Amulet of Time 3: The Wolf and The Pelican

Chapter 11: Christmas and Animagi

" Ginny are you sure about this?"

" Of course. I know for a fact that it'll be perfectly safe."

Remus wasn't convinced. The pair was sitting in the downstairs room of the Shrieking Shack, waiting for the moon to rise. Ginny had followed her friend down by turning invisible, so that the teacher accompanying them didn't notice her. Now that they were left alone, and Remus' change was fast approaching, they were starting to get a bit nervous. Remus had never had anyone with him while he was a wolf, and the thought of his friend seeing him as a monster made his heart ache. However, his fears were laid to rest when he looked into her eyes and saw only companionship and acceptance. Before he had chance to dwell too much on it, pain suddenly wracked his body and he felt the change begin.

" Gin, you'd better change. The moon is out," he ground out.

" Alright, I will."

With a faint *pop*, Ginny turned into a large pelican, and sat back to wait for her friend's change. Seeing him writhing in agony as his bones snapped and reformed tore her up inside. Remus was such a sweet and gentle person, and she felt like no-one deserved this less than him. After a few drawn out minutes, a fully formed werewolf stood before her, growling softly. Inching forward, she tried to make herself look small and unthreatening, so as not to anger the wild beast before her. After a few minutes of sitting perfectly still, Ginny slowly raised her head and looked closely at Remus. Upon seeing that she wasn't going to attack, the wolf had sat down and was staring at the other animal, its head cocked to one side. Ginny stood up, nodded to the wolf and headed out of the shack and into the Forbidden Forest. Looking back, she saw the grey beast following not far behind, and with an internal smile, she waited for him to catch up.

The following day at breakfast, each of the time travellers, bar Ginny, received a message by owl to meet after breakfast in Harry's room. The sixth years all had free periods that morning, so it was the perfect time for them to get together without anybody being suspicious.

When the owl had arrived at the Slytherin table, Sev had given Harry a funny look, but Harry had merely shook his head at him and gone back to his breakfast. His head was swirling with thoughts about what the meeting could be about. The note had been in Ginny's handwriting, so he knew she had something to do with it, but he didn't know what had suddenly brought it on. He puzzled over it until the end of breakfast before saying goodbye to Sev and heading to his room. When he got there, the other three were waiting for him. As soon as he sat down, Ginny stood and made her way to the wall.

" I'll be back in a few minutes, guys, there's something I need to go and do."

That said, she created a door and left her confused friends to look at each other in bewilderment.

" What was that all about? I think my sister's finally lost it. Do you know why she called this meeting?"

" Haven't a clue, Ron, but I doubt she would have arranged it if it wasn't important," Hermione said.

" True. She's been acting a bit odd lately though. Very secretive. I wonder if she's going to tell us what she's been up to," Ron added.

" That's likely, but we'll have to wait until she comes back to find out."

The three lapsed into silence and the minutes ticked by. Eventually, a door appeared in the wall and Ginny came through, leading the four Marauders to the seats around the fireplace. When they were all comfortable, Hermione broke the silence.

" Shouldn't you four be in lessons?"

" Yup, we should be in Divination. All it took was Sirius telling Trelawney that he saw the grim and that the four of us would die a horrible and painful death. She sent us straight out, saying that we needed time to set our affairs in order," James explained.