Chapter 7: Birth of the Marauders

Author's Note: Thanks muchly to Wendigo and Starblaze that posted reviews for Chapter 6. It always does a writer's heart good to see some appreciation. And don't worry Star, this is going to be a looooong fic, so there's plenty more to come! (Just to give you an idea of the scope of this thing, last night I randomly wrote the scene of Sirius' "trial" post James and Lily's deaths…) However, this will be my last update for a week or so, as I'll be out of town.

            "Come back next Monday," said Professor Venom, taking the cloth that Azalea had wrapped the bottles in, rewrapping them, and locking them in his desk. "I should have time to look at them by then."

            "Thanks, Professor."

            Sirius and Azalea backed out of the dungeons, heading back up to Gryffindor Tower. They had already seen Professor Kettleburn, who would be buying the owl for them the next afternoon.

            "Glad to do it," he'd said. "Nice thing to do for your friend. Any preference on breed or color?" When they'd shaken their heads, he grinned. "Easy, then. I'll give it to you at dinner tomorrow night."

~*^*~

Peter was struck speechless, as Sirius whipped the cut-up pillowcase off the owl's cage. For a few seconds, all he could do was stare at the beautiful golden-brown screech owl that was placidly asleep inside the cage.

"Merry Christmas, Peter," Lily said gently.

Peter dashed at his eyes with the back of his hand. "I don't know what to say…"

"What are you going to name it?" Azalea asked. She grinned at Sirius and James. "We might have a few ideas…"

"I…I don't know…what do you think?"

"Hmm. Who have we left out of the Fellowship?" Azalea silently ticked off names on her fingers. "I know! Gimli!"

 "Gimli's a good name," Peter said, tentatively taking hold of the cage handle. "I guess I'll take him up to the dorm…"

As Peter left, the rest of the group exchanged smiles all around, congratulating themselves. "That was a really good idea, Sirius," Remus said. "I don't think Peter's had a whole lot in his life to make him happy."

"Thanks," Sirius answered, accepting the praise.

The group began to scatter, either to go unpack or to prepare for classes starting again the next day. "Hey Remus?" Lily tapped his arm. "Could we talk to you for a second?" She motioned to include Azalea.

"Sure…" Remus looked apprehensive, as Lily led the way across the common room and out the portrait hole…

They went to the library, for the hour was still early enough for them to be there without trouble. Lily led them all the way to the back, to ensure that they wouldn't be disturbed by the librarian or any other students.

"Remus, we've noticed that you get ill an awful lot," Azalea began, "and we're your friends…and we're worried about you. You should know that you don't need to be afraid to tell us anything. We'll be your friends no matter what, and I'm sure that the others would say the same thing if you asked them."

Lily was nodding alongside her sister, as a stricken look crossed Remus' face. "You know, don't you," he said softly.

Azalea shrugged. "We have an idea…and we don't care. It'd be nice if you were honest with us, but if you want it to remain secret, that's all right. But you don't hang out with stupid people, Remus, and sooner or later the rest of them are going to have ideas too. Wouldn't you rather tell us now and have it out in the open?"

Remus sighed. "You're right, Zia…I don't hang out with stupid people. I should have known you'd guess. I guess I was enjoying it so much…having friends and being able to be here in the first place…I didn't want to think about it. And I was afraid of how you guys would react if I told you."

Lily spoke up. "It's like she said, Remus. We don't care."

"I'm…" Remus looked at the table. "It's true. I'm a werewolf," he mumbled.

Azalea and Lily, as one, reached over and took his hands. "It's okay, Remus," Lily said. "We've said it loads of times. We don't care…and neither will any of the others. We're your friends. Friends stick by each other."

Remus looked up from the table, and the two girls saw a glimmer of hope in his eye. "Do you think so?" he asked softly.

"Remus, we know so."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Sirius whispered. All seven of them had assembled in the library the next afternoon after History of Magic, and for the second time, Remus had revealed his secret.

