"No, Mr. Black, I cannot tell you how to become an Animagus," McGonagall said.
"Not even hypothetically?" James begged.
"Not even hypothetically," McGonagall said flatly.
"Please, Minnie, it would mean so much to us," Sirius pleaded.
"Mr. Black, I cannot tell you that. I also cannot tell you that there is a book in the Restricted Section," McGonagall said.
"What's it called?" James asked.
"I cannot tell you that it is called The Complete Animagus Transformation by August Wells," she pressed on. "And that Mr. Filch has some confiscated fireworks in his desk drawer."
"Brilliant," Peter said.
"Is there anything else you can't tell us?" Sirius asked.
"Mr. Filch will be in a meeting with the Headmaster tonight at seven," McGonagall informed them, then gave a stern glance. "You must understand, Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, Mr. Pettigrew, that these are things I cannot speak of."
"'Course, Minnie, we understand," Sirius said, "Now if you don't mind, we have some things to plan…."
"I hope this is all hypothetical, Mr. Black."
"Sure thing."
They spent lunch plotting. Lily gave them suspicious glances, though she said nothing. The plan was simple.
When Filch went to speak with Dumbledore, James and Sirius would break into his office with Peter as lookout. When they had acquired the fireworks, they would set them up on the opposite side of the castle. Then, using the Invisibility Cloak, they would break into the Restricted Section and steal the book.
Easy.
They were the Marauders. This was not their first time breaking into an office and committing thievery.
The first part of the plan went well, despite James and Sirius becoming distracted at several points.
Sirius eyed the shackles. "We should enchant his shackles," he said, grinning mischievously.
"Yeah, but first we have to- oh! Dungbombs! An entire drawer full of them! Brilliant! We should raid this place more often," James said.
After about more twenty minutes of distraction, they found the fireworks.
"Nice," Sirius said, reading the label on the side of one of them. "Minimum of three hours in action."
"Minnie is a genius," James said appreciatively.
They met Peter in the corridor outside the office and made their way to the opposite side of the castle.
"Peter, you have the quill and parchment?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah, it's right here," Peter said, pulling a slightly bend quill and crinkled piece of parchment out of his robe pocket.
Sirius scribbled on the paper for a minute, writing Courtesy of the Marauders.
"We have to build our reputation," Sirius said, smirking. He pulled out his wand and stuck the paper to the wall.
"A sticking charm?" James asked.
"Yeah, see if it works."
James tried to pull it down to no avail.
"It works," Peter said.
They unwrapped the fireworks and chaos ensued.
Bright purple sparks danced around the corridor; Luminous blue hues rocketed back and forth; A neon red ricocheted off the walls.
The boys threw the Cloak over themselves.
The pops and blasts echoed loudly, causing teachers to poke heads out of their offices and students to peer around corners, looking for the source of the commotion.
Sirius grinned. "Gentlemen, our work here is done."
"Come on, we have to get to the Restricted Section," James said, and they went as quickly as they could to the library.
The library was empty, though James, Sirius, and Peter were still cautious. When they reached the Restricted Section the door creaked open on its rusted hinges.
It wasn't lit very well, nor was it large. The books were inches thick and smelled strongly of must, decay, or in some cases, blood.
"What's the book called?" James muttered.
"The Complete Animagus Transformation by August Wells," Sirius replied.
"I can't see anything, I'm going to use lumos," Peter said.
"No, what if someone sees?" James hissed.
"Then I use nox," Peter hissed back.
"Yeah, well, if you get us caught, then we won't be able to get the book!"
"If we can't see anything, we can't find the book!"
"He has a point, it's really dark in here," Sirius said.
"Fine," James grumbled, "but if we get caught, it's your fault."
It was much easier to see with a light, though James refused to admit it. Within ten minutes, they had the book and were scurrying back to Gryffindor Tower to hide the book in their dormitory.
"What if Remus finds it?" Peter asked suddenly.
"What do you mean?" James asked.
"Remus isn't going to let us go through with this if he figures out what we're doing," Peter said.
"We'll hide it," Sirius said. "Under my mattress, and we'll put charms on it so it doesn't look like that."
"Switch covers like with Umbridge?" James said.
"Sure, but we need to find the most innocent book possible to hide it in," Sirius said.
"Prince will skin you alive if you so much as turn a page the wrong way," Peter reminded them. "We should just hide it."
"Okay, fine. We might be more help to Remus alive, anyway," Sirius said.
They didn't hide it right away. James insisted on reading through the first chapter.
"This is really advanced," he said, turning a page. "It'll be a wonder if we pull this off."
"You have to keep a mandrake leaf in your mouth for a whole month?" Sirius said, appalled. "Those are gross."
Peter shifted uneasily. "And if it goes wrong…."
"Yeah. Let's not think about what happens when it goes wrong," Sirius said hurriedly.
"Do you think we can do this?" Peter asked them, unsure. "I mean, it's really difficult magic, and pretty unpredictable-"
"We're the best in our year," Sirius said confidently.
"Besides Remus," James added.
"Well, yeah, but besides him. And anyway, Minnie can help us hypothetically. Or she just can't tell us stuff."
"It's also to help Remus," James said, "He can't go through that alone. That's…. What he goes through is too much for him, or anyone, really. He needs someone to help him out, carry some of that weight."
"Alright," Peter said. "For Remus."