Author's Note: Yes, I'm back happily from a week in Crystal Lake, IL. Sorry this chapter is so short, but I had to get them through second year, because third year is where the fun really starts in my plans!
Coming up soon:
-Remus discovers fun things to do with parchment…
-Hogsmeade visits begin with third year, and Lily and Azalea discover some very interesting items…
-Peter gets cold feet about the Animagus transformation and receives reassurance from a rather unexpected source…
-New subjects, new teachers, and Lucy's new crush…
-Christmas and the Yule Ball arrive…whose brilliant idea was it to put mistletoe up??
-and…well if I told you any more, it wouldn't be any fun, would it??
And finally, a note on the story so far and to come…my take on this particular fic I'm crafting is that this is sticking as closely as possible to what has already been set down in J.K. Rowling's books so far (bearing in mind that I've already changed some things simply by adding in Azalea's character). The liberties I'm taking do not include making changes to the characters that have already been established as not happening: meaning for example that Remus is still a werewolf, Lily will not be becoming an Animagus, Sirius will still be sent to Azkaban eventually, etc.
Again, thanks to all my reviewers…your feedback keeps me writing. -Love, C.
Chapter 8: Birth of the Marauders, Part 2
The three managed to catch Peter alone in the library the next afternoon between Herbology and Potions.
"Peter, we need to talk to you," Azalea said, sliding into one of the chairs at the large table. Sirius and James sat down as well, and Peter looked nervous.
As they explained their plan, however, they watched the apprehensive look on Peter's face fade to a kind of fearful excitement. "Do you really think we can?" he breathed.
"If anyone can, we can, Peter," Sirius asserted.
Peter bit his lip. "It can go really wrong, though, can't it? I remember reading something for Transfiguration…"
James grinned. "Yeah, it might go wrong, but hey, it's me and Sirius and Azalea. We're gonna be fine."
Azalea spoke gently. "You could be the smallest one, Peter…we need someone to be small, to deal with the tree."
"I could be a rat…" he muttered, staring down at his books. When he looked back up, there was something like determination in his face. "Okay, guys…I'll do it."
"Excellent!" Sirius punched the air, then resumed seriousness. "It's going to take awhile…we've got to do a lot of research to make sure we don't screw this up."
"Definitely," Azalea agreed. "I looked up some things during Transfiguration today. There's at least two really involved potions that we have to make, and one of them takes two months…"
James hummed thoughtfully. "I wonder where we're going to do that…hey, speaking of Potions, we'd better go, we're going to be late!"
As they had predicted, Lily and Lucy were none too keen on the plan. "That's really dangerous, you guys," Lucy whispered in the common room later that night, as they began the long process of proofreading their Defense Against the Dark Arts essays on banshees. "You're underage…you aren't going to register IF it works…"
"You're going to try and do it on your own…" Lily added.
"No one would understand," James hissed. "They'd say we were stupid for wanting to try and help Remus…they'd say it was dangerous…"
"It IS dangerous!" The subject of the discussion finally joined in. "You shouldn't be doing this because of me."
"We want to, Remus." Azalea glared at her essay. "How do you spell excruciating?"
"E-X-C-R-U-C-I-A-T-I-N-G," Remus spelled. "The point is, you wouldn't be putting yourselves at risk if I wasn't around…if I hadn't TOLD all of you about me…"
"Yes, Remus, but OUR point is now that we know, we want to try and help." Sirius crossed out something on his essay. "The risk doesn't matter if we can make it easier for you."
Remus looked up from his paper, and saw identical looks of determination on Sirius', James', Peter's, and Azalea's faces. He sighed. "I'm not going to talk you four out of this, am I?"
"Nope," the four chorused.
"Professor Venom?" Azalea approached the large desk as the rest of the students filed out of the classroom. Sirius was hanging by the door, waiting for her.
"Yes, what is it?" He looked up from the large pile of papers in front of them. "Ah, Miss Evans. You're wondering about those bottles."
