Chapter Nine
Animagus and Painful Transformations

Remus nodded and turned to shove some books in his bag. He said he was going down Defense Against the Dark Arts early and turned to the portrait hole. As he was walking he again rammed his toe into the same wooden leg and swore under his breath. He limped to the portrait hole and pushed it open.

Barely able to walk he limped all the way to the third floor to the Defense Against the Dark Arts room. Professor Greenleaf wasn't there yet so Remus just sat at his desk and took out his Potions essay, he had only one page left and was running out of ideas on making sure your potion stays lifeless. As he was writing, "if your potion gains life then you have to worry about being eaten by it," Professor Greenleaf walked in and put his briefcase of his desk. He paid no attention to Remus, which Remus hardly cared. Professor Greenleaf had dark brown hair, green eyes and the attitude of a Slytherin, which was surprising because he had graduated out of Gryffindor house.

"Lupin," Professor Greenleaf said abruptly, "what are you doing here?"

"You have Gryffindor first years now, don't you?" Remus answered as he saw the rest of his classmates walk in and take seats at their desk. Professor Greenleaf looked at them all and waved an impatient hand in the air. He began the lesson with the usual lectures and then made them read two chapters on healing spells in their textbooks. As Remus was answering a question he heard James whisper to Sirius

"What animal do you want to become?"

"I dunno," Sirius answered, thoughtfully scribbling down his answer for number twelve on his piece of parchment, "a dog possibly."

"You guys," Remus began slowly, "are you really sure you want to do this? You won't master it until you're in the fifth year! I honestly don't mind transforming and being by myself."

"Ah Remus," James began, "do you really think we're going to let our best friend have all the fun?"

"I hardly call being a werewolf fun."

"Potter, Black, Lupin be quiet!" Professor Greenleaf yelled from the back of the room. The three groaned and continued with their assignment. Once they were finished with that, they took out their potions essay and every so often Sirius would sneak a look at Remus's essay, which was one paragraph away from completion. Remus eyed Sirius and pushed his paper out of the way.

Classes were the usual, boring, boring, boring and in case I'm forgetting boring! Remus had to listen to Sirius, James and Peter discuss the prospect of becoming Animagi. He thought it was a good idea he just didn't want his friends expelled. The thought completely escaped him however when he entered the Great Hall by himself that night. He had been in a particularly bad mood because of the extreme homework load they had received yet again and had fallen behind his friends because the seams in his book bag spilt open and he had to fix it.

He walked into the Great Hall to see a crowd of people looking up at one of the chandeliers in the hall. There he saw Peter dangling from it and Snape was holding James and Sirius back so they couldn't get him down. Remus fought his way through the crowd and pointed his wand up at Peter.

"Please Remus!" Peter squeaked, "Get me down!" Remus held his wand steadily and muttered "locomoter Peter." Peter's body then shot up in the air and Remus guided him down to the ground. Remus then let Peter stay by himself and went over to Snape.

"Let them go Snape!" Remus yelled, spraying spit in his ugly face.

"Why should I?" Snape answered rudely.

"Because I really don't think you'd like to be seen in front of the entire student body wearing a pink frilly dress, do you? I mean it! Let them go or suffer public humiliation!" Snape considered this for merely a spilt second and then, with Sirius and James still in his grasp, dashed towards the Great Hall doors. Remus ran quickly, knocking a few second years over and followed Snape out onto the grounds. Sirius and James were searching for their wands until they noticed Snape had them. Snape ran down towards the Whomping Willow and stood in front of its swinging branches. Snape turned his back on Remus and was now holding the struggling James and Sirius right in the reach of the willow's branches.

"I'm warning you Snape!" Remus yelled upon reaching them, "you let them go!"

"Nah," Snape answered idly, "I think the willow deserves some fun don't you?" Anger now bubbling in Remus's insides he lunged himself at Snape and threw him to the ground. Snape let go of his hold on James and Sirius and they scrambled away. They looked at Remus both impressed and amazed, quiet little bookworm Remus actually had the guts to take on Severus Snape.

"Next time," Remus said coolly, "you learn to listen. Good night." Remus turned on his heel and headed back to the castle with Sirius and James trailing behind him. They met up with Peter in the Gryffindor common room when they attempted to do their homework. Remus had completed the three-page potions essay and was now tackling a Transfiguration assignment, Peter was working on Charms along with Sirius and James was doing the History of Magic chapter test in the textbook. When they were finished, it was well past midnight so they all ambled up the stairs and didn't even bother to change; they just dropped on their beds and were out within minutes.

The next morning was just as gloomy as the day before. The worst of it was that there was a hurricane raging outside so all the students were confined to the castle. The boys got up and headed straight for the common room once they changed. Sirius and James were indulged in a brutal match of Wizards' Chess, in which James was destroying Sirius, Peter was looking at his Chocolate Frog trading cards and Remus was reading the book he had received for his birthday. He was looking up boggarts when there was an enormous clap of thunder that shook the room.

