When Somers Turned To Black

Chapter 10: Animagus Almost, Again

Disclaimer: We do not own the Harry Potter works. Fortunately, we do not own the movies either.

A/N: Hi Guys! Sorry again for the long chapter wait! It's hard juggling a play, an English essay, and all of the other homework I've had lately while still writing this story. BTW, this is mostly Kelly writing/posting now because of Christine's move. SOB :( Hope you like this chapter… (EyesOfEmerald- snogging… sigh… It shall show up soon… As You Wish! Hee Hee…)

Hi Guys! Sorry again for the long chapter wait! It's hard juggling a play, an English essay, and all of the other homework I've had lately while still writing this story. BTW, this is mostly Kelly writing/posting now because of Christine's move. SOB :( Hope you like this chapter…

The first time Sirius saw Raven after the forest incident, she was eating her dinner in the Great Hall and laughing with her friends as if nothing had happened.

"Oy, Sirius!" James called. "Come on. I'm starvin'."

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Sirius muttered only half-conscience of James' worried glance. "Hey Remus," he said as he sat down at the Gryffindor table. His fellow students quickly averted their questioning gazes. "James?" Sirius whispered.

"What?" James answered through a mouthful of toasted yams.

"What's wrong with everybody?"

"Do you mean besides the obvious?" James inquired sarcastically.

"Oh, yeah," Sirius sighed.

"Don't worry about it, Black. Nobody will remember anything even happened in a day or two."

"It's just that I feel like I committed a crime or something," Sirius said, looking around.

"You didn't. People just don't want to mention it in case you'll go off on them," James explained, swallowing his minced meat pie.

"Why would I do that?" Sirius said, surprised.

"Well, one time you decided to hex a bunch of second years just because they asked if you were okay after you spilled your potions drought all over yourself. And there was that other ti..."

"Okay, okay," Sirius grinned. "I get it."

"You look like crap," Remus interrupted. "Eat something," he finished practicably as he attempted to wipe his mouth of the remnants of food.

"Thanks a lot," Sirius frowned, but started to fill up his plate nonetheless.

"No problem."

"Raven! Wait up," Sirius shouted. It was around 8:00 and the students were still permitted to go to the library or do as they pleased for another hour or so. Sirius was exiting the boys' lavatory when he saw Raven a ways down the corridor. James, Remus and Peter had already left towards the common room right after supper.

Raven turned around and looked blankly at Sirius as he hurried toward her.

Okay Sirius… Deep breath. It's your chance to talk to her without everybody staring.

"Hey," Sirius said quietly as he caught up with her. "Can we talk."

"Do I have a choice?" Raven replied, walking towards the empty Transfiguration room.

Ooookay. That doesn't sound to good.

He followed her into the room and closed the door behind them. She was sitting on one of the desks staring at him with that familiarly demanding look.

Oh my god… look at those legs…

"Soooo…" Raven started.

Sirius cleared his throat rather louder than he wanted.

"Ummm," Sirius stumbled. "I just wanted to know if you were okay."

"I could've got out of there myself, you know."

"What!" Sirius said, surprised.

"I was doing just fine until you showed up," Raven insisted.

"Are you kidding me?" Sirius said, starting to get angry. "You were like half-dead when I showed up!"

"I was not half-dead!" Raven shouted. "You show up and drag me out of there just so you can look good in front of all those stupid girls that faun over you all the time and expect me to be grateful. Then I look like an idiot because you decide to 'save the day'."

"I can't believe this!" Now Sirius was shouting too. "I went in there because I didn't want you to get hurt. Did that ever occur to you? Just because we're not always on the greatest terms… no wait. We're never on the greatest terms. That doesn't mean I'm just going to let you get hurt." By this time Raven was staring at him open-mouthed.

"Did you ever think of what it was like for me to see you in there all bloody and cut up? And then you just… fall over."

Sirius started to lower his voice and took a deep breath before he continued. "I thought you died." Sirius started to move closer to her and could feel her body-heat emanating off her flushed skin before he paused. "And if you even care how I felt, I felt like my soul was being sucked out slowly and I couldn't even get enough breath to call your name." By this time his face was only inches from hers and he was whispering raggedly. Teardrops were slowly trickling down Raven's rosy cheeks and she was looking down at her feet as they dangled between Sirius' legs. Sirius reached slowly up and grasped Raven's chin gently. He tilted her head so that her icy blue eyes were staring straight into his.

