Authors Note:
Hey everyone! Now that I've posted the beginning of my Dr Who AU, I decided to get this one up as well.
This is a very common premise, namely adding in an OC as the fifth Marauder. I can't promise this will be all that original, but I've been at this one for years and I love it enough to let it out into the world on it's own.
Obviously, I own nothing. I am not JK Rowling. Nor do I own anything but my copies of the books and my copies of the films.
This work will have lots of gratuitous Bowoe references (it is the 70s), as well as plenty of the Beatles (I blame James), and the odd allusion to punk or Queen (Sirius).
That said, I really hope you enjoy my unoriginal but devoted attempt at examining this period in wizarding history.
Eleven year old Rose Evans was many things. Native of Cokeworth, youngest daughter of Richard and Violet Evans, twin sister of Lily, unfortunately related to Petunia the Horse-faced Shrew. And, thanks to Lily's creepy best friend - Slimy Snape - she also knew that she's a witch. Which made the time she gave Petunia a horse tail for the day, literal magic. They had been and gone from Diagon Alley, Lily with a trunk full of books to suit her studious nature, and a snow white cat she named Snowflake, while Rose had spent a lot of time in Gambol and Japes before Lily had dragged her off so she could buy her new barn owl, Hermes, after the Greek God of tricks. Lily seemed to be spending every minute under the sun with Slimy, and Rose was getting anxious to finally be able to go to Hogwarts. At Lily's urging (and because Rose was actually quite clever herself), she had looked through Hogwarts: A History. Slimy was clearly a Slytherin if there ever was one, but it was Gryffindor that called to Rose. Thankfully, it was only a matter of hours before they left for London and the mysterious Platform 9¾.
Not wanting a tearful scene at the train station, Rose said her farewells to her parents outside the station and made her own way inside. It wasn't hard to spot the witches and wizards, their owls and Hogwarts trunks in various shades of repair gave them away. Rose followed a stern-looking woman and her eleven year old son through the barrier to Platform 9¾, and had her breath taken away. Veiled by soft grey smoke was the most spectacular scarlet steam engine she had ever seen. The Hogwarts Express. Taking Hermes' cage in one hand, and dragging her trunk with the other, Rose slowly made her way along the platform towards the train compartments. Her shoulder burned before she even got halfway, so like a mature person, she dropped it, and proceeded to kick it and curse mildly. "Would you like some help?" Rose stopped mid-word and assessed the fellow first year that addressed her. He was messy jet black haired, hazel eyed, and grinning at her while cleaning his round glasses. She nodded slowly, remembering Petunia's poisonous departing hiss that nobody was going to want to be friends with a freak like her. "Excellent" the friendly boy beamed. "Oi, Black! Come help me with this!" Black, a grey eyed boy with immaculate black hair and features that were sure to make him handsome in a few years, pushed off the side of the train. He shot her a cocky smirk and helped his friend haul Rose's trunk into a compartment.
"Thank you both. You didn't have to-"
"Yes we did" Messy hair cut in. "You're the third member of our daring group."
"And how do you know I qualify?" Rose asked, speaking without thinking. "I don't know why you are even talking to me. You don't even know my name."
"You want to be in Gryffindor? Like pranking? Hate the ideals of Slytherin? Have an owl?"
"Yes to all the above" grey eyes drawled, shooting her a smile. "I passed you at the entrance to the station. I'm sorry your sisters such a bitch. If it's any consolation, you just made two friends, and we don't let 'em go." He held out his hand. "I'm Sirius Black, by the way."
"Rose Evans."
"And I'm James Potter" messy hair added cheerfully. "Now, can we take a seat? My dad says these things fill up quicker than seats at the Quidditch World Cup."
"What's quidditch?" Rose asked, feeling rather foolish. She'd just made friends, and now they were going to think she was a moron. Sirius looked at James and grinned.
"Mr Potter, shall we induct dear Miss Rosebud into the joys of quidditch?" James matched his grin, and Rose had the strangest feeling of finally finding home.
"Indeed we shall, Mr Black." And that, was how Rose came to love quidditch and ardently support the best quidditch team there was; Puddlemere United.
As the compartment door slammed shut behind Lily, Rose grinned widely at her partners in crime. "Snivellus? That was genius. I've been calling him Slimy since he decided Lily was finally worthy of his attention."
"A very accurate impression" Sirius smirked, grey eyes darting past her to settle on the corridor. "Looks like we're getting company." A shy looking boy with dark hair and pale green eyes that looked darker than they actually were knocked on the glass. Behind him was a boy their age with straw coloured hair and blue eyes , who looked around nervously and seemed to be eating cheese.
"Enter" James called in his best B-Grade horror film voice. They shuffled in and made to sit down. "Halt! Names and houses of choice."
