Work Text:
A Winged Valentine's Surprise
Special thanks to Kitty for all your patience and help with grammar and your idea for the title for this!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tilting his head towards the sun steadily warming up through the large windows, Remus gave a quiet contented hum as he let it warm him while Sirius stayed in the shadow between the two windows, leaning against the wall.
"You're never going to catch a tan if you stay there," he tried to persuade him but Sirius only shook his head, keeping his head down.
But before he could ask what was wrong, his stomach dropped as he spotted a wildly grinning James coming their way. "Oh no."
Grey eyes shifted and Sirius sighed. "Think he's got it out of his system by now?"
From the moment they'd awoken that morning, James had been in a beyond chipper mood; singing Valentine songs near constantly and driving them crazy.
"Hey, you never guess who I've been assigned to work with during Divination just now," James almost sang as he reached them.
"I guess not."
"It was great! I spend the entire hour humming as the Professor was in a really lovey-dovey mood."
"Never thought I'd ever feel sorry for Evans," Sirius muttered and Remus fought to stifle a laugh at the utter defeat in the other's entire posture.
"I thought I hated it when he was quiet and withdrawn yesterday, but that can't possible be worse than this," he murmured back as their friend was dancing in circles while singing horribly off-key, attracting the attention of other students who giggled.
"It would be preferable to this right now," Sirius agreed, crossing his arms and leaning more heavily against the wall.
"Think I could manage to sit beside Evans during Runes, too?"
"Or she'll hex you badly enough that you'll spend the rest of the day in the hospital wing beside Pete," Sirius said shortly.
"Wait, Pete's in the hospital wing? What happened?" Remus blinked.
"He ate his own weight in chocolate and Madam Pomfrey's punishing him for it by having him throw it all up without magical aid."
Although he wanted to argue against the harsh treatment, he managed to pause long enough to consider the words before opening his mouth and instead found himself shrugging. "I guess he does deserve that, he's never going to learn, is he?"
"Doubtful," the short answer was sharper than Sirius normally spoke to any of them and Remus looked down at him confused.
"Are you all right?"
"I will be if there's a way to shut him up," he sounded surprisingly irritated as he shot James a glare so unlike him, Remus actually found himself shifting away from his friend.
James had to have been behaving truly irritating to get even Sirius' normally endless patience with him tested and he could see his eye twitch as James burst into another, horribly off-key, happy love song.
"I'm afraid it's not going to stop anytime soon, he's been at it all morning already despite the various hexes Evans send his way."
"She won't be the only one hexing him if he doesn't stop," Sirius actually growled, making worry settle into Remus' stomach as this truly wasn't like his friend at all.
Even when he'd gotten annoyed at Peter's inability to clean up after himself or his own habit of self-doubt, he never, not once got upset with James the same way. And certainly not like this.
No matter how much their friend sometimes annoyed him and Pete, Sirius never seemed bothered by it.
But before he could think of how to ask what was wrong, James stepped between them, slinging an arm around Sirius' shoulder and bursting into a truly horrific rendition of a popular love song.
"James, please stop singing," wincing, Sirius tried to shrug him off; something he'd also never do and it only heightened Remus' belief something was wrong, though for the first time in his life, James seemed oblivious to his discomfort.
"But it's Valentine's Day, Siri! The day for singing and announcing our love for each other!"
"Fine, I love you, now can you please shut up? You're making my ears bleed."
"Awww, I love you too!" James' grin widened. "And I know just the song to sing for you, too!"
"No."
But James was too far gone in his giddiness to pick up on Sirius' discomfort as he began the first notes of another love song Remus vaguely remembered his mother introducing them to.
"James! If you wanted to sing all day long, then you should've become a bird!" Sirius finally snapped even as James suddenly disappeared in a swirl of yellow magic, somehow shrinking and changing at the same time.
Staring stupidly at the place where their friend had just been, Remus' eyes snapped up to Sirius in the hopes he could explain what had just happened.
But the irritation had been replaced by sheer gobsmacked perplexity and it seemed only his instincts that reacted to catch the little brown thing that fell from chest height with a startled little squeak that sounded surprisingly like a bird.
Blinking, Sirius opened his hands to reveal there was indeed a little brown bird sitting there; looking dazzled.
"What….where's James?" Blinking Remus looked around, not entirely certain as to what had happened.
