CHAPTER ONE: Lily and the Marauders

"Sirius!" Sirius Black swiveled around at the sound of his name and found a small boy with pasty skin and a rat-like face. It was Peter Pettigrew, one of his closest friends. Though he didn't seem no where near like it, he is actually ten and seven this coming October.

"Peter! How was your holiday?" Sirius asked as he gazed into Peter's squinty, watery eyes. It always looked as if he was about to cry unshed tears.

"It was absolutely pleasant," Peter burst out in a breathless voice. He still didn't catch his breath yet.

"Why are you breathing so hard?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Why, I saw you outside of that muggle place call Never Inn. Right clever name, that is." Peter paused. "Where was I? Oh, yes! Anyway, I saw you and went to meet you but you are a fast devil!" Sirius looked incredulous.

"Never Inn? That's about sixteen kilometers from here and I was riding a bicycle!"

"That was the contraption you were on? Wonderful… eh, what's a bicycle?"

"Well, it's this muggle vehicle that I got from Lily as a gift last Christmas, remember?" Peter shook his head after a long moment of thinking back to last Christmas. Sirius sighed before he went on to describe his gift.

"It has two wheels tandem, a steering handle, a saddle seat, and pedals by which it is propelled." He said briskly before asking his next question. "Were you, by any chance, running after me?"

"Why, yes! How else was I supposed to catch up to you?" Sirius simply laughed and Peter, looking rather confused, laughed along with him.

They both continued their way into Kings Cross Station, a rail station home to the magical Platform 9 ¾, where young witches and wizards board the Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

It was crowded. People rushing here and there, yelling and maybe a bit of screaming. It was all chaotic, hectic and exciting to Sirius. Peter just looked scared as he huddled to Sirius' side.

Sirius loved coming to Kings Cross Station. It meant a new beginning to a new year with people you love. Hogwarts was and is the place Sirius can call home and the train station is his ticket there.

If you discount his family, who is all a bunch of obsessed dark arts fools, you could say he had it made. He's smart, considered good-looking by the girls and easily one of the most popular people in school. The fact that he has a small fortune on the side didn't hurt a bit.

He smiled at a girl who in turn giggled almost hysterically and turn red-faced.

"Sirius, I see I can't leave you alone without a girl falling faint in your tracks" Sirius' face shaped into an expression of genuine joy before turning to the person talking to him.

"James!" They embraced, patting each other on the backs and after a moment, they finally pulled apart. At sixteen, Sirius had enough of his parents' pure-blood mania and ran away to live with James and his parents. Just over a month ago, he moved out and into a house of his own that he inherited from his Uncle Alphard. Sirius will forever be grateful for the Potters and vow to make it up to them anyway he can.

"How was your summer?" Peter asked James anxiously. He loved listening to James talk about his life.

"Busy, I've been coming up on new plays for the Quidditch team. I am, after all, the new captain." James puffed out his chest in pride and Sirius laughed at the ridiculous sight.

James Potter is Sirius' best friend in the whole world. They were as thick as thieves and went through everything together since they met that first day at Hogwarts six years ago.

James, tall and faintly muscled because of his years playing Quidditch as a chaser, is attractive with messy jet black hair and hazel eyes. Sirius remembered back when they were both fifteen, James use to run his fingers through his hair to make it look windswept. It was all an attempt to attract Lily Evans, a muggle born witch he has a supreme crush on, but he learned a little too late that the whole fingers running through his hair only annoyed her.

It's been rumored that Bowman Wright is an ancestor of James and because of his invention of the Golden Snitch in the 1300s; James' family collects a very extravagant sum of money every year. So his good-looks, his money, his talent on the field and his confident manner also appealed to the ladies at school.

The three finally reached the wall leading into Platform 9 ¾ and when they were sure none of the muggles weren't looking, they ran through it one at a time. The only one pushing a cart was Peter because James and Sirius' stuff were already boarded on the train due to the help of James' family.

Everywhere they looked; they found a familiar face and watched as everyone readied to board the train.

"I wonder where Moony is," James murmured. Moony is Remus Lupin, another close friend of theirs. All four of them made up their group as the Marauders. The Marauders are known throughout Hogwarts for their mischief making.

