"Animagi," said Professor McGonagall tersely, peering down at them all from the front of her classroom.
Sirius fought a smirk. Funnily enough, he was pretty sure he had the material in this lecture down.
"As you all, no doubt, know, I am one of seven registered animagi of the 20th century," Professor McGonagall said. "It is a sophisticated branch of magic- far beyond the abilities of the typical witch or wizard, not to brag." She gave the class a rare smile before snapping back to her usual stern expression. "And, of course, it requires sacrifice. Much like the ministry puts a 'Trace' on all Wizarding children until they turn 17, registered Animagi are subject to a similar Trace, meaning that the Ministry can detect and monitor my transformations anytime."
Marlene McKinnon, a friendly Gryffindor sixth year, raised her hand, perplexed. "Isn't that an invasion of your privacy?"
Professor McGonagall shrugged. "Give up some rights to gain others. Think about it practically, Ms. McKinnon. Say I committed a crime, but as a cat. If no one could document my transformation, I'd essentially have complete legal impunity, wouldn't I? No one could connect me to the crime."
Sirius leaned forward with interest. He had never thought about it that way before… but instead of seeing the huge miscarrage of justice that McGonagall had undoubtedly identified, he felt an exhilarating rush of freedom.
And then Marlene asked the question Sirius wanted to hear McGonagall answer more than anything.
"Well, Professor," she said, "if that's true- I mean, hypothetically- why would you register in the first place?"
"Life in Azkaban," said McGonagall simply, pursing her lips. "That is the punishment for being caught in transformation without registration."
Sirius felt a shiver go down his spine. He liked to think of himself as a tough person- he had had to be, to survive- but Azkaban was the one thing he could never stomach the idea of. He hated small spaces, feeling trapped. He couldn't even stand being in the Gryffindor common room if someone was blocking his way to the door. Strange how he had broken rules his whole life as if he didn't fear the law- but the Wizarding World's ultimate punishment was far worse than death. Locked in a cage, withering, wasting away, no freedom, no life, no Marauders, no family…
Life in Azkaban if anyone ever saw him transform into a dog.
The voice of a pretty Ravenclaw girl cut through his thoughts. "That seems messed up, though. It's magic- if we can do it, if we have that ability, and it's not hurting anyone, we should be able to without the government interfering."
True, Sirius thought, catching James's eye, who was nodding enthusiastically at the Ravenclaw's point.
"It's the principle of the thing, Ms. Simmons. Giving people the opportunity to transform into animals allows them to evade the law, and evading the law inevitably means that people get hurt. Anyway, if it bothers you, I hope you take comfort in knowing that it's purely theoretical." McGonagall surveyed her class impassively over her spectacles. "There has never been a single unregistered animagus caught by the Ministry. The reason, I suspect, is that if you are smart enough to become one, you are smart enough to register."
Well, I suspect that they're just too hard to catch, Sirius said to himself, smiling slightly.
"You wouldn't really know, though, would you?" said Peter, raising his hand belatedly.
McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "No, Mr. Pettigrew, I can't promise you that there are no unregistered animagi in the world."
Sirius felt his heart turn over as McGonagall caught his eye. She couldn't know, right? There was no way for her to know. Oh, god, why had Peter said anything?
Then again, no offense to Peter, but McGonagall would never guess that he could be an animagus. He probably couldn't have done it without Sirius's and James's help.
When the Marauders left class that day, Remus's face was tight, and Peter was shaking slightly.
James cast a soft Muffliato charm around the four of them before he began to talk. "Hey, hey, it's okay, guys. That whole life in Azkaban thing is a load of tosh- like McGonagall said, it's never happened before. Animagi are hard to catch, right, there's got to have been hundreds of unregistered animagi sprinkled through Wizarding history, and even if we did get caught, we'd go to trial, we'd tell them life in Azkaban was unfair, that we were good people, and they wouldn't convict us."
It was times like this where Sirius wanted to roll his eyes at James's privileged, naive worldview, but he nodded along for Peter and Remus's sake.
