2 ~ All for our Moony

Friendship was the only magic none of us ever doubted.

Last note from me: This is a fanfiction with multiple POV's and love stories (more about that in the blurb). I’d be so happy if you shared your thoughts and rooted for the characters with me. Hopefully, you’ll stay until chapter 32 :)Tell me who your favourite is. I’m always torn between Elizabeth and my other MFC, but psst - I can’t reveal more just yet. Have fun, and we’ll meet again at the end of chapter 32!

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James’ POV:

     The beginning of the journey to Hogwarts was always wonderful. You saw your friends again, exchanged stories about your holidays; but then came the moment when the hours began to feel like real hours.          "Do you think I can shove three whole Chocolate Frogs into my mouth?" I asked.     Across from me sat Remus, who could no longer sleep after having done so for the past two hours. To my left, the dark Scottish landscape slid by while an unbearable tingling spread through my backside.

I've told Padfoot beforehand this would happen...

     Shifting on the seat cushion, I tried to find a position that brought some blood back into my arse, and Moony asked: "Without throwing up?"          "Why shouldn’t throwing up be allowed?" Sirius replied, having braided his long hair into two side plaits out of sheer boredom.     "Because it doesn’t count," said Remus. "You’d only manage two Chocolate Frogs."          It was in such moments that I remembered why I loved my friends - because they actually debated my nonsense.     "After how many seconds does it not count anymore? If I keep three Chocolate Frogs in my mouth for thirty seconds, does that count?"          "Longer, I think," came Peter’s muffled voice. He was sitting beside me, shoes off, picking the chocolate pieces out of a muffin.     "At least three minutes," said Moony.          "And you decide that all on your own? So you’re the official Chocolate-Frog-in-Mouth-Stuffer-Referee now?" Padfoot wasn’t letting go - which was either exactly what Remus wanted, to argue and defend his opinion, or something that could backfire terribly this close to the full moon.     In four days it would be full moon again, and we’d all head into the Forbidden Forest. Last term, we had finally managed to transform into animals for the first time. The previous full moon had been our first time accompanying Moony into the Forbidden Forest - an event he hadn’t enjoyed in the slightest. The very idea that we had become Animagi still unsettled him.

But how had it all begun?(Lithil-RaVen: Statement at the end of the chapter)

     By the end of our first school year, we had discovered Remus’s lycanthropy. Before that, we’d suspected something but he had always dodged our questions, inventing stories about how he got his scars.     When we finally learned that Remus was a werewolf, and that he locked himself in the Shrieking Shack every full moon, wounding himself and living with all those scars, we decided to learn the Animagus spell. Secretly, of course, since Moony would have killed us otherwise.     Well, he had actually tried to, when he’d woken up in the Shrieking Shack two full moons ago and seen us there. We had followed him as animals, curious how he’d react.

Werewolves don’t attack animals, only humans - that was the logic behind it. And even if he did scratch or bite one of us, Remus couldn’t pass on lycanthropy that way.

     After the second-to-last full moon, Remus had argued with us for days, right up until the last one, when we lured him, in our animal forms, from the Shrieking Shack into the forest. Again, without his consent.     Everything had gone perfectly. The Whomping Willow’s remote location and its proximity to the Forbidden Forest had kept him from running across the Hogwarts grounds. Instead, we’d led him into the forest, where he engaged in typical werewolf activities: sniffing trees, chasing scents, and playing with Sirius as a dog.     The real problem began when Remus transformed back in the woods and realised what we had done. He’d barely spoken to us beyond necessity until the Christmas holidays. Still, he would never betray us. Our unregistered Animagus secret was safe.     Remus could hate me as much as he wished, I wouldn’t stop protecting him from himself.

A caged werewolf always turns his fury inward.

     Learning the Animagus spell was the least we could do for Moony; there was no other way to help him. Though he still called us completely insane, I firmly believed that, come this full moon, we might finally convince him to join us in the forest willingly. Drawing him out of the shack had been a risk. One that could vanish entirely if he transformed among the trees.     By now, Peter, Sirius and I could hold our animal forms without trouble, and our transformations were flawless. Sirius, as a dog, and I, as a stag, could easily keep Moony under control. Peter might only be a rat, but when he clung to my antlers, we could take him anywhere.          Soon, we’d probably have the spell perfected - only rare mishaps occurred when I returned to human form - and already, I could say we Marauders had levelled up.     Sirius as Padfoot, Peter as Wormtail, and I as Prongs. The nicknames had been my idea, by the way. Padfoot had loved them immediately and helped me come up with the rest. Together, we’d dubbed Remus Moony.     At first, he’d strictly refused to answer to it, but by now he reacted, even if he still found them ridiculous. Deep down, I was sure he liked them.     Our Moony, Moonylein, Moon-moons.

