Being Minnie's Daughter

Chapter 20

 Remus' POV

"Mates, where is she?" I mutter for the nth time tonight. I keep pacing in front of the fireplace. It's nearly midnight and Mack still isn't back from wherever she went to. "Can you check the map again?" I ask again.

"No, I am not going to check the map again, Remus. I just checked it one minute ago for her. She isn't going to just magically show up on the map in less than one minute," James exclaims at me from the couch across from the fire.

"Sorry James," I mutter ashamed. "I'm just worried."

"We know you are!" Sirius shouts. "Now stop pacing before you wear a hole in the carpet. I don't need McGonagall wanting to chop off my head. And have a chocolate frog when you stop, you aren't you when you worry," he adds on while throwing me a chocolate frog.

I catch it and then pull it open. I grab the frog before it jumps and look at the card once I bite off its legs. I learned that if you eat the legs first then it can't jump in case you drop it. I look at the card and sigh. "I got Nicholas Flamel. Do any of you want him?"

Peter looks up, "Can I see it? I'm not sure if I have it."

"Of course," I reply, tossing it over to him.

"Remus," I hear Lily say softly. I look at her and see her looking at me with a caring smile. "She knows how to take care of herself. Stop worrying and you better not be still standing here pacing when I wake up in the morning." She stands up from the Wizard's Chess game that she was playing against Sirius and begins to walk towards the stairs.

"LILY!" Sirius shouts. "Where do you think you are going? We have to finish this game."

"Oh right," she says with a grin on her face as she turns back to face us. "Checkmate."

Sirius frantically searches the board to see if she is right but of course she is, it's Lily. Lily laughs and runs up the stairs while Sirius walks towards the couch pouting. We are all silent for at least 15 minutes before more commotion happens.

"Guys I got it! I got the book we need!" Mack squeals with a ginormous grin as she runs into the common room. It's obvious she is trying to be quiet but it's not working very well because she is so excited.

"Youre back!" I say with a grin and run over and pick her up and twirl her around. "Where did you go?" I shout. I look up at her face and can't even stop myself from laughing even though I want to be mad. She's so excited and happy that she has a crazy look on her face. She holds out something to me and it takes me a moment before I realize she is holding a very old, yet incredibly famous book on hot to become an Animagus. "Woah, this book is really rare! How in the world did you get this transfiguration book?"

"My mum is a professor in transfiguration," she sasses with her hand on her hip, "how do you think I got it?"

"No way, you stole it from her office?" Sirius asks half shocked and half excited.

"No, I'm not that stupid. If I took it from her office she would know what I was doing. I stole it from our house because I doubt she will notice it's gone since it has been in my room for years. It's only on Animagus transfiguration and it's the one I used when I became an Animagus!"

"How did you get home?" James says surprised.

"It's better if you don't know. There's a prefect present," she says cutely, staring at me.

"It's not like I'm going to tell," I grin. I wrap my arm around her and pull her close. "So how'd you do it?"

"I flew there from Hogsmeade," she says simply as she unwinds from my arms and heads for the stairs.

Immediately I reach out and grab her arm. "Where you going?" I ask.

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, I am freezing and want to go get changed into warm clothes before I come back down and explain this book to all of you."

I nod and then she starts to run partially up the stairs.

"Wait!" James exclaims. "Are you hungry?" James asks her softly.

She turns back around and looks at him. "Yeah, I am actually," she replies, her eyes looking suspicious.

"I'll go get you some food from the kitchen then while you get changed," he says softly before heading out the portrait hole.

She nods then sprints the rest of the way up the stairs. I turn away and watch Sirius and Peter head towards the couches. I walk over and sit down on the loveseat while Sirius and Peter sit on the couch.

"Mate, did you honestly not even notice her appearance?" Sirius says concerned.

"Not at first, I didn't notice until she said she wanted to get changed," I say softly.

"Remus," Sirius says quietly. "She looked like she was frozen solid. I don't know how she flew there but she definitely didn't have a coat on. It's a miracle she didn't freeze to death or get frostbite trying to fly home."

I go still as I hear him talk. How on earth did I not notice?

"You didn't notice because you were only focusing on how cute she was," Peter says simply.

I look at them completely confused. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yeah, you did," they chorus.

"Oh, sorry," I mutter looking into the fire. The flames capture my attention easily. I must really be out of it today.

I lose the trance when I hear the smacking of shoes on the stone staircase. I look up just as Mackenzie comes into view. She runs over and curls up next to me.

"You are so warm," she sighs, holding on to me.

I reach over her head and grab the blanket resting over the couch. I wrap it over her and then pull her closer.

"So you are going to tell us all about this book and how you got there and everything, right?" I ask her.

"Not now, you're warm," she says with a smile.

Not even a moment later, James comes bursting in with a ton of food. "I didn't know exactly what you would want so I got hot chocolate, chicken noodle soup, macaroni and cheese, tea, and some junk food."

"Thanks James," she says with wide eyes as she takes in all of the food.

"I also grabbed extra mac and cheese and hot chocolate for us," he tells the rest of us.

"Thanks mate," we all exclaim as we dig in.

Surprisingly Mack is the first one done eating, she keeps yawning and her eyes are struggling to stay open. "Hey Mack," I whisper.

"Yeah Remus," she says leaning more into me.

"Will you tell us about all this tomorrow?"

"Of course I will!"

"Then go to sleep. We will talk about this book while you sleep then I will carry you up to bed."

"Thanks Remus," she says with a smile as she yawns. "Goodnight!"

"Goodnight Mack," we all echo back.