Chapter 17: Waiting

Fifth year was to hold many surprises for us, that we knew. The Animagus potion would be well underway by the time we returned and it remained a high point in our lives. James, Remus, Lily, Erin and I were made prefects. What possessed the teachers to make us prefects I don't know. But they did.

The potion would be ready any day now. It was a few days before the full moon when we pulled the cloak off the cauldron. The potion swirled around. I looked at James, waiting for an answer.

"Tomorrow night. It'll be ready then." We nodded and pushed the cauldron back into its hiding place.

The next day was one of the longest we ever had.

"Sirius Black, James Potter, the lesson is not being taught outside. Remus Lupin, is the desk teaching you?"

"No ma'm."

"Good. Will you boys please pay attention ? Honestly what am I going to do with you?" We exchanged looks. The others were feeling the same way. We were worried about what would happen, what could happen, if we didn't get the spell perfect. Peter was already sweating and it was only our first lesson of the day.

That night at dinner none of us ate. Not even Remus who was always hungry. The thought of what we were attempting that night took away any appetite we might have had.

"What is wrong with you boys today?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, first in class you pay even less attention than usual. Now you're not eating. What are you up to?" Erin asked.
"Up too? What makes you think we're up to something?" I asked

"Because you're always up to something." Lily informed us. James and I looked at each other. Then we glanced at Remus and Peter. Peter looked more nervous that he had at the sorting. Remus looked guilty.

"You know, you don't have to" he began. I held up a hand to stop him.

"Yes we do, Moony. Don't try and stop us."

"Stop you from doing what?" Lily's eyes narrowed

"I'm not hungry anymore. Prongs?" I stood up.

"Nope. I say we go work on that essay for Astronomy."

"Me too. Wormtail, come on." We left the girls and walked out into the hall.

"Look we can't do anything until everyone's asleep. So we might as well get started on our homework." James said as we entered the common room.

"I say we go blow something up. People are starting to suspect something."
"What you won't do to blow something up, Padfoot."

"What?"

Of course we couldn't concentrate on our homework either and we resorted to tossing dungbombs around the room, emptying it quickly, then getting angry looks from people once they realized we hadn't set any of them off. Then the girls came over to our corner.

"Alright boys, what's up?" James and I looked up. Remus was helping Peter with his homework. Peter was doing worse than usual and al he was managing were a few little sparks shooting from the end of his wand. Then the few sparks turned into a fiery rocket which propelled Peter up to the rafters.

"Peter?" I offered. Lily glared.

James sighed. " We can't tell you."

Before the girls had looked mad. Now Erin and Lily just looked hurt. We usually told them all our ideas. Lily had a knack for fine-tuning pranks.

"It's not that we don't want to." James hurried to say.

"No, it's not that." I agreed.

"It's just we can't let anyone know. Not yet."

"Don't you trust us?" Lily was back to being mad.

I left James to Lily. She was one of the sweetest, kindest, most gentle people I knew, but when she was mad, it was safer to be on the other side of the castle. That wasn't possible now so I settled for the other side of the room. Erin followed me, calmly and quietly.

That was one of the things I loved about Erin. She never got mad. People never saw what we saw in each other. I was one of the most hot-tempered kids in the whole school and she was one of the sweetest. I was loud and out spoken. She was quiet and shy. We were exact opposites. Black and White. Literally. When I got mad, I got even. She never got mad. She just got this hurt look on her face that made me melt. She had that look on now.

"Erin, please don't do that. You know I'd tell you if I could."

"Why not, Sirius? What are you doing?" she took my hand and held it, staring at the floor rather than me. It was as if she was the guilty one, not me.

"I told you I can't tell you?"

"It's dangerous, isn't it?" I couldn't lie to her.

"Yes." She gasped and threw her arms around me.

"Please don't. I couldn't bare it if you got hurt because of some stupid trick."

"Erin, I won't get hurt. It's not a trick. It's a spell. And you can't talk me out of this." I said, pulling her back.

"What kind of spell."

"One we're not supposed to do." I gave her a genuine marauder smile.

"Don't do that." She giggled and ducked her head.
"Do what?"

"Give me that smile. You know it's why I like you so much."

"I know." We were quiet for a minute

"Erin?" I couldn't look at her when I asked her this

"Yes?"

"If something happens, take care of Remy. Will ya?"

"Why? What could happen?"

"Just please, will you?" She paused.

"Yes, of course."

"Siri." James called.

"Hang on, Prongs. I gotta go."

"Why?" Her eyes were wide with fear.
"Quiddich practice."

