Title: Before They Were Marauders

Author: Kararen

Disclaimer: I soooo do NOT own Harry Potter or any of the Harry Potter characters!

Author's Note: Thought that I'd get a start on the next chapter since I haven't written anything in a couple months.

HoshiHikari4ever – The way I see it is that the Weasley's would be quite a bit older than James and Lily and the Marauders. If you think about it, Ron has so many older siblings, yet Harry is the first born. I dunno, maybe Molly and Arthur could be in seventh year or something, but I don't think I'm planning on mentioning anyone else anyhow. But I might now if you guys are interested in it!

Dawniky and hprules – Yeah, I thought that Peter should have been in Slytherin as well, but that as fate would have it he'd be put into Gryffindor.

-Chapter Four-

The First Feast

There was a soft rumble of voices from all around the hall. Students we're either introducing themselves or getting reacquainted with the friends that they hadn't seen for the summer months away from Hogwarts. The four new Gryffindor boys of our story were beginning to get to know other members of their house, but they hardly had much time for it before a loud clinking noise turned everyone's attention.

A man with a long white beard and half-moon spectacles stood up from the head table where the teachers sat. All the students were silent at once.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! I am of course your headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, and I know you all must be hungry from your trip, and hungry to learn more about your new house members, so I will keep this short. I am reminding you that students are not allowed into the forest, and to not use magic in the corridors. Together we can make this a wonderful year! Good luck to all houses in their pursuit of the House Cup which will be awarded to the house with the most points at the end of the year. Let's eat!"

And with that, the table magically filled with food. The four boys' eyes lit up (Peter's in particular) as they saw every food that they could imagine appear before them. They instantly filled their plates and a roar of voices broke out among the hall.

"Wow, they really know how to treat you well around here!" James commented.

"I feel like a King!" Sirius added.

"My parents would never let me eat all this," Peter chimed in while chewing a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

"Ewwww!" said Sirius.

"Honestly Peter, it's okay to swallow first, we can wait," James added.

Peter was shrank down into his seat and blushed. He hoped he hadn't just lost the friends he thought he had made.

At the look on Peter's face, James and Sirius grinned.

"Don't look so sheepish Pete! We were only messing with you," Sirius laughed.

"You'll have to learn how to take a joke if we're going to be friends!" James said.

James and Sirius continued to laugh, and Peter was able to force out a few chuckles, but Remus only gave a small smile and continued poking at the chicken on his plate with his fork. After the initial excitement of the mounds of food magically appearing, he had found that he was not as hungry as he had thought. He still was not sure if he really belonged there at Hogwarts. He was trying to make friends, he really was, and he was glad that James, Sirius and Peter had been so nice to him, but he was still different from everyone. No one knew what it was like to go through what he did, and no one could ever know, it had to remain his secret.

Just as Remus began to think that he best just tell Dumbledore that he wanted to go home that night, he looked up to the head table to see Dumbledore looking straight at him. Professor McGonagall was whispering something in Dumbledore's ear, but Dumbledore did not remove his eyes from Remus. He simply uttered something back under his breath that seemed to satisfy Professor McGonagall and then offered Remus a reassuring smile. Remus felt just from that smile how great a wizard Dumbledore truly was. Why shouldn't he be there, he was a wizard after all. Before anything else, he was a wizard. That's all everyone here would see him as too. Remus smiled back as a thank you to Dumbledore, who nodded. He seemed to understand exactly what Remus had been thinking.

Remus turned his attention back to what was happening at the table. He apparently had missed a lot. James and Sirius along with a couple third years had built a catapult mechanism to launch food across the table.

"I say boys, now is that really safe to be doing?" said a voice none of the boys recognized.

They all turned to see a very pale man looking at him. Then they realized that he in fact wasn't just a pale man, he was a ghost!

At the sight of not a few scared faces (including Peter's), the ghost said, "Hello and welcome to Gryffindor house first years! My name is Sir Nicholas…"

"That's Nearly Headless Nick, don't mind him," a third year interrupted.

And so they put the finishing touches on the catapult and prepared to launch an object yet to be determined.

"I say we use mashed potatoes," the third year said excitedly.

"No way, go for the chocolate pudding," Sirius said with a smile. "We can aim it at that grease ball kid in Slytherin!"

"I'm with you on that one Sirius," said James, "but Peter's just finished off the bowl!"

"Sorry!" said Peter, again feeling slightly embarrassed.

"No worries Petey!" Sirius exclaimed, "I've got a better idea!" He grabbed two giant scoops of candy corn and put it into the catapult. "We'll be sure not to miss him if we spread the attack out. We've only got one shot at this because we have to quickly take it apart after we use it. So we won't have a chance to try out the aim! Wouldn't want to get caught no would we?"

"No way!" several Gryffindors chimed in.

James and Sirius couldn't wait to try it out, and were making the final preparations. Peter sat on the edge of his seat eagerly watching them. Remus felt the excitement too, but he also had that funny feeling one gets when you know someone's breaking the rules but don't want to rat them out.

Amazingly enough they were able to get all this done without attracting any attention. The other house tables had been busy getting to know new students, and the professors were busy talking over their summers and what they had planned for the new school year. Even the other end of the Gryffindor table was oblivious to what was going on.

"Alright, everyone know what they have to do once we let it fly?" James whispered.

Everyone nodded.

"Okay then, on the count of three," Sirius took charge.

"One!" James whispered.

"Two!" Remus jumped in, bringing smiles to James' and Sirius' faces.

"Three!" James said, and he and Sirius pulled the lever and candy corn went flying into the air.

For such a complicated contraption, it seemed to be able to be quickly dismantled, as by the time the candy hit the Slytherin table there was no trace of it with the Gryffindors.

A few Slytherin girls screamed as they were showered with the treats. The hooked nose boy with the greasy hair took one right in the forehead, much to the amusement of the four Gryffindor boys. Some Slytherins took refuge under their table, while others stood up scowling. But none of them seemed to know where it came from, that is, except for the greasy haired boy. Though he hadn't seen anything, he was sure of where it must have come from and shot James and Sirius a nasty look.

James and Sirius we're clearly pros at not looking guilty or giving themselves away. They laughed along with the rest of the students, then shrugged their shoulders and went back to talking and eating dessert.

But the incident had caught the attention of some of the professors who now walked between the house tables on watch. A few also went to the Slytherin table to see if anyone had seen anything. But without any evidence at the Gryffindor table where the greasy haired boy had pointed to, no one could be punished.

Professor Dumbledore did not return all the way to the head table to dismiss the students. He simply stood at the front of the house tables and put his arms up in the air. The Great Hall became silent at once.

"I do hope you've all enjoyed the feast, but I dare say it is getting late and you all must be tired from your journey here. And of course you'll need your rest for classes start tomorrow. You will receive you timetables at breakfast in the morning. Goodnight to you all!"

And with that, students began talking again and getting up from the table. Before James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus could get up, Dumbledore came walking down the aisle next to their table and stopped just where they were seated.

"Did you boys enjoy the feast? Even with that little interruption?"

They gulped and nodded as politely and as they could. Dumbledore knew it was them and they were going to be in trouble each thought to himself.

"Well, without any evidence I suppose we'll never be able to catch the culprits, but I know that we'll never have another incident like this otherwise those responsible will be sorry!" Dumbledore said. Then he added, "But I do say it had quite an impressive range for being manmade and without magic!" And with a smile and wink, he walked away.

The four boys just looked at each other and grinned.

Author's Note: So there's chapter four for ya! Hope you enjoyed it. Just one more to go in which I can wrap up this little fanfic.