Disclaimer - Usual.
Chapter 62
The following Saturday was the first Quidditch game of the year. As usual, it was Gryffindor verses Slytherin. James had grown increasingly anxious as the week leading up to the game progressed. The others hadn't seen him this nervous since his first game back in second year.
At breakfast, James noticed that he was not the only one nervous. Few of the other team members were eating, either, so he decided to round them up and send them to the locker room to get ready.
"Hey," Sirius called after him. "We'll be rooting for you, mate."
James gave a weak smile and headed to the locker room. Once he arrived, he looked around at his fellow teammates. Jules and Stacey offered encouraging smiles.
"Okay team," James began. "We're young and more inexperienced than not. But we're good. We know each other. We know our plays. Slytherin is tough – not because they're good, but because they play dirty. They will try to injure you. They will try to bully and distract you. They will try taunting you. Help each other out. Don't let anyone get singled out. Try not to let them get to you. And Anna. Gudgeon. Aim well." James smiled at them. "Let's go get 'em."
Most of the school expected the game would be rather one-sided. James was young for a captain and his team was rather young. The Slytherins were bigger, stronger and, for the most part, older and more experienced. To everyone's surprise, the Gryffindors more than held their own. They held the lead most of the game and it was only due to the 150 points given for catching the snitch that the Slytherins won. The final tally ended up being Slytherin: 170; Gryffindor: 80. The team headed back to the locker room looking rather dejected.
"Everyone, sit down," James requested. "Now listen. I know we lost today, but honestly – you all made me proud." James went through and highlighted some of the players' finer moments, congratulating them on their performances and teamwork. "You really impressed me out there. We'll have an extra practice this week just to talk about strategy and problem areas that we need to shore up a bit. I want a criticism and a praise from each one of you for every other teammate by Monday. We'll go over the lists then. Get cleaned up and go get lunch."
James sat in the locker room while the rest of his team showered and left for lunch. Sirius came up and sat on the bench opposite him. "Did you just assign your team homework?" Sirius asked incredulously.
James chuckled. "Yeah. I guess I did."
"I think you take this power-thing a little too seriously…And that's saying something coming from me," Sirius grinned. "I don't even think Moony would have given them an assignment."
James shrugged.
"You doing okay?"
"Yeah, actually. The team did really well today. I know we lost, but… they did well."
Sirius smiled. "Be careful. You almost sound like you're growing up."
James chuckled. "Don't tell anyone," he said, while poking Sirius with the end of his broom. "Where are the others?"
"I think they were afraid to come in. You're normally not this… happy… after a losing game."
"Oh. I wanted to win. Absolutely. But did you see my team? My team! They did great. We're going to win next time. You'll see." James beamed with pride
"Come on. Get cleaned up or nobody's going to want to sit next to you."
That night, Remus, who had been in a much better mood since the last full moon, approached the Marauders, who were sitting around the fireplace doing classwork. "My fellow Marauders," he announced, gaining everyone else's interest. "I want to show you something." He looked around and whispered, "Not here." Immediately, the other three guys got up and followed him to the dorm. "Ta-da!" Remus held up the map.
"The map?" Sirius asked questioningly. Remus smiled and nodded. Sirius touched the parchment with the tip of his wand. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Peter and James leaned in on either side of Sirius so they too could see the map. Sirius looked at the map, then looked up at Remus, his eyes glinting excitedly. "Excellent!" Every person in the castle was represented on the map. It showed their exact location and their movements. Each person had his name written in minuscule letters.
"I also took the liberty of changing your name to Padfoot. Since I'm Moony on the map, I thought it was only fair."
"That's brilliant!" Sirius gently punched Remus on the arm.
James looked over at Peter. "Well, looks like you and I have to work on transforming so we can get our nicknames."
Peter nodded, though he was still looking carefully over the map. It was finished now, except for their names. The map could locate anyone, so knowing professors' and prefects' schedules was no longer a necessity. The map knew the castle better than he did. He felt he had very little left to offer the group. Becoming an animagus might be the only thing that kept him with the others. He would make sure he learned how to do it.
