Disclaimer: These aren't my characters. I'm just borrowing them for a few minutes.
Author's Note: This is the first part. I made one date change; I changed Wormtail's May 27, 1976 response to May 17, 1976. Thanks to everybody who reviewed: Stargazing Maiden, siriusforeva, Stella Blu, hydraspit, eternalstupor, Jedi Knight Bus, Alana-Lou, Augurey Song, DOJ, dweem-angel, Amandinka, Syris Noir, holyheartbreak, anne, imfeelingthis182, Blathnaid, hollyy, Kayu Silver, DementorIceCream, Prongs J. Potter, Artemis Moonsong, LazyCat, the sheep moos, Rider-of-Rohan23, praesul femella, Atled Willy, lizziee, JessiAnne032791, feltons-babe90099, and Starsight52. If anyone is waiting for an update on one of my other stories, I'm working on them, but having a little trouble. Don't worry, they're coming.
SEPTEMBER 1, 1975
James, Peter, Sirius, and Remus were sitting on the Hogwarts Express.
"I'm bored."
"Me too."
"So am I."
"Well, I've got a Prefect meeting, so the three of you can here and be bored," Remus said, standing up and moving toward the door. He left, slamming it shut behind him so hard that it opened again.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Great, now we don't even have Moony to bug anymore."
James was sullen for a moment, then looked around and grinned. "I know! Let's play bounce."
"Bounce?" Sirius asked, dubiously.
"Yeah…" James said. He jerked his head in the direction of Peter, who was sorting his chocolate frog cards. James tore off a bit of parchment that was sticking out of his trunk and rolled it into a ball, throwing it and bouncing it off the side of Peter's head. "Bounce," he repeated.
A smile identical to James's spread across Sirius's face. Sirius looked around for some parchment and couldn't find any of his own, so he improvised. He tore the back page out of the book Remus had been reading and started making ammo out of it.
James built up his own ammo with the piece of parchment he had. When they both had a sufficient store, James held up three fingers, lowering them one by one. When he reached zero, he and Sirius started playing "bounce" against Peter's head.
"Agh! Ouch! Stop it!" Peter said, as he rummaged through his trunk, looking for his wand. Fortunately he managed to use the Protego charm before they'd thrown everything at him.
"I win!" Sirius said triumphantly.
James stared at him. "What do you mean 'I win'? I have less pieces left than you do, so that means I threw more at him than you did."
"Does not. You only have less left because I started with more. That means I win.""Quit bickering, you're both mean. Do you realize that we could be copying Moony's homework instead of throwing things at my head?" Peter asked.
Sirius shrugged. "I'm not doing my homework except Transfiguration, and that's done. Making a stand and all that. We shouldn't get homework over the holidays."
Peter rolled his eyes. "You say that every year. And you?" he turned to James.
"I did my Transfiguration and I copied most of the other stuff from Remus when he was staying at my house last week."
"He let you copy?"
"Not really. I took out his homework while he was showering."
"So am I the only who isn't done?" Peter whined.
"Correction, you're the only one who isn't done and cares that he isn't done. You can copy James's homework tonight," Sirius said easily.
"Why mine?" asked James.
"Because," Sirius said. "Because yours is pretty much done, mine isn't, and Moony won't let him copy."
"Fair enough."
The three of them sat in silence for a moment.
Sirius knocked his head back against the wall. "I'm still bored."
"Me too," James said.
"Well, don't look at me," Peter said. "I'm not going to be target practice anymore."
"I think we should do something to leave a mark here. We sit in this compartment every year," James said.
"Remember last year when we had to scare out those first years?" asked Sirius.
"Yeah. Evans was sure after us for that," James said grinning.
"I remember. She said, 'Well, your names aren't on this compartment so it's free for anyone who wants it,'" Peter said, mimicking Lily Evans's voice.
"So let's do it," James said.
"Do what?" asked Sirius.
"Put are names on it?" asked Peter.
"Yeah! Why not?" James asked.
Sirius smirked. "Excellent!"
