Chapter 10 - Research
After the funeral, James felt surprisingly calm; it was almost as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He still missed his Nana and Grandad, but he no longer felt misery wash over him when he thought of them. He now knew that wherever they were they were together and happy. They loved each other more than life itself, just as his father and mother felt for each other. It was real love, and it was a consolation to know they hadn't been separated, even in death.
As usual, castle life was the very best distraction for sadness. James soon found he had no time for brooding as he threw himself back into his life. Quidditch wasn't going too well, and the second match of the season was approaching. They had been thrashed in the last one by Hufflepuff. It'd been embarrassing, James and the other chasers had scored several goals, and Gryffindor were up one hundred and sixty to twenty, but then the Hufflepuff Seeker had seen the snitch and chased after it. Aiolos hadn't seen it, and he'd also failed to notice the Hufflepuff seeker dive until it was too late. He had given chase, but Hufflepuff won. James was really glad that his lessons with Lily were going so well. She was a fast learner, and she wasn't as afraid any more. He'd also insisted she got a new broom and she got a new model comet, it was much better. She'd make a much better seeker than Aiolos.
Lily had been very good to James after he had cried on her shoulder. She didn't tell anyone, and she didn't once remind him of it. They carried on as before, as tutor and pupil, and they became very good friends. She was quieter than Sirius and Remus, but braver than Peter. She appreciated the 'Marauders' jokes, and James had even let her in on the little nickname they had for themselves. He'd wanted to tell her it was them, but he hadn't needed to, Lily had know it was them all along. One evening in the common room, he and Lily were discussing all the horrible things they had done to Snape in the past when Remus, Peter and Sirius had all gone to bed.
"I especially liked the time last year when Remus made a horned slug shoot up Snape's nose." She said, giggling at the thought. James couldn't help laughing too, but he stopped suddenly when he realised what she had said, how on earth had she known were they that obvious? Did everyone know? Did Snape? Did the teachers? Lily seemed to realise what he was thinking about and said, "Don't worry, no one else knows." "Then how do you know?" This question had been gnawing away at James for the past year and a half, and it felt good to finally ask it. "I just do." James was very confused by her answer, but although it sounded completely implausible, he accepted it, though it still puzzled him.
But aside from Quidditch, lessons and practical jokes, James had another thing on his mind, and it was very serious. He'd realised that they had completely neglected their promise to Remus to figure out how to become Animagi, and they had started plotting in earnest about how they were going to get hold of the necessary information. The simplest answer seemed to be James sneaking into the library under his invisibility cloak and having a look at the restricted section, it had to be in there somewhere.
So it was decided, and the next night, James snuck out of the tower under his invisibility cloak. He crept along the familiar corridors, trying hard not to make a sound, just because he was invisible didn't mean other people couldn't hear him. On tiptoe, he snuck into the library and under the cord that separated the restricted section from the rest. He glanced over at the librarian, who had fallen asleep at her desk, book in hand. James decided it was safe, especially since the snores she was emitting sounded suspiciously like Peter's, and Peter couldn't be awoken by a foghorn next to his ear when he was snoring like that.
The restricted section was out of bounds to all students below year 6 without a signed note from a teacher. The books there contained information about illegal dark magic, many were written in sinister looking languages and letters that James didn't recognise. The parchment was yellowed and in some cases, stained with a dark red substance that James thought looked suspiciously like blood. James cringed at the thought and tried to put it out of his mind as he read along the spines of the books, desperately searching for something that could help him, an advanced Transfiguration book, a book on transformations, the best would be a book with the title 'How to become an illegal Animagus, in three easy steps', but that would be far too simple. Finally, he spotted a book with the word 'transformation' in the title. He picked it up, and carefully rearranged the other books so it didn't look like anyone had done anything, then he inspected the front cover. The letters were in faded gold on red leather, but the title was not legible. Everything he did, he did apprehensively and quietly, terrified something was going to happen to get him into trouble, an alarm or a trap of some kind. He breathed a sigh of relief when the book came easily off the shelf. He opened the book, and jumped out of his skin when it let out a blood-curdling, ear piercing shriek. James looked quickly over at Madame Pince, whose eyes had shot open, and were now searching the library wildly. He quickly shut the book, but the screaming didn't stop. He shoved the book under his arm and made a run for it.