"Oh." She laughed. I smiled and kissed her goodbye. Then James and I sprinted out of the room.

"So did you tell her?" He asked.

" Nope. I was dying to though."

"Yeah me too. I thought Lily was going to kill me."

"I know." I noticed Lily following us, and she looked angry as hell.

At practice we did even worse. Lily  was distracted and kept losing the snitch. James and I didn't even bother pretending we were into the game tonight. We hardly paid attention to Charlie Jones, our captain. He yelled at us. We dropped a dungbomb on him. He yelled at us again. We dropped another dungbomb on him and he yelled some more.

Chapter 18: How Much Are You Willing To Give?

After practice we climbed up the stairs to our dorm. Peter and Remus were waiting for us. I locked the door behind me.

"You ready?" We nodded. James pulled the cauldron out from its hiding place. Remus sat on my bed and watched us. James set it on the floor and we stood around it. He pulled out three goblets and handed them to each of us. The air was thick with the tension. James's voice was shaking as he spoke.

"Alright, now recite the incantation. "We dipped the goblets into the potion. Three voices recited the spell together perfectly.

"Now what?" I asked. Remus glanced at the book in his lap.

"Now you drink. Once the potion is consumed, then it's complete. The spell will choose which animal best represents you and you will be able to change at will." He looked up at us, as we held out our goblets.

"If anyone wants to back out, now is the time." No one moved. Peter looked like he desperately wanted to run from the room and never come back. My hand was shaking, but I knew there was no turning back. I had known that ever since we had agreed to do this almost five years ago.

"Bottoms up."  James saluted Remus with his glass. I did the same. This was it. All we had worked on for the past five years. If something would go wrong, now would be the time. I raised the cup to my lips. James did the same. But my hand stopped there. It wouldn't move, wouldn't tip the cup back. I took a deep breath and forced my hand to  move.  Just do it, I thought. I closed my eyes and drank, draining my cup to the last drop.

 It was disgusting, the worst thing I'd ever tasted. Like a mix of sweet and bitter, with a horrible undertone of sour. I almost gagged as I drank, but forced it down. Then I set the cup down. I don't know what I expected, but what happened next wasn't what it.

The world started to swirl around me. It spun faster and faster till I couldn't see anymore. Everything was blurred, so blurred I couldn't even make out James stand next to me. Then it began to slow down. When the spinning finally stopped, I wasn't in our room.

All I could see was light. A blinding white light that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. James stood next to me, blinking in the light.  Everything seemed to be made of this white light. I could barely make out where the floor ended and the walls began.

"Welcome." A soft musical voice drifted down to us.

"Where are we?" James was the first to recover his voice

"Let's just say we are very pleased with you." The voice moved and a beautiful woman came into view. She came from nowhere, it seemed.  Her hair was dark and long, flowing down her back. Her skin was darkish and she wore a robe of simple blue silk. Her dark kind eyes stood out against the pale color of the room.

"Where's Peter?" I asked, confused.

"He is back in your room." She said, moving toward us, waving her hand dismissively at Peter's name.

"Who are you?" I said, trying to fight back the strange feeling of familiarity she awoke in me.

"I am known by many names. You may call me Mary."

"Alright Mary. What's going on?" I asked.

" Sirius Lee Black, James Ryan Potter" She said, her eyes gazing at us lovingly. " "You are here because of what you have done."

"Are we dead?" James asked

She laughed. Her laugher sounded like running water in a mountain stream. "No, no, you are not dead. But you have risked your lives so your friend may be happy."

"Remus? Is he okay?"

"Of course. A little worried about you two right now. But he is fine. You have been tested. And you passed with flying colors."

"Tested? I thought exams were next month." She laughed again.

"You are so much like your mother."

"You knew her?" I asked surprised.

"My dear, I know her. Yes she is fine, before you ask and so is your father. They are very proud of you." James put a hand on my shoulder.

"Can I see them?"

"I'm sorry. That is not possible now."

She walked across the room. "There is one more thing. One more thing you are required to do."

"What?"

" You two are the last of two  powerful lines.  Together,  you could defeat the evil that  is even now, beginning to threaten your world." We looked confused.

"But you will not. It is not your destiny, though the one who will end it all, will come from one of the heirs, as it is foretold. " she glanced at James. "But still,   your power is strong, and if channeled in the right place, it could save lives .You do not have to do this. You may back down anytime you wish." We frowned, but nodded for her to continue. 

She sighed. "Alright then. A great evil is coming, darkening the world with his shadow.  But it is worse. He is an heir."

