Harry willingly followed James out of the hall, remembering that he wasn't
meant to know where the Gryffindor common room was. Suddenly, they
stopped, and Harry looked curiously around the entrance hall to see why.
"Look who we have here," Sirius murmured to James, who smiled malevolently.
"Are you sure you ought to?" Peter asked anxiously. "It is the first day back, and." James smiled rather indulgently at him and glanced back at Sirius for a moment.
"You go and help Remus, Wormtail, he could probably do with a hand with the first years, you know how hard it is to get them all to stay together." Peter vanished, greatly relieved. Then Harry saw the object of their discussion: a greasy haired Slytherin boy whom he recognized as his worst ever teacher - Severus Snape.
He had seen them two, and came over, backed by a couple of other boys from his house.
"I'd be very careful, if I were you, Jamieson," Snape sneered, and Harry immediately lost any doubts he'd had about attacking him as Harry had seen his father do in Snape's pensieve. He'd definitely be joining in if this came to a confrontation, because he couldn't stand the obvious disgust in the Slytherin's voice.
"These," Snape said, then paused before continuing. "Boys, aren't always the safest people to be around if you actually want to learn something at this school."
"Shut up, Snivellus!" James snapped abruptly. Harry agreed with him. "Take that back!"
Harry's temper immediately went out of control as Snape's hand strayed to his pocket and pulled out his wand - he seemed to be getting almost as paranoid as Mad Eye Moody, and that was really saying something.
"Expelliarmus!" he called out, remembering fondly that it had been Snape himself that had taught this particularly useful spell to him. Snape's wand flew into Harry's outstretched hand. James smiled approvingly at him.
"Are you going to be a good boy and apologize now?" he asked patronizingly. Snape glared at him, but since his sidekicks had vanished into the crowd and he was wandless with his wand in 'enemy' hands, he saw no other alternative.
"All right," he said, very reluctantly. "I apologize for anything misleading that I've said to you this evening."
"What's going on here?" Professor McGonagall asked icily. Harry jumped guiltily, about a foot into the air from what it felt like - he hadn't seen or heard her coming.
"Please Professor, Mr Snape said something that wasn't strictly true, so he was just apologizing," Sirius explained glibly. The teacher looked at him doubtfully; she did not seem at all convinced, and probably had good reason.
"Mr Jamieson, is that true?" she asked the only witness who she believed might be impartial.
"Yes Professor," Harry said dutifully. "He said that it wasn't good for me to stay around Potter, but the headmaster told me to so I am going to."
"Very well. Mr Snape, if the Headmaster assigns Potter to guide Jamieson, it is none of your business, and I would be very careful in case what you have said could be construed as criticism of Professor Dumbledore. That is something that I will not countenance in any circumstances. Kindly try to set a better example to Mr Jamieson, please. He is new, if you remember, and what he must be thinking of us I really don't know."
"I'm sorry Professor."
James waited until Severus Snape was properly groveling before the Gryffindor teacher before walking jauntily off, followed cheerfully by his friends.
"Thank you, Harry, that was very smooth," said Sirius approvingly. Harry grinned in response - however bad they'd seemed in Snape's pensieve last year, he could see now that they'd definitely had a lot of provocation to put up with even if there hadn't been any on that particular occasion.
When they were finally safely upstairs in the Gryffindor common room, well away from provoking Slytherins, a girl came up to them. She was short and had coppery orange hair. Her eyes were an unusual bright green.
"Hello," she said responsibly. "You're Harry Jamieson, aren't you? Welcome to Gryffindor House. I hope you won't find it too bad sharing a dormitory with those louts of Marauders. I'm Lily Evans, one of the sixth year prefects, so you can come to me if you need help with anything or have questions to ask about the school"
Harry stared at the girl that would one day become his mother, totally taken aback and at a loss for words (a very rare happening as any of his friends could tell you).
"Uh, thank you Lily."
"You're welcome."
"Oh come on Evans," James interrupted, deepening his voice. "We're not that bad."
"No you're worse," she said bluntly, then wandered back over to her own friends. James looked dejected, whilst Sirius nudged Harry with his elbow.
"Ow!" he yelped. Sirius glared at him.
"James has a serious crush on Lily, but she can't stand the sight of him. I reckon she'll come round to him eventually though, or poor James is going to really suffer."
"And you'd have something to do with it, no doubt," James said gloomily. "She does like our jokes, she just sympathizes with Snivellus. I can't think why, he's an ugly, slimy git and he calls her a Mudblood all the time."
"That's awful!" Harry said, glad that he actually knew what Mudblood meant. Then he decided he'd better change the subject before James got even more worked up than he was already. "Uh, who are the Marauders?"