The next Saturday, Remus went to Hogsmeade with Aden and the other three Marauders spent the day in the Room of Requirement. Sirius transformed first, partly to prove to himself it wasn't a fluke and partly to run through his thought process with James and Peter. It was only after he did it that he realized how stupid it was, since the last time he transformed he needed Remus to make him human again. Fortunately, he managed to turn back this time without help.
Peter waited out in the corridor as he had done the last time. Without someone in the background keeping James from concentrating, he was able to transform on his first try. Sirius whistled and walked around the huge stag standing in front of him. He had never had the opportunity to see one up-close before and, had James told him that he would turned into a stag, Sirius would have ribbed him for turning into such a pansy-animal. But up-close, there was nothing at all pansy about a stag, with his barrel chest and solid build, not to mention the impressive antlers James was sporting. James pawed the ground, as he watched Sirius circle him. There was something very regal about his animagus form and Sirius could see now why the Stag was the prince of the forest.
Sirius stepped away. "Hold on. I'm getting Peter."
Peter entered the room and his jaw dropped open. "James?"
James snorted and Sirius rolled his eyes. "No, Peter. That's just a deer." Sirius smacked him on the back of the head. "Who do you think that is?"
Peter frowned at Sirius, but stepped closer to James. He reached out tentatively and touched James' antlers. James pawed the ground again. Sirius thought about how, as a dog, his thoughts had simplified, rather like a child with a one- track mind, and he had very much wanted to run and play. He wondered if James was having a similar experience and that, as a deer, being indoors was somewhat confining.
"Ready to turn back?" Sirius asked.
James bobbed his head, and Sirius and Peter stepped back, giving him room. Within seconds, James was back and standing in front of them, grinning from ear-to-ear. "That was… awesome! I can't wait to get outside and be able to run."
Sirius smiled back, nodding his head knowingly. "Can't wait to let loose, eh?"
James nodded back. "Wicked."
Peter watched as the other two shared a "moment" of understanding and camaraderie. He cleared his throat.
It was enough to get James' attention and he turned to Peter. "Your turn, now."
"Right," Peter offered a weak smile. As much as he wanted to change, he wasn't confident in his ability. He sat in the middle of the room and began to concentrate.
After an hour, James made Sirius leave because, he reasoned, threatening Peter's life wasn't going to make him relax. Two hours after that, James walked a very defeated-feeling Peter back to the common room. "You'll get it, Peter. Honest. You don't think we'd let you stay behind do you?"
Peter just grunted in reply. He knew James was extremely frustrated. He and Sirius were both hoping that this would be the month they would get to stay with Remus through his transformation. And Peter was slowing them down. When they entered the common room, Peter watched Sirius, who was animatedly talking with the few students who were not at Hogsmeade. Sirius glanced over at his friends and, without pausing, finished whatever story he was telling. But in that brief glance, Peter saw the knowing look that passed over Sirius' face and the disappointment that flashed in his eyes at Peter's failure.
Once Peter and James were seated, Sirius joined them. "So?" he asked. James just shook his head. Sirius looked contemplatively at Peter, who thought it was more a glare than anything, but Sirius said, "Sorry about yelling at you earlier. Maybe Moony would be more helpful."
Peter, feeling rather dejected, sighed and stood up. "I'm going upstairs."
That night, Peter lay in bed thinking about the spells that they had performed to get them as far as they had. He wasn't the smartest, or the most talented, but he really couldn't see how he'd messed anything up. He concentrated on the last spell again, practicing it and repeating it like a mantra in his head until he fell asleep.
At 6:00 Sunday morning, James felt himself being prodded in the arm.
"James," Sirius half-whispered.
James swung his arm to get rid of the annoying, prodding entity next to his bed.
"James! Get up."
"What!" James said irritatedly. "What time is it?"
