Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter characters, places, spells, potions, or any other magical Wizarding stuff in this story. It all belongs to J.K Rowling's amazing Harry Potter books and her Wizarding World.

Summer had been fun, but James Potter was ready to go back to school. He missed his friends (who had been over occasionally but he missed seeing them every day), he missed his classes, his teachers, and most of all Lily Evans. Even though Lily hated him, he couldn't help but loving her. For the longest time he was jealous of Severus Snape. Snape was his enemy, he'd hated him ever since he saw him with Lily on the Hogwarts Express. Lily and Snape were best friends. James didn't know how they knew each other before Hogwarts, but he didn't care. All he cared about was the beautiful girl named Lily. Her beautiful fiery, red hair that flowed down her back in a sort of caressing way. Her gorgeous green eyes that highlighted her face. But Lily would never be his. Lily hated James and thought he was a jerk and no matter what James did, she would not listen. Lily hated James even more since last year when she lost her best friend because of James's bullying antics. Though this year will be different. He was going back to Hogwarts today and he was convinced that he would win Lily over.

"James, hunny its time to leave for the train station!" James's mom called to him as she was walking out the door.

"Be right there," yelled James. "Come on Ares lets get downstairs," James said grabbing his screech owl and trunk while walking out the door of his bedroom.

When James got outside he saw a black car. James, who was raised in a pureblood family, was actually quite used to cars. His dad always borrowed a car from the Ministry to take James to Hogwarts, as this was the easiest way of transportation in front of Muggle eyes. It didn't take long to get all of James's things in the car and as soon as they were packed they got in the car to go to the train station in London.

At the train station, James casually leaned against the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10 like he did at the beginning of every year. On the other side of the barrier was Platform 9 ¾. James looked up at the brilliant scarlet steam engine beholding the beauty. It was finally Hogwarts time, finally time to go back to school.

"Prongs! Hey Prongsie! Over here!"

It was James's best friend Sirius Black calling him over to the train. "Padfoot!" James said running over to the dog animagus. The two boys loaded their stuff on the train and got on board. They found an empty compartment and the two animagi sat down.

"Think you can on board without me?"

The two boys looked up and saw Remus Lupin standing in the doorway of their compartment grinning at them. He looked tired which James could only guess meant the full moon had kept him up the night before.

"Sorry Moony we didn't see you. How was your summer holiday?"

"I only just got here, mum was running late. Holiday was great except for the full moon of course. Dad took mum and me to Paris. It was really fascinating. What about you?" the young werewolf responded.

"You already know how my holiday was. Mum and dad were awful. Regulus couldn't stay out of my business. And worst of all Kreacher wouldn't bugger off and kept trying to redo my room in a more 'pureblood' theme. Urgh, I hate the lot of them." Sirius said with a scowl that went deeper in his face at each word. "The only good part, was going to Prongs and your house."

"What about Wormtail? Didn't you stay at his house?" Remus asked.

"I tried but he always said he was busy, didn't he tell either of you that?"

"That's what he told me." James said. He really had hoped he could have seen the last marauder over summer.

"I tried writing to him, but he never responded." said Remus sadly.

Nobody said anything. The three marauders were all worried about their friend. He didn't join them on the train. Where was he? This was the thought on the three marauders mind. They didn't have long to think about this though when the compartment door slid open about halfway through the ride.

"Oh, it's you. Well since there's no where else, can I sit with you?"

"What's wrong Evans? Haven't got any friends?" Sirius said smirking.

"Of course I have friends Black! I just can't find them, and instead of wandering the train the whole time, I'd rather sit down even if it is with you!"

"Come on Lily, you can sit right here," Remus said pointing to the seat right next to him. It was a well known fact that out of all the marauders Remus was her favorite.

"So Evans, how was your holiday?" Sirius asked raising his eyebrows.

"And why, Black, do you care?"

"Oh I don't but I'm sure Prongsie here wants to hear all about it." said Sirius smiling and then after getting smacked by James he said, "Ow! Jeez you know it's the truth!" James and Sirius then began wrestling.

"Honestly you two. You act like five year olds!" Remus said laughing.

When the two finally stopped, Lily asked, "So, where's Peter?" Lily never liked Peter but she knew for a fact that Peter always sat with them on the Hogwarts Express.

