Chapter 6- Christmas
Dear James,
I've just come home, so far so good, my room seems untouched and Petunia is nowhere to be seen. I was informed she is round her new boyfriends house. I pity the poor fellow. Hope Your first day of the holidays is good!
Yours Faithfully
Lily xxx
Dear Lily,
Glad your settling in well. Don't forget to use the items I gave you on your darling sister if she gets too much for you! So far Sirius to set Peters hair alight by some how saying a charm wrong and I have beaten everyone at least 5 time search at chess! Write back soon!
Yours truly,
James x
James,
Sounds like your having fun. My sister is really started getting me down, I went out down the shops this morning to get some milk and when I came home, absolutely every thing in my room had "FREAK" in big letters stuck to it. I tried to put the dung bombs you gave me in her bed but they exploded in my face when I picked them up. I still smell rotten! Which co-incidentally made Petunia call me a "Smelly Freak!" What shall I do, it's only the second day of the holidays and I'm already depressed! Write back! ASAP! Your letters are the only thing which is keeping me sane!
Luv
Lily xxx
Lil's,
Don't be depressed. I've sent some trick make up. Replace it with hers, and make sure you take lots of pictures for me when she uses it! I need a laugh! Remember your a great witch and she is just jealous. It is very boring here, there is only a few people left, Remus went home because he was ill, so Peter, Sirius and I are the only ones left in Griffindor tower. Snape's even gone home so we can't prank him!
DON'T LET YOUR SISTER PUSH YOU AROUND!
Luv
James xxx
Oh Merlin! James!
You will never guess what happened! We were going to this party with our parents and Petunia kept on trying to make me wear these really ugly outfits, then she kept calling me names and threatening to tell everyone about my "Abnormality" and she finally pushed me over the limit when she pushed me under the mistletoe with this boy who she knows I hate! When we got home I remembered what you told me about not letting her push me around, so I went up to her and said "Petunia, if you don't have anything nice to say or do with me then leave me be!" and she said "Ow yeah make me!" then she shoved me, and I kind of threw her across the room without my wand or anything, I didn't mean to, my anger just took over. But the good thing is, she hasn't spoken to me or done anything since! Hope your holiday is brightening up! And Remus gets better! Heaven forbid I would prefer to be there rather then here!
Lots of luv,
Lily xxx
P.s. I will bring the photos of her new make up when I get back!
Dear my little Lilikins,
That is great, that you beat the crap out of your sis! She certainly deserved it! I'm glad because I don't like it when your upset. Remus will be fine. Today me and Sirius hung Peters underwear on top of the astrology tower! He's still looking for it! (All of it!)
Luv From
James (The stallion) Potter
P.s. I hope you saved some Mistletoe!
The rest of the week passed to similar accord. With James and Lily owling each other every day. And soon enough Christmas day was upon them.
From her parents, Lily got the usual, Books, clothes and jewellery. Her sister got her a book on anger management. Lily was also surprised to find she had 8 other presents from her friends.
I mean sure she had gotten them each something but she hadn't expected them to return the favour. Crystal had got her a make up set, which was nice but she didn't normally wear make up.
Anddromeda (Or Andi as she preferred to be called) had gotten her a set of pretty hair bands. Hayley, gave her some nice perfume. Remus sent her a broom servicing kit, Peter sent her the latest addition of quidditch through the ages and Sirius sent her a training snitch, you could set it at a certain distance and times, it was a new training invention used by the international teams and very expensive.
But of course Sirius could afford it, like you or I could afford a newspaper. Lily thought these gifts were weird seeing as she didn't have a broom. (She normally borrowed one of James' 50 gazillion) That was until she saw the long thin package wrapped up by James. He had gotten her the latest most expensive broomstick. There was also a small box from him. It contained a ring, the ring had "friends" engraved on it on the inside. On the inside of the box was a poem.
Friends Forever,
In our days,
True friends are rare.
That is why we mush cherish
those we have.
United strive,
Divided fall.
This ring is for you to wear to remind you that you are and have a true friend.
James also included a note:
Lil,
Hope you like your new broom, you will need it when you are on the Ravenclaw team! The ring I got you is to show that we will always be friends. I only get them for those I trust. In fact the only other people who have one is Peter, Remus and Sirius. You all have "Friends" I have one also which says "Forever". They are magically bonded and it is believed that they help connect you and tell you if each other is in trouble.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS!
Love
James x
Back at Hogwarts The boys were bored out of there minds. Each day went like this:
James would wake up around seven, he was an early riser, unlike Peter and Sirius, who usually laid in until time for lunch. So James would use this time to owl Lily, without them knowing. Merlin knows what teasing they would give him, if the found out how often he wrote Lily! Then at 12 they would all have lunch and maybe a few snow ball fights. Then they would head back to their now empty common room and work on the anigmagi process.
