Plot: The infamous Marauders weren't alone in their love for pranking. In fact, they often had their butts kicked by a bunch of girls. Now, this is it. Seventh year. Four girls, four boys. Two opposing pranking teams. One hell of a battle to be won.
Disclaimer: Sad as it may be, I am not J.K. Rowling in disguise, and therefore I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters or themes involved. (I do, however, own Jamie, Hannah and Regan and most elements of this specific plot—so I'd appreciate it if no poaching occurred. Thanks.)
Chapter Notes
I know, I know… I'm a sucky updater. But here's the surprise: this time, I have a super-mega-extra-long chapter for you all! That's right, no more lousy 2-3 thousand word chapters – this one's 7,598. If that doesn't make you happy, then I don't know what will. Well, I suppose that's assuming there are actually readers out there to make happy… Sorry if this chapter's a bit confusing. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the form of a review (this isn't a scam or anything : ) and I'll answer them as quickly as possible. Anyway, I guess there's already enough for you to read without having to read all this blabber beforehand… What are you waiting for, then? Read the chapter! (If you dare… Just kidding. Anybody with Peter Pettigrew's level of wits or higher will deal just fine with this chapter.)
Quick note (8/10/10): I do have a quick edit scheduled for this chapter, but since this one isn't particularly old, I don't feel like I need to do much to it. If you have any suggestions for changes, though, feel free to run them by me in the form of a review - or, if you've already reviewed (in which case I congratulate you... with cookies), in a private message.
Chapter Eighteen – Crayons and Chaos
"That's one… two… three."
Jamie stopped pacing and stood back, waiting for the door to materialise in the wall in front of her. Nothing happened.
"Are you sure you did it right?" Lily asked. It was a stupid question – Jamie was clearly the thinker of the group, and she'd done this for them many times before. "I mean, your mind isn't preoccupied or anything, is it?"
"Her mind is always preoccupied," Regan scoffed. A light pink blush lit up Jamie's cheeks as she backed away from the wall.
"Here," said Hannah, "I'll give it a try." She took a deep breath before starting slowly across the marble tiles of the seventh floor, closing her eyes as she concentrated deeply. The others held their breaths as if awaiting very grave news as their blonde friend paced a few lards along the wall – once, twice, and then a third time, before finally looking up at the still-blank space before her. Again, nothing appeared, and the others exhaled simultaneously in disappointment.
"So much for that," Hannah sighed. "Maybe we should find someplace else to practice. You don't suppose Filch would-"
"Hold it," Regan said in a commanding voice. "Let me just try one thing…" She strode forward, gently shoving Hannah aside, to stop in front of the seemingly very stubborn wall. She glared fiercely at it. "You," she spat, planting her fists on her hips. "If you don't let us in now for our Animagus training, I will personally send this entire floor up in flames, stuff it with exploding snap cards, and curse you in as many ways I think of. And no, Filch will never find out it was me. Are we clear?" Her gaze was fixed on the stone wall, which didn't change in the slightest.
Hannah snickered. "Nice try, Reegs, but I don't think that works."
"Wait," Regan growled, not breaking eye contact (or rather, eye-rock contact) with the wall. "Move it, NOW!" she barked furiously, and gave it an enormous punt with her right foot. The impact made her fall backward in pain, cursing as she clutched at her toes in agony.
"I hate to say it, but I told you so," was Hannah's comment as she patted Regan's shoulder with a sympathetic smile. "Really, we should just get going and-"
"Guys," interrupted Jamie, her voice vaguely astonished, "look."
Lily followed the girl's directing finger with her eyes, finding that she was pointing at a small patch of colour near the bottom of the wall. It was rapidly growing, and, soon enough, it took the shape of an arched door, which settled into place right in front of their wide eyes.
Lily blinked. "We did it."
"I did it," Regan corrected, hoisting herself into a standing position. "Honestly, you three should have more faith in me after all these years."
Hannah raised an eyebrow. "Sorry to break it to you, honey, but if all those years of knowing you have taught me anything, it's not to trust your intellect in difficult situations."
Regan feigned hurt. "Fine," she said with a pout on her lips. "You three obviously don't know how to appreciate true talent. I guess, since I got the door to appear, I'll just head on in and practice on my own while you sceptics stand out here and wait for Filch to catch you." She started toward the newly formed door, but Hannah's arm shot out to stop her.
"Not so fast, Smart Alec," she said with a mischievous grin, and reached into the black bag that was slung over her shoulder. "See? I have the book. So, unless you've memorised every page-" (she flicked through the three-inch-thick volume for emphasis) "-you kinda need us." Hannah folded her arms as if to say that the argument was won (although the whole thing was clearly still a joke).
Regan was quick as she lunged for the book, but Hannah was even quicker, and she yanked it away just in time. They continued to squabble over it, Regan pouncing from every angle and Hannah always managing to keep the prize out of her dark-haired friend's reach, until Lily stepped in and broke up the play-fight.