"We have no idea. We haven't seen him all summer." said a worried James.

"Really."

"What, Evans?"

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just very curious that Peter would be ignoring his three best friends all summer."

"Ignoring! He's not ignoring us, Evans! He probably just didn't have time to write or come over!"

"Whatever you say, Black. You're always right." Lily said sarcastically.

The rest of the train ride was silent. About ten minutes before the train arrived at Hogwarts, the four of them got dressed. Lily, of course, left while the marauders changed and went to find a compartment of Gryffindor girls. When the train finally came to a halt the three marauders hopped of the train and went to find a carriage. They ended up in a carriage with, very much to their displeasure, Regulus Black and Severus Snape.

"Oh great. We're sharing a carriage with the two biggest gits. What a great way to start our term out." Sirius said rolling his eyes.

"It's great to see you too. Tell me, where's Pettigrew? Is he still not talking to you? I don't blame him. If I were him, I wouldn't want to hang out with you three." said Sirius's little brother Regulus.

"At least my friends are allowed to come over. Your only friend will never be allowed over. How does it feel to have mummy and daddy say no to you?"

With that said Sirius had won. The whole carriage was silent all the way up to Hogwarts. When the carriage came to a stop Severus and Regulus got out and made their way to the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. The three marauders lingered. They were looking for Peter, but he never came so they decided to head to the Great Hall. They sat down at the long Gryffindor table, looking up and down for s sign of Peter but none was found. The three finally gave up and James turned to Sirius and asked, "What did you mean how does it feel to have mummy and daddy say no to you?"

"Over the summer Regulus wanted to have Snape over, but of course mum and dad had a fit and mum said, 'No half-bloods are allowed in the noble house of Black!" Sirius said in a fake girl voice similar to his mother's.

As soon as Sirius stopped talking Professor McGonagall started.

"When I call your name you will come up and sit on the stool. I will place the Sorting Hat on your head and you will be sorted. Once you are sorted you are to go sit at your House table."

"Great, the only bad part about the beginning of term is watching all the first years get sorted."

"You didn't seem to mind when you were being sorted, Padfoot." Remus reminded Sirius.

"That was different. The first years from our year, or at least most of them, are awesome."

"Just watch the sorting."

When the sorting was over, ending with Elijah Zinkle, Dumbledore stood up to make the annual start-of-term notices. "Welcome all to another fantastic year at Hogwarts. Before the feast begins I have a few start-of-term notices. First, our caretaker Filch has reminded me to remind you that magic is not allowed in the corridors. Also, the Forbidden Forest is off limits to all students. Lastly, I must inform you that the tenth floor corridor is off limits to everyone," at this he glanced at Sirius, James, and Remus who smiled. "And with that out of the way, let the feast begin." Dumbledore concluded beckoning food onto the tables magically. The feast went on with sounds of chattering students talking about their summer. After the feast, the prefects took the first years up to the their house common rooms. Sirius, James, and Remus lingered while all the houses filed out and then headed for Professor McGonagall before she left the staff table.

"Hey, Minnie. Can we ask you a question?"

"Well, Mr. Black it looks like you already have, but yes ask away."

"Do you know where Peter is? He wasn't on the train or at the feast." James said before Sirius could.

"Mr. Pettigrew's mother wrote to Professor Dumbledore saying that Peter would not be arriving for a few weeks after the start-of-term."

"Oh, okay. Thanks Minnie." the three marauders responded sadly as they set off for the Gryffindor Tower.

The three didn't walk straight to the Gryffindor Tower. Instead they roamed the school seeing what had changed over the break. It was nearly midnight when the three finally met someone. They had turned the corner on the ninth floor and found vivid, dark red hair swinging wildly.

"Evans, is that you? Wow, Mrs. Goody Two-Shoes out of bed at night."

"Black! I. . . I. . . this isn't what it looks like. I lost my cat and decided to look for him. See I have a very good reason for being out of bed."

"Lily, you don't have a cat-" Remus said.

"Of course I do Remus," Lily tried to lie, though James and Sirius could see right through it.

"Really, Lily why are you roaming the corridors at night?"

But before Lily could answer two more people were making their way down the used to be deserted corridor. Severus and Regulus were laughing when they suddenly realized they weren't alone.

