Hello everyone!

This is a story I want to start about the life of the marauders, and specifically their life at Hogwarts… This chapter is really just the introduction and abit of a summary of their lives before Hogwarts…

If you want me to continue, please let me know in a review. If no oen wants me to continue, I won't.

xoxo

Naomi

Life Before School

Do they call it "life before school" because you no longer have a life once you're in school?

9th January, 1960

The mother tiredly closed her eyes, wrapping two thin arms around the tiny body. Tobias wasn't there, unsurprisingly, and the only ones to congratulate her were the Medi-witches. But they were healers, no liars and when she looked down and saw the pale skin, large nose and weak body... she realized why the congratulations hadn't sounded sincere.

At the time, Severus Snape didn't know he'd spend most of his life being ridiculed for the same reasons.

30th January, 1960

A group of people huddled around a hospital bed all gasped in surprise as a small girl opened her stunning green eyes for the very first time. She was already several hours old, and lay comfortable in her mother's arms. Petunia watched from right beside the bed, a small smile on her thin lips as she looked at her baby sister.

At the time Lily Evans didn't know she was a witch.

10th March, 1960

Remus Lupin slowly blinked his eyes open, staring straight into two blue ones. His mother smiled down at him and his father boasted to everyone about his big son.

At the time Remus Lupin didn't know or care he'd been born on a full moon.

25th March, 1960

It was loud, Bellatrix decided, too loud. Next to her someone sighed, and on the other side of the room someone studied the Family Tapestry. She didn't really see the use in having the whole family over when someone was giving birth. Especially when the baby was so – damn – loud.

Three floors above her, Sirius Black screamed the lungs out of his tiny little body. Because it was too cold, even with a blanket, even when his mother held him close. It was just too cold.

At the time Sirius Black didn't know he was born on as the Black heir.

27th March, 1960

James Potter screamed as well. Perhaps not quite as long as his future best friend, but definitely as loud. His mum and dad watched him proudly as his screaming assured them that yes, he was very healthy indeed. His loud cries subsided when his mother pulled him close.

At the time James Potter didn't know he was just two days too young – in his future self's opinion.

3rd August, 1960

Peter Pettigrew didn't scream extraordinarily loud or long, and he didn't actually open his eyes until ten hours after his birth. Peter Pettigrew cried when he was born, was soothed by his mom and fell asleep.

At the time Peter Pettigrew didn't know he was born last.

It took 3 months for Sirius Black to show his first sign of magic. And really, he wasn't aware of it. All he knew was that he was trying to sleep, but that someone – someone – was talking too loudly. And nobody responded to his cries, and the voice became louder – angrier – and he just wanted it to stop... And then it did.

Narcissa opened and closed her mouth a few times, but no sound would come out. She first looked at her older sister, but Bellatrix simply shrugged. Then her gaze wandered to the tiny baby, which had stopped crying almost the instant she'd lost her voice and was now contently sleeping.

Lily Evans first sign of magic passed unnoticed. Her mum had been talking with Petunia, her dad was reading the paper and so the only one who saw the disgusting porridge change into delicious strawberry yoghurt was Lily. And she wasn't about to tell.

Three-year-old Lily Evans hated porridge.

With James it was the other way around: everyone saw his first sign of magic. After all, the Potter's were a high standing pure-blood family, meaning they'd be among the people invited to the yearly New Year's party at the ministry. And, considering they were that high standing pure blood family, the Potter's had to mingle, and thus left their 6-months-old son with the other babies. James Potter had never been a person who enjoyed being ignored. So he started screaming at the top of his lungs and, when his mother didn't manage to reach him right away, caused the gigantic pudding on the nearest table to explode, covering most of the guests in jelly.

It was the first time Sirius Black laughed or even smiled.

James' first smile had been on the day he was born. His first laugh had been two weeks after.

Remus' first sign of magic was directed towards a book. His favourite book to be exact. His favourite book – that lay on a shelf just a little too high. And his mom was cooking and didn't want him to bother her – so he wouldn't – and his dad wasn't home, but he really wanted to watch at the zooming images... Therefore, he cried out in joy when the book came zooming towards him, and his mom looked around just in time to see it do so.

Even at three years, Remus Lupin loved books.

Two-year-old Severus Snape watched as his daddy yelled, and as he threw a vase at the wall and then he froze as his daddy lunged at his mother, his massive fist colliding painfully with her shoulder. As his daddy stormed out of the room, Severus started moving again, running towards his mom, who said huddled in the corner, tears rolling down her cheeks and clutching her pained shoulder. She looked up as a small hand reached out to clumsily wipe away a tear, and then saw her son bow forward and place a small kiss on her shoulder.

"Kiss make boo-boo better?" And she smiled widely and nodded. Not because of the compassion of her young son, moreover because his kiss had actually made the 'boo-boo' go away…

Peter's first sign of magic was – well… Peter was a little late with magic. Only as a nine-year-old he first showed something extraordinarily, when he got caught at the sweet store down the street stealing chocolate and managed to avoid punishment by disappearing. And not by running off – he wasn't fast – not by hiding – he'd never been good at hide-and-seek – no, Peter Pettigrew simply turned himself invisible.

