~*~ Author's Note~*~ Sorry everyone!  I didn't mean for this one to take so long, but school kicked in again and I got distracted.  This chapter is dedicated to Hyper Princess, Parselmouth Majer and Thislemeg.  Also thanks to Axe, Evie Who and everyone else who reviewed!  It means a lot to me!  The answer to last chapter's Reviewer's Challenge was obviously Paul McCartney (yeah! Go Paul!), but I guess there wasn't really a specific reason.  Just because he is the biggest rock n roll god EVER!  For anyone who doesn't know (which is probably everyone), John Enwistle is the bassist for The Who, another band from the sixties and seventies.  Anyway, back to the story… Reviewing is good, keep that I mind!  : )

CHAPTER 8: SHAPE SHIFTING AND SHOWTUNES

Lily woke up the next morning to see snow falling outside her window.  She smiled.  'It's about bloody time. The holidays are only a week away!'

            She dressed quickly and ambled down the stairs.  A group of people was gathered around the bulletin board by the portrait hole.  As soon as a few people cleared the way, Lily read a large piece of parchment that was in the middle of the corkboard.

Hogsmeade trip tomorrow!

The weather will be very cold, so don't forget you're heavy cloaks!

She was glad they got a break after all the work the teachers had been piling on their plates.  She smiled again and went to breakfast to find Venus.

Across the room Sirius sat in an overstuffed armchair facing the boy's dormitory staircase.

"Hey, Moony!" called Sirius as Remus descended the staircase.

"Morning, Sirius.  What are you so excited about?"

"Er… Hogsmeade trip," he replied, even though that wasn't the real reason that he was so happy.

"Excellent, I need to restock my Dungbombs and get some Frog Spawn Soap to put in the Slytherin's bathrooms."

They walked off to the Great Hall for breakfast chattering away about how the Slytherins would react if frogs started growing in their robes.  "That is, if they bathe," reflected Remus wisely.

When they finally reached the Great Hall, the two walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down with James.  As Remus reached for the quiche, the morning post arrived.  A note fell into James' lap and a white speckled owl landed on the table and started eating Sirius, toast.

            "Sod off, Gwendolyn," said Sirius to the bird.  Gwendolyn snipped her beak at him and flew over to Lily.

            "Why, hello Gwen," Lily cooed to the owl.  "Did you get James' letter to him?"

            "Oooh, Lily sent James a love letter!" laughed Venus.

            "Yes, and I was hoping he'd open it right in front of my boyfriend," she answered sarcastically.

            "Then what's it about?"

            "Getting together over break so we can work on our project.  We're both staying, so I thought we might as well get part of it out of the way so we don't have as much to work on when school starts up again," she explained.

            "Ah," Venus said distractedly.  Davey Gudgeon had just walked in and sat down at the Hufflepuff table.  Lily rolled her eyes and stood up.

            "Where are you going?" Venus asked.

            "Have to go to the loo," Lily lied.  And she mad her way over to the Hufflepuff table and Davey Gudgeon.

            "Hi, Lily," said a cold voice.  She looked up.  Across from Davey sat Derek with an insipid expression on his face.

            "Hello, Derek," she said shortly.  "Davey? My friend over there was wondering if you would like to spend the Hogsmeade trip with her?"  she asked, pointing at Venus who blushed crimson, but managed a small wave.

            Davey smiled brightly at her and nodded.

            "Great!" exclaimed Lily, clapping her hands together.  "She'll meet you by the staircase tomorrow."

            And so it was an extremely nervous Venus that Lily woke up to the next morning.  She was flitting around the room holding up different ribbons to her robes.

            "Any colour of the rainbow matches black, Venus," said Katerina.  "Go with yellow.  Makes people happy."

            "Plus it's his houses colour," added Lily as she searched though her trunk at the end of her bed for her signature robes.

            "Lily, do you think I should wear my woolen cloak or my black one with the gold trim?"

"Do you want to freeze your arse off?" she asked.

"But if you wear the gold trimmed cloak, he might give you his," pointed out Katerina.

"Give me the wool one. Venus," said Lily.  Venus obliged and Lily took out her wand and traces the edge of the cloak, saying, "Fimbriae aurarius."