"I…." slowly and uncertainly, Sirius glanced up to him before looking back down at the little bird in his hands. "I think this is him?"
"You….did you mean to do that?" He didn't question if it was true because honestly this wouldn't be the strangest thing that had ever happened around them.
"No? I….should we go to Professor M?"
"Can't you just change him back?"
"I don't even know how he became a bird in the first place," Sirius looked around them to see if he could identify anyone having pulled this on them, but none of the students was paying them the least bit of attention. "But, I guess I must have done it?"
"Then if you don't know how you did it, going to the Professor might be our wisest move," eyeing the bird sitting motionless in the other's hands, he swallowed. "Think he's all right?"
"I think so? James?"
A small questioningly trill was his answer as the little bird looked up to him; making no move to fly or move and Remus had the strange feeling he was just as surprised as what had happened as they were.
"We're going to Professor M, she'll know how to fix this," glancing down at the little bird as it gave a shrill tweet, Sirius shook his head. "No, I'm not going to try and fix this myself, I don't even know what I did in the first place and I could hurt you."
"Are you…..can you understand him?" Remus couldn't help but ask incredulously.
"No, but that's absolutely what he was saying," Sirius decided as he shifted his free hand around the little bird protectively so he couldn't fly off, but left the little head free so it could see where they were going.
"Right," indicating Sirius should lead the way, he followed him to her office; knocking as he realised Sirius' hands were a little occupied, entering when the Professor called.
"Mister Black, Mister Lupin, why are you not in class?" She asked sternly.
"I think I transfigured James into a bird," Sirius lifted his hand to reveal the bird version of James calmly perched there.
Her eyes widened as she caught sight of him, quickly rising to her feet even as she bristled. "Human transfiguration is immensely difficult and the things that can go wrong are tremendous. What could have possibly possessed you to try this without supervision?!"
"I didn't mean to do it, I don't even know how I did it. One moment he was singing in my ear and the next he was like this," Sirius looked up to her with wide eyes. "I don't know what happened."
"You don't know?" Incredulous, McGonagall looked down at him with her piercing eyes before taking a surprised step back as she seemed to see just how distressed Sirius was.
"All right, let's take a seat and walk through what happened," indicating they should sit down, she did the same. "Tell me exactly what happened."
"He's been singing love songs all morning and I got annoyed at him for it because he wouldn't stop. But when I told him as much he just...turned into a bird?" Sirius seemed truly stumped as to how that could've happened.
"You weren't holding a wand?"
"No and I wasn't even thinking of a spell either to use wandless magic, he just changed," looking down at the little bird in his hands, Sirius swallowed. "Can you fix him?"
"I can most certainly try, place him on the desk," at the order Sirius carefully deposited the bird down, receiving a startled little squeak as he withdrew his hands, giving Remus the feeling he'd only been calm because his senses had been surrounded by Sirius' scent.
If birds could even smell scents in the first place, he vaguely wondered.
"Let us first see if he still has his mental capacity. Mister Potter, if you can understand us and know who you are then I want you to hop to the right," they all watched with held breath as the James bird turned to McGonagall before unsteadily shifting in an attempt to find his feet, succeeding after a moment before promptly falling to the right as he tried to walk.
"I shall take that as a yes," there was a tiny quiver of humour in the stern professor's voice as Sirius immediately reached out to right him up, carefully setting him back on his little...claws, Remus supposed as he didn't exactly have feet right now.
Pulling out her wand, McGonagall gave a little wave over the bird but nothing happened and she gave a discontented hum before casting another spell.
Two dozen attempts later nothing had changed beyond James figuring out how to hop around and he was doing so now, shamelessly investigating everything on her desk.
"Let's try to figure out exactly what you've done," their Professor eventually decided, raising an eyebrow at the James bird. "So Mister Potter has been singing all morning?"
"Yes."
"And you got annoyed at him for it?"
"Yes," Sirius hesitated. "I might've snapped at him that if he wanted to sing all day long, he should've become a bird."
"But you did not think of a spell or use your wand?"
"No."
"Strange," resting her hands on her desk, McGonagall looked down at bird James for a long moment. "If I must be truthful, then I have absolutely no idea how you managed to do this as the normal counter-spells do not work. Even if this had been accidental magic, for which you are far too old, they should have been enough."