"Please don't be mad at me."

And then he leaned in until the inches between their faces were closed as Sirius put his mouth to hers. She slowly slid her thin arms around Sirius' waist and bent into the kiss. Sirius was experiencing pure ecstasy. His hand left her chin and slowly started stroking her silky, black hair. He delicately felt her tender lips with his tongue and just as he strengthened their bond she pulled away.

"Sirius…" Raven started, "just… don't.

Sirius watched as Raven left the Transfiguration room and left the door ajar behind her.

Raven had left Sirius feeling entirely empty and drained (although Sirius would never admit it). And, since she seemed to be ignoring him, they both basically avoided each other all together. Sirius' ego was deeply bruised and he dealt with his feelings by pretending nothing ever happened. A few days later, Sirius and James were up to their normal scheming, Sirius trying to forget Raven and James trying to make things seem normal.
"C'mon," nagged James as he struggled to keep the invisibility cloak over Sirius and himself.

"What's the rush? It's the middle of the night. No one is stupid enough to be roaming the corridors this late."

James shot Sirius an irritated glare.

"Well… besides us I mean," Sirius continued.

"Filch is going to skin us alive if you don't shut your bloody mouth," whispered James. "Good thing we didn't bring Peter, this cloak seems like it shrunk."

"No. It's your head. It seems to have gotten considerably larger overnight!" Sirius laughed loudly.

"Shhhhhhh!"

"Sorry!"

"Stick your wand out so we can see better," ordered James quietly.

"Alright, alright. What is it with you anyway? Lumos!"

The corridor illuminated in front of them.

"I just want to get going with this animagus thing," began James. "We keep forgetting to look stuff up, with everything that's been going on and all, and I want to be able to do this by the end of this year."

"Oh, sod off," said Sirius. "We've been trying for over two years now. I reckon we're nearly there."

"I know. We're so close. Well, except for Peter maybe, but we can help him out later."

"I bet you'll be a full-fledged animagi real soon. I mean, you've almost already done it," Sirius said as he tried to keep his voice from wavering under a hint of jealousy. "Got any whimsy on what it was yet?"

"I still think maybe it was a horse. I dunno, mate," replied James thoughtfully. He hesitated before continuing slowly. "If you could be any animal, what would you be?"

"Hmmm… probably a niffler so I could find all the gold I wanted… but then, I wouldn't say no to an elephant. Then I could just step on you whenever I wanted you to shut up," he quipped.

"No, seriously," James said impatiently. "I really want to know."

"Well, I hadn't really thought about it too much. But if I had to choose, it would be a falcon. Then I would be," here Sirius paused for a moment. "Free."

Sirius sighed and looked down at his feet. James glanced over at his best friend. More than anything in the world he wanted him to be happy. Too bad Sirius didn't have parents like his. They weren't all that bad, really. Seeing Remus turn into a werewolf every month is enough to deal with. Now Sirius is talking about freedom again. James wanted to question him, but he decided not to press him. Sirius could always come stay with him when they were on holiday.

"I hope I'm something fast and strong," Sirius rolled his eyes. "Well, here's the library. Let's go."

"Alright," started Sirius when they arrived at the restricted section of the enormous library. "Now, we've checked those rows," he said pointing to the first few sections of books, "so you can start here and I'll go farther down. Look for anything on Animagi. When you've found as many as you can carry, meet me back over here and we'll sneak back up to the common room."

"Right."

About a minute later Sirius turned around to a tapping on his shoulder.

"What?"

"C'mon. Aren't you done yet?" asked James as he struggled to hold an enormous amount of books.

"You dolt," said Sirius. "You can't just grab any book. Do half of these even say anything about animagus?"

"I dunno. I just grabbed a shelf."

"Argh… just take books that look like they'd help."

"Fine," said James, dropping the books messily on a random shelf and going to search again.

"Spells… spells… more spell books… '1001 Uses for Engorgement Charms'. Ha ha. That's a good one. I'll have to check this out sometime. Ah! 'Famous Animagi of the Millennium'. Guess I'll grab that one.

