In the year of the Stag, Rat, and Dog
By: Hannah Rose Cascio
~JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter...NOT ME! I don't own it nor do I sell it~
"Sirius," James whispered to his friend. He had figured something out and wanted to tell him, but Sirius Black rolled over saying "Potions homework due tomorrow." "Sirius" James said again only a little louder, "don't make me hit you." Sirius's response was a sleeping sigh. James picked up his pillow and then holding it above his head he brought down onto Sirius's sleeping face. "Yipe!" shouted Sirius, sounding like a cartoon dog. "What the Bloody hell was that for?" "You were sleeping and I didn't want you to be." Said James placing his pillow back on his own four poster. Sirius spat out down feathers that had escaped from James's pillow. "It's 4 AM. Why can't I sleep?" yawned Sirius before pulling the blankets over his head and shutting the curtains. James pulled them back again and whapped the large lump, that was Sirius. "Okay fine!" said a very tired and grumpy Sirius, "what do you HAVE to tell me at 4:00 in the morning?" "Remus isn't back yet," said James. The look on Sirius's face when he heard this was comical; he looked at James with an expression of extreme not caring. "And...That's bad?" "You don't think it's odd that he ALWAYS has to go somewhere once a month?" "I would if it wasn't 4!" Said Sirius rolling over "Sirius, it's weird he always has an excuse...but I did my Astronomy homework and realized that..." "He's always gone on the full moon...." said Sirius turning back over to face James, his eyes widening. "I think it means...." "I dunno.... it might.... why else would he never wear short-sleeves but to cover something up." "Because it's December?" said a new voice. This one was high-pitched and small, the voice of Peter Pettigrew. "But even at the start of term he wore sweaters under his robes." Said James. Peter yawned, "maybe his mother is ill, and that's why he's not here." "Don't be thick!" said Sirius, "James's reasoning makes a lot of sense." James nodded he wasn't sure how he was going to do...but he had to talk to Remus first. They all did. But when he told them that Sirius laughed, "yeah that'll be fun. It's like hey Remus, we know you get REALLY hairy on the full moon." James wanted to shut him up because he thought he heard something. It turned out to be Thomas Bones rolling over saying to himself "argerarrga" James turned back to his friends and put a finger to his mouth signaling for the to of them to BE QUITER! "If anyone, and I mean ANYONE finds out Remus could be chucked out." "You don't think Dumbledore knows?" asked Peter extremely quietly. "I think he dose...." said Sirius, "Dumbledore goes by what's inside the student not...stuff like this. And he would know that Remus is talented and a good guy." James nodded, "but people's parents would get him chucked out, we live in a very racist society." "We'll tell him tomorrow." said Sirius, "tomorrow's Saturday."
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Sirius lay awake for a little longer as the others slept. He kept on hearing what James had said 'we live in a very racist society.' Sirius knew that was true. Not only for people like Remus, but for people like him and Andromeida, And especially for people like Hannah. That whole "blood" thing was annoying. As Hagrid had told him at tea on Wednesday 'people don' look no deeper then the skin and think they understand ya...' Sirius knew that that wasn't possible. Maybe that's why he hated Snape and the other Slytherins so much. Most of them seemed blood obsessed. Except one.
Lily Evans. She was nice enough. Sirius knew that James had a crush on her since the first time he saw her. She was a Slytherin. But she didn't seem like the others...she was...nice. Sirius was glad he was in Gryffindor. And that was that ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remus sleepily looked at his friends. He was confused. He was scared. "What's up guys?" he asked looking up at them. He sat in the armchair by the fire in the empty common room Sirius, James, and Peter stood silhouetted by the fire in front of him. They looked disappointed, confused and maybe a little angry. "We know." said Sirius flatly. Remus tried to stay calm but he felt his face pale. "Know what?" he asked squeaking a little. "We know what you are," said James in the exact tone as Sirius. "What? What am I?" asked Remus sounded just like Peter and tears bubbling up in his eyes. "Why didn't you tell us?" asked Sirius. "Because...." "THIS IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOO COOL!" said James happily. "Wha?" Sirius's expression lightened and he smiled at his friend. Even Peter jumped up and down giggling insanely. "You mean your not going to abandon me like everyone else?" Asked Remus so used to that by now. "Are you kidding?" asked James "Of course not! We like you because your you, not because your a total untainted human!" said Sirius, "let's find somewhere where you can tell us ALL about it."
