Author's Note: Hi all! So we have a very exciting, though short update for you which we sincerely hope you will enjoy. Or you might hate. Either way, do comment below! As for the next update, we really can't give you a time frame, but do hope that you will stick around...

Also, the chapter title does NOT mean that this is the last chapter in the story. As previously mentioned, we're going for 60 chapters total.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling. Thanks


Chapter 39: The Last One

The moon shone bright like an oval-shaped sparkling diamond in the night sky. Even though the ground was covered in freshly fallen glittering snow, it was still brighter, almost glowing. It was a cool, brisk night, though the gusts of occasional wind brought with them freezing chills. At this time of night, the Forbidden Forest resembled an eerie and lifeless winter wonderland, with all its mysterious creatures hidden in the shadows of the trees. The only sounds were that of paws and hooves flittering through the snow as they ran.

It seemed that the stag was trying to outrun the dog, who had appeared tonight in a far larger size than in previous transformations. The rat wasn't pleased, given that it was unable to manipulate its size just yet. The wolf seemed on edge as well, for reasons still unknown. But it was the dog who was most irritated of all.

Not understanding its frustration, the stag persisted trying to outrun the dog, mistaking the dog's efforts to lose him, for playful competition. Even the wolf seemed to notice this and tried to divert the stag at times, but the stag was extremely stubborn, both in its human form as well.

Running alongside of it, the large, boney, skeletal body nearly tripped several times, trying its best to quickly grow accustomed to running on all fours. Though, unlike the dog, it was able to hold itself up much taller, akin to a horse. Its large wings stretched out on its sides, occasionally getting caught in branches or sliding across tree trunks. Though, it wasn't in any sort of pain. Its leathery black wings were very strong and did not sport so much as a scratch from the branches they occasionally hit.

For the most part, it was able to keep up with the pace of the stag and the wolf, while the rat scurried at their paws and hooves, trying to find its place. But the dog was completely ignorant of the others, marking its own paths and trying desperately to outrun the lot of them. It was hard to tell who was more frustrated, the stag for trying to beat the dog, the wolf for its anxiety under the moonlit sky, or the rat, for its exhaustive tendency to get in the way of the others.

The wolf was the first to notice that the rat didn't seem to even be trying to stay out of the way. In fact, it was causing them each to trip, one by one, under their own feet. Some growls and hisses told the rat that it was being obstructive, though it wasn't helping, for each time it attempted to run in another direction, the thestral tripped over it, landing the rat under someone else's feet as well.

This went on for several hours, right up to the earliest signs of sunrise, when the stag had finally grown bored of what he'd confused for the dog's games, and had slowed down to a walk. The wolf too, had grown exhausted and wandered off on his own, somewhere in the woods. The thestral stood amidst the trees, tapping its hooves against their trunks to brush off some of the snow. It looked up and around at the branches that hid the slowly brightening sky from view. Various mysterious creatures made strange noises as they scurried on and about, out of sight, but definitely audible. The thestral marvelled at how so easily it was able to detect sound from hundreds of trees away. It had never before had such clear understanding of its surroundings.

The sky was finally brightened enough for the wolf to come back as a young boy with scratches on his cheek and chin, and torn sleeves. He gasped and wheezed as he took a seat against a tree trunk and closed his eyes. The thestral tripped over the rat again, and looked down to instead find scared-looking boy laying flat on the ground, his hands shaking in front of him as he stared up at the thestral, understanding that he was being held down by something pressed against his stomach, but not understanding what it was, for all he saw were snow-covered branches that occasionally sprinkled water on him as the snow gradually melted.

The thestral lifted its leg off from the boy's stomach and took a few steps backward. It looked round as the stag emerged from the trees as a taller boy and let out a proud laugh before taking a seat next to the other boy.

"Where is Sirius?" James asked.

"If only I never had to ask that question," Remus said, letting out a deep sigh. He then looked up at the thestral. "You can come back down now, Draco."

James glanced up in his direction now and frowned slightly.

