A/N: Le GASP! What is this strange occurrence- an update within the promised time frame? Run for your lives!

Hehe, nah, just kidding. But I did say some time around Halloween, so... yeah. Enjoy the chapter- I worked hard on this one! You guys have already bumped me up to 96 reviews; you've definitely earned a long chapter! (Wow, that made it sound like I'm bribing you for reviews... um.)

I would have uploaded sooner, but I kind of sort of sprained my middle finger on my right hand (my WRITING hand) and was unable to hold a pen for almost five days. I was rather upset, for some reason. Thank Merlin it's better now, but the irony of that event and this chapter... Well, you'll see.

Disclaimer: Siriusly, this is fanfiction. Why would I be uploading stories here if I owned it?

When James, Liz, and Peter entered the boys' dorm, James and Peter snickering about something and Liz looking torn between amusement and disapproval, Sirius immediately knew something had happened without him.

Get used to it, he told himself.

"Okay, what did you do this time?" he asked, propping himself up on his elbow.

"James used the spell I four in the library and turned Ryan's nose into a pig snout!" Peter said gleefully.

"You what?" Sirius asked, grinning. "James, mate, that's brilliant!"

"It was." James smirked, but then his face fell. "Eh, knowing you, it's probably something that'll take a few days to wear off. Besides, I'm pretty sure this won't be the last time you'll get him."

"It won't," James agreed. "And I promise to find something even better to use."

"But I-" Peter began.

"I'll help however I can," Sirius promised.

Peter huffed and crossed his arms. James and Sirius looked at him. "Cheer up, Wormy. You can help next time, too," James said. For some reason, Peter didn't look appeased.

"Moving on!" Sirius jumped off his bed and opened James' trunk. He removed James' Invisibility Cloak ("See? Safe and sound!") and extracted the Animagus book. "Who's ready to get started on this?" He was rewarded with a chorus of cheers. "James, will you do the honors?" James held out his hand and Sirius passed the book to him, and they settled on the floor.

James thumbed through the pages and cleared his throat. "'Congratulations on successfully discovering your other self!'" he read in an overly-cheerful voice. "'Now that you know what you'll be, the next step is the last and hardest: becoming the animal.'"

Sirius realized they were all leaning in as James read and he quickly sat up straight. James kept reading, his voice rising slightly as he got more excited. "'Though only one spell- the Homprphus Animalis spell- is needed, it is extremely difficult to perform (impossible if your animal has not yet been discovered), and once it is cast, the rest of the work will depend on your dedication and determination.' Well, this actually doesn't look too hard- uh oh..."

"What?" Liz peered over James' shoulder. "Oh, damn."

"Are you going to tell us before dinner?" Sirius asked impatiently.

James grimaced. "I don't think you or I will have any problems with it, and Liz'll probably be fine, but... well, you have to perform the spell on yourself." Almost simultaneously, they looked at Peter. He sighed.

"Maybe I shouldn't bother," he said quietly.

"Aw, come on, Pete! You're not nearly as bad at Transfiguration as Liz is at Charms- sorry," Sirius added hastily. Liz shrugged and motioned for him to continue. "And if she can conjure a Patronus, you can get this!"

"You really think so?" Peter asked, his eyes shining.

"Of course!" Liz said. "Like I keep saying, we're the Marauders; we-"

"Can do anything," Peter finished with a smile. "Okay. I'll do my best."

James handed him the book and Peter perused the chapter, his brows knitting together. Sirius had already read it- something about focusing on the animal and trying to find similar physical traits between it and a human- and was still trying to decide what he would start with. Legs? Feet? Ears?

Peter held on to the book for so long that Liz eventually crawled over so she could read over his shoulder.

Sirius looked at James. "Do you think we should go ahead and get started?" he asked.

"You can if you want to," Liz said.

Peter handed the book to her. "Maybe I'll do better if I see it first."

"You want me to go first, or will you do the honors?" James asked.

Sirius grinned. "How about together?"

"Sounds good to me." James paused. "Do you think you're ready?"

