Too Honest ~ James Potter

Chapter 8

*4th Year*

That Christmas was the quietest Mariya had ever seen Hogwarts. Normally a fair number of students from every house stayed behind along with many of the teachers but that year most parents had tried to persuade their children home for the holidays. Families were worried about the war and wanted to spend as much time with their children as they could just in case something. Even the muggle parents, who didn't really understand the uproar that was taking place in the Wizarding World, knew that something was wrong and wanted to keep their children as close as possible.

Almost all of the Slytherins were gone and Mariya knew that their parents were probably not trying to keep them safe from the war, but trying to get them involved. She had no doubt that many of the ancient Pureblood families would be wanting to introduce their children to the Dark Lord and probably trying to get them to follow him too. Due to this, Mariya had made Regulus promise to try to be safe and had hugged him for as long as possible before his departure. She knew that the Blacks were on Voldemort's side of the war, and had her suspicions that Regulus would almost certainly be involved in the war thanks to his parents.

Unlike usual, Remus had returned home for the holidays but Mariya had the feeling that that had more to do with the full moon that was coming up and his desire to be in the comfort of his own home around people he knew than his parents trying to keep him safe. He had left her a box when he had left and she had offered him a wrapped package in return. She had bought him a couple of books he had mentioned along with as many bars of chocolate as Honeydukes was willing to sell her.

The only reason Mariya was still at Hogwarts was that her parents were far too busy with their jobs at the Ministry to get the holiday off, especially with everything that was happening regarding Lord Voldemort.

When she opened Remus' present to her, she found a simple locket which when opened contained a picture of herself and Regulus which had been taken after they had won the Quidditch cup the previous year - he spun her around in a circle before they both grinned at the camera. On the other half there was a picture of herself and Remus - they were a bit calmer than in the other picture as they sat reading in a tree by the black lake, Mariya was the one who noticed the photographer and nudged Remus in the side before they smiled. Along the top of the locked Remus had had 'Брати і Сестри (Brothers and Sisters)' engraved in beautiful letters and simple swirling patterns decorated the outside. Mariya hung the locket around her neck and tucked it under the fluffy cable knit jumper she had paired with smart trousers.

Two of the few students who had remained at the castle were James Potter and Sirius Black. Sirius had obviously stayed because he didn't want to be with his family any more than necessary and James had presumably stayed in order to keep Sirius company as Mariya knew how much his parents loved him and doubted that they would want him to stay at the castle unless there was no other choice.

Mariya had learned around October time that the rest of Remus' friends knew the truth about him, though she suspected that they had known for a while. Seeing as they were still around him constantly, she presumed that they wanted to help him and just didn't know how. Unlike her they had not realised that they could become Animagi and she appreciated that the Christmas holidays would be the perfect time to suggest it to them. Obviously she wasn't just going to tell them how to do it so she had been careful to place books regarding Animagi and how to become them in their path over the holiday until one day she heard James suggest to Sirius that they could become Animagi. He had sounded so smug when he said it that Mariya rolled her eyes, it had taken nearly two weeks of subtle hints for him to come to the correct conclusion so she didn't hold high hopes for how long it would take them to accomplish.

It turned out that she was right to be concerned as it took almost a year and a half for any of them to achieve their new forms - having decided not to tell Remus and by extension attempting to complete the process without his help. If nothing else, she was glad to find that they had at least turned into more useful animals than her dragon and so would be able to assist Remus during his transformations.

It also turned out that she had been right to worry about Regulus as, when he returned for the new term, he told her that his parents had dragged him along to one of their meetings and that, though he had known many of the people there from school, he had not enjoyed meeting the man who he was told would one day be his leader, though he was not yet old enough to take the mark and join their ranks. Though Mariya personally was not strongly affected by the war effort, she was worried by how many of her friends and acquaintances were being dragged in one way or another and couldn't help but worry that one day she would end up being a part of it whether she liked it or not.