The marauders: We solemnly swear we're up to no go

by Cokusan

A marauder fic, starting in their first year, will go on all the way till they have finished school. A lot of James/Snape rivalry in the first chapter. Read and Review.

The Marauders' tale : We solemnly swear we're up to no good

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter…

Summary: Starts in first year, but I'll race through the first few years and give the most attention to the later years.

Chapter 1: Strange boys, pretty girls and a half giant

James gave his mother a kiss on her cheek and then turned around, he hoisted his suitcase into the Hogwarts express. His mother, a relatively old woman with grey hair waved him out and his father, who also had grey hair winked at him. 'Goodbye James! Take good care of yourself.' His father said.

Finally, I'll find out about Hogwarts. He thought to himself. He shoved his glasses up his nose a little further and looked through the train, his eye immediately caught by a red haired, pretty girl with bright green eyes.

Isn't that he pretty one. He thought as he started to walk towards her. He wanted to introduce himself to her when someone bumped into him. James let out a shout of surprise. He saw a boy with a very pale skin, long black hair and a big, strongly curved nose. The boy gave him an arrogant glare with his pitch black eyes.

'Out of my way.' Said James, but the boy didn't respond to his command. 'Now why would I?' he asked, challenging the boy with the glasses. 'You will, or I will punch you out of my way.' James hissed. The boy with pale skin raised his fist and a fight was about to break out when the red haired girl put her hand on the hand of the pale-skinned boy.

'Don't do it Severus, he's not worth it.' She stated. The boy known as Severus lowered his arm and James burst out in laughter. 'Ha! Severus? Who would call his child that?' He shouted in an high, amused voice. James laughter halted when Severus elbowed him in his gut.

'Don't you ever insult my mother!' He screamed enraged and the girl had to hold him back from jumping on James, who had fallen over. James gave the girl a look and Severus the crazy sign. 'You had it coming, come on Severus. Let's go.' The girl told Severus and she pulled him into an empty compartment.

James slowly got up rubbed his stomach. 'Now that was a strange boy.' He mumbled. 'Nicely done.' Someone behind him said, with sarcasm dripping from his voice. Who's this? Another one looking for a fight? James thought while turning around.

He spotted a handsome young boy, with long black hair that curled over his shoulders. The boy grinned at him. 'Who might you be?' James asked nonchalantly. 'Sirius Black. A pleasure to meet you, mister?' the boy introduced himself and James finished his sentence. 'Mister Potter, James.' He stated.

They shook hands and Sirius nodded his head to the right, indicating he would like to share the compartment with James. The boys walked into the compartment and spotted another boy sitting next to the window, he had brown hair, even paler skin than that Severus boy and it almost looked as if he forget to shave off his beard, but James got that thought out of his mind since he and him were about the same age, and James was only eleven years old.

The boy looked up nervously when he spotted the two boys walking into the compartment. 'Hi.' He said, not sounding confident at all. James smiled at him. 'I'm James, and this is Sirius.' He said. The boy smiled weakly. 'I'm Remus.' He replied. He turned around on the bench he was sitting on and a spot of grey hair was revealed.

James pulled his eyebrow up and looked at Sirius, who gave him a similar look. 'What's up with you?' Sirius demanded. 'Nothing, I'm just recovering from a bad cold.' He said and both James and Sirius pulled their shoulders up. 'Why don't you tell me some more about yourself Sirius?' James asked.

'Well, there isn't really a lot to say about me. Other than I am expected to go to Slytherin, just like the rest of my huge, pure-blood family. I don't even want to think about what my mom will do when I would get sorted in, let's say Hufflepuff.' He explained with a sad voice.

James nodded, he knew what Sirius was talking about, he was a member of a fanatical pure-blood family who took their pure-blood status in high regard. 'Well, there isn't that much to tell about me either.' James said. 'I'm also from a long line of pure blood wizards, but my family doesn't take that status in such high regard as your family does.' He followed.

