Chapter 11 - One step closer
The book was an object of great interest to James and his friends and as soon as they awoke the next morning they were to be found crowded around James' bed as they eagerly scanned the index page. They found only one reference to 'Animagus' though, and when they turned to it they found only the following;
'Human to animal transfigurations are notoriously difficult to perform, and anyone wishing to become an animal often, or for long periods of time should consider the Animagus transformation, details of which can be found in 'Advanced Human Transfiguration' as I do not have time to go into detail about it here.'
The disappointment on the faces of three of the boys was a clear as the relief on Peters face. They had spent the night hoping and praying that this book would supply them with the answers they needed, and now that it turned out to be a dead end James was obviously disappointed and frustrated. But there was nothing they could do except to wrap the book back up in the invisibility cloak and go down to breakfast.
After the initial shock and disappointment of the book failing to provide them with anything useful, the Marauders (as they had taken to calling themselves after Professor Mechante had given them that nickname) started to think up ways of using the password to the Slytherin dungeons, and after a few days the three of them had thought of a few little tricks to get the attention of Snape and the other Slytherins.
The three of them were creeping along under the invisibility cloak; the apprehension in the air was palpable. For all three of these boys, the desire to get into the Slytherin common room had long been a dream. Sirius in particular, now that he had gotten over the disappointment of the book, was grinning like an over-enthusiastic Cheshire cat at the thought of the havoc he was about to wreak. Only Remus looked hesitant, but then, he was always the most cautious of all of them, and for the Marauders, that was a valuable quality. Someone needed to have some sense, otherwise they'd spend even more time than they actually did in detention.
As they reached closer to the spot where professor Mechante had spotted James the other night Sirius and Remus turned to James to ask whether he was sure that this wasn't a trap. James couldn't be sure, he certainly didn't think it was a trap, but then there was very little that the Potions professor could do to surprise him. All he could do was reassure them that if anything happened, or something went wrong that no one could see them under the cloak anyway.
When they finally reached the bottom of the stairs that James had got stuck in James started to study the walls, looking for a hint, a clue, something like the Portrait of the Fat Lady to say the password to. He scoured the wall, Sirius and Remus were doing the same, but they couldn't find anything that looked even remotely useful. They were just about to give up and go back to the common room when Remus spotted something out of the corner of his eye.
"Look, this might be it!"
It did indeed seem likely. On the top right hand corner of a wooden panel they found a small carving of a snake. James looked at it, concentrated all his attention onto it and hissed,
"Snake". He wasn't entirely sure why he felt the need to hiss the word, maybe it was because that was how Professor Mechante had done it, but James got the feeling that it was something more than that, something instinctive. It just felt right. They all stepped back as the door swung open towards them to reveal a circular common room, not unlike their own, only this one was decorated in green and silver, the Slytherin colours. As this common room was down in the dungeon, there was very little light, and torches in brackets around the wall provided what little light there was. There was no natural light and the effect of this was quite eerie and for a moment James hesitated about going in, but a shove from behind by Sirius, who was positively shivering with anticipation shook him out of it. They had a plan to execute after all. Sirius was working diligently already, checking all the entrances and exits of the room for stragglers and Remus was following him, locking them with a clever little charm he'd read about in a book. They knew that the only way they stood a chance of feeling safe was if the Slytherins were all safely locked in their dormitories.
The first thing he did after that was start hiding things. James had tried to talk Sirius out of that, warning that it was a juvenile and downright stupid thing to do. James was sure that this wasn't a trick that the Marauders would be proud of and seemed like a complete waste of a fantastic opportunity, but he hadn't counted on the extraordinary ingenuity that Sirius could show in the name of practical jokes! Sirius had indeed hidden everything he could find, using all kinds of different spells. Things were levitated onto cupboards, banished into the backs of drawers, manually stuffed down the backs of chairs and even some small objects were made invisible with the aid of a little invisibility spell that Sirius refused to share. It only worked on very small object though, such as a small moneybag, or a quill. Homework disappeared from view, cloaks were thrown up and out of the way and the furniture was banished against the wall, upside down and piled on top of each other, and very soon the room looked practically empty.
It was during this process that James spotted it, a book that Sirius was quite happily levitating onto the top of a bookshelf, but he caught it before it made and it to the top and when he saw the title his eyes lit up. 'Advanced Transfiguration' It was the book they needed, the book with the answers to the Animagi question. James had to think fast. He couldn't take the book out of the common room, as that would be too suspicious. He flicked through the book and scanned the index. He had no clue how long the instructions for the transformation would be. He was in luck though, the Animagi transformation took up only one chapter, and after quickly scanning it he ascertained that he would be able to copy down enough to get them started in the time it would take Remus and Sirius to finish what they were doing, if he worked fast. So he did. He grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill from their hiding place and overturning a desk and chair he took a seat and set to work. Fortunately he didn't have to fend off any questions for Sirius and Remus who were busy changing the decorations from green to red and didn't notice him right away. James scribbled away as fast as his hand would let, and at the end of three quarters of an hour he had a piece of parchment covered in untidy, but legible scrawl which contained the secret of how to become an Animagus.
