The Twin Marauders

11)Death's-head Bird Crystal Thingy

-Arabella's POV-

"Animagi?" I jumped after Annie told us her plan.

"Shhhh!" Madam Pince shushed us for the third time in five minutes.

"Obviously." Annie said.

James looked over the potion ingredients. "This looks complicated." He grimaced.

"It's supposed to be difficult. Slughorn told me that usually the Ministry watches over those making the Animagus potion." Annie filled my brain with useless facts I don't need to use.

"And we're not going to be watched by the Ministry, correct?" Sirius spoke up.

"Yep, we're doing it on our own." Annie put her hands on her hips.

"Sweet!" Sirius hooted.

"Shhhh!"

"Sorry, Madam Pince!"

"Isn't it illegal?" Remus asked. He was joining our hunt. He wanted help as much as we wanted to help.

"Yes." Annie hesitated. "But we'll do it anyway, right?" We all stared at Annie. She never wanted to break school rules, so definitely not the law. But she was here, suggesting it instead of opposing to it.

"Yeah." We all mumbled.

"Good. Now, we need Death's-head Hawk Moth chrysalis. Does anyone happen to have that?" She looked around at blank faces. "Obviously not.

"Well, now we'll have to look through Slughorn's supplies."

"Are you jesting?" Sirius actually fell off his chair.

"No."

"First, you want us to be arrested or in trouble with the law and now you want us to be expelled?" I smacked my forehead.

"No, we'll just make sure we aren't caught." Annie was going mad. She was going mad.

"Who are you and what have you done with Annie?" James chuckled. "I'm in."

"Me too." Sirius spoke.

"I guess I'm in." Peter muttered.

"I don't really have a choice, do I?" I grumbled.

"I guess not." Peter commented.

"Great! Let's sneak in tomorrow!" Annie suggested. Well, more like sweetly commanded.

"Tomorrow?" Remus looked suspicious.

"Okay, who's going to do the stealing?" She ignored Remus for the first time in her life.

"I will." James volunteered immediately.

"I'll do the distracting. I already have a plan. But we're going to need someone else to go in with James."

There was a silence. "Fine, I'll do it." I spoke up.

"Great! If the distractions go wrong, Peter, Sirius, and Remus will have to take over."

"What is your distraction?" Remus asked.

Annie smiled. "You'll see."

The next day, in Potions, I sat at one of tables closer to the supplies room and James sat with me. Annie and the rest of the lot, along with Lily, sat in the opposite corner.

Annie had given me a list of the ingredients so we could get as many as we could. Death's-head Hawk Moth chrysalis, Mandrake Leaf, Dew. Annie said that our first priority was to get the Death's-head Hawk Moth chrysalis.

Class started and Slughorn explained that we were going to brew the Swelling Solution. I peered back at Annie, who was smiling. I rolled my eyes. Obviously Annie knew the potion we were brewing up today.

Slughorn told us to get started. Ten minutes into class, I give James a confused look. When was Annie going to cause her surprise distraction?

Suddenly, a loud banging noise came quickly to my ears. I turned back to see Annie's caulderon on the floor. I stopped and started staring at her swelling hand.

James took my arm and led me into the supplies room. Luckily, we went in undetected. I started scanning the shelves for Death's-head Hawk Moth chrysalis.

I saw plenty of weird potion ingredients along those shelves. There was some troll ears, fairy hearts, acromantula livers, and more. I threw up a little in my mouth. Then I saw it.

"James, I found the Death's-head bird crystal thingy!" I whispered loudly and grabbing it. We headed for the door before seeing it swing open. I swiftly hid the chrysalis behind my back.

"Oh, what are you two doing in here?" We found ourselves face to face with Professor Slughorn. He didn't look very pleased.

"We were um, hiding from the Swelling Solution. You know, that Annie spilled." I said the first excuse that came to my mind. Slughorn didn't look convinced.

"Hand over the ingredient." He stuck out his hand.

"We don't have anything." James said quickly. When Slughorn's face didn't change, he hung his head down in shame. "Fine, I'll tell you. We were snogging."

I gagged, but luckily, Slughorn was focused on James. He made a face, too.

"Well, don't snog in my supplies room. Get out and detention for both of you." We followed him out and back to our seats. I slipped the chrysalis in my bag. We continued class as normal, except without Annie. Apparently, she spilled Swelling Solution all over herself and was swelling rapidly.

We left for the library after class. When we arrived, Annie was already there.

"I was easily cured." Annie explained. "Did you get the Death's-head Hawk Moth chrysalis?"

"No." Peter literally had no idea what he was talking about.

"Well, we better have because we've got detention for "snogging" in the supplies room." I gave them a peek into my bag.

"Wait, you two were snogging?" Sirius looked hurt. Peter and Remus were snickering, both snickering for different reasons.

"Of course not! It was an excuse!" Remus laughed, putting his hand on Sirius's shoulder.

"Oh, right." Sirius said at the same time Peter said, "It was?"

"Well, now we need to steal a Mandrake Leaf from one of the greenhouses. And one of us needs to sneak out really early to collect a bunch of dew." Annie reminded us.

We all groaned. "Really?" Peter squeaked.

"Yes. I don't know what you lot are groaning about, but when we finish the potion, we're going to keep Remus company while in werewolf form and we'll be able to turn into animals at will."

"Really?"

"Yes, Peter, yes. We will."