"Wormy, would you gimme your wand?" James asked.
Peter handed the wand over.
James turned around in his seat and was just about to write JAMES POTTER into the back of it when Lily Evans passed by.
She saw that he had his wand pointed at the back of the seat and stopped in her tracks, sticking her head into the compartment. Those boys shouldn't even have their wands out. Even though they were officially allowed to do magic on the train, they had no reason to be doing it now. "Potter!" she barked.
James turned his head, smiling in a charming way that usually got him out of trouble with most people. It was a smile that got him out of trouble with his mum, his teachers, and pretty much anyone else. It was not however a smile that could get him out of trouble with Lily Evans. "Hello, Evans. What can I do for you?"
"What are you doing, Potter?" She stepped into the compartment.
"Writing my name on the back of my seat. The Hogwarts letters say that all student belongings should be clearly labeled. This is my seat, therefore is should have my name on it."
"Potter, that's vandalism. I'm taking your wand and giving it to the conductor at the front of the train. You can get it back from him when we reach Hogwarts." She snatched the wand and stalked out.
"Evans! Evans! That's my wand!" Peter called after her. But it was too late. She was gone.
"Sorry, Wormtail," James said, not sounding particularly sorry.
"That was a good idea though, mate," Sirius said consolingly.
"We could still use one of your wands," Peter said grouchily.
"Nah," James said, running a hand through his hair. "Evans is smarter than that. She'll be checking up on us. We should still leave are mark on the school, but not here."
"How about the door of our dormitory?" offered Peter.
"Too visible. McGonagall could find it and then we'd never hear the end of it from Evans if she found out we got in trouble for it," James said, waving the idea aside. "We need somewhere else."
They brainstormed for a while. Sirius suggested the windowsill. Peter suggested the headboard of each bed. Finally, they reached an idea James liked. Of course James liked the idea; he came up with it.
Remus came in, Wormtail's wand tucked behind his ear. "You aren't talking about vandalizing school property again, are you, boys?" he asked innocently.
Sirius clapped him on the back. "Of course we are, Moony. What's the first day back at Hogwarts without some good ol' rule breaking?"
Remus tossed Peter's wand back to him. "I met up with Lily Evans in the hallway and she said she was taking this to the conductor to hold. I offered to take it there for her."
"Thanks, Remus," Peter said gratefully.
"So what are you lot planning? I'm a Prefect now, so I really shouldn't be listening to this, you know."
"We're going to carve our names into the underside of one of our beds tonight," James said.
"Who's bed?" Remus asked. "Not mine."
"Not mine," Peter said. "I'm in enough trouble for the first day back as it is."
"I volunteer James," Sirius announced.
"I second that," Remus agreed.
"I third it," said Peter.
"Alright, alright, I'll do it. Just because I'm braver than the lot of you…" James said trailing off.
Sirius started shoving James, and James hit him back and pulled Peter into the fray. Peter kicked James and pulled Remus down into the fight too. They were a mess of arms, legs, bruises, and scratches by the time the train started to slow. By the time it stopped their bruises were healed or covered by Hogwarts robes.
Back in their dormitory after the Sorting Feast, Peter was copying the last of James's homework, Remus was double-checking his, and Sirius and James were writing out official rules for the newly invented game of Bounce. Around ten-thirty, James said to the room at large, "You know, we ought to do it."
"Do what?" asked Remus, irritated at being disturbed. He was almost done proofing his potions essay.
"Write out names under the bed. Not just our names. Some sort of message."
"You're right. We need something strong," Sirius said.
"But simple."
"But it has to have meaning."
"It has to be powerful."
"How about, we write, 'The Marauders'?" Peter asked.
"No…"
"The Marauders' Lair?"
"No…"
"The Bravest Gryffindors in History?"
"No…" As each suggestion came, James shot it down. He didn't know what he wanted it, but when it came, he'd know it.
"We solemnly swear that we're up to no good?"
"No…"
"The Marauders have managed their mischief?"
"No…"
"We were here?"