His mom was so happy that she simply forgot the reason behind this sudden sprout of magic, and threw him a party rather than punishing him.

James always looked forward towards his birthday. He started counting down two months ahead, and didn't sleep a week prior out of anticipation. But who could blame him, as every year he was awakened by his mom and dad with a pile of gifts and breakfast in bed, had a huge party accompanied by many gifts and countless delicious treats, invited numerous friends to play with and even more guests because of social impression (the Black's always declined, the Lupin's weren't in the public eye enough, the Evans were muggles and thus unknown and unheard of, the Snape's had a bad name and Mrs Potter had never really liked Mrs Pettigrew) and – most importantly – his dad took him (and some lucky friends) to a Quidditch field were he was aloud to fly as high, as much and as dangerously as he wished…

James Potter definitely looked forward towards his birthday.

Severus Snape noted that his birthday's got worse every year. His mom tried, sure, made a cake, invited some family – but she'd never been good at baking, and thanks to Tobias the family preferred to stay away after a few years… He didn't have any friends – he was home-schooled so he knew no one from the local schools, and other than that most kids found him rather strange with his poor clothing, big nose, and greasy hair – so there was no one else he could invite, or play with.

Severus Snape often found himself almost forgetting his own birthday.

The birthday of a Black was an important and big social event. Sirius thoroughly detested important and social events. Still, he was forced to sit at the head of the long table year after year, saying polite 'thank you's as the guest handed him their gifts, watching as all the food slowly disappeared onto plates knowing he would be the last to be served and his unwrapping would go slower and slower as the time got on because he didn't even really like any of the presents anyway and he didn't want to dance with all the pureblood witches around his age that were present as he knew he would have to once this part of the torture had been done with.

Sirius Black dreaded his birthday.

The Evans' had birthday traditions. First, you got your favourite breakfast and then you dressed up in your new clothes and wore your new shoes. Secondly, you spend the morning celebrating with the whole family before heading to that-one-place-close-to-Surrey-next-to-the-highway. Thirdly, in the afternoon you were free to invite friends over, and for the dinner you'd all get fish and chips before going off to the ice-cream shop on the corner for dessert. Every year, Lily would start the day with strawberry yoghurt, before pulling on her new dress (green, always green) and the shoes with straps her mom knew would break but bought her anyway because Lily loved them. She'd get countless presents and have the greatest fun, first with her cousins, then with her friends and always with Tuney. Fish and chips were here favourite meal, and she always got strawberry ice-cream and Tuney would always get vanilla and they'd share so they had two flavours instead of one.

Lily Evans knew birthdays.

Remus Lupin knew two birthdays. The before birthdays and the after birthdays. He enjoyed the before birthdays, when he'd play with his cousins and the boys from down the street whilst the grown-ups talked in the garden. He didn't enjoy the after birthdays, when his family thought up excuses not to come and the boys down the street didn't get why he'd grown so quiet and concluded he was a bore so stopped coming as well.

Remus Lupin enjoyed and didn't enjoy birthdays, and that was just tough luck.

The birthday of Peter Pettigrew was simple. His mom would cook for hours and finally in the afternoon the biggest bullies of his school would show, play with his new toys, stuff their faces with food and Peter would know that for the coming weeks he'd be in the higher ranks. More important than the victims, slightly below the helpers and almost level yet still a bit above bystanders.

Peter Pettigrew needed birthdays.

Remus couldn't have possible anticipated what had happened. After all, he'd walked through the woods in the dark so often, usually with a friend, and there'd never been even the slightest sign of life. But this – this thing had definitely been alive. Remus clutched his side in agony, willing the pain to go away by the simple pressure of his hands. It didn't. And suddenly- quite unexpectedly – he realised he could very well die here. And as tears started to build in his eyes – he didn't want to die, he was only seven for Merlin's sake! - he suddenly heard his name. Out of nowhere, two strong arms lifted him and Remus vaguely recognized his dad. But everything was fading, and he was just so tired…

Remus Lupin didn't know his life would never be the same.

James' eyes widened in horror, watching the terror unfold right before his eight –year-old eyes. And around him people were running and screaming, as more and more curses were directed at them. But he stood frozen, wanting to help, but unable to do anything. It was the most helpless he'd ever felt. He could see a small girl being dragged away by one of the masked figures and lunged forwards to help her- when his dad caught him around the middle and apparated away. And in the kitchen of their home, he told his mom about wanting to help, about needing to fight… she told him to play, have as much fun as he possible and just be a child. Fighting was for grown men, and once he came of age he would be aloud to do so.

But James Potter knew his life would never be the same.

Severus had never been fond of company. He didn't like other people. Not adults, not children. Neither boys, nor girls. He preferred to be on his own, and usually stayed inside. A lonely nine-year-old boy. But Tobias and his mom were fighting, and he had to go away… and there she was. She and another girl – her friend, her sister? – were playing, running around in large circles… and she was beautiful. He'd never seen anyone who could compare to her. Her long red hair trailed behind her, her stunningly green eyes were sparkling and her laugh echoed around the deserted playground. And then she jumped – but she came far too high, and made a few steps through the air before landing again, giggling…

Severus Snape knew his life would never be the same.

