13. Under a full moon.
When summer came around, Mai felt ready for her animagus transfiguration, but she was worried about James and Sirius going through with it. They had fallen behind on their progress, despite their natural gifts of knowing almost anything. Therefore she invited them to come visit her in Deutschland. She was sure Peter was just as ready as her, so she didn't worry about him. While they were in Deutschland, they could perform underage magic because the age limit was a few years lower than in Great Britain. They both said yes. Sirius would take any opportunity to get out of the Black house, Grimmauldplace 12, and James was just plain bored. They arrived by port key on a small hill just outside Augustines round, purple house. The weather was warm and Mai had dressed in a white summer dress to cool off. James and Sirius had obviously come from a rainy London, as they were dressed in rain coats and were soaked. Mai laughed at the two drenched boys, and helped Sirius with some of his luggage. He had, as always, packed way too much.
Mai showed them the "guest room" she had prepared for them, which consisted of two beds and a small table with a lamp on it. The two of them didn't complain though and settled in as if this was normal to them. Mai knew it wasn't though. They were both from quite rich families.
"Are you hungry? I'm making dinner. Augustine won't be home today, she got called to Luxembourg by the French border I'm afraid." Mai said and smiled a little sadly. Sirius and James exchanged glances before nodding. They followed Mai into the kitchen. She served them some kind of bird and potatoes. The two boys ate hungrily and praised her cooking skills. Mai smiled pleased.
"So, your aunt isn't much at home?" James asked after a while. Mai smiled while cleaning off the table and showing them the living room. Yet again James showed his leader qualities, and she appreciated him even more.
"Yes, she's one of the few elite aurors in Deutschland, so she's one of the first to be called. There are a lot of dark wizards moving here as well." Mai said. James nodded.
"You spend a lot of time on your own then." Sirius concluded. Mai shook her head.
"No, no, it's fine really. I have the company of Gemini and Pavo, and of course Atlas, her cat." Mai laughed, because at that very moment a huge, fat black cat walked into the living room. Atlas looked at the obvious intruders on his territory, hissed a little, before jumping into the sofa between them and fell asleep.
"He's not much company though." Sirius pointed out and they all laughed.
"But seriously though Mai, isn't it lonely out here?" James asked when the laughter died down and they got back to business. Mai smiled.
"I don't mind. It's peaceful. And that's what I was hoping the two of you would get credit off." She smiled. The two marauders nodded.
"Yeah, it hasn't been too much time to practice our transfigurations I guess." James admitted. Mai raised an eyebrow at him.
"You don't say. Well now you've got plenty of time, and you're welcome to stay for as long as you'd like." She said and grinned.
And by Merlin they did. They practiced transfigurations every day for the entire summer, which was fine by Mai. Because Sirius was right, it did get lonely when Augustine never came home. It was easier for her aunt to sleep and eat at the office and just leave directly on missions instead of going home in between work hours. She sent many letters though, whenever she got the time, but a letter couldn't be the same as actually having her there.
When the end of summer closed in on them, letters arrived with owls from Hogwarts. They got their yearly information about the school year, and they both moaned when they read about the O.. At the same time they got a letter from Remus. It said he had been elected Prefect.
"Sounds like our werewolf alright. His hairy little problem isn't giving him any problems at all it seems." James said and grinned. Mai laughed.
Two weeks after school start, it was a full moon. The tension was thick as porridge, and during their transfiguration class, Mai could swear that McGonagall gave her an encouraging smile. It could have been her imagination of course, but McGonagall probably knew already what they were going to do that very night. Remus had already left for the shrieking shack, and James, Sirius, Peter and Mai were going to change in the forest before meeting Remus in the Shack in their new, still unknown animal forms.
Mai was so excited she could barely sit still. Peter was as pale as a sheet, because he still wasn't sure if he could do it, no matter how many times Mai had reassured him that he could. James and Sirius sat together in the back of the classroom, silently arguing about whom would be the coolest animal. They kept on sending notes to Mai, asking her who she thought would be the coolest. She ignored them. Mai felt happy, knowing that from that night on, Remus would never be alone at the full moon anymore. And he wouldn't come back to the castle full of fresh wounds and scratches. She smiled, pleased at the thought. This was what they had aimed to do ever since they had found out about Remus:
Mai sat in the library, it was the second year. She had the longest evaluation on a potion they had made to do for the next day, and she was anxious to get it done. Remus sat beside her, equally anxious as her. Suddenly James and Sirius stormed in, with Peter trailing flushed behind them. Peter wasn't the most athletic boy in school, so running was a strain for him. Mai and Remus looked up when they stood demonstratively in front of the table they were sitting at.
"You're coming with us." James pointed at Remus. He sounded angry. All color had disappeared from Remus' face. Mai looked confused at the three boys standing there like bulls ready to charge.
"What's the matter with you three?" She hissed. Sirius glanced at her.
"You should come as well. You need to hear this." He said. Mai looked at Remus whose hands were shivering.