'I'm quite the lucky pampered child as my parents only got me at an older age and therefore saw me as a gift. But enough about us, what about you Remus?' Remus scratched the back of his head. 'I'm a half-blood, my mother's a witch and my father is a muggle. I know my mom was a Ravenclaw, but that's about all I know of her time at Hogwarts, my father doesn't like to talk about our magic capabilities.' Remus said in his nervous, unconfident voice.

'Nothing wrong with that.' James stated and he realized that Remus immediately seemed to get a little more confident. He dropped shoulders and even showed the other boys a little smile. James noticed that some of his teeth were slightly pointed and he frowned.

Forget what I said about that Severus kid, this boy is way more strange. He thought, but he didn't really mind. The train finally started to move and the train filled with students rode off.

James and Sirius ordered large amounts of candy when the cart stopped by their compartment and decided to share the lot with Remus, who hadn't bought anything. James suddenly realized he ate too much and felt a little sick when a round faced, blonde boy appeared in the doorstep of their compartment.

'Can I sit with you?' he asked with a unusually high voice. 'I was sitting next to an older student called Lucius before, but he kicked me out when some blonde girl entered the compartment.' He explained. 'That Lucius wasn't nice at all.' Said the boy after being allowed to sit next to Remus.

'He was constantly talking about blood-purity and such.' The boy said. He picked up a bar of chocolate. 'You wouldn't mind if I took one would you? I'm Peter by the way, Peter Pettigrew.' James smiled. 'You can take as many of that chocolate as you like, I'm feeling a little sick anyway.' He joked.

Peter took a large bite from the bar and James immediately felt sympathy for him after his complaints over people who take blood-purity in high regard. The four boys had a nice conversation and only stopped talking when the train came to sudden stand still.

They pushed their doors open and walked out of the train onto the platform of Hogsmeade. James made a little jump when he was startled by a deep, rumbling voice. He looked over to where the sound came from and saw a giant man with a face covered in thick black hair.

'That's a giant, isn't it?' Peter asked fearfully. Sirius nodded. 'My cousin, Andromeda told me about him. That's Hagrid, the housekeeper and half-giant.' He explained. 'First years! First years over here!' he shouted with his loud voice and the four boys walked towards him, hesitatingly.

'Follow me to the boats.' Hagrid said and James overheard Severus saying something that sounded like 'That big oaf.' The first-years followed the half-giant and they almost had to run to keep up with the huge man's big steps. They then finally arrived at a large, dark lake. Hagrid handed out lanterns, one for each pair, since the sky had already turned dark.

James, Sirius and Remus boarded a boat but Peter seemed to nervous to follow them. Hagrid noticed that and he lifted Peter up with one arm. Peter shouted in fear as his head was now a lot higher then it was when he was still standing firmly on the ground. 'There ye' go.' Hagrid said as he placed Peter in the tiny boat.

Hagrid then boarded a larger boat, which to no one's surprise sunk down a bit when the giant sat down. 'Off we go.' Hagrid said and he showed a satisfied smile as the boats sped off over the lake, seemingly without anything towing them. The boats made a turn over the lake and the first years could now see the magical castle of Hogwarts, for the first time.

Cries of amazement could clearly be heard as the first years did no effort to conceal their excitement. 'Won't you look at that!' shouted an excited Peter Pettigrew. James grinned, this would be seven great years. He knew that already. 'I wonder what kind of magic is hidden in there.' Severus said from the boat next to them.

The boats arrived at the shore and Hagrid commanded the children to hop out of the boats and they started the climb towards the castle, over a thin, stone path that was very steep. The four boys walked up the last ones, with Peter at the end of them all. Who tripped over and shouted. He would have fallen down, but he bumped into Hagrid's legs and immediately bounced back to his feet.

They arrived at the castle's main entrance, a pair of huge, wooden doors. Hagrid knocked on the door with his massive, hairy hands and they opened up from the inside. A strict looking woman with long black hair and square spectacles appeared in the door's opening. She was wearing a grey hat and bright green robes.

