Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and I am not making any money off of this.

AN: This is a AU so yes I have changed things. You'll notice things like Peter;s father, and Lily's mother amung other things. Anything you nictice that does not follow cannon has been done on purpose :)

Also I want to warn everybody that this story contains slash. It will (eventually) be JP/SB.


Prolog


James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew were as close as friends could be. Three quarters way through their first year at Hogwarts and already they were more like brothers then friends. The long year of pranking, detention, and sneaking around after hours had brought them closer together then most best mates. Until one day they found out something about their friend, Remus that would spark a change in their friendship so strong it would forever change their lives.

They had been putting the clues together all year before finally coming to the conclusion that Remus Lupin was a werewolf. Not that this bothered any of them, quite the opposite. When at last they had worked up the nerve to confront him, Remus had thought they were saying they no longer wanted to be friends. It took some convincing but finally he believed them, and in that instant the bond between the four of them strengthened with the weight of the secret they swore to keep.

That night as they all sat in their dorm talking Peter couldn't help but think that it would be nice to be able to share his secrets (not that he had many) or darkest fears with his friends. He noticed how much lighter Remus seemed, with the weight of hiding his secret gone. He wondered if he would feel that way, if he was able to tell his friends his secrets. But how could he tell his friends about his abusive father? How could he tell them that he hated it when they teased him because it reminded him of his father? How could he tell them that he worried he was only a hanger on in their group? Not as strong, or powerful, or smart as they were.

It was along this train of thought that the idea came to him. They were brothers weren't they? So why not make it official? A brotherhood of sorts? They could take an oath, to share their secrets with each other, and guard each other's secrets, to always remain loyal to each other no matter what, and to protect each other. The others thought this a brilliant idea, and they planned to have a ceremony to mark the beginning of their brotherhood and to take their oath that weekend.

When the day came they had gathered all the necessary supplies, food from the kitchens, candles ("for dramatic effect!"), a ceremonial dagger they had... borrowed... from the trophy room, and they had built a makeshift fort in their dorm room. When everything was set up they sat in a circle and James declared that they should decide on what to include in the oath.

They all agreed upon loyalty to each other above all others, until Remus asked about their future wives. "Won't we have to be, er, loyal to them first?" The others just stared at him, still naive enough to believe that girls were gross and that this would never be an issue. Sirius told Remus that "Proper best mates wouldn't let a girl come between them" and that seemed to settle the issue. When Remus then brought up the issue of future children, could they be loyal to them first or would it still be each other? It was then decided that yes future children would be the only exception to this rule.

Next they agreed upon sharing all their secrets with each other, which immediately brought up debate on exactly what that meant. Sirius insisted that it would be impossible to share absolutely everything because that would mean they'd have to share every single thought they had, which would be impossible to do and probably drive them insane. So they discussed at length what would have to be shared and what could be left unsaid. It was finally agreed upon that all secrets of things that had happened or you were planning on doing, or anything along those lines must be shared, while only major secrets and thoughts of any other variety must be shared.

James then brought up the subject of other people's secrets that they knew, did they share those too? And it was decided that yes they had to share those secrets as well since they are also agreeing not to tell anyone outside of the four of them about their secrets. Remus then brought up the subject of wives and kids and their secrets. So sticking to their earlier agreement it was decided that spouses secrets had to be told, while kids secrets could be kept (because as James said "I'd be grounded every day of my life if my uncle told my parents half the things he knows I've done.").

Next they agreed upon keeping each other's secrets no matter what. This was unanimously agreed upon. But it felt uneven, only having three points to the oath when there were four of them so they also agreed that if one of them needed help or something and it was within their power to do something for that person then they would.

