It was early December, and everyone in the castle of Hogwarts was buzzing about, excited and waiting for the Christmas break, all except myself and the Marauders, who knew both that Remus was in the hospital wing for his condition and, we had nearly completed the animagus potion.
The four of us had been saying the words every sunrise and sundown, 'Amato Animo Animato Animagus,' and we had been waiting for the electric storm that was coming soon, waiting for the lightning so that we could get our full crystal phials and say the words on time.
It was easy steps in theory, only having to remember to hide our wands somewhere safe, and once we were animals, imagine our human selves clearly and precisely enough that we can change back correctly. The only person that was not excited for our changing was Remus, who had ranted to us all days ago when James said it was nearly ready, about the dangers, and about how we could be stuck, or injure, or even kills ourselves.
My only response was, "Remus John Lupin, if I didn't want to help you, I wouldn't have began trying to be an illegal animagus. I mean, I'm not just breaking school rules here, I'm breaking the law. So carry on with your potions homework, and let us help you just this once." It seemed to be a good enough speech for him and for the rest of the boys, after all, there wasn't really any turning back now that the phial was complete and the storm was oncoming.
It was the early morning when I was in the boys dorm room, lying on Remus' bed, all of the other boys on their beds, all except Andre, who was still probably eating dinner. "How do you think poor Remmy is?" James asked with a sigh, slumping down onto his bed. I shrugged, looking at the other boys for their answer, Sirius did the same, but Peter said, "I can't wait for this animagus thing to be over, then we'd actually know how he is."
"I know, I'm so bored waiting, and there was an electric storm last night, nothing even happened, have we done it wrong?" Sirius asked. We all contemplated it and looked at him for a response, but instead, James screamed a high pitched squeal and my jaw dropped to the floor. Instead of a human boy, there was a rather large black dog, with it's ears pricked up, eyes large.
The dog barked at us all and then froze, jumping down from the bed and padding over to the mirror.
There was another loud scream from James, and I looked over to him, but saw him pointing in Peter's direction, looking over and seeing nothing but a tiny rat. So, everyone was changing into their Patronus, which meant that soon enough, James would be a stag and myself, a panther. Suddenly, there was a loud grunting noise and looking over to James' bed, I saw a stag, weighing down the bed.
It was funny at first, watching all of the three boys making loud animal noises and running around chaotically, not knowing what they were doing, being new to the animal experience. But then it wasn't as fun, I felt my body twisting and shrinking, my features changing, hair growing on my back, clothes moulding into my body, ears growing on the top of my head. My legs became more powerful and my arms became legs.
I tried to speak but my voice came out at a purr, the dog looking at me and barking, it was strange as I suddenly understood what he said. It was like a translator had gone off into my brain, it was magic without the need of our wands (which were hidden underneath Remus' bed). He was amazed that it had actually worked, and he had laughed at me as I tried to speak.
"Guys, how do we switch back?" Peter asked. There was a silence from all of us, the only sound that was heard was the squeak from Peter. I answered, "Think about becoming human again, and remember your clothes." The different animals all laughed, going silent again and concentrating hard. The first people to change back took fifteen minutes of concentrating, and that was myself and Sirius.
The other two took a small while longer.
"That. That was cool," James said, sprawled out across his bed, his hair even messier than it was before. Peter was already making a plan about telling Remus, and Sirius was telling us all how it would be a great skill to practice as it would be easier transporting a rat and a dog secretly, but the panther and stag would need work. James then set off into a rant about when we go for the Christmas break, how it would be great to sneak off out of his house.
"So, we are going to your house then?" Sirius asked. James raised an eyebrow at the boy and pushed his glasses up his nose. Luckily, we had all turned back with our clothes on, and had all taken our wands from under were I was sitting. "We always do, what makes you think it will be any different?" James asked. The rest of us agreed, even Peter and Remus wanted to come for Christmas this season, as James had invited them.
He also had invited Lily, Marlene, and the other girls, but they had all politely, or not so politely, declined his invitation. I had tried to convince the girls many times that James wasn't as bad as he first seemed, and if you had a chance to know him, he wouldn't be as bad. I especially tried to tell Lily, but she was having none of it, most of the girls weren't bad with James, Mary even confessed she thought he was cute in second year, but Lily was adamant.
She just didn't like him.
"I'm going to do it again, the more I practice, the more I can just 'pop' and I'll be an animal, a rather cute one at that," Sirius bragged. James and Peter laughed, but Sirius told them the truth about their animals and how ugly they looked from his point of view. "I think it's funny how Sirius is a dog and Athena is a cat, aren't they supposed to hate each other?" Peter asked, confused.
"Yeah, but Thea and I don't hate each other, we joke around a lot but it's not fighting," Sirius answered. James giggled and jumped off his bed, onto Peter, and whispered something to the shorter boy. Peter then laughed slightly at the comment and glanced over to me, his eyes looking a little lost.
I decided to make my own joke, since it was obvious they were whispering about us and I wanted to steer the conversation back to clearer waters, "I'm not sure Siri, I might hate you." The black haired boy just glared playfully at me and said, "See what I mean."
"Stop flirting you two, and Sirius, turn into an animal if you're going to, I'm getting sick of looking at your face already," James said casually. Sirius gave an offended gasp, and tried with all his willpower to turn into a dog, in doing so, he growled at the curly haired boy and snapped at his bed, of course not actually damaging anything.
"Calm down mate, that's my bed you're biting," James frowned, taunting the dog.
I decided to take my time and try and become a panther again, finding it was a lot easier and a lot more comfortable the second time around. It was a little complicated, but it ran smoother than the first time I was forced into turning. "I think we shall name you Wormtail, I mean, it's pretty self explanatory," James said loudly to Peter.
Peter obviously protested loudly back, but, in the end, once changing back into regular people and talking for two hours, making multiple notes, and arguing an awful lot, we had nicknames for each other, Sirius liked to call them code names, knowing that only we, and soon enough Remus, would know why we called each other that.
James had came up with something for Sirius, Peter, himself and I, calling us all, in that order, Padfoot, Wormtail, Prongs, and Ash.
He came up with obvious ones for Padfoot and Wormtail, Prongs to do with his antlers as they were in fact rather dangerous, and Ash for me, because I was a black panther, and I liked sitting by the fire. We also obviously had Moony from before so there was no change there.
It was special being regarded as their honorary friend, I wasn't a Marauder, but I was one of their close friends, someone who could help them, and I liked that.
"Who's going to tell Remus or are we just going to drop it on him, start calling each other by our names, and just all plan to change at once before his eyes as soon as he walks in," Sirius rambled. James and I glanced at each other and made a face, but Peter chuckled, "Like a surprise party, but instead a surprise animal." Sirius nodded and even James agreed, so I was forced to go along with whatever they brought up next.
Suddenly, the door was opened, and Andre walked in the room, holding a book and a pocket watch, his hair falling in front of his eyes. "Bonjour," he said quietly, not looking any of us in the eyes. He placed down his pocket watch and book and then walked into the bathroom without a second glance. "Well that was paw - sitively awkward," Sirius muttered. We all groaned in disappointment.