Deception|| Eve Holmes | Sirius Black x fem BBC Sherlock twin

Chapter 17 - Patience And Practice

Year 3 had ended, and Lily and Remus were toppers again, and Gryffindor had won both the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup again, and the Marauders had played another great prank that involved loads of fireworks again.

As soon as exams were over, Eve, James, Sirius and Peter started working on becoming Animagi. After a month of their summer vacation, they met up at James' house to discuss their plan of action to become an Animagus.

"Okay, let's see," Eve started and took out her notes.

"Step 1: Do your homework...

...in Transfiguration and Potions at least. Becoming an Animagus requires a witch or wizard to be skilled in both these areas in order to stand a chance of achieving such a complex transformation."

"Well, we're already done with that. So, let's move on to Step 2," James said.

"Yeah, okay."

"Step 2: Carry a Mandrake Leaf in your mouth...

...for an entire month – from full moon to full moon to be precise. Yes, we're serious. If you swallow the leaf or remove it from your mouth at any point, you have to start the whole thing again (no-one likes to see that happen). You then have to find a 'small crystal phial that receives the pure rays of the moon', put your saliva-filled leaf inside, and add one of your own hairs."

"Mandrake leaves, then?" Sirius said.

"I have them here, I went and plucked them from the greenhouse before we left Hogwarts," Eve said as she handed them the leaves. She put the leaf in her mouth and felt a very bitter taste.

Eve continued to talk with the leaf in her mouth, "So, we're gonna have to be careful with this in our mouth. We can still talk, but our speech is gonna be a bit slurred, so be careful boys. We'll be back at Hogwarts within a month's time. Put it into this crystal phial along with your hair-"

James interrupted, "-And add this teaspoon of dew, and the chrysalis of the Death's-head Hawk Moth-"

"-And then we'll keep it safely tucked away in James' trunk 'til the next electrical storm. No one goes near it anyway," Sirius finished.

That was 1 month ago. Since then, Eve had been researching more about werewolves and Animagi with her brother Sherlock. Sherlock even helped her with her holiday homework, writing deathly predictions in the table of predictions that her Divination teacher, Professor Petrova had told her to complete. Her favourite prediction was 'On 21st December, I will be hit in the back of my head with a blunt ping - pong bat'. She still had the Mandrake leaf in her mouth, and her mum and dad found it completely abnormal that she had been keeping a leaf in her mouth of all things (they didn't know what she was doing).

Everything had been going according to plans. Now all they had to do was while waiting for the storm, every sunrise and sundown, speak the incantation: 'Amato Animo Animato Animagus'. Sometimes, Eve heard a second heart beat along with hers, and realized that she was going down the right path.

A week later, the scheduled storm arrived. They found a red blood potion in place of the their Mandrake leaf stuff that they had stuffed into James' trunk. They took it and went to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. For the last time, all of them said the incantation Amato Animo Animato Animagus, and drank the potion.

Eve closed her eyes, and a shape started to form in her mind. It was almost like, a leopard, or maybe a cheetah. It was getting clearer by the second. And then she saw it as plain as day. Her Animagus form was- a tigress. A white tigress with beautiful black stripes.

And all of them transformed into animals a moment later. In the place of James Potter stood a royal stag, and where Peter once stood, there was a rat scurrying on the ground, and in Sirius' place stood a large black dog, wagging it's tail. Eve closed her eyes and concentrated on her human form to turn back into her human self, which she succeeded in doing. She told her friends to do the same and they followed. Thankfully, all of them still had their clothes on. 

"We should keep practicing this year, we can't risk our lives. We'll tell Remus next year. This year's more practice than actual experience. Understand?" James told.

"Yes, Mum," Eve told with a wide grin.

All of them were heading back to their common room when-

"Potter! Holmes! Black! Pettigrew! Detention!" came out a voice. They turned around to find an angry Minerva McGonagall.

Sirius said with a huge smile, "Ah, hello, Minnie. Can we not do this today? You see, darling, we're celebrating and currently not in the mood for one of your boring lect-"

"My office, now!" Minnie instructed and left.

After losing a 150 points for the house, and ending up as the House with lowest number of points, a dissapointed group of Marauders left Minerva's office and vowed to find a solution to the problem of teachers sneaking up on students. Little did they know that Remus already had one.

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A/N: It's a tigress! I wanted to pick the most perfect animal. It had to have the right nickname, the right personality, and it had to look very bold. My first option was snow leopard. But, here we are.

And unlike many other wizards and witches, Eve's patronus is not the same animal as her Animagus form.

You're gonna love it.