Caught Green-Handed
When James and his roommates returned to Hogwarts after Christmas break, the Gryffindor Quidditch team jumped right back into their strict training regimen at Morgan's orders. Unfortunately, this meant a lot of time away from Gryffindor Tower, so James could not focus his attention on getting Lily to help make the Animagus Potion. However, the intensity of his team's training was enough to distract him from any worries about finishing the potion before the end of the year, and he spent the next several nights moaning on his four-poster after each day's practice.
At the beginning of their second game, Morgan gave the rest of the team a compelling speech to encourage them after the last match. Thankfully, the sky kept bright and sunny all morning, and the Ravenclaw team could not compete with the unyielding energy that their rivals showed. In the end, Gryffindor pulled ahead by a full 90 points, and James, still feeling a bit guilty for having landed in the hospital wing in the middle of their last game, felt relieved by the results.
Ecstatic, the whole of Gryffindor House gathered in the common room after the match to celebrate the victory, and James met his roommates over by the fireplace, where they were chatting with Frank. Making his way over, James waved at Nearly-Headless Nick, who was trying unsuccessfully to fit a party hat over his high-plumed headdress.
"Great game, James!" Frank greeted, clapping him on the back as he came over and causing his glasses to slide down his face. "Did you stop by the refreshment table yet? Michael brought a whole carton of Chocolate Cauldrons!"
"Maybe a bit later," James told him, fixing his glasses. "I'm too excited to eat!"
"After today, we have a good chance of winning the Quidditch Cup!" Sirius exclaimed.
"I can't wait until we face off against Slytherin!" Peter added.
"Your run-in with Pao was really something!" Sirius told James. "I've never seen someone so confused by something as simple as a spin and a feint! Did you see the look on his face? It was like a Thunderbird flew past him!"
Just then, King walked up from behind the group and addressed Frank. "I think you need to help Josiah over there," he told him, nodding towards the prefect where he was yelling at Dill. Waving his wand about, Frank's roommate was attempting to battle a dozen winged paper cups as they poured their sparkling contents onto the boys' heads. "Your friend is trying to enchant the cups so they'll come when called, and things are getting a little out of hand."
"I guess I'll have to rescue him again," Frank told the others after laughing at Dill's predicament, and he quickly hurried off. Nudging King's side, Sirius looked up at his towering features and grinned.
"Nice game, eh?" Sirius asked. "Do you think you can best Slytherin in a couple of months?"
"If James doesn't mess it up again," King replied. Everyone quieted, but they soon relaxed as the older student broke into a flashing grin.
"Hey, go easy on me, will you?" James asked, elbowing him.
"You've got to know how to take it," King told him, and Jorkins suddenly burst out of the swarm of students to grab hold of the sixth-year's arm.
"Rudolph!" she cried, draping herself over him as he immediately assumed his usual stoic expression. Glaring her way, James fought the urge to place a Bat-Bogey Hex on her while she rocked back and forth on her heels. "You did a wonderful job out on the field today! It looks like Slytherin's going to have a hard time beating you, aren't they?"
"As long as James and Frank are there to help out, I suppose they are," King responded, looking over the heads of the nearby students.
"Oh please, we all know you're the best Chaser this team's ever had!" Jorkins fawned with a high-pitched giggle. Feeling the hair on the back of his head bristle, James sent her a scathing look, but she was too busy laughing over King to notice him. "So, what do you say we celebrate together? I know a great spot near the bottom of the tower. It's usually quiet and seclude—"
"I hope you're not trying to steal away one of the team," a voice broke in, and Morgan emerged through the crowd with Adah Kahtri. Staring Jorkins down, Morgan chastised, "Let him rest! Quidditch matches are nothing to joke about!"
"It's all right—I was about to refuse, anyway," King told her, and Jorkins unlatched herself with an indignant look. "You can't leave your Housemates hanging after a match, now can you?" he asked.
"Oh, how thoughtful of you!" Jorkins crooned, reattaching herself to his arm with a loopy beam. "It's wonderful of you to think of everyone else after such a tiring game!"