Finally they would talk, play chess or play games like "wand chase" (Chasing each other, one person being tag, hexing each other, turning their victims different colours!) On Christmas morning, Sirius unusually woke James and Peter up,
"Presents!" He exclaimed. And they got up and opened their presents. James had gotten a solid gold chain from his parents. A book from his sister, Claire, a jumper from his other sister, Cissa. Numerous amounts of sweets and stuff from the rest of his family. Boxers from Sirius (Boy was he weird!), a calendar from Remus, of his favourite quidditch team, the Huntley Hurricanes (They weren't top of the league but at least they weren't his fathers team!). Peter had got him a book on Anigmagi.
And finally lily had gotten him a badge, enchanted to say "No 1 Coach!", a whole box of Honeydukes best sweets and a wand care kit. There was also a not enclosed which meant more to James then any of his gifts, it read;
Dear James,
Thank you sooo much for all the help you have given me since school started. You don't know what it has meant to me. You are a true friend, if not more! I really feel I have progressed in both becoming more confident and better at my school work. I also have the first real friends, theres you, Sirius, Remus, Peter and also I have started talking to the girls in my dorm. Thank you again.
Yours always,
Lily Evans xxx
Later on in that week Remus had returned form home early, looking tired and a little rough as he usually did after a transformation. His parents had decided to keep him a little while longer, for Christmas. At this present time the four marauders were talking once again about the Anigmagi poem they hadn't yet solved.
"Ow! What can it mean? It has to mean something!" Sirius said.
"Perhaps you have to get a part of the animal you want to be, or something?" Peter said.
"I don't quite think so Pete!" Remus replied.
"What do you reckon, prongs?" Sirius asked. James was currently thinking about Lily, who he still "didn't" fancy.
"What, Lily?" He answered.
Sirius' face lit up and a grin spread across it, Peter and Remus just looked dumfounded.
Peter said," I don't see how she can help us here Prongs?" James' face went red, realising what he had just said.
"Pete, I don't think he had Anigmagus on his mind, more a bird than a stag!" Sirius smirked.
"No... I meant... Lily can help us?... Urrr she's really smart...I'll just discreetly bring the subject up in one of our sessions, and see if she can help?" James quickly covered.
"Sure!You could try! As long as you are discrete" Sirius replied.
That evening James and Sirius went to the kitchens together.
"James you know you can talk to me about anything, right?"
"Yeah, I know." James replied a little confused.
"I mean we are best friends and we've known each other forever."
"yeah, what are you getting at? I know you don't need money!"
"We can talk right, even about girls? And you know, if we've begun to get attracted to one in particular, who maybe is different than who you feel you should?"
"Ow no, we're not going into this again! If I've told you once, I've told you a million times, Lily's more like my sister!"
"Ow so you weren't thinking about her earlier, instead of listening to u?"
"yeah well your not exactly the most exciting person to talk to!"
"Ow, and don't think I haven't noticed you sneak off at the crack of dawn, to the owlery to send her letters!"
"Ow so you're spying on me now?!"
"Admit it!"
"Admit what?"
"That you like lily!"
"So what if I do!" James gasped. "I do, don't I?!?"
"Hadn't you realised it? Oh Mother of Merlin! I thought you were smart!" Sirius chuckled . "So you gona ask her out?" James was still in shock.
"I Can't!" he said "What if she says no?"
"She won't, I can see it in her eyes. She hero worships you!"
"No, I can't, I won't!"
"Fine, be miserable then!" A week later Lily returned to Hogwarts. James met her in the entrance hall.
"Hey, how was your Christmas?" He asked.
"It was o.k., but I am glad to be back here, the magical world is so much more interesting and I have alot more friends."
"I'm surprised a Mudblood like you has any friends." Came the smooth, creepy voice of Severus Snape. "I'm especially surprised of your little boyfriend, who seems to follow you around, with a father like his and a family name to defend!" James growled and jumped forward.
Had Lily not held him back, Snape would probably have had to spend his first week back in the hospital wing!
"Leave it, he's not worth it." Lily said, taking James' arm and leading him towards the prefects common room.
"You are one to be talking about worth!" Snape shouted after them and Lily had to use all her strength to hold James back. Neither talked until they reached the prefects common room.
"I hate it when you are spoken to like that! Why didn't you let me go after him?"
"Ow, and what would you have done? He would have been left in a million pieces. Your lucky you didn't get in trouble last time, I'm not gona let you go getting expelled or something at my expense!"
"Believe me I have got away with alot worse!" Sensing James was getting a little angry, Lily hastily changed the subject, as they sat on the chairs in front of the prefects fire. (It was a Saturday so they had nothing better to do).
