Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

Author's Note: Thanks so much everybody! I hope this chapter is to everyone's satisfaction. I tried my best, but had a little trouble. I didn't really know where this was going , but things started rolling after the first part.

Luv-nave, JessiAnne032791, shiznigh, Secca Irises, warrior of tortall, lizziee, ilovetom88, jes, apotterlover, Sarah, animerocksjapanrocks, J.E.A.R.K.Potter, Miss Lady Padfoot, Emily, Annmarie Aspasia, cilverblood, Angela Dawne, Lunatic Pandora1, DOJ, luvsirius, Magical Maniac Girl, Gwendolyn James, Synthiacat, Frankie Beeblebrox, sk8ergurl-ien, aPyscho…owhathehelluknotherest, Briana Marie, and Elladora D. Jobberknoll—Thanks so much everybody! Your reviews mean so much to me when I read them! Not replying this time really because I'm trying to get this chapter up faster. I was having trouble with the end.

Elladora D. Jobberknoll—I'm not sure, but I think the biggest difference between regular transfiguration from human to animals and Animagus transformation is that with an Animagus form you can change whenever you'd like, in an instant. No spell, no wand, you just become that animal. Of course, that limits you to just one animal.

Chapter 20: Teal Cats and Tutus

"Dumbledore, Dumbledore, what do you see?" asked Lily, doing a pirouette across the frozen lake. There were bright red rubber duckies swimming under the water.

"I see a tabby cat looking at me. Tabby cat, tabby cat, what do you see?" asked Dumbledore, his long orange nose falling off his face, and a new one immediately growing to replace it.

"I see a Prongsie looking at me. Prongsie, Prongsie, what do you see?" asked McGonagall as she licked her hand.

James woke up, and the singsong voices were gone. That was a weird dream. Lily was doing handstands in a pink tutu on the lake (and it was frozen over!). Dumbledore was dressed like a snowman and hula dancing. McGonagall was dressed like a turquoise cat and jumping on a trampoline. They were all using horrible singsong voices.

"Miss Evans! Miss Evans!" Professor McGonagall said impatiently.

"Oh, what?" James said, shaking his head clear. He really shouldn't sleep in class anymore. It gave him the strangest dreams…

"I asked you to tell me why human transfigurations of any kind are dangerous."

"They're dangerous because the magic involved is very powerful and if performed wrong, the consequences can be extremely serious, even permanent or fatal. The human body and mind are complex structures and a tiny flaw could do really harmful damage."

"Quite correct. Next time, stay awake during my lecture."

"Yes, Professor," James said, as politely as he could. He was still a little groggy. That dream was mildly disturbing. Although, the picture of Lily in tights and pink tutu was certainly interesting. He wondered if she'd ever taken ballet.

Lily glared at James from across the room. That boy! McGonagall's class was hard enough on her without him missing the lecture and drawing attention to himself like that.

Remus whispered, "Relax, Lillers. James could pass this class in his sleep."

"It looks like that's what he was trying to do," she whispered back irately.

When the class ended half an hour later, Remus and Lily met up with James in the hallway.

"James, how could you just fall asleep like that?" Lily asked angrily.

James looked over at Remus, then back to Lily. "I guess you know he knows?"

"Yes, I know he knows," she said. "Answer my question."

"Is it weird to have dreams about you teachers?" he asked, to no one in particular.

Lily looked at him like he was crazy. Remus asked warily, unsure as to how disturbing the answer would be, "What kind of dreams?"

"McGonagall and Dumbledore were singing in strange costumes." He left out the part about Lily dressed as a ballerina; she probably wouldn't want to hear it.

"Maybe that was a subconscious reminder that we still haven't worked on our act for Monday," Lily said.

James winced. "You just had to remind me, didn't you?"

"What's this about an act?" asked Remus, interestedly.

"After that first…display insanity after our switch, Dumbledore punished us by making us go to Glee Club and performing a song and dance for next Monday."

"What song is it?" asked Remus.

"Oh, it's, um," Lily told him the song title and Remus laughed.

"Are you dressing up like him?"

"I haven't decided yet."

"I think you ought to. The whole school would die laughing."

"I guess the up side of that would be that there'd be no one left to mock us," James said, glumly.

"I think we could make it into a cute act. I really do. Assuming I don't get so nervous I vomit over everyone," Lily said.

"You'll do fine," James said reassuringly. They continued walking down to the kitchens to grab some lunch alone, just the three of them.

Remus decided it was time to cause a little bit of trouble again. He hadn't nearly paid them back yet for not telling him about the switch. "Hey, Lily, wasn't there something you wanted to ask James?"

"Which Lily?" muttered James.

"Not you," Remus said back.

"What did I want to ask?" asked Lily.

"About that tail this morning…"

"Oh, right! James, how have you boys gotten away with hiding a dog in your room? As Head Girl I demand to know. It's against regulations. He'll have to be removed."

"Dog? What dog?" asked James.

"The black one that was in your dormitory this morning when I woke up."

James muttered to himself, "Black dog…Black dog…Oh!" He turned to look at Remus, startled. "You didn't tell her?"

Remus was asking one of the house-elves for 3 plates of food. "I figured I'd leave that to you." He had an evil grin on his face.

"Oh, Merlin, why'd you have to do that," muttered James.

"Because I'm just the kindest person in the world," he said cheerily.

