit, she'd done her fair share of stupid things in her life — tonight, though, might end up being one of the stupidest, does it scare her? Yes. Is it risky? Yes. Is she still going to do it even though she shouldn't if she wants to stay in her in her normal form like she's meant to? Also yes.

Even though it's stupid as fuck it's still one of the things she wants to do, turning into an animagus would be the thing that could make Hope feel even a little bit better during her transformation and if it meant living with the fear of turning into some weird mixture of some animal and human for a few days until Professor McGonagall or Madam Pomfrey fixes her back, she's willing to take that risk.

Hope was one of the few constants in Birdie's life — her mother told her that Hope, Lorelei and Birdie used to be attached at the hip, during the order meetings they would run around with the Weasley twins playing until they were exhausted, and even though Hope started living with her grandparents she would still manage to sneak out through the floo powder when they weren't around.

Then as they grew up, they also grew apart — of course, Hope was still someone Birdie and Lorelei treasured, she was just someone they didn't spend that much time with, but now that all was changing — and Birdie knows it's for the better.

"Oh, Helga" Birdie sighed as she sat down on one of the chairs, "I didn't know I could dance that long — I don't even run!"

"To be honest, I didn't know you could either" Fred said and Birdie threw him a glare, "What? You were huffing and puffing on the way up to Astronomy tower, can you blame me for assuming?"

"Just for that — I'm not gonna make you chocolate pudding tomorrow" Birdie passed him a sarcastic smile and watched his eyes widen comically, "Yeah, that's right — since I'm so lazy, I'll have to cut back on some of the daily tasks I do, ya know, because I have to save time to slack off"

"You can't just not make chocolate pudding" Fred pouted, taking a seat beside her, "It's part of our deal, you'll be cheating if you don't"

"Ok, I'm fine with cheating" Birdie shrugged, taking one of the cake pops from the table, "Hey, as long as I get time to sleep"

"Oh, for Godric's sake" Fred rolled his eyes, "I apologize, you're actually pretty hardworking"

"Mhm" Birdie hummed, "Still not getting that pudding"

"Fine, I'll just make it myself" Fred said crossing his arms, "I mean, how hard could it be?"

"Hey, losers" Lorelei sat down in a seat, saying 'vegetarian pizza' out loud and watching as a plate of pizza with all veggie toppings came up, "What are you two doing here?"

"We got tired" Birdie said finishing off her cake pop, "Where's Alexander?"

"Oh, I ditched him" Lorelei said taking a bite of the pizza, "Turns out you were right, he did share the same values as his family — he said and I quote 'I thought you might've expected it, with me being a Nott and you being a Black' can you believe the audacity that boy had?"

"Eh, could've been anything I said" Birdie waved her off, "Have you seen Regan at all? I don't think I've seen her since I got here"

"She didn't tell you?" Lorelei asked, placing her hand on her mouth to cover it as she chewed on her food, "She didn't want to come to the Ball"

"But Regan loves Balls" Birdie said and then giggled silently to herself, gaining looks from both Fred and Lorelei, "Sorry, it had to come out"

"So fucking weird" Fred and Lorelei said together.

"Why didn't she come then?" Fred asked, asking for a plate of chips and watching them appear, "If she really loves Balls — then why miss out the only ball we're ever going to have at Hogwarts?"

"I don't know" Lorelei shrugged, "Something about not wanting to go with any of the gross boys at Hogwarts"

"Bullshit" Birdie huffed, "Regan would go with a rock if it meant she got to go to a dance"

"Oh, hey, Birdie" Harry said sitting down at the table, "M and D wanted me to tell you that we can't talk to them for a few weeks until they tell us it's safe" he whispered in her ear, making sure Fred couldn't hear.

"Well, that's unnecessarily secretive" Fred said with his brows furrowed, chewing on the chip.

"They talked to you?" asked Birdie.

"Yeah, why?" Harry said taking a cake pop himself.

"Nothing" Birdie shook her head, "Hey, do you know why Regan isn't here?"

Harry visibly stiffened up, "Who knows?" he shrugs, "It's whatever" he walked away from the table.

"...ok?" said Birdie unsurely after the unexpected reaction, "I think I know"

"What?" Fred asked curiously leaning forward — one thing about Fred Weasley that you should probably know, he really loves gossip.

"It's not my place to tell" Birdie frowned, "I'm sure you'll find out soon enough"

"Well, that's also unnecessarily secretive" Lorelei frowned back at her.

"I'll pay you if you tell me" Fred offered.

"No" Birdie said with an offended expression, "I'm not a prostitute"

"Wouldn't suggest that" Fred shook his head, "but ya know, I'm talking big digits here—"

"What's wrong with being a prostitute?" Lorelei question, knowing if she got into an argument with Fred he would forget about the other thing, Birdie passed her a grateful look.

"Birdie, Lorelei, it's time" Hope came into view looking pale and sick, "Hurry up, we have just half an hour"

"Ok, ok, yikes hold on" Lorelei said shoving a slice of pizza in her mouth and then holding one in each hand, "Let's go, I'm ready"

"You guys go on" Birdie said, "I'll be right with you"

Hope nodded and Lorelei gave her an awkward thumbs up because of the food in her hands. Birdie turned to look at Fred and then sighed, "Remember that leaf in my mouth?"

