The Marauder's Years: Where it all began.
James didn't know anyone aboard the Hogwarts Express. He knew of people like the Malfoys, Snapes and Blacks, other pure blood families, because they were the types of families his liked to get along with. But James never seemed to get on with any of them. As James searched throughout the many compartments along the carriages of the scarlet train, he found that many were full. Except for one, right at the end in which there was only one occupant. A tall boy with mousy brown coloured hair was lifting a cage with a barn owl inside onto the parcel shelf above the seats.
"Here let me help you." James offered friendly. But startled by James' appearance the boy dropped the cage and it fell on the fell with a clash. "Sorry" James said with his eyes on the distressed, hooting owl in the cage.
"Not to worry, Rose is used to knocks like that, aren't you?" The boy said, picking up the cage and resting it on the seat behind him with a grin on his face, then sat down next to it. James sat down also. "My name's Remus, Remus Lupin" he said nicely, sticking out his hand. James took it and shook it vigorously.
"I'm James Potter."
James and Remus settled in the compartment and began to talk about all sorts of things. They discussed everything from their favourite Quidditch teams to what houses in Hogwarts they would like to be sorted in, (which they both decided was Gryffindor). After a few games of Exploding Snap and a lot more talking, a mass of students rushed past their compartment with a mumour of excited talk and without a moments thought, they too got up and joined the crowd. All of a sudden the rushing came to a stop and red and green sparks were flying above people's heads. James, being skinny, slipped past everyone and got to the front. As it turned out there was a duel commencing. Two young boys, who looked to be first years, were having it out. One of whom, James recognized as Severus Snape. He had greasy black hair that fell across his face as always; James really detested this boy. Ever since they were little they were forced together by their mothers, who were good friends, until their father's had a row and James and Severus didn't see each other for several years. James had forgotten that he would be coming to Hogwarts this year too.
The other boy who was duelling had his jet-black cut very neatly, which was the complete opposite to James' hair that always stuck out at every angle no matter what he did to it. James was sure he had never met the boy, but somehow his face was familiar.
"Expelliarmus!" bellowed the familiar-faced boy and Severus' wand went flying out of his hand while he fell backwards onto the floor panting.
"Well done Sirius, but this is not the end of this," he growled once he got his breath back. He got up and swept away through the opposite crowd, cloak billowing out behind him. James saw a grin on the other boy's face; his grey eyes were so familiar. Where had James seen them before?
The Great Hall looked magnificent, there were over a hundred floating candles lighting up the immense cathedral sized room. The bewitched ceiling was made to look like nighttime, and the stars shone brightly down at the five long tables, which seated the students and staff of Hogwarts. Four of these tables were situated by students all wearing pointed hats and black robes. The fifth table was at the far end of the Great Hall was occupied with the teachers who were beaming at the group of first years about to be sorted in front of them.
"Sirius Black!" A young Professor McGonagall said sharply. Sirius made his way up to the three-legged stool where a ragged old hat was to be placed on his head. The hat was only on his head for a very short while when it shouted:
"GRYFFINDOR!"
The same smile emerged on Sirius' face then as on the Hogwarts Express as he went to join the Gryffindor table. Many more first years were sorted into their many their houses.
"Lily Evans!"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"Frank Longbottom!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Remus Lupin!"
Remus trembled as he approached the stall. The hat was placed on his head and was whispering in his head for a while. After what seemed to be hours it shouted:
"GRYFFINDOR!"
With a sigh of relief Remus went to go join his fellow Gryffindors taking a seat next to a tall redheaded boy. Many more first years were sorted into their houses; the sorting hat kept shouting "HUFFLEPUFF! RAVENCLAW! SLYHTERIN!" until it came to the P's on McGonagall's alphabetical list. James half expected his name to be called next, but to his surprise, it wasn't.
"Peter Pettigrew!" Professor McGonagall announced. A young wimpy boy approached the stool and the hat was placed on his head.
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted and Peter went to join the Gryffindor table.
"James Potter!" McGonagall said sternly. James took a cowardly walk towards the stool though the hat had barely touched his head before it shouted:
"GRYFFINDOR!"
