A/N: well hello, I was not late after all! we must all marvel at Eihwaz's
dedication thru the face of illness! Now, fourth year is not going to last
long so dont bother telling me that it is a bit pointless. i know. :D
Rainbird - thanx and yes i am a girl too.
Chocoliciouz - this will sound weird if i am wrong, but u r lita, rnt u?
and no i dont rily know where the plot is going either. in fact plot? what
plot?!
Amy88 - *rashly decides to announce that Eihwaz in fact writes this and I
am the beta* *then changes mind and wonders if this need to be preferred is
worrying?* oh well i am glad u like it... even if i am soooo hurt *sniffs*
:D
Wind Whisperer - tis ok, i only got one copy! i think it was a prob wiv ff,
not u! snape didnt lie bcos... bcos... i hate liars! *cough* lol
KEEP REVIEWING, EVERYONE!!!
Chapter 16
All four of us had decided over the summer that fourth year sounded a very grand year to be in - equally, fifteen sounded a very great age, but only Sirius and I would be that old soon. My birthday was early October, his was two weeks later - we would, we decided, organise a party.
However, other, less light-hearted matters also greeted us at the start of the year. I had purchased three books, including the one named by Madam Shreve, on becoming Animagi from Flourish and Blotts, and Sirius was reading one, I was reading another and Remus was perusing the third. We had immediately hit a problem.
"It takes a year to make?" Sirius exclaimed only minutes after opening the first chapter. I had found the same thing. "We can't wait that long!"
"Forget the waiting," I said grimly, "how are we supposed to make it at all? Even if we start now, it won't be ready until next September, and how are we supposed to look after it through the summer?" We had decided to brew the potion in the entrance to one of the secret passages we knew of, that Pringle was not aware of and neither, to our knowledge, was anyone else. That would ensure privacy, but... "I was aware that at least one of us would have to stay at school for Christmas and Easter, but it's not an option to stay here over the summer."
"We'll have to take it home."
"How?" I asked. "I think just a few people might notice us lugging a great huge bubbling cauldron onto platform 9 and 3/4."
"The invisibility cloak."
"That doesn't disguise noise, or smells. And it's too risky - what if we dropped it? Or the cloak slipped? Or, for that matter, a teacher realised? OK, a muggle might not recognise the sound of a potion being brewed but Professor Sherwin certainly would. And he'd love to get us expelled."
Sirius and I stared at each other hopelessly.
"Wait," Remus said suddenly. "It's not a problem at all."
"Er, Moony," Sirius said, "yes it is."
"No it's not. It says here that for the last three months it should just be left to simmer, no stirring, no adding ingredients, nothing. What better than leaving it in a completely deserted passage from June onwards?"
I began to laugh. "Excellent! Anyone would think we were destined to become illegal Animagi!"
"Ssh! Keep your voice down!" Moony implored. But Sirius was grinning too. This was just too brilliant.
Undoubtedly, it was a very, very complex thing to do. Besides the potion to be brewed, we had to train our minds for the Transformation itself, which involved emptying one's mind of human thought, and muttering an incantation while concentrating hard. That was just Transfiguration - I was confident about that bit. It also included several charms, both on oneself and on the potion, but Sirius and I were confident about that. The hardest part was the potion itself, but Remus was fairly good at potion brewing, and Sirius and I were capable of starting it. It began just like a first year potion, throwing a few ingredients together and leaving it, then gradually over the weeks adding more. It was only after the first two months that it began to get more complicated.
"So," I said after dinner on the first Friday back, "shall we start it tonight?"
We had purchased an extra large cauldron, and other equipment, in Diagon Alley. Sirius and I had taken the first ingredients needed from the student store cupboard.
"Tonight?" said Peter, looking nervous.
"Well, you don't have to come," I said. "I thought it was quite exciting, myself."
"Yes, yes, I'll come," he said quickly. "It's just a bit... well, what if we get caught?"
"Oh, come on. How many times have you been under the Cloak? And you know the plan. Sirius and I will take the cauldron and ingredients, then Sirius will go back with the Cloak to get you and Remus. That way everything will fit. When we're down in the passage, Moony will conjure the fire and we'll start the potion. When we've done that, we'll leave one book with it, and a safeguard round the fire. We'll go back all at once, seriously squashed I've no doubt, but safely concealed under the Cloak. Nobody will go down the passage and no-one will find it!"
Peter nodded slowly. "OK then."
So, at midnight, Sirius shook me awake as planned. I groaned, then remembered, and grabbed the Cloak from under my bed. "Got the stuff?"
"Yes," he whispered. "Come on before the others wake up."
