Disclaimer: I don't own anything JK owns.

Chapter 10- Animagi

A few weeks later, the Marauders were wandering alone around the castle. Suddenly, Sirius stopped, causing everyone to fall out of the Invisibility cloak. Cursing a lot, James stands up, and asks Sirius:

"What is it this time, Sirius?"

"I'm a genius!" Sirius said brightly.

"Good for you. Now please don't tell me you made us fall down because you think you're a genius."

"No, no, no! I just had an idea of how we can help Remus here."

"Oh?" Remus said, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah. Werewolves don't harm animals, so I was thinking, then why don't we become animals?"

"You mean Animagi?" James asked Sirius.

"Yes. And since we're top in Transfiguration it would be very easy to become Animagi."

"You know, I think Sirius finally had a good idea," Peter said.

"Yeah."

"No. You won't go to Azkaban because of me," Remus said.

"Remus, it's for your good okay? And I liked the idea, and you know how no one can stop me when I like something," James said.

"Oh dear."

The next few months the Marauders were excessively hiperactive. McGonagall had to curse them quite a few times so that they would stop bouncing off the walls during Transfiguration. They were even worse during Potions, where they kept 'accidentally' throwing their potions over Snape. Luckily, Sirius and James(who were even worse than Peter and Remus) had Quidditch practice, so they could use all their energy for it.

What was even more suspicious was that they were often found in the library, and that they could never be found in the Gryffindor common room, as they were always mysteriously missing. Finally Alex got sick of wondering where they went every night, and after asking her mother to send her her Invisibility Cloak, she followed the boys, or rather their noises, since they were wearing James's Invisibility Cloak, out of the common room one night. She was surprised to find them going to the Whomping Willow. She watched carefully as Remus got a stick and pushed a knot with it, causing the Willow to stop moving. The boys then disappeared, and as soon as Peter's cloak disappeared from sight(James had gotten the Invisibility Cloak once they arrived at the Willow, so they were all visible now) the Willow began thrashing again.

Grabbing the same stick Remus had used, Alex pressed the knot and when the Willow stopped moving she saw a tunnel. Squeazing herself in, she walked a while, and then found herself inside a little house. The furniture of the house was completely destroyed, and when she turned around, she saw a stair case. When she climbed it, she saw a closet filled with books about....Transfiguration? This is very strange, Alex thought. After walking past the closet, she found the Marauders, all gathered around a very thick book, about Animagi.

"Do I dare ask what you boys are doing here?" Alex asked as she removed her Invisibility Cloak.

"A—Alex? What a pleasure to see you, love!" Sirius said.

"Sirius, cut the cr-"

"Alex! Are you swearing? I'm shocked!" James said, feigning surprise.

"You too, James. Now, explain everything."

"Okay. It's like this. You know that Remus is werewolf, right-" Sirius began.

"She does?" Remus asked sharply.

"Yeah, that tricky witch was pretending to sleep, when she fainted, and James and I were talking about that, when Jake left to go to the loo, and she overheard everything. Anyway, Alex, werewolves don't hurt animals, right?"

"Yeah...and your point is...."

"We've decided to become Animagi, so that we can help Remus."

"What?"

"You heard them, Alex. I tried to stop them, but they wouldn't listen to me," Remus grumbled.

"But that's genius! You know what, I'm going to become one along with you guys. But you must swear that you'll never tell anyone, not even a soul!"

"Okay, Alex, but why?"

"Because when I become and Auror, my form will help me catch the Death Eaters, or at least spy on them."

"Oh. Shall we begin then?" Peter said.

After the exams, the second years were given something to think about. McGonagall had announced that the second years should choose extra classes.

"Can we drop Potions?" Sirius had asked the Gryffindors while they were choosing the subjects.

"No. I asked McGonagall, and she began screaming at me," Carrie answered.

"Hmm. What do I choose, Muggle Studies or Ancient Runes?" Alex mused.

"Ancient Runes, definetely. What's the point of having Muggle Studies, if you can simply ask the girls whatever you want to know?" James said.

"To learn, James, something that you're incapacitated to do. But I guess I'll choose Ancient Runes, it'll be an excuse to got to Egypt, and Care for the Magical Creatures."

"Aren't you going to do Arithmancy?" Remus asked.

"You wouldn't catch me dead in an Arithmancy classroom. Please don't tell me you're going to do it."

"Yes, Mum sent me a letter forcing me to do it."

"Oh. What about you, Lily?"

"Ancient Runes and Care for the Magical Creatures. Everyone is going to do those."

"Hmm."

Finally the summer break arrived. When the student's arrived at King's Cross, Alex told everyone that if they wanted to they could all go to her house. Lily smiled, and said she'd ask her parents.

"Lily dear, over here!" Lily turned around to find her mother, Marisa Evans.

"Hullo Mum," Lily waved at her friends, and got into the car.

