good things fall apart • sirius black

I hate boys

By fifth year, it was well established that Hogwarts Library was not the natural habitat of the Marauders. Even the bookish Remus preferred to read curled up in his bed or on the sofa in the Gryffindor common room, so when the five waltzed in on Wednesday afternoon, it would be an understatement to say they turned a few heads. The most frequent visitor out of the group was actually Ellie, and only because it was one of Lily Evans' favourite places, so when the two spent time together outside of their dorm it was usually in the Library.

Hence why James was the second most frequent visitor of the group.

    "I got sort of lost because the book wasn't in the Transfiguration section like I'd expected, but this is the one that should hopefully tell us all the steps." The messy haired boy announced.

The friends huddled around a small table as far away from anyone else in the library as possible, Remus muttering a quick 'muffilato', just to ensure that there wouldn't be anyone over hearing near-by.

After last year took a turn for Ellie Gryffin, Sirius suggested they should post-pone their plans on becoming Animagi until the next year. Ellie felt selfish putting off something that was for their friend for her own problems, not wanting it to seem like Remus' condition was any less important than it was, but each of the boys agreed (without her input) that it was probably for the best. They had tried to tell her that they wouldn't have been skilled enough at magic last year to complete the process, in hopes of comforting the beautiful girl, and Remus tried to ease her guilt by telling her it wasn't anything he wasn't used to, but that's exactly what Ellie hated.

He shouldn't have to be used to enduring such pain every full moon, it wasn't fair that he had to suffer whilst the rest of them pranced around the castle without a care. That fact was exactly why Ellie was the most excited to dive back into the project. If there was any way to help their friend, she was going to do it.

And it wasn't going to be easy.

Even all of their research hadn't set them up for the lengthy process that was to come. Being the most knowledgeable on the subject, James read and explained everything the book covered on the ups and downs of becoming an Animagus. Complicated to say the least, the process consisted of holding a mandrake leaf under their tongues for a whole month; then using that leaf in the creation of a potion; reciting an incantation on a daily basis and drinking the previously made potion upon an electrical storm.

How they were ever going to manage that was a mystery to all, Peter seemingly regretting his decision to ever agree to become an Animagus in the first place.

The logistics were to be ironed out over Christmas by James, but it was important that all four that were participating knew the risks in going through with the plan - in particular what could happen if it went wrong, or others found out.

Another difficulty occurred in the retrieval of the mandrake leaves and ingredients for the potion. To acquire one lot of the ingredients would pose a difficult task, but four lots seemed next to impossible and care would need to be taken in ensuring Professor Slughorn didn't notice the stock in his potion cupboard slowly diminish, nor did Professor Sprout notice any tampering with the mandrakes in the greenhouses. Doubts also rose amongst the group as to whether they'd actually all remember to say the incantation every day and in no time at all, the idea of becoming Animagi slowly started to feel like a fantasy. How were we supposed to do all of this and pass our OWLs?

But really, there was no question in the matter. They were going to do exactly what they needed to do to help their friend.

Agreeing that the first full moon back after Christmas was when they'd begin their 'mandrake month', they left the library, Sirius starting to worry it might ruin his reputation if they were seen in there too long, whilst also beginning to become late for their Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson next.