Hey guys - sorry about the delay, I had a touch of writer's block, which is why this chapter is a little weeny bit short. Hope you all enjoy it anyway :D

Animagi

Lupin didn't come back to Gryffindor Tower until the Wednesday after the full moon. It was evening, and the rest of the dorm were just starting to think about bed. The boy walked through the door, looking pale, beat up and exhausted.

Harry's Dad and Black both rushed to greet him, but Peter hung back a little, as if he wasn't sure if Lupin would eat him or not. Harry frowned; from what he knew of the future he'd have expected that to be Black, not Pettigrew.

Once the two black haired boys had finished greeting him, Lupin smiled tiredly, saying that he was tired and wanted to go to bed. The two boys' faces fell.

"Remus, we know," Harry's young father said gently.

"Know what?" Lupin asked quickly, but Harry could see that he was nervous. He didn't know much about wizarding politics, but he was pretty sure that most wizards wouldn't be very fond of werewolves.

"We know that you're a werewolf," Black continued slowly, like he didn't know what to say.

Lupin nodded, eyes betraying his despair. "I'll go pack my stuff," he said quietly.

"Why?" James asked, confused.

"Aren't you frightened?" Lupin asked, voice rising. "I'm a monster!"

"No," Black corrected. "You're our friend, and pranking genius."

"Besides, we need four for our pranking expeditions. It would be boring with just three," Peter finally said, joining in. Something about his smile seemed off to Harry, but it was probably just his imagination. At least, that's what he thought until he saw his adult father glaring daggers at the boy also, confusing Harry completely. What had Peter Pettigrew done to cause such hate from his father, who seemed to have forgiven his betrayer so easily? Harry hoped that the memories would explain eventually, because he was very, very confused.

The scene changed again, this time landing Harry and the older Potter in the library, where three of the four boys in the second year's dorm were poring over a large dusty book. Lupin's sandy head was missing.

"Look here, look here!" Black cried excitedly as Harry leaned over them. "A werewolf is only a danger to humans. There are many cases of the 'wolves' befriending other animals during the full moon, particularly canines such as dogs, wolves or foxes."

"So all we need to do now is figure out how to become animals, and we can look after Remus on the full moons!" James said excitedly.

"James, you go ask McGonagall if it's possible," Black said, still sounding excited.

"Why me?" James moaned.

"Because you're good at transfiguration and McGonagall likes you," Black said, his tone leaving no room for argument.

The scene changed again to see the young James running into the dorm with a book entitled 'How to become and Animagus' in gold lettering. Lupin was still nowhere to be seen.

"Guys, all we have to do is become Animagi, but it's really advanced magic. It took Minnie herself five years to achieve."

"What do we have to do?" Black asked.

"Well, first there's a potion, you'll have to do that bit Siri, it shouldn't take more than six months to do. Then there's the complex bit. Its wandless magic; you have to learn to transform each part of your body separately before turning completely."

"Isn't that really dangerous?" Peter asked nervously.

"Yeah," James sighed. "But it's for Remus, and besides, how cool would it be to turn into an animal at will!"

"Let me see the potion ingredients James," Black said, reaching for the book.

James handed the book over, letting his friend read through what they'd need.

"We'll need to raid Slughorn's stores for some of these," Black muttered. "There's Wolfsbane in it too – so we can't invite Remus to join us – the potion will poison him."

Harry felt very confused. "Dad, why do you need a potion?" he asked, looking up at the wistful adult next to him.

"It showed us which animals we'd become, so we could focus on transforming properly," Harry's Dad explained simply.

The scene changed again, showing Harry the three boys sat around a smouldering cauldron as Black dropped the final ingredients in. The boys were sat in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, much as Harry, Ron and Hermione had done in their second year.

Black divided the potion into three goblets with a ladle, passing one to both the other boys before taking one himself.

"What happens if it isn't right?" Peter asked, pale face displaying his fear.

"The castle will probably blow up, but don't worry Pete, the book says I've done it right," Black answered happily.

"Now what do we do?" James asked, eyeing the potion doubtfully.

"We need to add a drop of our blood in, then the mist will form our animals," Black explained, pulling a sharp pin out of his pocket.

James nodded, taking the pin off Black and pricking his finger gingerly, allowing a drop of blood to spill into his goblet. The mist rushed up, causing James to throw himself back, as the shape of a stag formed in front of him. It held for a few seconds, before disappearing back into the goblet. James' goblet no longer had any mist pouring from the top. James slowly tipped the potion down one of the toilets, sighing in relief when nothing happened.

Black suggested Peter went next, having noticed the boy's nervousness. Peter too pricked his finger, but was much more hesitant than James had been. His potion's mist also flared up, but Peter was better prepared than James and had already leant back. The mist formed the shape of a rodent, a rat, before disappearing back into the potion.

Black went next, pricking his finger with no hesitation and eagerly watching his mist form. Harry felt a pang of shock as the bear like dog which had been following him all year appeared in the mist from Black's goblet.

So there we have it, another cliff hanger. I'm getting a bit addicted. Anyway, thank you to my reviewers SokkasFirstFangirl, *Blacks and Greyback quiver in fear* don't worry, Remus and Sirius will get better :) Luiz4200, not quite sure what was funny, but I'll take it as a compliment :D Glad you enjoyed it, MegsayLupin, I'm glad my stories were good enough to track me down again, thoughI'm glad you're over the obsession as the site decided to delete my 'reading the books' fics. Lily will be coming - not sure how soon but probably to do the post Hogwarts bits, arwenraven, glad you're enjoying it -I won't say too much, but we will meet real Sirius towards the end. It will most likely only be for the last and penultimate chapters, but he will be there.

Thank you once again everyone for reading. Sorry about how short it was and for the cliffhanger :D