To Lily's surprise, Petunia was in the car as well. She looked at Lily as if she was maggot, and said:

"Listen here, freak. Today my boyfriend, Phillip, is going to eat dinner with us, and I don't want any biting teacups this year, okay?"

"Petunia, be nice. And Lily, Giorgio sent you a letter. It arrived yesterday," Nathan said from the driver's seat.

The trip back home went pretty much like that, and when Lily arrived at home, she went to her room. There, she sat on the window railing. To her surprise, she saw a boy about her age doing the same, next door. As she looked closer to him, she realised it was Lucas Thatcher, a Hufflepuff that was in her year. She waved at him, and he waved back, acknowledging her. Lily shouted:

"You're Lucas Thatcher, right?"

"Yes. You're Lily Evans?"

"Yeah. How are you doing?"

"I'm okay. It was your friend, right, that lost an uncle during X-mas?"

"Yeah. Look, I gotta go. My sister is calling me."

"Sure. See ya later!"

Lily waved once more at Lucas and hurried inside, where Petunia was shrieking her head off.

"What this time, Petunia?" Lily asked in a bored tone.

"I just wanted to tell you to please hide all your horrid little things somewhere so that Phillip doesn't see them."

"Don't worry. I wouldn't fancy your boyfriend looking through my school stuff," Lily replied dryly.

Lily went back to her room, and to her relief Lucas wasn't sitting by his window anymore.(She didn't like the way he'd spoken about Alex's uncle, and had been, for the first time, that Petunia had called her) Lily found the letter
Giorgio had sent her, and to her surprise she saw it was just like a muggle letter, not a wizard one. Lily laughed as she read about his adventures and wrote a letter to him. She gave it to her mother, since she didn't have an owl, so her mother could mail it.

A few hours later the Evans were waiting in their living room for Petunia's 'lovely, adorable, and darling' boyfriend, in Petunia's words. Marisa and Nathan hadn't met him yet, as Petunia and Phillip had only started dating a week earlier. After making sure everything in the house was organized and that Lily had put her 'horrid things' aways, Petunia had gone to the living room looking, in Lily's opinion, horrible. First, she'd tried to curl her hair, but had failed horrible, leaving them somewhat soggy. Then she'd tried to fit herself in a dress that was probably two sizes smaller, not to mention that it was a pink(Pink simply didn't suit Petunia, although she loved it). Petunia wasn't fat, but she considered herself fat, and figured that wearing clothing that were a few sizes smaller would, somehow, remove her fat.

Marisa and Nathan, probably so they wouldn't offend their eldest daughter, said she looked dashing and that Vernon would definetely love her outfit. Petunia smiled, and when she turned to Lily, her smile quickly disappeared from her face. Lily looked at her clothes, which was a pair of jeans and a green shirt that Lily knew looked nice in her, and said, "What?"

"Oh, nothing really, just that your outfit is horrible!" Petunia shrieked.

"There's nothing wrong with my clothes!" Lily said.

"There a hole in your jeans!" Lily groaned, and thought, Well, trust Petunia to find holes in someone's clothes!

"I'm sure Phillip won't notice it, Petunia," Marisa said quickly, just as the doorbell rang. Lily smirked at Petunia, since she couldn't discuss the holes in Lily's jeans with Vernon right next to her.

Now, whatever Lily was expecting of Phillip, she most certainly wasn't expecting what she saw. As soon as Petunia opened the door, Lily felt a wave of shock go by her. Phillip was the most hideous, grotesque person, if he could be called so, Lily had ever seen. Which was a lot, as Lily had seen many hags throughout the school year inside her books. First off, he was way too skinny. Secondly, his clothing were completely wrong. Who wears a black tuxedo and a purple shirt underneath? Not to mention his bowtie underneath his long chin. Thirdly, he had the biggest and grossest pimples Lily'd ever seen. Marisa almost cried when she saw him, but that was probably because she'd bumped her foot on the way to greeting Phillip, since she would never be caught dead criticising someone because of it's looks.

After, reluctantly of course, Lily greeted him, the Evans and Phillip went to the dinner table. Lily sat next to Petunia, who was thankfully sitting right next to Phillip. Dinner was practically unbearable, and as soon as Lily got the chance, she ran to her room, and didn't come out until it was time to bid Phillip good-night.The rest of the week was pretty normal, except for Phillip's constant visits. Friday night, while Lily was doing her homework, the now-familiar owl, Artemis, appeared and gave Lily a letter. It was Alex telling her that if her parents allowed it, of course, she could go to her house until it was time to go to Hogwarts. Everyone was going to be there, and Alex said she could pick her up. Lily's parent's allowed, and next morning, Alex had apparently already received the reply.