"She shouldn't really have let that slip so soon, but I suppose you did save us from detention with McGonagall. We're the Marauders: Sirius, Remus, Peter and me. We've got a certain reputation for doing. um. mad things."
"Cool! What are you planning next?" Harry asked eagerly.
James and Sirius looked at him doubtfully, then shrugged and beckoned the other two over.
"What shall we do first?" James asked thoughtfully. "We need a good prank to start the term in style."
"I came across a really nice charm this summer in one of mum's hair books," Remus told them and the others grinned. "Turns your hair a different colour, red for instance, and I bet we could adapt it easily to have the Gryffindor crest as well."
"But how do we get into the Slytherin dorms to cast it?" James asked, jumping to the practicalities. "We can't do it on anyone else. It's a great idea though, if we could make it work properly it would be brilliant. We could always use it for the next Quidditch match and slip into their changing rooms. Peter; see if you can't find something to arrange that. For now, though, how about a Niffler? That's always funny."
"Nah, too boring, we've done that a million times already," Sirius reminded him. "How about enchanting the suits of armor?"
"To do what?" James demanded at once.
"Hide Snivellus's bag whenever he puts it down," Sirius replied promptly, although he'd obviously made that up on the spur of the moment.
"No, not obvious enough."
"What, does ickle Jamesie want to impress someone?"
"Shut up Padfoot! What about making them blockade the stairs to the dungeons? Who knows, we might get out of Potions if we time it right. I know you don't do Potions, Peter, but the rest of us do. Do you, Harry?"
"Yes," said Harry, very gloomy at the reminder. He had to do it if he wanted to become an Auror, but that definitely didn't mean he had to like it.
"That's four of us then."
"What would you say," Harry said, thinking quickly. "To having a lake across one of the corridors? I think I know how to do a charm to make one."
"Sirius," James said, thumping Harry heartily on the back. "We have a genius in our midst. But where do we put it?"
The other four debated enthusiastically as to in which of the Hogwarts corridors a lake would cause the greatest disruption to the school at large, while Harry desperately groped to recall the spell that the Weasley twins had taught him for creating a swamp. He might have done a swamp himself, but he thought that a lake would look prettier and smell a lot better. He was overjoyed that he seemed to have been accepted by the others, on probation at least. Harry actually thought, although he wasn't sure, that he knew a way of getting into the Slytherin common room, but he didn't want to risk making the others suspicious of him knowing his way around and lose their friendship all together.
"Look who we have here," Sirius murmured to James, who smiled malevolently.
"Are you sure you ought to?" Peter asked anxiously. "It is the first day back, and." James smiled rather indulgently at him and glanced back at Sirius for a moment.
"You go and help Remus, Wormtail, he could probably do with a hand with the first years, you know how hard it is to get them all to stay together." Peter vanished, greatly relieved. Then Harry saw the object of their discussion: a greasy haired Slytherin boy whom he recognized as his worst ever teacher - Severus Snape.
He had seen them two, and came over, backed by a couple of other boys from his house.
"I'd be very careful, if I were you, Jamieson," Snape sneered, and Harry immediately lost any doubts he'd had about attacking him as Harry had seen his father do in Snape's pensieve. He'd definitely be joining in if this came to a confrontation, because he couldn't stand the obvious disgust in the Slytherin's voice.
"These," Snape said, then paused before continuing. "Boys, aren't always the safest people to be around if you actually want to learn something at this school."
"Shut up, Snivellus!" James snapped abruptly. Harry agreed with him. "Take that back!"
Harry's temper immediately went out of control as Snape's hand strayed to his pocket and pulled out his wand - he seemed to be getting almost as paranoid as Mad Eye Moody, and that was really saying something.
"Expelliarmus!" he called out, remembering fondly that it had been Snape himself that had taught this particularly useful spell to him. Snape's wand flew into Harry's outstretched hand. James smiled approvingly at him.
"Are you going to be a good boy and apologize now?" he asked patronizingly. Snape glared at him, but since his sidekicks had vanished into the crowd and he was wandless with his wand in 'enemy' hands, he saw no other alternative.
"All right," he said, very reluctantly. "I apologize for anything misleading that I've said to you this evening."
"What's going on here?" Professor McGonagall asked icily. Harry jumped guiltily, about a foot into the air from what it felt like - he hadn't seen or heard her coming.
"Please Professor, Mr Snape said something that wasn't strictly true, so he was just apologizing," Sirius explained glibly. The teacher looked at him doubtfully; she did not seem at all convinced, and probably had good reason.
"Mr Jamieson, is that true?" she asked the only witness who she believed might be impartial.
"Yes Professor," Harry said dutifully. "He said that it wasn't good for me to stay around Potter, but the headmaster told me to so I am going to."