We pulled the cloak over us and, each holding one side of the cauldron, tiptoed out of Gryffindor tower.
We were lucky in not meeting anybody, not even Pringle, on our way to the passageway concealed behind a mirror on the third floor. "Orgnog," I muttered in troll. The reflective cover began to shimmer and we stepped through. There was a sucking noise as it closed again. I shrugged off the cloak and waved my wand. "Lumos!"
Sirius and I grinned at each other in the half light as we put the cauldron down. "I'll go get Moony and Peter," he said.
"Yeah." I settled down to wait, and began looking at the Transfiguration section of the book.
'Many wizards / witches find it helpful to close their eyes for the brain- training. Empty the mind of all human-related thoughts and concentrate on an animal-associated image, such as claws, teeth or even prey. Imagine that you are either a predator or prey. Note - this choice will not affect the animal you will become. That is pre-destined.'
I shivered. Pre-destined... I wondered what I would be. According to all three books, it would reflect your character - not the character most people saw, but the character of your soul. I found that confusing, but also slightly worrying. How well did I know my true self? What if I became a... a slug, or something stupid like that? Ridiculous, surely - I was a Gryffindor! I was brave, I was fast, I was proud... not an insect, or some other lowly creature.
I was just considering having a go at this brain-training lesson, when the mirror shivered and a second later, three figures appeared, apparently from mid-air. The Cloak slithered onto the floor.
"Hi James. Everything OK?"
I grinned and nodded. "You were quick."
"Had to run. Saw Pringle roaming kind of near here, and we didn't want to be held up by not being able to get in because he was standing by."
I laughed. "Right... Moony, the fire, if you please, first?"
He stepped forward and muttered a charm. Sticks poured out of his wand into a neat pile on the floor, followed by a stream of blue flame. In seconds, a fire was roaring. "Mutus," Remus added, and the roar died to a soft grumble. "Is that all right?"
I levitated the cauldron so that it was floating steadily above the flames. "Perfect. What next, Peter?"
"Now you add five scoops of beetle eyes."
Sirius measured it out and poured them into the cauldron. There was a soft fizz as they melted, and we glanced at each other ecstatically.
"Now?"
"Next you put in the two leeches."
"Urgh," Sirius said, shuddering as he chucked them in. "And the lacewing flies, wasn't it?"
"Yes. And now just fluxweed. Then you stir it twenty times clockwise, once anticlockwise and twice back and forth."
The stirring was my job, sadly, but at last it was done. We struggled back to Gryffindor tower, determined to all stay covered by the cloak.
"So back again on Wednesday, with... what?"
"Knotgrass. And more beetle eyes."
"Right. You and Remus needn't come for that. I'm sure Si and I can manage, and it is a squash with four under the cloak!"
And so it went on. By the end of September, it was giving off quite a foul stench, but to our relief, the mirror completely cut off both sound and smell. Nobody would guess that there was a potion brewing in there.
"So tonight we have to add animal essence. Where do we get that from?" Sirius said to me on the last Monday of the month.
"We'll have to attempt a summoning charm to get in from Sherwin's cupboard. He always goes to tidy up before lunch, I'll hover outside, wait til he bends over and summon it. He might not notice..."
"And then run for it," Sirius advised. "Seriously fast."
Sure enough, Professor Sherwin arrived at his private cupboard just a minute after the lunch bell. I had sprinted from Charms in order to get there before him - our Plan B was to unlock the cupboard ourselves, later, but that was even more risky. It was best if I got it now.
Sherwin went to the door and placed one hand on the handle. "Aperio," he said softly, and the door swung open. I stepped even nearer as he began shuffling things around, placing bottles in cabinets and finally kneeling down to put something in a bottom drawn.
"Accio animal essence!"
A small bottle flew out over his head and into my hand. I turned and ran as fast as I could down the corridor, until I was swallowed up in the crowd. Hopefully he hadn't noticed anything.
"Got it," I muttered as I flopped down next to Sirius.
"Excellent. We'll do that tonight then. We have to leave it for two weeks after that, don't we?"
I nodded.
"Urgh!" Sirius coughed when he un-stoppered the bottle. "This stuff is absolutely foul!"
I shuddered as the smell wafted over to me as well. "Yes, it is a bit, isn't it? It says you need to hold the bottle, on its side, two inches above the surface of the potion until the potion is this colour green." I held up the book and indicated the correct shade. "It should also start bubbling."
The whole process took five minutes, but the odour was ten times worse when we had finished. "Looks appetising, doesn't it?" Sirius joked as we eyed it.
