𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗜 ━━ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧 
029. a discovery of a lifetime

( song for the chapter:
ribs — lorde )

          𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗦 𝗪𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗡𝗘𝗗 𝗢𝗙𝗙, 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗘𝗟𝗩𝗘𝗦 𝗛𝗔𝗗 𝗬𝗘𝗧 to clear out Slughorn's room after the club was over. Scarlet was sneaking out of the Party room with some snacks after Everest begged her to steal some food because she was still hungry. However, squinting her eyes, she saw three familiar silhouettes making their way out of the castle. 

      And they all looked like imposters.

They were quite loud too, it wouldn't be a surprise if anyone but Scarlet followed them. Settling the snacks aside on the floor, she quickly stalked them outside where they headed towards the Whomping Willow.

"I can't believe you lost him!" Sirius exclaimed to Peter.

"Uh—how is it my fault, besides, he's gonna be in the Whomping Willow anyway." Peter nonchalantly replied.

"What if he's not," Sirius folded his arms.

"Why are you shouting?" James scoffed. "We don't want to attract attention,"

James quickly shut up whilst the other two got into a very animated argument about whose fault it was that they lost Remus. He quieted down because he saw a familiar figure behind them.

"Uhm, guys, is that Padfoot's fake girlfriend?" James nervously chuckled, hoping he was seeing things.

"Blondie, what the hell are you doing here?" Sirius stomped towards her, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her away from the Whomping Willow.

Scarlet shrugged lightly, crossing her arms. "I know one of you is a werewolf, I wanted to know which one,"

The colours from the boys' faces vanished, they looked snow-white.

"WAIT, WHAT?" James loudly spoke, "How are you saying that so calmly, shouldn't you be out here with torches and fire?"

"I'm not a psycho!" Scarlet scoffed, watching the heat of the moment rising, "Besides, I don't have an issue with werewolves ever since that inci—whatever, you don't have to worry about me knowing,"

"How did you even know?" Peter asked with confusion.

"It's bloody obvious, the way you miss classes — the sneaking around every once in a month," she pointed out, "My guess is on you, or you," she back-to-back pointed at Sirius and James.

"WHAT?" James shrieked, "How am I—that makes no sense!"

"Yeah, we're not werewolves," Peter nervously added.

Sirius squinted his eyes, slightly confused. "What makes you think I'm a werewolf?"

"Can we not say the word so loud, who knows if she brought more spies along," James whisper-yelled to his friends.

"I didn't, dipshit, you guys are not as sneaky as you think you are," she snapped back.

Peter fiddled with his fingers, looking up nervously. "You should go, it's not safe."

"For the love of Godric, are you not scared?" Sirius asked exasperatedly, wondering why she was just standing there when she suspected one of them was a werewolf.

"Because I can just turn myself and I have come across this sort of situation before—"

"WHAT?" The other three dramatically exclaimed in unison, James being the loudest.

"You came across a werewolf before?" James gaped. 

"Yes," she shrugged. "Don't worry about it, I quite like werewolves... I mean, the one I met was quite nice."

"What," James scowled, understanding half of everything she was saying. Not only is she an Animagi, not only she isn't scared to deal with a werewolf, but she also seems to like them despite the family she comes from. 

"Oh Merlin," Sirius whispered in realisation. "You—you're Animagi, illegally!"

"Oh, please, my mother can get me out of any crime I commit," she scoffed. "Besides, she taught me to do it ages ago, she's registered."

"Your mother teaches you how to— wait what?" James wondered, clearly confused. "Is she Animagi too?"

"They do a lot of weird crap together," Sirius told him, earning a roll of eyes from Scarlet.

"Shut up, Black..." she mumbled before turning to answer James, "My mother knows things, it doesn't mean she always does them; not everyone is a show-off."

"Bridget, you should really go, we have to find Rem—" Peter cut himself off.

"Dear Godric," Sirius sighed and James squeezed his eyes shut in annoyance. Peter slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Can't keep a secret to save your life, can you, Pete?" James rolled his eyes.

"She was gonna find out anyway," Peter defended himself. "She knows everything!"

"Lupin?" Scarlet questioned, gaze narrowing at the boys one by one in suspicion. "Remus Lupin who cried because Black stepped over a tiny spider, that Lupin is a big bad wolf."

The three nodded simultaneously.

Scarlet squinted her eyes, realisation now hitting her quite late. "He does have those scars..."

"And he only attacks humans, not animals." James nodded, not elaborating.

"Yes, I'm aware how werewolves work, Potter, I just said—"

"So, every month, we turn Animagi to accompany Remus," Peter slyly explained. "When we first followed him here and saw him, he was so scared we won't be his friends anymore. We spent months trying to perfect the spell... and we finally figured it out during the fourth year, it was exhausting."

"Yeah, me a stag, Sirius a dog, and Peter a rat." James elaborated.

"Sirius the dog, how unexpected," she tried to hide her snicker, and it made both Peter and James laugh out loud. Sirius stood there unamused.