After giving her roommate another glare, Morgan turned to James. "Practice starts on Monday at six, and I want you there on time."
"Monday? But we just won!" James protested. "Can't it wait for another week?"
"I did some calculations," she answered, "and we'll only have a shot at the Cup if Hufflepuff beats Slytherin by over 50 points, and that's assuming we can still pull ahead of them by over 300. We need to prepare for the worst, and I want to practice as much as possible before the last match—I don't want the school thinking we gave up before we started!"
"No one would ever think that," King assured her, and Morgan placed her hands on her hips with a smile as Jorkins sent her a short glare.
"Let it not be said that Gryffindor lost by lack of effort!" Morgan announced, and Sirius raised his glass.
"Hear, hear!" he cried, making the others laugh.
"Your friend seems to have a better work ethic than you do," Morgan told James with a slight raise of her eyebrow.
Shaking his head, James said, "You haven't heard him complaining about homework."
Turning to Sirius, Morgan said, "There's going to be a spot on the team next year, you know. Do you have any interest in trying for Seeker?"
Shrugging, he replied, "I don't know—Quidditch isn't really my thing."
"Well, if you ever change your mind, you can always—" Breaking off, Morgan narrowed her eyes and leaned over his cup. "What's that you've got there? That isn't Firewhiskey, is it?"
Jerking back, Sirius narrowly avoiding spilling his drink all over his robes. "Of course not! Why would you think that?" When Morgan continued to stare at him, he began inching past the others. "I just realized that I should probably congratulate the rest of the team. Great job, you two! Keep up the good work!" he told Morgan and King before disappearing into the crowd.
"Oh no, I'm not letting him get away that easily," Morgan growled, shoving up the sleeves of her robes and marching after him. As she left, James tried hard to suppress a laugh while Remus moaned and rubbed his forehead.
"Well, I guess she's gone," Jorkins harrumphed before turning to King. "Are you sure you don't want to find somewhere more private, Rudolph?"
"Now that I think about it, I remember I promised to sign a few of the first-years' scarves," King told her, freeing his arm with a gentle yet firm motion. "I'll be around."
Once he had left, Jorkins pursed her lips as Adah sighed and shook her head. "Why don't you just give it up, Bertha?" she asked. "He's never going to take interest in you."
"How about you mind your own business?" Jorkins spat back, and James coughed as the irony of her question hit him. "You don't know what he's thinking, now do you?" Turning around, she scurried after King's tall form with an expectant wave. "Oh, Rudolph! I'll be waiting when you're done!"
After the celebrations ended, James turned his attention to his homework, which had mostly lain forgotten amid the hard work of the last few weeks. Unfortunately, with Quidditch practices still taking up his evening energy, he barely had the time to keep up with his studies, and he took to completing classwork during History of Magic and Muggle Studies. In the latter period, he also conferred with Sirius and Peter about how to get enough Mandrake leaves for the Animagus Potion.
"It'll have to be in Herbology, of course," Sirius told the others. "Professor Slughorn won't have anything as rare as Mandrake leaves lying around the Potions storerooms."
"How do you know that?" Peter whispered back.
"I've already checked," Sirius admitted. "There's nothing."
"Then how about one of you try getting the leaves this time?" James suggested, remembering with a shudder his last encounter with an angry, full-grown Mandrake. "I've already given it a go."
"I don't think a Mandrake will take too kindly to any of us trying to prune it," Sirius pointed out. "But according to Evans, its leaves are used for more than just the Animagus Potion, so Professor Sprout is sure to keep extras in the greenhouses. She probably knows a safer way to remove them from the Mandrakes."
"We'll search for them, then," James agreed, taking instantly to the easier plan. "Every day in Herbology, until we find them."
And search they did. Every week, they eagerly awaited their Herbology lectures, which they would spend peering into the cabinets along the walls. As long as James, Sirius, or Peter kept watch for the others, no one suspected their distracted behavior during the lessons, but their search was slow-going. Peter once suggested sneaking in at night with James' Invisibility Cloak, but Hagrid had once let slip that getting in the greenhouses without Professor Sprout's aid was impossible even for him, and the boys continued to poke around during class.
