Chapter 42: Animagus Transformation
"What animal are you going to transform into??" James asked Sirius, Remus and Peter. The Marauders were hanging out in their dormitory a week after Remus' transformation. For once, the hyperactive pranksters had decided to stay in on a Sunday morning.
"Some big, strong, good looking creature definitely. It resembles me totally." Sirius said.
"Like an elephant??" Remus joked. Sirius had never particularly liked elephants since young for some reason or other.
"Elephant is big and strong alright, but I wouldn't fancy having a penis-like structure on my face." Sirius commented wrinkling his nose.
"That penis-like structure is commonly known as a trunk." James said in a knowledgeable manner.
"Try camel." Remus laughed at Sirius expression on hearing an elephant as a suggestion.
"It would be interesting to have boobs on your back huh??" James joked. The four guys laughed at their little joke.
"Let's get serious."
"How many times must I tell you Sirius is always here??" The three Marauders pretended that they did not hear the comment from Sirius and continued talking.
"According to the book, I fit it the stallion and stag category." James said, looking at a paragraph from the book.
"Mine is somewhere along the dog and bull category." Sirius said.
"Dog and bull." Remus repeated. "Sounds funny. I don't see much resemblance between a dog and a bull besides they're both four-legged animals."
"I'll make a god bull for all you know."
"Imagine you start chasing after red cloth."
"An animagus still think like a human. We can be assured that we won't do something beast-like. Still conscious." Remus said knowingly. The four guys had done years of reading up and research for the last whole year. They practically went through the whole collection on Animagi in the library.
"What about you, Pete?"
"Something small I supposed." Master wants me to be a rat.
"Squirrel?? Porcupine??"
"I want to be a rat."
"A rat??"
"Why would anyone want to be a rat??"
"I think I can do the freezing of the tree easier as a rat."
"Alright then."
"The book mentioned that the smaller the animal, the easier the transformation."
"Rat is nice and small. So why not??"
"So we shall carry out our first practice next week."
"I'm still sleepy. Help me get some food from the kitchen please. Thanks." James said and turned back to his bed.
"You lazy pig!!" Sirius yelled at him.
"Detention yesterday night was a killer." James muttered. The Marauders had served their detentions with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest. They were supposed to look for injured animals and helped them but they had met a horribly large spider and thousands of smaller spiders along the way, which freaked the four boys out. Luckily Hagrid came around in time to talk to the spider and the rest of the spiders stopped giving chase to the four boys.
"Hey Rem and Pete. I think I want to take a nap too. Help me get more food up. Thanks." Sirius said and climbed up to his bed. Remus and Peter then left their bedroom and headed for the kitchens leaving the two sleepyheads in the dormitory.
"Ok, the books say we need to concentrate hard to be able to transform." James said. The Marauders were hanging out at the Shrieking Shack on a sunny afternoon. They had left the castle via the tunnel quietly after breakfast, making sure no one followed them as they headed towards the shack from Honeydukes.
"Concentrate hard on the animal we want to transform. Otherwise we would not be able to achieve the animal or we become half transformed." Sirius added.
"Where's the reverse charm for failed transformation??" James asked.
"Here." Remus said and he referred to one of the parchment, which he had written the lengthy spell that is used to reverse the failed transformation.
"Ok, we can start now." Sirius instructed as he muttered a spell from the book and closed his eyes to concentrate on the animal he was about to transform. Dog!! Dog!! Dog!! Suddenly he heard his three friends laughing hysterically. "What??"
"Look at your right foot. It's padded!!" James said and continued laughing. Sirius looked down at his feet. His right foot was padded like one of those large dogs. The three guys continued laughing at him.
"Well, I'm just a beginner. I bet neither you nor Peter could do any better than me." Sirius said and he referred to the spell to turn his transformed foot back to normal. He shook his leg to make sure that was his leg with his shoe and socks on it.
"Ok, my turn then." James said and he looked at the spell and closed his eyes to concentrate hard. Stag!! Stag!! Stag!! After about five minutes, James opened his eyes and looked around at his three friends who now had a stunned expression on them. "What happened??"
"We don't know what are you talking about!! Go look at your reflection." Sirius said and the three of them started laughing at James' transformation. James took his wand and tried to conjure up a mirror but unsuccessful.
"Let me get the mirror for you." Remus said in between laughter. He tried to stop laughing and transfigured a piece of broken wood from the chair into a normal mirror.
"AaahhH!!" James screamed at his reflection. What on earth was that?? The three Marauders continued laughing and shoved the parchment to his hand. James could only look at the parchment because he was not able to mouth a proper spell.
