Chapter 12: Chasing Tails

"Did you have fun last night?" Hermione asked Sirius as he dragged himself into the great hall and towards the Gryffindor table.

"Yeah, sure," He mumbled in return and slumped down on the bench beside Hermione.

"Do you even remember it?" Hermione challenged him with a raised eyebrow. She knew Sirius had consumed a large ammount of alcohol the night before.

"Yeah I remember it, I wasn't that drunk." He retorted while rubbing his tired eyes.

"Sirius," Lily joined into the conversation, "You and James drank about three bottles of Firwhiskey together."

"That doesn't mean I was drunk, I have a high metabolism." Sirius said while James, Remus, and Peter came to sit down at the table. James and Peter looked equally as hungover as Sirius. Remus, Hermione, and Lily weren't hungover because, naturally, they were the responsible ones.

"You were shirtless half the night," Hermione pointed out to Sirius.

"Sirius is always shirtless," James mumbled, in the same position as Sirius, with his head down on the table, looking rather exhausted.

"James, you were quite drunk too," Hermione added.

"Was not."

"You called a house elf 'mummy' and asked her to dance with you," Lily smirked.

James' face twisted up in horror, "Really?"

Hermione chuckled and nodded alongside Lily.

"You guys reek," Remus observed, crunching up his nose, "I think you're sweating firewhiskey, James."

"We weren't that drunk!" James complained, "Merlin, does the great hall have to be so loud?" Then he proceeded to plug his ears. Hermione looked around the great hall and noticed that about a third of the Gyrffindor table seemed to be in the same state as Sirius, James, and Peter. The Marauders definitely threw some wild parties.

"How did you guys even get the firewhiskey into school?" Hermione asked.

"Hogsmeade," Sirius responded.

"How? I was with you the whole time, and never saw you getting any." She couldn't think of how Sirius had snuck it past her.

Instead of responding, Sirius just shook his head and motioned for Remus to explain. "They didn't go during Hogsmeade weekend, they went on tuesday night, through a secret passage." Remus said.

"What?" Lily asked, "what secret passage?" The red head was confused, but Hermione understood now, it was the Marauders Map, of course! How could she have forgotten?

"It's no big deal, just a tunnel out of Hogwarts and into Honeydukes," James explained.

"What?" Lily repeated her earlier question.

"I'll explain later," James waved her off.

"Eww, Peter, you smell the worst," Remus pointed out, "can you take a shower or something?"

"I showered already," Peter said absently, picking at his breakfast.

Remus rolled his eyes, "I'm the only responsible one around here..."


Winter was obviously approaching as another week rolled by. It was getting much colder, and Hermione heard talk of the snowy days to come. She had always loved winter at Hogwarts, time for warm sweaters and hot chocolate. On this particuliar afternoon, she was heading down to the Black Lake with Sirius at her side.

"I want to tell you something," Sirius was holding her had tightly as they walked, making sure she stayed close to him. He seemed nervous and guilty, like he had something to tell her that he had neglected telling her before.

"What?" Hermione asked, growing slightly anxious.

The corner of Sirius' mouth turned up in a little smirk, "you're not going to believe it when I say it."

Hermione raised an eyebrow, "try me."

They continued down a path until they were on the shore of the cold water. "Have you ever heard of an Animagus?" He murmured while they walked along the water.

Hermione tried to refrain from smiling. He was telling her that he was an animagus! She couldn't believe that he trusted her that much already. It just showed how close they were growing. After a moment, she answered, "An animagus? Yeah, of course I've heard of them."

"Well..." Sirius paused, "I'm an animagus." He turned to Hermione abruptly.

Hermione faked surprise, and then smiled, "really?"

He nodded, "yup." And they continued walking.

"How?"

"James, Peter, and I did it a couple years ago." He informed her.

"And Remus?" Hermione wondered if he would reveal his friend's furry little secret.

Sirius shook his head, "he's not an animagus." But he said nothing else, obviously not ready to share Remus' secret.

"What animals are you guys?" Hermione asked the questions she already knew the answers to.

"A dog." Sirius said calmly, "James is a stag, and Peter is a rat."

"Hence, the nicknames." Hermione pretended to notice.

Sirius smiled, "you're a clever one, aren't you?" And he pulled her closer to his side, snaking an arm around her waist.

Slowly, a smirk grew across Hermione's face, "prove it."

Sirius looked at her, puzzled for a moment, then responded, "You asked for it."

And with that, he backed away a step, and transformed. His body shifted and changed as he became the large black dog. Hermione smiled while the dog bounded away from her, and around some trees in the distance. After his little show, he ran back to her, picking his head up to catch her hand with his nose.

"You're adorable," Hermione smiled down at him.

After she said that, he turned back to normal, phasing into a human again. "I am not adorable, I'm a big, menacing dog." He said in slight frustration.

Hermione just laughed, "what ever you say..."

"Hey!" He complained, returning his arm around her.

"I'm glad you told me," Hermione smiled up at him.

"Me too," He responded, "I'm surprised how well you took it."

Hermione shrugged and they continued walking in comfortable silence. Every minute or two, Hermione would ask him a question about being an animagus, which he would answer.

"What are you doing for Christmas Holiday?" Sirius eventually asked.

"Umm... I think I'm just going to stay here," Hermione was a little put off by the change of subject, "why do you ask."

Sirius smiled excitedly, and turned to her, "How would you like to go to James' house?"

"What?" Hermione sputtered, "Really? He invited me?"

"Yes!"

"I don't understand," she muttered.

"We all want you to be there," he explained, "and you can't just stay here at Hogwarts all alone. We're all gonna be there, even Lily's coming!"

Now Hermione was really confused, "why wouldn't Lily tell me she was planning that?" She mumbled.

Sirius shrugged, "she probably just didn't want you to be jealous or something."

Hermione stared out at the Black Lake and considered the whole offer. Would McGonagall and Dumbledore be okay with it? Was she okay with it? Was her relationship with Sirius advancing too far?

"So will you come?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know..." Hermione said, not meeting his eyes.

"Aw come on! It will be so much fun! All your friends will be there, and James' parents really want to meet you-"

"His parents?" Hermione interrupted.

"Yeah, I'm practically their adopted son, so they want to meet my girlfriend too." Sirius continued, "and anyways, were gonna have so much fun. No school, and freedom to do whatever we want. And I want to spend Christmas with you!" He ended looking straight into Hermione's eyes.

Hermione chewed her lip anxiously, "Sirius..."

"Please, please, please!" Sirius begged, grabbing her hand.

Hermione finally broke down, "fine," she breathed out, smiling excitedly.

Sirius' eyes lit up "Yes!" He leaned forward to kiss her feverently, "We're going to have so much fun!" He continued kissing her, pulling her chin up to meet him.