"I'm sooo bored" I groan. "Then why don't you hang out with the idiots you call friends" Severus mumbles grumpily. "But they got detention" I groan again, I swung my arms in boredom. "You're my only friend now Severus!" I poke his cheek but he ignores me and continues to read. "Severus" I poke again but he continues to ignore me. Lily would be here with us but she is taking some alone study time in the library. Severus and I were stuck in the court yard by the transfiguration classroom. I had finished my classes for the day and didn't feel like studying. "Why don't you practice some spells?" he suggests. "I don't feel like it" I whine. I didn't feel like doing work, work was boring. "Well I don't know how to help you then" He smiled to himself, maybe he thinks he is just that funny. "Say... Severus if I were an animal, what kind of animal do you think I would be?" He looked up from his book, a look of confusion plastered his face. It took him a moment or two to reply. "I think I'd say some sort of dog, you are definitely clingy and annoying enough to be one"
"Would I be cute at least?" If I'm gonna be a dog then I have to be a cute one, fluff and all. "If that's what you want then sure" He lazily returns is attention to the book. "Why the sudden interest in animals anyway?" He asks. Well didn't he catch on quick. "I don't know, I guess I think it'd be cool to turn into an animal" We stayed silent for a while and I got bored again. I rolled over and laid on the grass, looking up at the sky. There weren't many clouds so I just dozed off a little bit. I napped for a while before Severus spoke up again. "Hey Elsie, I have a class in ten minutes. I should get going" Damn, now I really am alone. I lift up one arm in a lazy attempt at a goodbye. "Alright, I'll say hi to Lily for you" I said as he walked away. I wasn't really sure what to do now. I could go and study more on this animagus stuff but that requires effort. It's been a couple of months now and we were slowly getting there.
My journey back to the common room was boring, the occasional hi to some classmates but that was about it. There were a few people in Gryffindor tower at the moment. Mostly older students wasting their study lessons doing nothing and procrastinating. Exactly what I'm doing half the time in my studies so how could I judge them? Once I got a couple of books and set myself up on the couch, I began to read. It turns out that in order to become an animagus you need to keep a mandrake leaf in your mouth for a month. I don't know how we are going to pull that off but it'll happen.Especially with the boys, they might swallow the leaf. This could take months, we would be lucky if we got it done by Christmas. "Elsie we are back from detention" The four stroll in happily. "You look awfully cheerful for someone whose been in detention Sirius" His smile only grew. "Well Moony here was brilliant, his plan the prank had worked so well it was detention worthy" Moony? Who's Moony? "Moony?"
"Oh that's my new nickname for Remus" He states. Is it because of the full moon because that isn't exactly original. "Of course it is" Remus only shrugged, I guess he seemed fine with it. "So what have you got for us on operation Moony?" James sits next to me and grabs the book I was reading. "I've found all that I need... But it's going to take time finding these ingredients and brewing it" Peter groans. "But that'll take so long" And it did...
********
Over time we managed to collect the ingredients, it took two weeks just to find the dew and the chrysalis of a death head hawk moth. James and Sirius used the invisibility cloak to sneak into the potions storage room more then once. I felt kind of bad for doing so but it's for a good cause and no one would find out. When it came time to put the mandrake in our mouths it become a lot more difficult. Remus helped me put a sticking charm on the leaf so it would stay there while I talked but it took a couple of tries with Peter. We wanted to become animagus' at the same time so we had to start over if one of us failed. Luckily we managed to brew the potion within 3 months. Sure it took up most of our spare time this term but it's worth it.
After another week of waiting, a storm finally came about and believe me the moment we heard thunder and lightning we ran. We got cloak and run as fast as we could to the forest without being caught. Though with five teens under the cloak it was difficult to hide our feet. We were deep in the forest soon enough and the boys were eager to start. "Alright ready?" We all took our potions and chanted the spell. It was then I could feel myself get smaller, the change was almost painful but overall strange. I could feel my bones shifting and fur growing. I figured when I got to a point where I stopped shrinking my transformation was complete. I looked at the boys but all I saw was a rat, a black dog and a stag... And Remus standing there looking surprised. Who was who? Wait how do I change back? "Elsie you are the cutest fox I have ever seen!" Remus got a little gushy which was a bit odd for him but I guess he was just that proud of us. I looked down at my paws and saw that my fur was a more brownish colour than the average red fox. I guess Severus wasn't too far off, I was a dog of sorts.
I focused becoming human again and after a few goes I did. "I must say James you make quite the stag there" Sirius laughed and made an antler gesture with his hands. "Yeah well how does it feel to have padded feet? Now you can join the club" Remus jokes. "You know we should just call him Padfoot from now on" I suggest, it had a nice ring to it. "I like it Vixen" James smirks at my newfound nickname. Naming me after a female fox... Smart, but two can play at that game. "Says you Prongs" I make fake antlers with my hands and poke my tongue out, just as Sirius had. "Do I get a nickname?..." I look over to a distraught Peter. "Well you have a worm like tail... Why not Wormtail?" Sirius suggests, Peter loves the idea of it and proudly states that he is Wormtail now.
"I can't thank you guys enough... You all really are amazing" Remus pulls us into a group hug. I'm glad we finally managed to do this but we have been standing in the rain for a while now and I really want to go inside. "I think it's time to go back before anyone notices we are gone... or finding us soaking wet"
