Darius’ heart was pumping as he went down the tunnel. In his head, he knew that Lupin wouldn’t hurt him but it was still an intimidating thought to be going near an actual werewolf, that too on a full moon night.

Padfoot led the way and they reached the ground floor of the shrieking shack. There were scuff marks on the floor leading up to the second floor, where he presumed Lupin was. Sirius instead led him to a smaller room in one side of the dilapidated cottage and released his transformation once they were both in. He locked the door and turned to face Darius, with his wand pointed at him.

“Alright, I have a pretty good idea who you are. There aren’t many people who know so much about our merry gang of friends. But for the safety of my friend up there, I need you to release your transformation.”

Darius sat back on his haunches and slowly released the transformation. He could feel himself changing and a second later, he was there sitting on the floor.

“Hah! I knew it would be you. No one else would be brave enough and yet dumb enough to do something like this. But I didn’t know you were an animagus. Since when did you become one. My friends and I achieved it in our 5th year. Seeing as you are a year younger than 5th years, you got our record beat on the age front.”

“I first transformed near the end of my first year. But I had been working towards it for quite a few years before that. I had picked up a book on animagus transformations when I lived in Hogsmeade and set my mind on learning it since. I have been doing the longest part of the process, the meditation required to identify and bond with your inner animal since then. I know there are animagus revealer potions for that but the book said I would have a better time of it if I did it naturally instead of with outside help. It seems to help you bond better and transform faster.”

“Wow, we never knew all that. We didn’t go the potion route either. We used mandrake leaves to enter trance-like states. So, I guess it falls somewhere in between the potions route and natural one. Anyway, I presume you came to spend time with Lupin. He’ll be so happy to have you there. You should already know the prejudice that exists in the wizarding world against people like him so it would really help him if more people accepted him the way he is.”

“Of course, I came here for that purpose after all. By the way, I have another piece of info for you. It seems you do not know, but there are animagus forms of magical creatures. We all get normal animals at first but magic helps us further transform. My form as an ocelot is fully mastered and I am close to achieving the next form. By all evidence, it seems it will be a Wampus. I started realising it when I practised Legilimency. They are able to use hypnosis, legilimency, walk upright and extremely fast and strong. If I’m not wrong, yours should be the Grim. They have a fear effect they can project with their eyes, the ability to phase through objects and hide in darkness. Work towards it. You just need to find the right magic to start the transformation.”

You could have fit an egg into Sirius’ mouth, the way it had dropped open. It seems he never knew about any of this. Well, he could start now. Darius didn’t tell him but going by his animagus form’s looks, Sirius was already half-way there. Maybe the stay in Azkaban with the dementors for so long acted as the catalyst to start the change. God only knows, there is enough death and desolation there.

Sirius managed to gather himself together and going by the look in his eyes, he was going to put his full efforts into this new side of his transformation he had not known about. Good for him, though judging by the amount of time it is taking me when I already knew about it, he is going to have to wait a long while.

Darius and Sirius both transformed soon after and Darius padded behind Sirius as they both headed up to the upper floor. Lupin was sitting in one corner of the room but his enormous frame was still intimidating. The movies really didn’t do justice to werewolves. Lupin was taller by at least half again as he was in his human body. The werewolf form was relatively lanky but inside that unassuming exterior were extremely strong corded muscles capable of blowing away a normal human with a single swipe. He had wicked looking jagged teeth and gave a rather overwhelming presence, like he was announcing himself as a predator to everyone. Thankfully, one look into his eyes was enough to reassure that he was in his senses. They were the same gentle brown eyes that belonged to Remus Lupin.

Remus was extremely surprised. He had already smelt the presence of an intruder but he could not make out who he was. He couldn’t even go out to stop the person as he had already transformed and couldn’t expose himself now. He knew he could keep his mind but didn’t want to take the risk. The thoughts of what might have happened when he and the rest of the marauders ran around the grounds and the forest still haunted him. He could smell something familiar in the scent but he wasn’t sure about it. Thank god Padfoot was here, so that he could go and head off the intruder. But to his surprise, he could hear Padfoot bringing up the person to the first floor along with him. The door opened and Sirius entered in his Padfoot form as well as an impressive looking wild cat. It was powerful looking and bigger than most cats. It had the same look of intelligence in its eyes that was visible in all animagi.

It was when Darius entered the room that Lupin recognised the scent. The smell had gotten string enough that he could identify it easily. It was Darius Icarus, that prodigy student in the fifth year. He had been extremely impressed with the student’s performance in the DADA class and his lesson on Patronus could be used as reference material for the Auror academy at Brighton. And the other teachers had only good things to say about them in their staff meetings. But an animagus by fourteen was amazing and he did it alone. At least the marauders worked together and supported each other to succeed. But most of all, he was touched by the student’s gesture. He wasn’t a fool, he understood that Darius sympathised with his plight and joined him on his most painful night like the marauders before him. And it also meant that he knew of Lupin’s status as a werewolf and didn’t oust him to the entire student population.

Lupin adjusted to the situation fast enough and they all sat on the floor of the shack. Sirius had been used to roaming around with a feral werewolf not this tamer version of Lupin. The wolfsbane potion was a relatively new invention. We just sat around and tried to communicate with signs and gestures. That is when it happened. It was like a part of Darius that he didn’t know existed just became clear to him. His mind seemed to expand and a hazy nebulous feeling spread through his entire body. He felt as if he had just achieved the potential he was capable of. He was trying to communicate with the other two when he met eyes with them and that is what kickstarted the transformation.