Their other lessons progressed normally, and Professor Val had added a new set of assignments to the syllabus near the end of January. Having recently completed their homework on concealment and disguise, the class was now learning to identify traces of Dark and Light Magic on inanimate objects, a subject that Professor Val seemed to know a great deal about. At the end of the class, the students began to pack up reluctantly for their next lesson, and James was surprised to see Professor Flannegin enter the room. Looking uncomfortably out of place among the happily chatting students, he stepped quickly to the side to avoid Alice and Lily as they strolled past him, clutching the sheaf of papers in his arms more closely to his chest.
Turning around at his entrance, Professor Val smiled brightly. "Eadward, I was wondering when you'd show up! Do you have the charts ready?"
Looking at her, Flannegin opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out right away. Attempting to squeeze past him, James was driven back when Professor Val reached for the papers and Flannegin nearly dropped them again, fumbling while a few of them slipped out of his grasp.
"I'm so sorry. Here, I'll get that," Professor Val offered, bending down to collect the stray papers. Unable to move around him, James waited as Flannegin reddened and bent to the floor as well.
"This time of year is always busy, isn't it?" Val asked when they stood again, taking the rest of the charts from Flannegin's arms.
"Er—yes," he stammered back. "Quite right."
"I can't thank you enough for these!" Val told him. "We're learning about magic detection, and there's a fair amount of Arithmancy involved."
"Oh, I see," Flannegin answered, and James tried to push past him once again just as the professor backpedaled towards the door suddenly. "Well, I'm glad I could be of service, Ms. Cleary."
"Oh, please," she replied, waving her hand. "I've told you a million times, you can call me Val."
"Right," he spoke again, flushing deeper. "Val . . . Do call if you need anything else. I'll be in my office—I mean, if I'm not teaching, that is . . ."
"I think I'll be fine, Eadward," Val laughed, her white teeth flashing again. "Arithmancy was one of my best subjects as a student."
"Really?" Professor Flannegin asked, perking up.
"The mathematics of Stellology saved my hide on quite a few Astronomy exams," she told him. "Still, my favorite Arithmancy branch was always Logology."
"Fascinating, isn't it?" Flannegin inquired, leaning forward. "It serves as the very backbone of wizarding law and order! Have you read the latest edition of Conjurers' Journal? Octavian Kelby, receiver of the Order of Merlin, Second Class, has traced the roots of Logology all the way back to—"
"Excuse me, sir," James finally interrupted. "Can you let us through?"
"Oh! My apologies," Flannegin told him, blinking, and he quickly moved aside to allow James and his roommates out of the door.
"Bungling professor should watch where he's standing," Sirius muttered on the way out, and the others made vague grunts of agreement as they made their way to the castle grounds.
In another several minutes, they joined the Hufflepuff students inside Greenhouse #3, where Professor Sprout picked up a bundle of valerian stalks and showed it to the class. James, Sirius, and Peter waited distractedly for her lecture to end, repeatedly glancing at the rows of jarred plants along the walls, and they were the first to move when Sprout dismissed them.
"Practice good garden etiquette while tending to your valerian shoots! I noticed that a few of you left your trowels on the floor after our last class," Professor Sprout announced, and James had already planted himself at the far end of the greenhouse before she could finish speaking.
Unfortunately, his eagerness was soon evaporated by Remus' approach. "Have you got any fertilizer there?" he asked James, and James quickly shoved a sack of dragon dung his way.
"Peter, why don't you and Remus go to one of the tables?" James suggested, locking eyes with his pudgy roommate. "We'll catch up with you in a bit. Got to find some more compost."
Catching on immediately, Peter nearly dragged Remus away from the others, and Sirius stood watch over James while he poked around the supplies. Chewing his lip in boredom, Sirius waited with his arms crossed until leaning towards James a few minutes later.
