"You sure Alyssa meant this mirror?" Remus asked skeptically, tracing his fingers along its gilded frame.
"She said the fancy golden mirror on the fourth floor," James replied. "I'm pretty sure this is the only one it could be."
"How do we get past it?" Peter wondered.
"Alyssa said we have to ask it nicely."
Sirius gave James a look out of the sides of his eyes. "You sure she wasn't messing with you, mate?"
"Guess we're about to find out." James cleared his throat and took a few steps back, staring the mirror right in the eye. Even Peter thought he looked a little stupid. "Hey there, pretty mirror. My friends and I would really, really like to use the tunnel behind you. Would you please open up for us?"
To Peter's great surprise, the mirror listened, detaching itself from the wall and swinging open like a door to reveal a tunnel stretching out behind it. James turned to his friends smugly.
"And this leads all the way to Hogsmeade?" Sirius said.
"Yep." James climbed inside the tunnel, beckoning the rest of them forward. "Come on, you lot, before Filch sees us!"
So the rest of them followed James into the tunnel, Sirius having to hoist Peter up behind him. As soon as they were all inside the mirror-door swung shut, leaving them sealed in.
The four of them lit up their wands and followed the tunnel up and down flights of stairs and through corridors wide and narrow. It was just as long as the tunnel leading to the Shrieking Shack; Peter was panting by the time they reached the end of it.
There was one final ladder to climb, leading up to a big rock James and Sirius cast aside to reveal blinding daylight above them. "Here we are," James declared, leading the way up the ladder.
They emerged beneath a large snowbank, the winter wind biting at their ears. Sirius dragged the rock back over to cover the hole they'd come out of, and the boys pushed their way forward through the snow, entering Hogsmeade for the first time ever.
It was a beautiful little village, with quaint little thatched-roof shops and homes and students running around throwing snowballs at each other in the streets. Peter's heart raced with excitement; he couldn't wait to see everything.
"So," Sirius asked, "where to first?"
"Zonko's, of course," James replied. The two of them shared a conspiratorial grin.
Remus sighed. "You two can go to Zonko's; Peter and I want to check out Honeydukes."
"Oh, yes," Peter agreed with a squeal. His mouth was already watering at the thought.
"We'll split up then," said James. "Let's meet in front of the Three Broomsticks—I'm sure we'll all want to go there."
"Agreed." James and Sirius took off for the red-painted shop labelled Zonko's, while Peter followed Remus over to a green one on the other side of the snowy street with boxes of sweets displayed in its windows.
A little bell chimed when they stepped inside, and immediately they were greeted by the smells of melted chocolate and peppermint. Peter gawked around at all the products—Acid Pops, Jelly Slugs, Sugar Quills, every candy he could possibly imagine—and giggled with delight. He already knew this would be his favorite shop in Hogsmeade.
Peter ended up buying a bag of Cauldron Cakes and some Exploding Bonbons, while Remus fished out enough money for a pair of Sugar Quills and three bars of Honeydukes' finest chocolate. They bagged up their sweets and headed back out into the snow, both of them grinning.
They waited about ten minutes for James and Sirius to meet them at the entrance to the Three Broomsticks, each of them shouldering a full bag of Zonko's products. "What did you two get?" Sirius asked.
Remus and Peter pulled out their spoils; the other two shook their heads at Remus's chocolate bars. "I thought we said you'd be getting a whole stash of those, Re."
Remus went pink, pulling his scarf up over his cheeks. "Well, this was all I could afford," he said simply. "It's plenty for me."
"Rubbish." Sirius threw Remus his coin pouch. "Take that and buy yourself some more." Remus opened his mouth to protest, but Sirius cut him off by saying, "I stole that money from my parents over Christmas. I want it all to be spent by the time they find out, so you'd be doing me a favor."
Remus glanced down at the money. "Well, I can't say it takes much to convince me to buy more chocolate. Thanks, Sirius."
All four of them went into Honeydukes this time; Remus bought fifteen more bars of chocolate, and James and Sirius each picked up a couple of candies for themselves. They then took a few minutes to walk up and down the streets of Hogsmeade, stepping inside any stores that caught their attention—James had to be dragged out of Spintwitches Sporting Needs before he could drop two hundred Galleons on a new broomstick—and then returned to the Three Broomsticks, finding themselves an empty table towards the back of the inn. Remus immediately ripped open one of his chocolate bars and took a bite out of it, sighing as it melted in his mouth.
Madam Rosmerta, a young curly-haired woman in a stylishly-cut red dress, stopped at their table to take their orders. "You're new," she observed. "Third years?"
"Yep," said James. "We'll have four butterbeers, please."
Rosmerta smiled. "Coming right up."
As she walked away, Peter caught the eye of another student a few tables to their right—Lucius Malfoy, the school's Head Boy. Lucius's cold gray eyes narrowed, and he rose from his talk with some younger Slytherins to confront the Gryffindor boys.
"Oh, no," Peter whimpered. "Malfoy's coming."
"Perfect," muttered Sirius, glaring at his family friend as he approached. "Can't wait to have a chat with him."
"Sirius." Lucius's mouth twisted into a sneer as he took in the four of them. "I might be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure you and your friends are all second years."
"What a profound observation, Lucius," said Sirius dryly. "Really, I had no idea."
"Ten points from Gryffindor for each of you," Lucius said, "for marauding around Hogsmeade without permission." Remus gave a little wince, but the rest of them blinked up at Lucius unfazed.
"Marauding," James mused. "I like that word. A bit of a weird choice, but I like it. We're marauders."
Sirius glanced at him. "You know, we were trying to think of something to call ourselves," he said thoughtfully; "that just might be it. Thanks, Lucius." He grinned up at Malfoy tauntingly.
Lucius scowled at them and flipped his white-blond hair as he spun around, marching imperiously back to his table.
"I like it, too," said Remus. "What do you think, Peter?"
"Hmm. The Marauders. It does sound cool," Peter agreed. "Like we're up to no good."
"Which we are, nearly all of the time," Sirius pointed out. "It's perfect."
That night, when the four of them returned to their dormitory, they changed the plaque on its door to simply read THE MARAUDERS. And from then on, that was what they always were called, by friends and enemies alike.
