Asteria stood in the perfect's bathroom, watching over the Marauders. Three of them sat quietly on the floor scrunching their eyes tightly shut whilst Remus leant against the sinks, chuckling to himself.
"It's not working." James grumbled, letting out a sigh of exasperation as he opened his eyes to look at the others.
"Oh I think we can all tell." Sirius replied.
"I don't know about you guys but I'm having the best time." Remus smirked to himself smugly.
"Shut up Moony. We're doing this for you." Sirius grumbled.
"Alright, calm down." Peter raised his eyebrows.
"You guys just need to focus. Don't try and force it; it should come somewhat naturally." Asteria spoke as if she knew what she was saying were true.
"Just because you could do it first time." James frowned, annoyed at his own incapability more than anything.
Asteria pursed her lips and looked over at Remus who was being no help whatsoever. "I don't know what to tell you guys." She admitted with a sheepish shrug, "The potion has to work because it did for me."
Peter took a deep breath and closed his eyes once more. This time, he didn't tense up or try to force anything. He concentrated on nothing else other than himself - drowning out the noise of motion of the surroundings. And, as if by magic, something happened.
"Pete!" Asteria clapped her hands together over her mouth.
Peter felt his body changing. He couldn't feel his school tie a little too tight around his neck or the uncomfortable shoes he was forced to wear. Then, where his hands had been resting on his knees, suddenly that feeling vanished. Peter opened his eyes, only to be met with the floor. He looked up to see the four others all gathered round and staring down at him. Sirius and James were clinging to each other and tried not to cry as they laughed so much. Asteria had her mouth half open as if she were about to say something whilst Remus didn't look surprised in the slightest.
"Oh this is hilarious." Sirius rolled his head back, "Peter, you've officially done the funniest thing I've ever seen."
"Wait." James abruptly gained composure of himself to turn to the others, "This is actually brilliant."
Sirius raised an eyebrow, "How is a rat going to help tame a werewolf?"
Peter nearly coughed on his own air as he remained down on the floor. He didn't really have much of an ability to twist his neck and see what he had become so he turned to look at his reflection in a puddle of water by the sinks. Believe it or not, his animagus was a rat. There was no way Sirius was ever going to let him live that down.
"Forget about that for a second." James waved his hand, "Peter can sneak into places... Like Filch's office, when we go pranking. This is brilliant!"
Asteria nodded thoughtfully, "You do have a point."
Sirius sighed, "Just us left to do this now." He turned to face James.
Before they could attempt the animagus transformation again, Peter morphed back into his human form in front of them.
"I feel a bit dizzy." Peter held his head in his hands.
"It's probably not healthy all that shrinking and growing." Remus suggested, pursing his lips.
"Your turn now boys." Asteria faced them with a somewhat encouraging smile on her face. James was a littler nervous he wasn't going to be able to actually transform into an animal at all. Then he'd be stuck in the castle every full moon, completely helpless as the others went and explored the grounds. Whilst Sirius had no worries about his abilities, he was anxious about what kind of animal he'd turn into. What happened if his animagus was a slug? Or a snake? What would everyone think? What would Asteria think?
"No better time than the present." James agreed.
"Fourteenth times the charm." Sirius nodded.
James and Sirius both closed their eyes. They could feel the others intently watching them as they tried to focus only on themselves. You'd think for two rather proud and sometimes arrogant boys, this wouldn't be too challenging.
James felt it first.
He felt his legs elongating and a sudden weight growing on top of his head. At first, James was scared to open his eyes - cautious that he might be a giraffe or some other stupid animal that wouldn't be discrete when out in the forbidden forest. Only when he heard a bark beside him did James finally open his eyes.
He stood slightly taller than everyone else and looked over to his left side to see a large black dog looking up at him. James opened his mouth to speak but couldn't actually form any words in his throat.
Asteria bit down on her tongue and her eyes lit up.
"Oh what a surprise." Remus rolled his eyes and folded his arms.
"I can't believe I didn't expect this." Asteria agreed.
"What happens if someone walks in to see this?" Peter questioned.
James and Sirius both looked at each other as the others continued to watch them both. There was a reason why they'd locked the bathroom door. Any poor student that walked in to see a stag and a dog in the toilets would probably have a heart attack.
Sirius morphed back first, content with what his animagus had revealed itself to be. James started to strut about the room, peering into any reflective surface that showed off his antlers and full body.
"How long until he gets bored of his reflection?" Asteria asked Sirius quietly as Remus and Peter began clearing away the potion equipment.
"Could be weeks yet." Sirius sniggered.
"So, all worked out in the end. I successfully managed to create four illegal animagi." Asteria grinned proudly.
"If that's not good enough Potions and Transfiguraion revision then I don't know what is." Sirius slung his arm around Asteria's shoulders.
"Are you going to tell Lily about this?" Remus asked.
Asteria paused for a moment, "I'll do whatever you want."
"Oh don't say that." Sirius chuckled.
"Does she know about the lycanthropy?" Asteria asked.
"I don't think so. Not yet at least." Remus admitted.
"Not yet?" James practically shouted as he morphed back into his human form, "Are you going to tell her?"
"I think she should know. At this point she has to a least be a little suspicious that my mum is supposedly ill all the time and I return after with scratches all over me." Remus dug his hands into his pockets and looked down at the floor, "She deserves to know."
"Well whenever you decide to tell Lily - if you do. Then we can also tell her about the animagi thing." Asteria suggested.
"Alright." Remus nodded.
"This is officially a group secret. We should have code names!" James jumped into the air with excitement, "I'll have them sorted by tomorrow! Oh just you guys wait!" He punched the air with enthusiasm.
"James I don't want a nickname." Asteria frowned.
"You don't know what you're talking about... Chirpy." James furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to come up with a nickname on the spot.
"James, no." Asteria folded her arms, thoroughly unimpressed.
Suddenly there was a knock on the bathroom door and everyone froze.
"Is somebody in there? Why is the door locked?" A familiar nasally voice rang through the room.
The five students looked around at each other, bewildered expressions plastered on their faces. What was Snape doing? What kind of excuse could the come up with for being in a locked bathroom without sounding really weird?
"Ria, you and Pete transform into your animagi. You'll be discrete enough to not get noticed. Remus is a prefect so he's fine and... Well me and James are just cool and rebellious so Snape shouldn't be too surprised or suspicious." Sirius hissed to everyone.
Asteria and Peter swiftly transfigured into their animal forms, hiding just out of sight of the door as the others went to open it.
"What exactly are you doing in here? Lupin should know better than to allow lowly, normal students into the prefect's bathroom." Snape folded his arms and gave Sirius and James a rather judgemental look.
"Keep your big nose in your own business." Sirius replied.
"We're just leaving anyway." James frowned at the Slytherin boy.
Asteria listened to the sound of one of the boys stepping out of the bathroom and took this as her chance to quickly escape through the door.
"What was that? Did you see that? Some blur just went right past me." Snape bawled his hands into fists and pursed his lips as he started to grow suspicious of what exactly was going on.
"Maybe a magic pixie has come to teach you some manners." Remus retorted, opening the door to allow Snape to pass into the bathroom. Snape huffed violently in response as Peter hurriedly ran out of the room without notice and Remus slammed the door behind him.
"We're going to look like right weirdos." Sirius shook his head with a smirk as the group walked down the corridor proudly.
"Just wait till they see the group of animals running around the grounds." James laughed, "A werewolf, rat, stag, dog, and a bird."
The small white bird landed on Sirius' shoulder and the greying rat scampered along between their legs and under their feet as the group strode down the corridors without a care in the world.