Fifth Year – James

A/N: Just a reminder that I've shifted some of the canon timeline for my own storytelling purposes. You can read my note from last chapter if you didn't/are confused. 3

"Tonight's the night, lads," Sirius announced gleefully from atop his bed in their dormitory. Peter was adding his finishing touches on the illustration of the map, which needed one more charm from Remus to make it complete. James was sitting on his own bed, playing with the snitch he had nicked from the Quidditch storage cupboard.

Remus was already in the hospital wing, likely waiting for dark to fall so Madame Pomfrey could escort him across the grounds and through the passage in the Whomping Willow. The three others were almost giddy with nervous excitement. Tonight was the first night they'd change with Remus during the full moon.

James and Sirius had mastered their animagus forms by the beginning of the year. Peter's had been shaky – sometimes he transformed no problem, sometimes James and Sirius would have to help him fix a leftover whisker. One time it was a tail, which had prompted the other two to begin affectionately calling him Wormtail.

While Peter worked on mastering his transformations, the three had explored whenever they were able – which meant, more or less, whenever Remus was studying. Soon, the other two had begun calling James Prongs, and Sirius was dubbed Padfoot. Their animals suited them, James felt almost regal as a stag and he was quite sure that if Sirius could stay in his animagus form as a big, black dog most of the day he would. Peter's rat was downright useful for getting under the Whomping Willow to the Shrieking Shack. They'd practiced numerous times.

They'd also finished all the exploring and drawings to the Mauraders Map without Remus knowing. The plan was to present it to him the morning after their first full moon together – he would no doubt be angry that they put themselves at risk for him – but Remus could never turn down a good bit of charm work.

"Shall we get going?" James asked anxiously. It wasn't quite dark yet, but Sirius and James were still able to squish under the invisibility cloak together if Peter turned into a rat. Then, the three could head down to the forest and change there. "I want to change early, go over the route and all that."

They had picked out a route through the forest to take wolf Remus through. Technically, he wasn't supposed to leave the Shrieking Shack while he was transformed, but the stag and big, black dog together were more than enough to keep the wolf away from any humans. Plus, the forest was full of animals, not people, and everyone in the castle would be asleep.

"Let's go, then," Peter said finally, glancing over at the two of them. "I'm finished enough, and anyhow, I can't wait any longer."

James stood up and pulled the cloak out of his trunk, wrapping himself and Sirius in it together. It took them a moment to get adjusted. Sirius was quite broad now and filled up much of the space in the cloak. As they folded the cloak around them, Peter, now a rat, scampered over and climbed up James' arm, coming to rest on his shoulder with a squeak.

James sniggered. "Alright there, Wormtail?" Pete squeaked angrily again before they set off through the castle.

There was nothing that James loved more than wandering the castle in the dark. The building became more mysterious, sure, and maybe in first year he had found it the tiniest bit scary, but now he felt free. In the cloak and with his best mates by his side, he was virtually untouchable.

They carefully sped up their pace as they arrived on the grounds. No one could see them in the dark if their cloak slipped, but it meant that they also couldn't see anything that may trip them. When they had gotten far enough away from the castle, James stopped at almost the same moment as Sirius.

"Ready?" Sirius turned to ask him. James could vaguely make out the cocky grin Sirius flashed him before he shrunk suddenly. James looked down at where his best mate had stood, there was now a giant dog in his place. James grinned back.

James focused for a moment, and felt his body elongate and change. He blinked and suddenly he was looking at the world in greys and blues from eyes on either side of his head. Padfoot was already racing up ahead of him and barked once – James knew it was his way of telling James to follow. He paused a moment to let Wormtail re-situate himself on his back, after almost getting knocked off of James' shoulder by his change, and then he was off.

Black and white vision always took getting used to, but he never stopped being fascinated by how well he could see at night as a stag. When he caught up to Padfoot, who had slowed to a stop, he shook his head and stamped his feet – letting out something that sounded almost like a whinny. Padfoot barked again and was off.

They traced a simple route through the forest, running and tousling with each other – Peter hanging onto James' back for dear life. They weren't going very deep into the forest – not for their first adventure. Sirius had been worried about what they may encounter, but James was mostly worried about corralling Remus back before the morning.

They stopped when they heard the howl. James peeked through the tree cover with his stag-vision and saw the full moon rising in the sky. He stamped his foot once and was off towards the Willow, knowing Sirius would follow behind him.

Arriving at the Whomping Willow, they stood just outside the reach of the branches. With practiced ease, Peter scampered down James to the ground and dashed beneath the branches. Prongs and Padfoot waited for a moment, panting, until the branches stopped swinging. They both hurried forward, James pausing at the entrance so Sirius could go through first.

They had read as much as possible and talked it down to a science. Sirius was sent in first, being the closest being to Remus' wolf. They hoped the wolf would be able to recognize Padfoot as part of his pack. James, bigger and with his large antlers, was there for backup should anything go wrong.

The tunnel was James' least favourite part. With the biggest and widest body of the three, he had to crouch awkwardly on his stag legs and almost crawl through. The first few times they had tried while practicing for the full moon, he had gotten stuck and had to change back to get out. On one memorable occasion, his antlers had gotten stuck in a crack in the stone which he was now careful to avoid. This was when Sirius and Peter had begun calling him Prongs.

The first thing he heard when Sirius exited the tunnel was growling. He couldn't tell who it belonged to – Sirius, Remus, or both, but he shot forward as quickly as he could in his awkward position. Soon enough, he was out of the tunnel and taking in the sight ahead of him.

Padfoot had just thrown Remus across the room. Remus hunched, growling at the extra intruders. Padfoot started to advance, but James shook his head at the dog. He crept forward himself, slowly. Remus was trembling when James reached him – he wasn't sure if it was fear or anger, but he knelt slowly and bumped the side of the wolfs head with his antlers.

