Three Animagi and a Werewolf

Three Animagi and a Werewolf, Chapter 8: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs

Fourth Year

James Potter stood with his mother and Sirius Black on platform 9 ¾ at King's Cross station, London. At fourteen, he had caught up with her in height, though he was still not as tall as Sirius, who had shot up over the past summer.

James and Sirius stood watching the wall that they knew was the other side of the barrier dividing platforms 9 and 10 of the Muggle station.

"I don't believe it," Sirius said, glancing at the platform clock.

"What is it, dear?" James's mother asked.

She had had Sirius to stay with her and James for most of the holidays since they boys' first year at Hogwarts, and grown very fond of him.

"It's ten to eleven, and they're still not here!" he explained.

Bridget Potter checked her wrist watch and frowned.

"I'm sure they'll be along any minute now," she said.

"There's Frank ... and Damian!" Sirius exclaimed, waving.

Suddenly James grabbed Sirius's arm.

"There's Moo... Remus!" he cried, checking himself.

It would never do if he called Remus 'Moony' in front of his mother. If she found out Remus was a werewolf, he wasn't so much afraid that she'd forbid him to be friends with Remus - she knew him well enough to realise that would be in vain - but he did fear that she would be more alert in future, and begin to suspect something very secret and very much against the rules in his whispered talks with Sirius in their bedroom at night. Not that she wouldn't be right, of course. Because, undaunted by initial failure and the difficulty of the task they had set themselves, he and Sirius were still determined to become Animagi secretly, and to help Peter along too.

"James! Sirius!" Remus exclaimed, hugging them both.

Behind him followed his mother and father, and they shook hands with Mrs. Potter and the two boys. John Lupin watched them for a moment in silence, then he said,

"You must tell me what you feed these lads, Mrs. Potter. I'd be willing to swear they look more alike each time I see them, you'd almost think they were brothers. And yet my son persistently refuses to look anything like me. Not that I mind."

He laid his arm about his wife's shoulder and laughed. It was true that, three years on from when the boys had first met, Remus still looked as much like his mother as ever, and barely at all like his father.

"He's your son all right, though," Faith Lupin answered. "There's no denying that."

James's mother smiled.

"We are both rather outnumbered during school holidays, aren't we?" she commented.

"Oh yes," Remus's mother sighed, "With these two together and my brother thrown in for good measure, I don't stand an earthly."

James, Sirius and Remus hardly took any notice of the adults and their chit-chat. Even when the talk turned away from casual joking to more serious matters, rumours of division in the Ministry and stricter law enforcement, they were too busy chatting among themselves, and looking out all the time for their other friends.

A girl with long red hair and green eyes came through the wall, followed by a tall woman with a long, thin neck, a kindly-looking man wheeling a trolley that bore her trunk, cauldron and owl-cage, and a sullen girl who looked positively horrified at the sight of all these chattering Hogwarts students and their families. When a boy near her suddenly yelled out 'stop!' and bent down to pick a large, warty toad up off the ground before her, she seemed to go thirty shades of green.

The red-haired girl looked over towards James, Sirius and Remus and waved. The three of them waved back.

"Lily! Lily!"

A gang of girls came running up immediately, gossiping in loud voices and giggling, folding her in a many-armed embrace and dragging her off towards the back of the train.

"There's Peter!" Sirius suddenly called.

"Huh?"

James, recalled as if from some dream, turned and saw their friend Peter Pettigrew coming towards them. With him was a girl with straw-coloured hair tied back in a bun and a turned up nose, and James guessed at once from her solemn glare and the unhappy look on his friend's face that this must be Paula Pettigrew. He hadn't met her before, since it was usually Philippa who picked her brother up and dropped him off, but she certainly looked a miserable soul.

"Well," said Paula, having been introduced to James's mother and the Lupins and, feeling that her duty was done, turning to Peter with a look of the utmost dislike on her face, "since your friends are already here, I may as well be going. Goodbye."

"Bye."

Peter watched her leave. He looked thoroughly relieved. John Lupin, frowning after the girl, whom he too had found most unpleasant, clapped Peter on the shoulder and said kindly,

"Come on. Let's get your trunk on the train, shall we?"

