Disclaimer:
This is my interpretation of the Marauders life at Hogwarts. I am planning on doing all seven years, but for now this is year one. I hope you enjoy it.
All rights belong to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 4 - A late night stroll
James awoke at midnight in the Gryffindor first year boy dormitory. Something had stirred him. He sat up in his bed and saw Sirius flicking his wand about desperately and muttering different incantations.
"What are you doing?" James asked.
"Huh?" Sirius freaked, "You're awake?"
"He's not the only one mate." Remus mumbled from his bed.
"Yeah, you're pretty loud." Peter agreed.
"So, what are you doing?" James asked.
"Nothing." Sirius replied a little too quickly. The three other boys looked at him and he sighed, "Fine, I'm trying to turn my robes green."
"Why?" James asked.
"My family is a Slytherin legacy! I can't even imagine what my family will say when they find out." Sirius confessed.
"Sirius, I get it. All you want is your parents' approval. We all seek something similar at some point in our lives." Remus said, "But do you really think that changing your house is going to do that for you?"
"Honestly, I do." Sirius answered.
"Well then, I suppose we have no choice but to help you." James said.
"Wait, really?" Sirius asked.
"That's what friends are for. Everyone grab you Charms and Transfiguration textbooks. I'm sure we'll find a spell somewhere in there." James answered.
"What about Kingsley? Should we wake him?" Peter asked.
"Leave me out of whatever it is you four are doing. I sense it's only going to lead to trouble." Kingsley's voice spoke from the fifth bed in the dorm.
The other four boys grabbed their wands and textbooks and jumped onto Sirius' bed. After about two hours of studying, searching and altering, they finally got a spell that managed to turn Sirius' robes into that of Slytherin's. Then they helped Sirius repack his suitcase and James brought forth his invisibility cloak. "It is a cloak that will turn us invisible," James explained to the other three. Remus told them that he'd seen the Slytherins head down towards the dungeons so he assumed their common rooms must be down there. So the four boys all got under James' invisibility cloak and started making their way down towards the dungeons.
On the seventh floor they were still finding their bearings and stumbled quite a few times. On the sixth floor they saw a ghost unscrewing all the light bulbs and on the fifth floor staircase on their way to the fourth floor, the staircase decided to move and they ended up having to take a very long detour before finally getting to the fourth floor. On the fourth floor they were certain a cat was following them and on the third floor they came face to face with Professor McGonagall. On the second floor nothing happened and on the first floor Peter tripped only to be spotted by the same cat who had followed them on the fourth floor. The cat ran off and the group of four headed towards the dungeons.
James lifted the invisibility cloak and they stood outside the dungeons for a while before Remus asked, "So, where's the entrance to the Slytherin dorms?"
"I suppose the entrance is one of these dungeon doors." James answered.
"Actually…"Sirius started, "I've been thinking, maybe being a Gryffindor isn't that bad."
"You only realize that now?" Remus asked.
"Mate, Gryffindors are the best! Besides we live in a tower that looks out upon the grounds of Hogwarts. Slytherin sits down here in a cold and damp dungeon. We have it so much better." James said.
"Yes." Peter agreed.
"So, what do you want to do now?" Remus asked.
"I had more fun tonight than I've ever had in my life. Screw what my family thinks! I want to stay in Gryffindor." Sirius said.
"Now, that is the first good idea I've heard from you all night." Remus said.
So the four started making their way upstairs again.
"Hold it right there." a voice spoke behind them, "Please, follow me to Professor McGonagall's office."
They had been caught! The man led them upstairs and around many passages and corners until he finally stopped outside a door and knocked.
"Argus Filch, have you caught troublemakers already?" Professor McGonangall asked.
"I found these four wandering outside the Slytherin common room." Argus Filch replied.
"James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, what on earth happened to your robes?" she asked, "Thank you Argus, you may leave them with me."
Argus Filch left and Professor McGonagall closed the door behind him. Then she offered the four boys seats, "Now, tell me what happened."
"It was all my fault." Sirius said.
"Don't take all the blame Sirius, we're just as responsible." James argued.
"Yes, if I hadn't tripped we wouldn't have been spotted so it's actually my fault." Peter added.
"It doesn't matter whose fault it is just tell me what you four were doing outside Slytherin's common room and Mr. Black, why are your robes green?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"Sirius was scared of what his family would think if they found out he'd been sorted into Gryffindor house, being a Black legacy and all." Remus started to explain, "So we mixed a Transfiguration spell with a Charms spell and turned Sirius' robes green. Then we accompanied him to the dungeons and once outside he decided that maybe Gryffindor isn't so bad, so we started heading back before Mr. Filch caught us."
"Well, I'm afraid I have to take five points from each of you for sneaking out past curfew, which puts Gryffindor's points at negative 20." Professor McGonagall scolded them, "But, I award each of you ten points for use of magic and bravery and James, Peter and Remus, five more points to each of you for friendship. That puts Gryffindor's points at 35. Now, go to bed. And please, don't let this become a regular thing."