This settled they readied themselves to take the oath. James raised his right hand in the air, before Sirius declared that he was a wizard not a muggle and that he should use his wand. Rolling his eyes James raised his wand in the air and said "I solemnly swear to be loyal to my brothers above all others, to share my secrets with them and to protect theirs, and to help them should it be within my ability to do so." His wand flared brightly, and then James set it down and picked up the dagger, slicing the palm of both of his hands neatly. He held his left hand over the bowl and let some blood drip into it, and used his right hand to press a bloody fingerprint to the paper on which they had written down the full oath and guidelines of it.

This was repeated by Sirius, Remus and Peter and once done Remus picked up the paper and set in the bowl with their blood and placed his still glowing wand tip to the paper. As the others pressed their still glowing wands to the paper the golden glow left their wands and seemed to transfer to the paper itself. They couldn't help but glance at each other, was this normal? But they didn't speak they just continued on with their ceremony.

The each grasped each other's hands so that the cuts on each hand aligned with the other one, until finally the circle they were sitting in was joined. Glancing at each other James spoke first. "We've sealed our oath in blood so that it may last an eternity..."

Sirius spoke next "And mixed our blood in this bowl so that we may become brothers..."

"And placed our oath in this bowl so that our oath may be absorbed into us and become a part of us just as the blood mixed in it may declare us brothers..." Remus said quietly, somewhat alarmed that the paper was glowing much brighter now, and seemed to be absorbing the blood it lay upon.

"And now we have joined hands to seal our oath and cement our brotherhood." Peter said rather nervously as the paper absorbed the last of the blood in the bowl and shone a brilliant gold before seemingly turning into a molten gold liquid of some sort. They barely had time to look at each other in alarm before the liquid divided itself and shot into each set of joined hands, splitting again and entering into each boy through the cut on the palms of their hands.

A searing pain unlike anything they had ever felt before, both terrible and wonderful at the same time. It quickly faded and Sirius asked shakily "Was that supposed to happen?"

The others just shook their heads, they hadn't meant to do a magical oath and none of them recognised what had happened as any known magical oath. James finally rolled his eyes "You just had to tell me to use my wand didn't you?" So just like that the tension faded and they decided not to worry about it at that moment. But little did they know that this oath would changes the very course of history and for better or worse had yet to be seen.


In the weeks following each of them noticed a difference, they felt compelled to tell each other certain things and although they could resist, it wasn't easy. They also found themselves agreeing to do things they may not have otherwise done, for instance Remus ended up doing Peter, James, and Sirius' homework on more than one occasion. But the most noticeable thing was that each of them were slowly getting sick. It started off harmless enough, headaches that soon progressed stomach-aches that progressed to achy bones which led to lack of sleep. Eventually it got to the point where the professors had noticed and they were confined to the hospital wing.

Stuck in the hospital wing it hadn't taken them long to figure out what the problem was, their oath was definitely magical which explain the compulsions they were having, and Remus assumed that they were getting sick because they weren't fulfilling the requirements of the bond. Namely the secrets part. He explained that maybe it was because they hadn't shared their secrets yet that this was happening.

He went on to explain that they probably had to share everything, from before they went to Hogwarts and during. He reminded them of the wording they had used: all secrets of things that have happened or you were planning on doing, or anything along those lines must be shared, while only major secrets and thoughts of any other variety must be shared, along with anything that could be detrimental to you. "We were too vague I think, but we didn't realise that we were taking a magical oath." Remus said.

"But we know all of each other's major secrets..." Peter shifted uncomfortably as Sirius said this, he still hadn't told them about his father.

"Well yes, but we were too vague; we'll probably need to share more than just that. For instance thoughts of any other variety must be shared, along with anything that could be detrimental to you; the bond could take this to mean anything from a threat from someone to your own thoughts like blaming yourself for something..."

James let out a groan at this, "We're not going to have any privacy are we?" He turned out to be right.

