Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

James Potter pulled his trunk behind him on a trolley on Platform 9 ¾. The scarlet steam engine that would take him to school for his fifth year stood glistening in the glaring sunlight. Students milled about the platform with their parents, bidding goodbye until either Christmas or next summer. James squinted in the sun, looking for his best friend, Sirius Black.

Sirius was a troublemaker, just like James. The two headed a notorious group called the Marauders, known for pulling numerous pranks and always receiving detention. He and James were known as the biggest troublemakers in all of Hogwarts history.

James pulled his trunk on to the train and into an empty compartment. His parents were off on work, and were unable to see him off. But that was all right. James' parents had promised to send him a letter once he arrived.

Suddenly the compartment door opened and a thin, pale boy with messy brown hair stepped in. He smiled weakly and shut the door, collapsing on one of the seats. "Hey James," he greeted.

James grinned. "'Lo, Remus. How's it going?" he asked.

Remus shrugged. "Same old, same old," he replied.

James nodded. "Have you seen Sirius?" he asked. "I haven't seen him."

Remus raised an eyebrow curiously. "You mean you two didn't come together?"

James rolled his eyes. "Do you seriously think that Sirius' parents would let him come with me?"

Remus nodded. "Good point," he said.

James shook his head. "Honestly, Remus. I thought you were the smart one," he said with a grin.

The compartment door suddenly opened and a short, pudgy boy with a rat-like face stepped in. He smiled and sat down. "Hello," he said, quickly pulling out a card from his pocket.

"What's that?" James and Remus asked in unison, bending over Peter's hands.

Peter glanced up at them with his watery blue eyes. "It's a card of Dumbledore I got out of a Chocolate Frog pack," he explained.

James nodded. He and the rest of his good friends collected the cards received in Chocolate Frogs.

The door opened a last time to reveal a disgruntled looking boy with long black hair and mischievous blue eyes.

"Hey Sirius," Remus said.

"Sirius!" cried James, flinging his arms around him. "Where have you been, old chap?"

"Bloody parents almost didn't let me come," Sirius muttered, flopping on to a seat. "They wanted me to go to Durmstrang." He shuddered.

James nodded sympathetically. "Well, this is no way to start our way to Hogwarts this year," he declared.

Sirius grinned. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked.

James beamed in reply.

Sirius gave a whoop and pulled from his pocket numerous Filibuster Fireworks and packs of Exploding Snap cards. "Let's get this party started!" he yelled.

Remus laughed and jumped up, joining in the fun. Sirius and James shot off fireworks while Peter hopelessly played Remus in Exploding Snap.

The food trolley came around noon. The plump witch smiled graciously at all of the boys and gave them the food they paid for. Remus bought only chocolate, as that was his favorite food that he absolutely couldn't live without. Peter nibbled on Cauldron Cakes and watched Sirius and James combat in a game of wizards chess.

"You know, James," said Sirius in a business-like voice. "We haven't seen that little redheaded friend of ours, Lily Evans."

James grinned. "Too true," he replied in the same tone. "Shall we go find her?"

"Yes, let's."

Remus shook his head. "Do you two always have to bug Lily? She does nothing at all to either of you," he pointed out.

Sirius frowned. "She does plenty," he replied.

"Such as?"

"Getting better grades than I do."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Fine. But don't blame me if Lily hexes you."

"I don't worry about Lily hexing us," James replied. "I worry about Jordan."

With that, James and Sirius strode off to find the aforementioned redhead. Peter followed eagerly, anxious to see anything exciting happen. Remus reluctantly followed, but only to get James and Sirius out of trouble, as was his normal job.

Sirius opened a compartment door and grinned. "Hullo, Lillian," he greeted with a mock bow.

Lily Evans glared at him. "Get out, Black," she replied curtly. "And don't call me 'Lillian'."

"But my dear Lillian, we've only just arrived."

"And you've already worn out your welcome. So leave."

James grinned. "Sorry, Lily, we're going to be here for a while," he said.

Lily frowned. "If you were sorry, you'd already be gone," she pointed out.

"My point exactly."

Lily glared daggers at James while he just continued grinning like a stupid fool.

A girl behind Lily shifted slightly and turned to look at them. "What do you want?" she asked in a bored tone.

"Just to chat. We haven't seen either of you all summer," Sirius said.