"Six. Now get up." Moving on to Remus' bed, Sirius prodded him awake next. "Moony." Remus' reaction was almost as positive as James'. Once Sirius knew both boys were awake – enough – he said, "Have either of you seen Peter?"
"What?" James asked.
"No." Remus shook his head.
"Was he here when you got in last night?" Sirius asked Remus.
"Mmm. I don't know. I didn't look."
"When did you get in last night?" James asked with a smirk.
Remus blushed slightly. "Late."
"Guys," Sirius brought attention back to himself. "I've been up since five and I didn't see Peter leave."
"Why, on God's green earth, were you up at five?" James asked, still sounding groggy.
Sirius shrugged. "I'm an early riser. You should know that by now."
James, who hadn't gotten out of bed yet, flopped back on his pillow with a groan. "You're insane. You know that."
"Did you check the map?" Remus asked.
Sirius slapped his own forehead and rolled his eyes. He walked over to his bag and pulled out the map. He glanced at Addison to make sure he was still sleeping soundly, then whispered the incantation to reveal the map. He frowned at what he saw. "This can't be right."
James' curiosity was piqued and he got out of bed and stood behind Sirius, looking over his shoulder at the map. James also frowned. "It says he's here."
"What?" Remus asked, coming over to look at the map, too. Sure enough, the map showed Peter was in his bed.
The three awake Marauders exchanged confused looks, then walked over to Peter's bed. Sirius wiped the map clean before pulling back the covers of Peter's bed. There, sleeping very soundly in the middle of the bed, was a rat. The three stood, staring in shock, but then Sirius burst out laughing and the others followed suit.
Their laughing awoke Addison. "What's going on?" he mumbled as he rubbed his eyes.
Remus threw the covers over the rat and Sirius, still laughing, sat nonchalantly on the bed.
"Sorry. Peter played a joke on us and we just found out about it," James explained.
Addison rolled his eyes and laid back down, covering his head with his blanket.
Remus whispered to Sirius, "Grab him," while pointing at Peter's bed.
Sirius pulled back the blankets again. "You grab him," he whispered back at Remus.
James nudged him from behind. "Just get him."
Sirius huffed, but gently picked up the sleeping rat, while Remus retrieved the map and James got his invisibility cloak. They snuck out of the dorm and headed to the Room of Requirement.
"So, I take it you were successful yesterday?" Remus asked.
"Well, I was," James answered. "Peter didn't get it. He must have been trying until he fell asleep."
"Excellent!" Remus smiled. "Were you able to turn back?"
James nodded. "Yeah. Both Sirius and I."
"Good. So what are you?"
"He's a rutting deer," Sirius smirked. Okay, so he was going to tease James anyway.
"I'm a stag. And you were rather impressed yesterday, if I remember correctly."
Sirius smiled at Remus and nodded. "It was, actually. Rather impressive. He's huge." Returning to a teasing tone he added, "Very manly." James shoved his shoulder - gently, so as not to disturb Peter.
Glancing down at Peter, Remus shook his head. "A rat. Who would have guessed?"
"I'm not particularly fond of rats, you know," Sirius said conversationally. Remus spocked his eyebrow at him; his look one of amusement. "It's the tails. They're hairless. It's unnatural."
"Kind of looks like a worm," James commented. "Except, not slimy."
"Wormtail," Remus said thoughtfully.
"Yes! Perfect," Sirius said. James nodded in agreement. "Now we just need a name for you, Bambi." James punched Sirius' shoulder a little harder this time.
They got about half-way to the Room, when Peter began to stir. His twitchy little nose began to work overtime and all at once he started squealing and wriggling in Sirius' hands. "Peter, relax. Relax! Stop! Ow." Sirius had to stop walking and concentrate on keeping Peter in his hands. He didn't want to drop his friend on the hard stone floor, but Peter's wiggling and nails were making that difficult. "Peter! Oh… Gross!" Sirius looked up at his friends, disgust written plainly across his features. "He peed on me!" James and Remus, full of heart-felt sympathy, started laughing. "Thanks… a lot," he ground out in mounting frustration. Finally he gave Peter a little squeeze. "Now stop it, Peter, before I drop-kick you." The rat froze. "Thank you. Now… We're taking you to the Room of Requirement. You understand?"