So the three of them took Remus and lead him out the portrait hole and into a broom cuboard at the far end of the hall. Sirius unlocked it, ushered the other three inside then relocked it. Remus sat down on a bucket and watched as Peter lodged himself between three bottles of mess remover and two mops, he liked enclosed spaces. "Right," said Sirius turning over an empty waste-paper basket to sit down on, "tell."
"It's a loooooooong story," Remus warned, "and it may be a little boring." "It won't be boring!" said James, "it'll be depressing and tear jerking, like old yeller." "I hate that book!" said Sirius, "the dog dies in the end. My mum read it to me when I was four and she said I didn't stop crying for hours." "Awww poor ikkle Sirius-y kins!" said a voice from the corner; Peter had completely hidden himself using old empty detergent bottles.
"It all starts when I was four," began Remus, he was cut off by a loud banging as Peter decided he'd much rather sit with the group, "like I said, it all started when I was four. It was a full moon--" "Well DUH!" Sirius cut in "--and a 'dog' I had never seen before was in the garden. I had had a dog at the time and thought that it was Woof's playmate come for tea. I wondered up to the animal...and...." he swallowed and pulled up the sleeve of both his robe and sweater, "it bit." There was a collected sharp intake of breath. "There's no cure. And the only potion that may help is still experimental. It'll take years to be...ready. So once a month I change. The property damage I have done to my house costs loads. Friends of the family stop coming and neighbors move away. It's no fun to be a werewolf." "So...where do you go now?" asked James. "The shrieking shack..." "What? With all the ghosts and stuff? The Bloody Baron is even afraid of that place!" said Sirius slightly shocked. "There are no ghosts. That's me...if make the noises." A collected oh. "You can't tell ANYONE!" With those words Sirius snapped and put on a very close to perfect Bertha Jorkins voice, "but I wanted to tell Mipsy, and Donna, and Richard, and Tommy and even professor Flitwik. This is GOOOD stuff. Such a shame...such a shame!" The others laughed. Bertha Jorkins was a Hufflepuff with such an ear for gossip you would think she was everywhere at once.
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"Poor Remus." said James quietly to Sirius in Transfigurations, "I feel really bad." The second years were very advanced in this class (most of them) and they were already working on Animagi. "I wanna do something for him...to help him I mean." Sirius nodded taking notes. Suddenly professor McGonagall turned herself into a cat to mass applause. "Did you see that!!!" cried Peter "Yeah. That was incredible!" said Thomas Bones Then where the cat had been sitting now was Professor McGonagall back to her usual height and much less furry. "That was brilliant!" said Sirius leaning back in his chair. "Thank you, Mr. Black now would mind putting all four chair legs on the ground?" "No professor." he said swinging the chair around so he sat backwards on it. Then he looked over at James who was grinning almost evilly to himself. "Eh?" asked Sirius raising one eyebrow. He knew this wasn't James's usual smile, the one they both gave out when girl's were checking them out from across the room, which happened frequently, no this was a planning sort of smile. "Mr. Potter?" asked Professor McGonagall also catching the bizarre expression on James's face, "may I ask what you are planning?" "Yes, you may professor...but I dunno if I'll tell you." the class laughed. Professor McGonagall took five points from Gryffindor which Sirius earned back a few seconds later by knowing how many know Animagi there where at that moment.
