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Theme Music – "When You Believe", Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston
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Dedications: To Emily (for the song), to Liz (now you can stop bugging me), and to Tent 1 (I wish I could be there with you guys this summer). Peace.
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"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams…"
Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
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"Now what?" I asked, looking at Remus. He smiled slightly.
"Now you try it out." I stared at him. I had almost forgotten the point of the whole tiresome four-year-long process, which was, of course, to become able to turn into an animal at will. If the potion didn't work… after the first transformation, Sirius, Peter and I would be stuck in our animal forms for the rest of our lives. Sirius stood a bit taller in the dim room, a look of firm resolve on his features.
"I'll go first."
"N-no, I will." Remus, Sirius and I spun to gape in surprise at Peter, who was shivering slightly. After a moment, I shook my head.
"No, it has to be me. This was my idea, you two shouldn't have to live the rest of your lives that way if it goes wrong…"
"No, Prongs, you shouldn't have to do this alone…" Sirius looked indignant.
"Ahem." We looked at Remus. "Why don't you all three go at the same time?" Of course, it was the only fair thing to do… we stood inn a triangle, facing each other. With firm resolution, I looked at my friends. Sirius looked recklessly determined an expression that he wore often. Peter was doing his best to look brave, though his quaking knees gave him away. Remus, standing back slightly in the shadows, looked both hopeful and anxious. I realized how hard it would be for him if anything happened to the three of us. I had long since suspected that we were his first and only true friends. It wasn't something that was hard to believe, considering the fact that werewolves were hated and mistrusted by most of the magical community. The girls accepted Remus too, of course, but they didn't know he was a werewolf. Remus stepped towards us, holding the parchment instructions.
"Concentrate on your animal. See it in your mind; visualize yourself turning into it. When you're ready and you can see it clearly, relax and concentrate on changing."
I closed my eyes and imagined myself turning into a majestic deep-brown stag, with pale antlers and four slim hoofed feet… I shut everything out and concentrated. Very slowly, I felt myself changing. From somewhere seemingly far away, I heard Remus gasp. When I opened my eyes, the world seemed different. I was seeing things from a few feet lower than I was used to. The colors seemed different too, somehow. Looking around me, I saw the form of a huge, shaggy black dog sitting next to me, it's tongue lolling out in a sort of doggie-smirk. Sirius. There were two other humans in the room. One was jumping up and down excitedly, while the other was quivering, their eyes squeezed tightly shut. Peter hadn't been able to transform. Sighing silently, I concentrated on turning back into my human form. When I opened my eyes again, I was human. Remus whooped as Sirius transformed back also. Peter opened his eyes, where I could see tears forming.
"I can't do it!" he quavered. "I'm j-j-just too stupid and slow to turn into an Animagus!"
I looked over Peter's quivering form to where I could see a smirk beginning to form on Sirius' lips. Shooting him a warning glare, I awkwardly patted Peter on the back. "It's okay Peter, Sirius and Remus and I will help you. It's not that hard, all you need to do is relax and concentrate on transforming into a rat." Remus nodded.
"Of course we will. Now, try it again?" Peter looked up, wiped his eyes on his robe sleeve, and nodded. "Right then, try to imagine yourself turning into a rat. Can you see that?" Peter stood with his eyes closed for a long moment before nodding. "Now all you have to do is keep repeating that sequence over and over in your mind."
"Try to relax," I added helpfully. Peter took a deep breath and concentrated. In a few seconds, a grey rat was standing in his place.