"Found anything?" he whispered, and James nearly hit his head on a low-hanging Shrivelfig vine when he looked up.
"I just started searching!" James hissed. "How am I supposed to find one of the rarest plants in a matter of minutes?
"Hurry up, Sprout's coming!" Sirius warned, and James straightened again, this time striking the Shrivelfig vine with his temple. Rubbing the spot, he caught his breath as Professor Sprout walked up to the two of them.
"Having trouble finding something?" she inquired.
"Er . . . actually, yeah," James admitted, throwing Sirius a hard look. "Do you have any Mooncalf dung? I was thinking of using it instead of dragon compost."
"What's wrong with dragon dung?" Sprout asked, pursing her lower lip and looking a bit affronted.
"Nothing! I just wanted to try something new, that's all," James quickly replied. Praying that the story would pass her inspection without suspicion, he held his breath until Sprout nodded, her shoulders drooping.
"I don't often keep Mooncalf dung in the greenhouses, but the last group of fifth-years were just working with Sopophorous plants," she explained as she led James and Sirius along the wall. "Truthfully, I don't find the fertilizer that useful for a wide range of plants, but I make it a point to encourage safe experimentation. You should find some in there," she told the boys, pointing to a closed cabinet near the floor. "Just make sure to put it back when you're done."
Walking off, she left James and Sirius standing awkwardly over the cabinet, and Sirius finally shrugged. "You might as well grab it so that she doesn't get suspicious," he advised, and James hunkered down and opened the miniature door obediently.
After pushing past a few jars of assorted seeds and plant roots, James found the Mooncalf dung and removed it carefully. However, just as he was about to shut the swinging door, he froze with his hand still around the knob.
"Wait, hold onto this for a second!" he ordered Sirius, shoving him the fertilizer while he reached farther into the cabinet. Fumbling with the jars inside, he pushed aside several glass containers until finally grabbing a partially-filled bottle near the back and yanked it forward, reading the label stuck to the front.
Mandrake leaves.
"This is it!" James hissed at Sirius, almost holding the bottle aloft in his excitement. At the last moment, he remembered to keep it hidden from the other students and displayed the jar to Sirius more discreetly.
"Blimey, she led us right to it!" Sirius whispered back, his eyes popping.
"There's not much, but it'll be enough," James told him, beginning to back out of the cabinet. "I'll just slip in in my pocket—"
"Don't you think Sprout will miss it?" Sirius cut him off, stopping him before he could stand up. "Mandrake leaves are rare even in the greenhouses, and she might get suspicious if a whole bottle of them vanishes."
Seeing his point, James chewed his lip for a moment and then turned to Sirius. "Have you got anything in your pockets?"
Although his eyebrows lifted, Sirius reached into his robes and felt around. "Just a few Stink Pellets—I forgot to take them out after pranking Mr. Jaune two days ago."
"Give me three," James ordered, and he opened the bottle in his hand to take out three Mandrake leaves. When Sirius placed the pellets in his palm, James tapped his wand over each of them, carefully Transfiguring the prank supplies into stand-in Mandrake leaves. Once he had finished, he stuffed them into the bottle in their predecessors' stead.
"Even I can't tell the difference!" Sirius praised as James shoved the bottle back into the cabinet. "Nice job, mate!"
"Give one to Peter when no one's looking," James instructed him, handing him two of the Mandrake leaves behind his back and pocketing the last. "We have a potion to make."
A few minutes later, Sirius was able to slide Peter one of the Mandrake leaves without Remus spotting him. When Peter opened his mouth to gasp, James jabbed him in the stomach and caused him to undergo a coughing fit, earning a few sideways looks from the other students. The class could not end soon enough for James, and he slipped past Professor Sprout smilingly on the way out, itching to speak with Sirius and Peter in private. Unfortunately, they still had one last period to attend, and Sirius had already turned to Remus with a grin, a betrayal of his high spirits.
"What new terror do you suppose Professor Kettleburn has for us this time?" Sirius asked as they left the greenhouses behind. Looking at the ground, Remus harrumphed a little, and James reached out to pat his shoulder.
