I don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters and they are the copyright property of their owner(s).

Sorry for the delay and the shortness. Exams and such. I'll try and get back to writing regularly and decent length chapters when school madness calms down a bit.

Chapter 4 - Animagi

Sirius and James were walking down the edge of the grass, right next to the ocean, dragging their brooms behind him. They were throwing a quaffle back and forth, slowly making their way back James' place as the sun was shining its last little bit of light over Crovie.

"That was great." Said Sirius. "This old stick's got barely any turning in it though. The speed's great, but she doesn't handle much."

"What kind is it, again?" James asked.

"It's my uncle Alphard's old Tinderblast, from Ellerby and Spudmore. "Still flys great, but Alphard has always said its hard to turn on it."

"Maybe you and Dad could switch, for the season. Handling is more important for a chaser then speed, as long as the thing can move, and your Tinderblast could probably do a much better job at getting Dad back and forth to Edinburgh, which is all he uses his for." James told him.

"What's he got?"

"A Cleansweep Five. That thing handles like you wouldn't believe." Said James. "I'll ask for you. I'll bet he'd be thrilled."

"Thanks. I heard Snape is going for the Slytherin squad, also. And Mulciber, Avery, and that big bloke who looks kind of like a wild boar. Do you know who I'm talking about?"

"I wonder if they'll make it. And yea, I do; that's Evan Rosier. Unfortunately, he's family."

"What?" Sirius was bewildered. James had never spoke about any of his extended family before.

"Ya, well, remember when I was telling you about the family on Mum's side that we don't get on with too well? That's the Rosiers. Mum's sister is Evan's mother."

"Blimey. Weird to think about."

"It seems like having family you're not proud of is a side-effect of being born pure-blood, I guess."

"I guess so." Sirius had a startling thought, and it showed plainly on his face. "Wait, If your mum's a Rosier... She wasn't a Slytherin, was she?"

James chuckled. "Nah, she was a Ravenclaw, actually. And a damn fine quidditch player, so my Dad says. They met after a Quidditch game, between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw."

"Really? What position?"

"Seeker. Started in her first year; and get this, in her first game, she tripped up, went flying off her broom, and the snitch flew right into her mouth. Nearly swallowed it."

"Really? That woulda hurt going down."

"Ya, no kidding. Dumbledore gave her the snitch as a gift when she graduated from Hogwarts."

"Wow."

"Ya. She played for Wimbourne for sixteen seasons, after she left Hogwarts."

"What?! You never told me your mother was a professional Quidditch player?"

"Ya, sorry. Must have slipped my mind, we've never talked about our parents, before, 'sept you complaining about yours." James teased.

"Oh, piss off. You'd complain too if you got Dark Lord freaks for parents. Is that where all this money comes from?"

"Well, about half of it. The other half of it comes from my Dad. In the thirties and forties, he and his friend, Eurich Kerr, were travelling through Africa and the Middle-East, and they discovered a plant called Dittany, which has incredible magical properties. It makes skin regrow over wounds, when you apply its essence. A pretty incredible magical discovery, in the medical field, but he didn't take any of the credit for it."

"Why?"

"He didn't want any. He says the last thing he wants is to get interviewed about everything, have to consort with press, have to write about the discovery. So Eurich does all that, and gives Dad a chunk of the money. Apparently, Eurich loves the fame."

"So you're parents are both loaded and don't do anything?"

"Well my Dad goes back and forth to Edinburgh all the time, to see his friends, and Mum goes and flies with Wimbourne at practice from time to time, and she has friends in Cardiff that she spends some time with on the weekends. But they do live a relaxed life, I'll give them that."

They walked a bit farther in silence. Sirius was heavily pondering everything James had just told him. The one thing he never really realized about James was just how rich his family was, especially with how well quidditch players get paid. He was sure they could have lived an luxurious lifestyle even without her salary.

After a little while longer in silence, James finally broke it.

"Before you got here..." He began... "I thought a lot about Remus. And his werewolf-ness." James could never remember the word lycanthropy and had taken to just calling it whatever he pleased. "We should help him."

"What?" Said Sirius. "How do you propose we help him? A couple third years inventing a cure for lycanthropy?" Sirius mocked.

"Not by curing him." Said James. "I just mean... it must be hard being all alone like that. There's always going to be something between him and everyone else, even if we're completely normal about it."

Sirius had a feeling James was going somewhere with this. James was not meeting his gaze, but instead looking through his round spectacles into the sand below them. His face was kind of solemn.

"He separates himself from people because he thinks about it too much." Said James. "That's what I think. He's always going to be nervous with himself around other people, and that shouldn't be. Why should it? It's not really fair, is it?"

Again, he paused and just stared. He wasn't exactly sure how to phrase what he was saying but he was trying really hard to find the right words, and at the same time, his tone was getting more and more sad.

"I... I think...we need to somehow make him feel like not so much of an outsider."

"You... you don't mean... you don't think we should become werewolves, do you?"

James chuckled. "No. But I saw in one of Dad's books that werewolves only crave human blood. So what if we became animagi?"

Sirius laughed, before he realized James was completely serious. "You know, that'll probably be harder then our entire schooling put together."

"Well school hasn't exactly been too difficult."

Sirius acknowledged his words. He had never heard it said so bluntly and honest. He, James and Remus had always been the cream of the crop when it came to academics, but they just kind of accepted it. None were the type to be really cocky about that sort of thing. "True, I suppose. Do you know anything about it?"

"Well, from what I could find, it requires a potion for each of us. And a few spells. And a lot of meditation when first trying to transform."

"Meditation?"

"Ya. We can cast the spells on ourselves and make the potion flawlessly, but if we don't have the concentration or the willpower to transform, it won't happen. That's where the true difficulty comes from."

"I think that Animagi magic is supposed to be taught this year, in Transfiguration. I remember my cousin talking about it a long time ago."

"I doubt it'll be anything about actually becoming one, though. Probably just general information about what they are, or something like that."

"Still might be helpful, don't you think? I mean, we don't know anything about becoming ani-"

"You don't know anything. I've started researching it already."

"Okay, I don't know anything, and you know a little shred more than nothing. This is still gonna be bloody difficult."

"But you think it's a good idea?"

Sirius thought about it for a second. "Ya. I'm in."

There was a long pause, where the two boys just walked in silence, until James gave an ear to ear grin and said, "Pete's gonna be bloody awful at this."