***
For the next several weeks, the four of us were in extremely high spirits. Peter scampered around, immensely proud of himself (we had warned him several times not to tell anyone about our feat). Sirius had spurred his pranks on the Slytherins and faculty to newer and greater heights (with me usually along for the ride). I felt like I was walking on clouds. The thing that we had been working on for close to five years had finally been accomplished. A weight felt as though it had been lifted from my shoulders. Remus' usual pallid profile had taken a healthier glow. He had even asked Mary to be his girlfriend, startling all of us. We had all shared a suspicion that he liked her, but had never dreamed that he would be so bold as to ask her out. But there was something on the near horizon that was brightening our already over-bright attitudes. The full moon was quickly approaching. The remaining days passed in a blur, until finally, at long last, we were anxiously lying in bed, waiting for the other occupants of our dormitory to fall asleep. As soon as we heard Patrick's soft snores, Sirius leapt nimbly up, dressed in full robes over his pajamas. I leaned over and yanked on my trainers. Peter tried to jump up, but proceeded to entangle himself in the bedclothes.
"Shhh!" Sirius hissed. I helped Peter to disentangle himself before he woke up the others. "Come on!" As an afterthought, I opened my trunk and pulled out my Invisibility Cloak before hurrying after Sirius, pulling Peter with me.
~
"Moony?" I whispered. We had just made it past the Whomping Willow and into a dark, damp passageway. My voice echoed eerily. There was no sign of Remus. From somewhere in front of us, there was a scuffling noise. Elbowing Sirius, I carefully folded the cloak, placed it in my pocket, and transformed. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world, as if I had left all of my cares with my human form. There was movement beside me, and I sensed the presence of two other animals. Sirius, of course, and quite miraculously, Peter. Bowing my antlered head, I started off at a trot down the passage. Sirius was padding next to me, Peter perched on his back. We had agreed to call Peter "Wormtail". I hadn't really liked the name, but it was Peter's idea (I felt sorry for him, as he didn't have a nickname like the rest of us). Once we reached the passage, I hesitated. What if this didn't work? What if Remus savaged all of us, unable to control his werewolf nature? I remembered that it was a risk that we had all taken, in exchange for Remus' happiness. Carefully, I nudged the door open. From a dark corner of the ravaged room before me, there was a deep growl. The werewolf stalked into the pale light. I stood taller, Sirius raising his hackles menacingly. For a moment we sat, staring at each other. Remus shook his head vigorously, as if fighting an internal struggle. We watched, entranced. Finally he sat back, his head cocked to one side. Sirius let out a bark and ran playfully over to Remus. For a moment, the werewolf was still. His tail began slowly to wag, and I pawed the floor with my hoof in happiness. We had succeeded, everything had gone as planned… now the adventures could begin. With a meaningful glance back at Remus, I set off at a run back down the passage. They followed me, panting to keep up. I reached the open end of the passage. Peter jumped off of Sirius' back and touched the knot of the tree, freezing it as we had carefully instructed him. Sirius immediately started off for the forest. I followed, but something held me back. I looked back at the Willow. Moony was standing there on the threshold, unmoving. I started back, nodding at him encouragingly. He tentatively stepped forward, looking unsure. From the edge of the forest, Sirius howled impatiently. Decidedly, Remus howled back and set off at a run towards him. Grinning inwardly, I tossed my head and cantered after them. We disappeared into the forest, chasing after each other playfully. And the Marauders were born.
~
"Urgh…" groaned Sirius. We were at breakfast, the morning after our first "adventure". I yawned widely as Peter stumbled in.
"It's too early!" he moaned, rubbing his eyes. Remus, having just arrived from the hospital wing, alone looked chipper (and awake).
"You get used to it," he laughed, seeing our simultaneous yawns.
"We might have stayed out a bit too late," admitted Sirius reluctantly. Sarah, sitting down next to him, looked curious.
"Were you out last night?" She shot an accusing look at him. He smiled sheepishly.
"Erm… we were practicing transfiguration in the library with Peter. Think we let it go on a bit too long, I was saying." Sarah looked unconvinced, but didn't say anything more, as Mary sat down across from her to show her a picture that she had drawn of Snape crossdressing. They collapsed in giggles. Lily came over.
