Crossroads | Marauders

Chapter 15: Mandrake Leaves

— 𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟒

        On the morning before everyone leaves for Hogwarts Express, you and the Marauders gather around the boys dorm room, finally bringing your Animagus plan into motion — after much research in the library and a not-so-subtle brief discussion with Professor McGonagall. 

        Being the best at potions in your group, you give them the lay down of the upcoming process and that it might take their whole fourth year to complete. You strongly tell them it's going to be a long and arduous process especially when you had to brew three potions, and that they had to commit or else it can potentially backfire and cause the transformation to go horribly wrong.

        Thankfully, Peter, James, and Sirius were still determined on becoming Animagi for Remus. The first part of the process was that they needed to gather Mandrake leaves and keep it in their mouths for an entire month. Upon hearing their complaints, you immediately shush them up and continue on. While they'd be stuck with a horrible breath, you instructed them to gather the rest of the needed ingredients so that you may brew the potion when it's time to add their leaves.

        Once the potion is done, the last step is for them to recite an incantation on a daily basis until a lightning storm hits, which luckily for them, occurs a few times a year.

        After you've explained everything, James was the first to speak up, furrowing his eyebrows in thought, "That doesn't seem too long. Why's it going to take us a whole year?"

        You snorted, giving him a look, "Because I already know it's going to take you three idiots longer than a month to have a leaf stuck in your mouths."

—

        After the Summer, finally coming back to start your fourth year together, the five of you gather once again in the boys dorm room. It was easy enough for James and Sirius to sneak into the Greenhouses under the invisibility cloak and steal the needed Mandrake leaves without Professor Sprout noticing anything out of the ordinary.

        With leaves now placed on their open palms, you remind them, "You cannot—cannot let it fall out."

        Peter raises his other hand, "But what if—"

        "No buts! You have to absolutely make sure it stays in."

        Peter gulps, looking apprehensively at the leaf in his hand, almost regretting his very suggestion of becoming Animagus in the first place. James and Sirius gave each other a questionable look then down at their own hands, already imagining the next few torturous months. The three boys reminded themselves they were doing this for their best mate, and that a leaf isn't going to be the one that stops them.

        Remus sat lazily on his four-poster bed, amusingly watching their scrunched up faces, "You guys can still back out, you know? You don't have to—"