After class Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter walked toward the great hall for lunch. "What were you planning?" asked Sirius winking at two Ravenclaw second years that walked by waving, smiling, and giggling at them. "It's not quite a perfected plan yet and it involves a lot of rule breaking--" "I'm in!" said Sirius quickly "But not just school rules," said James, "laws too." Remus's eyes went wide, "no! NO! NO! NO! NO! You guys are not doing anything that could put you in Azkaban for me." "Are you thinking what I think your thinking?" asked Sirius also beginning to smile similarly, "it's a good thing we had that lesson today or James may have NEVER come up with this idea..." Remus's eyes went even wide, "but I'll be betraying Dumbledore! What if you're caught? What if bite someone? What if I--" "What if you give it a rest Rem?" asked Sirius. "And if we do get caught, you can tell the judge on our trial to Azkaban that you tried to stop us." said James. Sirius shivered he didn't know why but Azkaban scared him more then Lord Voldemort. "What are you going on about?" asked Peter obviously still left in the dark. "Animagi, Peter," whispered James, "a werewolf can only hurt people." "ANIMAGI!?" shouted Peter, "WHA??" "SHHHH!" said James, "this has gotta be kept quite." "So don't tell Bertha Jorkins," said Sirius, "We'll go to the library tonight." "WHAT!? AFTER HOURS! James, Sirius, peter, guys! You cannot be serious!" "I always Am." said Sirius. They entered the great hall and Peter as if just catching on began laughing crazily, and drawing more then a few funny looks.
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At 10:30 James, Sirius and Peter hid under James's invisibility cloak. There was no need to bring Remus who also refused to go with them. They snuck out the portrait hole and down into the library. It was as quiet as...it always was under Madam Pince it was always as silent as a tomb. "We now go where no second year has gone before..." said James gulping "This could go really wrong.... we could die, or mutate..." said Sirius now feeling fear grip his insides. Peter made a loud eep next to him, "or worse," Sirius continued, "We could get caught and be sent to, Azkaban." "Why are we doing this again?" squeaked Peter. "For Remus." said James. "Right for Remus." said Sirius. "F--for R-R-emus" Peter managed to choke out ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A year later they sat in the library Sirius and James had gotten the "simplest" part of it and now they moved on the HARD stuff. Both James and Sirius helped Peter still obviously confused along. Now they had to pick their animals and go on the personalized spells and charms for that animal. Then the final step was to make a potion while saying the charms and spells over them.
"Why does there have to be so many damn animals?" asked Sirius his brow furrowed, tongue sticking out at the corner of his mouth, a huge book called the complete animal encyclopedia open on his lap. "You look funnier then usual!" laughed James. "I wanna be a HAMPSTER!" cried Peter "The hamster spell looks pretty hard to handle..." said Sirius "Never mind." said Peter, "what about a naked mole rat?" "And a naked mole rat is?" "What are you three doing here?" asked a new voice. This voice was cold and dark, unkind and uncaring. This voice belonged to Severous Snape. "Sitting." responded James without looking up. "What are you reading? Because it looks far too complex for Pettigrew, we all know how simple he is. I don't believe he's even potty trained!" "Snape what are YOU doing here? Shouldn't you be adding more motor- oil to your hair?" asked James almost kindly, as if he were reminding Snape of a forgotten task. "Reading, what normal people do in the library, Potter." "I'm sorry, I don't think they have the little engine that could here...this library is for big kids." cooed Sirius "Shut it mutt. One of these days the four of you are going to get expelled and I hope I'm around to see it!" With that Snape turned on his heel and walked quickly off to join a group of Slytherins in the corner of the room. "I hate that kid." said Sirius, looking like an angry dog about to growl, "one of these days he's gonna push me too far!" Within a week they all had decided upon an animal had Remus okay them, and started to learn what they had to do. ~~~~~~~~~~~~
In September of their fifth year a new problem arose. Without any disturbances the potion they needed would be ready by October, but where could they make the potion with out getting caught? "A bathroom?" suggested Sirius scratching the side of his head. "People use the bathroom, genius," said James his head in his hands, they had come so far to be stopped now. "A GIRL'S bathroom?" tried Peter "Peter, girls use girl's bathrooms," said Sirius Suddenly as if to answer their question a loud rush of sobs was omitted from the room that they were standing near. Water began to leak out all over the place causing a flood on the floor. The sign on the door read in peeling pink letters, "GIRLS" "O dear Mertal's at it again...." said a voice next to them. James and the other turned and were facing a fifth year Hufflepuff, with blond hair and glasses, she was a little on the heavy side and wore a retainer that went all the way around her head. Bertha Jorkins. "Hi James," she said smiling. "Who did you say is doing that?" "Moaning Mertal," they didn't have to ask he to continue, she did even if they hadn't wanted her to, "she haunts that bathroom and CRIES all the time it's ALWAYS flooding and no one EVER goes in there!" "No one?" repeated Sirius looking meaningfully at the other two. "That's right Sirius, no one because--" the door slamming to the bathroom cut her off. And no one but Bertha Jorkins was now in the hallway. "Wait 'till the girls hear about this!"
