108 A good friend

After dinner, James and Lupin headed down the corridor of corridor seven in their invisibility cloaks. It wasn't curfew yet, but James wanted to get started as soon as possible.

Reading and practicing Transfiguration could be done in the Gryffindor common room, but James preferred to have a quiet room to himself. Besides, he could practice defensive and offensive charms with Lupin.

So this time, he asked for a room with a medium-sized sparring area and another study area with comfortable couches.

Once the wooden door appeared, James cast a charm on it to camouflage the door with the wall. Adding to the darkness of the castle, you had to have great eyesight to notice the door and pass through this sparsely populated hallway.

"What are you studying specifically?" asked Lupin after closing the door.

"Transfiguring a pair of white rabbits into slippers," replied James as he pulled out a medium-sized cage with two live and kicking rabbits from his wallet.

James had come to Hogwarts prepared. He had at his disposal all the animals and critters he would need to practice transfiguration.

Lupin had a puzzled expression on his face. At what point did they go from turning a small mouse into an anglerfish box to two medium-sized rabbits?

For transfiguration, it was a very big leap. He knew James was more advanced, but not by that much. What James was practicing James could be transfiguration for this year's final exam.

'I don't know why I'm surprised...' thought Lupin, shaking his head.

"Lepus Calceus," said James, waving his wand. From it came a white light that hit both rabbits. Within seconds, the rabbits began to change until they were transfigured into a pair of slippers.

"Mm... it's not quite perfect. The slippers are only white and have very simple details. It could use some improvement," James muttered, examining the pair of slippers.

"I wonder what expression McGonagall would wear if she sees these..." said Lupin, walking over and looking at the slippers.

"Why suddenly so enthusiastic about Transfiguration?" asked Lupin curiously. Last year, he knew James was learning on the fly like all students, though his understanding was greater than all.

Different from offensive and defensive spells, he was an expert that was on par or superior to older students.

"I underestimated transfiguration. Looking at transfiguration spells for beginners, I thought it wouldn't be very useful for a duel. What was the point of turning two rabbits into a pair of slippers? It was juicier to learn charms like Expelliarmus, Protego, Incendio, and many other flashy ones. But I didn't see that Advanced Transfiguration could be very useful for a fight, even more so than charms like Protego." replied James.

"More than Protego...?" asked Lupin puzzled. He knew Protego was a defensive charm moving forward.

James went on to tell him about conjuration and the unforgivable curses that even the Protego can't block.

"I understand... but the Unforgivable Curses are illegal. It's forbidden to use them. If you do, you're looking at a sentence in Azkaban," said Lupin.

"I don't think the Death Eaters care much about that," said James.

Lupin's expression turned ugly. He was aware of all the chaos this group called the Death Eaters was creating. His father was a former ministry employee. He was aware of these things and had information from old acquaintances.

Lupin may have eavesdropped on one or another of his father's conversations.

"Are you getting ready to fight them?" asked Lupin, looking wide-eyed at James.

"You could say that I am. They've been popping up for two years now, and the attacks are multiplying instead of going down, and they're much more violent. There are news reports that they are already murdering wizards. You have to be prepared. Anything can happen," replied James, who couldn't tell him that he knew there would be a war and that the Ministry would be on the brink of chaos in a few years.

If he hadn't been prepared for the Death Eater attack at the Quidditch World Cup final, he would have died. The troll would have finished him off. If he had obeyed his parents, Penny and her younger sister would have died.

"You're right..." said Lupin, mulling it over in his head. Now he could understand why James was practicing so hard and spending so much time in the library.

Lupin remembered that last year when James showed them the first news of Death Eater attacks he started practicing and visiting the library more frequently.

'He's not normal...' thought Lupin, looking at James in admiration. 'A normal eleven or twelve-year-old wouldn't think he'd be up against dark wizards who would use unforgivable curses and set about finding ways to counter them.

'Well, I'm not normal either,' thought Lupin with a new determination.

"What are we waiting for? Let's get down to work. We must prepare to face those lunatics," said Lupin enthusiastically.

"Lupin..." said James in surprise.

"Let's get to work!" he added with a smile. It was comforting to have a friend to accompany you on your lonely journey of studying and becoming stronger.