After searching a few more rows of books thoroughly, Sirius and James awkwardly made their way down the 7th floor corridor to the Gryffindor common room.

"Ow! Stop shoving me, you prat!"

"Well, you're the one with the big head that keeps getting in the way, you idiot!" Sirius said, than without thinking, knocked himself into James. As a result, books spewed out of James' outstretched arms and across the corridor.

"Now look what you've done," James yelled.

"Oh, shut up, you jerk!" Sirius yelled back. "You started it!"

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"Shut up!"

"No, you shut up!"

"No, seriously," James said covering Sirius's mouth with his hand. "Look in front of you."

"Ug grap!"

"What?" whispered James.

"I said," Sirius started, pulling James' hand off of his mouth, "Oh crap!"

Standing in front of them was the caretaker, Argus Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris. Her yellow, lamp-like eyes were staring blankly at the space where James and Sirius should be visible. They had the feeling that it didn't matter if they were invisible or not. She stared 'at them' for a few seconds longer than set off down the long corridor, sauntering along quickly.

"You know what that means," Sirius said.

"Yeah… Filch is gonna be here any second, and if he catches us, I'm going to make sure he skins you first, you bloody dolt," James said through clenched teeth.

But before Sirius could utter anything in reply, Filch came ambling awkwardly around the corner and down the corridor straight towards them.

"Run," whispered Sirius inaudibly as he watched Filch's gait loom nearer.

"What?"

"Run!" Sirius said.

They struggled with the remaining books all the way down the corridor until Sirius whipped James alongside him behind a statue of Hephuria the Brave.

"Good job," Sirius said hoarsely. "You've left all those books down there."

They stared as Filch bent over to inspect a large, green text.

"Ugh," James groaned. "That was a good one too."

But as Filch opened the cover to read the title, a large crash emanated from the floor below.

"PEEVES!" screeched Filch, dropping the book reluctantly to follow Mrs. Norris towards the racket. "I'LL HAVE YOU THIS TIME, PEEVES!"

"Phew," Sirius groaned, relieved.

"This is about the only time I wish Peeves was here to thank for causing mayhem," James sighed happily.

"Yeah, no kidding."

"Lets get those books and get out of here before Filch and his cat get back," said James as they made their way cautiously out from behind the statue of Hephuria.

They stooped to pick up the scattered books and quickly made their way to the common room. They walked through the portrait hole and pulled off the invisibility cloak. Only then did they notice Remus sitting on the couch waiting for them.

"I couldn't find you guys after Astronomy class," Remus said with a curious glance at the invisibility cloak dangling from James' teeth due to the enormous mass of books in both of his friends' outstretched arms. "Where'd you go?"

"Ummm…"

"Uh…," Sirius stuttered. "We were… looking up stuff on…"

"We were looking for that book Flitwick was talking about in class the other day." James swiftly kicked Sirius in the leg discreetly.

"Wha…? Oh, yeah. You know, 'Hexes That Make You Wish You Were Dead'."

"Yep. That's the one," James followed.

"Then why are you carrying all of those others if you were only looking for one?" Remus asked suspiciously.

"Well… we came across some other interesting ones while we were trying to find that one," Sirius said quickly.

"Oh," started Remus. "So… what'd you get?"

"Oh… just stuff," said James. "Look, I'm really tired and I think I'm gonna turn in. What do you reckon, Sirius?"

"Yeah, I was just about to say that," Sirius replied and they turned quickly around and headed up the boys' staircase.

"Why did you lie?" asked Sirius.

"What d'you mean? Why did I lie? You were the one that made up the book we were supposedly looking for. Plus you know how Remus is about us becoming Animagi."

"Yeah, but he didn't exactly tell us not to try. In fact, all he told us was to not get caught," Sirius retaliated.

"Yeah, and we almost got caught, didn't we?"

"Oh, shut it. We'll just wait 'til everyone else is asleep than we can start looking through all these," Sirius said as he threw his pile of books under his four poster.

James followed suit and flopped down onto his bed.

"Do you think we're doing the right thing?" asked James quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well… what if someone gets hurt or one of us gets stuck in the middle of transforming. That'll be a doozy, explaining that one to the school nurse."

"James, you know we have to do this. It's our best friend that we're talking about here. He would do it for us. Plus, I know we can do it. It's Peter I'd be worried about."

