Chapter 1: Bambi

"You don't stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing."

- Michael Pritchard

OCTOBER, 1974

Throughout the years at Hogwarts, Jane had kept to her task. In fact, she spent a generous amount of time doing so, planning out flirting tasks and carrying them out with sheer perfection (most of the time, anyway). All of this while helping Saiph hexing a few Slytherins boys and giving the Slytherin girls a piece of her mind with harsh, deserving words.

Even she didn't know how she handled it all, but she did.

When she told them that their beautiful friendship would commence on the first day of Hogwarts, it did – Rhea, Polly, Saiph and her were the well-known inseparable Hogwarts quartet called "The Marauders", each member of the group valued to even people who weren't all that close to them.

Saiph was reckless, snarky, a joker and Jane's partner in crime, growing into a new Hogwarts beauty day by day and the best part of the school's male population at her feet. With a mastermind for pranks and brains for almost every subject without doing any revision, she snogged numerous of blokes in just one day for fun, not caring when jealous Hufflepuffs would call her slut and such things – well, she did. Every girl had to care at least a little bit of what people thought, and Saiph managed to hide it extremely well. She couldn't hide things from Jane, though, and from time to time had private chats about numerous boys that were extremely attractive at the time (though Saiph talked most on the subject), Liam (the subject Jane specialised), advice, and the terrible family life Saiph had at Grimmauld.

Though, Jane suspected Saiph was holding back on something in every one of these conversations, her suspicions rising – she knew that if she didn't know by the end of the year she'd burst.

On the other side of the wand, there was Polly; a flabby, short girl with large breasts who followed them everywhere, and looked up to them with watery eyes full of respect. But they didn't welcome her into the group because of sympathy – Polly did come out with the occasional wit, was a pretty good listener and a reliable source of gossip. She wasn't all that interested in romantic activities, but she did have a love for food – she basically lived in the kitchens, using the house elves for pillows. A failure of spells, Polly wasn't that much of a use during class, but was fun to work with anyways with the dumb things she would say.

In the middle of it all, was Rhea. She was the brains of the group, always being kind and caring to them like a mother. Before the secret of her being a werewolf was found out by her friends, she was reclusive and withheld, refusing to share any secrets and shutting them out. If it wasn't for the many scars etched onto her skin, she could've looked more exotic than Saiph – not that she was ugly; she was pretty in her own bruised, nerdy way. She read romance novels and often expressed her feelings on such matters by uncontrollably blathering on about the cuteness of it all, only able to hold the interest of Jane for five minutes until she dozed off.

... and then there was Jane.

Jane didn't know how to describe herself – she was no leader, no gorgeous model or a pudgy shy one, no nerd or slut or one to blend in. She wasn't as confident as she made it out to be – she was so utterly embarrassed of her unfashionable, rounded glasses and unmanageable hair that she dared not to mention it to even Saiph – and was more comfortable with the jokey, insensitive part of her than the vulnerable one. Vulnerable was unchartered territory. Out of bounds. Closed.

Perhaps a word for her was ... ah, determinedly loyal Quidditch crazy psychopath who enjoyed impressing a redheaded boy who frankly despised her with every fibre of his being.

She wasn't joking.

Liam Evans was bloody hard to impress.

He liked girls like Rhea – clever, studious, serious and sometimes even greasy; no day went by when Jane wasn't jealous of Snape, of how close the two friends were while Liam kept pushing her away. He liked Selena, perhaps even fancied her and the way she kept studying and that stupid beaky nose...

And even in the things that could impress him, she had to keep a secret. She found out the signs of a werewolf after a short period of time (two years) with no lessons about it, created the a map that could tell you where everyone was, knew more than most fifth year students about hexing and was brewing an Animagus potion

'Jane?'

She blinked away the sleep in her eyes, letting out a quiet groan. Fingers insistently clicked in front of her face, and she nearly let out a scream when she saw Polly and Saiph's face waiting expectantly mere inches away from her nose, breathing quickly at the shock.

