***
“Potter, James!” a strict voice called across the Great Hall.
James had been told her name was Professor McGonagall. She was new here,
her first year. Her hair was pulled into a neat, tight brown bun; her
black robes were spotless, almost shiny, if that were possible. “POTTER!
JAMES!” she called even more sternly, glaring at him over her spectacles.
This startled James out of his petrified trance, and he quickly stumbled
out of the line of timid first-years to be sorted.
He somehow managed to make it to the small three-legged stool (he never
quite knew how) and met the somewhat agitated professor.
“Sit.”
James obeyed and soon felt a large hat being plopped onto his head.
“Ahhh…” it said into his ear, rather startling him, “what
have we here? Oh, yes…very good mind…impressive…very good….
and courage, my! This one’s got to be a GRYFFINDOR!”
James heard the hat call the last word out to the Hall, and to the smattering
of polite applause, he stood up and walked to his new House table.
At the table he was greeted with pats on the back and many grinning
faces. He even shook the hand (well, as best as he could) of the House
ghost, Sir Nicholas DeMimsy Porpington, or what everyone “insisted
on calling him”, Nearly Headless Nick.
James was scanning the benches, desperately trying to find someone he
knew to sit with when an unfamiliar voice said, “You can sit here,
if you want.” He looked down to see a friendly-looking, dark-haired
boy he recognized from the Hogwarts Express-a first year as well. “Okay,
thanks.”
The boy scooted over and James sat down right next to him. “My
name’s Sirius, Sirius Black.”
James smiled, “James Potter.”
“Yeah, I guessed that,” Sirius grinned, “this is my other
friend, Remus.
Remus- this is James Potter.”
A boy with brown hair (unusually flecked with gray) peered around from
Sirius’s other side, “Hey!”
A small boy on the other side of Remus cleared his throat quietly.
James could have sworn he saw Sirius roll his eyes, “Oh-and this
is Peter.”
From that day on Sirius Black and James Potter were inseparable.
You could often see James and Sirius in the corridors, in between classes,
causing chaos and general mayhem. Some people said, “it seems their
mission in life is to drive Filch completely insane.” No prank or
scheme was too outrageous for the “Marauders.” They were there
for each other no matter what. Sirius was even said to be the person who
introduced James to Lily.
One cold day in mid-winter, they were to be found at the Shrieking Shack.
They had, of course, gotten there with the help of the “secret entrance”
through the Whomping Willow (Remus had shown them this soon after it was
revealed he was a werewolf) and James’s trusty invisibility cloak.
“Animai!” bellowed James, pointing his wand at his own throat.
Nothing.
“James, this is so stupid. There is no way you two are going to
manage to become Animagi…” Lily was curled up in her favorite
armchair across the room doing her Charms homework. (Even though she completely
disapproved of Sirius and James’s plan to become Animagi she had
always accompanied them on their trips to the Shack, to “supervise”
and make sure “they didn’t do anything too stupid.”)
“C’mon Lily, have some faith, will you?”
Sirius was sitting at the rickety old kitchen table, poring over a book
he and James had hijacked from the Hogwarts Library called, Animagi-Made
Easy!
“I don’t know why you two just don’t give up. I understand
you want to do this for Remus, but it seems you’ve been at it forever.”
Ignoring her, Sirius said, “It says here that you need to clear
your mind completely, then just picture the animal you want to become.”
“ What do you think I’ve been doing?!” James cleared
his throat, “Okay…Animai!” His wand gave a small pop and
a single white hair appeared on his arm. “Ah! See that, Lily?! See
that?”
“Don’t stop!” Sirius called over, looking excited. “Do
it again!”
James cleared his throat again, this time narrowing his eyes with concentration,
“ANIMAI!” CRACK! James was gone, and in his place stood a mighty,
white stag.
Lily had dropped her Charms book to the floor, stirring up quite a lot
of dust, scattering papers everywhere. Sirius, on the other hand, just
sat there, stunned, mouth hanging open. “James!”
Soon after, Sirius too mastered the art of becoming an Animagus, and
they were dubbed “Padfoot (Sirius took the form of a large black
dog) and Prongs.”
They were also able to teach Peter the art of becoming an Animagus (though
it took an awful lot of patience). They were finally able to accompany
Remus (now known as “Moony”) on his monthly trips to the Shrieking
Shack, where he transformed into a werewolf.
At first, Remus had been afraid to tell them what he really was, but
to his surprise, James and Sirius had not rejected him, but formed a plan
to join him.
Completely like them.
Now every month when Madam Pomfrey took Remus to the Whomping Willow
to transform, James, Sirius, and Peter followed under James’s invisibility
cloak. It was perfect. They had truly great times.
Late at night, they would walk through Hogsmeade as Animagi, investigating
shops and scaring many innocent people out of their wits (but of course,
they were never caught-and that was the beauty of it.) They finished their
years at Hogwarts going down in history. James and Sirius remained, truly,
friends forever.
As they were called later, by the infamous Professor McGonagall, “quite
the double-act!”
The End