"Enough, you two," she said, grinning as she snatched the book effortlessly from a distracted Hannah's grip. The bickering girls looked up at her in surprise before their faces softened – the resulting expressions were not dissimilar to those of two puppies with their tails between their legs. Lily smiled at the comparison and pushed past Regan and Hannah to open the door to the Room of Requirement. "Come on, idiots," she said, rolling her eyes as she held it open for the others.
"Whoa," was the unanimous assessment as they stepped in, all four frozen just inside the doorway.
The room had transformed beyond anything that any of them had seen before. Each of the Rogues had used the Room many times throughout their years at Hogwarts (sometimes unknown to the others) for various reasons – prank-planning, escaping from the Marauders, extra study (though that was the rarest of all reasons). Regan had discovered it by accident in third year when Peter had been following her relentlessly through the corridors; she'd walked along thinking, "Please, please let me escape from this loser," when the door had appeared out of nowhere. As soon as she had managed to duck in, Peter was locked out – better, still, the entire room had been filled with Peter Pettigrew voodoo dolls, dart boards, and other such anger-relieving devices. Since then, the four of them had used the Room of Requirement whenever the need presented itself, as it often did.
But now… Now, this was even better. The Rogues needed a place for their Animagus practice – they couldn't have asked for anything more suitable than what Regan's threats and physical assault had apparently earned them.
The first thing Lily noticed was the ceiling – or rather, the fact that she couldn't see it. The effect was similar to that of the Great Hall in that the walls rose tremendously high and the ceiling (when Lily's eyes finally found it) mimicked the sky outside. The walls were painted with intricate designs involving – as far as Lily could tell – thousands of different creatures, and in full colour, too. The floor was not the hard marble of the corridors, but soft, natural terrain, ranging from lush grass to jagged rocks and powdery snow. There was even a waterfall and steaming hot spring in one corner. In the centre of the massive room, however, a large red mat was spread out on the floor (which was quite even here) with a white circle marked in the middle, about a foot and a half in diameter, and what looked like an old-fashioned music stand in the middle of this. In the corner opposite the waterfall, four armchairs were arranged, facing one another, with a small, circular table between them. Around the walls were numerous cabinets filled with random oddments and artefacts, though from the threshold Lily didn't have a very clear view of what they were.
Hannah, without taking her eyes off the masterpiece, patted Regan on the back. "I might have to take back my comment, Reegs, 'cause this is amazing."
Regan nodded smugly. "Well, duh. Now it's my turn to say 'I told you so.'"
"Guys," Jamie said quietly, "do you reckon the book might go there?" She pointed at the important-looking pedestal standing in the white circle.
"Well, let's see." Hannah strode over to the red carpet, book in hand, and placed it where Jamie had suggested. Immediately, she leapt back, startled, as the book opened and the pages leafed through themselves at an alarming rate. Finally, they settled at a page near the beginning, and the book appeared to fidget and adjust its position on the stand before finally ceasing movement altogether. "Hey, look!" Hannah exclaimed, beckoning the others over.
Lily made her way over to the book, where Hannah was beginning to read aloud from the page. Regan and Jamie closed in behind her.
"'Before You Get Started'," Hannah recited, "'Tips on how to best approach your initial transformation.' Good thinking, Jay. I think the book's telling us where to start."
Jamie shrugged. "Well, it only seemed logical…"
"Shh," said Regan, who was looking closer at the words on the page. Jamie fell silent. "Look here – 'Tip Number One: It is entirely essential that you have fully decided on the Animagus form you wish to take before attempting any kind of transformation. Inadequate decisions may result in dangerous side effects such as permanent transformation, an unwanted Animagus form, and transformation into an inanimate object.'"
"Yikes," Lily said, "that's not good. I mean, I still haven't chosen… You don't think we're rushing into this a bit early, do you?"
"Nonsense," said Hannah in a very McGonagall-ish tone. She laughed and adopted her own voice again. "What do you think those are for, silly?" She pointed at the armchairs in the corner. "We've still got time to think about this. But it's great that we've got a place to work, now. It means those darn Marauders won't disturb us – or worse, find out what we're doing."
Regan nodded fervently. "And that pathetic excuse for a human being can't pester me. Only, I kind of wish I still had those voodoo dolls in here…"
Jamie spoke up. "Hannah, you're sure nobody can get in, right?"
"Ninety-nine point nine-nine percent positive," Hannah said confidently, struggling a bit with the articulation. Jamie frowned, obviously disturbed by that point zero-one percent. "Oh, come on, Jamie, ease up. We've been using this place for more than three years, and we've never been caught by Filch, or the Marauders, or anybody for that matter. Why should we be worried now?"
Jamie shrugged and cracked a smile. "It's nice to be away from the Marauders, isn't it? I mean, it seems like they're constantly on our backs these days."
"Does it ever," Hannah said with an annoyed roll of her eyes. Lily and Regan nodded in agreement.