'Wake up, sleepyhead!' Saiph sang, grabbing Jane's pillow, her grin looking evil in the moonlight. 'Rise and shine! Today's the day!'

'Day of what?' she whined, flopping over to her side and glancing out the window. Stars. Stars and darkness. 'It's not even day. Now sod off.'

'The potion?' supplied Saiph, as if Jane was from the depths of stupidity. 'You know, the one we've been working on for one bloody year?'

Suddenly, the sleep vanished from her eyes and she shot up quickly, fumbling on her tank top, jeans and jacket. 'Should've said that,' she whispered harshly, slipping on her trainers and glancing Rhea's way; she was sleeping in a strange position, snoring wolfishly, Francesca Longbottom – a freckly girl with shortly cut brown hair that was anything but horrid, and head over heels for sixth year Alan Prewett – peacefully asleep on the bed next to hers. Grabbing the Cloak from the floor, she asked, 'Got the Map?'

'Yeah,' Polly answered, holding up the piece of parchment. 'Got it.'

They still hadn't figured out the introduction part of the Marauder's Map yet – Jane was waiting for inspiration to hit, her being the prime source of ideas. So far they'd only the password, the enchanted footprints and layout of the grounds sorted (except the infuriating part when they couldn't draw the Come and Go room; it wouldn't let them) – they had yet to do the labels of the people and a humorous intro.

Sneakily, they tip-toed out of the room, closing the Fifth Year Girls Dorm's door as quietly as possible and throwing the Cloak over them. There were still some Seventh Years larking around near the fire – two of them dangerously prefects – and they managed to complete the manoeuvre by opening the Gryffindor exit slowly and closing the Fat Man's portrait.

'Ooh!' the Fat Man shrieked rather femininely, looking around wildly. 'Who opened the door?'

'The ghost,' Saiph whispered teasingly, making her companions giggle as they crept down the stairs. The comedy quickly tired, though – Jane mumbling complaints about the castle's layout and how Hogwarts really should fix the corridors so that the left corridor wasn't separate to the right, Polly was moaning that she was hungry and breaking wind once in a while, and Saiph was annoyingly excited.

At long last, they successfully reached the wall on the Come and Go room. Polly checked for any footprints on the Map before Jane yanked the Cloak off, breathing in fresh air once again. 'Agh, Polly, you really should learn to hold those in,' Jane advised, wafting the hair in front of her nose and giving a relieved fwoop.

'Bloody stink bombs, those are! Don't see why we buy dungbombs while we have you,' Saiph sniggered, Polly's cheeks visibly going red even in the dark. The other two laughed openly, echoing across the halls.

'So what are we thinking of now?' Polly asked, trying to get them off the subject.

'A warm room with lighting and the Animagus potion.' Saiph looked at Jane for confirmation, holding the book titled Animagi For Life tight in her hands. 'Right?'

Jane nodded. 'Right.'

They had brewed the potion in the Come and Go Room ever since the idea for illegally becoming Animagi struck them a year ago in fourth year, determinedly sneaking out at night three or four times a week and spending half the night preparing. They had to steal many of Slughorn's supplies, but the old professor didn't seem to notice – and if he did, he would only laugh about it, Jane and Saiph being one of his many unfairly proclaimed favourites.

Thinking hard on the sentence – warm room with lighting and Animagus potion – she followed her companions walking to and fro three times until, with a loud creak, the door appeared, opening welcomingly as its dingy, orange glow lighted the whole corridor.

Smiling, she spotted the Saiph's cauldron that gurgled unattractively in the middle of the empty hall, its atmosphere warm but damp. Not exactly what she was hoping for, yes, but it was what they needed.

Throwing the book to the side, Saiph took out two empty perfume bottles from the pockets of her leather jacket, and generously dunked them in. The vile stench of the potion made Polly shrink away nervously; if poison smelled like anything, it would most definitely smell like that.

'Well?' said the Black, raising an eyebrow at her hesitant friends. 'What are you waiting for?'

