By fifth year, Remus Lupin, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black were known as the troublemakers of Hogwarts. Mostly, though, it was James and Sirius who earned detentions, while Remus unsuccessfully kept persuading them to put an end to their mischief. It’s not that he didn’t like practical jokes once in a while. But as a prefect, he had to admit that his best friends were obsessed with it.

“Full moon tonight, isn’t there, Moony?” Peter asked him in the dormitory.
This was Remus’ nickname because of his condition, and he thought it was very creative.

“Yes, but what’s it to you?” Remus muttered. He knew what they were about to ask. “You three can’t just follow me to see what I do as a wolf. It’s after hours. And remember, I could kill you!”

“Sure, we’ll stay here,” James said uncharacteristically. “I guess we worked hard on this for nothing, then…” Oh great. What did they do this time, thought Remus.

“If it’s another prank, I don’t want to hear it,” he said aloud.

“Oh, but it’s not a prank,” replied Sirius in a singsong voice. His tone suggested, you know you’re curious to find out our secret! “Take a guess.”

“Can we please not play that game?” Remus complained. “Just tell me what you three did.”

“Over the past few years, we’ve all learned how to become an Animagus,” James answered.

Remus was in disbelief. “You expect me to believe that a trio of teenage wizards can turn themselves into animals? And isn’t it illegal to be an unregistered Animagus?”

“Yes and yes, but that doesn’t matter!” cried Sirius. “If you let us come inside your werewolf hideout, we can show you.”

“I’ll bring my Invisibility Cloak for me and Sirius,” James added. “We know where to follow you. Peter can hide himself well because he transforms into a rat.”

Peter nodded at Remus, as if this was the proof he wanted. Remus just rolled his eyes and headed out the portrait hole to meet with Madame Pomfrey. They took the more than familiar path to the Whomping Willow, where Remus was left on his own to walk through the tunnel that led to his shack. The moon wasn’t entirely out yet, but he didn’t want to take any chances of changing in front of someone. Settled in the shack, there was nothing to do now except wait for the wolf inside him to break out.

Were those footsteps he just heard? Remus was positive about that. Coming up the creaking staircase was… a rat. They weren’t joking. The rat clearly had Peter's face. James and Sirius brought up the rear.

“What did we tell you?” James boasted, clutching his cloak. Then he moved his hand toward Peter. “Say hello to Wormtail!”

Remus waved meekly at the rat. James and Sirius were glaring at him, anxious to show their Animagus forms.

“What do you two become?” asked Remus.

“That’s for us to know, and for you to find out!” Sirius teased. “You may call me Padfoot if you like.”

“Why?”

In that instant, Sirius vanished, and a black dog appeared in his place. He barked at Remus affectionately. Remus couldn’t resist petting the dog.

“When I change, you can refer to me as Prongs,” James said. Remus decided not to ask why this time, and watched his friend as his form grew. James was now a magnificent stag.

This was surreal. The only Animagus Remus had known was Professor McGonagall, the Transfiguration teacher, who transformed into a cat. He never imagined that he’d meet three of them at one time.

“So, you did this just for fun?” Remus asked warily. Peter, James, and Sirius returned back to their human selves.

“It has its perks,” admitted Sirius, “like being able to sneak out whenever I choose.”

“Speak for yourself,” James said enviously. “I’m so large that I’d be easily spotted on the grounds. I’m just lucky to have the Invisibility Cloak.”

Peter said, “It’s not exactly comfortable to be an animal that you could step on. But we didn’t do this for ourselves.”

Remus gave them a puzzled expression.

“We did it so that we could understand your predicament a little better,” said Sirius. “So that you didn’t have to go through it all by yourself.”

James walked up to Remus. “We can try to calm you down, Moony. Maybe one day, you can actually be a tame wolf.”

Remus highly doubted that his wolf behavior would ever change, but it was the thought that counted.

“Come here, Padfoot, Wormtail, Prongs!” He stretched out his arms to invite them for a group hug. Somehow, Remus knew that he’d just found life-long friends.