"Anyway, down to business," said Regan, heading over to the decision-making corner. She plunked herself down in the black armchair, looking thoroughly at home. The other three joined her in the next few moments (Hannah slipped the book under her arm and placed it on the table at the centre of the congregation), and they launched very quickly into an excited discussion.
"Okay, so I guess we need to get it straight – down to the very last detail," Hannah began. "From what I've been reading, we need to know exactly what we want to look like, size, markings and all."
"That's a bit hard with a bullfrog, isn't it?" Regan scoffed.
"I thought you were changing," Lily recalled, confused.
"I know, I know," said Regan. "I'm just… exploring my options."
Hannah exchanged a sly glance with Lily before speaking to Regan. "Sure you are. We all know you secretly want to be a beautiful bullfrog so that Pettigrew can kiss you and you'll become a princess and you'll both live happily ever after in a fairytale land." She clapped her hands together and batted her eyelashes dreamily.
Regan gagged. "Ugh! It makes me sick just hearing the words 'Pettigrew' and 'kiss' in the same sentence. I'll pretend you didn't say that, Han, so that I don't end up with my best friend's blood on my hands."
"You think you could take me out, Tain? Well, you'd better-"
Lily decided now was the best time to intervene, before things got too out of hand. "Cut it out, you two. We came to sort out our Animagus stuff, not to bicker about the Marauders. Remember?"
"Okay, okay," said Hannah with a dismissive wave of her hand. "We'll be serious. Promise."
Regan snorted, clearly restraining from making another Marauder-related remark, and Hannah whacked her on the back of the head before turning her full attention to Lily.
"So," she said, "have you done anymore thinking about what you want to be?"
Lily sighed. Of course she'd been thinking about it, but she hadn't made any real headway on a decision. "Not really," she said, looking at her knees. She wasn't sure why it was worrying her so much. It wasn't as if it was life-changing or anything – of course, there was no going back once she had made her choice, and that was what often stumped Lily, who had often wondered if she might suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, a Muggle condition she had learned of from her parents. What was wrong with a doe, anyway? She'd be strong, fast and agile – not to mention she would blend in perfectly in the Forbidden Forest.
"Lils?"
"Hmm?" Her head snapped up and her eyes met Hannah's brown ones.
"I asked if you'd considered consulting he book again. It isn't normally wrong about these things, as far as I know, but I'm pretty sure there's more in there that can help you choose."
"Sure," Lily answered.
She and Hannah got up and walked back over to the book stand, placing their Animagus Guide in its rightful spot. Again, its pages ruffled as soon as it was in place until it settled on another page near the beginning. The title of this one was "Decision-Making Dilemmas and How to Overcome Them."
"Right," started Hannah, beginning to scan through the text with her index finger. "'Making the final decision on your Animagus form can be a very difficult process, but making sure to consider all angles can be a considerable help. First, it is important that you pick an animal with which you are very familiar, so as to avoid inaccurate transformation and the resulting side effects." She took a break to glance up at Lily. "Does that help?"
Lily thought for a moment. Could she picture a doe in perfect detail? The answer to that was obvious – of course she could. As a young child in Muggle family, Lily had grown up with colourful picture books. Her favourite, undoubtedly, had been the one involving a family of red deer, the one she'd read over and over again without ever managing to tire of it. And her most memorable childhood song? 'Doe, a deer', of course.
"'Second tip'," Hannah went on, "'If concealment issues are not noted, there is opportunity for great danger later in your Animagus journey.'" She rolled her eyes at the obvious cliché. "'Depending on the area in which you expect your transformations to occur, if your animal is not easily hidden it should be quick enough to escape unwanted attention. For this reason it is not recommended that you take the form of a hippopotamus while living in a congested urban region.'"
"Okaaaaaaaaaay…," commented Regan, who had just come up behind them with Jamie shadowing her.
"No, wait," Hannah giggled, pointing to the next piece of writing on the page. "'This lesson was proved worthwhile by the unfortunate Sir Barnabus Billowmouth who in 1918 was tranquilised and imprisoned in the local zoo, where he passed the remainder of his days pleading his case.'" By the end of her recitation, Hannah, along with the others, had collapsed into giggles.
"Well," said Lily, "I'll certainly think twice before deciding to become a six-hundred-pound lump, then."
"Pettigrew had better watch it," Regan managed to gasp out, before falling to the ground in silent laughter.
It wasn't until ten minutes later that the Rogues finally got their act together and decided once and for all to be "serious" (the joke in this was, for a second time, pointed out by Regan and scowled at by a thoroughly unamused Hannah). Hannah let the book find the next relevant page before taking it off its stand and placing it in the centre of the gathering they had formed on the red mat.
"What's it given us this time?" Regan asked, rubbing her hands together in excitement. She leaned over the book as Hannah set it down to get a closer look. "'Penultimate Preparations – Sketching Your Fate.' You know, I'm starting to think this Flechbert freak was a little bit loopy."
