First thing the next morning, Sirius wrote a letter to Professor McGonagall asking her to recommend a private tutor. Then he called the other wizards into the living room. He was surprised when Malfoy joined them. He raised his eyebrows questioningly. Awkwardly, Lucius explained, "I thought I'd join in on this". When Sirius shook his head, Lucius bent over to him and said, "Come on, Black, you know you owe me something". With a sigh of resignation, Sirius agreed. He looked at their faces, which were beaming with anticipation, and said, „I have decided that I have no objections against you becoming an Animagus and therefore I will help you. The first step can only be taken at full moon. This will be in three days. So you still have some time to consider the pros and cons and decide whether you really want to start the procedure". "What is the first step?", asked Regulus curiously. "You must wear a mandrake leaf in your mouth for an entire month, from one full moon to the next. The leaf must not be taken out or you must start all over again. There are some tricks. For example, we did not eat solid food to minimise the risk of swallowing the leaf during meals. And we used straws to drink. An important note: Try to avoid swallowing the leaf at all costs. Mandrake is a poisonous plant which can cause hallucinations, confusion, or unconsciousness. Therefore, be careful. If any of you show symptoms, we must stop immediately".

In the days before the next full moon, Sirius enjoyed himself by observing how they discussed whether they wanted to take the risk. When he called them on the terrace on Sunday evening, all four were eager to give it a try. The full moon was bright in the sky, illuminating the table where Sirius had arranged four leaves on a plate. "Gentlemen, you know what to do. The moment of decision has come. If you are absolutely determined than help yourselves". For a moment all four stared at the leaves. Then Regulus resolutely took one and popped it into his mouth. Gavin followed his example straight away. Marius hesitated briefly and then picked up a leaf as well. Lucius was the last to struggle through. Sirius said, "I wish you every possible success". They looked at each other and then at the moon, whose phases from now on would determine their lives.

The first week went reasonably well and, apart from a minor incident with Gavin, they all still carried the mandrake leaf in their mouths by Sunday. Gavin had sneezed once, and the leaf almost fell out of his mouth. He could hardly prevent losing it by putting his hand in front of his mouth and pressing his lips tightly together. Marius had stopped speaking and only communicated with them by means of small written messages, hand signals and head movements. More annoying was the development in the second week. Lucius was the first who had to abandon the experiment. At lunch he choked and spat out the leaf high in the air. The others giggled as he watched in utter bewilderment as it sailed across the table and landed in Andromeda's soup, who gave him an indignant look before she picked it up from her plate with a disgusted look on her face. The next to drop out was Marius. He simply lost the leaf in his sleep. Finally, when Gavin in a fit of laughter spat out his leaf as well, Regulus removed his one too. "We can't kiss with the leaves in our mouths. If I continue now and Gavin starts again when the moon changes next, we won't be able to share caresses for weeks. I'll have another try again together with you". Gavin beamed and kissed him tenderly on the mouth. Sirius said, "At least you got a first-hand impression of how the leaf feels in your mouth. Each of you can decide until the next full moon how you want to go about it when you take another effort".

When Sirius and Mercuria lay in bed that night they entertained themselves immensely with the efforts of the budding Animaghi . "I think James and you had a lot of fun when you became Animaghi back then". Sirius chuckled at the memory. "You bet we did. Mind you, of course we were highly ambitious and wanted to succeed. But as teenagers, you approach the whole thing much more slackly than our boys do now. We had a bet going, James and me. The aim was to bring the other one to the point that he spat out the leaf or swallowed it, in short that he had to start all over again. As you can imagine, at first, we put much more energy into our bet than we did into trying to become an Animagus". At the memory, Sirius laughed out loud. "How did it turn out?". "A draw. We each triumphed three times. We had lots of fun, but this lengthened the whole process enormously. When we finally took a real effort, we had a bit of bad luck. At the first serious attempt, we had carried the mandrake leave in our mouth for a month and at full moon were ready to take the next step. But then a storm came up, it rained heavily all night through, and the moon couldn't be seen. Can you imagine, how disappointed we were, because all our efforts had been in vain? Well, we started all over again and this time, we were successful. How proud we were when we brewed a potion with the mandrake leave and other ingredients. We were convinced that it would be just a question of days until we could finally transform. Unfortunately it then turned out that we had to wait for months to finish our project, because the last step can only be performed during an electrical storm. We had brewed our potion in November and waited for the next thunderstorm. But this only came up nearly eight months later. As you know, lightning storms mostly occur in summer and autumn. When finally, there was one and we became Animaghi, our pride was boundless. From then on, we kept Remus company when he retreated to the Shaking Shack during the full moon not to endanger anyone as a werewolf".

