Prologue: Al

Scene: Hogwarts; Great Hall; Wednesday, September 1, 1971; early evening

"Prewett, Alexander!"

A slender red-haired boy walked up to the stool to be Sorted.

But there was something different about this boy. Something that was not immediately obvious, or, actually, visible at all at the moment.

In fact, there were only a few people who knew of this difference, and those people were Professor Dumbledore (the Headmaster of Hogwarts), Alexander Prewett himself, and Alexander's family.

Alexander, or Al, was like most people in that he had quite a few secrets, but his biggest secret was who he actually was.

And only those who remembered that Linda and Xavier Prewett had only two sons had the means to guess at this secret.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Al took off the Hat and went to join his new House.

*End Prologue*

And the DADA professor of 1971-1972 is…

Jurfarg Ootenshmuk!

Teaching his first year of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, Professor O. is relatively well-liked, probably for his sense of humor and easy-going attitude. He is a fairly competent teacher, but is not very good in the area of practical Defence, dealing better with Dark Creatures and magical theory.

The series: Series to cover from Marauders' first year to Harry Potter's seventh year. Decidedly AU, although based extremely closely on canon. The first-years of 1971 enter Hogwarts at the rising of a storm. As Lord Voldemort gains power, the time nears when they will have to choose their sides, and choose them wisely. On the eve of September 1st, 1971, four first-years meet and form a long-lasting friendship. Two with questionable sanity, two with secrets, (and later, one with an uncanny knack for putting clues together), all of them mischievous...Hogwarts doesn't stand a chance.

This book: As the self-appointed mischief-makers of Hogwarts, they never expected to deal with anything worse than detention. But with two of their number facing deadly consequences, it becomes a race against time to prove their innocence...AU. First in the Al Prewett, Marauder in Disguise series. Formerly titled Al Prewett; Marauder in Disguise—Year One.

DISCLAIMER: Yes, I'm J. K. Rowling. I've written a series of books that have made me a millionaire and now I am on writing a story that completely changes the course of practically everything in the Harry Potter series. Do you honestly think I'm that crazy? If I were really J. K. R. and wanted to do that, I would be writing and selling the series: Al Prewett: The way the Harry Potter series could have been if I had completely changed the storyline. From this you can hopefully gather that I, DawnFire, am not JKR and am not trying to impersonate her, and that while I do own the majority of the plot and whatever OCs I've put in, I do not own the Harry Potter series and am not trying to make money off of this particular story. I'm only trying to make reviews, honest!

That said, enjoy the story.

~DawnFire~

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, here it is: the edit/rewrite of Al Prewett that I've been working on for…about three years, actually. Sorry it took so long. The story is still in progress, but it's reached the point where I can start posting it, so here you go! Enjoy.

What's different: I'm (hopefully) much more organized; better yet, I know where the story is going, and it has a clearer plot than 'let's write a filler year so that I can start their second year with established characters, personalities, etc'. The chapters are longer due to added material—filling in minor plotholes, extending scenes, adding to characterization, and so on—and have also been edited to avoid issues like Al starting four conversations in a row in chapter 2!

I've kept the disclaimers the same, for the most part—just a few small edits here and there. I tend to like the disclaimers.

And so: To the new readers, welcome! And to the old readers, welcome back! There is a time for rambling, but this is not it—so sit back, relax, and enjoy the story!

Thank you for your patience during the editing process,

~DawnFire~