The Marauders Turn
Hello, this is my first story on this website and the first chapter of this story of mine, The Marauders Turn. I hope that this doesn't end up being too big of a story, but it does seem that it will become longer then I had first thought. The story will be focasing on Sirius and the Marauders, along with his little brother Regulas and Lily Evan's. This also starts in the summer, before his 5th year. I know that his brother will seem nicer and much more Muggle-Born pro, but that was kind of my idea. As you meet Peter for the first time in this story, he will also seem different. The idea is that the Marauders kind of get to write their own story, being able to change things that happened and change the ways that some people acted. You won't ever see them actually talking about "changing" any of this, but it will be like what happened in the books never actually happened. I won't give away anything, but here's a few small things that they do change. Peter is a little more brave and a lot more loyal. Regulas is close to his brother and loves the Marauders. You'll also see a little of Mr. and Mrs. Potter. The quiestion driving this story is this; Did the Marauders all have to die? Or could they have changed their actions and still have won the war? I hope that you enjoy. Cheers!
As I woke in a room mostly unfamiliar to me, I instantly wondered how quickly I could escape my "prison" and get to the Potter's or Lupin's, at the very least the Pettigrew's. But as my mother shouted my name up the stairs, pure venom soaking every word, I knew she was too mad at me already to want me to have any pleasure.
As my mother called my name again (this time I could almost hear her grinding teeth) I swung my legs over the side of my bed and started to look for my shirt. After I located it (and after my mother called for me again), I ran a hand threw my hair and started teetering towards the door.
The steps creaked loudly as I stepped on one after the other, but my mother hardly seemed to notice the sound as she continued to chat happily with Regulas. I walked down in to the kitchen, with every step wishing I could be walking down in to the Potter's kitchen, when Regulas finally seemed to notice the creaking stairs.
"Good morning," Regulas said to me quietly, as he pushed past me to the frying pan. I knew my brother was probably the only relative I had (that wasn't disowned) that loved me and still thought that I was worth something; but it has always been so hard to continuously show the same love and respect to a boy that is practically in league with murder's.
"Morning," I said back as I moved to the cupboard with the plates. "How's she been?"
"To me, fine. But she's been grumbling about you since I got up." He whispered, slowly choosing which piece of bacon he wanted.
"Which was?"
"Two hours ago. Sleep well?"
I thought back to the two dreams I'd had; does yes and no count as an answer?
"Yeah, I slept okay." Well, from what I remember. "So, mother," I started as I stepped towards the muffins. "How has your week been?"
"Great until you showed up."
"Mother, we have talked about this; if you don't want me to come around anymore, then just get a black cat and name him Sirius."
"I would never do that, because that would be a great insult to all cats." I just shook my head. Almost all of the time I hated my mother, but on the few occasions when she was being sarcastic, I felt a small ping of love towards her. "So Reggie, when is Astoria coming around? It seems like ages since I last saw her! And maybe she'll bring her sweet friend? What was her name again, Daphne?" And these were the times I would have rather just to curse her, because I knew where she was heading.
"Yes, it's Daphne, Daphne Greengrass. She is wonderful, I plan on welcoming her in to my group of friends; they would be delighted to know her better."
"Yes I quite agree with you Regulas, I think she'll be an excellent addition to your friends. And if no one else thinks to take her as their lady, then maybe one of your wonderful friends will take her as theirs."
My mother said this all very pointedly, but it took a few minutes for Regulas to catch on to what she was hinting. He never liked to think badly of our mother, but he always disliked her pointedness in mocking me or with trying to hook me up, as it was.
"You know mother, I think Evan Rosier already has his eye on dear Daphne, and Astoria told me that she believes Daphne to be quite taken with him; she rather expects them to get together soon." And these were the dear moments when I loved my little brother.
"Oh, well that is sad, you know, Sirius, there-,"
"Mother, please, I've told you numerous times that I will not date anyone that you set up for me."
"But she's beautiful; she's smart, sweet and she's pure-blood! A great marriage would come of it and you'd like her so very much! Regulas just explained how great of a person he thinks she is! And if you don't like who I think is great, then what about your brother? I know you love him, you respect him, and you understand him, why can't you just marry a good girl instead of mud?"
I flinched at her mention for a Mud-blood, I hated the name calling.