They stayed up late into the night talking, Remus talked about his family and how he hated the way they looked at him with fearful pity. He spoke at length about when he got bitten, his various fears of never being accepted, never having a family, of being alone. He spoke about his childhood and various things that had happened, as well as every other random thing he had never dared tell anyone before. By the time he was finished it was dawn and he was feelings significantly better, although the others were still feeling quite wretched. They decided that it must be tied to your own secrets, that if you didn't not fulfil the oath then your health would start to fail. ("We'd probably end up dying." Remus said absently to which Peter shuddered dramatically.)

The next night was James' turn. He spoke of his loneliness growing up, isolated from other children and with (extremely kind and wonderful) but older parents. He spoke of his hope and dreams, of the desire he had for attention because he had felt so alone growing up, he told them of his stutter and how he had to take special lessons to make it go away but it still came back when he was really upset. He told them of how he had nearly drowned when he was five and how he now had a paralyzing fear of deep water when he couldn't see the bottom. He told them of various pranks and other things that he had done over the years prior to Hogwarts, as well as how all his grandparents were dead. When he was finished it was once again light out, and he felt much better.

On the third night Sirius spoke of his family, and the pure blood mania that he had been force fed his entire life. He spoke of how his parents had always favoured his brother over him, how they found him a disappointment. He spoke of his uncle whom he liked, and the only cousin he liked, Andromeda. He told them about Kreacher, the house elf his mother left in charge of him, and how the house elf liked to lock him in small dark spaces, and how he would deny him food, and the nasty things he would whisper to him at night. He spoke of his longing to escape his family, and his dreams for the future.

On the forth night in the hospital wing it was finally Peter's turn, and at first he could barely get the words out. But once he started the story just seemed to pour out of him. He told them of his abusive father, and his mother that was a closet alcoholic. He told them of how he spent his childhood taking care of his mother because she was incapable of doing so herself. He told them how his father would get so angry and beat him for no reason at all, and how he let him because he was afraid that his father would hurt his mother if he didn't. He spoke of how he once had a broken arm for three weeks before his father finally took him to see a healer. He also told them how grateful he had been to have friends like them, that would help and protect him, but how he hated it when they made fun of him because it reminded him of his father.

By the time he was done he was exhausted but felt much better. Not just physically but emotionally, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulder. James, Sirius, and Remus had been horrified. Horrified that their friend went through that, and horrified that they hadn't known. The next day they were released, and although they felt significantly better it took weeks of night long talks before they finally knew everything about each other and were back in full health.


As their first year drew to a close they tested the boundaries of their bond, and found they could last about a week before they got the beginnings of a headache. They decided that they would have weekly "meetings" to talk and make sure they shared anything they needed to for the bond. That summer was hard, for they weren't able to get together. They spent many long hours writing to each other nearly every day to keep the bond at bay. Even this didn't help fully, and by the end of summer they were headachy and beginning to get sick.

In the years that followed they tested the boundaries of their bond and perfected ways to fulfill their oath. Sirius in particular became quite good at deliberately not thinking about things that would turn into important secrets if he didn't think about them. It had been awkward when during their second year Sirius had discovered the pleasure of a good wank. He had of course told his friends immediately, as the bond required. But it was quite embarrassing and made for a very awkward conversation. It got less awkward of course once they started doing it too, since now he wasn't the only one having to share humiliating details.

As they got older they named themselves the Marauders, and each was given a nickname based of their animagus form. They had decided to become animagus' to help Remus during his transformations, and would have done so regardless of the oaths agreement that if one of them needed help or something and it was within their power to do something for that person then they would.

The bond as they called it was a double edged sword. On the one hand it allowed them to share even their darkest fears without fear of ridicule, while at the same time allowing them no privacy from each other. It both helped them because they always had to help each other if it was within their power to do so, and made it harder for them for that very reason. Of course they had no problem helping each other, and would do so with or without the bond, but the bond made it so that they had to help each other in ways that they shouldn't have been forced to. For instance Remus often ended up having to do all of their homework to help his friends because it was within his power to do so, but got so over worked that they in turn had to help him. It was a never ending cycle.