The bathroom was large and older looking, the mirrors were covered in some sort of crud James couldn't even see through them. All of the sinks were off but water poured like Niagara from one of the stalls. "Do you reckon that's Mertal?" asked James Sirius shrugged. Peter seemed a little afraid of the whole place. "Hullo?" said James to the stall door, "anybody home?" Suddenly with a loud bang the stall door flew open and floating out looking like a wondered lion, was Moaning Mertal. "BOYS!?!?!? WHAT are BOYS doing in MY bathroom????" she shrieked inches from James's face. She had translucent Black hair done up in pigtails. She had large round glasses. "Errr.... we needed to use it?" said James hopefully. "Yeah right," said Mertal, "I bet you've come to poke fun at Mertal!" she began to sob tears slowly began to fall and she shook dangerously. "No. No we would never do that..." said Sirius stepping forward. "O...hello there," she said to Sirius looking much happier. "Err...yeah hi..." "What's your name?" she asked. "Sirius." he said. James held back a laugh; Mertal had taken a liking to Sirius.
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Since meeting Sirius, Mertal was more agreeable then usual. Of course she randomly cried, and got extremely angry at the littlest things but she allowed them to make there potion there. By October 6, it was done. At 11:00 Remus had come to watch them take it.
"This could go horribly wrong..." James reminded them, "There are no guarantees." Sirius nodded, Peter squeaked and shook. Sirius gulped "we still have to say the spell things." "If you guys die I'll never be able to forgive myself." Remus whispered. They each took their potions. Sirius took his and placed it on the sink then doing what he had practiced for so many months he began to mutter, "Canis Lupis Familerus. Mi es un Perro. Canis Lupis Familerus. Sirius. grande Perro. Canis Major. Grande perro. Chian" he could feel the potion bubble under his hands but didn't dare to look, "born under Sirius. Born under Cerberus, Artemis's hound! In the grave yard." he could almost feel power rushing from his body into the potion it became very hard to keep his hands in place, a force unseen pushed his hands up and down and at the same time was pushing them away. One last part, "LabPoodPharoShiMaliSamHuskBullpugPapisetter!!!!" then as he screamed that he heard two other screams, and then nothing.
He came to on the bathroom floor, Mertal hovering over him. "Ah!" he said, "wha? What the hell happened?" "He's okay." called Mertal sounding a little unhappy, after all Sirius realized if he died they would have an eternity to spend together.... not a very comforting thought. Remus came over from Peter who was just coming around. "All three of you fainted." he said, "you lost a lot of energy making that and pouring it...now it's time to drink." He grinned and held up the three cups. "Here Sirius. James. Peter." Sirius looked down at the cup the liquid turned jet-black and smelt like Snuffles after a walk in the rain. He stuck out his tongue and looked at James and Peter who also were examining their potions with disgust. James's was a dirty brown color and smelt like someone had already digested it. Peter's was gray and almost hairy in texture it smelt of rotten cheese. "Well," said Sirius to the other two, "bottom's up." with that the three of them brought the potions to their lips and drank. "Disgusting!" thought Sirius. When they finished the three looked at each other. "Did it work?" asked James. Sirius shrugged, "we won't know until someone tries to-" "LOOK!" shouted Remus to the two of the Sirius did look but he didn't see what he expected too. Instead of seeing a heavy blond kid there was a fat gray rat. Sirius smiled and thought "I want to be a dog." suddenly he felt his knees buckle and slowly twist his toes shortened and fur grew from his body. His nails extended into claws and felt his organs shift. His nose grew with his since of smell, his vision became black and white, and he could hear things he never did before. His human mind was still mostly functional, but his animal mind shared his skull. "What have you done to him?!" shrieked Mertal to Remus the only one that wasn't on all fours.
