Disclaimer: I can has Rowling?

~~(_^7 ~~(_^7

"My Lord..." a short man squeaked "I have been trying to locate you..."

"Do not lie to me." The voice was cold and unsettling.

Silence fell for a few moments. He bowed, fear visible in his eyes. Then, deciding it was not enough, he dropped onto his knees:

"My Lord, I have been trying as much as I can. I have been asking rats, following any trails and rumours..."

"Stop. Now, listen. This is what you must do first..."

His master was week. But the Dark Lord would be strong again, he would live and kill again. So he listened and obeyed.

~~(_^7 ~~(_^7

"So, explain me this, Wormtail, we know that you are absolutely horrendous with your wand work in class, but when 'Prongs' tells you to do something, you listen to him and try it?"

"I'm sorry?" I was looking at Sirius and trying to smile.

"Prongs?" Moony smiled.

"Guys, just shut up and listen", 'Prongs' was visibly worried. "I have a quidditch mach in two hours."

"I'm sorry," I tried again.

"Besides, antlers fit you like a charm."

"Shut up, Black. And Wormtail?"

"Yes?"

"If Lily sees me this way, you are going to spend years in a cage. If you can ever manage to transform anything beside the tail."

Moony started cracking up.

Black waved, looking behind us "Hello, Evans."

James jumped like we never expected he could, saw a still empty classroom. Red in the face he did the only thing he could, as Lupin was holding his wand. He stabbed Black in the side. With antlers. He almost broke his neck.

When a furious James finally made it to the pitch, the game was already underway.

"I'm sorry."

Black was silent.

"I said I'm sorry"

Black harrumphed.

"Sirius, he is really sorry" I tried to help.

Remus nodded, standing alongside me. Black was ignoring us all.

"Please?" Prongs was getting desperate. "For the love of Merlin, Sirius, I'll give you anything, just forgive me..."

Black, still angry, silently looked him into the eyes. "Your cloak."

"What?"

"Give me your cloak."

"It was not that bad, was it?"

"You left me in the hospital wing alone and went to play the stupid game. And you couldn't even win us that match. Your cloak, Prongs."

James gulped, and looked around for Pomfrey. Then he took it out and sighed – "here."

"But it's you family heirloom?" Remus and I were staring open mouthed.

Sirius too was agape.

"You are like a brother to me. Take it." And James pushed the cloak into his hands.

"Prongs" he smiled "I was kidding."

"I am not."

"Good. Now take it back. Quickly."

~~(_^7 ~~(_^7

The rat was hidden near the small wayside inn near the forest. His whiskers and eyes shone through the gap in the wall, and he was carefully looking around. Nothing seemed out of place.

After a few seconds, the wizard entered through the back door. There were few things stored in the back and it was essential for him to get these to his master. It was an easy task.

It took him most of the hour to pack everything in the bag.

~~(_^7 ~~(_^7

"Peter?"

I turned around.

"Do you think you will make it until the weekend?"

"I'll try..."

Remus, currently reading some school book, smiled. I already knew that we were in his hearing distance, but we tried pretending he was too far to hear. I looked back at Sirius:

"Padfoot, I think you should try even if I do not make it."

"No, we will try it only together. And I told you, 'Padfoot' sounds a little too childish."

"But you do have padded feet," James was looking past us, probably at Evans, because his voice felt somewhat distant.

"Couldn't it be something more, I do not know, intimidating? I think 'Grim' sounds scary enough."

"Padfoot, my dear friend," I began as James became more and more unavailable for conversation, "you cannot choose your own name. Do you think I like the name Wormtail that much?"

Remus was cracking up. This earned him a few concerned glances from the other griffindoors.

"But it lacks something, something that makes me into me..."

"Look, dear Padfoot, just shut up and deal with this seriously."

He groaned.

"Let's borrow Prongs cloak while he's occupied and you'll give me a few pointers."

He groaned again, but stood up.

"Prongs, we are going to take the cloak."

"Good."

"And leave you here."

"Good."

"For two days."

"Good."

We shared glances.

"And you will do our assignments for the week for us?"

"Alright..."

"And you'll walk to the dinner naked today?"

"Al... Wait, what?"

Remus fell out of his chair.

