"I swear if you blokes don't get your arses down here in the next thirty seconds, I'm ditching the whole lot of you."

James Potter laughed to himself as he and Sirius Black jumped down the staircase that connected their dormitory to the common room below. He dropped his bag to the floor lookeding around at the empty room and saw only the fire flicker its dying light. The rest of the Gryffindor House had long ago gone to bed and only the three 7th years found the need to be up at this hour. And what an important need they had! "Wormtail! You'd better hurry. Moony's making empty threats he has no intention of ever keeping!"

Remus groaned and rolled his eyes as he looked up the staircase again for his third friend.

"Aw, don't blame Mooney, mate. It is his time of the month," Sirius said with a chuckle.

"What have I told you about calling it that?!" Remus hissed at them in a low yet spiteful voice. He now had his shifting and uneasy attention back on the two boys nonchalantly leaned against the wall trying to look cool despite the fact that no one was around. The werewolf's finger was dangerously close to Sirius' face.

"If memory recalls, you said not to mention it in public and the last time I checked—wait hold on…" Sirius took another good look at the room. "…Ah, yes. No one's here."

Remus let out a frustrated groan and walked back to the staircase, "Wormtail!"

"Coming…oomph."

As Peter came down the staircase, his foot slipped from under him and he caught the railing as his friends laughed. Peter turned a light shade of red before grabbing his bag and following his still somehow laughing friends out the portal. "You know," James said as they slipped out the Gryffindor common room. "After all these years, it's still funny to watch Wormtail fall down things."

"…Like the common room stairs—"

"—or the dungeon stairs—"

"—or the moving stairs—"

"—Mate, why haven't we learned to keep you away from stairs?"

"Oh, shut up."

"Um, yeah, not to interrupt your fun guys but I have 15 minutes before—"

"Oh keep your non-wolf skin on, Mooney. We're coming," James sighed as they ran after the anxious werewolf. "Besides, we wouldn't want to miss out on tonight's adventure. Tonight is a very special night."

"Lily finally let you hold her hand?" Sirius said as he jumped on the banister. The staircases continued to move around and he caught himself before he fell down the gap that lay before him.

"Well…yes…but that's not what I meant," James continued as the staircase returned and they made their way to the Great Hall. "Tonight, we have one area in the Forbidden Forest left to cover and then…we're done the map."

Even Remus turned around to make sure he heard this news correctly. "Are you sure, Prongs?"

"Yes, after 2 years of hard work of watching Mooney doing most of the hard work, after tonight we shall be finished with the Marauder's Map."
Sirius jumped up and threw his arm around James' shoulder. "Well, mates this calls for a celebration. Everything's going to change after tonight, boys. This is a night to remember!"

At that very moment, the dungeon door opened nearby and no other then Severus Snape emerged.

"And now I want to forget it…"

Snape looked from each Marauder and the disgust in his eye grew as he did. "What are—" Then it hit him and a sinister smile began to form. "Better hurry, Lupin. As much as I would like to see Potter and all join you on your monthly excursions, I know that beastly moon must be calling you."

James and Sirius both took a step forward, their wand hands at the ready, but Remus took hold of each of their shoulders and pulled them back. "Not now. Goodnight, Severus."

Snape let his glare set into their minds for a few more minutes before reopening the dungeon door and saying, "Don't try to be sweet with me you filthy animal."

It took the combined strength of Remus and Peter to tackle their friends to the ground just to stop them from drawing their wands before the Slytherin disappeared behind the door.

"Think happy thoughts!" Peter tried to say. "Think about tonight and the map!"

"Mates, unless you want me to transform right here and now and attack everyone in sight…"
Sirius got himself out of Peter's weak grip and looked towards the dungeon door. "Well, now that you mention it…" All four boys froze and a sudden and uneasy silence seemed to fill the room as Sirius Black realized what he had just said.

"Too soon?"

"Way too soon, Padfoot."

"He he…sorry."

Remus sighed and let go of his grip on James. "Come on, I only got a few minutes."

The night air was warmer then usually, which was only an indicator that the spring at Hogwarts would soon come find its beginning. The three boys made their way undetected out of the castle via the Invisibility Cloak while Remus lead the way, uncovered, towards the Whopping Willow. Madam Pomfrey stopped escorting him on his trips two years ago when he miraculously came out almost completely unharmed from his night experience.

If only she knew.

Remus watched as a small rat scurried by him on the ground and climbed its way up the tree to press the hidden knot. He turned around to see his two remaining friends suddenly reveal themselves beneath the cloak. "Okay, just remember—"

"—to wait 5 minutes after the moon fully rises to come in so you can fully transform or whatever," Sirius said routinely.

"And—"

"Do not under any circumstances stay when the moon goes down to watch you change back," James finished.

"I think he has issues with us seeing him in the nude, Prongs."

"Ooh, someone's a little too self-conscience."

Remus just rolled his eyes and started towards the tree saying, "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

They watched him climb into the tree and disappear beneath the roots. Both boys sighed as Peter transformed back in front of him. "It's a shame he doesn't remember much. We always have such a blast"

"Yeah, let's go."

"Has it been 5 minutes?" Peter squeaked as the friends started off. "Good enough," Sirius remarked. "Now let's go."

