CHAPTER 27

Animagi

It wasn't late into January when Peter finally saw himself as his animal and spent a good day walking around the school, announcing that he was a rat. The three of them now looked toward the third and final spell. They sat in the library, two seats over from Snape, who had checked out a new book from the Restricted Section. It read Famous Fiends of the 20th Century. He was turned to the chapter about Grindelwald, but his sour eyes were anywhere but the page in front of him. They were glaring at his wooden desk's face, his teeth gritting together.

"James," Remus said, ushering James from his stare.

"What do you reckon is wrong with Snivelly?" James said, very enthralled with seeing such a boy in such frustration.

"You didn't hear what happened last night?"

"What?" Sirius was now also intrigued.

"He barely skived himself out of suspension," Remus lowered his voice, "You know Mary Macdonald, don't you?"

"Yeah. That girl who hangs round Lily."

"Him and a couple of his mates found her alone in a corridor the other day. Avery, Darryl's twin? He was there. And Mulciber --- well, the two of them used a spell Severus'd invented ---"

"Snivellus invented a spell?" Sirius laughed.

"If you paid attention in Potions, you'd not think it such a surprise," Remus said softly, "Snape is delving into Dark Magic with dark people, and he's right good at it, too."

"What was the spell?" James said.

"Mobilicorpus," Remus said, "Mulciber and Avery used it on Mary, and they hung her upside down, threatening to undress her and do terrible things to her. Snape was there, laughing all the while."

James's shoulders tensed, his hands going to fists. He hated Severus Snape, the stupid git. He hated him more than he ever had before, which he hadn't thought possible.

"So how did he get out of suspension?" Peter asked.

"He got out of there before Filch showed," Remus said, "They have no proof he had anything to do with it."

"But he did," James said, "It was his spell!"

The boys' conversation was interrupted by an abrupt scuffle and slamming of a book to the floor. They looked to Snape once more, who had grabbed at a passing Lily Evans, only to moments before cause her to drop her books. Lily looked to him in an agitated, tearstained glare before huffing off without her dropped things. Snape immediately gathered her abandoned belongings in his arms and followed her out.

"Lily!" he said in a strained whisper.

"Forget it, James. It's Severus Snape, what do you expect? Look here," Remus said, ushering James back into the book's illustrations, "it says that we must now physically become our animal. If we succeed in doing it once, all we need to do for the rest of our lives is picture our animal and instantly we'll be it. But for the first time, it says it's very hard. And it can still be dangerous and difficult without practice."

"So we have to really become our animal?" James said slowly. "Well, do we get to keep our minds, or do we lose them like you?"

"Professor McGonagall is always aware of her surroundings," Remus said. "It must be that you're still yourself."

"Good," Sirius said, fidgeting with a sliver that he had scraped off of the table.

"Now, who's going to try it first tonight?"

""""""""""""""""""""""""

"Lily! Please stop! I'm trying to ---"

Lily's red hair bobbed behind her, her head lowered and her hands crossed in front. She wouldn't look back at him. Why wouldn't she just give him a chance?

"Lily! What's wrong!"

"Where were you last night!" Lily threw him as she continued walking, "We were supposed to meet outside the portrait!"

"I was --- I was busy, Lily --- Filch nearly caught me ---"

"You were with them again, weren't you!"

"So what if I was? I'll come tonight, Lily, I promise ---"

"Don't bother," Lily said, flipping around to face him. Her green eyes were flaring with anger, her left one twitching a bit, "Don't bother ever coming again. You're despicable, Severus! I hate what you've turned into! I don't even know you anymore! You're just as bad as the others!"

"Lily" Severus said, his heart breaking, his voice shaking, "You know me! What have I done to you? Lily, please stop walking. Please listen to me!"

Lily stopped all right. She stopped to say something very nasty to him, but saw his lost expression and grew silent. The two of them stood there for a moment, then Severus, desperate, said, "What's going on. I thought we were supposed to be friends. Best friends?"

Lily, her eyes falling back to frustrated tears and her head lowering, nodded in an apology, "We are, Sev."

Severus wanted to take her in his arms once again. He wanted to make sure she was still his --- that she still loved him ---

"But I don't like some of the people you're hanging around with!" Lily started in again, trying to keep calm. Trying to be rational, "I'm sorry, but --- I detest Avery and Mulciber! Mulciber?! What do you see in him, Sev, he's creepy! Do you know what he tried to do to Mary Macdonald?"

