Blood Sovereignty

James and Sirius thought long and hard about how to convince Lily to make the Animagus Potion, but none of their ideas seemed to lead anywhere. When they told Peter about their plan, he had suggested to lie about the potion's purpose, but James knew that Lily was too smart to be fooled by a simple name-change. In fact, it was only a few days before the holidays when they finally got an idea during Care of Magical Creatures, surprisingly enough. Hagrid had brought Professor Kettleburn a Granian to run around the confines of the fence, and the students appeared quite taken with the striking winged horse, the girls in particular.

"Maybe that's it," Sirius commented, leaning against the fence railing as he watched the Granian gallop across the field. As it ripped past at a speed far too fast for a normal horse, Lily and a few of the other girls let out gasps of pleasure and pointed at its beautiful mane of hair. "We can't just waltz up and ask Evans to make the potion without buttering her up a little. We'll have to get on her good side first."

"And how are we going to do that?" Peter questioned as the Granian bolted in the other direction, startling Snape and making him stumble away from the railing. Situated near the fence, Professor Kettleburn and Hagrid paid him no attention as they chatted together, Hagrid throwing admiring glances towards the Granian every few moments.

"You know how girls are," Sirius told him, nodding at the other Gryffindors a few paces away. Following his gaze, James and Peter watched the girls ooh again while Remus hung back, wearing a pensive expression. "Give them a couple of pretty flowers, and they'll do anything for you."

Frowning, James narrowed his eyes at Lily; he seriously doubted that she would agree to help them just because they handed her a bouquet, but he kept his thoughts to himself as he turned to Sirius again. "And you're going to be the one to do that, I suppose?"

"'Course not, mate," he answered, wiping his nose on his sleeve and looking back at the flying gray blur. "It wouldn't seem real coming from me. It would have to be one of you."

Exchanging a rapid glance, James and Peter both acknowledged the other's horror. "Well, it can't be me!" Peter protested. "I've never talked to—er—given flowers to a girl before! I'll mess it up somehow, I'm sure of it!"

"But I can't do it!" James exclaimed. "Evans hates me! I'm pretty sure that she'd throw them back in my face or pull out her wand. There's no chance it'll work if I do it!"

"Well, it can't be me, either," Sirius repeated. "She hates me just as much, and I gave Alice a spare Chocolate Frog last week. If I gave Evans flowers, a row might start in Gryffindor Tower so massive that Professor McGonagall would have to get involved."

"How do you figure that?" James questioned, tilting his head.

"I know enough about girls to recognize a recipe for trouble," Sirius replied, shrugging. "I don't understand it either, but that's the way it is. So are you going to do it or not?"

"Me?" James protested again. "But—"

"Look," Sirius interrupted, nodding at Peter, "it's either you or him, and quite frankly, I don't think that he has much of a chance. No offense," he added to Peter, who quickly nodded to display his agreement.

"So it'll be you, then," Sirius decided, turning back towards James. Glowering at the others, James curled his lip and rested his arms on the fence railing while his roommates turned to listen to Professor Kettleburn's excited chatter.

The next day, Sirius urged James to corner Lily during Remus' Study of Ancient Runes class. For some reason, James grew a tight knot in his stomach whenever he thought about his upcoming task, and he tried to convince the others to change their minds several times throughout the day. However, the moment of reckoning soon arrived, and he reluctantly let Sirius and Peter frog-march him down into the common room.

"Just tell her that you hope she has a good Christmas break," Sirius whispered to him as they approached the circle of armchairs near the fireplace.

"And then what?" James asked, nearly in a panic as he spotted Lily and her friends sitting a little distance from the fire.

"Just say whatever comes to mind," Sirius answered. "You'll do great!" Giving him a shove forward, he raised his eyebrow at James expectantly. "The flowers?"

Grimacing, James pulled out his wand and gave it a shake. "Orchideous," he half-mumbled, and a bundle of droopy orchids sprouted from his wand-tip. Pulling them free, he hid them behind his back and faced the girls nervously before turning back to Sirius.

"This is mental!"

"Hurry up!" Sirius commanded. "What are you waiting for?"