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That later that night Remus smiled to his friends. "The full moon's next week." he said, "but I'm sure no good will come of it." "That's right," said Sirius sleepily, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
End
"Sirius," James whispered to his friend. He had figured something out and wanted to tell him, but Sirius Black rolled over saying "Potions homework due tomorrow." "Sirius" James said again only a little louder, "don't make me hit you." Sirius's response was a sleeping sigh. James picked up his pillow and then holding it above his head he brought down onto Sirius's sleeping face. "Yipe!" shouted Sirius, sounding like a cartoon dog. "What the Bloody hell was that for?" "You were sleeping and I didn't want you to be." Said James placing his pillow back on his own four poster. Sirius spat out down feathers that had escaped from James's pillow. "It's 4 AM. Why can't I sleep?" yawned Sirius before pulling the blankets over his head and shutting the curtains. James pulled them back again and whapped the large lump, that was Sirius. "Okay fine!" said a very tired and grumpy Sirius, "what do you HAVE to tell me at 4:00 in the morning?" "Remus isn't back yet," said James. The look on Sirius's face when he heard this was comical; he looked at James with an expression of extreme not caring. "And...That's bad?" "You don't think it's odd that he ALWAYS has to go somewhere once a month?" "I would if it wasn't 4!" Said Sirius rolling over "Sirius, it's weird he always has an excuse...but I did my Astronomy homework and realized that..." "He's always gone on the full moon...." said Sirius turning back over to face James, his eyes widening. "I think it means...." "I dunno.... it might.... why else would he never wear short-sleeves but to cover something up." "Because it's December?" said a new voice. This one was high-pitched and small, the voice of Peter Pettigrew. "But even at the start of term he wore sweaters under his robes." Said James. Peter yawned, "maybe his mother is ill, and that's why he's not here." "Don't be thick!" said Sirius, "James's reasoning makes a lot of sense." James nodded he wasn't sure how he was going to do...but he had to talk to Remus first. They all did. But when he told them that Sirius laughed, "yeah that'll be fun. It's like hey Remus, we know you get REALLY hairy on the full moon." James wanted to shut him up because he thought he heard something. It turned out to be Thomas Bones rolling over saying to himself "argerarrga" James turned back to his friends and put a finger to his mouth signaling for the to of them to BE QUITER! "If anyone, and I mean ANYONE finds out Remus could be chucked out." "You don't think Dumbledore knows?" asked Peter extremely quietly. "I think he dose...." said Sirius, "Dumbledore goes by what's inside the student not...stuff like this. And he would know that Remus is talented and a good guy." James nodded, "but people's parents would get him chucked out, we live in a very racist society." "We'll tell him tomorrow." said Sirius, "tomorrow's Saturday."
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Sirius lay awake for a little longer as the others slept. He kept on hearing what James had said 'we live in a very racist society.' Sirius knew that was true. Not only for people like Remus, but for people like him and Andromeida, And especially for people like Hannah. That whole "blood" thing was annoying. As Hagrid had told him at tea on Wednesday 'people don' look no deeper then the skin and think they understand ya...' Sirius knew that that wasn't possible. Maybe that's why he hated Snape and the other Slytherins so much. Most of them seemed blood obsessed. Except one.
Lily Evans. She was nice enough. Sirius knew that James had a crush on her since the first time he saw her. She was a Slytherin. But she didn't seem like the others...she was...nice. Sirius was glad he was in Gryffindor. And that was that ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remus sleepily looked at his friends. He was confused. He was scared. "What's up guys?" he asked looking up at them. He sat in the armchair by the fire in the empty common room Sirius, James, and Peter stood silhouetted by the fire in front of him. They looked disappointed, confused and maybe a little angry. "We know." said Sirius flatly. Remus tried to stay calm but he felt his face pale. "Know what?" he asked squeaking a little. "We know what you are," said James in the exact tone as Sirius. "What? What am I?" asked Remus sounded just like Peter and tears bubbling up in his eyes. "Why didn't you tell us?" asked Sirius. "Because...." "THIS IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOO COOL!" said James happily. "Wha?" Sirius's expression lightened and he smiled at his friend. Even Peter jumped up and down giggling insanely. "You mean your not going to abandon me like everyone else?" Asked Remus so used to that by now. "Are you kidding?" asked James "Of course not! We like you because your you, not because your a total untainted human!" said Sirius, "let's find somewhere where you can tell us ALL about it."
