It was the first full moon Remus would experience at Grimmauld Place, Sirius' childhood home. Thanks to Dumbledore's orders and Snape's growing kindness toward the scar-faced man, he'd had a plentiful supply of Wolfsbane potion, so he would be in his right mind when the time came. It still would not be pleasant. The transformation was a solid five minutes of pure agony for him as his bones snapped and molded themselves to the form of the wolf. He wasn't going to take any chances, however. He resigned himself to spend the night locked in his room, away from the others that currently dwelled in this appropriately named grim place.

As the moon began to rise, Remus began to feel every beat of his heart in his chest, his senses becoming hyper-attentive. He could feel each grain of wood of the old table beneath his fingertips. He could smell Kreacher, that ghastly house-elf, on the third floor. He could even hear his faint mutterings. As he gazed at Tonks, unaware of him doing so as he got used to the sudden sharpening of his senses, he could see every detail of the ripple of hot pink that washed over the before-purple hair.

"Remus...you alright? You're staring at me."

"Hm? Yes, yes. I uh...I'll see you all tomorrow." He got up awkwardly, downing the last of his final dose of Wolfsbane, before heading upstairs to his room, where he locked the door and waited.

He didn't have to wait long. Soon the entire house shook with the ear-splitting shriek of agony as Remus' transformation began. Mentally he cursed himself for not sound-proofing his room, before another wave hit him and he doubled over, letting out another wail. He looked in the mirror, breathing hard. His skin rippled and rose like a stormy sea as his bones shifted beneath. He could see the beginnings of silvery fur starting to sprout before he collapsed to the floor, whimpering as he was forced to contort. He could feel the spirit of the Wolf clawing with his own, but the potion kept it at bay. Remus knew the first full moon without it would probably leave him dead or dying as the sun rose, the Wolf furious enough with just one controlled night. Soon though, the pain faded, leaving a dull ache throughout his body as a silvery grey-black wolf rose on unsteady paws and jumped into the bed, tucking its paws under its head and closing its eyes.

Just a few minutes later, however, it cracked one eye open as the door clicked and a black nose pushed open the door, revealing the large bear-like black dog known as Sirius Black. Remus leapt from the bed, glaring at the intruder, message clear.

'Sirius, what in the name of Merlin are you doing?'

The black dog yipped happily, bouncing around the wolf, tail wagging like mad. 'Keeping you company, of course! Unless you'd rather be brooding and antisocial instead.'

Remus didn't respond, just turned and leapt back onto the bed. Sirius sat down, no longer bouncing about, tail stilling. 'Aww, c'mon, Moony! It'll be fun! We don't get this chance often to tag-team the Order like this! Let's go cause some mischief!'

Remus opened one eye again. 'Sirius, we're adults.'

The dog made a noise that sounded extremely similar to a snort of laughter. 'Who gives a damn! I don't!'

'No.'

'Fine.' Sirius turned, clearly crestfallen, and began to pad out the door. Remus sighed, then whined, calling his friend back. He slowly climbed down from the bed.

'Okay fine.' Sirius' tail immediately began thumping against the floorboards, his excitement evident. His cheer was infectious, and the wolf soon found its own tail copying the action. 'Who's our first target?'

'Moody!'

'Going right for the lethal ones, are we?'

'Don't we always?'

With that the two canines were bolting down the stairs in a mutually agreed race, their claws clicking against the wood as they skidded into the kitchen, where Moody, Tonks, and Mrs. Weasley were still talking. Needless to say, they were surprised to see the two over-excited animals.

"What the-" Moody was cut off by Sirius slipping under the table, joined quickly by Remus once the werewolf realized the plan, and began pushing, trying to tip the chair, with Moody in it, over. The result was a resounding crash and a string of curses from the former Auror's mouth.

"SIRIUS YOU MANGEY MUTT I'M GONNA KILL YOU FOR THAT!"

The black dog let a suspiciously laughter-like howl before turning his attention to Tonks, who was now standing in surprise, Remus right behind him. The two weaved in out of the young woman's legs, unbalancing her and causing her to fall backwards onto the unsuspecting wolf.

"Oh my God, you-is that Remus?" He realized that the metamorphagus and never seen his werewolf form, nor had most of the people in the Order. Without pausing to think, he licked her cheek once before racing off with Sirius again, seeking out some more unexpecting members of the Order, Moody still cursing their names and Tonks sitting in shock in the floor and Mrs. Weasley helped her up and simultaneously told off Moody for swearing.

'I haven't had this much fun in a very long time!' Sirius began to chase his own tail once they reached the open hall, letting out the occasional whine of frustration as Remus watched, thoroughly amused by his friend's actions.

'Me either, Pads.'

Sirius stopped dead, staring at him. The wolf tilted its head in confusion.

'You haven't called me Pads in a long time.'

Before the werewolf could respond the front door opened, and one sniff and a shared wolfish grin from the both of them told them exactly who the remaining Marauders target was.

They crept quietly through the halls, crouching low as they snuck up on their unsuspecting victim. They could see him, their eyes probably glinting in the low light of this particular hall. Sirius nodded, and, once the man's back was turned, he leapt at him, pinning Severus Snape to the floor with a loud bark.

"Gah!" Snape, clearly extremely surprised, attempted to roll over to see who his assailant was, but when Sirius lied down on him he gave up, instead resorting to name-calling after Remus stole him wand from the wizard's robes.

"Black, you arrogant, insolent little moron, get off!" Sirius didn't move, just began to idly bat at Snape's greasy hair, acting more like a cat than a dog. And then the head Slytherin caught sight of Remus, his wand dangling from werewolf's jaws.

"Lupin." His voice was even deeper than usual. "Give. Me. Back. My. Wand."

Remus' eyes widened. He locked eyes with Sirius. 'Run!' The two canines immediately tore off through the house, an angry Snape roaring behind them. They bolted straight into Remus' room, Sirius turning human briefly to lock the door.

'Moony.' Sirius flopped onto his back, tongue lolling out. 'Do you realize how deep we just dug our own graves?'

'Absolutely.' Remus dropped the wand, and rolled it with his nose underneath his bedside table.

The dog snorted again. Just then their conversation was interrupted by a loud banging on the door.

"If you two imbeciles don't hand me back my wand I will curse you with-"

Unable to resist, Sirius turned human. "But you don't have a wand!" He turned to Lupin, snickering, before becoming the dog once more.

They heard Snape stomp away, and Remus threw back his head and howled in victory, Sirius following his example. Hours later, a now-human pair of Marauders cautiously opened the door, revealing the waiting figure of Severus Snape just outside the door.

"Oh hello there, Severus," Sirius said cheerfully. "Anything we can do for you?"

"I would like," he said, holding out a hand, "my wand."

"Oh, that's funny," Remus said, trying to hold back a smile. "I can't seem to recall anything from last night. I don't know where it is."

Snape raised an eyebrow, obviously unimpressed. "Oh really?"

"Yeah, maybe Sirius here remembers." They turned to him. Sirius had that glint in his eye that made everyone in the room nervous.

"Yeah, sorry mate, but I'd like to keep my tail, thanks." And with that Sirius, as a black dog, raced off down the hall, probably to hide in some space no one but him knew about. Facing an enraged Snape, Remus smiled nervously.

"SIRIUS!"

THE END