"What was that dog doing there, James? It's against school rules."

"And it scared Lily half to death when she saw it," added Remus.

Lily shot him a murderous glare. "I was not 'scared half to death'."

"Are you afraid of dogs, Lily?" asked James, laughing.

"Shut it, Potter, and tell me why it was there," she snapped.

James was about to speak, but Remus whispered something in his ear. James wrinkled his nose. "That tickled," he said, pulling away.

"Sorry."

"Are you sure about that?"

"About being sorry?"

"About what you said!"

"Oh. Yes, I'm sure."

James groaned, looking down at his bowl of soup. "I guess that means the secret is out."

"What secret?" demanded Lily.

"Well, Remus just said you saw Peter this morning."

"Yes. He was a rat. What? Can he turn into a dog too?" she scoffed.

"Not exactly…"

"Then what?"

"We'd better sit down." They took their plates and sat down at a small table. "Lily, you know about Remus's…condition."

"Yes. I know about it. I told you I knew. Your point?"

"It wasn't easy for us, his friends, when we found out about it. You've only been exposed to magic and the way wizards think for 7 years. We grew up with it. It was a lot harder for Peter and Sirius and me to adjust to the fact that our best friend was…you know." He gave Remus a sympathetic look, and Remus looked away, embarrassed. "Humans can't be around werewolves, because if they get bit, then they become a werewolf. You grew up thinking werewolves were about as imaginary as vampires. We grew up knowing about magic and vampires and werewolves, and all the other parts of the magical community."

"You're point, Potter?" she asked, getting tired of his beating around the bush. She looked at Remus and saw him staring at the floor awkwardly.

"We wanted to help him. We wanted to do anything and everything we could to help. But for years, there was nothing we could do. No way we could help. Getting bit ourselves wouldn't do anybody and good. But eventually, we came up with a plan. Humanly we couldn't keep him company. But what if we weren't human?"

"Weren't human…"

"What if we animals? Animals aren't affected by werewolf bites. We took a big risk, but it paid off."

Remus's head snapped up. "It was a risk I wouldn't have let you take if I'd have known about it."

"That's why we didn't tell you, Moony," James said.

"What exactly was this risk?" asked Lily.

"We became Angimagi. Evidently, you saw Peter and Sirius this morning."

"Peter yes, I saw him, the rat. But Sirius…"

"The dog. Padfoot. Sirius."

"That was him? He was chewing on a shoe!"

"He does that sometimes. You don't always have complete control in your Animagus form. You get more control, the better you get at it. But a cat Animagus like McGonagall might still be scared sometimes by a large dog, even if dogs don't scare her in her human form."

"If Sirius is a dog, and Peter is a rat, what would that make you?" Lily asked curiously, as the shock wore off.

"I'm a noble creature. Beautiful, tall, and strong," James said, seriousness over and his humor returned.

"What does that make you?"

James's eyes twinkled. "I'll show you." Then his eyes and smile faded. "I can't, can I? Not in this body…"

A bell rang somewhere. Lunch was over.

"I'll tell you later," James said.

Lily groaned. "We never went back to get our books for our next class! Now there's no time. My homework's upstairs, my books, everything!"

"Don't panic, Lily. Let's run. You coming, Remus?"

"I don't have my books either."

They left the kitchen and started to run. They didn't get far or fast. They had to go all the way to Gryrffindor Tower and people were in their way, trying to get to class.

By the time they got to Gryffindor Tower and gathered up their things, they knew they'd be half an hour later by the time they reached the dungeons for potions.

"Lily, you're stressed. Stay here; Sirius'll be covering for the three of us in class I'm sure anyhow. I'll go down now and say that I had to take you and Remus to the hospital wing because you weren't feeling well," offered James, taking out of piece of parchment and scribbling a note. He signed the nurse's name to it.

"Did you just forge a signature?" Lily asked, shocked.

"Yeah. Just the nurse's," James said, shrugging. "This way we'll get in less trouble than if all three of us show up late."

Lily glared at him.

"If it makes you feel better I'll take you and Remus both to the nurse now and have her write a real note; nobody can honestly as say they saw you at lunch. But if we go to the nurse then you've got to pretend to her to be sick. Which is worse? Lying or forgery?"

"I guess if I didn't forge the signature then I'm not directly doing anything wrong…"

"Good, good. I knew you'd see it my way."

"But what about everything we've missed so far in class?"

"Sirius'll catch us up."

"Sirius? As in Sirius Black?" asked Lily disbelievingly.

Remus put in, "Lily, Sirius is actually really good at potions. It's the one class he tries hard in because it's the one thing that Snape is good at and he's determined to crush him in all things."

"That's horrible!"

"What works, works," he shrugged.

Lily struggled. Go to class or don't go to class? Go to class or don't go to class?

James tried to make her decision easier. "Lily, you aren't the type to miss class, but I am. James Potter is. So you can stay here and feel no remorse; you're just keeping in character so no one will find out about the switch."

"I suppose…when you put it that way…"

"Good. I'll see you when class is over. Work on the choreography or something for our dance on Monday."

Before she could protest gain, James left, running full speed for the dungeons.

Remus noticed a dissatisfied look on Lily's face. "What's the matter?"

"I don't know anything about dancing or choreography," she moaned, reclining back in the chair and shutting her eyes.

Remus grinned. "Then enjoy your afternoon off."