Disclaimer: Love ya, J.K.R. Not stealing, just borrowing.
Chapter three
"It says the spell's participants have to sit in a circle," James read from the book. "I hope they clean these floors after floods..."
James sat on the cold tiled bathroom floor. Lupin sat quietly to his left, sure not to let his hands touch the floor. Sirius sat to his right, looking a little reluctant to do so. James eyes flitted over the page.
"Alright... we need to each put something of ours into the center of the circle. Preferrably something of value," he added. "Well, I suppose my Invisibility Cloak has alot of value to me..."
James set the gray bundle in the center of the circle they formed. Lupin fished through his pockets. He sighed and took something from inside his cloak. He let a photograph of a man and a woman fall to the floor. James recognized the woman as Lupin's mother. And the man... He looked from the photo to Lupin, surprised. Sirius must have come to the same conclusion as James, because he was also glancing between the little square of paper to his friend's face.
"Is that man your...?" he asked.
Lupin nodded. "It's my father. My mother tells me his name is Romulus. It's the only photo I have of him, so I suppose that counts as value."
"You look alot like him... Well, you look a little nicer," Sirius said, flipping a small gold item James mistook for a coin into the circle. It was actually a ring with the Black family crest on it.
"How does that have value?" James asked. "I thought you hated your family."
"And they hate me just as much. Once my parents kick the bucket, that thing entitles me to my family inheritance," he said, snickering. "I just wish it was possible for them to be dead and for me to see the look on their faces when I own everything they never wanted me to have."
"That's a little cynical of you, Sirius," Lupin mused.
"Well, it's all I have on me right now or else I would put in something you or Prongs gave me," he shrugged.
James looked back down at the book in his hands. "Next, we have to hold all our wands with the points touching. This spell sounds phony..."
"If it was phony, it wouldn't have been in the Forbidden section of the library," Lupin reminded, taking out his wand.
The three held their wands out, all the points meeting right above the center of the circle.
"Then I have to read this spell aloud. Well, here we go," he said, clearing his throat.
"'To find our hearts
Lead us true
Though love's form
May be new'"***
They all sat there, arms beginning to ache from holding up their wands so long. Nothing happened. James looked at Lupin, frowning.
"I told you it was hokey," he said.
Suddenly emerald green sparks erupted from the three wands. The cloak, ring and photo in the center of the circle took on a glow. Their light floated up into the sparking of the wands. All three friends felt their wands begin to shake and glow bright green. James felt a slight burning sensation in his chest where his heart would be. Sparks shot up from the center of the circle and the burning was transformed into a sharp pain.
"I think I've had enough of this, Prongs! I'm letting go!" Sirius exclaimed, holding his chest.
"I think I agree!" James replied, feeling a bit sick from the pain.
He tried to lower his arm but found it wouldn't budge an inch any way. He couldn't release his wand or move any one of his fingers. Panic rose in James as he wondered if this was why the book had been labeled forbidden. He saw alarm fill Lupin when he came to the same conclusion as James. The boy paled five shades.
"I can't let go!" Sirius said, furiously trying to pull his arm out of it's frozen position.
The swirling sparks and light rose from the circle and floated toward James's wand. They slowly twisted around the wand, slithering forward like some snake composed of a multitude of tiny sparks. The light wrapped itself around James's hand and worked it's way up his arm. He glanced up to see if the same thing was occuring to his two friends. Sirius was still trying to free his arm, looking particularly violent and angry. Lupin had snatched the book from James's lap and was fervently searching for a counter-spell. Neither had the same problem James had at the moment.
"G-guys..." he nearly squeaked.
Sirius glanced up from his struggle to see the sparkling green light covering his friend's entire arm, shoulder and traveling up his neck and across his chest. Lupin stared at James, eyes wide.
"Prongs! What's going on?!" Sirius exclaimed.
"I don't know..." he replied, trying to swat away the light with his free hand. To his horror, it only spread faster.