"Look, James. Remus is with Lily." James' head perked up at the Lily's name and searched the crowd for her face. Sirius laughed at the determined look on James' face.

"This is it, Sirius, this is the year Lily will like me,"

"You say that every year, Prongs," Sirius replied, calling James by his nickname.

All four had nicknames, as a matter of fact, and it all refers to their animagi forms.

Peter animagus form is a rat. Sirius and James had laughed at Peter because his tail greatly resembled a worm thus the nickname Wormtail.

James' animagus form is a stag and so they call him Prongs because of his antlers. Sirius' animagus form is a large one dog with black fur and so they call him Padfoot. And finally, Remus. He doesn't have an animagus form but he does turn into a werewolf once a month when the full moon's out so the gang dubbed him Moony.

Remus' monthly transformation is a very painful process especially if he's alone in the Shrieking Shack underneath the Whomping Willow. When he befriended the other three Marauders, they became curious about his monthly disappearances and so followed him one night. That night, they almost got killed but instead of ignoring Remus, like he'd expected them to, they worked hard to become animagus and accompanied Remus as animals while he's a werewolf.

"I found her," Sirius said nonchalantly. James was still searching for Lily so his sudden "where!" was expected. "Stop worrying, Moony will bring her over." Sirius assured the eager boy before letting out a shrill whistle only he can attempt. Remus without looking up to see who the whistle came from led Lily to where they were.

Remus is a very sickly and tired looking person. His shabby clothing only made him look worse but it didn't stop girls from liking him. His brown hair had streaks of gray that made him look distinguished and older. No one can guess the color of his eyes but each time you look into them, they're really quite beautiful. Some girls get the idea that she can take care of Remus and so try to do so. He's quiet but it doesn't stop him from being mischievous with the rest of the Marauders.

Lily Evans is perhaps one of the prettiest girls in school but she doesn't live on her looks. She's a hard-worker and studies, like mad, as many school subjects as possible. She has the most brilliant, almond-shaped, green eyes and she's like a beacon in the middle of a crowd with her thick, auburn hair. The fact that she wore her school hat explained why James didn't find Lily sooner in the crowd where almost everyone was wearing the same hat.

"Hullo there, Lily. How you found your holiday?" asked James, an attempt at a pleasant conversation.

"Not that it's any of your business, Potter," she replied, emphasizing the fact that she calls him by his last name, "but my summer was very pleasant. Petunia spent her summer with her fiancé, a Vernon Dursley." She turned to Remus. "Whoever agrees to marry Petunia is most likely as much of a prat as she is."

Petunia is Lily's older sister but unlike Lily, she was born a muggle. Their parents are also both muggles but when Lily's acceptance letter to Hogwarts came in; they were all excited to have a witch in the family. Petunia was disgusted with all the attention their parents showered Lily with and felt that her being a witch made her a freak.

From what Sirius gathered from Lily and from the muggle family pictures she brought to school one year, Petunia is very tall with a super long neck. Lily says that she is a nosey gossip and uses her mentioned neck to her advantage when she wants to peek into someone's house and see what they're up to.

"I wonder where the happy couple is at," Remus said aloud. Everyone knew he was referring to Alice Nesbit and Frank Longbottom. They've been in a relationship since their third year and are practically inseparable.

Alice is very maternal looking with her caring round face and manner. Her whispy brown hair is always pulled back in a messy ponytail but it only makes her endearing to all.

Frank is very parental with his manner as well. His personality and the laughter and joy always found in his expression makes him the kind of person everyone wants to be around. They all feel good about themselves in his presence and so Frank's very popular.

"There they are," Lily cried out, she pointed a finger at them. Frank was pulling Alice by her hand behind him while Alice was looking around cautiously with a secret smile gracing her face. Lily briefly paused to wonder where the two might possibly go when Sirius burst out.

"Oooh, they're heading towards a dark corner," He sniggered.

"To be alone, eh, guys?" James replied. Everyone laughed but Peter seemed confused.

"Why would they go to a dark corner to be alone?" Lily looked incredulous at Peter but the boys, accustomed to Peter's questions, only laughed harder.

"Come, it's time to board the train," Remus told everyone.