Lily had just finished packing everything up again, when she heard a loud noise downstairs. She ran to the living room, and found it completely blown up. Thankfully Petunia was with Phillip, or else she would have had a fit. Standing near the fireplace was Alex and her father, both grinning guiltily. Lily's parent's had rushed over to see what was the commotion, and Marisa had almost fainted when she saw her living room. Once Alex's father had fixed everything up, he explained the Evans how he was going to take Lily to the house. Nathan paled slighty at the idea of allowing his daughter to travel by Floo, but in the end gave in. Alex and Lily high-fived each other, and rushed to Lily's room to get her trunk. Alex asked about Petunia, Lily's now famous 'evil' sister. When they reached the living room, Mr. Owens explained Lily how to travel by Floo. Alex went first, and Lily paled visibly.

Trembling slightly, she got a handful of Floo Powder, and just like Mr. Owens had instructed, she shouted, 'Owens Manor!' suddenly, everything began spinning and just as suddenly, Lily stopped. She got out of the unfamiliar fireplace, and was attacked by Esther, who hugged her.

"Hullo, Lily!" she said.

"Hi, Esther, Ellen, Carrie, Potter, and- What? Potter!" Lily said, and froze suddenly when she saw James.

"Hello, Evans!" James said brightly, as if forgetting last years incident. Lily promptly ignored him and continued to say hello to the rest of the people. Mr. Owens had arrived by then, and told Alex to show the visitors their rooms(the rest of the people had arrived just a few minutes earlier, except for James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter, who were next door, with James.) While Alex showed them around, Lily analyzed the house, that is, if you could still call it a house.

The manor, as Alex had said it was when inquired about the size of the house, looked like it had been built around the 1600's and was filled with armors, painting of damsels in distress(who were Alex's ancestors), and strange creatures that hurried around the house, cleaning everything.

"Alex, what are those?" Lily said, motioning towards the creatures.

"Oh! They are house-elves, they work here." Lily went back to analyzing the house, until Alex came to a stop in front of a huge room. The room had five beds that were very similiar to the girls four poster beds in Hogwarts. Next to each bed was a small drawer, where they were to put their things in. After the girls settled in, the Marauders and Alex took them outside.

After about an hour of walking up and down the hills of the Owens' land, they arrived at a small shack. Pressing a finger to her lips, Alex crouched down, and motioned the others to do the same. As quietly as she could, Alex slowly stood up, and grinning madly, she started banging at the door of the shack. Suddenly, an old man appeared at the window and began cursing the giggling children. The man got his cane, and ran after the children, who were running all around the clearing, trying to dodge the curses. After a while, the old man grew tired, and the children settled down.

"Who was that?" Ellen asked the Marauders and Alex.

"Oh, that's our bodyguard of sorts," Alex replied.

"That old man is your family bodyguard?"

"He was an Auror, but he's long since retired, and now he works for Daddy. He's not the only one though, they are all scattered throughout the land. Bernard, that's him, is the funniest. I've been doing this for years and he still falls for it."

"Oh."

"Oh dear! I'm going to become dead meat today! Mum told

Alex nodded, and the group left running towards James's house, Lily sulking a little, since she did not want to go near his house. When they reached the gate separating the Potter land and the Owens, they heard a shrill scream and a short woman, followed by a girl, emerged from the house that was seen in the distance.

The woman had hazel eyes, just like James's and her blond hair was tied in bun. Her face was contorted in anger, and if you looked at her chin, you could see that it was set just like James's often was. The girl was smirking at the boys, and Sirius glared at her. Her golden hair was hanging loosely on her shoulders, and her green eyes were twinkling mischievously.

"James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter, I thought I had made myself clear this morning?" the woman inquired.

"Yes, Mum, it's just that we...got lost," James said, a little too quickly. His mother's eyes narrowed.

"You got lost inside the Owens' land, where you've been running around for years?"

"Why, yes, Aunt Cathy. You do know their land is very tricky," Sirius said galantly.

"The trickiest thing there is on the land is the forest, which is on the other side of the land, therefore there is no way you could have been there and arrived today."

"But-but...." James said, smiling weakly at his mother.

"Aunt Cathy, I must interrupt. The boys are indeed lying, but they are doing so to protect me," Alex said. The Marauders smiled gratefully at her.

"Protecting you from what, Alexandra dear?" James's mother was smiling warmly at Alex, obviously submitting to her charms.

"Well, today I was bugging Bernard, but I told Mum and Dad that I would stop, so I told them not to say anything. And they are just late because Bernard's shack is quite far."

"Oh, well, I must forgive them, then."

"Thank you, Aunt Cathy, by the way, this is Lily, Ellen, Esther, and Carrie, friends from school. Lily, Ellen, Esther, and Carrie, this is Aunt Cathy, and Anna, Aunt Cathy's niece. She's going to Hogwarts this year." Alex said that almost regretfully.

