Chapter 6: The Potter Gang

The next few months were both uneventful and full of activity.  We went to class. We pulled pranks. We teased Snape, and cursed him one time by whenever some one said the word it, he would burp. The teachers liked that one, though they tried hard restrain us. Thanks to our breakfast prank we got a well-deserved reputation as the most daring and the worst pranksters to ever come to Hogwarts. Even Professor Binns couldn't remember anyone worse. And he's a ghost.

We made friends with the gamekeeper Hagrid, who was huge. He reminded me of a giant. But James said giants weren't the nicest of people so I stopped thinking of him like that, because Hagrid was one of the best friends you could ever have. Though none of us knew it, he would spend most of the next seven years chasing us away from the forbidden forest. We spent much of our free time down at his hut. He had one flaw though, a strange idea of what was cuddly and what was not. He told us he wanted a dragon, but of course that was against the law. I In our sixth year he got a huge boarhound puppy. We dubbed it Fang when James learned the hard way that he didn't like to be tickled.

Everyone liked us. Teachers and students. Except for the Slytherins of course. Oh and Professor Beaker, the potions master. I don't know why, but he hated us. It couldn't have possibly  be the slugs we dumped into his cauldron the first day. We had no idea they were flammable.

It was the first time I'd ever been popular. At my old school I was the weird one, the outcast. Now we were known as the Potter gang. We all had our rolls.

I was the hotheaded one. I planned all the most daring and outrageous adventures. I couldn't tell the difference between a harmless prank and a dangerous adventure if it would save my life. About half the trouble we got into was because of my temper. I'll be the first one to admit it. I have a really bad temper if you make me mad. Not much makes me mad, but going after my friends will work every time. Snape learned that the hard way. I was also the joker. I was the one who made everyone laugh. Most of the pranks we pulled were my idea and I got a reputation for being an idiot, never thinking before I acted.

Remus was the calm head, the voice of reason. He was shyer that James and I, more interested in schoolwork. It always drove him mad because he could never figure out how I could study once a year and get the grades I did. Now don't get me wrong. Remus got in his share of trouble, mostly because James and I dragged him along. But he enjoyed it just as much as us. He was just a little more careful. Snape didn't pick on me, as much after he learned I wasn't afraid to fight back. So he picked on Remus. Remus wouldn't fight back. He didn't have the strength. But Remus was my friend. And no one messes with my friends.

Peter was, there's no other way to say it, the tag-along. He always hung out with us. Now I'm not trying to be mean or anything, Peter was my friend. I just had no illusions about his ability. He wasn't very smart and got picked on worst then Remus and I put together. He always need help with homework. But he was kind hearted, a little clumsy, but had a smile that lit up a room. But he always had a thirst for power, to control.  A hunger I could never understand.

And of course, James was our ringleader, and my partner in crime. We did every thing together. He was my best friend, my brother. You never see one without the other, they said. We were like brothers and closer. He was the bravest and the most noble of us all. He was the one all the girls wanted and all the boys wanted to be. He had brains, looks, and ability on the field, he had it all. He had the innocent face that could pull off any crime, and the invisibility cloak to pull off the ones the face couldn't. James was perfect.

 I planned the pranks, Remus thought of the dangers, Peter kept lookout. But the final decision would always be James's. James, Remus, Peter and I were The Potter gang.

Classes were not a problem either. I soon learned that magic came easy for me. Transfiguration was my best class. I got a reputation for being smart, too smart sometimes. In fact I was second only to James and Lily whom along with Erin, we became close friends with. Remus was good too. He came right after us. Defense against the dark arts was his best class. Peter on the other hand, needed all the help he could get. It was shaping up to be the best time of my life. Expect for one thing.

Remus.

            Every few weeks, Remus would vanish. Afterwards, he'd come up with all sorts of excuses, his mother was sick, he had to go visit her, his aunt had died, he had to go to her funeral, he was sick . I think he killed off eight or nine relatives  that year alone.  At first we thought nothing of it. We offered our sympathies and ignored the obvious signs. But as time went on,  things seemed to become more and more strange.

It was James who figured out that he left once a month.  Before the sixth month, we'd never really kept track, but now we did and found he did, in fact, vanish once a month. And the fact that he was allergic to silver and wolfsbane, both ingredients we used in Potions and when we did, Remus suddenly felt ill and had to go to the infirmary.

I was all for tying Remus to a chair and torturing him until he told us exactly what was wrong, but James persuaded me to put away the rope and chains and wait.  Now patience has never been my strong suit, but I did as I was told and I waited. I said not a word and I waited. I waited for one year, and then I could not wait any more.