Chapter One

Sirius sighed with relief.

'It's good to be back,' he thought.

The tall dark-haired boy hated his summers at home and was always happy when school started again. Brushing his hair out of his eyes he glanced at his friends and fellow Gyffindors. A boy about the same height as Sirius with messy dark brown hair was busy staring at his crush who was pointedly ignoring him.

'When will James learn? Evans just isn't interested in him.'

Sirius shook his head and glanced down the table at Lily Evans. She was a pretty girl, about 5'4", with long, wavy red hair cascading down her back. Her Prefect badge glimmered in the light as she fixed her eyes on the front of the Great Hall where this year's Sorting Ceremony was taking place. After a while though, Sirius noticed her taking tiny glances at James when she thought he wasn't looking.

'Maybe James does have a chance with her. Hmm... I'll have to look into that later.'

Shifting his gaze, Sirius found his attention focused on two of his friends sitting directly across from him and James. Peter Pettigrew was watching the Ceremony with rapt attention and muttering something about how small the first years looked to the sandy-haired boy next to him who was obviously not listening. Remus Lupin was staring into space at the ceiling of the Great Hall that was bewitched to look like the sky above it. Sirius knew why.

Remus was a werewolf. The full moon had ended two nights ago so the scratches were still fresh on his face. Dumbledore, the current headmaster, had requested the Remus come to Hogwarts a week earlier than his peers so that he wouldn't have to take the train in his condition and would be able to receive prompt medical care from Madame Pomfrey, the school's nurse, as soon as he returned to his human form.

Remus absentmindedly ran a hand through his jaw-length hair and turned his attention back to the table and the people around him. Catching Sirius' eye he grinned and pointed to the front of the Hall. There were two girls left to be sorted. One was tall and lanky for her age looked quite a bit nervous. The other was a short, innocent looking brunette.

"Karen Smith," Professor McGonagall called the brunette up to the stool where a tattered looking hat sat.

Karen picked it up and placed it on her head. The hat paused for a moment, whispered something only she could hear and paused again before shouting,

"Gryffindor!"

The entire table erupted into applause and cheers for the newest addition to their house.

"Ami Zanth," McGonagall said as the remaining girl approached the stool.

Ami had barely placed the hat on her head when it screamed,

"Hufflepuff!"

The Hufflepuffs cheered and quickly made a space for her in their midst.

"Finally, it's over. Now we can eat," James' voice brought Sirius and Remus out of their thoughts.

However, it had no such effect on Peter. The short, pudgy fifth year's mouth had fallen open as he stared at the Hufflepuff table in awe. Reaching over, Remus placed his hand under the boy's chin and pushed up, causing his jaw to snap shut and make Peter jump. James laughed good-naturedly when he saw this. Sirius raised an eyebrow before speaking,

"Got yourself a crush there, Peter?"

Peter could only nod because the Headmaster had abruptly stood and was now waiting for silence to fill the hall so he could speak. When everyone was quiet, he cleared his throat and began,

"First, I would like to welcome everyone to another year at Hogwarts. Second, Mr. Filch, our caretaker, has asked me to remind you that the Forbidden Forest is off limits to everyone, hence the name," Dumbledore said in his calm, stately voice. Shooting a glance at the table where the four Marauders sat, he continued, "He also wants to remind you that dung bombs, among other things are not allowed. For a complete list of prohibited items please check his office door. Next, in addition to the first-years, we have a new student joining us. Samantha Halloway is a fifth year Slytherin who has just transferred here. I trust that you will all do your best to makes her feel welcome. Head boy and girl this year are..."

Dumbledore went through the usual announcements, allowing people's thoughts to wander.

James looked around at the first-years at his table and remembered his first day at Hogwarts...

James boarded the train, carrying his trunk. He headed towards the middle of the train hoping to find an empty compartment, or his friends, whichever came first.

"James! Wait up, mate! Whatcha in such a rush for?"

The unruly-haired boy turned to see Sirius dashing towards him. He grinned and waited for his friend to catch up with him.

"C'mon, let's go find an empty compartment," James said and headed off, not giving Sirius a chance to catch his breath.

They went all the way to the end of the train without finding an empty compartment. They doubled back, this time Sirius was leading. He paused outside a compartment where a sandy-haired boy sitting alone and reading.

"Oy! Sirius! What did you do with my bloody robes!" Regulus' voice tore through the air from a compartment down the hall.

"Oh, bugger. I can't believe I forgot to pack them," Sirius muttered quietly, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Sirius! Move! He'll come out here any second," James hissed, opening the compartment door and shoving his friend through it.

Regulus Black, Sirius' brother, was, in James' opinion, a no-good, lazy, stuck-up git. He had made Sirius pack his trunk for him the night before. Sirius had purposefully left the his brother's robes out of the trunk and wrapped them in paper, while telling one of the house-elves to send it in the next day's mail.

When the boys quickly shuffled into the compartment and placed their trunks on the over hanging rack, the boy whose compartment they had invaded looked up at them questioningly.

"You don't mind do you? We promise not to distract you or anything," James asked quietly, hoping the boy would let them stay.

"Of course he doesn't mind, James!" Sirius exclaimed, somewhat taken aback by James' politeness. Then, catching sight of the reproachful look on his skinny friend's face, he turned back to the boy who they had interrupted.

Errr... you don't mind, do you? My brother'll kill us if we go back into the hall."

"I don't mind at all," came the answer.

The boy then turned back to his book, James sat down next to him and Sirius stretched out across from them. After a few minutes of silence the boy shut his book and stared out the window at the scenery rushing by.

"Watcha reading?" Sirius asked, leaning over and taking the book from the boy's hands, "The Marauders? Never heard of it. What's it about?"

"It's a muggle book, that's probably why you haven't heard of it. It's really popular at the moment. It's about a group of friends who go on a bunch of fun adventures. Stealing treasure, outsmarting bad guys... the usual."

At this, James piped in. "Sounds cool. What's your name? I'm James and that's Sirius. But you can't really expect him to live up to his name."

The last comment earned James a glare from Sirius that he ignored, and a grin from their new friend.

"I'm Remus," he replied.

After that the trio became inseparable and nicknamed themselves "The Marauder's." Later they let Peter join them, but James had never thought of him as a true Marauder. In his opinion, it started with three and would remain three until the day they died.

James was suddenly jerked backed to reality as Sirius kicked him under the table.

"Food's here, mate."