That night there was a massive party in the common room. James swiftly learnt that the Gryffindors never give up an opportunity to have a party and at the last minute they made a banner saying "Welcome First Years!" and put it above the fireplace. James and Remus stuck together, sitting on the comfy armchairs by the fire, swigging their butterbeers. The party went on for ages and when three in the morning came about, the 5th year prefect, Arthur Weasley, sent them all to bed.
Their dormitory was homely. It had four four-poster beds, each with a different trunk by them. One of the beds was already occupied; James and Remus assumed that this was Peter already asleep. James and Remus immediately went towards their trunks and James searched through his, trying to find his most prized possession, he was scared that he left it at Godrics Hollow, in other words, home; but right at the bottom, there it was. The silver liquid-like invisibility cloak.
"What's that?" Remus asked looking curiously in James' direction as he fed Rose some treats. James didn't know how to answer. Should he tell Remus about the cloak that has been passed down from father to son for generations in the Potter family?
"Oh – erm…its nothing." James replied quickly, shoving the cloak back into his trunk and closing the lid.
"That's not nothing!" Remus exclaimed in a rather loud whisper. "Unless my eyes deceive me, that's an invisibility cloak!"
"Erm…" James didn't know how to respond. His father told him to not tell anyone about the cloak and to only use it when it was most needed. How could he be so foolish to get it out in front of Remus?
Suddenly the dormitory door slammed open and a very cheery Sirius Black entered.
"Hello everyone!" he greeted cheerfully. Neither James nor Remus knew how to respond.
"Er…hi" James eventually replied. Sirius smiled.
"I'm Sirius and you two are?" he said merrily as he walked towards his bed that was situated between Remus' and James'. Sirius threw himself onto it.
"I'm Remus, he's James." Remus introduced. They all smiled politely to each other, but James had a thought.
"Are you really a Black?" James asked rudely. Remus was confused by what James meant by asking this and by the looks of it so was Sirius, but he shrugged his shoulders.
"Yeah, that's my last name."
"But I have met the Black family. How come I haven't met you?" James inquired.
"You've probably met my cousins, Narcissa? Bellatrix?" James nodded, "Well there you go, you have only met the other side of the family. The crap side in my opinion." Sirius grinned. James knew not to ask any more on the subject.
Next morning they all woke up as soon as the sunlight filled their dormitory. Sirius jumped out of bed, closely followed by Peter, who introduced himself when they were changing into the clean, pristine Hogwarts robes upon which a Gryffindor lion magically appeared on over night. Soon enough they were in the Great Hall, munching on the glorious breakfast that lay before them. Professor McGonagall was handing out their timetables to the many Gryffindors down the table. James saw Arthur Weasley, the Gryffindor prefect get his and then Professor McGonagall moved down the table and handed the four boys theirs.
"Yeah, Potions first! I heard the teacher is very good." Remus said excitedly.
"Yeah, but it's with the Slytherins." Peter said dully.
"That means with Snape," Sirius groaned.
"Was that the boy who you were dueling with on the train?" Remus asked. Sirius replied with a nod.
"He is an awful excuse for a wizard." James muttered. Sirius turned to him.
"How do you know him?" Sirius questioned. James explained to the others about how his family would only mingle with other pure-blood families and therefore the Snapes were one of them, and how their father's got into a row and Snape and James never saw each other again. James also said that the last he heard of Snape was when his parents both died not long afterwards. James told Sirius, Remus and Peter everything he knew about Snape as they endeavored their breakfasts. Peter started to feel uneasy in the conversation as he saw many other students get up and leave for their first class of the year. Several times he tried to interrupt but he did not own a strong voice so he was mostly ignored. Eventually he got their attention.
"Guys?" He said for a final attempt. Sirius turned round, looking very frustrated.
"What?" He snapped. He wanted to know as much about Snape as possible from James. It seemed they had hatred in common.
"Well," Peter said, "We have our first class to get to."
Time seemed to fly as James, Sirius, Remus and Peter all became good friends during their first months at Hogwarts, but something about Remus had caught the other three's attention…
It was now late November and Sirius, James and Peter were having a rather loud discussion about their absent friend.
"This is the third time since we came to Hogwarts that he hasn't been here" Peter shouted.