"I…I guess I didn't want to destroy the best friendships I've ever had," Remus said softly.

"How have you been keeping it secret?" James wanted to know. "Where do you transform?"

"You know that tree they warned us to stay away from? The Whomping Willow?"

"Yeah…"

"It was planted to hide the entrance to an underground tunnel that leads to the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade," Remus revealed. "One of the nurses, Madame Pomfrey, takes me there every month. I transform in the Shack. All the screams and noise…that's me."

"Do the professors know?" This from Peter, who was the only one in the group that looked slightly scared.

"Of course they know…I miss class one day a month. They had to be told."

Sirius had been staring off into space. Azalea and James, who knew him best, could see that an idea was taking shape in his head, but he wasn't ready to reveal it. He turned back to the group. "What's it like, Remus?" he asked.

Remus stared at the table. "It hurts," he said softly. "It's so painful…and then I'm not in control of myself. I'm there in the back of my own head, but I can't do anything. The animal instinct takes over completely. I just watch helplessly…in the Shack, I'm away from people, so I'm not a danger to anyone…except I hurt myself, just wanting to destroy something."

He looked up fiercely. "I hate it! I hate dreading that one night every month when I become something so horrible…" His voice trailed off. "And the worst part is, even if I was facing one of you as a werewolf…I'd bite you, and there wouldn't be anything that the real me could do about it."

"Werewolves only hurt people…" Sirius mumbled.

"What is it?" Azalea asked him under her breath.

"Later," he mumbled back.

One by one, they all came to terms with Remus' revelation, and silently left the library, after swearing that they wouldn't tell anyone else what had been said that night. Sirius shoved a note into Azalea's hand as they entered the common room, then made a big show of stretching, yawning, and saying he was exhausted and going to bed.

Azalea unfolded Sirius' note in the relative privacy of her dormitory.

Zia,

Meet me and James in the common room at one o'clock, once everyone's gone to bed.

-S

Silently, she stole downstairs at one o'clock, to find James and Sirius already waiting for her by the fire. "What's going on, Sirius?" she whispered, tightly belting her dressing gown, and sitting down on one of the big puffy cushions.

"I've got an idea," he whispered. "We've got to do something for Remus."

"What can we do?" James whispered. Apparently Sirius hadn't told anyone about his plan. "There's no cure for being a werewolf."

"He hates his transformations. I think we might be able to do something about that."

"How?" Azalea asked. "He said it himself. If he saw one of us…"

"Not us." Sirius paused. "Animals."

"Werewolves only hurt people…" James' eyes widened as he realized what Sirius was saying. "You're saying we should become Animagi."

"Exactly."

"Animagi?" Azalea looked from one boy to the other. "What's that?"

"We'd each be able to turn into an animal, Zia," James explained. "It's really difficult…there aren't a lot of them."

"But as animals, Remus wouldn't be dangerous to us," Sirius said. "We could help control him. He could be with us during his transformations…and maybe it'd make it better for him."

"There's got to be something illegal about this," Azalea muttered.

"Tons," Sirius said cheerfully. "Which makes it all the better."

"Some of us would have to be big animals…" James mused thoughtfully. "You and me, Sirius. Then we'd be able to be a match for a werewolf. Someone would need to be small, so that they could deal with the tree…there's probably a button or something…"

"You, me, Zia…which of the others?" Sirius asked. "I don't think Lucy would do it."

"Nor Lily." James shook his head. "Your sister's great, Zia, but she sticks to the rules too much to become an unregistered Animagus."

"What about Peter?" Azalea asked. She didn't contradict Sirius' assumption that she would be in on the idea…she knew she would do it.

"Peter might," Sirius mused. "Especially if he had a specific purpose. He could be the one that changes into something small, like a mouse or something."

Azalea looked at the fire. "I could be a bird," she offered. "That way, I could fly for help if anything got out of control."

"Good idea." Sirius looked at the other two. "So does this mean we're in? We're going to try?"

"Definitely."

"Definitely."