"Join the club," Hannah said.
"Wait a sec." Lily, who had been taking a look at the page as well, interrupted. "Does this thing want us to actually sketch our Animagus forms?"
"Oh, crap." That was Regan. "That's going to be a problem."
"Why?" asked Jamie. "Because you haven't decided on your animal yet?"
"Oh, I've decided," Regan clarified with a wink. "Scarlet macaw all the way." This seemingly split-second decision surprised Lily. "I was just testing you guys earlier. It's the sketching I'm 'oh crap'ing about. If you'd ever witnessed four-year-old me armed with crayons, you'd understand."
Hannah burst out laughing. "Oh, I remember that alright. Even your father couldn't figure out a spell powerful enough to get your 'masterpieces' off the walls."
"So what does the book say?" Jamie asked, interested.
Hannah cleared her throat. "'Before you attempt to transform, it is strongly recommended that you produce a detailed sketch of your chosen creature. Any materials will do, as long as you have a very clear image in your head and an accurate representation on paper once this step is completed.' …Then there's a bunch of gibberish about why not to waste your time drawing hippopotamuses because they're too similar to elephants and rhinoceroses… Oh, and 'This representation can be a helpful tool that you may resort to later in the transformation process.'"
"Well, good," was Regan's analysis. "It says 'strongly recommended'. That means we don't actually have to do it."
"I don't think we can, anyway," said Lily with a chuckle. "I mean, there isn't anything in here we can use for drawing." She paused. "…Is there?"
Suddenly, there was a startling 'BANG!' from the back wall. All four Rogues jumped to their feet in surprise; Jamie even clutched Regan's arm as the sound of the apparent explosion hit their ears.
"What the hell was that?" Hannah exclaimed, backing away from the source of the noise. There was a dark cloud of smog rising up there, clouding the girls' view. The others said nothing, but simply stared, wide-eyed, at the scene before them.
It took a few moments for the smoke to clear away, but, when it finally did, the Rogues could see that one of the cabinets had blasted open and that its contents lay strewn across the floor. Hannah headed forward first, closely followed by the others.
"Oh, I get it," said Lily with a smile, picking up one of the catapulted items. It was a wooden drawing board, and on the floor next to where it had been was an extra-large roll of parchment as well as several battered-looking quills. "So I guess we really are supposed to sketch our Animaguses… or Animagi… whatever you say."
"The correct term is Animagi," Jamie tossed in quietly. "We learned that in DADA two years ago."
"Cool," said Hannah, distracted. She was busy collecting the rest of the strewn drawing utensils. She hesitated, her hand hovering over a tiny, unidentifiable yellow box, before she smirked and scooped it up. "Hey, Reegs," she said, "I think these are for you." She tossed the box of crayons to her friend.
Regan smirked. "Man, these should really have a 'keep out of reach of Regans' warning on them."
"Hey, wait a minute…" There was enlightenment in Hannah's voice as she hesitated over another item on the floor. She picked it up and showed it to Lily and the others; it was a blackened and mangled box, about the size of her palm, and Lily recognised it immediately – she was about to comment when Regan beat her to it.
"That's not…," she started.
"Oh yes, it is." Hannah beamed. "Exploding Snap. They're all over the place. You mustn't have done a very good job of conjuring this place after all, Regan."
The other girl shook her head, amused. "Nah, I think the Room just likes me."
"Okay, guys, enough dilly-dally," Lily said, breaking up the conversation. "It's pushing four o'clock."
The girls had spent most of their Saturday morning getting head start on their weekend homework – an atypical habit for a particular couple of them – and, after making a significant dent in each of their piles of assignments, had decided to get a bit of fresh air before the Animagus training session they had planned for one-thirty. Unfortunately, Hagrid had caught them and roped them into weeding his pumpkin patch for a good hour and a half, before serving them a lunch of rancid turnip stew in his hut. By the time all this was finished, and they'd spent thirty-five minutes in the bathrooms rinsing out their mouths, several hours of their precious afternoon had been wasted.
Taking the drawing supplies back to the armchair circle, the girls sat down together and remained silent for a few lengthy moments.
Regan, as usual, broke the quiet streak. "Okay, so… what exactly are we supposed to do?"
"Draw your animal, I guess," replied Hannah, shrugging with a quill in her hand. She glanced down at the book, which lay open on the table in front of them. "'Every marking; every hair, feather and toenail', it says."
Regan groaned. "Why can't we just use magic? There's got to be some… pictorial replication charm, hasn't there?"
"Wow, who knew Regan Tain had a vocabulary beyond 'I-hate-Pettigrew'?" Hannah chuckled before rolling her eyes. "Of course we can't use magic, stupid. This is just an exercise to get the images stuck into our heads. If we actually go through the effort, it'll be more solid in our memories. Get it? Or should I run through it one more time?"