'Nothing,' Jane said, walking forward to the opposite side of the cauldron. 'It's just ... it smells like shit and dead animal carcasses.'

'That's what it's supposed to smell like,' she replied, convinced, giving a small roll of her grey eyes. 'Now stop being babies and drink it. Rhea the Rhino is going to be Rhea the Wolf this Christmas. Let's not let her be alone at the, ah, time of festivity, hm?'

Jane scowled at the well-known joke – her friends never let it go. 'Shut up, Black, and give me the damn vile.'

Grinning, she handed her one of two bottles that was filled with potion in her hands, bringing out another from her pocket, filling that one up to the brim with the vile liquid and handing it over to Polly.

'Thanks,' Polly said sarcastically, making Jane crack out a nervous laugh.

Breathing a big breath, Saiph ordered, 'On three. One, two –'

'WAIT WAIT WAIT!' Polly shrieked, the other two stopping themselves from drinking. 'Are you, um, sure this'll work?'

'Can never really be sure, Pol,' Jane confessed, giving a wince. 'But we have to do it. For Rhea.'

'Right. Yeah.' Polly scrunched up her face in determination, ashamedly resembling a pug. 'For Rhea.'

'Are we done dawdling?' Saiph said impatiently. Polly and Jane nodded. 'Okay. One, two –'

All three of them threw their heads back and drank the potion, ignoring the throbbing sting in their throats and the disgusting taste lingering their mouths. They didn't even stop to catch their breath, deciding it'd be over quicker that way, the sound of each glug echoing across the hall.

It was Jane who finished first, breathing heavily. 'Sweet Merlin, that's horrible.'

Polly was a quick second, her chubby face turning green. 'I think I'm going to be sick.'

'Don't be sick!' Saiph said quickly as soon as she was done, her eyes wide with alarm. 'It'd diminish the effects and, if worse comes to worse, you'll die a slow and painful death!'

'Wow, Saiph, look at you, learning new vocabulary,' Jane mused, sitting down on the floor, feeling tired once more.

'Shut up, Jane.'

'Sit down, will you? It feels better when you do.'

Hastily, Polly dropped down, a pleasured, relieved smile spreading out and the green becoming red once more. Saiph walked around the cauldron and gracefully sat herself down next to Jane, who sighed.

'D'you feel any different?' asked Polly, rubbing her belly subconsciously.

'I don't,' Saiph said. 'It tasted horrible, but nothing I'm not used to.'

'I'm not feeling especially animalistic, no,' said Jane. 'What does the book say?'

Saiph shuffled to retrieve the book, fingering through the pages until landing on the one headed After Effects. 'It says that we should start to change into our animals in about thirty minutes without our will. If we did it correct, that is.'

Polly swallowed anxiously. 'So we wait?'

'Yes. We wait.'

Tense silence fell over the trio, too nervous to talk or to converse in anything remotely casual. They didn't want to speak of what will happen, in fear of having permanent toad heads or furry skin for life. Instead of thinking of the ominous risk they brought upon themselves, Jane thought of a redhead that calmed her down even when he wasn't there.

She hoped what she was doing would impress him someday, when she had the opportunity to be close enough to him to tell her deepest secrets. Maybe she could show him the Map, and tell him jokes that he'd actually laugh at, and be in his presence without that Slytherin to make herself look bad.

She didn't really mean to come off nasty; she just didn't mix well with Slytherins – it was just who she was from the start, the die-hard Gryffindor. Her only contact with them was when she hexed or pranked them, or accompanied Saiph to tease them. Gryffindors and Slytherins were destined to be enemies! Why couldn't Evans see that?

It wasn't fair.

Not fair at all.

'Jane!'

She turned her head sharply at Saiph's yell, and only saw her being surrounded by a vibrant blue glow until a ...

Well, until a huge black dog appeared.

'YES!' Jane shouted in victory, jumping up and throwing her hands in the air. Saiph bounced up and barked, parading in a dog-like fashion.

