The boys were in high spirits when they returned from Dumbledore's office. The Headmaster's lecture seemed far more distant and unimportant when James wasn't actually looking at the anger on his face.
Word of Pittiman and the chickens had spread throughout the school within minutes and scattered applause broke out in the common room when the boys arrived, but the impressed amusement on the faces of their fellow Gryffindors was mixed with confusion. It occurred to James for the first time that their classmates must have found the prank a little odd; though not exceptionally popular, Pittiman was not exceptionally hated either. People wouldn't have thought twice about it if they had used the spell on Snape or one of his Slytherin friends, but they had risked pulling it on a teacher. People couldn't help but notice and wonder.
The same thought must have occurred to Sirius, because he hastily said, "Let's just head straight for dormitory."
James spotted Lily Evens frowning at them disapprovingly from the table where she sat with her friends, and he couldn't help but notice that Remus was looking pointedly away from her. He suddenly remembered her reaction to the werewolf lesson and resisted the urge to smack her in the back of the head as they passed.
"What snacks do we have left?" asked Remus once they had gotten into the room. Their meeting with the Headmaster had caused them to miss dinner.
James walked over to the large basket where they kept the food they nicked from the kitchen and from Honeydukes. The basket, like much of the food, was courtesy of the house elves. "Plenty," he said, pulling the basket into the middle of the room.
"What do you supposed our punishment will be?" Sirius mused, combing through the food until he found some Chocolate Frogs.
"If he was going to expel us, he would have done it right away," said Remus with a shrug. "Do we have any butterbeer left?"
"Only one," James reported, quickly snatching it out of the basket and opening it. "Too bad."
"You prat," said Remus, laughing even as he tried to grab it from James. James scooted a few feet away and took a slow drink from the bottle.
"Mmm," he said with exaggerated enjoyment. "This is the best butterbeer I've ever had."
Remus threw his pillow at him, almost spilling the drink.
"Careful there," said Sirius, his mouth twitching into an almost-smirk. "His unstable hormones might kick in and intensify that already violence-prone personality."
Everyone, including Sirius, froze and waited. They had no idea how Remus would react to teasing about the day's lesson. James was terrified that Sirius had crossed the line; although, he admitted to himself, at least then they would know where the line was. He even kind of suspected that Sirius might be pushing Remus on purpose for that exact reason.
For only a second, Remus stared at Sirius, stricken and surprised. Then he grabbed the nearest piece of candy and chucked it at Sirius in an unmistakably playful manner, and they all laughed again, relief combining with amusement.
As they celebrated their victory, James couldn't quite ignore the uneasy feeling, the thought that had been nagging at the back of his mind since the end of class. He had somehow thought that once they got revenge on Pittiman, everything would be all better again, that no one would ever again care that Remus was a werewolf. But it wouldn't be all better, he now realized. It was just like Remus had said: he would always have to deal with this. And there would always be people who could never look at werewolves as real people; Evans's comment had shown that.
James made up his mind very abruptly. Without the distraction of plotting revenge, he could now put into place the plan that had been forming in his mind for months without him really meaning for it to.
"Where are you going?" Peter asked as James jumped to his feet and headed to his trunk.
"Are we going out?" Sirius exclaimed in surprise, watching James pull out his cloak. "Excellent!"
"I really don't think we should risk getting in any more trouble today," said Remus hesitantly.
"We're not going 'out,'" replied James. He headed for the door. "In fact,we're not going anywhere."
"Then where areyou going?" Sirius asked, rolling his eyes.
"The library."
Before the door swung all the way shut behind him, he heard Sirius say, "Did he just say he's going to the library?"
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It was far easier to move through the castle alone than it was in a group of four, so James was able to move pretty quickly. He was so focused on his destination that he might not have even noticed McGonagall's voice if she hadn't said his name. It was coming from her office down the corridor, her voice rising and falling so that he couldn't hear exactly what she was saying. James hesitated only a minute, then crept closer and stationed himself just outside. The door was slightly ajar, but he all he could see through the crack was a piece of wall.