"I just feel awful," said Remus, "you guys wouldn't even be in this position if it wasn't for me."
"Hey, that's not true at all," said Sirius. "Being a dog is fucking awesome and I would've 100 percent done it whether you were around or not. But also, this is better than the alternative. Not being able to help you was a million times more painful," he told his boyfriend earnestly.
A tear leaked out of Remus's eye and slid down the scar on his cheek. "Thank you," he whispered.
"Plus, it's n-not like it's permanent," said Peter timidly. "We could register once school is over. Like, once we're eighteen or nineteen. And say we transformed later than we actually did."
"Hey, that's true," said Sirius. Why hadn't he thought of that? "It'll be easy to get through these next couple years. No one thinks a couple of students could pull something like this off. And then we register, and we're off the hook."
"Yeah, exactly!" said James. "Besides, we knew going into it that there'd be a punishment-"
"Well, we were thirteen when we started trying," said Peter. "So it's not like we could really weigh the pros and cons."
"True," said Remus. "I tried to talk you guys out of-"
"Shh," said Sirius, punching his boyfriend's arm gently. (The one without his bite, obviously.) "Like I said, we don't regret it."
"That's right," said James, running his hand through his messy black hair. "No regrets!"
"You really have no regrets?" said Remus, turning to James in disbelief. "Like, at all?"
James thought about it for a second. "No," he said finally. "I love my life. It's perfect. If I had done anything differently I might not be here."
"There isn't anything you would change?" said Sirius, alluding to the one thing he knew James wanted that he didn't already have.
"Okay, well, one thing," James admitted, blushing slightly.
"Speaking of which," Peter said, grinning as he gestured to Lily Evans, who was walking across the hall to meet them.
James lifted the Muffliato charm anxiously. "Hi, Evans," he said, and Sirius could tell exactly how much effort had gone into making his voice nonchalant.
"Hey, Potter," Lily said, smiling. "Hi Remus, Sirius, Peter."
"Hey, Lils," said Sirius, giving his friend an easy one-armed hug. Peter and Remus waved hello.
"So, Ja- Potter, I was wondering if I could talk to you about something," Lily asked. Sirius noticed the way her foot was tapping the hardwood floor, the chewing and twisting of her lip.
"Of course, yeah," said James. "Let me just- shit, where are my glasses?"
"On your head, mate," said Sirius, grinning widely.
"Yep, uh huh, makes sense, checks out." James slid the wired glasses onto his nose and bounded away after Lily, chasing her like a lovesick puppy.
"Well, there you go," said Remus. "You think she's about to ask him out?"
"It'd be funny if she did," said Peter, "'cos he's been trying to ask her out since what, first year?"
"Yeah, that's sort of why I think it'll be her," said Sirius. "Lily doesn't want to give herself to James. She wants to get James to give himself to her, you know? I think if she asks him out, it'll help her feel like this is different from when they were eleven, and joking around."
"They should just go ahead and do it already," said Peter. "They're obviously so in love."
"Well, it's not that easy for everyone," said Sirius. "Of course, I can't relate." He squeezed Remus's hand, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"Yeah, yeah," said Peter, rolling his eyes. "You think I'll ever get a girlfriend?"
"Oh, for sure," said Remus. "The girls will be lucky to have you. Besides, they're not that hard to get. Three asked me out this week, and all of them know I'm with Siri."
"Who?" said Sirius, wheeling around, but he was smiling. He was secure enough in his relationship that it wasn't a threat, so much as a compliment. Yes, his boyfriend was hot. And Remus was his. Nevertheless… "I want names."
Remus rolled his eyes, laughing as Peter pouted.
"You could at least send them over my way," said Peter with a frown.
"Next time," Remus promised.
The three boys looked over across the courtyard, where Lily and James were laughing and talking in the setting sun. They were too far away to hear, but even as Sirius watched, Lily leaned in and kissed James long and hard.
"Yes!" said Sirius, as Remus laughed and Peter whooped and cheered. James was going to be over the moon.