"Let me do it." Sirius offered in between his outburst everytime he looked at James' head. The stag head with prongs and James' body suddenly transformed back to the James original head on his body.
"Who was funnier?? James or me??"
"James." Peter answered as a matter-of-fact.
"I agreed." The three guys started laughing at James once again.
"At least I transformed my head unlike you who only managed to transform your foot, right??" James mocked Sirius jokingly.
"Aww. That's true. But luckily I can say the reverse spell myself. Unlike someone." Sirius said and started laughing. James began to chase after Sirius around the dilapidated house.
"Remember never practice alone. We don't want you to go around scaring people." Remus said jokingly.
"Why don't we continue??" James said as he pinned Sirius down on the floor.
"Yes, I agree. Can I continue??" Sirius said to James who was sitting on top of him. James seemed to have the tendency to pin Sirius on the floor and sit on him everytime.
"Fine. Pete, your turn to give it a try." James said as he got up from his sitting position on Sirius' stomach.
"O-ok. But I'm afraid I can't do it." Peter said.
"Don't worry. I don't think you could have a leg like Sirius or a head like James." Remus said comfortingly.
"Thanks Rem. I try now." Pete said and he muttered the charm and concentrate. Rat!! Rat!! Rat!! He opened his eyes after five minutes. The three other Marauders were looking at him. "Any changes??"
"Nope. Not at all. Try again??" James said. Peter turned to take a look at the mirror when something popped up from the bottom of his pants.
"Hey, you've got a worm on your pants." Sirius said and pointed at the worm-like structure sticking out from Peter's pants.
"Huh??" Peter looked shocked as he pulled out his pants to take a closer look. "I've got a tail!!"
"That's a great try!!" Remus said optimistically.
"Yeah!! I've got a tail!!" Peter said happily.
"Well, better reverse the tail back. Otherwise you might have the tail stuck on for good before you become an animagus." James pointed out.
"I help you with the reverse spell." Sirius said helpfully.
"Let me try again. I don't believe I can only transform my foot only. Maybe I could get a body or head next time." Sirius said and he muttered the spell. In a small pop, Sirius had transformed into a small and cute white poodle with padded feet. The three Marauders started laughing hysterically at the adorable little puppy in front of them. The puppy barked and in a slow motion, the small poodle started to transform into Sirius once again.
"Big huh??" Remus said and laughed heartily at Sirius' poodle transformation.
"Strong??" Peter questioned the baffled Sirius.
"Definitely good looking!!" James said and laughed till he rolled on the floor, clutching his stomach.
"What did I transform into?? Sirius asked quizzically.
"A poodle!!"
"A cute white one!!"
"A small little puppy!!" The three guys continued laughing.
"Hooray!! I'm the first to transform into the animal of my choice!! A dog!!" Sirius jumped in glee.
"You wanna be a poodle??"
"A small and weak poodle??"
"A white and angelic looking puppy??"
"Not that!! At least I turned into a dog. Next time I definitely can become a big, black dog. I rather die than to become a small white puppy." Sirius said. "Hey James, now you try."
"Well, I'm sure I can do better." James said and muttered the spell silently in his head. Big white stag!! Good-looking stag!! White charming stag!! Normal looking stag!! Strong white stag!! Big strong stag!! James opened his eyes and saw his three friends looked amazed at his transformation. He walked over to the transfigured mirror to check out his reflection.
Oh merlin!! I'm a stag!! Let me admire my
transformation first.
James the stag looked left and right at the mirror, waved his tail, shook his
head, lifted up his limps. Perfect. Just what I want.
"Hey James, you've been admiring yourself for the last hour. The mirror is going to crack if you look any longer." Sirius said and he jumped onto James the stag.
Get off me!! James shook his back to get rid of Sirius who was on top of him.
"Big stag. Not strong enough to move Sirius the Great One!!" Sirius called out and he grabbed tighter onto James the stag's prongs.
"Stop playing around you kids. Why don't you transform back now James??" Remus said, laughing at the two playful boys. It is more right to say one playful boy with a playful stag actually.
James concentrated onto transforming back to his original self with Sirius who was still on his back pulling and tugging his prongs.
"Hey Jamesie, you look great like this." Sirius joked after James transformed back to his original self.
"What??" James gave Sirius the puzzled look and turn to the mirror. "Aahh, why are there still prongs on my head??" James quickly muttered the reverse charm and his prong amazingly disappeared into his head as if it was swallowed.
"Quite successful transformation for our first trial." Remus complimented.
