House: Gryffindor
Position: HoH
Category: Short
Prompt: Windy
Word Count: 800
Beta: Tigger
"Would you hurry up?" James checked his watch. "The full moon is set to rise in twenty minutes. If we don't get through the Whomping Willow now, we won't make it to the Shrieking Shack on time."
Peter shivered as a strong gust of wind ruffled his thinning hair. "Alright, alright. Let me just transform and I'll go press the knot."
With an awkward flourish of his wand, Peter Pettigrew shrunk and contorted as his skin sprouted tufts of brown fur. Moments later, a rat emerged from the heap of clothing that Peter had formerly occupied.
"You grab his clothes this time, Sirius," James commanded. "I did it last time and it took me two days to get the nasty taste of his dirty trousers out of my mouth."
Every month since they had mastered their Animagus transformations, James, Sirius, and Peter would follow Remus to the Shrieking Shack to keep their fellow Marauder company during his painful, lycanthropic changes. James and Sirius would remain in their human forms until they entered the tree, but Peter would shrink down to a rat so that he could maneuver through the violent branches of the Whomping Willow and press a small knot thereby paralyzing the angry tree. At that point, either Padfoot or Prongs would carry the three Marauders' clothing in their mouths until they reached their destination.
"What's taking Wormtail so long?" grumbled Sirius as he tugged his scarf tighter around his neck. "The tree should be stopped by now."
James and Sirius squatted low to the ground and peered through the swaying branches in search of their friend. It didn't take long before they spotted a small, brown rat being thrashed about by the wind.
"Oh shite!" Sirius cursed.
A particularly strong gust of wind caught Wormtail under the stomach and vaulted him up into the air. High-pitched rat squeals pierced through the air as he was smashed into a high branch. He dug his little claws into the bark as the Whomping Willow tried its hardest to shake the intruder loose.
"Hang in there, Wormtail!" Sirius shouted. "What do we do now?"
James tried to formulate a plan. "We've got to get him down! And let Remus know we'll be late. You send a Patronus ahead to let Remus know what's going on. I'll try to find something that we can throw at the knot to make this ruddy tree stop moving."
He tilted his head up towards his petrified murine friend. Wormtail was whimpering with fear as he scampered along the branches as the Whomping Willow unleashed its fury. He dodged around whipping vines, skirted away from projectile leaves, and came to a screeching halt to avoid being crushed by a bashing branch.
"Would you look at that?" Sirius chuckled. "Wormtail's been holding out on us. Who knew that he was so agile? Think you could train him up to be a new Seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team?"
"That's not funny, Sirius." James's snorts contradicted his statement. "But Quidditch gives me an idea. See that pile of stones?" He pointed to a pile of rocks that Hagrid had recently cleared out of the school pumpkin patch. "If we chuck them at the knot like Quaffles, we should be able to freeze the tree and levitate Wormtail down."
"I bet I can hit the knot before you do," challenged Sirius.
James's face broke into a smile and he nodded. "Game on, Sirius."
Sirius and James began to fire stones at the trunk of the Whomping Willow from a safe distance. The enraged tree stretched its branches towards them, but fell about a meter short. James and Sirius's good natured smack talk was interrupted only by the sounds of the whipping wind and Wormtail's terrified squeals.
Finally, one of Sirius's throws made contact with the knot. The Whomping Willow shuddered to a stop.
"Ha! I beat you!" Sirius began to prance around the immobilized tree in what could only be described as a hybrid of a victory dance and his clothing having been soaked in itching powder.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" James shouted as he pointed his wand up towards the rat. Slowly, Wormtail floated back to Earth as James held him steady in the blustery wind. Once in the safety of James's hand, Wormtail curled up into himself and panted.
Sirius addressed his semi-catatonic friend. "Alright there, mate?"
Wormtail let out a pathetic squeak.
James said, "Let's get on up to the Shrieking Shack. I'm sure Remus won't mind letting you sleep off the stress in his bed. Sirius and I will keep him company tonight."
After climbing into the tunnel beneath the Whomping Willow, James and Sirius transformed into Prongs and Padfoot. Wormtail scrambled up into the soft fur at the scruff of Padfoot's neck and promptly passed out.