Whimsical {James Potter}

Chapter 42

"Sirius?" Remus pants. "What are you doing? What are you doing?" He lurches forward to capture Sirius' foot, but the latter is too swift and rolls onto the floor out of the way. Remus stares at them, true terror in his eyes. "Guys? You can't mess around like this."

James steps forward to him. Looking back over his shoulder, he nods to her and Cressida climbs up the ladder next while James tries to soothe their friend. As she reaches the top, a hand extends. Cressida takes it immediately and the final lunge out becomes smoother than she imagined.

Sirius smiles timidly at her, but both their attentions turn towards the hole in the floor where Peter is climbing up. Remus' voice is raising as James continuously tries to reassure him that they know what they're doing. James follows up shortly after the arguing stops and at last, Remus crawls through.

He's shaking. "Y-you guys can't be here," he stammers. "I can't control myself. Please." His eyes snap towards a window where the moon is almost in position. "Please go."

James nods towards Sirius. Sirius steps forward with a gentle sway, smiling tightly at Remus, then transfigures himself into his Animagus form. The familiar black dog stands proudly with a slow wagging tail.

"We don't like you being alone, mate," James says. "So we found a way to help you."

Remus hasn't taken his eyes off of Sirius, jaw ajar. "That's...that's Sirius," he breathes, shakily stepping from side to side. "He's a dog."

Sirius barks in confirmation, sitting down on his hind. "Yep," James grins. "We all are. Well, not dogs, but Animagus. Personally, I think a dog is rather boring." Cressida smiles to herself. Always the jokester. Sirius nips at his ankles.

Remus waves his finger between the three remaining humans. "You all are?"

Cressida takes that as her moment. The transformation is painless but still strange to feel. The room shifts from her new perspective, filling with familiar smells and one new distinct one from Remus.

Remus falters back as Peter had at the sight of a small black bear standing in front of him, a hand cupping his mouth. He's more in a state of shock than Peter's initially terror, however. A low growl rumbles in her throat, a twitch trailing from her neck to tail that ruffles the hair.

A hand scratches the top of her elongated head behind her ears, eliciting another long growl of pleasure. "Nearly big enough to ride, don't you think?" Cressida's head snaps up at James who has dropped to a kneel by her side. She knocks his jaw with her snout to display the disapproval at the idea, but he only lapses into chuckles, pressing a kiss to her snout then pushing it down. "Apparently not."

"I still don't understand," Remus breathes out. "Y-you never told me. When-where?!"

"Started with the mandrake leaf back in November," Peter answers. He then transforms himself as well back into a rat and scurries around near Cressida's paws. Remus falls into a crouch, face digging into his hands in quiet sobs. Cressida's eyes latch onto the moon that's light is visible through the boarded-up window. She nudges James' arm, warning him.

"See you in the morning," he chuckles to Remus who barely lifts his head to watch the final change. Cressida and Sirius take steps back as James transforms into his stag self. Their shoulders and backs come to the same height, but his neck stretches upwards, giving him height over her.

He does so in just perfect timing as Remus' soft cries turn violent. An invisible force thrashes his shoulder back. His shirt stretches out then the fibres begin to snap as a long shoulder protrudes from it. At the same time, he grows taller. The bottom of his legs extend and thin. Cressida stiffens at the sound of his pained howls, captured in the sight. If she wasn't so captivated by it, no doubt she'd have run long ago. They all seem to just watch it – with nothing else to do but hope that they were right about animals and werewolves.