Marauders

Disclaimer: Roses are red, Violet's are blue.

I don't own Harry Potter. And neither do you.

--

"The wheels on the train go round and round! Round and round! The wheels on the bus go round and round—all through the—'"

"Shut up Sirius." Remus Lupin groaned, covering his ears.

Sirius Black stuck out his tongue in a very childish manner. "Admit it Lupin, you're just jealous that you don't have an awesome singing voice like I do."

"Sirius, please—if I wanted to sound like a dying banshee I would just kill one."

The twelve-year old boy pouted and turned towards his other best friend, James Potter.

"So, Jamesie—" Sirius started to say but James cut him off.

"My name isn't Jamesie."

"Sure it is! Your mum called you that just before she gave you a mummy kiss."

James turned slightly red as he repositioned himself so that his back was towards Sirius and so that he was facing the window.

"Guys," squeaked tiny Peter Pettigrew, frantically scribbling on some parchment, "How do you make a pineapple tap dance on a table again?"

"Peter, you didn't do that essay over the holidays?" Remus asked inridiciously.

Peter shook his head very fast. "No."

"Argh." Remus groaned as he slid over towards the chubby blonde haired boy and began to help him with the forgotten homework.

"Can't t wait till the feast." Sirius said happily as he reached into his pocket and pulled out three cookies.

James whipped around, the smell of cookies making him.

"Where'd ya get those?" He asked.

"Nicked them from the house elves."

"Are those the double chocolate chunk cookies that my mum made this morning?"

Sirius nodded, stuffing his mouth with one cookie.

"Those were MY cookies!" James whined childishly, "Give them to me!"

Sirius quickly shoved the second one in his mouth, smashed the third one, and sprinkled the bits into James's messy black hair.

"What the hell? What was that for!" James asked angrily, shaking his head so the crumbs would fall out from his head.

"You said you wanted the cookie…"

"I wanted to eat it!"

"Next time be more pacific." Sirius said.

Remus looked up from his spot where he was still helping Peter, who now needed help in Potions. ("Peter, did you do ANY of your homework over break?")

"It's specific, Sirius, not pacific."

Sirius cocked an eyebrow as if to say 'who cares'.

"Remus, how do you make the potion to make boils go away?" Peter asked.

Remus sighed as he helped Peter with his homework again.

--

Within twenty minutes an evil grin formed on Sirius's face.

A grin that Remus and James did not fail to notice.

"What's running through your head now Sirius?" Remus asked weakly.

Sirius grinned evilly still.

"I think we should have a beginning of term prank." He said.

James grinned, as Remus looked wary.

"Brilliant idea." James said eagerly.

"Yeah." Peter said, hating to be left out.

"I don't know you guys…" Remus started to say but Sirius cut him off.

"Don't be such a pansy Remus! I want to see the look on McGonagall's face after we pull it."

James grinned at the memory of the last year prank.

"That was great." James said.

"I know—now I was thinking of doing—"

For the remainder of the train ride the boys discussed the prank and only ceased when the witch with the cart came, asking if they wanted anything to eat.

--

"Hurry up you idiots," James said impatiently as he waited for his friends to get off the train, "Let's try and get a carriage!"

"Shut up James—we're trying to get Peter off!"

"Merlin this boy weighs a lot."

James sighed and rumpled his jet-black hair. Peter had eagerly bought the entire cart of sweets and ate them all. He had then fallen fast asleep for one reason or another.

"He ate too much Droobles." Remus said as they prodded the sleeping boy.

"The bubble gum?" James asked.

"Haven't you ever read the warning?"

"Who reads the packages?" Sirius asked scornfully.

"Remus apparently." James snickered.

Remus tutted. "If you have too much Droobles, it'll put you to sleep." He said matter-of-factly.

Sirius and James exchanged wicked grins.

--

"Guys." James shouted.

"In a minute."

Finally, the two boys came out levitating Peter.

"Hurry, the last carriage is about to leave."

Running quickly they dived into the carriage before it was shut.

"Ouch." Muttered a female voice.

Looking up James saw fellow second-year Lily Evans.

"Sorry Lily." James said apologetically.

Lily nodded.

"What happened to him?" A brown haired girl asked pointing towards the sleeping Peter.

"Overdosed on Droobles." Sirius said importantly.

Lily frowned as she gathered her dark red hair into a ponytail. "That wasn't very smart of him."

