"Little Prongs!" Sirius yelled gleefully, jumping up and down on Harry's bed. "Wake up,
Little Prongs, wake up!"
Harry groaned and rolled over, figuring Fred and George must have wanted to bother
Ron and didn't mind messing with Harry either. He blearily opened his eyes to see Sirius' young, vibrant face. "Sirius!" he exclaimed, suddenly wide awake as all the events from the other day rushed back at him.
Satisfied that Harry was awake, Sirius ran over to James' bed. "Prongs!" he yelled, jumping up and down. "Prongs, wake up!" James rolled over, covering his head with his pillow. Sirius pushed him off the bed.
"PADFOOT!" James yelled at the top of his lungs, jumping up and chasing Sirius around the room. Sirius yelled gleefully, hopping from bed to bed, not minding that he was stepping all over Remus and Peter, much to their discomfort.
Harry suddenly became aware that the sun wasn't even up yet. "What time is it?" he asked Remus, who had gotten out of bed and started heading towards the bathroom.
"Who knows?" Remus replied, yawning. "Sirius does this every morning. I don't think he sleeps at all. He probably woke you up earlier than usual since he was so excited." He smiled, and then whispered, "If you want a shower, better hurry before Prongs catches Padfoot."
Harry quickly got out of bed, bending down to gather his stuff, when he remembered he didn't have any. Remus quickly realized this and said, "Don't worry, Harry. You can borrow mine." Remus smiled kindly at Harry. Harry grinned back and followed Remus into the bathroom.
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Lily brushed her hair slowly, taking her time. The other girls were talking excitedly about Harry Potter. She sighed. He was probably as bad as his father. She couldn't believe this had happened. She sighed again, and started to follow the other girls downstairs when her best friend, Annabelle Wood, stopped her.
"Lily, what's wrong?" Annabelle asked, pursing her lips. "This is because of Potter again, isn't it?"
"He's so horrible!" Lily exclaimed. "He acts as though he's so cool, with his stupid Snitch and stupid friends –"
"Lily, you're totally wrong," Annabelle sighed. "First of all, not all of his friends are stupid. Look at Remus! He's a prefect."
Lily rolled her eyes. "That's not surprising. Look at Dumbledore's other choices."
Annabelle ignored this, plowing on. "And he is good at Quidditch. I mean, he shows off a little too much, but he has a reason. My brother's always talking about how fantastic James is."
"But I don't like him!" Lily protested indignantly.
"I didn't say you did. But Lily, you could give him a chance. He's much better than Black, but you never yell at him."
"Whatever," Lily sighed, shaking her head. "Let's go meet Potter squared."
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Harry walked into the Great Hall, trying to ignore how terrified he was. People stared at him, standing on chairs trying to get a better look, but the Marauders surrounded him. The five boys sat down near the end of Gryffindor table.
"Hey Prongs, look," Sirius said, nodding to his left. "It's Evans."
Harry looked over quickly, and sure enough, there was his mother, talking animatedly with another girl.
James grinned at Sirius. "And Wood," he added, as Sirius smirked. Harry looked at both of them in confusion.
"Lily Evans is the girl James has had a crush on since first year, but she's always hated him," Remus murmured quietly to Harry. "Annabelle Wood is the girl Sirius always goes to when he's bored, but she always turns him down."
Harry stared at James and Sirius as they walked – no, strutted over to Lily and Annabelle.
"Hey, Evans," James said casually, plopping himself next to Lily.
"Hey, Wood," Sirius smirked, elegantly sitting next to Annabelle.
"Go away," Annabelle said, glaring at both of them. "Why do you always have to be like this?"
"Because we know you secretly want us," Sirius quickly replied, scooting closer to her.
"In your dreams," Lily spat.
Afterward, Harry didn't know what made him do it. He just felt so incredibly angry that Sirius and James were acting like this. They were making fools of themselves! Harry wondered why Lily had even married James…
He abruptly stood up and walked toward them. James started to grin as he saw Harry, but it quickly faded when he saw the look on Harry's face.
"Why do you always have to be like this?" Harry asked, repeating Annabelle's question. Sirius could tell Harry was not going to give up. Well, neither was he.
"Little Prongs," Sirius began, his voice full of tension, "Why do you even care?"
"Hmm, I don't know. Maybe because my two idols are acting like idiots!" Harry said, his voice rising, glaring furiously at them. Sirius looked equally outraged, his knuckles turning white.
By then, Remus had joined them. "Sirius, stop," Remus begged, glancing nervously at Harry and Sirius. "James, do something!"
