Chapter 3
When James Potter had awoken in the empty classroom to find Sirius gone, he didn't know whether to be annoyed or laugh out loud. They'd both been serving detention, for hexing a student outside Potions. In some odd twist of fate, Professor Binns had been put in charge of the two. "I hope you both have understood the depth of your actions," he had said sluggishly, before turning around to the board and beginning to reel off a list of ex-Hogwarts troublemakers. James had promptly fallen asleep, lulled by the ghost's droning and Sirius had apparently just left. James yawned and stretched, before looking at the time. Finally. He grabbed his bags before exiting the room with a "Bye Cuthbert" to the ghost who continued to speak to no one and began to sprint towards the outside of the castle. It was that time again and he'd been looking forward to it. He wondered where Peter was, before feeling something nudge his foot. He looked down and grinned to see a large brown rat with a long tail scurrying down the passage next to him. Now he was even more excited. He felt a pang of guilt for Moony though as he kept a steady pace. For them, being animagi was painless, but Remus had told them how transforming into a werewolf was anything but. How he could feel his bones shift and elongate, twist and morph. Still, if they could keep him company during this nightmare, that had to be something.
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Sirius had wrapped his arms around himself, barely containing his mirth. He couldn't stop envisioning the inevitable next few moments of a screaming Snivellus hurtling back out of the Willow, crying for his mother back into the castle. He knew it was dangerous but the greasy old git would be fine. He knew he could run. He had seen him with the Evans girl, Lily, both racing each other to Professor Sinistra's class; he was surprisingly fast. Oh how he wished he had a camera or something. "Pssst!" He turned and smiled to see James racing towards him, Wormtail on his heels. "Why do you look like you've just won the Quidditch World Cup?" James implored, pulling up the hood on his robe. Sirius gave a mocking curtesy before saying "because I have just pulled off the best prank ever. You're never gonna top this one." Wormtail danced around their feet. "Oh go on, I can tell you're dying to tell me," James folded his arms in anticipation. Sirius yawned and began to sway from side to side, putting his hands in his pockets. "Well..." he looked over to the imbolised Willow and grinned before saying "Our favourite Slytherin may or may not be unknowingly visiting our furry little friend," before throwing his head back and beginning to laugh, tears streaming down his face. The tears in his eyes turned James into a blur of black, red, grey and gold. If he hadn't been laughing so hard, he may have seen the way the colour drained from James' face or how Wormtail had stopped dead in his tracks and began to naw at his shoe.