Venus smiled.  "Thanks, Lil."

After they were finished getting ready they headed down to breakfast.  Venus didn't eat much of anything.  The same was true a little ways down the table.

Remus looked up from where he was shoving sausages in his face like he hadn't eaten in a week.  He had dark circles under his eyes and was looking sickly again.  The full moon was that night.  All of his friends were grinning at him stupidly.

"What are you looking at?  Have I got a boogie or something?" he asked, wiping his nose.

"We're just excited about Hogsmeade, that's all," said James.

"Why? We go there almost every week," he said.

James shrugged and spooned some friend tomatoes on his plate and pushed them around with his fork.

When breakfast was over the four boys walked into the entrance hall. Sirius made his way over towards Lily.  The other three waited for the carriages talking about Gryffindor's chances against Ravenclaw in their match in January.

Just as a carriage pulled up in front of them James said, "Remus, where is your cloak?"

Peter had hidden it before they left for breakfast so they would have an excuse to take a secret passageway to town.

By the time they had run upstairs, gotten Remus' cloak, and rushed back down again; the lat carriage was pulling away from the castle.

"Oh darn!" exclaimed Peter snapping his fingers.

"Not to worry," said James quickly.  "We can take the tunnel behind the mirror on the fourth floor."

Remus bought it.  He and James climbed the staircase while Peter tripped excitedly in their wake.

They reached the humongous mirror framed in each corner by a badger, eagle, lion, or snake, pulled it open, and stepped inside.  They all lit their wands, sating, "Lumos!" and started off down the dark, dank tunnel.

"James, wait up!" panted Remus, for James was practically sprinting down the passageway.

"Right, sorry."

"What is wrong with you guys?  Why are you so jittery?"

"No reason," lied James.

Just then the three boys heard fast, heavy, padded running accompanied by panting.  Through the darkness, an enormous dog came into view and gave an excited bark.  Remus thought he was going crazy; the dog seemed to be smiling.

He screamed as the beast jumped on him and licked his face.

"What the…?" said Remus, trapped under the animal.  It got off for a moment and stood completely still.  And then, quite suddenly, it disappeared and Sirius was standing in its place.

Remus stared at Sirius' face, which wore the same stupid sort of smile as the dog and now James and Peter as well.

"What the hell was that?" he asked.

Sirius's smile fell.  "We… we… we're… animagi," he stuttered.

"Animagi?  What the hell was going through your minds?  Are you bloody insane?  You can't become animagi!  I can't believe you guys!  You'll get into so much trouble!"  But James could see that he was blushing and a tear slid from his eye.

"We'll change for your transformations every month.  It's supposed to help keep your mind clearer.  We did this for you, Moony old pal."

Remus backed up against the damp wall of the tunnel and sank into a heap on the floor.  He looked up at his friends, his eyes shining in wonderment.  He lowered his head into his hands and started shaking.

"Er… Remus?" Jams said cautiously.

Remus looked up from his hunched over state.  His face was stained with tears, but he was… laughing?

"James," whispered Peter like a child to his father, "has he gone mad?"

"I can't believe you guys," he repeated, but this time in a completely different tone.  "You did this for… for me?"

Sirius spoke up for the first time since Remus had blown up at them all.  "We just wanted to help you out.  You know, we couldn't bare the idea that every month our friend went through hell.  You always come back with all these scars and you're so drained and we wanted to help you.  Ever since first year we've snuck out while you were in the Shrieking Shack and worked on becoming animagi to help you out.  James is a stag, Peter is a rat, and, well you know what I am."

Remus stood up, brushed the dirt off his robes and brought them all into a back breaking hug which made all of them feel a bit uncomfortable.  He quickly released them and took a quick breath.  "Right.  To Hogsmeade then?"

*           *           *

The four friends emerged from the tunnel behind Zonko's Joke Shop and Sirius waved a quick good-bye, explaining he had to meet Lily and would see them in the Three Broomsticks.

"I thought he was supposed to come with Lily?" Remus asked James.

"Diversionary tactic," explained James.

