Theoretically Speaking
Professor McGonagall was teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts again the next session. All through the class, Sirius kept nudging James and making eyes at him. When the class was over, James hung back, stuffing his books into his bag as Sirius quickly hurried Remus and Peter out of the room. "Are you coming, Potter?" Lily called from the doorway, hesitating and looking back at James as he procrastinated, adjusting the way his quills were lined up in the pocket for them on his bag.
"Go on, Evans," he said, "I'll catch you lot up."
Lily lingered a moment longer, then took his advice and ducked into the hall.
McGonagall had magicked away the dust from the chalkboard and was putting her own things into the box she had carried into the classroom once more. She squinted over her spectacles at him. "What are you still doing here, Mr. Potter?" she asked crisply.
James and Sirius had talked at length about exactly what to say to McGonagall when the time came for the conversation, so James knew the words. But hesitation was a part of the act he was supposed to give. He tried his very best to look up at her as though he hadn't meant to bother her, as though he weren't even sure he ought to bother her...
"Potter?" McGonagall reached up and removed the reading glasses from her nose, putting them into the box.
"Well - professor, if you don't mind - I actually do have a bit of a question about Transfiguration."
"You do, do you?" McGonagall asked, one eyebrow raised. "Is it to do with your assignment?"
James shook his head, "No... Not exactly." He chewed his lip. "It's just a bit of an interest is all. Sort of a side thing I'm curious about."
She gathered up the box in her arms, "Do you mind talking while we walk back to my office?" she asked, "I'd be happy to speak with you, but I do have another class to teach this afternoon and I'd like to take my tea..." she paused. "Do you take tea, Mr. Potter?"
"I love tea," James said.
"Then perhaps you'll join me." She motioned for the door and James slung his bookbag over his shoulders and followed Professor McGonagall into the corridor and they started walking to the stairwell together. "So what is it that you're curious about?" she asked him.
James took a deep breath, "Well, m'am, I was curious about animagi."
Professor McGonagall looked at him sternly. "Oh?"
"Yes," James said, "Mostly what it's like and how hard it is to become one? I imagine it must be quite challenging."
McGonagall shifted the weight of her box from one arm to the other. "Professor Dumbledore taught me," she replied, "It took several long years, from my Third until my Seventh. Mind you, I did a lot of studying on the theory before actually attempting to do the change," she said, "And I didn't truly apply myself until well into my Sixth Year. I was a bit too --" she paused to find the right word, "-- unruly prior to that."
James thought of the photograph in the Trophy Room passage that Remus had shown them of the young Minerva McGonagall and her mates. Unruly indeed, he thought.
"So, in truth, it took you a year of practice?" James asked.
McGonagall shrugged, "Give or take. For the practical portion, of course, not the theory."
James asked, "How important is the theory of it?"
"As important as any magical theory is," she replied sternly. "It must be learned in order to fully understand the extent and correct use of one's powers. Without the theory behind what it is you can do, you're merely blowing sparks in the wind."
James looked up at her as they climbed aboard the moving staircase and it zipped them about. McGonagall shifted the box's weight again. James held out his arms, "Can I carry that for you, Professor?" he offered.
"Thank you James," she answered, and she handed the box to him.
James clutched the box carefully. "But theoretically speaking, someone could potentially learn the practice of being an animagi without actually studying the theory of it, couldn't they?" he asked.
McGonagall looked down at him. "I suppose, theoretically speaking, someone could do that, yes, though I wouldn't recommend it." Her eyes narrowed. "Are you interested in becoming an animagus, Mr. Potter?"
James shrugged, "I'm just curious is all."
"Because what I would recommend to you, if you are interested in becoming an animagus, would be to study the theory and revisit me on the topic in your fourth year and together we will begin the training you'll require to become a properly registered animagus."
They'd reached the landing as she spoke and James followed alongside her, carrying the heavy box. Although it was nice that she was offering to help him in the quest, James knew that Sirius wouldn't ever allow them all to wait until their fourth year to begin practicing to be animagi. Sirius, James had a feeling, expected them to be out in the Shrieking Shack sooner rather than later.
"You'll need most excellent grades in Transfiguration," she added, "Which until now have been... well, let's just say that your grades have left a little to be desired."
"So it is hard then, becoming an animagus?" James said.
