A/N: Ten points to anyone who can tell me who Carlotta Pinkstone is in cannon (yes she is really cannon.)

Chapter Six:

The Unwanted Gryffindors Unite

When James and Remus entered the dorm after the feast, they found the four other boys in their year were already there.

"Hi," James said, going over to his trunk by the door and pulling out some pajamas. The other boys didn't respond, but just stared at him like he was dirt. James sighed and looked at Remus who was getting the same treatment.

"Look," a sandy haired boy, who James remembered was named Arnold Peasegood said, "we're going to have to spend the next seven years together, so we'd better get some rules set down."

"Oh?" James said, looking up at her.

"Yes," Arnold continued, "you and your friend had better not take any of my stuff. You don't talk to us and we wouldn't make your life here to hard."

"I don't steal," James said defensively.

"Sure," Gideon Prewett said skeptically, "just remember that your kind isn't welcomed here, that goes for you too Black."

"Hey, I come from a noble family Prewett, so watch who your talking to," Black exclaimed, looking surprised.

"Right," Peasegood said, "and pigs can fly. I don't know how you tricked the hat to get you put here, but as far as I'm concerned you're a dirty snake."

Black looked ready to murder, to James's delight. It was great seeing this stuck up pig get what he deserved.

"What about me?" The blond haired boy, named Peter Pettigrew asked, breaking the silence.

"What about you?" Peasegood asked, glancing at the boy.

"Err… am I welcomed?" Peter asked, nervously.

"I don't see why not," Peasegood told him not unkindly, "you're a Pettigrew right? Not a bad family, just keep out our way alright."

"S-sure," Peter sputtered and James felt bad for him. He didn't seem like he had wit enough to realize these boys weren't going to want him as a friend, for he was a little dim.

"Well I'm going to turn in," Prewett said yawning, "Glad we got this sorted."

Then without a word he and Peasegood changed and went to sleep. James knew that if he didn't provoke them they would probably never talk to him or Remus again, except to say snide remarks about them behind their backs. But James wasn't the kind of person to sit around and take that, he was already planning in his mind how he would get those two back, but it would have to wait till morning. He was tired.

So, silently he changed and climbed into one of the four-poster beds hung with red velvet curtains that he was sure were worth a fortune. A moment later he had fallen into a dreamless sleep.

When James woke the next morning, he was glad to see that Prewett and Peasegood were gone. James was not an early riser, so he was the last one to wake up. He doubted he would have gotten up at all if Remus had not shaken him.

"Thanks," James muttered drowsily as he got dressed in his shabby school robes. "Where did Jose say to meet him again?"

"In the common room, he's going to walk us down to the Great Hall, so we don't get lost going down to breakfast," Remus told him, bored. "C'mon, we're gonna be late."

"One sec," James said, as he finished pulling on his robes and tried to tame his unruly jet-black hair. After a moment though he realized this was a lost cause and gave up. Together he and Remus walked down the staircase to meet up with the others.

Jose DeNino, Rosa Garai, Ella Jones, and Susan Thomas, the other Gryffindor scholarship students were standing in a group around the fire.

"Finally," Ella said, turning to look at them, "what took you so long?"

"James isn't a morning person," Remus said, slightly annoyed.

Ella laughed and led the way out of the common room. James tried, on the way down to breakfast, to remember the way. After a few minutes though, he was completely lost.

"Err... how are we suppose to not get lost?" He asked making the others laugh.

"You don't," Rosa told him, "everyone gets lost their first year. Just stick close to us for a while or as a painting. Though don't ask any of the other students, they'll just point you in the wrong direction, they did that to me all the time last year."

The older students spent the next few minutes telling James and Remus hilarious stories of were they ended up when they got lost. James made a mental note to make a map of this place, or he would never find his way around, he wasn't the bet person with directions.

They entered the Great Hall at the same time as the owl post. If James hadn't been expecting it, he knew this would have really freaked him out. I mean a hundred owls flying in all directions was a bit weird. He saw with delight that some of the other first years had jumped so high at the sight of the owls that they had knocked over most of their breakfast.

Clucking to himself, James sat down with the other scholarshipers at the end of the table and pulled a letter from the leg of an owl. In the middle of the table, James saw his roommate, Sirius Black grimace as he pulled a red letter of the end of a large tawny. It was a Howler, the thing all Hogwarts students dread.