"Yes!" That was it. It was simple. It had power. It was perfect. "Good thinking, Wormtail." Without further hesitation, James picked up his wand and got down on his knees next to the bed. Seeing that the space was clear and hadn't been cluttered up yet, he slid under. "Come on. We ought to all sign it."
"I'm game," Sirius said, getting up from his cross-legged position on the bed next to James's.
"I'll write the message, James. Your handwriting is atrocious," Remus said, following suit.
"Me too," offered Peter. He got up and joined the rest of them, crowded under James's bed.
James handed his wand to Remus and Remus etched the letters into the wood underneath the bed.
We were here.
After that, each of them took turns signing it with their Marauder name and Remus wrote the date underneath.
"There. Done," Remus said, satisfied.
"Not yet," Sirius said, snatching James's wand from Remus.
"What? It's perfect," Remus said, almost pouting.
"Nope. I think we need to add that Prongsie here loves Evans."
"I do not!" James said reaching across to get the wand away.
"Oh, come on, Prongs, I saw the way you were smiling and flirting with her on the train," Sirius said.
Peter snorted. "Sirius, he smiles like that at everybody."
At last, James managed to wrestle his wand away from Sirius and they all came out from under the bed and went to sleep.
JANUARY 4, 1976
Sirius was in the dormitory. Peter and James had detention (Sirius had barely escaped and would have stuck around if it weren't for the fact that their entire prank would have been ruined if he'd been found with all that Bubotuber pus). Remus was at a Prefect meeting. Sirius had the dormitory to himself.
He was practicing his juggling skills on some balled up socks he'd taken out of his trunk. He wasn't very good yet as it was a hobby recently acquired. Really, that Diggory had no reason to go and call him uncoordinated just because he fell down half a flight of stairs last week. So he'd bet him he could prove his coordination skills by learning to juggle in two weeks. Things were not going well so far.
One of the sock balls he was juggling fell and rolled onto the floor and under James's bed. With an exaggerated sigh, he got up to go fetch it.
He looked under the bed and couldn't see the sock; the sock was black and it was dark under the bed. Rather than wait for the sock to grow some sort of fungus and decay (the boys' dormitory was not exactly tidy), Sirius got off his knees to get his wand. Going back, he said the Lumos spell so he could see where the sock was. He found it, and found something else to.
Sirius saw the message they'd written on the first day of the school year. He remembered how James wouldn't let him write that he loved Evans. Grinning, Sirius rolled unto his back and said the spell that would let him draw the letters into the wood.
Prongs loves LE.
Padfoot 1.4.76
Satisfied, Sirius reclaimed his sock ball and slithered out from under the bed, ready to resume his juggling practice again. If he lost the bet he would have to announce at the Gryffindor table during dinner that Amos Diggory was hotter than Sirius Black. Well that was just not going to happen. He got back to practicing and was still at it when his roommates returned.
APRIL 2, 1976
James felt like he was on the top of the world. Gryffindor had just won its second game of the season and he'd nicked the Snitch from the team Seeker, Frank Longbottom. Frank detested him. Thought he wasn't serious enough. Wasn't serious enough about his schoolwork. Wasn't serious enough about his team practices. Phht! Who cared?
The party was still going on downstairs and James had just come up to the dormitory to get out a hidden stash of Droobles. He hoped there was enough of it to stick one of the first years to the ceiling with. That was always a riot. He'd get a heck of a tongue lashing from Evans when she found out about it but it was worth it. There was a first year who'd been getting on his nerves lately…following him around like a puppy. He was definitely looking forward to gumming the kid to the ceiling.
Unfortuantely, when he went to move the floorboard and get out the secret stash of candy he hid from Sirius (boy did that guy have a sweet-tooth!), the Snitch flew out of reach. He groaned as he realized it was headed for the open window and bounded from the floor, hitting his knee on a bedpost. Still, he managed to closed the window, and just as he did, the snitch crashed into it. The Snitch bounced off of it and went back of to hide and bounce around under James's bed.