"Are you trying to tell us that you can't change him back?" The distress in Sirius' voice made Remus' heart clench and even bird James stopped his cheerful hopping around to turn to him.
He gave a small little whistle before hopping towards him and the experimental flapping and hopping he had been doing was enough to let him land on Sirius' knee and as he reached out a hand to steady him, the bird used his movement to hop onto his hand and up his arm.
Evidently he'd guessed Sirius would bring up his other hand to try and catch him as he sort of bounced and flapped his way up before taking a sudden nosedive into Sirius' chest; tweeting rapidly and in clear alarm.
"What are you trying to do?" Confused, Sirius caught him but instead of dropping him back onto the table, he naturally indulged James' antics no matter his form and instead brought him up to his face as that had obviously been his direction.
James hopped of off his hand and took another, more controlled, nosedive into the hollow of his throat; once more using the hand that came up to support him to actually land on his shoulder and tweeting in apparent happiness as he buried himself in the little dip between Sirius' neck and shoulder while brushing his full body against him.
"I..." carefully Sirius brought up his hand to gently cover him, swallowing back tears rising at the clear intent to comfort. "I'm sorry."
James bird only gave a soft warble and burrowed himself more against him.
"Well, it seems he most definitely has his cognitive abilities left," clearing her throat, McGonagall gave a small smile at the honestly cute display. "And unless that is your rather famous animal attraction at work, I dare say he forgives you for your accidental action."
"That may be, but it doesn't change him back Professor," brushing his thumb over the feathered back, Sirius smiled faintly as bird James immediately gave a content little sounding whistle.
"No, and I may invite disaster with my next suggestion but I believe it might be best if you return to classes and take him with you. He might just change back once you've calmed down completely."
"And if he doesn't?"
"I will discuss what happened with some colleagues and perhaps find advice from other Transfiguration masters. Come back here after dinner should he still remain the same and hopefully I will have a solution ready then."
"Yes Professor," they said in unison as they rose to their feet, making their way outside and as Remus closed the door behind him he turned to see bird James had settled onto Sirius' shoulder; little claws securely holding him in place as the other moved.
"Now what?"
"Now we have two options," Sirius glanced down at bird James before moving down the hallway, so Remus followed him. "One, we do as Professor M said and go to class, hoping it will solve itself or she figures it out."
"And two?"
"I try to replicate the spells she used to see if they'll work better for me since it was my magic that changed him."
"You want to try your hand at human transfiguration?"
"Well, it wouldn't be the first time, I've just…."
"What? When have you done that before?" he interrupted him.
"During the Battle of Hogsmeade last year. We've changed a variety of Death Eater body parts into other animal parts and James even managed to make a rock grow human arms."
All at once he remembered how awed he had been by their actions and skill; though he'd never quite put together that it had actually been human transfiguration they'd used as that was N.E.W.T. level of casting and although his two dark-haired friends were brilliant, he hadn't quite realised they'd reached that level yet. "I hadn't realised you had been practising that."
"We hadn't," the admittance made Remus freeze in his steps.
"What? You'd never done that before that fight?"
"No, it's human transfiguration, do you have any idea how dangerous that is to do without fully knowing what you are doing?" Sirius looked at him as if he was the insane one and Remus gaped.
"But….you used it against Death Eaters!"
"Yeah, it wasn't like we'd care if something went wrong for them if we didn't do it perfectly. The more damage done, the better," huffing out a laugh, Sirius looked at bird James perched on his shoulder. "It was actually quite surprising to the both of us that we got it done on the first attempt."
There was not much he could say to that as it made a morbid kind of sense and it truly had been the most effective of methods. "You two scare me sometimes."
"That may be, but it doesn't answer what our next step is. Do I try my hand at it, or do we wait? I've never actually tried to reverse it with an actual human being before."
"Then how did you practise it?" He wasn't entirely sure he actually wanted to know the answer as they made their way down the hall.
"You don't want to know."
"And yet those words leave me with the most horrific images to consider," grumbling, he followed Sirius up the stairs as the other laughed. "So are you going to try and undo it yourself?"
"I don't know," looking back at James, Sirius bit his lip. "What do you think, it's your body. Hop onto my hand if you think I shouldn't, hop to my right shoulder if I should."
Bird James looked at Sirius for a single moment before hopping across to his other shoulder, twittering loudly.