"That's not funny,"

"That's... weirdly sweet of you all." Scarlet allowed her gaze to heavily linger upon the three boys individually, not meaning to compliment the boys whose ego was already sky-high.

"It won't be all sweet when he tears you apart as soon as he sees you." Sirius rolled his eyes.

James slapped his arm. "Look, you can turn now, right?"

It took a lot of convincing for Scarlet to finally give in, allowing herself to turn. After a few failed attempts, she could finally feel her guts changing shape, a different atmosphere inside of her. In a minute, she knew she was changed.

      She knew she was flying.

"A dove, how unexpected... she knows I fucking hate birds!" Sirius rolled his eyes again, speaking sarcastically. Just then, the dove—Scarlet flapped one of her wings over his head, causing a yelp. 

      Peter and James stood behind the pair, snickering uncontrollably. "For the love of Godric, woman!" Sirius screamed, only for the dove to continue her work and smack his perfectly styled hair—he let out a scream that resembled a little girl.

      In the next few seconds, she turned back and ended up on the floor from the sudden increase in her body weight. James lent his hand and helped her up. She let out a joyful chuckle and shoved the dust away from her dress. 

"Hey, I'm pretty good at this," Her lips curled up in satisfaction even more seeing Sirius with a crossed expression on his face.

      She felt herself smirking at the sight, walking towards him and using her own hands to fix the absolute mess she caused atop his head. Suddenly, the close proximity caused both of their smiles to drop. She slowly moved her hands away, stepping back as his minty scent faded into the air.

"Get a room, you two," James scoffed.

"We should probably all turn now," Peter urgently said, not sparing another second to shrink back into his rat form. Scarlet grimaced.

"Why a rat?"

"You turned into a bird on purpose!" Sirius hissed at the girl who was smiling mischievously.

"I did not! I didn't even know your sorry arse back then!" she protested, "You're literally a dog!"

"Don't you dare insult my animal form!"

"Wait... woah," she whispered in realisation, bringing her finger forward and pointing it towards him. "You're the dog that jumped on me all those years ago, you filthy—!"

Sirius gulped lightly, stumbling back. "Look, Blondie—"

"You monster— you licked my face—! Disgusting!" She screamed at him.

James quickly put himself between the arguing pair, shoving Sirius away and turning to Scarlet. 

"Look, Remus will absolutely lose it if he finds out we let his deep, dark secret slip," James guiltily said.

"Don't worry about it," she shot him a confident, assuring smile. "I'll take the fall and say I stalked you,"

"Enough talking, Blondie, you have to—" And before Sirius could say anything else, she put his hands up in the air defensively.

"I'll go, I'll go..." she rolled her eyes. 

She did not protest much before moving away from the group and going back to mind her own business. All that mattered was she now knew one of their secrets that nobody else managed to crack—even though they were not good at the mysterious thing anyway. It was what she called a discovery of a lifetime, despite how silly it sounded.

      Having friends like that is a virtue—those that shine bright and valuable like diamonds in a dark sky. Scarlet was more than lucky to have one of her own.

      "ARE YOU ALL RIGHT, EVEREST?" SCARLET ASKED WITH CONCERN when she entered the room, her hands full of the snacks she stole.

"Fine," a grumpy reply sounded. Everest was aggressively pulling her hair out of the braids Narcissa had done for her, throwing down the clips on the dressing table she sat across from. "Merlin, these clips are so stupid,"

Scarlet could guess something is upsetting her; an upset Everest is not good for anyone. "Did anybody say anything, was Severus being rude again?" she asked, putting the desserts down and walking up to her.

"Nothing's happened, S," Everest mustered a tiny smile which soon fell, she stared back at her own reflection. The sight of her state made her even more deflated. "Go to sleep, it's quite late... where have you been anyway?"

"I had a run-in with Sirius but that's beside the point," Scarlet shook her head and grabbed a chair towards Everest, placing it right by her side and sitting down with a solemn look on her face. "You can talk to me, I'll understand,"

"No, you won't," Everest shook her head, looking down at the table and pursing her lips. "You can't,"

"Eve, I swear to Salazar's grave if someone caused you trouble, they won't live to see tomorrow's sun—"

"Scarlet, really, leave it," she was brushing her hair now, her actions filled with distress.

"We're friends, I don't want to see you like this,"

"I don't understand why," Everest softly spoke, the fury behind her eyes now dimming out and she looked utterly defeated. "I don't understand why you're friends with me,"

Scarlet did not know where this was coming from; the fact that she was terrible at comforting did not make it any better. "I'm friends with you because I like you,"

"I'm not likable," she scoffed, turning to face her. "I'm not cunning, or pretty enough, I'm not polite, and as Sev said, I'm not Slytherin-material either... I'm just some freak crying over here about something so stupid,"

"Nonsense," Scarlet objected so loudly, the brunette flinched. "Eve, I couldn't have asked for a better person to spend my time with, you're smart... and you're beautiful, you're a part of us—"

"But I'm not," she ran a hand through her hair, tugging at it out of frustration. She tried to avoid the intense and curious gaze Scarler shot her. "I'm not like you, I'm not like anyone and it's driving me insane!"