So the three of them took Remus and lead him out the portrait hole and into a broom cuboard at the far end of the hall. Sirius unlocked it, ushered the other three inside then relocked it. Remus sat down on a bucket and watched as Peter lodged himself between three bottles of mess remover and two mops, he liked enclosed spaces. "Right," said Sirius turning over an empty waste-paper basket to sit down on, "tell."
"It's a loooooooong story," Remus warned, "and it may be a little boring." "It won't be boring!" said James, "it'll be depressing and tear jerking, like old yeller." "I hate that book!" said Sirius, "the dog dies in the end. My mum read it to me when I was four and she said I didn't stop crying for hours." "Awww poor ikkle Sirius-y kins!" said a voice from the corner; Peter had completely hidden himself using old empty detergent bottles.
"It all starts when I was four," began Remus, he was cut off by a loud banging as Peter decided he'd much rather sit with the group, "like I said, it all started when I was four. It was a full moon--" "Well DUH!" Sirius cut in "--and a 'dog' I had never seen before was in the garden. I had had a dog at the time and thought that it was Woof's playmate come for tea. I wondered up to the animal...and...." he swallowed and pulled up the sleeve of both his robe and sweater, "it bit." There was a collected sharp intake of breath. "There's no cure. And the only potion that may help is still experimental. It'll take years to be...ready. So once a month I change. The property damage I have done to my house costs loads. Friends of the family stop coming and neighbors move away. It's no fun to be a werewolf." "So...where do you go now?" asked James. "The shrieking shack..." "What? With all the ghosts and stuff? The Bloody Baron is even afraid of that place!" said Sirius slightly shocked. "There are no ghosts. That's me...if make the noises." A collected oh. "You can't tell ANYONE!" With those words Sirius snapped and put on a very close to perfect Bertha Jorkins voice, "but I wanted to tell Mipsy, and Donna, and Richard, and Tommy and even professor Flitwik. This is GOOOD stuff. Such a shame...such a shame!" The others laughed. Bertha Jorkins was a Hufflepuff with such an ear for gossip you would think she was everywhere at once.
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"Poor Remus." said James quietly to Sirius in Transfigurations, "I feel really bad." The second years were very advanced in this class (most of them) and they were already working on Animagi. "I wanna do something for him...to help him I mean." Sirius nodded taking notes. Suddenly professor McGonagall turned herself into a cat to mass applause. "Did you see that!!!" cried Peter "Yeah. That was incredible!" said Thomas Bones Then where the cat had been sitting now was Professor McGonagall back to her usual height and much less furry. "That was brilliant!" said Sirius leaning back in his chair. "Thank you, Mr. Black now would mind putting all four chair legs on the ground?" "No professor." he said swinging the chair around so he sat backwards on it. Then he looked over at James who was grinning almost evilly to himself. "Eh?" asked Sirius raising one eyebrow. He knew this wasn't James's usual smile, the one they both gave out when girl's were checking them out from across the room, which happened frequently, no this was a planning sort of smile. "Mr. Potter?" asked Professor McGonagall also catching the bizarre expression on James's face, "may I ask what you are planning?" "Yes, you may professor...but I dunno if I'll tell you." the class laughed. Professor McGonagall took five points from Gryffindor which Sirius earned back a few seconds later by knowing how many know Animagi there where at that moment.
