*
"Animus Amorphous!" the three Marauders cried in one voice. And then they felt a tingling – first in their arms and legs, then spreading through their entire bodies like lightning.
James looked down at himself, and almost laughed when he saw hooves instead of hands and feet, rich brown fur instead of smooth skin. But his laughter was concealed by wonderment while he stared at the other two and himself. It was unbelievable. They were Animagi, after all this time.
Sirius was now fully transformed into a rather large and shaggy black dog. He had a playful look to him; it had to be Sirius. He was staring at his feet and spinning in circles in an attempt to look at himself. Soon, he gave up, and stood on his hind legs, raising his paws up in the air in triumph.
Peter, now a small tan rat, was rather surprised, if anything could be judged by the wideness of his beady black eyes. He was a little frightened, and carefully scooted back out of reach of Sirius' paws and James' hooves. He fit the part of a rat well, and it fit him.
For a moment they all remained quiet, staring at one another. James swung his antlers in the air, slowly accustoming himself to the heaviness of his head. It wasn't long before he realized that they couldn't stay there forever, just staring at each other. So he stamped his foot, trying to indicate something. He wondered, though. How did you change back into a human? That could be a problem…
But then, thinking about it had caused some reaction. He felt himself grow taller, lose his fur. And in almost no time at all, he was a human again. He stared at his hands in amazement, and was almost surprised to hear himself speak.
"Wow. So that's how you do it." James looked up and saw that both of his friends had also changed back, and were shaking their heads in agreement.
"That was amazing!" Sirius exclaimed. "This is so cool! We have to get Remus and show him right away!"
Peter shrugged – his eyes still as wide as sickles. James nodded. "Let's go; I'm sure he's still in the common room studying." With that, he started out the hole, careful to not hurt himself on the suit of armor. Sirius came out right after him, and Peter behind him, looking apprehensive, probably of how Remus would react.
They started out for the Gryffindor Tower, pleased and excited. But before they had taken twenty steps, Remus turned a corner and ran right into them.
"I knew you weren't studying!" he exclaimed, crossing his arms and probing them for an explanation.
"Well, you see…" James trailed off as Remus raised an eyebrow.
Sirius quickly replied, "We weren't studying, we –"
"So now you're keeping things from me? After five years? What have you been doing that you don't want me to know about?"
James spoke up, "We can't really explain it right now, let's go into our room and we'll show you." He finished hurriedly, afraid that Peter would speak up and reveal their secret to anybody who might be eavesdropping.
The Marauders ambled off, reaching the suit of armor in no time. Again, Sirius lifted the visor and whispered the password, and they almost fell over each other while they entered the room.
Remus stopped a few feet inside and turned to face his friends. "Now, show me."
They complied with his request, but were not, at first, totally sure how to transform again, as they knew they only were to use the charm once. But just thinking about it made them transform, as it had to turn back into their original selves. This time the transformation was quicker.
Each of them blinked and looked up at Remus, who had fallen backwards into one of the chairs. "Animagi!" he exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me?"
They shrugged as best they could with animal shoulders, and then slowly, one by one, turned back into humans. This completed, they each seated themselves in a chair, watching Remus' expression. He looked excited, but still angry.
"But – if you think that you're going to come with me every month just because you're Animagi now, you're wrong. I'll hurt one of you, I know it!"
James shook his head. "We'll be animals. It won't matter."
Sirius agreed. "It'll be fun, Moony. Come on. Whether you like it or not, we're coming with you next time. You can't stop us." Peter nodded fervently in agreement.
Remus sighed. His face split into a grin. "Okay. You can come." his grin widened. "Thanks..." he didn't know what else to say.
Sirius grinned back. "Who says we did it for you? Now I can leave the school and go anywhere I want, and nobody will know it's me..." he scratched his chin, thinking of the endless possibilities.
*
"Liz – uh – Lily," Lauren still pronounced the name awkwardly, like she was calling her friend something other than her real name. But it was her real name...it was just weird. "We should –"
She cut off as Mickey and Dani burst into the dorm, looking pleased with themselves.
"We've decided," Mickey started. Dani took over, "that you, Lily, are going to introduce us to James Potter and the other Marauders." she grinned and both of them observed Lily with identical expressions.
"Uh –"
"Don't bother saying no, it's no use. You are going to."
Lily sighed in resignation. "Alright – tomorrow at breakfast we can go over to the Gryffindor table."
Lauren looked skeptical. "Are we allowed to eat at other Houses tables?"
Lily shrugged. "Well I guess we'll find out."
Mickey and Dani were ecstatic, and Lauren pulled them down on her bed to keep them from dancing around the room.
"So, what are you going to tell him about us?"
"The truth," Lily replied indifferently.
"Is that supposed to be good or bad?" Lauren asked, while Dani elbowed her. They laughed.
Lily shrugged. "I guess we'll know that by James' reaction."
"Well," Dani mentioned impatiently, "don't you already have an idea what that'll be?"
