Dalton Stone was quite nervous on the first day of classes in his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

He shuffled into the History of Magic classroom, nervous without his twin right beside him. For the last eleven years of his life, Savannah had always been right beside him. This was the first time in years that she wasn't right there. He took a seat in the middle of the class at a table alone. Or at least, he was alone until four boys joined him. They introduced themselves as James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.

From that day on, Dalton Stone was never alone. He was always either with Savannah or one of the other four boys. Dalton was not a person that enjoyed being alone. He liked company. He quickly earned the reputation of an athletic prankster like James and Sirius.

In their second year, Peter, James, Sirius, and Dalton got curious about where Remus disappeared to once a month. With the help of James's invisibility cloak, they followed him. They followed him to the Hospital Wing, where he met Madame Pomfrey. They were quite shocked when Madame Pomfrey accompanied him to the Whomping Willow, where she used a long stick to touch something on said tree. This made the tree freeze, allowing Madame Pomfrey and Remus to go into an opening. Again, the boys followed them.

They didn't quite believe it when Madame Pomfrey said she would be leaving before his transformation. What transformation? So, they stayed. They hid in the shadows until they seen their friend morph from the tall, lanky boy they knew to a werewolf.

Peter was frozen in fear, while Sirius was staring at him in awe. James nearly screamed before Dalton quickly clamped his hand over his mouth. The boys stayed quiet and used the back hallways to get out, so as to not alert the werewolf to their presence.

The next day when Remus returned to the dorm, they approached him about it. The boy immediately burst into tears, crying, "You don't want to be friends with me anymore, do you?"

The other boys laughed. Sirius assured him, "Of course we do, mate! How could you think something so trivial as this would scare us away?"

Remus laughed sadly, "You think this is trivial?"

James quickly piped in, "It's just your furry little problem!"

Remus laughed and looked at his friends gratefully. "So... you don't think I'm a monster?"

Dalton put a hand on Remus's shoulder as he said, "No, mate. You're still the same ol' Remus."

Peter, who had been quiet up to this point, spoke up and added, "Besides, you're not you when you transform, are you?"

Remus shook his head and shifted slightly on his bed as he responded, "No, I'm not."

All was silent for a few days, until Dalton and Sirius ran into their dorm after a trip to the library, James's invisibly cloak draped over Sirius's arm and a book in Dalton's.

"We're going to become Animagi!" They exclaimed as soon as the door closed behind them.

Remus looked up from his book with a confused expression on his face as he replied, "Wha-" before being cut off by Dalton as he elaborated, "We can help you with your furry little problem!" He was waving his arms, making him quite the sight to the other four boys, Sirius included.

A look of realization dawned on Remus's face. "I won't hurt animals..." he trailed off, getting up from his bed.

And so it was agreed that night; four of the five Marauders were going to become Animaguses to help their friend. Friend is an understatement though, isn't it? If they were willing to go to such extremes for the boy, then they obviously felt pure brotherly love towards him.

It took them three years after that just to figure out how to become Animaguses. They had to ask Minerva McGonagall many 'totally hypothetical' questions about the process one must go through to become Animaguses.

It took them four tries to keep the mandrake leaf in their mouths for a whole month, which was extremely disappointing to Sirius; he had to be practically celibate for a total of three months!

The first mistake came from James, who accidentally spit the leaf out when Lily walked past him and didn't glare at him.

The second mistake came from Sirius, who was snogging a girl so heavily that her tongue managed to work the leaf away from the back of his mouth to hers. (That took quite a bit of explaining on Sirius's part.)

The third mistake came from Peter, who was laughing so hard at one of Sirius's jokes during a meal that he spit the mandrake leaf out onto the table.

The fourth, and final, mistake came from Dalton. He received a bludger to the cheek during a quidditch match, which caused the leaf to fly out of his mouth and down to the ground. So it wasn't truly his fault.

They finally managed it in April of their fifth year. James and Sirius managed it on the same night in early April, both running around their dorm, pretending to be the wild animals their Animaguses were. To see a stag- James- and a large black dog- Sirius- in one's dorm would be quite surprising to anyone, so it wasn't shocking when Peter fainted when he seen the two.

Dalton and Peter managed it a couple of weeks later in the Room of Requirement. They were the only ones who hadn't done it yet, so they snuck off every once in awhile to practice together. Dalton's Animagus (and Patronus) was an Arctic Fox, while Peter's was a rat.

All four of the boys practiced changing back and forth for a month, until the next full moon.

Since the full moon of May 1976, James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Dalton Stone all transformed into Animagi to help Remus Lupin.
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"Are you alright?" Savannah asked the boys as the sat down at breakfast the morning after the full moon. Even Remus was present, as this was actually a decent transformation. It helped that Madame Pomfrey had a new healing potion to try on him.

Sirius was so tired that he didn't even have the energy to look as shocked as he felt at hearing Savannah say something without being talked to first.

Dalton nodded, resting his head on his hand.

Sirius fell asleep after dipping some fruit and bacon onto his plate, causing his head to fall face first into the food, making Savannah chuckle.

Peter had his head on the table, already asleep as well. Remus and James were leaning on one another, half asleep themselves.

Lily and Savannah exchanged glances, as Marlene and Alice weren't downstairs yet.

Half an hour later, Savannah Stone was dragging a half-asleep Sirius Black down the corridors of Hogwarts, as he was too tired to get himself to Charms.

He also admitted that he wanted to see if Savannah really would drag him down the corridors. It felt quite nice, really, to have her hand on his arm.

Savannah ignored the blush creeping its way up her cheeks as many students stared at her and Sirius. She was cursing Sirius under her breath, wondering why on Earth he was so tired that he couldn't get himself to class.

Could it have to do with their nicknames? Savannah wondered as she pulled Sirius into the classroom and to his seat.

Mind your own business, Savannah. Keep your head down, her mum's voice rang through her head as she pulled out her notes before charming a quill to write her notes for her. She grabbed a Sugar Quill and leaned back in her chair, propping her feet up on the table as she tuned out her mother's voice.