Four Boys, Seven Years

A Marauder fanfiction spanning from First Year to Seventh.

Summary:

"Who has time for girls, when we could be marauding?" Sirius said.

As it turned out there was plenty of time for girls, fun, fights and magic.

But more importantly there were four boys and a friendship which they thought could last through thick and thin.

Chapter One: Getting Acquainted.

"So you broke the tradition then?" an eleven-year-old James Potter said excitedly as he joined his Hogwarts Express acquaintance at the Gryffindor House table to enthusiastic applause.

Sirius Black grinned in response, "My parents will be devastated."

"You don't look very upset about it," said a chubby boy with watery blue eyes from beside him. James and Sirius turned to look at the boy, who suddenly looked as though he'd wished he'd never spoken at all.

"What are you talking about? I'm completely cut up about it," Sirius said, still grinning and exchanging a look with James who chuckled.

"Oh…it's just…you're smiling," the chubby boy persisted.

"Am I?" Sirius replied lazily before looking back towards the Sorting. James followed suit, purposely ignoring the other boy, though his eyes did dart momentarily to the red-headed girl seated on Sirius' other side, who seemed thoroughly absorbed in her surroundings.

"I'm Peter Pettigrew. What are your names?"

Sirius glanced at James in disbelief, making James laugh again and Peter turn pink.

"James Potter," Sirius said, extending his hand and winking at James.

"Sirius Black," James said, his face deadpan.

Peter looked confused. "Oh…but I…"

"Yes?" Sirius prompted.

"Oh…never mind."

"You two are so rude!" the redhead said in a lofty, accusatory tone, her emerald green eyes narrowed.

"Well aren't you a charmer," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

"They're making fun of you Peter, that one's Potter and this one's Black. Weren't you paying attention during the Sorting?" she asked, smiling at Peter kindly. "I'm Lily Evans, by the way."

"Oh…hello," Peter said, looking at James and Sirius, nervously.

"We were only having a laugh. You don't mind, do you Pettigrew?" James cut in, staring at the boy who looked down and shook his head.

"Good man! Now when can we eat?" Sirius said, slapping Peter on the back and rubbing his hands together.

"Blimey, we'll never get rid of this one," Sirius whispered to James after dinner as the First Years followed their prefect up to Gryffindor Tower.

"He might not be so bad. Bit of a try hard though, isn't he?" James murmured back, glancing to where Peter was trying to maneuver through the crowd to reach them.

"So what is it? Three boys and three girls in our year?" Sirius said, looking behind them.

"No, there are four boys I think. Remember the tired, scrawny looking one?"

"The one who disappeared with that old witch who sorted us?"

"Yeah, wonder where he went."

"I expect we'll find out," Sirius shrugged as they came to a stop in front of the portrait of the fat lady.

"My dad told me about her," James whispered.

"My whole family was in Hufflepuff, I've only heard about that common room!" Peter piped up behind them, having finally caught up.

"What a coincidence, my whole family was Hufflepuff too," Sirius said making James burst in to laughter once more.

"Alright firsties, the password is Butterbeer, but it changes every few weeks, so don't be surprised when it's suddenly Flibbertigibett or something," said the tall, burly Prefect as the portrait swung open.

"Get right to bed! You have classes in the morning!" he said as he pointed to the staircases marked girls and boys.

"Lovely and warm isn't it?" James said, looking around proudly at the brightly draped couches, gold and crimson banners and roaring fireplace.

Sirius was looking around in similar awe. "I think I'll be happy here," he thought to himself before they went up the stairs to the dormitory.

"I get the window bed!" he called, racing towards it and jumping right on. James took the bed next to him and face planted right in to his pillow while Peter eagerly took the next one over. The boys began to unpack their trunks, talking excitedly about the next day of classes and how good the food had been at dinner when a thin but tall boy quietly entered the room.

"Alright mate? Hope you don't mind the bed by the door!" James said, standing and raising his arm in greeting.

"No, that's fine thanks," the boy said with a faraway look. His light brown hair was streaked in premature grey and he had deep purple bags under his eyes. He looked at his three dorm mates and attempted a weak grin.

"I'm James Potter," James said, walking over and extending his hand to the slightly sick looking boy.

"Hello, I'm Remus Lupin."

"Alright Remus? I'm Peter Pettigrew."

"Sirius Black," Sirius called from by the window. "What's wrong, are you homesick or something?"

Remus shook his head. "Just tired."

Sirius studied him for a moment, before shrugging and climbing in to his bed, pulling the hangings around him. The others followed suit, shortly after with only Peter calling, "Good Night Guys!"

