Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. Not even the bloody moon. Well, the spell is mine, sort of, but it's probably all wrong, and with my luck they're going to tell us how to really do it in book six and I'll have to re-write this AGAIN, soo...
HA! You think a flimsy horizontal line can stop me! FOOLS! I will rant all day! Rant rant rant! RANT! What? Interrupting the story? It's my story, I'll do whatever I want. Oh, wait, Mary Sue authors say that, too. shudder Fine. You win. On with the story.
Hmmm? What's that? Oh, you've been watching the moon? Ah, I see. That, children, is called a Waxing Crescent. You may as well remember that. The moon is advancing towards becoming a full moon. It will continue to wax until it does. The next part of this story revolves around a Waxing Crescent moon, too. This moon came about a week later; but this story takes place about a year later.
You see, it takes a very long time to complete an Animagus transformation. Especially for three unregistered, untrained, unsupervised boys. What's that? No, you certainly may NOT! First of all, you'd get caught, and second of all, it's illegal! Don't even THINK about it.
Now, I want you to look up at the sky again. No, you needn't go outside, you can look from the window. Can you find the constellations I showed you last time? Yes, that's right. Canis Major and Lupus. Excellent. Now, come over here, and let's continue.
"There," said Remus, sprinkling the last of the leaves into the cauldron and stirring it three times more, "It's done." He couldn't hide the tremor in his voice, and he didn't bother to try.
James looked into the cauldron suspiciously. "Not a very pretty potion, is it? It looks like boogers."
"Or like Snape's face," Sirius said brightly.
"That was disgusting," Peter piped up, "I thought it was supposed to be just his nose that was covered in them. And it was only supposed to last for ten minutes."
James shrugged, grinning. "Well, who cares? It was even better our way. Don't tell me it wasn't fun to see Snape covered in boogers for a whole day."
Peter shuddered. "If you say so."
"Anyway, Remus, are you sure you made it right? I'm not drinking anything that looks like snot," Sirius said stubbornly.
"It's supposed to," Remus said patiently, "And you needn't worry about drinking snot...once you get it, you add one of your own hairs, and it'll change colors."
"Hey, that's a really good idea," Sirius said suddenly.
"What's a good idea?" Peter said warily.
"Making Snape drink snot," James replied instantly. Sometimes it was uncanny, the way he and Sirius could read each other's minds.
"And where are you going to get all that snot, may I ask?" Remus inquired.
A revolted expression crossed both James and Sirius' faces. "We're not going to get any snot, dear Remus, we're going to transfigure his pumpkin juice. In mid-drink," Sirius explained condescendingly.
Remus rolled his eyes. "Right. Sure. Whatever. Anyway, it's done. And you three better be happy, you don't know how much time I've had to--"
"Sacrifice for this, if you're not grateful I'll hex you to next week, and how could you have turned Snape into a tree frog just for me?" Sirius and James finished with him.
"Honestly, Remus, can't you think up a better lecture? You've been giving us that one for the last three years," James told him.
"You can say that again," Sirius agreed, "And for the last time, we turned Snape into a tree frog because he hexed your nose off! How do you live without your nose? Honestly. We had to get him back."
"You sound just like my Mum," Peter told him.
"HEY! I resemble that!" Sirius protested.
Remus stifled a snicker. "You sure do," he agreed.
"Yes!" Sirius agreed proudly. Then he looked around at the way everyone else was smirking. "What? What did I say?"
"Nothing, Sirius," James said, pulling a book towards him. "Okay, it says as soon as the potion's finished, you have to let it sit for ten minutes. Has it been ten minutes?"
"Four," said Remus, checking his watch.
"Right. Why don't you time it or something?"
Remus nodded and fiddled with the buttons on his watch. "Done," he said after a few seconds.
"Okay, then we have to each drink it and then..." he made a face, "The hard part."
"The what?" Peter said, his voice squeaking in spite of himself.
James shot him a sympathetic look. "It's a combination of an advanced Transfiguration spell, a variation on temporary human transfiguration, and another spell, a special one...look at this, it's really long." He shoved the book towards Remus, who peered at it.
"Become one with nature...one with yourself...one with the earth..." he muttered.
"What? That's not what it says," James protested.
"It's Latin, James."
"I have to speak Latin?" Peter squeaked.
"We'll run you through the pronunciations, Peter, don't worry," James assured him, a little absentmindedly. He had moved over to sit beside Remus and was studying the text, his eyebrows wrinkled in a line as he concentrated. "Oh, I see. One with nature, one with yourself, one with the earth, one with your inner self...that sounds like something Trelawney would say..."