"What's so funny?" she asked, looking curiously at her two friends. They just shook their heads, unable to speak. Lily shrugged and sat down next to me, buttering a piece of toast. I noticed Patrick McConahey, Carrie's boyfriend of four years, standing over at the Ravenclaw table talking to a pretty girl with long brown hair. I recognized her as Meagan Roudin, a (rather bossy) witch in our year. She was batting her eyes and smiling up into Patrick's face in an obvious attempt at flirting. Patrick was grinning back at her, laughing at something that she had just said. As I watched, Meagan snuggled close to Patrick, who gave her a surprised look but didn't pull away. I averted my gaze, not wanting to see any more. I wasn't as close as close to Carrie as Lily or Sarah, but I still didn't want to see her get her. While wondering if I should tell anyone about what I had just seen, the bell rang to signal the beginning of classes for the day. As I pushed past a group of Second Years on my way to Ancient Runes with Sirius and Sarah, I wondered why things seemed to be changing between all of us. We were all growing up, no matter how much we tried to cling to the past.
~
Liz nudged me. "Hello? Earth to James?" I looked up, startled. We were working in partners in Charms, practicing Conjuring. Professor Flitwick had instructed us each to conjure a small object, such as a marble or toothpick. It was my turn to have a go at it. I concentrated on drawing a snitch out of thin air with my wand. A sudden breeze from the open window caused our notes to scatter, making me lose my focus. The result was a rather deformed copper-coloured Snitch with only one wing. Liz sighed. My mind was on other matters. "Maybe that was too big. Try a toothpick." I tried concentrating on conjuring a match, but I couldn't focus.
"Sorry, Liz, I just can't get the hang of this! You try." Raising her wand, Liz swiftly conjured a clear blue marble, which she dropped into my outstretched palm.
"See? It's not so hard." I sighed. Charms were not my best subject. I glanced over at Lily, who was working with Remus. She had seemed to have gotten the hang of conjuring small things and had moved on to larger objects. As I watched, she conjured a perfect footstool, which she placed carefully under her desk and propped her feet up on. She looked over and grinned with superiority. Liz had lost interest in my attempts at a toothpick and had begun scrawling on her notes.
"So?" I asked, trying to make it look as if we were working. "Are you and Alex still an item?" She grinned dreamily at me.
"Yeah, he's terrific, really sweet. Except he studies a bit too much for my liking… I guess that's just the way Ravenclaws are. But it doesn't bother me." She fiddled with a silver ring on her finger.
"What's that?" She smiled with an air of content.
"It's a promise ring, Alex gave it to me during the summer holidays. He said he wants to marry me someday." She looked up quickly. "Oops, I shouldn't have told you that, we agreed to keep it a surprise. Don't tell anyone I told you." I grinned.
"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." I began to wonder; what would Lily say if I asked her to marry me? I knew that I would never love anyone else, that I would die before I let anyone harm her… I decided to wait a few years, until we were out of Hogwarts, before I made any decisions. A loud bang interrupted my thoughts. Sarah, who had the misfortune of being paired with Peter, began waving her parchment to clear the smoke-filled air. Our tiny professor hurried over as Sarah, whose eyelashes were singed, sighed and shook her head despairingly.
~
"Rough day?" Sirius pushed his hair out of his eyes and grinned at me as I collapsed on my four-poster.
"Very stressful, is all. I could use a massage right now," I stretched out and closed my eyes. "All I want to do is sleep and forget all my problems." Unfortunately, nothing is that simple.
"Lily, will you marry me?" Lily looked down at me.
"Oh James, didn't I tell you? I've decided to run away with the wizard circus. I'm involved with the trapeze artist." I screamed as a man clad in spandex wrapped his arms around her.
"Lily darling, we've got to go. Tell this little boy to depart immediately." I reached up to cuff him one…
"Argh!" I fell off my bed. Sirius stirred.
"James?" he asked sleepily. I groaned.
"Go back to sleep." I clambered back up and rubbed my temples. Must be the hormones.
~
A/N: Mostly fluff, but this was an important part. On a more personal note: To Liz- Ha ha! See, now you know who's getting hitched! Wheehee, reviews please. P.S.- Does anyone know a good name for a fic about the Founders? I'm stuck.
Disclaimer: I don't own any Potterverse characters.