James, Sirius, Peter, and the Sleeping Wolf. By: Madison Duffield Remus Lupin was a scraggly boy, he was only a half wizard but still quite impressive. His tangled, dark locks of hair always got in the way of his pale face. He was constantly reading about anything on defensive magic he could find, it was a wonder that he could retain all of that information, James always joked about. Though Remus seemed to be nothing more than a nerd, he had far more to him than what meets the eye. Ever since the beginning of their fifth year at Hogwarts, Remus turned into a ferocious, dangerous, and most of all hairy animal once a month.
He was what was known in the wizarding world as a werewolf. Of course, Remus hadn’t been born a werewolf, no. He had been bitten when he was a child by Fenrir Greyback as payback to his mother. His lycanthropy had been dormant until a couple months after he had turned fifteen. It was late a night on a full moon. All of Remus’ dorm mates were fast asleep, including him. James was strewn out on his bed in the most obnoxious fashion, his black hair in a pile on his pillow. Sirius was on his side, his face still looking elegant as drool dripped out of his mouth.
Peter was curled up in a small ball on his bed, his hands clutched around the sheets as he slept. And Remus, Remus was in a fitful sleep, his arms and legs tossed about as he dreamed. His body would convulse and he still wouldn’t wake. He tossed and turned until a pain ripped through him and he shot up in bed with the most animalistic scream he could muster. James and Sirius leapt out of their beds and ran to Remus. Peter woke but curled in on himself tighter, looking frightened as Remus started to thrash and kick at James and Sirius. “What do we do? Sirius said frantically as Remus punched him in the chest. James’ hazel eyes were full of fright as he held down Remus’ arms in an attempt to calm him down. He looked up to Sirius and had an expression on his face as if to say you think I know? “Well we have to do something! I mean, look at him! ” Both Sirius and James looked down at their friend. Sweat glistened across his brow, his pupils were so dilated that the irises were just a thin ring containing a black void. They both suddenly realized that the hair on Remus’ arms and legs was growing both in quantity and density.
All three of the boys were incredibly dumbstruck as to what was happening to poor Remus. James held onto to the half wizard with all of his might and pulled him out of his bed. “We have to get him outside, he’s burning up. Sirius, help me now. ” The two boys took their position at opposing ends of their friends body. James pulled on Remus’ hands and Sirius, of course, got the legs. Peter, during all of this, was staring in awe at the bravado in which James was handling the situation, and terror as the scene happening before him grew more and more intense.
Sirius and James struggled across their room until they heard a small voice come from the mound on one of the beds. “What was that, Peter? ” inquired James. “I-I said; why don’t you just use a levitation spell. I-I don’t mean that in a-a rude way, o-of course. ” James and Sirius shared a look of oh right we’re wizards and then Sirius cast the spell. Remus, slowly but surely, began to float in midair as the spell began to take effect. “Interesting,” Sirius breathed out as all three of the boys began to navigate their friend down the stairs. Peter stayed close to James as they weaved around corridors and dodged teachers.
The four Gryffindors finally emerged outside to the cold, unforgiving winter air. Sirius layed Remus gently down on the grass and took the spell off of him as his back arched in an unnatural way. His face had elongated and was now covered in hair. The boys could no longer tell the difference between their friend and what monster was laying before them. “He’s a werewolf. ” The three boys whipped around at the sound of the nasally voice they all knew so well. A thin, greasy haired boy stood behind them, gazing menacingly down at Remus. “Well, well, well.
Looks like Snivellus has been doing some reading,” Sirius attempted some humor but it fell flat in the dry air. “He’s never turned before, has he? ” Snape’s voice droned on next to the grunts and yelps of the half wizard lying on the ground. “He must be in a lot of pain, he hasn’t turned completely yet but he will in, erm let’s say five minutes… Are you all prepared for the disgusting beast he’ll turn into? ” For once, neither James or Sirius tried to make fun of Snape, they knew he was right. They had been so ignorant to the signs and didn’t even think that Remus could have been a werewolf.
James’ voice broke through the agonizing silence, “We need to take him to the Forbidden Forest. He can’t hurt anyone, well, human there. ” The boys all nodded along to James’ words, knowing he was right. “Mobilicorpus. ” Remus’ morphed body was once again raised off the ground and hoisted into the air as if by invisible strings Surprisingly, Snape followed the Gryffindors as they walked across the Hogwarts lawn, making their way to the dark and mysterious Forbidden Forest. Peter strayed behind as strange noises started to erupt from Remus’ being.
He began to growl and snap at anyone close to him, his limbs were no longer human but distincly animalistic, and his body was covered in not hair but fur. Peter was fearful of what his friend might do to him. The boys all felt exposed as they crossed the lawn to the Forest and James could swear that someone was watching them, his paranoia growing worse the closer they got to the uncharted territory that is the Forbidden Forest. While he was looking around at his surroundings, worried about the pairs of eyes he felt studying them as they walked, he tripped on a fallen branch near the edge of the bush.
His spell broke and Remus was let loose on all of his fellow fifth years. Peter ran from the group as fast as his short legs could carry him, catching the attention of Remus. He looked behind himself to see his friend chasing after him, almost at his heels. Peter let out a strangled cry when he was tackled to the ground by the hairy beast Remus had become, landing with a hard thud. “Peter! ” yelped James and Sirius at the same time, lunging at their friend to try and help him. Snape only rolled his eyes at the unnecessary struggle happening before him and howled a wolflike sound.
The animal among them looked at Snape with a glare that could’ve split through his skull, then, without a warning, it leaped. Snape hadn’t anticipated the wolf’s action and was knocked out by the force of its weight on his frale body. The wolf regarded Snape’s unconcious form for a moment before getting distracted by something coming from the Forest and dove into the gloomy dark of the trees. James jogged over to the edge of the forest, contemplating whether or not to go after his friend when the sound of a hyperventilating Peter reminded him that he was needed elsewhere.
Sirius was knelt over Peter who was in the fetal postition, shivering on the ground. His hand was on the other boys shoulder at an attempt at comfort but was gone unnoticed by the shaking boy. Sirius had already looked over Peter to make sure that he wasn’t hurt, but as far as he could tell, only Peter’s pajamas were ripped. “He must be in shock, you need to take him to a warm area and let him rest until morning. ” Sirius had forgotten that the annoying Slytherin was still present and almost snapped at him when James began to talk. “You’re right. Sirius, um, Snape, you two take him inside and I’ll stay out here in case Remus comes back. He ruffled his hair as he talked, his tone said that nothing was negotiable and he would not be swayed. Sirius had never heard such an earnest voice come from his best friend. He decided it was best not to argue with him and just go along with the plan.
“Okay,alright. I’ll see you in the morning, mate,” Sirius saluted James and hoisted one of Peter’s arms over his shoulder. “You gonna help me here, Snivellus? ” He stared at Snape feircely and was surprised when the boy started to walk away from him, mumbling something about do it yourself, Black, so he was forced to do the task alone. Okay, then. Let’s get going, Peter. ” With that, Sirius and Peter departed from their friend and began to walk back to Hogwarts across the seemingly endless lawn. Sirius was struggling with the weight of Peter who wasn’t helping him at all, James was getting comfy at the edge of the forest, waiting for their furry friend to come back, and Remus was hunting mice across the treacherous forest, alone on his first night as a werewolf. And that was the beginning of the Marauders.