A Different Beginning

Chapter XIV - Summering with the Marauders

Harry didn't even know what to expect when it came to having three, instead of two, Marauders living with him. He didn't think that it was going to be too different from before, but he remembered from the stories that he had heard that Sirius and James had always been the more wild of the four Marauders.

Once Sirius had been caught up on important events and other things that he had missed out on in the years that he had spent in prison, James had given him what apparently was his old bedroom. Sirius had moved into Potter Manor when he was sixteen after he had run away from home. The Black family had wanted nothing to do with him because first of all, he had wound up in Gryffindor which they found to be incredibly insulting to their family; and secondly, he disagreed with everything that they did since they were dark wizards, or dark wizard supporters. Andrew and Gwen Potter had been more than willing to take Sirius in. They had loved and accepted him as a second son.

James had given him his old room and then the two of them had gone to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, the home that Sirius had inherited from his parents because he was the only Black left. There they had found his wand, his old motorbike and everything else that he wanted to bring with him. James had then taken money from Sirius and bought him a new wardrobe as he needed new clothes other then his ratty prison uniform. Once he was showered and his hair trimmed so that the black locks fell just so around his face, Harry understood why people had once thought that he was handsome. His sunken face was soon filled with Maddy and Mickey's good cooking, his eyes even lit up with laughter from the joy of just living again.

Harry also found that Sirius had not only stories to tell him, but pranks and tricks to show him. He had even offered to help Harry with his animagus transformation. James had started him off as promised with the potion. Harry had seen four animals which confused James, Sirius, and Remus to no end. He had seen a lion, an owl, a phoenix, and a wolf. Harry wondered if that meant he could be all four animals. The Marauders weren't sure but they agreed to help him out. They decided to start with the phoenix form since it was a magical animal and they weren't sure how that was supposed to work.

While James was at work, Sirius helped Harry work on the transformation. They started out slowly, having Harry focus on only changing one part of his body at a time, his left hand. Since Harry had mastered the elemental wandless magic so young, he was trying to change pieces of his body wandlessly. After two weeks of nothing, he was beginning to get frustrated.

"Harry, don't worry, this is a really hard thing to learn. It took James and I the better part of two years to master it." Sirius explained when Harry groaned in frustration.

"I just wish that I could change something! But I'm not even making my skin turn a different colour."

Sirius laughed. "You'll get it eventually, don't worry. Let's take a break for a bit. Want to go out and drag Remus outside for a game of Quidditch?"

Harry grinned. "Yeah!"

After playing Quidditch for a few hours, they went back inside just as James came home. They decided to work on the transformations some more, but after two hours Harry still hadn't managed to change anything. Neither James nor Sirius seemed to think that this was a big deal, though. They told him that he would get it eventually.

Harry sat down on the couch next to James. "Da, did you find it this frustrating when you were trying to become an animagus?"

James smiled. "Yes, Harry, really you'll get it soon. There are only a few vital parts of your body that are extremely hard to change but once you get them, the transformation will be a breeze."

Harry nodded. "Alright, so how was work?"

James shrugged. "Not too bad, I'm still leading the search for Sirius. Of course, I have absolutely no idea where he might be," he replied with a smirk. "But the Ministry is not too worried about finding him anymore. Fudge is much too embarrassed by the fact that he escaped right from under his nose!"