She leaned against a pillar, now realizing she was in the courtyard, and looked up into Sev's sallow face.

"That was nothing!" he protested, "It was a laugh, that's all ---"

"It was Dark Magic, and if you think that's funny ---"

"What about the stuff Potter and his mates get up to?" he demanded, the color rising again in his cheeks as his resentment grew.

"What! What's Potter got to do with anything?"

"They sneak out at night! There's something weird about that Lupin! Where does he keep going?"

"He's ill!" said Lily, "They say he's ill ---"

"Every month at the full moon?"

"I know your theory," Lily was growing cold, "Why are you so obsessed with them anyway? Why do you care what they're doing at night?"

"I'm just trying to show you they're not as wonderful as everyone seems to think they are!"

Sev now realized that he was staring at Lily. Not in the way that friends stare at friends, but in the way that boys look to girls when they're worried for them. His voice had gone to that tone of affection, and his hand had wanted to raise itself to her face. The both of them were caught in this slip up, in this revelation of something neither of them had discussed, but was always playing quietly away in their minds. Lily blushed, and lowered her head.

Why couldn't Sev just be the person she knew he could be? Why did he have to pretend to enjoy the things Mulciber and Avery did? Or was he even pretending anymore?

"They don't use Dark Magic, though," Lily dropped her voice.

Severus saw it flash across her face. A distaste for him and an admiration for them! How could she? No, not Lily, too! Not his only friend --- the only good light in his life ---

"You're not going to ---" Severus was close to tears, "I won't let you ---"

"Let me?" Lily barked, "Let me?"

Her green eyes were slits. Severus recoiled.

"I didn't mean --- I just don't want to see you made a fool of ---" and then it came, "He fancies you, James Potter fancies you!" The words were wrenched from him against his will, "And he's not --- everyone things --- big Quidditch hero ---" his bitterness and dislike were rendering him incoherent, and Lily's eyebrows were traveling farther and farther up her forehead.

"I know James Potter's an arrogant toerag," she said, cutting across Sev, "I don't need you to tell me that. But Mulciber's and Avery's idea of humor is just evil. Evil, Sev! I don't understand how you can be friends with them!"

Watching Lily walk from him, he had to catch himself, throw himself from what he had heard and what he had missed hearing. James Potter was an arrogant toerag! She knew it! She had known all along! She didn't have any affection for the boy at all! Oh, Merlin's beard, he had underestimated Lily Evans! He loved her more than ever!

"Lily," he said, skipping to her side, "Wait up."

"And I worry about you," Lily said, obviously not thinking the conversation was concluded. But Severus could barely listen to a word she was saying, "There's a war coming, if it already hasn't come, and soon we're all going to have to take sides. And I'm worried ---"

James Potter is an arrogant toerag.

"--- Well, Sev, your friends believe some things about ---"

She knew! She believed him! She knew James Potter was a nothing!

"--- Sev, did you know Mary is a Muggle born?"

Well, a nothing except for an arrogant toerag ---

"Severus!"

Severus stopped mid thought, and looked to her, "What?"

Lily's eyes looked into his, so deeply that he couldn't look away. They were searching for something --- something that couldn't be easily found.

"Who are you," she whispered, and walked on.

"""""""""""""""""""""

That night, James again stood in the middle of the room, waiting for instructions from Remus.

"Close your eyes."

He closed them.

"Now focus on everything that you've seen so far, and --- become," Remus added plainly, and then he lay back.

"That's it?"

"It's broad. You think that they could be a little more specific," Sirius growled.

James sighed and thought about the woods. About the fawn. About the stag. About his family. About the picture in his head of that proud animal, antlers reaching towards the sky. Chest out, hoofing the ground.

"Oh my God."

James opened his eyes. He seemed to be taller, and something was balancing on his head. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He couldn't talk. He started to panic, and felt his back feet ---

His back feet?

"You did it, James!" Remus exclaimed as he rushed off of his bed to stare at the magnificent creature. "I can't believe you did it so quickly!"

"I never knew stags were so big," Sirius said in awe as the three of them looked at him.

"It is you, isn't it, James?" Peter whispered.

James nodded his head. The boys, thinking that it was very funny indeed to see a stag nod his head, broke out in laughter, and James felt himself laughing as well. If deer could laugh.

