CHAPTER 2

It felt as if it had been ages since the four Marauders were sitting at the Gryffindor house table. However they could fondly remember all of the times shared the year previous. The large doors to the Great Hall opened and a large group of nervous first years filed in a large huddle. "Ugh it's disgusting," Sirius said turning his head away from the first years and surveyed the crowd of already seated students.

"What?" Remus asked.

"I can pick out each one that's a muggle-born," he answered sadly. "I was there far too long."

"Well, we got you out," James answered giving him two reassuring pats on the back.

"Wesley Hatchings," Professor McGonagall called off the list of first years being sorted. James, Remus, and Peter looked interestingly at Sirius questioning if he really had his "talent."

"No," he answered with no thought at all.

"Melissa Julius."

"Yes," Sirius commentated.

"Gryffindor!" the hat bellowed. The Gryffindor table erupted with applause. The sorting continued at Professor McGonagall read down to the R's on the list. The next three students called were Ravenclaws. Then two Slytherins. Another Ravenclaw. A Hufflepuff. Another Hufflepuff. Another Slytherin. And finally the Gryffindors got to clap again as Marcus Williams jogged his way to the Gryffindor table. With that Dumbledore started the feast.

"I was so shocked when I got my letter! Thought it was a practical joke. Never knew of any of this," Melissa Julius chatted with a fellow first year. Remus, Peter, and James stared with Sirius in amazement. He was obviously correct that she was a muggle-born.

Dumbledore stood up signifying the end of the feast. He instructed the first-years to follow their house prefects to their common rooms. "You heard them Prefect," Sirius smirked at Remus. "Show the first years where to go." James laughed. "You too, Head Boy," Sirius nudged him off the seat. James completely understood why Remus was a prefect. He was smart, generally (or at least to the professors' knowledge) obeyed the rules, and was hard working. James however, was a trouble-making slacker who went straight from "DETENTION Potter!" to "Congratulations. You are Head Boy." He wasn't big on responsibility and while others would view the job as an honor—he viewed it as a burden; all except one aspect of it—the Head Girl, Lily Evans. It was truly a trick of fate that they were put together. Lily deserved it. Apparently James "had potential." He often wondered if Sirius had slipped any memory modifying potions into Dumbledore's pumpkin juice.

"This is you're common room," Remus gestured to the glimmering fireplace and oversized couches that decorated the Gryffindor common room. A series of "oohs" and "ahhs" echoed through the walls. "Your dormitories are up those stairs. Your belongings have already been brought up for you," he finished. Just then Sirius waltzed through the portrait hole.

"Having fun, Moony?" he smiled throwing his arm around Remus's back.

"Loads," he murmured. When being a Marauder, the job of prefect was no privilege, but a chance for your fellow Marauders to mercilessly make fun of you.

"Well then you shouldn't be so ruddy…well… good," Sirius laughingly let go of his embrace. He and Remus could spy a couple of the first year girls eyeing him. Sirius was very handsome, the most handsome out of the group. He often attracted a lot of attention from the girls at school. He, however, pretended not to notice and often truly didn't.

That night the four Marauders were in the dormitory attempting to settle into bed. "I'm bored," Sirius complained. "It's a shame it's not a full moon."

"Oh yeah a real shame," Remus scowled. He loved his friends' company during his transformation, but saw that they often enjoyed it so much they forgot how much it hurt him.

"He's just kidding," Peter reassured him. "Right Padfoot?"

"Of course, Moony. If I could stop that from happening you know I would. Any of us would." James and Peter nodded in agreement.

"Well," James called their attention as he lay on his bed rubbing his invisibility cloak between his fingers. "Just because, it's not a full moon doesn't mean we can't…go out for a stroll." The three boys smiled agreeing. "You still got the map my dear Padfoot," James pulled up his invisibility cloak.

"But of course my dear Prongs," Sirius pulled a blank piece of parchment out of his trunk. The four climbed off their beds and hurried down the common room steps to the portrait hole.

Upon arriving in the corridor, James threw the invisibility cloak over top the Marauders, or part of them. They wouldn't transform into their animagus form with Remus in his human form. He had never learned to become an animagus. Plus it was too much fun walking around on two legs. "I can't decide if I should go left or right," James stopped. "Last year I found that Filch enjoyed searching the left side first, but he may have changed his opinion this year."

