How I Did It, by James H. Potter

Author's Notes: Again, thanks betas! This is the last installment. There may be a follow up one-shot, so keep your eyes open for it!

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The next two months passed quite uneventfully, with the exception of the full moons. Those were exciting. We stayed in the Shrieking Shack, where Remus was supposed to remain, though often talked about leaving it to go explore. Remus seemed a bit iffy on the subject, and suggested that we maybe wait a bit, since he, as a werewolf, was still getting used to having us there.

Instead of doing fun things, when we weren't animals, we mostly had to study for O.W.L.s in the library or common room. Sirius always opted for the common room because we could talk without being beaten with a feather duster. We agreed and therefore spent a lot of time in the common room. However, the exams were not for over a month, and we were all pretty bright, so I suggested, after we had all finished our homework (or rather, we all did a bit of each others' and charmed the handwriting to look like it belonged to the correct person), that we go out onto the Quidditch pitch. I knew that no one had practice that day, and though it was cloudy, we needed a major homework break.

So we headed to the broom shed to pick up three brooms for my best mates, two of whom didn't have one, or, in Sirius' case, didn't bring one since he wasn't on the team. I had brought mine from the dorm, and as soon as we hit the pitch, I hopped on. Another second later, I saw a flash of red go by and soared after the Quaffle that Sirius had borrowed from the school supply closet.

Remus and Pete got into the air a little more cautiously. Pete kept teetering, like he was going to fall at any second, but didn't say anything about being scared. In fact, it wasn't until I shouted, "Pete, catch!" and tossed the Quaffle at him that he said anything at all.

"No, I can't!" he yelled, gripping his broom and performing a sloth-grip roll that would have been spectacular if he had meant to do it, and the Quaffle smacked an unsuspecting Remus hard on the side of the head. Remus blinked and Peter held to his broom for dear life while Sirius laughed and I raced to catch the Quaffle before it hit the ground.

Still laughing, Sirius flew over to Remus and said, "Alright, mate?"

"Yeah..." Remus looked slightly dazed. "That hurt..."

Sirius laughed again. "Could have been a bludger, Moony. You're lucky!"

"Lucky? Yeah... Can we.. Can we go down now?"

We all touched the ground and Pete and Remus practically fell off their brooms. Remus laid down on the grassy field and said, "I think... I think I'm having a revelation."

Pete, Sirius and I looked at each other.

"About what?" Pete asked, blinking.

"About...school. Yes, school," Remus said firmly. "I'm seeing...a...room..."

"What is this, Divination?" Sirius asked. "You said you hated fortune-telling and shite like that."

"Sh!" Pete said. "Let him go on."

"Yeah. There's some room... I think it's on the seventh floor and it's supposed to be... I don't know... I think you have to walk past it a few times or something... Because the door isn't there unless you do."

"What is the room, Moony?" I asked him, in awe.

"Um. It looks like a living room, with books and...tea."

"Sounds weird."

"Is weird..." Remus shut his eyes. When he opened them again, he said, "That was odd. Is that what it feels like, having a revelation?"

"I guess. God never talks to me," Sirius said, shrugging.

"Let's go find that room you saw!" I suggested.

"We don't even know if it's real," Remus protested.

"We're going anyway!" I decided. "Let's away!"

After returning the brooms and Quaffle, we headed up to the corridor Remus had "seen."

"Nothing here," Pete observed.

"Remus said to walk," Sirius pointed out, striding back and forth past an odd tapestry featuring dancing trolls, saying, "What is it supposed to be? A room for drinking tea? Perhaps studying? That'd be useful, a room to study in that isn't boring - oh my God, it works."

"Open it, Remus," I urged. "You are the one with the Inner Eye."

"Rubbish," Remus muttered, but opened the door all the same. His eyes went wide. So did mine.

"Is this what you saw?" I asked, dumb-stuck. We all filed into a huge room with four couches and numerous bookshelves, covered with all sorts of titles. There was a table in the middle of the couches, circular and rotating, with steaming tea and crumpets, along with a radio and record player, complete with a stack of 45s. There were quills on the couches' end tables, along with fresh rolls of parchment and several colours of ink.

"No, James, not what I saw... Cooler!" Remus said, bounding over to the book shelf. "Listen to these titles: 'Taking Ordinary Wizarding Levels and Passing,' 'A Rough Guide to Standard Test Taking,' 'Helpful Hints to Guide the O.W.L. Student.' Wow! All our textbooks are here too! Holy mother of God! Where'd it come from?"