Regan made a "fine then, smartie pants" sort of face at her before looking down at her drawing supplies and sighing in defeat. "Well, here goes. But if you three so much as crack a smile at my pathetic attempt, these Crayons will be stuffed down your throat. Capiche?"
The others nodded, restraining from looking amused by pretending to be completely focused on their own work. Lily stretched the parchment over her own drawing board and poised her quill – it was then that she realised she had no idea what she was doing.
"Err, Hannah?" she asked.
"Uh-huh? Oh! Damn, Lily, I forgot you hadn't chosen yet. That was dumb. We don't have to do this part right now, you know… We can have another look at the decision-making tips if you want."
"No, it's fine," Lily said with a smile. "I'll just stick with the original suggestion. I guess the book knows best, right?"
Hannah grinned. "Right. As long as you're sure?"
Lily nodded in assertion. After all, there was no need to be such a perfectionist, prolonging the process by being indecisive. Her friends had chosen with certainty, so why couldn't she? Actually, now that she'd finally decided one hundred percent on her Animagus form, she felt relieved, and, more than that, stupid for being so fussy. As she'd tried to convince herself earlier, it really was far from a matter of life or death.
The Rogues lapsed into a very out-of-character silence as they all tried to psyche themselves up for this artistic activity. Having spent most of her life in the magical community, Lily found it difficult, at first, to warm up to manual work again. She had never been particularly talented at drawing, even when it had been a more common hobby, but then she couldn't remember being notably terrible either. Deciding it was best to focus on what she was drawing and not how, Lily began to sketch out the Animagus form she wished to take, and found it came quite naturally to her once she got started.
Some forty minutes later, Regan exploded. "That's IT!" she cried, exasperated, as she tossed everything onto the floor. The others were broken out of their trances by her outburst, jumping a few centimetres off their seats when the stretch of silence was disrupted. Regan, her face red and her eyes livid, heaved a frustrated sigh and crossed her arms resolutely. "I give up. If this is what it takes to become an Animagus, then obviously I'm not an ideal candidate."
Hannah gave a small laugh as she got out of her chair and then reached down to pick up Regan's discarded artwork. "Oh, come on, Reegs. It's not that bad…" Her words were contradictory to her expression, though, which clearly stated that the parchment contained something highly amusing.
"Not that bad?" the infuriated artist repeated incredulously. "Have you got brain damage or something?"
Lily, too curious to help herself, got up and stood behind Hannah, looking over her friend's shoulder at the apparently disastrous attempt. Straightaway, she had to stifle a laugh with her right hand. Even Jamie, who had followed the lead of the others, let out a small giggle before shutting herself up for her own sake. Regan didn't fail to notice.
"See? You guys promised you wouldn't laugh." She brandished a fistful of the crayons she hadn't spilt, and the others backed away noticeably.
"Calm down, Regan." Lily's voice wavered as she tried to keep from laughing. "Hannah's right – it's not as bad as you probably think."
"Are those warts?" Jamie asked, pointing to something on the drawing. "Or polka dots?"
"ARGH!" Regan groaned, and snatched the parchment and board away from her friends. "Okay, drawing exercise over. No more laughing. Is there a fireplace or something in here I can use to destroy this?"
"Cool it," Hannah said. "It doesn't matter, anyway. At least you have a vague idea of what you want to look like."
"I do not want to look like an upside-down toadstool covered in lumpy mould!"
Hannah tugged an edge of the picture back toward her and examined it once more, her head tilted to the side and one eyebrow arched. "Actually, that's a pretty accurate description of what you've drawn here."
"Thanks," growled Regan. "You know, I did warn you about the crayons."
"True…" One corner of Hannah's mouth lifted. "I've still got very fond memories of those days. Well, some not-so-fond ones, too."
Lily understood how it must have been for Hannah and Regan, who had grown up as next-door neighbours and spent so much time with together that they had come to regard one another's homes as their own. Their families couldn't have been any more different – while Hannah's place was your typical warm, happy household, Regan's parents were stricter than McGonagall and Marsh put together, and her older brother was… well, weird was the only word that could be used to accurately describe Zachary Tain. Still, the families had bonded like two sides of Velcro and even Hannah's thirteen-year-old sisters, Annie and Clara, had warmed up to the weird ways of the traditional wizarding family and Regan's sardonic nature.
It reminded Lily of the days before Hogwarts when she and a young boy who had lived nearby had been tight friends. Once a timid, friendly child, that boy was now the prime target (aside from the Rogues) of the Marauders' malicious teasing and pranks, and despised Lily for having been made a Gryffindor. Well, at least some childhood friendships last, Lily thought to herself, looking between Hannah and Regan with a tiny smile on her face. The two were now exchanging animated comments about something or other that occurred on Diricawl Crescent in the early years of their friendship.
"Guys?" Jamie piped up. Hannah and Regan fell silent and looked to her. "I hate to be pushy, but we haven't got much time left, and if we keep getting distracted like this…"
Hannah laughed. "Getting distracted is our specialty, it seems."