James awoke the following morning fairly early. His heart pounded with excitement as he got up to dress for the day. He was finally at Hogwarts, he couldn't wait for everything to begin and he'd even found a friend on the very first day! After exiting the bathroom, he expected that Sirius would be getting up, ready to go to breakfast when he realized that his new friend's bed was already made and he was gone. Feeling slightly put out, he noticed that Peter was missing too, though his bed was unmade and his pajamas were strewn around on the floor. Only Remus was there, looking in his mirror, down at his shabby robes. James felt a twinge of sympathy as he saw the second hand clothes and compared them to his own, brand new tailored ones.

"Morning!" he said cheerfully.

"Oh hello James," Remus said, turning and smiling weakly.

"Ready for breakfast?"

"Well I just need to use the loo, I suppose I'll see you downstairs."

James shook his head. "Don't be daft. I'll wait."

Remus looked surprised but smiled largely. "Ok, thanks. I won't be long."

James shrugged. "Whatever."

The truth was he didn't much feel like going downstairs by himself. He'd hoped Sirius would wait for him and not go down with Peter, but maybe they'd bonded while he was sleeping or something. James thought this was highly unlikely considering how much Sirius had teased Peter, but he didn't want to make any assumptions.

"I'm ready," Remus said, exiting the bathroom and picking up his schoolbag.

"Brilliant, I hope they have bacon!" James replied brightly as the two left the room together.

Sirius yawned openly, as he looked around the Great Hall. Peter had been talking about his family toad for a good fifteen minutes now and he was fighting the urge to strangle the living daylights out of him. When he'd woken up that morning, he had attempted to wake James up by tossing his pillow at him. Unfortunately, it had bounced off the beside table and hurled over to Peter's bed and smacked him straight in the face. So now, to Sirius' dismay, he was eating breakfast with the pathetic chubby boy instead of the cool friend he'd made the night before. He would've even preferred to be sitting with the quiet skinny one, anyone but this loser he was sitting with right now. Honestly, how much more could someone talk about their bloody toad? As Peter harped on, Sirius looked at the other Gryffindor First Year students. There was the red-head, Evans with a freckle faced girl with stringy blonde hair chatting together a few places down from them and then a girl with hair so black it almost looked purple. She was sitting by herself, boredly playing with her porridge. He watched her for a few moments, until a burly looking Fifth Year boy sat down and ruffled her hair.

"Who's that?" Sirius muttered.

"Oh that's Devon Wood, he's Gryffindor Quidditch captain," said a Second year girl beside him. "And I think that's his little sister. She's in your year, isn't she?"

Sirius glanced at the girl speaking who smiled widely at him and nodded. "Oh, I suppose."

"Are you enjoying your first day, so far?" she asked, staring at Sirius. Though he didn't seem to know it, he was already the talk of several Second and Third Year girls. Even for an eleven year old, he was good looking, looked mature for his age and it did not go unnoticed.

He shrugged. "Not been much to enjoy so far." Then before she could respond, he noticed James and Remus walking over.

"Finally! I thought I'd never make it through breakfast listening to this one harp on about his toad! You two sleep forever!" he said, waving them over and ignoring Peter's flushed face.

James grinned inwardly. So, Sirius hadn't chosen Peter over him.

"Well, we don't all wake up at the crack of dawn!" he said, sitting beside Sirius and grabbing some bacon and eggs.

Remus smiled politely but said nothing as he dug in to his breakfast and listened to Sirius and James talk about classes as Peter watched, hanging on to every word.

"Look mate, don't leave me alone with that Peter kid again. I can't stand him!" Sirius said as they waited outside the Transfiguration classroom. Peter had disappeared to the bathroom after breakfast and they hadn't bothered to wait for him.

"Is he that bad?" Remus asked seriously as James laughed.

"I don't know…do you know many people who talk about their pets for a quarter of an hour?" Sirius remarked, rolling his eyes.

Remus laughed. "I suppose I don't. Do you think Transfiguration will be very difficult? Everyone's been saying it's the hardest lesson of them all."

James shrugged. "Can't be sure, but I'm looking forward to it. Imagine being able to turn someone into a banana or something when you wanted them to shut up? Brilliant!"

"Excellent, I can turn Pettigrew into a stinking toad next time he opens his mouth," Sirius said, his grey eyes flashing devilishly.

"Come in, come in," a strict looking woman with a tight bun said at the head of the line. "Don't dawdle, hurry along there."

"You know McGonagall already don't you Lupin?" Sirius said as they walked in to the classroom.

