James
When James became an animagus in the summer between 2nd and 3rd year, his friends nicknamed him ‘prongs’ because of his magnificent stag antlers. As great as they were, they were impossible to get through doors. He can remember several occasions when to got stuck in awkward positions, and learnt the hard way that he didn’t fit through doors unless he either twisted himself or transformed completely back into a human.
The most notable was after a full moon. He had forgotten to change back after a long night of running around, keeping moony occupied, and had gone to sleep in stag form. In the morning he tried to get out of the shrieking shack but he got stuck in the door. Sirius still refuses to let that one go, but James doesn’t mind, he takes the piss out of Sirius right back.
He loves their easy back and forth banter. But sometimes it gets a bit too much and he will retreat to the silence of the astronomy tower at night. Sitting on the edge, dangling his legs dangerously over the side, he’ll pick out all the stars that Sirius taught him in his first year. Sirius must have been homesick because he cried himself to sleep that night. He had woken up from a nightmare later, and had consequently woken up James. He suggested going to the astronomy tower to get some fresh air to calm him down and Sirius agreed.
It was a cloudless night and James spent a good half an hour rubbing slow circles on Sirius’ back while gazing at the stars. Once Sirius had calmed down enough to tell James why he was upset, he admitted to missing his little brother ‘Reggie’ and being worried that now he was gone, Reggie wouldn’t have anyone to protect him from his parents’ anger. He didn’t elaborate and James didn’t pry.
Instead, Sirius just started teaching him about the stars. His whole family were named after constellations or stars after all so he knew a fair amount about them. Using his wand to point, he showed James how to find his namesake and Regulus.
Ever since, when James felt upset or overwhelmed, he went up to the astronomy tower and found Sirius and Regulus, if they were out. After than night, he scourged the library for any books about how to identify the constellations. Luckily there were many to choose from since one of their OWL options was astronomy.
Another way he liked to step away and collect his thoughts, was quidditch practice. He did this every morning to prepare for the day ahead, by collecting his thoughts. Feeling the freezing morning air, reddening his cheeks always helped him clear his head.
However he couldn’t just walk out of a noisy classroom with the excuse of quidditch practice. So when he became a prefect, he used this as an excuse instead: ‘Its my turn to patrol the corridors professor.’ And it worked every time.
But walking the corridors during the day just wasn’t the same as walking the corridors at night. All the shrieks of the tiny 1st years as they ran to and from their lessons, and prying eyes from professors and other students were gone. Apart from the odd couple that forgot to use a silencing charm in the broom cupboard they were making out in.
James liked to think himself a chill prefect. He didn’t put people in detention unless they were annoying Slytherins, and he helped anyone who was lost, with the help of the marauders map of course. This, along with his good looks and athletic build made him quite popular among the student body. However, being popular meant a lot of attention from other students and a reputation to uphold, and sometimes this all got a bit too much to handle.
It was one of these days where the pressure got too much. That night, he ventured up to the astronomy tower to have a bit of peace and quiet before heading back up to his dorm to sleep.