The inevitables

There are eight steps to becoming an animagus. With each step, the danger grows. In this book you will learn exactly how to become an animal, and exactly how wrong it can go. Read at your own caution. 

The warning is listed before every chapter, each time a scarier fact is listed. People can become half human, half animal and there is no cure, your clothing gets molded into you when you transform, people can forget how to transfer back, the two heart beats can frighten you so much you die. I’ve had to keep reading though, I had two books to go through. 

I’ve read the majority of the first book which was more about the history of animagi: the first ones, the story behind it, the reasons wizards can become them. The background information needed before even attempting to become one. The second book… well that’s the instructions. The eight steps that determine if we’ll be able to help Remus or if we’ll turn out as mutants for the rest of our lives. 

The boys focused their research on animals with werewolves and personal stories from real animagi. These wizards wrote about making friends with animals and even being able to communicate with their species they turned into. From those stories we gathered that the animals either didn’t care that animagi were not truly animals or that most couldn’t tell the difference. This meant that there was a strong possibility that the wolf wouldn’t care or know that we weren’t real animals. 

“What are you reading anyways?” Lily finished packing for me so that I could finish this depressing book. 

“I’m reading about animagi.” I said without even thinking. I was an idiot. “I wanted to see all the things McGonagall had to do.” I lied. The four of us agreed to tell no one until we died. That meant our parents too, Sirius made sure that James and I swore not to tell them. He was going to be watching us all holiday to make sure our lips were sealed. 

“What’s things?” Lily asked as she plopped my bag next to me. 

“She had to hold a leaf in her mouth for a month, hide a potion where no one, not even sunlight, would touch it until lightning appeared, if she failed she could’ve ended up as a half person half cat forever..” I listed all of my fears, the things I had no idea how we were going to accomplish. How could all four of us stay silent for a month?

“She had to do all that?” Lily’s question turned to shock as I nodded. “Is all that work really worth it? I mean she can transform whenever she pleases but she could’ve died! I don’t think I’d ever do that!” 

“Yeah, no me neither.” I didn’t even convince myself. Of course I was going to do this for Remus, I would take the chance of becoming a half animal half human freak for the rest of my life. On the plus side, there is a higher chance of me dying brutally then becoming a morphed human and animal. 

Lily and I walked down to the main doors and let the carriages take our bags. She was sitting with Severus, and while she invited all of us, we declined. The three of us were going to sit with the boys instead of the one boy who hated us more than anything on earth. 

Mary and Marlene locked arms with me as we waved goodbye to Lily. 

“She’s love blind.” Marlene said abruptly as we walked through the train. I was not expecting to hear that, nor was I expecting her to say it. 

“What?” I asked. 

“Love blind.” Marlene repeated as if it was obvious. “She loves him so much, she can’t see all the shit he does.” 

“My mum was love blind with her sister. She never realized she used her for her money.” Mary shared, I didn’t know she had an aunt.

“My brother was love blind with his old girlfriend. She was absolutely rotten.” Another thing I didn’t know. The only person I knew as love blind was Lily. She was incredibly love blind, she’s even confessed to it. Lily knew Severus before he showed himself as the ruthless bully. I had no idea what I would do if I was best friends with someone and they turned out to be a monster. 

“Hazel! Over here!” Peter waved us over. The three of us walked to their compartment and sat down. I sat next to James, Sirius, and Mary. Marlene sat next to Remus and Peter. 

“Did you get your essay back off Ferox? I only barely got an ‘Acceptable’ mark, and mum’s going to go mental if I don’t get better results this year.” Marlene switched the conversation, but I knew she was still thinking about love blind, I was too.

“Yeah, I did ok…” Remus blushed, he definitely did better. In our outcast club meetings, he talked of that class and Ferox just as much as I talked about the love of my life: Runes. Runes was one of the hardest, most interesting classes I’ve ever taken and all I wanted to do was take more of it. Each symbol is so specific and one wrong dash could mean a completely different word! I’ve never learned a language like that. Most of the time there are similar words or spelling but it’s easy to distinguish the two. Now, any wrong dash could go from you eating your supper to you eating your grandmother! It’s so fascinating!

“We’ll bring back the study club after Christmas, right?” Mary added, “Lily’s up for it. Don’t worry, Marls, you’ll be fine.”

“Sounds good.” Remus tried to go back to his book, but of course, we were never a quiet group. 