Once everybody was acquainted, they entered the Potter manor, Lily sulking a little, but being polite enough. Catherine Potter served them tea and biscuits, and when the girls finished eating, they went to the Owens manor by Floo, and Alex showed them most of the secret passages in the manor. One even went to James's room, in the Potter manor.

The next morning the girls woke up with a start and went to the dining room. There, they found an old lady and a young woman waiting for them. Alex exclaimed when she saw both, and hugged them.

"Lily, Esther, Carrie, and Ellen, this is my grandmother and Aunt Charlotte, you can call her Aunt Charly, though," Alex introduced them just as William and Audrey appeared. They both ran to their grandmother and aunt, and William told them proudly that he had received his Hogwarts letter, and Annie (A/N: William has known Anna for a long time, so he calls her Annie, although he doesn't like her. Alex calls her Anna because they don't really get along either.) would be going with him.

"Alex, why don't you and the girls go to Diagon Alley, with James and his friends, of course, and you can buy your supplies. After all, we might not have time later on, so the sooner, the better," Aunt Charly said.

"That would be excellent! I'll go call them!" Alex jumped up, ran to the fireplace, took out a handful of Floo powder, threw it at the fire, stuck her head inside the fire(much to the schock of her friends, who had to be calmed down by Aunt Charly) and shouted 'Potter Manor!' She started talking to someone, and a few minutes later, the Marauders and Anna appeared at the door way.

Lily groaned quietly when she saw James, but was able to hide her feelings. Alex, however, was a complete different matter. She groaned a little too loudly when she saw Anna, and Anna in turn, smirked evilly at her. It was Aunt Charly who came to the girls rescue.

"Now, everyone has everything you need? No? Then go quickly to your room, we don't have all day," she said briskly, shooting Alex a warning look, who just grinned sweetly. When everyone was ready, they went to Diagon Alley by Floo, and when they arrived there, Aunt Charly left them alone while she attended to her business.

"Okay, so what will we do first?" Sirius asked them.

"I need to change my money at Gringotts," Ellen said.

"Me too," Carrie and Lily said in unison.

When they got to Gringotts, the Marauder's almost fell down dead when they saw the amount of money Lily had exchanged.

"It's for my birthday, you idiots. My parent's gave me money for me to buy my present, since my birthday is next week."

"It's your birthday next week? Why didn't you tell us?" Carrie asked.

"I don't know. I just didn't."

"But birthday's are the most important event in one's life! Too bad mine already passed, it was on the week before vacation," Alex said.

"You didn't tell us either," Lily pointed out.

"I guess none of us told each other when your birthday. So mine is on June 14th," Alex began.

"October 17th," Carrie said.

"September 5th," Esther said.

"Should I say anything?" Ellen said.

"No!" the group said in unison.

"April 29th," Sirius said.

"March 12th," James said.

"May 18th," Remus said.

"November 1st," Peter said.

"July 3rd," Lily said.

"Oh my, you people are so stupid. You've known each other for almost three years, and some even more, and you never bothered to tell each other when your birthday is?" Anna said. She had a high-pitched, nasty voice that reminded Lily of Petunia.

"Annie, shut up," Will said in a bored tone.

"Make me, Will," Anna said.

"Don't bother, Anna, we aren't amused. Now, either you shut up, and you live through this visit, or you continue, and you don't survive today. What will it be?" James said, annoyed at his cousin. Now that a new one, James being annoyed at someone who's being a prat, Lily thought.

"James-" Anna began, but was cut of by Alex, who punched her hard on the face.

"Next time, Annie, it won't be just on the face. And it won't be muggle way," Alex said, as they continued walking, with a purple faced Anna sulking behind them.

The trip to Diagon Alley was very tense, and not just because of the fight. Everywhere around them, witches and wizards were lookin nervously over their shoulders, as if fearing Voldemort would appear at any moment. And stationed in front of every store there was a menacing looking witch or wizard. By the end of the day, everyone was thankful to be at a safe place.

A week later, Lily was woken up by loud voices, and when she opened her eyes, she almost fell off her bed. The room was decorated with lilies and balloons, and near her bed was a small pile of presents. The girls were all smiling at her, and they spent the whole day doing fun things. The Marauder's even surprised her by giving her a huge bag with Zonko stuff.

Their happiness lasted for a little time, however. Soon enough it was time to go to Hogwarts, and everyone was very excited.

A/N: Hey folks! I want to thank all of the reviewers, and say that I'm sorry I didn't update sooner, it's just that last week I was without inspiration, so..... anyway, I won't make Divination an extra subject, because Dumbledore says on the fifth book that he had had to contract Trelawney because of the prophecies, so that lead me to think that Divination hadn't been an option before. And yes, I know that McGonagall doesn't think Divination is a very reliable branch of magic, which also leads me to think that she once had Divination classes, or at least something similiar, but it may also be that she never like Trelawney so....whatever.

Dani