"Potter, please. I was born ready." Sirius might have been exaggerating just a little bit; though he was fairly confident in his ability to pull it off, he was still slightly nervous about making a mistake. Sirius shook his head and tried to push that thought from his mind. It wouldn't do him any good.

James closed his eyes and Sirius did the same. He pointed his wand at himself and took a deep breath, picturing the large dog that he would become. For some reason, in his mind's eye, the silver Patronus became black, and he could have sworn he heard barking. He concentrated harder, imagining the wind blowing through his fur, his paws pounding on the leaf-littered ground, ears pricked for interesting sounds...

Holding the image in his mind, Sirius pointed his wand at himself. "Hominum Animalus."

After a minute of silence, Sirius cracked an eye open. "Did it work?"

"There was a lot of blue light," Liz offered. "And.. that was pretty much it, actually. What diid it feel like?"

"I was running through a forest," Sirius said thoughtfully. "It was night, I think, but I'm not sure..."

"I had the weirdest urge to go chomp on a tree," James said, looking like he didn't know whether to be pleased or worried.

"I guess there's only one way to find out," Sirius said, closing his eyes again and concentrating once more. A hush fell over the room, and Sirius briefly wondered if his friends were holding their breath before refocusing on the dog.

A tingling numbness began in his extremities. Sirius kept his eyes shut, still imagining running though the Forbidden Forest, and he could feel the skin of his hands and feet beginning to almost melt, his digits melding together-

Sirius' nose suddenly itched and, distracted by the need to scratch, accidentally lost his concentration. He opened his eyes and moved to scratch his nose, which was when he saw his hands.

"Bloody hell!" he yelped when he saw them.

From the wrists down, his hands had turned pitch-black and shrunk to about half their size. Most of his finders had shortened to tiny nubs, and his little fingers were completely gone. The backs of his hands were covered in tiny bristles, like he'd been starting to grow fur before he lost concentration,

"Merlin," Liz whispered, breaking the awed silence. Sirius uncrossed his legs and swung his feet around to James.

"I think my feet changed too- help me get my shoes off, I can't do anything with these paws."

James pulled the shoes off and peeled away one sock when he recoiled. "That's nasty," he gagged.

Sirius blanched when he saw his foot. It was now small and narrow and almost squashed, and though that was what a regular paw looked like, it was eerie seeing it in place of his normal foot. The top of it was black and bristly like his hands, but the underside was a sickly dark grey color, the skin much thicker and tougher than it should have been.

"Oh, ew," Liz said, making a face. "Really ew."

"Wait until it's our turn," Peter reminded her, his face tinted green. "That's gross."

Sirius turned his hands over and winced at the sight of the grey pads on his palms. Humans, he decided, were born without pads for a reason.

James pulled off Sirius' other sock and, after a moment's hesitation, began tapping the pads. "Can you feel this?" he asked.

"Yes, and it's annoying." Sirius tried to pull his foot away, but James wouldn't let go. "What are you doing?"

James moved to his other foot. "You're supposed to make sure you can feel the transformed parts whenever you get it to work, because sometimes nerves don't connect the way they should," he said, prodding the tops of Sirius' feet. "Can you feel this?"

"Yes," Sirius said impatiently. "And I can feel my hands, too- only I guess they're not really hands now, are they? They're feet. Or paws. Whatever."

"That sucks, starting with such an ugly part," Peter piped up. He seemed to have gotten over his revulsion and was now staring at Sirius' hands in fascination.

"I can think of worse places to start," Liz snickered.

"You have a dirty mind, Eb," James said.

"Why, thank you."

"Hey!" Peter said suddenly. "Your feet- and the name- and yeah, I think it'll work!"

Sirius, James, and Liz looked at him. "Er, what?" James asked.

"Padfoot!" Peter said. "His nickname- he's got padded feet. I think it fits."

Sirius thought about it and nodded to himself. "I kind of like that. First thing I managed to change, so it's definitely got some nice meaning. Great idea, Wormtail," he added, grinning.

"Thanks!"

"Now all of you shut up so I can change back." Sirius frowned, focusing on his half-formed paws and imagining them beginning hands again. He watched in fascination as the pale color of his skin spread through his hands, the paws growing larger and splitting into fingers. The claws flattened and rounded out, becoming regular fingernails, and bulges on the sides of his hands sprouted into his missing fingers. The whole process took about five minutes, and the effort left him panting.