"SIRIUS BLACK, YOU FILTY BLOOD TRAITOR!" The hat yelled to the hall as Sirius tore it open. "I AM DESGUSTED WITH YOU! GRYFFINDOR, YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF! YOU HAVE DESGRASED THIS FAMILY WITH YOUR TRAITORS WAYS AND I AM ASHAMED OF YOU! DO NOT EVEN THINK OF COMING HOME FOR CHISTMAS!"

And with that the letter burst into flames leaving a sad looking Sirius and a stunned hall. No one could remember a parent getting made because their child did not get into Slytherin; it was usually the other way around.

For a moment, James felt bad for Sirius. He had obviously just become an outsider in his house and now had his family hating him too.

"Well, that was odd," Rosa, said, looking over at the black haired boy, who was still sitting alone, avoiding the eyes of his classmates. "Who's the letter from James?"

"Oh," James said, tearing his eyes from Sirius to look down at his own letter. "My family."

James read though the letter quickly. It was full of encouragements and tips from his siblings and laments from his mother. He also found out that Ginger, his brother Harry's fiancé was pregnant! They had moved the wedding up to Christmas break so he could be there.

"We'd better get going," Jose said, talking his scheduled from McGonagall and looking it over. "What do you two have first?"

"Err… Defense Against the Dark Arts," Remus said, looking down at his own timetable.

"I have History of Magic first, that's on the first floor, so I'll show you to DADA," Ella told them, gathering up her books.

"Thanks," James and Remus said together, also getting their books and following them out. They climbed the marble staircase in the entrance hall and along a few corridors till they came to a door marked 'Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Well, good luck," Ella told them, and left them to go to her first class.

"Here goes nothing," James whispered to Remus, pushing open the door.

It seemed none of the other first years had found their way up her yet, for they were the first ones there. A tall blond women in her late thirties was perched on the desk, chewing bubble gum and reading the latest addition of 'Witch Weekly.'

"Oh, hi," she said looking up at them startled. "Wow, I though it would take a while before any of the first years got here. Usually your all completely lost your first day."

"Err… a friend showed us the way up here," Remus muttered as he and James took seats in the front.

"Oh, then you must be a scholarship student," the teacher said. She was wearing a very pink robe that only come down to her knees, which James couldn't help noticing looked very good on her. "They always show each other around, I was one myself actually."

"You were?" Remus asked, happily, at least they had one teacher on their side.

"Oh yeah, a while ago though. Best time of my life, that's why I came back here. Teaching is going to be loads of fun, don't you think?"

James didn't know how to respond to this as he had never taught before, but just nodded his head.

Just then a group of six giggling girls entered the room, and sat down near the middle. James noticed that the princess was in their group, though tried very hard not to stare at her.

About fifteen very boring minutes later, all of the first years had arrived. The teacher, whose name James sill didn't know, got of the desk and stood in front of the class to get their attention.

"Hi," she said in that perky voice of hers. "My name's Charlotta Pinkstone, though you're suppose to call me Professor Pinkstone. And your all in Defense Against the Dark Arts, so if you're in the wrong room please leave now. So, can anyone tell me why we have this subject?"

No one raised their hand.

"Aw, c'mon guys, this is a really easy one."

A girl in the crowd around the princess raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss…Hopkirk?"

"To learn to defend ourselves against the dark arts?" She said.

"And why do we want to do that?" Pinkstone asked.

"Err… so we don't dye?" The girl said, uncertainly, making the class laugh

"Well, yes," Pinkstone said, "because people who use dark magic usually want to kill people. It's really useful to know what to do so they don't kill you. Now dose anyone know what major threat from the Dark Arts the magical world is facing right now?"

"Lord Voldemort?" Gideon Prewett said.

"Correct. This guy wants to take over the world basically, which isn't very good. He opposes both the ministry and the royal family. Probably in your lifetime he is going to be like Grildewald was to my generation, an evil psycho."

A lot of people laughed at the way she put this, and even Pinkstone grinned. James had a feeling he was really going to like this women.

They spent the rest of the class going over the different types of dark arts and dark creatures. James had a bit of experience with dark things, because the place he lives wasn't the, well, cleanest place of all.

The next lesson was History of Magic, which was completely boring. James spent the whole time staring at the princess, for a reason he couldn't explain. She was a stuck up prep right? So why did he want to stare at her for 45 minutes, memorizing every line on her prefect face. Once she turned to look at him, but he looked down at his notes, or at least what was suppose to be his notes, because he had never actually started writing the, He could have sworn she had seen him.

