The Many Secrets of the Marauders
James rode his broom across the field, dodging a bludger as he went. He saw the Golden Snitch next to the tail of the Ravenclaw Keeper, Penny McCavan. He pushed his broom on faster, almost pushing Penny off her broom in the process, and finally felt his hands clasp around the little golden ball. Its wings were flapping hard, trying to get free. He swooped down to the ground, his maroon cloak flapping behind him, as Monsieur Qui gave a blow of his whistle. The game was over. As he flew back down to the ground James saw a crowd of his cheering classmates. He landed on the ground, trying to get to Lily. She wrapped her arms around him as the crowd swarmed them. Even the Ravenclaw team was cheering rather enthusiastically. James gave Lily a kiss and they made their way back up to the castle. The only ones who weren't cheering were the Slytherins, still sitting in the stands as if waiting for the game to get going again. The Slytherins were now stuck in third place for the inter-house Qudditch championship, somewhere they hadn't been for nearly fifteen years. One Slytherin stood out among them all, his face contorted in a fit of jealousy. Severus Snape, a particularly nasty, greasy Slytherin. His menacing eyes gazed down on James and Lily as the rest of Snape's fellow Slytherins headed back to the common room. His gaze followed the pair to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, near the Whomping Willow tree. He was about to go get Professor Dunn, the Slytherin House teacher, but at that moment a dung bomb came hurling at his head. Snape jumped aside just in time, but the bomb exploded as it hit the stands anyway, sending clouds of smelly smoke into the air. He looked around trying to find the culprit and saw three people running away, back up to the castle. One had light brown hair, the shortest and fattest had bleached blonde hair, and the last had chin-length black hair. The three were unmistakably Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black. Snape let out a snarl and climbed down the bleachers before the dung smell could stick to his skin.
*** Sirius and Remus came up to congratulate James as he and Lily walked back into the Gryffindor common room. The room was empty except for James, Sirius, Lily, and Peter, who sat in his chair finishing a letter to someone that the rest of them could only guess. "Peter's writing to his girlfriend again, eh?" James said loud enough for Peter to hear. Peter looked over at him shyly, grinning at the thought of HIM actually having a girlfriend. Peter was a short chubby boy who greatly resembled a mouse. His voice was high and squeaky, and his white- blonde hair gave the impression that he was balding. Peter finished the letter, tied it to a snowy owl's leg, and he went to the window. "Follow the Riddles, 'kay, Genevieve?" he told the owl in a quiet voice so the others wouldn't hear. The owl obviously understood because it took off without a hoot. "Pete, why won't you tell us?" Lily asked, grinning broadly, "You've been writing to her for months now, since the beginning of term!" Peter only smiled, but there was something very uneasy about the smile, something different. But no one paid much notice. Lily let out a yawn. "Well, boys, I better be to bed, the N.E.W.T.s are coming up!" she said. James reached over and gave her a kiss on the cheek and she waved to the Marauders. She climbed up the stairs giggling. Peter looked at the others. "Gotta go too," he said in the middle of a yawn. He climbed the staircase too, and disappeared into the dormitories. Remus sat down on one of the large armchairs around the fire followed by the rest of the remaining Marauders. "What were you doing over there by the forest, huh? There was a great party that you missed. Everyone kept, very annoyingly I might add, asking where the hero of the game was. Saved you some sweets though!" At these words Sirius emptied his pockets revealing a large pile of Honeydukes best candies. "Snape was about to go and bust your pretty, little romantic bubble, you know. But we stopped him," Sirius said slyly. "What did you three do this time?" James cried in a false motherly tone. "Snape is going to go to Dunn now. That'll be a riot when he does."
"Can you imagine it?" Sirius chimed in with an innocent voice; "'Well sir, we thought we saw the feared Greasy Snake of Scotland up in the bleachers and we learned in Care of Magical Creatures that Greasy Snakes just can't stand the smell of rotten eggs so.'" They burst out laughing. Remus pulled out his astronomy chart and examined it. "Damn, we've go to run the night before the N.E.W.T.s. You sure you want to come? I can go to the Shack alone that night." he trailed off. Sirius and James both shook their heads no. "No, we said every month we would do it to together!" James said firmly. "Besides Moony," Sirius said on a lighter not, "we'll need a little fun after all the studying we will be doing." Remus saw there was no way he was going to win. "Alright, we better go tell Peter tonight then," Remus sighed exasperatedly. And they climbed up the stairs, exhausted after a long day.
***
Professor McGonnagal looked around at her class, the reviews for the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests, or N.E.W.T.s were going well, but Peter kept turning his frog purple, instead of making it turn into a child's doll. Peter's best subject was Transfiguration and he was barely passing that. How he got to hang around James, Sirius, and Remus, I will never know. They are so bright, she thought. The three's frogs had turned into little Quidditch dolls of their favorite team, the Chudley Cannons. The dolls were flying around in orange cloaks on little brooms, doing magnificent tricks. Finally Peter's frog had turned into a small broom that lay flat on the table doing nothing. The bell rang, signaling the end of class, and they left the classroom and headed for the Dining Hall. The four friends got up together and left. Peter looked around at his friends nervously. He was so different from theym. They are the brave and smart ones, he thought silently to himself; they only hang around with me because I wouldn't leave 'em alone in first year. The others were arguing about who's Cannon had been the fastest. Peter just hung his head as they got closer to the Dining Hall. "Hey, guys!" called Lily from a seat near the teacher's table, beckoning for them to sit down. The boys flinched. Though they were some of the brightest students (save for Peter), Sirius and James were also two of the biggest troublemakers. They weren't about to sit in front of the teachers. Sirius snorted and motioned for her to sit down closer towards the middle. She shook her head, but got up and headed for them anyway. Several other Gryffindors came towards them too.