"Padfoot asked you if you could give us the cloak for a few hours."

"Ok, why didn't you just say so?"

"Prongs..." Sirius' voice was full of disappointment "you're still not here, are you?"

And the two of us left for the stairs, leaving him with a dumb look on his face.

Perhaps it was a jolly mood, and perhaps Padfoot outdid himself when explaining it, but I finally managed to transform completely.

And here I was standing as a rat, while a black dog was sniffing me curiously. It was a strange experience, not what I had remembered from drinking the potion, but similar. My thoughts were my own, only somewhat clouded. I still was in control, feeling myself as part of the rat. I was brought back when Padfoot took out its big wet tongue and tried to lick me. I jumped back as fast as I could and reverted back.

"Ew, don't even try that again."

"Or?"

Black was on his two feet again.

"Or, I'll stop being friends with you."

He tried to look insulted and proud, "like anyone needs a friend like you."

"You would be lost without me."

"You do know I'm never admitting that?"

I nodded.

"Good, we're on the same page. Now try that again a few times, and we'll go tell Moony we are ready. And by 'we', I mean that I get to tell him that we are ready."

"And what do I do?"

"Watch in awe. And bring James."

After an hour, we four were the last four still in the common room. Lupin and James were in the middle of a small chess game, and we two had just arrived. Sirius climbed on a tabled and cleared his throat, looking at us three, mostly at Remus:

"Mister Padfoot would like to make an announcement for Mr. Moony, and would like him to stop moving the stupid peaces and look straight. Mr. Padfoot declares this moment as of great importance for Messieurs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs as this moment in time marks the beginning of the legend they will make."

It was slightly unexpected and sounded a bit weird, but Remus got the gist of it:

"Mister Moony would like to express his thanks for Mr. Padfoot, but would also like to clarify why this exact moment is of importance."

"If Mr. Moony wouldn't have interrupted Mr. Padfoot, he would have realised that Mr. Padfoot has just figured out what was needed for all the names."

"Mister Prongs would like to express his astonishment that Mr. Padfoot agreed to use the name Padfoot in the end."

"Mr. Padfoot accepts your astonishment."

"Mister Wormtail is exited to notice that the honorific is indeed a quite fine touch by Mr. Padfoot and is also delighted that he finally accepted his name."

"Mr. Moony is happy that both Messrs Wormtail and Padfoot found their names fitting."

"Mr. Padfoot advises Mr. Moony to go to sleep."

"Mr. Prongs points out that this is a great idea and that the full moon is soon."

"Mr. Moony asks why did Mr. Prongs have to go and ruin the mood."

"Mr. Wormtail agrees and wonders how long he could keep talking like that."

"Mr. Prongs thinks it could be forever."

We got bored of it after an hour and a half.

For a time.

~~(_^7 ~~(_^7

"Peter?"

The man jumped in surprise and turned around. He cursed silently, his brain looking for a way out. Finding none, he gave up to the flow:

"Bertha? How good to see you, how long has it been?"

He clutched his bag tighter and his hand slowly found his wand.

"You are alive..."

"Yes, Bertha, I am. Now, please, listen to me, I need your help."

"But..."

"Listen, Bertha, I would really like to speak with you, but this is not the place."

"Why?"

"Seriously, Bertha, why do you think? I am on a secret assignment. For the Ministry."

"What do you mean?"

"Look, let's just go outside. Someone might be listening..."

"But you'll have to tell me everything."

"I will."

They left through the front door. No one else paid heed to the man. He silently was leading her into the forest. She followed, a bit confused. They both were silent for a few minutes.

"Where are you leading me?"

"I need to find a safer place."

"Why?"

"So that we are not overheard."

"Peter, who are you running from?" Her voice was concerned "Why are we here?"

"Incarcerous," his voice trembled "I'm running from myself, Bertha, and we are here so I wouldn't have to bring you all the way. Levicorpus."

He gestured his wand to slowly hover her away, even deeper in to the forest.

There, in the landing, his Lord was waiting.

He hoped that the Dark Lord would appreciate his efforts.