"I guess we have an answer," localising the first empty classroom, they slipped inside and as he cast their usual privacy charms, Sirius sat down, bird James flapped to the ground and turned to him; tweeting seemingly encouraging.
But although Remus was fairly certain Sirius flawlessly performed the spells McGonagall had used, nothing happened and eventually he leaned back defeated.
"I guess waiting it is," sighing, Sirius rolled his shoulders. "At least my headache's finally gone down a little and I'm less stiff."
"You had a headache?"
"For a few days now, it' s why I was so irritated, sorry," rubbing at his temples. Sirius sighed. "If only it would leave completely already."
"You've had a headache for several days now? Why didn't you say anything?"
"There wasn't much to say, honestly. I tried taking a migraine mixture but that didn't work and I even took a long nap when everyone was in class to see if it would help, but nothing. Only thing I could do was ride it out until it left on its own."
Remus glanced at his friend worriedly as he knew it had to have been pretty darn bad before Sirius willingly took a potion; from the way bird James immediately hopped onto his leg that same worry was shared by him. "What caused it?"
"I don't know, it just slowly came on and became worse and worse as the days passed," he stuck out his finger to bird James and with a small questioning tweet, he hopped onto it. "Let's see if you can actually use those wings so you have something to do while he goes into mother hen mode since you currently can't."
Giving an excited trill, bird James began to flap his wings rapidly and after watching him for a moment, Remus returned his attention to his human friend. "You didn't hit your head or get into a fight lately?"
"No, it's actually been pretty quiet lately. No one's made my life difficult and Snape's still in St Mungo's."
"Bless the Dragon Pox vaccine and Snivellus' allergic reaction to it. May he long be held in quarantine," because none of them missed the greasy git and Sirius was right in that life had been decisively, enjoyably quiet for the last month.
"We're just lucky Madam Pomfrey caught it before he could become contagious and infect us all," the small smile on Sirius' lips grew suddenly. "Hey James...you're flying."
Indeed bird James was flapping his wings without any support as Sirius had lowered his finger and he tweeted excitedly before dropping like a stone as his concentration broke, but Sirius had already caught him again before he could let out a tweet.
"Easy, don't tire yourself out too much."
Twittering excitedly, James used his wings to lift off from Sirius' hand again, practising staying afloat while making sure to stay in the general area of safety.
"But your headache's not entirely gone yet?" Remus inquired as they watched bird James let himself drop back onto Sirius' hand after a moment; clearly tired.
"No, it was actually becoming blindingly overwhelming until this happened. So maybe I needed to snap at someone to help lessen it, though if that's true then I'm truly sorry it happened at you, James."
"You just call him James," Remus noted even as the bird whistled at Sirius and lightly poked at his thumb with his beak.
"Yes? What else am I supposed to call him?" Using his forefinger to brush over the bird's head, he smiled.
"I don't know, I've been thinking of him as bird James in my head," grinning bashfully as Sirius snorted, he shrugged. "Just James seems….wrong somehow as he's not exactly himself right now."
"No, but he's still James, no matter what form he takes," as James rapidly twittered at him while flapping his wings, Sirius wordlessly lifted him back up to his shoulder where the bird happily perched on his previous spot. "And I can't believe you're not using the opportunity to sing some more when you're actually a bird now."
But the bird, James, gave a soft warble that almost sounded like a question and brushed against Sirius' neck.
"I'm all right, no worries. The headache is a little less now so if you don't sing too loudly, it shouldn't hurt."
Hesitantly, James began to sing; little beady eyes focused on Sirius' expression before gaining confidence as he smiled.
"You do realise he's never going to stop now, right?"
"Well, I did tell him he should've become a bird if he wanted to sing all day and that's exactly what he is right now. So why shouldn't he be allowed to do so?"
Which was another thing Remus could say little about so he shrugged, blinking as Sirius rose to his feet. "Where are you going?"
"Class is almost over now so we should make our way to Runes."
"You honestly want to take James there?" Scrambling to his feet, Remus undid his spells before following him out of the door.
"It is a class he himself follows as well so he can follow the lesson as he obviously understands human speech and Professor M gave me a note to explain his presence," holding up a note Remus hadn't realised had been handed out, Sirius shrugged. "Might as well go about our normal routine in the hope I do something right to change him back."
But that did not happen and for the rest of the day James remained perched on Sirius' shoulder or hand, singing and twittering in his ear as if to keep up a running commentary.
