A week later the three of them in their finest robes appeared in Hogsmeade. Calm as ever James walked in front up to the school with Remus behind him. Sirius was in the back and very nervous. This evening they were going to be initiated as members of the Order of the Phoenix. They got to the doors and James opened them. James had to go back though to drag Sirius in, he was about to go back home.

It seemed everyone else was already in the meeting when they arrived in the room that was next to Dumbledore's office and hidden by a large bookcase. The trio stood nervously in the doorway, there was about 50 people in the room and all of them were looking at them.

"Ah James, Sirius, Remus how good to see you three again," Dumbledore who stood in front of everyone greeted them with a smile; the only one they got that night.

"Black!" one man yelled. He looked to be a man in his early thirties. He was sitting front row and he had recognized Sirius who always looked a lot like his father.

Sirius gulped and tried to leave but James put a hand on his shoulder.

"Dumbledore we have a Black among us? The son of Patrick and Mary Black?"

"We do," Dumbledore said seriously. "Sirius though is not like his parents and I welcome him here."

"We have the son of two Death Eaters?" another man spoke up. "Two Death Eaters who have killed so many Aurors and Order members?" He got up and walked over to Sirius.

Now that he was confronted with the danger and had been compared to his parents Sirius was no longer afraid. He was taller than the man by a head. He looked at him, "I'm not my parents."

"They have bad blood in them and as their son so do you," the man snarled at Sirius. "Is your brother still running around killing innocent little children?"

"Yes he is and when I sent him a birthday card I'll be sure to let him know you were asking for him," Sirius told him. James groaned he couldn't see how Sirius could make a joke at this time.

"Let us stop this nonsense," Dumbledore got up and went between the man and the Marauders. "I submitted their names to Fawkes who is the final judge on who joins this Order and Fawkes have accepted them. These boys are good fighters and I have waited a long time for them to graduate. Let the iniation ceremony begin."

With a look at each other, they followed Dumbledore to where he had been sitting. He faced them.

"James Henry Potter," Dumbledore picked up a piece of parchment and walked over to him. Sirius and Remus stepped back. "Do you swear to fight against the Dark Side, to protect those weaker than you? Do you swear never to tell anyone what goes on in these meetings and never to pass any information on to the other side? Will you remain loyal to the Order and all its members?"

"I do." James nodded.

"Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix." Dumbledore smiled. The process was done for Sirius who winced at his middle name Orien. When Sirius said "I do." He turned and looked at the members and then looked back at Dumbledore and said it as firmly as he could. Dumbledore then repeated it once more for Remus.

When it was done they took seats in the back and the meeting began. They talked for a long time about Voldemort and what he was up to. The Marauders listened intently only James had known that Dumbledore knew so much about Voldemort was planning. At the end of the meeting, which lasted well over an hour and a half Dumbledore, asked them to stay behind.

"Your training will begin tomorrow morning with Alastor Moody," he told them. "He wants to use the training room at the Mansion so he will come to you at 7:00am sharp."

"Not in the morning," Sirius groaned.

James laughed, "Sirius up at 7:00am? This is going to be interesting."

**

Early the next morning James, Remus and Sirius stood in the training room wands out and all with scowls on their faces. A man about 40 stood in front of them looking them over and pacing in front of them. He had been walking in front of them for 10 minutes and not once had he smiled or made a kind gesture. It looked like he was looking at something very disgusted. The trio was still waiting for him to speak.

Finally he did. "This is not my choice to train you three," Moody growled. "I would not waste my time with Death Eater slim." He stood now in front of Sirius glaring at him.

Not wanting to show Moody that Sirius was afraid he put on the best glare he had, the one he usually used with Snape, who had been in Slytherin at Hogwarts. "I'm not a Death Eater."

"Did I tell you to speak?" Moody got right in Sirius' face. "I say kids of Death Eaters have the same bad blood in their veins and are capable of doing nothing."

Not caring what Moody just told him Sirius spoke, "I'd be the last person to kiss Voldemort's feet."

"I don't like traitors," Moody said each other slowly still up in Sirius' face.

"Neither do I," Sirius looked right back into his eyes.

"I'll be watching you Black," Moody stepped away. "You better be lucky Albus trusts you."

"He's a smart man," Sirius smiled. "Knows who his allies are."

"I would not waste my time with you but I owe Dumbledore a favor. Let's begin."

First, they practiced dueled. Moody dueled James first. James with years of training and using this room gave Moody a great fight. Moody though acted like a young child on Christmas morning, he dodged and blocked and never seemed to run out of energy. James threw at him everything he had ever learned from his uncles and father. It was a good duel to watch.

After about 20 minutes, James who had not dueled for a few months was started to get tired. Moody confused him when he threw two curses at him. James hit the ground after being stunned.

"Good, good," Moody gave James a rare smile as he helped him up. "You have been trained well. I dare wonder how much Black has been taught."

"My father taught both of us," James said as he put his wand away. "I hate to tell you this but Sirius never saw his parents after he left home when he was 13 years old. Which was right around the time that Voldemort began to be a threat. He lived here."

James got out of the way and past Sirius. "Temper down buddy," James hit him on the shoulder and went over to Remus to watch.