The book was an object of great interest to James and his friends and as soon as they awoke the next morning they were to be found crowded around James' bed as they eagerly scanned the index page. They found only one reference to 'Animagus' though, and when they turned to it they found only the following;
'Human to animal transfigurations are notoriously difficult to perform, and anyone wishing to become an animal often, or for long periods of time should consider the Animagus transformation, details of which can be found in 'Advanced Human Transfiguration' as I do not have time to go into detail about it here.'
The disappointment on the faces of three of the boys was a clear as the relief on Peters face. They had spent the night hoping and praying that this book would supply them with the answers they needed, and now that it turned out to be a dead end James was obviously disappointed and frustrated. But there was nothing they could do except to wrap the book back up in the invisibility cloak and go down to breakfast.
After the initial shock and disappointment of the book failing to provide them with anything useful, the Marauders (as they had taken to calling themselves after Professor Mechante had given them that nickname) started to think up ways of using the password to the Slytherin dungeons, and after a few days the three of them had thought of a few little tricks to get the attention of Snape and the other Slytherins.
The three of them were creeping along under the invisibility cloak; the apprehension in the air was palpable. For all three of these boys, the desire to get into the Slytherin common room had long been a dream. Sirius in particular, now that he had gotten over the disappointment of the book, was grinning like an over-enthusiastic Cheshire cat at the thought of the havoc he was about to wreak. Only Remus looked hesitant, but then, he was always the most cautious of all of them, and for the Marauders, that was a valuable quality. Someone needed to have some sense, otherwise they'd spend even more time than they actually did in detention.
As they reached closer to the spot where professor Mechante had spotted James the other night Sirius and Remus turned to James to ask whether he was sure that this wasn't a trap. James couldn't be sure, he certainly didn't think it was a trap, but then there was very little that the Potions professor could do to surprise him. All he could do was reassure them that if anything happened, or something went wrong that no one could see them under the cloak anyway.
When they finally reached the bottom of the stairs that James had got stuck in James started to study the walls, looking for a hint, a clue, something like the Portrait of the Fat Lady to say the password to. He scoured the wall, Sirius and Remus were doing the same, but they couldn't find anything that looked even remotely useful. They were just about to give up and go back to the common room when Remus spotted something out of the corner of his eye.
"Look, this might be it!"
It did indeed seem likely. On the top right hand corner of a wooden panel they found a small carving of a snake. James looked at it, concentrated all his attention onto it and hissed,
"Snake". He wasn't entirely sure why he felt the need to hiss the word, maybe it was because that was how Professor Mechante had done it, but James got the feeling that it was something more than that, something instinctive. It just felt right. They all stepped back as the door swung open towards them to reveal a circular common room, not unlike their own, only this one was decorated in green and silver, the Slytherin colours. As this common room was down in the dungeon, there was very little light, and torches in brackets around the wall provided what little light there was. There was no natural light and the effect of this was quite eerie and for a moment James hesitated about going in, but a shove from behind by Sirius, who was positively shivering with anticipation shook him out of it. They had a plan to execute after all. Sirius was working diligently already, checking all the entrances and exits of the room for stragglers and Remus was following him, locking them with a clever little charm he'd read about in a book. They knew that the only way they stood a chance of feeling safe was if the Slytherins were all safely locked in their dormitories.
The first thing he did after that was start hiding things. James had tried to talk Sirius out of that, warning that it was a juvenile and downright stupid thing to do. James was sure that this wasn't a trick that the Marauders would be proud of and seemed like a complete waste of a fantastic opportunity, but he hadn't counted on the extraordinary ingenuity that Sirius could show in the name of practical jokes! Sirius had indeed hidden everything he could find, using all kinds of different spells. Things were levitated onto cupboards, banished into the backs of drawers, manually stuffed down the backs of chairs and even some small objects were made invisible with the aid of a little invisibility spell that Sirius refused to share. It only worked on very small object though, such as a small moneybag, or a quill. Homework disappeared from view, cloaks were thrown up and out of the way and the furniture was banished against the wall, upside down and piled on top of each other, and very soon the room looked practically empty.
It was during this process that James spotted it, a book that Sirius was quite happily levitating onto the top of a bookshelf, but he caught it before it made and it to the top and when he saw the title his eyes lit up. 'Advanced Transfiguration' It was the book they needed, the book with the answers to the Animagi question. James had to think fast. He couldn't take the book out of the common room, as that would be too suspicious. He flicked through the book and scanned the index. He had no clue how long the instructions for the transformation would be. He was in luck though, the Animagi transformation took up only one chapter, and after quickly scanning it he ascertained that he would be able to copy down enough to get them started in the time it would take Remus and Sirius to finish what they were doing, if he worked fast. So he did. He grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill from their hiding place and overturning a desk and chair he took a seat and set to work. Fortunately he didn't have to fend off any questions for Sirius and Remus who were busy changing the decorations from green to red and didn't notice him right away. James scribbled away as fast as his hand would let, and at the end of three quarters of an hour he had a piece of parchment covered in untidy, but legible scrawl which contained the secret of how to become an Animagus.