Disclaimer: No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Furthermore, this was written in accordance to the Ministry of Magick's Public Fiction Code Article X and brings no harm or hex to the reader before, after or during the reading of the piece. However, it was not written in accordance with the Ministry of Magick's Public Fiction Code ILII which states that, beyond holding hands, relationships between two men or two women are strictly forbidden.

Pairings: sb(plus)rl, rianxquin

Summary: welcome to Fifth Year. Prepare yourself for the turbulence that will follow.

This chapter goes out to anyone who would ever think of joining an anti-David Thewlis anti-Gary Oldman Club. What kind of drugs were the casters on? How do they look anything like Sirius and Remus? Honestly!

A note on Perri: i was in a Harry Potter in America RP (Morguman) this summer for a time and Perri was my character. Her mother Chelsea Kent was actually a Ravenclaw, but i love Perri so i put her and not Chelsea into here.

Sorry for the delay in the release of this chapter. My computer caught a virus and then… i've been less than mentally well.

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Chapter Nineteen

In which changes occur.

While the common belief is that werewolves hunt just as their true-wolf cousins do, this is misleading. Werewolves, during the full moon, should not be around humans as they will give the fatal bite, turning him into a werewolf like himself. However, werewolves show no desire to hunt other animals. Gorial Chion performed a study in which he left werewolf volunteers with undisclosed names in a closed area with small animals that would usually be prey to a wolf. All of the animals came out unharmed, if not terrified.

'What?' I looked in the article in my hand. It was a clipping from Magick Today. It was yellowed and crumbled. It was my birthday present from Sirius, James and Peter.

'We found this Second Year,' Sirius explained, 'after we found out, we did a lot of research.'

'We wanted to know more,' James added.

'We wanted to help you,' Peter added.

'I don't understand…'

We had arrived at Hogwarts that night, and we were sitting around our room. We were huddled on Sirius' bed, the curtains were closed and we had James' wand as a light. The fortnight before school had passed and with it my transformation. I received my letter, and this one, much like my letter from First Year, was something special. Much to my surprise (but not that of the other Marauders) I was named Gryffindor Prefect along with Lily. So I rode on the train with her and not with the others. I went to a meeting with the other prefects after dinner.

'We can't cure you, Moony, but we can help make it better for you. We decided that we wanted to be with you during the moons,' Sirius continued, 'but we couldn't do it as we are. It was McGonagall that gave us the idea.'

'McGonagall?'

'She's an Animagus,' Peter supplied.

I blinked.

'It was the link that we needed,' James concluded. 'We decided that if we were Animagi — '

'Animagi?'

'You're sounding awful like a parrot,' Sirius commented.

'You… for… Animagi?' I choked.

'We've been working at it since Second Year, and we finished it up, perfected it last night. That's why we went to James'. Sorry we've not told you, but we didn't want to disappoint you if we failed.'

'I… how? It's… For me? I… what?'

Sirius nodded proudly. 'Jimmy is a stag; a regular old white hart. And Pete is a proud member of the rodent family of Rattus.'

'He means I'm a brown rat,' Peter winced.

'Rattus sounds more sophisticated.'

'And you are?'

'A black dog,' James supplied studying my reaction. Which was a gape, by the way.

'We can overwhelm Jim and Pete with our canine superiority,' he grinned toothily. He switched then, it was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. There was a big, black dog in his place. And said dog pounced on me and licked my cheek and wagged his tail. Peter went next, and he crawled around and twitched his nose.

'I'd change, but I'd be too big to try it here.'

'Merlin! James!' my arms came up around Sirius' other form and I hugged his neck. And tussled his thick fur. A few minutes later, he changed back, and Peter changed back as well.

'This solves another problem as well,' Sirius pointed out, 'with three of us in animal form, you can use James' Cloak and we can explore for your map. Quickly, too. And finish it for usage.'

'So you can abuse my prefecthood?'

'Something like that, yes.'

I shook my head, 'I… I just don't get it'

'What's to get, Moony?' Sirius raised an eyebrow. 'We're best mates, the four of us, naturally we want to help each other out, right?'

Prefects had to go to prefect meetings, to state the obvious. Neither Lily nor I knew the others that well, save Rosier who was the Slytherin boy prefect (not that they really had anyone worthwhile from which to choose. We tended to sit by the Ravenclaw prefects of our year. Conner Benthat and Perri Baxley. We knew them from class and from sightings in the halls, but we actually got a chance to talk and both Lily and I enjoyed it.

As promised I used the Cloak to explore the grounds with the others in their animal forms. I had picked up a few clues as to alter locations and tunnels from other prefects and we were all itching to find them out. As it happened, there were three paths to Hogsmede that we could take, including the much-used one to the Shack, and several hiding places throughout the school. There was one room that we all found quite interesting. I swear I had been there before, when I needed to vent, but it was perfectly suited to our needs at the time, that was, it contained some more locations for our map within a map of its own. Unfortunately, it was not placed on the map. I've been there several more times, and I may mention that later, and I am of the belief that most students visit it at some time or another.

'Here goes nothing,' I raised my wand and prepared to start the incantation.

'Waitaminute!' Sirius grabbed my hand. 'How's this going to work?'

'Our names and the names of anyone we need to find will be on there – especially Filch, Mrs. Norris and Dumbledore.'

'Our names?' Sirius repeated.

'Yes.'

'What if the map falls into, you know, unwanted hands? Could we, say, put nicknames on there?'

'Nicknames?'

'Like "Moony".'

'I'm the only one with a nickname, really. Or, one that's not entirely obvious.'

'We can make some – based off of our animals,' Sirius replied, as if it were the most clear answer in the world.

