The next morning, James woke up around 12. James rubbed his eyes. He did not realize how late they had stayed out. James got dressed in his peaceful dormitory and headed down to the Great Hall to eat his breakfast. James was glad to see that Sirius, Remus, and himself were the only three left in the Great Hall for breakfast. Remus was looking especially rough, his eyes were bloodshot and his robes were torn. James took a seat with them and made himself a plate of eggs. James thought to himself about how odd it was to see the Great Hall empty, especially around lunch. James's curiosity got the best of him and he asked Sirius, "Where is everyone? It must be at least time for lunch by now." Sirius shrugged and continued eating his huge plate of eggs and pancakes. Remus turned towards James and said, "Apparently there must be something big happening, maybe we should go find out what it is." Sirius and James both agreed with him, finished off their breakfasts, and left the Great Hall. As they walked out of the Great Hall, they saw two first year Hufflepuffs running out to the grounds. The trio followed them to the edge of the great woods where all of Hogwarts was standing, obviously looking at something in the woods. James could hear one of the smaller students asking, "What's going on? C'mon tell me. I can't see over everyone." Sirius could just see over the crowd and told James and Lupin, "Some student's passed out. Wait....no, it can't be....guys, I think that's Peter." James and Lupin looked at each other, their faces full of shock. How could they not have thought of looking for Peter, they knew he was gone. James, Lupin, and Sirius pushed to the front of the crowd. They found an even worse looking Peter. His eyes were lifeless and his mouth was just hanging open. Madam Pompfrey was working very quickly trying to revive Peter. No one was exactly sure what had happened to Peter, Madam Pompfrey being among them. She tried various remedies, none of which seemed to be working. She picked up a glass jar full of mandrake juice. She said to herself, "If this doesn't work, I don't think anything will." The bottle was stuck in Peter's throat and drained. The entire student body of Hogwarts sat in suspense, then Peter coughed. It was as if the entire school had a load taken off their mind, and everyone began to smile. The question still stood though- how did this happen?

There were tons of rumors being whispered in the crowds. "I heard that he was attacked by the Giant Squid." "I heard he was struck by the Whomping willow." The trio knew better, Peter must have been in the forbidden forest. Peter had always been intrigued by the forest, but never could build up the courage to go in. The crowd slowly cleared out, and so did James, Sirius and Lupin. They were going to wait for Peter to come out of the hospital wing and ask him what happened then.

The next few days went by in a blur, since James was so anxious to hear what Peter had been doing. Finally, late one night, Peter walked into the Gryfinndor Common Room. Immediately, James went over to him and started to question him about what happened. Peter said he didn't feel like talking about it, but James wasn't going to take no for an answer. James persisted with the questioning and finally Peter cracked. Peter told James his story. "A week ago, the morning before the full moon, I decided that I would take a walk around the grounds. After breakfast, I slipped out, since I had no classes until after lunch. Well, I stayed out there longer than I thought I would. Around the time I was getting ready to head in for lunch, I heard screams from inside the school. I looked over to see what was going on, and I saw Snape running straight towards me. I drew my wand, but he was the first to act. He stunned me, and then hid my body deep within the forest. When I woke up, I was confused. I had no idea where I was. Also, I was scared to death, because I could hear hooves in every direction. When I finally stood up, I was knocked back down by something I did not recognize, and went unconscious. After I regained my consciousness I was in the Hospital Wing."
James was in awe. James thought that this was all because of Peter's stupidity, but it was all Snape's fault. But James couldn't help wondering- what were those hoofed things and who saved Peter from them?
James decided that now would be a good time to visit the library, even if it was his first time in seven years. James went through the library and picked up any book he could find on magical creatures. He brought them all back to the table and began looking through them all. Every time James thought he was close to discovering it, he was let down. Thestrals- hoofed creatures.... only able to be seen by those who have seen someone die. Hippogriffs- hoofed creatures...rarely seen in wild. It was getting close to 1 in the morning, and James was getting ready to give up- but he found something that woke him up. James found an entry in a book called, "Creatures to avoid if seen". 'Centaurs-Mystical creature having a torso resembling a human and a body of a horse. Very aggressive and territorial. Will attack anything found in its territory.' "This must be it!" James thought to himself. He rushed back to the common room, so he wouldn't be caught out in the middle of the night. James whispered the password to the fat lad- Chinese fireball. James swiftly made his way to his bed, falling asleep almost instantly. James couldn't help but to be anxious to talk to Professor Grubbly-Plank about centaurs the next day.