"Err ... Thanks, Mr. Lupin," Peter stammered, and followed him dazedly to the carriage.

Faith smiled across at Remus, who caught her eye. It was just like his father to forget all about his own son's heavy luggage in the face of such unkindness shown to another boy. It didn't matter. They both knew he would be back for Remus's trunk in a moment.

At last, John Lupin and the boys had stowed all their luggage on the Hogwarts Express and it was time to say goodbye. James and Remus stood side by side at the window, waving. Both felt a slight pang at leaving, and even Sirius felt sorry that he wouldn't be seeing James's mother at least until Christmas. Mrs. Potter was always very kind to him, and the nearest he could remember to a mother, unless you counted Miss Dolesham at the orphanage, who he knew wasn't as strict and heartless as she liked to pretend.

They changed into their school robes when it grew dark outside, and at last the train slowed down as it drew into Hogsmeade station.

"Firs' years over 'ere!" a familiar voice bellowed.

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter turned. A huge hand waved at them across the heads of the crowd.

"Hello, you lot!" Hagrid called while they waved back. "All set for more mischief-making this year, are ye?"

"You bet!" Sirius shouted back.

Then they went along with the other students and clambered into a carriage, and soon were trundling along, past the winged boars at the gates and up to the castle, eager for another term of magic and mystery - and mischief, as Hagrid had so aptly guessed.

Transformations

Sirius, as usual, reached the Gryffindor table first and swung himself onto an empty seat. Peter and Frank sat either side of him, Remus opposite, on the end of the table, and James climbed in beside him. Happily they looked around the Great Hall at all the familiar faces of their fellow students and the teachers up at their table. Dumbledore delivered a typical welcome, the Sorting Hat was brought forward, and soon they were busy clapping their hands raw while a long line of first years were called forward and sorted.

"Fletcher, Marvin."

"Gryffindor!"

A yellow-haired bow hastened over to their table amid a roaring cheer and everyone moved a bit closer together. James looked round at the new boy, and spotted Lily Evans sitting a little way away on the other side of the table. She flashed a smile at him, then turned her attention back to "Hawk, Hannah", who became a "Hufflepuff!"

A lot of new, excited faces joined all the tables. "Parkinson, Plato" was made a Slytherin, and the Hat continued to sort all the new Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors and Slytherins and Ravenclaws.

"Woodcock, Heather."

Last but one in the line, a shy-looking girl with thick brown curls came forward.

"Ravenclaw!"

"Zacharias, Thelma."

"Slytherin!"

At last all the first years had joined their tables. Dumbledore issued his usual warnings about the Forbidden Forest, Filch's list of forbidden activities and a special warning - added at the end and with a sparkle in his eyes, which seemed to dwell all to obviously on James, Remus, Sirius and Peter - that dungbombs, shrinking cauldrons and vanishing wands should please be kept distant from the classrooms. Then, at long last, the headmaster said,

"Let the feasting commence."

"That was delicious," Sirius said happily, sinking onto his bed in their dormitory, behind the large wooden door that now read 'Fourth Years'.

"Great," Peter agreed, stroking his stomach.

Remus was already lying flat on his back, feeling fuller than he could ever remember having felt, and just about ready to close his eyes and go right off to sleep. But that would be a shame. He hoisted himself up a fraction while James came in, closing the door behind him. Frank Longbottom wouldn't be along till later, he had gone to the library with Damian Diggle.

"So," James said, sitting down on his trunk, "here we all are again. Looking forward to finally achieving what we planned, everyone?"

"You bet!" Sirius promised. "We're going to make it this year."

"I ... I don't know if I can do it," Peter said quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"Y-you and James are so much cleverer than I am, and it's taken you over two and a half years to try and do this. I'll never learn."

"Of course you will," Sirius reassured him. "You know you can do it, if you really want to. And you do want to, don't you?"

Peter looked so uncomfortable at this that Remus sat up and said,

"Look, Peter, if you're not happy with the idea, don't do it. I know you're all doing this as a favour to me, but I don't want you to think you're being forced into it. Honestly, Peter, if you don't want to do it, don't worry."