~~(_^7 ~~(_^7

We were magnificent, I am sure of it. A stag, a hound, a rat and a wolf, we were strolling through the moonlit cold forest. We were free and bound together at the same time. The werewolf was not scary when I was a rat. I somehow understood his intentions, I even felt safe. Prongs was guarding the left side, Padfoot was on the right, and I was everywhere. Moony was an enigma. He was here but at the same time it felt that our band of four had an additional member. The inner werewolf, the beast that took over our Moony, ran alongside us. There were signs of the inner struggle we all noted. His eyes had a look of comprehension we thought was impossible. Sometimes his eyes glittered as if the savage tried to get out. Moony fought him and brought himself out. It gave me shivers. At least he did respond to our guidance. Otherwise I wouldn't even go near him.

The forest felt empty. As if everyone knew we were there. As if the werewolf frightened the beasts and other 'marvels' of the forest. I, for one, was extremely grateful for that, even though Black looked like he wouldn't mind a challenge or a fight. We found footprints in the snow, played in the wind, but never found any danger.

When we returned from our first trip, we decided to never skip a full moon. Even on summer. Never. Remus was ecstatic. We were happy for him. And we were possibly the youngest animagi ever. That was an accomplishment we could be proud of but couldn't brag about. It took us two years, but it was worth the effort.

And the best part was that no one beside us knew.

~~(_^7 ~~(_^7

"My Lord, I have brought you a gift."

~~(_^7 ~~(_^7

I was sleeping in the old, unused classroom, waiting. He was somewhat distant and less aware.

The classroom was empty and silent. It was quite a bore to wait for someone to come, but it had to be done. We knew that somewhere here there was a secret passage and professors knew about this one. It was just a matter of time when we caught McGonagall using it.

We had to hear the password and that meant that one of us was here most of the time. This day was my shift, as I had no electives this afternoon.

There really should have been another, more efficient way to find out, but we were yet unsure what that could have been. Moony was spending more time than usual in the library, researching any means of detection and observation. Padfoot, however, was set on making an imprint and all his time was spent looking for a way to make the parchment talk back. His idea was to glue a speaking parchment somewhere with the permanent sticking charms, perhaps in the hidden corner of the common room and leave a legacy of us. Prongs was on the idea and although lacking the enthusiasm Padfoot showed, had a few ideas what the parchment could hide. I for one was interested more in mapping out the school and had a rough outline with the corridors and passageways. Was it a surprise that it fell down to me to physically scout the castle?

Someone was coming.

McGonagall.

I moved my whiskers from excitement. And she didn't disappoint. All that was needed for this passage, was a simple tap of the wand to the little crack in the wall. After she disappeared from the view, I transformed, took out a piece of parchment in the pocket, scribbled down "tap wand on little crack", put it back and followed through as a rat.

After exiting from the other side, quite near the Headmaster office, I ran into Mrs. Norris. That was the cat I hated with all my heart. He was afraid. I ran as quick as I could, my little rat heart beating from Fear. My squeaks sounded loudly through the corridors, and I ran past McGonagall, which warmly smiled at the cat giving chase. I begged Merlin that she wouldn't help Filch's hellcat.

I was saved by none other but Lily Evans. Prongs would have been jealous. She was holding a conversation on potions with Snivellus, but when they saw me, she kneed down and snatched me up, only seconds before Mrs. Norris got me.

"And whose little lost rat might you be?"

I squeaked something, thinking how fortunate it was that I wasn't a smelly sewer rat and that there were a few students having pet rats. Else I probably would have been left alone.

Evans looked around seeing none I could belong to.

"Sev, do you know anyone whose it could be?"

"Does it matter?"

"Sev..."

"I don't know."

"Severus," there came a shout from behind us, "we need to talk."

"Avery?"

Evans looked at both boys and turned to walk away, "I'll meet up with you later, Severus."

Snivellus looked as if he had been slapped, but Avery grabbed his hand and pulled him aside.

Lily was carrying me gently, towards the Gryffindor common room, her face filled with disappointment. She stroked my back, absently.

"I think I have seen you with Remus once... I'll ask him first, alright?"

I didn't react at all. She didn't mind.

"I hope you are not James'... He is just so much annoying... Always somewhere around the corner... And the things they do to Sev."

I stilled a little, listening to her.