"Oh, so that's why my summer was so enjoyable."

Sirius frowned. If anyone could get under his skin, it was Jordan. The blonde smiled at him and turned to look out the window.

Remus suddenly popped up behind James and Sirius. "Hi, Lily," he said.

Lily smiled. "Hello, Remus. How've you been?" she asked.

Remus shrugged. "Alright. Very bored, though. And you?"

"Very annoyed thanks to these two," she replied with a frown, pointing to James and Sirius.

Remus gave a weak laugh. "You know them. They want to annoy everyone."

James turned around, a look of mock hurt on his face. "Why, Remus! How could you say that?"

Remus shrugged. "Because it's true?"

James nodded. "Yeah, it is true," he said.

Sirius grinned in agreement.

"Did you guys come here for any particular reason?" Jordan asked.

"We were bored," Sirius said nonchalantly, sitting across from her.

"So you decided to come and annoy the hell out of us," Jordan said. "Makes perfect sense."

Sirius grinned. "Yes, I know."

"Must be one of your better ideas."

"Yeah," Sirius agreed. "Hey, wait a minute—"

Sirius was suddenly interrupted by a voice outside the compartment.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Lucius Malfoy sneered. Behind him was his best friend, Severus Snape, greasy hair and all.

James glared at his archrival. "Get out, Malfoy," he ordered, his voice no longer fun loving and friendly.

"I'd rather not," Malfoy replied nonchalantly. "You see, I haven't made fun of the Mudblood and her friend yet, and you know how much I love that."

"Don't call her that!" James snapped, whipping out his wand. Sirius was already standing, holding his wand in his hand. Remus stood behind James and Sirius, his eyes narrowed in utter loathing towards Malfoy and Snape. Peter sat in the corner, afraid to get in on the action.

"Why not?" Malfoy asked. "It's only her proper name, after all."

Snape snickered. His hand was in the pocket of his robe, grasping his wand for when the time came.

James' temper had finally hit its limit. But someone else's had hit long before. A spell whizzed past James' ear, striking Malfoy in the nose. Large, purple warts began erupting on his pale skin. He gave a cry of pain and pulled out his wand, trying to figure out the countercurse.

Snape, meanwhile, had fired off his own spell, which shattered the train window. Sirius and James leapt forward at this point, firing every hex they knew. Snape and Malfoy barely made it away in one piece.

James turned around to find Lily glaring disapprovingly at him. "You shouldn't have attacked Malfoy," she reprimanded.

"I didn't cast the spell, honest," James replied.

Lily set her hands on her hips. "Well then who did?" she asked.

"I did," said a voice softly. Everyone turned around to see Jordan, her blue eyes hard. "He deserved it, too."

Lily shook her head. "He'll tell Professor Eptman," Lily replied. "You'll be in big trouble."

Jordan shrugged. "I don't care. He called you a bad name. And besides, if I didn't curse him, James and Sirius would have done worse."

James nodded. "She's right, you know," he pointed out.

Lily glared at him. "Well I figured that," she snapped.

James shook his head. Why is she so stubborn? he thought. She says something one minute then bites my head off when she's wrong.

The boys left Jordan and Lily alone so that both groups could change into their school robes. It was dark when the train arrived at Hogsmeade Station. The students on board filed off, chattering with each other. Conveniently, most were talking of Malfoy and Snape's condition.

James grinned upon hearing first years commenting. "Looks like we're the talk of the town, Sirius," he said.

Sirius nodded. "No, our work is the talk of the town," he corrected.

James nodded. "Good enough."

Sirius grinned and nodded. Suddenly, a familiar voice boomed above the heads of everyone, calling for the first years.

James grinned. "Hey, Hagrid!" he called.

"Hullo, James!" yelled the half-giant. "How are yeh?"

"I'm doing good. And you?"

Hagrid grinned. "Great."

With that, James and Sirius were swept up in the current of the remainder of the students. They walked out to the horseless carriages and found Remus and Peter saving one for them. The two troublemakers climbed into it and slumped against the black leather seats.

"Back to school, back to Crudele," Sirius said. "Neither is exactly good."

"The only good thing about going back to school is getting to prank Malfoy and Snape," James pointed out.

Sirius nodded his agreement. "Hey, Remus, what's that in your hand?" Sirius asked, leaning forward.