James left it there for a few minutes while he gathered his candy into a bag. He brought the bag and his wand over by the bed, sneaking up on the Snitch and trying to catch the little bugger.
He finally did, and that's when he noticed that there was another message under the one they'd all written. Sirius! Fuming, James reached for his wand and wrote another one next to it.
I do not, Padfoot.
Prongs 4/2/76
With that, James crawled out from under the bed, picked up his candy, and went downstairs to rejoined the party.
MAY 3, 1976
Peter grumbled. Just because James had detention, that didn't mean that he should have to look for his rank practice gear and make sure the house-elves got it. It'd help if James at least knew where he'd left it.
James had told him that he was pretty sure that all his practice gear was still tied up in a ball and had ended up under the bed when he and Sirius were playing football with it the night before.
Peter groaned and got down on his hands and knees. He was always stuck doing the dirty work. Sirius and James had detention again. Remus had a Prefect meeting. So would good ol' Pete get his best buddy's practice gear into the laundry? Of course he would; he always did; never doubt it, never doubt good ol' reliable Petey. Pete had no life of his own and nothing better to do that look for James's disgusting Quidditch paraphernalia and make sure it got cleaned; though it ought to have been burned it was so bad.
James had forgotten about having the gear cleaned (again) and Frank wouldn't let him come to practice until it was; Frank was concerned the other players might pass out if they had to smell the clothes, even at flying distance. Sirius had suggested James offer to attend practice in his birthday suit, but Remus and Peter had managed to talk him out of that one. Peter found James's practice gear, under the bed, split open from the bundle it'd been tied into. He also found the messages Sirius and James had added. He snorted. He was pretty sure himself that James had a crush on Evans. He'd seen the way he looked at her. Not to mention that now he was asking her out on weekly, if not daily, basis. So, he added his own message right along side the first two.
Wormtail agrees with Padfoot.
Wormtail 5-3-76
Peter slid out from under the bed and put the smelly (and that is a severe understatement) practice gear in the hamper. The house-elves would clean anything, but they typically didn't touch the clothes unless they were in the hamper. Something about their code or their rules or something like that.
MAY 15, 1976
Remus sat in the shade of the tree, staring at his book without reading it. He was doing it again. Sitting by and doing nothing, pretending not to notice when his friends blatantly picked on and ganged up on Severus Snape. He tried to concentrate on his book, but he couldn't block out the words, the taunts, or the hexes.
He felt guilty, but tried not to show it; he stared at the words on the page in front of him. Lily had cornered him after last week's Prefect meeting and demanded to know why he never did anything. Why didn't he keep his friends in check? Why did he just sit there when they harassed other people? Most of the time, Snape didn't even do anything to deserve be harassed, the lately he'd started instigating fights more and more. But what was he supposed to say? He stuck with them because they stuck with him after finding out he was a werewolf? No, it was more than that. She just wouldn't understand, couldn't understand. She knew he was a werewolf and would have figured it out if Dumbledore hadn't told her at the start of term (with permission from Remus). Their rounds for Prefect patrol were carefully scheduled to avoid having duty during the full moon. Remus flipped a page, even though he hadn't read a single word in ten minutes.
He felt Lily approaching like the way you can tell a storm is coming. Then he heard her and Potter and Snape start to go at.
"Leave him ALONE!"
"All right, Evans?"
"Leave him alone. What's he done to you?"
"Well, it's more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean…"
Things often went like this. He kept his eyes fixed on his book, but didn't read anything about the Transfiguration spells he was supposed to be studying. He'd never get any studying done at this rate.
"…think you're funny, but you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him alone."
"I will if you go out with me, Evans. Go on…go out with me, and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again."
Remus had to try very hard to keep from snorting. James had showed an increased interest in Lily lately, but she still saw him for what he was: arrogant. Remus saw this, but James was one of his best friends and you had to take the bad qualities with the good. James and Sirius were loyal to a fault and definitely brilliant, but they were lazy and arrogant as well. But they were friends and it was worth the bad moments for the good. He'd never had friends before.