"Thank you again sooo much for my Christmas presents, they meant sooo much to me!" Lily said twiddling her ring.
James subconsciously reached for his which was currently on a chain around his neck.
"No problem, I really liked mine too. The sweets were gone within an hour."
"Oh shut up! I bet you got loadsa sweets."
"Yeah but yours tasted the nicest!"
"Ow yeah, how is that possible?"
"Because they came from you!" Lily blushed and James' grin broadened.
"Anyway grab your broomstick, we have about 3 hours to practice, before it starts getting dark."
"Ow do we have to?"
"Yes, try outs are a week on Friday!"
"Friday week?! There's no way I'll be ready!"
"Yes you will, have a little faith in yourself! I do."
"Ok." So they went outside and practised until it became dark. Even though it had been two weeks since Lily had been on a broom, she seemed to still have her technique.
After she had been shown the basics of hoe to use her broom properly and to it's best effects, she seemed to click with her new broom and be quite natural with it, as though she and her broom were one.
Lily had no problems what so ever in catching the snitch, beating James to it 9 times out of 10. James was a little frustrated, he had only gone easy on her the first time.
It bothered him how she was becoming better than him, although he usually played chaser he could beat any one at any position (well except maybe his father.) But this proved that Lily was ready for tryouts.
After practise, James arranged 3 more training sessions and to meet up for a study session the next day. (He still needed to ask her about the Anigmagus poem.)
The next night, James showed Lily the poem ("Tonight we will look into Anigmagus, and to get a better insight into it we will look into it further.")
Lily read it aloud;
"Your final task,
Be you friend or foe.
The animal,
Which you bestow,
Will always be,
A part of the,
If you trust it so.
To honour one,
You must become,
At peace,
With her and you.
She will only die,
If you defy,
Her in body mind and spirit."
"Well I'd say that was pretty obvious." She stated.
"You do?" James couldn't help but blurt out.
"Yes, the last stage in becoming Anigmagus goes like this; The animal you wish to honour, will always stay faithful to you, IF you always trust it.
So to become Anigmagus you have to convert your feelings to the feelings your animal is likely to have. And eventually the feelings will take over your body and transform you into your animal. I expect you have to train your thoughts to become more animal like, then when you've got the Knack of it, think like it and say some sort of spell or something and you should be able to transform.
I doubt any student could do it. I've heard Mcgonnagal is training to become one though... Ow wait, the last bit of the poem... Your animal will only die, not if you do but only if your faith does. If you don't trust it's feelings then she will die, if not, she will live on, perhaps in someone you love or entrust your soul."
"Lily, you're excellent!" James hugged Lily then ran out of the library. Lily found this rather weird, but decided against thinking anything of it, she had quite a bit of homework to catch up on anyway.
James ran up to his dorm, taking every shortcut imaginable and made it with in 5 minutes. He ran in, startling his mates.
"Whoa! Jamesie! Where's the fire?!"
"No...fire...poem...Lily...solved" He was out of breath from running.
"SOLVED?!" Sirius exclaimed. "What...when...how?" He said imitating James.
"I showed her the poem, like I said I would and in a matter of seconds she had it down. It all made so much sense!"
"What, no way! We've been working on it for months and she takes one look at it and has the answer. I bet it doesn't work."
"Well she said you just have to think like your animal and once you've got the hang of it say the spell and voila! Ow and you have to believe and trust in it."
"Well it's worth a shot." Remus reasoned with Sirius.
"Ok, we'll try one week of thinking like our animals, then we'll try the spell."
"So what, Lily wasn't suspicious or anything?"
"Ow Merlin! LILY!" James ran back out of the dorm, on his way back to the library. When he reached it, he saw Lily was still there.
"Sorry...needed...toilet." He panted, once more, out of breath.
"And you had to use the ones in the north tower?" She joked. He blushed.
They then talked over some points which Lily didn't quite understand about the Anigmagi process, but soon they got side tracked.
"So who shall we try and book for Dumbledore's ball?" Lily asked.
"Well, my dad has some good connections with loads of people, so I'd say we should try and aim for the best."
"And that would be?"
"The Spooks."
Even Lily, muggle born Lily, had heard of the spooks, posters of them plastered over hers and every girls dorm in the school. It was a group of two wizards and two ghosts. The wizards would play magical instruments, whilst one ghost would sing and the other would perform by dancing and going through the other band members. It was rather interesting to watch, plus the drummer person was hot (In Lily's opinion).
"No way! Your dad could book them?"
"Sure can. I'll owl him tonight."
"And the charity event? What do you reckon?"
"How about a slave auction? We can auction off a group of people, ourselves could perhaps be some of them?"