"An heir?" James asked looking a bit pale.

"He knows the others.  He knows who the others are. You, Sirius, have already been identified and targeted by him."

"Who?" I asked. She didn't answer me.

"As he is an heir, he will stop at nothing to destroy the others that stand in his way.  You are protected for now, but you will not be forever.  Even now,  your loved ones are in danger."

"Who?  Why?" I asked. James looked very pale now. It was almost as if he understood what she was talking about. I didn't.

" He has seen what you have done. He can see the loyalty you have for your friends. Remus Lupin. Adhara Black, Lily Evans. Erin White. Even Peter Pettigrew."

"Voldemort." I mumbled.

"Yes, He will try to use this against you. He can see that by hurting your friends, he can hurt you."

"NO!" the word was ripped out on me. I was not losing  another person I loved to his rage, I was not!

"He better leave our friends alone." James growled.

"What can we do?"

"There is one thing. If you do this, as long as you live, Voldemort can never touch your friends."

"Yes, whatever it is, yes!"

"You have not heard me yet, young Sirius. You must give up something. Something valuable."

"Like what?" James asked. I couldn't see her taking a broom or something like that.

"One year of your life." We stared at her. One year of our lives? To give up one year? To die a year early? I swallowed. James and I looked at each other for a long time. I saw the same determination I felt in his eyes. We never even needed to talk. We both knew what the other was thinking. We had to protect Remus, Erin, Addi, Lily, and Peter. I couldn't live if some thing happened to them we could have prevented. We knew what we had to do. We turned back to her.

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, we're sure." She smiled. I felt some thing go through my body. It felt cold and shivers ran down my back. My vision clouded for a moment and I saw something. I saw the outline of a house. It was in ruins. I heard a baby cry and I felt a feeling of pain and sorrow and betrayal. And a name whispered in my ear. Then I was back in the little room. James's face was just as shocked as mine.

"What you have just seen is a warning for the future. I cannot tell you what it means now, for you will see."

I wanted to ask James what he had seen, but he wouldn't look at me.

"You are not in for an easy life, either of you. Or a long one." She looked at James. I suppressed a shudder. I didn't what to think about what that meant.

"You are good people. And you will do many great things. Your friends are truly blessed. And so are we."

She turned to go.

"Mary?" I had one more question. Actually I had a million more, but there was one I had to ask.

"Yes?"

"Why isn't Peter here ? He did the same thing."

She frowned.

"Peter Pettigrew. He has another future. Chose your friends carefully in the years to come or they will be your downfall."

Then before we could say another word, the world started to spin again. We were lifted up again and dropped softly on to the bed. Unfortunately Remus was already there.

"OW!"

"Ow, sorry."

"That's my leg."

"Oh, I thought that was my arm."

"It doesn't have fingers. How can that be your arm?"

"Is that someone's head?"

"No…"

"Oh! Ew! Peter!"

"Oh, that's gross!"

"At least it wasn't yours he was poking!"

"Sorry!"

"Yuck! I never want to sleep in the same dorm with you now!"

"I didn't mean to!"

"Yeah right."

"Ow! Who hit me?"

"Sorry, I thought you were Sirius."

"Are you serious?"

"No! Stop it! For the love of God, stop it!"

"Heheheheh."

"Ow! Sirius, that hurt!"

"Get off!" We finally untangled ourselves.

" What happened?"

We told them everything, well almost everything. Though silent communication, James and I left out the part about signing away a year of our lives. Afterwards we were silent. I was thinking of the scene she had shown me, the cottage, the baby crying, and the name, whispered with such hatred, such betrayal. So was James. Part of me was dying to ask him but another part of me didn't want to know. That part won out so I let it drop.

"Wow!" Peter was too awed to ask anyway. Remus thought for a minute.

"What happened? While we were gone?" I asked, eager to change the subject.

"Well, you drank the potion and then it was like a hurricane blew through. I couldn't even see. When it stopped you were gone."

"Wow,"

"So what do we do now?"

"Try it?" James said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Oh, I almost forgot."

"Okay so how do we change?" I asked, rubbing my hands together, almost bouncing with this new prospect of completing a spell, almost three years in the making.

"Just think about your animal. To change back, just think about your human self." James instructed.

"Who's going first?" Peter asked. No one said a word. I groaned.

"I'll do it."

"Be careful." Remus whispered. I rolled my eyes.