"I'm sure it'll look, smell and taste far worse by the time it's finished," I said bleakly.
We left the now half-empty bottle of essence by Sherwin's cupboard door, and I cast a finger-print removal spell on it. I didn't suppose wizards used muggle tricks like finger print taking, but you could never be too careful.
A/N: now pleeeeeeeaaaaaaasseee review or... i wont EVER update again!!! mwahahahaaaaaaa well ok, i might, but not for a loong time! so.... REVIEW!!!!
Chapter 16
All four of us had decided over the summer that fourth year sounded a very grand year to be in - equally, fifteen sounded a very great age, but only Sirius and I would be that old soon. My birthday was early October, his was two weeks later - we would, we decided, organise a party.
However, other, less light-hearted matters also greeted us at the start of the year. I had purchased three books, including the one named by Madam Shreve, on becoming Animagi from Flourish and Blotts, and Sirius was reading one, I was reading another and Remus was perusing the third. We had immediately hit a problem.
"It takes a year to make?" Sirius exclaimed only minutes after opening the first chapter. I had found the same thing. "We can't wait that long!"
"Forget the waiting," I said grimly, "how are we supposed to make it at all? Even if we start now, it won't be ready until next September, and how are we supposed to look after it through the summer?" We had decided to brew the potion in the entrance to one of the secret passages we knew of, that Pringle was not aware of and neither, to our knowledge, was anyone else. That would ensure privacy, but... "I was aware that at least one of us would have to stay at school for Christmas and Easter, but it's not an option to stay here over the summer."
"We'll have to take it home."
"How?" I asked. "I think just a few people might notice us lugging a great huge bubbling cauldron onto platform 9 and 3/4."
"The invisibility cloak."
"That doesn't disguise noise, or smells. And it's too risky - what if we dropped it? Or the cloak slipped? Or, for that matter, a teacher realised? OK, a muggle might not recognise the sound of a potion being brewed but Professor Sherwin certainly would. And he'd love to get us expelled."
Sirius and I stared at each other hopelessly.
"Wait," Remus said suddenly. "It's not a problem at all."
"Er, Moony," Sirius said, "yes it is."
"No it's not. It says here that for the last three months it should just be left to simmer, no stirring, no adding ingredients, nothing. What better than leaving it in a completely deserted passage from June onwards?"
I began to laugh. "Excellent! Anyone would think we were destined to become illegal Animagi!"
"Ssh! Keep your voice down!" Moony implored. But Sirius was grinning too. This was just too brilliant.
Undoubtedly, it was a very, very complex thing to do. Besides the potion to be brewed, we had to train our minds for the Transformation itself, which involved emptying one's mind of human thought, and muttering an incantation while concentrating hard. That was just Transfiguration - I was confident about that bit. It also included several charms, both on oneself and on the potion, but Sirius and I were confident about that. The hardest part was the potion itself, but Remus was fairly good at potion brewing, and Sirius and I were capable of starting it. It began just like a first year potion, throwing a few ingredients together and leaving it, then gradually over the weeks adding more. It was only after the first two months that it began to get more complicated.
"So," I said after dinner on the first Friday back, "shall we start it tonight?"
We had purchased an extra large cauldron, and other equipment, in Diagon Alley. Sirius and I had taken the first ingredients needed from the student store cupboard.
"Tonight?" said Peter, looking nervous.
"Well, you don't have to come," I said. "I thought it was quite exciting, myself."
"Yes, yes, I'll come," he said quickly. "It's just a bit... well, what if we get caught?"
"Oh, come on. How many times have you been under the Cloak? And you know the plan. Sirius and I will take the cauldron and ingredients, then Sirius will go back with the Cloak to get you and Remus. That way everything will fit. When we're down in the passage, Moony will conjure the fire and we'll start the potion. When we've done that, we'll leave one book with it, and a safeguard round the fire. We'll go back all at once, seriously squashed I've no doubt, but safely concealed under the Cloak. Nobody will go down the passage and no-one will find it!"
Peter nodded slowly. "OK then."
So, at midnight, Sirius shook me awake as planned. I groaned, then remembered, and grabbed the Cloak from under my bed. "Got the stuff?"
"Yes," he whispered. "Come on before the others wake up."
We pulled the cloak over us and, each holding one side of the cauldron, tiptoed out of Gryffindor tower.
We were lucky in not meeting anybody, not even Pringle, on our way to the passageway concealed behind a mirror on the third floor. "Orgnog," I muttered in troll. The reflective cover began to shimmer and we stepped through. There was a sucking noise as it closed again. I shrugged off the cloak and waved my wand. "Lumos!"