"Yeah, well, Peter hasn't always been a bright one." Sirius said.

Remus frowned.

--

They soon arrived at the castle and the three boys (while they levitated Peter) quickly raced into the castle before many of the other students had.

"Those boys are nothing but trouble." Lily said, narrowing her emerald green eyes at the boys' retreating backs.

"C'mon Lily, they're not that bad." The brown haired girl remarked.

--

After the three boys deposited Peter in the Hospital Wing (Remus said the effects would wear off in three hours) they made their way back towards the Great Hall and quickly discussed their tactics.

"It's foolproof." Sirius said.

"I don't know," Remus warily said.

"Stop being a spoil sport Remus! This will be fun!"

--

As soon as they sat down, the rest of the students entered and sat down at their respectable tables.

The talking increased in volume as students found their friends and started to talk. A few duels had even started from the enemies.

James breathed in deeply. "It's good to be home."

"I want food to appear." Sirius moaned.

"You just ate half your weight in sweets before Peter bought the rest." Remus said in shock.

"I'm twelve. I am a growing boy. I need food."

"You need help." Remus muttered.

Sirius frowned and swung his foot out so that it connected with Remus's shin.

"OUCH!"

"Shh—shut up!" Shouted a fifth year Ravenclaw; "The Sorting is about to start!"

True to the Ravenclaw's words, the front doors opened and in walked Professor McGonagall with a bunch of tiny, scared-looking first years walking behind her.

Sirius leaned in towards James and Remus. "I forgot that's how we looked last year."

"Yeah—except we were all wet because Sirius decided it would be amusing to tip the boat over." Remus said sarcastically.

Sirius puffed his chest out. "We got noticed."

"And completely soaked."

"Shut up!" Hissed a third year Gryffindor as McGonagall put the Sorting Hat and it started its song.

(A/N: If you honestly think that I'm going to make up a song then you have gone crazy)

After it finished there was applause and then McGonagall started the Sorting.

"Abbot, Kurt."

A small blonde haired boy with a pink face stepped forward.

"HUFFLEPUFF."

On went the Sorting and James and Sirius amused themselves by clapping extremely hard for the new Gryffindors and hissing at the new Slytherins.

"Oh hurry up," Sirius moaned bouncing slightly in his seat as his stomach grumbled.

Finally, with 'Zablocki, Heather' ("RAVENCLAW") McGonagall rolled up the parchment and took the Sorting Hat and stool away.

James cut his eyes towards Sirius who muttered something.

Ducking below the table, James removed the Invisibility Cloak from his back pocket and slipped it over himself. Once he had signaled Sirius, Remus started handing James fireworks.

Soon, James was in the middle of the Great Hall, and started setting up the fireworks.

After putting a timer on them to explode he made his way back to the Gryffindor Table and accepted high fives from Sirius and a sigh of exasperation from Remus.

BAM.

The fireworks exploded into the air.

'WELCOME BACK TO HOGWARTS' the fireworks said brightly.

After a few more moments the fireworks stopped and a livid, Professor McGonagall stood up.

"When I find the marauders who did this!" She shouted, "They shall receive a month of detention!"

--

Later that night, as the boys sat in their dorm, they were in laughter.

"Did you see everyone's face?" Sirius asked, tears streaming down his face.

Remus frowned as he looked over from his huge book.

"Specially McGonagall's!"

Peter cracked a smile although he had no idea what had happened.

"I like the name Minnie called us." Sirius said thoughtfully.

"Marauders?" James asked.

"Yeah. It has a ring to it, doesn't it? Marauders."

Remus lowered his book, curiosity etched on his face.

"You know," James said, "I think we need a name."

"What do you mean?" Peter asked.

"We need a trade name. For future pranks." James said, "We can't go around saying 'Oh yeah, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew played these pranks. We want people to question who we really are. Also, I don't want Minnie's wrath."

"I think we should be called the Marauders." Sirius said.

Remus surprised them all when he said, "I also agree."

"Peter?"

Peter nodded.

"Then it's settled then." Sirius announced. "From now on, we will be know as the Marauders."

--

True to their word, they maintained that name and one day later in their school lives; they produced the Marauder's Map.

--

Well, what do ya think? This idea came to me when I was sleeping yesterday and I woke up and I was like, "I GOT to write this down."

In addition, I've always wondered where the Marauders got their name.

Reviews are loved!

--Greekchic