Title: The Young Order

Rating: Probably PG, perhaps PG-13, who knows? Some where in-between there, at most PG-13 just to be safe. God knows what this mindless authoress would write...x]

Disclaimer: I, sadly, own nothing of J.K. Rowling's, and nothing in the HP universe. If I did, do you think would have died?!?! OF COURSE NOT!

Summary: Just read and find out…

Author's Note: Oh my goodness, I'm back with the story after…how long? (No, seriously, how long?) Well, I had originally planned to wait and see if I got any more reviews…if I didn't, then I'd remove the story from ff.net…and suddenly someone reviewed! (eerie, huh?) And since HP and the POA is coming out soon, and I recently started reading all the books again (backwards, mind you) and realized how much I LOVE the books and the characters, and how much fun this story was…I've decided that I'm going to continue it. And so, more than five months since the last update…here is the newest chapter! WOO-HOO!

--I have just discovered that I have a hat with the Harry Potter logo on it…and I have baptized it as my Thinking Cap. GO ME! big grin AND I just found a lightening bolt earring! This day just gets better and better…x]

Two more weeks had gone by since Laurel's and Treasure's rendezvous in the Forbidden Forest. Things had seem to go back to normal, but Lily had positively blown a fuse when she had heard about all the fun that had transpired while she had been safely asleep in the Gryffindor girl's dormitory.

"Do you mean to tell me that everyone was out running around madly in the forest while I was stuck here? Asleep?!" she demanded quite loudly one day in a pub at Hogsmeade. Remus looked around anxiously from his spot next to Laurel, and Sirius glared at Lily. Wormtail was imitating Sirius and glaring pointedly at Lily as she started to get further worked up. James yawned. Treasure was trying valiantly to calm Lily down.

"Lily, its not as if you would have let us go if we had told you…you would have been against it from the start, and it would have taken longer to get there -"

"But I would have gone with you in the end! Do you think that I am such a prat that I would just let you go into the forest on your own? And you would have had an extra wand with you…maybe your ankle wouldn't have been bothering you too much then, Treasure, if you had someone else to defend you with the spider!" Lily snapped. She had been very worried in the morning, and several morning after, when Treasure spent most of her time limping around. Treasure had refused to see Madam Pomfrey about it, wanting to avoid as many stupid questions as she possibly could. They had finally decided to use a wrap her ankle, Lily knew how as she grew up in a Muggle home, and let Treasure walk it off.

"I don't know why you couldn't just tell her that you fell down the stairs," Sirius said, earning a rather hard punch in the arm from his girlfriend. Treasure was still a bit angry with him for the large bite in her arm, which had by now faded into a colorful portrait of nasty greens and yellows.

Now, however, everyone was gathered in the Common Room, with the exception of Laurel who was in detention for setting off a large amount of Dungbombs accidentally in Potions. It had been quite amusing to Treasure, whose first period of Double Potions was with Ravenclaw, and became even more so when Eva had a rather nasty reaction to the stench and hurled into her cauldron full of an antidote for stomach illness during the second period. The irony struck Treasure as particularly priceless, and she had been docked twenty points from Gryffindor for laughing too much. Laurel had been given three nights of detention.

Remus was sitting rather glumly in a corner, staring at the fireplace. Lily was sitting alone too, looking extremely agitated when James came over and tried to strike up a conversation. She had finally gotten fed up and slammed her book onto the table with such force that she knocked over her inkpot, splattering all over her just finished essay for Transfiguration. "Reparo!" she hissed angrily at James, who looked as though he desperately wanted to laugh, and stalked off into the girl's dormitory.

Sirius and Treasure had a couch all to themselves, and were flipping through a book with their heads together. "It's got to be very difficult, though, hasn't it? I'm impressed that you and James learned it, and managed to teach Peter as well…how long do you reckon it took you?" Treasure was asking, looking at a particularly gruesome picture of a wizard stuck in between Transfiguring himself into his animal, which happened to be a rabbit. Sirius had decided that if Laurel and Treasure wanted to continue coming to visit the Whomping Willow, they would have to learn to become Animagi. James agreed when Treasure had suggested that perhaps Lily wanted to learn as well.