Peter squeaked and nodded his head. "Ew," Sirius said again. "Here. You take him," Sirius held Peter out to James.
"No way," James replied, still laughing.
Remus relieved Sirius of his little burden, and Sirius immediately pulled out his wand and whispered "Scourgify."
Once they entered the Room, Remus set Peter down. "Can you transform back?"
Peter sat on his hind end, his nose twitching, and his front paws moving, looking remarkably like someone who was ringing his hands together nervously. He let out a squeak and looked expectantly at Remus. Remus obliged and turned him back into human form.
"Congratulations, Peter," Remus said smiling.
"Yeah, congratulations," James clapped Peter on the back.
"Good job, Wormtail." Sirius frowned. "But next time you pee on me, I'm going to turn into Padfoot and swallow you whole."
"Padfoot," Remus chided quietly.
"Wormtail?" Peter asked, frowning. He wasn't too thrilled with the name. He wasn't really too thrilled with his form. Sirius had been a massive, rather scary looking dog. James was a huge, majestic stag. Was it not enough that he was the weakest of them, now his animagus form was a pathetic rat? He didn't even like rats. His mum wanted to buy him a rat as a pet, but he had refused.
"Yup," James answered, grinning. "Moony's idea."
"Oh."
"I still need a name, though."
"And I still like 'Bambi,'" Sirius snarked.
"Very funny."
"I haven't seen your form yet, James," Remus pointed out.
"Oh yeah…" James glanced at Sirius and smiled. Immediately, the two of them changed into their animal forms. It was hard to tell which one was bigger. James was definitely the taller of the two, but Sirius appeared to have more mass, though part of that could have been fur. Sirius got up on his hind legs and, placing a front paw on James' back for balance, he nipped at James' antlers. Grabbing one, he pulled, dropping himself on all fours. James, however, had the advantage that way and started forcing Sirius into a corner. Sirius let go of the antler and dodged to the right, nipping at James' hind leg as he went. The two, reveling in their animal natures, ended up playing a game of tag, which was rather impressive in the small confines of the room.
Their frolicking made Remus laugh, and even Peter joined in after a while, the two were just too much fun to watch. Remus nudged Peter. "Join them."
Peter shook his head, "No. I wouldn't want to get…"
"Trampled? I bet you'd be surprised. Join them." Remus gave Peter an encouraging nod and watched as the round-faced boy shrank into the small rat.
As soon as he changed, Padfoot bound over to Wormtail and very gently picked him up in his mouth. He trotted over to James who stood very still while he deposited the rat on his back. Peter stood for a moment, unsure what to do. James bobbed his head slightly and Peter somehow understood. He ran up the stag's neck and scurried onto his antlers. With Peter holding on for dear life, the other two picked up their game of tag, allowing him to be right in the thick of things without fear of being trampled.
At about 8:30, Remus called to the others. "Guys. I think we should go to breakfast before we miss it."
James and Sirius cantered over to Remus, and Peter scrambled down James' neck, jumping onto Sirius, who lay down so Peter could easily hop to the floor. Then James and Sirius both transformed into their human selves and waited for Peter to do the same.
He stood for a few minutes, concentrating as hard as a little rat can, but then gave up with a pathetic little squeak. Remus chuckled and transformed him back.
Peter was smiling in spite of himself. Not only could he do something that most fully qualified wizards were unable to do, but he had not been left out of the play, despite his small size. He was still part of the group. In fact, he felt a small amount of selfish pride in the fact that he could become a rat at will, like James and Sirius could also change. It was Remus, this time, who was not in the "in," though, granted, it was because of Remus they had undertaken this venture in the first place. "Thanks, Moony," Peter said, smiling at him. "I'm glad I met you."