"Hey, at least he hasn't shown us a Red Cap yet!" James pointed out. "I don't fancy losing a leg in one of his classes."
"I'm still worried that he'll make us study Imps," Peter said, shuddering. "They're just as bad as Red Caps, maybe even worse!"
"I don't know," Remus said, shrugging with a frown at the floor. "I think I'd prefer a Red Cap to another non-sentient Beast."
"Nah, you wouldn't when you saw one," Sirius told him. "My Uncle Alphard had a few invade his yard once, and the stories that he tells are grisly. Regulus had to sleep with my parents for a few nights afterwards."
"Did you, too?" James inquired with a smirk.
"Of course not," Sirius scoffed, glaring at him. "Who'd want to sleep in the same room as my mum, the way she snores?"
Laughing, the four joined the Slytherins where they had gathered around Professor Kettleburn, who waved his only hand to capture their attention. Hagrid stood nearby, holding a bucket of lightning-resistant potion at the ready, and Fang the boarhound let out a low whine at his side, looking much less excited than his owner.
"All right, look up here!" Professor Kettleburn called out to the students, and he tapped an elevated cage that contained a handful of miniature, crab-like animals with impressive fangs. "We're going to spend the period on Chizpurfles again. Hopefully this time we can get them to eat."
At his words, the whole class groaned. The last lesson had been incredibly dull; none of the tiny creatures had budged from the back of their cage during the last class, as Remus had been standing a little too close to their enclosure.
"Who wants to try and coax them out first?" Professor Kettleburn inquired with a beam, and James thought that Hagrid might thrust his meaty hand into the air before the rest of them could move. For better or for worse, Kettleburn prodded the students into a queue, and they began tempting the Chizpurfles with small vials of various potions.
"Keep your wands away unless you want them chewed in half!" Kettleburn kept reminding them throughout the lesson, padding back and forth between the crouched students. "The magical cores attract them!"
"Do you think that Chizpurfles prefer unicorn tail cores?" Peter questioned his roommates after swatting away one of the crab-like creatures. "At least a dozen have tried to crawl into my pocket."
James and the others were unable to answer right away, because the sound of approaching footsteps drew everyone's attention away from the Chizpurfles. Turning around, the entire class watched as Professor Sprout marched across the grounds to their small circle, her clenched fists swinging. Just behind her, Professor McGonagall followed with slightly widened eyes as she struggled to keep up with her shorter companion.
"You two!" Professor Sprout exclaimed as she came to a sudden stop, pointing accusingly at James and Sirius. "I want you to turn out your pockets this instant!"
"Why, what have they done?" Alice asked as the other students conversed agitatedly. His mind beginning to race, James shared a rapid glance with Sirius.
"I have reason to believe that you stole Mandrake leaves from my greenhouses, and I want an explanation!" Professor Sprout accused the boys, and the rest of the class erupted into a flurry of excited shouting and questioning.
"But why?" Hagrid spoke up, tilting his head while Fang copied him. Breathless, Remus turned to gape at his roommates.
"They wouldn't do that!" he objected, staring at his friends as if waiting for them to agree.
"I have proof!" Sprout declared, still heated, and the listening students gasped again. "After my last lesson, I found a sack of Mooncalf dung that Black and Potter left out. When I examined it, I realized that it had been left untouched, and when I checked its cabinet, I noticed that the jars had been moved around. A quick Revelio Charm was enough to show me that three Mandrake leaves had been replaced with Stink Pellets! Mandrake leaves can sell at fifteen Galleons apiece in London, and quite a bit more in smaller towns!"
"I'm sure that there's been some kind of mistake," Remus defended, still dubious. "Maybe they just got misplaced."
"Nevertheless, I demand to see the inside of their pockets!" Sprout demanded.
"This is outrageous!" Sirius protested, raising his hands. "Why accuse us when it could have easily been anybody?"
"Better just to open your pockets, Mr. Black," Professor McGonagall spoke up, regarding the whole situation with narrowed eyes. "If you don't have them, you can get right back to your class."