'First years, follow me.' She said, strongly accented. Sirius elbowed James against his right arm. 'There isn't much fun in her.' He stated. 'I guess your right, judging by her looks she had the humour of a teaspoon.' Replied James with a high, amused voice and the two boys laughed loudly.

They arrived at a tall stair made out of shining white marble. 'I am professor McGonagall. Follow me please.' The strict looking woman introduced herself. She turned around graciously and pushed open two, mahogany doors. James gasped for breath when he first saw the great hall.

The hall was decorated beautifully, flying candles floated in the air and the four tables, each belonging to one of the four houses had gold plates on them. The ceiling had been bewitched so that it seemed that the stars were right above them. The first years were cheered loudly at and Peter cleared his throat. 'I've heard that we have to fight werewolves and that they will sort us into our houses on our performance.' He said, fearfully.

Nobody noticed that Remus was turning unusually red. 'Nonsense.' James said, hoping that he was right. McGonagall only stopped in front of a large table, with people behind them who were definitely not students. She turned towards the first years and an old man with long silver hair, a long silver beard that was wearing fire-red robes stood up and spread his arms.

'Welcome, all new students. And to the students who have already spent years on our beautiful school, welcome back! For the newcomers, I am professor Dumbledore. Headmaster of Hogwarts.' He spoke with a soft voice, but James got understand him perfectly. 'Before we start the sorting ceremony, I would like to mention a few words.' He followed.

James looked at Sirius and he realized that the other boy was also expecting something great from this famous wizard who was looked upon as the greatest wizard of all time. 'Beans, juice, meatballs, ice picks and apples.' He said enthusiastically. The whole school burst out in a loud applaud, he even spotted McGonagall clapping her hands in joy.

'He's a bit goofy if you ask me.' A blonde boy that was standing next to Peter said. Dumbledore picked up head from the table in front of him and gave it to Professor McGonagall. It was an old, ragged brown leather hat, seemingly nothing special.

McGonagall put it down on a wooden chair and to the first year's great surprise, the hat moved. It started talking, even. It sang! And as the hat sang, the older students sang with it. 'Hogwarts! Hogwarts! Hoggy Hogwarts!' They repeated the line three times and again, the whole great hall applauded.

McGonagall was handed a scroll of parchment by a tiny little wizard, who had a much higher chair to sit on than the other teachers. 'Abus, William.' She read and the blonde boy standing next to Peter looked around, not sure what to do. 'Come forward, please.' McGonagall said loudly.

The boy walked forward very slowly, shaking with nerves. 'Sit down.' Demanded McGonagall. The boy swallowed and sat down slowly. She placed the ragged hat on his head and it shouted out just a few seconds later. 'Ravenclaw!' Ravenclaw's table cheered loudly as he walked towards the table, seemingly relieved.

McGonagall called out the students by alphabet and Sirius was the seventh student to come forward. He walked forward, slightly worried who get sorted into a house other than Slytherin. He took a peak over to the Ravenclaw table and saw his sister, Andromeda who had gotten into loads of trouble for being sorted there.

He then looked over to the Slytherin table and saw his other sister, Narcissa sitting next to a long-haired blonde boy. She has been spoiled to death by mom. I don't know what's worse, getting kissed by mom or getting shouted at by her. Sirius thought.

He sat down and the hat was placed on his head. 'Strange, strange, yes definitely, strange. Another Black who is destined not to be sorted into Slytherin.' The hat whispered in Sirius' ear. 'Gryffindor!' He shouted, much louder this time. The Gryffindor table burst out in celebrating cheers and Sirius walked towards it, his head hung.

Several first years' were called out and James didn't really take any interest in them as none of them was sorted into Gryffindor. 'Evans, Lily.' McGonagall said and James smiled when he saw the pretty red-head stride forward. She sat down. 'Gryffindor!' shouted the hat without hesitation. He heard Severus let out a cry of despair.