Sirius and I grinned at each other in the half light as we put the cauldron down. "I'll go get Moony and Peter," he said.
"Yeah." I settled down to wait, and began looking at the Transfiguration section of the book.
'Many wizards / witches find it helpful to close their eyes for the brain- training. Empty the mind of all human-related thoughts and concentrate on an animal-associated image, such as claws, teeth or even prey. Imagine that you are either a predator or prey. Note - this choice will not affect the animal you will become. That is pre-destined.'
I shivered. Pre-destined... I wondered what I would be. According to all three books, it would reflect your character - not the character most people saw, but the character of your soul. I found that confusing, but also slightly worrying. How well did I know my true self? What if I became a... a slug, or something stupid like that? Ridiculous, surely - I was a Gryffindor! I was brave, I was fast, I was proud... not an insect, or some other lowly creature.
I was just considering having a go at this brain-training lesson, when the mirror shivered and a second later, three figures appeared, apparently from mid-air. The Cloak slithered onto the floor.
"Hi James. Everything OK?"
I grinned and nodded. "You were quick."
"Had to run. Saw Pringle roaming kind of near here, and we didn't want to be held up by not being able to get in because he was standing by."
I laughed. "Right... Moony, the fire, if you please, first?"
He stepped forward and muttered a charm. Sticks poured out of his wand into a neat pile on the floor, followed by a stream of blue flame. In seconds, a fire was roaring. "Mutus," Remus added, and the roar died to a soft grumble. "Is that all right?"
I levitated the cauldron so that it was floating steadily above the flames. "Perfect. What next, Peter?"
"Now you add five scoops of beetle eyes."
Sirius measured it out and poured them into the cauldron. There was a soft fizz as they melted, and we glanced at each other ecstatically.
"Now?"
"Next you put in the two leeches."
"Urgh," Sirius said, shuddering as he chucked them in. "And the lacewing flies, wasn't it?"
"Yes. And now just fluxweed. Then you stir it twenty times clockwise, once anticlockwise and twice back and forth."
The stirring was my job, sadly, but at last it was done. We struggled back to Gryffindor tower, determined to all stay covered by the cloak.
"So back again on Wednesday, with... what?"
"Knotgrass. And more beetle eyes."
"Right. You and Remus needn't come for that. I'm sure Si and I can manage, and it is a squash with four under the cloak!"
And so it went on. By the end of September, it was giving off quite a foul stench, but to our relief, the mirror completely cut off both sound and smell. Nobody would guess that there was a potion brewing in there.
"So tonight we have to add animal essence. Where do we get that from?" Sirius said to me on the last Monday of the month.
"We'll have to attempt a summoning charm to get in from Sherwin's cupboard. He always goes to tidy up before lunch, I'll hover outside, wait til he bends over and summon it. He might not notice..."
"And then run for it," Sirius advised. "Seriously fast."
Sure enough, Professor Sherwin arrived at his private cupboard just a minute after the lunch bell. I had sprinted from Charms in order to get there before him - our Plan B was to unlock the cupboard ourselves, later, but that was even more risky. It was best if I got it now.
Sherwin went to the door and placed one hand on the handle. "Aperio," he said softly, and the door swung open. I stepped even nearer as he began shuffling things around, placing bottles in cabinets and finally kneeling down to put something in a bottom drawn.
"Accio animal essence!"
A small bottle flew out over his head and into my hand. I turned and ran as fast as I could down the corridor, until I was swallowed up in the crowd. Hopefully he hadn't noticed anything.
"Got it," I muttered as I flopped down next to Sirius.
"Excellent. We'll do that tonight then. We have to leave it for two weeks after that, don't we?"
I nodded.
"Urgh!" Sirius coughed when he un-stoppered the bottle. "This stuff is absolutely foul!"
I shuddered as the smell wafted over to me as well. "Yes, it is a bit, isn't it? It says you need to hold the bottle, on its side, two inches above the surface of the potion until the potion is this colour green." I held up the book and indicated the correct shade. "It should also start bubbling."
The whole process took five minutes, but the odour was ten times worse when we had finished. "Looks appetising, doesn't it?" Sirius joked as we eyed it.
"I'm sure it'll look, smell and taste far worse by the time it's finished," I said bleakly.
We left the now half-empty bottle of essence by Sherwin's cupboard door, and I cast a finger-print removal spell on it. I didn't suppose wizards used muggle tricks like finger print taking, but you could never be too careful.
A/N: now pleeeeeeeaaaaaaasseee review or... i wont EVER update again!!! mwahahahaaaaaaa well ok, i might, but not for a loong time! so.... REVIEW!!!!