Gritting his teeth, James turned and took a few steps forward, wishing that Lily's friends would head for their room and leave Lily by herself. Unfortunately, the cluster of girls seemed to notice his presence at the same time, and they eyed him wordlessly as he quickened his stride to separate himself from his roommates.

"Hey, Evans!" he greeted, trying his best to force on a smile. "I just came to wish you a good holiday," he said, slowing to a halt just in front of her.

"Just to me?" she inquired dryly, tilting her head in the direction of her wide-eyed roommates. "Or would you like to wish us all a delightful Christmas?"

Losing a bit of his smile, James quickly held out the flowers before he could change his mind. "I got these for you," he announced, trying to read her expression as she gaped at the orchids. Deciding that she was definitely somewhere between shocked and terrified, he suppressed the urge to gulp as Lily slowly accepted the flowers while her friends looked on.

"They're a little . . . wilted," Lily finally pointed out, and Hillary let out a high-pitched giggle. Not sure how to reply, James scuffed his foot on the ground and stood there for a few moments as the other girls held their breaths.

"Well, have a nice Christmas," he finally told Lily before bolting backwards as quickly as he could. Behind him, he could hear the girls whispering to each other, and he glanced over his shoulder to see Lily holding the bouquet at arm's length with a confused expression.

Joining Sirius and Peter, he stood by their sides and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know—how do you think that went?"

"You did great!" Sirius assured him, a wide grin on his face as he stared at the girls with his arms crossed. "Did you see that look she gave you? She's not sure to forget that over the holidays!" Hoping despite himself that she still might, James stumbled forward a bit as Sirius clapped him on the shoulder and led them back to their room.

Concluding only a few more days of classes, the school was emptied as the students walked down to Hogsmeade through the freshly-fallen snow, ready for the holidays and the train ride back to London. Before boarding on separate cars, James tried to approach Lily again with another bouquet at Sirius' suggestion, but she quickened her pace after spotting him and disappeared before he could reach her. Slightly confused, James jogged back in the other direction to join his roommates, quickly discarding his flowers on the train rails beneath the Hogwarts Express. Snape, in the midst of boarding a nearby car, caught the action and gave him a piercing look before James stuck out his tongue and caused him to look the other way with a sneer.

After several hours of chugging through the snow, the train reached King's Cross Station, and James and Sirius parted ways with their other roommates before running off to join James' parents. Taking the Muggle Underground, they made it to Potter Cottage after another hour of traveling and greeted Winthrop the house-elf inside. Scarfing down dinner, James and Sirius then crawled upstairs to James' room and collapsed into bed only to fall asleep a few minutes later.

The next day, James awoke to the sun burning in his eyes. Groaning, he sat up and rubbed his face, his head throbbing with the after-effects of a lengthy day in a train compartment. He briefly wondered if he had gotten enough sleep, but he soon bolted upright when he realized that Sirius was already awake and was rummaging through James' desk drawers.

"What are you doing?" James inquired, surprised to see Sirius up this early. Reaching for his glasses, he put them on to see his friend more clearly.

"Where did you put it?" Sirius asked from below, his voice muffled by the drawer that he had stuck his head into. As he reemerged, he bumped his head against the desk and clutched himself. "Ow!"

Glancing around, Sirius caught sight of James' suitcase under the bed and grabbed it with a lunge. After opening it and throwing out James' unpacked clothes, he pulled out the thick copy of Animagi in the Making and threw it onto the floor next to several rolls of parchment and a short stack of books.

"I thought we'd get a head start," Sirius told James, opening the nearest book and grabbing a quill.

Craning his neck to see the title in Sirius' possession, James squinted and read, "Seven Ways to Make Your Transfiguration Process Easier? Where'd you get that?"

"The library," Sirius answered.

"But I thought that library books weren't allowed out of Hogwarts," James said.

"They aren't," Sirius responded, continuing to scribble hurriedly. "But what Mr. Jaune doesn't know I have, he can't take back, right? There's also Self-Transfiguration Explained, 1001 Common Animagus Forms, and several editions of Transmogrification Weekly," he announced, pointing to each with his quill in turn.