“Moony’s joined a club without us!” Sirius dramatically ‘fainted’ onto James' shoulder which pushed me into the window. I tried to hide a smile as I made eye contact with Remus. He winked at me then went back to his book. If this is how Sirius acted towards a study group, he would explode over the outcast club. 

“He’s a big boy, now,” James saying those words made me weirdly uncomfortable. “They grow up so fast.”

“Piss off.” Remus grinned, “They have slug club for posho’s like you.”

“You can study with us if you want, Sirius,” Mary grinned at Sirius, she knew he would never, she just liked seeing him freak out.

The train stopped like it normally does, Sirius practically jumped up and ran to my parents. Remus and Peter trailed behind him a little awkwardly. The Pettigrews were with my parents which left Remus standing in between two families not sure what to do. James stayed back to wait for me. 

“You have to write us everyday and tell us what the boys are doing.” Mary hugged me goodbye. 

“Also write about you for those not obsessed with the boys.” Marlene and I laughed at our friend. 

“Of course I want to know about you Haze, but if you have time to share some… stories let me know!” Mary whispered to me so that James couldn’t hear. 

“Happy Christmas, Haze. I wish you could come visit again.” Marlene hugged me. 

“This summer I will, but this break is so short you won’t even have time to miss me.” 

Marls smiled and her and Mary left the train leaving me and James as the last passengers. 

“Girls take forever to say goodbye.” James complained.

“Oh please, if Sirius and Remus weren’t coming with us, you’d be glued to each other practically sobbing.” I teased him, he stuck his tongue out at me, but we both knew I was right.

By the time we got onto the platform, our mother and father had already apparated Sirius and Remus to our house. Oops. 

*CRACK* A storm of hugs and kisses embraced us. Both parents had to hug us for at least a few minutes and cover our faces with kisses. Neither of us were embarrassed as some kids our age were, we loved our parents, there was nothing wrong with showing it. 

“Oh never leave again! The house is too quiet without you two!” My mum squeezed us again practically lifting us off the ground. 

“Ephie come now, they have to learn to be powerful wizards one day.” Our dad smiled and winked at us. 

“Yes yes, it's just too far!” Our mum gripped us tightly one last time before standing up straight and grabbing my hand. James held on to our fathers arm. “Are you ready, my loves?” She asked, James and I nodded. I began to prepare myself for the swirling feeling of being transported through thin air then get absorbed back together at home. It was a weird feeling that I don’t think I’d ever get used to. I held onto my mum.

With a big *CRACK* I was home again. I loved the instant warm feeling of love and freshly baked cookies that consumed my home. The whole house was warm and cozy with the fire going and Christmas decorations all over the place. I have always felt safe at Hogwarts, but it was nothing compared to my home. I loved my family more than anything else and all that love was embedded throughout the whole house. Sirius and Remus stood in our living room, taking it all in. They had both been here many times, yet there was something about this place that even regular guests take a moment to absorb their surroundings. 

“We’ve a few people coming this year for christmas.” My mom started to explain about our party and the amount of people staying over. I just hoped that Mad-eye Moody wasn’t staying over. The worst part about that crazy, never bring up being bored around, aurror, was that he was our godfather. I used to pray that my parents would live a thousand years so that James and I would never go to Mad-eye. 

Most of the time, kids go to siblings when parents die, but that is not the case. My mum is an only child, her whole family had a struggle with having children. There was a reason our parents had James and I later in life, and that we never had any siblings. My dad, on the other hand, has two brothers, Harver and Lonnie, both almost twenty years older than my dad each. Our Potter ancestors normally repeat the same two names: James and Harold for the eldest sons, with their middle name as their fathers name. This brought a lot of boys named Harold James and James Harold. Our Grandfather James, however, wanted to be creative. He chose Harver to stay somewhat similar to Harold, and kept the middle name rule making my eldest uncle Harver James. Harver is 24 years older than my dad and I’ve never met him. He’s alive, but something happened that my dad refuses to share so he’s left as a mystery. 

Lonnie is 15 years older than my dad, whom I see quite often. He and his boyfriend Emmet bought a huge manor and created a home for wizards who were kicked out by their families. It’s called the pot-key like a portkey as a symbol of transporting the kids to a stable life. Any Wizard or squib child is welcome. Most of the time the kids have muggle parents who are scared of their own children. Others have fled their homes because their parents do bad things to them, I always thought Sirius could stay there if he didn’t find us first. Uncle Lonnie has welcomed James and I but there's too many kids that mad-eye (my dad's closest friend) is unfortunately the best option for us. 