It took him several moments, but Draco finally came back down, trying to adjust to his regulated senses as a human being. He took one look in Peter's direction, mumbled "sorry about that", and joined Remus and James on the ground. Peter however, remained put, now standing alone in the clearing and gasping as he looked all around him.

"Did no one think to bring the map this time?" James was now saying.

"Well I'm sorry for not always thinking of everything," said Remus, "But I was a little busy with my cycle."

"Relax, I wasn't throwing shots at you—"

"Yeah, it sounds like you kind of were."

"I brought the map," Draco started, but no one seemed to hear him.

There was a pause.

"Wormtail, would you stop tossing around like that? Sirius is not here!" James snapped.

Peter, who had not stopped turning his head around, now glanced at the boys. He appeared to still be shaking, and almost lost for words.

"What is it, Peter?" said Remus, more calmly than he cared to speak to James.

"Wh—where...where is it?" Peter managed.

"Where is what?" said Sirius, who finally appeared at the clearing.

James sat up.

"Well what the hell happened to you out there?"

For a split second, Sirius looked in Draco's direction and then stood leaning against another tree.

"But where is it?!" cried Peter, startling the boys to all look at him now.

"Why don't you try to calm down, Peter?" Draco suggested, gesturing for him to join them.

"You too, Sirius," Remus called out, but Sirius did not budge.

"What the hell is going on here?" James declared.

Everyone was now looking at Draco. He searched the boys' faces, not knowing where to begin or what to say. Only Remus seemed to hold a more relaxed expression, given that he already knew about Draco's patronus, and probably wasn't surprised about this. Draco gave him a pleading look.

"Who could see Draco's animagus?" he helped out.

There was a long pause, and then James's and Sirius's arms slowly rose to join Remus's outstretched one. All eyes were on Peter now.

"That explains all the tripping," said James, mostly to himself.

"But I don't understand," said Peter, still glancing over at where he'd been pinned down to the ground by something invisible.

"James," said Remus in a small voice.

James suddenly got very busy with his shoelace.

"It's time," Remus added.

"T-time for what?" said Peter, still looking frightened.

Draco glanced once at Sirius, who cocked his head at his friends and put on a curious expression.

"It happened last year," said James, finally pulling his head back up and looking at the boys around him. "It was during the November moon when you lot were in detention and I came to the forest with Moony. The Shrieking Shack was surrounded by curious villagers who were still raving about the howls they'd overheard, so we'd thought it safe to stay away from there...for a while." He took a deep breath. "And so we were running around, minding our own business, when we came across the most terrible thing."

"It was a dying centaur," Remus added.

"It was bleeding all over and it could barely breathe," said James. "I wanted to help, I did, but I couldn't transform right away, you see, because Remus would have devoured me in my human form. S-so I had to cast a patronus charm to distract him away from the scene first. But...I took too long."

"It wasn't your fault," said Remus. "It was going to happen whether we'd gone to the forest that night or not."

James nodded.

"So a centaur died, so what?" said Draco, surprising everyone. "I mean, I would understand if it was your mother or...or a cousin. But it's only a centaur, and not even one that you knew."

"That doesn't matter," said James, disbelief splattered on his face. "Centaurs are the most delicate, kindest, most innocent creatures on this planet."

"Actually, some would argue that thestrals are," Remus pointed out, though no one besides Draco heard him.

"Anyway," said James, still looking annoyed at Draco's lack of sympathy, "We never did find out why the centaur had been injured, but we sat there with it until it had passed." He looked at Remus now. "That was when we agreed to never speak of it again."

"It had to come out at some point," Draco pointed out, feeling slightly hypocritical.

The boys nodded.

"I still don't understand," said Peter, still looking frightened.

"Thestrals are unique creatures in that they can only be seen by those who have seen death," Remus explained. "The reason that James and I were able to see Draco's thestral is because of our witnessing the centaur's death last year. That's why we weren't tripping under his feet. We could see where he was running."

"But...I've never seen anyone die," said Peter slowly.

"That's exactly why you weren't able to see him and why you kept running under his feet and causing everyone to trip," said Remus.

"So...does that mean I won't be able to see Draco every moon?" said Peter, now turning to look at Draco.