'Right,' James nodded, 'Sirius can be "Dog Breath" and I'll be "Hooves" and Peter can be "Hand Held".'

'Funny, Jim.'

'What about… "Prongs"?' Peter suggested, 'because of his antlers.'

James nodded in agreement, 'then Sirius is "Padfoot".'

'Alright…' I looked at Peter.

'What's so definable about a rat?'

'A rodent of the familia Rattus,' Sirius corrected.

Peter groaned.

'His tail!' James grinned triumphantly. 'It's like a worm.'

'It's disturbing.'

'"Wormtail"!'

'Okay then,' I surmised, '"Prongs", "Padfoot", and "Wormtail".'

'And "Moony",' Sirius added. "You're one of us, too.'

'Yes, and "Moony".' I carried through with the incantation, and I saw the four of us circled in our room. 'When we've finished, "mischief managed" hides the map. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good" shows the map.'

Sirius wore his outfits, but then I knew he would. He saved them for Hogsmede, usually, to impress his dates. He had little tubes in his ears, he said they were 'zero gauge double flare tunnels'. They were very cool. His 'dating' was getting out of hand. He was gone until insane hours during the night. I would stay awake until he came in, so I took to closing my bed-curtains so Sirius wouldn't know that I was awake. But I was. He would slip in, and fumble in the dark before he curled in his bed. He always reeked of his current girl- or boyfriend. My jealously piqued.

To escape my jealously, I spent a lot of time in the prefects' bathroom. It wasn't often in use and I was able to soak in the bath alone, without the restraints of the outside world. The ghosts that frequented the bathroom left me alone, deciding after a while that I wasn't fun to talk to. They thought I was crazy—Loony Lupin. I suppose that makes sense – I spent much of the time talking aloud to myself or not talking to anyone at all. I filled the bath with a mixture of soaps that I perfected and just let the heat consume me.

James and Sirius had mutually decided to become Aurors and to make our lives living hells. Well, as to the latter, I doubt they knew what they were doing. Peter was fascinated enough, but it drove me crazy. James' horrible messy excuse for hair was "styled" impishly to resemble what Lily called 'broomstick hair'. Sirius' hair fell to his shoulders and was cut unevenly, though intentionally so. He bushed it continuously. He was the Peacock of us all, including the girls, he rose when I did and followed me to the prefects' bathroom (without asking, I might add) and, when I went to eat breakfast with the girls and finish some studying, Sirius went to do himself up. It took him some time and he came to class right before the bell.

'Prongsy,' Sirius cooed, 'give me your Defence notes.'

'Moony has them,' he waved Sirius off towards my desk. It had been full moon the night before and I missed class – I usually just copied James' notes on those days. Those were, of course, the only day James took notes thoroughly. Go figure.

'Moooony,' he leaned over, 'are you almost done with those?'

'Not quite,' I replied, 'but if you were paying attention in class, you wouldn't need them.'

'Too busy.'

'With what?' I blinked.

'My nails,' he deadpanned.

'After all, the Gryffinwhore must keep up his appearances,' James droned and Sirius scowled.

'Don't call him that,' I defended. Sirius said nothing. He had gotten used to the nickname, albeit unwillingly. 'Here,' I gave him James' notes, silently and he took them.

Okay, so they wanted to be Aurors, I wanted to be a teacher (honestly, what else was I qualified to do? Dumbledore had offered me a place in Hogwarts, and I was sure that he would allow me to teach if I asked). Peter, well. Peter just wanted to pass.

I started studying very early in the year. I had read all my books from cover to cover before school had even begun and I went through them again and again, and then I read my own notes and supplementary texts. I was convinced that I was going to do horribly on it. Sirius, Remus, James, Lily… Baxley and Benthat all assured me that I would do fine. Better than fine.

The moons. Wow. Sirius was, without a doubt, the best companion of the three. He was the most fit to frolic with Moony – by this time we often used our nicknames to refer to our other selves. I felt better after the moon. I didn't have as many cuts and scrapes. Moony liked the arrangement. According to James, Padfoot played suspiciously well with Moony – I have only a vague remembrance of the wolf's activities. James said that it was like Padfoot had embraced what Sirius would not (that Sirius and I were meant for each other). I told him to stop being such a dolt.

'Going to the Ball again, Remus,' Lily asked me casually one morning at breakfast. Jemmying and Kent weren't there, as it was a Saturday and they were asleep.

'I don't think I've much of a choice,' I replied. 'Sirius bought me an outfit that he told me I'm to wear during the event.'

'Oh? And what is he wearing?'

My eyes went starred. 'Just about the sexiest outfit ever.' I explained it and she nodded her approval. 'It's… amazing, Lily. And… and I have to watch him in it all night.'

'You could go with him,' she suggested.

'Yeah, right.'

She shrugged. 'It was just a suggestion, take it or leave it. Besides, if you go with Sirius, who will be my date?' I blinked. 'I'm being forced to go this year. If I'm to go, I'll like to go with the best bloke there.' She paused, 'what are you wearing? If Sirius picked it, I don't want my date to be prettier than me.' I told her and she whistled. 'Very nice.'

'Mm, Sirius said he thought so, too. Of course, he bought it with his father's money.'

'Maybe he does have a crush on you.'

'I doubt it.'

'It's possible.'

'Yet unlikely.'

I shook my head. 'I'm off to study, want to join me?'

'Like you actually need to study,' she laughed but followed me to the library anyway. We met Baxley there – she insisted at that point that I call her by name – and I enjoyed thoroughly the study session that turned into a theoretical discussion about the reliability of divinations. Ah, intelligent conversation!