"But he always comes back" James protested
"I feel as if he is hiding something from us," Sirius suggested unhappily. James decided not to comment, for he was thinking along the same lines. He walked over to the window in the dormitory and sat on the window ledge looking out into the beautiful star lit night sky. James started to point out in his head the different constellations and that was when he noticed it. The moon, it was magnificent as it glistened in the sky. Something clicked together in his mind, the full moon.
"Hey guys stop arguing and come over here." James commanded. Sirius and Peter walked to where James was sitting, "Look, out there. What do you notice?" he asked.
"Orion," Sirius said (he was always good at Astronomy)
"No, think. What comes to your mind?" James said again, witheringly this time.
"The fact that I haven't done my Astronomy essay?" Peter suggested grinning.
"No!" James said loudly, getting annoyed, "There's a full moon, just like the other times when Remus disappeared."
Sirius and Peter looked astonished by the thought of what James was suggested, and as they thought of it, they heard a wolf howling into the night.
"Ok, so I'll look up werewolves in the library and you two keep an eye on Remus," James said at breakfast a couple of days later. Remus had returned to their dormitory the previous night. He looked awful; he had scratches all over and in groaned with pain anytime he had to move. When he returned the first thing Sirius did was interrogated him on where he had been. Remus only said that it was family business and that he didn't want to say anymore on the matter. Of course, they all wanted to ask him whether or not he was a werewolf but they decided against it. In truth, neither James, Sirius nor Peter knew exactly what being a werewolf entailed.
Lunch that day was spent in the library for James. He didn't mind so much, he liked to read and do well in his studies, but there was another reason why James liked the library so much: Lily Evans.
Lily was nearly almost always in the library, doing homework or reading. She and James were mutual friends since they were both in Gryffindor and had the same classes. They sat next to each other in History of Magic, since Professor Binns put them into a seating plan. Of course, James knew that Lily was extremely clever and knowledgeable as well as being very pretty. She had long red hair and intense green eyes. That was what James liked about her most, her eyes.
James walked towards the aisle in the library where 'Magical Creatures' books were kept and Lily happened to be looking in the same section.
"Oh hi Lily!" James greeted trying to sound calm and normal.
"Hi James," Lily replied, her eyes still looking for a book somewhere on the bookshelf. James kept searching for a book on werewolves. He heard a moan from behind him. "Oh, why do they have to put them up there. This library is discrimination against little people." James turned and saw that Lily was looking at. A pile of the same brown leather book was right on the top shelf. Lily was jumping trying to reach it. James offered to get it but he was not much taller and had to stand on tiptoes to place his fingers on one of them to pull it down.
"There you go," he smiled when giving the book, 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them', to Lily.
"Thanks James," She said, the turned and walked away gracefully. James sighed and carried on with his own search. A few minutes later he found a book called 'Werewolves and their Dangers' and sat down and began to read.
"Werewolves transform at every full moon. When they are transformed they have no recollection of their human self, only their animal instincts. A werewolf would kill its best friends if they cross its path. Furthermore, becoming a werewolf can be as a result of two ways. Either being consummated by a pair of werewolves or, more likely, being bitten by one" James finished reading to Peter and Sirius later that day in the common room. Their faces were bemused as James looked up from the book. "So let's not ask him just yet. We can see whether or not he goes anywhere the next couple of full moons."
"And if he still continues to go out?" Peter asked.
"And if he does still continue to go out," James repeated, "we'll ask him." Sirius and Peter nodded in response.
Just then Remus came through the fat lady portrait and slumped himself next to Sirius on the sofa.
"Hey Remus, how was detention with Professor Binns then?" Peter asked.
"Boring, he made me alphabetize his novel collection." Remus explained.
"That'll teach you not to fall asleep in his lesson!" Sirius joked. Remus shrugged.
"Don't worry mate, we have a flying lesson tomorrow" James included happily.
"Oh yeah…" Peter said vacantly.
"That's true, but we all know that's your strong point James" Sirius stated.
"Well I can't help it if I'm good," James said proudly
"You ever thought of going out for the Quidditch team?" Remus asked.