He was still to distract at the end of class to watch properly where he was going. He knocked straight into Princess Lily, knocking all her books out of her arms.

"I-I'm so sorry," James muttered, stopping to pick up her books, and turning red. He was so stupid, this was the second time he had knocked into her, though she probably didn't remember the first time.

"Will you watch were your going," the Princess said, rather rude, looking down her noise at him. This just made James turn even redder and mutter, "sorry" as he handed her books back. A chill went up his arm as he touched her hand. The Princess it seemed didn't notice because she just looked at him like he was dirt and pranced of muttering "Scholarship students," to herself, just loud enough from James to hear her.

For a moment James was crushed. He'd told himself she was selfish and rude and stuck up, but he hadn't really believed it till now. He'd though, for some strange reason, that when their eyes had meet in the bookstore that day. It was hard to explain, but he had though she was different. It was just that she was so smart and pretty and, wait, he didn't like her right?

"Choke much?" Sirius Black asked, coming up behind them.

"Shove it," James exclaimed, grabbing his books and getting ready to walk away.

"Hey, we all get a little light headed around the princess," Sirius said good-naturedly, which made James turn around to look at him.

"Yeah," James said dreamily looking after the red head.

"Look, I wanted to apologize about earlier," Sirius said, changing the subject.

"Why?" James asked, susceptibly, coming back to reality.

"Well, I've had a lot of time to think well-being ignored and hated by my classmates," Sirius said, though James had the feeling that this was hard for him. "I guess I realized that I may have jumped to conclusions about you and your friend."

"You think?" James said, not sure how to react to this.

"Okay, maybe I was being a immature pighead, but I'm not the one who tipped the boat," Sirius said laughing.

"Well, I had to do something to deflate that big head of yours," James joked, taking his books and walking out of the room.

"Hey, I don't have a big head," Sirius exclaimed.

And just like that Sirius Black and James Potter became friends.

"Where'd you go," Remus asked, as James and Sirius sat down at the Gryffindor table for lunch, "I turned around and you were gone. Hey, what's he doing here?" Remus had spotted Sirius at last.

"I'm here to apologize," Sirius said, "I was a big jerk earlier. Is there any way you could ever forgive me?"

Remus looked at Sirius suspiciously for a moment, then decided that if James had accepted him, then he must not be too bad.

"You could do my History of Magic homework," Remus said.

"I could," Sirius said, "but you do realize I was asleep the whole class period."

"Doesn't matter, so was I," Remus said laughing. "They really need to find a new teacher."

And just like that Remus Lupin and Sirius Black became friends.

"So what are we going to do about Peasegood?" Sirius asked. it was after dinner and the three boys were sitting in the common room, trying to do homework well avoiding the stares of their classmates. The other Gryffindors had still not accepted Sirius and it seemed like it would take a miracle for them to accept either James or Remus. Sirius had told the others that he actually knew the princess really well, but since of his family, she had been forbidden from talking with him, in public at least, so that didn't help. This fact had greatly interested James till he realized that Sirius would tease him no stop if he didn't stop talking about the princess, so he dropped the subject.

The thing that had really fascinated the other Gryffindors was that Sirius had made friends with two scholarship students. A feat almost unheard of in the elitist society Sirius was brought up in. It was true that all the students (except for the scholarship students) were either really rich or some sort of nobility. But the fact was that the Blacks were a very well known and, by some respected, ancient bloodline, who considered themselves practically royalty (they were even distantly related to the royal family, which almost never married outside of a royal bloodline.) So the fact that a Black was mixing with none noble, very poor students was something to gossip about. However, Sirius took it very well, pointy ignoring the whispers and dirty looks the other Gryffindors were giving him.

"What?" James asked, looking up from his Defense book.

"I said what are we going to do about Peasegood?" Sirius repeated. He wasn't even bothering studying, but instead was throwing a ball up and down, bored.

"Well, we can't really do anything can we?" Remus asked, looking up from his Charms book.

"What?" Sirius exclaimed, dropping his ball, "you mean you're willing to let him get away with what he said about us last night?"

"I didn't like it," Remus answered, "but James and I can't do anything, we'll lose our scholarships if we get in trouble."

"Unfortunately, Remus is right," James exclaimed, "to bad, because I'd love to wipe that smirk of Peasegood's- filthy face-"

"Well obviously you can't do anything," Sirius said, leaning towards them, "but I can."

"Oh," James said, leaning in too, "this is brilliant, what are you thinking."

"AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

A girlish scream rang through Gryffindor tower, coming from the first year's boy's dorm, followed by a lot of evil laughter. Two butt naked eleven-year-old boys ran from the room, still screaming their heads off, with bubble gum pink hair and their cloths attacking them. Their skin had been dyed a light pink two, making them look sort of like naked mole rats.

The few people not awake and lounging in the common room waiting for breakfast ran out of their dorms in pajamas to see who was being attacked. They, like their fellow classmates, burst into laughter at the sight of the boys.

"Okay, what happened," Jose asked, maturely stopping laughing long enough to interrogate the two boys.

"Sirius Black," Peasegood yelled angrily, "he poured color-changing powder all over us, then said some spell to make our cloths chase us- aw."

At that moment his shoe hit him over the head sharply, making Jose lose it and dissolved into laughter again. When he came to, he said.

"Detention Black, for attacking your classmates. Come on you two, I'll take you to McGonagall, she'll be able to fix you," then cackling to himself, Jose led the two boys out.

As soon as they were gone, three boys congregated on Sirius Black.

"Did you see his face," James exclaimed.

"Oh, that was priceless," Remus said, laughed.

"Yeah," Peter Pettigrew agreed. He had been let in on the joke, when Sirius realized he needed a lookout that no one would notice, thus Peter was perfect.

"That was not funny!" A girl's voice exclaimed and the four boys turned to see Princess Lily standing behind them. "Sirius you could have seriously hurt those boys."

"Lily M'lady, you know we were just having a spot of fun," Sirius said, sweeping into a long bow. "Besides, aren't you supposed to be 'forbidden' from associating with my humble self?"

"Well yes, but, Ahh, your such a-a Marauder," Lily exclaimed, storming away.

"What's a marauder?" Peter asked stupidly.

"I think it's some kind of trickster," James said thinking.

"No, it's someone who goes from place to place stealing," Remus, told them.

"Why'd she call us that?" Peter asked, still not getting it.

"I do-" Remus was saying when, Sirius interrupted him.

"Its perfect," he said, practically dancing with joy.

"What is?" Remus asked, wondering what Sirius was on.

"Marauders, it's a perfect name."

"No I think it's a verb-"

"I mean for us, twit," Sirius exclaimed.

"Hey, watch who your calling a-"

"Listen, we're all outcasts," Sirius explained, cutting Remus off. "So why don't we form a group, The Marauders, our goal to prank and ridicule all the stuck up rich prigs at this school."

"Hey, I'm not a prig," Peter said, cutting in.

"I know your not Peter, I meant all the other stuck up prigs, not us.'

"Oh."

"Anyway, well be legions, go down in Hogwarts history. What do you say?"

"Well, it's just our scholarships," Remus said.

"Oh, we wouldn't do anything out in the open. Or if we do, Peter or I will do it, I don't mind detentions."

"I like it!" James exclaimed, "come on Remus, don't be such a stiff."

"Oh, okay, I'm in. But we'd better not get caught."

"I'm in, that is if you want me," Peter said, nervously.

"Of course we want you Pet, you're the perfect lookout," Sirius said, encouragingly.

"Well, we should write this all down, to be official and everything," Remus said, pulling out a sheet of parchment and a quill.

We The Marauders:

Solemnly swore to annoy, intimidate, and aggravate all stuck-up rich kids, and Slytherins at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

We swore to stick together forever, though thick and thin, rich and poor, though good and bad hair days, and the rest of it.

Remus Lupin

Sirius Black

Peter Pettigrew

James Potter

"Well, I'm hungry."

"Sirius you're always hungry."

"I'm a growing boy- Peter."

"It wasn't me, hey, don't point that at me."

"Has anyone seen my History of Magic book?"

"Its not even noon Remus, could you stop working for once?"

"Well, sorry if I want to pass my exams."

And just like that The Marauders were born.

"I'm still hungry."

"Sirius!"

A/N: Well, what do you think? Is the friends ship convincing enough for you? I though, that at least Remus, Sirius, and James (I would say Peter, but I don't like him) are such compatible people that they didn't need a mountain troll to get them together, like Harry, Ron, and Hermione. But, they do have some issues that they never resolved, like Sirius still thinks he is better then James and Remus, cause he's a Black, and that will have to be resolved soon. Oh, I also wanted to point out that Lily knows she can't have James and that is one of the reasons why she's being such a jerk to him (figure it out.) Anyway, would everyone please REVIEW!