Lightning crashed outside as the three boys crouched around the phials that had been hidden for the last seven weeks. "This could be it boys," said James. "We may be about to become animagi."
"Let's hope so," said Sirius. "Otherwise we have to do it over the summer, and I don't know if my parents are going to be as accommodating as yours are."
"Look, we've got spare leaves if we need them," said James. "We'll be fine. Hopefully."
"And we're sure we did everything right?" asked Peter. "If we screwed up this time…"
"Look, we revisited that book about six times, double checking that we hadn't missed an instruction," said James. "We held mandrake leaves in our mouths between full moons, which we put into phials in the moon's rays. We put in our hair, we added the dew, we added the moth bits. We recited the enchantment every day until now. What's there to worry about?"
"That we still missed something," said Peter miserably. "I know we read the book from cover to cover, but…"
"Exactly," said Sirius. "We read everything, we got all the instructions, we know what the risks are, and we agreed to try this anyway."
"You're gonna make me do this regardless, aren't you?" asked Peter.
"We all agreed to this, no back out now," said Sirius. "And to make sure you don't chicken out, you go first."
"WHAT?!" yelped Peter, before realising how loud he'd been."
"Oh? Is someone here?" asked a girl's voice, one with an unmistakably high pitch.
"Great, now she knows we're here," said James, as Moaning Myrtle poked her head through the wall of one of the cubicles.
"Eww, what are boys doing in my bathroom?" demanded Myrtle.
"Being bad, what does it look like?" asked Sirius, trying to ignore her.
"Ooh, I could tell on you," said Myrtle mischievously. "You could get in trouble…"
"Please don't," said James. "We've spent too long on this to be stopped now."
"But why shouldn't I?" asked Myrtle. "What are your names?"
"I'm Peter, he's Sirius, he's James," answered Peter.
"James? James Potter?" asked Myrtle.
"You…know me?" asked James. Myrtle answered by giggling conspiratorially. "What? What is it?"
"Oh, nothing," said Myrtle. "It's just something I heard."
"From who?" asked James.
"Oh, just some girl who comes in here sometimes," said Myrtle. "What was her name again? Lucy? Lola? Leah? Something beginning with an L."
"Lily?" asked James.
"Maybe," said Myrtle, giggling to herself. "She talks about you all the time, and all I can say is…she has a point." Myrtle started giggling again, and flew through the floor of the bathroom, leaving the boys alone.
"Wait, what does she say about me?" asked James, staring at the floor where Myrtle disappeared.
"James, buddy, we need to focus," said Sirius, grabbing James's shoulder. "We only have tonight, and we have to do it before the storm ends." Sirius then turned to Peter. "Drink the potion, now."
Peter sighed. "Guess I don't have a choice," he moaned, taking his phial and down it in one gulp. Peter winced as it went down, then stared into the mirror.
"Well?" asked Sirius, looking at him. "Anything?"
"No, nothing yet," said Peter. "Maybe we…wait…" Peter's face suddenly twitched, and his arms started shrinking. "Oh God, it's happening." As he was speaking, Peter's nose began to get more pointed, while his head shrank back into his shirt. Peter seemed to be trying to scream, but it was coming out more as a series of squeaks. Soon, there were no more sounds, just a pile of clothes where Peter had been.
"Peter?" asked James. "You okay in there buddy?" James picked up Peter's shirt, and saw a rat sitting in there. "Holy crap…"
"Well, now we know it works," said Sirius. "At least, we know we can turn into something. We're just not sure if we can turn back."
"Come on Peter, turn back," said James. "Turn back buddy." Nothing happened for a few seconds.
"Maybe he can't understand…" started Sirius, as the rat suddenly started expanding, and all of a sudden Peter was standing there. "Never mind."
"Oh my God guys, you have to try this," said Peter excitedly. "It was so cool."
"Yeah? You know what else is cool?" asked James. "Putting some fricken clothes on."
Peter looked down at himself, and saw he was naked. "Oh, right," he said, quickly grabbing his underwear and started putting it on. "Come on guys, you gotta try it."
"Just a thought," said Sirius. "What if me and James aren't little animals like you? We could end up ripping our clothes to shreds."
"Good point," said James. "We better get into a stall. We don't need to see each other naked."
"Nah-uh," said Peter, putting on his shirt. "The book said wide open space. Probably in case you become something big. You really think a big animal will fit in one of those stalls?"
"Wait, then that means…" started James.
"Yep," said Peter, smiling smugly.
"Okay guys, remember: we need to look into how to keep our clothes on during transformations," said Sirius, removing his shirt. "If McGonagall can do it, so can we."
"We should have looked into this first," said James, starting on his pants. "If I'd known tonight would lead to seeing both of you naked, I would have reconsidered this."
"Coulda, woulda, shoulda," said Peter, who'd turned his back while his friends were undressing. "Now drink up quickly, before the storm ends."
"Here goes," said James, downing his phial in one go, Sirius doing the same behind him.
There was no sound for a moment, and Peter was getting worried. "Guys?" he said, looking over his shoulder…
…just as a large black dog jumped on his chest. Peter let out a surprised yelp as the dog pushed him to the floor, snarling viciously as its face pressed closer to his. Peter continued to whimper as a large stag watched from the other side of the room. "Please…" begged Peter, as the dog suddenly stopped growling and licked him right across the face. "BLEH!" spat Peter as he wiped the dog saliva of his face…
…only to be greeted with the smiling face of Sirius, now lying on top of him. "Hey," said Sirius. "How's it going?"
"Really? Not cool," said Peter. "You know you're still naked, right?"
"Well aware of it," said Sirius. "But it's worth it to make you uncomfortable."
"Come on Sirius," said James, who'd transformed back into his human form and had put his underwear back on while the two of them had been on the floor. "We should get back to the dorm before anyone notices we're not there."
"I suppose," sighed Sirius, climbing off Peter and grabbing his clothes. "Are you sure you don't like what you see?"
"Positive," said Peter, grabbing the Invisibility Cloak and their equipment while his friends got dressed.