"You'd think there was an earthquake going on out there," Remus said.

"Wouldn't be surprised if there was," James said miserably, picking up the remnants of his bishop piece and throwing them in the box.

"When's the next full moon Remus?" Sirius asked.

"Next Saturday." Remus was yet again faced with the prospect of transforming into a bloodthirsty werewolf after a month of anything but relaxation. He didn't know why he out of all people had to have been dealt the worse hand in life. Why was it him that had to be a werewolf? Why not Snape? Snape definitely deserved so terrible a fate, not Remus, he was a kind good-hearted child that was never to be thought to harbour such a horrible secret. He sighed and began reading about boggarts.

The next day Sirius, James, Remus and Peter all headed to the Transfiguration classroom for their detention. Professor McGonagall was at her desk grading some homework and looked up when she saw them enter. She frowned and told them all to sit down and she took out a large stack of lined parchment. She dropped the stack on Peter's desk. She strode back over to her desk and picked four quills and threw them to Sirius, who caught them. She told them to write one hundred and fifty times "I will not play worthless pranks on my fellow peers." They all groaned and began writing. At the end of an hour Remus had completed his punishment and was rubbing his aching hands together, Sirius had ten more lines to go, James had five and Peter still had fifty. By the time they left, they were sleepy and their hands ached so badly.

All the students were greatly anticipating the Halloween Feast that would be taking place that Saturday. Everyone that is except Remus. He wanted nothing more than to go and have a wonderful night laughing and joking with his friends, but he couldn't. Instead he had to spend the night in the Shrieking Shack experiencing pain beyond pain. He hated the Shrieking Shack, it was an old run down building that looked like it would fall down at any minute and people had begun to think it was haunted because of all the howling Remus would do.

On Halloween day all the students were talking excitedly about the feast. At the Gryffindor table during lunch Remus was listening to what Lily, Alice Gordon and Frank were talking about it. They were saying that Nearly Headless Nick was going to reenact his execution, Peeves was going to attempt to put on a serious act and the Bloody Baron, Fat Friar and The Grey Lady were working on an act for the students. Remus sighed, it sounded like so much fun.

"What's up with you Remus?" Alice asked. "Aren't you excited about the feast?"

"I can't go," Remus, answered despondently, "my mum's ill I have to go visit her later."

"Gee that's too bad don't worry we'll save you some of the candy!"

"Thanks. I have to go." Remus got up and headed out into the Entrance Hall where he met James, Sirius and Peter. They were talking quietly at the foot of the steps in the Entrance Hall and stopped when they saw Remus. They gestured for him to go over but he just shook his head and walked right past them. He didn't go to the Hospital Wing, like he was supposed to, he headed straight for Gryffindor Tower. He went to the boys' dormitory and saw his owl perched in its cage. Luther, his owl, was slumbering but Remus decided to wake him up anyway.

"Psst!" Remus whispered, "wake up I need to mail a letter." Luther's eyes popped open and they were looking at him angrily. Remus unlatched the cage and muttered, "sorry." He sealed his letter in an envelope and tied it to his owl's leg and sent him flying out of the window. Remus's letter was to his parents and he basically asked if they were well, that he was okay, telling them that James, Sirius and Peter were treating him well, that he was handling the full moons quite well and why they hadn't responded to his last three letters.

He sat on his bed and rested his head in his hands, staring at the blank wall. He didn't want to go and transform into a werewolf, he never did of course, but it was the fact that everyone else would be having a good time at the Halloween feast and he would miss it. He moaned and lifted himself off his bed and headed for the Hospital Wing.

Remus arrived and saw a deserted Hospital Wing; Madam Pomfrey was nowhere to be seen. Remus took his usual seat next to the door. He looked around and then wished he had brought something to do, but he did not and unfortunately he had to just stare at the wall for hours. He heard a knock on the door and looked out the window seeing James, Sirius and Peter standing out in the corridor. Remus looked around and then opened the door and stepped outside.

"Wow Remus you look terrible!" James exclaimed, staring at Remus' sickly appearance.

"Thanks, I really needed to know that," Remus said sarcastically, folding his arms across his chest, "what are you doing here anyway?"

"We've got it all figured out!" said Sirius happily.

"Got what figured out?" Remus asked.

"The whole Animagus thing. We know what animals we're going to be. I'm going to be a dog, James a stag, and Peter's is my favourite! A rat! We're going to practise secretly in the Gryffindor common room late at night. We've got a book..."

"Wait a minute!" said Remus cutting Sirius off, "you went to a library?"

"Oh be quiet! Anyways... we got a book- yes Remus a book! It tells you everything you need to know and when we're practising the only thing you need to do is sit on the steps leading up to the dormitory and make sure no one comes down."

