Half an hour later they returned to the common room. Peter was drowsing by the fire, but he woke very suddenly when James and Sirius sauntered in. James had hidden the invisibility cloak inside his robes outside the portrait hole. The room was nearly empty; Lily Evans was sitting near the fire as well, immersed in a book. However, she did raise an eyebrow at James angrily when he walked in. James grinned broadly at her.
"Good evening, Miss Evans."
"Oh, shut up," she snapped.
James pretended to look hurt. "You always yell at me for being so rude and arrogant, yet when I try to be polite and friendly you yell at me even more. That's like homonym or something."
Lily shut her book angrily. "No, Potter, it's called an oxymoron, but none of them are more of a moron than you, in my opinion." She stormed up the stairs to the girl's dormitory.
James chuckled. "And to think that she tells me that I'm rude." He collapsed in the vacant chair Lily had left behind.
"Where were you two? I spent the entire afternoon looking for you," Peter asked sorrowfully.
"We were just investigating a new secret passage," Sirius replied. It was the truth, just…not the whole truth.
"Oh. Why didn't you take me?"
"We looked for you, but we couldn't find you, either."
"Oh." Suddenly he sat bolt upright in his chair. "Remus isn't here either, but I think I figured something out." Sirius and James exchanged a somber look. "You guys will never believe this," Peter said dramatically, "but I think Remus is a werewolf."
"We know," James and Sirius said together. Peter's jaw dropped as Sirius continued, "We've known since the end of last year."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"We didn't know how you'd react, that was all. We had to do some more investigating, first."
"Well? What are we going to do?" Sirius suddenly had a blast of respect and admiration for little Peter. It must have taken everything he had to figure this out, especially since he had no help from Sirius and James whatsoever.
"We don't know, but I think I might have an idea," James replied.
"You said that once before, too, but you never told me the idea."
James thought for a minute before slowly speaking again. "We could become Animagus."
"What?" Peter looked stunned.
"Well…we can't do anything to help him, we've already learned that. There aren't any cures or potions or charms that can make it less painful for him or stop his transformations completely. But I was just thinking…wouldn't it be just as well if we could go with him?"
"Because," Sirius said slowly, "animals aren't affected by werewolves." A grin broke across his face. "You know, I think you may actually have an idea this time, James."
"As if I usually don't?"
"Well, no." He thought for a moment. "Brilliant."
Peter was watching the conversations switch between the two of them. "But isn't it really dangerous magic? And we're only second years, so how are we going to manage it?"
"We'll find a way," replied Sirius confidently.
"Hey, Lily."
The next evening found Lily Evans curled up in one of the scarlet armchairs like a cat beside the fire in the Gryffindor common room. She was reading from an immensely thick volume titled Against All Odds: Blocking and Reflecting Unfriendly Curses. James guessed that it was filled with every hex and jinx known to wizard-kind with a counter-curse, blockade, or mirror-effect listed for each one. And knowing Lily, she'd probably picked the book because each jinx was given a full ten-page analysis and description. Vaguely, James wondered if Lily would ever use those hexes on him if he made her angry enough.
Reluctantly, Lily tore her green eyes away from the page she had been reading and glared at him instead. "What do you want, Potter?"
"I need a book."
"What do I look like, a library?"
"No, no, I mean, I was wondering if you could do me a favour."
"So now you think you need a maid now, don't you? Your head is too big for you to take care of by yourself, if that right?" Lily smirked. "Go down to the library and get your own books." She turned back to her hefty volume.
"Lily, please. I...I want to get a book out of the Restricted Section, and I was hoping that perhaps you would pretend it was for a project and get a teacher's signature for me."
"Oh, very clever, Potter. Then, when you perform dangerous magic, I'll be the one to get in trouble. I don't think so."
"No, no, I promise, it isn't dangerous. I just need it to look up some stuff."
"Since when have your promises held any real value? Besides, why can't you get a teacher's permission yourself? Why do you need me?"
James sighed and ran his hand through his hair self-consciously, which made Lily roll her eyes. "For being such a brilliant girl, you really haven't got a clue, do you? I'm always in so much trouble, none of the teachers will ever let me get a book out of the Restricted Section because they – like you – think that I'll wreak havoc on the school. If you do it, they'll sign anything for you because you're so good, and so clever, and so pretty—" James looked shocked at himself and Lily raised her eyebrows with amusement. "Well at any rate, they're more likely to let you do it than me," he finished hastily, doing his best to cover his mistake.
"I know you, Potter. You say one thing and do the opposite. You're saying that you won't cause trouble, but you will."
"How many times do I have to tell you?" James exploded, finally losing his patience. "I won't cause trouble, nobody will be hurt, killed, or otherwise vandalized in any way, and all I want to do is some research!" He stormed out through the portrait of the Fat Lady, leaving Lily to watch his retreating back in astonishment.