"I have never once said that I was going to marry a Muggle-born, I just said that I am not going to marry someone that you set up for me! I don't agree with you and no matter how much Regulas likes someone, if you are forcing me in to the marriage, than it is not going to be a good marriage. Besides, if you even listened to a little of what Reg's just said, then you'd know that she was already taken!"
"You are more handsome and more eligible to marry a girl like that than some half-blood! I know that Regulas was just trying to help you; he does that all the time! Why don't you stand up for yourself?"
"I have been, ever since I was born! But you never listen to me, you never understand me, you have never loved me! But you do love Regulas, even if you don't listen to or understand him, so he, like the amazing brother that he is, has tried to help me, has tried to find our middle ground! But you won't cooperate! You won't show the love and mercy that a Mother is supposed to show!"
"How do you know how a mother is supposed to act?"
"Because I've watched my friends all have mothers that loved them, understood them, that took the bloody time to know them! While you jam your thoughts and ideals of pure-blood and the name of Black down mine and Regulas's throats! What kind of mother does that? A wicked Black mother, that's who does that!"
My mother looked at me, first without emotion, than confusion and finally with hatred and disgust. We'd been having these fights for years, but in the last few months, it had gotten much worse. It took almost nothing to start a battle with my mother now. But no matter how many times I yelled at her and Reg tried to convenes her of her wrong doing, she never seemed to understand. Now though, it seemed she was tired of it all, and I knew how she was going to end this war.
"Regulas, do you agree with your brother?" She never looked at him and never again did she look at me.
My dearest little brother looked at me too, and I saw his brave heart fill with the emotion of what we both knew would happen, no matter what he said. I often thought that he should have been put in Gryffindor, but he had always wanted to make our mother proud and he didn't want what was about to happen, because who would she let take care of her but her sons? But at this moment, I knew that no matter what the Hat had said, he was a Gryffindor and my mother was a Troll.
"Yes, I agree with everything." He said simply, but strongly, proudly. We could have been the same person at that moment, and to my mother, we might as well have been.
"You're not just saying that to help your brother?" Her face was warping in to something very ugly.
"No, we've both talked about this and agreed with each other on everything."
"Everything; then why have you never expressed this?"
"I have, many times, but you never understand. And I haven't been as blunt about it, because I still have a small amount of love for you." This was far too much for our mother; she was tired of being shown her faults.
"Creature!" She called out for the house-elf.
There was a snap in the air, as Creature popped in front of his Mistress.
"Yes, my beloved Mistress Black?" He bowed.
"Please escort these traders out of the house. Sirius and Regulas Black, you are both banished from this house and disowned, from me and from Creature until my death. After my death, the house will be given to Bella, if she be dead by then as well, then it will go to Cissy. If both be gone, then it will go to one of their Aires, if there be none, then the house will be taken care of by Creature and then hidden from the world forever. Do you understand?"
"Yes, mother." We said this together, both feeling hurt and relieved. I felt terrible for Regulas, but I knew he could finally speak his mind.
"Goodbye my sons." And she turned away, never to look at us again.
I looked over at Regulas, feeling deeply worried about him and I felt so bad for this, he didn't disserve it. As I looked over, he put his head in his hands and I didn't know exactly what he was feeling. A moment passed and I walked over to him, putting my hand on his shoulder and sitting down next to him.
"What are we going to do?" He asked and I shrugged, not really knowing.
"Where are we going to live?" He asked again. "Bella would never take us in now; Andy is having a baby and Cissy wouldn't only because she is afraid of everyone." I thought for a moment, slowly coming up with my answer.
"We'll go to the Potter's for a while. Mr. and Mrs. Potter have always said that they would take me in; they would never turn away my brother. But we'll go to Andy first; she can at least help us out. I think uncle Alphard will help us out money-wise." A few more moments passed in silence, both of us just trying to figure out what exactly just happened.
"I wonder when she'll burn us from the tapestry." Regulas asked, almost amused with the thought.
I laughed at this, forgetting about the old curtain. "I don't know, probably in a few days in a drunken fit." He chuckled slightly, lifting his head.
"Well, as long as we have each other, I think we'll be fine. It's a really nice feeling, you know? Knowing that mum knows I'm not all in to the pure-blood thing. I feel free."
"Me too."
We walked up the steps to Ted and Andy's house, our Hogwarts Trunks full of as many of our things as we could stuff in, our wands in our back pockets. Reg knocked twice and a moment later we heard Andy shouting that she was coming, her small pregnant body slowly making its way to us.
