Wormtail
Chapter 1
Transformations
There was complete silence in the third year boys' dormitory, which was unusual, because, for the most part, the room had been in a state of constant chaos ever since the current residents had first entered. But today, the boys sitting in the dormitory were actually doing their homework. Or at least, that was how it appeared.
Peter Pettigrew put down his quill and looked up at two of his best friends in the entire world, who, at the moment, were buried under a pile of books. "Remind me again why I have to write your potions essays for you," he said with a hint of bitterness.
James chuckled. "Believe me, we're not too happy with having our essays written by you either, but it's necessary."
Peter smiled uneasily as Sirius burst into laughter next to him. After he had sufficiently recovered, Sirius said, "Peter, it's not like you're the only one working. If we want to help Remus, we're all going to have to pull our own weight. And you do want to help Remus, don't you?"
Peter nodded quickly.
Satisfied with Peter's response, Sirius turned back to his pile of books, but James moved closer to Peter, and lowered his voice, saying, "Becoming Animagi isn't easy. It takes a lot of research, and the magic we have to learn isn't easy. We're working on this harder than we've worked on anything ever before, and in order to get as much done as we are, we need someone to cover the not-so-important stuff."
James also turned back to the enormous pile of books behind him, and once again the boys were enveloped in silence. But as Peter started on the next sentence of James' potions essay, he couldn't help wondering why one of them couldn't do the not-so important stuff, and let him help out with the real work.
*
It was a few more weeks before the research was actually complete, and the boys, including Remus, were gathered in their dormitory again, nervously excited about what they were about to attempt.
James took a deep breath to steady himself. "Ok mates, who wants to go first?" No one said anything. Laughing uneasily, and taking another deep breath, James said, "Well, I guess that's me then…"
Picking up his wand, he closed his eyes and concentrated as hard as he could on what he was trying to accomplish. After what seemed like forever, after getting a clear picture in his head, James spoke the incantation, and slowly, gracefully, he transformed into a huge, majestic stag. After a pause, in which James the stag trotted around the room, sniffing the awe-struck boys, he transformed back into James the boy, smiled into the silent, amazed faces, and simply said, "Ta-da!"
At that, the silence was broken, and, to everyone's surprise, Sirius began rolling on the floor laughing. For a while, Peter was actually concerned for the mental health of his friend, but then Sirius got up and said, "Do you know what this means?" At the questioning looks he received, he continued, "We can turn into animals! We are actual unregistered Animagi! And we're only thirteen!"
When he resumed his insane laughing again, the other boys joined in, only now realizing what an amazing feat they had accomplished. Oddly enough, it was Sirius who stopped them, clearing his throat and saying, "Alright, enough of that, my turn," and he grabbed his wand, spending less time on the concentrating bit than James did, and quickly, and loudly, said the spell.
His transformation was quicker than James'. It was like he was Sirius one minute, and the next he was a great shaggy dog. He bounded around the room, and actually licked Remus' face, at which Remus attempted to chase him around the room. Somewhere in the middle of the chase, Sirius transformed quickly back, and Remus dove on him, both boys laughing wildly.
Once everyone had calmed back down again, everyone looked expectantly at Peter. Peter had an immediate feeling of nausea that wouldn't go away. Although James and Sirius had sat with him for hours on end explaining exactly what it was he needed to do, he couldn't quite shake the feeling that he wasn't ready to do something this complex.
Sirius looked at him worriedly. "You look a bit pale, are you ok?" he asked.
When Peter didn't answer, James put his hand on his shoulder, and said, "Look, it's ok if you don't want to do it right now. We can just keep going over what you have to do and try it later when you're ready and you feel more confident about it."
Peter couldn't believe what he was hearing. James actually didn't think he was strong enough, or smart enough, or skilled enough to do it. He actually thought he was better than Peter. But if James could do it, he could too. James was no better than he was, and now he would show him.
He stepped forward, shaking James's hand off his shoulder, and picked up his wand. Concentrating as hard as he could, and speaking the incantation quickly, he actually began to shrink. Transforming for the first time was a strange sensation. His arms and legs were growing smaller, until he had four feet, all touching the ground, and his head got shrunk, and also lowered to the ground. He felt something growing from behind him, and as he turned his head to see, he saw a long, bald tail stretching out behind him. Looking up, the other boys looked taller than mountains, and he could barely see their faces, they were so huge.
After scurrying around for a while, Peter concentrated again, and slowly became a boy again, while the others cheered.
Remus rose from where he had been sitting on the bed, and said to the other boys, "Well, I have to admit, when you told me what you had been planning, I didn't really think you could do it, but this is impressive."
James laughed confidently, but then stopped abruptly and said excitedly, "Now that we've done it, we should make up codenames for eachother!"
Sirius chuckled. "Codenames? Are we spies now?"
"Fine. Nicknames then."
"Oh great." Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "You've turned into an eight-year-old girl."
They all laughed as James glared at him. "You know what I mean," he grumbled. "We need something to say when we're talking about it so that no one can ever find out we're Animagi." He stopped and thought for a moment. "Remus is Moony," he said, and Remus laughed.
"Alright," Remus said to James, "then you're Prongs because of your antlers. Now what about Sirius?"
At that moment, Sirius, who had transformed again, pounced on Remus, more like a cat than a dog.
In between gasps of laughter, as they were all laughing at each other at this point, James said, "Sirius can be Padfoot!"
Sirius laughed, and then said, "Ok, now what about Peter?"
Peter smiled. They were going to give him a name. It would be great to really be part of the group, equal to the others. He had never quite fit in the same before, but that would all change now. Having a cool name like the rest of them would prove that they all belonged. This would really prove it.
James cleared his throat and looked at Peter appraisingly. "Wormtail," he said with an air of finality.
Everything stopped for a moment in Peter's mind. Sirius and Remus, who had never quite stopped laughing from before, started up again, but James looked completely serious.
"Wormtail?" Peter asked slowly.
James smiled. "Wormtail. It's perfect."
"But you all got cool names! Wormtail sounds more like a disease," Peter said bitterly, turning away.
James looked confused. "Don't you like it? I think it fits," he said.
"There's really nothing wrong with it," Sirius said, the laughter having died down after Peter's outburst. "It adds a nice ring to it all-Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs."
And that was it. There was no more discussion on the subject. The boys took out their stash of butterbeer and celebrated their amazing accomplishment, but Peter's heart wasn't really in it, although the others were too distracted to notice.
But that was fine. One day he would show them how great he could be. He would show them all.
Hope it was good… I just had a strange idea and went with it. I think it's kinda slow right now, but it's only the first chapter, and I promise it'll get a lot better later, once more people get involved. This is pretty much just the intro, so if it was terrible, please forgive me….
Anyway, if you liked it, or if you didn't, review. I need to know whether it's worth continuing or not.
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