lol I had a vivid visionary of what would happen if they went to a zoo so here
pls correct any spelling issues if u see them
The marauders go to a zoo
Remus slumped over in his bed. Spring had sprung early, and the rays of an elusive February sun shone through the window.
James barged in cheerfully. “G’morning Moony, we’re going to a zoo!”
He looked up. Sirius was still snoring in the bed adjacent to his, the mass of tangled black hair spread out across the pillows.
The zoo? That couldn’t be right.
“Er, Prongs- what’s a zoo again?”
James had already breezed through the mess and was sorting through a pile of old clothes on the floor. Life was peaceful in Godric’s Hollow, with little to interrupt the casual atmosphere of day.
“Lily told me all about it, it’s like a muggle building where they put animals on display!”
The sound of Peter rustling underneath the sheets and Lily banging through the cabinets had caused Sirius to stir now. Remus scratched his head.
“Why would I want to go look at animals in cages? You guys were just rats, dogs, and deer for a whole night a couple days ago, c’mon.”
”it’ll be fun” Peter mused- he had been listening. “Lily told me about em’ the other day.”
Remus sighed. He was outnumbered and life had been awfully sleepy lately, except for those times of the month where he’d run wild in the woods and the occasional wizard who’d apparated in the wrong direction. He got up and turned to James. “And your sure it’s safe? Dumbledore said there was a bombing in Diagon Alley last week.”
“C’mon, Moony- it was last week, and this is a muggle zoo.”
Remus was still skeptical- wasn’t Voldemort targeting muggles? He had a gut feeling if any of them was to die in the war, James would go first.
More rustling noises. Now Sirius had gotten up and was on board with the plan. “It sounds fun, Moony- plus it can be your birthday present!”
”my birthday is in March.”
“Almost birthday present” Sirius coaxed.
Fine, he thought. “Fine, I’ll go.”
Lily was already setting plates on the table and had been listening to the whole conversation in great amusement.
“So... we apparate?”
“Mhm” Lily confirmed. “It’s the easiest way.”
The five grabbed their wands. Lily followed first, then James and Peter- once the cracking noises had subsided, Remus turned to Sirius.
”Ready?”
Sirius nodded. Crack! Remus was in a dimly lit room with a foul stench... with flushing noises..? He turned around. This was no zoo- he’d apparated into a public bathroom. James stepped timidly around the corner.
”Remus? Oh, thank Merlin- Sirius is here with me, dunno where Peter went.. Lily’s going to yell at me now, isn’t she..”
Remus shook his head. A nearby Muggle was now gawking in confusion. He pointed his wand towards her head.
“Obliviate!”
Dusting off his robes, he turned to James and Sirius, beckoning them towards the door. “Let’s go.”
After stepping out, Remus looked around. A sign that said “Reptiles and Amphibians- Exhibit” was hanging in a corner, with a variety of glass cages.
“Where’d u think they keep their fire dwelling salamanders?” Sirius wondered.
”Padfoot, it’s a muggle zoo. They have muggle things here, like frogs and lizards.”
“Wonder what animals muggles have?” James mused.
As they stepped in, a flurry of color was beset before them. Enclosures held bright green tree frogs with jeweled red eyes, vivid yellow and blue lizards, and a Komodo dragon with scaly skin.
Suddenly, a very indignant looking Lily appeared, with Peter trailing behind her.
“Oh, you three- apparated in the zoo- your supposed to buy tickets, now everyone’s going to look at you and ask how you got in.”
James turned to her thoughtfully. “We didn’t have muggle money, at least we didn’t have to pay.”
Lily clicked her tongue in disapproval, holding up a small red purse bulging with dollar bills and quarters. “I was going to buy us ice cream after we looked at the sea animals.”
Peter and Sirius were now pulling them towards a door that read “Sea creatures”.
Remus gazed at the room- this was a big, thick, hallway, with habitats closed in with glass. Penguins stared at him from one side of the room, fluffy white polar bears from another- and Peter was gawking at a tank full of pale gray beluga whales.
Sirius was pulling him towards a room that read “Wolves and Dogs- Canine History.”
Remus pulled him away. “Nuh-uh. We’re not looking at a cageful of wolves,”
Sirius froze. “Oh yeah.”
After passing through a room filled with snakes staring at him with their jeweled eyes, and a room with a friendly muggle worker offering them to show how a colony of beady black looking ants functioned, James stopped like a deer in headlights. Remus sighed. “What is it now, Prongs?”
James timidly pointed to a big glass cage. “A stag’s been imprisoned.”
“Oh c’mon, James, it was born there- the stag’s normal, it hasn’t been anywhere else.” Lily and Remus were both trying to explain to him.
“No it’s not happy! How’d you feel if you were locked up in a cage with no where to go?”
“Where’d you think u got all these scars, huh? From running wild in the woods with my best friends who also happen to be illegal animagi? Prongs, you forgot I was locked up in shacks, rooms, and cages for years giving myself these.” Remus gestured to a face full of cuts and a jagged scar running down his neck- “I’m surprised you can breathe with all this blood” were Madam Pomfrey’s exact words when she’d walked in on a mangled mess of scars, a bleeding neck and a handful of broken bones five years ago.
James froze again. “Oh yeah.”
He turned to the group of staring friends. “Well, Moony’s not an itty bitty fragile lad hunched up in the hospital wing being bandaged anymore- we need to save this deer” he declared in a majestic tone.
Lily stifled a laugh. “James, we can’t just break into a zoo and steal their deer.”
James looked around. The room was empty and a pair of deer eyes were staring at him reproachfully. “Watch me.”
He turned into a stag and trotted over the the deer. Peter and Sirius gasped in horror. “Prongs, you can’t just transform anywhere, a muggle could see you!”
Prongs seemed not to notice. When the deer ignored him lazily, he rammed his horns into the glass and beckoned the stag out. The stag refused to move.
“James, transform back right now-“ even Lily’s stern demeanor couldn’t stop him.
Footsteps were approaching the room. Now James had turned back into a human and was trying to coax the deer out. Lily and Remus stared at each other with looks that screamed Oh my God, what is he trying to do. As the door slowly creaked open, Lily and Remus both yanked the others and apparated away in a flash- leaving the passerby with an escaped deer and nothing left of the crime scene but the faint whiff of a loud crack.
Lily was yelling at James. “Breaking into a deer cage, turning into your Animagus form- James, these could’ve gotten us arrested !”
Sirius had quietly creeped out of the room as Remus was putting his wand away- James looked incredibly sheepish but was still murmuring “that deer...”
Remus agreed. “Prongs, we could’ve gotten arrested.”
James apologized, and now Sirius was padding into the room as a black dog. The sun was setting, and a landscape of gorgeous purple, pink, orange and yellow was painted into the sky with the shining rays of the golden orb lighting up the scene. After a fun game of wizards chess and a practice game of Gobstones, the group agreed that it was the most eventful day they’d had in a long time-but Peter still looked crestfallen.
”What’s wrong, Wormtail?”
Peter turned to them, wailing.
“We didn’t even get to buy ice cream!”