There were still two and a half weeks to go until the next full moon and thus the chance of another attempt. Sirius threw himself into several projects that he had been planning for some time. First, he gradually moved a couple of motorbikes onto the site and parked them in the mews. When the others asked him, why he was doing this, he just smiled. At the weekend, their Intruder Charm averted them that someone was approaching the gate to the estate. Sirius let the visitor pass, who turned out to be a young witch. She landed on the terrace next to their table and got off her broomstick. She was of medium height, slim, with light blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Hesitantly, she looked at them and smiled timidly. When Sirius got up and stepped towards her, she blushed and nervously fumbled in her pocket, from which she took two letters which she handed over to him. Bashfully she whispered, "My name is Sophie Rickett. I would like to apply for the position of private tutor. I have a letter of recommendation here from Professor McGonagall. And a letter from my father". Sirius took both letters and asked her to have a seat. Then he offered her a coffee while he opened the writs. Professor McGonagall's letter was short and to the point and recommended Sophie as a suitable candidate. Jamie Rickett's letter was far more emotional. "Dear Sirius, I don't know if you remember me. We were at Hogwarts together and met again during your time in the resistance. You may recall that I am the only wizard in a Muggle family and my wife is a Muggle too. We are both convinced that Sophie would highly benefit from living in a Wizarding household. Before she went to Hogwarts (Hufflepuff, my old house), she attended Muggle Primary School and therefore can give your boys both Muggle and Wizarding classes as requested in your job description. Sophie is enthusiastic, creative and hard-working and I am sure she is up to the task and will be a good choice for your boys. I would be delighted if you gave her a chance. Best regards. Jamie".

Sirius smiled as he remembered Jamie. A friendly, unassuming boy who once had provided him with knowledge of the Muggle world. He put the letter back into the envelope, turned to Sophie and said, "Welcome. I'm glad you want to join us. Let's go upstairs right away so we can set up your rooms. And the classroom". When Sophie turned to take her broom and luggage, Sirius said, "Leave your stuff here. Kreacher will bring it to your rooms". With a stunned expression on her face, she slowly followed him into the house, and while she climbed the steps of the grand staircase behind him, she looked around awe-struck. Sirius turned right and walked to the end of the corridor. "Is this where the servants' rooms are?". Sirius looked at her disconcerted and then burst out laughing. "We don't have servants' quarters. Our private rooms are on this floor. Do you want to live apart from the rest of us? Then I'll set up your rooms on the second floor?". Bashfully she murmured, "No, of course not. I just thought, well, it doesn't matter". Sirius opened a door and from the threshold pointed at the doors opposite. "The boys' rooms are over there. Each pair of twins share a bedroom and a room where they can play or study or whatever. But if need be, each can have a chamber of his own. There is plenty of space in the house". He entered and showed Sophie the empty room. There was a door at either side and Sirius opened the one to the right. "This is the bath. The room on the other side you can set up as you like. Perhaps as a study?". She stared at him perplexed. "How would you like to furnish your rooms?". Shyly she made suggestions, which Sirius implemented with a few waves of his wand. In no time the rooms were furnished. "Mr. Black, this is fantastic. Daddy told me that you were a most powerful wizard, but this is truly unbelievable". Sirius smiled. "We recently redecorated the family townhouse. I'm still in practice there. By the way, we're on a first name basis here. I'm Sirius. You'll soon get to know the others. With the boys, you'll have to decide for yourself how you want to handle it. Would you like to unpack now and freshen up, or should we go and see the classroom? Then we are done". She nodded. He led her back to the ground floor. At the end of the long entrance hall, he opened a door. "This is designed to be the classroom". Sophie described the layout she had in mind to Sirius and nodded when he arranged everything to her satisfaction. "Yes, I'll be fine here. Do you mind if I go upstairs and unpack?". He nodded. "Go ahead and make yourself at home. We'll be on the terrace. When you're done, why don't you come and join us". She beamed at him and thanked him enthusiastically.

The family received Sophie warmly and the boys were absolutely thrilled with her. The next morning, Procyon and Asterion began their classes and after a short time, happy children's laughter filtered from the classroom onto the terrace. Two days later they were sitting at dinner when Phineas stepped up to Sirius. Teddy and Alphard positioned themselves behind him. Phineas had his hands on his hips and his little face was glowing with indignation. "We want to make a complaint". Sirius raised his eyebrows and said, "Let's hear it". "We want to have classes too. Why are only Procyon and Asterion allowed to learn. We are not too young to have lessons. Miss Rickett can teach us something too". Teddy and Alphard emphasised each word with a nod, while Sirius had to pull himself together to keep from laughing out loud. "Well, I am very pleased to hear this. Miss Rickett might want to consider how to integrate you into her classes. I am sure she will support your thirst for knowledge in every possible way". He winked at Sophie. Satisfied, the three boys withdrew. Sirius had a fit of laughter before he asked Regulus, "Tell me brother, have we been like this when we were younger? I always found classes with our tutor appalling and outright boring". "Yeah, I guess you did. I was extremely jealous and urged Mother to let me take part in the lessons. But she refused. I found that very disappointing. When I finally did get lessons, I was incredibly proud. You know, Sirius, having a big brother can be quite unfair. At least I thought so at the time".

For the next two weeks, Sirius worked very hard on the motorbikes he had moved to the grounds. He had not yet told the others that he wanted to persuade them to swap their broomsticks for a Muggle vehicle. Their mobility had been significantly reduced since they had disconnected the house from the Floo Network. And to protect themselves from an unexpected attack by Cygnus, Sirius had cast a protective charm on the property, which made it impossible to apparate or disapparate. Therefore, the only means of transportation left for them was a broomstick. Or a motorbike. Sirius grinned. When he informed Mercuria, he said, "I am sure that Regulus, Gavin and Marius will love the idea. They'd probably be dying to try something new". He already imagined himself speeding down the Muggle streets with them. It was a different story for Lucius. In his mind, he pictured Malfoy's reaction and wondered if he could be persuaded to give it a try. Well, one would see.