"Yeah," Mickey added, "you're his cousin, you should know."
Lauren just rolled her eyes and grabbed a book. Lily looked up at the twins, twining a strand of fiery hair around her finger.
"Sure, I'm his cousin. And I've known him for a couple days." she sighed. "Honestly, give it a rest. I'll do what I can for you, alright? But no promises – I don't know him well enough yet."
"Okay, okay." Dani and Mickey said in unison.
*
"Uh, James –" Lily stood a foot behind the raven-haired boy, examining the back of his head and those of his friends. They all turned around in the same moment, and she felt a compulsion to laugh. They were like the Three Musketeers...only not, because there were four of them. Well, James could be D' Artagnan. She smiled mildly. "I have some friends that wanted to m –" Dani poked her from behind. "That I wanted you to meet."
James smiled, but didn't look overjoyed. He often had girls who wanted to meet him. But then again, he did trust Lily.
"So, who are these fine ladies?" he inquired, his aqua eyes searching politely.
"These," Lily pointed to the twins, who were giggling, "are Dani and Mickey, as they prefer to be called. And my friend Lauren." she pointed again.
James gave them a grin and asked several Gryffindors to scoot over so that the four girls could sit down. Lily thanked him, and took a seat right next to him. Dani and Mickey looked annoyed, but hey, she was his cousin. She wanted to get to know him better, and she was doing them the favor.
"So what have you been doing since we last spoke, James?" Lily asked, turning to look at him and stuffing a roll into her mouth.
The boys exchanged glances and he replied, "Oh, not much. Not much at all." with a grin. He appeared amused at the bulges in her cheeks, but didn't mention it.
"Same with us," Dani replied, eager to join the conversation and get attention. Sirius looked her way, smiling.
"So girls," he simply loved to act the ladies man. And he was good at it, too, "how would you like to accompany us to Hogsmeade this weekend?"
"It's a Hogsmeade weekend?" Lauren asked at the same time the twins exclaimed, "We'd love to!" Lily shook her head at them, and then turned to James.
"But I thought the Marauders always had their own little gatherings. Are you sure you want us along?"
James smiled. "The more the merrier." And the twins squealed. Lauren and Lily smiled.
Sirius proceeded to crack jokes and soon became the meal's entertainment. Lily found herself liking all of the Marauders, even quiet Peter. She was looking forward to that Hogsmeade trip. And most of all, she was looking forward to getting to know James better. What a fortunate accident it had been to run into her cousin here at school.
*
After their classes that day, Lily and her three friends were walking back to the Ravenclaw common room, laughing and reminiscing the day's activity. The classes themselves had been boring, but that didn't mean that they couldn't make fun out of it. Suddenly a hand grabbed Lily's arm, and they all stopped.
"James! What are you doing here?" Lily said, and he dropped his hand. He looked out of breath and his dark hair was all over the place.
"I just thought we could do some talking – you know, see if we can remember meeting as little kids, get to know each other…" he trailed off, the obvious question in his blue eyes.
"Sure." she smiled and turned back to her friends. "That'd be great." Dani gave her a 'that-is-totally-not-fair-of-you' glance, but none of them said anything, only beckoned her along. "Well, I'll meet you guys in the common room later." she waved and turned to walk down the corridor with James.
He stared back at her friends. "They're pretty nice. I like them."
Lily laughed. "Yeah, I do too. And I think your friends are great, of course."
"You should come by our table more often. It was entertaining today."
"But that was all Sirius," she said, a smile appeared on her face. "He's a funny guy – not to mention good-looking as well."
"Ah, say no more. I don't want to hear about the hotness of my best-friend. It scares me, not to mention puts disgusting images in my head."
"Oh, sorry then," Lily looked up ands saw that she had no idea where they were.
"Uh, James, where are we?"
He smiled. "I thought I'd take you to the Marauders' room. I got the other guys' permission...but we had to hide a few things that I do not have the authorization to tell you about."
He winked, and stopped at a seat of armor, routinely whispering the password. They stepped into the room, James smiling and plopping into a chair, and Lily staring in amazement.
"I didn't know there were any rooms like this at Hogwarts."
"Oh, believe me, we know about all of them." James replied, stretching himself out on the chair and lounging his feet on the table. Lily walked over and sat in the chair next to him.
"So..." she breathed deeply, staring at him. She was still in wondering of this new cousin of hers.
"Well, I've been wondering. I can't seem to remember meeting, but it's like your face is so familiar, and the way you smile and act...but I don't remember. Do you?" he sat up straight, removing his feet from the table and looking into her eyes, still wondering why the emerald color seemed so memorable. He moved his gaze down to his hands.
"I..." she trailed off; something in the back of her brain was calling to her. She closed her eyes and tried to bring the memory out. But she couldn't. It was locked there....but one word came into her mind. It was on the tip of her tongue, so strong.
"Jamie," she whispered.
She opened her eyes in confusion. The word was lost; it was all lost. James looked up at her in puzzlement.
*
A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review!