"Um, Remus Lupin, Gryffindor would be ideal, but I'll probably end up in Ravenclaw."
"Ah, a smarty-pants" Sirius announced brightly. "Sit down, Mr Lupin." Remus cut a quick glance at Sirius before taking a seat next to Rose. "And you are?"
"P-Peter P-Pettigrew" the cheese-eating boy stuttered. "I'd love to be a Gryffindor, but everyone says I'm sure to be a Puffer."
"That'll do" Sirius shrugged, waving a hand magnanimously towards the seats. "I'm Sirius Black, unfortunately of that pure-blooded family. The other, less good-looking bloke is James Potter, and the angelic redhead is newly quidditch initiated Rose Evans."
"Tutshill?" Remus queried hopefully. Rose and the black haired boys shared a look.
"Puddlemere!"
"The Chudley Cannons rule!"
"Aren't they rubbish?" Rose asked Sirius. Peter made an offended squeaking noise, and all five of them suddenly burst into laughter.
"We're awful" Remus chuckled, James somehow having ended up on the floor of their compartment.
"A little help here, Sirius?"
"If you're wearing big boy trousers, you can stand up by yourself" Sirius shrugged, winking at Rose. James gave him a universal finger gesture and thanked Remus as he helped him up.
"Let's cross our fingers and hope for Gryffindor" James announced seriously. "I don't think I can give you guys up now that I've finally found you."
"Prank who you can" Sirius smirked, tossing a sickle in the air.
"Keep nothing back."
"We're going to get so many detentions" Remus mourned, eyes twinkling in anticipation.
"The detentions are half the fun, my good man" Sirius informed him cheerfully.
"I'm going to go insane" Remus muttered, shaking his head, but he seemed more resigned to the fact that actually upset about it.
"Eh, insanity is relative" Rose shrugged, laughingly bumping into Remus' side.
"I can already see that you're not going to be any help curbing their impulses, Rosie. I really am not surprised."
"Of course she's on our side you pillock" Sirius rolled his eyes. "We're like the Three Musketeers; all for one and all that stuff."
"Only less French" James added, nodding as if that sealed the deal. "I'm buying the lunch trolley, by the way."
"Your funeral" Peter muttered dubiously.
"Death by chocolate" Remus gave the thought the consideration it was due. "I'm fairly sure that's my way out."
"I suppose it beats death by bludger" James mused, tilting his head in consideration. "And it's far better than being offed by exposure to Snivellus."
"What a horrible way to kick the bucket" Sirius shuddered, a disgusted expression twisting his features. "I'm gonna go out bravely fighting or something equally brave and courageous."
"Of course you are" James agreed, grinning at the sound of a squeaky wheel in the corridor. "Excellent, grub's up."
Later, while they were surrounded by discarded sweet wrappers, boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Chocolate Frog cards, and Peter's hoard of Fudge Flies, James started a game of Exploding Snap. "So, Rosie, tell us about your family?" Sirius glanced up, interested, and even Remus set aside his chocolate hoarding to hear her.
"It's pretty much the same as yours, but more muggle" Rose shrugged. "Mum and Dad have been married for about fourteen years. Mum's a florist, hence our flower names. Dad is a lawyer, a QC who is working his way up to sitting on the bench, being a judge. Then there's my oldest sister, Petunia. She hates everything magic, including Lily and I and wants to live a normal life, whatever that means. Lily takes her education very seriously, and doesn't like immaturity. Dad jokes that she was born an adult. But when she loosens up, she's a wonderful person and I love her dearly. And she has a cat named Snowflake." Rose smiled sadly. "We were very close when we were younger, but we were never normal and we reacted differently to it, and so we grew apart. We live in a little town called Cokeworth, in a two storey house with a beautiful garden, two grandparents died last year and since then it's just been us, and with Lil being with Snape it's a little lonely."
"Which is why Petunia said you were a freak that would never have any friends?" Sirius scowled as dark as his name. "If I could hex her into a pimple, I would Rosebud."
"And we'd curse your family into rodents if we could, mate" James added, looking grim at the thought of what they'd probably put Sirius through when he became a Gryffindor.
"No more grim thoughts, we're on the train to Hogwarts" Remus cheered, everyone pelting him with stray Bertie Botts Beans.
The five new friends doubled over in laughter, to a one sopping wet and dripping water onto the stone outcropping. Lily looked on in disapproval, her usual reaction to what she called Rose's immaturity. Rose wrung out her hair, while Sirius and James bickered over whose fault it was that they capsized in the first place. "To be fair" Remus put in calmly, scrunching water out of his cloak. "Hagrid did say no more than four to a boat. We had five, and we were trying to hit the boat with Sniv- Snape in it."