"Excellent! And you have to get Remus, Peter and Sirius in there as well! You four will raise a fortune!"
"What about you? You'll have every guy in the school bidding!"
"Oh yeah right, to do there homework perhaps! How will it work anyway?"
"Well... Me and you could present it and be the auction people, and then people could bid on slaves. The highest wins. And then we can arrange a day which the slaves are slaves!"
"Ow and we could do a booklet on the slaves and their information, so people can know who they are bidding for!"
"Oh this is gona be so great!"
The following Friday held a major event, well for Lily any way. It was of course the tryouts for being the Ravenclaws substitute seeker.
Lily arrived on the Quidditch pitch, as did the captain, A seventh year, Harnie Chang, as well as a fourth year, Joe Locklear, a seventh year, Leanne Caspian and a second year, Beverly Mauvais- all planning on trying out for the position. The marauders had also taken their seats in the stands, making Lily, if possible, more nervous!
"Right we are going to separate you into pairs, Lily and Leanne, as you are the oldest, and Joe and Beverly. You will take it in turns to compete for the snitch and the winner of your heat will compete against the winner of the other heat. Who ever wins over all, gets the spot. Joe and Beverly, you first."
Beverly won his round and Lily hers. They were now both in the air waiting for the snitch to be released. Joe was a very confident flier, it was obvious that he must have been flying since a very young age. But Lily had been training intensely for the past few months. James was a good coach.
They both circled the centre, until the whistle was blown, and they were off, looking for any glimpse of gold. It had been two minutes, when Lily spotted a gold glimmer by a set of goal posts, it seemed all the times she had spotted "Wendeline" had paid off!
But she couldn't go straight for it, Beverly was closer and would surely beat her to it, even on her new broom. So she turned discreetly and zoomed off in the opposite direction. Beverly, thinking she was diving for the snitch, followed closely and was too busy trying to see where she had seen the snitch, to notice that Lily had stopped and turned around.
She spotted the snitch again in the same position and put her broom in to full speed. By now Beverly had seen her and was on her tail, but alas, it was too late, Lily already had the small golden ball grasped in her hand, as it's wings beat furiously against her hands.
She landed on the pitch to be engulfed in hugs, from first Harnie Chang and then the Marauders. She had actually made the team.
"Well, I got to hand it to you James you have achieved the impossible, getting me on the Quidditch team!" Lily said happily.
The Stag, an intelligent, handsome animal. It is fast thinking, quick footed and honest. It is a very organised animal, a leader, leading it's heard to the required places to peruse their business. These were the qualities, James had tried to portray all week. It wasn't hard, as these came rather naturally to him.
He would find himself in a situation and ask himself, What would a stag do? At first he would think, Why would a stag need to tame his hair? But then he really began to think, what would my inner stag do? Ask a member of it's heard for help!
"Remus, can you help me with my hair, mate?"
"What's the point? No one can! Even your sister and she's great with that stuff!"
By the time their week was up, the boys were shattered. It was the Saturday the next full moon and they were going to try to transform. James was the only one who had faith and was excited about trying.
But the others were far too used to failed attempts. Who knew it would be this hard? I mean all they wanted to do was turn themselves into animals! Sirius went first, he thought like a dog, said the spell and something actually happened! His body began to sprout fur and he started to shrink, but then he turned back to normal.
"Let me try!" James said eagerly. James thought like a stag, said the spell and voila, his body grew fur he gained antlers or prongs and his body changed. He was a beautiful white stag at will.
James had the one thing Sirius lacked and that was faith. James believed he could do it and become a stag, he knew Lily had been right. But alas his concentration fell and he was no longer prongs, but plain old James. They tried all through out the evening to become their animals, James was fully successful and Sirius had managed to complete a transformation, but still could not hold it.
He was still rather dubious about it all! Peter had only managed to grow a tail and whiskers. He almost splinched him self at one point and if James hadn't stopped him before he did anything, Merlin knows what may have happened. They were pleased however with there progress and James vowed to treat lily for her great help!
By the full moon the bys had their transformations down to a tee.
They had planned to meet Remus down at the shrieking shack after the moon had risen. With the guys there, with him in their animal forms, Remus felt more human.
He was able to communicate when in werewolf form with the other animals. They talked to him and calmed him down, getting used to their new selves also.
The two bigger animals were able to keep the werewolf in check and stop him from hurting himself. All in all Remus experienced less pain and for the first time in his life was truly happy to be a werewolf.
What else could bring him and his friends so close. The fun he had had that night and the excitement of awaiting the next full moon made Remus forget the guilt and betrayal he felt towards Dumbledore.
After all, it was him who had given Remus a chance, which no other would. And he had lead his 3 bestest friends, some of the brightest in the school, into becoming illegal Anigmagus. But alas the guilt had been forgotten.