Lily looked back one more time as she and Petunia trudged away. A witch? Couldn't be, right? And Petunia didn't believe it, and in Lily's ten-year-long life Petunia had never been wrong. Yet, Petunia couldn't do the things she could… so how would she know, really? It was all so confusing. Perhaps she should go look for him later, and ask… he seemed to know what he was talking about. And he said he could do the same things she could. Yeah, she would go look for him later, but without Tuney.

Lily Evans didn't know her life would never be the same.

Sirius' eyes were dark, as he looked at his cousins' form from behind a tapestry. Bella was happy. Too happy. He was used to her being gloom, snappy and short, not to this bubbly, witty person that seemed to be radiating magic. And quite honestly it scared him. Not just the sudden change in attitude, moreover the reason for the sudden change… Because it was all she could talk about – You-Know-Who – and he knew it couldn't be right. His parents adored it, and his cousin adored it and almost his whole family adored it. But Sirius knew it couldn't be right. He was only eleven, but he knew it couldn't be right. And then Bella rolled up her sleeve and proudly showed it to his mother, and they both wore identical proud, arrogant, smug smiles.

Sirius Black knew his life would never be the same.

Peter's hands were shaking as he tried to get up. He hadn't expected them to come after him. It was the last day of school after all. Who on earth got beaten up on the last day of school? They would never even see each other again. It just didn't make sense. He finally managed to get his bruised limbs to cooperate and got to his feet, ignoring the throbbing of his head. It didn't matter, not really… He'd be going off to Hogwarts next year anyways. It didn't matter.

And Peter Pettigrew hoped his life would never be the same.

When Lily Evans opened the door to a cloaked figure, she wasn't surprised and she wasn't scared. Instead, she felt delight fill her as a huge smile split her face in two. Because Sev had been right. Sev hadn't been lying or making up stories, like Tuney had told her. And Lily knew she would go to Hogwarts, make plenty new friends, be absolutely brilliant and stay best friends with Sev for the rest of her life. Because he'd told her that as well.

When her new professor left, Lily bolted out the door straight to Spinners End.

Yes, Lily Evans was delighted.

Snape smiled as he read the letter, though it was a slightly sour smile. He would be happy to go to Hogwarts, definitely… But he didn't want to lose Lily. And fact remained that Lily was muggleborn and would therefore probably not end up in Slytherin. And he would. He planned to, at least. With a bit of luck, Lily would go to Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, and in that case their friendship could survive. If she went to Gryffindor however… well, that was the worst case scenario. And that wouldn't happen anyway, she was entirely too smart. She would go to Ravenclaw. She had to go to Ravenclaw.

Yes, Severus Snape was worried.

Sirius' heart jumped the second he saw the envelope. However, outwardly he maintained his bored and annoyed expression. Knowing his mother, she would have him home-schooled the second she realized how badly he wanted to go to Hogwarts. So he pretended not to see, and waited patiently for his father to call him. Instead of ripping the letter open and scanning through it, Sirius forced himself to open it calmly and read the entire context slowly, even with his heart doing summersaults and his body on fire. He put the envelope next to his plate, and continued eating with the same bored expression he carried around all day. It was hard though, when he felt lighter and lighter by the second, a warm glow was slowly spreading through his body.

Sirius Black was relieved.

James didn't even notice the letter at first, paying much more attention to the scrambled eggs on the plate his mum had put it next to. Only halfway through breakfast James saw the letter, and even then it wasn't interesting enough to him to stop eating. Therefore, it took approximately an hour for James to as much as open the letter, and even then he simply scanned through it, halting at the last sentence on the second paper: -first year students are not allowed to bring a broomstick. Immediately a frown appeared on his face, and it quickly evolved into a scowl, as James saw his dreams of being on the house team being postponed yet another year.

James Potter was disappointed.

When Remus saw Professor Dumbledore sitting in his living room, he was confused. When he saw his mother's tear-streaked face he thought he understood. When he saw the radiant smile on her face he realized he didn't. And when they told him – he was still confused. Wasn't he a monster? Why would anyone want to help him? Especially someone as important and powerful as Dumbledore…? Point remained, that Dumbledore had helped him. And that's when it got through to him – he would be going to Hogwarts. He, Remus John Lupin, would be attending Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, coming semester. It was right there – black on white – in the letter Dumbledore handed him.

Remus Lupin was jubilant.

Peter's hand were shaking as he opened to letter carefully, not in the least because they still hurt from the ferocious beating he'd been forced to endure the week before. He read the letter and felt something weird in his stomach. But before it could be questioned his mom had hugged him and his dad was telling him how proud he was – and his heart jumped. Because never before had his dad been proud of him. That is why it took him some time to remember the feeling in the pit of his stomach, and realize what it was.

Peter Pettigrew was scared.