"Well, yes."
The professor lowered his voice. "You were very smart to have brought them to me," he told her softly. "There was a fine coating of dried Sargasso syrup on the insides of those bottles. It never wears off…and combined with certain potions, it becomes a very unpleasant poison. Nothing fatal, but still, whoever drank it would have been quite uncomfortable for several days."
Azalea gulped. "Were you able to get rid of it?"
The professor nodded, as he produced the wrapped bundle from his desk. "Fortunately, yes. The bottles will be very useful for you, now that they're clean." He frowned. "If someone was considering this a student prank, I would like to know who it was. Sargasso syrup is not easy to obtain, for one, and the personality that would inflict that on someone else…" He left the sentence unfinished. "Well. There you are, Miss Evans."
"Thank you, Professor." Azalea turned away from the desk and tucked the bottles into her bag, going to join Sirius at the door.
"What happened?" Sirius murmured to her, as they left the dungeons.
"Later. At dinner," she answered.
That night over dinner, Azalea told the rest of the group what Professor Venom had said.
Sirius openly glared across to the Slytherin table. "Maybe we need to teach Severus Snape a lesson," he muttered.
James shook his head. "Sirius, if we do that, we're no better than he is."
"You and I could take him, easy!" Sirius protested. At James' look, he subsided, digging his fork vehemently into his mashed potatoes. "Well, we could."
"Sure we could, but that wouldn't even be close to a fair fight. Two against one, and we're bigger than he is? No way, Sirius. That's not the way to do things."
"Besides," and Azalea put a hand on Sirius' arm, "I'm the one he tried to do something to, and I'm not asking either of you to fight anyone."
Sirius grumbled. "Well…just be careful, Zia. We don't want anything to happen to you."
The trouble from Snape seemed to at least have gone on hiatus for the time being. Weeks passed quickly, as the four conspirators began the immense amount of research they needed to do to successfully complete the Animagus transformation. As well as needing to make several different complex potions, the casting would require them to learn additional advanced Transfiguration spells, and multiple Charms.
By Easter, the four of them had all managed to master the first of the new spells, the Painkilling Charm. From everything that they had been able to discover, the initial transformation was going to be extremely painful, and every book they had consulted recommended use of a strong Painkilling Charm before beginning.
Their work continued over the Easter holidays and beyond. Classes ended, exams were passed by all seven, and by the time they were packing up their trunks for the summer, they still hadn't heard a peep from Snape.
"I wonder if someone cast a Mute Curse on him," Sirius speculated, as he, James, Peter, and Remus sat crowded together on Azalea's bed, watching the three girls neatly folding their robes.
"He has been really quiet in classes," Lily agreed.
"And he's been leaving me alone, thank goodness." Azalea grimaced. "I still can't bring myself to use those bottles."
"With good reason. I wouldn't use them if I were you," Sirius said, his eyes flashing.
James chuckled. "Maybe he's trying to figure out how to make a Love Potion."
"Don't even joke about that." Lucy shuddered as she attempted to stuff her books into her trunk. "I've heard nasty things about Love Potions."
Lily looked up from her packing. "Are all four of you ready?" At their eager nods, she sighed. "Why does it always take us so much longer…"
Sirius had moved from the bed, and was sitting on Azalea's trunk so that she could close it. "Dunno," he said cheerfully. "Maybe just 'cause you're girls."
All three glared at him, but before any sort of retaliation could be mustered, the huge brass gong sounded from the entrance hall, alerting them that it was time to go downstairs and catch the train. Azalea and Lily quickly knotted their scarves around their necks –the gifts from James and Sirius that they were never without – and the group left the dormitory.
"The rest of you have to come to our house for our birthday," Lily said as they descended the stairs. "Mum and Dad are planning a big party, and we have lots of room. All of you can stay!"
Everyone was considerably brightened by this prospect, and together, they boarded the train to return to the world outside Hogwarts.