"Remus, Remus, Remus" Sirius threw an arm over his shoulders. "Don't be such a killjoy. Besides, we nearly made it all the way across the lake before James fell in."
"And you didn't?"
"Details, Mr Potter" Sirius waved his hand dismissively. "What matters is that you fell in first. And that I gallantly dived in after you."
"You lost your balance because you were laughing too hard, Siri" Rose pointed out, smiling as they stopped outside a massive pair of carved oak doors.
"Welcome to Hogwarts Castle" James murmured, Sirius standing beside him looking up at the castle in awe.
"I think you mean, welcome home." James looked at them and nodded, solemnity briefly replacing the mischievous air he projected.
"Yes, I think I do" he agreed softly. "Welcome home."
Hagrid gave them all a moment to soak in their first proper glimpse of the castle, then knocked three times on the doors. Almost immediately, a stern-looking witch in emerald robes opened the doors, her eyes flickering over all the first years and resting briefly on the sodden friends. With a wave of her wand, and what was sure to be the first of many exasperated sighs, they were warm and dry, James doffing an imaginary cap to her. Peter made a whimpering noise, while Remus looked torn between awe of the entrance hall and wanting to slam both Sirius and James's heads off the castle walls. Rose herself was busy gaping at the magnificent marble staircase and the sheer size of the entrance hall. Lily caught her eye and dropped her jaw slightly, shock in her eyes. They followed the stern witch across the flagged stone floor, voices coming from a doorway to the right, a door James muttered that led to the Great Hall. The witch ushered them into a small antechamber off the entrance hall. "I am Professor McGonagall" the stern witch announced clearly in a Scottish accent. The words had a well-worn ring of repetition to them, but it didn't make any difference to the crowd of wide-eyed first years. "Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend time in your house common room." Sirius rolled his eyes exaggeratedly, miming falling asleep. James snorted but managed to cover the sound in a sneeze. Remus, ever helpful, handed him a tissue and avoided seeing McGonagalls glare. She cleared her throat and continued. "The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history-" Sirius snorted dubiously. "-and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards." Remus stamped on Sirius' foot to stop him saying anything. "While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points." Sirius and James adopted mournful expressions of guilty innocence. Rose didn't believe them for a minute, but then again she wasn't exactly sorry for the thought either. "At the end of the year, the house with the highest points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours." Rose could've sworn that McGonagall looked at them when she said that. The cheek. "The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." Her eyes lingered on James's messy hair, Sirius' undone tie (that Rose knew he had no intentions of doing up), and a blonde boy with blue eyes who had his own tie on but somehow under his ear. "I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly."
"Like that's going to happen" James muttered, after the door was closed behind her. The blonde boy laughed despite himself, walking over to them with the son of the stern woman Rose had followed into the barrier.
"I'm Benjy Fenwick" blonde said cheerfully. "I saw your capsision, masterful."
"We try" James smiled modestly. "I'm James Potter, that's Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Rose Evans."
"You don't want to make friends with the wrong sort, Black." Sirius stiffened beside Rose, glaring at the superior group of boys nearby.
"I'll make friends with who I like, Mulciber" Sirius spat the name like a curse. "And if you don't like it, you can shove your wand up your arse and-"
"That's quite enough" Benjy's friend interrupted. "I'm Frank Longbottom. And who are you lovely ladies?" He addressed his comment to Lily and the group of girls around her.
"Lily Evans" Lily said, nodding slightly towards Rose. "Her twin sister."
"Alice Fortescue." Alice was a pretty girl with a round face, blue eyes and light brown hair that could either turn blonde or dark brown with age.
"Mary McDonald." Mary had dark eyes, dark hair and a sweet air about her. Next to her was another girl with similar attributes, but with a more angular face and darker eyes.
"Dorcas Meadowes" she beamed brightly.
"Emmeline Vance." A dark brown haired, hazel eyed girl waved from beside Lily.
"Hestia Jones." Black haired and pink cheeked, Hestia seemed happy and full of life.
"Marlene McKinnon." Marlene was stunning even at eleven, with midnight blue eyes and blonde hair, and seemed to have as much self-confidence as Sirius did. McGonagall cleared her throat from behind them.
"They're ready for you now."