"Ah, class, today we are going to use clairvoyant vibrations and a hot sticky room to become one with our inner selves," Sirius said, putting on a misty voice. "No, Potter, I'm certain your inner self is not a piece of green cheese. Try harder, class! Try harder!"
"That would be disturbing, wouldn't it?" James said, raising his eyebrows. "Trying to do the Animagus transformation and turning into a piece of green cheese instead?"
Peter looked a little green himself. "Don't scare me like that."
"Nonsense, Peter, you won't turn into a piece of green cheese," Remus reassured him.
"I wonder what Snape would be," Sirius wondered.
"A slug, and I'd squish him," James replied promptly.
"I'd think a bat or something," Remus spoke up.
"No, bats are too clean," Sirius disagreed, "I like the slug idea. Snape the Slithering Slug..." he got a dreamy expression on his face "Just think..."
"Why'd you give him ideas?" Peter said reproachfully.
"If half the Slytherin Common Room shows up at breakfast tomorrow as slugs, it's your fault, James," Remus agreed.
"Ehehehehehehe..." said Sirius.
Peter backed away from him. "All right then..."
Just then, Remus' watch went off insanely. Sirius jumped out of his skin. "What was that?"
"My watch," Remus said calmly, turning it off, "It's been ten minutes." He grabbed three goblets and filled them each with some of the booger-colored potion. "There, now add one of your own hairs to it and drink it."
James and Peter both pulled out one of their hairs with little or no fuss, but Sirius made a face. "But that HURTS!"
"What, pulling out your hair? Just be thankful it isn't a tooth!"
"What's wrong, Remus? That time of the month again?"
"That's not funny, Sirius," James said, "Just take a stupid hair out, it won't kill you."
"What if I don't feel like taking a hair out?" Sirius retorted, sticking his tongue out.
"Fine, have it your way," James shrugged. "Here, Remus, hold this," he said, handing the hair he had just pulled out to Remus and heading towards Sirius.
"Wha--what do you think you're--HEY! Stop that! OWWWWWWWWWWWWW! That HURTS!"
"Oh, shut up," said James, handing Sirius his newly plucked hair. "You big baby."
"I am NOT!" Sirius whined, rubbing his scalp, but accepting the strand of hair. "What was the big idea, huh? The point was to get ONE, not shave me bald!"
"Oh, shut up, I only got one, you idiot," James said, taking his hair from Remus and dropping it in his goblet. "Hey, cool."
"What's cool?"
"It's shiny!" James said, showing him the potion, which had turned all red and gold.
"Gryffindor colors!" Sirius yelled, high-fiving James and dropping his hair in his own potion. "Hey, that's awesome," he said a second later, showing his potion to James. It had gone pitch black, except for the silver flecks all the way through.
"Add yours, Peter!" James said, curious to know how it would look.
Peter swallowed nervously, but obeyed. The potion turned bright yellow. In it was mixed specks of a deep red color, so deep they looked like flecks of blood. Somehow, Remus thought, they looked like Gryffindor colors, only...corrupted. But he banished that thought instantly. Peter didn't deserve that, and he was being mean.
"COOL!" Sirius yelled, "It looks like--"
Remus shot him a warning look, and kicked him.
"--cool red stuff," Sirius finished lamely, rubbing his shin. "Owww..."
"All right, you three, drink it already," Remus prodded, feeling nervous. What if it didn't work? What if none of them transformed? What if Peter turned into a piece of green cheese? He wouldn't be surprised, really, if he did. Peter could mess just about anything up. What if the animals weren't big enough to control the-wolf? What if--
He didn't have time to wonder much. The other three boys had just finished downing their potions. "All right, that's done," he said, a little testily. "Now for the spell."
"What do we do?" James said, pulling out his wand. The other two imitated his actions.
"Well, technically you're supposed to point it at yourself at say the spell, but I think it would work better if you stood like this, in a circle, and pointed your wands towards the middle. It's a standard way of combining and increasing power."
"Will it work with this, though?" Sirius said, moving into position with James and Peter.
"Probably, yes. Especially since you're not fully trained wizards yet. You've got a lot of power, but it's not fully developed. This will help focus it and get it to do what you want. It may not be a full transformation at first, but eventually you'll be able to transform completely and without the aid of wands."