Remus felt hope in his heart as he looked at the animal in front of him. It wouldn't be long now.

But it was a while before the other two could manage the third spell. James had been especially good at Transfiguration, and therefore at the task that had been given to him with the third spell. He excused himself from the now nightly practices during Quidditch season (in which he won the Cup for the team again), but otherwise was always seen in the dormitory room, watching his friends. As for Sirius and Peter, they were still struggling with it when summer hit. James tried to help Sirius with it during their holiday, and still there was no luck. Upon returning to school for their fifth year, nothing had come of it, and Remus was beginning to lose hope again.

Finally, two nights after arriving at Hogwarts, Sirius decided that he would do it no matter what.

He stood in the middle of the room and, without waiting for any instructions from Remus, closed his eyes and concentrated hard.

He was a dog. He was a dog. He was a dog.

He was black. And furry.

He remembered the cobblestone streets and the something that he was waiting for. And the streetlamps. And his hatred towards his family. And Snape. And Lily. And Elise. And June. And-

"Finally!" James burst out.

Sirius blinked. He was seeing the room in black and white. And he was shorter. He only reached the top of the bedposts. He looked down. Had it happened? Had it finally happened?

He saw paws. Black paws. He swished his tail. His tail was there! He was a dog! He had done it!

He jumped into the air and gave a happy bark.

"Shh, Sirius, you'll wake everyone up," Remus said, coming closer. He then smiled to himself and rubbed Sirius behind the ears.

Sirius backed away, and gave a small snarl. But it had felt good. Oh, had it felt good.

Remus laughed and Peter, wide eyed, knelt down and stared Sirius right in his eyes. "Wow. It's real. You're a dog."

Sirius rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Much cooler than a stag, mate," James said.

"You try transforming again, James," Remus said. "See how the two of you communicate."

Sirius hadn't thought of this before. He watched as James's figure melted into one of a stag's, and they looked directly at each other.

Neither of them could talk. He had expected to be able to talk in their minds or something, but no such luck. They were in animal's bodies, and no magic was going to help them here.

James transformed back and then shook his head. "Nothing. There's no way."

Remus sighed. "I knew we would hit a snag," he said.

Sirius thought about his human body and felt himself grow. He could see color in a few moments, and he walked toward his bed to lie down.

"This just leaves Peter," he said.

"Let me give it a try now!" Peter ran to the center of the room. "I'll do it. A rat. A rat. A rat."

"Stop before you hurt yourself," Sirius said, still very happy about his ability to transform. He could do it! It had taken him three years, but he had done it.

"Maybe we should go to bed now," Remus yawned. "It's two in the morning. Tomorrow night, all right?"

Peter nodded and trudged over to his bed, giving a small glare to Sirius and James.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Remus announced that the full moon was on the night before Halloween this month, and that they had about a week to teach Peter to become a rat.

Sirius wouldn't have thought it too hard. He was already a rat in real life. It wasn't like he was turning into an eagle or anything.

"Give me one last chance," Peter pleaded as Remus shut the book and blew out his candle, "I can do it! I can!"

"Maybe tomorrow," Remus said.

"No! Now! Let me do it now! I know I can do it! I know I can!"

Remus shrugged. "Lumos." The candle was bright again, and Sirius and James groaned.

"Now come on!" Sirius said. "It's late. We want to go to bed."

Peter didn't listen to them. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists. He grew purple in the face and bit his lip.

"I think he's going to have a seizure," Sirius whispered to James.

Remus gave them a look.

"Look," James pointed to him. "He's shrinking!"

Peter's body was as big as a matchbox now, and his nose was growing out. A tail was forming. Wormtail, from his post atop the bed, squeaked and drew closer to the newly forming rat. Peter's eyes grew beadier, and his front teeth jutted out. Soon, he was fully a rat. He had done it.

He squeaked at Wormtail, and Wormtail squeaked back.

"Hah! He's talking to it," Sirius laughed, and knelt over his bedpost to see the two rats conversing.

"Does he know how to come back?" James asked.

"We've discussed it before, yes," Remus said.

It was a while before Peter reappeared in the middle of the floor, looking happier than he had ever been in his life.

"We're ready to go," he said jovially, standing up. "I did it!"

