i really loved him

chapter 20

December – There was a lightning storm over the holidays. To James' parents, this meant a pleasant evening curled up on the sofa with mugs of tea and a roaring fire. To James, it meant pacing up and down in his bedroom, bursting with excitement and talking to his best friend in the two-way mirror that he'd scarcely put down all Christmas.

"THERE'S LIGHTNING!" Sirius yelped.

"I KNOW!" James replied with equal enthusiasm.

"THIS MEANS—"

"I KNOW!"

The final stage of becoming Animagi was in motion. After retrieving the phials from the Astronomy tower back in October, they had added the final ingredients (a teaspoon of dew and the Hawk Moth chrysalis) and hidden the potions in an undisturbed place, as dictated by the recipe. Said undisturbed place was a sealed box at the bottom of a store cupboard in an abandoned classroom on the fifth floor.

All they had to do then was leave them there and, every sunrise and sunset, point the tip of their wands over their hearts and recite an incantation. This would have to continue every day until the next lightning storm occurred.

And here it finally was.

Thursday, 1st January 1976 – For the entire journey on the Hogwarts Express, James, Sirius and Peter were restless. They shifted in their seats and exchanged wide-eyed, knowing glances, desperate to get there and discover whether they'd succeeded. But they couldn't discuss it until Lily came to fetch Remus for the prefects' carriage.

"It won't take long," she said apologetically as he stood up and glumly stashed away his book on giant wars. "We just have to check in with the Head Girl and Boy, then patrol for a bit. Ooo, I like your jumper, by the way."

Remus' face brightened at that.

"Cheers," he said, pleased. "Made it in the holiday."

"You knit?" Lily beamed. "So do I! I'm in the middle of a hat right now, for the next Hogsmeade trip."

"Never tried a hat," said Remus. "Just started on some socks, though. The shape's a pain in the arse."

"Well, Dorcas and I meet every Sunday in our dorm and knit for a while; why don't you come along? I've done a few socks, so I could help if you like."

"Yeah! That—"

James cleared his throat.

"I also like knitting," he said loudly.

They both looked at him, eyebrows raised, with eerily similar expressions of scepticism. Though Remus was clearly trying not to laugh. ...Well, it was worth a try.

"I'll see you lot later," he grinned exasperatedly.

"See you, Moony," they chorused.

As soon as Remus and Lily slid the door shut, the three of them sat up excitedly.

"So you two saw it too?" Peter asked quickly.

"Yup!" James and Sirius said together, nodding frantically.

"We'll wait till after dinner," Sirius suggested. "Moony's got prefect rounds then."

"Do we know how long it will take?" James said uncertainly.

Sirius took the copied recipe out of one of the zippy pockets in his leather jacket. It seemed he carried it everywhere he went nowadays – both the recipe and the jacket.

"Nah, doesn't say anything about that," he said. "Shouldn't be too long though, right? Just have to drink a potion and hope we don't die."

"...Brilliant."