Chapter 2

Disclaimer- The following views do not reflect the views of Starinthenight or Mary (whose user name is too long to type). The characters are from the brilliant imagination of a Mrs. (Ms.?) J.K. Rowling.

Hope you enjoy this chapter and review please. I would like to see at least five reviews before posting the next chapter.

So, I'm guessing you want me to start all the way from the beginning right? Well, I am Sirius Black, the 3rd one from my family with such a noble name. I have one brother, Regulus, and–

Hey, don't look at me like that. You said that you wanted to hear this story in the first place. Did anybody tell you how impolite it is to roll your eyes at your elders? Fine, you have a fair point there. Let's skip to the more important information; like the fellows that helped me live through my years at Hogwarts. Those blokes I was lucky enough to know were James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.

James and I were the best of friends; we ruled the school with our charms and looks, and even managed outstanding marks in all our classes. I guess you could say that we were the epitamy of popular. Then there was Remus. Gosh, Remus...Hey, I am not a nostalgic old man...Anyway, Remsu, after James, was the first person I went to for any help. Especially with girls, though I never needed that kind of help often. I mean come on, it's me we're talking about. The only 'help' with girls I ever went to Remus for was when it involved Lily Evans.
Lily Evans, the love and obsession of James' life. With obsessing there usually leaves a couple of friends of the obsessor, wondering how long the said obsession will last and if their friend will ever return with their sanity intact. Needless to say, James was never sane in the first place, so we had nothing to worry about.We being me, Remus and Peter, our last friend.
Peter was the quietest out of all of us, and he tried the hardest to fit in too. To people outside our little group, he wasn't made to be friends with us, but he earned our respect and even got us out of some pretty sticky situations, if you can believe that. After a while, he even grew out of his awkwardness and fit in more with people. Though it did help when James and I gave him little nudges in the right direction. Ok, so they were more like hard shoves and the occasional kick to the arse, but at least they motivated him right?

I thought I told you not to look at me like that! Yes, I've heard that kicking him in the arse is a bad way to motivate a person. What are you, my mother? I'm supposed to be telling a story here!

...Fine, fine. I'll keep going, but you have got to stop with this interrupting nonsense of yours, alright? We first met on the Hogwarts Express, after barely escaping our bawling parents alive. Well, everyone else's parents bawled. Mine shoved me towards the train and told me that if I disgraced the sacred and noble name of Black, they would have one less nuisance living in their house. Boy, was Regulus lucky he was our parents perfect child.
Anyways, I was muttering to myself about how I hated my parents (typical), how I wish they were dead (also typical), and how my hair smelled like a wet dog (...there's a long story behind that one), when I ran smack dab into a compartment door, alerting everyone inside to my presence. I remember lying on the floor, seeing pretty little stars dancing around my head when all of a sudden a boy with outlandishly messy black hair and glasses stuck his head out the compartment door and happened to look down my way. He asked me if I was alright, and, being my usual self, I asked him what he thought. Peculiarly, he grinned goofily at me and offered me a hand up, which I took with some suspicion. It surprised me when I found myself off the ground, his hand still in mine, as he led me inside and introduced to everyone else in the compartment.

That's when I met Remus, Peter, and James, my future best friends. I was reluctant to get to know these random people who seemed to have enjoyed my fumbled entrance into the compartment, but the more we talked, the more I seemed to feel at home. Or at least, closer than what my family made me feel. Remus and Peter were very shy, though Remus tried his best to make polite conversation at first. Peter would just mumble an incoherent answer and turn a mad shade of red before ducking his eyes to the window. James was just too talkative for his own good. My first impression of him was that he was a bright, chatty boy who was going to get on my pretty little nerves after a while. It wasn't until the conversation turned to that of pranking that we sealed a bond that would be later forged in our many dastardly deeds at school. And you know, that's when Remus first rolled his eyes at our combined childishness and Peter chuckled, the wheels turning in his head as he thought of ways to help us. I saw that pattern happen a lot after all our years together, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Let's fast forward to when we actually get to Hogwarts, shall we? Why, you're asking me? Because I do not want to go into tedious detail about what we were talking about the entire train ride there! Anyways, I would probably bore you with the little unimportant details of our first prank, and I would like to move this story along.

So, we were all in line to get sorted into our distinct Houses, which put quite a damper on my good mood. I could distinctly remember my mother's horribly screechy voice in my head, telling me that I would be a disgrace to the family if I didn't get into Slytherin. Well when am I not, a disgrace that is? It's always 'disgrace this, or disgrace that' in my house. You would think they would get tired of it after a while. I looked over at the students swathed with the eerily familiar green emblem that was all too common in my home, and saw that they all had similar expressions too. They all looked haughty and overzealous, though they shared the same keen interest in finding out who made it into their house. Many eyes of their eyes landed on me and I had to look away as a grim smile touched my lips. I hated their expressions, their knowledge of me; or well, my family for that matter. They all had the same expectations, the same knowing looks that said where they thought I belonged. It only seemed to get worse when I put that bloody hat on my head. Second person called; why can't they ever go reverse alphabet? Or by first name? Yeah, yeah, tradition smadition.

Ok, so, I put the hat on my head and nobody told me that the hat could actually talk. I thought that all the talk about the hat was completely made up. Guess you do learn things from the older kids, eh? The Sorting Hat seemed to be very interested in me, muttering a few things like 'Hm, very interesting,' and 'Ah, I think I know where you should go,' under its breath. I remember wincing at the thought of being in Slytherin, with all those people I hated dearly and took a look back out to the line, where I caught the eyes of my three new pals. I felt a pang in my chest when I realized that there was no likely hood of them getting into the same house as me. Which means we would be separated. And I'd be all alone.

"Not Slytherin." I muttered gruffly at the hat, which seemed to pause its babbling once it heard what I said.

"Not Slytherin eh?" It replied, apparently highly amused at my discomfort. "Why would I not put a Black into Slytherin? It's like putting a hippogriff in the same room as a flobberworm! Simply illogical!" Ok, the hat was really getting on my nerves. And at the time, I thought it was mocking me. Me! Getting smarted by a ruddy hat! Would you believe the likes of it? I was about to say something fairly rude at it, depicting rather graphically what I wanted to do to said hat, but he cut off my train of thought. "Ah, I see. Hm . . . from the looks of you, you may be a Black, but you seem to have many other...redeeming qualities. I'm impressed. Gryffindor!"

Wow, I'm impressed myself that I still remember what the hat told me, but trust me if a magic hat started babbling things in your ear, you'd remember it too. So...
It took a moment before I realized what had happened; I slowly took off the hat and walked towards the Gryffindor table with what became a growing smile on my face. I plopped myself down on a seat, and when I looked again at the Slytherin table many of them were shocked, appalled even. I smirked at them and turned around to meet everyone, my heart growing lighter by the minute. By the end of the night, it had become one of the best days of my life. You want to know why? Because that bloody Sorting Hat, however much I'm going to dislike it, put all four of us Marauders in Gryffindor, though we were not known as the Marauders just yet. And to sound pretty cliche, it was the start of an adventure from there on in.

Starting with how to get rid of a particularly nasty Howler and ending up in a Howler fight. But that is another story that is not for this time. Haha, thought I was going to say 'For another time' didn't you?