He tried hard to concentrate on the corridors he was running down, to remember which steps he had to jump, and where certain staircases led on a Monday night and if the door on the right was real, or just a wall pretending, but it didn't seem to be working. James took the wrong staircase, and then got his foot stuck in the bottom step. That was new, he hadn't ever had a problem with it before, but then, he reasoned, he didn't think he'd been there before. He yanked at his foot, hard, but it was stuck tight, the book had fallen on the floor in front of him with a thud, and there were footsteps approaching. James took a sharp breath in and threw his body forward to make sure the invisibility cloak covered the book, as he saw Professor Mechante pass him and approach the door that was straight in front of them. "Snake", she hissed, sounding a lot like a snake herself, and the door swung open. Before she went in, she looked over in James direction and gave a little smirk. James knew she couldn't see him, but she knew he was there, she must have heard him, and she had just given him the password to the Slytherin common room. This was too good, and as soon as he managed to disentangle himself from the step, he was going to tell Sirius, Remus and Peter, because this was the opportunity they'd been waiting forever for. He marvelled inwardly at the enigma that was Professor Mechante, why did she do that?
It took James a while to escape from the step and find his way back to Gryffindor Tower, and he found an anxious group of friends waiting for him. Remus was very pale (well, paler than usual) and Peter looked as though he were about to faint. Even Sirius looked worried. James had been so caught up in the excitement of the opportunity Professor Mechante had just given him that he had completely forgotten that his friends were waiting for him, and would probably have heard the screaming from the library.
"Where have you been?" "What happened?" "What took you so long?" They all fired their questions at exactly the same time, so James didn't know which one to answer first, so he decided not to answer any of them. "You'll never guess what I just found out." He then launched into a full explanation of how he found out about the Slytherin common room, and when he had finished, his friends were all staring at him, open-mouthed, even Sirius didn't seem to have anything to say. "Let's go to bed, shall we? We can look at the book tomorrow, and we can decide what to do with our new information." He was very tired after running around the castle late at night, so after he had carefully folded up the book in his invisibility cloak and tucked it under his bed, he slouched back onto the bed, ignoring all the questions his friends were firing at him, and promptly fell asleep.
After the funeral, James felt surprisingly calm; it was almost as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He still missed his Nana and Grandad, but he no longer felt misery wash over him when he thought of them. He now knew that wherever they were they were together and happy. They loved each other more than life itself, just as his father and mother felt for each other. It was real love, and it was a consolation to know they hadn't been separated, even in death.
As usual, castle life was the very best distraction for sadness. James soon found he had no time for brooding as he threw himself back into his life. Quidditch wasn't going too well, and the second match of the season was approaching. They had been thrashed in the last one by Hufflepuff. It'd been embarrassing, James and the other chasers had scored several goals, and Gryffindor were up one hundred and sixty to twenty, but then the Hufflepuff Seeker had seen the snitch and chased after it. Aiolos hadn't seen it, and he'd also failed to notice the Hufflepuff seeker dive until it was too late. He had given chase, but Hufflepuff won. James was really glad that his lessons with Lily were going so well. She was a fast learner, and she wasn't as afraid any more. He'd also insisted she got a new broom and she got a new model comet, it was much better. She'd make a much better seeker than Aiolos.
Lily had been very good to James after he had cried on her shoulder. She didn't tell anyone, and she didn't once remind him of it. They carried on as before, as tutor and pupil, and they became very good friends. She was quieter than Sirius and Remus, but braver than Peter. She appreciated the 'Marauders' jokes, and James had even let her in on the little nickname they had for themselves. He'd wanted to tell her it was them, but he hadn't needed to, Lily had know it was them all along. One evening in the common room, he and Lily were discussing all the horrible things they had done to Snape in the past when Remus, Peter and Sirius had all gone to bed.
"I especially liked the time last year when Remus made a horned slug shoot up Snape's nose." She said, giggling at the thought. James couldn't help laughing too, but he stopped suddenly when he realised what she had said, how on earth had she known were they that obvious? Did everyone know? Did Snape? Did the teachers? Lily seemed to realise what he was thinking about and said, "Don't worry, no one else knows." "Then how do you know?" This question had been gnawing away at James for the past year and a half, and it felt good to finally ask it. "I just do." James was very confused by her answer, but although it sounded completely implausible, he accepted it, though it still puzzled him.