Sirius flexed his fully human hand, marveling at the wonder called joints. "It was so weird not having fingers."

"Don't forget about your feet," Liz teased.

"But I didn't-" Sirius looked down and frowned. He thought he'd remembered to change his feet back as well. "Damn."

"That can happen sometimes," James said, though he sounded worried. "You might have trouble changing on occasion, and the best thing you can do is either re-focus your attention and try again, or relax and let it fade by itself. But if you take over a week to fix it, you could get stuck like that..."

"Wait," Liz interrupted. "What exactly do you mean, 'stuck'?"

"Just... y'know... stuck. Unable to change either way. Once you can do a complete transformation, you can stay in your animal form indefinitely, but being half-changed is dangerous. You have to be human or animal, no in-between. We could try this reversal spell here, but it looks more complicated than the Patronus and the Homorphus Animalis put together... We shouldn't try that until something really bad happens."

Sirius swallowed and glared at his feet, trying to get them to change back. "Transform already, dammit!"

Gradually, the color returned to normal and the fur disappeared, but the rest of the paws remained unchanged. Sirius swore violently.

"Calm down!" James said, not sounding calm at all. "You're not supposed to try and force it!"

"Try counting to ten or breathing deeply!" Peter suggested.

"Guys!" Liz yelled. "Remember what James said? Just try relaxing and let it fade on its own? Maybe you should try that."

"Calm down? My feet are these ugly little paws and you're telling me to calm down?" Sirius demanded.

"She actually has a fair point," James said sheepishly. "That's what the book said to do, after all..."

"But what it-" Peter was cut off when James clapped a hand over his mouth.

"My turn," he said.

James decided he would work on just one limb instead of all four like Sirius had done. That way, he could focus all his attention in one area, which would hopefully prevent him from screwing up.

"I'm going to try just my hand," James announced. "Liz, Peter, you guys keep working on the Homorphus Animalis, okay?" They nodded. "Just focus on the animal. Do that and you'll be fine, I promise."

Liz and Peter closed their eyes. James and Sirius exchanged excited looks.

"You think they'll get it?" Sirius whispered.

"Of course," James whispered back. "Why wouldn't they?"

"Maybe because you two are distracting us?" Liz said through gritted teeth.

"Sorry," James said, then clamped his mouth shut. He watched them for about ten seconds before he began to fidget. What was taking them so long?

He looked up at the ceiling, counting the beams that supported the dorm above them. He'd just reached number twenty-three when there was a blue glow, and he whipped his head around to see Liz and Peter looking down at themselves.

"I think you got it," Sirius said unnecessarily.

"All together then?" James asked.

"Might as well," Liz said. Peter nodded in agreement.

James closed his eyes, recalling the pictures he'd seen in the library book on Britain's woodland creatures. His fingers began to tingle and he was struck by an unnerving thought: what if he accidentally changed his right hand instead of his left and it got stuck like that? He kind of needed that hand to write* and cast spells.

He could feel his skin itching and his hand melting into itself, becoming smaller and harder- why did it feel like the fingers on his left hand were still there, then?

"Uh, James?" Sirius said tentatively, "Did you mean to change your right hand?"

"Oh, no..." Sure enough, his right hand had become a deer's hoof, while his left forearm was thinner than it used to be and was covered in light brown fur.

"Go away, fur. Bad fur," James growled, picturing a regular arm. The fur disappeared and his forearm returned to normal size, but his hand remained a hoof. "Oh, come on!"

"Maybe if you don't think about it, it'll go away," Sirius suggested. He held up a foot and waggled his toes. "Worked for me."

"It did?" Liz asked. James glanced over at her as she opened her eyes, and he had to stifle a laugh. Her face was still human in shape, but it was covered in grey-black fur and her eyes, though still their normal hazel, were now slit-pupiled. "Woah, this is so cool! Everything looks so-" As she spoke, her eyes returned to normal and the fur started to disappear, though some random patches remained on her face like a bizarre beard. "No! Argh!" She grabbed at her cheeks. "I lost it..."