"What do I tell them?"

"I don't know! Make something up. Tell them we let off a pack of dung bombs and have to clean them up or else McGonagall would give us detention."

"Okay... listen, I've got to get back inside Madam Pomfrey is bound to be coming up here any minute, see you tomorrow." Remus turned and went back in the Hospital Wing while James went to Quidditch practise and Sirius and Peter went to watch. Remus was right; it took only two minutes for Madam Pomfrey to come bustling in and going through the usual routine with Remus. Checking him to make sure he was not feeling too ill, going over the procedure for his transformation and not to be afraid. He nodded every time she said something and then she let him be. He sat on his chair and stared blankly at a wall, every now and then seeing a student with some weird mutation come in. One time he saw a girl with a unicorn horn growing out of her elbow and a boy in Hufflepuff that had started sprouting feathers after he had insulted a Slytherin sixth year.

Meanwhile James, Sirius and Peter were hidden at the edge of the forbidden forest with a book perched on top of a tree stump. James was bending over and looked at page fifty-two titled "Animagus for Beginners... so you want to be an Animagus but you don't know how?" James sighed and then turned to Sirius and Peter who were both leaning casually (except for Peter who was trembling madly) against tree trunks. They had been there for an hour at the most reading and rereading the same page over and over trying to figure out how to change.

"How hard can it be?" Sirius moaned throwing his hands up in the air, "it says 'concentrate on the animal you want to become, visualize its features!' We've been doing this for an hour!"

"Be patient," James said distractedly as he gazed at the pictures of witches and wizards who were transforming into elephants and wallabies. James flipped to the next page and saw what happened when it was done wrong. He saw one of a person who was attempting to become a frog. He had the hind legs and his eyes had bugged out, but the rest of him was still human. "That's going to happen if we don't get this right?" James said in disgust turning quickly back to the page before. "Okay, lets try this again."

James, Sirius and Peter closed their eyes and concentrated on a stag, a dog or a rat. James thought of the horse like body and his hair becoming a mane and growing a new pair of legs with hooves. Sirius concentrated on shrinking very slowly until he was the size of a Labrador, he picture his ears becoming angled and protruding from the upper sides of his head, growing hind legs and paws. Peter imagined himself the size of a gerbil with a pointed nose, whiskers and a long worm like tail.

"I think I got something!" James exclaimed when he saw his hair changing into silver like colour but it disappeared as quickly as it came. "Darn! I thought I was growing a mane." Sirius glared at James, he had broken his concentration by shouting out and they had to start all over again. They repeated the process and made no further progress after James's incident where he almost changed a bit. James picked the book off the stump when they were through, hid it in his robes and led the way back to the castle.

"Are we ever going to get this right?" Sirius whined as they walked up the staircase in the Entrance Hall.

"You heard Remus, it takes nearly three years to perfect," James answered heavily, "He's probably right. I just don't see why he doesn't want us to do it."

"You know him, he's very mysterious sometimes and other times you could always tell what he's thinking."

"Well let's hurry up, the feast should be starting soon! I can't wait to see Nearly Headless Nick try and chop off his head!" They quickened their pace up the steps and ran to the Gryffindor common room where James locked the book in his trunk, they took off their cloaks and replaced them with their robes and headed back down to the Great Hall.

Back in the Hospital Wing, Remus was waiting patiently for Madam Pomfrey to come and take him down to the Whomping Willow. She was busy tending to a student whose head had been transfigured into a pumpkin and she was having some difficulties. The student's head had come back, but the face still looked like it had been hollowed out with the jagged forms of eyes and a mouth. Remus stood patiently at the door knocking his foot quietly against the wall and glancing at his wristwatch every few seconds. He knew he would be transforming at any minute because his illness was at its height. He started feeling cramps all over his body, so that meant that his bones were starting to enlarge themselves. Without waiting for Madam Pomfrey he turned and burst out of the room and sped down to the grounds. He knew he wouldn't possibly make it to the willow. He ran to the Forbidden Forest and there his legs gave way and he dropped to the ground.

He clutched his stomach as he felt sweat beading up on his forehead. He moaned in pain and was rocking back and forth. Sweat now pouring on his face he forced himself up and tried to get into the forest but fell to the floor again and moaned in great pain. This was his worst transformation yet. His bones ached as they grew larger and larger and his head felt like it would split open if he had to endure any more of this. When he was finally a full-fledged werewolf the werewolf's sense took over and Remus never made it to the forest. He instead ran towards the castle and started scratching on the door like a little puppy that needed a home. A second year Ravenclaw heard the noise and decided to see what it was. She opened the door and saw a werewolf staring her down; she froze at the spot and looking frightfully at the monster. Remus was trying to control himself but his puny little human mind was nothing compared to his werewolf thoughts.