Scarlet leaned forward and squeezed her hand. "Where is this coming from?"

Everest looked at the ceiling, not wanting to face her. "You'll refuse to be my friend if I tell you... I don't want to lose you, S,"

"Eve, I'll always be your friend, no matter what," Scarlet found it astonishing that she could even insinuate it. Scarlet could not imagine living in a world where she and Eve were not friends; she was her rock, and her life made more sense with someone like Everest by her side.

"At the party, remember how I was quite angry about the stunt Sirius pulled with Marlene..." She asked with a sharp exhale, watching as her best friend nodded. "I wasn't just angry because he was messing with you... I was jealous."

      "I was jealous because she was looking at him, and I couldn't figure out why... he's so obnoxious and stupid, and it just made me want to rip all my hair out to see her looking at him the way I wanted her to look at me."

It took Scarlet a few seconds to digest the information. And after Everest broke the glass of secrets, the girl found herself relaxing from her braced position.

"Eve... you were my first friend at Hogwarts, in fact, my first friend ever, because Sirius doesn't count," She chuckled lightly before changing her expression to a serious one. "And you're a clever, gorgeous girl and I love you... and your feelings for Marlene or any other girls will not change that..."

The girl was squirming with happiness hitting her heart. "You mean that?"

"Of course," Scarlet nodded. "Nothing in the world can tear us apart... and it doesn't make you a freak, as someone very wise once told me, love is unpredictable,"

Everest laughed, "Am I the very wise person?" she playfully grinned, shoulders relaxing.

"You could say so," the blonde chuckled. Her expression remained neutral, although a twinkle of light was dancing in her irises.

"Why are you giving me that look..." Everest squinted her eyes.

Scarlet smiled.

"You knew, didn't you?"

"I had an idea, surely," Scarlet nodded, letting out a breathy giggle as she stood up, starting to undo the braids in her own hair. "Only a tiny hypothesis though, I was never sure."

"How?"

"I have my ways," she winked playfully, but her smile dropped when she found a piece of twig in her hair; the sight made her cringe. She should be taking a shower.

"I'm going to die alone, aren't I?" She groaned, her tone was not as defeated, instead it was playful and slightly worried about the future. She threw her head back and saw the upside-down figure of Scarlet as she was brushing out her hair.

"Don't be ridiculous," Scarlet scoffed. "I'm not even into girls yet I always thought you were a hot piece of ass,"

Everest blinked a few times, "I feel... flattered?" the statement came out as a question. "That's not even the point... I'm sixteen and I'm the only person in our group who still couldn't get her first kiss, and no one even knows I'm into girls which means no one wants to kiss me and I'm going to stay single for the rest of my life just like Severus!"

      The ramble continued. "I'm going to be a pathetic kisser because I haven't even had my first kiss yet which means even if someone does kiss me, they will be so disappointed because I had no practice and I'm going to be terrible—!"

Scarlet huffed, swirling around and leaning downwards to reach Everest's sitting height; she took her face in her hands and slammed her lips on hers, rather softly and quickly with a smirk forming during it. "There, you've had your first kiss, as well as enough practice,"

      EVEREST DID NOT SAY A WORD SINCE THEN. IT HAS only been ten seconds. She watched Scarlet turn around with a grin on her face, grabbing her night-dress from the wardrobe. Eve just stared at her, eyes trailing on every movement.

"Salazar fucking Slytherin," Everest licked her lips, eyes widened in astonishment. "You're one hell of a kisser, S, since when did you have practice?"

Scarlet burst out into a fit of giggles as soon as Everest composed herself enough to speak. "I didn't have that much practice, Eve, I'm a natural," she winked, making her friend laugh,

"How many people's first kisses did you steal!" Everest stood up, jumping on her feet as her mood certainly brightened quite a lot. "That was bloody awesome,"

"You bet I got some chilling deja vu," Scarlet stared at her, brows raised dramatically. 

Everest burst out into laughter again, "I don't know why Sirius was complaining so much... feelings or not, I'm grateful to have you as my first kiss,"

Scarlet pursed her lips when the girl brought up feelings, staying silent.

"Imagine having Scarlet Bridget, the heiress to the wealthiest family of England, as your first kiss," she declared dramatically as though she was a part of the theatre. 

"Yeah, I can't relate," the girl said playfully, shrugging lightly.

Everest popped down on her bed, letting out a large sigh. "Sooo... was there any reason why you were so jealous to see Sirius with Marlene?"

"I wasn't," the blonde snapped, "He was going to blow our cover,"

"You see, S, it didn't seem much like a cover to me anymore," said Everest seriously. "Do you have feelings for him?"

Scarlet shot her a wry glance, fingers fiddling with her chunky, silver rings.

"Eve, it took him years to get used to having someone like me as his friend..." she continued;

      "And it's never going to be more than that for him,"

 𝑪𝑨𝑹𝑨 𝑺𝑷𝑬𝑨𝑲𝑺

had so much fun 
writing this chapter