Stretching as he returned from a bathroom break a little after four in the morning, James automatically glanced at the empty bed on the far left; sighing at the reason the bed was empty.
Pushing away his worry, he frowned when the bed beside it was empty as well and a quick glance around told him Sirius wasn't in the dorm.
Having a good idea of where the other had gone; he grabbed both his dressing gown and one of the extra plaids before making his way out of the dorm and up the tower.
Slipping through the trap door, he immediately spotted Sirius sitting with his back against the wall, wrapped up in a warm plaid and a book resting in his lap.
"What are you doing up this late?" He asked, wrapping the plaid he carried around himself to keep warm in the cold air as he made his way to him.
"Thoughts," came the soft answer as Sirius smiled up to him tiredly.
"About?" Glancing at the book the other was reading as he took a seat beside him, he noticed it was the same book he'd been reading two weeks earlier.
"He's out there all alone right now, tearing himself apart."
Wrapping an arm around him to pull him close, James sighed. "There's not much we can do about that, Siri."
"What if I told you I had an idea; one that might be just a crazy thought as I'm not sure if it would actually work, but nonetheless won't leave me alone?" Sirius leaned into his embrace.
"Most of our ideas are crazy; they usually work regardless of their insanity level."
"Never as crazy as this."
"Try me," bracing himself for whatever suggestion Sirius was going to make as the other tensed, James pulled back a little so that he could look at him.
"I want to become an Animagus."
"Why?" Not having expected that, it was the only think James could think to say.
"Werewolves are only dangerous to humans; if I were to become an animal, I could keep him company during the full moon."
"How would that help him?" He wasn't entirely sure what thoughts were running through his best friend's mind.
"I've done some research and all sources I look at agree on the fact that werewolves are less violent when they spend the full moon in the presence of other animals. By becoming an Animagus, I might be able to prevent him from tearing himself apart."
"Do you have any idea how illegal that would be?"
"You don't doubt that I could do it?" Lips twitching at the surprise in his brother's voice, James shrugged.
"If anyone could become an illegal and under-aged Animagus, it would be you."
"I know it is illegal and I'd get into serious trouble if caught; but if it helps him, it would be worth the risk."
The simplicity and sincerity of the other's reasoning warmed James' heart and he smiled. "You mean, if we get caught."
"We?"
"Did you honestly believe for even one second that I would let you do this on your own? Not only do we have a better chance of doing this undetected if we work together, but I want to help Remus, too," gently taking the book from him, James grinned as Sirius stared at him.
"What happened to the 'it's very dangerous and illegal?"
"I'm not denying that it is, but I agree that it would be worth the risk if it means he doesn't have to suffer alone any more," smiling he wrapped an arm around Sirius' shoulder and pulled him close again.
"Do you think we should ask Peter to join us? I mean, it would be kind of unfair to attempt to do this behind his back and I'm sure he'll want to help as well," Sirius paused thoughtfully. "Though I'm fairly sure we will actually give Remus a coronary if he'd find out about our plans."
James couldn't stop the loud snort that escaped at that gross understatement as he really could have handled that better.
When they had told Remus they knew about his secret, the guy quite literally had a panic attack, hyperventilating into a bag Sirius produced out of nowhere; not that James could blame him as he hadn't exactly handled that tactfully or smart.
He could admit that telling a guy, who had been hiding his entire life that; 'we know you are a werewolf so there's no point in lying to us any more' while staring at him sternly wasn't exactly his brightest idea.
Luckily Sirius had immediately taken charge; hugging him while reassuring him that although they knew the truth, they really didn't care and if he would please not have a heart attack because he didn't know how to revive him from that.
Hours later, it would be something that made Remus punch James in the arm and tell him he was a hit with a shaky laugh; but when it happened, James scrambled to transfigure a stray candy wrapper into a bucket when Remus turned suspiciously green.
Not a moment too late, either, as Sirius just barely managed to get out of the way in time before Remus emptied his stomach into it and James had alternated between grimacing and apologising for dropping the bomb onto him like that.
Only good thing about his blundering action was that all the nervousness and twitching Peter had displayed since James' interrogation about werewolves had vanished at the sight of Remus' obvious fear.
It had been a surprise to see the timid boy patting Remus' shoulder and claim he was still the same guy they'd been sharing a dorm with for over a year; a claim he had not changed nor the way he acted around him.
In the two weeks that had followed since the revelation, Peter had still tried to steal Remus' dessert, only to, as usual, promptly be stopped by Sirius at every attempt. He still peeked at his notes and begged for his help with homework.