And with that the three boys disappeared and in their place a dog, a stag, and a rat made their way to the secret entrance that lied beneath the Whopping Willow. After a good two years of experience, they had gotten used to this monthly ritual, but never have they gotten used to the sounds they heard when they first entered the Shrieking Shack. It was no wonder why wizards thought it was haunted. The revolting and blood curling screams they heard always made them pause and try to forget that it came from their best friend. The three Marauders always looked forward to full moons and they knew that Remus did too now that they joined him but nothing could take away from the transformation itself.

The stag looked towards the dog who slowly nodded his head when the noise had died. The animals, like always, slowly approached the room where their friend's spirit had departed and in its place stood the horrific body of the beast. James had to admit that the first time he saw the werewolf, he knew that it couldn't possibly be his gently and nonviolent friend. But unless there was another werewolf at Hogwarts that ate their friend and took his place in the room: that was Remus Lupin.

The monster breathed heavily as it took the life he had not had for a month and examined the room around him. The animals standing there seemed familiar and the blood thirsting desire inside him seemed to die down. The dog instantly barked and began to run around the werewolf, his tail wagging carelessly. The rat soon began to scurry along and the stag lifted his great head up and indicated the door behind them. The night had begun.

The night seemed different to the animals as it did only minutes before when they were humans. It was as though everything around them had changed.

James loved the feeling of freedom he received from being a stag. It was just so different. All his worries about school (which he usually didn't concern him to begin with) and life just seemed to be in a different reality then where he was now. He was going to miss this when school ended in the summer for good.

As Mooney sniffed a nearby tree, James tried not to think about the coming summer and the decisions their teachers were now forcing them to think about. People should see the world they way the Marauders saw it. Life wasn't supposed to be stressful or boring like his father always made it out to be. Life was supposed to be like it was now. Nothing was going to change that.

But as the night grew and it was about time to return to the Shack, James realized that they only had a few more nightly adventures left at Hogwarts. This thought didn't sit well in the stag's head so he returned to thinking about how they were almost done drawing out the map. After tonight, they would be able to make history.

As they made their way back, James noticed that the dog next to him was looking a little somber also. His tail hung limply between its legs and its eyes looked towards to falling moon with its own sense of longing. James returned to his own thought before shaking his giant head with realization. What the hell was he thinking? This wasn't going to be the last time Remus ever transformed. On the contrary, Remus had a lifetime to deal with his curse. And the Marauders would be there for every full moon he had because that's what they vowed to do. What a little girl he was being!

The moon was almost completely from the sky when the Marauders escorted the werewolf back into the shack. They made their way to the "transforming room" as they called it and each went off to relax until the moon was gone. James was once again lost in his thoughts of how womanly he was being when it happened.

He wasn't quite sure how. One minute, the small familiar rat was on his left twitching in an almost normal sense and the next second, Peter Pettigrew appeared on all fours.

"Sh—"

But he didn't even have the second to complete his thought before the scream came. The werewolf smelled the blood before it questioned where it came from. It turned on instinct and attacked before it even knew what it was attacking. Peter sat there frozen in painful fear of the beast that came. For the briefest second, all their work and practice was lost.

James snapped himself out first. He lowered his heavy head and put himself in front of the petrified boy with the smallest second the spare. The werewolf collided with the head of antlers and rolled back to the floor with a wounded cry. The action brought the other two back to life and before they knew it, the dog and the stag were running from the shack, a terrified rat hung by its tail in the stag's mouth. They didn't stop running until the tunnel ended and they found themselves back in the cool night air and out of the same room and hallway where they left the beast.

The two animals fell to the ground, the small rat rolling around the floor, as three boys took their places. They each took a second to get air and calm themselves down.

"Peter, what the bloody hell?" Sirius got up and stumbled over to where the small boy laid, spread eagle on the ground crying.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I-I didn't m-mean to," Peter whimpered between sobs.

"Two years we've been doing this Pete. And you still manage to screw up," James said as he got himself up. "Ugh," he said with a gag. "I got Wormtail in my mouth."

Sirius paced around as the sun began to rise behind him. The boys had brought a change of clothes like they usually did for Remus or in case they ripped anything. They grabbed their bags from behind the still frozen Willow and put an extra layer on to make up for their lack of fur.

"You're just lucky Prongs saved your arse before you were werewolf meat. Come on, let's go get Mooney." James bent forward and helped the shaking Peter up to his feet. He was about to say something when James said, "Just drop it, Wormtail. Everything's fine."

The boys walked their way back down the tunnel through the same area where they had only moments before ran for their lives. But about halfway through, James had the most bizarre feeling that something was not right. He looked towards Sirius who shared his expression.

The two looked towards each other for only second. Then almost exactly on cue, they bolted towards the room where they left their wolf friend.

The room was its normal emptiness and Remus Lupin lay unconscious on the floor as he usually did after putting his body through such transformations. "Moony?"

The boy didn't stir. It wasn't too weird, James guessed. Remus was just usually up by now or made some indication that he was back among the living. James took a step closer to him but Sirius did what he wanted to do. He walked right up the sleeping werewolf and shook him hard in the shoulder.

"Merlin."

Sirius brought his hand back into James' view. On it was a thick cover of sticky, red, blood.

"James!"

James was there in an instant. He rolled Remus over to his back and saw a hole pierced in his side that was slowly but powerfully leaking.

"Crap," James spat out. "My antler. I must have hit him. Come on Remus, wake up."

Sirius took one of his arms and slowly began to lift him up. "Come on, we need to get him to Madam Pomfrey. Peter, give us a hand."

James ripped off his extra jacket and shoved it hard against Remus' waist, causing him to moan in pain. Well, that was something at least. Where there was life there was hope, right?