A/N: I bet it's getting a bit confusing as to who is writing in the Animagi book, so I'll change the format a little bit.

Bold writing (this) is James

Bold and Italic is Sirius

Bold and underlined is Remus

Bold, italic AND underlined is Peter

Chapter Two: The Mandrake Leaf

By Moony

The first step to becoming an Animagus involves a Mandrake Leaf. At a full moon, pluck the leaf and put it in your mouth. Fair warning, though, it will taste slimy. Then keep it in your mouth until the next full moon, which is when the second step takes place. The leaf will make chewing very hard, but you have to keep it in your mouth without spitting it out or swallowing it. Here's what each of us did for the first step:

The Marauders sneaked into the forbidden forest and plucked a Mandrake leaf. Wormtail put one in his mouth and patiently waited for the next full moon. Padfoot dunked it in Taste-Removing Potion and showered it with sugar to make it taste like a sweet candy. He also made the leaf transparent. Prongs, meanwhile, resized the leaf to make it small and then used a sticking charm to stick it to the back of his tongue. Each of us had our own ways, and you can have your own too. Here's the Story for this chapter:

A bloke called John Oakes wanted to become an Animagus. So he took his leaf and kept it in his mouth. However, the very next day he accidentally swallowed it - causing his voice to be a bit high-pitched forever. His own brother, Will, spit it out the moment he put it in his mouth. Needless to say, Will did not succeed in becoming an Animagus while John got a relatively harmless curse for life. This Story is a reminder for every Budding Animagus - Be careful, don't accidentally swallow the leaf.

DO

- Charm the leaf to make it more edible/less likely to swallow

- Be patient

DON'T

- Accidentally swallow or spit out the leaf before the next full moon occurs

- Throw away the leaf once you're done - you'll need it for the next step!

Move onwards to read the next step of the Animagus transformation.

"So..." said Ron slowly, "We're supposed to keep a Mandrake leaf in our mouth for a month?!"

"Yes," said Hermione. "But, we can do some charms like James and Sirius did. That'll make it more edible. Besides, tonight's the full moon. We can go to Hogsmeade and purchase three Mandrake leaves. You okay with that, Harry?"

"Of course," said Harry immediately. "Let's go."

The trio got up, Ron holding the book, and all three of them Apparated to Hogsmeade. Once they had arrived, they set in a brisk walk down to the Apothecary's.

"Three Mandrake leaves, please."

"Mmm, 'right, that'll be six sickles."

"Here it is. Thank you."

After paying for the leaves, Harry gave one to Ron and Hermione before turning to his own. He Disillusioned the leaf to make it look invisible, then made it the size of his thumb, before casting a Taste-Removing spell on it. Then he put it in his mouth and was surprised to feel nothing. The first step of the transformation was going better than he had thought. But he had to keep a leaf in his mouth for a whole month - and that would be pretty challenging.

As Harry handed him a leaf (which looked rather green and slimy), Ron shivered. How would he manage this? Curiosity getting the better of him, the redhead squinted his eyes and tasted a tiny bit of the leaf.

Ew. It felt like a vomit-flavoured Every Flavour Bean at best. And that was really saying something. Ron resized the leaf and put a sticking charm on the roof of his mouth. Right, this was perfect. Sure, it still felt very disgusting when he ran his tongue through the leaf, but he'd get used to it. Won't he? Shivering slightly, the redhead tried to ignore the smell that was coming from his mouth, not to mention the nasty feeling.

"Thanks," Hermione said to Harry as she grasped her leaf. She turned it over in her hand, looking at it curiously. The girl had read about this in A List of Potions Ingredients - it was quite hard to procure the leaf, but one Mandrake could give you hundreds of leaves.

Hermione put Smell-Removing and Taste-Removing charms on the leaf, then used a sticking charm to put the leaf on the roof of her mouth, like Ron. She turned to look at the two boys, and immediately wrinkled her nose. "Oh Merlin, the two of you smell absolutely disgusting! Put a Smell-Removing charm on the leaf."

Harry grinned sheepishly, while Ron waved his hand, looking impatient. "Come on, 'Mione," he said casually, "Relax. Nobody's gonna smell the leaf unless they lean up close to me."

"Don't call me 'Mione," Hermione mock-glared, "And no. I can smell the leaf from here, but it's your choice. If you want to stay here and smell like a monkey, it's okay. But if-"

"Alright, alright, I'm doing it!" said Ron hastily, and performed the Smell-Removing charm. But there still was a smell of Mandrake leaves around. Hermione crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at Harry - who backed away in mock fear.

A/N: Sorry for short! But there wasn't anything they could do apart from this.