Sirius's summer was surprisingly less horrible than he'd expected—his parents and Regulus spent much of it on a tour of France, a tour they very much neglected to let Sirius join them on, which was more than okay with him. Based upon the late-night whispered conversations he heard outside the drawing room door before they left, he knew their trip had something to do with the Death Eaters and their mysterious Dark Lord, but he wasn't exactly sure what and didn't much care.
Either way, their trip meant that Sirius had the house almost entirely to himself over the summer, with the exception of the wheedling, muttering excuse for a house-elf that was Kreacher. Sirius wished more than anything that his parents would have taken Kreacher with them, but there was no way they would have trusted him not to burn down the house in their absence, which he supposed was fair. He did get a few surprise visitors during the sweltering weeks of mid-July—his cousin Andy and her husband Ted Tonks, along with their newborn daughter Nymphadora. The baby was a Metamorphmagus, the little tufts of hair atop her head turning pink every time she cried, which Sirius found to be quite impressive for an infant.
The rest of the summer he spent writing witty letters to his friends and reading up on Animagi; he'd stolen a bunch of books on the subject from Hogwarts and made himself read a chapter or two from each every day until he was finished. Most of the information was rubbish, but he did manage to pick up on a few important tidbits hidden between pages of histories of famous Animagi and the importance of the Ministry's Animagus Registry. Enough to give him and his friends a good start on the process, at least.
Each month around the full moon, Sirius found himself pacing past the silver light seeping through the downstairs windows of 12 Grimmauld Place, wondering how Remus was faring without the help of Madam Pomfrey. He wished he could check up on him in the hospital wing as he and the others had at Hogwarts—instead, he made sure to send Remus whatever sweet things he could find around the house the week after the moon. It was all he could think of to do.
And finally it was September first, his parents were back in London with Reg, and Sirius was promptly dumped at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters while Orion and Walburga fussed over their younger son. Sirius hauled his luggage onto the train and quickly found James and Peter in a compartment towards the back, where he'd assumed they would be. James leaped to his feet and crushed Sirius into a hug, a giggling Peter following suit. Sirius had missed them greatly; he returned their hugs with a giant smile that stretched up to his eyes.
"How was Canada?" he asked James once they'd all broken apart. James's family had gone to visit some of his cousins living near Toronto.
"Oh, it was fantastic," James replied. "I found a shop even better than Zonko's there. My mum was upset we didn't see any moose, though."
"Well, while you were searching for moose, I was locked in my room reading nearly as much as Remus does before an exam. And I think I discovered the answer to our Animagus animal conundrum."
"What Animagus animal conundrum?" Peter asked confusedly.
"The conundrum of needing to know what animal we're going to turn into before we turn into it."
"I still wish we got to choose the animal," James sniffed. "I really want to turn into a rhinoceros."
"Well, anyway, I found the answer in a seven-hundred-page doorstopper called A Guide to Uncovering Your Feral Soul."
"Sounds a bit mystical," said James. "Like some Divination sort of rubbish."
"Oh, it was," Sirius assured him. "But it had some good facts in it, too. Like apparently, a wizard's Animagus form is always the same as his Patronus form."
"What's a Patronus?" Peter wondered.
"The animal spirits that scare off Dementors," James said. "Expelli Patronit or something like that." He shook his head at Sirius. "Isn't that a super hard spell to learn, though?"
"Oh, yeah. Definitely not a third-year spell," Sirius said. "But we taught ourselves Aguamenti last year to ruin Mulciber and Snivellus's good dress robes, and Remus said that spell was advanced even for sixth years. If anyone can figure it out, it's us."
"Are you really still talking about becoming Animagi?" Remus asked tiredly, leaning against the compartment door and watching them.
"Remus!" James jumped up again to hug him, as did the others. Remus smiled into James's shoulder; though his voice had sounded tired, he looked as healthy as he ever did, the full moon still nearly two weeks away. Sirius knew the days of the moon cycle by heart now, just as Remus did.
Once they all were seated, feeding James's owl treats and chatting about summer adventures and Animagi and Sirius's mother, the train shuddered to a start beneath them and inched slowly out of the station with a prolonged hiss. James, Remus and Peter all waved to their parents out the window, while Sirius forced himself to study his feet instead.
"I just have to ask her a question, Sev—"
"They don't like us walking through the train while it's moving, Lily—"
Sirius was startled from his thoughts a few minutes later by two very familiar voices heading down the narrow hall between compartments. Glancing up, he saw Lily Evans and Severus Snape pass by their window, Lily's arm slamming against the glass as the train gave a sudden jolt.
"Oi," James said; he was looking at them now, too. "Lily's turned out sort of pretty, don't you think, Sirius?"
Confused, Sirius narrowed his eyes at the girl, studying her. Last year, she'd kept her hair cut a little above her shoulders, just like Sirius's, but over the summer it had grown halfway down to her waist, and she'd weaved it back into an intricate braid. She'd shot up a bit in height, too, and she'd developed some of the curves that meant a girl had made it to puberty. For the first time, Sirius noticed a bit of eyeliner framing her bright green eyes.
"I suppose she has," he said. "But it's Lily Evans, James."
"Exactly." Impulsively James stood and opened their compartment door, craning his head out to peer down the hall at her retreating figure. "Looking good, Evans!" he called.
Lily and Snivellus stumbled to a halt and turned to face him. "Love the hair," James said. "Did you braid it yourself, Lily?"
"Shut it, Potter," Snivellus snapped at him, marching over to confront him. Lily rolled her eyes, though Sirius noticed her hide a smile behind her hand. "Don't you ever look at her like that again, you hear me?"
"Look at her like what?"
"Like that." Snivellus shoved his ugly hooked nose into James's face; Sirius itched to back up his friend, though he knew James didn't need it. Even Snape wasn't dumb enough to start a fight in the middle of the Hogwarts Express. "Next time I catch you ogling her, I swear I'll burn your hair right off your scalp."
"I was just paying her a compliment, Snivellus," James said. "And I rather think your own hair would burn off your scalp much faster than mine, what with all that grease you've got festering in it. It has to be a fire hazard."
Snarling, Severus lifted his wand to James's chin—but Lily lunged forward and grabbed his arm, pulling him away. "He's not worth it, Sev," she insisted. "Leave him alone. He hasn't done anything."
Severus shot James one last glare before whipping around and marching off in a huff with Lily. James returned to his seat wearing the biggest grin Sirius had ever seen.
"You didn't have to be so mean, James," Remus said quietly.
"Sure I did," James replied. "And you'll have to start taking me on some of those library dates you have with Evans, Re."
Sirius sighed. "Is this all because you really think you fancy her now, or because you want to piss off Snivellus?"
James shrugged. "Not quite sure yet," he admitted. "Suppose I'll find out."
