SEPTEMBER

Dear Diary,

I am really glad it's near the end of the holidays and I get to go back to Hogwarts. I can't wait to get rid of Petunia. She has made my holidays hell while I was at home. I prefer school. But perhaps I will start from the beginning, because that's when I went home from Hogwarts.

I boarded the train home with all my friends, but I didn't much enjoy the trip. For starters, that ugly little Hufflepuff boy, Peter, came running in wanting our protection from Snape and Malfoy. Of course we fought them off but no sooner than we made his life safe, did the stupid kid think we liked him and wanted him to stay. We dropped as many subtle hints as we could, but he didn't pick up on them. In fact, he started hitting on Regina. Remus looked slightly jealous but maybe that's because he didn't get to tell Regina and Kate about being a werewolf, something he was going to do that train ride.

Unfortunately, Peter had an idea, which was dynamite to the function of our little group. So far we had not been a 'closed circle', we had been willing to let people become our best friends (such as Regina and Kate) and of course now they are included. But Peter suggested we all have nicknames and we call ourselves the Pow-wows or something like that. When he went to the toilet, we all agreed that was a stupid name. We thought we might confuse everybody instead, so we agreed: The boys, including Peter if he stays, are the Marauders, and that is the name they use at school. Us girls are part of the Marauders in every way except name. We thought we would keep ourselves anonymous little goody-goodies, so we could do all the dirty work and get away without even a detention.

Anyway, I got to the platform and nobody was there to greet me, because Petunia had insisted they go to the movies at the exact time I arrived. Fortunately, they turned up a mere hour after station closing time, so that was okay. At least they didn't forget me totally.

I spent most of my days in the cave with the boys, practicing magic. Dumbledore had conveniently 'forgotten' to give us our notes saying not to do magic, because, as he told us, the less you use up power the less you stretch your limits, and he wanted us to be really strong at magic.

Things passed uneventfully and usually pretty miserably if I was at home, until I got my Hogwarts owl. Petunia freaked out, and tried to stone the poor creature, which obviously wasn't allowed to leave until I got my letter as it only flew a few feet away at a time. I found her throwing things at it and attacked her from behind, decking her, but who knows how long the school owl had been harmed for, so I nursed it back to health, then sent it with a letter to Kate, imploring her to come and stay with me, and also to tell Regina.

They arrived about half way through August but they could only stay a week, so we resolved to get everything done in that time. On their first day I showed them to the cave, where they were really surprised to see the boys.

--"Well, we didn't know you guys hung out together before school as well!" Regina protested.

"Of course we did, it was the one reason that we all got to go to Hogwarts!" Lily exclaimed. "If we hadn't gone into muggle London, we wouldn't have found the Leaky Cauldron and then neither me or Remus would have gone to school! It's not like my parents would pay for me to change schools!"

"I can't remember the cave," Kate whined, "so tell me all about it." Lily rolled her eyes yet again, but nodded her head and commenced the story.--

-Flashback-

Lily smiled. She was looking forward to today, because she would get to see her friends again. The boys were all very well to hang with and she liked them, but she had become used to having her two friends with her wherever she went. She reflected that just a year ago, she had been terrified of any female wanting to be her friend. They weren't all that different to boys though, some of them.

A scream from downstairs alerted her to the arrival of something or someone. Lily took the stairs two at a time, then, finding that too slow, slid the rest of the way on the banister. Petunia was in the hall, with the front door open, yelling at an ordinary blonde haired girl who was looking at her reproachfully. After a few seconds, Lily found there were words in Petunia's scream.

"Get that weirdo away from here! That little freak dared invite her loser friends!" and others along that line, seemed to be what she was saying.

That was a bit harsh, considering Lily had permission to invite two friends for a week in the holidays. She beckoned Regina inside and they went up to her room, giving Petunia a wide berth.

"I'm afraid I can't give you your own bedroom because Petunia is hogging the guest room for her friends, who don't even come til we go back to school, but you and Kate are staying with me." Lily informed her. They had barely got Regina settled when yet another scream was heard from Petunia. Lily raised her eyebrows, and headed downstairs.