"Well, come on." James commanded and the two of them rose slowly, and followed the leader out of the library. They found a empty classroom.
"Why didn't you tell us!" James almost shouted. Remus' eyes were glassy now and Mai wanted to take his hand to support him.
"Can't you trust your own friends?" Sirius asked angrily. Remus eyes widened.
"How did you…" He asked weakly.
"Oh please, disappearing every full moon, different excuse every time? It was so obvious I'm surprised everyone haven't noticed yet." James said and straightened his back and shooting his chin out.
"Now wait a minute, what's going on?" Mai intervened, looking from James to Remus. Remus lower lip was shivering now. James pointed a finger at Remus, and narrowed his blue eyes.
"Ask him." He said. Mai turned to Remus. He looked desperately at her, before he understood he couldn't hide it anymore. Sirius, James and Peter already hated him; he hadn't wanted to lose her as well. He sighed.
"I'm a werewolf." At first Mai thought he was joking, but she could clearly see that this wasn't a joke, even though it would be the exact thing James and Sirius could have come up with. Mai turned to James and Sirius.
"If this is a prank it's a terrible one." She said angrily.
"It's not a prank; Remus has been hiding it from his own friends." James pointed out. Peter nodded agreeing, looking nervous. Real tears were rolling down the cheeks of the twelve year old Remus Lupin, and Mai understood.
"So what?" She said and smiled at Remus. "You're still the same."
"Of course he is the same, but it sucks that he didn't tell us." James argued. Remus looked confused.
"You're not… creeped out?" He asked silently. James sighed.
"Man, I told you we're friends. Of course we're freaked out, but it's not like it's changed you." He said. Remus smiled through the tears.
"Besides, without your skills in Defense against the dark arts, I wouldn't have passed." Sirius added and grinned like a fox. All of them laughed.
"Ms Santiago, are you with us?" McGonagall asked right by her ear and she jumped in her seat.
"I'm sorry professor." Mai apologized. McGonagall nodded.
"It's forgotten if you can answer the question on the blackboard. At the very moment McGonagall asked, a question popped up on the blackboard with a swing of the professors' wand. Mai read the question quickly. 'Which objects are not possible to conjure?'
"You can't use conjuration to transfigure food out of thin air, yet you can transfigure life out of nothing." Mai answered. McGonagall nodded approvingly.
"Ten points to Gryffindor for Ms Santiago's excellent answer on sixth grade material." She said and moved on in class. Mai smiled, feeling how her transfiguration practices had come in handy.
The day dragged on slowly, but finally the dark fell on the Forbidden Forest, and James, who had his father's invisibility cloak walked back and forth from the forest as there could only be two underneath the cloak at a time. When they were all hidden in the shadows of the forest, they took out their wands and stared seriously at each other.
"Alright, this is it. This is what we've been practicing for." James said seriously, as he was the natural leader of the marauders. Out of habit he ruffled his hair absentmindedly and pointed the wand at himself. The three others did as well.
"Alright, here goes." He said and grinned. "On three; one, two…three."
The morning after Remus woke up on the floor in the shrieking shack. It was strange, it felt like he hadn't transformed into a blood thirsty creature at all. He had no wounds or scratches from the evening before. Someone had placed a cloak over him while he was asleep, and he soon realized he was not alone in the house. A clacking of hooves could be heard nearby, and he turned to stare right up at a large elk, with a giant antlers, and lines around its eyes, as after glasses. He understood that it had to be James. Beside James sat a huge black dog, wagging its tail and its tongue hanging out. The dog grinned and Remus realized it had to be Sirius. A small squeak could be heard from a small, rather plump rat beside one of Sirius' paws. That was of course Peter. A low scraping sound could be heard from the other side of the door. Remus looked around for his clothes and got dressed before he walked over to open the door. Outside sat a light brown lynx with a strange pattern down its back that reminded of a long braid. Remus chuckled and realized that Mai had been shut out when he changed back to a naked human.
He let the lynx into the room and watched as they started to transfigure into humans again, fully dressed and with wand in hands.
"That… was… awesome. I'm a freaking killing machine with those antlers!" James shouted and pounded a fist into the air. Sirius glanced over at Mai and smiled.
"And I'm a dog, just like you said in third grade. It was pretty cool though." He said and grinned. Peter looked disappointed though.
"A rat, a small, yucky, disgusting rat?" He asked. Mai patted his back encouragingly.
"Don't worry about it Peter. You're the most important of us all. Without you we could never have reached the button on the Whomping Willow." She said and smiled. At that he lit up a little.
"And you Mai, a lynx. Are you happy? You looked pretty cool." James asked. Mai smiled, knowing what a lynx represented, she was pleased. She couldn't have hoped for anything better. A lynx in animal symbolism represented a great guide and a steadfast friend, but still independent. It showed the person she had become, and it made her proud of herself, giving her a surge of self confidence.
"I'm happy." She said and grinned.