Up To No Good

Chapter Five: 3 February 1972

"I can't see--"

"Pipe down! Pringle will hear us."

Apollyon Pringle, the Hogwarts caretaker, was known for being harsh and often caned students found out of bed at night, but James and Sirius tried to keep him at the back of their minds. It was about two in the morning and they were huddled in the Restricted Section of the library. During the day, access to this section was only permitted with a signature from a teacher, which they both knew full well they wouldn't get--their reputation for being rule-breakers had only grown in the past months.

Sirius was fingering along the different books crammed onto each shelf. Neither of them was exactly sure what book they were looking for.

James held up his lit wand so they could read each spine; many of them had yellowed pages and some with peeling titles. Others were moldy or otherwise unpleasant-looking; at least one looked like it had been splattered with blood.

"Rare Transformations of the Human Kind," Sirius muttered. "Do you think that one's got it?"

"Dunno, just pull it off the shelf," James whispered, whipping around and straining his ears to make sure no one was coming.

Sirius pulled the book off the shelf, which took some effort considering the many books piled around it.

They two boys opened the book, scanning the index.

"Vampires... maledictes... obscurials... there."

James and Sirius bent quite close to the book as Sirius thumbed through the pages. At last, they found what they were looking for.

"'Lycanthropy is the state of being a werewolf,'" Sirius read. "'The afflicted individual appears normal during most hours, until at the full moon he transforms into wolf form. Curiously, transformed werewolves are only hostile to human beings, and have not been reported to attack animals, even those of prey.'"

They both paused, looking at the book in silence.

"You know what this means, don't you?" James began, a bit shakily. "It--"

"That's where Remus has been going," Sirius agreed, examining the illustration on the page of a man transforming into werewolf form. It looked quite eerie, and it was hard to imagine anyone becoming an animal in such a way. James looked away nervously.

"Yeah. I can't imagine where else."

They heard something like footsteps close by. James whispered, "Nox," and his wand-light went out. They were both standing in complete darkness; they huddled behind a bookshelf as what could only be Pringle's telltale, heavy footsteps disappeared past the door.

"We better go," Sirius whispered, shutting the book as the footsteps died away. "This is the last place I want to be caught."

When the sound of the footsteps had faded completely, they edged out of the library's door and made for Gryffindor tower. Praying they wouldn't run into Peeves, they rushed down the moonlit corridor back to the floor where they found the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Look who's out again," she sighed exasperatedly. "Pass-"

"Niffler," James grunted, and the portrait swung open.

Peter was waiting in the common room. For the past months, he had begun hanging out with James, Sirius, and Remus, and gotten to know them. James didn't mind. If anything, he enjoyed that someone looked up to him as much as Peter Pettigrew.

"Did you find it?" Peter whispered to them in the deserted common room.

"Yeah, we did," Sirius grinned.