This time, Petunia's scream was less angry than it was terrified. In the doorway stood a girl of medium height, with blue streaks in her brown hair, and eyes that were changing colour. It looked like Kate was putting on a colour display for Petunia, as she went slowly through the spectrum, an evil smile playing about her lips. Petunia was backing away, and Kate was slowly advancing, but she turned when she heard Lily coming downstairs, and bounced onto the banister, sliding upwards to meet Lily.

"Are you allowed to do magic?" Lily asked, surprised. She thought her friends had received the note. Kate just smirked. Soon the girls were settled in Lily's room, and they all agreed to follow Lily to the cave, though they didn't know what they would find there. Lily put a locking charm on the door, just in case.

It was a hot day, and after a few minutes walk, it felt like the whole world would melt under the oppressive heat. Just as the girls were about to collapse and die of heatstroke, Lily led them into the cool shady depths of the cave.

Their eyes had not yet adjusted to the gloom when they heard an evil laugh somewhere behind them.

"You're trapped." The voice said evilly, but also sounding very much like somebody attempting to sound different. Lily just laughed, but Regina and Kate were slightly scared.

-Interruption-

"Was not!" Kate cried.

"Were too!" Sirius replied.

"Was not!"

"Were too!"

"Was – "

"Can I get on with it?!" Lily screamed exasperatedly. Everybody was immediately silent.

-End Interruption-

By this stage, their eyes had adjusted, and James moved to hug them.

"We missed you guys!" the boys chorused, before bombarding them with questions about their holidays. Lily walked to the centre of the cave and held up her hands for silence.

"I think we have to tell them." She whispered. "Remus?" The sandy-haired boy nodded.

"Well, let's get on with it then." Sirius implored, "We can initiate, put them on that insignia thing, then tell." Remus, Lily and James started. They had almost forgotten about the four insignias, buried for the summer in a jar at the back of the cave. They turned to the two girls standing at the entrance, and surrounded them.

"I found a spell in the library at Hogwarts," Lily said, "that is used for telling people's intentions towards others in the long run. It was in a book of spells designed specifically for us four and us only. I'll explain later. Just stand at all four points of the compass."

Once everybody was positioned, Lily began muttering under her breath, strange words. Louder and louder she said the incantation until she was almost screaming, then she stopped. Both Regina and Kate were glowing a pure white.

"Their intentions are pure" Lily gasped, before falling to the ground. "We can tell them everything." Remus looked suddenly uncertain, but it was proven that both girls could be trusted, so he began his story...

-Interruption-

"Remus, how about you retell this?" Lily asked, "I might leave something out." Remus nodded and picked up the tale.

"It was a dark and stormy night..." He joked. Sirius sniggered, everybody else rolled their eyes.

"Okay, I'll do it properly already!" Remus laughed.

"I lived on the outskirts of a small town, more of a village. My parents, well, my mother and my dad's best friend, they weren't that rich. All my mother had was me and Paul. Paul was like a father to me. He was all that I knew, and I thought that nobody was as wonderful as him. He'd make me little toys and stuff." Remus's eyes were dreamy.

"We lived right next to this huge wood, all full of beautiful trees. Some fir, some pine, all sorts of trees in this wood. There were hollow trees, and right in the centre of the forest I knew of a tree nearly the size of a small room, all hollowed out, the only entrance being the branches above. I would sit in that tree, it was my personal place, where I made up games, and thought, where I did all that other stuff that lonely children do. I often went there at night, I guess that was my undoing." He paused for breath, looking around. Everybody's attention was fixed, although they had all heard this before.

"One day, I found that this hermit had come to live in the wood. He lived right at the other side, but everybody knew he was there. It was all gossip in the village, an unkempt man, and long grey hair. They even went so far as to say that he was half beast. I remember I was terrified of him, because he had two large canines. I thought they looked like vampire fangs. I didn't know much back then. For a while after that, I didn't visit the wood so much, because I was scared of the man. But I never saw him, and fear passed, as did the memory of his appearance. I should have guessed, I'd just read about werewolves in one of my dad's old books. But he had passed out of sight and mind, and some things that should not have been forgotten were lost."

