Disclaimer: I own nothing, nada, zip. Please don't sue me.

Summary: A look into the first year of James Potter and his friends.

Platforms nine and ten were fairly empty the morning of September 1st. James and Mrs. Potter dragged along all of James's belongings and walked past some staring muggle eyes. When they reached the barrier between platforms nine and ten, they saw a muggle couple and their young witch looking at their ticket in confusion.

"Excuse me, are you looking for the eleven o'clock train to Hogwarts?" Mrs. Potter asked politely.

"Yes. Thank you." The muggle man smiled. "Are you headed for the same train?"

"Yes. To get to platform nine and three-quarters, you have to go through the barrier." Mrs. Potter explained. "If you're scared, you best do it at a bit of a run."

"Through the barrier?" The muggle woman asked.

"James dear, show them." Mrs. Potter smiled. James walked straight through the brick wall, vanishing from sight. "It's very easy. Go on, I'll make sure you all get through."

"Thank you." The muggle man replied and they tentatively moved through the barrier. James was waiting on the other side for them and his mother, and greeted the muggle parents as they made it through.

"No problem. There's the train. You leave the same way you came in." James grinned, looking around. "There he is."

"Sirius!" James called, whistling.

"Get over here, you're late Jamsie! Remus is already waiting." Sirius shouted back, earning him some scolding from Mrs. Black.

"Is that your little friend you told me about?" Mrs. Potter asked.

"Yes." James replied, giving him mother a kiss. "Bye Mum, I'll write!"

"Bye dear." Mrs. Potter waved. "You must be Mrs. Black. I'm Mrs. Potter. Our boys seem to have made each other's acquaintances in Diagon Alley."

"Hello." Mrs. Black said curtly. "Goodbye Sirius! Write me when you get into Slytherin!"

"Oh, your family big on Slytherin?" Mrs. Potter asked politely, but tensely.

"Yes. Been in there for generations. Gryffindor, I suppose." Mrs. Black smiled politely back.

"Yes. Well, I must be going, good day, Mrs. Black." Mrs. Potter nodded.

"Mrs. Potter." Mrs. Black said and both women walked tersely off.

James and Sirius watched from the train.

"It's official, our Mums hate each other." Sirius groaned. "Now I'll never hear the end of it."

"Your Mum is insane, you know that?" James sat back in the seat. "How you doing, Remus?"

"Good." The other boy replied.

It was the truth; he looked a sight better than he had at Diagon Alley.

"Great. So, we've got the first prank planned, but what are we going to do our first day?" Sirius asked.

"Maybe we should wait until after the sorting and do the prank then." Remus suggested.

"Oh, I have an idea!" James exclaimed. "We'll switch. I mean, when they call James Potter, you go Sirius, and I'll go for you. We're both going to be in the same house anyway. That includes you, Remus."

"How do you know?" Lupin asked.

"Okay, the Blacks, all the bad ones go into Slytherin, the good ones into Gryffindor. My family has been Gryffindor for ages, so I'm a shoe-in, and Remus, too smart for Slytherin and Hufflepuff, and too interested in the Dark Arts for Ravenclaw." James explained. "I know these things."

"You are one strange kid, mate." Sirius shook his head. "All right, I'll switch with you."

"This is going to be fun." James smiled as the door slid open to reveal a squat little boy. "Who are you?"

"P-P-Peter P-P-Pettigrew. Everywhere else is full, can I sit here?" The boy asked.

"Sure Pete." Sirius grinned. "So, what house?"

"Gryffindor, I hope." Peter replied.

The boys introduced themselves and talked a little about Quidditch and school.

"Okay, odds on good ole Brit winning the cup?" Sirius asked.

"Not happening." Remus shook his head. "Ireland will murder them. Britain's got two superb chasers, but Ireland's beaters will have them eating dirt the whole game. It's just not going to happen."

"What about Puddlemore?" Peter asked. "I like them."

"Not a chance in hell, mate. Sorry." Sirius patted Peter's shoulder.

As the other boys continued their talk on Quidditch, James grew strangely quiet, a grin growing on his face as he cooked up a plan.

"Jamsie? You haven't said anything in ten minutes. It has to be a record." Sirius poked his friend. "What's up?"

"Well, we've got a good lot of boys here." James thought for a second, forming his words carefully. "We could leave the greatest legacy ever at school."

"How?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, how?" Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"Scarily enough, you inspired this, Sir. Okay, no one remembers the smart kids, or the dumb kids, and they only remember Quidditch greats for a while, and heroes…not gonna happen…but pranksters…if we become notorious, we can become legends, they'll be talking about us for years after we graduate." James grinned. "What if we caused a little mayhem and mischief? Harmless hexes and the like?"

"I'm in." Sirius nodded, putting his hand in the middle joined by James.

"We could get in a lot of trouble." Peter said, but put his hand in the middle too.

"Somebody has to keep you two under control." Remus put his hand in the middle. "What's our name?"

"The Marauders." James grinned. "Marauders forever?"

