Woo, first Harry Potter fanfic! Please review, and tell me what you think. I'll get the next chapter up when I see people are reading it. Enjoy!
Crookshanks: The Fifth Marauder
James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew were sitting in a circle in their dormitory around a pile of parchment. The four friends wanted to create a map of Hogwarts and enchant it, so they would not get caught during their troublemaking. However, not one of them – including Remus – knew how to go about this.
After awhile of James and Peter staring at the parchment while Sirius and Remus oogled at each other, James said, Lil's pretty good at Charms. Let's ask her!"
Sirius broke the intense staring contest between him and Remus and said, "Nah, she would never help us with this kind of stuff. What about her friend, Mary McDonald?"
James shrugged and replied, "Whatever, but you have to ask her."
Sirius rolled his eyes but got up and left the dormitory anyway. He walked down to McDOnald who was talking to Lily and the rest of her friends.
"Hey, McDonald, can I talk to you for a second?"
McDonald and her friends all giggled. "Sure, Sirius," said McDonald. They walked a few feet away when Sirius asked, "James, Peter, Remus, and I were wondering if you could help us with something?"
"Sure, anything I can do to help. What do you need?"
"Follow me.
More giggles could be heard as they walked up the stairs to the boys' dormitory. The two of them joined the circle on the floor.
McDonald looked at the four friends expectantly. She blushed as Peter began to speak.
"We know you're really good at charms –, "she became even redder, "- which is why we wanted to know if you knew how to help us with this." The four of them explained their idea.
McDonald hesitated before saying, "Yeah, I can help. I could enchant the map to show you who's where. I've been practicing a bit with it." She reached into her pocket and pulled out scraps of parchment. On one, there was the shape of the common room drawn with a few dots wandering about.
"I still haven't labeled them, and not everyone is there. It's not even close to perfect yet."
"It's really impressive though," Peter commented, smiling shyly at her. McDonald blushed and mumbled a word of thanks.
James excitedly looked at his three other friends. "Here we go, Marauders. Hogwarts haven't even seen the worst of us yet!"
Sirius looked at McDonald and said, "Isn't she going to join us for helping out?"
James glanced at her uncomfortably and said, "Well that's up to her, isn't it?"
The girl in question smiled widely and exclaimed, "I'd love to!"
From then on out, there was a fifth Marauder. Together, they were known as Prongs (James), Wormtail (Peter), Moony (Remus), Padfoot (Sirius), and Whisk (Mary).
The next few months consisted of Animagus training for Mary, working on the map, and studying.
Mary got the hang of being an Animagus surprisingly quickly. Not even two months later, Prongs Wormtail, Padfoot, and Whisk were joining Moony at the full moon. When Whisk found out what Remus was, she was at first hesitant but accepted it all the same. Her Animagus was a large orange cat with a squished face. She loved it right away despite her friend's hoots of laughter.
A month before exams started, the map was finished. When the time to sign it, Whisk disagreed with all five of them signing; she thought the original Marauders should be the only ones. When she voiced this opinion, the rest of her friends looked at her incredulously.
"What? Why?" asked Sirius.
"I don't know, I just don't feel comfortable with it. Besides, it's good to have a secret weapon."
James shrugged and said, "If you're sure." Whisk nodded and resumed her studying. Wormtail sat down next to her and said, "You don't have to do that."
"I wanted to."
Moony left to go to the library for some quiet, and Prongs and Padfoot went to the kitchens for a late night snack. Wormtail and Whisk found themselves all alone.
"You're really pretty, you know," commented Wormtail shyly, looking down at his hands. Whisk blushed and looked down at her hands too. Simultaneously, they looked back up and leaned in, sharing a first shy kiss.
Fast forward two years…
It was James's and Lily's wedding reception. James and Lily were in the corner lip-locked; Sirius was on his ninth drink while Remus was trying to get him to dance – anything to make him stop murdering his liver. Peter and Mary were sitting at a table, quietly holding hands and observing the chaos. Lily was pregnant with a baby boy; the two young parents were planning to name him Harry. Life seemed to be going well. They even managed to forget the Dark Lord and his reign of terror. However, only of them knew there was a spy amongst them.
One year later…
Peter stumbled in one night looking terrified and ashamed. Mary hurried over to him worried. He pushed her away and took a swing of fire whiskey. He looked at her one more time with a pained expression before Apparating away.
"Peter!" Mary exclaimed. Unfortunately, she's been expecting this for awhile. He's been acting strange and shying away whenever she went to touch him.
"Maybe he went to the Potter's," she thought desperately. She Apparated to a pile of rubble as well as a disheveled Sirius, half-giant Rubeus Hagrid, and baby Harry. She quickly changed into Whish and spied on them in her hiding place behind a half intact couch. She saw Rubeus climb onto Sirius's bike and flew away. Sirius paced back and forth looking quite deranged. Still numb with shock, she jumped and grabbed onto Sirius's pant leg as he Apparated away. Miraculously, he didn't notice her in his current state.
When Whisk opened her eyes, they were in the middle of a town square, and Peter was standing there staring at Sirius with wide shocked eyes. She stealthily ran toward the shade to watch them intently.
Peter's expression changed to anger as he walked toward Sirius looking murderous.
"How could you, Black? How could you betray and second handedly kill Lily and James?"
Sirius's eyes widened with shock, and he reached for his wand. Mary wasn't sure what happened next, but with a bang, Peter was gone, and twelve Muggles dropped to the ground dead. Sirius incredulously looked at the spot Peter previously stood, and he began laughing maniacally.
Mary spotted a rat run toward the sewer and recognized it as Wormtail. She hissed and ran toward the scum. On her way there, she noticed a finger. Her last thought before she fell unconscious was, "How could Peter do this?"