8.- Full moon, seven animagi?

After that, the Marauders were even more suspicious of Harry; it wasn't only the fact he seemed to be lost in thought from time to time, now they also knew that Voldemort wanted to kill their friend, and on top of that, there was the strange conversation they had overheard with the man through that strange locket. They had noticed Harry always had it on him.

It had been nearly two months since they started term, and in class, the trio not only showed that they knew a lot, they had also practiced everything they knew.

Harry seemed to be doing much better, but he some times seemed to be out of it and no matter what Ron and Hermione tried, they never managed to get him to cheer up.

"Say, Harry..." Said James, while he and Ron played a game of chess, which as usually Ron was winning.

"What do you want?"

"Join us to pull a prank on Snape." Answered the boy.

"Check." Said Ron while Harry's king threw his crown down. "Pull a prank on him? What did you have in mind?"

"We don't know yet." Said Sirius.

"We could use some of the pranks you brothers gave me." Said Harry pensively. "Even though I don't know what most of them are."

"But I do!" Smirked Ron. "Every time they finished one they tried them at home... usually on Percy, although I didn't always get away from some of them."

"Wonderful!" Cried seven voices at once, since Hermione and Lily had just joined them.

"What could we use?" Asked Harry.

"What about the humorous sugar?" Said Ron. "It's very funny, you put it in a drink instead of normal sugar and when someone eats it you have to wait 15 minutes. When the effects hits, all humour changes the subject has, are more pronounced. So, if you're feeling sad, you'll start to cry. There's a side effect though, depending on what you're feeling, your hair will also change colour."

"Wonderful!" Laughed Remus. "How long does it last?"

"There's an antidote, but if you don't use it, it lasts for three days; if you take it, only two hours." Answered Ron.

"What's the antidote?" Asked Hermione.

"A special salt."

"Ok, we'll do it tomorrow at breakfast."

The next day they did it just as they had agreed. James went down with his invisibility cloak and went to the Slytherin table; there he poured some sugar in Snape's juice and toast, then he walked out of the Hall and returned without the cloak. The prank was successful, soon Snape started to show all kind of feelings and his hair started to change colours. No one managed to find out what was going on or how to return it to normal.

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"Where are you going, Remus?" Asked Harry while he watched as the other boy quickly walked to the door.

"Mmh, my mother is sick, I need to leave."

"Again? I thought she was ill last month?" Asked Hermione.

"And the other month too." Added Ron.

"Well, she gets ill a lot."

"What an unusual coincidence that she's always ill on the full moon, isn't it?" Said Harry calmly while Remus paled. "And today there's full moon too... it starts today, right, Hermione?"

"Yes."

"You're a werewolf, aren't you, Remus?" Asked Harry.

"Ho... How...?" Started to ask the boy.

"We'll tell you when you come back. Go now if you don't want to change here."

Remus disappeared through the portrait while the other Marauders looked at them scared. In the end it was Lily who dared to ask. "How did you know?"

"In our third year, we had a new DADA professor; it turned out he was ill every time there was full moon and our potions teacher took charge of the class." Started Hermione.

"It's no secret that our potions master wants the DADA position and that he always hates the teachers who take that place." Added Ron.

"So, in one of those lessons, we studied werewolves even if it wasn't the time yet. He did it so someone would notice the coincidence. Luckily for him, we were the ones who noticed." Said Harry. "Our teacher was a werewolf."

"And you didn't tell anyone?" Asked Sirius.

"Of course not!" Cried Ron.

"He was a great teacher!" Said Hermione.

"And a wonderful person." Added Harry. "He was also one of my father's old friends, and he helped me a lot through that year. We kept his secret, but in the end, there were a few problems and the potions master outed him. He had to give up the defence position. It was really sad, because he has been the best DADA teacher we've ever had."

"So, are you going to tell anyone about Remus?" Asked Peter.

"No." Said Harry brusquely, and after that he turned to James. "But I think it's a good idea to do the animagus transformation."

"Animagus?" Asked Lily.

"How did you know?" Asked James.

"You should be careful with your books." Said Ron while Hermione took the book.

The three boys paled seeing the book, while Lily remained confused and the trio smiled. Once Hermione had given the book back, the Marauders seemed more at ease.

"We won't tell anyone, if you allow us to do it with you." Said Hermione. "It's a great chance for us."

"Why? So you can keep Harry protected from Voldemort?" Said Peter evilly.

"Peter!"