"Only one thing to do," Remus stated. Sirius reached inside his robe's pocket pulling out the empty piece of parchment.

"Ah, it feels so good to have this out again. Wormtail, if you would do the honors," he held it open. Peter quickly grabbed his wands ad tapped it on the parchment.

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good." With that a vast network of lines spread across the parchment forming a map. Not just any map—The Marauders map. It was an entire map of Hogwarts including the grounds and hidden passageways. It also showed everyone in the castle and where they were at that present time.

"Oh look," James pointed at the map by the Hufflepuff common room. "Looks like David Patterson and Hannah Johansen believe they are above the rules. And it's such a shame because Patterson is a prefect isn't he?"

"Yes, a Ravenclaw prefect," Peter played along deviously smiling.

"Well, Moony, being a fellow prefect I believe you should remind him of his prefect duties," James instructed.

"And I believe that you Prongs, should warn him of his removal if this offense is too repeat itself," Sirius started walking faster. Remus held the map, while James and Peter held up the cloak. James couldn't help, but glance at the Gryffindor girls' dormitory. There Lily Evans's name appeared. She, like the other girls, was in her bed, probably fast asleep. Though the blob of ink indicating where Lily was sleeping was not her, James often glanced at it on their way down to the Hufflepuff common room thinking about what she looked like when she slept. He never saw her sleeping in her dormitory. The girls' dormitory was bewitched so that if a boy reached the top of the steps, it would turn into a giant slide sending him straight back down to the common room floor. He had seen her once when she nodded of in the common room while writing an essay for Charms. She looked so pretty and peaceful. His thoughts were shaken when Remus had thrust the map at him while peering around the corner to see Hannah and David. They remained very quiet trying to catch what they were saying.

"Can you please forgive me?" pleaded David. Hannah at first wouldn't make eye contact, but in a few moments her face fell soft and she agreed. Just as they were about to share a kiss goodnight, Peter started jumping up and down making his footsteps as loud as he could. He grabbed Remus's sleeve gesturing that he jump too. Remus joined in.

"Who's that?" Hannah asked pulling away from David.

"Probably another prefect," he said agitatedly.

"You should go," Hannah instructed. "They might rat you out or deduct points."

"Nah," David reassured her. "No one will rat me out. Plus James Potter's the Head Boy. He won't do anything."

"Oh I won't," James smirked. He held his wand to his throat and began to yell in his deepest voice, "Patterson, bed now! Or he'll get you!"

"What? Who'll get me? James Potter?" David questioned his head twitching from side to side searching for the source of the sound.

"He's coming," Sirius moaned. "You know not to break the rules. He'll get you! Run! He's coming! Run!" By this time Hannah was scared enough by the mysterious voices that she leapt back through her portrait hole leaving David alone and dumbstruck. Sirius was now getting annoyed that David was not running. "RUN!" he screamed his loudest. "Sixty points from your house or your life, we shall see!" David finally started to pick up the pace. The Marauders made sure the cloak was covering them entirely when he came around the corner. As he passed the Sirius stuck his foot out and tripped him. "I'm watching you Patterson." David tried to get up, but as soon as he was standing ready to sprint, James cast a leg locker curse on him making him fall again. He started crawling towards the steps. "I'll see you on your next watch," James whispered before lifting the curse. With their pleasure of mortifying another student taken take care of, no matter how ridiculous their effort was, the Marauders entered down the hall to the kitchens. They reached the portrait of the bowl of fruit and Remus tickled the pear. The portrait opened to reveal the Hogwarts kitchen. Inside around a hundred house-elves efficiently made their way about the kitchen sweeping and shining almost the entire kitchen's contents.

"Hello sirs," a high pitched voice greeted them. The little house-elf politely curtsied. "May we help you?" she continued.

"Yes, good evening," another high pitched voice tugged gently on their robes. "Would you like some left over pie and pumpkin juice," he gestured towards to large plates of apple pie. The Marauders shook their heads yes. Around five house-elves came towards them and pulled them over to a small table. The house-elves catered to their every whim. Sirius had had a house-elf at his previous home name Kreacher. Kreacher was a terribly unpleasant house-elf and too suffered from "pureblood mania."

After finishing up their last bites of pie and sipping down the second glasses of pumpkin juice, the Marauders thanked the house-elves, complemented their cooking and catering, and bid good evening.

"Where to now?" Peter asked as the portrait of the fruit bowl closed behind them.

