Disclaimer: I own the personalities, the plotlines, and Natalia. The rest was created for our reading pleasure by J.K. Rowling. We fanfic authors just twist it to fit our own views of life.

Dedicated to my grandmother, who meant the world to me. May she rest in peace.

Beginning of the Marauders, Part II

That night, the entire group gathered in the parlor to talk. Remus literally curled up in Lily's lap, his legs tucked securely against the cushions of the couch. Lily was obviously very upset, but still comforted Remus to the best of her ability, allowing none of her feelings to lace her voice. For a while, the others only watched her, confused.

Finally, when Remus had relaxed a bit and Lily's eyes stopped sparking eerily, James was the one to put forth the question on all of their minds.

"What happened earlier?"

Lily grimaced, knowing that the question would come up. She glanced down at Remus, who decided to sit up. When she reached towards him to draw him into a comforting hug, he merely shook his head, indicating that it was time. She sighed and leaned back.

"That was Romulus, my older brother. He chose to become a werewolf the year after I was born because he felt that our parents loved me more than him because of all the attention that they had to give me. For ten years, he never really bothered either of us. He'd been sent to a special were school in France and there was a place where werewolves went in order to prevent them from hurting others during the change while they were still adolescents. After that, they were responsible for themselves.

"Like I said, Romulus chose to become a werewolf before my first birthday due to Lily and I being the 'angels' of the family. He's nine and a half years older than us, so he was not allowed to go to Hogwarts after the bite. That made him furious. So he left the house and rarely ever returned.

"The summer after Lily and I turned four years old, one of Lily's paternal family became deathly ill. Since Lily and I were so close, Uncle decided to leave her with us while they took Lily's older sister Petunia. They didn't feel Lily was ready to deal with that kind of thing. Little did they know…" When Remus trailed off, Lily put a hand on his shoulder, silently saying she would continue the story.

"Uncle was working late that night, so Aunt Iris was watching the two of us as we played in the garden, which was not unusual for us to do during the summer. I was trying to catch fireflies and Remus was chasing me. No one noticed the gold eyes staring out of the bush.

"I got too near the bush and something jumped out at me. It was the werewolf. At the time, I thought it was only a scary wolf and ran towards the porch. Remus ran with me, knowing exactly what that wolf was. We had almost made it back to the porch when we heard it snarl. In surprise and morbid curiosity, we turned around to see what it was going to do. That was a mistake.

"It took the opportunity and went for my throat, aiming to kill me by destroying my jugular vein," here she paused as they all gasped in surprise. She quickly continued, however. "Remus saw what it was doing and, unlike myself, was not frozen in fear. He made a split second decision and threw himself at me. We fell towards the ground and the werewolf flew over our heads. Remus saved my life that day. But when the werewolf landed, its face was close to Remus' ankle. So it bit Remus' ankle, making him cry out in pain. The ministry officials and aurors showed up then, quickly dealing with the werewolf.

"But it was too late for Remus. The bite had already started to alter his appearance. He was born with blonde hair and sweet brandy-colored eyes. When the ministry officials tried to get me away from Remus before the transformation was complete, I just wrapped my arms around Remus and held him close. Neither of us remembers what happened at that point, although Aunt Iris says an emerald light surrounded us.

"The next thing I remember is that Remus was asleep in my lap, as you see him now. The discussion was moved into the house, where they were trying to determine what to do with us. Professor Dumbledore was called in. A decision was made that Remus would be allowed to go to Hogwarts since he became a werewolf saving me. He is also excluded from every single were law that will ever be created. The Minister himself came up with that edict almost immediately after the tragedy, with a stipulation that the law could never be rescinded by later Ministers."

The others let this sink in. Remus kept his head down, waiting for their reactions. Lily kept her arms around him in a comforting gesture, both of them reliving that night. Neither of them had been aware of much during those few crucial minutes that they had been encased in emerald light. Remus had slept the rest of that night away and awoken in a stupor. Lily had stayed up all night and soothed him each time a nightmare plagued his sleep. After falling asleep about an hour before the break of dawn, she had still woken up around eight a.m. and watched over her cousin.

"So what was that all about today?" Natalia finally asked. Remus looked up in surprise.

"Romulus never came home after the events that turned me into a werewolf," was his quiet reply.

"What does that mean in relation to today?" Sirius asked in all seriousness. This was something of a surprise to Remus and Lily, who had only seen the joking front he had put up.

"It means he never knew that Remus was allowed to attend Hogwarts. It means that, once again, Remus was given something he was denied," Lily replied.

"I see. But you said he is nine and a half years your senior and that he chose to become a werewolf before you were a year old. Doesn't that mean he prevented himself from going to Hogwarts?" asked Bella. Lily and Remus both shook their heads.

"He chose to become a werewolf before he found out about the fact that he would have gone to Hogwarts. At the time, the Headmaster was Professor Dippet. Dippet would not allow a werewolf on school grounds and therefore cancelled Romulus' right to attend school," Remus replied.

