When They Were Marauders || A Marauders Tale

Year Four: Part One (4.1)

For a year, the four friends tried to perfect the potion. Unfortunately, there had been no clear full moons. So, they continued throughout their fourth year.

The Marauders decided to stay at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the winter break to complete their potion. On Christmas Eve, Remus could sense a big storm rolling in.

"Okay, we have to do this quick." Remus opened the window in their dormitory, enchanting a landing to hold them and the potions. "Come on."

They carefully put the cauldron on the landing as thunder rolled above. When James got Peter's cauldron on the landing, Remus shut the window. He explained quickly, "Once lightning strikes, we move them all inside as fast as possible."

"What happens if we don't move fast enough?"

Remus looked at him gravely. "Then say hello to some animal parts."

Peter gulped and kept his blue eyes on the dark sky. Sirius asked, "Will we just. . .poof---I'm an animal now?"

Remus looked in the textbook, nodding. "It just says to repeat the incantation one last time and you should be okay."

"And we can't pick our animal?" James asked. Remus shook his head and James added, "Man, I was hoping to choose a tiger."

Remus ignored him and looked at Peter, who looked a bit green. "It's not supposed to hurt."

Peter nodded and Sirius shouted, "Open the window! Open it quickly!"

James, being the strongest Marauder, hauled the cauldrons into the dorm, asking Remus, "Does it look right?"

Remus peered into the cauldrons, delighted to see that all three were blood red, emitting a red glow. "Yep."

"So we drink it?"

"Yep, " Remus said.

"It won't hurt?" asked Peter nervously.

"Nope." Remus grinned as his friends drank the potion quickly. "Feel alright?"

Peter muttered the incantation and he made a sound that resembled a rat's squeak and then, he was gone. "AHH!" James yelled, jumping onto his bed. He pointed wildly to the ground, where a grey blur was running in circles. "PETER'S A RAT!"

The rat squeaked as it ran in a circle, throwing its head back and forth. James was still shouting about the rat that was Peter while Sirius tried to catch Peter in his hands.

"All of you---STOP!" Remus yelled and Sirius looked at him, James stopped his climbing on the bedposts, and Peter, who was still a rat, looked up at him and squeaked feebly. "That's better."

"Peter, change back, for the love of Merlin. . ." pleaded James. The rat that was Peter stood still for a moment until, gradually, his form changed back into the pudgy boy they knew. "I hope I'm not a rat. . ."

Peter was grinning widely. "Did you see me?" he laughed, "I ran in circles around you, Sirius!"

Sirius growled, "Yeah, yeah, you rat bastard."

Peter snickered, "Then you try and do it. Just say the incantation and you'll be some sort of animal."

"Sirius, " James said, his face a bit pale. "Don't be a rodent."

"I hope I'm a squirrel!" Sirius laughed and said the incantation, placing his wand over his heart. For a solid minute, nothing happened. Then, Sirius morphed into a large dog---one so much larger than Remus was in his werewolf form, maybe just a tad smaller. The dog had shaggy black fur, like Sirius' hair.

"Woah!" Remus said when Sirius jumped up of him, placing his paws on his shoulders. "Sirius, cut it out!"

Sirius barked and romped over to James, who he promptly knocked over. "Sirius!" James said the incantation, waiting impatiently. Suddenly, James' form shifted from a boy to a large stag, its antlers almost as big as Remus.

Sirius barked and jumped up, trying to bite James' antlers. James made a sound that reminded Remus of a horn and he reared back, almost smashing a desk. Sirius kept barking, ranking under the beds and desks, aggravating James, who gave up on being nice and started breaking furniture left and right.

"James---Sirius---no!" Remus cried when James' hoof left a mark on the wall. "Quit it!"

James, still a stag, made to jump on Sirius and---before the dog and buck could collide, both transformed back into humans, wrestling on the floor, surrounded by broken wood.

Remus quickly broke them up, grabbing Sirius from the collar of his shirt as Peter pulled James' arm. "Moons, did you see?" Sirius laughed, delighted in what he had done. "I'm a dog!"

"I'm a stag!"

"More like a doe, " snickered Peter, earning a pillow to the face. "Hey!"

"Oh, be quiet, Wormtail, " James laughed. Then he stopped. "Wormtail. Has a ring to it, dunnit?"

"Moony. . .Wormtail. . ." Sirius pointed at his chest proudly and said, "Padfoot."

"What kind of a nickname is Padfoot?" asked Remus jokingly.

Sirius ignored him and pointed at James. "And Prongs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, the creators of the Marauders Map."

Remus thought for a moment before saying finally, "That sounds good, now that I think about it." He rummaged around the broken furniture, finding the parchment that was the Map. He used his wand to write their new names on it. "There."

Sirius put his arm around Remus' shoulders, squinting at the map in his hands. Remus tried not to blush. "Looks awesome, Moony."

"Thank you, Padfoot."

Sirius grinned as Peter and Remus worked to repair the room. James looked at Sirius. They were almost the same height, but Sirius was a bit taller. "Aren't we amazing, Pads?"

Sirius slapped James' hand, smiling. "You know it, Prongs."

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