Sirius stepped into the Three Broomsticks.  There was such a contrast in temperature from the outside he felt as if he were thawing.  Lily waved to him from her table by the window and as he sat down she pushed a butterbeer his way.  He took it gratefully and drank deeply for a moment, savoring the warmth that started in his throat and radiated outwards to his fingertips and toes.  He sat his tankard down, looked at her and opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted as, from several tables over, an extremely hyper fourth year stood up on the table and shouted:

You ought ask Mr. Mistoffelees
The original Conjuring Cat

She spun on her toe in the center of the table and suddenly stopped.  After taking a short breath she started to sing.

The greatest magicians have something to learn
From Mr. Mistoffelees Conjuring Turn

And we all say:
Oh! Well, I never! Was there ever a cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees?

The rest of the Marauders entered the pub with a gust of swirling snow following them.  They sat down at the table with Lily and Sirius and James started tapping his foot to the beat of the song.

He can pick any card from a pack
He is equally cunning with dice
He is always deceiving you into believing
That he's only hunting for mice

He can play any trick with a cork
Or a spoon and a bit of fish paste
And if you look for a knife or a fork
And you think it is merely misplaced
You have seen it one moment and then it is gone!
But you find it next week lying on the lawn

Her fellow tablemates, whom she had been egging on, all joined in for the chorus with less than enthusiastic expressions on their faces while she started to do the can-can.  Over at Lily's table, James joined in without protest.

And we all say:
Oh! Well, I never! Was there ever a cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees?
Oh! Well, I never! Was there ever a cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees?
Oh! Well, I never! Was there ever a cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees?
Oh! Well, I never! Was there ever a cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees?

His manner is vague and aloof
You would think there was nobody shyer
But his voice has been heard on the roof
When he was curled up by the fire
And he's sometimes been heard by the fire
When he was about on the roof
At least we all heard that somebody purred
Which is uncontestable proof of his singular magical powers
And I've known the family to call him in from the garden for hours
While he was asleep in the hall

            James couldn't help himself; he leapt out of his chair and joined the overly hyper girl dancing like a chorus member of a Broadway production on top of the table.  He already knew the song, for he had seen it on opening night over the summer on London, so he took over the next part.

And not long ago, this phenomenal cat
Produced seven kittens right out of a hat!

And we all say:
Oh! Well, I never! Was there ever a cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees?
Oh! Well, I never! Was there ever a cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees?

And not long ago, this phenomenal cat
Produced seven kittens right out of a hat!

            James and the girl linked arms and started up the can-can again.

And we all say:
Oh! Well, I never! Was there ever a cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees?
Oh! Well, I never! Was there ever a cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees?
Oh! Well, I never! Was there ever a cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees?
Oh! Well, I never! Was there ever a cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees?
Oh! Well, I never! Was there ever a cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees?
Oh! Well, I never! Was there ever a cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees?

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the magical Mr. Mistoffelees!  Presto!

            And with the last word James let off a Dungbomb in the middle of the overcrowded building.  Everyone screamed and ran for the exit, but none faster than James and the girl.  When they got outside he turned to her.

            "Nice performance, princess," he said with a smile.

            "You were pretty wicked yourself!" she returned

            "Thanks… er… what's you're name?"

            "Erin, and you are…?"

            "James."

            "Well, James, I look forward to future collaborations," she said, only partially serious.  And with that she left to find her other and friends, and James his.  He saw Remus wave and call out to him.

            "Hey James!  We'd better get out of here quick!  Madame Rosmerta looks like she's going to kill something!"

            So, shielding their faces with their cloaks so as not to be seen and to keep the biting wind out of their faces, James, Remus, Peter, Sirius and Lily ran back to the passageway outside Zonko's and back to the castle.

*A/N* Yeah man!  Who liked how I sneakily incorporated Hyper Princess' name?  LOL.  Anyway… Reviews are always appreciated so don't feel shy to drop a note telling me how much you hated or liked it.  Flames are accepted, but keep in mind my dangerously low self-esteem.  This chapter's Reviewer's Challenge: Read and Review Evie Who's story, I'm the Face.  Reviewers get a cookie and a special surprise in the next chapter (yay!)!