"This is great!" James said. "Okay, now we'll practice on communicating later. But for right now, we're going to plan on the night before Halloween for our first try at this, all right, Remus?"

"Yeah, all right," Remus said. "Pomfrey's going to walk me down this time again, so she won't stay at the entrance very long. Wait until she's out of sight, transform, put the Cloak on, and-"

"Wait a minute," Sirius said. "There's no possible way that we all three are going to fit under that Cloak as animals."

"Well, you and Peter can transform, and I can drape the cloak over us," James said. "When we get down in the tunnel I can transform."

"Good idea," Remus said, nodding. "Now, once you get in there, don't be scared of me. I can't hurt animals. Remember that. And under any circumstances, do not become human. I'll kill you."

"Is that a threat, Lupin?" Sirius smirked.

"Look, I just don't want anyone to get hurt."

"No one's going to be hurt. It's gonna go fine." James mussed his hair, and then ducked into bed. "Now, once we get in the tunnel, we'll stay all night with you. When the sun rises, after you transform, we'll all go back to human. Then we'll go back through the tunnel and elude any oncoming teachers, all right? They'll never know."

"Sounds foolproof to me," Sirius said, rubbing his hands together. "Actually, it sounds like a challenge."

"""""""""""""""""

The night came a week later. They waited with Remus as usual in the common room, and after a while the Fat Lady screamed. Remus winked at them and headed off out of the portrait hole with Madam Pomfrey.

James, Sirius, and Peter all ran upstairs to their dormitory room and looked out the window down at the Whomping Willow. The sun was setting. They saw the two of them cut across the grounds and towards the hole. Pomfrey made sure that no one was watching before tapping the knot with her stick, then ducking into the ground with Remus by her side. Remus seemed a lot more eager tonight.

"Wait until she's gone," James said, and a few minutes later, Pomfrey returned, heading for the school again.

"Is the coast clear?" James asked.

Sirius scanned the scene. "I think so," he said, and the three of them ran for the trunk by James's bed.

"All right, it's time for you two to change," James instructed as he pulled out the Cloak. When he looked back at them, Sirius and Peter had been replaced with a rat and a large black dog. The dog smiled.

"Ready?" he asked them, and they both nodded. "This is too wicked," he muttered as he draped the Cloak over them. Peter jumped onto Sirius's back, and Sirius stood next to James, paws thumping on the marble staircase as they descended to the main doors.

Out into the grounds they went, closer and closer to the tunnel. Peter jumped off of Sirius's back when they reached the Willow and scurried through the violent branches to the knot. He touched it carefully, and the Willow froze.

"Come on," said James, and he ushered the two of them into the hole, and into the tunnel.

It was dark, and all James could see was the glowing eyes of Sirius. He handed him the Cloak, and Sirius held it in his mouth as James transformed into a stag. Then Sirius set the cloak neatly on James's back, and they continued down the tunnel and to where Remus waited. The sun hadn't set yet, so they weren't expecting him to be ready.

When they got to the trapdoor, they realized that they had a problem. Sirius looked up at James, and then back at the door. James shrugged as only a deer could shrug, and then Peter ran up James's leg, onto his back, up his neck, and onto his top antler. With a great shove, the trap door moved a bit. There were footsteps, and then light illuminated the tunnel. There stood Remus, smiling.

"Hey," he said. He let them in, Peter jumping off of James's antlers, Sirius leaping, and James, with some difficulty, prancing into the living room.

"The moon's about to come," he told them. "Now please don't be frightened." He looked at the big black dog, and then back at the stag. "Hopefully I'll be myself like we thought."

And they waited. Sirius curled up on the floor and James went to stand by the trap door, as if guarding it. Peter was scurrying in and out of walls, exploring the hidden passageways now open to him. But none of them dared change out of animal form. They knew what Remus would become. They were ready.

"It's starting," Remus informed them as the moon's light caressed the boarded up windows, "It's-"

He grew rigid, and then looked at the three of them in horror. He dove behind a doorframe, still convulsing. They could hear screams of pain for perhaps forever, though it seemed like much longer, and then Remus reappeared. He was a wolf.

At first, it seemed as if it hadn't worked. The wolf glared at Sirius and bared its teeth, but then James stepped proudly forward and got its attention. The tiny pupils glazed over, and Remus blinked. It had worked. He was in control now. Somehow --- he had beaten it.