"Hello- she didn't!" It only took her a second to realize what had happened. Regulas looked almost shocked at her quick interpretation, but I was used to it.
"Can I use your loo?"
"Don't be an idiot! Get in, get in, it's getting dark."
I knew Regulas wasn't exactly comfortable with me leaving him alone, but I really needed the loo. Regulas has never exactly been close to Andy, and her rough demeanor and the fact that she looks a lot like Bellatrix has always scared him away.
We shuffled in, as Andy walked in to the kitchen. "Hungry?" she shouted after us, as I moved to the loo and Regulas pulled our things in to the living room.
"Yes, very!" Regulas shouted back as I closed the door.
"So we all know that you have had tension with your mother since you were born," Ted pointed at me. "But how did Regulas get mixed up in all of this?" Ted asked, as he took another bite of his pie.
Andromeda (Andy) had made her famous chicken pie and potatoes for dinner; this also had helped Regulas feel more comfortable, considering that it was his favourite meal.
"Well, Sirius and mum were having their normal row, mum wanting him to date a pure-blood girl, him not wanting anything to do with pure-blood girls. And then Sirius started talking about her bad mothering and started adding my name to his arguments. It just kind of spiraled out from there." Said Regulas, as he scooped Mashed Potatoes on to his plate. "Will you pass the gravy Sirius?"
"Will I?" I asked sarcastically. He glared, and I passed the gravy, still laughing but not wanting to make him mad. I already felt like a piece of dung getting him disowned and all, I really didn't want to make things worse.
"So, what are you guys going to do?" Andy asked, as she brought out small bowls of her home-made vanilla Ice Cream.
"Well, we were hoping to stay with you guys for tonight and maybe tomorrow. I'm going to floo over to the Potter's tonight and talk with James about it all. I think the Potter's will take us in at least for the rest of the summer; I'm always welcome at the Potter's. And last summer when Mrs. Potter met Regulas, she was really taken with him."
"Good, good. What about money? We can help you a little, but I'm not sure with how much." Ted told me, turning serious.
"Thank you, that'll help. Uncle Alphard said that he'll take care of our livings, so I hope that we won't have to barrow too much from you. If you could give us 2 galleons tomorrow to ride the Knight Bus, then we should be fine, we just have to get over to Alphard's."
"That we most certainly can do. I need to go over to Gringotts tomorrow anyway, so I can take you at least that far, than I can give you whatever you need. What time were you thinking of going over there?"
"I told Alphard around 11 in the morning, but he said that we could come at any time, he has a day off."
"Okay then, we'll leave at 10:00; get you two off to Alphard's by 11:00."
"I was going to stay here and help Andy with the house." Said Regulas, as he put chocolate sauce on his ice cream. I gave him a weird look, wondering why he was going to be helping Andy. He colored and added-"She asked me to help her."
Andy, no fool, quickly but naturally chimed in. "I need help reaching some of the higher places, dust collects up there quickly."
"Why don't you ever let me help then?" Ted yelled out (he's always been a bit dramatic, but kind tempered) "I'm always asking you what you need help with, but you never tell me! Why does Regulas get to help you?"
"Oh Ted, stop being a baby. Men are usually content without having to clean about the house!"
"Yeah, well those men don't usually love their wives as much as I do!"
"Oh really? So uncle Alphard didn't love Aunt Millie as much as he says? Because he never cleaned the house." Ted glared, but he started lovingly cuirassing her cheek.
"You know I didn't mean it like that Sug-,"
"Nope, nope! We're out of here!" Regulas and I got up quickly, taking our plates with us. Ted and Andy always became rather disgusting with their "affectionate name calling" (their words not ours!) and it was always worse if they'd been arguing beforehand.
"Babies!" Andy called after our retreating backs.
Ten minutes later Regulas and I were at the fire place, getting ready to floo to the Potter's. Ted and Andy were nowhere in sight.
"Where are they?" Regulas asked. "I wanted to say goodbye."
"Right now, are eyes are probably better off not being able to see them." We both shuddered. "Well, I suppose we should just shout that we're leaving and then run for it." Regulas nodded and threw in a pinch of floo powder.
"Andy, we're going to the Potter's. We'll be back later!" I shouted out, throwing my own floo powered into the fire as Regulas disappeared.
"Goodbye!" I called as I jumped in, said where I was going and disappeared.
