James Potter and the Marauders
Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, I'd be sitting in a mansion on the beach somewhere, not writing fanfiction, but I don't so don't sue!
A/N: This is my first fanfic, so pleeze r&r and tell me what you think!
Eleven year old James Potter surveyed Platform 9 ¾ eagerly as he said good-bye to his parents. He was going into his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and this was the first time he had ever seen the Hogwarts Express. As he made his way toward the waiting train, James looked around at his future classmates. One pair in particular captured his attention; a beautiful fifth year girl with glossy black hair, a dusky Spanish-looking complexion, and aristocratic features was speaking to a boy James's age that could have been her brother. What drew his attention, however, was not their good looks, but the disgust and hatred in their voices and expressions. The boy was tall for his age, but the girl was older and towered over him. They were speaking in low voices, but James was near enough that he could hear everything they said.
James recognized the pair immediately. Although he'd never seen them before, their glossy black hair marked them as members of one of the most powerful and influential families in the wizarding world: the Blacks.
"And just what do you think you're doing here?" the girl hissed angrily.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't informed that the Hogwarts Express was reserved for Death Eaters and evil bitches." the boy growled as his handsome face darkened in a venomous glare.
That struck James as slightly odd considering that it was common knowledge that the Blacks were into the Dark Arts. It sounded like this boy hated the Dark Arts as much as most normal wizards. James vaguely recalled his father saying that Sirius Black, the heir to the Black family, would be attending Hogwarts this year, but if that were him, why would he be fighting with his family?
"I'm amazed your mother isn't too ashamed to let you out of the house." the dark haired girl hissed.
"Yeah, I'm sure it would ruin her reputation if the wizard community found out that she has a son who doesn't believe that anyone with Muggle blood should be killed off to keep the old bloodlines pure." the boy, most likely Sirius Black, snarled.
With that he spun on his heal and stalked off toward the train as the whistle sounded warning the remaining students on the platform that it would soon be leaving. James watched him for a second; this was definitely odd.
James shrugged it off and boarded the train and began looking for an open seat, about halfway back he found a car that was empty except for a tall, tawny haired boy in patched jeans that were a little bit too small who was staring distractedly out the window.
"Mind if I sit here?" he asked
The boy looked startled, but he shook his head. "Go ahead, there's plenty of room."
James smiled, "I'm James Potter."
"Remus Lupin. Need some help with your stuff?" he glanced at James' large suitcase and the cage that held Hooters, the horned owl that his parents had gotten him as a gift for his first year at Hogwarts (his parents had no idea that the name had come from a certain less-than-moral Muggle bar).
"Nah, I think I got it." James said, stuffing the luggage haphazardly into the overhead compartment. He smiled and ran one hand through his unruly black hair.
"So, um, you a first year, too?" he asked
"Yeah, I never thought I'd actually be coming to Hogwarts." Remus replied.
"Why's that?"
"I dunno, just nerves I guess, didn't think I'd get into the best wizarding school in the world."
The explanation sounded rushed, and he didn't look James in the eye, but James didn't push it. Instead he dug around in the pockets of his jeans and pulled out a Dungbomb he had bought in Diagon Alley. Remus's amber eyes lit up mischievously, all his shyness forgotten.
"Where'd you get that?"
"Diagon Alley, I had to sneak away from my mum to buy it; she'd pitch a fit if she knew I was bringing this stuff to school."
Remus laughed. "Here, watch this; it's a cool little spell I learned from a neighbor."
James watched curiously as his new friend muttered a spell over the Dungbomb.
"Ok, ready." Remus grinned.
They opened the compartment and were about to go look for a good place to drop it, when an idea struck James. The compartment across from them was filled with noisy sixth year girls who were already wearing Ravenclaw robes. He motioned to Remus to sit back down and slid the compartment door closed until it was only a slit.
He pointed his own wand at the Dungbomb and said "Wingardium Leviosa." It began to levitate out of his open hand until it was floating in mid-air in front of him. James pointed his wand toward the door and the Dungbomb flew out the crack and into the other compartment. The two boys stifled their laughter against the backs of their hands as the Dungbomb exploded in a huge burst of light and sparks (Remus's addition) and the girls screamed. James pulled the door closed all the way so the girls wouldn't notice them watching and turned to Remus.