"Moony! What's the book say?" Sirius asked.
"Nothing about this sort of thing..." he answered. "Try a spell since your wand's already in your hand!"
"Expellerius!" James cried.
The only effect was that a gush of sparking green light covered James's entire lower half. Sirius struggled even more against his restrained arm.
"I'll... get... free... Don't worry, James!" he assured, looking a little frantic.
"Expellerius!!!!!!!" he shouted again.
To his surprise, every glittering bit of light was sucked directly into the point of his wand in less than three seconds, hovering on the tip. James blinked.
"Well... that's better," he said, panting a bit.
CRACK!
The ball of light exploded, throwing the three friends back with the force. Lupin crashed through the door of a bathroom stall, just missing falling into the toilet bowl. Sirius went sailing until the far wall broke his fall. He slid down the tiled wall until he was sitting on the floor, feeling dazed. James gave a shout when he flew into one of the empty bath tubs at the opposite end of the bathroom.
He gave a groan and let himself lay there a moment to recover. His feet hung over the side of the tub and his head just missed being cracked open on the bath faucet. He was lucky to be whole. James closed his eyes against the aching in his chest, arm, and head. Feeling he'd spent enough time on his back, he forced himself to sit up. He managed to pull himself out of the tub and stand on his slightly shaky feet.
He took a step forward and felt his shoe slip right off his foot. James raised a brow, looking down at himself. His pants were extra baggy, slipping down his hips. The end of his black school cloak brushed the ground as he walked. The sleeves fell past his fingertips. When his cloak was usually a bit tight around his broad shoulders, it slinked off his shoulders every other step he took. He lost his other shoe and nearly fell on his face in the process. Come to think of it, his balance felt a little off...
Lupin groaned from behind one of the stall doors. He pushed open the door and walked out holding his head.
"James, we are never trying anything like that ever again," he muttered, looking at James. "Not even if---"
He froze, staring at James wide eyed. Before he could make a comment, Lupin backed away from him towards the spot Sirius was walking to.
"S-Sirius..." Lupin studdered, eyes still on James. "Look at James...!"
"Is he hurt?" Sirius asked, rubbing his arm as he came over. "You alright, Pron--- holy crap."
Sirius's eyes also widened and he stared at James in the same manner Lupin was. A grin suddenly slipped onto his face. He began to laugh, shaking his head.
"Funny, Moony. Real funny," he chuckled. "Did you and Prongs really set this whole thing up?"
"Sirius, I swear this isn't a joke... that's James!" Lupin swore.
Sirius's grin faded, his eyes on James. "The eyes are exactly the same... God... Prongs, what happened, mate...?"
"What do you mean what happened? My clothes got a little big. Why are you guys stressing?" James inquired, raising a brow.
Sirius and Lupin exchanged looks.
"Take a look in one of those mirrors, James," Lupin suggested.
James shook his head, sighing. He walked toward the mirrors set above the row of sinks in the center of the bathroom. He nearly stumbled over his own feet three times on the way. For whatever reason, he couldn't carry himself the way he normally did. The spell must have had some sort of effect... Or it could be due to his over large clothing.
Once James reached a mirror he knew exactly why he felt so different. He looked at his reflection and froze. The usual dark haired, blue eyed, handsome boy wasn't staring back at him this time. Instead, the wild dark hair was longer and smoother, reaching an inch past a pair of slim shoulders. The rugged, handsome face of boyish good looks had been replaced by the soft, round exotic features of a beautiful girl. The only thing that hadn't changed were the now wide blue eyes, which held the same depth and character they once had. But the fact remained... James Potter had been turned into a girl.
"N-no way..." she whispered, realizing for the first time the change in her voice.
She backed away from the mirror, horrified. Again she tripped over her feet, but there were more pressing matters on her mind for it to be much of an annoyance. She turned to her friends, shaking her head.
"No..." she repeated. "Tell me what I saw isn't what I am..."
