I think it was early spring when the dynamic started shifting because it was still cold but the wild flowers on the grassy hills were beginning to bloom. James was spending more and more time with Lily, away from the Marauders and Serena-Rose was filling the gap left by him. But we all still made it a point to eat communally at every meal.
James, Lily and Sirius were sitting opposite us in the Great Hall one day, finishing our dinner and enjoying our usual banter when James jokingly remarked, "You know, Aldebaran, for all your big talk about sex, you sure don't seem to be getting any."
She looked up at him and said unflinchingly, "Who says I'm not getting laid?"
"Well, you haven't got yourself a boyfriend," he retorted.
"So? That didn't stop me from fucking Bobby Hunter in the locker-room last fall after our first Quidditch game. Or that Carl Murphy in the restricted section a couple months ago under my invisibility cloak." She informed us unapologetically.
"You shagged my Keeper?" James screeched and looked as if he was mentally calculating the effects on the team.
"You shagged that studious fifth-year book-worm?" Sirius followed incredulously a second later. I was in silent shock; people told me Carl was a younger version (student-wise, that is) of me! Peter let out a strangled sob and looked like he'd been punched in the gut. "You never told us!" Sirius accused loudly.
Serena-Rose just shrugged. "Nobody asked until now."
"But, you're not dating them?" Lily asked struggling to comprehend this turn of events.
"Naw…. Who needs that? I just wanted to see what it was like. Well, that and get my rocks off. You know how you can just look at a person and tell if they'd be a good ball for you? Like when you're in class and rank who you'd do it with? Well, they happened to be in the top five. Bobby's tall dark and handsome and a confident 'n' cocky horny bastard," she explained to us, staring unabashedly at Sirius. "And Carl, all quiet and pent up—sometimes those are the most wild when they finally break free of control." I could have sworn she longingly glanced sideways at me. "So, curiosity satisfied and that's that," she said dismissively, brushing her hands and done with it.
"Don't they want to be your boyfriend?" Lily inquired, obviously perplexed by the concept of casual sex.
"Yeah, but I didn't some whole relationship trip. I don't think they cared too much, not that they didn't ask but most guys don't mind a "no-strings-attached" lay. It's that whole 60's philosophy I grew up with, 'if you can't be with the ones you love, honey, love the ones you're with'." She sounded a little wistful with that last comment and I felt her hand brush my thigh under the table. But then she brightened with a teasing smile, "Besides, everyone knows my heart belongs to you guys."
She turned to her right and kissed Peter on the side of his head, earning a fierce blush. Peter leaned over to kiss her back but had to settle for just smelling her hair when she had next turned to me and kissed my cheek near the corner of my mouth. I think I may have blushed as badly as Peter. Then she crawled up across the table, smushing a breast in the butter by accident, and kissed a very pleasantly surprised Sirius at the corner of his smiling mouth. "You two," she waved at the speechless James and Lily, "Can take care of yourselves, but know I love you too."
Then, she silently got up and left alone, leaving us reeling. James and Lily snuggled closer and began snogging. Sirius and I stared at each other non-verbally analyzing what she had said and what was between the lines, like how she had quoted Steve Miller's lyrics in plural form and had shagged two boys with characteristics so much like our own. A slow grin crossed Sirius' face and he nodded and I knew what he was thinking so I mouthed "Moofoot". Through our canine bond we telepathically agreed to discuss strategy later. Peter, having regained a little composure asked hopefully, "So do you think I have a chance?"
We sat in the common room later evening, as usual having butterbeers to chase a couple firewhiskey shots and smoking a little pot (which, surprisingly, turned out to help with the pain of my transformations, a lot.). "I'm restless…." Serena-Rose said staring into the dancing flames in the grate. "Let's do something."
The Marauders quickly glanced at each other. The full moon was going to come up over the horizon soon and we would be going on our monthly jaunt any minute now. "I can't, I've got to go with Pomfrey to the Shrieking Shack. She still escorts me but at least she lets Padfoot bring me back to school now. She still can't figure out how I've stopped getting all scratched and bitten. I told her it's because I'm maturing." I told them smirking.
"Right, full moon…" she answered dully. "Well, I guess I'll go to bed then."
After she left, James said, "Well boys?" clapping his hands and rubbing them together. "Shall we?" I made my way to the hospital wing as they scrambled upstairs to get the invisibility cloak. We would meet in about an hour later, as usual.
And, as per our routine, the werewolf, rat, dog and stag set off into the forbidden forest for our monthly romp. Everything started out typical enough: Padfoot and I frolicking, wresting, lifting our legs to mark territory, following scent trails and committing them to our ever-expanding mental catalogue of smells. Prongs, calmly watching us in a dignified manner, snorting his nostrils only to suddenly show us up by bursting into speedy sprints that inevitably left us in the dust. And Wormtail, tiring easily, resorting to hitching a ride by clinging onto Prongs' antlers for dear life.
After some time, we came to rest in a wooden glen beside a stream. We drank our fill and flopped down in the soft detritus. Then I smelled something unusual, a mammal but something big and possibly threatening. I issued a soft warning growl to Padfoot to shut up with his noisy panting so I could better hear. And then I saw it. A tiger. Just staring down at us. Right there on the hill above us between the trees.
My hackles bristled involuntarily. My lips curled back revealing my sharp teeth, ready to defend my pack. Prongs followed my gaze and tensed, prancing his hooves nervously in the dead leaves. Wormtail froze motionless among the tines of the antlers. Padfoot rose to join me in effectively closing ranks in front of our food-prey friends.
Padfoot took a step forward, yipped and then retreated. "Hnguh!" the tiger answered and spread its feet slightly, shifting its weight from left to right and standing its ground. The wind whipped up behind it, ruffling the hair around its head and shoulders and sending me a clear scent message. It was vaguely familiar. Warm, animal, visceral, female and…. roses?
Was that Serena-Rose? The tigress lowered her head and padded quietly toward us. Padfoot tucked his tail between his legs and Prongs took off into the night carrying Peter with him. I approached alone. We touched noses and I looked into her forest-green eyes. It was her. I could see in her fur, up close now, that it bore all the shades of hers. She rubbed her face along my side like an over-grown tabby and purred.
Padfoot tentatively came in for inspection seeing that I'd accepted her. There was mutual sniffing and nuzzling, and then she turned with a flick of her tail, disappearing among the trees as silent as she had arrived.
The next morning while I was recovering in bed, Sirius came into the dorm dragging Serena-Rose by the arm. "Spill it, Tiger! We know it was you! Why didn't you tell us you're an Animagus too?" he demanded for the both of us.
"Well…" she began slowly, staring the floor, "It's always been a really private thing. Nobody's ever known, until now." She looked up at us in an expression of pleading for understanding. "I started trying when I was fourteen and when I finally achieved transformation, I just always did it alone. But with all my roamings here, I finally had to see if I could find you guys. T'see what it'd be like…."
I studied her and realized I'd never seen her act shy before. I knew what she wanted to hear; her need for the acceptance of her friends struck a chord with me. I shifted, sitting up straighter on the pillows. "So, do you want to join Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs on our monthly adventures?"
She looked up at Sirius and me with gratitude flooding her pretty face. "Yes!" she answered breathlessly.
"But you know Tiger-Rose, seeing as you are a kitty, you'll have to promise not to eat Wormtail." Sirius piped up, then clapped his hand over his mouth when he realized how that sounded.
"Dear Merlin! Done and done!" She answered in (somewhat joking) disgust and we all laughed. And with that, a feisty feline became the fifth member of our pack.