Sirius was examining the wizard radio. "This is definitely what I call a room for my kind of studying."

Remus paused. "What?" he said, turning to Sirius, who raised his head from the stack of records.

"I said, this is my kind of place to study," he repeated.

"That must be why it's here," Remus said thoughtfully. "Because Sirius was the one walking past, it turned into a room he would consider best for studying and schoolwork. So, theoretically... This room will change to fit our will!"

"Another revelation?" Peter asked, staring.

"I guess," Remus said, shrugging. "Cool, though."

"Cool? Bloody fantastic!" I whooped, jumping onto one of the sofas. Typical Sirius. He always takes up a whole couch, so of course there's one for each of us. "I can get used to this. Let's study here, how 'bout it, eh?"

"Fine by me," Sirius said, tossing himself onto one of the burgundy couches and flicking his wand at the radio. It immediately blared into life, and as the announcer for WWN presented a new band, The Hobgoblins, I grabbed a knife and spread liberal amounts of butter and jam on one of the crumpets sitting on the table next to the teapot. Studying was going to be a whole lot more fun this way, I realised, shoving the crumpet in my mouth.

***

A week before exams, we were sitting in Sirius' dream study room again, which we have christened The Room of Changes, since it indeed does change at our whims.

Remus had brought his own records with him and had them stacked next to him.

"Can I put one of these on?" I asked, lifting one up.

"Do you know how?" Remus asked suspiciously.

"Yes!" I said. "I do, in fact."

I really hoped that I had done it right, but when I set the record spinning, I wasn't sure I had. There was crackling, then...

Music. I breathed out, but Remus said, "What the hell is this?"

I listened. There was definitely a tune, but the words were not lyrical:

"What are you sitting around for?" the belting singer demanded. I looked around at my friends as he went on, "We need your help / we cannot do this without you / so get over here / hurry up and bring forces / we will die without your aid / please come / please..."

Before the musical bridge could end, I turned the music off. We were all quiet. "I was playing it...backwards, I think."

"Try another," Remus said, handing me a second record.

This one, when played backwards, sang out, "There is a secret in every school / there are always secret passages / not many people know about it / but they're real / I won't say where they always are / in case this gets into the hands of some big shot person in charge / but we young people got to stick together..."

"Remus, do all your records talk to you?" Sirius asked.

"Not before this..."

We played all of Remus' records, and got messages in every single one of them. One was calling us to a war, another directing us on how to properly assassinate someone (which was frankly frightening and disturbing), one warning us of an alien attack and even one talking about some 'bat' that made predictions about saviors being born.

"Let's just... Let's just listen to the radio, shall we?" Pete said, flicking it on with his wand.

***

The O.W.L.s went fine. We'll get our reports in the summer, but I am definitely confident. So are Remus and Sirius. Pete says he's certain he failed two subjects, but no matter. We are done with schoolwork for the year! We all got extra credit for Charms; Flitwick gave everyone that wrote down a guess for his height an extra two points on our final Charms grade for the year.

"Cards, anyone?" Sirius asked, shuffling a deck that he pulled from nowhere. On the Hogwarts Express and headed home, we played several games on Exploding Snap, practiced a few charms, and ate quite a bit of chocolate while talking about the year, our summers, and (to my friends' displeasure) Telly Smith. Before we began slowing at the station, I mentioned to Remus, "I'm finishing that book I told you guys about, and I was hoping you'd proofread it, Rem."

"Uh, okay," he agreed.

When we got back to Kings Cross and unloaded our stuff, Sirius seemed quite reluctant to leave, and I didn't blame him. He's going back to his "dreadful old house." I found my dad and mum and got my ribs nearly broken by the latter. She seemed to have missed me. I finished my book in my bedroom at ten fifty-two and sent it to Remus to be proofread. Proofread, not edited.

***

Proofreader's Notes:

James, I did what you asked, but honestly, I'm not sure what the title is supposed to mean. "How I Did It"? What, for instance, is 'It'? Passing O.W.L.s? Not convincing anyone except Professor Drake about the telephone man? Managing to gallivant with a werewolf and live? What? It seems like a...random collection of experiences from this past year. You are...quite the author, I guess. 'Unique' would be a good word, I think.

-Remus J. Lupin