"Uh…no," Remus answered quickly.

"We saw you go off with her after dinner yesterday though," James said thoughtfully.

"Oh yes…I…I'd forgotten my trunk on the train," Remus said quickly sitting down at one of the tables and looking at his hands.

Sirius and James looked at each other but shrugged, taking the table behind him at the back of the room. As the rest of the class entered, Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, Peter hurried in and headed straight towards them, panting. Looking disappointed at the fact that James and Sirius had sat together, he quietly took the open seat next to Remus and turned around in his chair to face them.

"I got lost! You could've waited for me when I went to the loos," he said.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Why would we do that?"

"Silence. Now, to those of you who may have forgotten, I am Professor McGonagall, Deputy headmistress and Head of Gryffindor. I will also be your Transfiguration teacher for the next seven years of your magical education."

"You'd think she'd smile at the prospect of seeing us for that long," James whispered to Sirius who chuckled.

"I doubt that woman has the ability to smile. Have you seen her look happy once since we got here?"

"More like a grimace."

"Ahem! Excuse me, Potter, Black. Do you have something to share with the class? Or is it your intention to refrain from learning anything at all?"

"Which question should we answer first Miss?" Sirius said, causing the room to chuckle quietly.

McGonagall cast them both a warning glare but cleared her throat to carry on speaking.

"Now as I was saying, the essence of Transfiguration is the ability to turn an object into something else, animate or inanimate. For example," she raised her wand and suddenly her desk had turned in to a pig. The gasps in the room, made her mouth twitch upwards, before she waved her wand once more and it became a desk again. The class burst into enthusiastic applause as the classmates whispered in awe to one another.

"Impressive eh?" James said, his mouth slightly open.

"Did you see the smile?" Sirius joked, hiding his own astonishment.

"More like a grimace," James replied making them both chuckle once more.

"Alright, while you will not be able to do anything this advanced until at least your Fourth or Fifth year, we will begin with something simple." She waved her wand again and many matchsticks flew from a pile on her desk to neatly appear in front of each student.

"You will work on turning this matchstick into a needle and if you succeed, move on to turning it back. Instructions are on the board."

"Boring! Matchsticks in to needles, what a joke," Sirius said rolling his eyes.

"Still, quite cool to be getting on with for now," James said shrugging as he read the instructions.

"How on earth do we do that!" Peter whined, turning around to look at them.

"Well for starters, you could look at the board?" Remus said casually, without turning around.

The three boys looked at him in surprise and he froze, his face turning pink at the attention when suddenly Sirius burst in to laughter.

"Good advice Lupin," he said between he and James' chuckles and gave him the thumbs up.

Remus smiled, quite pleased with himself and began to attempt the spell.

Ten minutes later, a cheer was heard from the back of the room and the class turned to see what the commotion was about.

"I did it!" James yelled, thrusting his fist in to the air.

"Are you sure? It's not as pointy as mine," Sirius said, gazing at it skeptically.

"Well yours is missing the eye!" James retorted.

"Blimey, you're right!" Sirius said, shaking his head and concentrating before he waved his wand again. "There! Now mine has an eye and it's pointier."

"Well mine's shinier!" James said, grinning.

"Call it a tie?" Sirius said, holding out his hand for James to shake.

"What is all this commotion about?" Professor McGonagall said sternly from the front of the room. She walked briskly to where James and Sirius were exchanging self-satisfied smirks and leaning back in their chairs.

"Well, we've done it Professor," James said happily.

McGonagall looked surprised but bent to inspect the needles.

"Well done boys. 5 points each to Gryffindor! Now please work on turning them back," she said, giving them one of her tight smiles, making them both duck their heads at what they called a "grimace".

"Ah and Mr Lupin, I see you're quite close too…another couple of stabs at it?" she said as she passed. She then looked at Peter's matchstick which had some how become bright green and soggy.

"Start again Pettigrew," she sighed waving her wand to fix the matchstick.

"What am I doing wrong?" Remus muttered at his eye-less needle and glancing back at Sirius'. However, Sirius simply shrugged and leaned back on the hind legs of his chair.

"Try flicking your wand just a bit faster," James offered and to Remus' delight, it worked.

"Yes!" he whispered happily.

"Well done mate," James said with a grin.

"Mine's still pointier," Sirius laughed.

A/N: Yes Indeed, I am back with another story about the Marauders. I really wasn't feeling my other story, so took a little break from it. I decided this time I'd focus more on developing the marauders and their friendships, though there will be Lily in this and some OCs for Sirius. So, enjoy and let me know what you think with a review! :) Thanks!