The others jaws gaped, no one, and that meant no one, had two animagus forms. Sirius seemed to be the first to find his voice as he asked his new girlfriend what they were.
"A dog . . ." she said about the first, "it has the same scars that I do on its left hind leg."
"And the second?" her brother asked.
"It . . . and I don't know how, because I know I've read stuff on Animagi, especially when I first suspected you of doing what you did, and it says that there has never been a magical Animagi form."
"MAGICAL! You mean like the creatures we study in Care of Magical Creatures?" James asked.
"Yeah, that and it was a phoenix." She said.
"It was a phoenix, that's . . ." James started before realizing what she said. He looked at her, as if seeing if she was alright, and promptly fainted.
"James, you must have one powerful sister." Sirius said to the unconscious teen.
"Enervate." Hermione said, reviving James. He sat up, and looked at them.
"We have to go to McGonagall." He said.
"Why, she'll make us register." Sirius said, "They'll put us in prison for how long we did go unregistered."
"They'll be more amazed that we actually did it." James said, "Phoenixes, let alone Magical Creatures, are rare enough these days, McGonagall will hopefully be able to help Heather with her phoenix form, she knows a hell of a lot more about Transfiguration than we do."
"Fine, but only because of her knowing more. But I say we know more seeing as we did invent a potion that had the effects of the Animagus Form spell." Sirius said. They immediately left the Room of Requirement, and headed down to the first floor, where they immediately met Professor McGonagall leaving her office to head to the Great Hall for breakfast.
"Professor, can we talk to you, in private?" James said upon arriving. She gave an odd glance at the group, and walked with them into her classroom.
"What is this about Mr. Potter?" she asked.
"You know how we know about Remus' condition?" she nodded, "And we know that you've been wondering why he's been coming in healthier than he used to."
"What is this about?"
"After we found out about Remus' condition, Peter, Sirius and I began looking for a way to help him, and it took us three years to complete it."
"I assume it has something to do with Transfiguration, or you wouldn't have come to me." The group nodded, "Well, what is it?"
"We became Animagi." Sirius said, before transforming into his bear-like dog form. James transformed into his stag form. Then when Professor McGonagall had recovered, they changed back.
"I have half a mind to turn you in . . ."
"So did we." Lily and Heather said together.
"Where is Mr. Pettigrew?" McGonagall said noticing the absence of the fourth Marauder.
"We don't know at the moment, he was still asleep when we went up to go over something with the girls."
"I don't imagine you were going to tell that you were Animagi?" McGonagall said fixing them with her stern gaze once more.
"Yeah, we didn't want it to get out that Remus was a werewolf while at school, and so we kept quiet. We figured that if the students found out what we did, they would begin looking at possible reasons, and then they might notice Remus' absences and take them seriously, and then figure out about him."
"I see." Was all she said, "I'm assuming that you are teaching the girls, and that is what you were going over, am I right?"
"Well, while we were working on our own we figured that you might have been able to tell that a spell had been used," she nodded, and James continued, "and it took us the better part of a few months, before we were able to invent a potion that had the same desired effects as the spell, that showed the person their form. When Heather took a dose of this, something odd happened."
"I almost immediately found that a dog not unlike Sirius' was my Animagus form, but when I didn't get pulled out of the trance the potion put me in, I thought something was wrong, until the dog took off, I followed it into to a nearby clearing, and underneath a tree, I found a bird singing, as I approached the bird, it burst into flames, and was reborn from the ashes, a phoenix, both the dog and the phoenix had the scars that I do on my left leg, on the respective body parts." She lifted up her pant leg to show the scars she had gotten from falling out of the tree.
"Two forms?" McGonagall asked, she seemed astounded, "You have both a magical and non-magical form. How very odd, you don't mind me double checking these with the spell, so I can see them?" Heather didn't mind, so she shook her head. McGonagall performed the spell, and just like in the dream, the two animals appeared. The older woman gasped, and leaned on her desk for support.
"I told you that I had two forms." Heather said. Hermione and Lily both approached McGonagall and had her check their forms, sure enough, they were the same.
"Mr. Potter, where is the ingredient list and directions. This potion that you created is remarkable, they will want to know of this at the Registry." McGonagall said. James pulled out the piece of paper that he had written the directions to the potion on. McGonagall looked at some of the ingredients, and then at the boys.
"We don't even have some of these potions ingredients at this school." She said.
"On the seventh floor, opposite the tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy, is a secret room called the Room of Requirement. We used that to get the potions ingredients, as we really needed a potions ingredients closet."
"I see, you don't mind if Professor Slughorn takes a whirl at making this potion, do you? It would confirm this, and you can bring him the ingredients."