Holding their breaths, the rest of the students watched James and Sirius closely, Remus and Peter most of all. Finally, after seeing no way out of their predicament, James and Sirius reached into their pockets and each pulled out a single Mandrake leaf. Immediately, the rest of the students started buzzing again, and several of them let out shouts as Professor Sprout collected the leaves from them.
"There's one more I need," Sprout announced when she had finished, turning a cold eye on Remus and Peter. "They were with you two all class long. Show me your pockets before I put both of you in detention."
Remus' mouth fell open, but Peter put his stammering to a halt when he pulled out his leaf, staring at the ground. Snatching the leaf away, Sprout tucked it into her robes and donned a satisfied smile while Professor McGonagall peered down at the three incriminated students, her arms crossed immovably.
"If that's all, Pomona, you can leave us to it," McGonagall told Professor Sprout without moving her cold gaze. As Sprout turned back towards the greenhouses, Wilkes and his friends oohed mockingly next to Hagrid, and Snape looked more pleased than James had ever seen him before. Facing Professor Kettleburn, McGonagall said, "I apologize for the inconvenience, Silvanus, but I'll have to take these three students away. Whatever material they miss, they'll have to make up outside of class."
"Er—perfectly understandable, Minerva," Kettleburn replied, rubbing the back of his head. Waving his arm, he tried to coax his students back into order, but even Hagrid had lost his interest in the class while Professor McGonagall began to lead James, Sirius, and Peter away from the cage of Chizpurfles.
"Have fun in detention!" Wilkes called after the Gryffindors as they walked off, Mulciber and Avery cackling.
"I hope Professor McGonagall remembers to let you live, Potter!" Snape sneered as they passed by, and James could only glare in his direction as he walked away. However, he quickly looked away as he caught sight of Remus' open mouth, and he kept his eyes trained on McGonagall as she led them off through the grounds.
When they had nearly reached the castle's shadow, Professor McGonagall halted abruptly and rounded on the boys behind her. "What were you thinking?" she demanded, her green eyes ablaze. Almost spitting, she hissed, "What compels you to steal from the Herbology greenhouses?"
"It was just a stupid prank," Sirius mumbled, glancing to the side and kicking at the grass.
"A prank?" McGonagall repeated, incredulous.
"Yeah," James supported, knowing that there was no way to escape punishment at this point. "We wanted to see if we could get away with it, that's all."
"If it was just a prank, then why did each of you need to have a leaf of your own?" Professor McGonagall inquired, her eyebrow rising. None of the boys responded to this, and James avoided his roommates' eyes as McGonagall became even more rigid. "I am beyond words! Your actions were inconceivably idiotic, whatever your reasoning! Do you understand the implications of your rule-breaking? Not only have you disrespected Pomona and her teaching facilities, but you have also caused Gryffindor House a cauldron-ful of embarrassment! And to top it all off, you're still hiding something from me . . ."
Shrinking under her gaze, James glanced quickly at Sirius and Peter and silently pleaded with them to stay quiet. Although obviously fighting the urge to speak, Peter continued to stare at the ground as Sirius stared back up at Professor McGonagall with his jaw set.
"If you choose not to speak," McGonagall finally continued, "I have no choice but to put you in detention. And since stealing happens to be a repeat offense for you," she added, glaring at James and Sirius, "I would be justified in recommending your expulsion. Do you have anything to say for yourselves?" After another moment's silence, she straightened and folded her hands together. "I see. In that case, I expect you'll understand if Argus makes a thorough inspection of your room to make sure that you don't have any more stolen items lying about. Any rights to privacy have just been revoked."
Keeping his eyes on the grass, James hoped that Sirius' Disillusionment Charm would be powerful enough to keep Filch fooled to the whereabouts of Animagi in the Making, which would surely give away their illegal activities.
Turning around again, McGonagall added over her shoulder, "Two hundred points will be taken from your House—"
"Two hundred?" James interrupted, gaping.