"Very well. Mr Snape, if the Headmaster assigns Potter to guide Jamieson, it is none of your business, and I would be very careful in case what you have said could be construed as criticism of Professor Dumbledore. That is something that I will not countenance in any circumstances. Kindly try to set a better example to Mr Jamieson, please. He is new, if you remember, and what he must be thinking of us I really don't know."
"I'm sorry Professor."
James waited until Severus Snape was properly groveling before the Gryffindor teacher before walking jauntily off, followed cheerfully by his friends.
"Thank you, Harry, that was very smooth," said Sirius approvingly. Harry grinned in response - however bad they'd seemed in Snape's pensieve last year, he could see now that they'd definitely had a lot of provocation to put up with even if there hadn't been any on that particular occasion.
When they were finally safely upstairs in the Gryffindor common room, well away from provoking Slytherins, a girl came up to them. She was short and had coppery orange hair. Her eyes were an unusual bright green.
"Hello," she said responsibly. "You're Harry Jamieson, aren't you? Welcome to Gryffindor House. I hope you won't find it too bad sharing a dormitory with those louts of Marauders. I'm Lily Evans, one of the sixth year prefects, so you can come to me if you need help with anything or have questions to ask about the school"
Harry stared at the girl that would one day become his mother, totally taken aback and at a loss for words (a very rare happening as any of his friends could tell you).
"Uh, thank you Lily."
"You're welcome."
"Oh come on Evans," James interrupted, deepening his voice. "We're not that bad."
"No you're worse," she said bluntly, then wandered back over to her own friends. James looked dejected, whilst Sirius nudged Harry with his elbow.
"Ow!" he yelped. Sirius glared at him.
"James has a serious crush on Lily, but she can't stand the sight of him. I reckon she'll come round to him eventually though, or poor James is going to really suffer."
"And you'd have something to do with it, no doubt," James said gloomily. "She does like our jokes, she just sympathizes with Snivellus. I can't think why, he's an ugly, slimy git and he calls her a Mudblood all the time."
"That's awful!" Harry said, glad that he actually knew what Mudblood meant. Then he decided he'd better change the subject before James got even more worked up than he was already. "Uh, who are the Marauders?"
"She shouldn't really have let that slip so soon, but I suppose you did save us from detention with McGonagall. We're the Marauders: Sirius, Remus, Peter and me. We've got a certain reputation for doing. um. mad things."
"Cool! What are you planning next?" Harry asked eagerly.
James and Sirius looked at him doubtfully, then shrugged and beckoned the other two over.
"What shall we do first?" James asked thoughtfully. "We need a good prank to start the term in style."
"I came across a really nice charm this summer in one of mum's hair books," Remus told them and the others grinned. "Turns your hair a different colour, red for instance, and I bet we could adapt it easily to have the Gryffindor crest as well."
"But how do we get into the Slytherin dorms to cast it?" James asked, jumping to the practicalities. "We can't do it on anyone else. It's a great idea though, if we could make it work properly it would be brilliant. We could always use it for the next Quidditch match and slip into their changing rooms. Peter; see if you can't find something to arrange that. For now, though, how about a Niffler? That's always funny."
"Nah, too boring, we've done that a million times already," Sirius reminded him. "How about enchanting the suits of armor?"
"To do what?" James demanded at once.
"Hide Snivellus's bag whenever he puts it down," Sirius replied promptly, although he'd obviously made that up on the spur of the moment.
"No, not obvious enough."
"What, does ickle Jamesie want to impress someone?"
"Shut up Padfoot! What about making them blockade the stairs to the dungeons? Who knows, we might get out of Potions if we time it right. I know you don't do Potions, Peter, but the rest of us do. Do you, Harry?"
"Yes," said Harry, very gloomy at the reminder. He had to do it if he wanted to become an Auror, but that definitely didn't mean he had to like it.
"That's four of us then."
"What would you say," Harry said, thinking quickly. "To having a lake across one of the corridors? I think I know how to do a charm to make one."
"Sirius," James said, thumping Harry heartily on the back. "We have a genius in our midst. But where do we put it?"
The other four debated enthusiastically as to in which of the Hogwarts corridors a lake would cause the greatest disruption to the school at large, while Harry desperately groped to recall the spell that the Weasley twins had taught him for creating a swamp. He might have done a swamp himself, but he thought that a lake would look prettier and smell a lot better. He was overjoyed that he seemed to have been accepted by the others, on probation at least. Harry actually thought, although he wasn't sure, that he knew a way of getting into the Slytherin common room, but he didn't want to risk making the others suspicious of him knowing his way around and lose their friendship all together.