"One year there was a drought, and we had no money. Mum couldn't get work, and Paul started drinking away what money we managed to get. I was scared, and when he came home, drunk, raving, I would run away, to my tree, to the middle of the wood. And one night, as he came home yelling and swearing, illuminated by the full moon, I knew I had to leave. I just ran, straight to my tree. Halfway there, I would've stopped and turned back but I had a bad feeling of being followed. I guess now that it was the wolf, but I didn't know then. I just kept running, I climbed my tree and I stayed there til about 4am. I was tired, I was about to fall asleep. Wolves were howling far away and I was terrified they would come back and I might not escape ever, so I ran for it. If only I'd known that guy was a werewolf, if only I hadn't closed my mind, none of this would've happened." Remus sighed and closed his eyes, relieving the memory. It wasn't pleasant to him.

"I was nearly home when I saw him in front of me, and it was too late to turn back. I recognised him and my stupidity immediately, even before he attacked. I fought, as much as I could, but one bite and it was all over for me. Luckily the sun rose before I was killed, and I managed to crawl home. Paul didn't understand. He was scared of me because I was now a monster. He left, he never came back. I only saw him once since then – when he was trying to kill me. He's with the Werewolf Removal Squad and a Death Eater now."

"I got better, but we had no money or anything, and we had to move to an apartment in the city so my mother could get a job. Lucky for us she did and now earns enough to keep. I had no friends until I met you guys but I was ok. I know that I was really lucky, it sounds strange to think lucky goes with werewolf bite but I am still here, aren't I? Still going strong, and I don't intend to drop off the perch now."

"Anyway, that's my story..." Remus ended, his voice trailing off, and looking at Lily expectantly. She smiled.

"Okay, I'll keep going now." She murmured.

-End Interruption-

Once Remus finished his story, softhearted Regina was crying, and even Kate had tears in her eyes. Lily, Sirius and James had never heard the story in full before, and they were stunned to think how much hardship Remus had endured simply because he had lived a quiet life in a town inhabited by a werewolf.

Kate, eager to show herself unmoved, turned abruptly towards James. "Is... is that everything?" She seemed to guess there was something more.

"No," Sirius whispered uncertainly, "Dumbledore, well, he visited us a year ago, and he said that we all have special powers, like a united we stand sort of thing. It's something like Water, Fire, Earth and Wind, and we each stand for one thing, or at least that's what I think he meant." Lily nodded.

"I was in the Hogwarts Library, and I found this book, with a prophecy and everything. It was a book made especially for us; it explained everything about us, even about how Regina and Kate fit in. But I just had to test them first. It says to do that, you know. But we can put them on our insignia." Lily said.

Remus brought the insignias out.

"We forgot to name it!" He cried. At the top of the insignia was a space for the group name, so he carefully added "Marauders" on the top.

Kate stared at the animals, interested.

"Who's who?" She asked. Everybody immediately pointed to his or her own animal by some instinct. Kate jumped up and down for a second.

"Ok then, I'm an evil vampire bloodsucking bat!" She cried. Regina rolled her eyes.

"I'm a swan." She stated, simply. Kate sobered up, and stared at the group.

"I think I'll be a..." She paused, thinking. "I want to be a tiger."

The boys nodded, and soon a swan and a tiger had joined the stag, dog, wolf and rabbit in the wood. Lily scrutinised the picture, before turning the rabbit into a chestnut winged horse.

"How about we put a charm on this, so that when somebody's animal glows red, they are in danger, and blue means they need a hand with something? We could also wear it on out school robes." Lily half asked, half stated.

Everybody nodded agreement, and Lily performed the charm. She then duplicated the insignia so that Regina and Kate had a copy.

-End Flashback-

--Lily pretended to be panting as everyone laughed.

"That was long!" She grinned. "How about we have something to eat and drink before we go on?" She asked, looking meaningfully at James. He took the hint and Summoned chocolate-coated biscuits and chocolate milk, which everybody began to eat. Lily smiled, and opened the diary, and while everybody else munched, she continued to read.--

We initiated them, Remus told them his story and we put them on our insignias. We didn't tell them about the Animagus thing though, since we didn't even know if we could do it. But they are definitely in our group now.

Anyway, I'd better go. Regina's swan is glowing blue, and I can hear Petunia screaming. I think she needs to be rescued.

Love,

Lily.