It made more than a few students look at them strangely but Sirius didn't even seem to notice the lingering gazes as he conjured a small saucer before cutting pieces of his broccoli and cucumber small; sliding it onto the saucer for James to eat.
Who had cheerfully hopped down to sit beside Sirius' plate and dug in with its little beak while Sirius ate his own meal as if there was nothing unusual going on.
"How do you know what he eats?"
"It looks like he's a dunnock and I know those can eat fruits and vegetables, so that's what I'm feeding him for now as I doubt he'd appreciated it if I went to dig up some worms."
"I think you'd be right about that," biting back a laugh as James gave an indignant shrill whistle, he focused on his own meal while Sirius took care of James'.
After their plates were polished clean and desserts appeared; he watched Sirius give James a few of his berries and cut a piece of his own apple off to hand it over.
But although James ate everything they gave to him, he only truly seemed excited about the peanuts Sirius crushed for him; snapping them up with his beak at a speed that would make even Peter proud.
After dinner they returned to McGonagall's office.
"Good evening Professor," they greeted her before taking seats when indicated.
"No such luck as to changing him back yet, then," sighing, McGonagall took a sip from her cup. "I've consulted with a few of my colleagues, but they all agree the methods I used should have worked. I'm at a…."
Knocking at the door cut her off and calling out for whoever was there to enter, Remus was surprised to find Professor Flitwick entering.
"Good evening, I heard about your Transfiguration mishap and I think I might actually have an idea," the tiny professor said as he came into the room.
"By all means," McGonagall offered him a chair and the Charms Professor sat down beside Sirius, turning to him.
"Tell me Sirius, what exactly happened when you changed him," and the man nodded interested as Sirius explained how he had changed him.
"Yes, and you were annoyed at him when it happened, right?"
"Only because he kept singing and my head was killing me, I never meant for this to happen."
"Of course not, may I ask how your head is now?"
"Honestly Professor, I don't see how me having a headache has any importance considering my brother is a bird," Sirius raised an eyebrow questioningly. "It's hardly as if he changed because of my headache."
"If it was a normal headache then it would not have, no," Flitwick agreed and McGonagall's eyes narrowed.
"What are you thinking of, Filius?" But he waved her off.
"You see, when you told me that you were annoyed with James, it struck me as weird as I don't think I have ever seen you truly annoyed at him before."
"No, I completely overreacted just because my head hurt," Sirius freely admitted.
"What I wonder about is exactly how long you've had that headache as I recall you've looked pinched and worn out all week," pulling a small tin can out of his robes, he opened it to reveal several cupcakes. "Take one, will you? Both of you, if you'd like, though the yellow one is for Sirius."
"No thank you," as expected Sirius declined the sweet treat but Flitwick insisted.
"This one is lemon flavoured and I've made it this afternoon with a strong mixture against headaches mixed into it as there is something I would like to test."
Picking up the cupcake with a sigh, Sirius handed the red one to Remus before biting into the one made specifically for him.
"Is your headache gone now?" Flitwick asked once he'd finished.
"No."
"I expected as much. Tell me, did it get less intense after you changed young James into a bird?"
"A little, snapping helped," his friend admitted a little shameful.
"While snapping at someone in anger can be truly refreshing at times, especially if deserved, I do believe it was not the actual snapping that finally lessened your headache," Flitwick pulled out a rock as big as his hand and a goblet, emptying a bottle of vinegar into it.
"There's an egg inside the rock, could you get it out of there without breaking it, please? And maybe turn this into water while you're at it?"
"I...sure?" Confused Sirius did as he was asked.
"Good, good. And maybe levitate that blue book from the self to me and while you're at it, could you transfigure the goblet into a balloon?"
The more tasks Flitwick set Sirius out to do, the more his expression cleared from the pinched look it had that Remus hadn't even realised was there before.
As he transfigured the rock into a flower and then to a cockroach his entire frame seemed to relax from the tenseness that had apparently been in his shoulders all along and McGonagall's eyes widened as she seemed to understand what Flitwick was doing.
It left Remus feeling incredibly guilty as he hadn't even realised the other had been having that much trouble; a thought James seemed to share as the bird was deadly quiet as he looked at the proceedings from Sirius' knee.
"Well done!" Flitwick clasped delightedly. "So, how's your headache now?"
"It...It's almost gone," surprised Sirius looked at the small professor. "H...how?"