He waited until after Lily was both gone, listening cautiously to the conversation and waiting for a good time to rejoin the world at large and leave his pretended studying of his Transfiguration book. It was clear that he'd get no more actual studying done out here.
"What is it with her?" James asked.
"Reading between the lines, I'd say she thinks you're a bit conceited, mate," said Sirius.
"Right. Right."
Remus peered cautiously over the edge of his book.
"Who wants to see me take Snivelly's pants off?" James asked, looking around the circle of onlookers and trying to save face.
Remus saw that Snape was once again hanging upside down. It was time to put a stop to this. He stood up and walked with slow but deliberate steps to Sirius and James, putting a steady hand on each boys' shoulder. He spoke in a soft, calming way. "You've hand your fun. Leave him alone."
"Moony, we—" James started.
"I said leave him alone. You've had your fun and now you've studying to do. Put down your wands and walk away. It's over."
"Moony, it's Snivellus. It's never ov—" Sirius said.
"Leave him alone or I'm turning your wands over to Evans and I'll let her decide when you get them back," Remus said quietly. He knew threatening them with detention was no good.
"Spoilsport," muttered Sirius.
Remus ignored the comment and kept a hand on each shoulder. Slowly, his friends lowered their wands. He looked back at Peter and saw him half standing, wand out; apparently Peter had wanted to join in the fun too. He shot Peter a look and Peter sat back down, putting his wand away. Sometimes he was disappointed in his friends; picking on Slytherins when they deserved it (and sometimes when they didn't) was one thing, but this sort of repeated humiliation on one person was getting out of hand.
James looked coldly at Snivellus, whose face was going red from being suspended upside-down for so long. "You're not worth the time of day," he said disgustedly. "But don't you ever, ever, say a nasty word about Evans again."
Sirius said a few choice words to Snape, mostly obscenities and turned heel with James.
Remus, ventured a couple of steps closer to Snape and performed the countercurse. "I suggest you return to your common room," he said softly. To the now dwindling audience, he said, "The show's over. Everybody go back to your studying."
The crowd didn't move much.
"NOW!" Remus barked at them.
"You heard the man, get out of here," Sirius said, looking for something suitable to throw at any bystanders who lingered around.
The crowd wandered off and Remus went to retrieve his book. The only problem was that now Sirius had it and was holding it over his head. "You act like you're not the same as us anymore, Moony, but you are. You're just the same as the rest of us. You wanted to hex Snivellus too. I think you would have done it if it hadn't been for this badge." Sirius adeptly plucked the silver badge from Remus's robes. "Mates, let's play a little game…"
Three hours later Remus was finishing up Sirius's little "game." The game was called Don't Let Moony Study. It was very easy. Sirius and James stole his books while Peter kept him distracted, and the he had to spend a long time trying to find them all again. So far he'd located his Charms book in James's pillowcase, his Potions book in the shower, and his Care of Magical Creatures book in the hamper. He still had to locate his Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, Transfiguration, and Arithmacy books as well as his Prefect badge.
He had a feeling he wouldn't find his Prefect badge; Sirius would have taken that with him as a trophy.
Remus noticed a shadow on the canopy of Peter's four-poster. He climbed onto Peter's bedside cabinet. Sure enough, there was his History of Magic book. He reached over and grabbed it. Four down, four to go. On impulse, he checked under James's bed.
Spell-o-taped to the underside of the bed was his Transfiguration book. As he took down the Transfiguration book, he found there were more messages underneath their collective: We were here. Officially he disapproved of this, but his curiosity got the better of him and he lit his wand to read what was written. He snorted. If nothing else, today was definitely an indication that Lily Evans had no interest in James Potter. He knew he shouldn't…but he couldn't help it. He said the spell and traced words into the wood with the rest of the messages.
Moony says Prongs stands no chance with LE.
Moony: May 15, 1976
He felt a little guilty, but you only get to be young once. Why not bend the rules every now and again? Five books down, three to go.