Another good thing was that Peter was not the hanger on his might have otherwise been without the bond. The bond made it so that his friends helped him outside of class, because it was in their power to do so, so that he was on their level as far as spell casting went. He was more confident, and didn't hero-worship them as he may have ended up doing. The bond also prevented Sirius from playing a particularly nasty trick on Snape involving Remus during his transformation because loyalty to his friends overrode his desire to get back at Snape.

As they got older Sirius had to try even harder not to think certain things, especially about James. If he thought about it then it would be real and he would be forced to tell them, but as long as he didn't think about it then he didn't have to say anything. When he slept with his various girlfriends he most certainly did not have to imagine that it was a guy he was with just to get it up, and he most certainly did not wish that it was James in particular.

The first time he slept with a man he knew that he would have to tell them, the bond always made them share every time they had sex. And it wasn't like he could just not think about it while he was doing it to make it so he didn't have to tell them. But he was the best at manipulating the bond, so when he told them he had had sex with "Andy" he let them assume he meant Andrea his ex girlfriend, when in fact he meant Andrew, a Ravenclaw in the same year as them. With that done all he had to keep telling himself was that he was not gay, and that he hadn't lied, and then go back to just not thinking about it. It wasn't easy, but it worked, and Sirius ended up doing this quite often.

As they entered into their seventh year James and Lily finally started dating. James loved Lily, and she loved him. Although it often bothered her how he would always turn to Sirius and his friends whenever he needed help, rather than her. It bothered her how he always took their side in an argument, and always stuck up for them over her. But she told herself it wasn't a big deal and that when they got married things would change.

James for his part felt guilty. He knew Lily knew he kept things from her, but the bond wouldn't allow him to tell her. He kicked himself for not agreeing with Remus that fateful day when he suggested that Wives be an exception. He also felt bad every time he had to take the Marauders side or Sirius (since he seemed to not get along with Lily very well at all) over Lily. He could see that it hurt her, and that was the last thing he wanted to do, but their bond made it so that they were loyal to each other above all others (with the exception of their future children.)

After they got married Lily noticed that really, nothing had changed as she hoped it would. But she loved James so she put up with the fact that he always took Sirius' side, always turned to them with his problems and worries, and seemingly spent all of his free time with them. When she found out she was pregnant she thought that perhaps when the baby was born things would be different.

But nothing changed. Sirius was named Godfather, and that Marauders were around even more often if that was even possible. Between Harry and the Marauders she felt as if James barely had any time for her. When they found out Voldemort was after Harry they had been terrified. James had stayed with her for a few hours, comforting her as he got increasingly pale before he finally left to go speak to his friends. She couldn't help but resent the fact that he could talk to them but not her.

James was terrified, they knew there was a spy in the order and he was worried that if he didn't go into hiding quickly with Lily and Harry that the spy would be able to direct Voldemort to them. He could tell that Dumbledore thought the spy was one of the Marauders, but the four of them knew better. They were loyal to each other above all others, save Harry whom all of them put first. The bond would never allow one of them to turn to Voldemort, not that any of them would have wanted to.

After discussing it they decided to use Sirius as their secret keeper, and Lily couldn't help but resent the fact slightly even though she knew he was a good choice because he would never betray James or Harry. They arranged to do it the very next day, on Halloween. Harry wouldn't be able to be present while they preformed the charm so Lily arranged for him to stay with her mother that night.

When Voldemort found out where Harry Potter would be that night he immediately went after him. He killed the older woman and then cast the killing curse on Harry, but it rebounded onto Voldemort himself. Leaving him without a body and Harry with a lightning bolt scar. When the alarms went off signalling something had happened, they rushed over to Lily's parent's house. When James saw the ruins of the house his blood ran cold and his only thought was Harry.

But Harry was alive, and from that day on known as the boy who lived.


So there you have it, that was just the prolog so its meant to be a bit vague. Drop me a review and let me know what you think!