"Let's keep transfiguring and charming things for just a little bit longer then, shall we? Minerva?"
"Yes, transfigure my teacup into a gerbil and then to a pawn," nodding impressed as he did just that, she gave him a few more orders before Flitwick called them to a hold.
"Completely gone now?"
"Yes," confused, Sirius frowned but Flitwick only smiled as he picked James up and moved him to the ground.
"Now, why don't you think of James as you know him? His brown eyes and messy hair and ..." the man trailed off as with another yellow flash James was suddenly standing before them, blinking owlishly. "Well done, Sirius."
"James!" Without a care for their audience, Sirius flew into his arms and snapping out of his stupor, James pulled him close, shushing the stream of apologies flying at him.
"I'm fine….that was actually surprisingly fun," he laughed as he held Sirius close for a long moment before pulling back and brushing a hand over the other's cheek. "And no apologies needed. I hadn't realised you were suffering, why didn't you say anything?"
"I had already tried all the usual remedies but nothing worked. What use would mentioning it be beyond making you worry?" Sirius asked as he pulled him into another hug. "I'm so sorry."
"It's all right. It was fun learning to fly and I'm absolutely a better singer as a bird than as a human," he tried to comfort him before guiding him to sit down again, taking a seat in the chair right beside him so he could keep holding his hand and Remus smiled as James' familiar brown eyes glanced briefly at him and he waved.
"Take a biscuit as I'm sure you will be hungry, in fact, why don't you all, I insist," McGonagall pushed her tin can under their noses and James grabbed two, handing one over to Sirius who automatically accepted it to nibble on it while Remus and even Professor Flitwick grabbed one, too.
"Why could I change him back now when Professor M couldn't?" Sirius asked once their biscuits were gone. "And how did my headache have anything to do with it?"
"I noticed you had become fairly irritated over the last few days, it caught my attention because in the four years I've known you, I've never once seen you that irritated," Flitwick explained. "I was actually going to ask you what was going on after class yesterday, but you were gone before I got the chance."
"Sorry."
Waving his apology off, Flitwick smiled. "You see, as I kept an eye on you, it occurred to me that we've had a truly quiet few weeks recently and a lot of theoretical study being done with very little practical being involved."
"I guess so?" It was clear none of them understood where this was going, so Remus didn't feel too slow for a change.
"I am also well aware of your usual after class activities, but might I be right to assume they've all but come to a halt when you caught the flu and James injured his wrist during the last Quidditch game last month?"
"Yes, we've been taking it easy to recover properly so haven't done any training," James confirmed.
"And there have been no skirmishes with other students either, am I right?"
"No...you think my headache was caused because I haven't been using enough magic?" It seemed Sirius' brain was finally catching up to where Flitwick was going. "But we've had down periods before and I've never had the same thing happen then."
"Ah, but those usually didn't last for more than a few days, now did they? A restriction on your magic for about a week and then you'd be back at work in at least the lessons, while now you have gone through nearly a month of barely any magic use in any way."
"Okay, so my headache was my body's way of telling me to, what, calm down?"
"Quite the opposite, actually. You are becoming a very powerful wizard, Sirius and your magical core reflects that. The things we've just made you do were mostly N.E.W.T. level spells and despite only being a fourth year, you performed them without any difficulties at all."
"I don't understand. So I developed a headache because I'm doing magic that's to powerful?"
"No, you developed a headache because you stopped doing such magic," McGonagall spoke up. "It's something that very occasionally occurs in powerful magical people who suddenly stop using magic without any warning or reason. The magic boils up inside of them and because it can't find an outlet in the spells one would usually use, it erupts into uncontrollable actions."
"Kind of like Ariana," Sirius realised and McGonagall gave him a startled look; though the name meant nothing to Remus.
"Yes, its not exactly the same, but it is similar. How….how do you know about her?"
"I'm friends with Aberforth," he explained. "He told me about her."
"When your emotions get the better of you and your magic is locked away for too long, it could be exactly the same," she swallowed.
"It is something you will have to be very careful of in the future," Flitwick advised. "And perhaps to a certain level, not just you."
"I've actually used magic this morning to conjure up a surprise for Valentine's Day, but I did have a bit of a headache yesterday," James suddenly admitted. "So if we use our magic in little ways every single day, this won't happen again?"