Dear James,
I've just come home, so far so good, my room seems untouched and Petunia is nowhere to be seen. I was informed she is round her new boyfriends house. I pity the poor fellow. Hope Your first day of the holidays is good!
Yours Faithfully
Lily xxx
Dear Lily,
Glad your settling in well. Don't forget to use the items I gave you on your darling sister if she gets too much for you! So far Sirius to set Peters hair alight by some how saying a charm wrong and I have beaten everyone at least 5 time search at chess! Write back soon!
Yours truly,
James x
James,
Sounds like your having fun. My sister is really started getting me down, I went out down the shops this morning to get some milk and when I came home, absolutely every thing in my room had "FREAK" in big letters stuck to it. I tried to put the dung bombs you gave me in her bed but they exploded in my face when I picked them up. I still smell rotten! Which co-incidentally made Petunia call me a "Smelly Freak!" What shall I do, it's only the second day of the holidays and I'm already depressed! Write back! ASAP! Your letters are the only thing which is keeping me sane!
Luv
Lily xxx
Lil's,
Don't be depressed. I've sent some trick make up. Replace it with hers, and make sure you take lots of pictures for me when she uses it! I need a laugh! Remember your a great witch and she is just jealous. It is very boring here, there is only a few people left, Remus went home because he was ill, so Peter, Sirius and I are the only ones left in Griffindor tower. Snape's even gone home so we can't prank him!
DON'T LET YOUR SISTER PUSH YOU AROUND!
Luv
James xxx
Oh Merlin! James!
You will never guess what happened! We were going to this party with our parents and Petunia kept on trying to make me wear these really ugly outfits, then she kept calling me names and threatening to tell everyone about my "Abnormality" and she finally pushed me over the limit when she pushed me under the mistletoe with this boy who she knows I hate! When we got home I remembered what you told me about not letting her push me around, so I went up to her and said "Petunia, if you don't have anything nice to say or do with me then leave me be!" and she said "Ow yeah make me!" then she shoved me, and I kind of threw her across the room without my wand or anything, I didn't mean to, my anger just took over. But the good thing is, she hasn't spoken to me or done anything since! Hope your holiday is brightening up! And Remus gets better! Heaven forbid I would prefer to be there rather then here!
Lots of luv,
Lily xxx
P.s. I will bring the photos of her new make up when I get back!
Dear my little Lilikins,
That is great, that you beat the crap out of your sis! She certainly deserved it! I'm glad because I don't like it when your upset. Remus will be fine. Today me and Sirius hung Peters underwear on top of the astrology tower! He's still looking for it! (All of it!)
Luv From
James (The stallion) Potter
P.s. I hope you saved some Mistletoe!
The rest of the week passed to similar accord. With James and Lily owling each other every day. And soon enough Christmas day was upon them.
From her parents, Lily got the usual, Books, clothes and jewellery. Her sister got her a book on anger management. Lily was also surprised to find she had 8 other presents from her friends.
I mean sure she had gotten them each something but she hadn't expected them to return the favour. Crystal had got her a make up set, which was nice but she didn't normally wear make up.
Anddromeda (Or Andi as she preferred to be called) had gotten her a set of pretty hair bands. Hayley, gave her some nice perfume. Remus sent her a broom servicing kit, Peter sent her the latest addition of quidditch through the ages and Sirius sent her a training snitch, you could set it at a certain distance and times, it was a new training invention used by the international teams and very expensive.
But of course Sirius could afford it, like you or I could afford a newspaper. Lily thought these gifts were weird seeing as she didn't have a broom. (She normally borrowed one of James' 50 gazillion) That was until she saw the long thin package wrapped up by James. He had gotten her the latest most expensive broomstick. There was also a small box from him. It contained a ring, the ring had "friends" engraved on it on the inside. On the inside of the box was a poem.
Friends Forever,
In our days,
True friends are rare.
That is why we mush cherish
those we have.
United strive,
Divided fall.
This ring is for you to wear to remind you that you are and have a true friend.
James also included a note:
Lil,
Hope you like your new broom, you will need it when you are on the Ravenclaw team! The ring I got you is to show that we will always be friends. I only get them for those I trust. In fact the only other people who have one is Peter, Remus and Sirius. You all have "Friends" I have one also which says "Forever". They are magically bonded and it is believed that they help connect you and tell you if each other is in trouble.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS!
Love
James x
Back at Hogwarts The boys were bored out of there minds. Each day went like this:
James would wake up around seven, he was an early riser, unlike Peter and Sirius, who usually laid in until time for lunch. So James would use this time to owl Lily, without them knowing. Merlin knows what teasing they would give him, if the found out how often he wrote Lily! Then at 12 they would all have lunch and maybe a few snow ball fights. Then they would head back to their now empty common room and work on the anigmagi process.