MAY 27, 1976
Peter sighed. He absolutely hated when Sirius was bored. When Sirius and James were bored, it meant trouble. He'd overslept and they hadn't felt like waking him. He knew Remus would have done it, but Remus had left the room early for some sort of meeting with Dumbledore. James had done the classic shaving cream and feather in the face prank while Sirius had hid his wand. He had a test today and he couldn't take it without his wand. He'd searched through half the room and hadn't found it yet. He wondered if maybe Sirius and James had taken it with them. It wasn't in his trunk, not in the hamper, not under his bed, not on top of his canopy, not under his pillow. It seemed his wand was nowhere to be found. Oh, how he hated this game.
Maybe if he went down stairs he could find someone who hadn't left for breakfast yet and have them come up here and Accio his wand for him. Yes, that seemed the best course of action.
He went down to the common room, but the only one there was Evans. He wondered if she'd help him; he was a friend of her worst enemies. She was on her way out of the common room.
"Um, Evans?" he asked.
"Yes?" She turned around. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?"
"Sirius and James hid my wand. I really need it. Will you help? It won't take long. I need somebody to Accio it for me so I can find it."
She sighed. She'd really wanted to talk to Remus this morning before the Potions Exam. Oh well. She looked up distastefully at the stairs to the boys' dormitory. Very rarely had she ever gone up there, and usually only to yell at Potter. "Alright, Pettigrew. Come on, let's go find your wand."
Peter felt so relieved. "Thanks so much." He led the way to the fifth year dormitory.
Lily stepped in. She scanned the wand. She could spot Remus's area immediately; it was the cleanest by far. James's area was strewn with Quidditch gear. Sirius's area had Dungbombs, fake rats, and other such joke paraphernalia around. Peter's area appeared to have the contents of his trunk and bedside cabinet everywhere; clearly he'd been looking very diligently for his wand. She took her wand out. "Accio wand!" she said, pointing nowhere in particular.
The wand came after a moment and landed in her outstretched hand. It had spell-o-tape still on it in two places.
"Here you go, Pettigrew. Looks like it was under Potter's bed. Pick your friends better. They shouldn't treat you like this, you know."
"I know, but…they're my friends. They're only joking…"
She looked him in the eye, standing by the door again. "Pettigrew, they hid your wand during the O.W.L.s. Does that sound like friendship?"
"You wouldn't understand. They're my friends. My best friends. My only friends."
"I suggest you find some new ones," she said simply. With that, she left.
Peter stared at his wand for a minute. They'd hidden it under James's bed. He wondered if James or Sirius had written anything down there. He crawled under the bed and lit up the space with his wand.
No new message from Sirius or James; apparently they hadn't had time. But there was a message from Remus from two days ago. Remus had a point. Evans would never go out with James. He added another message.
Wormtail agrees with Moony.
Wormtail 5-17-76
He slid out from under the bed and hurried to the Great Hall. Maybe he could grab a piece of toast before his Potions O.W.L.
JUNE 1, 1976
James fumed. He couldn't find his shoes anywhere. He hoped Sirius hadn't chewed on them again. He sometimes lost control a little bit when he transformed. They were all still fairly new at this. It took people years to master transforming completely. It was difficult to keep control of your own thoughts when in a body that didn't know them.
He had a Quidditch game in an hour. Where were his shoes!
He finally found them, under the edge of his bed, covered in drool. "Yuck," he said, making a face. "Scourgify." He put the now clean and dry shoes on, sitting on the edge of his bed. He wondered idly if the house-elves had magicked away or sanded out the original message and the message Sirius had done, and the one he had done in response. He had time. He'd check. He slithered under the bed to look.
He was shocked. There were four more messages under there. Half-amused, half-angry, he added his own message. The house-elves, diligent as they were, would probably get rid of the all the writing over the summer.
This is MY bed stop writing on it!
Prongs 6/1/76
Satisfied, he went down to breakfast to eat quickly and get changed for his game. He had a game to win.
Author's Note: Any good? I know May was probably a little early for the O.W.L.s to take place but I really liked how that message worked wit hthat scene. Thanks, everybody! More to come.