Remus took a deep sigh when McGonagall read his name. He sat down in the chair and felt the hat slide down. 'A Werewolf? Most extraordinary. Someone like you must possess a lot of courage to even come here.' It whispered. 'Gryffindor!' Remus sighed in relief and walked over to the Gryffindor table under loud cheers of the other Gryffindor's.

Peter's forehead was covered in sweat when it was his turn to be sorted. 'I don't know what to do with you, Hufflepuff might be a good choice.' Whispered the hat. Please, let it be Gryffindor. Peter thought. 'If you say so.' The hat said and he shouted 'Gryffindor!' shortly after.

James wasn't nervous or scared at all when he was called forward after Peter. 'There's no doubt in my mind that you're a…' the hat whispered. 'Gryffindor!' James grinned and walked towards the table with confident, big steps. He sat down next to Remus and was congratulated by the other Gryffindor's.

James saw all kinds of students getting sorted into their houses, occasionally cheering and clapping his hands when one of them was sorted into Gryffindor.

'Snape, Severus.' James saw Severus walk up to the chair and sit down confidently. It hadn't even touched his head when the hat shouted out. 'Slytherin!' Snape smirked and walked down to the Slytherin table. He was patted on his back by an older, black haired boy. 'Fancy the dark arts?' asked the older boy. Snape nodded enthusiastically.

'Then you're at the right address with me. My name's Jason Yaxley.' He introduced himself and the two boys shook hands. 'I see Snape is making new friends.' A girl with blonde hair told Lily. 'His name is Severus, or Sev as I prefer to call him.' Lily replied, noticeably irritated.

The other girl raised her shoulders and all students turned to Dumbledore after the last student, Ziro Zhang was sorted into Ravenclaw. 'Our janitor, Argus Filch has made sure I give all of you the following warnings. The forbidden forest is off limits to all students, it is forbidden for students to wander through the school at night and it is only allowed to enter the forbidden section of the library with permission of a teacher.' He said.

He then clapped in his hands and a feast appeared on the tables. The first years' let out cries of surprise. James had never seen so much good food. Fries, baked potatoes, countless types of meat, fish, fruits, vegetables and for some unknown reason, scales filled with vanilla flavoured sweets.

'Let's all enjoy the feast!' Dumbledore said and he took dozens of vanilla sweats of the scale and put them on his plate. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter ate their fill and were utterly amazed when Dumbledore clapped his hands again and the tables were filled with every sort of ice and other desserts you could imagine.

James filled the gold bowl that suddenly appeared on his table with as much ice as he could, determined to make himself sick. The four new found friends ate so much that they felt like exploding. A dark skinned boy with an afro stood up when the majority of the students had eaten their fill.

'Gryffindor's follow me please, my name is Jake Raw, head boy.' He said. James and his three friends stood up and followed Jake and their jaw's dropped at all the amazing things that filled the castle. 'Welcome to Hogwarts, child.' An old man on an even older painting said.

Suddenly, James heard several girl's scream, and he immediately realized why. Four ghosts flew over the tables, one of them, an older man wearing posh medieval clothes shook his head and it almost fell off, to James' disgust.

They were climbing a stair when it suddenly changed place and moved up higher. 'Wow.' Said Remus, utterly astonished. They arrived at a portrait of a fat lady, drinking wine. 'Password?' she asked with an annoying, high voice. 'Endless road.' Replied Jake Raw.

The lady nodded and the portrait swung to the side, revealing a doorway that led into a cosy, large room. They stepped into the room. Red with gold walls, ceiling and floor made it obvious that this was the Gryffindor common room. It was filled with large, leather red seats, couches and the walls were littered with portraits hanging over fireplaces.

'Boys, take the left stairway to go to your dormitories. Girls take the right. Your belongings have already been brought to your beds.' Jake explained. James walked up the stairs, followed by his friends. They were excited when they found they shared a dormitory between the four of them.

James leapt onto his bed and spread his arms. He was very excited about his first day at Hogwarts, he had already made four new friends, seen incredible magic and had been sorted into the house he wanted to be in. He closed his eyes and due to his full stomach, fell asleep right away.