A few other students saw the Ravenclaw and decided to investigate. They saw the beast and screamed attracting the attention of the teachers. Professors McGonagall and Flitwick ran over and saw Remus, Professor Flitwick withdrew his wand and forced the doors shut and locked them. They then had to modify the memories of the students that witnessed Remus in werewolf form and then Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick ran to the nearest window to inspect Remus. They saw him prowling on the grounds. Ten minutes later Remus ran to the Forbidden Forest and hid there.

The next morning Remus awoke in the boys' dormitory. He saw that James, Peter, Sirius and Frank had already left for breakfast and were most likely going to watch the Quidditch match between Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Remus felt very sick and weak. He was shivering and his bones ached. He leaned back on his pillows and stared up at the ceiling until he heard a faint tapping on the window. He went over and saw his owl Luther pecking at the window with a letter clutched in his beak. Suddenly anxious Remus unlatched the window and his owl flew in and landed softly on Remus' bed. Remus untied the letter and looked at it disappointed. It was his letter; Luther sent it back to him. Why was this happening? Why weren't his parents answering his letters? He groaned and heard another faint tapping, this time coming from the dormitory door. He opened it and saw Lily Evans standing in the doorway.

"Good morning Remus," she said sweetly.

"Good morning," he answered weakly.

"Professor McGonagall sent me to tell you that she would like a word with, when you get a chance, she's in her office now if you hurry you could catch her."

"Ok thanks Lily."

"Any time." She turned on her heel and ran down the stairs. Remus closed the door and went to change. Fully dressed in a red jumper and black dress pants, with his robes thrown over he headed to Professor McGonagall's office. He saw all the students finishing up their breakfast and heading out to the Quidditch pitch for the game. Remus saw James, Sirius and Peter all heading out and then he saw James drooling over Lily as she walked by with Alice. Remus made a small smile and continued up to the third floor. He knocked on Professor McGonagall's office door and she immediately said, "come in Remus." He opened the door and saw Professor McGonagall sitting at her desk with her hands folded tightly and her lips pursed.

"Sit Remus," she demanded. Remus took the seat across from her and waited for her to speak again, "what happened last night?"

"What do you mean?" Remus asked.

"What do you think you were doing prowling out on the grounds when you know perfectly well that you should have been in Hogsmeade!"

"I'm sorry."

"You better be!"

"Let me explain myself. I was waiting for Madam Pomfrey to take me down the willow but she never did and I was beginning to feel sick and my bones were starting to changes. I ran down to the grounds heading for the Forbidden Forest but I couldn't make I transformed on the spot and I tried to go in, I don't remember much afterwards. I'm really sorry!" Professor McGonagall surveyed him through her glasses and took a deep breath.

"It seems you know that what you did was wrong, even though you don't know what you did. I will be speaking to Madam Pomfrey about what she has done to contribute to this. I think you should spend the rest of the day in the Hospital Wing, unless you'd rather go and see the match outside?"

"I'd like to see the match Professor."

"Okay we'll go down together it hasn't even started yet." Professor McGonagall gathered her papers that were scattered about the desk, and shoved them in the top right hand drawer of her desk. She grabbed her scarlet cloak. Buttoned the buttons, while Remus waited patiently by the door, and was ready. Remus felt kind of awkward to be walking around the school with one of his professors. She was trying to make conversation by asking him how his friends were and if they had any more jokes up their sleeves, of course Remus refused to answer that. She asked him how he thought school was and if he was adjusting, she was trying to act like a mother in a way. He said fine, yes when she asked him if he liked it, no, when she asked if he was still frightened about the full moon and seeing that he was not in much of a talking mood, asked no further questions.

Upon reaching the pitch Remus immediately looked up and saw the Hufflepuffs flying around in a sea of yellow. They were just doing laps around the edge of the stadium while the Slytherins occupied the middle. Professor McGonagall left him to go to the staff booth while Remus went to the Gryffindor. He found a seat in the back, since all the others were filled with exuberant Gryffindors all anxious to see the Slytherins get clobbered. Even though they knew that was far from happening. He saw James, Sirius and Peter sitting in the front, James and Sirius screaming and yelling insults at the Slytherins while Peter just watched them. Remus looked around, he saw that Madam Hooch was approaching the field carrying the chest of game balls and the captains shook hands, mounted their brooms, took off, the balls were released and the game was on. Remus was watching only a bit. He was extremely tired and cold. He was shivering uncontrollably and found it hard to focus. He did however notice when the teams scored and was able to distinguish who scored. Judging by the loud boos coming from the Gryffindors, Slytherin had just scored for the ninth time making the score 90-10. Remus groaned and continued to listen, he wanted Slytherin to lose so badly, especially after what Snape did to James and Sirius.

An hour and a half later Remus headed to the common room hoping to catch up with James, Sirius and Peter.