"Not for you no," Flitwick hesitated. "But the stronger one is, the more easily strong emotions can cause unintentional results."
"Like when Madam Pomfrey always forbids us from using magic whenever we've been injured because potions dull control," clarification came to Sirius as his eyes snapped up to the tiny professor. "Magic is controlled by our emotions, but only if we let it. It's why accidental magic happens to children, because their magic responds to their emotions and they don't have the control to channel their magic properly yet."
"So if my magic boils up inside of me, for whatever reason, it actually dulls my control and bad things can happen?"
McGonagall and Flitwick shared a look Remus couldn't decipher before Flitwick spoke.
"We were lucky that the only thing that happened was you transfiguring James into a bird. But if you had gotten truly angry then you could just as easily have caused massive destruction, because that is how strong your magic can be," Flitwick rested a hand on his shoulder. "But while it is dangerous if that happens, your body actually raises the alarm long before it could become so."
"The headache and stiffness," Sirius nodded. "I had no idea. I just figured it was a lingering after-effect from the flu but didn't think there might've been something else going on when the remedies for headaches didn't work."
"Next time you get a headache and a remedy doesn't work, you now know what it might mean," McGonagall said carefully. "But either way you must always be in control of your emotions, you can never let your control slip."
"Yes Professor, I truly am sorry for what happened."
"I know you are and I am sure it will never happen again," she sighed before smiling. "It was truly a magnificently executed human transfiguration and all the transfiguration you have done here was utterly flawless. Fifty points for the truly magnificent piece of magic you performed, accidental as it might have been."
"I….thank you."
"But as it is, I would like you and Mister Potter to report here Thursday after dinner."
"What, why?" James exclaimed and Remus shifted nervously. "Are you giving us detention for something that was an accident?"
"No, I am going to give you extra work tailored to your educational level as it has become very clear to me that you are both not even remotely challenged in class and it is a waste of either of your talents not to keep challenging you."
"Great, more specialised work," sighing, James leaned back in his seat. "But we'll be here."
"Good, then if I am not mistaken you know your way to the kitchen. Make sure you get something to eat as I have no doubt that what Mister Black fed you during dinner will not sustain you until morning now that you are thankfully yourself again," she rose to her feet and though Flitwick remained seated, the rest of them rose.
"We will, thank you Professor," James grabbed Sirius' hand and pulled him out of the room with him, but as Remus made to follow, McGonagall called him back.
"Remus, please keep an eye on Sirius and if you notice anything at all like this ever happening again, immediately come warn one of us," she advised softly.
"I...yes Professor," confused he found himself promising it and with a dismissive nod, made his way outside. But even though the door closed, he could still clearly hear their voices.
"Do you think he could actually be one?" McGonagall asked.
"I think he absolutely had the potential to be one if he hadn't always had such a strong control on his magic. Even in his first weeks here his control was beyond anything I had ever seen before in a brand new student," came the soft reply and although Remus had no idea what they were talking about, found himself rooted to the spot.
"And I think we are very, extremely fortunate that he met James when he did. If he hadn't found that kind of love when he did, then yes, I think we would've been looking at an entirely different situation right now when his control slipped today," Flitwick continued.
"Should we…..do something about it? Warn anyone in case we're wrong?"
"No, because we are not. As I said, he had the potential to become one. But he has been warned now and with James and the other two there to support and love him, I think he can fully heal the way Ariana never could," Flitwick suddenly laughed.
"You know, I actually considered suggesting to the board that we allow both of them to skip a year or two when their exam results last year set new records. But I did not think they would want to leave their two friends behind and now, knowing what I know, I think it is a very good thing I didn't even suggest it."
His heart skipped a beat at the mere thought of his two friends accelerating their education while he and Peter stayed behind and although a pang of guilt washed over him at the knowledge he was partly holding them back, it was mostly drowned out by the sheer relief of knowing they would never even think of leaving them behind.
He still had no idea what they were talking about, but although it sounded like they were worried about Sirius, Remus wasn't in the slightest. Because as Flitwick had said, all three of them were there to support and love Sirius no matter what, they'd never leave each other's sides.
"Rem, what are you doing?" Startled, he looked up to see James indicating he should come, still holding Sirius' hand as the two were waiting for him at the end of the hallway and nodding determinedly, he stepped away from the door to hurry to their sides; knowing they'd always have each other's backs.