The Marauders: Year Two | #Wattys2016

Something Black in the Woods

Something Black In The Woods

"I don't understand!" Sirius said, practically pulling his hair out as he pooled over Releasing The Animagus Within. "We did everything the ruddy book says to do and the most we can get is a couple prongs up on Potter's head."

James was sitting on the little couch in the tent with his two horns on his head, balanced against the back of the couch as he stared up at the ceiling. He'd made them appear and disappear about a hundred times during the night, but no matter how many times he said the spell, he couldn't get anything more than the two antlers to change.

"Maybe James is only half a buck," Peter suggested. "Like the centaurs are only half horses?"

"Don't be an idiot," James said sleepily.

Sirius wrapped his fingers up in his hair. "There's got to be something here that'll explain it. There has got to be. We had to have missed a step or something." He sighed in frustration and started the book over for the hundredth time in the past sixteen or so hours.

"It's like McGonagall said, mate," James murmured, "We didn't take the time to learn the theory of it. There's probably something stupid that we're overlooking and we'll never know it on account that we don't know the bloody theory." He sighed.

Sirius refused to give up, though, "I'll find it if I have to read this book cover to cover everyday for the rest of my life," he said stubbornly.

Peter nibbled on the crackers Charlus had packed them.

James's eyes sank closed. They hadn't slept at all because of the anti-climatic ending to three months worth of work. Sirius especially couldn't let it go. "The Draught was perfect," he murmured, "Every step of the way it did exactly like it should. And the bottles weren't damaged or shaken - right James?"

"I kept exceptional care of them," James mumbled, "Not a single jolt or shake."

Peter slowed on his inhalation of the crackers. "So what if they were shaken?" he asked. "What's that matter?"

"Dunno, something about the way the bicorn horn blended with the boomslang or something, I dunno, it just says it underlined a couple times in the text that it shouldn't be shaken, especially after the mandrake leaves are added in."

Peter put down the box of crackers, wiping his fingers on his pants, feeling a bit of a panic rise up in his belly. "Yeah but that wouldn't keep it from working at all... would it?"

Sirius shrugged, "Have I mentioned that I'm not an expert in this?"

James yawned, "You might've mentioned it a time or two - or seven - or fifty."

Peter decided then and there they could never, ever, ever, ever find out that he'd fallen over with the potions in his clutches in the tent. Especially not because of the marshmallows that they'd kept making fun of him for eating. This needed to be quickly pegged as James's fault. Sirius would forgive James, Peter knew that much - there wasn't a thing on earth James could do that Sirius wouldn't forgive him for, he bet. But him - Peter - well that was a different story. Neither of them would forgive him for much of anything. Remus might but Remus wasn't a part of all this and he was sure Sirius and James meant more to Remus even than he did. He had to build himself a little hedge of protection to keep them from deducing that it was his fault the potion hadn't worked somehow.

"Well James kept them in his book bag that first day and a bunch of days after that and all the way home from Hogwarts," Peter pointed out, "Surely they got shaken then."

James looked over, "I didn't shake them Peter, they were wrapped up in socks and scarves and all sorts of things to keep them safe."

"Just the general movement of the bag could've done it," Peter pointed out. "Obviously it's your fault they've been shaken up."