It was obvious that Sirius and James had trained together. The way Sirius held his wand and stood was identical to James' position. Moody if possible was harder with Sirius than James. He threw dark curses at Sirius expecting him to know what they were and how to block them. Sirius put up a Shield Charm and had to dodge many of them. Sirius did not let this bother him though, he was determined to beat Moody.

They had been dueling for 15 minutes when Sirius yelled, "Stupify!" Sirius yelled twice. "Expelliarmus!" he yelled that once and Stupify again. Moody went down hard as a rock.

Sirius grinned and woke Moody up, "There's a sign that I am on your side, if I wasn't, you would be dead right now. That is one thing that my parents always do, when they duel they "finish" them. Be lucky I am not like my parents."

Moody got up and ignored Sirius. He motioned Remus to come over and he dueled him. Remus his brain full of curses from all his study in the library threw everything he knew at Moody. Moody smiled at the selection that Remus was throwing at him and he sent a lot back.

Remus though not as used to dueling as Sirius and James went down when Moody seeing he was tired sent two curses his way.

Moody seeing where they stood now made them practice some curses and a few techniques of dueling. They worked on that for several hours. They then moved on to different parts of the room.

By around dinner time Moody scratched his head, "Training usually takes weeks but you three know it all. We went over sword fighting, knife throwing, Muggle fighting and dueling."

James shrugged, "This was review. My father required Sirius and I to spend two hours down here every day. Remus used to spend a few weeks here too so he learned a few things."

"Well I think its time that you experience just what Death Eaters do."

Sirius paled. He knew exactly what Death Eaters did.

"I'll be informing Albus that next time there is a raid you three will be there." Moody said and he left.

"You're father's training was tens times worse than that," Sirius whispered to James as Moody left.

"Let's go get something to eat," suggested James.

**

James and Sirius who were not happy with the Order because of their argument decided to have a little fun on the other members. The next meeting was at the end of the week and they were ready to cause some chaos.

They got to Dumbledore's office early and making sure that Dumbledore was not there they went to work putting firecrackers and Dungbombs all around the room. They worked quickly and quietly not wanting Dumbledore to find out, they were there. When the room was rigged they left and went to hang around in the Forbidden Forest until it was time for the meeting.

Around 9:00pm when the meeting was to begin James, Sirius and Remus walked in and took their seats in the back. They didn't speak to anyone of the members and no one bothered them. Dumbledore gave them a smile though as he stood in the front of the room to begin the meeting.

"I'd like to congraduate," Dumbledore started but the sounds of firecrackers exploding around the room drown him out. All the Order members whipped out their wands and stood up. The Dungbombs went off making the room smell horrible. The trio sat in the back with identical smiles on their faces.

Dumbledore after ducking two firecrackers caught James' eye. He had to yell to get everyone's attention, "Ladies and gentlemen, the famous Hogwarts Marauders have stuck again."

The Order members all whipped around and glared at the trio.

"We don't need troublemakers in the Order," one of them spat.

"That is for making fun of my brother. He is a better man than you will ever be," James stood up.

"How did you three ever get in here?" another member asked.

"They were the best of their year," Dumbledore called. Though not happy the trio had played their joke, he found himself defending them since no one else would.

"It must have been a very bad year," someone else said glaring at James.

"You don't know anything about James and Sirius," Remus who had been quiet now stood up. "They are brothers, loyal to each other and their friends, brave, smart, caring and yes Marauders. How dare you make fun of them and say we shouldn't be here when you don't know them. They are the best around, unlike you lot they don't care who are you, they accept all. If the tables were turned they wouldn't say anything against you."

The entire room was silent. Remus sat down and for the rest of the meeting he didn't look up. Dumbledore let the silent stay for a few minutes and then coughed, "well as I was saying. Five Death Eaters were caught in the latest of Voldemort's raids and I wanted to congraduate the Order members who captured them." He clapped hard.

"Also my spy has revealed the name of a Death Eater. Who wants to volunteer to go after them?" Dumbledore looked around.

"We will sir," James stood up.

"They don't any experience," one person called.

"We can do it sir," Sirius backed James up.

"Alright, I want to see you three after the meeting," Dumbledore nodded his head.

The meeting went on for about another hour. It mostly involved the other Order members reporting their progress to Dumbledore. At last, the meeting was over and everyone got up to leave. James, Sirius and Remus went up to Dumbledore.

"This is not school," Dumbledore started on them. "These people are serious about the Dark Arts and so should you."

"We are sir, but you know with us, no one gets away with making fun of us," Sirius shrugged.

"Sirius, James I ask you to act your age," Dumbledore stared at both of them. "Now I have an errand for you. I need you to deliver this to the Minister of Magic. After that you can start on tracking Arnold Waters."

"Do you know anything about him?" James asked.

"Only that he goes to Diagon Alley everyday. He might work there or in Knockturn Alley. And a picture." James took it. "Good luck and be careful." He gave Sirius the letter. "That goes to the Minister himself. Don't leave it with anyone."

"Right." They said their goodbyes and left. Outside of Dumbledore's office James grumbled, "One little trick and we are errand boys."

"Its worth it, did you see the look on their faces?" Sirius howled.

"Thanks for sticking up for us buddy," James put an arm on Remus' shoulder.

"I meant every word," Remus smiled at both Sirius and James. They made their way home laughing about the trick.