Sev grimaced as he felt bones and muscles twist and reshape under his skin, feathers sprouting from his flesh. It wasn't as agonizing as the first time he'd transformed, which had felt as though every bone in his body were breaking at once. Nevertheless, it wasn't a pleasant sensation.
Besides him, James, Sirius, and Peter all shifted and blurred, becoming a stag, dog, and rat, respectively. A wry smile touched Sev's lips as he remembered the day they had all first discovered their forms
"We should make nicknames for ourselves!" James exclaimed. "I'll be Prongs, cause of my antlers."
"You can't be serious." Sev stared at the bespectacled boy.
"Yeah, I'm Sirius." Sirius laughed as the others groaned loudly, having heard this joke far too many times over the years. "But you can call me Padfoot." He said with a wink, referencing the paws of his canine animagus.
"Those are ridiculous nicknames." Sev protested. "Real nicknames are supposed to have an aura of mystique about them."
"What's yours then?" Sirius asked.
"The Half-Blood Prince." Sev said with a touch of pride. He'd come up with that after much thought early in fifth year. His face fell as he noticed that the other four Marauders were looking unimpressed.
"It's a little… long?" Peter said weakly, attempting to be polite.
"Sounds dumb." James yawned.
"Why Prince?" Remus scratched his head.
"I like the 'Half-Blood' part." Sirius grinned.
"Prince is my mother's maiden name." Sev explained. "I don't really get on with my father, and he's a Muggle. Hence the Half-Blood Prince."
"Yeah, family sucks." Sirius shot Sev a sympathetic look. "But we're thinking we should have a common theme with our nicknames. Something that reflects the animals in all of us."
"Should I call myself Fuzzy from now on?" Remus looked askance at Sirius.
"Moony." James said firmly. "And Peter can be…"
"I think Wormtail sounds cool." Peter squeaked. "What about you, Sev? Hookbeak sounds brilliant."
Sev frowned, thinking of his Animagus. While it did have a large beak reminiscent of his nose, he preferred something that wasn't so blatantly obvious.
Moony's howl dragged Sev out of his thoughts and back to the present. The others had already hurried off to join the werewolf, and Sev was running late.
Stretching his massive wings wide, the young eagle lifted off the ground, screeching its displeasure at having been left behind. Soon however he caught up to his companions.
Sev found it rather ironic that he, the worst flier among the Marauders after Pettigrew, was the one who had an avian Animagus form. The others were quite jealous however, and that pleased him to no end. Even his name was meant to rub it in.
Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Darkwing, Padfoot, and Prongs are proud to present the Marauder's Map.