The Spirit of Adventure
Marauders are cool. That much is obvious. We are the cool kids, the rebels, the ones playing games down the back of the class. But that's easy. Anyone can do that. A Marauder is so much more than that.
Firstly, believe it or not, Marauders are really very good at schoolwork. We don't care, we don't want to suck up to teachers or spend hours studying on a sunny day, but we do actually work. Some of the time, anyway. Do you think we'd have been able to make an enchanted, constantly-accurate map of Hogwarts that showed the location of every living person in the castle in real time if we didn't pay attention in Charms class? That our wondrous pranks would work without a decent working knowledge of Charms and Transfiguration. OK, so one of our number – naming no names, Moony – has his head stuck in a book half the time, but we all do our best to learn cool stuff in our own ways. Yes, even Prongs, when he can stop mooning over Evans.
Secondly, we're loyal to each other. We stick together, we don't rat each other out (no offence, Wormtail). We're friends. That's important. After all, what good is a hilarious prank or a cool new discovery if you don't have somebody to share it with?
Thirdly, and most importantly, we have what I like to call the spirit of adventure. We're curious, we want to find out new things – be they useful spells or handy secret passageways – and we're not afraid to get our hands dirty (well, Prongs is. He says if he looks dirty he won't impress Evans. He never manages to impress her anyway, but that's a whole other chapter in this nifty little guide). So if you want to be like us, get active. Sneak out of your dorms. Learn how to blag food from the House Elves and talk Minnie out of giving you a detention. Flatter Slughorn into telling you about an obscure-but-fun potion. Practice duelling with your mates. Learn to fly. Take long walks around the grounds and see what you can find. Learn to play chess.
Maybe, one day, if you do all this, you'll be almost as brilliant and handsome as me.
Yours awesomely,
Padfoot.