Finally they would talk, play chess or play games like "wand chase" (Chasing each other, one person being tag, hexing each other, turning their victims different colours!) On Christmas morning, Sirius unusually woke James and Peter up,
"Presents!" He exclaimed. And they got up and opened their presents. James had gotten a solid gold chain from his parents. A book from his sister, Claire, a jumper from his other sister, Cissa. Numerous amounts of sweets and stuff from the rest of his family. Boxers from Sirius (Boy was he weird!), a calendar from Remus, of his favourite quidditch team, the Huntley Hurricanes (They weren't top of the league but at least they weren't his fathers team!). Peter had got him a book on Anigmagi.
And finally lily had gotten him a badge, enchanted to say "No 1 Coach!", a whole box of Honeydukes best sweets and a wand care kit. There was also a not enclosed which meant more to James then any of his gifts, it read;
Dear James,
Thank you sooo much for all the help you have given me since school started. You don't know what it has meant to me. You are a true friend, if not more! I really feel I have progressed in both becoming more confident and better at my school work. I also have the first real friends, theres you, Sirius, Remus, Peter and also I have started talking to the girls in my dorm. Thank you again.
Yours always,
Lily Evans xxx
Later on in that week Remus had returned form home early, looking tired and a little rough as he usually did after a transformation. His parents had decided to keep him a little while longer, for Christmas. At this present time the four marauders were talking once again about the Anigmagi poem they hadn't yet solved.
"Ow! What can it mean? It has to mean something!" Sirius said.
"Perhaps you have to get a part of the animal you want to be, or something?" Peter said.
"I don't quite think so Pete!" Remus replied.
"What do you reckon, prongs?" Sirius asked. James was currently thinking about Lily, who he still "didn't" fancy.
"What, Lily?" He answered.
Sirius' face lit up and a grin spread across it, Peter and Remus just looked dumfounded.
Peter said," I don't see how she can help us here Prongs?" James' face went red, realising what he had just said.
"Pete, I don't think he had Anigmagus on his mind, more a bird than a stag!" Sirius smirked.
"No... I meant... Lily can help us?... Urrr she's really smart...I'll just discreetly bring the subject up in one of our sessions, and see if she can help?" James quickly covered.
"Sure!You could try! As long as you are discrete" Sirius replied.
That evening James and Sirius went to the kitchens together.
"James you know you can talk to me about anything, right?"
"Yeah, I know." James replied a little confused.
"I mean we are best friends and we've known each other forever."
"yeah, what are you getting at? I know you don't need money!"
"We can talk right, even about girls? And you know, if we've begun to get attracted to one in particular, who maybe is different than who you feel you should?"
"Ow no, we're not going into this again! If I've told you once, I've told you a million times, Lily's more like my sister!"
"Ow so you weren't thinking about her earlier, instead of listening to u?"
"yeah well your not exactly the most exciting person to talk to!"
"Ow, and don't think I haven't noticed you sneak off at the crack of dawn, to the owlery to send her letters!"
"Ow so you're spying on me now?!"
"Admit it!"
"Admit what?"
"That you like lily!"
"So what if I do!" James gasped. "I do, don't I?!?"
"Hadn't you realised it? Oh Mother of Merlin! I thought you were smart!" Sirius chuckled . "So you gona ask her out?" James was still in shock.
"I Can't!" he said "What if she says no?"
"She won't, I can see it in her eyes. She hero worships you!"
"No, I can't, I won't!"
"Fine, be miserable then!" A week later Lily returned to Hogwarts. James met her in the entrance hall.
"Hey, how was your Christmas?" He asked.
"It was o.k., but I am glad to be back here, the magical world is so much more interesting and I have alot more friends."
"I'm surprised a Mudblood like you has any friends." Came the smooth, creepy voice of Severus Snape. "I'm especially surprised of your little boyfriend, who seems to follow you around, with a father like his and a family name to defend!" James growled and jumped forward.
Had Lily not held him back, Snape would probably have had to spend his first week back in the hospital wing!
"Leave it, he's not worth it." Lily said, taking James' arm and leading him towards the prefects common room.
"You are one to be talking about worth!" Snape shouted after them and Lily had to use all her strength to hold James back. Neither talked until they reached the prefects common room.
"I hate it when you are spoken to like that! Why didn't you let me go after him?"
"Ow, and what would you have done? He would have been left in a million pieces. Your lucky you didn't get in trouble last time, I'm not gona let you go getting expelled or something at my expense!"
"Believe me I have got away with alot worse!" Sensing James was getting a little angry, Lily hastily changed the subject, as they sat on the chairs in front of the prefects fire. (It was a Saturday so they had nothing better to do).
