"Fred?"
"Yes George?"
"It's our last year at Hogwarts."
"Yes, I am aware."
"And we still haven't figured out who the Marauders are."
Fred frowned. "You are quite right George. Our only lead is the nicknames."
The twins sat down at the long table and each took a plate from the stack in the middle. George took out his wand and summoned a quill and a piece of parchment. He neatly wrote Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs at the top of the paper. They both studied the names for a couple seconds.
"The only thing I'm getting is that Prongs might have something to do with a fork," Fred finally said, picking up his.
George sighed. "That's the only thing we've been getting for years. And everybody uses forks, so that doesn't really narrow it down."
"Well... alright then, let's move on. Maybe Padfoot liked to wear slippers. Who do we know that likes to wear slippers?"
"But it probably isn't someone we know, that's the issue."
Again, both stared at the paper.
"Hang on," George said, "What if Wormtail had a pet rat? You know the creepy pink tails of those things. They do sort of look like worms."
"Well Scabbers was our family's pet rat, wasn't he? And nobody called any of us Scabbers. Besides, loads of students have pet rats."
"I prefer owls myself." Fred and George looked up and saw Harry entering the room, along with Ron. They took seats across from the twins. "Too many bad experiences with rats." Harry smiled sadly.
"You're right, us too," George said.
"Say, Harry," Fred added, "you don't by any chance, have a clue who Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs were, do you?"
A shocked expression came across Harry's face."Wait, nobody ever told you?"
The twins gasped. "You mean you know?" They both asked incredulously. "And you didn't tell us?
"I guess it just never came up," Ron said, shrugging.
Fred and George glared at their brother. "You knew too?" Fred cried.
"What does he know?" Ginny asked yawning. She and Hermione sat down at the table, carrying stacks of Mrs. Weasley's waffles.
Harry snagged the first waffle off the top of the pile. "I guess you lot never told Fred and George who the Marauders are."
"Oh, that," Ginny said calmly. By this point, both Fred and George were fuming. How was it that everybody knew who their idols were but them?
George focused on the weakest target. "Ronald Bilius Weasley, I swear, if you do not tell me right now, we will set a horde of monster spiders into your room." Ron turned pink.
"Don't tell them!" Ginny cried. George stared murderously at his little sister. "They should find out for themselves."
Fred threw a piece of waffle at her.
Just then, Sirius walked sleepily into the room. He picked the piece of waffle out of Ginny's bright red hair and zinged it back at Fred. "I could hear you lot yelling all the way up from my room," he said coldly.
"Sorry Sirius," Harry said, "Fred and George were just wondering who the Marauders were."
Sirius perked up. "Who the Marauders were? Hmm, sounds familiar. Oh! You mean as in Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs?"
"You knew them?" The twins now attacked Sirius, begging.
"Yes, they went to school at about the same time I did. I seem to remember that Padfoot was by far the superior Marauder."
Harry smirked.
"Yes, Padfoot was devilishly handsome," Sirius continued. "He was cunning and brave. Always loyal to his friends. The whole school looked up to him, wished to be him, wanted to be friends with him-"
"I don't know Sirius, I always was fond of Moony," Remus interupted as he joined the conversation. "Brilliant, he was. A prefect, always keeping the others out of trouble."
"Well," Sirius interjected, "Moony was never really a ladies man. In fact, if I remember correctly, he didn't have a single girlfriend in all of his time at Hogwarts."
"Yes, but at least he wasn't like Padfoot, constantly switching between girlfriends every single week," Remus countered, a smile creeping its way onto his face.
"Moony was a boring little prefect who spent all of his time reading and studying."
"Moony also did at least half of the other Marauders' homework."
"Well, Padfoot and Prongs were the best prankers of the four."
"And Moony was the mastermind behind every single prank."
"Not all of them," Sirius said. "Padfoot came up with quite a deal himself. Such as the time he died all of the Slytherin quidditch robes pink."
"It was Moony who came up with the charm to do so undetected."
"Um, that was Padfoot."
"Sirius, Padfoot fell asleep in Transfiguration daily," Remus countered calmly.
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Merlin Moony so what if I did? That's what you were for!"
"So you admit that it was I who was the genius behind the plan," Remus crowed triumphantly.
"Meh, I'd say 50/50."
"Whatever you say, Padfoot."
By this point, Fred and George had fallen out of their seats in astonishment. They first turned to their old professor. "You were a Marauder?" George exclaimed.
Remus nodded. "Moony was my nickname, because of the whole werewolf thing," he added.
Fred and George couldn't believe that their former Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was one of the greatest pranksters ever to roam the halls of Hogwarts.
As if reading their thoughts, Sirius said, "Moony's gotten a little more boring over time. I mean, just yesterday, I was asking him if he wanted to prank the both of you. But he said, and I quote, 'No Padfoot, we are mature adults now, and you need to grow up.' I mean, what happened! Anyway, I'm Padfoot because, well..." Sirius transformed into a big black dog, and then quickly turned back.
Having received confirmationt hat Sirius and Remus were Padfoot and Moony, the twins knelt to the floor in front of them. "You are our idols," Fred exclaimed.
"And you were living just rooms away from us!" George said in awe.
"Teach us your ways, masters!"
"We have finally found you!"
Remus was doubled over with laughter, and Sirius looked pleased. "Finally, some respect!" he muttered to Remus.
Fred and George were still kneeling on the ground, with dazed expressions on their faces. Ginny, Hermione, Ron, and Harry were giggling hysterically.
Finally, Remus and Sirius pulled the twins off the ground.
"So if you're Moony and you're Padfoot-" George said, pointing at each of the Marauders in turn.
"Then who are Wormtail and Prongs?" Fred finished.
Sirius smiled sadly. "Prongs was my best mate. He had messy hair that could never be tamed, and round glasses."
Fred and George looked at each other. This sounded very familiar.
"He got his name from the fact that he could transform into a stag," Sirius said.
"And he was always after the same girl. All seven years at school, he asked her to go out with him, and it wasn't until the end that she said yes. They were married and had a son who is in this room at this very instant," Remus continued.
The twins stared at Harry. "Harry!" George exclaimed, "You're a prongslet! A mini Marauder!"
Harry laughed, and Sirius squeezed his shoulder.
"As for Wormtail..." Sirius frowned darkly. "He's a traitor. Never speak of him."
"Peter Pettigrew," Remus spat. "The rat. Betrayed one of his best friends."
"Hey Fred, I guess we weren't too far off with Scabbers, were we?" George said, jokingly.
"Yeah, of all of the Marauders, of course the traitor's the one who lived in our house for-"
Suddenly, an explosion sounded throughout the dining hall. Hermione shrieked. Mrs. Weasley charged into the room, a bowl of waffle batter in one hand, her wand in the other. Tonks and Mad-Eye, who had just entered the building, ran to the dining hall, wands drawn. In the hallway, the portrait of Mrs. Black began to scream.
"Mudbloods! Filth! Scum! Blood traitors!"
Meanwhile, Fred and George both looked up to find two clouds raining pink sparkles on them. They then glanced over at Sirius, whose face was turning red with the strain of holding in his laughter, and Remus, who was shaking his head reprovingly at his fellow Marauder, but smiling at the same time.
Slowly, the people in the hall began to realize what had happened. Mrs. Weasley and Mad-Eye immediately turned on Sirius and began yelling, while Remus pleaded his innocence and slipped away, smirking.
"George?"
"Yes Fred?"
"I believe that we have been pranked by our idols."
The twins turned and smiled at each other. "This means war."