"So she finally did it? Finally had enough of you?" Mr. Potter teased, as we all sat down near the fire. It hadn't taken us long to explain our disownment, but as soon as we had, Mrs. Potter started crying her eye's out as she ran to the kitchen, calling that she'd make tea. Every few minutes we'd hear a "poor, poor dears, don't disserve that, not at all!"
If Mrs. Potter over reacted, then Mr. Potter didn't react enough. He was absolutely calm about it, he'd actually told me that he thought it was funny how worked up my mother got about it all.
I hadn't been able to tell James yet (he'd just gotten in to the shower when we'd come), but I was about to leave Regulas to talk with Mr. Potter, when Mrs. Potter brought in the tea.
"Thank you." We'd all chimed as she passed around the cups.
"Well, I think I'll go tell Prongs." I said as I got up, taking my tea with me.
I quickly climbed up the stairs to the second level and took a right at the top of the stairs. I opened James door and walked in unannounced, moving over to his bathroom door. I heard the water turn off, and knocked on the door, three times on the top of the door, twice at the bottom, our signal.
"Padfoot?" He called threw the door.
"Hello mate." I called back. I sat down against the wall of the bathroom. "What's up?"
"Oh, not much, just dripping water everywhere. Just so you know I have blotchy red eyes because of one of Peter's practical jokes."
"Why would I care if you had blotchy red eyes?"
"Because maybe I was crying or something, and you know, you're my best mate, so you'd probably care."
"Good point. Well, now I know, so I won't worry. And how'd Peter set up jokes in your house already? We've only been back from Hogwarts two days!"
"I have no clue, but I know it's him."
"Garlic bomb?"
"Yes! And it landed on my head the second I came in to my room the first time! I still smell like garlic." He opened the door, his towel wrapped around his head like a turban, wearing only an old pair of jeans.
"You know, I think those are mine." I told him. He looked down at his jeans.
"You know, I think your right. So, what's new with you?"
I stopped a moment, thinking about how to say this. I decided to just come out with it; beating around the push with James only made him unnecessarily worried.
"Oh, you know, Regulas and I just got disowned and banished from our house, mother and the rest of our family that isn't already disowned." He looked at me, his face unemotional, but I knew he felt bad for me.
He came over and sat down, putting his arm around my shoulders. I took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. "You're moving in. That's final." We sat in silence for a moment, and I realized only then how tired and how hurt I was by my mother. No matter how much I wanted to hate her, I'd always known that I didn't really hate her. But she was no longer my mother, at least in her mind.
"Okay." That was all that I said and all that I had to say. James and I never really talked about it again. Every now and then, when it was raining and I was just sad or when my mother's name came up, we'd talk about it for a moment, but that was it. He knew and understood and I never felt like I had to explain it to him, because he was my best friend and he knew me better than anyone, as I knew him better than anyone else.
Like James said, we were staying at the Potter's and that was the end of it. After a few days, we were settled in James room (which was a little small, but it worked).
We usually just hung out at the Potters, not doing too much. On nice days we'd go and play Quidditch; if it was raining then we'd play cards, Wizards Chess or Exploding Snap.
We hadn't seen the rest of the Marauders yet, but that ended one Saturday, a week and a half after we had been settled in.
It started with an early morning. I woke at 6:50, the sun pouring throw the window. I would have normally been fast asleep, but because of the large spot of sunshine that decided to shine right on my face, it was hard to be asleep.
I woke slowly, not wanting to be awake, but as soon as I was, I threw the first thing that my hand landed on at James face. He woke with a yelp, but considering that I had thrown Hogwarts, A History at his face, I couldn't really blame him.
"SIRIUS ORION BLACK, WHAT IN MERLINS BEARD DID YOU JUST THROW AT MY FACE?" James yelled out at me, as he tried to glare at me, even though he couldn't see a thing without his glasses. "Did you just throw a book at my face?" He pulled the said book out from his covers.
"Truthfully I didn't know that it was a book till after I threw it at said face." I replied as I started looking around for my pants.
"Oh, well that makes it all better Sirius; you didn't know that it was a book till after you threw it at your best mate! Why couldn't you have thrown something, you know, round or soft or light?" Regulas rolled over.
"Well, the answer is simple; you don't carry round, soft or light things on your floor. So how could I throw one of those things? And I could have easily hit Regulas, so how do you know for sure that I wasn't aiming for him?"
