The next morning Sirius's good mood had disappeared at the prospect of getting a Howler from his mother in the middle of the crowded Great Hall, but he was still determined not to hide. James was slightly grumpy that Sirius and Remus had gotten to have some fun the night before while he had been forced to listen to Lily Evans rant at him. The four boys were unusually quiet as they walked down to breakfast. Sirius filled his plate as usual, but didn't actually eat anything because he was too busy watching nervously for the owls. Finally they came; hundreds of owls carrying letters, packages of forgotten items, and bags of treats from mothers who seemed to believe that their children wouldn't be fed properly at school. Sirius just sighed as his owl, Nightshade landed in front of him with a red envelope in her mouth. The owl seemed to be aware of what she was carrying because she hooted apologetically when Sirius took the Howler from her, and nibbled consolingly on his hand. Other people had noticed the Howler and were whispering and pointing. Sirius looked down at the envelope in his hand, breathed deeply to try to steel himself for what was coming, and opened the envelope before it started to smoke.
A woman's angry voice filled the Great Hall, magically magnified to hundreds of times its normal volume. "SIRIUS BLACK, YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO YOUR FAMILY! ONE DAY AT HOGWARTS AND YOU HAVE ALREADY SLANDERED YOUR FAMILY NAME, DIRTIED YOUR REPUTATION, BEEN PUT IN GRYFFINDOR, BROKE A HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD FAMILY TRADITION, AND GOTTEN A DETENTION! YOU ARE A BLOOD TRAITOR AND AN EMBARRASSMENT TO PURE BLOODED WIZARDS EVERYWHERE. YOU HAVE IGNORED OUR WISHES THAT YOU SOCIALLIZE ONLY WITH CHILDREN FROM RESPECTABLE FAMILIES AND LOOK WHAT IT GOT YOU: DETENTION ON YOUR FIRST DAY! YOU BRING SHAME AND DISHONOR TO THE NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK!"
The Slytherin table sniggered, as did some people from other tables who didn't understand the true meaning of Mrs. Black's words. Sirius's face was nearly as red as the scarlet Gryffindor tablecloth, but not from embarrassment. He was furious at his mother, at Bellatrix, at all the Blacks who believed that their blood made them better than everyone else, at all purebloods who believed that anyone with Muggle blood should not be allowed to attend wizard schools or be a part of the magical world, and most of all he was enraged that his new friends had had to hear what his mother had to say about them. He crumpled up the Howler, and began viciously eating the food in front of him, trying to act like his mother's words hadn't gotten to him.
After breakfast they all walked toward their first class of the day, which, to Sirius's fury, was double Potions. "Wow that was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!" Peter babbled. "It was so loud, and so real-sounding; not all fuzzy like a recording."
Sirius turned on him. "You think that was cool? Do you have any fucking idea what that bitch was saying about you?" he snarled. "Or did it all go straight over your head?"
"Hey," James jumped to Peter's defense as the smaller boy made a frightened whimpering sound, "don't take it out on him. He doesn't understand about the whole pureblood crap."
Sirius sighed and some of the anger drained from his face. "Sorry, Pete. It's just you have no idea what it's like. That Howler was the politically correct version of what she wanted to say. In private she doesn't sugar-coat anything that way. My whole family is a bunch of racist gits, and just because you're my friends you have to bear the brunt of their hatred. I'm really sorry for that."
"Hey, it's alright. It's not your fault." James assured him.
"Yeah, we know you're not like them. Trust me I'd be the last person to judge a book by its cover." Remus agreed.
They had arrived at the Potions room, and although Sirius wasn't happy about having to be in a room with his cousin Narcissa, especially not for two hours, he was determined to put up a brave face and he walked through the door with his head up and shoulders square as though nothing had happened. All his good intentions were ruined, however, by the fact that the professor was gone and Narcissa was waiting for him with a sneer on her face and Snape standing next to her again.
"Poor Sirius, is Mummy mad at you again?" Narcissa mocked.
"A Black hanging out with Mudbloods and blood-traitors; what is the world coming to?" Snape sneered, his upper lip curling.
"Don't you ever talk about my friends that way." Sirius growled.
Just then the door opened and the teacher walked in.
"What is going on here?" he snarled.
"Nothing, Professor." Narcissa spoke up.