Sirius and Remus were gob-smacked. They were just sitting there and whiling away the time when both of them felt a slight mental pressure on their minds. Seconds later, Darius’ entire body seemed to become hazy and amorphous and as they watched it grew in size and stature until it was as big as a big cat. They could only see the silhouette of the creature making out its larger frame, sabre-like teeth and the gleaming eyes in the shadow. And just as soon as this had begun it was over. The haze settled and Darius was visible in his new form.

Darius in his Wampus cat form was much larger, about the size of an average mountain-lion. He had two long teeth protruding in the fashion of sabre-toothed tigers. He also had a heavier coat of fur and a large tufted tail. He could feel the pure power coiling through his body as he got up. He knew instinctively that his body could withstand most medium level and a few high-level curses as well with just its magical resistance. Add to that his immense speed and strength in this form and he would be much tougher to kill.

Darius then tapped into the power which started this transformation. He could feel the minds of the other two on the edge of his consciousness and he just had to reach out to make contact with them. Legilimency had never been so frighteningly simple for him. He may have been a Master Occlumens but sometimes he thought that training so one-sidedly in the defensive arts had curbed his potential for the more aggressive ones. He could still practice Legilimency and with his training to resist mental pressure in the RoR, he was quite powerful mentally but it was more like a troll brute-forcing his way in to a structure than the silent infiltration of an assassin. That was not what he desired. People like Dumbledore, Snape and Voldemort could rifle through people’s memories without even them being aware of the intrusion. Whereas even someone with a modicum of training in Occlumency would be able to detect him though most people wouldn’t be able to stop him. Anyways, with his new-found change, maybe he could take inspiration from the instinctive use of it by the Wampus and progress in his own skills. Though it was guaranteed to be a long and drawn out process.

Finally, he noticed the tensed features of the other two and decided to explain. Of course, he used his new power to do so mentally.

‘Don’t worry, guys. I’m absolutely fine! In fact, I’m better than ever. In short, I’ve managed to improve my Animagus transformation from a simple on-magical creature to a magical one. It is a very rare phenomenon which can happen when a witch-wizard has very powerful and pure magical energy and starts taking on traits of a magical creature. My change happened because of my level of Legilimency training and the usage of the mind in my Animagus form. Right now, I am able to communicate with both of you because of the Wampus’ innate mind abilities. Sirius, as I already told you, I suspect you have the potential to be a Grim Animagus. Work hard and try to complete the transformation. It would give you some mighty useful abilities.’

Remus was taken aback. He was the most studious of the marauders and he had come across a single scrap of information about what Darius was speaking about when he was researching Animagi. It was exceedingly rare for a wizard and their powers to be able to meld with their animal forms well enough to access their next forms. Darius having completed his first transformation at a very young age might be a crucial element behind him succeeding. And Sirius’ partial transformation could be attributed to the Dementors close proximity for so many years. A Grim’s abilities were nothing to sneeze at. If Sirius could manage it, he would have a way to immobilize the opponent, to flee swiftly and hide easily. Plus, all the physical improvements. One way or another, he would have to convince Sirius to train further and see if he can’t manage to fully turn into a Grim.

Sirius was in no need of prodding though. He could see the potential of the change and had already set his mind on acquiring this new ability. It could come in handy and he had nothing much to do nowadays anyway. He had met Amelia a few times since the trial and they had decided to get to know each other once again, so things were progressing well on that front. He had decide to go with his heart on this one and go wherever it took him.

Sirius had also decided to not re-join the Aurors after his release from Azkaban. He had been an excellent Auror before that night but the one-sided accusations had left him with no love for the department. How could he trust his back to people who would stab him in the back so easily. He was already working on getting his fitness back up to acceptable levels and maybe he could become a hit-wizard, the mercenaries of the magical world. With the dangers that his new job might hold, it would be very handy to have an extra card in hand.

‘You just need to think in your minds and I will be able to hear you. But the two of you can’t speak to each other, only to me. Of course, you can close of your minds with occlumency if you don’t wish me to listen to something!’

‘Darius, you got to convince Sirius to do this. It would help out in a pinch and keep him alive if he was in danger.’

‘Alright, Lupin. But I think he was already planning on it anyway.’

‘Sirius, what do you say? Want to try and do this? I can give you my notes on the process and the way to meld your magic into your animal form.’

‘Hell yes! I am looking forward to this. And I would be very grateful if I could have your notes. They are sure to cut down a lot of time and effort.’

‘Alright then, I know you are coming by for Harry’s first match of the year. I will hand it to you then.’

‘Thanks a lot for this, Darius. I appreciate it a lot. In fact, I can’t thank you enough for everything you have done for me.’

‘Don’t mention it, Sirius. You have had a tough life and I don’t mind helping you out a bit. Even Lupin wanted you to learn it. He’ll be happy to know that you have taken to it with such enthusiasm.’

‘Thanks, Darius. And tell that old wolf to stop worrying about me.’

‘Lupin, Sirius agreed to try to become a magical Animagus. In fact, he is all for it. I’ll give him my notes on the process soon enough and then he can start attempting it.’

‘Thanks a lot, Darius. This means a lot to me. And I also wanted to thank you for joining us here today. There not very many wizards who would associate with me after learning I’m a werewolf. Let alone, keeping me company on my worst night in animal forms. So, I appreciate it a lot. You are free to join us whenever you want. Also, Sirius and I have a surprise for you. We’ll talk to you later about it, but I guarantee you’ll like it.’

‘I can’t wait for it.’

Darius and the other two spent a pleasant night and half-way through it managed to fall asleep in a large dog-pile. It was a peaceful night and they slept soundly.