Marauder Memories
Dedicated to my friends
A tribute to our memories
And those of the Marauder's
Remus Lupin sat alone in Number 12 Grimmuald Place. His only living reminder of his friends and the times they had was three floors above, probably brooding like Remus. Sirius and Remus had been through the mill, one living in Azkaban and the other dealing with painful transformations every month. But, they would take all the painful things they've gone through in the past years again than face today. Today was the worst day of year. It was James' birthday.
Every year when the Marauders were young they celebrated birthdays like there was no tomorrow. Sirius never had birthday celebrations when he was a small child, so James, Remus, and Peter would make sure it was the best time of the year. It soon escalated to every birthday was huge. Fourteen years ago, James would have been twenty – one. They would have had so much fun.
Remus sighed and walked across the room. He opened a drawer he had never noticed before. What was inside the drawer made his chin drop. A thick book sat in there, with the words "Marauder Memories" written in gold on the cover. Inside were pictures, letters, and logs of their days in school and the few years they had after school together. Holding the book delicately, Remus went up to the room where Sirius was.
Upstairs, Sirius was tending to Buckbeak and trying to not think of James. "Sirius, where are? Come out; come out where ever you are!" Remus called up the stairs. Sirius remembered back in their fourth year when he would hide and someone would have to have shouted that for him to show himself.
"What are you doing, Remus?" he said. "I thought you were downstairs."
"I was, but now I'm up here," said Remus. "I thought you could use some cheering up, Padfoot. This day is depressing enough as it is. Say, look at this. I found it in a drawer. It's our pictures from school. There are passages every couple pages. It's our memories."
Sirius walked over slowly to where Remus was and opened the cover. "Ha, it's our first New Year's Eve."
(The Marauders' First year)
"Sirius, Remus, James where are you? Come on guys, it's almost midnight!" Peter whined. He walked nervously around a bit more.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" screamed James and Sirius while Remus tackled Peter to the ground. The three then dragged Peter towards their end of the room. Though Peter wasn't the strongest, he put up a huge fight that resulted in a broken lamp and some annoyed sixth years. By the time he was over there, all four of the boys were panting considerably. "Geez, Pete. You sure know how to fight," wheezed Sirius.
"At least I didn't cry this time," Peter defensively said. "We should really team up if you guys are going to do that all New Year's Eve. And I want Remus if we do." It was an odd request, as Remus was the weakest looking one there, but things are never as they seem.
"Well don't be a baby about it!" James said as Remus walked over the Peter. Sirius, however, was trying not to laugh. "What's so funny, Black?" James said playfully.
"Nothing, just thought of a funny word combination. Don't you think babyziod is funny?"
"Pray tell how you came up with that, Sirius," said Remus in his oh-I'm-so-smarter-than-you voice. Sirius narrowed his eyes and pointed to one of Remus' muggle books. The chapter title had the words "baby" and "zoid" in too close proximity. James laughed, Remus face-palmed, and Peter just stared.
"Sirius, I believe this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," James epically stated.
(Summer after the Marauders 2nd Year)
James sat at his desk dutifully writing letters to his friends, as he promised, and reading a book Remus, as he promised. In his letter to said boy, he was describing the chapter he is at so that Remus won't come and cop his head off. As James was mentioning some Muggle contraption called a bicycle, he got an idea. He quickly finished his letter and mailed with specific instructions to bring back a letter immediately. One hour later, there was a letter from Remus taking care to mention that it was a stupid idea and someone is going to get injured along with his address.
James ran down and asked his mum to use the Floo to go to his friend's house. Remus was waiting for James in the living room and ready with many helmets and various elbow and knee pads. "Are you ready, James?" Remus asked in an impressive imitation of Sirius. James nodded as he applied the protective gear. "I Flooed Pete's place and he is coming over soon – and there he is!" Peter stumbled through the fireplace.
"When is Sirius going to get here?" asked Peter. Just then Sirius stumbled through the Floo and fell right into the pile of helmets.
"Isn't that supposed to be protective gear?" asked James sarcastically. Remus rolled his eyes and began putting on the gear like an expert, while Sirius and Peter failed dramatically. Ten minutes later, the boys (finally) made it outside. The purebloods gaped at the bikes lined up on the drive, though they were old and rusted. Remus mounted one bike and demonstrated how to ride. The other boys struggled and struggled while Remus just looked at them like they were crazy. Eventually, they managed to ride down the street.
"Where to now, Remmy?" Sirius enthusiastically called.
"Follow me!"shouted Remus as he took a right to a little know path way into the woods. A beautiful lake shone in the distance. The three behind him were still pretty wobbly but they were managing. Suddenly, James veered off the path and nearly plunged into the lake if it weren't for Sirius and Remus who jumped off their bikes to save him. Little ol' Peter kept on riding, no noticing that James almost went into a lake.
"That's it, no more bike rides," Remus said empathetically.
(Marauders 3rd 1st Quidditch match of the season)
"Can you believe Padfoot? Our 1st match! It took us two years to get on the team, and now we are here! In the arena! Can you believe it?" blabbed James. Sirius mutely nodded, focused entirely on the Slytherin Seeker, his brother. What is he doing here? 1st years aren't allowed on the teams! And he has a new broom, not a school broom at all. And most importantly, why didn't he tell me? Sirius thought. James obviously saw the hurt in his friend's gray eyes and muttered what he thought would comfort Sirius. "Don't worry about Regulas; he's a right slimy git, the evil Slytherin."