"I told you there was a reason that book was forbidden," Lupin whispered, going up to his friend. "Oh, God... I shouldn't have let you go through with this. I knew something wasn't right about the book..."
"No, no, no, no," James muttered, looking at her now slim, feminine hands and fingers.
"Maybe the book says something about side effects of the spell," Sirius suggested, walking over with the text, handing it to Lupin.
Lupin's eyes ran down the page quickly. A frown crossed his lips.
"No... oh wait! Listen to this," he said. "It says the spell only lasts one complete cycle of the moon, unless some sort of love is forged between at least one of the spell's participants and the person they were meant to be with."
"Hear that? It's not even permanent!" Sirius said with false optimism.
"I have to be a freaking woman for a month???" she shreiked. "Ugh... listen to my voice... This can't be happening... What am I going to do for a month?!"
"Er... we can cut your hair and dress you in a boys uniform and try to pass you off," Lupin thought aloud.
James snorted. "No one would notice I'm half a foot shorter, right? No one would notice I'm no longer flat-chested either I suppose?!" James looked down at herself and face faulted. "Changing me into a woman wasn't enough, right? I had to turn into the fullest chested woman alive, didn't I?"
"Prongs, please..." Sirius said, flushing a bit. "I really don't want to think of you that way, mate..."
Lupin frowned. "We have to tell the headmaster."
Sirius and James stared at him as if he was mad. They'd just skipped an hour of detention, snuck into the library after hours, stole a book from the forbidden section and cast a spell from it after sneaking into the girl's bathroom. That was no less than a dozen broken rules.
"We have to," he repeated. "What else can we do? Maybe Dumbledore will even be able to reverse the spell."
James pulled up her waistband with one hand and yanked her cloack back onto her left shoulder with the other, miserably. "Do either of you have a belt?"
"What? Oh, sure..." Lupin said, handing the book to Sirius.
He unbuckled the belt and slid it from his waist. James gratefully took the belt and quickly ran it through the loops on her pants. She tightened it around her waist to nearly the last hole. She yanked her school tie straight over her head and tossed it aside.
"And what if Dumbledore doesn't know anything about the spell and can't help me and expells the lot of us from school?" she asked.
"Well, then we're basically screwed, mate," Sirius sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"We have to try," Lupin agreed, looking doubtful of his idea himself.
James realized neither of them thought they'd be a part of Hogwarts after going to see Dumbledore tonight. She also realized that they were doing it all for her when she had actually been the one to push they both into trying the spell out.
"I have a better idea," she said. "I go to Dumbledore myself after I take you two back to Gryfindor tower and tell him I snuck into the library and used the spell myself."
"What...? No way, Prongs," Sirius shook his head.
"It's my fault! I shouldn't have forced you into it..." she muttered. "You shouldn't have to pay for my mistake."
Sirius turned to Lupin. "I understand if you rather not come to see Dunbledore, Moony, and we won't tell him you were involved, but I'm not letting James go himself."
"What makes you think I would abandon him--er... her either?" Lupin asked, snapping the book shut in his hands. "We're all a part of this now. Besides, I don't think Dumbledore will believe her if she tells him neither of us were with her, anyway."
"I appreciate you two going through with all this but... stop calling me 'her' and 'she'!!" James exclaimed.
"Well... that's what you are at the moment, James," Lupin said, apologetically.
She scowled as her cloak slid off one shoulder again. James walked over to where they had put their three valued possessions for the spell and gathered the items. She tossed Sirius his ring and held out the photo to Lupin.
"Thanks," he said taking it and returning in to his school robe's pocket. "Let's go."
James unrolled the Invisibility Cloak and took a ste toward her two friends, only to drop like a ton of bricks flat on her face.
"Ow..." she muttered.
"What was that all about?" Sirius asked.
"I think I tripped over my robes..." came her reply, muffled by the tiled floor.