Then they were interrupted by a squeak coming from where Polly sat moments before, and Jane laughed outright as she picked Polly up and stared at her now toothy friend in fascination and wonder. A rat?

A rat?

She hoped she wouldn't be something pathetic, like ... like a tadpole, or something.

Suddenly, she felt a tug in her stomach and a quick flash of pain, a second of her bones elongating and insides growing – she wanted to yelp, but it came out as a weird snorting sound, and when she moved, there was a loud clop

One second...

She looked down and saw tall, gangly legs, with thin ginger-brown fur with freckles of white – not as tall as a horse, but not as small as a dog. She tried to walk, but collapsed immediately, proving the slow trot to be entirely draining. A muzzle – Siaph – nudged her side in effort to help her get back on her feet, and a rat scuttled towards her.

Her smell became more enhanced, and her ears could move more freely, the sounds of the hall becoming louder. She could even hear her own breathing. Her big hazel eyes glancing hyperactively everywhere as she staggered back up, and it took only around another half-an-hour to freely walk around.

Bloody fleas!

Jane turned to spot Siaph, scratching her hind foot along her fur. She let out a breezy snort – her new animal language being just a bunch of snorts, she noticed – and trotted over. You have fleas?

Siaph paused for a moment, hearing her, before continuing. YES! Don't you?

Hahah. No.

If dogs could glare, Siaph's eyes would pop out any second now. With a snarl, she grew back into her tall, aristocratic self, trying to keep a straight face. 'Hey! I haven't realised how much you look like Bambi!'

Knitting her eyebrows – if she had any eyebrows – she focused on being human once more; two arms, two legs, a nose, proper ears, tangled knotted hair... and just like that, she felt her forelegs shrinking into arms and her entire being becoming meatier once again. Well, as meaty as a fifteen-year-old Potter could be.

And then she was Jane once again.

'Bambi?' she repeated, squinting. Polly squeaked near her feet. 'What the hell is Bambi?'

'Muggle movie. I watched it before Mum threw out the TV I got, remember?'

Polly grew beside her, panting, and began to speak when her teeth shrank back to normal. 'Oh, I've watched Bambi. Dad and his crap Muggle obsession.'

Saiph looked at her sharply. 'Bambi's not crap! At least it doesn't have a worm for a tail, that's one thing!'

Polly's cheeks went red.

'It's a piece of art, actually. Probably the only thing Muggles are useful for.' Saiph turned to Jane. 'But yeah, with those big hazel eyes of yours – you're Bambi, my friend! Though, I think Bambi grows into a stag, not a doe... but still. You're Bambi when he was a fawn.'

'You looked rather masculine, Padfoot,' Jane laughed, nudging her shoulder playfully. 'You were so excited.'

'Bloody fleas, though,' Siaph groaned. 'Biting me all over. But it's a great feeling to be a dog, really is. Should transfigure you lot sometime, you know?'

'I had some fleas, too,' Polly offered. 'It's cool being small. I like it.'

'Weird being a doe, though. That's what I was, wasn't it?' Jane said hesitantly. 'A doe?'

Saiph nodded. 'Indeed, dear Fawn*. You were a doe.'


Yeah, Prongs is a no-no because Prongs is all about the horn thingies on a stag. Stags aren't girlies, see.

Do you see how the genders can change a lot of things?!

So, a little search into the names: Rhea is still from that Roman mythology tale about how Rome was created; Saiph - pronounced 'Safe' - is a star and can be turned into pun; Jane-James, JJ. I really didn't do much research in that one and with Polly-Peter, so screw me.

Saiph and Jane are basically really bigheaded and bitchy, because that's how they were in that time. Polly right now is loyal, but a bit of a wimp. An imbecilic wimp that I weirdly like writing.

*: 1/1/14 - I'm not calling Jane BAMBI. I changed it when I realised "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Bambi" didn't exactly flow. So it's Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Fawn, for Saiph's reasons of her looking like a baby deer.

Thanks for the favourites! :3