"Thank you again sooo much for my Christmas presents, they meant sooo much to me!" Lily said twiddling her ring.
James subconsciously reached for his which was currently on a chain around his neck.
"No problem, I really liked mine too. The sweets were gone within an hour."
"Oh shut up! I bet you got loadsa sweets."
"Yeah but yours tasted the nicest!"
"Ow yeah, how is that possible?"
"Because they came from you!" Lily blushed and James' grin broadened.
"Anyway grab your broomstick, we have about 3 hours to practice, before it starts getting dark."
"Ow do we have to?"
"Yes, try outs are a week on Friday!"
"Friday week?! There's no way I'll be ready!"
"Yes you will, have a little faith in yourself! I do."
"Ok." So they went outside and practised until it became dark. Even though it had been two weeks since Lily had been on a broom, she seemed to still have her technique.
After she had been shown the basics of hoe to use her broom properly and to it's best effects, she seemed to click with her new broom and be quite natural with it, as though she and her broom were one.
Lily had no problems what so ever in catching the snitch, beating James to it 9 times out of 10. James was a little frustrated, he had only gone easy on her the first time.
It bothered him how she was becoming better than him, although he usually played chaser he could beat any one at any position (well except maybe his father.) But this proved that Lily was ready for tryouts.
After practise, James arranged 3 more training sessions and to meet up for a study session the next day. (He still needed to ask her about the Anigmagus poem.)
The next night, James showed Lily the poem ("Tonight we will look into Anigmagus, and to get a better insight into it we will look into it further.")
Lily read it aloud;
"Your final task,
Be you friend or foe.
The animal,
Which you bestow,
Will always be,
A part of the,
If you trust it so.
To honour one,
You must become,
At peace,
With her and you.
She will only die,
If you defy,
Her in body mind and spirit."
"Well I'd say that was pretty obvious." She stated.
"You do?" James couldn't help but blurt out.
"Yes, the last stage in becoming Anigmagus goes like this; The animal you wish to honour, will always stay faithful to you, IF you always trust it.
So to become Anigmagus you have to convert your feelings to the feelings your animal is likely to have. And eventually the feelings will take over your body and transform you into your animal. I expect you have to train your thoughts to become more animal like, then when you've got the Knack of it, think like it and say some sort of spell or something and you should be able to transform.
I doubt any student could do it. I've heard Mcgonnagal is training to become one though... Ow wait, the last bit of the poem... Your animal will only die, not if you do but only if your faith does. If you don't trust it's feelings then she will die, if not, she will live on, perhaps in someone you love or entrust your soul."
"Lily, you're excellent!" James hugged Lily then ran out of the library. Lily found this rather weird, but decided against thinking anything of it, she had quite a bit of homework to catch up on anyway.
James ran up to his dorm, taking every shortcut imaginable and made it with in 5 minutes. He ran in, startling his mates.
"Whoa! Jamesie! Where's the fire?!"
"No...fire...poem...Lily...solved" He was out of breath from running.
"SOLVED?!" Sirius exclaimed. "What...when...how?" He said imitating James.
"I showed her the poem, like I said I would and in a matter of seconds she had it down. It all made so much sense!"
"What, no way! We've been working on it for months and she takes one look at it and has the answer. I bet it doesn't work."
"Well she said you just have to think like your animal and once you've got the hang of it say the spell and voila! Ow and you have to believe and trust in it."
"Well it's worth a shot." Remus reasoned with Sirius.
"Ok, we'll try one week of thinking like our animals, then we'll try the spell."
"So what, Lily wasn't suspicious or anything?"
"Ow Merlin! LILY!" James ran back out of the dorm, on his way back to the library. When he reached it, he saw Lily was still there.
"Sorry...needed...toilet." He panted, once more, out of breath.
"And you had to use the ones in the north tower?" She joked. He blushed.
They then talked over some points which Lily didn't quite understand about the Anigmagi process, but soon they got side tracked.
"So who shall we try and book for Dumbledore's ball?" Lily asked.
"Well, my dad has some good connections with loads of people, so I'd say we should try and aim for the best."
"And that would be?"
"The Spooks."
Even Lily, muggle born Lily, had heard of the spooks, posters of them plastered over hers and every girls dorm in the school. It was a group of two wizards and two ghosts. The wizards would play magical instruments, whilst one ghost would sing and the other would perform by dancing and going through the other band members. It was rather interesting to watch, plus the drummer person was hot (In Lily's opinion).
"No way! Your dad could book them?"
"Sure can. I'll owl him tonight."
"And the charity event? What do you reckon?"
"How about a slave auction? We can auction off a group of people, ourselves could perhaps be some of them?"
"Excellent! And you have to get Remus, Peter and Sirius in there as well! You four will raise a fortune!"