Remus frowned slightly in confusion, but then he smiled back and said, "You're welcome."
"Here, here," Sirius jumped in. "To Moony." He lifted his arm in an imaginary toast. "Now, we have 'Moony,'" at this point, Sirius pointed at Remus, "'Padfoot,'" Sirius pointed at himself, and "'Wormtail,'" Sirius pointed at Peter. "What about... Bambi?"
"If you call me that, one more time…" James balled his fist and let the threat hang, receiving only a chuckle from Sirius for his efforts.
"How do you even know that reference, anyway?" Remus asked.
Sirius blushed and mumbled something indistinct under his breath. "Doesn't matter."
The conversation on their way to the Great Hall vacillated from trying to think of a good name for James and trying to get Sirius to tell his "Bambi" story, which was obviously rather embarrassing to him.
They arrived just in time for the owl-post to arrive. To his surprise, an envelop arrived for Sirius. The script was neat and precise and oddly familiar. He opened the letter and a small picture fell out. The picture was of an adorable, newborn baby girl, currently sleeping with her eyes tightly shut and sucking on her hand. Sirius read the letter. "Huh. My cousin had her baby." Sirius turned the picture to show the others. "They named her Nymphadora – poor thing."
"Who's that?" Gillette came up behind Sirius and gave him a quick hug.
"My cousin… er… my cousin's daughter."
"Aww. She's so adorable."
"Well of course she is. We're related." Sirius smiled and winked at Gillette.
"Oh, please," said a familiar voice.
"Good morning to you, too, Evans," Sirius said off-handedly.
"She is cute," Lily admitted.
"You should see my baby pictures," James piped up.
"Crazy hair and drool?" Lily asked in a barely interested voice. "Not much different then now, is it?" Lily smirked wickedly and Sirius burst out laughing.
When the girls had walked away, Sirius said, "You know… for someone who's been up for almost three hours, you'd think you'd be a little quicker on the comebacks, Bambi."
James flicked a grape at Sirius. "Watch it or I'll stab you in your sleep with my antlers."
"Would that be like stabbing me with a fork? You know… those tiny little prongs."
"Hey! Never make fun of the size of a man's prongs!" As soon as the statement was out, all four Marauders were doubled over with laughter.
Once they got themselves under some semblance of control, Remus said, "Prongs." He looked over at Sirius, who nodded approvingly. "It fits."
James grinned. "Prongs it is."
"Looks like I'll be changing the map again." Remus looked around at his friends. They had done it. They had risked… well, everything... to become animagi, and they succeeded. And there the four sat – a werewolf, a rat, a dog, and a stag.
Innocence. One of the beautiful things about innocence is that it's ignorant of tomorrow. It doesn't take into account cost, because there's nothing to be paid. There's freedom in innocence, and joy. Remus had lost his too young, but had been given a chance to re-capture some of it with his friends, only to find he couldn't really get it back. Sirius was struggling to hold on to his, but eventually found he was clinging to the wrong thing and it slipped from his hands. James let his go for the greater good. And Peter – he had never been concerned with his and therefore didn't blink when he sold it. With the exception of one, leaving their childhood behind turned them into far better men – more noble and caring than they currently were. But their fifth year at Hogwarts – that was the height of their childhood. Everything they wanted to be they achieved. There was nowhere left to go… but out of childhood and into adulthood.
- - - - -
A/N - I had seriously considered ending Part 3 here and beginning Part 4 with the next chapter as this seemed like the perfect place to end it. Alas, the next chapter would make an awkward start for a new story, so I've decided to end Part 3 at the end of year 5 (not that any of you care about my thoughts on this matter...). Anyway... Thank you all very much for the wonderful reviews! I am grateful and encouraged. Thank you.
And thanks also to my wonderful betas - Mom, mei mei, and J.A. Carlton. I am eternally thankful for you all. Love.