"I wish they would leave him alone. Then, he wouldn't have these new friends, he would be different... Avery wouldn't be finding him. We would speak about something; learn for O.W.L.'s... he could show me any new spells he made. He said he had a funny one called levicorpus... And now he's with that Avery, a very bad friend to have..."

Her voice trailed off, she was still stroking my back and I was trying to remember the spell. As it always was, something funny for us meant pain for Snivellus, and something funny for him...

We ran into Padfoot.

"Hey, Lily Flower, have you seen James?"

"No, Black, go away."

He saw me in her hands, looking at him. He laughed.

"What is it now, Black?"

"You are so angry at me, and I just mentioned James. I hope you don't run into him today." He made a pause and took out a sugar quill from his pocket. "By the way, what are you doing with our little Scrabs?"

"What are you talking about, Black?"

Sirius took a bite of the quill "the rat. James found him in the castle and tried to teach him a few tricks. We figure it lives in Hogwarts. Not a very bright rat, but certainly does have a few tricks here and there. As I imagine you will be looking for James to give him his Scrabs back, would you mind me accompanying you to the common room?"

She pushed me into his hands as if I was poisonous.

"You know, you can give your Scrabs back to him yourself. I have something to do in the library."

Sirius sniggered as she turned around, slightly furious and left.

"See, Wormtail, that was easy."

Round the corner I reverted back.

"Scrabs?"

"She has heard Wormtail. And anything else I could think right of the rat was either Worm or Scraps."

"Thanks, Padfoot..." I groaned. "You were looking for Prongs?"

"Yeah, let's go to the common room. You see I have found the enchantments necessary. We can record some jokes and insults."

"And some secrets, left for those worthy. You know, it would be good if the plans I have were hidden under a password."

Sirius started running after that.

"Padfoot?"

As he ignored me, I had to run after him.

"Wait!"

A minute or five were spent running frantically through the staircases.

"Wormtail is a genius!" he screamed as soon as he saw Remus and James near the fire.

We all hurdled together. Padfoot had new ideas every month. Half of them were worthy of attention, and we figured this one was one of those.

"We'll make a map."

Moony grinned like his birthday had come:

"And I figured how we can track everyone."

We all started making plans.

~~(_^7 ~~(_^7

"Wormtail, you have done well."

"My Lord..."

"We are going back to England."

He shuddered out of fear. But, he feared his master more.

"Yes, my Lord."

Her body was motionless, empty eyes staring at the stars.

"Nagini." A slow, long hiss from bellow, sending shivers down his spine. "Dinner."

~~(_^7 ~~(_^7

The tenth question hit me like a train.

Moony was my friend. Moony was kind. Moony was smart. Moony was harmless. Moony was a Werewolf.

I stopped for a breath and started answering other questions. Easier ones, harder ones. I was never such a scholar like Remus. I never had such talent as James or Sirius. But I would try my best. Even if it was only 'Acceptable' I could scrape. Remus would get an O. I had even made a bet with Frank on that.

Finally, I returned to the question. It should have been really easy to answer that. But I never paid attention to Moony that much.

"Quills down, please."

We left quite quickly after that.

Sirius did not let the question ten stay forgotten.

Moony cracked a joke I half listened to.

I explained the few things I got right and was berated by James.

I needed to forget that. Remus was my friend, I was not afraid of him. I wished that was true. I was not a very good liar to everyone else, but I was a great liar when it came to lying to myself. I truly did not understand why I did have that fear. As Prongs pointed out we really did run with a werewolf every month. And I was still afraid. Sometimes less, sometimes more...

I latched onto the chance Prongs gave me:

"Where'd you get that?"

"Nicked it," his reply was casual, and he started to play the seeker on the ground. I was in awe. James was a great guy, the perfect chaser, and he had reflexes that could make any seeker jealous. He caught the golden thing like a hundred times over and over again. I even applauded a few of his better catches.

"...Before Wormtail wets himself with excitement."

I felt a little ashamed.

Why couldn't I be more like James? Or even Sirius?

I couldn't find strength inside. My inner world was one of the rat's and that didn't go well with courage I was supposed to have as a griffindoor. There was no outer force to shape me, except my three friends and I feared one of them.

We noticed Snivellus.

James went to have his fun.

It wasn't that fun in the end.

But we still laughed.

Cruelty was something we all had.

It did take my mind of werewolves though.