"Great," said Lily almost impatiently (she, too, was eager to get things moving), "Then let's make our specialty actually setting our minds to something and getting it done. We'll never conquer the Marauders any other way, right?"
"Right. Come to think of it, I have a hard time picturing Potter and Black talking about Crayons and frog princesses when they're supposed to be working on pranks."
"Then we're going to have to beat them," Lily stated with a wink.
These words seemed to put a sense of urgency in the air, as the girls immediately decided to get to work. Hannah took the book to its pedestal and fished out the next relevant page; Jamie cleared the art supplies away with her wand; Lily took their sketches over to their new work station (the red mat) and retrieved new items from the cabinets - as Hannah instructed - using her perfected summoning charm. Regan, all the while, had taken her own drawing away and sat in the corner by the waterfall, shredding the parchment into tiny pieces and casting Incendio on them before tossing them into the running water. All the while, she was muttering darkly to herself, Lily could only presume, about the failure of her artistic endeavour.
Not ten minutes later, they were gathered once again on the carpet and were now ready to get to work.
"My turn to read!" Regan said excitedly, stealing the book from Hannah, who seemed somewhat reluctant to let it go after being its unofficial caretaker for so long. "'Beginning the Journey'," she read aloud. "'Your First Attempt and Inevitable Failure.'" She frowned. "This Warbus Flechbert guy – what a pessimist."
"I think the pair of you can fight over that title," Lily said with a smirk.
"Shut up," said Regan. Lily shrugged.
"What are we actually supposed to do? I mean, to start off with," Jamie pondered. From the sound of her voice, Lily guessed she was becoming nervous about the whole Animagus idea. Jamie was often the one who got worried about things, sometimes for no solid reason. While Regan was the pessimist who pointed out the bad things in everything and everyone, Jamie was the worrier, the doubter of the group. Sometimes Lily wished she would get over her fear and just enjoy herself like everybody else. Then again, it wasn't as if Lily could talk – she was probably second to worst in that area, always needing to know that there was no real danger involved before launching into a new and unknown concept or exploit. This was a perfect example, and she had to admit Jamie wasn't the only one getting the jitters.
"'Now it's time to attempt your primary transformation. But first, there is one final preparatory precaution you must take, and it is to consider these words of wisdom: becoming an Animagus is a very dangerous feat. It is advised that wizards still attending a magical institute do not take this journey, as it is most certainly not for the faint of heart, or those instinctively cautious; it is most certainly not for the immature.'" Regan looked up. "What? Why is everybody looking at me like that?"
"You really want that answered?" Lily asked. Regan huffed and crossed her arms. "I didn't think so. But, moving on, what's so dangerous about becoming an Animagus, anyway? If we do it properly, I mean."
"Yeah," Jamie agreed, "I always thought it was just a straightforward shape-shift. McGonagall's one, isn't she?"
"She's a WHAT?" Hannah and Regan exclaimed simultaneously as they both looked up at her, their eyes wide with shock.
Jamie's voice died down a bit at the sudden outburst. "She's an Animagus. A… cat. Honestly, she mentions it a lot in class."
"That would explain why they don't know, then." Lily smiled. It was a known fact that Hannah and Regan absolutely despised Transfiguration. It was a miracle if they paid attention to even a single word that McGonagall said in class or marked their parchment with a single note that wasn't a derogatory scribble passed between the two of them as they snickered about whatever the Marauders happened to be doing at the time.
"Hang on," Hannah interjected, sounding a little worried, "did you say she's a cat? Oh, blast. My Animagus form has been taken – by a teacher."
Regan sniggered.
"But seriously," Lily said, bringing the others back to the point. "What's the risk in the whole thing? The book's got me worried now."
Regan picked up the mentioned volume with her eyebrows pulled together and examined the next bit of text on the page. "It says here: 'In many areas of the wizarding community Animagi are associated with criminal intentions. This has resulted from dark wizards and witches using the Animagus method as a means of disguise in order to escape their sentence. Because of this, it is important that, as an Animagus, you remain well-concealed and tell no one of your secret identity. Exposure may result in an increased chance of conviction for crimes, whether or not you have committed them. In a few years there will be the option of being registered as an Animagus, and the choice here is yours to make. It is also suggested that you think carefully about the purpose for which you plan to make this bestial transformation available to yourself. If it is simply for fun or a childish game, I sincerely suggest that you turn back now and discard this book. If, however, you decide to go against this incredibly insightful piece of advice, I wish you the best of luck, for you shall need it.'"
There was silence for a moment or two before Hannah spoke.
"Wow. This is pretty dark stuff."
"So?" was Regan's casual, unconcerned comment.
"We shouldn't do it," squeaked Jamie.
The others all turned to lookat her. "What?" they said simultaneously, unable to believe their ears.