"It took us all of last year, and we'd been researching it since the middle of third." Sirius said. Treasure tossed him a nasty look. "And you never thought to mention it to me, Black? After all that help I gave you with the Marauder's Map, you never thought maybe I would like to learn how to turn myself into some random animal?" she asked. Sirius looked back at her just as nastily, "First of all, it's not just 'some random animal', that's where you'll end up getting into trouble," he said. "Second of all, it was hard enough for us to learn it, do you really think we wanted to go around teaching a bunch of girls as well?"

"And what, pray tell, is wrong with a bunch of girls?" came a new voice from the portrait hole. Laurel was climbing in, looking annoyed. "Thank goodness this was the last night of my detention, if I had to scrap rat bile from the bottom of one more draw I might have gone and hexed Athach. Stupid old bat," she snarled, allowing Remus to kiss her lightly on the cheek. James grinned at him cheekily, and Remus turned slightly pink.

"I mean, just look at this? My hands are raw…and Athach just laughed…one day I swear I will curse that loon," Laurel went on, tossing her silvery hair behind her. Her eyes were flashing an angry green. Remus led her over to the couch where Sirius and Treasure were sitting. Treasure pulled the book into her lap so Laurel could see it, and they spent another quarter hour reading up on what it took to become an Animagus.

"It says that one has to be able to perform very well in Transfiguration," Treasure said, a bit put off. "Transfiguration is my favorite subject, but that doesn't mean I'm very good at it," she moaned. Laurel shrugged, "I think it's pretty easy," she said. "Charms is what gets me, though. Who knew that if you did the wrong wrist movement, and entirely different charm would be put into effect…like that time I was supposed to summon a cushion, and sent poor Professor Flitwick careening into the closet instead…" Treasure laughed and turned the pages, "I think the first thing we should do is pick what animals we want to turn into…but how are you supposed to do that?"

"It usually just comes to you," James explained, sitting down on an armchair opposite the couch. Peter nodded from the table where he was struggling over his Divination homework. It was hard for him, and pathetically so, because all he really had to do was make up the answers.

"And you usually end up having some traits in common with the animal you choose," Peter chimed in, his nose twitching - almost uncanny in the way it resembled that of a rat. He rung nervously his pale hands as everyone turned to look at him. Treasure grinned, "You don't say?" she quipped, not unkindly. She found Peter's admiration for James, Sirius, and Remus, though annoying, rather poignant as well. Sirius would beg to differ.

"Well, I know what animal I'm going to be," Laurel said, yawning widely. She rested her head on Remus' shoulder, smiling at him as he asked her quietly what animal she had chosen. "A wolf, of course," she said, shrugging. Remus smiled thinly.

"Its 'cause she wants to mate," Treasure said bluntly, and yelped as Laurel jabbed her sharply in the side. Both Laurel and Remus were blushing. Sirius laughed heartily and turned a few more pages. "Do you have any idea what you want to change into?" Peter asked Treasure, walking over from the table, having finally given up on his homework. She bit her lip thoughtfully, and ran a hand through her unruly dark hair. Her eyes looked almost yellow in the dim light.

"I was thinking some kind of bird," she said, turning a few more pages hastily and coming to rest on a page that was titled Registered Animagi Witches and Wizards. She scanned the list. "Why am I not surprised that none of you are registered?" she asked with a smile.

"What, and let a bunch of stuffy old blokes know that a handful of fifteen year olds can do what many full grown wizards can't?" Sirius asked. "We wouldn't want to spoil their fun," James added, standing up and stretching, and heading for bed.

"I mean, if Wormtail here can become a successful Animagus, that doesn't say a whole lot for the wizards who cant, hmm?" Sirius asked. Treasure glared at him, and looked sympathetically towards Pettigrew, who was blushing and smiling rather nervously. "I think I'm pretty much beat," she said, standing up and walking to the girl's dormitory. Laurel did so as well, kissing Remus goodnight as she headed out the portrait to get to the Ravenclaw tower.

"How long do you figure it'll take me to learn to be Animagus?" Treasure asked Sirius as he caught up with her. He grinned insolently at her, "What, with me as a teacher?" he asked. She mock-sneered at him and turned to go up the stairs to the girl's dormitory, calling a lazy goodnight over her shoulder as she did.