Peter shot him a grateful glance, but he knew at the same time that, to remain a member of their little group - the Marauders, as they had christened themselves a long time ago - he would have to go through with this.

"I do want to, Remus. Sirius is right. I'll manage, somehow."

"Good," said James. "Then I suggest we sneak out to the Shack tonight and give it a try. I can't wait any longer. Somehow I feel like I know I'll be able to do it tonight."

The Shrieking Shack. It always made Remus shiver to come here, even when there wasn't a full moon and his friends were with him. He looked around uncomfortably at the ruined furniture in the downstairs room. His friends had never mentioned it, or the bloodstains on the floor. He thought they probably knew or guessed well enough what happened here in those long, lonely nights. The windows were boarded up, and only a very little light came in through the odd crack in the wood. James whisked the Invisibility Cloak off them and they went upstairs, to the bedroom, which was relatively untouched - Remus rarely ventured up here when he transformed.

James pulled a thick, leather-bound volume out from under the bed and opened it where he had left the bookmark before the summer holidays. They had acquired this book by owl order about two years ago, and it had helped them a lot in the course of their endeavours to teach themselves one of the most difficult spells in existence.

"Here it is," he said, handing the book, the Invisibility Cloak and his wand to Remus.

"You hold that, Moony, and now watch. Ready, Sirius?"

"Yup."

Sirius laid his wand and the Marauder's Map on the dusty bed and took a deep breath, as though preparing for a dive. Then he and James both muttered something under their breath, and they began to change.

Remus and Peter watched breathlessly. James's head was changing shape. Sirius seemed to be sprouting black fur. Then James suddenly bent forward. His spine was transforming. Meanwhile, Sirius dropped to all fours.

"Oh my ...!" Peter cried.

"They've never got this far before," Remus whispered in awe.

Suddenly a kind of panic seized him. So far it had all been very amusing, planning and scheming, thinking what it would be like if his friends became Animagi. But so far they had only ever been able to change bits of themselves, leaving the rest intact. Seeing them now, so totally transformed, made Remus feel ill and very much afraid. What if they couldn't change back? If they stayed like that forever? It would all be his fault. He stared in mingled wonder and concern while their transformation was completed.

In the middle of the room stood a huge, shaggy black dog and a magnificent stag, its antlers held high. The stag trotted towards him and looked up into his eyes. Remus held out a shaking hand and touched its proud head. The stag lowered its antlers, turned around, and suddenly changed in a twinkling back into James Potter. The dog looked up at him, and a second later Sirius Black stood in its place. Remus stared at them both in amazement.

"Don't look so startled, Moony," Sirius said.

"Y-you did it!" Peter exclaimed.

The others looked at one another and laughed.

"We did it all right," said James. "Now all we have to do is get you to do it, and we're away. Watch this ..."

And he changed once again into the elegant stag, this time hardly moving his lips to say his spell. He made a mock charge at Remus, who laughed, relieved that it had gone so well after all.

"Watch those prongs!" he called.

James materialised once more.

"That's it," he said, "You've got it, Moony. I was thinking we all need a kind of nickname, to put on our map. I shall be Mr. Prongs."

He bowed low.

"Sirius here can be Padfoot. How's that, Sirius?"

"Padfoot?"

Sirius considered it for a moment.

"Okay then. Now Peter, what about you? Come on, try it. We've got to know what to call you in future."

Elated by his friends' success, Peter Pettigrew stepped into the middle of the room, mumbled the words to himself and actually transformed on the spot, to his own amazement as much as to everyone else's. When the grey rat hat changed back, Sirius said,

"Great, now we know what to call you. I hereby name you Wormtail."

And with that he picked up the Marauder's Map and Remus's special quill, and added a few lines above where James had written in their first year at Hogwarts. He stood back and surveyed the result happily. The he showed it to the others.

"Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers

are proud to present

The Marauder's Map."

"I like the wording," James said approvingly. "People, I've got a feeling this year is going to be great fun."