"You heard what the book said. This can get us into trouble if we're not careful. And think of how many dark wizards have done this same thing as we're doing right now…"
"Don't get cold feet now, Jay." Hannah put an arm around her shoulders. "We'll be careful, I promise. And besides, we're not doing this to commit a crime. We're just… investigating."
"And," threw in Regan, "You don't really think all those dark wizards went about it the same way as us, do you?" Lily knew she was referring to the crayon catastrophe and the numerous other silly things that had sidetracked the girls over the course of the day.
"Well, I guess not…," sighed Jamie. "But we're never going to tell anybody about this, are we?"
"Not if you don't want us to," said Lily. "Just to seal it, I vote we make another pact." She placed her hand in the centre of the circle. "I solemnly swear I will not utter a word of this outside this very room, if I do not wish to suffer a most terrible death."
Regan put her hand on top of Lily's. "Death by Pettigrew sitting on me."
Hannah joined in with a laugh. "Of course."
Jamie sighed, but hardly hesitated before adding her hand to the stack. "I swear it."
Hannah jumped up very quickly, taking the book from Regan before the girl could even protest. "Well, good," she announced cheerily. "It's time to get started."
"Prongs, come and help me with this!"
James tried to drown out Sirius's voice for the millionth time that day, and instead turned to his more calming friend, who was just as focused on his work as James was trying to be. "How many inches does Marsh want again?"
"Twenty-four," Remus answered. James groaned in response; why did that creep of a professor have to be so cruel? He often suspected Marsh got her daily entertainment out of watching students suffer in and out of her classroom. Her assignments were even more unreasonable than McGonagall's; her class work, on the other hand, was a completely different story. He looked forward to the day the old hag announced her retirement. But then, she'd been teaching at Hogwarts for thirty years now. She would probably kick the bucket sooner than quit.
"Pro-ongs!"
Ignoring his whining friend again, James looked down at what he had written so far of his Defence Against the Dark Arts essay. It couldn't have been any more than ten inches. He sighed, putting down his quill, and rubbed his tired hand. He and most of the other seventh years had spent much of the day trying to catch up on homework, but even five solid hours of effort weren't enough to get through it all. The Marauders didn't have anything to do today; the few days after a full moon, for them, was usually down time, because they were too tired to plan pranks or schedule Quidditch practice. James was woken up slightly by the thought of that single word, Quidditch,and he wondered when McGonagall would give him the okay to start putting a team back together. That was… if he was still Captain, with all the work he would need to be doing as Head Boy. James actually shuddered at the thought of Sirius running the team in his place – every player would be drunk on Firewhisky and falling off their brooms, he suspected.
"PRONGSIE! PRONGSIE! PRONGSIE!"
James finally relented. "What, Padfoot?" he snapped, getting to his feet and nearly falling over in the process. His legs were still covered in bruises and cuts from last night; these injuries could be easily healed with a one-minute visit to the Hospital Wing, but, from the first full moon the Marauders had spent as a group, they had agreed it was best not to attract any attention whatsoever to themselves during that time of the month.
"I can't write my essay," Sirius complained, shoving a slightly mangled piece of parchment into James's hands. He flipped it over to examine what his friend had written, only to find three wonky hearts containing the words "Prongsie loves Lilsie", "Moony loves Love" and "Petey loves Regin'".
James crumpled up the parchment and tossed it casually into the fire. "Very funny, Padfoot. Go get a life of your own, will you?"
Sirius's face was full of mock-hurt. "You destroyed my essay! What am I gonna hand in to Marsh now? Can't you write it for me?"
"Sure," said James. Ignoring Sirius's jubilant exclamations of "I love you, Prongsie", he yanked another piece of parchment toward him and started scribbling madly. Unknown to Sirius, his "essay" consisted of this:
Yo, Prof, I'm Serayze Balk and I hate DADA with a passion. If you would consider transferring to another school (preferably Durmstrang as I hear there are man-eating serpents in Bulgaria) that would be greatly appreciated. For your information, I have several learning disabilities that render me incapable of structuring or even beginning to write an essay, so from now on if you would like to start giving me the 'T's I deserve, that would be great. I also have the IQ of a two-year-old. It might interest you to know that I am deeply in love with a certain girl named Hannah Milton and would appreciate any tips you might have on winning a woman's heart.
Sincerely, Serayze.
James threw the parchment at Sirius and walked away to give him some time to digest it all. As he walked past Peter, he made a comment on his essay. "Pete, you can't just write in huge letters all spread out across the page to make it longer." The pudgy boy sighed, disappointed, and started slowly and dramatically tearing up his parchment. By the time James was hit in the back of the head with a ball of paper, he had returned to his original spot and getting ready to work on his own essay again.
"Hey!" Sirius bellowed, actually sounding quite annoyed. "That was… uncalled for!"
"Calm down, mate. You sound like a teacher."
Sirius practically growled. "Yeah, well, so would you if somebody suggested you were in love with a pig."
