Mirrorball

The Transfiguration class was one of Percy's worst nightmares. Though she was grateful that Slytherins and Gryffindors were paired up this year for this class, since she'd have her friends with her, she hated the subject with her whole heart. She was thirteen – how did they expect her to literally change the entire molecular makeup of a being just to look like another thing?

Thankfully, professor McGonagall was a great teacher. She was understanding, patient and seemed to like Percy enough to personally encourage her and help her when she needed it. Perhaps it had to do with her witnessing how cruel the other Slytherins were every time she messed up a spell. Ironically enough, the Head of Gryffindor House was nicer to Percy than the Head of her own house, Slughorn.

Severus guided Lily to sit next to him, like he always did, leaving the brunette to look for a seat. Marlene was sitting with Mary, Potter with Black, Cadieux with Lupin. She heard a psst and turned her head to see Peter motioning to her to sit with him. "Thanks," she whispered to him as McGonagall entered the classroom and immediately started the lesson after wishing them a good morning. That woman spared no seconds.

"Today we will be learning about the Lapifors Spell. Does anyone know what type of spell it is?" McGonagall said and there were a few hands raised. "Yes, Mr Snape?"

"It is a transforming spell, though it can be classified as a jinx as well."

"Correct! And does anyone know what effect it has? Anyone?"

"It's literally in the name," Percy heard someone behind her whisper and she felt embarrassed that she didn't know the answer.

"Mrs McDonald?

Mary straightened her back before answering. "It is used to transform a target into a rabbit."

"Correct again. It is important to note that it works best on smaller targets," the professor said as she got up from her chair. "That is why today we will be practicing it on salamanders. Each desk will have a salamander and the two students that manage to complete the transformation correctly will earn five house points each."

"Great," Peter muttered. "We both suck at Transfiguration."

For some reason that made Percy chuckle. It was true that she wasn't the best student, showing excellence only at Defense Against the Dark Arts and occasionally, Charms as well. She was also decent in one of the elective courses she chose, Study of Ancient Runes, but it was too early to tell. She wasn't that bad either, never getting anything below Acceptable in her exams.

It took Percy and Peter a while to finally get the spell right and by then, Rosier and Mulciber had already won the house points. More than half of the desks had completed it as well. While McGonagall was helping the rest of the students, most of them started chatting with each other.

"How was your weekend?" Peter asked her, while trying to keep the rabbit still.

"Fine, I suppose. I signed up for Flitwick's Duelling Club," she continued the conversation. She was still a bit anxious about that decision – first of all, she was pretty sure that she wouldn't be accepted and also, the first meeting was next week, which meant she had enough time to regret signing up.

Peter seemed to barely register what she was saying. "Well, that's cool, you'll do great. So listen, I might have a favour to ask."

She was immediately alert. "What favour?"

"Oh, it's nothing bad!" he seemed to notice how she stiffened right away. "Remember the last lesson about the Animagi? Well, it seemed fascinating and I was wondering whether you... could ask McGonagall about the process for me?"

"And why can't you do that yourself?"

Peter avoided her gaze. "Uh, it's kind of embarrassing." She raised her eyebrow at him and he sighed, realising she wouldn't agree to do anything unless he answered. "I'm a bit scared of McGonagall..."

Percy smiled knowingly. It seemed in-character for Peter to be scared of a professor, so she didn't question him any further. What she didn't know was that this insignificant favour that the boy asked of her would later change the entire course of her life. "Fine, but you owe me," she finally agreed.

"You're the best, thank you!"

After class was dismissed, Percy told Lily and Severus that she'd meet with them later and stayed back while the rest of the students were leaving the classroom. Her anxiety usually caused her to be very reserved when it came to professors and their classes – she barely raised her hand, even if she knew the answer and never made any questions, usually making Lily do it for her. But strangely enough, she felt quite comfortable around McGonagall. The old woman reminded her a lot of her grandmother.

"Mrs Tonks, is there anything I can help you with?" she gently asked the brunette, who approached her desk.

"Yes actually. Ever since the last lesson, I was wondering about the process of becoming an Animagus and since you are one, I thought I could ask you."