James rode his broom across the field, dodging a bludger as he went. He saw the Golden Snitch next to the tail of the Ravenclaw Keeper, Penny McCavan. He pushed his broom on faster, almost pushing Penny off her broom in the process, and finally felt his hands clasp around the little golden ball. Its wings were flapping hard, trying to get free. He swooped down to the ground, his maroon cloak flapping behind him, as Monsieur Qui gave a blow of his whistle. The game was over. As he flew back down to the ground James saw a crowd of his cheering classmates. He landed on the ground, trying to get to Lily. She wrapped her arms around him as the crowd swarmed them. Even the Ravenclaw team was cheering rather enthusiastically. James gave Lily a kiss and they made their way back up to the castle. The only ones who weren't cheering were the Slytherins, still sitting in the stands as if waiting for the game to get going again. The Slytherins were now stuck in third place for the inter-house Qudditch championship, somewhere they hadn't been for nearly fifteen years. One Slytherin stood out among them all, his face contorted in a fit of jealousy. Severus Snape, a particularly nasty, greasy Slytherin. His menacing eyes gazed down on James and Lily as the rest of Snape's fellow Slytherins headed back to the common room. His gaze followed the pair to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, near the Whomping Willow tree. He was about to go get Professor Dunn, the Slytherin House teacher, but at that moment a dung bomb came hurling at his head. Snape jumped aside just in time, but the bomb exploded as it hit the stands anyway, sending clouds of smelly smoke into the air. He looked around trying to find the culprit and saw three people running away, back up to the castle. One had light brown hair, the shortest and fattest had bleached blonde hair, and the last had chin-length black hair. The three were unmistakably Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black. Snape let out a snarl and climbed down the bleachers before the dung smell could stick to his skin.
*** Sirius and Remus came up to congratulate James as he and Lily walked back into the Gryffindor common room. The room was empty except for James, Sirius, Lily, and Peter, who sat in his chair finishing a letter to someone that the rest of them could only guess. "Peter's writing to his girlfriend again, eh?" James said loud enough for Peter to hear. Peter looked over at him shyly, grinning at the thought of HIM actually having a girlfriend. Peter was a short chubby boy who greatly resembled a mouse. His voice was high and squeaky, and his white- blonde hair gave the impression that he was balding. Peter finished the letter, tied it to a snowy owl's leg, and he went to the window. "Follow the Riddles, 'kay, Genevieve?" he told the owl in a quiet voice so the others wouldn't hear. The owl obviously understood because it took off without a hoot. "Pete, why won't you tell us?" Lily asked, grinning broadly, "You've been writing to her for months now, since the beginning of term!" Peter only smiled, but there was something very uneasy about the smile, something different. But no one paid much notice. Lily let out a yawn. "Well, boys, I better be to bed, the N.E.W.T.s are coming up!" she said. James reached over and gave her a kiss on the cheek and she waved to the Marauders. She climbed up the stairs giggling. Peter looked at the others. "Gotta go too," he said in the middle of a yawn. He climbed the staircase too, and disappeared into the dormitories. Remus sat down on one of the large armchairs around the fire followed by the rest of the remaining Marauders. "What were you doing over there by the forest, huh? There was a great party that you missed. Everyone kept, very annoyingly I might add, asking where the hero of the game was. Saved you some sweets though!" At these words Sirius emptied his pockets revealing a large pile of Honeydukes best candies. "Snape was about to go and bust your pretty, little romantic bubble, you know. But we stopped him," Sirius said slyly. "What did you three do this time?" James cried in a false motherly tone. "Snape is going to go to Dunn now. That'll be a riot when he does."
"Can you imagine it?" Sirius chimed in with an innocent voice; "'Well sir, we thought we saw the feared Greasy Snake of Scotland up in the bleachers and we learned in Care of Magical Creatures that Greasy Snakes just can't stand the smell of rotten eggs so.'" They burst out laughing. Remus pulled out his astronomy chart and examined it. "Damn, we've go to run the night before the N.E.W.T.s. You sure you want to come? I can go to the Shack alone that night." he trailed off. Sirius and James both shook their heads no. "No, we said every month we would do it to together!" James said firmly. "Besides Moony," Sirius said on a lighter not, "we'll need a little fun after all the studying we will be doing." Remus saw there was no way he was going to win. "Alright, we better go tell Peter tonight then," Remus sighed exasperatedly. And they climbed up the stairs, exhausted after a long day.
***
Professor McGonnagal looked around at her class, the reviews for the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests, or N.E.W.T.s were going well, but Peter kept turning his frog purple, instead of making it turn into a child's doll. Peter's best subject was Transfiguration and he was barely passing that. How he got to hang around James, Sirius, and Remus, I will never know. They are so bright, she thought. The three's frogs had turned into little Quidditch dolls of their favorite team, the Chudley Cannons. The dolls were flying around in orange cloaks on little brooms, doing magnificent tricks. Finally Peter's frog had turned into a small broom that lay flat on the table doing nothing. The bell rang, signaling the end of class, and they left the classroom and headed for the Dining Hall. The four friends got up together and left. Peter looked around at his friends nervously. He was so different from theym. They are the brave and smart ones, he thought silently to himself; they only hang around with me because I wouldn't leave 'em alone in first year. The others were arguing about who's Cannon had been the fastest. Peter just hung his head as they got closer to the Dining Hall. "Hey, guys!" called Lily from a seat near the teacher's table, beckoning for them to sit down. The boys flinched. Though they were some of the brightest students (save for Peter), Sirius and James were also two of the biggest troublemakers. They weren't about to sit in front of the teachers. Sirius snorted and motioned for her to sit down closer towards the middle. She shook her head, but got up and headed for them anyway. Several other Gryffindors came towards them too.