Sirius leaned down and hooked his hands under her arms and lifted her to her feet. He nearly stumbled backwards, having expected her to be heavier than she proved to be.
"... Would you mind putting me down, Padfoot?" James asked, feet dangling an inch or two above the floor.
"Oops, sorry, mate..." Sirius chuckled, setting her down. "You're light..."
She yanked off her school cloak and tossed it aside. The green sweater beneath it hung well below her waistline and she had to roll back the ends of the sleeves twice to be able to use her hands.
"Ah, since you lost a few inches in height, maybe it's better if Sirius holds the Cloak, James," Lupin suggested.
"Fine..." she sighed, handing it over to Sirius.
The three gathered beneath the concealment of the Cloak and left the girl's bathroom. James felt herself struggling to walk in a straight line beside Sirius. Her weight was distributed differently than it had been in her previous form. About halfway down the hall she tripped over her dragging pant leg and fell sideways into Sirius. All she could do to keep from falling on her face was to throw her arms around his middle and hope he had better balance than she. Sirius hadn't been expecting her weight to be thrown at him so they both went tumbling backward.
Lupin felt the Cloak slip off of him and stopped in the middle of the hall, alarmed. He looked around for his two companions but there was no one else in the hall with him.
"James...? Sirius...?" he whispered.
"What did you do that for, Prongs?" came Sirius's voice.
"I can't walk straight! All my balance is gone, not that these clothes being three sizes too big for me helps matters," was James's reply.
"Where are you?" Lupin asked, looking round.
"Down here," Sirius sighed, yanking the Invisibility Cloak off of himself and James. "She took a little fall and decided to take me with her."
He stood up, pulling James to her feet with him. He had to steady her as soon as she stood up. James shook her head, miserably, taking a cautious step on her own.
"I'm dead the first flight of steps we get to," she muttered.
"There's going to be nothing left of you by the time we get to Dumbledore," Lupin agreed, thinking. "Why don't you carry her, Sirius?"
"Carry me?" James repeated, not looking very thrilled by the plan.
"That might be a good idea," Sirius said, tossing Lupin the Cloak. "Alright. Let's go, Prongs."
"I'm not cripple, I can walk on my own," she protested.
Sirius shrugged. "If you say so."
They all got back under the cloak and continued down the hall. Less than ten minutes later they were all flat on their backs. James knocked the lot of them over after tripping over the bottom of the Invisibility Cloak.
"That's it," Sirius said.
He went over to where James had fallen and scooped her up in both arms.
"Come on, put me down, Padfoot," she demanded.
"If you knock me over once more I may kill you," he told her. "You alright, Moony?"
Lupin was standing still, holding the Invisibility Cloak behind his back, looking at something past his two friends. Sirius turned around so he and James could see what he had been looking at.
"I see one detention wasn't enough, Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin?" Professor Aquila asked, grinning with deep satisfaction. "Don't worry, I'll see to it that you and your friend have enough detentions to last you to the end of June, unless of course the headmaster rather expel you."
"Expel us? For what? Being out of our Tower after hours?" James asked, coolly. "That's not worth two whole detentions."
"No, but sneaking into the Forbidden section of the library and taking a book is," Aquila replied, yanking the text from Lupin's hands. "Put her down, Mr. Black."
Sirius frowned. "She has trouble walking, I---"
"Then let her fall. Put her down," Aquila repeated.
Sirius's eyes flashed. He lowered James to her feet, keeping his hands on her shoulders, defiantly. Aquila narrowed his eyes at James, suspiciously.
"I've never seen you before, girl," he said. "You look alot like Potter."
"Yea, I'm his grandmother," she retorted.
Sirius smirked at the comment and gave her shoulders a light squeeze. Aquila only grinned.
"Well, then, Mrs. Potter, I'm sure the headmaster would love to meet you."
*** Woah, that poem was tacky. If anyone would like to supply a better one, I'd not object to using it and crediting the author. Poetry never was my forte. ^_^;;