Chapter 1

The scarlet red train was blowing smoke out of it's chimney.

Mom had to shout over it's noise. "Remember, I do not want any letters from Longbottom! Behave yourself, young lady!" She kissed me on my flaming red hair for a couple seconds, while I was whispering to myself: "Can't promise!".

I turned around, Dad was holding my brother and just couldn't let go of him.

Although we were twins, Fred looked nothing alike me. He was tall, his skin rather dark and his brown hair almost reached down to his chin.

"Dad!" he complained. "They're gonna leave without us!" Finally Dad dropped his hug and took a step towards me.

It was hard for him to look into my eyes, I could see it in his. It was the same pair, the color, the sparkling, everything reminded him of his own, as if he would look into a mirror, but he hated mirrors.

He petted my long mane and brought his lips down to my ear. "I wanna read something good in Neville's letters. Don't let me get bored!". He also kissed my forehead quickly, winked at me and we both grinned. Mom smacked him.

It was always the same with those two, while Mom already exploded when she only saw a Hogwarts owl, Dad was really excited to read about my brilliant pranks.

He helped us in the train that already started moving and we both waved for a while, then walked through the car.

There wasn't one compartment we didn't see a family member sitting. The first one was filled with Slytherins, including our cousin Albus. Right beside was Lily, surrounded by a group of girls, all proudly wearing a green crest on their robe. Then there was Hugo, surrounded by Hufflepuffs, Dominique with some Ravenclaws. Rose and Lucy were sticking their heads together in the next one, giggling while some other first graders watched them inquisitively. Then we found whom we were looking for.

James and Lysander were sitting in one compartment, each of them taking up a whole bench. It was only when I opened the door that they moved to make room for us.

"The twins!" Lysander greeted us with a bright smile. "Here is mine, where is yours?" I said, pushing my twin brother into the seat and sitting down across him by James, wondering where the Ravenclaw Scamander might be. "Sitting with the other prefects, I guess." He answered. "Right…" I extended the word to make fun of this 'honourable' position. James grinned. "Shouldn't you be there, too?" Fred asked, pointing at the blonde boy's Gryffindor badge with the P on it.

It was obvious why Lysander didn't go there in the first place; it wasn't only that he wanted to see us first but that he knew James and me would make fun of him every time he had to leave for his responsibilities. When I now look back, I really regret that. Him being a prefect didn't only give us, as his best friends, a lot of freedom, but he also got us back on the floor when we tended to go a bit too far.

Uncle Harry always affectionately called us the 'Marauders', thinking of it as funny that we were so similar to the group of boys his father had founded. Having not only the same name but being exactly like him his grandson took the part of James. It was Lysander, of course, who took over Lupin's part of the more or less responsible prefect. Fred never liked this comparison, since he always got titled Wormtail, who was a betrayer. For me though it was worse, it was a nightmare. It was already the second role as a loved one who had passed away. It made me sick to think of the pain they must feel when they compare me to them. But James was wearing his title so proudly, that in second grade he even called us by their nicknames and demanded himself to be called prongs. This nicknames stuck to these days.