James threw his hands up in defence. "Hey, don't get all hostile. Firstly, you need to stop calling her that. And secondly, it's called a joke. You're famous for them, remember?"
Sirius muttered something unintelligible and turned back his chaotic pile of (undoubtedly blank) parchment. James, wondering why his least serious friend (if you could get past the pun there) was suddenly taking everything the wrong way, was just deliberating over the next sentence of his own work when Remus addressed him.
"Hey, uh, Prongs?"
"What's up, Moony?"
"I've been thinking, and I reckon we need to sort of… discuss… a few things. You know, as a group."
Little did Moony know, James had been planning on suggesting the same thing. So much had been going on in this first month of school, and he wasn't even sure what his friends thought of it, because they hadn't had a minute to talk about things without the Rogues showing up to pester them. They didn't have frequent gatherings with therapy-like chat sessions as he suspected the Rogues did, but they hadn't done much talking since they had arrived at school and it seemed like they needed to catch up on a few things, to make sure the four of them were still on the same page regarding… well, everything. James had a feeling that this might be easier said than done.
"Where and when?" James wondered aloud, expecting Remus – the one who always thought things through – to have decided on something.
"That's the trouble," said Remus. "Frank and Carter have already staked out the dorms – I overheard them raving about girls, again." He rolled his eyes, but there was also a bitter edge to his voice.
"We could go to the Heads' Room," James offered.
"The Rogues have been gone a couple of hours, so I expect that's where they are right now."
"Oh. Right." In fact, James remembered hearing Hannah whisper something about "the room" as the four of them walked out the portrait hole. There was, of course, the option of having the "meeting" in James's own sanction of the Heads' Room, but, remembering the events that had ensued the last time they'd been there at the same time as the Rogues, he cringed away from the idea.
"I guess that leaves…"
"The Room of Requirement." James's voice was a whisper too low for the ears of the other Gryffindors.
Remus nodded slowly as if weighing up the options, and finally made to stand up. "We'd better head off now – we still have our… erm… appointment later on, and we can get all this done tomorrow." He gestured in mild disgust at the stacks of parchment, books, quills and ink bottles surrounding them.
James thought about it. The Room of Requirement was, of course, the ideal location for anything confidential. Few students at Hogwarts knew of its existence, and even fewer had been enlightened with the secret of how to get in. The Marauders had figured it out in second year when they'd been creating their magical map of the school and its complicated passageways – on the seventh floor, they'd seen an older student (a nasty Slytherin Prefect by the name of Frederick Goyle) pace the length of the corridor several times and somehow make a door appear there. From then on, for a couple of weeks, they'd tested out numerous strategies and eventually got themselves into the room. Of course, the first time, the room itself had had plain, grey stone walls and absolutely nothing in it – this had resulted from Peter's final attempt, during which he had been continuously thinking something along the lines of "Why is Prongs making me do this? We don't need a room for anything." The Marauders, however, had decided after all not to include the room on their map. It was the one place on the Hogwarts grounds that was omitted – this meant that, should the Marauders' Map be stolen and hacked somehow, the secret of the Room would not be revealed. Besides, they weren't even positive that it would show up if they drew it on.
The point was, if the Marauders had spent so much time trying to find their way in, there was very little (if any) chance of the Rogues having found it, even by now. As James recalled (or rather, had been told by Rosalie Williams, who shared a dormitory with the Marauders' female counterparts), the Rogues had their girly little meetings in the Gryffindor dormitories, using muffling charms. Well, it was lucky they had Lily on their side; it would take one hell of a charm to drown out the noise of four teenage girls – which meant it would take a miracle to drown out the noise of Sirius Black. So, as it stood, the Room of Requirement was their only option, and it seemed a good one, too.
James got to his feet. "Right. Wormtail, stand up. And you, Padfoot, get your lazy butt over here."
Like a pair of stubborn children, Peter and Sirius took their time getting up and following the others to the portrait hole. They then began to complain.
"Where are we going?" whined Peter, sounding so much like a girl that James almost laughed out loud.
"You'll find out when we get there."
James, Remus and Peter stepped through the hole, but Sirius stood still and folded his arms. "But I'm working on my essay!"
"As if," Remus snorted as James placed a firm hand on Sirius's arm and yanked him through the doorway; Remus swung the Fat Lady's portrait shut, and, despite Sirius's continued protests, the four of them were off.
A/N: I hope the length was appreciated, and not just exceptionally boring. I tried to stop when I hit about four thousand, but you know me… "Stop" means "write three thousand more words to finish it off." I won't promise a quick update, but I will say this: I've sorted out most of what's happening in the next chapter, so it shouldn't take as long as this one did. Sorry for rushing the whole Animagus thing in this one. I never really plan what I write – I just sort of go off on tangents and see where they lead me.
Want a really quick update? Make me happy and leave a review :) Good, bad, great, terrible – anything is accepted. I'll gladly take constructive criticism.
Sam :)