"You're alright." he grinned, "What do you say, friends?"
He offered his hand to the tawny haired boy who looked startled. He slowly reached for James's hand, his face breaking into a smile that almost hid the tired bags under his eyes. "Friends."
About a half hour into the journey, the compartment door slid open to reveal Sirius Black, the boy from the platform. Seeing his face straight on, James was surprised to see that Sirius had bright blue eyes that contrasted sharply with his black hair and Spanish complexion, creating a look that all the girls were bound to notice. He was wearing a mischievous grin that made him look distinctly less-Slytherin than he had on the platform.
"Mind if I sit with you guys?" he asked as he plopped himself down next to James without waiting for an answer. "If anyone asks, I've been sitting here the whole time, okay?"
Three thoughts struck James at once; first was that Sirius Black was every bit as arrogant as would be expected from a member of his family as it never even crossed his mind that they might object to his sitting with them. The question had been, more than anything, just a way to get their attention. A glance at Remus confirmed that he recognized also and agreed with James's assessment of him.
Second was the fact that it was pretty unusual for a Black to sit with people like James and Remus instead of more 'prominent' wizarding families. Although both boys were pure-blooded, the Potters would be considered blood traitors by people like the Blacks because they didn't care if their children married Muggle-born wizards and the Lupins didn't have nearly enough money to be considered good companionship for a member of the Black family.
The thing that had the most effect on James, however, was the crooked grin on Sirius's handsome face. It was a grin that James saw all the time in the mirror when he'd just pulled some kind of prank on an unsuspecting victim. Surely anyone who had enough of a sense of humor to prank wasn't into the Dark Arts, and by judging Sirius by his blood, wasn't he lowering himself to the same level as those wizards who thought that pure blood made them better than everyone else?
"What did you do?" he asked.
"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all." Sirius replied, his grin growing wider and more crooked until it looked less like a grin than a smirk.
James knew what his father would say if he heard that his son was friends with the heir of the Black family, but James felt that anyone who pulled pranks couldn't be half as bad as people said the Blacks were. He extended his hand to the blue eyed boy.
"I'm James Potter, this is Remus Lupin."
Sirius grasped his hand without hesitation and shook it firmly.
"Sirius Black."
Then he turned to Remus who seemed to have reverted to his original shyness, and shook his hand.
"Nice to meet you guys."
Remus's reply was cut off by the sound of a small explosion a few cars back and a shrill voice began singing loudly and off-key. The voice was so piercing that they all covered their ears and Sirius's grin began to look slightly wicked. The voice continued and Remus and James realized it was singing a love song to somebody named Herbert Wimplefeild.
"You did that?" James asked appreciatively, deciding once and for all that this kid was okay no matter what his name was.
"A little present for my dear, beloved cousin." James realized that that must have been the girl he saw talking to Sirius on the platform. Of course, he should have known that Sirius Black didn't have any older sisters.
"Who's Herbert Wimplefeild?" Remus asked.
"This fat, ugly Slytherin fourth year that's had a crush on Bellatrix since his first day of school. I think it pisses her off that someone like him would dare to have a thing for her." Sirius said darkly.
"You don't sound too fond of her." Remus observed.
"Yeah, well she's a bitch." came the reply. That seemed like enough proof for both James and Remus that Sirius wasn't like his family.
A few moments later the singing shut off and they heard a girl's voice screech, "I'LL GET YOU, SIRIUS BLACK!"
All three started laughing hysterically and couldn't stop until the door slid open again and a plump witch asked if they wanted anything off the snack cart. The three boys immediately started digging in their pockets for money and bought some of everything on the cart. They piled the candy onto the seat and began to wolf it down at an amazing rate.
While they were finishing up their sweets, the compartment door slid open again to reveal a slender blonde boy flanked by what looked to be two walking slabs of muscle with small, evil eyes. They recognized the blonde as Lucius Malfloy, the heir of probably the only family in Britain that could rival the Blacks in wealth and influence, and who were also known to be involved in the Dark Arts.
"Well, well, if it isn't Sirius Black." Malfloy drawled, "You haven't even reached the school yet and you're already hanging with riffraff. What would your mother say?" he tutted.
Sirius stood up, his face darkening with rage, and his wand suddenly appeared in his hand. James and Remus stood up, also. "Get out of here, Malfloy. Now." Sirius bit out through clenched teeth.