But aside from Quidditch, lessons and practical jokes, James had another thing on his mind, and it was very serious. He'd realised that they had completely neglected their promise to Remus to figure out how to become Animagi, and they had started plotting in earnest about how they were going to get hold of the necessary information. The simplest answer seemed to be James sneaking into the library under his invisibility cloak and having a look at the restricted section, it had to be in there somewhere.
So it was decided, and the next night, James snuck out of the tower under his invisibility cloak. He crept along the familiar corridors, trying hard not to make a sound, just because he was invisible didn't mean other people couldn't hear him. On tiptoe, he snuck into the library and under the cord that separated the restricted section from the rest. He glanced over at the librarian, who had fallen asleep at her desk, book in hand. James decided it was safe, especially since the snores she was emitting sounded suspiciously like Peter's, and Peter couldn't be awoken by a foghorn next to his ear when he was snoring like that.
The restricted section was out of bounds to all students below year 6 without a signed note from a teacher. The books there contained information about illegal dark magic, many were written in sinister looking languages and letters that James didn't recognise. The parchment was yellowed and in some cases, stained with a dark red substance that James thought looked suspiciously like blood. James cringed at the thought and tried to put it out of his mind as he read along the spines of the books, desperately searching for something that could help him, an advanced Transfiguration book, a book on transformations, the best would be a book with the title 'How to become an illegal Animagus, in three easy steps', but that would be far too simple. Finally, he spotted a book with the word 'transformation' in the title. He picked it up, and carefully rearranged the other books so it didn't look like anyone had done anything, then he inspected the front cover. The letters were in faded gold on red leather, but the title was not legible. Everything he did, he did apprehensively and quietly, terrified something was going to happen to get him into trouble, an alarm or a trap of some kind. He breathed a sigh of relief when the book came easily off the shelf. He opened the book, and jumped out of his skin when it let out a blood-curdling, ear piercing shriek. James looked quickly over at Madame Pince, whose eyes had shot open, and were now searching the library wildly. He quickly shut the book, but the screaming didn't stop. He shoved the book under his arm and made a run for it.
He tried hard to concentrate on the corridors he was running down, to remember which steps he had to jump, and where certain staircases led on a Monday night and if the door on the right was real, or just a wall pretending, but it didn't seem to be working. James took the wrong staircase, and then got his foot stuck in the bottom step. That was new, he hadn't ever had a problem with it before, but then, he reasoned, he didn't think he'd been there before. He yanked at his foot, hard, but it was stuck tight, the book had fallen on the floor in front of him with a thud, and there were footsteps approaching. James took a sharp breath in and threw his body forward to make sure the invisibility cloak covered the book, as he saw Professor Mechante pass him and approach the door that was straight in front of them. "Snake", she hissed, sounding a lot like a snake herself, and the door swung open. Before she went in, she looked over in James direction and gave a little smirk. James knew she couldn't see him, but she knew he was there, she must have heard him, and she had just given him the password to the Slytherin common room. This was too good, and as soon as he managed to disentangle himself from the step, he was going to tell Sirius, Remus and Peter, because this was the opportunity they'd been waiting forever for. He marvelled inwardly at the enigma that was Professor Mechante, why did she do that?
It took James a while to escape from the step and find his way back to Gryffindor Tower, and he found an anxious group of friends waiting for him. Remus was very pale (well, paler than usual) and Peter looked as though he were about to faint. Even Sirius looked worried. James had been so caught up in the excitement of the opportunity Professor Mechante had just given him that he had completely forgotten that his friends were waiting for him, and would probably have heard the screaming from the library.
"Where have you been?" "What happened?" "What took you so long?" They all fired their questions at exactly the same time, so James didn't know which one to answer first, so he decided not to answer any of them. "You'll never guess what I just found out." He then launched into a full explanation of how he found out about the Slytherin common room, and when he had finished, his friends were all staring at him, open-mouthed, even Sirius didn't seem to have anything to say. "Let's go to bed, shall we? We can look at the book tomorrow, and we can decide what to do with our new information." He was very tired after running around the castle late at night, so after he had carefully folded up the book in his invisibility cloak and tucked it under his bed, he slouched back onto the bed, ignoring all the questions his friends were firing at him, and promptly fell asleep.