Marty Collins pushed the trolley with her Hogwarts stuff on it through King's Cross Train Station with her older brother Trevor following behind her. The station was crowded at 10:50 in the morning, and Marty was just glad her sister and aunt hadn't decided to come see her off as well. Ana wasn't to be going to Hogwarts for another two years, so Aunt Lila had decided to stay home and bake cookies with her. That girl and cookies, Marty did not feel was a good mix, but she couldn't tell her aunt what to do, exactly.
A few minutes later, as Marty was just pulling up to the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10, a woman with storm grey eyes and messy black hair pushed past her and her brother. "Can't believe they make us operate out of a Muggle train station," she sneered, completely unaware she almost knocked Marty's owl to the ground. Shadow rattled against the cage, but the woman ignored her and kept up her string of complaints. "As if we would want to associate with the filthy Muggles of London. And of course we can't apparate into the train station. That would be a terrible thing to do," she added sarcastically, and her two sons, one looking to be Marty's age, one a bit younger, nodded in agreement.
"That's probably one of the pure blooded families who think their better than everyone else," Trevor whispered to his sister. "They look like…Blacks," he added.
"That sounds incredibly racist," Marty replied, but then she frowned. "Probably a Slytherin, right?"
"I can see it now. I'm surprised you have to ask," he added.
"Well, just making sure." Marty had been gifted with the ability to read people. Not mind reading or anything like that. Just being able to tell if someone's trustworthy. She could see people's secrets, hopes, and fears, as well as their personalities. It came in handy sometimes.
The two of them crossed the barrier to Platform 9¾, and Trevor then turned to his little sister. He had graduated Hogwarts the year before and wouldn't be able to do anything but see Marty off to her first year at the great wizard school. "You got it from here? I have to get back to Gringotts." Marty nodded silently. "And remember to keep—"
"Trevor! I know!" Marty shouted.
"Okay Marty," Trevor said calmly. "I just don't want to see you get thrown out of Hogwarts because of it."
"You kept the secret, didn't you?" she retorted. "From even your closest friends?"
"Yeah, and where are they now? They left me because I wouldn't tell them. Just promise you won't tell anyone."
"Yeah, I promise." Marty then looked pointedly at the clock.
"Okay, I get it. I'm going. Bye, Sis," he said, and crossed the other way through the barrier.
Marty kept staring at the barrier until she heard the whistle blow. Then she took her bag and Shadow and put them in the back storage compartment. Then she saw a boy struggling with his stuff.
"Do you need help?" she asked him.
The boy turned to look at her in shock and confusion. He had golden eyes and messy brown hair. He smiled after a minute of staring in confusion. "Sure. Thanks." As she lifted his trunk and owl into the compartment, he commented, "You're a beast."
She laughed. "Thank you, I think." Then she held out her hand. "Marty Collins."
"Remus Lupin," he replied, taking her hand and shaking it.
"Wanna sit with me on the train?" she asked.
"Sure," he replied. "Just let me say bye to my parents." He waved to a young couple who Marty guessed were his folks. His mum waved back and smiled. His dad just sort of glared.
"Why, uh…" Marty began, "never mind."
"You want to know about my dad," he guessed.
"Well, that was a bit weird. But don't bother telling me if you don't want to," she added hurriedly as they got on the train.
"He doesn't exactly…like me much," Remus explained. "It's sort of a long story."
Marty nodded, used to long stories.
o.O.o
When they got on the train, the two were almost immediately joined by two other guys. One of them was the boy with the evil mother Marty had seen at the station. The other had curly black hair and glasses. "I'm James," the latter said. "This is Sirius. Mind if we sit here?"
"Not at all," Remus said. Marty stayed silent and turned to the book she was currently attempting to read.
"Reading before we've even gotten to school," James said, interrupting her. "That's incredibly nerdy."
Marty looked up into his eyes. 'Cocky, conceited, brave,' was what she read from him. This guy was a true Gryffindor. She turned to Sirius. 'Pure blood, with a familial history of Slytherins.' This one was a Slytherin. She looked at Remus. 'Smart, studious.' Ravenclaw. She herself never thought of what House she'd be in. she didn't think it mattered. She'd be happy with what she got.
Just then, another boy opened the compartment sliding door. He was a Hufflepuff. 'Kind, genuine, loyal. A bit shy.' "Can I sit here?" he asked quietly, proving her point.
"Sure," James said.
"I'm Peter Pettigrew," he said, and the rest of them introduced themselves. Marty turned back to her book. She barely heard any of them talking after that through the whole train ride.
o.O.o
Marty enjoyed the Sorting ceremony very much. Half of the first years were very nervous, but Marty assured them that there wasn't anything to worry about, having heard what went on from her brother. When they got in, Marty predicted who was going where just by looking at them. Sirius, who heard her mutterings, was amazed, but Marty didn't reveal where the true source of her knowingness came from. Instead she told him she was partially psychic, but only when people least expected it. Then she told him that since he had figured it out, she couldn't predict any more students' fates, so for the last few students, she purposefully guessed wrong. The funny part was, he actually believed her. Consider it revenge for being a Black, she thought. She was actually surprised he was put into Gryffindor with her.
o.O.o
After the Sorting, the five companions from on the train practically ran to the Gryffindor common room, despite not knowing where they were going. They followed closely behind their prefects, two people named Ashley and Ricky.