James himself didn't think his behaviour had changed either as he still dragged Remus into mock wrestling matches, teased him mercilessly over his chocolate addiction; though he now also ensured there was always a nice stack available that none of them touched once Sirius informed them of the healing effects chocolate had.
He knew Sirius hadn't changed his behaviour at all; he was still a complete mother hen and still woke the other from nightmares at times, nightmares Remus had finally admitted had mostly been about them finding out his secret and shunning him.
So now that his worse fear had been taken away, the nightmares had decreased drastically as well and the other boy was allowed a good night's rest.
"Yeah, he will want to help Remus as well," Sirius smiled; unaware of James' wandering thoughts. "So you don't think it's a crazy plan?"
"No, it's most definitely the most insane plan you have ever thought of, but it's absolutely brilliant, too," grinning at the shy smile spreading over his best friend's lips, James pulling him close so he could drop a kiss into his hair. "Should we tell Remus what we're planning, or do you want it to be a surprise?"
"I don't want to give him false hope should we not succeed. I've been doing some research for a while now and it's really, really difficult."
"How? We only discovered his secret two weeks ago," although even as he said it, James knew that wasn't true and he shook his head. "Have you spoken with Remus yet about how long you've known?"
"No, the Vow hasn't been broken yet," Sirius bit his lip. "How do I tell him something like that? I mean, I can't just go up to him and say, oh, yeah...remember that time you were terrified and asked us about that Vow...it was actually me who took it, surprise."
"Point taken," running a hand through his hair, James leaned back against the wall. "Can you tell me how long you've been researching this or does that fall under the Vow as well?"
"Since the summer holidays and I could get my hands on some books involving dark magic to research werewolves more thoroughly since the library here doesn't have much."
"Which led you to thinking about Animagi?" He didn't even marvel at the knowledge how much effort his friend had already put into this as he knew Sirius wouldn't have even spoken up if he hadn't been sure of his plan.
"Yes."
"Well, we've always liked a challenge."
"That, it will be."
And a challenge it was; for even with all of their talent and the research they did, it still took them quite a bit of trial and error to work out even what to do in the first place.
The first time James woke up with the beginning of a pair of antlers, luckily hidden in his hair, Sirius had suggested they keep a journal to mark their progress.
At first James had been sceptical, but as Sirius explained it would be for Remus to share with him he had immediately agreed; though Peter downright refused to be photographed.
Which James thought was a shame as the sight of a large and thick rat's tail sticking out of his nightclothes had been beyond funny; but at least much easier to hide than the pair of dog ears Sirius managed to grow on top of his head overnight.
It had been hilarious to see, especially when he realised there was a matching tail, though it had taken them nearly three weeks before they managed to figure out how to remove both and Sirius had been forced to wrap the tail around his middle to dodge curious eyes.
Naturally Remus was very curious to what they were up to, but James managed to convince him and anyone asking that they were researching other uses for different potions; including the Polyjuice potion.
It helped that Professor Slughorn ate out of Sirius' palm and had satisfied McGonagall's alarming interest by confirming he'd given them permission to brew potions in his office for their research.
And it wasn't even that it was a complete lie as Sirius had admitted to having approached a known werewolf that summer to start a new side project of trying to find a way to make the transformation for werewolves, and specifically Remus, easier.
Not that they had told the entire truth behind their reasoning, but it kept curious eyes satisfied whenever they messed up in their attempts and sported strange body parts. They even managed to convince McGonagall to not interfere with their errors so that they could learn from their own mistakes, though they were mostly just terrified that she would figure out what they were really doing.
It was both surprising and interesting to see their strict teacher only roll her eyes whenever they went through another visible error they couldn't completely hide; sometimes leaving them small hints on how to undo some of their work if it took longer than hoped to fix it.
The errors let them figure out what kind of animal they'd become fairly quickly and James couldn't help but be grateful at least two of them would probably be big enough to match Remus' strength during the full moon.
But even with all their effort it still took them the better part of three years before Sirius was the first one capable of transforming completely.
They had been relaxing in the Room of Requirement together; reading through their notes for the billionth time when James sighed. "Nothing is working."
"Did you want to give up?"
"Of course not, but you have to admit that it is really frustrating that we're not making any progress, at all."
"We've narrowed it down to the Polyjuice potion to being the most useful potion to adapt to what we want to do," Sirius shrugged. "And Garth's feedback gives us a lot of information as well."
"Yeah, but that doesn't really help Remus right now, does it?"