"Yes, Professor." She took a look at the group, and then handed the list back to James, with instructions to get the ingredients, and then to take them and the directions to Slughorn's office. He left immeadiately for the seventh floor.
"You five are to come with me to the Headmaster's office, I will go and collect Mr. Pettigrew, what is his form?"
"It is a rat."
"You do remember that these forms are based on personality, right?" No one but Lily nodded.
"Yes, Professor, but what does that mean?"
"A rat's personality, and characteristics can mean anything, but are usually very slippery, and can be smart at times and not at others. Be very careful around Mr. Pettigrew, he can and possibly will be very dangerous. That is also why it is highly unusual for someone to have more than one form." McGonagall said, "Did you wish to leave him out of the information about these three?" They nodded, "Then I will collect him after we have discussed the main points about this with the headmaster." The group followed her out of her office, and up to the seventh floor, where they found the gargoyle waiting for the password. At the mention of the password, it was 'Ice Mice' this week; the statue sprang to life, and allowed them access to the spiraling staircase. At the top they approached the office, and were allowed entrance.
"Ah, Minerva, what a surprise, surely you have lessons to plan, breakfast to eat?" the headmaster said upon them entering. He hadn't noticed the rest of the group.
"Albus, I found out the reason Mr. Lupin has been coming in better shape these past few years." She said.
"Finally the mystery is solved." He said, "So who was behind it?" Although he already suspected the other Marauders, he was in no way ready for the how.
"It was the Marauders, as you have suspected, but they did something, that very well could have had them chucked in Azkaban." said McGonagall. This worried Albus Dumbledore, as he didn't want them in that place, as secure as it was, he didn't like the Dementors.
"What did they . . ." he was interrupted by Sirius in his dog form jumping up on to his desk, and then changing back.
"The Marauders are . . . Animagi?" he said surprised.
"Have been since fifth year, when we finally finished, all except for Moony there." Sirius said. Dumbledore looked at them, no one, and that meant no one, had been able to pull off much without attracting his notice, but these three had pulled off something highly illegal, and did it without him finding out for two years.
"We were going to teach the girls, until something came up with Heather, that's when James said we needed to go to Professor McGonagall."
"You see, Headmaster, I . . . have two Animagus forms, one magical, the other non-magical." Heather spoke up after walking forward.
"Magical Animagi forms; they don't exist, do they?"
"They do, I double checked their results myself, and saw the animals she was to be, a dog for the non-magical, and surprisingly, a phoenix for her magical."
"You're sure it was a phoenix?"
"Yes, it looked just like Fawkes there, but instead of red and gold, it was silver and gold." McGonagall said. Heather looked shocked at that, she hadn't paid enough attention, but yet she knew she could access the memory and probably see the colors once she did.
"Very well, where is Mr. Pettigrew?"
"He's right here." James called as he and Peter entered the room. Thankfully, Peter had not heard her forms. One look at everyone else told them to keep quiet about her second form.
"Mr. Pettigrew, Mr. Potter, how nice of you to join us." Dumbledore said.
"Sorry, Professor McGonagall had me run something down to Professor Slughorn."
"Professor, they discovered a potion that has similar effects to the form revealing spell."
"Wait, why are we talking about Animagi?" Peter asked.
"Because Jamsie here decided to tell them." Peter stared at James, horrified that he would do such a thing.
"But, that was supposed to be the secret, never to be revealed."
"Circumstances change, I certainly don't want to go to Azkaban, and if I can avoid it I will." James said.
"Mr. Potter, I do believe we have a way for you to get out of that. We can say that Professor McGonagall was teaching you, and requested from you that you not be registered until you turned 17, and around that time, your sister and her friends found out about you, and requested that they also be allowed, so," he changed speaking from James to McGonagall, "Minerva, would you teach these girls to become Animagi? An excellent idea I might add, that could save your lives after graduation." McGonagall nodded.
"Although I am impressed with the boys, I will take over from here." She said. "We are going to the Ministry at once, and I will verify your story as they will want to ask me, to make sure you are not lying, which you are but they shouldn't know that."
"Yes, ma'm." the boys said. Dumbledore reached for his Floo Powder and handed it to McGonagall, who took it, and opened the Floo Network on this side.
"Go to the Ministry of Magic, you'll come out in the Atrium." One by one every one of the Marauders filed out through the fireplace.
Two days later, three owls arrived in the Great Hall bearing the Ministry's crest. Several people began to speculate on this, wondering what the Marauders had done to attract the attention of the Ministry. To top off their luck, someone from Ravenclaw, who had excellent eyesight, caught sight of the letter as James opened it. He read it from a distance, and upon reaching the part of registered Animagi, set off to the library without any of his friends behind him.
"Well, no more threat of Azkaban." James said when they got to the room of requirement after classes that day. Heather walked over to her boyfriend, and kissed him.