Draco gave him a sad smile.

"What about you?" James said, now addressing Sirius, who had been unusually quiet during this ordeal. Draco had almost forgotten he was with them.

"I don't want to talk about it," Sirius said simply.

"Oh come on, I told!" cried James. "And it was really hard for me to share that!"

"Yes, because a centaur dying is the same thing," Sirius muttered.

"James," Remus began, but James wasn't listening.

"We should know, so just tell us."

"The same thing as what?" tried Draco.

Sirius looked away from them.

"If you don't want to..." began Remus, but James was being insistent.

"No such thing—I was practically forced to tell, so he's going to tell too."

Sirius gave him a look. "No need to be such an arse, Prongs."'

There was silence.

"What do you lot want to hear?" began Sirius. "You want me to indulge you in the stories of my pathetic, sadistic family? You want me to tell you the details of the things that Regulus and I had to see as children? Or take part in?" He paused to take a breath. "You lot come from your perfect happy families with your perfect Christmas evenings and birthday parties, but you have absolutely no idea what some people go through as kids."

"I don't come from a happy family," Draco pointed out. "I was raised in an orphanage with occasional visits from a wizard who promised I could go to his school one day…" He thought for a moment, as the boys looked at him. "And even so, I wanted to go at 11, like everybody else, but he didn't think I was ready."

"Yeah," said Sirius, quietly. "I just don't think that you lot fully understand my situation...it's not just a matter of a difference of opinions. I wasn't just being a spoiled brat. It was more complicated than that. So much more complicated than that."

The boys fell silent again. James almost looked regretful for telling. Sirius gave a slight shrug.

"What exactly are you talking about, Padfoot?" he asked his friend.

Sirius sighed. "I really don't want to get into the details of it right now. Let's just say that my parents liked to demonstrate their power in the pureblood world right in our sitting room sometimes. Let's just say that not everybody always knew to listen to them. Let's just say that once upon a time we had a servant who didn't fully appreciate the Black family name...a servant who may or may not have stolen a family heirloom or two...ones who were pathetic to begin with, so what...a servant who was extremely kind to me as a kid and who read the best stories at bedtime and always remembered the hot chocolate in the morning." He paused to look away. "A servant who went through the worst torture curse one could ever suffer, before submitting to a terrible death...all because my father 'will not be made a fool out of'." He then glanced back at the four shocked boys looking at him. "And let's just leave it at that."

There was silence again.

"Anyway," he began, "It doesn't matter why we can or can't see Draco. What matters is that he has accomplished the animagus, far quicker than the three of us did, I might add."

Draco smirked.

"Yeah and now you can join us on every moon," James pointed out.

"Well, we still must be careful," said Remus. "Don't forget, it's just one more person for us to hide during the moons. One more person for us to sneak under the invisibility cloak. One more person for us—er, me—to burden with this—um, my—secret." He stopped to think. "It's one more person for us to lie about."

"I'm quite fine with that," smiled Draco. His whole current life was built upon lies.

"Yeah, you worry too much, Moony," said Sirius. "Draco will be a natural. Heck, he already is."

Draco smirked again.

He really did feel accomplished now that he'd performed his first successful animagus transformation. And the sensations that he felt as an animal were quite different and unique. It would take a little getting used to, yes, but he was looking forward to future transformations. It made his bond with the boys a little stronger, now that he was practically one of them. And, the fact that he now had a little secret of his own to keep even from Dumbledore, made him feel kind of good. With this in mind, he suddenly remembered the diary tucked away in his things back in the dormitory.

"Right, Draco?"

"Huh?" he looked up at James. "Oh—yeah, definitely."

James frowned at him.

"Well anyway," said Remus, "We should probably be getting back to the castle before people start waking up."

Peter, who'd been extremely quiet since it had been revealed that he would be the exception to Draco's thestral from now on, got to his feet and kept avoiding eye contact with each of the boys, pretending to ruffle with his sweater or wipe snow off of his knees.

"Come on, up you go," said James, helping Remus to his feet, who had no doubt been weakened by the moon.