"What would Peter and I do without you?" James asked with a grin as he slipped off his bed and opened the nearest periodical.

"Definitely not become Animagi, that's what," Sirius replied, pointing to a piece of parchment. "Do you think you could hand me a roll? This book doesn't have enough space for me to write."

For the better part of the next week, James and Sirius worked on learning all they could about Self-Transfiguration, only venturing downstairs to eat or grab an extra roll of parchment. Winthrop once tried to enter James' room for a cleaning, but James shooed him off before he could spot any of their reading material, ultimately disquieting the house-elf's sense of trust. Figuring that it was only a matter of time before his parents would grow wary of their seclusion as well, James decided to keep an ear out for the sound of footsteps outside his bedroom door.

By the end of the week, James and Sirius had made significant progress on their research, having even drawn up a preemptive plan for their goal. When the Lupins and Pettigrews arrived at Potter Cottage on Christmas afternoon, James had to keep himself from blurting out their discoveries in front of everyone, waiting instead for a chance to talk to Peter privately. Thankfully, after exchanging their initial greetings, the boys were able to disappear in James' room while their parents stayed in the drawing room for a cup of tea. In the privacy of the second floor, the four roommates exchanged presents, the most curious of James' being a pair of enchanted socks that bit your feet if they ripped and needed repair. Afterwards, however, Sirius handed James a small package that jingled when he shook it.

"It's a pocket Sneakoscope," Sirius told him, chewing absent-mindedly on a Sugar Quill. "It starts whistling if it senses mischief nearby."

Examining the top-like object curiously, James turned it over in his hand while Remus eyed it with an upturned brow. "Does it really work?" Remus asked.

"Sure! My dad keeps one in his office, and I can't walk past the door with a pocket full of Flaring Firecrackers," Sirius answered.

"My mum just got a bigger one to stand behind our front door," Peter piped up. "Now no one can get in without us knowing."

"What do you need that for?" James questioned.

Reddening, Peter played with a strand of the carpet. "Well, Mum's been worried about some of the articles in The Daily Prophet. She thinks we'd best prepare if You-Know-Who ever decides to . . ." Breaking off, he gulped. "Ever decides to come after us."

"Why would Voldemort want to come after you?" James laughed, and Peter winced at the name. "The Death Eaters only attack Muggles!"

At the morose expressions on Remus' and Peter's faces, he quickly lost his tilted grin.

"I mean, they've only attacked Muggle families, haven't they?"

"Didn't you hear?" Remus asked. "The Death Eaters just attacked a wizarding family."

"It was in the newspaper yesterday," Peter added quietly when James' heart froze. "It gave my mum a near heart attack."

"But I thought they didn't have anything against wizards," James protested.

"One of the parents was a Muggle-born," Remus explained, "and that's just about as bad as being a Muggle according to the Death Eaters."

As James sat back in silence, mind running, Remus and Peter fidgeted with their hands. After a few moments, James addressed them both. "I had no idea. My parents never told me anything."

"I understand if you and Sirius missed it," Remus said, looking away. "It's not like it affects you or anything."

"What do you mean by that?" Sirius asked, bristling slightly.

"You're both purebloods," Remus explained, though he had looked up at Sirius' sharp reply. "Peter and I, we're—"

"I don't care what percent wizard or Muggle you are!" Sirius reprimanded harshly. "It bloody well affects us, too! The Death Eaters can't just run about cursing our friends without affecting us! And they don't just hate Muggles and Muggle-borns—they'd be more than chuffed to have their way with anyone who sympathizes with them! Do you know what Mulciber called me the other day?" When none of the others replied, he spat, "Blood-traitor! That's what purebloods call it when 'respectable' wizards or witches associate with Muggles and the like. James and I qualify just by being around you!"

"He's right, you know," James interjected at his friends' lowered faces. "You're not the only ones this war is affecting."

Catching himself in the middle of his sentence, James brought his voice down and stared at his hands in shock for a moment. This was the first time he had used the word "war" in relation to the Death Eaters, and the others had seemed to notice the expression as well. None of them said anything, their eyes flitting to each other's faces until Remus finally broke the silence.