I closed my eyes. I thought about the big black dog I wanted to be. Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my stomach, and I cried out, collapsing to my knees and holding my stomach. If felt as if someone was snapping my ribs, one row at a time.  James and Remus ran over and grabbed me, tried to hold me up, but I couldn't stop shaking.  The pain spread, down my legs, up my arms, till even my skull felt like it was cracking. I could hear the bones snapping and twisting.

It was a horrible pain, as if someone were slowly taken my bones in their hands and was twisting them, molding them to something completely new and different. I cried out again and dropped to all fours as my legs twisted and ceased to work on only two.   Slowly, the pain faded as a new feeling presented itself. I felt a strange prickling feeling, as if someone were poking me with the sharp end of a quill all over.  I opened my eyes and glanced down at my hand, and was shocked to see that it was growing longer and think black fur was sprouting all over it. Soon I noticed as well that my nose was growing, turning into the snout of a dog.  I closed my eyes again.

I felt some thing strange, like a shudder; go over my body.  The pain vanished entirely and when I opened my eyes, the world looked different. I saw James and Peter and Remus looking at me. There was something different. Thrills ran through me as I explored my new world.

            I could hear everything! I could hear girls giggling in the dorm next door, Lily and Erin from the sound of it.  I could hear my friend's hearts beating. I could hear someone  cough a floor above us.  And the smells! Lets just say, humans have no sense of smell whatsoever. I could tell what Peter had for dinner three nights ago! I could tell Remus was nervous. I could tell James had a  chocolate frog  under his pillow. I knew everything!   The  heightened smell and  hearing made up for the lousy sight, and  I   couldn't help dashing around the room, smelling everything.  Who knew there could be this much pleasure in  one scent? No wonder dogs always had to stop and smell things.  Ad there was no sadness, no aching heart, no pain at all.   I was happy. Really happy. Then I caught a whiff of a strange scent. It was unlike anything I'd ever smelled before. It was alien,  almost inhuman. It made me uneasy.  I followed my nose up to Remus.  I could smell the wolf in him! I realized. Odd, I thought. But I reminded myself that this was Remy, and   I bounded over to Remus and started to lick him. He laughed.

"Stop it Padfoot. I just took a shower. I don't need a another one."

The name Padfoot, jerked me back. I glanced around as if I now understood what was going on and  sat down on my hunches, tongue lolling out of my mouth. 

James smiled then changed. I watched this time. James too, doubled over in pain, mouth opening in a silent gasp.  I watched as there was a quick flash of light and suddenly, James wasn't there. Instead of James there was a huge stag standing there.  It had seemed to take much longer when I had done it than when James had been, but he later told me it had felt like forever. He looked tall and majestic until he bent over and whacked me softly with his altars. I whimpered. He laughed. I could smell deer too.

"Now you Peter."

"I changed my mind. I don't want to." I had little doubt that he'd been frightened by the pain we had obviously been in, but I  whimpered. Padfoot wanted to  play!

"Oh come on. It's fun." I said. Or tried to, it came out as a bark.  But oddly, Remus  cocked his head.

"You know, I understood that." 

"So did I." James said.  Now I cocked my head.

"And I understood you." I  barked again.   James smiled.  It is odd, seeing a deer smile.

"Oh alright." Peter mumbled. "I hate being the only one who doesn't understand things."

He shut his eyes in concentration.  Then he almost fell over as the pain hit. Remus had to help keep him upright as he whimpered and cried as the changes began.  It seemed to take him much longer than James or I had. Then POP! A small rat stood there where he had.

 Remus jumped up and down on the bed. The warnings and sacrifice were forgotten. We ran around the room until exhausted we changed back. We cleaned up and got ready for bed. Of course none of us could sleep and we talked till dawn, making plans about the next full moon. Finally when the sun peaked over the forest we fell asleep.

Chapter 19: Nighttime escapade

We slept through two classes. The girls pounding on our door awakened us. James walked over and opened it.
"Where were you?" Lily yelled.

"Whaa?" James had a little trouble remembering English in the morning.

"It's noon!"

"Oh cool."

"James! You missed two classes. After all those things you said last night and then you don't show up? Do you know how worried we have been?"

"Where Sirius?" Erin's voice.

"In bed. He's sleeping." James's voice still sounded like he was asleep. The curtains of my bed were pulled back letting the sun stream onto my face. I grunted and pulled my pillow over my face. It was snatched off.

"I don't think so, Sirius Black. You are gonna get up now."

"Erin?"

"Yes. Now get up." I heard more curtains being pulled back and Remus grumbling. Peter started whining.

"Why?"

"Do you want to miss lunch too? Now you'll miss divination to if you don't get up."

