Harry Potter and the Marauder Diaries

Chapter 2: The Marauders Meet

June 12: Platform 9 ¾ -- James Potter

The Hogwarts Express was all I expected it to be. In my compartment were myself, a long haired boy named Sirius Black, a rather bookish fellow called Remus Lupin, and a misshaped boy who kind of resembled a rat named Peter Pettigrew. The three of them weren't bad at all! In fact, we all became friends rather quickly. It was Sirius Black who had initiated the conversation.

"So, James, what house do you hope to be in?"

"I would rather be in Gryffindor. My father tells me it is the most noble of houses." I said in reply.

Sirius nodded, seeming to agree. I didn't pin him as the Gryffindor type though. Maybe it was his family, which I had seen shortly before boarding the train, or maybe it was his appearance that led me to think that.

"I want to be in Gryffindor as well." Sirius said seriously. Hah. Sirius, seriously… wow. I get ahead of myself sometimes. Anyways, he continued with something interesting to say the least. "The rest of my family was in Slytherin though. I do believe my mum would have a heart attack if I got in Gryffindor."

At this statement even Remus Lupin laughed. "I doubt yer mum would have a heart attack." He said as he looked over his book.

Sirius grinned, "You don't know my mum."

I sat, merely listening to the two of them jabber on about Sirius's mum, but I noticed that Peter Pettigrew didn't say much. I couldn't tell if it was because he was intimidated, or if he just didn't like us.

"Hey, Peter!" Sirius Black bellowed. "What about you? What house do you want to be in?"

"I-I-I want to be in G-Gryffindor." He stammered. Poor chap looked way too nervous.

"Well then maybe all of us will be in Gryffindor together!" Sirius continued.

All I could do was smile in reply. "Say…" I began, "Why don't we come up with nicknames… you know… between ourselves?" I suggested just for the benefit of being stupid. I really didn't think that they would go along with it. But Sirius was eager to do it for some reason.

"Alright, I want to be called… Padfoot!" Sirius said.

"Why do you choose Padfoot?" Remus questioned.

I was actually quite curious myself. I didn't see any rationalization behind it. Until he told us why he chose that name that is… I was certainly surprised. This is what he said:

"You can't tell anyone, you've got to promise."

We all nodded eager to know of his secret. Personally I didn't think it could be anything that bad. At least I hoped it wasn't!! Sirius seemed to be the type that liked to keep someone on end. I'm sure he'd be great at telling ghost stories of all kinds. Anyways, back to his secret.

"I'm an--- an animagus." Sirius said simply after waiting as long as he could to get us interested.

"No way, Sirius, you're bluffing." Remus said as he leaned back in the seat.

"NO! It's true! I can turn into a dog."

"Prove it then." Peter added in quietly. Poor fellow probably hated saying that.

"You want me to prove it, Peter?" Sirius grinned, "If one morning you put your shoe on and find that it's wet inside… don't look at me."

Peter wrinkled his rat like nose in disbelief. I sure as bloody hell wasn't going to test the fates like that! Something about Sirius made me believe him.

"Alright, Padfoot, I accept your secret… but only if I get to choose my nickname next." Remus said with a smile.

Remus, the smarted of the bunch of us by far, also seemed eager to choose his nickname. But, I didn't have some dark secret that could give me a nickname like Sirius did. I almost wished I had one… but who would want a secret only to tell it?

"Let us have it, Remus!" Sirius said excitedly.

"Alright, I choose Moony." Remus said.

The three of us had confused expressions. I know we must have because Remus only laughed and scooted to the edge of his seat.

"You told me a secret… now I'll tell you one… but you have to promise. I could get in a lot of trouble for this." He said in a serious tone of voice. We knew he wasn't kidding. "I'm a werewolf." As he finished that statement he sat back in his seat.

I looked at him with the most disbelief. "No bloody way, Remus! You're a—a--- w-?"

"SHHHHH!" Remus shushed with his finger up to his mouth. "Yes, I am. It isn't something that I can exactly show you without hurting you, unlike Sirius's secret.

"Moony it is then. What would you like your nickname to be, Peter?" I asked as I turned in my seat to look at him. For a moment I didn't even pay attention to Peter. All I saw was this girl in the compartment across from us, and next to her a kid with a hooked nose and stringy black hair.

I watched her carefully… the way she would tuck her brunette hair behind her ear as she laughed, the way she crossed her arms over her lap in that sophisticated way, the way she would occasionally bite her lower lip to suppress a laugh. I'm surprised that I remember it so vividly as to write it down in this diary.

Suddenly I wished I were that stringy black haired kid.

"Wormtail, I would like for my nickname to be Wormtail." Peter said, finally bringing me back to reality.

"Wormtail?" Sirius countered with a laugh. "Well… I suppose it's no secret that you have a pet rat."

Peter nodded with a grin. All of them looked at me, expecting me to produce a nickname right away, linked with some reason to have it. But I couldn't think of one. There weren't any secrets, and I couldn't just make up a secret.

I looked up to see the girl I has seen before. She was holding a folder, looked like a muggle thing to me, and she was pointing out something inside of it to the boy next to her. Prongs. Perfect. I had just thought of my nickname.

"Prongs, I want my nickname to be Prongs." I said quickly.

Luckily there was no explanation required of me. I don't think I would have been able to give one to them. At least I couldn't give a good explanation. We weren't Sirius, Remus, James, and Peter anymore. No, we were Padfoot, Moody, Prongs, and Wormtail. All in all, I must say the train ride wasn't too bad. I had acquired a new nickname and caught a glimpse of the girl of my dreams.

Not too bad… not too bad at all.

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Author's Note: Thanks for reading Chapter 2 of the Marauder Diaries! Please feel free to comment if you liked it, or hated it even! Chapter three will be an entry by Sirius Black.