Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

I stepped off the Hogwarts Express with James in tow behind me, looking for a moment for Remus, Peter and Sirius. I had forgotten that they had already left. As we lugged our trunks onto the platform, I saw my parents, my aunt, and my uncle.

"Mum! Dad! Aunt Sam, Uncle Will!" James shouted enthusiastically and dragged me over to the adults, Honestly, my cousin is such a mummy's boy.

My mother grabbed me in a hug,

"Oh, Aurora, darling. I missed you so much! Let me have a look at you, oh you're all grown up!"

I chuckled and dropped a kiss on her cheek as I wrapped an arm around my dad. He also laughed his great, booming laugh at my mother's dramatics.

"Hi Aunt Dorea, Uncle Charlie." I grinned at the couple. "I kept Jamie in line at school." James immediately protested, exclaiming,

"She did not! 'Rora got almost as many detentions as Sirius and I did!"

"Atta boy! You do me proud, the both of you." Uncle Charlie said, grinning.

"Charlus!" That was Mother and Aunt Dorea. Then Alex joined us. His smug expression had me wondering what he had been up to on the Express. I wouldn't know, because true to my word in First Year, I had barely interacted with him in school.

"Alexander! Dear, you've gotten so tall" Mother greeted him the same way she had to me.

"I've been well, Mother, and you?"

My brother hugged her lightly, and then did that manly-thump-on-the-back-thing with dad. He nodded politely to James' parents and sneered at James and I, and turned back to the adults. Well, who stuck a stick up the snobby Ravenclaw's butt?

"Wand up the ass, huh?" James whispered to me, and I nudged him with my elbow, smiling. We knew each other so well, my cousin and I. Dad made sure James, Alex and I had someone to Side-Apparate us, and we disappeared with a loud CRACK!

•~*~*~*~•

We landed in the living room of James' house. It took me a moment to get over the nauseating feeling that came after Apparating. Urgh, that tight, squeeze-through-a-tube sensation, and the compelling darkness...

"'Rora, I bet I can beat you to our rooms." I heard James say.

"Keep dreaming, James."

And we raced up the stair well. I heard the adults laugh, and I heard Dad distinctly mutter,

"Kids."

With a shake of his head. Alex stalked up the stairs behind us, with a dismissive nod to the adults. Though I'm sure they saw it as courteous. Can't he do anything else with his head?

"Beat you!"

I laughed as I reached my room, James a few steps behind me.

He pouted, "That wasn't fair, Briar, your room's closer." I stuck my tongue out and pouted right back. The infamous Potter Pout. No one could resist it. As we entered my room,I cocked my head to the side.

"Jamie, we got a letter from Padfoot." my cousin waved a dismissive hand at me and collapsed on my bed. Hmf, the lazy toe rag. I absently petted Sirius' owl Gryffindor (to rub in his parents' faces his disregard to their Slytherin heritage) as I scanned the letter.

Briar and Prongs,

Sorry to owl you this quickly. You probably just got home. I had an argument with my parents, do you mind if I can crash at your place for a bit? I know this is really short notice, but it's kind of urgent.

Yours,

Sirius

I called, "James, Padfoot might be coming over sometime. he had another disagreement with his parents."

"I'm not sure 'disagreement' covers it, 'Rora." James answered, amused. "'Explosion' is more like it. But yeah, I'll tell my parents at dinner. Owl him back, will you?" I snorted,

"Don't I always?"

Padfoot, I scrawled.

No problem, the house feels empty without you anyways. Come by whenever you like, our parents love you. Owl back, yeah?

Briar and Prongs (though mostly Briar)

I attached the letter to Gryffindor and turned back to James as he sat up on the bed.

"I think we should work on our Animagus transformations."

"Shouldn't we wait until we can get together with Padfoot and Moony?" I suggested.

"Nah, if we get it first, then we can help them." I rolled my eyes. James, always wanting to be the first one to do everything. James and I sat cross-legged on the floor and got out our wands. The first part was easy. On the wizard or witches' first attempt at the transformation, you had to cast a spell to prepare the body for the experience and to be able to keep a human mind in an animal's body. Together we chanted,

"Animo retinent!"

I could feel the spell settle over our mind and body. The feeling wasn't uncomfortable, although similar to soaring up into the clouds on your broom on a dewy spring morning. The chill was there, just not the water. I heard Jamie take a breathe, here comes the hard part. We had to literally believe that we were animals. The transformation required the person to fully accept and convince there body and mind that they were not human. As your mind started to believe, your body started to change. The hard part was solely focusing on thinking you were and animal whilst your body tingled and shivered. This was why it was so hard to complete the transformation. I zoned in on believing I was a fawn (it was easier when you knew what you were going to be) and I could feel myself start to change. My hands turned into hooves first; they were the easiest. The rest of my body was slowly adjusting and I could see my cousin's blurry body start to too. Suddenly, James let out a triumphant shout. And then I heard an animalistic snort. No. Bloody. Way.

"James, you did it!" I rushed over to my cousin, who was now a majestic stag. Smoothing a hand over the deer's smooth back, I peered into my cousin's large hazel eyes.

"You're bloody brilliant, James."

The great stag tossed it's head back, showing off his antlers. Out of the blue, the doorknob rattled and turned.

Yelping, I shoved the stag behind me, full well knowing that you could still see him. My panic increased hundred-fold. Would we be arrested?

"Aurora, James, dinner's in an hour." My brother informed us curtly. I turned in horror, only to discover a human James leaning by the bed he looked positively smug. Oooh, that insufferable git!

"Sure thing, Alex." He smirked.

I faced Alex angrily, "Don't you know to knock before entering? Common courtesy, moron."

Something flared in his eyes before disappearing.

"Why don't you go back to whatever immature pranks you were planning? that's the most you'll ever be able to do with those brains."

"At least we don't practice Dark Magic like a hermit in our rooms." James piped up. That set my brother off. He thrust a hand into his pocket to retrieve his wand.

"Reducto!" A thin streak of red light flashed towards Jamie. I lunged for my own wand.

"Protego!" The blue shield fanned out in front of us, withstanding the curse.

"Alex!"

I was astonished. Why in the world would he attack us like that? Unfortunately, my cousin, never being one to be attacked without consequences, decided to go on the offence.

"Petrificus Totalus!" The purple jinx hurtled toward my brother. At once, his body snapped to attention; stiff as a board. I sighed, this was just great.

Lifting the spell, I reprimanded James.

"And you, Alex-"

"I don't need your unnecessary mumbling, Aurora."

I felt slightly indignant.

He rounded on Jamie, "And as for you, cousin; you might want to watch what you say. Don't talk about things you don't understand."

Now I was mad. Nobody threatens James. I shoved him out of the room and slammed the door harshly.

•~*~*~*~•

"Yes! Yes, Briar, you did it!" James cried. Indeed I did. After we had smoothed over my brother's visit, I went back to my Animagus transformation, with James instructing me carefully. I now proudly, albeit unsteadily, pranced around the room as a light brown fawn. I trotted over to nose James, and with a laugh, a large stag skipped beside me. We danced around the room, revealing in our new motor skills. We had done it. Two-fifths of the Marauders were officially Animagus.

•~*~*~*~•

Thanks for reading!

-Small Owl

*Please do not plagiarize any part of this story. Any spin offs, etc. should be with the author's express permission and referenced back.