Three hours of study were spent in the room of requirement. James explained transfiguration spells to Lupin. It was good for him, since, by teaching them to someone else, it also improved his understanding.

Then, they practiced offensive charms. While it was good to have a defense against unforgivable curses, if you don't attack your enemy you will never defeat them.

At eleven o'clock that night they left the hall and returned to the Gryffindor common room. Lupin was very enthusiastic and wanted to stay longer, but James explained to him the importance of sleep. Also, that he was dying of sleep, having slept for four hours the day before.

He couldn't have his talk with Lupin about lycanthropy. He always seemed to end up procrastinating and wasted a good opportunity to talk about that topic.

However, since the study and practice environment were so good, he thought that bringing up that topic at that time was not the best thing to do. He'll get another chance. James is clear about that. It seems that from now on with Lupin in addition to exploring or pranking they will study and practice.

The next day while he was having breakfast, Shadow brought him a letter. It was from the Dragon Club telling him that this Saturday they were opening a party for the beginning of the year. Participation was not mandatory, but it seemed a sort of tradition, and all members would attend the party.

James would attend. He didn't care about the party itself, and he didn't have many friends there either. He just wanted to see Gwen.

'It's been over a fortnight since I've seen her...' thought James hoping it was Saturday.

The last time he saw her in person was in Diagon Alley when they went for ice cream. From that day on, he kept in touch with her through letters. They sent letters to each other every day. Their relationship was better than ever, in no letters did they fight, and conversations flowed.

Talking in person was not the same as sending letters to each other. When he arrived at Hogwarts, they only looked at each other from afar, as it wouldn't do for her best friend to see them talking.

'How did she end up befriending that fat girl?' James thought slyly, watching Anastasia Nott and Gwen having breakfast and talking.

He didn't like Anastasia Nott one bit. Least of all her being with Gwen and passing her dirty thoughts to her.

He had a clash with Anastasia last year, and the Nott girl always despised his family, so it didn't weigh on James' conscience to call her fat or worse.

To a person observing Gwen and Anastasia from the outside, they may look very much the same (in ideals, not physically). But James knows better. Gwen is a better person, unlike Anastasia.

Although they both believe in the supremacy of pureblood families and look down on Muggles, Anastasia has an extreme evilness that Gwen does not possess.

For example, Anastasia mocked the death of a Muggle family and would take it as a joke and laugh about it. Gwen would not go to those extremes of evil. James knows that.

Another example. When Gwen was saved by James, the blonde girl began to look favorably and became good friends with him. She left behind the blood traitor insult.

If James had saved Anastasia Nott, he knows the same thing would not have happened. Anastasia's attitude about him would be the same. He's sure the fat girl would say something like: "You did well to save me. Maybe I can tell my grandfather not to consider you a blood traitor. No need to thank me."

'Surely it's her parents' fault. Otherwise, Gwen wouldn't be friends with her,' thought James.

After breakfast, they headed to classroom 1B where he would have his Transfiguration classes for the whole year and which they would share with Ravenclaw.

Upon arriving, James noticed that the classroom was larger than the one they used in the first year. It was surrounded by tall windows, had four rows of three desks, and still had enough room for several cages and bookshelves. There were also two blackboards and a large desk for the professor.

The strange thing was that Professor McGonagall was nowhere to be seen. There was only a tabby cat on the desk looking at all the students with its glowing, big eyes.

"Will we transfigure that cat?" asked a Gryffindor student as he noticed the cat. Everyone had the same doubts. It was too big a leap to go from an anglerfish box to transfiguring a cat.

As all the second-year Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students arrived and sat down in their seats, the cat on the desk jumped up and transformed into Professor McGonagall.

Most of the students watched with wide eyes, some rubbing their eyes to see if they were hallucinating or something.

'An animagus...' thought James with some surprise. He knew about animagus, though he hadn't researched the subject in depth. He knew it was something very complex and had a very difficult process.

"I see that many seem very surprised. Let me explain what an animagus is. I usually teach about animagus in the third year, but this year has a lot of talent," said McGonagall, looking mostly at James and Lily. And a little at a Ravenclaw girl.

An extensive explanation of animagus began and lasted the entire class. In the end, McGonagall showed no mercy and gave them their first assignment of the year. To do a multi-page report on animagus.

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