McGonagall eyed her a little suspiciously at first. It seemed like not many of her students showed an interest on learning more about Animagi. "Should I remind you that becoming an unregistered Animagus is illegal and will result in a sentence in Azkaban?"

"I am aware, ma'am. I am simply curious, that's all," Percy replied, though she started to feel a bit nervous.

McGonagall seemed to relax now. "Of course. It's just my responsibility to mention that before saying any further information. Have a seat, Tonks." Percy pulled a chair and sat opposite to her Transfiguration professor. "Let's preface this by saying that becoming an Animagus is an incredibly difficult process. It takes skill, practise and most importantly, patience. Many wizards and witches that tried it ended up permanently mutated, turned half animal half human. Part of the process by which one becomes an Animagus is by holding the leaf of a Mandrake in their mouth for an entire month, using the leaf for the creation of a potion, reciting an incantation on a daily basis and drinking the potion during a lightning storm. An Animagus can also consciously choose if they want to transfigure their jewellery and clothing with them."

"That sounds like a lot," Percy commented, bringing a smile to the older woman's face.

"There is a reason why there were never many Animagi wizards. Tell me, have you never wondered how some myths from Greek or Egyptian mythology were created? The Gods transforming into animals or turning humans into animals. It can all be easily explained once someone is aware of magic and its effects." McGonagall looked at the clock on the wall. "Unfortunately, I'll have to cut our conversation short since I have a staff meeting to attend. I hope I was helpful."

"Yes, very. Thank you, professor."

As Percy left the classroom and made her way to the library, she tried to remember every one of the steps the woman had told her so she could tell Peter about it. She would be lying if she said that she wasn't incredibly fascinated about the subject, more now than ever and she wanted to know more. McGonagall did explain the steps, but not in no detail, which was to be expected since she was probably worried Percy wanted to actually become an Animagus. Yet she wanted to know more.

In the library she found Lily and Severus almost immediately. There were barely any other students there at the moment, though she noticed some older Hufflepuffs searching for some books. It reminded her of her brother and she made a mental note to write to him in the evening, since more than a week passed from the last time she heard from him or her mother.

She greeted her friends, not sitting since she was still looking around to see if Peter was around. "What were you talking about with McGonagall?" Lily asked her.

"Oh, nothing. Just asked for some notes," Percy lied, not wanting to tell them about the favour Peter asked of her. Severus would probably start a whole lecture on why she shouldn't be hanging around the Marauders and that they were trouble, as if she didn't already know that. "What are you studying?"

"Sev's helping me with the Confusing Concoction," the Gryffindor said before turning to the boy once again. "Are you sure it's daisy roots and not lovage?"

"For the last time, Lily, yes."

"It is lovage actually," Percy corrected him. "Scurvy grass, Lovage, Sneezewort. S.L.S."

Severus scoffed. "I was literally looking at the recipe some hours ago. It's daisy roots."

"Merlin's sake, Sev. It's lovage, look it up." Percy sighed as she grabbed the closed Potions textbook from Lily's bag and opened it up to the page she remembered from their last lesson. She wasn't sure why or how she remembered it, she usually didn't pay much attention during Potions class. "See?"

"Whatever," said the boy defensively and rolled his eyes at her. Everyone knew how much of a smart-ass he was, to the point of having the audacity to believe he was always right, especially in Potions, which was his favourite class. As his friends, Lily and Percy could understand why he was acting like that, but it didn't make him any less insufferable when he wouldn't admit when he made a simple mistake.

Percy decided to ignore the urge to smack him in the head for doubting her when she heard some loud whispers coming from behind the thick bookcase and immediately recognized Potter's familiar voice. "Uh, I'll be back." Before anyone could say anything, she followed the Marauders' failed attempt at being quiet while in the library and found their table. All four of them were there, but only Remus had a book opened in front of him. Typical.

Potter was the one who noticed her first. "Why is the She Devil approaching us?" he said loud enough to be heard to Black, who snickered.

She completely ignored his comment, not in the mood to fight with anyone and especially inside the library. She turned to Peter, who was moving his eyes back and forth between his friends and her. He seemed stressed for some weird reason, as if he wished the earth would swallow him whole.

"Shut up. I'm here for Peter," she said and Black started chuckling, causing an avalanche of shhhs. 