"What about you? You'll have every guy in the school bidding!"
"Oh yeah right, to do there homework perhaps! How will it work anyway?"
"Well... Me and you could present it and be the auction people, and then people could bid on slaves. The highest wins. And then we can arrange a day which the slaves are slaves!"
"Ow and we could do a booklet on the slaves and their information, so people can know who they are bidding for!"
"Oh this is gona be so great!"
The following Friday held a major event, well for Lily any way. It was of course the tryouts for being the Ravenclaws substitute seeker.
Lily arrived on the Quidditch pitch, as did the captain, A seventh year, Harnie Chang, as well as a fourth year, Joe Locklear, a seventh year, Leanne Caspian and a second year, Beverly Mauvais- all planning on trying out for the position. The marauders had also taken their seats in the stands, making Lily, if possible, more nervous!
"Right we are going to separate you into pairs, Lily and Leanne, as you are the oldest, and Joe and Beverly. You will take it in turns to compete for the snitch and the winner of your heat will compete against the winner of the other heat. Who ever wins over all, gets the spot. Joe and Beverly, you first."
Beverly won his round and Lily hers. They were now both in the air waiting for the snitch to be released. Joe was a very confident flier, it was obvious that he must have been flying since a very young age. But Lily had been training intensely for the past few months. James was a good coach.
They both circled the centre, until the whistle was blown, and they were off, looking for any glimpse of gold. It had been two minutes, when Lily spotted a gold glimmer by a set of goal posts, it seemed all the times she had spotted "Wendeline" had paid off!
But she couldn't go straight for it, Beverly was closer and would surely beat her to it, even on her new broom. So she turned discreetly and zoomed off in the opposite direction. Beverly, thinking she was diving for the snitch, followed closely and was too busy trying to see where she had seen the snitch, to notice that Lily had stopped and turned around.
She spotted the snitch again in the same position and put her broom in to full speed. By now Beverly had seen her and was on her tail, but alas, it was too late, Lily already had the small golden ball grasped in her hand, as it's wings beat furiously against her hands.
She landed on the pitch to be engulfed in hugs, from first Harnie Chang and then the Marauders. She had actually made the team.
"Well, I got to hand it to you James you have achieved the impossible, getting me on the Quidditch team!" Lily said happily.
The Stag, an intelligent, handsome animal. It is fast thinking, quick footed and honest. It is a very organised animal, a leader, leading it's heard to the required places to peruse their business. These were the qualities, James had tried to portray all week. It wasn't hard, as these came rather naturally to him.
He would find himself in a situation and ask himself, What would a stag do? At first he would think, Why would a stag need to tame his hair? But then he really began to think, what would my inner stag do? Ask a member of it's heard for help!
"Remus, can you help me with my hair, mate?"
"What's the point? No one can! Even your sister and she's great with that stuff!"
By the time their week was up, the boys were shattered. It was the Saturday the next full moon and they were going to try to transform. James was the only one who had faith and was excited about trying.
But the others were far too used to failed attempts. Who knew it would be this hard? I mean all they wanted to do was turn themselves into animals! Sirius went first, he thought like a dog, said the spell and something actually happened! His body began to sprout fur and he started to shrink, but then he turned back to normal.
"Let me try!" James said eagerly. James thought like a stag, said the spell and voila, his body grew fur he gained antlers or prongs and his body changed. He was a beautiful white stag at will.
James had the one thing Sirius lacked and that was faith. James believed he could do it and become a stag, he knew Lily had been right. But alas his concentration fell and he was no longer prongs, but plain old James. They tried all through out the evening to become their animals, James was fully successful and Sirius had managed to complete a transformation, but still could not hold it.
He was still rather dubious about it all! Peter had only managed to grow a tail and whiskers. He almost splinched him self at one point and if James hadn't stopped him before he did anything, Merlin knows what may have happened. They were pleased however with there progress and James vowed to treat lily for her great help!
By the full moon the bys had their transformations down to a tee.
They had planned to meet Remus down at the shrieking shack after the moon had risen. With the guys there, with him in their animal forms, Remus felt more human.
He was able to communicate when in werewolf form with the other animals. They talked to him and calmed him down, getting used to their new selves also.
The two bigger animals were able to keep the werewolf in check and stop him from hurting himself. All in all Remus experienced less pain and for the first time in his life was truly happy to be a werewolf.
What else could bring him and his friends so close. The fun he had had that night and the excitement of awaiting the next full moon made Remus forget the guilt and betrayal he felt towards Dumbledore.
After all, it was him who had given Remus a chance, which no other would. And he had lead his 3 bestest friends, some of the brightest in the school, into becoming illegal Anigmagus. But alas the guilt had been forgotten.