"Yeah…maybe…"
Christmas came and went for the four friends. Unfortunately, the full moon came during the holidays so neither James, Sirius nor Peter could get evidence to prove that Remus was a werewolf. But it was a thought they shuddered to think. Soon enough they were all back in Hogwarts castle and back to their lessons. As Sirius was good at Astronomy, he was keeping track of the Lunar Cycle and informed Peter and James one day at breakfast in mid-January that the next full moon would be that night. All through the day they were watching Remus closely and around 4 o'clock, he disappeared from under their noses. Later that day in the dormitory, another loud discussion was commencing.
"Look, we have to ask him now." Peter declared.
"We know Peter, but how would we put it? 'Hey Remus, here's a random question we have been wanting to ask, are you a werewolf by any chance?'" Sirius stated. James thought for a while.
"We have to know for sure before we ask him though. What if we follow him tomorrow?" James proposed.
"Sure, good thinking Merlin," Sirius began mockingly, "We follow him, he transforms and then he kills us. You remember what the book said James. It would kill its best friends if they cross its path."
"If only we could be invisible or something…" Peter said vacantly. Something clicked in James' mind.
"I have an Invisibility Cloak." He exclaimed and Sirius' eyes widened.
"You have a what?" Sirius asked in disbelief.
"An Invisibility Cloak." James repeated strongly. Peter looked confused.
"What's an Invisibility Cloak?"
"Can't you tell by the name?" Sirius said mockingly. James went over to his trunk and dug the silver liquid-like cloak and threw it around him. His body disappeared and his head was left floating in mid-air. You could see the cogs working in Sirius' mind. "So tomorrow, we use the cloak and follow Remus to see if he is a … well one of those things. Ok?"
"Yes, good. But one problem." James said.
"What?" Peter asked.
"The cloak can't fit round us all, one of us will have to drop out." James stated.
"I will," Peter said a bit too quickly and Sirius and James both raised their eyebrows at him. "No, its not like I don't like Remus or anything. It's just …" He hesitated, "It's just I have a fear of wild dogs." He finished cowardly. James and Sirius looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"Ok, ok," Sirius said, clutching his stomach, "James and I will go."
The next day's lessons went quickly for James and Sirius, who both couldn't wait to put the Invisibility Cloak to the test. When the time came, they were sitting in the common room and Remus made an excuse about going to the Owlery. As soon as the Fat Lady portrait had closed behind him, Sirius and James ran up to their dormitory to retrieve the cloak, and they threw it on.
They were walking through the castle corridors commencing their search for Remus.
"Merlin, at times like these, I wish I had a map." Sirius muttered.
"Yeah, especially one that shows where Remus was heading off too." James whispered back.
"Where would he go?" Sirius answered quietly.
"Maybe the forest?" James questioned.
"Good thinking Merlin." Sirius exclaimed mutely. They headed towards the Entrance Hall and wandered outside. It was dusk; the moon closely rising. Sirius noticed a silhouette headed for the newly planted tree. He nudged James and James saw the silhouette too.
"It's him!" They exclaimed quietly together. They stopped and watched Remus as he pulled out his wand from his robes and said an incantation. Suddenly the wand grew longer and longer and he poked the tree with it. The tree stopped moving and Remus walked towards it and disappeared.
"Where'd he go?" Sirius asked but neither of them knew.
At once they began to walk to the motionless tree. They got within five metres of the tree and suddenly one of its immense branches swung itself narrowly missing James and Sirius. It could obviously sense that someone was there, even under an Invisibility Cloak. They turned swiftly and ran back to the castle. Eventually they got to the Fat Lady's portrait and whispered the password. When they got to their dormitory, where Peter was sitting anxiously on his bed, James and Sirius threw off the cloak.
"Peter!" they said together and Peter jumped.
"Is Remus a … you-know-what?" he asked, still startled by James' and Sirius' sudden appearance.
"We don't know, but he was near the forest, next to that big new tree." James answered.
"The tree attacked us, it didn't attack Remus, but it attacked us," Sirius added.
"A tree attacked you?" Peter asked in disbelief.
"Yes!" James and Sirius said together. Just then, a wolf cry hollered into the night.
"Next month, we'll find out for sure." James said determinedly.
Author's note: Ok, you don't have to review. But it's be nice :P