9. Padfoot, Wormtail, Prongs and Moony. Who are the others?

When poor Remus came back after the full moon, he was completely surprised to find out what had happened while he had been away. He felt very relieved when Harry told him that they weren't going to tell his secret. The teen also told him why they wouldn't. On the other hand, Remus became worried when they told him they were also going to do the animagus transformation.

"We've been researching animagi for two years." Said James. "And we're nearly ready to do it; we're just missing a few details."

"But now there're four more of us to help think." Added Lily.

"Yes, and Hermione counts as two, right, Hermi?" Said Ron.

"Ron!"

"Hermi?" Asked Harry raising an eyebrow. "Since when do you call her 'Hermi'?"

"Well..." Started Hermione. "You know my name is very long, and, well... one day he was in a hurry and he called me Hermi, and... and..."

"Ok, ok, whatever you say." Said Harry, obviously very amused. "So, you don't mind if I call you that too, right, Hermi?"

"No, of course not."

After that meeting, they started to spend many hours in the library, trying to find everything they needed to know to transform. The Marauders soon found out what Ron had meant back at the meeting. Hermione moved through the library so easily that it seemed she had spent all her life in there. After two weeks, they finally had everything.

"It's really a pity that we didn't have Hermione from the beginning, we would have gone through all of this much quicker." Said Sirius after listening to all the steps they would have to follow.

"Hey, thanks for appreciating our help." Said Harry, Ron, and Lily at once.

"Hey, I didn't mean it like that! It came out wrong, I meant..."

Everyone started to laugh at Sirius' desperate attempt to rectify what he had said.

That same night, they decided to do it. Using James's and Harry's invisibility cloaks (the Marauders were very surprised that Harry had one too), they went to an empty classroom, far away from Peeves and Filch.

"We'll be fine here." Said James.

"Yes." Said Harry. "Filch is on the other side of the castle."

They decided they were going to do it in turn so that if something went wrong, the others would be able to help them out. The first to go was Sirius, who went to stand in the middle of the room and pointed his wand towards his chest. Everyone held his or her breath when a silvery light enveloped the boy and they were able to hear a strange sound. When the light disappeared, he was still Sirius.

"What went wrong?" Asked Peter.

"I don't think anything went wrong." Said Sirius.

"No?"

"No. While I said the charm, I saw a big, black dog." Then he added. "Of course, it might have been my imagination."

"Try it and let's see what happens." Said Harry.

"Think about the dog you've seen and try to transform." Added Hermione.

Sirius nodded and a few seconds later a large, black dog was standing in front of them. After a while he turned back to Sirius. The next one to try was James; the only difference was that when the light disappeared, a beautiful, brown stag was standing in his place, the bright blue eyes looking around the room.

"Wow!" He said when he was himself again. "I'm a stag!"

"Prongs." Smiled Harry.

"What?" Asked the Marauders.

"It just came to my mind, you could be called 'Prongs'." Smiled Harry.

"Hey! That's a good idea." Laughed Sirius. "What name could I have?"

"How about 'Padfoot'?" Asked Ron. "After all' you turn into a dog..."

"I like it!"

"And we could call Remus 'Moony', because of the moon's influence on him." Smiled Hermione.

After that it was Peter who tried. He needed more than five tries before an animal appeared in his mind. Not much later, he transformed into a small rat. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at him in disgust, and when he turned back, the first one stated 'Wormtail' with a hint of repulsion.

"Well, I think it's my turn." Said Lily.

She did the same as the other three and pointed the wand to her chest, concentrating intently on the charm. When the light disappeared, they all saw a beautiful bird, with warm, red feathers that looked like fire and brilliant emerald eyes.

"It's... she's..." Started Sirius.

"A Phoenix." Stated Harry calmly.

"Oh..." Said Hermione. "I've never seen one before."

"What nickname are we going to give her?" Asked Remus.

"Eternal." Said Harry and James at the same time, which made Ron and Hermione smile. They really were father and son.

Harry smiled when Lily started to move her wings and landed on James' shoulder, nuzzling his cheek. Lily hadn't even changed back when Ron stepped forward and started the transformation. Everything went just as it had with the others. When the light disappeared, Ron had turned into a young and beautiful unicorn. Nearly at the same time, an owl appeared and flew to Ron's back. It seemed like Hermione had been too impatient to wait for her turn and had done it at the same time as Ron.

"An owl..." mumbled Harry amused. "I should have known, what else could she be?"

The owl was brown with fluffy feathers; she rose from her place on the unicorns back and went to Harry's shoulder. Once there, she dug hard into the flesh.

"Ouch! Hermione, that hurts! I didn't mean it in a bad way!"

"Hahahaha, that's what happens when you annoy a woman." Laughed Sirius. Seconds later, he was complaining too.

"What do you think about naming Ron 'Noble' and Hermione 'Feathers'?" Asked Lily, who had already regained her human form.

"That's fine with me." Said Ron after changing back.

"Same here." Assured Hermione.

"Well, now, the last one." Said James.

Everyone turned to Harry, who was smiling calmly. Without a word, he pointed the wand to himself. This time, the light that came out of the wand was not silver; instead, it was a bright golden colour that surrounded Harry, blinding them all.

When the light disappeared and the group was able to see again, they noticed a beautiful, dark brown stag. It had golden flashes through his back and his hooves were a dark golden red. They were all mesmerised by the animal, and when the stag turned around they noticed the emerald green eyes. Between the eyes, they saw a small silver spot in the form of a lightning bolt. All in all, the stag gave a sense of power, a strange and mysterious power hidden inside his being.

"Wow!" Was everything they could say when they saw him.

"A stag." Said Hermione while she and Ron walked closer and started to pet his head. "It had to be a stag."

"Yes." Said Ron. "I thought so too."

The Marauders looked surprised and finally Remus asked: "How did you know he was going to be a stag?"

"We knew because in our third year we discovered something that told us he had a great affinity to that animal."

"It's really weird that James and Harry turn into the same animal. And even if Harry has some differences, they look alike." Said Lily.

"And what name are we going to give him?" Asked Ron.

"How about 'Hooves'?" Asked Hermione.

"That's ok." Said Harry after turning back.

To be continued...

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