Summary: Professor McGonagall remembers four boys that used to marauder around Hogwarts.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, blah blah.
Pranksters and troublemakers, Professor McGonagall thought, had no place at Hogwarts. It was a school for heaven´s sake!
That was why each and every time she caught those four boys, laughing after a successful prank, she did not hesitate to give them a detention. True, sometimes even she had to smile at the tricks those boys pulled, but they still had to be discouraged.
Then the years went by, and the little boys that had looked afraid of the detentions disappeared, only to be replaced by confident young men, who had taken to calling her aunt Minnie.
And when those four young men had graduated, top of their class of course, she relaxed. Finally the horror that had haunted the castle for seven years was gone. It was not until years later that she realized the impression those four boys had left. On the school, on the students of that time, on her.
Suddenly that familiar grin was spotted once more, this time accompanied with bright green eyes instead of hazel, reminding her of the one girl who had stood up to them.
And of course the two identical redheads, who reminded her so much of...
There were times when if she blinked very fast, she could swear she saw another group of boys when she reprimanded those twins. The image was vague, but she recognized them. The two in the front, grinning, arms around each others shoulders. One with messy black hair, the other with the same colour but casually elegant, just reaching his eyes, and both of them so full of life... Then, standing next to them, clearly torn between feeling guilty and also grinning, the worn-out, brown haired boy, even now with a book in his hand. And there, hiding behind the first two, in their shadow almost, was the small one, the last of the four. His eyes would quickly move from one side to the other, seemingly trying to escape, worried of getting into trouble.
Yes, that was how Minerva McGonagall remembered them. And it was at times like these that she realized the truth. Because the Marauders were no longer there. Those that had survived those terrible years that had followed their graduation had changed. They were no longer the carefree, cheerful teens they had been.
And Professor McGonagall... Well, she couldn't help but miss them.