Oh, he could still feel the wolf's mind, but it wasn't as strong. It wasn't as loud in his. He was the dominant one now! He was powerful!

Blood. He could smell blood.

James stepped forward again and snorted, as if to warn him. Remus shook his head, then stepped back. The wolf would not take control this time. He had his friends with him now. They wouldn't let him die.

Sirius smiled and looked at James, who was also grinning. Remus grinned back, and if they could have laughed, they would have. Peter squeaked from the floor, and ran into one of the farthest corners of the room, staring at the large wolf in front of him.

Remus made a motion that it was safe, and he edged his way closer. James pointed his nose to the staircase leading up, and the other three followed him. They were going to explore tonight.

Sirius bounded ahead, wagging his tail. He sniffed the air, then let his tongue loll out. He actually made a pretty fair dog, James thought, as they stepped into one of the rooms. There was a large mattress there, and Sirius curled up on it, tail still wagging. Remus followed and playfully nipped Sirius's ear. Sirius took up the challenge, growling at him. They circled each other, James and Peter watching, before lunging and wrestling each other to the ground. Sirius smiled darkly as Remus went tumbling over him.

Come on, is that all you got? Sirius thought happily.

Remus returned the smile before he lunged again.

This carried on for some time before James noticed a mirror on the opposite wall. He had never seen them as animals before. He was tall, so tall that his antlers almost scraped the ceiling. But his eyes were the same. Remus and Sirius were very distinguishable, even though both of them were dogs. Remus was brown, and skinnier, but looked more dangerous than Sirius. Sirius was larger and as black as the night.

Soon they were both panting, and they decided that they had wrestled long enough. Peter was clapping his little rat hands as fast as he could, standing on his two hind legs. James would have laughed if he could. The sight was ridiculous. Sirius and Remus touched paws as if in a shake, then walked over to James as if to ask, "What next?"

James shrugged and headed out of the room. Peter followed the larger three. Into the next room they went; it seemed to be the loo. Peter, not being able to see the top of the toilet, jumped on it without realizing there was no lid. With a splash, he landed inside and coughed.

Sirius, getting that dark look again, walked over to the flush knob, and put his paw up to it. He smiled at James, and James nodded malevolently. Peter squeaked as Sirius lowered his paw, and a whirlpool broke out all around the little rat. Peter sprung up from out of the toilet, and shook himself, glaring at Sirius. Sirius seemed to be chuckling to himself. Remus shook his head in disdain and continued to look around. It seemed as if he was seeing all this for the first time, as well as the others.

James, deciding that he had seen enough of the bathroom, continued on down the hallway, the other three following him again. He peered inside each room until he came to one that particularly didn't set with him.

Sirius followed his gaze to the wall of one of the sitting rooms and fell on the floor, barking with laughs. There was a stuffed deer head mounted above the abandoned fireplace.

Remus grinned as he looked from James to the head, and they continued on.

They found that the upper floor had four rooms, two of them bedrooms, one of them a sitting room, and then the loo. The lower floor had three rooms: the kitchen (which was stripped of any appliances whatsoever), the living room, and a parlor (filled with dried foods, supposedly for Remus).

It wasn't long until they realized that the sun was rising, and Remus ducked into the parlor to transform. He had gone a whole night without losing his grip on his mind. He had found the cure! He was going to be all right!

When they saw that Remus had changed back into human, and was untouched by blood and scratches, they all smiled at each other. They had done it. They had beaten the curse.

"It's all right," Remus said, motioning to the three of them. "You can change back now."

In front of his eyes he saw his three friends melt out of the forms of a stag, a dog, and a rat. Peter, who still smelled of a urinal and was drenched, glared at Sirius.

"Thought it was funny, did you?" he said, teeth chattering.

Sirius laughed a laugh that sounded a lot like his bark and looked at Remus. "So it worked out, right? You were there with us?"

"Yeah, I was there!" Remus said gleefully. "I was me."

"That went smoother than I thought it would," James commented as they grabbed the Cloak and draped it around themselves. "So, we'll be seeing you inside."

"Yeah," Remus said.

"Happy Halloween, Remus," Sirius said as he disappeared under the Cloak. The trap door opened, then shut.

Remus, very content with life in general, sat down on the couch to wait for Pomfrey to retrieve him. She was going to be surprised when she didn't have to whisk him off to the hospital wing!