After class Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter walked toward the great hall for lunch. "What were you planning?" asked Sirius winking at two Ravenclaw second years that walked by waving, smiling, and giggling at them. "It's not quite a perfected plan yet and it involves a lot of rule breaking--" "I'm in!" said Sirius quickly "But not just school rules," said James, "laws too." Remus's eyes went wide, "no! NO! NO! NO! NO! You guys are not doing anything that could put you in Azkaban for me." "Are you thinking what I think your thinking?" asked Sirius also beginning to smile similarly, "it's a good thing we had that lesson today or James may have NEVER come up with this idea..." Remus's eyes went even wide, "but I'll be betraying Dumbledore! What if you're caught? What if bite someone? What if I--" "What if you give it a rest Rem?" asked Sirius. "And if we do get caught, you can tell the judge on our trial to Azkaban that you tried to stop us." said James. Sirius shivered he didn't know why but Azkaban scared him more then Lord Voldemort. "What are you going on about?" asked Peter obviously still left in the dark. "Animagi, Peter," whispered James, "a werewolf can only hurt people." "ANIMAGI!?" shouted Peter, "WHA??" "SHHHH!" said James, "this has gotta be kept quite." "So don't tell Bertha Jorkins," said Sirius, "We'll go to the library tonight." "WHAT!? AFTER HOURS! James, Sirius, peter, guys! You cannot be serious!" "I always Am." said Sirius. They entered the great hall and Peter as if just catching on began laughing crazily, and drawing more then a few funny looks.
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At 10:30 James, Sirius and Peter hid under James's invisibility cloak. There was no need to bring Remus who also refused to go with them. They snuck out the portrait hole and down into the library. It was as quiet as...it always was under Madam Pince it was always as silent as a tomb. "We now go where no second year has gone before..." said James gulping "This could go really wrong.... we could die, or mutate..." said Sirius now feeling fear grip his insides. Peter made a loud eep next to him, "or worse," Sirius continued, "We could get caught and be sent to, Azkaban." "Why are we doing this again?" squeaked Peter. "For Remus." said James. "Right for Remus." said Sirius. "F--for R-R-emus" Peter managed to choke out ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A year later they sat in the library Sirius and James had gotten the "simplest" part of it and now they moved on the HARD stuff. Both James and Sirius helped Peter still obviously confused along. Now they had to pick their animals and go on the personalized spells and charms for that animal. Then the final step was to make a potion while saying the charms and spells over them.
"Why does there have to be so many damn animals?" asked Sirius his brow furrowed, tongue sticking out at the corner of his mouth, a huge book called the complete animal encyclopedia open on his lap. "You look funnier then usual!" laughed James. "I wanna be a HAMPSTER!" cried Peter "The hamster spell looks pretty hard to handle..." said Sirius "Never mind." said Peter, "what about a naked mole rat?" "And a naked mole rat is?" "What are you three doing here?" asked a new voice. This voice was cold and dark, unkind and uncaring. This voice belonged to Severous Snape. "Sitting." responded James without looking up. "What are you reading? Because it looks far too complex for Pettigrew, we all know how simple he is. I don't believe he's even potty trained!" "Snape what are YOU doing here? Shouldn't you be adding more motor- oil to your hair?" asked James almost kindly, as if he were reminding Snape of a forgotten task. "Reading, what normal people do in the library, Potter." "I'm sorry, I don't think they have the little engine that could here...this library is for big kids." cooed Sirius "Shut it mutt. One of these days the four of you are going to get expelled and I hope I'm around to see it!" With that Snape turned on his heel and walked quickly off to join a group of Slytherins in the corner of the room. "I hate that kid." said Sirius, looking like an angry dog about to growl, "one of these days he's gonna push me too far!" Within a week they all had decided upon an animal had Remus okay them, and started to learn what they had to do. ~~~~~~~~~~~~
In September of their fifth year a new problem arose. Without any disturbances the potion they needed would be ready by October, but where could they make the potion with out getting caught? "A bathroom?" suggested Sirius scratching the side of his head. "People use the bathroom, genius," said James his head in his hands, they had come so far to be stopped now. "A GIRL'S bathroom?" tried Peter "Peter, girls use girl's bathrooms," said Sirius Suddenly as if to answer their question a loud rush of sobs was omitted from the room that they were standing near. Water began to leak out all over the place causing a flood on the floor. The sign on the door read in peeling pink letters, "GIRLS" "O dear Mertal's at it again...." said a voice next to them. James and the other turned and were facing a fifth year Hufflepuff, with blond hair and glasses, she was a little on the heavy side and wore a retainer that went all the way around her head. Bertha Jorkins. "Hi James," she said smiling. "Who did you say is doing that?" "Moaning Mertal," they didn't have to ask he to continue, she did even if they hadn't wanted her to, "she haunts that bathroom and CRIES all the time it's ALWAYS flooding and no one EVER goes in there!" "No one?" repeated Sirius looking meaningfully at the other two. "That's right Sirius, no one because--" the door slamming to the bathroom cut her off. And no one but Bertha Jorkins was now in the hallway. "Wait 'till the girls hear about this!"