"Because Sirius, you knew that if you hit me, then I would just get mad and not think to throw something back at you till after I had yelled at you. But you know that with Regulas, he'll throw something back, yell a curse word at your face and then fall back asleep, which would be no fun for you, unless you were just trying to bug him. But oh no, you wanted someone to get up with you, so you wouldn't be bored and alone!" As he'd been yelling this, we'd both started locating our clothes (or one of the others clothes, as they were all pretty well mixed at this point) and getting dressed, so that at the end of his little speech, we were semi-dressed and walking out of the bedroom.
We left Regulas to sleep, as he often liked to sleep in.
"Very good observation there Prongs, just one problem." I said, as we walked down the stairs to the kitchen.
"Yeah, what's that?" He asked, as he jumped four steps and landed on the landing.
"I wouldn't be bored, because your mother is making breakfast and she's always more than happy to talk my ear off. And I like talking with your dad, so I would already have two other people more than ready to give me attention."
He just glared at me as we walked in to the kitchen. The delicious smell of Blueberry muffins, jam and scrambled eggs hit us instantly, and I wondered how anyone could ever learn to make such amazing food.
"Good morning boys, sleep well?"
"Good morning mum." We said in unison, as we always did. I could easily understand how most people would mistake us for twins if we didn't look different.
Mum (or Mrs. Potter) was scurrying around the kitchen, whispering orders at things, her wand pointing here and there.
"But see mum, the question is 'How did we wake up'." James told her, as we sat down at the table.
"Oh really, is that so?" She asked, as she laid out plates, napkins and forks on the table.
"Yes, because see, Sirius has a bad habit of liking to hit me in the face with hard objects in the morning, particularly books and especially Hogwarts, A History."
"Pshhh, do you believe this guy mum? Saying I would hit him with hard books. Now, if you want to see something brutal, look at this scrape he gave me." I showed Mrs. Potter (who was only half paying attention to us) the very nice and bright red scrape James had given me the day before, which was located on my knee. Well, James didn't technically give it to me, more as he scraped my knee while we were playing football (a muggle game). But none the less, it was something that I had on him, and he was now blubbering about books and Merlin's Beard.
After a few minutes of James blubbering, it started to annoy me, which lead to my swift, but loud tackle which lead to the two of us wrestling (wriggling about) on the floor under the table.
"Regulas dear, it's breakfast time!" Mum yelled up the stairs, totally unfazed by our yells and bangs. "Now boys, stop fighting and go wash your hands!"
After a minute or two more of our little fight, James ended it by pulling my hair roughly (which he knew I hated) and running over to the sink before I could think to do anything else.
Regulas came down as we were finishing with the sink. He was still extremely sleepy, his eye's mostly shut, his hair puffing out at strange angles and he was walking like a zombie. But somehow, I could easily see why he was considered the hottest boy in Slytherin and Ravenclaw (I was the hottest in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and the second hottest in Slytherin- Slytherin's usually hated me).
"So, Regulas dear, how did you sleep?" Mum asked, glaring at us. "And I would like a straight answer about that." Regulas sat down next to me, as Mr. Potter walked throw the white French doors in to the kitchen.
"I would have slept really well, except that Sirius and James kept talking in their sleep and stealing my pillows." He laid his head down on the table.
"What were these weirdo's talking about in their sleep?" Mr. Potter asked jokingly, as he handed around the pan of eggs.
"Oh, you know. James was talking about Lily Evan's and Sirius was mumbling about a bunch of girls all over him. The usual."
Mum shook her head at this, slightly embarrassed that "her boys" were so girl crazy, but as she walked to her chair, she stopped and patted my head, telling us as she did that- "We really need to get you boys some haircuts."
"Nooo!" We all said, even Mr. Potter, who well knew that that also meant himself.
"Oh, please, boys, don't be over dramatic! The last haircuts you all got you loved, remember?" We jokingly glared at her, as none of us could ever really be mad at her.
"Only you liked our haircuts, we all hated them." James said, as Mrs. Potter popped a strawberry into Regulas's mouth; he'd been half asleep even as he whispered "Nooo" in to the table.
"Well, everyone is going to start thinking I let you all run wild if I don't get you in to the barbers soon! I already let you run around the house half naked, do you really want to start looking like George of the Jungle?"
"Nooo," We all mumbled, as mum looked a little smug; she knew she'd be getting her way.
"Good, then we'll head to the barbers after breakfast." And with that, she gently shook Reg's shoulder and sat down, pulling the food towards her plate.