"Well, come on, come on." Professor Sprout ushered Remus down the sloping Hogwarts hill, wet grass stained his shabby shoes green with their blood. Quickly the Professor grabbed a splintered stick and prodded the Womping Willow lovingly. The entire time muttering to herself: "Quickly! Quickly!"
She cast a quick look around, making sure no one was near, before gesturing for him to continue alone. Silently Remus avoided the Willow's still branches and dropped to his hands and knees before the tiny dirt hole.
As if she suddenly remembered something, Professor Sprout made frantic arm motions. "Your going to feed me to a hypogriff?" Remus asked in a whisper, clearly misunderstanding. Professor Sprout sighed and gave him a 'I tried to warn you' look. She dropped the stick and Remus only had a moment to scramble through the hole before the Willow shook itself out.
Remus walked hunched over toward the Shrieking Shack, at the end of the tunnel he pulled himself up through the floor, a splinter wormed its way into the soft skin between his thumb and index finger. The place was horrible, It seemed as if every time he came the shack looked more and more uninhabited. Since he'd been here last, a whole new string of cobwebs strung over the rusty chandler and creaky steps like Christmas tinsel.
Crrreeeekkk. The steps whined odiously at him as he climbed the steps up to the main room. He grabbed the railing to steady himself as a step broke through, leaving a tiny drop of blood on the banister from his splinter, which was undeniably going to get infected.
He paused outside the door, dreading what was to come. Only the memory from that morning of James sitting on his bed taking notes out of a book on Animagus, gave him the courage to push open the rotting door and enter the eerie room. For once, he was entirely surprised, for the room wasn't empty.
X.x.X.x.X.x.X.x.X.x.X.x
James Potter peered out the window and toward the east, at a small abandoned house in the distance. Most of the students in Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry thought the old shack was just an empty haunted house, only James and his two friends knew that it was really a hiding place for when Remus turned into a werewolf during the full moon.
Sirius Black, James's best friend was sitting with his head resting on his hand, peering out the window in the same direction James was looking. Sirius's glossy black hair was hiding his face from view, so the giggleing girls surrounding them in the library wouldn't see his worried expression.
Peter Pettygrew, another of James's friends was shamelessly copying Sirius's homework. His round face showed no worries, though he cast hes friends quick glances everyfew minute to make sure they haddent magically disappeared when he wasn't looking.
Abrutly Sirius stood up and quickly raced off to one of the bookshelves, he grasped a green leather bound book firmly. Yanking off the shelf, he staggered under its weight, and labored to pull it up to their table.
"I've got it!" He cried, throwing open the book violently. He flipped to a page with a large picture of a women halfway transformed into a tiny exotic monkey. "Look, this theory would work! I've thought it out and if we mix the words ANAFINIUS and FULURBIUS-MINY it could work! See, cause they didnt work by themselves, but together..."
X.x.X.x.X.x.X.x.X.x.
A large white wolf was curled up in front of the only window, bathing in the last fading rays of sunlight. It opened one of its large eyes to take him in, and Remus caught and held its large purple iris. As he slowly approached it lifted its head and opened its other eye wearily. Slowly and cautiously he moved toward it, pausing everytime his feet made a loud noise, but the wolf made no move to stop him.
He finally reached it, and settled himself next to it. Carefully, shyly, he reached out and stroked its back. The wolf sighed in pleasure and settled its huge head on its paws, peering out the window. Together they peacefully watched the pale blue sky turn a deep red-orange as the sun sunk slowly past the horizon.
As soon as the last sliver of sunlight disappeared, warm heat waves spread from his back to his front and down to his feet. Steadily the waves grew more and more hot, until his skin felt as if it was on fire. He withered on the ground, letting out screams that didn't even begin to come close to how much agony he was in.
Suddenly his hot skin felt as if it was splitting, peeling, and his smooth tan skin disappeared, to be replaced with long russet hair. Each fiber that grew through his skin felt like a tiny needle stabbing its way out from the inside. His face started to lengthen, his sharp nose deflating in on itself, turning a pale black. His fingers shortened and were covered in tough calloused gray pads. Last, his spine felt like someone had grasped it and was trying to pull it out of his back, bone slid against bone, and a large tail burst from his skin. His screams turned into howls.
He had turned into a large russet werewolf. The human Remus had expected the white wolf to have left, but it was still sitting next to him. He realized that subconsciously he had moved closer to the white wolf when he was transforming, and was now standing awkwardly over it. All this he took in before his wolf side took over completely, and his wolf senses told him much more about the wolf than he had known when he was human. The white wolf was defiantly female, and he felt a strong urge to show her that this was his territory, and he was the dominate one.
Remus growled threateningly and nipped the other wolfs side, quickly the white wolf sat up and glared at him. She flipped her neck around and displayed her neck in a show of ressesivenes.
x.X.x.X.x.X.x.X.x
"You're sure this will work? Really really sure?" Peter asked anxiously.