"Look, I'm sorry," he told Sirius and James. "I won't assume what you're feeling again."

"Well," Sirius admitted after a pause, "you're right about my family. They're part of the problem. Frankly, I'm surprised they haven't disowned me yet."

Remus smirked slightly, and James turned to him. "What happened to the half-blood family?"

Again, Remus lowered his head, and James briefly regretted asking. "None of them made it." The others all looked down, but Remus cleared his throat and pressed on anyway. "Everyone's been shaken up over it, and there's been reports of looting and panic-driven burglary all over the country. Surely, you've heard about the break-ins? They've been all over the papers for the past week."

"Vandalism like what Grimean Righton was doing when Professor Val tracked him down?" James asked.

Nodding, Remus said, "The pillaging has only gotten worse, and the Ministry suspects that there are more Death Eaters now than there have been in years."

From downstairs, James' mother suddenly interrupted the boys' conversation. "James, I have Christmas cake down here, and Marjorie brought Wizard Crackers!"

"Coming!" James yelled back, his loud exclamation causing both Remus and Peter to jump. "Come on!" he told the others in his normal voice, leaping from the ground. "We don't want to let them eat it all!"

"Hold on, James!" Sirius warned as the others stood. "We have something to tell Peter, remember?"

"Oh, right," James agreed, stopping before he could reach the door. When the other boys gave him an odd look, he explained to Remus, "Peter needs help with his Transfiguration homework."

"I what?" Peter asked before Sirius cut him off.

"You go ahead and tell them that we'll be there in a moment," he told Remus. At that moment, the pocket Sneakoscope in James' palm sprang to life, flashing brightly as it whistled and whirled about. Tossing it Remus' way, James shrugged sheepishly.

"Could you take this with you? I guess it's faulty after all."

Accepting the Sneakoscope without objection, Remus turned and headed down the stairs while the others locked themselves in the room. Reaching under James' bed, Sirius pulled out a roll of parchment and unfurled it for Peter.

"We planned out what spells we need to cast on ourselves and when," Sirius told Peter, speaking again when the mousy-haired boy blinked uncomprehendingly. "You know, to become Animagi. Everything's written down here, so now we don't have to worry about borrowing any more library books."

Gulping, Peter stared at the chart. "That's at least two dozen spells . . ."

"Like I said, we either do it together or not at all," James told him. "But don't worry—with this list, we'll become Animagi in no time!"

"I just wish there wasn't so much to do," Peter complained.

Throwing back his head, Sirius gave a short, bark-like laugh. "Just wait until we start brewing the Animagus Potion! You'll wish that you could go back to simple spellwork when we do!"

"We're going to get started on the potion as soon as we get back to Hogwarts," James added as Peter frowned. "With any luck, we'll be able to convince Evans to help us, but we still need to steal Mandrake leaves from the greenhouses. From now on, preparing to become Animagi is our top priority, all right?"

Nodding, the others voiced their agreement, although Peter only did so with a lingering grimace.

"Great!" James exclaimed, marching towards the door. "Now let's join the others before—"

As soon as his hand had unlatched the door handle, Mrs. Pettigrew's voice came roaring from the lower floor, causing all three boys to jump. "PETER! COME DOWN HERE BEFORE I COME UP THERE AND DRAG YOU DOWN MYSELF! YOU'RE KEEPING US FROM CHRISTMAS CAKE!"

"Sorry!" Remus yelled. "I tried to tell her—"

"DON'T APOLOGIZE, YOUNG MAN!" Mrs. Pettigrew shouted back. "PUNCTUALITY IS NEVER TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLY! THE LAST TIME I ALLOWED PETER TO BE LATE WAS FOR HIS OWN BIRTH, AND I'VE BEEN TRYING TO CORRECT MY MISTAKE EVER SINCE! HABIT IS THE ENABLER FOR ALL VICES!"

"Marjorie!" James' mother admonished with a chuckle, and James, Sirius, and Peter nearly bowled each other over in their hurry to join the laughing families downstairs.