"Dumbledore is much more accepting than staid Dippet had been. By letting Remus into the school, however, he's caused a great deal of worry in the majority of the ministry, since most weren't there that night. Aurors have a tendency to be suspicious, but the ones who were there that night sympathize with us and actually attend the birthday parties held each year," Lily said in closing.

The others sat, still pondering the situation. For half-an-hour, Lily and Remus sat on the couch. After that time, they stood up. Remus headed up to his room to rest after his emotionally taxing day. Lily turned back to the others.

"Something else I need to tell you. Remus became very emotionally unstable after the transformation. I'm the only one who can keep him sane. Your friendship means a lot to both of us, but most of all to him. Neither of us was liked much in primary school because we always had the weight of this large secret upon us. My parents and sister know nothing of this. Sleep on it. Ponder how you feel about having a friend who's a werewolf. Then, if you truly still care for Remus as a friend, tell him so. He'll need to hear it. You're the first ones other than those involved that night that have been told and no matter what it looks like, it took a lot of effort for us to do that. Good night," she said. With that, she disappeared up the stairs in a flurry of red hair.

The next morning came bright and early for all the Lupin house's occupants. Lily and Remus had already been up for over three hours before the rest of the house. Lily had prepared a simple breakfast of oatmeal and pancakes while Remus set the table. They had timed it so perfectly that when Sirius got down to the table (being the last one up) Lily was just starting to put the food on the table.

Breakfast was a quiet affair. Shortly afterwards, however, James and Sirius cornered Remus, while the girls followed Lily back to the attic. Lily sat down to start practicing her music, starting on the violin. It was only ten minutes before Remus, James, and Sirius joined them.

Meanwhile, once the girls had disappeared from sight, James and Sirius turned to Remus. Remus was nervous, and showed it through constantly shifting feet and eyes darting every way possible.

"Chill Remus. We just wanted to say that we're still your friends," Sirius said gruffly. James nodded before adding his two cents.

"We'll stand by you, always."

Remus gave them both a grateful look. "Thank you. This means a lot to me."

"We know," James replied. He swung an arm around Remus' shoulders. "Let's go join the girls."

"Yeah!"

The rest of that day continued in the same vein. James and Sirius managed to both disappear long enough to allow the girls to deliver the same message to Remus that the boys had. By the end of the day, all six were planning numerous pranks to pull at home and upon their return to school.

The parents watched the children carefully. As glad as they were that their children had finally found friends, they noticed things about the others that worried them. But that was a matter for another time. The most important thing was to watch out for any pranks the sextet managed to pull off. This was entirely possible seeing as three of its members—Lily, Remus, and Arabella—grew up in houses mostly devoid of magic.

It was Lily's father who eventually came up with a name for the group. In passing at the dinner table, he asked the group if they would be marauding any poor neighbors tomorrow. The word grabbed their attention and being bright eleven-year-olds, they looked the word up. James and Sirius came to a joint decision and convinced the girls to go by the code-name "Marauders" at school. The girls insisted that there be two sub-groups, the Lord Marauders and the Lady Marauders.

With a bit of the foresight that would one day prove quite useful, Lily asked that the boys be the only ones to take the credit for the pranks of the Marauders. When not working as a cohesive unit, the boys agreed to simply go by the Marauders while the girls would be the Ladies. The entire discussion had been held in Lily's room, the larger of those on this floor.

However, just prior to Christmas, a full moon occurred. That night, the others joined Lily in a vigil at the Lupin household after Remus was locked into the cellar. When Remus came out the following morning, they all saw just how bloody the process was for their friend and they made a silent agreement to help Lily find a way to help him.

Christmas itself was an amazing affair for the entire group. With their friendship firmly established, the visitors had all settled comfortably into the Evans household. The boys scuffled frequently over the oddest things sometimes, making the girls all giggle. The presents they each received were numerous and meaningful. Each of the visitors was also given presents by the Evans' and the Lupins' as a gesture of their position as honorary family members. Natalia and Lily both helped Remus with his presents since he was still very weak from the physical drain caused by the change.

None of them really wanted to return to school, where they had to hide their knowledge from the other students. Lily suggested even hiding the fact that the others knew about Remus. Everyone agreed to try and fool the teachers, swearing their first oath as the Marauders.

AN: ALL done! FINALLY! I finished this in the airport while waiting to catch my flight. I'm soooo sorry about the lateness, but school comes first and that lost priority to something else for awhile. Hopefully, I'm back on track now. Not only did I not have time, I was stuck on how to deal with the issue of having them come up with the name Marauders. Please read and review, it encourages me to write and post. I won't stop if you don't review, but it gives me warm fuzzies, which feed Kiriko-chan!

Ja ne!

As the Marauders would say: "Until the next Adventurous Prank!"