It was now the trio who paled. Ron and Hermione exchanged nervous glances, and Harry seemed to lose himself in thought. For a moment they thought they would have to do something to make him snap out of it, but he finally spoke.

"Very well, Peter." He said with the same cold voice he usually used on Malfoy and his friends. "You found out. Since when do you know?"

"I... I..." The boy said while taking a step back, this seemed much worse than usually.

"We've known since the start of term." Said James. "We were worried about you and spied on you. We heard you talking with someone who said that Voldemort was searching you so he would be able to... well..."

"To kill me." Said Harry coldly. "Do as you wish, I won't say anything about Remus. Good night."

The six teens watched as Harry walked up the stairs that led to the boys' bedrooms. His face was expressionless; he didn't seem to be feeling anything. Just after he disappeared, Ron and Hermione turned around with hateful faces and glared at Peter. It took all Hermione had to not slap him right there.

"Thank you so very much, Peter! You've just destroyed the hard work of a lot of people! Now that Harry was finally starting to forget and he seemed to be more like himself, you just had to go and remind him!" Hissed Hermione angrily.

"But..." Started the boy.

"Good night!" Shouted the other two teens.

They turned around and quickly followed the same path Harry had. The Marauders looked at each other confusedly, and then James turned to Peter, also fairly angry.

"You had to say it, didn't you? You just had to go and say it."

"I didn't mean to, I just forgot."

"Peter, was it so difficult just to say that it was ok? That it would be wonderful for them to join us in the transformation?"

"It just came out!"

"Guys, I think that's not important right now. Didn't you listen to what Hermione said? It seems we've really messed up. Yes, we, because we all spied on them, so we're all guilty. We should go up and apologise to them." Said Lily.

They all agreed with her and they started to climb up the stairs. When they arrived at the top, they managed to hear some of the conversation the trio was having.

"Come on, Harry, cheer up! You can't keep this up." They heard Hermione say.

"Hermione's right, it was not your fault." Said Ron.

"Of course it was my fault! Cedric died because of me! I told him to take the cup with me, I killed him!" Said Harry's anxious voice.

"You didn't kill him, Harry! It was... it was Voldemort who killed him! You can't feel guilty for what he does, Harry!" Said Ron annoyed.

"But I could have helped him! I should have known that they would kill Cedric as soon as I saw them!"

"Harry, you've never told us what happened that night, and we don't want you to tell us if you're not ready. You were very brave when you told the headmaster and Snuffles. We don't know how Cedric died, and we don't know what V...Voldemort did to you. But we know you, Harry. We know you better than anyone else, and I'm sure that if there was something you could have done, you would have saved Cedric." Said Hermione soothingly

"How can you be so sure?" Asked Harry.

"Because I am. I am just as sure that it was you who jumped on a three meter tall troll to save my life when we didn't even get along, or that it was you who killed a seven meter long basilisk to save Ginny's live." Harry remained quiet. "And you didn't only save Ginny's live, you also saved Snuffles..."

"That doesn't matter, it was my fault he died."

The door opened to reveal the Marauders. James walked up to Harry and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"We didn't mean to listen to what you were saying, Harry, at least this time not. But we couldn't help listen part of your conversation, and let me tell you that I don't think that his death is your fault." Said James.

"That's true, Harry. You can't blame yourself for what Voldemort does." Assured Lily.

Harry smiled at his parents' words and Ron and Hermione nodded happily. It seemed that James and Lily's words had much more effect on Harry than anyone else ever had had.

"We also came to apologise." Said Sirius. "Even if we were worried, we shouldn't have spied on you."

"And I'm sorry I said that, Harry."

"We're sorry, Harry, we won't spy on you again." Said James and Lily together.

"You don't have to apologise for spying on us." Said Harry. "Right, guys?"

"Of course not!" Said Hermione.

"It's quite alright."

"Really?" Asked James.

"Of course, because it is what we would have done had we been in you place." Smiled Harry.

Everyone but Peter started to laugh. He noticed that Harry had forgiven them for spying on him, but he hadn't forgiven him for what he had said, and once again he couldn't help but wonder what he had done to the trio for them to dislike him so much.

"Well," Started to say James. "We were going to tell you, before the incident, that we would love for there to be six animagi instead of three."

"Seven animagi. I'm doing it too." Said Lily firmly.

To be continued...

A/N: Thanks for all reviews and thanks to my beta reader, Vinnie.

Well, I've been nominated in the category for Best Author in The Harry Potter Fanfiction.net Fan Fiction Awards, anyone who wishes to vote go to:

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