"I can't. Not without the approval of the board of governors," he heard Dumbledore's voice say. "Besides, it would create quite a scandal to dismiss a teacher in the middle of the term. People would ask questions, and the last thing we want to do is draw attention to the issue."
McGonagall sighed resignedly and a moment of silence followed. "I suppose we do have to punish them," she said finally. James was both surprised and pleased to hear that she didn't sound very happy about the idea.
"Of course," said Dumbledore mildly. "They hexed a teacher."
"They're not malicious boys," said McGonagall a bit defensively. "And they've been good friends to Mr. Lupin."
"Yes," said Dumbledore, and James heard a smile in his voice. "Remus has been very fortunate. And you're right," he added abruptly, his voice turning colder with anger and frustration. "They're not malicious. That's part of what makes this so tragic."
There was a pause before McGonagall replied, "I understand."
There was the distinct sound of a chair scraping on the floor, followed by Dumbledore saying, "Thank you for the tea, Minerva," and James hurried away before the Headmaster could leave the office.
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James didn't accomplish much at the library that night. He was too busy trying to sort out what he had heard Dumbledore say about them not being malicious and how that made the whole thing so tragic. It didn't make much sense to him. Distracted, he roamed the rows of books for several minutes, but he couldn't even focus enough to select a volume to look through. Before long he gave up and headed back to Gryffindor Tower, promising himself that he would come back the next night when he was more clear-minded.
Unfortunately, he spent the following night in detention, as well as the night after that, and several of the nights after that. The worst part was that McGonagall gave them separate detentions. She seemed to know that the punishment was far worse if they weren't even allowed to suffer it together.
It was several weeks before James had the chance to return to the library, once again using his cloak to sneak into it late at night. He thought it would be wisest to do this particular research without the interference of other students or staff. After a few minutes of browsing he settled down with a sizeable stack of books about Transfiguration, magical animals and Magical Law. He was determined to find answers, even if it took him all night.
That was a very noble and simple sounding goal, but by three thirty James was realizing that it wasn't a particularly realistic one. While many texts made reference to Anamagi, none of them offered the slightest bit of insight into actually becoming one. Shutting Transfigure This! and yawning widely, he admitted defeat for the night. He was too tired to keep looking, and even if he found something there was a good chance that his exhausted brain wouldn't even recognize its importance.
He crept back into the dormitory as quietly as he could, trying not to wake his friends. They had been extremely confused by his announcement that he was going to the library again, especially since he had failed to ever give them an explanation for his previous trip.
"James?"
Damn, he thought to himself. "Yeah, Peter?"
"Are you just getting back?" Peter stuck a sleepy head through the hangings on his bed to look at him.
"Yeah." He wasn't sure what else to say.
"You spent the whole night in the library?" He waited for a moment for James to answer, then added incredulously, "Why?"
James sighed as he climbed into bed. "Just working on some stuff," he said.
"You never do homework." Peter sounded baffled.
"Not homework," explained James, and he couldn't help himself from smiling as he added, "I'm working on a plan."
"A plan?" Peter repeated, an edge of excitement creeping into his voice. "What kind of plan?"
"Still working out the details." James grinned mischievously at his friend, even though he knew Peter couldn't see him in the dark. "But I don't want to spoil it by talking about it before it's all figured out."
"Well, if you're spending hours in the library working on it," said Peter, "it must be a really great plan."
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Author's Note:
Greetings, my little gerbils. I realize that there was quite a delay in posting this chapter. My beta was out of town, and then I was out of town. In fact, the only reason that this is getting posted now is because I already had it written and was only waiting on the edits. It might be a while before the next chapter is written and posted. I was forced to go out of town for a family emergency last week. Between funeral planning and sorting through inheritance stuff, I obviously did not get much writing done. I also didn't get much work or homework done, so I'm going to be playing frantic catch-up for the next couple of weeks. It might well be two or three or even four weeks before I get another chapter up. There's a chance it might not even be until after Thanksgiving. All that being said, another chapter is coming. Be patient with me, and I promise that the next installment will indeed come.
You know what might cheer me up? Reviews. :)