"Then get in your seats and I don't want to see you picking fights in my class again." he spat at the Gryffindors, ignoring the fact that Narcissa and Snape were just as guilty.
The four Gryffindors took their seats as far away from Snape and Narcissa as they could get.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Their first weekend finally came around, but the students were trapped inside due to a terrible storm and gale force winds. The four boys lounged around the Gryffindor common room, staying close to the fire for warmth. They had a week's worth of homework to catch up on due to their detentions, but no one was in the mood to study. Sirius reclined in an old, comfy armchair with his Potions book open on his lap, but he was staring absently into the lames. James was doodling on a piece of parchment instead of writing his Transfiguration essay, and Peter was watching over his shoulder. Remus had gotten the farthest with his books open on the floor and his parchment and quill out, but he was laying with his head propped on his arms, staring sullenly out the window into the storm.
"Our first day off, and we have to stay inside and do our homework. This sucks." Sirius complained.
"Yeah, I don't feel like studying right now." James agreed
"Do you ever?" Remus feigned surprise.
"Shut up, Remy. I'm hungry, anyone wanna come with me down to the kitchens?" James asked, pushing his chair back from the table he was sitting at.
"I don't think they'll just give us food." Peter said
"Of course they won't, what would be the fun in that?" James replied.
Sirius raised an eyebrow, "And just how are you planning to get in and out of the kitchens without anyone seeing you?"
"I think its time to let you boys in on a little secret. Come with me." James said as he hopped up and sprinted up the stairs toward their dorm.
"Totally nutters." Sirius shook his head as he got up to follow James upstairs.
"He's not the only one." Remus answered as he pushed himself up off the floor and scooped up all his books.
"Me?" Sirius put a hand to his heart with a mockingly hurt expression. "When have I ever claimed to be sane?" Remus and Peter laughed as they walked into the dorm to find James rummaging around in his suitcase. He stood up with something in his hands that looked like liquid silver made into a material.
"My most prized possession." he said as he unfolded it. "Got it for my birthday last year."
Sirius gasped. "An Invisibility Cloak!"
James grinned as he pulled the cloak over his shoulders and disappeared. Peter squeaked in surprise as they eyed the spot where James had been standing.
"This is how we'll get our food without being caught." James's voice spoke out of thin air on the opposite side of the room from where he'd been standing. He pulled the cloak off and the other three hurried over to him. They pulled the cloak over all four of them and turned to the mirror to make sure none of their body parts were sticking out.
"Just think of all the mischief we could cause with this thing!" Sirius whispered excitedly. "And we'd never get detention 'cause no one would know it was us!"
They made their way down into the crowded common room, careful not to tread on anyone's toes, and toward the kitchens. A floor above the kitchens they found Mrs. Norris prowling the halls, looking for an excuse for getting some kid in trouble. It was too good of an opportunity to miss, so as they walked by her James reached out, making sure his foot was still covered by the invisibility cloak, and kicked her hard enough to send her flying with a startled 'meeeeooooooowwwwww.' The landed on her feet and immediately spun around to see who had kicked her. When she found just empty air, she spun again, looking like she was chasing her tail. The boys muffled their laughter as they hurried away.
"Did you see that?" James cackled as soon as they were far enough away to be out of earshot, even for a cat. "I didn't know cats chased their tails!"
"Shoulda kicked her harder, mate. Really giver her something to yowl about." Sirius said, stuffing his fist in his mouth to muffle his laughter.
Once they had gotten their food and were back in the hall that they had found Mrs. Norris in, they saw Filch creeping around talking to the cat. "Are you sure you didn't see anything, my sweet?" he asked in his oily voice. "Those goddamn marauders couldn't have gotten far. Where did they go?"
"Marauders." whispered Remus, "I like that."
"Does have a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" James agreed as they crept away from Filch and returned to Gryffindor Tower.
The common room was still packed full of people, so they had to be careful not to step on anyone and cause a panic. As they walked past Lily Evans and her friends, James fought the urge to do something to piss her off. They climbed the stairs to their dorm, and to their relief, it was empty. They took the cloak off, piled all the sweets and pastries they had stolen onto one of the beds, and burst out laughing about Filch and Mrs. Norris. They decided that from then on they would call themselves 'The Marauders' in honor of Filch.
A/N: I know those two passages don't quite go together, but they were too short to put by themselves. Special thanks to Craymere for the review! It was a great ego boost! ^_^