Remus' pale cheeks flushed. "Oh, nothing," he replied, trying to put it in the pocket of his robes. Sirius snatched it out of his hands before Remus could do anything.

"It's a Prefect badge!" Sirius exclaimed.

James' eyes widened. "How'd you get it, Remus? Did you bribe Dumbledore or something?" he asked.

Remus' face flushed with embarrassment. "No," he replied, seizing the badge. "I'm just not as big a troublemaker as either of you."

"But you come up with all of our pranks!" he yelled.

"Apparently Dumbledore doesn't know that."

James grumbled something about the unfairness of it all. "If I were a Prefect, we would have been able to get away with anything," he muttered.

Remus smiled. "Don't worry, I won't get you guys for everything," he said.

"THANK YOU!" Sirius cried, lunging forward and hugging Remus.

"Uh, Sirius? Get off Remus. It looks wrong," James said awkwardly.

Sirius glared at James and punched him on the arm. "Idiot," he muttered.

The carriages arrived at the front gates where the students departed into the school. The boys took their places at the Gryffindor table, talking excitedly with other students, such as Frank Longbottom. He was a good guy who was a year older than the rest of them. He, like Remus, was a Prefect. But he enjoyed a good prank just as much as the next guy.

Suddenly, Professor McGonagall strode purposefully through a door, leading a long line of shivering and nervous first years. James grinned, as did Sirius. "Did you ask one of them?" James asked Sirius in a low voice.

Sirius nodded. Suddenly, a little first year came in, shivering uncontrollably. The boy was soaked to the bone and was practically swallowed up in Hagrid's large overcoat. His face was pale, almost matching the light blond color of his hair. He almost beheld the complexion of a ghost.

Sirius laughed, as did James. "He actually jumped in the lake," Sirius said in between laughs.

James grinned. "Well, what better way to introduce a student to the giant squid?" he asked.

Sirius smirked. "Too true."

Lily shot them a look of annoyance, her green eyes narrowed. "Will you quiet down?" she hissed, her voice not exactly holding an asking tone.

"Sirius?" said James.

Sirius shook his head. "No, I'm having too much fun," he replied.

Lily rolled her eyes and was about to say some snappy comeback when Jordan set a hand on her arm.

"They won't listen, Lily, so just leave them be," she said in a low voice.

Lily nodded and turned back around to watch the Sorting ceremony.

An old, tattered hat sat upon a stool in front of the teacher's table. The hall finally quieted after a moment and watched the hat, waiting for something to happen. Suddenly, rip near the brim opened up and began to sing:

I am the Hogwarts Sorting Hat,
so sit down so we can chat.
I'll tell you where you ought to be,
and then, you shall see.
The house in which you stay,
will be your home everyday.
Gryffindor might be your house,
where no one fears a single mouse.
Brave and true are Gryffindors,
there you'll find an open door.
Hufflepuff will take you in,
treating you as their kin.
Loyal, steadfast, to the end,
those are your true friends.
Your home might be in Ravenclaw,
always following the law.
Witty, smart, and ready to learn,
a passion inside them burns.
Slytherin is the last abode,
with a very simple code.
Be cunning and use any means,
and rewards are often seen.
If you want some honesty,
then I'm your cup of tea.
Put me on, don't be afraid,
for soon with friends you shall be paid.

The students in the hall clapped loudly and then watched the Sorting take place. At the end, Dumbledore stood up, silencing the hall with a wave of his hand.

"And now, let us feast!" he cried.

The students eagerly dug into the delicious food, talking merrily and laughing. No happier people could be found that night.

After dinner, the prefects led the students to their dormitories. Remus and Lily led the Gryffindors to the portrait of the Fat Lady and announced the password.

"This year's Password is 'Tarantellegra'," Remus announced over the talking of the students. He and Lily directed the students up the correct staircases and then left to their own dormitories.

"Hey, guys?" said Sirius sleepily once they were up in their dormitory.

"Yeah?" called James, his voice already groggy.

"This year is gonna be good, I know it."

James suddenly threw a pillow at Sirius, as did Remus. "That could've waited 'til tomorrow," James groaned.

Sirius didn't respond, as he was already asleep.

Wow. Long chapter. First HP fic that isn't a TOTAL random comedy. What do ya think?

R&R!!

Jojo