For a moment, Remus snarled, and he thought he had made a poor decision. But then the wolf yelped – a gleeful sort of thing, and spun to face Sirius again. James watched as Moony sniffed, slowly coming closer. Padfoot, sensing the mood of the room, tucked his tail and dropped his ears, allowing Moony to sniff him properly.

Suddenly, Moony yelped again, and the three of them were tussling in the cramped space of the shack. James snorted and stomped his hoof – apparently his only real way of communicating. He looked around for Peter, who had been sniffing around Remus and was now sitting atop Padfoot's back. Satisfied with the other boy's position, he gestured with his head to the entrance to the shack. Sirius barked and jumped then led the way in, Moony behind him and James following last.

The Maurauders had adventuring to do.

James was woken by someone roughly shaking him. He was vaguely aware he still had four limbs and a heavy head of antlers, but when he looked up he saw a human Sirius bending towards his face. Quickly, James changed back. He checked his pocket for his wand, out of habit.

"Moony's changed back," Sirius whispered. He's asleep, but the sun's almost up. Pete's already gone ahead to check for Pomfrey, we need to follow him."

James shook himself blearily and stretched. "Let's just hide under the cloak," he said. "I want to see how Remus is when he wakes up. We can follow them back through the tunnel, then nick some food from the kitchens and meet him there."

"Pete's gonna hate us for leaving him out of the fun," Sirius grinned, but he nevertheless pulled the cloak out of the pocket he had stuffed it in the night before. "Get under here, then."

It was only a few minutes before Pomfrey arrived through the tunnel, a rat zooming ahead of her and squeaking as she tried to kick it. James had to hold in a snigger as Pete disappeared through a crack in the wall. If he looked closely, he could see the other boy's nose sticking out.

They watched as Pomfrey tenderly shook Remus awake. She placed a hand to his forehead as he stirred. "How are you feeling?" she asked gently.

"Broken wrist, I think," Remus groaned. "'M'okay other than that, I think."

She appraised him quickly before doing a quick wand movement that conjured a brace for his wrist. "You're looking much better than you usually do," she said conversationally as she conjured a stretcher for him. "Maybe the wolf slept some tonight."

"Maybe," Remus said uncomfortably. James saw his eyes dart around the room, gaze narrowed.

"Let's get you up to the castle then, love," Pomfrey said. She levitated him onto the stretcher, and then the whole stretcher in the air. Under unspoken agreement, the boys gave them a couple minutes head start before they followed.

"I think he remembers," Sirius breathed into James' ear. Peter was on his shoulder, now, so he could hear too.

James nodded breathlessly back. Remus was going to kill them.

After nipping up to their dormitory to change and then down to the kitchen for some toast and eggs from the elves, they arrived in front of the Hospital Wing. The boys were all human and had foregone the invisibility cloak – the professors had a tendency to pointedly ignore their early morning wanderings on nights after the full moon. They weren't any earlier than usual today, either. They had found the elves just as they were making breakfast, and really, it was only a couple hours before the rest of the castle would rise, anyways.

The three opened the door and headed directly to the back corner – Remus was always in the same place behind some curtains in case another student happened into the hospital wing while he was recovering.

"Budge over, we brought breakfast," Sirius said when they entered. James watched as he shoved a mumbling Remus aside to hop in the bed next to him. James himself climbed onto the foot of the bed, while Peter took the chair, carefully lowering the food to the table beside the bed.

"Chocolate, too," Pete added, pulling out a handful of chocolate frogs.

One of Remus' eyes popped open and he raised his unbroken wrist so Peter could deposit an unwrapped but struggling frog into his hand. He chewed thoughtfully for a moment, eyes still closed, before speaking.

"I suppose one of you is going to explain to me how, exactly, a great big dog, a stag, and a rat appeared in the Shrieking Shack last night?"

The boys all looked to each other before Sirius sighed and, after casting a covert glance around the curtained room, transformed into his animagus self. When Remus didn't immediately open his eyes, Padfoot whined and licked his face.

He opened his eyes then, and James took in the expression on his friends face as Sirius changed back. It was more resigned than anything.

"Aren't you going to yell?" Pete finally asked.

Remus laughed quietly. "I'm too exhausted," he confessed. "Besides, I remember it. The whole thing. And I didn't even hurt myself."

James raised his eyebrows, gesturing to Remus' broken wrist. Remus gave him a small smile. "That's different, James-"

"Prongs," Sirius cut in, looking pleased with himself.

"Yeah?" James responded at the same time as Remus asked a confused "What?" in Sirius' direction.

"He's Prongs now, because he's a stag. Pete's Wormtail, and I'm Padfoot. You're not the only one with a cool nickname now, Moony." Sirius stuck his tongue out at Remus, who James was glad to see looked amused. He had been secretly worried that Remus would have felt left out or swept to the side by the other boys. Even though they had become animagi for him, they had done a significant amount of exploring that he had been left out on. But Remus, rather, was beaming.

"Wicked," he said. "Right then. It's different, Prongs. The change did it to me, I didn't do it to myself. Sometimes the bones don't go back how they're supposed to." His face had brightened considerably, and he even leaned forward to accept some toast from Pete. Normally Remus never ate after the moons – except chocolate.

"So," said Sirius conversationally, "is now a good time to tell you we finished the drawing of the map, as near as we can tell? We just need some sort of built in security for it, and that'll be all you, Moony."

Remus grinned at them, the gleam back in his eyes. "I've been thinking about that, actually." He paused for a moment to consider. "You lads know I'll still have to be angry at you tomorrow. Just on principle."

"Yeah," shrugged James. "It's worth it, though."