Sirius nodded. "Do you always have to sound like a book?"
"Of course." Remus stood up from his position on the floor and moved towards the door.
"What're you doing?" Peter said, a little nervously.
"Just being paranoid. I really hope no one actually knows about this passage."
"They don't," Sirius said confidently, "I've never even seen anyone look in that mirror - they don't seem to realize it's there."
"Yes, well, it never hurts to be cautious," Remus said, "Especially with things like this. Okay, are you ready?"
"Wait, I don't understand the spell," Peter said, "What are we supposed to say?"
James grabbed the book and pushed it towards him. "There, it's right there."
"Maybe you should all say the spell a couple times before you actually do it," Remus suggested.
"Right, good idea," James said, and he and Sirius went to huddle around Peter, peering at the book and repeating the words aloud until even Peter knew exactly what to say. Meanwhile, Remus was still listening at the door and jumping at every tiny sound.
"Okay, I think we've got it," said Sirius after at least half an hour.
"Peter, do you know what to say?" Remus said, looking at the smallest member of their group.
"I--I think so," Peter said nervously, biting his lip.
"All right," said Remus, "You're almost ready then." He took the book away from them. "All right, so, you've got to get in a circle and all point your wands to the center...and then..."
"What?" Sirius asked.
"It doesn't say what happens after that. Just what you have to do."
"Well?" said James impatiently, "What do we have to do then?" He took the book from Remus.
"As the spell is being performed, look inside yourself for your own power supply, your source of magic. Focus on it, and let it flow through your wand and take shape," James read aloud, "Think about who you are, your personality, and important events in your life. This will help the transformation go smoother. The initial transformation will be difficult, and it may take hours to complete, but each transformation after it will become gradually easier, to the point where you will be able to do it without difficulty." He handed the book back to Remus. "Well, all right then. Let's get on with it."
"Wait," said Peter, "I don't understand what they mean by focus on your magic."
"You know the feeling you get when a spell goes right for you?" Remus said.
"When you held your wand for the first time?" Sirius added.
"When magic just comes pouring out of you, without even trying?" James said.
"Yeah...I think so..." Peter said hesitantly.
"Just focus on that," Remus told him, "Think about that feeling, think about your magic. And once you've tapped your magic, start thinking about yourself."
"What?"
James made an impatient noise. "About all your feelings, your family, things you've done...come on, Peter, it's not that difficult!"
"Can we do it now?" Sirius said.
"All right," Peter said, "But..."
"You'll do fine, Peter," Remus said kindly, "Now, lift your wands up."
All three of them obeyed, bringing their wands up in a circle, but not close enough to touch. "All right," said James, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. "This is it."
"Which one is first?" Peter said, his voice cracking yet again.
"The long one," replied James without opening his eyes. "One...two...three."
Fierite una cum natura
Fierite una cum terra
Fierite una cum tu ipsi
Fierite una cum tu intestinus ipse."
A soft light began emitting from all three wands at the same time, stronger from the wands of James and Sirius than that of Peter. The light from James' wand was golden, Sirius' silvery, and Peter's a bright red, almost eerie sort of color.
"Mutare Animalis," they said together.
The clouds of light descended from the wands and went to surround their owners, so that James, Sirius and Peter were all covered in light so bright that for a moment, Remus had to turn his head away so he wouldn't be blinded by it.
When he turned back to look, the light had dimmed just slightly and all three boys had their eyes squinted and seemed to be concentrating very hard on something. Remus had no way of knowing what they were thinking about, but judging by the instructions in the many books they had read about the Animagus transformation, he assumed they were drawing on memories from their lives and, as one book the described it, "the things that make up the essential portions of one's personality that could be compared in some way to the normal behavior and disposition of an animal." Whatever that meant. That was the one good thing about not having to learn how to become an Animagus, in Remus' opinion. Unfortunately, the alternative was hardly a good one in any sense.
For a moment nothing changed. Then, as Remus watched in growing astonishment, slowly but surely each boy began to look different. Sirius' nose seemed to be getting longer, his hair shaggier, and something seemed to be growing on the top of his head. Peter seemed to get even smaller, and his eyes were smaller and more watery. Remus could have sworn he saw antlers growing out of James' head.
The expressions of extreme pain on each of their faces was enough to make Remus doubly glad he didn't have to do this - especially considering how long it was taking. He quickly became bored with watching the three of them transform so slowly, found himself checking his watch constantly, and saw that it had been at least an hour since they had performed the spell. However, none of the other three people in the room seemed to realize that it had been so long - they were completely focused on what they were trying to do.