"I suppose it's more about determination," McGonagall replied. "If you want something badly enough, the level of difficulty does not matter, you will succeed at what you are trying to do."
They'd reached her office and she was unlocking it with a key that she wore on a chain around her neck. "Is it like a spell or - or - or what? How do you become an animagus?"
The door unlocked, McGonagall led him into her office and motioned to a table by the door where he could put the box down before moving to her desk, slipping a shawl she'd worn over her shoulders off and putting it over her chair. "It's a long and rather arduous process," she said. "It's something within that must be awoken. These are things you would learn through studying the theory. Most wizards do not find it worth the time it takes as there is very little practical applications for the ability to turn into an animal at will."
"Other than the cool factor?" James grinned.
"Yes, other than the cool factor, there is very little," McGonagall said seriously, though the very corner of her mouth quirked ever so slightly. It sounded funny, such a common phrase coming from the mouth of his head of house. McGonagall waved her wand and a little tea pot and a couple of cups appeared and she waved it again and the lid jumped from a little tray of cookies. "Have a biscuit, Potter," she said, sitting and letting the pot pour their cups of tea of it's own accord.
James took a biscuit, though he didn't really want one, and held it in his hand, studying it a moment while the pot finished pouring and McGonagall took her first sip. He was trying to decide how to ask what he needed next to know. Finally, he looked up at her. "Professor, theoretically speaking, say someone was trying to become an animagus --- Are there ways to mess it up terribly?" To keep himself looking innocent, he took a bite of biscuit.
"Oh yes," McGonagall replied. "Do the thing incorrectly and one could end up with a bit of themselves only half transformed. I read of a witch who once attempted to become an animagus and she had only kept the mandrake leaf in her mouth for twenty-nine days instead of the full thirty-one... simply a miscount, is all, you see... and when she tried to transform, she couldn't quite do the trick and worse, she couldn't undo it, either. She lived the rest of her days with the bill of a Platypus instead of her nose."
James choked on his biscuit at the thought of a girl running about with a giant ugly Platypus bill on her face. "That's unfortunate," he murmured.
"Yes," McGonagall answered, "Which is why it's important not to go about the process of becoming an animagus alone," she emphasized, staring down at him as she dipped a biscuit into her tea.
"Oh I'd never do it alone," James replied honestly.
McGonagall seemed satisfied with this answer.
"So thirty-one days with the leaf of a mandrake in your mouth?" James said, "That's one of the steps, is it?"
"One of the more important ones, too, as the story of Deborah the Duck-Billed has taught us," McGonagall answered.
"Professor, are there books that list the steps?" James asked.
"Of course," she replied, but didn't expand.
"Are they in the library?" James asked.
McGonagall put her biscuit down on the little saucer alongside her cup and studied him long and hard. "In the restricted section, I imagine."
"The restricted section, ah yes," James said. That explained why they hadn't found anything more than the one book that Sirius had gotten already from Madam Pince's shelves. Like Peter had said, they probably didn't want students simply deciding to become animagi and having all that they needed to go about the process on a whim. He decided he could get away with asking one more question before McGonagall would begin to get suspicious. "Professor, you mentioned in class that one must register if one is an animagus."
"Yes," Professor McGonagall replied. She was selecting a second biscuit from the tin, settling for a flower-shaped one with a very thin layer of orange icing on top. "Every animagus must be registered with the Ministry for Magic. They need a photograph of you in and out of your animagus form, with a list of unique markings, date of first transformation, and wand information. The registry belongs to the Aurors office for use in investigation of crimes and so forth."
"And what happens if, say, an animagus was not registered?" James asked.
"The law would be broken," she answered, "And the punishment for breaking the law, as you know, is Azkaban."
James shifted uncomfortably. "Ok, but... how would they ever know?"
McGonagall raised her eyebrow. "Theoretically speaking?"
James nodded, "Theoretically speaking -- of course, Professor."
"Unless you committed a crime, or it was reported by another witch or wizard, or some Ministry official saw the transformation... then, I suppose they wouldn't," McGonagall replied with a shrug. "But that doesn't mean one should do that," she added quickly.
"I was only curious," James answered.
McGonagall nodded, "So long as it is only theoretical."
"Yes, professor, it is," James agreed... but inside, he made the addition - for now.