I hope my parents never die, I could never live with Mad-eye. 

Suddenly there was a knock at the door, every muscle in Sirius’s body tightened as if he was lining up to his death. My mum walked to the door leaving us there. We sat in silence as we heard the door open and waited for the shrieks and screams to commence. But nothing came, only small voices and what sounded like small sobs.  It couldn’t possibly be related to Sirius. 

“Let’s go upstairs.” James directed us, we got halfway up the stairs before our mother called. 

“Boys!” We all stopped and turned to her, even me. The message wasn’t for me, but I still stayed.

“What’s up, mum?” James asked, moving from leading the group upstairs to standing in front of me by the bottom. 

“It’s getting late – you’d all better go to bed. Philly’s staying the night, and I’m afraid we’ve no room left – Sirius, would you mind sharing with James tonight, dear?” Now I knew who was at the door: Peter’s sister, the closest person I had to a sister before going to Hogwarts. 

“We can all share,” James said, without a beat, “Everyone else is arriving tomorrow anyway, might as well just all bunk up together.” As nice as James was, I was confused why Philly didn’t just stay with me. She’s bunked with me loads of times, she would tell me secrets about her love life and I’d ask questions about what it was like to be in love. A beautiful time really. 

Our mum nodded and the boys moved upstairs, I hesitated at the bottom. Something happened that Philly came here crying. She wasn’t staying with me but in her own room. 

“She’s fine dear, not to worry. You’ll see her tomorrow.” My mum assured me, I swear she knew my every thought and feeling. 

“Goodnight mum.” I nodded. 

“Goodnight my love.” My mum moved back to the doorway to get Phillys bag and coat. I made my way upstairs. I was two seconds away from opening my bedroom door when James called me into his room. 

“You don’t want to stay with us?” He questioned like he was hurt by my decision. 

“I didn’t know I was invited,” I said honestly.

“Of course you’re invited.” Sirius said as if it was common knowledge.  I looked to Remus and he shrugged as if to say he didn’t care. 

We got into our pjs (I changed in my own room then came back) and brushed our teeth before piling into James’s bed. Our beds were big enough to fit all four of us comfortably. 

“Who was that?” Remus asked, once we were all settled. 

“Philomena,” James started. 

“Peter’s sister.” I finished. 

“What’s she doing here?” Remus asked. 

“I think she’s been arguing with Pete’s folks – they don’t like her going to muggle university, and,” he looked to the door to make sure it was closed, “Dad says she’s got a muggle boyfriend.”

“Really?!” Sirius’s eyes widened in awe. 

“Yeah, mum wrote about Mrs. Pettigrew disdain for it all. Said they’ve been writing back fighting about it for months.” I continued. The second I got that letter I had to tell Mary, Marlene, and Lily. I don’t like oversharing drama so I didn’t say it was Peter’s sister, I just said it was our neighbor. 

“Yeah, and you know what mum’s like,” James nudged Sirius, “Loves taking in strays.” Sirius pretended to be hurt by being called a stray but he couldn’t hide his smile. Remus said nothing, maybe taking in the news or being shocked that Peter had a sister. 

****

Remus fell asleep first, he laid on the end of the bed. Sirius took this opportunity to bring up his great plan for the full moons. 

“Did you read the books?” He asked me in a low whisper. I had to really pay attention to get each word. 

“Most, each chapter talks of all the dangers and possibilities of death.” I answered. 

“Sounds like fun.” James smiled and Sirius laughed, I lightly elbowed James. 

“You both must take this seriously if we want to even attempt at getting this right. If not we’ll end up as half animal half human mutants for the rest of our life’s with no cure.” I stressed the dangers. Their smiles quickly faded to a more stern look. Sirius didn’t even joke that ‘he’s always serious’ which I appreciated. 

“So what’s the first step?” Sirius asked, Remus coughed and moved around. 

“Not here, not today.” I said. If Remus woke up and knew all the dangers, he would pull the plug on the entire thing. The boys nodded. 

“Let’s get some rest.” James decided and laid down, Sirius and I followed. It was nice hanging around all of them, they all felt like my brothers. It was like we were one big family just having a sleepover. 

Becoming an animagus is one of the most difficult journeys a wizard could take. If you think you’re ready for the task, please register at the ministry to get the extra help and advice you will need. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO BECOME AN ANIMAGUS WITHOUT REGISTERING FIRST.