Sirius hurried to his other side, and the pair of them supported Remus as the boys started down the path that would lead them out of the forest. As they walked, Draco thought back on his transformation and how easy and natural it had seemed once he had finally completed it. Now that he had an animagus, it felt like he'd had it his whole life and had only just discovered it now. He wondered what Dumbledore would think of that. But then again, not having Dumbledore knowing about it, made it somehow more special.

When they nearly reached the edge of the forest, James let go of Remus and pulled out his cloak.

"Wait," said Sirius, also letting go of Remus and turning to Draco. "Hand me the map."

Frowning, Draco pulled it out.

"No one's going to be up at this hour so I really don't think…" his voice trailed off, as all the boys exchanged secret looks. They then pulled out their wands one by one and tapped the map at the same time.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," James whispered.

The map revealed itself, like Draco had seen it reveal itself so many times before, various inkblots splattered across it in the form of hallways and staircases.

"What are you..."

"We have something for you," Sirius revealed.

"We've been planning it for a while," Remus added.

"And now you're ready for it," James concluded.

Still frowning, Draco watched as the boys all tapped their wands again. At the top center, where the introductory message was scribbled, the word 'and' suddenly disappeared from view. Replacing it, was Prong's name, followed by a fancy letter A.

"What's going on?" Draco tried again.

"We thought a lot about what we would call you," Sirius told him.

"It came down to a handful of names we came up with," James said, forming the letter N now.

"But once we picked it, we realized that it couldn't have been anything else."

"...if you will accept it, of course," Remus added in a quiet voice, though still looking as proud as the others, even in his weak condition.

Draco narrowed his eyes at the map now. The name Androkles had taken its place at the end of the introductory message in clear black ink. Then, before he could even register what had happened, Sirius had slid a pocketknife across Draco's palm.

"Son of a—"

"A sacrifice has to be made!" James cried.

Sirius dribbled the blood from the tip of the knife onto the center of the map and it dissolved into the ink, spreading at first and then disappearing into nothing. Draco glanced at his palm, which wasn't bleeding too bad at all, and then back at the map. Then, it finally clicked.

He looked at the boys beaming back at him.

"You mean..."

"Welcome Androkles, our newest and final marauder," James announced proudly.

Sirius and Remus both grinned heavily. Behind them, Peter looked distraught.

"Androkles," Draco repeated, liking the way the name sounded when he said it. "I...I don't know what to say, guys."

"Say nothing," said Sirius, patting him on the back once. "Just don't bring any shame to the name."

"I won't," Draco said quickly. "I promise."

"Alright, well we should get back now," James said, spreading out his invisibility cloak.

"You know what, guys," said Peter suddenly, alarming the boys suddenly, who'd all gotten so used to his silence in the last hour or so. "I think I'll just head back myself."

"Wormtail, why?" said Remus.

"I...I just feel out of place..."

"Nonsense!" cried James.

"You can't go back yourself, we have to go under the cloak!" said Sirius.

"I'm a small rat, no one will notice me," Peter said quietly, and without another word, he transformed before their eyes and scurried toward the castle.

The boys all cried after him, but it was no use. He had already gone.

"I'll talk to him later," James declared, turning back to the cloak.

"No, I will," said Draco. "This is my fault and I should be the one."

The boys started to argue, but Remus pointed at the brightening sky and hurried them all under the cloak. This was an argument for another day. Right now, they had to get back to the castle before the early risers noticed their absence. The last thing the boys needed now was another detention.

"Androkles," Draco smiled. "Now that I could get used to."


Thank you so much to all who have stuck by this story for so long, we will not disappoint you!

And, as a way to apologize for the long delays with updates, we will give away a major clue as to what to expect in the coming chapters. One of the following four things will happen, though we won't tell you what or in which chapter!

1) Severus will tell Regulus about Remus' condition, resulting in some beef with Draco

2) Draco and Lily will have another intense make-out session which may or may not escalate into something more ;)

3) James will lose his captaincy of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, resulting in Sirius' promotion from co-captain to sole captain

4) Draco will have a serious problem with his wand, resulting in another breakdown

Happy guessing!