I would do anything to stop Remus from ever hurting himself again. Since we’d begun joining him, his scars hadn’t multiplied. He always claimed they were old, that he’d learned to live with them, though he couldn’t bear to see himself in the mirror.

     But ugly he was not, our Moonylein. He seemed destined to grow to five metres, all limbs and angles, thin from growth spurts and lycanthropy, but that would change over the years, just as Peter would grow out of his baby fat. Or I would finally lose my hamster cheeks.          Hopefully.     A beard would be brilliant, too.          Truly brilliant.     "Beards are cool," I said aloud, returning to the present, where Remus was watching Sirius attempt to cram the third Chocolate Frog into his mouth.     "If it breaks, it doesn’t count," Moony muttered. Padfoot rolled his eyes but pressed the third frog in with renewed determination.          A truly disgusting sight.     Only Wormtail had caught my comment. He grimaced at our friends, then said: "Beards are cool, you’re right."          "Beards really are cool," I echoed dreamily, leaning back and watching Sirius continue.     Yes, I had the best friends in the whole wide world.

Remus’ POV:

     I felt terrible. Every step, every movement hurt. Even each finger joint ached as I slipped into my uniform and cloak. And, true to form, we had dawdled long enough for Sirius to have already tied his shoes by the time we reached Hogsmeade.     "Hey!", he complained as James gave him a shove and he bumped against the window.          "Serves you right for tying your shoes while standing up," I remarked dryly, grabbed my suitcase, and stepped into the crowded corridor.     In Hogsmeade, every young witch and wizard seemed determined to leave the train at once. I was bumped into at least five times, and each toe of mine earned its own personal bruise.     When I finally made it out into the open air, I was greeted only by a biting cold. The air felt alive, like a beast ramming millions of razor-sharp teeth into my face.     Shivering, I pulled my scarf tighter with my right hand and tugged my hat lower. My left hand clutched my worn leather suitcase, which would soon be whisked away with the rest of the luggage bound for the castle.

Why do we still have to be stuck in winter?

     No doubt, Hogsmeade Station looked magical. The swirling snowflakes, the warm lantern light casting a glow over the heaps of glittering snow. Yet it was freezing.     "Remus!", called a high-pitched voice, which meant it wasn’t one of the boys. James had just hit Sirius with a snowball, and, of course, they had dashed off to play in the snow.          "Lily," I greeted. The red-haired girl had exited the train two doors down with her friends and crossed the short distance back to me.     "How were your holidays? Oh, are you ill?", she asked with concern, noticing my pale face and dark circles.          I sighed inwardly, because lying had long since become routine, and said, "Think so. My father’s sick, probably passed it on to me."     Lily’s dorm-mates - Mary Macdonald, Dorcas Meadowes, and Alice Fortescue - waited a short distance away, joined by Tara Summer and Marlene McKinnon, also Lily’s friends from two dormitories up.     "Then I hope you’ll feel better soon. If you need notes or want to rest in bed, just tell me."          "Thanks," I replied, and at that exact moment, the first snowball from my friends landed beside my left foot, prompting me to start walking alongside Lily.

The boys will catch up eventually, or so I hoped.