Sirius had more trouble sleeping, not only annoyed by Peter's loud snoring, he was also worried what his family's reaction would be to him getting sorted into Gryffindor. Finally, after more then two hours of restless thinking, he settled and fell asleep.

James woke up the next morning as Remus' magical wake up clock sounded (Which could tell the exact time you needed to get up and be in time for the date's or appointment's you set, in this case, breakfast). He got up, went over to the sink, waited for Sirius to be done washing his hair and started brushing his teeth.

The boys entered the great hall about ten minutes after they had woken up and sat down at the Gryffindor table. James eat a bacon sandwich and looked up in surprise at the amount of meat Remus kept dumping on his plate, but he didn't really give it a second thought.

James sat back after eating his sandwich and leaned back on his chair. He sneakily looked at Lily Evans, who was engaged in a conversation with a small, skinny girl with a ponytail. His attention was then caught by something else. Hundreds of owls flew into the great hall, dropping of packages and letters as they flew over the tables.

A red envelope dropped in front of Sirius and James realized with shock that it was a howler.

Suddenly, the envelope rose up into the air and the paper was ripped, forming a woman's mouth and two evil, angry eyes. 'SIRIUS BLACK! HOW DARE YOU! GRYFFINDOR? THAT FILTHY HOUSE OF BLOOD TRAITORS! I HAVE NEVER BEEN THIS ANGRY! YOU WILL FACE THE CONSEQUENCES WHEN YOU COME HOME BOY! MARK MY WORDS!' the letter screamed, in an awful voice.

It then ripped itself apart and left behind a dumb-struck Sirius. Suddenly, soft laughter could be heard in the entire hall and James felt very sorry for his friend. The bell sounded and the laughter silenced. All students made their way to their classrooms, and the four friends their way to their first class, Defence against the dark arts.

After getting lost, Sirius had accidentally ran into a statue of a witch with a long pointy nose which leaned over backwards and made a piece of wall disappear. They had walked halfway through this short-cut when Remus got hit by a heavy book. He rubbed the soar spot, looking for the one who had thrown the book when he spotted a strange, purple skinned creature in a clown's suit.

'Ha! Little first years sneaking through a hidden corridor! What a coincidence.' He said. 'Who are you?' Remus asked, still rubbing his head. 'Peeves!' The creature replied and he made a spectacular somersault. 'What are you?' James asked. 'Some call me a ghost, some call me a poltergeist, but I'm just me! A brilliant little fellow who loves a good joke!' He shouted and then disappeared through a wall.

'You alright Remus?' asked Peter, sounding concerned. 'Yes, it will take a lot more then a book to get a- I mean, eh me down.' Remus said. Both Sirius and James frowned. Remus laughed, but it didn't sound convincing. 'Let's get going, or we might be late for class.' Remus decided and the four boys walked on.

They arrived at the classroom a minute late, but were surprised to see that they were some of the first students to walk in the room, the only ones that had been faster than them were Snape and Lily. The classroom was dark, shrunken heads hang from the ceiling and scrolls with Asian characters hang on the walls.

The skeleton of a dragon hung from the ceiling. Someone clapped his hands and candles appeared in the air, lighting the classroom up. 'In on time, quite the achievement. Five points for both Gryffindor and Slytherin.' An Asian looking man, with a cunning look in his eyes and short black hair appeared in front of the blackboard.

He was wearing a marine blue cloak and, to James' surprise: Sandals. The student's who had been late now walked into the classroom, saying that they've been held up by Peeves.

The teacher smiled. 'So, now that we're all here, let me introduce myself. My name is Ryu Takashi. This is my first year here at Hogwarts and I used to be an Auror for the ministry of magic.' He said, introducing himself with his calm, comforting voice.

'The ministry thinks I should only teach you easy, necessary spells. In that I disagree. I think any defensive spell might be necessary and that's why I will teach you difficult magic, far beyond your imagination.' Professor Takashi said. 'I will attempt to teach you how to perform the Expelliarmus curse in this first lesson. It's one of the main defensive spells that will immediately disarm your opponent.'