The bathroom was large and older looking, the mirrors were covered in some sort of crud James couldn't even see through them. All of the sinks were off but water poured like Niagara from one of the stalls. "Do you reckon that's Mertal?" asked James Sirius shrugged. Peter seemed a little afraid of the whole place. "Hullo?" said James to the stall door, "anybody home?" Suddenly with a loud bang the stall door flew open and floating out looking like a wondered lion, was Moaning Mertal. "BOYS!?!?!? WHAT are BOYS doing in MY bathroom????" she shrieked inches from James's face. She had translucent Black hair done up in pigtails. She had large round glasses. "Errr.... we needed to use it?" said James hopefully. "Yeah right," said Mertal, "I bet you've come to poke fun at Mertal!" she began to sob tears slowly began to fall and she shook dangerously. "No. No we would never do that..." said Sirius stepping forward. "O...hello there," she said to Sirius looking much happier. "Err...yeah hi..." "What's your name?" she asked. "Sirius." he said. James held back a laugh; Mertal had taken a liking to Sirius.
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Since meeting Sirius, Mertal was more agreeable then usual. Of course she randomly cried, and got extremely angry at the littlest things but she allowed them to make there potion there. By October 6, it was done. At 11:00 Remus had come to watch them take it.
"This could go horribly wrong..." James reminded them, "There are no guarantees." Sirius nodded, Peter squeaked and shook. Sirius gulped "we still have to say the spell things." "If you guys die I'll never be able to forgive myself." Remus whispered. They each took their potions. Sirius took his and placed it on the sink then doing what he had practiced for so many months he began to mutter, "Canis Lupis Familerus. Mi es un Perro. Canis Lupis Familerus. Sirius. grande Perro. Canis Major. Grande perro. Chian" he could feel the potion bubble under his hands but didn't dare to look, "born under Sirius. Born under Cerberus, Artemis's hound! In the grave yard." he could almost feel power rushing from his body into the potion it became very hard to keep his hands in place, a force unseen pushed his hands up and down and at the same time was pushing them away. One last part, "LabPoodPharoShiMaliSamHuskBullpugPapisetter!!!!" then as he screamed that he heard two other screams, and then nothing.
He came to on the bathroom floor, Mertal hovering over him. "Ah!" he said, "wha? What the hell happened?" "He's okay." called Mertal sounding a little unhappy, after all Sirius realized if he died they would have an eternity to spend together.... not a very comforting thought. Remus came over from Peter who was just coming around. "All three of you fainted." he said, "you lost a lot of energy making that and pouring it...now it's time to drink." He grinned and held up the three cups. "Here Sirius. James. Peter." Sirius looked down at the cup the liquid turned jet-black and smelt like Snuffles after a walk in the rain. He stuck out his tongue and looked at James and Peter who also were examining their potions with disgust. James's was a dirty brown color and smelt like someone had already digested it. Peter's was gray and almost hairy in texture it smelt of rotten cheese. "Well," said Sirius to the other two, "bottom's up." with that the three of them brought the potions to their lips and drank. "Disgusting!" thought Sirius. When they finished the three looked at each other. "Did it work?" asked James. Sirius shrugged, "we won't know until someone tries to-" "LOOK!" shouted Remus to the two of the Sirius did look but he didn't see what he expected too. Instead of seeing a heavy blond kid there was a fat gray rat. Sirius smiled and thought "I want to be a dog." suddenly he felt his knees buckle and slowly twist his toes shortened and fur grew from his body. His nails extended into claws and felt his organs shift. His nose grew with his since of smell, his vision became black and white, and he could hear things he never did before. His human mind was still mostly functional, but his animal mind shared his skull. "What have you done to him?!" shrieked Mertal to Remus the only one that wasn't on all fours.
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That later that night Remus smiled to his friends. "The full moon's next week." he said, "but I'm sure no good will come of it." "That's right," said Sirius sleepily, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
End