The full moon was shining bright, making everything glow in its silvery light. All kinds of different creatures were roaming in the woods that located themselves next to Hogwarts. An unusual one was found there tonight. Four unusual ones.
A big, black dog barked at the stag it was running with, who blated back. On the antlers of the stag sat a fat rat, who was clinging om the antlers for its dear life. Behind the animals, however, was the one that came as a biggest shock for most creatures. A tawny wolf with a scar across his face, a long snout and a fluffy tail. A werewolf.
The group ran trough the woods, racing each other until they were too tired. They laid down onto the ground, panting.
It was nights like this that in a few years, Remus sometimes managed to get control of himself, pushing aside the wolf. It was difficult, but possible. And tonight was the first time he had managed it.
His head snapped up. He looked at himself, confirming he was still a wolf. He sat down wobbly, not used to having four paws. He looked at the other three, who were staring at him quizically. He trotted over to them, and nudged Padfoot with his nose.
Padfoot looked at Moony, an then it clicked. He saw the expression in the wolf's eyes, and he saw the human behind them. His eyes lit up and he stood up.
"S'that you Moons?" He asked. Normally, Moony would only respond with vague, simple words. Mostly "food", "mine", "happy", "prey", etc. Not this time.
"I think so? Well, yeah I am, otherwise I wouldn't be able to be concious right now" The wolf still seemed like it was struggeling on its feet.
"Moony!" Prongs exclaimed. His eyes were sparkling.
"Rem! You're not wolfy!" Peter cried out. Moony seemed like he was trying to roll his eyes, but it didn't really work in the body of a wolf so it came out weirdly. The dog gave a bark which could have been a laugh.
"Ha! The mighty Remus can't roll his eyes now! This is a moment that will be written in history books!" Weird sounds came from the dog which seemed like it was still laughing.
"Not funny" it sure sounded funny hearing that from a wolf. Prongs snorted too. Soon, all animals were laughing, which sounded like a few animals dying on a big pile.
Then they heard it. A rustling in the leaves. Their heads snapped up, expecting a creature to have heard them, and they prepared to run. But then Hagrid stepped trough the leaves. His eyes went wide. It wasn't an everyday experience to see a rat chilling on the antlers of a majestic stag, and a scruffy dog standing with them. The most unusual was the wolf. He had never seen wolves in the forbidden forest.
Moony growled. In his mind, Remus was trying to keep the wolf away, blocking out all instincts telling him to attack, bite. He was losing. The wolf snarled at Hagrid and the dog grasped it, biting doen in its neck. The wolf yelped and whipped around.
The stag was standing in front of them, keeping Hagrid from shooting the wolf with one of his arrows. It wouldn't do anything except angring Moony further and hurt Remus. Hagrid lowered his crossbow. The stag waved his antlers, as if motioning for Hagrid to go. However, the wolf had broken Padfoot's grip on it's neck and it turned onto Hagrid. He stared the half-giant deep in the eyes, and Hagrid knew he couldn't break the eye-contact or he would be screwed. He slowly backed off.
Remus was fighting his own mind. The wolf screamed at him to attack, to bite and rip and chew. Remus screamed back, insisting Hagrid was a friend and he can't attack him. The moment Remus got the upperhand for a short amount of time, he convinced the wolf to turn around and run away, into the trees.
Padfoot ran after Moony, swiftly dodging the trees. As the trees got packed together tighter, Prongs had to stop to avoid his antlers getting stuck. He turned around, deciding he might as well hang out with Hagrid. He trotted towards Hagrid who coutiously patted his head. When he saw the stag wasn't moving, he scratched it behind its ears. It turned its head and snorted softly. It stomped his hind leg in delight
"That was a werewolf, wasn't it?" He asked nobody in particular. The stag seemed to nod, which Hagrid found very confusing. Then something clicked in his mind. "Wait, was tha' Lupin?" He exclaimed. He knew Lupin was a werewolf, as he had sensed it with the little bit of giant-magic he had when the boy had came at his hut one time. They were pretty good friends, both being known as half-breeds.The stag spooked from the loud sound, but steadied itself. It seemed to take a deep breath.
Where had stood a stag the moment before, James potter stood the next moment. He had a rat on his shoulder, and his clothes were a bit ruffled. Hagrid jumped back in surprise. "Potter?!" James smiled.
"Yep, now I know it's a surprise, but you can't tell anyone, alright? Not even Dumbledore. You can hold secrets and I trust you with this" James looked a little stern.
Hagrid's eyes were wide like pinballs. " 'course, but when? How? Why? Yer' way too young!"
James began explaining.
Back at the canines, Padfoot was still chasing Moony. He was relieved the wolf didn't attack Hagrid, but decided to run away. After a few minutes of running, their path was blocked by a huge tree that had fallen down. Moony crashed against it and yelped. Padfoot slid on it's paws, only just avoiding crashing into Moons. He stood up again.
"You still there Moons?" Sirius asked. It was likely that the wolf had took over again after the encounter with Hagrid.
"Yeah but only just, give me a second" the voice sounded shaky.
Remus was still fighting the wolf to get his conciousness back. He blocked out its thoughts until they became non-existant, and all evidence of the wolf was gone, except its body. He let out a deep sigh.
"I'm back"
"Alright. You okay? You hit the tree pretty hard" Sirius fretted a little.
The wolf tried to stand on its paw and yelped. "Ow shittidyfuckingshitsels" it cursed. The dog laughed, again a weird sound. It was not an everyday experience you could hear a werewolf swearing.
"You are the definition of a swearwolf now" the dog wheezed between bark-like laughs. The wolf looked amused. Then the amusement faded away and he looked pained.
"I could have hurt Hagrid" he said, sounding guilty. "It's not smart to go out in the woods"
"It's Hagrid that isn't suppost to be here, you know. He should have expected this if he went to the forest on a full moon" Sirius said comfortingly.
"True, but maybe we shouldn't go to the forest anymore? This could have gone a much different way if i didn't have that little bit of control" he fretted. Sirius sighed.
"Hagrid has learned his lesson I think, and the other creatures aren't bothered by us, most seem to like us, even"
Remus considered this. "Let's get back to this in the morning, I'm tired." The wolf laid down on the ground, avoiding putting pressure one his paw. The dog laid down next to him and Moony curled around him, keeping both or them warm.
"So yeah, that's the story on how we became Animagi" James finished. Peter had transformed back too, and they had sat down against a tree. Hagrid had listened to their story silently, hearing how they had found out about Remus, how they came on the plan and the process of becoming Animagi.
"But how did' yer do that on sucha young age?" Hagrid questioned.
"Talent" James grinned. Hagrid shook his head. He couldn't believe this boys. Always up to no good and now this. Unbelievable.