"Forever." Sirius nodded.

"Forever." The other two repeated.

"Okay, so who do we want to hex first?" Sirius asked and he and James went about planning the first week full of pranks.

Just then, the compartment door burst open and a boisterous redheaded bustled in.

"There you are, Siri-poo." The girl grinned.

"Ah, Molly." Sirius groaned. "Come on, I'm eleven, you can stop calling me Siri-poo."

"No, it's far too embarrassing. How's the old bat? Have you seen any of the other berks from the Black line?" Molly asked. "And where are your manners? Aren't you going to introduce me?"

"Mum's fine, she told me I'd be disowned if I didn't get into Slytherin, no I haven't seen those other idiots, and no, if you'd stop asking questions I'd have time to show my manners." Sirius said. "This is Peter, Remus, and James. Guys, this is one of my decent cousins, Molly."

"Cousin by marriage." Molly smiled. "Are you James Potter by any chance?"

"Yeah." James nodded, looking scared.

"Oh! Jamsie! I haven't seen you since you were a little boy. I baby-sat you all the time when you were six. Oh, you were just the cutest ickle thing!" Molly cooed at James. "I just can't believe how fast you guys are growing up. Oh, I remember one time you-"

"So, you're in Gryffindor?" James asked, quickly changing the subject. "Do you know who the Quidditch captain is?"

"Yes, I do, actually, and he isn't about to let first-years on the team, so you can forget that." Molly replied. "But, if you ask nicely, I'm sure Robert would work with you after the season to get yourself ready for tryouts next year. He's brilliant. We have done okay, I mean, Ravenclaw has been unbeatable for five years now, but we had the cup the first year I was here. Robert thinks we can beat them this time, it was sad, really. We didn't even make finals last year because the seeker got knocked out by a Bludger and could barely remember his name."

"Is quidditch that dangerous?" Peter asked.

"Not usually. Our Seeker was just really bad. Oh, for heaven's sake, Sirius, didn't your mum make you wash your face, you have chocolate on your nose." Molly licked her finger.

"I'll get it Molls!" Sirius held a hand up to stop her.

"All right, if you need anything, just call me." Molly smiled and walked out.

"She seemed nice enough." Remus nodded.

Again the door slid open to reveal two ice queens. Really, one was icy blonde with clear blue eyes; the other was a pudgy brunette with the same icy eyes. Both wore cold expressions, and had long, pointy noses.

"Bella-trunk. Narcissistic." Sirius said. "What do you want?"

"Sirius, we will choose to ignore that comment and your wrinkled state of dress. Now, if you're going to be in Slytherin, you have to start hanging out with better people. You can't sit on the train with mudbloods and blood-traitors." Bellatrix replied.

"Yes, Bella's right. You can't associate with the ruffians of the family, like Molly and her idiot fiancé. Come to our cabin, we'll introduce you to some good, pureblood first years from excellent wizarding families." Narcissa smiled. "Maybe their fashion sense will rub off on you."

"Honestly Siri, if you want to go anywhere in life, meddling with ruffians will not get you far. Look at Molly. She's marrying some poor fool who is only good at muggle studies. What kind of a man is that, really?" Bellatrix shook her head sadly.

"And we had such hopes for her with that Avery boy. Ah well, what's it going to be, Sirius?" Narcissa asked. "Are you going to choose the high class way or stay with these common…hooligans?"

"How about you get out of here right now before I hex you." Sirius grinned maniacally. "Seriously, I prefer associate with Molly and the rest of the better half of our family. Bye!"

With that, Sirius slid the door shut, leaving a stunned Bellatrix and Narcissa in the hallway.

"Nicely done, mate." Peter smiled.

"Your whole family is insane." Remus said, letting his anger dissipate. "You win for the weirdest family ever."

"Yeah." Sirius sighed, and then changed the subject. "Anybody know any spells?"

"I know a couple of hexes we could use on them. I'd really love to take a shot at those two high-and-mighty bimbos. Seriously, the gate is open, the lights are flashing, but that train just isn't coming. Oh, and I think I made a spell up that would be perfect to try out on them." James shrugged, unclenching his fists. "Where do they get off on calling us 'common hooligans' anyway?"

"Let's see it, then." Sirius grinned.

James pulled out his wand and pointed it at Sirius, "Pelar Rosa!"

Sirius hair turned bright pink and stood straight up in bunches of spikes.

"Cool." Peter laughed.

"Very nice." Remus joined in the laughing.

"Funny, dough brain." Sirius aimed his wand at James. "Pelar…Blanca!"

James's hair didn't spike, but turned sheet white.

"Yeah, the teachers are going to love you two." Remus shook his head.

Suddenly, two wands were pointed at Remus, and both Sirius and James yelled the hair spell. Remus's hair turned purple and stood on ends on one side, and curled into ringlets as it turned yellow on the other.

"I think the hair is not funny!" Peter held his hands up in surrender.

"What will the teachers say?" James laughed as the train moved on.