Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
AN: Just a little one-shot I wrote on a flight recently.
It was night and all was quiet in the Gryffindor tower. In the common room the fire burned slowly, just on the verge of dying out. If you went further, up the stairs, taking a peak into the dorms you would find the Gryffindor students lying in their beds, deep in the world of dreams, tired after a long day of learning.
Unless of course the dorm you peaked into was the dorm of the current third year boys, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew. You would not find them sleeping and you'd most certainly would not find them quiet. Ever. They were wide awake thanks to one Sirius Black, who apparently had trouble sleeping.
To explain the strange conversation they were having at 3 a.m. I must begin with telling you a small, yet an important bit of their history. You see, roughly two years ago James, Sirius and Peter found out that Remus, the fourth member of their group was a werewolf. Of course, that didn't bother them at all, well it bothered Peter a bit but everyone just ignored that, so they decided to do something to help their dear friend. Thus came the brilliant plan of becoming Animagi was born. While they had not yet transformed, and only one of them (James) had found out his form yet for that matter they, this time they being the ever optimistic Sirius, felt they were doing great.
Now onto the real story here. Sirius had woken his friends up because he couldn't sleep. And he was bored. Or maybe he just felt like having a meaningful conversation in the middle of the night. Who knows what goes on in the very confusing and unpredictable mind of Sirius Orion Black. Anyway, he'd woken his friends up and been none to friendly about it. After throwing pillows, books and one nightstand (werewolves are strong and grumpy when woken up.) the three sleepy boys decided to just lay in their beds and ignore their surroundings (mainly, Sirius) while Sirius rambled on hoping he'd fall asleep some time. And that, my dear readers, is where this story begins, with three boys half asleep in their beds and one wide awake standing in the middle of the dorm surrounded by feathers and pieces of Remus' nightstand.
"So, I was thinking" Sirius began, ignoring James' mumbled comment of "that's new". "We need a thing."
"What kind of a thing?" Peter asked confused, rubbing his eyes and sitting up, knowing he would get no more sleep. After all, it was quite hard falling asleep after a nightstand landed at the end of your bed and shattering in pieces.
"A new nightstand, perhaps?" James suggested, grinning when he saw Remus blush out of the corner of his eyes.
"No. A thing, like... a name!" Sirius said frustrated. Why couldn't his friends read his mind?
"You have a name. It's Sirius," Remus wisely pointed out, sitting up and finally getting over the rude awakening. Seeing the annoyed look on his best friend's face, James started laughing, making Sirius start glaring at him which only made James laugh harder which... well you get the picture. When Sirius finally realized James wouldn't stop laughing he gave up and decided to ignore his best friend and answer Remus.
"I know that Remus, I meant a name for us, as a group." He waved his hand around the room, glaring at James, who had finally stopped laughing.
"Why?" James asked curious, trying to understand why on earth his friend deemed necessary to make a name for the four of them.
"Because the hippogriff said we needed a name!"
"Sirius... hippogriffs can't talk." Remus said carefully, hoping not to upset his apparently mentally unstable friend.
"Shut up wolfie, I'm not crazy."
"Of course you're not. Let's find a name for ourselves. How about the Awesomers?" James suggested, trying to stop a fight from happening.
"The Awesomers? That's the best you can come up with?" Sirius asked, insulted, "Are you an idiot? That's lousy, find a better one!"
"You find a better one." James mumbled and turned his back to his friends to sulk.
"The Gryffs?" Remus asked, not really trying.
"Too obvious, Pete you find one!" Sirius demanded.
"The... fantastic four?" Peter suggested hesitantly, knowing he'd get shot down.
"The pack?" James suggested, imagining all the fun they would have on full moons once they completed their Animagus training. "Or maybe the wolves?"
"No! It has to be absolutely brilliant, something related to all of us, not just Remus." Sirius said.
"What about the Marauders?" Peter said suddenly.
"The Marauders? Where did you get that from?" Remus asked.
"Yeah, I didn't realize you had such an extended vocabulary" James joked.
"McGonagall called us marauders last week when we stole that Slytherin's shoe." Peter shrugged, not at all insulted by James' comment.
"The Marauders it is! You're a genius Pete" Sirius declared, jumping on Peter and hugging him. "Now all we have to do is find a nickname for each of us!"
Sirius declaration was met with groans and pillow-throwing as his friends were quite tired. Since it did not look like Sirius was going to sleep anytime soon they made a mutual decision to silence him and tie him to his bed.
And thus, at 5 a.m. the newly named Marauders finally went back to sleep.