"Hogwarts is gonna be a blast!" James shouted once they were inside the common room. "Alright, down to business," he said, lowering his voice. "What's our first prank going to be?"
"Really, mate? We haven't been here two hours and you're already planning a prank on the entire school?" Sirius asked.
"Obviously," he replied.
"I think we should first come up with a group name," Marty suggested, and the rest of them looked at her like she was crazy. "Or," she said, "we could just sign our pranks with our own names and get detention for everything we've done. If not expelled."
"Marauders!" Remus suddenly shouted.
"Excuse me?" Marty asked.
"That'll be our name."
"What does that mean?" Sirius asked.
"I don't know," Remus admitted. "But I heard it somewhere, and you have to admit, it doesn't sound that bad an idea."
"I like it," Marty said. "So what if our first prank is something that introduces us? Like, at breakfast, we set off a bunch of fireworks spelling M-A-R, and at lunch, O-U-D—"
"A-U-D," Remus corrected.
"Oh right," Marty said sheepishly. "I can't spell to save my life!" she defended.
"I like where you're going with this. And what if the fireworks then went after random students—" James began, but was cut off.
"We're trying to prank people, not hurt them," Marty disagreed. "But what if we did it right in the middle of when Dumbledore was talking?"
"I like it," James said, smiling evilly. "We may have an evil genius on our hands!" he added to the boys, referring to Marty.
o.O.o
The next day, the prank was pulled off, and in the week after that, the smart people in the school had made it clear to the others what the letters in the fireworks had actually meant, and the whole school was buzzing about who the Marauders could be.
Marty was surprised they didn't have better things to worry about, for she was only a first year and already had so much homework it was unbelievable. Her teachers obviously thought they were the only teacher each student had, and loaded them all up on work. And thus, a week into the school year, homework was what was being done by the five Marauders. Or at least, by three of them—the other two were complaining about having to do it. Three guesses who they were.
"Will you please let me copy your essay, Remus?" James whined.
"What about you, Marty?" Sirius asked when Remus shook his head angrily. Sirius looked over Marty's shoulder at her essay. "You misspelled 'transfigure.'"
"It's a long word," she said defensively. "Besides, you knew what it meant, so it wasn't a complete spelling failure."
"But nonetheless, it was a spelling failure," Sirius mocked.
Marty held her quill up like a dagger. "Don't you make me stab you with a quill, Black," she threatened.
"You don't have the nerve," he replied simply.
"Oh, I have the nerve. But would I want your blood all over my quill? Absolutely not."
"Very funny. We all know my blood is the most pure here," he joked, but she had had enough. She lunged at him, forgetting for a second the quill in her hand. They wrestled on the ground for a few minutes, really only putting on a show for the group of people chanting for either of them. It wasn't until Marty smelled the blood and Sirius screamed, "Ow!" that they got up.
"Ow, ow, your demon quill poked me!" he complained, and held out his hand so everyone could see the deep gash in his palm. Marty paled and swallowed before saying, "You should go to the hospital wing." She could tell her voice was shaking but hoped no one else noticed.
"No, I'll be fine," he insisted. "I'll just go and run some water on it," he added, heading up to his dorm. James and peter followed, and the rest of the crowd dispersed, but Remus stayed behind.
"You alright Marty? You look a little pale."
"Yeah," she spoke. Not a good idea. Remus' eyes widened as he saw her.
"You're a vampire?" he asked, shocked.
"Shut up!" she hissed. "Half vampire! My dad was a vampire, and my mum was a witch. Please, please promise me you won't tell anyone!" she begged.
"I won't," he replied, "as long as you don't tell anyone I'm a werewolf."
"Deal," she said smiling. She didn't tell him, but she had known his secret all along.
o.O.o
"Freak!" Lily shouted when Marty came up to her dorm. "You're a vampire!" she added, seeing Marty's fangs that hadn't exactly gone away yet.
"Half vampire!" she corrected. "And I'm not a danger to you!"
"Liar!" she hissed. "I hate you. I don't want you anywhere near me."
"Well that's unfortunate, seeing as I live here."
"Not anymore. I'm telling McGonagall to make you go somewhere else. Maybe, a different school!" And with that, Lily ran out of the room.
o.O.o
"I thought I would be hearing from you," McGonagall said as she entered the common room with Lily.
"Professor, I refuse to live with her. She could kill me!" Lily protested. Marty didn't say a word. She knew McGonagall knew that she wouldn't dare kill anyone, but trying to explain that to a worked-up Lily was pointless.
"Then where do we put you?" McGonagall asked Marty rhetorically.
"She could live with the guys and me," Remus suggested, popping literally out of nowhere. "They'll love the idea; we're already great friends. It's just me, James, Sirius, and Peter."
McGonagall's mouth was a thin line as she thought it over. "Well, under the circumstances, if we can get Professor Dumbledore to agree, we shall make arrangements for Marty to move into your dormitories," she agreed reluctantly.
"Good riddance," Lily muttered.