"Don't push me, Potter!" Professor McGonagall spat, spinning around to face him. "And if I ever catch you in the act of thievery again, it'll be expulsion. For all of you," she added, glaring down at Peter as he avoided her gaze. "Now, if you'll follow me, we can set up your detention times in my office, which you will observe every day for a month. And yes, that includes weekends."
Afraid to protest again, James looked at Sirius and Peter mournfully and followed Professor McGonagall back up to the castle, where they ended up serving their first detention that very evening. Forced to polish each suit of armor in the East Wing, they also refurbished several of the busts and portraits spanning the length of the hall. The task took them nearly six hours to complete, all under the heavy scrutinization of McGonagall, and they had long since missed supper by the time they finally finished. Stomachs rumbling, they trudged up to Gryffindor Tower with dampened spirits, opening the door of their room to find Remus picking up a stray textbook from the floor. By the looks of the surroundings, Filch had already searched through their dormitory.
"Hello," James, Sirius, and Peter all muttered as they entered, and Remus threw the book onto his four-poster, causing Mussmug to hiss loudly from the corner where she was hiding.
"Why did you do it?" Remus asked, turning around and glaring at them. "I saw the hourglasses in the Entrance Hall—Gryffindor's is nearly empty. What good did it do you? I know you weren't selling them like Professor Sprout said. Were you just stealing them for the thrill of it?"
Ducking his head, Peter turned to James and Sirius. Shaking his head, James advised the others to keep quiet; he knew that this would be the worst possible time to admit their secret to Remus, seeing how he was partially responsible for their decision to become Animagi in the first place. However, his signal was not needed, because Remus had turned away without waiting for an answer and grabbed the pile of textbooks from his mattress.
"Never mind. I don't want to know," he said, not meeting their eyes on the way to the door. "I'm going to the library."
After the door shut with a thud, the others looked at each other knowingly, and Sirius rushed to his four-poster a moment later. Reaching underneath, he groped around until he pulled out an invisible weight and shook it, creating a series of thumping noises.
"It's still here," he sighed in relief, placing the invisible chest carefully back in its hiding place.
"Why can't we just tell Remus?" Peter demanded suddenly, rounding on the others. "If he knew what we were trying to do, maybe he wouldn't be angry with us!"
"That's the last thing we can do!" James responded harshly. "If he finds out now, he'll almost definitely rat us out to the professors!"
"But wouldn't he understand if we told him the truth?" Peter asked. "If we could talk him through it, maybe we could convince him that we're doing the right thing after all!"
"If you tell him, I'll slip another fifty Mandrake leaves in your pocket and tell Professor Sprout," Sirius threatened, and Peter's eyes widened.
"Remus can't know for his own good, do you hear?" James added with a warning growl. "Don't you dare go behind our backs and ruin this for us." When Peter looked down with a torn expression, James softened his tone. "I know you don't want Remus to be mad, and none of us wanted detention, either. But we can't give up on becoming Animagi now that we've started, so we have to keep it to ourselves."
Glancing up, Peter gave him a resentful look, and James shook his head. "Look, if it makes any difference to you, we'll be more careful from now on. No more stealing from the greenhouses. We'll have to get the ingredients some other way. If that means waiting for Dogweed and Deathcap to open for another year, so be it. We'll play it safe so this won't happen again, okay?"
Staring at him, Peter stayed silent for a few moments before finally nodding, glancing at the floor. Satisfied, James turned to Sirius as well. "We're all in this together, aren't we?"
"You don't have to ask me, mate," Sirius told him with a small smile. "At least we don't have to rope Evans into this for a while, eh?"
"Or, you know, at all," James quickly interjected, rubbing the back of his head. "She won't be eager to help us after seeing what happened today."
To his relief, Sirius nodded and yawned, stretching his arms. "Well, I'm exhausted. I'll see you both in the morning."
"Goodnight," James and Peter answered, and James slid into his four-poster a few minutes later and tried not to think about Remus' reaction. Despite having appeased Peter, he stayed awake for far longer than his worn-out body desired, tossing and turning as he waited for a sleep that would not come.