Both Snape and James stood out from the crowd by showing genuine interest and excitement and professor Takashi called them forth. 'Since you seem so keen on trying this spell, why don't you attempt to use it?' Takashi suggested. Snape smiled evilly and slowly pulled out his wand, he seemed very confident. James pulled out his wand, also very confident.

Snape looked at Takashi requested new instructions. 'Go ahead. Try!' The professor demanded. Snape grinned and flicked his wand. 'Expelliarmus!' A blue streak was fired from Snape's wand and it connected with James'. His wand was launched out of his hands and dropped down next to him.

'Perfect! I reward ten points to Slytherin!' Takashi said happily. 'Your turn Potter, go ahead and try.' James bowed over and picked up his wand. He flicked it in the same fashion as Snape, but much looser and yelled out. 'Expelliarmus!' Snape's wand flew through the air and the black haired boy growled in anger. 'Very good! Very good! Ten points for you too mister Potter!' Takashi yelled out in delight.

Snape collected his wand and the sides of his mouth curled up, turning into an evil smile.

'Serpensentia!' he shouted, and a small, orange snake grew from his wand and fell onto the floor. James' eyes widened, and he stumbled backwards. Most students in the classroom yelled in surprise, Lily and some other girls were screaming, even.

Takashi yelped and jumped forward. He flicked his wand and reduced the snake to ashes. 'Severus Snape! Outstanding, but very dangerous magic! I deduct five points from Slytherin!' he cried out, in anger. Snape looked disappointed, he had hoped the teacher would have rewarded his outstanding skills, not punish him for using a difficult spell.

'Back to your seats, both of you.' Takashi said and they were pummelled back into their them after the professor flicked his wand. Sirius bent over and whispered in James' ear. 'That Snape kid sure is weird, how does he know that kind of magic? Even the professor was surprised. And he used to be an Auror!'

James nodded. 'I know.'

The class continued on with the students practicing their expelliarmus curses on each other. Sirius was pretty good, managing to perform it correctly at almost every try, Remus was on the same level as Sirius and Peter only managed to perform it twice out of twenty attempts. James however, never failed to perform it and neither did Snape.

Snape practiced with Lily, who to James' surprise managed to give Snape good sport.

The class finished and the first year's were off to potions class, yet another class the Gryffindor students unfortunately shared with Slytherin.

Professor Slughorn immediately took a liking into Lily Evans and Severus Snape for the great forgetting potions they brew. James and his three friends only managed to make a purple fluid meaning they did something entirely wrong. The potion should be just as clear and without colours as Snape's.

Both Lily and Severus earned ten points for their houses in the first lesson.

Nothing really special happened in the other classes. In Transfiguration, James managed to turn a needle into a wooden stick, earning him five points, however, Lily managed to turn three needles into three sticks. In a row. That earned her ten points for Gryffindor.

Only Lily managed to perform the Wingardium Leviosa charm in charms and professor Flitwick awarded her with five points. No matter how hard either James, Sirius, Remus or Peter tried, they only managed to move the feather slightly, but they didn't get it into the air.

Astronomy proved out to be very boring and Sirius had fallen asleep on Remus' shoulder, drooling all over it. Remus wanted to wake him up but James had a better idea and sneakily turned Sirius' hair green.

History of Magic was, if possible even more boring and Sirius let out a cry of surprise when he saw his reflection in the windows. His three friends laughed loudly and he reacted by using the Locomotor Mortis, or sticky leg curse on them, causing the ghost professor Binns to ask why they didn't stand up after the bell.

They only had theory in Herbology, and James was quite happy about that fact when he saw some monstrous plants hidden away behind professor Sprout.

The boys were quite exhausted and went to bed straight after dinner, having completed their first full day of class at the Hogwarts school for Witchcraft and Wizardry.

James rolled over in his sleep and he didn't notice a small figure with large ears and a snout for a nose sneak into his room and drop off a package.

-- end of chapter --