"I thought you'd list it a long time ago," James teased. Liz swatted him, but she was grinning. The last bits of fur on her face were absorbed into her skin.

"Everything was so much clearer, like it was more defined... Wish I could have held it a bit longer..."

"That's great, Liz, but I'm having a bit of trouble here!" James waved his hoof in her face. Liz tried to look worried, but she soon doubled over with laughter. "It's not funny," James snapped.

"Sorry- it's just-!" Liz guffawed. "After hexing Ryan, you can't change yourself back- it's Karma, James, I'm telling you."

"Don't be ridiculous," he growled. "This has nothing to do with him."

"Maybe not, but can't you at least appreciate the irony here?"

"I'll appreciate it once I get my hand back!"

"Er, guys, I think I got it," Peter spoke up. He was fiddling with his ears, which, though they were their normal size, had turned fuzzy and grey.

"Oh, can I touch your ears?" Liz asked, distracted from teasing James. Peter looked rather taken aback, but he scooted next to him and touched one of his ears.

"They're so soft!" she said, a stupid little grin on her face.

"Stop that, you're acting like a girl," James grumbled. Liz, Sirius, and Peter stared at him. "What?"

"Uh, hello?" Liz said.

James rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean. Going nuts over fluffy little animals and cooing at them isn't very Marauderly."

"Last time I checked, my ears weren't fluffy little animals," Peter said.

James waved a dismissive hoof. "Details, details. You know what I mean. Just stop doing that, it's weird."

Liz stuck her tongue out and turned back to Peter, but his ears had already returned to normal, which annoyed James to no end. After several minutes of unsuccessful attempts at changing his hoof back into a hand, everyone was starting to get worried.

"Shall we do something other than work on this?" Sirius said. "I mean, my feet didn't change back until I stopped thinking about it."

"Exploding Snap?" Peter suggested, reaching for a deck that had been tossed to the floor.

"I can't play that with one hand," James said irritably.

"Chess?" Liz asked.

"I hate chess."

"Well, I would have suggested we go down to the Quidditch pitch so you could show me some Keeper stuff, but I guess you wouldn't be able to throw very well..."

"Or hold on with my right hand." James lay back, letting his head hit the floor with a thunk. A thought struck him and he sat bolt upright again.

"What am I going to do in class tomorrow?" he said frantically.

"Wow, never thought you'd be worried about school," Sirius said.

"I'm not, but what if one of the teachers wants to know why I'm writing with my left hand and demands I switch to my right?" James wailed. "I can't let them see this, we'll be arrested!" He grabbed at his hoof, wishing it would go back to normal.

"What's this 'we' business?" Peter made a weak attempt at a joke, which, though James didn't find very funny, helped make him feel a bit better.

"We might not have to write anything tomorrow," Liz said. "First day of school and all that."

James perked up a bit. "D'you think we'll have any new teachers to annoy- I mean, any new classes tomorrow?"

"Maybe. Does it really matter, though? We'll be sick of them by the end of the week," Sirius said.

"Aw, come on, don't tell me you're not looking forward to learning about muggle things like the fellytone?"

"Telephone, James," Liz corrected him. "Honestly, I'm half-tempted to just point you in the general direction of some juggles and see how long you last before they drag you off to the nuthouse."

"They'd only send me there once my awesomeness became too much for them," James said, sticking his nose in the air.

There was a knock on the door and everyone froze for a half-second; Liz dived for the Animagus book and shoved it and the Invisibility Cloak in James' trunk while James stuffed his hoof in his pocket and Sirius grabbed his things and scrambled into bed, where he yanked the curtains into place.

"May I come in?"

James sighed with relief and went to open the door. "Geez, Moony, you almost gave us heart attacks!"

"I'll be a bit noisier next time," Remus promised wryly as he stepped past James. "But listen to this! I was in the library, and I think you'll find this interesting-"

"James has a hoof for a hand," Peter piped up.

Remus stopped, blinking and shaking his head as if he was trying to get water out of his ears. "He what?"

James kicked the door shut and pulled his hoof from his pocket. "I may have overdone it a bit," he said, trying to be casual about it.