"I guess you're right," James replied just as Remus came through the door.

Sirius and James pretended to be asleep as Remus got ready to crash. They both waited silently until they heard soft snoring emanating from behind his bed curtains.

"James?" Sirius whispered.

"Yeah?"

"C'mon."

They slid all of the books out from underneath their beds and headed quietly back down the spiral staircase.

"So what did you find?" asked Sirius as they sat down at their favorite table by the fire in the now empty common room.

"Well, I got a couple just on old Animagi. There wasn't much about how to become one where I was looking."

"I got some pretty good stuff. One of them explains how you should change and everything. It also shows what can go wrong. It's pretty gruesome really. It's that blue one over there," said Sirius as he pointed to a text sitting at the edge of the table.

"Phew! Good thing Filch didn't get his hands on this. That was a close one," James let out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah. Remind me to thank Peeves one of these days," joked Sirius. "Well, I reckon we better get started."

"Yeah."

"Hey, this one is good," said Sirius after a while. "Listen to this. 'To obtain your animagus form, concentrate carefully on becoming the animal. You will not truly be able to become an animagus unless you are aware of your 'other self', so to speak.'"

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" asked James.

"I guess you have to already know what animal you are going to turn into before you can make the transformation."

"What? This is gonna take a lot longer than I thought," said James frustrated.

"Yeah, but if you've already almost done it than you must know what animal you are going to turn into. Right?"

"I dunno. It's not like I was sure about the whole horse thing."

"Well, try it," said Sirius.

"What?"

"Try it. The worst you can do is get stuck," said Sirius with a grin.

"Oh, very funny," James said, but then his face got serious. Sirius watched as his friend grimaced under the strain of hard concentration.

"It says here that you can't try too hard and that you should clear your mind of everything but what you are about to become," Sirius added helpfully.

"Shut up, you dolt," James said then went back to his silent state.

But before Sirius could pronounce another useful hint, however, he gasped as he watched James. He had fallen to the floor and his face was contorted in focus. Just as Sirius was about to rattle him aware, James' legs became long and thin, as did his arms. His ears were considerably larger and had started to sprout short, fawn colored fur. His nose and mouth formed into one and began to lengthen. Then, just as soon as it had started, James was back to his normal self.

"Whoa…" said Sirius after he had given James a few minutes to recover. "That was really weird."

"Well? What was I?" James asked excitedly.

"I dunno. I'm thinking it was a horse like you said. You didn't do it far enough for me to tell."

"Yeah, but the book said you have to truly know your inner something or other before you can fully do it. I was concentrating really hard on that horse and I don't think that's what it's supposed to be." James said as he thought intently on his other form.

"I suppose it could be something else," Sirius shrugged.

"Well, it's your turn."

"What!" Sirius said.

"It's your turn. Just do what the book said. You can do it if I did."

"Alright. Then… here goes."

Sirius closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind as best he could. He saw Raven glaring at him, Filch chasing himself and James, and his father's looming figure taunting him to no end.

Stop it, Black. It says clear your mind, not think of everything at once.

Once again Sirius concentrated hard on clearing his mind. All of a sudden, he felt like he was floating. A dark, blurry, black figure was walking toward him in his mind.

What is it… C'mon get closer.

But Sirius's mind went back to other things and his concentration broke.

He looked up at James.

"Well? Did I do anything?" Sirius asked his awestruck friend already knowing the answer.

"You sort of went all rigid, then you got black fur all over."

"What was I?"

"You know that I don't know. By the looks of these books, you have to find out for yourself. I don't think anyone will know until you do."

"Oh," said Sirius disappointedly.

"I guess we should get back to bed," James stretched his arms over his head and groaned with exhaustion. "This is going to be a lot more difficult than I thought."

"Alright," said Sirius. "We can take these books back tomorrow or something."

"We haven't finished 'em."

"Just the ones that we've already read," said Sirius wearily. "We've already gotten all the information we could out of those."

"Okay," James said. "Let's go now. That was really good. I can't wait to tell Peter. Ha! He's gonna be so jealous when he finds out he's the only one who can't change yet."

"Yeah. Even though we haven't fully changed yet. We can still beat him up about it."