"Ooo, did I hit a nerve?" Malfloy mocked.
"If you know what's good for you, Malfloy, you'll leave right now." Sirius growled.
"Oh, I don't think we will." he drawled lazily as his two body guards cracked their knuckles and caused their huge biceps to bulge.
"You think I'm afraid of Crabbe and Goyle?" Sirius sneered. "You two may think you're intimidating, but size doesn't help against the curses I could use on you, as Lucius found out the last time he was over at my house." Sirius sneered.
Malfloy paled slightly, but quickly regained his composure. "You'd better be careful, Black; you wouldn't want it to get back to your family that we were fighting again. I heard they didn't take it too well the last time."
"Are you going to run to your mummy and have her rat me out?" Sirius scoffed
"I know someone else who would be more than happy to let it slip who you're associating with." Malfloy responded darkly.
"Ooo, running to Bella now? I never pictured you as one to let a girl handle all your fights, even if she is a better witch than you'll ever be." Sirius sneered.
Malfloy took his wand out and Sirius was about to curse him when the compartment door slid open and a Ravenclaw prefect entered. "Not fighting, I hope?" she asked tartly.
Malfloy glared darkly at Sirius, but he motioned to Crabbe and Goyle to follow him as he turned on his heel and stalked out of the cabin. Crabbe and Goyle stared after him a moment, then back to Sirius with twin looks of disappointment at not being allowed to beat the crap out of him.
"Better follow your leader," Sirius sneered "you don't have enough intelligence between the two of you to survive without Lucius telling you exactly what to do."
They both glared menacingly at him, but did exactly as he told them. The prefect left with a last glare at Sirius who turned back to his two new friends and rolled his eyes.
"Sorry about that. Lucius Malfloy's a stupid git. He believes all that crap about his blood making better than everyone else. He's a Slytherin in his third year, but you wouldn't know it seeing him cast spells; I can out hex him."
"Come on, we're almost there, we should probably get changed." James said to take the other boy's mind off his encounter with the Slytherin.
Sirius's dark mood vanished and the three boys left their cabin to see what kind of trouble they could get into. By the time they had walked a little ways, the mischievous glint had returned to Sirius's eyes and there was a spring in his step. When they reached the back of the train, Sirius popped his head into a cabin filled with giggling first year girls already in their school robes.
"Hey ladies. I'd like to introduce you to some people. This is James Potter and Remus Lupin."
Both boys looked extremely uncomfortable as the girls looked up and smiled at them. One girl waved, while a couple more whispered among themselves. Sirius flung himself down onto a seat next to a pretty brunette. "So, Krissy, how's it going?"
"About the same as the last time I saw you. Which was what, like twenty minutes ago?" she teased.
Sirius laughed, "Well, you never know with girls. One moment they're happy and giggling, the next they're pissed off." he shrugged.
"Because of dumbass comments like that from prats like you." she answered, swatting him on the arm. "So are your friends going to sit down, or just stand in the doorway?" she asked.
James and Remus turned bright red. "Actually we gotta go get changed." Remus muttered. Sirius rolled his eyes as he stood up and walked over to a suitcase in the corner with a beautiful jet black owl sleeping in a cage on top of it.
"Don't wake up or anything, Nightshade." he told the owl sarcastically. "You might be mistaken for a living animal." The owl just hooted dismissively at him with out taking its head out from under its wing.
"Leave her alone, owls are nocturnal." one of the girls scolded him.
"They don't naturally deliver mail either." Sirius responded as he moved the cage off his suitcase. The owl actually looked up as her cage moved and hooted grumpily. "Sorry, girl." Sirius said; his voice much softer than it had been a moment before. He stuck a finger through the bars of the cage and the owl nibbled it affectionately.
"Aww, how cute!" another girl cooed.
Sirius grinned. "Yeah, well don't let it get out. I have a reputation to protect." He started digging through his suitcase, pulling things out as they got in his way. He threw a pair of boxers out on the floor, and some of the girls blushed. Finally he found his robes and stuffed everything else back in so haphazardly that he had to use magic to get it all to fit.
"Well, see you girls later. I gotta split before these two stay that color permanently." he jerked his thumb toward James and Remus who blushed even more furiously. Sirius laughed as they pulled him back toward their own compartment.