"Great. Can I have my pillow back?"

"NO!"

It took another half an hour to get us changed and out the door.

" We can always sleep in History of Magic." James whispered to me when the girls weren't listening.

We sat down at the table for lunch and dove into the food.

"So did it work?" Erin asked.

"Huh?"

"The spell you were working on." We all looked at each other and grinned.

"It did." Lily smiled. She knew we always loved it when a spell or a trick worked. James nodded.

We walked up to History of Magic. This would turn out to be one of our more interesting classes. We opened the door.

"Good morning class. Today we are going to start the Great Goblin Rebellions of  1673."

"God, how many rebellions can one species have?." James whispered

"They should put a limit on the number of times  someone can rebel in a century." I replied.  Remus sighed and got out his quill and parchment.  I  gathered my books together and draped my head over them. I was asleep  almost instantly.

That night just before dinner, Remus announced he felt sick.

"Okay we will meet you in the shack just before the sun sets."

"Come early just in case."

"Alright." He left.

We walked to the common room. Tonight would be the first nighttime escapade of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. It was the full moon. We would go first and meet Remus inside the shack. We had it all planned out.

"I'm tired. I'm gonna go to bed." I yawned.

"But you just started this essay. You'll never get it done if you sleep all the time." Erin said.

"I'll do it tomorrow." I left the room before she could say anything else.

A few minutes later I heard James and Peter come up the stairs. I held up the invisibility cloak. The next thing I knew we were sneaking down the stairs under it. If you've never been under an invisibility cloak you should know it is very hard to move with three people under it. We had to wait till some one came in to leave. It would look too weird if the door opened by itself. We moved down the hall and soon we were out the door and headed towards the whomping willow. The sun was starting to set over the trees. We had to hurry. When we got to the willow we shrugged off the cloak.

"You first, Peter."

"Why do I have to go first?"

"You have to press the knot. Now hurry. We don't have much time." James hissed.

"The door is opening. They're coming." I watched the figures coming towards the tree. They weren't in view yet. But soon they would be and it would be too late. Peter closed his eyes and concentrated. After what seemed like an hour, but probably was only a few seconds, he changed. He scurried up the trunk and pressed the knot that froze the tree. We ran through. I heard the tree come alive behind me. We ran through the passage and up into the shrieking shack.

We changed there, knowing that it wouldn't be safe much longer.  It took much less time for James and I and the pain was considerably less. Though I had to hold onto the  sofa to keep from falling.

We heard the passage open again and a moan of pain came up through to our ears. We figured what that sound was. We didn't have much time left. Remus stumbled through the passage just as we changed. He fell on the floor holding his side, his face twisted in pain. I wanted to go over and help him but something held me back. Something in the dog.

We watch as he changed. He hadn't been kidding when he said it hurt. We listened as he cried out in pain. Finally I couldn't bear it anymore. I heard it more clearly than the others with my sensitive dog ears. I looked away. Then the moans stopped.

I looked back. There in front of me was a huge werewolf. I saw nothing of my kind and gentle friend in the wolf's eyes.

The wolf growled at me. I panted and waited. He didn't seem to recognize me. My mind raced. Could I fight a full-grown werewolf? Hell no. Prongs stared at me and the wolf that was Remus.

I lowered myself to the floor and slowly crawled on my belly towards the wolf, completely submissive. Padfoot knew that this  dog like  creature was in charge and he knew what to do.  My ears  were flat against my head and my tail was tucked between my legs as I lay before Moony.  Moony only growled at me, still baring his teeth.  Then I did a stupid and foolish thing.  I rolled over and exposed my soft vulnerable belly to the wolf's ready teeth and claws. 

 There was a moment of silence, as Moony watched me, confused. Then the wolf  leaned his head down and sniffed me. I remained motionless and submissive.  Then I felt Moony toss his head,  pushing against my head. I lifted my head and he gave my nose a friendly lick.  I  barked and got to my feet, ears back up and tail wagging.  Moony grinned, if a wolf could be said to do that, and  pounced.  It was clear the wolf wanted to play. Well, so did Padfoot and we rolled around for a while.   Prongs soon joined us. After a sniff to be sure he was friendly, Moony  enjoyed letting the  stag prance about as we attempted to chase him, or he to jump over us.  Wormtail  took his fun in running around us as we chased him. It was glorious fun.

We decided not to venture out that night. We weren't sure if we could handle it yet. So we stayed inside. Remus said just the fact that we were there made it better. We chased each other around the house and eventfully we fell asleep.