Disclaimer: I'm not J.K. Rowling, so no, I don't own Harry Potter.
A/N: This took me forever to write. I hope you like it. Written for the My Scenario, Your Story challenge, ran by Lost in the Lies.
"We've got to have names."
All three heads turned to Sirius and he sat up rolling his eyes.
"I mean we just can't sign the map with our real names, can we? What if somebody finds it? I mean, we already call ourselves the Marauders too-we've got to have nicknames to go with it!" Sirius explained as though it was obvious.
"Ya….I like it!" James said his signature trouble making look coming to his face.
"What type of nicknames?" Peter asked, sitting forward as he looked at the two other boys.
"I really think we should think this through a bit more…." Remus said not liking the looks on their faces. But the others just ignored him as they thought and Remus inwardly groaned. He could just imagine what they were going to come up with.
"Hmm…well, does anyone have any ideas?" Sirius asked, getting an excited look on his face.
"It has to be based on something not a lot of people know about," James added.
"Guys, I still don't think we should be even making this map," Remus said, nervously. There was a reason Dumbledore made him prefect.
"Don't worry, Remus," Peter said, "How could this possibly go wrong?" Sirius said and James laughed, but Remus could imagine many ways it could go wrong.
"Well, if we are going to do it, we better have nicknames," he resigned.
"Awesome," James said, glad Remus agreed. He hated it when Remus got all prefecty, and they had to leave him out of stuff. "So let's think. What are some things that are unique to the marauders?"
"We are Gryffindors." Peter started.
"Yeah, and so are the rest of the people in the common room," James interrupted, looking around the room, with his eyes landing on Lily Evans: the girl of his dreams. His eyes took on a dreamy look. Sirius jumped up from the floor and clapped loudly in front of his face to get him out of the 'Lily trance' as Sirius and Remus had named it.
"Mate, focus!" Sirius yelled. "Hey, I got a nickname for you: Lilysick." Remus, Sirius and Peter laughed, while James glared at Sirius.
"Fine. Then, you can be Dark Arts Dude," James shot back, with a laugh. Sirius looked sorta hurt about James' reference to his family's allegiance to the darker forms of magic, and their pure blood tendencies. Remus and Peter looked on, nervously.
"Ok, forget I said anything. I don't want to be doomed with that nickname," Sirius amended.
"Sounds good," James replied, happy that he got what he wanted.
"Blokes, can we please focus on real nicknames?" Remus asked, getting slightly irritated. He just wanted to be finished with this, and get to his homework. He had to finish up a three foot essay for Slughorn. He might need to ask Lily for help, as well.
"So back to things we have in common…" James said, getting back on track. Maybe Remus was being a good influence….
"We are all animals," Sirius said, proud that he managed to come up with a good idea.
"And, that is something that not a lot of people know about us. And by not a lot, I mean virtually no one else," Peter continued. Sirius laughed.
"Ok," Remus said, happy that they were getting somewhere, "so we have our topic. I'm a werewolf. Peter's a rat. Sirius is a dog, and James is a stag. Where can we go from there?"
"What are things that are associated with werewolves?" James thought, beginning to brainstorm. "The full moon, howling, fur, and Romania."
"Good list, James," Sirius said. "But Romania is just a stupid idea for a nickname."
"Duh. It wasn't a list of nicknames, it was just brainstorming," James defended himself.
"Focus, Marauders. Ok, so back to the list. Since it is my name, I am ruling out anything that has to do with fur and/or Romania." Remus said.
Peter, who for some reason felt the need to point this out, said "ok. That leaves moons and howling."
"Thanks, Peter," Sirius replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Moon…Moonish, Moonilicious…ooo I like that one."
"Me too," James agreed with a smile on his face.
"No way," Remus complained. "How about….erm, moony?"
"That's good," Peter said.
"Yeah, I guess. Moonilicious is still better," James said.
"Moony it is, then," Sirius confirmed.
"Next," James called, as his eyes once again swept the common room in search of the beautiful Lily Potter.
"James!" Remus attempted to snap James out of his Lily Trance, again.
"What? Oh, Sorry." James shook his head, and tried to concentrate. "Whose turn is it?"
"Let's do the rat's." Sirius said. "Rats….everyone hates them, tiny, annoying, disgusting tails, weird-"He broke off at all of the looks he was getting. "What?" he asked, in his defense. "I was just making a list of things that pop into mind when people think of rats."
"Apologize!" Remus said, glancing at the hurt look on Peter's face.
"Sorry, Peter," Sirius murmured. "So, did my list give anyone any ideas?"
"No!" James said. "Try to picture a rat. What is the most prominent feature?"
"Easily the tail," Peter said.
"Ok, so let's focus on that," James said, "What does a rat's tail remind you of?"
"Ummm….a worm?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah, I see it," Remus said.
"Now try to combine them in some way." James instructed.
"Tail-Of-A-Worm?" Sirius asked, making a face.
"No," Peter said, not wanting a name as hideous and long as that. "Umm…how about Wormtail?" he added meekly.
"That's great, Peter. Or should I say Wormtail," Remus responded, enthusiastically. "You know, this nickname thing could be fun. But, we really need to get this finished. I have a major Potions essay to complete."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Moony always has homework." Sirius rolled his eyes. "Wormtail is good. What do you think, James?"
"Wormtail is confirmed," James answered. "That leaves Sirius and me."
"The stag and the dog remain standing," Sirius said.
"Stags have antlers." Peter stated, in a monotone voice.
"That's good, but they aren't called antlers," Remus corrected. "The correct term is prongs."
"Prongs," Sirius repeated. Then, he paused and thought for a second. "Prongs…Prongs. I like that."
"Yeah, Prongs is as good as name as any." Peter said.
"I agree." Remus said, glad this was moving along quickly.
"I am Prongs. Prongs I am." James said, then looked at Sirius. "Your turn."
"So, I am a dog. I'm loving, caring, and Man's best friend," Sirius listed.
"None of those are good names. Let's focus on physical features." Remus decided.
"Ok. So he's furry and soft, and has paws." Peter said.
"Paws are sort of like padded feet." James said. "Padfoot."
"Padfoot is good," Remus seconded.
"Yeah," Peter said.
"Now, you all must call me Padfoot," Sirius commanded, standing up and puffing out his chest.
"I'm glad this is done with," Remus said. "Now, I have to go ask Lily to help me with my essay for Slughorn." James' head popped up at Lily's name.
"What? Oh, you know, I just remembered that I still have to do that essay. I'm going to come with you, Remus. Just give me a minute to get my potions stuff."
Everyone rolled their eyes and laughed as James jumped up and ran up the stairs.
A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed this. I worked really hard this past weekend to get it up. It took me soo long. So yeah, read and review. Thanks 3