Remus freaked out anyway. "Merlin, James, this is exactly why I didn't want you guys doing this! I shouldn't have let you go through with it, I'm so sorry-" his voice rose as he became more agitated.

"Remus, shut up!" James snapped, and Remus flinched, taking a step back and half-raising his arms. James winced. "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean it like that- but Remus, you've got to stop blaming yourself for everything!" James grabbed Remus' shoulder. "Listen to me. We're doing this of our own free will, not because you're making us. And if anything happens, it would actually be my fault, since I'm the one who suggested this in the first place."

"But-"

"Remus."

"...fine." Remus stepped away and sat on his bed. "Is there any way to reverse it?"

James shrugged. "If worse comes to worse, there's a spell we can try, but for now, I'm just going to have to wait and see if it fixes itself. Don't worry, it'll be fine."

Remus still didn't look convinced, but he dropped his gaze to the book in his lap. "Erm, so I was in the library, and I got to thinking- what is it about Professor Krasimir that makes her so beautiful?"

"Why don't you tell us," Liz said flatly. James wondered if Remus realized he would have to tread carefully.

"Well, no normal human could possibly be that gorgeous, so I started researching magical humanoid creatures. She's a Veela," Remus said excitedly. "They're native to Bulgaria, though they can be found all over Europe these days. Not in great numbers, mind you, but the description fits Professor Krasimir perfectly. 'Unnaturally beautiful with pale gold or silver hair, Veela possess a powerful magical aura that is designed to attract men, which experts theorize was once used to lure them in as prey-'"

"They eat people?" Peter squawked.

"Maybe a long time ago, but there hasn't been a 'feral' Veela in about four hundred years," Remus said. "Though if you make them angry, they're still capable of growing talons and ripping your throat out, or throwing fire at you, stuff like that. James and Sirius, don't make her mad," he added pointedly. "'A Veela's dancing causes this aura to become almost irresistible.' Think about it- the hair color, the fact that practically every guy in the Great Hall couldn't stop staring at her- she has to be a Veela!"

"Well, good for her," Liz muttered. Remus gave her a confused look, and James had to refrain from smacking himself. His hoof could probably deal a lot more damage than a hand. "So, James," Liz continued, "You want to tell Remus what happened between you and Ryan?"

Remus groaned. "Oh, don't tell me he hexed him?"

"He did," Liz confirmed. "Pig snout instead of a regular nose. Wish you'd been there to tell him off, since he didn't listen to me."

"Hey, you laughed at him, too," James protested.

"Involuntarily!"

"James, why?" Remus demanded. "You're not dating Lily-"

"Yet," James cut in.

"-and even if you were, you have no right to hex anyone who is also interested in her!" Remus said, throwing his hands in the air.

"But anyone else who dates Lily isn't good enough for her," James shot back. What was so hard to understand about that?

"This is what I had to put up with earlier," Liz said pleasantly. Remus just sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"Either James is going to get bored or Ryan will decide Lily's not worth it," he muttered.

James shrugged. "Well, if anyone decides she's not worth it, they don't deserve her."

Sirius snickered. "Well, until you get your hand back, I don't think you'll be able to do much."

James grinned. Sirius might think that now, but there were still several things he had planned for Ryan that, if Peter was willing to help, would make Ryan's life a living hell. Nobody could last a week being harassed by the great James Potter.

A/N: *James got his dominant hand messed up, I got mine messed up... I was planing on this happening later, but I was (and am) still PO'd about not having full use of my hand, so I kind of took my anger out on James. I'm a horrible person. But yeah, that there be the irony I mentioned up top.

And don't take my theory about Veela at face value. They just kind of reminded me of Sirens- using a beautiful appearance/song/dance/whatever to lure men to their deaths- well, I always wondered what caused Veela to evolve in a way that was designed to attract men. *shrug*

Anyway, hope you guys liked it, and don't forget to leave a review! *hint, hint* I'll try to have the next chapter out in two weeks, tops. Here's a preview:

"Mr. Potter, why is there a sock on your hand?"

Cookies to anyone who guesses the speaker!

Until next time,

-Dndchk