"Completely sure." Sirius told him without looking up from the book splayed out on his bed. "Shall we all do it together?" at the others nods he began to count down. "Remember its ANAFUBULUS-MINYUSES, got it? Right. One... two... THREE!!" All three pointed their wands at themselves and repeated the incantation.
James burst out laughing. "I think we defiantly need more practice." Peter's nose had grown very long and pointed, and he'd grown a rat tail out of his large bottom. Sirius was covered in black fur, but was still distinctly human shaped. James had grown large knobby antlers and his eyes had took on a round shape. "Alright now how do we turn ourselves back?"
"Oh...um... well, it doesn't exactly say..." Sirius said sheepishly
"Oh, really?" James said calmly.
"Er, yeah." Sirius rubbed the back of his head.
"Sirius?" James was acting scarily calm
"Yes?" Sirius knew this was only the calm before the storm.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU CHECK THAT THERE WAS A COUNTER CURSE BEFORE WE USED IT??"
x.X.x.X.x.X.x.X
Sirius stretched and sat up, first thing he did was pull back one of his curtains to check that Remus had returned. Then leaning down, he pulled his school robes out of the trunk at the end of the bed, and got dressed. Since no one else was up yet he decided that he would go bring back some food from the main hall so Remus could eat in bed and they could all have breakfast together. Slipping out of bed he tip-toed across the floor- and let out a short loud scream as he tripped over something long and furry.
"Sirius?" James asked, and heard no reply. "Sirius!" James gave a panicked cried, shooting up. He jammed his glasses on and lunged out though his curtains.
"Sir'us?" Remus slurred sleepily, leaning out the bottom of his bed. "Wazz da matter?"
But Sirius couldn't unstick his mouth, for it seemed as his heart was trying to hammer itself out through his throat. Even if he could, he wouldn't of spoken, it seemed that a very large violet-eyed wolf's teeth were very close to his neck.
"W-wolf! Don't move Sirius, I'll curse it." James slowly plucked his wand off his bed and raised it.
"Wolf?" Remus looked down at himself, sleepily confused. It took him a second to realize what was going on. "Ack! Wait, James! Don't!!"
"She'll bite him!" James spoke, his wand aimed for the wolfs heart.
"No! Shes my friend, I met her last night, she wont hurt him!" Then as an after thought he added. "Well, at least I don't think she will."
"Careful!" James whispered, as Remus clambered out of bed and slowly walked up to the wolf. When Remus reached her, the wolf sat up and curled her tail around her front paws, looking faintly amused. Remus rubbed her head affectionately and offered his hand to help Sirius up.
"See? Harmless." Sirius pulled himself up, and gazed down at the wolf.
"'Met her last night'?" He waggled his eyebrows at Remus. "What were you doing last night?"
"You know exactly what I was doing last night, and it wasn't that!" But all the same, Remus was blushing
"So," James changed the subject. "Whats her name?"
"Oh, well," Remus thought for a comment "I hadn't really asked, but i don't think wolves have names. But we should probably call her something, like..."
"How about we call her Lily?" Everyone awake in the room who wasn't James flinched, they had finally gotten him to stop playing 'I wonder what Lily Evans is doing? Can we go see oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please?'.
"What about, Giannine?" Sirius asked
"Actually, I was thinking about the name Aria, it means air in Latin. See, cause his fur is the color of the element."
"Right then." James lifted his wand and tapped Aria on both shoulders "I dub ye Aria, the newest Marauder."
Sirius rubbed Aria's forehead and turned to the others "Well, since we're all up, why don't we go to breakfast?"
"What about Peter?" Remus looked over toward the lump who had not yet stirred.
"Lets let him sleep." James suggested.
"I wish you guys had let me sleep." Remus rubbed his tired eyes, and stood a little taller. "Lets go eat then." He walked determinedly out of the room, and paused when he was outside the door. "Are you coming?"
"Remus," the young werewolf could tell Sirius was trying hard to keep from laughing. "Your being followed." Remus looked down, to find purple eyes staring up at him calmly. Remus walked left, Aria loped after him, he turned abruptly and walked the other way, Aria followed.
"We'll have to shut her in with Peter." James and Sirius walked out as Remus walked in, when he was in the center of the room he turned and ran back though the door, while Sirius and James slammed it shut behind him. There was a second of silence from the other side of the door, and the marauders sighed in relief. They were halfway to the common room when the heard a loud scraping, and quickly they hastened back to their door. It sounded as if a very angry hypogriff was on the other side, and was actually succeeding in clawing its way through the wood.
James sighed. "I'm starving, lets just take her with us and go to the kitchens."
"But we cant just walk around with her! We're not allowed this kind of pet!" Remus sighed. "You guys go, I'll just somehow smuggle her out to the forbidden forest."
"Oh no no no, Your comin'-" James started, with a devilish grin.
"-with us, mate." Sirius finished with a grin matching James's.
"Cause we've-"
"-got a plan."