With a sigh, Remus picked up the book that lay abandoned on the floor, wishing he had something else to amuse himself with. He absentmindedly flicked through the pages, looking up every once in a while to see how they were coming.
It was another hour before the light faded all of a sudden and Remus found himself staring at three animals in front of him. He closed the book with a snap and blinked at them, clearing the spots from his vision.
Staring back at him were a dog, a rat, and a deer.
But they weren't still for long. The dog began jumping up and down, running around in circles, trying to inspect himself. The deer was doing much the same thing, turning its head every which way, looking under its legs and behind its back. The rat, too, was running around in insane circles, climbing up desks and chairs and squeaking excitedly.
Remus laughed. "You did it!" He said, feeling almost as excited as they were. "Took you long enough!"
The dog barked his agreement enthusiastically, and jumped on Remus, licking him til Remus was sure he would smell like wet dog for a week. "Sirius! Get off me!" He protested, for after watching him try to transform for two hours, he knew which animal was which.
The dog jumped down and a look of intense concentration appeared on its face. It made for a very odd sight, especially when it began to slowly morph back into a human. Remus grinned. "Sirius Black, the black dog. How appropriate."
"Quiet, you," Sirius replied, but his grin was every bit as wide as Remus'. "Hey! You're a wolf, I'm a dog...CANINES UNITE!"
Remus rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Sirius."
Peter hopped down from the desk he was sitting down, where he had probably crawled while he was still a rat. "That was great!" he exclaimed, cheeks flushed and eyes shining. "I can't believe it worked!"
"I KNOW!" Sirius agreed loudly, "James, turn back already!"
The deer screwed up its face, looking exactly like James when he was faced with a particularly difficult task, and after a few minutes, turned back into James. "That was so cool!"
Sirius took one look at James and fell over laughing.
"What's your problem now?" James demanded irritably.
"I can't believe you're a deer!" Sirius gasped.
"What's wrong with that?"
"Oh, nothing...Bambi."
"What?" said Peter and James at the same time.
"Muggle movie," Remus and Sirius said together.
"A what now?" said James confusedly.
"How do you know about Muggle stuff?" Peter said at the same time.
Sirius folded his arms stubbornly. "Well just because somebody wouldn't take Muggle studies..."
"You only took it because you don't like your parents," James retorted.
"Quiet, Bambi."
"Oh, shut up, Sirius."
Remus snickered. "That should be our catchphrase: shut up, Sirius."
"HEY!"
"Shut UP, Sirius," everyone else chorused together.
Sirius pouted, dragged a chair over in the corner and faced the wall. "Fine then! I'll just go over here in my corner and plan my next prank to turn Snape into a slug all by myself...and send him to James' dormitory...all by myself..."
"It's your dormitory, too."
"Well your bed then! All by myself...I'll just sit here by myself..."
"Well, have fun by yourself then. We're going to bed," Remus told him, walking towards the door.
"To BED!" Sirius jumped out of his chair and stared at them in shock. "When we just became the youngest Animaguses ever? And you're going to BED? Are you NUTS?"
"Animagi, Sirius," Remus reminded him, "And we've been here for three hours, it's nearly two o'clock in the morning!"
"ANIMAGUSES! And we are NOT going to bed!"
"Well where do you suggest we go then, Mr. Animaguses?" James asked, folding his arms over his chest and looking at Sirius expectantly.
"I don't KNOW!" Sirius threw up his arms, gesturing wildly. "Hogsmeade! The Forbidden Forest! ANYWHERE!"
"I thought you became Animagi to help Remus, not to sneak out of Hogwarts," Peter reminded him.
"Yeah, what about me?" Remus protested, "I can't exactly turn into an animal at will."
"Oh, well, that's no good," Sirius groaned, "What's the fun in being a werewolf if you can't do it whenever you want?"
"There is no fun in being a werewolf," Remus snapped. Everyone jumped, and looked at him a little oddly; Remus never lost his temper, even around Snape.
There was a short, uncomfortable silence. Peter fidgeted nervously, feeling the tension in the room thicken a little too much.
"Well, anyway," said Sirius suddenly, "Helping Remus was the main point. Getting out of Hogwarts is just an extra. And he can take the Invisibility Cloak, right?"
"Oh, right," said Remus, rolling his eyes, "Because a deer, a rat and a dog all running around in Hogsmeade looks so normal, right?"