"Severus Snape! What are you doing roaming the corridors at night?" Lily half yelled half whispered trying to put the blame on someone else. At this the three marauders raised their eyebrows at Lily who was doing exactly what she accused Severus of doing.

"I could ask you the same thing," both Regulus and Severus responded.

"Well, it seems like we're all out of bed. So instead of standing here arguing, why don't we move to somewhere more private before we get caught-"

At that moment Mrs. Norris came streaking past their legs. "Run for it!" James whispered frantically. The six out of bed students ran until they came across a staircase that they decided to climb. Halfway up the staircase, it moved. The stairs changed to a completely different path that even the marauders did not recognize. Before Filch could find them they ran through the door on the landing.

"I - think we - lost him." James said panting.

"Yeah - that was- close." said Sirius who was also panting.

"Um guys. Do you know where we are?" a curious Remus asked.

Lily gasped in realization. "We're in the tenth floor corridor."

"Isn't this corridor restricted to all Hogwarts students?" asked Severus.

"Yeah, Dumbledore said in the start-of-term feast that the tenth floor corridor was off limits to everyone."

"So it's settled." said Sirius looking around.

"What's settled?" asked Lily.

"We're going to look around, of course."

"Black! This corridor is off limits for a reason. Students aren't supposed to go in here."

"Well, you see Evans, when Professor Dumbledore says, 'Off limits to all students,' the marauders take that as, 'Go on and have a look around.' You see marauders translations make life much easier."

"I don't care what you and your friends do. I don't want any part in it." Lily said turning away.

"If you leave, there's a chance Filch is still out there trying to find the student out of bed, and I would love to see the look on his face when he sees Lily Evans walking out of a forbidden corridor. At night."

"Urgh, alright I'll stay and 'look' around with you."

"Padfoot, is so persuasive." James said to Remus.

"Well, Black, you're the master of rule breaking. Where do we go?" asked Lily.

"Just follow me, Evans. If this place is off limits, I'm sure there's something cool in here."

"Or dangerous." Regulus said rolling his eyes.

So James, Remus, Lily, Regulus, and Severus all followed Sirius. The six students didn't find anything interesting until they came to a strange door.

"I guess this is it." said Sirius examining the door.

"This is what?" Lily asked curiously.

"This is what Professor Dumbledore doesn't want us to find. It's quite obvious." James said before Sirius could.

Sirius then reached his hand out for the door knob when, "Don't touch it!"

"Evans, are you trying to tell me we went looking around a forbidden corridor just to find a door to not go through?"

"But what if there is something dangerous in there. We could be hurt!"

"Well, if there is something dangerous in there, we'll push Snape and Regulus in while we run."

"How very funny, Black" Severus replied sarcastically.

Sirius reached for the brass door knob, grabbed it, and turned it slowly. When the door opened the six students didn't find treacherous danger or magnificent treasures. Behind the door was swirling colors of light. Sirius took a step forward holding his breath. The light enveloped him in it and he disappeared. James realizing what happened jumped through the door after Sirius. Then Remus jumped followed by Lily, Severus, and Regulus. The colors swirled around their bodies pulling them closer to their unknown destination. Finally, the colors disappeared and the six students reached their destination. Though, it didn't look like much of a destination. It looked as if they were all still in the same room in the tenth floor corridor. They stepped out of the room, which now occupied not swirling colors but broomsticks, and headed for the exit to the landing at the top of the staircase.

"Well, that was a waste of time. All we did was fly through some swirling colors and then end up back out where we started." said Regulus with disappointment on his face.

"I admit that was not the most exciting thing ever, but there has to be a reason for why Professor Dumbledore didn't want us going through there." Sirius said equally as disappointed.

"Maybe- Oh hello Minnie," James said as he ran into Professor McGonagall. "Whoa, why do you look so old?" James added as he looked at Professor McGonagall who seemed to look twenty years older.

"James Potter? What the? How the? How are you here?"

So there was the first chapter to my new story. I hoped you liked it but if you didn't please tell me how I can improve. In the middle of this chapter I got serious writer's block and couldn't think of anything to write. Please review what you think and if you have any suggestions, my ears are wide open. Hopefully posting the next chapter soon!