"The one that you said you'd tell me about but never did?" Fred inquired, "Oddly enough, I do"

"It's because I wanna become an animagus"

"Oh, cool" Fred grinned.

Merlin, Birdie loved him.

✿

BIRDIE, HOPE AND LORELEI sure were an odd pair, Hope gave more than two shits about her studies — which Birdie and Lorelei couldn't be bothered to do, she was the golden girl of Gryffindor, Birdie was the popular girl of Hufflepuff and Lorelei, well, let's just say she preferred to be quiet and when she wasn't — hope that you weren't the cause of it.

Though when the three got together you couldn't look at them and tell they'd have a lot of differences, Birdie guesses that's what brings them together.

"Thank goodness I brought a change of clothes" Birdie said shoving her dress in a bag she'd put an extendable charm on, "I couldn't have walked in that dress for more than five minutes"

"Birdie you can't walk more than five minutes anyway" Lorelei chuckled and Birdie threw a small pebble at her head, "Ow! What the hell?"

"Birdie" Hope said in a warning voice.

"She was teasing me!" Birdie whined, but quickly shut up when she saw how exhausted Hope looked, "Sorry"

"It's fine, you guys are going to have to go through it alone" Hope said and then held up her finger, going behind a tree and puking, this was a normal thing for her that would happen during full moon nights, she would get nauseous all day for not eating but then she wouldn't be able to eat because of her nausea either.

"Oh, Rowena" Lorelei said closing her eyes, "I think I'm gonna puke too"

"Lorelei!" Birdie smacked her friend, "I'm gonna go check up on her" she moved towards Hope and held her hair back as she spilled her guts out.

"Oh, Godric" Hope groaned, "Kill me now"

"Come on, let's get you to the shrieking shack first" Birdie rubbed Hope's back, "Do you need something? I have water in my bag, and some soup, and bandaids, gum?"

"Water, please" Hope said and she sat down on the ground with her back against a tree.

"Here you go" Birdie handed her a bottle of water and a pill, Hope gave her a look, "It's to reduce nausea"

"Thanks" Hope said as she chugged the whole bottle down with the pill, "I don't go to the shrieking shack anymore, by the way, I go to this place my mum used to go during her transformations and it's much better than that stanky old place so..."

"Do you need us to help you get there?" asked Lorelei stepping forward, "Or are we annoying you? Cause I feel like we are"

"A little bit, yeah" Hope said and Birdie's face fell even more, "It's not because of you two though, I'm just not used to someone being there with me during full moons — ya know, I'm kinda used to being alone, it's different, that's all"

"It's ok" Birdie passed her a small smile, "Here's some gum for you on the way, maybe that'll help out with the nausea and it's also mint so..."

"Thanks" Hope said taking the pack of gum from her hand, "I'll hopefully see you two back there, I'm assuming you know where Birdie because you're a Hufflepuff, in your animagus form"

"Yeah, definitely" Birdie nodded, "See you, Lupin"

"Yeah" Hope nodded and then walked away from there, "If you have any trouble finding me, you know what to do, right?"

"Obviously" Birdie said, "Now, go, stop worrying about us!"

"Don't die!" Hope waved at them before walking away, "Or get stuck in an animal form!"

"We won't!" Lorelei chuckled and as soon as Hope turned around that chuckle turned into nervous laughter, "What if we do?"

"We won't!" Birdie said reassuringly, "We're following the right process, we can't mess this up"

"You're right, you're right" Lorelei fixed her hair, "Let's nail turning into an animagus right in the arse"

"That's the spirit" Birdie gave her a high-five, "It must be somewhere around here...aha! We're right at the spot"

"It's not raining though—"

"Wait for it"

"What do you—"

"One...two...three" Birdie said and right at the count of three a loud clap of thunder surrounded the whole forest and almost instantly rain came pouring down, "Honestly, El, don't you ever read the newspaper"

"No" Lorelei scoffed, raising her volume so Birdie could listen to her over the rain, "Why should I when I have you?"

"One day, Lore" Birdie screamed out, "I'm not gonna be there to remind you about taking the umbrella"

"Then I'll just walk home in pouring rain" Lorelei said with a shrug, "I love rain anyway"

"Should we start?" Birdie said and opened the little box that she'd put the vials in, "Ew, they look like blood"

"Ew, they do!" Lorelei scrunched her nose, "I'm gonna feel like a vampire doing this"

"Just close your eyes and gulp it down" Birdie said and pinched her nose, "Oh, Hegla" she said out loud before she put the whole thing in her mouth and swallowed, making a gagging sound immediately after.

She then took out her wand and placed the tip on her chest, muttering the incantation — 'Amato Animo Animato Animagus' over and over again until she heard a voice in the back of her head say, 'You must show no fear, It is too late now, to escape the change you have willed'

Birdie did exactly that, for a few seconds she kept repeating the words, 'don't think' in her mind over and over again to prevent her from overthinking about anything and sooner than she could've thought she could see the picture of a stoat in her mind and that was when she'd felt a burning sensation throughout her whole body, she had to keep making sure she was still saying the two words over and over again so, she didn't mess up, and then it happened.