     Lily and I reached her friends; together we stowed away our luggage again and joined the long queue leading to the carriages.          "How were your holidays?", I asked Lily as we brought up the rear of her group.     "Quite nice, though I ate too many biscuits."     "We all did, but no regrets," Meadowes chimed in from the front. She was a lively girl with light brown skin, dark curls, and large eyes.          Lily and I had always got along well, often studying together in the library, so I knew her friends, even if we weren’t close, just the usual classmates’ acquaintance.     "I can’t eat another biscuit," McKinnon groaned, brushing snowflakes from her blonde hair. Pointless; it looked like the snow would last all night.     Unlike London, where sleet was common, the Scottish Highlands never skimped on snow. And I liked it, even winter itself, if only it didn’t always feel so painfully cold.     "I’m already looking forward to the feast in the Great Hall," Lily said, and her friends agreed, except for Macdonald, who complained of nausea after an especially vile Bertie Bott’s bean.          "As long as Dumbledore doesn’t talk too long again," muttered Tara Summer. A petite girl with dark skin, she’d come back from the holidays with braids decorated in pink beads. She shared a dorm with McKinnon, took Muggle Studies with Lily and me, and changed her hairstyles constantly.     "Dumbledore always talks too much," said a new voice, making Lily jump.          "Black!", she snapped, as Sirius had crept up behind her.     "Hello, Evans, lovely to see you again," he said sweetly. His hair was still tied into two plaits, damp now from the snowball fight.          "Why do you look like that?", Lily demanded at once, gesturing dramatically at his entire head. Her green eyes swept over him then James, who oddly averted his gaze, though he usually seized any chance to talk to her.     "It’s my new style. Suits me, doesn’t it?"          "No," Lily said bluntly, rolling her eyes.     When Sirius tried to ask about her holidays, she cut him off: "I don’t like you, so I don’t want to talk to you. You should know that by now."

Yes, he really should.

     That Sirius and James were always at odds with Lestrange and Snape, Lily didn’t quite see; she was friends with the Slytherin. I wasn’t fond of Snivellus either, but Lestrange was worse, and for Lily’s sake, I kept out of most quarrels. They were exhausting anyway, since Elizabeth Lestrange could handle James and Sirius just fine. Without her, Snape would’ve been helpless. Still, once Sirius lost interest in Snape and focused on his arch-nemesis instead, the Slytherin at least got breathers.     "Don’t worry, Lily-"          "Evans."     "Right, Evans," Sirius corrected himself, looking unusually serious. "I know you don’t like me; I’m not stupid."          "Then why are you here?"     "Because you’ve stolen our Remus. We’d like him back. Besides, you can only fit six in one carriage; Remus belongs with us anyway."          "Oh really," said the redhead, "and what if I want Remus right now too?"     "Sadly, we can’t split him in two," James chimed in, earning a deadly glare from Lily.     A strange feeling crept over me. I never liked attention but Lily Evans hated letting my friends win.

That was the real reason they always clashed.

     "You can have Remus tomorrow."          "You had him the whole train ride."     "He’s our friend!"          "He’s my friend too."     My head throbbed, not just because of the full moon. The back-and-forth was unbearable, so I finally said, "I’ll talk with Lily till the carriages, then ride with you lot to Hogwarts. Not that hard..."     Lily crossed her arms and shot Sirius a triumphant look. Her expression said as much as 'now leave'. The Gryffindor fell back a little with James and Peter.     Their eyes stayed on me the whole time, and Sirius silently mouthed 'traitor', making me shake my head before turning away to chat happily with Lily until we reached the carriages.

     In a covered carriage, my friends teased that I was too kind and always sought compromise. Naturally, it was all in jest - they were dramatic, not cruel.     The ride passed quietly, filled with random chatter. In the Great Hall, Dumbledore gave only a short speech before the feast began. I forced myself to eat. At least some soup and three boiled potatoes.     My highlight of the day was my bed. Classes began tomorrow, and in four days, it would be full moon. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it, especially since my friends insisted on risking their lives again. I hated that they had learned the Animagus spell for my sake, that I couldn’t stop them sneaking to me as animals when I turned into a werewolf. Because really, what could I do? The moment I transformed, everything went black.     That deep down, I was moved by it, I couldn’t admit that yet.           I only knew that my friends were the most loyal idiots in the world.

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Statement:

     I’m aware that the Marauders needed nearly three years to perfect the Animagus spell and that Remus was likely only accompanied into the Forbidden Forest shortly before fifth year.     In this fanfiction, it happens a bit earlier - partly because it’s never been explicitly stated how long the process truly takes (two to three years supposedly), and partly because it simply fits the story better if they start joining Moony earlier.     Here, the Marauders began their ritual late in first year, perhaps early second, and managed their first transformation about two years and a few months later. That they perfected it by fifth year still aligns with the mentioned timeframe of two to three years.

     That’s really the only major deviation I’ve made^^          Of course, I’ve invented a few other things, some quite significant, but I’ll tell you more when the time comes, hehe.

     (But what are fanfictions for if not to tweak or transform things a little, or a lot? Like the Marauders-Severus dynamic, for example. I’ve never been fond of the poor-bullied-Sev version, because bullying’s never right. So, with Elizabeth Lestrange’s help, things have shifted a bit^^)

❤️❤️❤️

Love,RaVen