"Definitely!! We can't let anything go wrong." James said confidently. "Pete, try transforming again." Peter still did not managed to transform into a proper rat, but this time he had whiskers and a tail. He muttered the reverse spell himself and looked normal again.
"Let me transform into a big and black and strong and good-looking and-" Sirius said.
"Go straight to the transformation. We can't be bothered if you're good-looking or not. Afterall, it's only a dog." James said, sitting on the floor.
"It's not just a dog. It's Sirius the dog!!" Sirius exclaimed and he tried to concentrate to transform. Big dog!! Black dog!! Grim dog!! Strong dog!! Normal dog!! Sirius opened his eyes and looked down on his feet.
I'm a big strong dog!! He walked towards the mirror to take a look at himself. Like James, he wagged his tail, tilted his head left and right, held up his padded feet and swinging it. Then he started jumping and barking. I'm a dog!! I'm a dog!!
"Jumping dogs are rather rare you know." James said and laughed at Sirius the dog that was jumping in his two hind legs. Sirius the dog leaped onto James and pinned him down and settled on his stomach. "Get off me!! You big and fat and heavy dog!!" James exclaimed. Sirius the dog barked saying that 'I'm not big nor fat nor heavy'. Of course James did not understand a single word of the barking.
"Hey Sirius, you're suffocating James." On the cue, James pretended to be hyperventilating. Sirius the dog then gotten up and concentrate to transform back to the original Sirius.
"Look, no padded foot, no dog ears, no tail. My re-transformation skill is good huh." Sirius said smirking.
"Sir, I suggest you look at the mirror before boosting." James said and laughed.
"Eeewww, why am I all black??" Sirius wrinkled his nose in disgust and quickly muttered the reverse charm.
"You are the big and strong and black dog. Well, I think the colour black suits you. Afterall, you're Sirius Black." James said to the now normal looking Sirius.
"Thanks a lot." Sirius said and checked to make sure he was looking perfect once again.
"Hey guys, its dinner time soon. Let's head back to the castle." Remus said, as the shack was getting darker. The Marauders quickly grabbed their parchments and other stuffs, transfiguring the mirror back to the wooden prank and left the shack. They made a quick dash back to Honeydukes after checking the coast was clear.
"Where are the Marauders??" Lily asked as they left the Gryffindor common room, heading towards the Great Hall for dinner.
"No idea, they're probably at Hogsmeade or something." Stefanie said. I know the guys are up to something. But what??
"Why are you two so concern over the Marauders?? Isn't it great to have some peace now and then without their presence??" Arabella pointed out.
"Don't pretend, Bell. We know you missed Sirius. You had been looking around the common room the whole time when we were playing Exploding Snap." Lily teased.
"I didn't."
"You did!!"
"I didn't!!"
"Cut!!"
"What??"
"The Marauders are here." Stefanie said and smiled at the guys who were walking in front of them.
"Where did you guys go for the whole day??" Lily asked.
"We went to you-know-where to take a walk." James replied.
"Why didn't you call us??" Arabella said.
"We wanted an all guys outing. It's troublesome with you girls along." Sirius said. Arabella then started chasing Sirius down the steps.
"Bell and Sir definitely going to look cute together." Lily said as the five of them slowly walked down the steps.
"I don't doubt that." Stefanie giggled as they saw Arabella chasing Sirius down the corridor going round the statues.
"So where did you guys go??" Lily asked James. Stefanie and Remus seemed to be talking animatedly in front of them.
"Hogsmeade." James replied truthfully.
"Why didn't you call us?? We were so bored here."
"As Sirius had said it so bluntly, it's troublesome to let you girls tag along with us."
"What did you guys do there??"
"Exploring the grounds."
"Don't you already have the Hogsmeade map in your head??"
"We do."
"Then??"
"We're trying out the not-so-accessible places."
"No wonder you guys didn't call us."
"That's why."
"Next time take us along please. I want to see the non-so-accessible place in Hogsmeade as well."
"Wait till you know how to walk to Zonkos and Honeydukes from the drop-off point."
"Hey, are you teasing me or what??"
"Teasing you for being street-stupid that's all."
"James Potter!!" Lily shouted and chased James down the steps. Right now, Arabella was chasing Sirius around the statues while Lily chasing James down the moving staircases.
"Don't the four of them look so cute??" Stefanie commented as the three of them continued walking down the steps.
"Well, Lils and Bell usually don't take those sexist sounding remarks quite lightly." Remus said.
"What did James said??"
"I only heard the word street-stupid and I guessed the rest."
"Now I see why." Stefanie laughed and the three fourteen-year-olds walked towards the Great Hall at their own pace, leaving the four of them chasing and hiding from each other.