James came running into the boys' room and skidded to a stop.
"You won't guess what happened." He said as he tried to catch his breath. Sirius did not bother to look up from the book he was reading. Merlin's pants, Remus was rubbing off on him.
"Lily rejected you, again?"
"Yes, but that's not it."
"You learned not to run in the halls." Tried Peter.
"No."
"You saw girls having a pillow fight."
"No." James said. "Guys, I was reading."
"There we go!" Sirius exclaimed. "I never would have guessed that!" Peter gave him a high five, and they both cracked up.
"I was reading, and I found out about animagus."
Sirius gave him his signature, "I have no clue what you're talking about" look.
"Animagus are sorcerers that can transform into animals."
"Like werewolves?" asked Peter.
"Not really. They have control of themselves, and after the first few times, the transformation is painless."
"That's cool" Sirius popped a candy into his mouth. "What use is it to us though?"
"Guys," James breathed. "If we learn this, we can be with Remus on the full moon."
Peter choked on his treat. "What? No we can't!"
"No." Sirius said. "This is great! As animals, we can be with her!"
"Have you gone bonkers?"
"Damocles told Remus that in all his studies, no werewolf has ever harmed an animal." James said, growing more and more excited.
"So," Sirius finished, "As animals she won't have to worry about hurting us."
"Unless," Peter said, "It can smell the human in us."
"She won't be able to do that." James said, pointing to his book, "Because we will be animals."
'How difficult is the spell?" Sirius asked. That's when the smile dropped off James's face.
"It's very advanced. And, it's illegal to learn it at our age. You're supposed to become registered and take classes once your twenty."
"Illegal?" Peter's voice was barely a squeak. "We can't!"
"When has illegal stopped us before?" Sirius asked.
"Never."
"Ms. Lupin, can I see you after class?" Professor Damocles asked. The rest of the class was excused, and Sirius looked at her once before leaving, and she nodded, letting him know that it was okay.
"Yes, Damocles?" she asked as she took a seat in his teacher's chair. She loved being able to do that. And she would never dare call him Damocles in front of class instead of Professor, but it was so easy to fall back into her routine once class ended.
"Tonight is the full moon. Remember, take this," he handed her a vial of purple potion, "before you go to the shack. I'll tag along with your friends and meet you there in the morning. Good luck." He smiled and she hopped up off her chair, running to meet up with the others.
James was smiling like a fool.
"Hey Moony!" They all called out, and Sirius wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
"Hello pretty lady, are you doing anything tonight?" Remus rolled her eyes and pushed his arm up and over her shoulders.
"Siri, that's not funny anymore."
"Sure it is!"
"Can you ever be serious?"
"I'm always-"
"Okay," James said, "stop flirting for just a minute, and come see what I found." He led them down a hall that they were probably not supposed to be, and suddenly, a door formed, and James lead them in.
"What is this?" Remus asked.
"I don't know, but I call it the Room of Requirement, because whatever you think you need, it becomes."
"We can plan so many pranks here." Sirius said, and James clapped him on the back.
"Exactly."