Chapter 9: The Full Moon
The night of the full moon,
"Ready Moony?" Sirius asked.
A healthier Remus gave Sirius a look.
"How long has it been since we've done this together?" James asked as he looked out the window at the moon rising.
"Too long." Sirius said as he stepped back from the werewolf.
"Not long enough." Remus said watching the moon
The transformation began.
When it was complete, Sirius and James transformed into their animagi forms. Moony opened his eyes and saw Padfoot and Prongs. Padfoot tackled Moony playfully like they did back in school.
Creeek.
Prongs' ears twitched at the sound of the trapdoor opening
POP
Prongs went over to the trap door and saw an owl, a fox, and a wolf. The owl was perched on the wolf's head. Moony and Padfoot followed behind the stag and saw the new animals. Moony walked over to them and sniffed all three animals individually. The owl looked as if it was bracing itself.
After Moony sniffed the wolf last, he growled as if scolding the animals. The fox yelped and hid behind the wolf. The wolf rolled its eyes at the fox and then barked as if to explain.
Moony then turned to the older animagi and stepped aside as if they could convince the newer animals something. Padfoot and Prongs both examined the animals. However, since their senses were not a prominent in human forms as Moony's, they recognized the scents, but couldn't place them. So, they allowed the newer animals to hang out with them.
0000
The next morning,
Remus woke up in-between Padfoot and Prongs like the old days. The extra animals were nowhere in sight
"Padfoot. Prongs." Remus whispered.
"Huh?" James asked as he transformed.
"Did you two recognize those other animals?" Remus asked.
"I recognized the scents, but I couldn't place them." Sirius admitted.
"Better than me." James said. "I didn't recognize any. Except that one seemed faintly familiar."
"You are REALLY going to feel bad, Prongs." Remus said "Where are they?"
"They went back to the woods before we went to bed." Sirius said with a shrug.
"WHAT?!" Remus asked leaving the shack.
The two animagi looked at each other and shrugged.
0000
As Remus was headed to the woods from the shack.
"PROF…REMUS!"
Remus turned and saw the Golden Trio headed for him.
"I thought you went to the woods?" Remus said.
"No. We were in the castle ALL night." Ron lied.
"Ron. I spent ten years with Sirius Black and James Potter. Just how gullible do you think I am?" Remus scolded
"Not very." Harry answered nervously.
"What's going on, Moony?" James asked as he and Sirius caught up to the werewolf.
"Sirius." Remus said still looking at the kids. "I want you to transform and smell the kids."
James and Sirius looked at each other as if hoping the other knew where Remus was going. Sirius shrugged and transformed.
"Nothing's off." Sirius said after he smelt them and transformed back.
"Did you recognize the scent from anytime recently?"
"Actually, yeah. They smelled like…" Sirius answered before realizing what Remus was talking about. He then turned to the kids.
"When did you three…?"
They just smiled innocently.
"What did you three do?" James asked.
"You remember the wolf, fox, and owl from last night?" Sirius asked.
"Yes."
Sirius pointed at the innocent looking kids.
"You DIDN'T?!" James exclaimed. "Don't you three know how dangerous it is?"
They nodded.
"What do you have to say for yourselves?" Remus asked.
"We had fun and can't wait for next month?" Ron tried.
"Molly and Lily are going to have my head." Sirius groaned.
"We thought you'd be proud." Harry said. "We did it all by ourselves."
"And in one month." Hermione added. "Whereas it took you guys, what, three years?"
"One MONTH?!" the Marauders exclaimed.
"There you lot are." Lily said as she came up to the gangs. "What's going on?"
"Just catching up with the kids." James said sweetly as he put his hands on Harry's shoulders.
"What did they do?" Lily asked crossing her arms. "And don't even attempt to lie to me. I WILL discover the truth."
"Nothing." Everyone answered
"We will talk about this later." James whispered into his son's ear.
TBC