"Lily?" Treasure whispered, changing quickly into her nightgown and slipping into bed. "Hmm?" Lily said, rolling over and turning on a light. They both ignored the annoyed groans of Violet and Isabelle, who were asleep in the other beds. Treasure grinned. "There's something that Laurel and I would like to learn, and we may need your help; seeing as how you are the more dedicated of the students," Treasure said with a grin. Lily rolled her eyes, "What stupid bit of trouble do you fancy getting yourself into now?" she asked, but Treasure knew her all to well to miss the smile that was twitching at the corners of her lips.

"Well, we want to become…" she lowered her voice, shooting a rather nasty look at the beds beyond Lily. Violet and Isabelle had become considerably cooler towards Treasure as soon as she started dating Sirius. It wasn't a little known fact that many girls fancied Sirius, and Violet and Isabelle were among them. It seemed odd to Treasure that two girls who were in her own dormitory would hold such a grudge against her, and it had only really started in this year. They were usually on quite good terms with Treasure.

"We want to learn how to become Animagi," Treasure finished in a whisper. Lily's eyes widened significantly. "Treasure…that's really advanced magic…If something went wrong, it could be very hard to reverse," she said, looking excited all the same. Challenging magic was something the Lily never skirted away from, and Treasure had a feeling that it may have been because she was Muggle-born, and wanted to prove herself more than other witches and wizards her age might. Treasure grinned at her best friend, "It's nothing old Daisy can't handle, is it?" Daisy Pomfrey was the school nurse, and had handled many, many spells and incantations gone wrong by foolish students. Lily still looked apprehensive, but was biting her lip in a mixture of anxiety and excitement. From the glow in her green eyes, Treasure could tell that excitement was winning over the better half of Lily Evans.

"Besides, if James and Sirius could learn it, it should be a total cinch for you," Treasure hinted, and the speed in which Lily met her eyes was enough to let Treasure know that her friend was hooked. "James…is an Animagus?" Lily asked. She looked positively furious…and perhaps a bit impressed. Treasure hid her smile. "Yes…didn't you know?" she asked. Lily looked as though she was going to explode. She sat up quickly in her bed and pulled out her bag from underneath her, pulling out a book and flipping through the pages impatiently.

"Um, Lils?" Treasure asked, now a bit perplexed. "It says here that the youngest wizard to ever successfully become an Animagus was twenty-eight! James is only fifteen!"

"Hate to burst your bubble, Lily, but he learned it last year," Treasure said, biting the insides of her cheeks to keep from laughing. Lily glared. "Do you mean that he learned it when he was fourteen…half the age of the youngest wizard who, it says here, learned to turn himself into a monkey?" Treasure shrugged, "Afraid so," she said. Lily snapped the book shut and stuffed it back under her bed in a most unreasonable sort of way.

"That git," she said. Lily hated it when James was better at something than her. He was especially good at Transfiguration, and although Lily was also one of the top in her class, he still had her beat. She positively fumed when he was awarded points for being the first person to Transfigure his porcupine into a pincushion, without having it curl up in fright as the Professor approached it with a pin. Lily's pin cushion still trembled from time to time, and hopped about a bit, on a particularly unlucky day.

"I'm sure he wont mind teaching you," Treasure was saying. Lily through herself back down onto her bed, fluffing her pillow up rather forcefully. "I don't want him to teach me. I'm sure that you and I will be able to learn it ourselves - Laurel as well," she said, sniffing indignantly. She was already annoyed enough that she had to spend an excess amount of time with James, now that Treasure and Sirius were an item, as were Laurel and Remus. But having him teach her would be just unbearable.

"Right, well, I'm sure he'd make a great teacher. Sirius has offered his help as well," Treasure said sleepily. Lily frowned, "I'm quite sure that we don't need their help, if they could learn it themselves last year - and we're a year older than they were when they learned it…" but she soon realized that Treasure was quite past listening, in fact she was breathing deeper and merely murmuring each time Lily paused for an answer. Lily smiled as she turned off the light, and drifted off into sleep while thinking of what kind of animal she'd be inclined to turn into.

Madam Poppy Pomfrey is the nurse when Harry is at Hogwarts…I took the liberty of making up a Madam Daisy Pomfrey, presumably a relative of Harry's Pomfrey…I really love reading the books over again…

A/N: I wanted to write more, but I was really eager to get this chapter up…they're expecting thunderstorms here, so I have to hurry to get this posted…hope you enjoyed this chapter! I don't know why, but somehow I envision Lily Evans as someone with a personality a bit similar to Hermione…hmm…Review, please!

-Crystyna