"Too bad we've got detention tonight with Slughorn. I was hoping to finish up that essay for Transfiguration since I couldn't finish it last night. Oh well, that prank we pulled on Snivellus was worthwhile anyway." James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were strolling down the crowded corridor towards Charms. James and Sirius chuckled at the memory, Peter giggled feebly, and Remus offered a wry, tired grin.
"Hey—" James stopped laughing once he saw that his bag, strangely enough, had ripped and all his books, ink, parchment, and quills came tumbling out. "You keep going, I'll catch up in a moment." James repaired his bag while the others headed off to class. He bent to begin packing up his things as the crowd thinned until no one was left. Just as the bell rang he had grabbed his last ink well, then straightened up.
Suddenly, a hand grabbed his arm gently, and James turned around to find himself staring into emerald green eyes. Lily tore her gaze away from his, looking at the floor, then thrust a piece of parchment at him. "Here. I got this signed by Professor Slughorn. I didn't know which book you wanted, so I left that part blank, but Slughorn signed it right away without even looking at it." She pivoted and began to walk away.
"Wait...Lily!" She stopped without turning to look at him. "Why did you do this for me?"
Still facing the opposite direction, she replied, "I decided that if you really needed the book for research, I'd get the signature without putting my own name on it."
"Thanks."
"But just because I did that for you doesn't mean that we're suddenly friends!" Lily whirled around to glare at him in dislike before dashing into the classroom behind her. As James walked past the closed door he could hear her saying, "I'm so sorry, Professor Sinistra, I ran into Peeves on my way up the staircase!"
James used the same excuse as he sauntered into Professor Kettleburn's classroom several moments later.
Peter darted down the stairs from the boy's dormitory, tripping over the last few steps. He stumbled to the bottom, then straightened up and looked around the room, his eyes flitting from chair to chair. He seemed to find the one he wanted, and walked over to it before turning to face the boy within. "Sirius," he whispered urgently, "James wants you. He's up in the dormitory." He paused. "He just got back from his detention."
The boy shook his dark hair out of his eyes and glared at Peter. "Can't anyone just leave me alone? I've had enough of people asking me favours," he grumbled. "Fine, I'll go." Sirius snapped the book shut and left it lying on the chair. "Don't you dare take that spot!" he barked warningly at a first year who had immediately moved forward to take the vacated seat. She backed off, blushing deeply.
Sirius stomped up the staircase and burst into the dormitory where James was waiting patiently. James raised an eyebrow in askance of his mate's behaviour, and when Sirius didn't respond he asked, "Bad day?"
"Yeah," he grunted and flung himself facedown on his bed. "Five detentions, seventy-five points deducted from Gryffindor, two failed essays and a test all in one day." Sirius stared moodily at the scarlet hangings around his bed. "I know I'm not the 'good little boy' all the teachers want, but I think that's a little harsh."
"I agree, mate. But I think I've got something to cheer you up."
"Yeah?"
"You too, Peter." James pulled his Invisibility Cloak out from his trunk.
"Why would that make Sirius feel better?" Peter asked nervously.
"Because it means that we're going to explore or sneak around the castle," Sirius piped up, sitting upright and gray eyes gleaming with mischief. All thoughts of his bad day seemed to have vanished in an instant. "Where are we going?"
James thought for a moment. "An empty classroom, perhaps, or somewhere we can talk without disturbance. Come on."
The three boys wandered the darkened halls quietly, searching in vain for a room that wasn't already occupied or had a possibility of getting them all caught. The only sounds that broke the silence of the corridors were the crackling of the flames from the torches within their brackets, as well as Peter's grunting when he occasionally tripped over the hem of the cloak. James and Sirius had found several places to work safely - safely in their opinion, that is - but Peter had become overly nervous at each location and refused to stay, insisting on finding a different one.
By this time, James had lost track of which floor they were on. They rushed down another corridor, one that they hadn't already visited. James scanned it, thinking wildly, I need a room to work in...I need a room to work in... They reached the end of the hall, where they found a different passageway they had already explored and wheeled around to head the other direction. Need a work room...work room...need a work room ... Thoroughly lost, they turned into a corridor that branched off the other, found nothing, then wandered back out again.
Work room...work room...work room...
Suddenly, an oak door appeared right in front of the invisible boys. Sirius pointed at it, and James seized the copper doorknob.
Inside there were tables, at least twenty of them, that were lined with amber-cushioned wooden chairs. The walls were suffocated with books floor to ceiling, and beside each table there were bins holding items such as quills, ink, parchment, and other supplies they might need.
"We need a work room," James said, throwing the cloak off them. "You can't argue with this."