"Hey, did we miss something?" Remus asked.
"Yeah, I guess you did, and none of you noticed . . ." Sirius began.
"We're dating." Heather finished his sentence, and everyone's jaws dropped.
"My sister and my best friend are dating!" James said. Heather and Sirius blushed and nodded. She grabbed Sirius by the hand, and dragged him out of the room. They could hear James shouting for quite a while, as they walked away.
"So, are we going to 'study', like we planned?" Sirius asked, once they couldn't hear James anymore.
"We're going to the library, because, I saw something in the Great Hall after you guys received your letters." Heather answered,
"Saw what?"
"A Ravenclaw was reading James' letter, I think he went to the library to try and figure out why." Sirius, concerned for Remus, went down to the library immediately with her, to confront the Ravenclaw.
"I've found it." The boy in question said to himself. He read the chapter in the book he found. He heard footsteps, and bookmarked the page, and closed the book. Around the corner walked Heather and Sirius. They were talking to each other about something.
"Excuse me, but I noticed you reading my brothers personal letter." Heather said upon noticing him.
"You did?" the Ravenclaw said berating himself for doing this.
"What do you know?" asked Sirius. He was calm, not unlike the way he usually was. The student was somewhat terrified, and looked at them.
"I . . ." he started, they heard footsteps behind them, and moved out of the way as Professor Dumbledore approached.
"I'm sorry, but we cannot have you telling the school, it is for Mr. Lupin to tell, and only when he sees fit." Dumbledore said raising his wand, "Obliviate!" The student was hit with a jet of white light, and then shook his head.
"What am I doing in the library?" he asked.
"You were just leaving." Dumbledore said. The student nodded, and then left quickly leaving the Headmaster with Heather and Sirius.
"We're sorry sir, I saw him reading the letter, and thought he might tell, so I dragged my boyfriend here with me, to confront him." Heather said.
"I should have told the Ministry to send the letters later in the day, so that they would arrive at a time when people couldn't see them." Dumbledore said. Heather and Sirius nodded, and turned to leave.
"Be careful, you two, times are dark, and everything is not as it seems." He said. The couple left and headed back to the Room of Requirement. They found James, Lily, Hermione and Remus all sitting around. James and Lily were close to each other, and he was saying something to her that they couldn't hear. It was only when they kissed; that Heather and Sirius figured out what was going on.
"You're together!" Sirius said. Everyone jumped, except for Heather, who had been expecting that. They turned to him and started laughing.
"Well, its official, we just need to find Peter a girlfriend, and we'll all be together."
"I don't think he could hold a girl down, he gets too nervous at the simplest things." Remus said. Hermione seemed to want to say something, but stopped as tears filled her eyes. She was still thinking of her sister. Remus comforted her, and the three couples, sat down wondering what was going to happen next.
"You will need to focus on your form, Heather we are currently working on your first form, the brown dog, visualize the animal in your mind, you now are ready to try for the full transformation, however, it can, and sometimes will go wrong, in which case I am here to undo the mistakes you made. Do not panic." McGonagall said, in her stern teaching manner. The three girls gulped, and listened to her continue her lecture. It had been about 3 months since they had started training and Lily, being the ever smart one of the group, decided that she would go first.
"You are to do it non-verbally, but with a wand the first time, afterward you will be able to do it wandlessly." McGonagall instructed. Lily nodded, pointed her wand at herself, and then began her full transformation into a golden-eagle. The change only took a few seconds, before Lily Evans had transformed into her form. A few minutes later, she returned to human form.
"That was unexpected." She said. Heather and Hermione looked at her, awaiting an explanation, which she eagerly supplied. "I had to fight the eagles' instincts, in order to get control."
"Yes, that does happen, but it really depends on the person's willpower, and the strength of the instincts." McGonagall said. Lily, happy with what she got, sat down between Hermione and Heather. Hermione, who had volunteered to go second stood up and walked over to McGonagall. She held her wand in the same position as Lily did, and a few seconds later, a silver-colored wolf was on its paws by them, surprised, apparently, by the amount of humans in the room, attacked the first thing it could; Professor McGonagall. After sinking its teeth into her leg, the wolf faltered in its steps, and let go of McGonagall. A few seconds later, Hermione was in its place.
"I'm so sorry, Professor, I didn't mean to hurt you." She said apologetically. McGonagall nodded to show that she knew that, and pointed her wand at the injured leg, healing it within seconds. Heather approached the professor, and pointed her wand at herself. She thought very hard of the incantation that she had been studying for the past week, and suddenly found herself in a fight against the dog's instincts. It was a short fight, but it left her mentally exhausted. She quickly turned back, and collapsed on the ground.