"No, even our short term solution is taking longer than expected," sighing, Sirius closed his notebook, returning it to his bag before looking at him with narrowed eyes. "But it's not like you to be so pessimistic, what's the matter?"
"I guess I've just tired of being unable to make a difference," rolling onto his back, James reached out to lazily pull Sirius against him; the other leaning into his embrace willingly.
"We'll get it, I know we will and until we do, we'll just have to do everything we can to make things easier for him."
"You're being more optimistic than I'd expect," narrowing his eyes at him, James huffed when Sirius only shrugged.
"I just have a feeling we're close."
"Well, then you have a better feeling than I do, I just feel utterly stupid."
"Some would agree wholeheartedly with that."
"Oh, that's it," deciding to shake off his downtrodden mood, and to get rid of the barely concealed worry in his best friend's eyes, James dug his fingers into Sirius' side; grinning when the other immediately squeaked and tried to scramble away.
But despite all of their training, James had no trouble to pin him down; tickling him merciless in the few places he knew his brother was actually ticklish while ensuring his touch remained light.
He didn't want to leave bruises or cause any of Sirius' lingering injuries from the summer holidays to cause him discomfort; but his care only resulted in a better ticklish effect that had tears running down the other's face.
He was about to give him air to breath when Sirius' body suddenly tensed before changing below him and he was thrown off by a powerful push.
"What….S-Siri?" Wide-eyed, James could only stare at the dog rolling over into an upright position where his best friend had been; a dog with fur black as coal and very familiar light grey eyes.
"You did it," shakily, he reached out to brush a hand over the dark snout; a hesitant smile spreading over his lips as a large pink tongue shot out to lick his hand.
"You did it," suddenly giddy, he choked out a laugh. "You did it! You actually did it!"
Sirius, the dog, James wasn't sure what to call him right now, turned his head to try and look at himself and James couldn't stop his disbelieving laughter as he watched the animal inspect himself.
The dog was big, nearly as tall as him while sitting down; but surprisingly sleek with a long square-cut muzzle and adorable large eyes and he let out a shaky breath. "You kind of look like an Alsatian, but I've never seen a black one in my dog guide before."
Immediately a large mirror appeared beside them and Sirius rose to his paws to see for himself what he looked like while James couldn't help but run his fingers through the thick, warm and incredibly soft fur.
"Can you walk?"
The dog took a few shaky steps forward, gaining confidence as he figured out what he was doing and gave an affirmative bark.
The sound seemed to surprise him as the dog's head cocked to the side in the exact same way Sirius' always did when he was confused or thoughtful; clearly surprised by his own sound and James couldn't help but laugh.
"This makes so much sense," he watched in awe as Sirius moved around, investigating the area around them in his new form and he had to admit that if he hadn't seen his brother transform before his very own eyes, he never would've thought it wasn't a real dog.
He wondered if Sirius was using what they'd learned from watching their respective animals for hours; or if the behaviour came natural and he bit back a snort when the dog caught sight of his own tail and began to chase it immediately.
Whistling to attract his attention after a few moments, James smiled as the dog obediently returned to his side.
"Can you change back?"
He didn't bother holding back his cooing when the dog cocked his head again, sitting down beside him and panting a little but nothing else happened.
"I take it that's not working?"
The low whine in response made him reach out comfortingly to scratch behind the fluffy ears; grinning when a tail began to waggle happily.
"Yeah, this form fits you perfectly," clearing his throat he took a moment to gather his thoughts. "All right, what did our research say on what to do when stuck?"
Aware the dog couldn't answer him right now, he simply spend some more time petting him; smiling when Sirius dropped down into his lap to give him easier access while he thought.
"Remember when you changed me into a bird and no one could change me back because they couldn't figure out how you'd done it…." he trailed off as immediately the dog shifted back into his best friend and he was found himself with his brother laying over his lap.
"Easy, guess that worked?" He grinned as he helped him sit up; keeping a hold on him as Sirius swayed dangerously.
"That was weird," the other muttered. "I'm dizzy, but that was great!"
"What did you do to finally manage it?"
"You were tickling me and as I remember thinking that if only I was stronger, I might be able to break free and then I'd suddenly done it," a wide grin spread over Sirius' face. "I did it!"
"Guess you were right in thinking you were close," taking a moment to celebrate; they embraced and cheered before deciding to see if he could change at will.
They spent the rest of the afternoon practising until Sirius could transform fluently back and forth while James attempted to manage the transformation himself under Sirius' guidance.