"Ri--wait, you were being sarcastic, weren't you?"
"Yes, Sirius, he was being sarcastic," said James patiently.
"Right. I knew that."
"Anyway, I don't know about you three, but I'm tired, so I'm going to bed," Remus said, yawning.
"HA! You weren't even doing any magic!" Sirius scoffed
Remus raised an eyebrow at him. "I didn't see you brewing any potions. And anyway, it's TWO O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING!"
"Oh. Right."
Just then, Peter yawned widely. "I'm really tired, too."
"That makes three of us," James said, yawning also. "Sorry, Sirius, you're outnumbered."
"Oh, that is SO not fa--" Sirius started to say, but was interrupted by a giant yawn. Everyone laughed.
"Well, then, that makes it unanimous," Remus said, pushing the door open.
"Wait, let's get this on," James said, shaking the Invisibility Cloak on at them.
"That might be good," Peter agreed, and they all slipped under it and began padding back towards the Common Room.
"Moony...Wormtail...hmm, what could you call a dog?" Sirius muttered as they walked down the hallways.
"What's your problem now, Sirius?" James whispered back.
"I'm thinking up nicknames for us. Remus was already Moony, Peter is Wormtail, you're Bambi...what am I?"
"I am not being Bambi."
"Well, you think of something, then," Sirius retorted.
"Prongs," Remus said suddenly.
"Huh?"
"His antlers. Prongs."
"That's brilliant, Moony! Now, what am I?"
"Let's see, a giant black dog...Trelawney would say you're a Grim," James told him.
"Moony, Wormtail, Prongs and Grim...somehow I don't think that works, James," Remus said.
"Blackie?" Peter suggested.
"That makes him sound like a stuffed animal," Remus said.
"Grim, stuffed animal...would you make up your minds?" Sirius said irritably.
"You could be Bigfoot," James said with a grin.
"Love you too, Prongs."
"Big foot...Padfoot!" Peter exclaimed suddenly.
Everyone turned and looked at him in surprise. "That's perfect, Peter!" James said.
"Perfect Peter...that has a ring to it," Remus mused.
"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs...I like it," Sirius decided.
"We'll be the Pranksters...no, that doesn't sound right," James thought out loud.
"We're not just Pranksters, we're so much more!" Sirius protested.
"Well, what do we do? We play pranks, we sneak around the school at night, we steal food from the kitchens, we turn into animals..." Remus said thoughtfully.
"The Nighttime Crawlers? No..." said Peter.
"Intruders? Prowlers? Looters?" James suggested.
"Marauders!" Sirius exclaimed suddenly, "That's it! We'll be the Marauders."
"Brilliant. We're the Marauders. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs," James said decisively. "Pig breath."
This surprising statement got him no odd looks, as just then the Fat Lady swung open, admitting them into the Common Room.
They pulled off the Invisibility Cloak, looking around their empty room contentedly.
"Just think," said Sirius in a satisfied voice, "In a couple weeks, we'll be marauding all over the Shrieking Shack."
Remus shuddered. "Don't remind me. Let's go to bed."
"Aye aye, Cap'n Moony."
"Captain Moony...that has a nice ring to it," Remus said, heading up the stairs.
"You think everything has a nice ring to it," Sirius retorted as he followed him.
"Yessir," Remus agreed cheerfully.
Sirius grinned suddenly. "We're the canines, right, Remus?"
Remus grinned back. "Moony and Padfoot. Beware the dogs."
Sirius laughed. "What's that Latin thing you always say? Beware the dog?"
"Cave Canem," Remus said promptly, "But that's only one, we're two. Two dogs. Sooo...canes! Cave Canes."
Sirius grinned. "Cave Canes. I like it."
What? Yes, that's all I'm telling you tonight! I think that's quite enough, thank you! What do you want? Oh, I said cave canes. Say it again? Oh, honestly. Say the "ca" like you would in "car." Yes, perfect. There's a "v" in there, it just sounds like a "w" Yes, I know that's weird. That's the way it is. And say the "e" like "ay" in "way." Yes, that's right. "Ca-way."
The "canes" part sounds the same in the beginning. Say "ca" like in "car" again. And the "es" is like "es" in "confess." Ca-nes. Cave Canes. Yes, it really does mean beware the dogs in Latin.
No, I will NOT tell you more now! You'll just have to wait. Watch the sky again, and tell me when the moon changes again. That's all I'm telling you now. Good night.