"Padfoot, let's go," James said, standing up. "Padfoot, come on. If you fight him, I can't help you."
Sirius whirled around, staring at James. "What do you mean?" he asked hoarsely.
"He's my son," James pleaded. "Padfoot, let's just go. It isn't worth it."
Sirius stared at James for a second, then abruptly stood up and marched out, Peter getting up and hurrying after him. James followed him with an apologetic glance at Harry. Harry glared back.
Lily looked at Harry curiously. Maybe he wasn't exactly like Potter.
Annabelle smiled at Remus and Harry, who was still staring at where his father had left. "Do you want to sit with us?" she asked them.
Harry jerked out of his reverie, staring at her. Remus smiled and nodded. "That would be great," he answered, pulling Harry down into the seat next to Lily and sitting beside Annabelle.
"You're not very much like your father, are you?" Lily asked Harry, with a strange expression on her face.
Harry thought about this. "I suppose I'm not," he allowed. He looked at her, abruptly realizing whom he was talking to.
"I'm Lily," she smiled. "Lily Evans."
"I'm Harry," he smiled back. "Harry Potter. But you already knew that."
"I'm Annabelle Wood," the other girl said. "You know, I think that's the first time I've ever seen someone stand up to them. Especially Sirius."
"Sirius is not the best at keeping his temper in check," Harry admitted. "But I've never seen him snap at anyone like that… Well," he allowed, "I suppose I have, but never to me."
"He doesn't like being told what to do," Remus sighed. "Neither does James, but at least James can keep his head."
"What class do we have first?" Harry asked, changing the subject. "And who's the teacher?"
"Potions," Annabelle answered. "Slughorn will love you. Especially if you hang out with us."
"Annabelle…" Lily chided, knowing what Annabelle was thinking.
"You know it's true, Lily," Remus said. "You're the best in the class, except maybe for Snape." He turned to Harry, his eyes widening. "You'd better look out, Harry. Snape hates James, and he'll hate you too. You'll probably have to work with him."
"No, I'll work with him," Lily said. "Annabelle can work with Harry." She turned to Harry. "Severus is my best friend, and Potter and Black spend all their time bullying him. It's no wonder he hates them."
"I know," Harry answered. "Believe me, I know."
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Surprisingly, Harry found Potions much more enjoyable than he had in the past. Slughorn was much more welcoming than Snape ever was, and Harry found it much easier to work without Snape criticizing every little thing he did. Annabelle was very good at Potions, thought not quite up to Lily and Snape's level. Also, since Harry was doing this a second time, everything was very familiar.
Snape looked happy to be working with Lily. They seemed much closer than Harry had realized. He didn't know if this was good or bad.
Remus and Peter had already exploded their potion twice. Harry faintly remembered Lupin telling him he wasn't the best at potion-making a couple of years ago, but Harry didn't know he was this bad. Peter didn't seem to be helping things.
Sirius and James did not seem to be up to their usual standards, judging from Slughorn's disapproval. Harry had a feeling that had something to do with the fact that James kept sending apologetic glances at Harry and Sirius being too rough with all of the ingredients.
Finally, they were out of there. Harry wasn't sure whether he should hang out with James or Lily during the break. Lupin answered this for him by gesturing that he should come with them. Peter nervously made small talk while James and Sirius walked ahead of them. After a while, Harry became sick of this.
"Sirius!" he called. Sirius didn't turn around. "Sirius, come on –"
Sirius whirled around and glared at Harry, but Harry stood his ground. "What is the matter with you?" Sirius hissed. "Are you a Marauder or not?"
Harry simply looked at him. "If being a Marauder means being cruel to people for no good reason, then no, I'm not a Marauder."
"Sirius, back off," James began, but Sirius cut him off.
"What, James? Going to give me a lecture on morals? You're one to talk."
James stared at Sirius. Padfoot had never said anything mean to him. Ever. It was always Padfoot and Prongs. They were never separate and never got mad at each other. He could hardly believe this was happening. What did Sirius expect him to do, betray his own son? From the look on Sirius' face, that's what it looked like.
"James?" Harry asked quietly. James looked away. Sirius was his best friend. He'd never even met Harry before. He felt terrible when he saw the pain on Harry's face.
"Fine," Harry said abruptly. "I'll see you later." He ran to catch up to Annabelle and Lily. Sirius stared after him. He hadn't expected Little Prongs to leave… Maybe he was more upset than Sirius had thought.
Belatedly, James realized Harry had called him James instead of Dad.