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Madam Pomfrey opened the trap door and stared at the unscathed boy sitting happily on the couch.

"Hello, Madam Pomfrey," he said, standing up to meet her. Her eyes were wide with confusion. "Happy Halloween. I feel like going to my first class today. Am I allowed to?"

Madam Pomfrey quietly nodded, and Remus led the way down through the tunnel and out past the Willow.

"""""""""""""""""""""

"Why does it have to be written in blood?" Peter asked nervously as Sirius brandished a sharp quill and a piece of parchment. They were still snacking on the foods they had saved from the Halloween feast, and were now curled up on their beds, reliving their last adventure.

"Because that way it's legit," Sirius explained, waving the quill. "Who wants to write it?"

"You better," James said, biting into a Pumpkin Pasty. "You've got the best handwriting."

"Whatever." Sirius went to prick his finger, but stopped to think. "You know, on second thought, how about we just make the ink red? No one will know the difference."

He took out his wand and pointed it at Remus's ink bottle. The black turned maroon colored.

"Beautiful!" Sirius dipped the quill, and put it to the parchment. "So, how do you start a decree?"

"How about this?" James said, swallowing his food. "We solemnly swear-"

"That we are up to no good," Sirius finished for him. "Perfect." He wrote it out, tongue between his teeth. "Now what?"

"Better put the date," Remus said. "It's October thirty-first, 1975."

"But we've got to make it sound all fancy and declarational!" Sirius said. "How about 'on this fortnight of so on and so forth'?"

"Sure," Remus agreed, and Sirius wrote.

"And now what?"

"The four Marauders-"

"Nice word," Sirius commented James.

"Thank you. I like it myself," said James. "The four Marauders agree to follow each other until death do us part."

"Sounds like a wedding vow," Sirius said.

"Just write it."

Sirius scrolled it out. "And now, my turn. We also agree to always keep secret the," he paused, and lifted the quill, "Great Power."

"Very biblical," Remus said.

"The Great Power that we possess," Sirius said. "But there's something missing. What are we missing? Oh, yes," he wrote, "dot --- dot --- dot, and one more thing." He had a menacing glow to his face as he scribbled, "To make Snivellus's lfe during and after Hogwarts a living hell."

"You spelled life wrong," Remus pointed out.

"Don't get picky, I'm not rewriting the whole thing out again," Sirius barked. "All right, now we better sign this thing to make it official. But we can't use our real names."

"Why not?" Peter asked.

"Now come on, don't be so dim," James said. "What if one of the teachers or someone like Darryl picked it up and started reading it? Do you want to get questioned on what the Great Power is?"

"We should come up with codenames. Nicknames, sort of," Sirius said, "Like something to do with our animal, maybe?"

"Well, I know Remus's," James said. "Moony!"

They laughed, and Remus agreed that that would be his. They then turned to Peter, who was now holding his rat.

"How about Wormtail?" Sirius suggested.

"What about him?" Peter asked, patting Wormtail on the head.

"No, you git," Sirius snapped. "You. Your nickname is Wormtail."

"Fine with me," Peter said. "And what about you?"

"Padfoot," James said quickly.

"What?"

"Well, you can't really be called 'Rover' or anything, can you?" he said.

"Fine, whatever," Sirius said. "And that just leaves you, Stag. What's special about a deer?"

"Long neck," Remus said. "Hoofprint?"

"Don't be daft," James said. "The antlers are the greatest thing about it. Make it something to do with the antlers."

"What about Prongs?" Sirius suggested, and James snapped his fingers, looking excited.

"Perfect! So we have --- Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs."

"Now let's sign," Sirius spoke while he wrote. "Signed in no significant order, Padfoot."

He handed it to the left of him, and Remus took the quill. He wrote "Moony."

He handed it to James, who wrote "Prongs."

And finally, to Peter, who wrote with a shaking hand, "Wormtail."

They stared at the paper, glistening red in the starlight.

We solemnly swear that we are up to no good. On this fortnight of October 31st, 1975, the four Marauders agree to follow each other until death do us part. We also agree to always keep secret the Great Power that we possess. Oh, yes --- and one more thing. To make Snivellus's lfe during and after Hogwarts a living hell.

Signed (in no significant order),

Padfoot
Moony
Prongs
Wormtail