"He's my brother, James, my brother!"Sirius turned his troubled eyes away from his friend. "My brother," he added quietly.
(Marauders 4th year)
The snow was coming down in thick clumps, coating the hills with white. The mountains beyond Hogwarts glittered beautifully in the distance. A large piece of bark fell from an old tree and slid down the mountainside very fast. This gave Sirius Orion Black and idea. "Psst, Prongs, psst," he whispered
"What? Are you mad? McGonagall'll have our heads. I'd rather not get on Minnie's bad side so close to break," James whispered back. " I can't believe I'm saying this, but pay attention!"
"Will you two shut up? I'm trying to take notes!" Remus said. Sirius rolled his eyes and started writing on a spare bit of parchment. He wrote:
I say we skip Potions and go sledding (Padfoot)
Again, are you mad? (Prongs)
Yes.
…
Stop! I'm trying to take notes! (Moony)
No one asked to you join. Except when we skip Potions and go sledding.
I'll go if you have a sled.
I'll never go, but you will probably tie me up and take me by force.
I want to go! (Wormtail)
Peter, how did you get this? You are seated all the way over there!
I don't know….. this is hard!
Sledding, after Potions, correct?
Correct
Correct
Incorrect
Suck it up, Remus.
Once Transfiguration ended, the Marauders ran back to Gryffindor Tower to grab their mittens, coats, hats, and scarves for tying Remus up. Using the Invisibility Cloak, they managed to sneak past all the boring, unexciting students walking to their boring, unexciting classes. James saw Lily, he almost asked her to go out, but Sirius tied a scarf around his mouth to keep him from giving themselves away.
On the base of the mountain, there was that obscenely large piece of bark that could fit two fourteen year old boys. After classes ended, some other boring, unexciting students came out to sled with them.
"So, Moony, aren't you glad you came?" inquired Sirius.
(Marauders Fifth Year After the Willow Incident)
James and Remus kept telling Peter where to sit, and what to do, and he was sick of it. He saw good ol' Sirius sitting alone, being shunned by his best friends. Peter knew what he had to do, and he sat down right next to where Sirius would some to sit. "Peter, come on!" urged James.
"No, I don't think I will. You see, you have been shunning Sirius even though he has apologized several times. I will sit where I like, you don't need to boss me around!" Peter stuck up his nose and began dealing out the food onto his plate. James narrowed his eyes and stalked away, while Remus looked down at an open seat. He, too, walked away. Sirius walked through the doors, and was shocked, but sat down at his normal spot.
"What are you doing here , Petey? I don't want to you to have them against ya," he said.
"Sirius, you sat here all alone, didn't you think someone would remember that you are their friend? Cause I did, and frankly, you are more fun," answered Peter.
( Marauders 6th year)
"So who do you think is going to win this match, Padfoot? Ravenclaw has a good seeker, but Hufflepuff has amazing Chasers," asked James. His friend he was talking to took one look at the match unfolding, and said "Hufflepuff" without any other thought. He then looked around the stadium, probably looking for his next girlfriend.
"Padfoot, do you think that you go through girlfriends a little too fast?" a concerned James asked. Sirius replied by shaking his head abruptly, then turning in his seat looking for someone. He must have seen who he wanted, because he started to wave franticlly for the person to come over.
"What do you want, Black?" asked the most beautiful girl in the world asked.
"Well, since you asked, I would like to point out how James loves you, and you are starting to love my best friend. It's like a modern Pride and Prejudice! So, what I think here, is that you should ask James out because then he will die with happiness and honestly, he is getting really annoying."
"So, let me get this straight, you want me to ask out him because you want him to die?" asked Lily spectacle-ish.
"Correct!"
"No." With that, she flounced away into her mob of female friends.
(Marauder 7th year)
"Guys, it is our last year!"
"Good job Padfoot!"
"No, I mean, after this we are going to go and fight Voldemort, get married, and have over – populate the world with little trouble makers!"
"Good job Padfoot!"
"I don't think you guys understand the importance of this statement."
"…"
"There is play in Hogsmeade!" Peter said.
"What?"
"Just trying to break the tension."
"I have an idea!" said Sirius.
"Oh God."
"Why don't we all get dates to go see that play? It can be fancy and everything! What's it called, Peter?"
"The Life of Princess Sophia."
"Perfect! On three, everyone go get a date! One, three!"
The night of the play, everyone had a date. Lily went with James, Sirius has a Hufflepuff, Peter managed to get James's sister to go with him, and Remus had a very intellectual Ravenclaw to go with him.
When they got to the play, they went in and watched it. What were you expecting? A Death Eater attack? Anyway, what happened during the play doesn't matter. When they came out however…
"Well that was fun!" said Remus sarcasticly.
"Admit it, the best part was definetly the evil wizard," coaxed Sirius.
Everyone agreed.
"Close the book Remus, I don't want to see the rest," said modern day Sirius. "You were right, I did need cheering up. Also, do you know any theaters where they allow dogs?"
"Padfoot , we can just disguise you."
"Oh. Want to?
"Yes." And so, when the two living Marauders pranced off to a movie, the photo album disappeared, like it was sent by a ghost…