The Great Hall was no exaggeration in naming. The vaulted ceiling was high above their heads, enchanted to display a perfect replica of the sky outside. A high table stood at the far end of the hall, professors seated all the way across it, a merrily smiling white haired man (presumably Professor Dumbledore) seated in the middle. Four other tables stood in the hall, each resting under a banner emblazoned with a house crest; the Gryffindor lion at the far left, the Hufflepuff badger to its right, then the Ravenclaw eagle, and the Slytherin snake. Each table was burdened with golden plates, platters, cutlery and goblets, students in black robes (plain but for the house crest) seated at all four. Thousands upon thousands of floating candles lit the hall, and every here and there ghosts shone like foggy mists. Silence fell in the hall as McGonagall placed a stool in front of the middle aisle, a grubby hat placed atop it. Rose privately grinned at the thought of Petunia's face if she ever saw it. Literally everyone in the hall (even a curiously smiling James) was staring at the hat, so Rose turned her gaze back to it.A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth, and the hat actually began to sing. Sirius' shoulders were shaking from the get-go, chuckles escaping every now and then when he couldn't contain then any longer. James snickered next, then Peter, and Rose and even the respectful Remus. It was like they were caught in the Giggle Loop; the worst possible time to laugh, and they wanted to. Thank Merlin, it was over quickly (some nonsense about the different houses and the like, unimportant drivel, as Sirius muttered in her ear). The hall burst into applause as the song finished, McGonagall again stepping forward with a long roll of parchment. "When I call your name,you will put on the Hat and sit on the stool to be sorted" McGonagall announced crisply, James muttering a threat to his Uncle Charlus under his breath. "Abbot, Andrew."
"As usual" James whispered, holding court with the group of them. "The first up is always a Puffer." Lily glowered at him, but looked too nervous to carry on with it. Snape did glare at him, but James just smirked and waved, until Remus trod on his foot as well.
"Black, Sirius."
"Good luck, mate" James wished, the four watching their friend strut up to the stool, lounge upon it and take his sweet time in lowering the Hat onto his head.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"Thirty seven seconds, not bad" Remus grinned, clapping so hard that his hands must be hurting. They waited for awhile, watching as the students were sorted, Sirius grinning over at them from the top of the Gryffindor table. The spaces around him were left empty, which probably had something to do with Sirius glaring at whoever came near him and the fact that nobody had been sorted into Gryffindor besides him.
"Evans, Lily." Lily looked as though she was about to throw up, but she perched elegantly on the stool and had the Hat lowered onto her red hair. Ninety seconds later, the Hat screamed out its verdict.
"GRYFFINDOR!" Snape slumped in defeat while Lily bounced over to the Gryffindor table, taking a seat a little further down from Sirius. And then it was Rose's turn.
"Evans, Rose."
"See you in Gryffindor, Rosie" James murmured, his hand briefly resting on her arm.
"Kick Sirius when you get there, Rosie" Remus added while Peter just smiled encouragingly. Rose took a deep breath and walked up to the stool, feeling the eyes of the whole school on her back. With the friends she had, Rose had the feeling this would be happening a lot, so she straightened her shoulders and sat on the stool like it was her throne.
"Ah" a little voice murmured in her ear, barely loud enough for her to hear. "Another Evans with a similar destiny. But the path, what path will you choose? Powerful friendships will dominate your life, enrich it and yet cause it more trouble than anyone else could predict. I could put you in Ravenclaw, it would save you a lot of trouble you know. Nobody's future is set." Rose didn't even have to speak to get her thoughts across. She knew where she belonged, and she knew somehow that if there was trouble to come they would face it together. "Unpredictability, managed. GRYFFINDOR!" Rose smiled so wide her face started to hurt. She heard James, Remus and Peter cheering madly, but it was Sirius' grey eyes glittering with pride and joy that stayed with her, even surpassing Lily's happiness.
"Rosebud!" Sirius swung her around in a tight hug, laughing joyfully.
"Hi Siri" Rose bubbled, feeling like she was floating. "Imagine I kicked you from Remus." He flicked Remus the middle finger and pulled her down next to him. "Old Fenwick's next."
"Fenwick, Benjy." Rose watched from the Gryffindor table while the blonde took a seat on the stool.
"GRYFFINDOR!" Sirius cat called and cheered while poor Benjy sat down diagonally across from Lily.
"Does he think he's safe from us?" Sirius wondered, looking quite put out.
"If he does, we'll prove him wrong soon enough" Rose shrugged, Alice soon bouncing over to join them with a bright smile. Next to join them was Hestia, then Frank and then Remus was called. After a tense few minutes during which - Remus later confided - the Hat tried to persuade him into Ravenclaw, the Hat screamed out GRYFFINDOR and Remus sat opposite Rose. The three M girls (Marlene, Mary and Dorcas) quickly joined Lily, while Peter and James took their rightful places at the top of the Gryffindor table. As soon as Emmeline dropped into her seat next to Dorcas, Rose finally felt like this was right; this was how things were supposed to be.
"Bring on the future" James grinned widely. "We're going to meet it together."
Thanks for reading! Please review!
Also posted at AO3 under my username Bluebellstar