His hand went through his hair to mess it up even more. "Seems like you've gotten yourself a little girlfriend, Pete!"

"Don't you ever shut your bloody mouth? I'm just here to talk to him about the Animagi." The moment her words left her mouth, Peter got as pale as a ghost. The last word seemed to be a trigger, because instantly all four boys looked at each other horrified.

"What did you say?" Remus asked and although he pretended to be calm, there was no doubt that he was just as freaked out as the rest of them.

"Animagi. Plural of Animagus?" Percy sighed as silence fell between the five of them and she found herself thinking of all the better things she could do rather than have this strange conversation.

Potter stood up and got close to her, like he wanted to make sure anything she said wouldn't be heard by any other students in the library. "What do you know?"

She wasn't a big fan of James Potter invading her privacy so she took a step back before repeating the same things McGonagall told her previously. No one interrupted her, they were all listening to her like she was just telling them she killed someone. "I only asked McGonagall because Peter asked me to," she said in the end. She liked the boy, but wasn't planning on taking the blame for whatever problem seemed to be there.

"What the hell is your problem, Pete?" Black yelled, once again disrupting the entirety of the library as he smacked his hand on the table.

Remus sighed and for a moment it seemed like he would take Peter's side but he didn't. "I already told you to leave that idea alone-"

"No, you don't understand," the boy tried to defend himself. "If any of us went up to McGonagall and asked her, she'd get suspicious."

"That's... actually kind of smart," Potter broke the awkward silence and finally stepped away from Percy, who was more confused than ever.

"But you told me that you were scared of her," she said, to which Peter nodded.

"Well, two things can be true at the same time," he smiled awkwardly.

Under any other circumstance, Percy would have left the conversation long ago. She weighed her options, but ultimately her curiosity won. Besides, she had basically just spewed information about a dangerous process to the stupidest and most reckless people in the entire Hogwarts — whatever happened next could be her fault. "Why do you want to know about the Animagus process?" she asked with a demanding tone that made it obvious that she wouldn't rest until they explained to her what was happening.

"Mind your own bloody business, Tonks," was Black's response, which was to be expected of course. Peter seemed like he regretted his entire existence and he had grabbed Remus' book, pretending to be interested in what was written in the pages. It was between Potter and Lupin, who appeared to try to communicate telepathetically.

"I'll tell her," said Remus, which caused the other three to freeze. Black and Potter were signaling him to stop, but he ignored them. "Look, we're just planning a prank. We wanted to act very interested in learning more about Animagi wizards and then bring a bunch of animals from the forest in the school, to seem like it was us. Peter just got the plan confused. That's all."

The Marauders were known for their pranks. During their first year, they had managed to magically dye every Slytherin's hair, including Percy's, in the brightest colours possible during the night (she woke up having magenta coloured hair, but it was nothing compared to Severus' barf green hair. She'd later admit it was kind of funny, although it still annoyed her that the four Gryffindor boys had gotten away with it) and that was only the start. During last year, they had enchanted the beds to move like cars and caused a whole night of chaos, where you'd find students racing each other in the halls (it was clearly stated that "no students should be out of bed at night", they said, and for the entire night no one had left their beds, so practically they hadn't broken any rules — thankfully, they still got detention). 

So when Remus said that it was all part of a big prank, Percy wasn't really surprised. Still, something felt off about the whole thing and she couldn't understand exactly what it was. She believed them, but not entirely. The looks that they were giving to each other were too weird.

Percy shrugged. "Look, I don't care, " she said after a while. "You might as well sky-dive from the Astronomy Tower, as long as you keep me out of it. I talked to McGonagall, so she might think-"

"For Merlin's sake, we're not going to blame you!" Potter exclaimed, as if he was offended that Percy was questioning his honour.

"You're too much of a goody two shoes anyway, no one would ever believe you'd do something like that in the first place," Black added.

"Great then!"

"Fine!"

She wanted to have the last word. "Fine!" she whispered aggresively as she saw Madam Pince make her way to the Marauders' table, most likely to reprimand them for being so annoyingly loud. They were still in a library; she had almost forgotten it while in the heat of the moment.

These four could do anything they wanted and it was none of Percy's concern. It was not. her. problem! She didn't know that soon enough, it would be.