"How about the Lake?" Remus suggested, pointing to it on their map.

"First where's Filch?" James took the map out of Remus's hands. "He didn't catch Patterson did he?"

"No," Sirius laughed recalling their joke. "We made sure of it. Now," his finger scanned the map, "Filch is on the fifth floor."

"Alright then, let's go to the Lake," Peter added leading the way. The map was very helpful, but the Marauders didn't need it. They knew all the secret passageways and inner workings of Hogwarts for it was they who created the map. It was a sheer work of brilliance, or at least the Marauders thought so. When being a Marauder basically anything you did was brilliant. It was very tiresome work making the map often resulting in the Marauders getting their best sleep during useless classes such as Divination and History of Magic. By the time they had finished their masterpiece of mischief, they were very proud.

When they finally reached the Lake the boys threw off the cloak leaving it to lie on the grass. "I wish I brought my broom out," James looked up into the starry night sky. "It's a perfect night for flying."

"Yeah," Peter agreed. "But really any day is great for flying for you."

"Yeah," James laughed. He loved flying more than anything else in the wizarding world.

"You're a very good flyer," Peter added.

"Thank you Wormtail," James smiled. He knew he was good. He didn't need to be told, but he never got tired of hearing it. If only Lily Evans cared about talents such as flying. James would be her number one priority.

"I told you mate, you should go professional," Sirius entered the conversation. "Think about it, money, fans--girl fans, fame, fortune. And we'll get free tickets right Moony?" he elbowed Remus's side. Remus nodded his head.

"I told you no," James was flattered, but already knew his career choice.

"Well excuse us. We forgot you don't need a job," Sirius flipped his black hair.

"What?" James looked at him.

"You're up to your ears in galleons, mate," Peter slapped him on the arm. He scowled at Sirius.

"You know I'm just joking," he stopped laughing.

"You know I want to be an Auror," James stated rubbing his fingers through his hair.

"Yeah. If there's one thing you hate more than Snape, it's the Dark Arts," Remus looked blissfully at the crescent moon.

"Which is why when I become an auror, he's the first one I'm putting in Azkaban. People like him messing around in the Dark Arts like their higher than others. All of 'em locked away for good. Ranting about blood status and other rubbish. If I could I…" he stopped realizing he just practically stated he'd get the entire Black family in Azkaban. He looked remorsefully at Sirius. Despite Sirius's disagreement with his family, James didn't want to insult them.

"Oh I hope the Blacks will be the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and so ons captured by you," Sirius smiled. He truly no longer cared about them.

It was Peter who accidently noticed his watch realizing how late it really was. Sirius grabbed the map of his robe's pocket again and James covered the boys as much as he could with the cloak.

The three boys quietly climbed the steps to the Gryffindor common room careful not to step on the trick one. Before approaching the Fat Lady, Sirius chanted the magical words, "Mischief managed," to turn the map blank again. Sirius walked up to Fat lady's Portrait. She was fast asleep. "Hellebore," Sirius said. The Fat Lady groggily opened her eyes and fluttered her long eye lashes.

"OH honestly, the first day of school and you can't stand staying out of trouble. How did you ever become Head Boy, Potter?" the Fat Lady looked rather annoyed. She gained her postured and straightened her dress. James childishly shrugged his shoulders. "You know, I could just mention this to Mr. Filch next time he passes by. Or better yet, professor McGonagall," she warned.

"Now, my dear lovely lady," Sirius leaned against her frame. "We know you wouldn't do that to us. All these years, I thought you took to us quite nicely. I mean we're just young boys-curious, adventurous," he sulked. "Plus we don't bother you or any of your friends while on our stroll."

"I beg to differ," she stated. "How many times over the passed six year have you woken me up in the middle of the night or worse, the very very early morning so I'll let you in?"

"About a thousand," Sirius answered. "And we feel horrible for doing so and if there was any other way in we would use it, but alas it is the only way our late night strolls are allowed. And you wouldn't want to see your favorite boys get into trouble. You wouldn't want us talking to another portrait? Unless we don't hold a great place in your heart as I thought we did," he sorrowfully looked down at the stone floor.

"Oh you suave little git, get inside now!" she flung open almost knocking Peter to the floor. The four boys quickly climbed through before she slammed shut.

"That was very impressive," Remus stated seeming somewhat shocked.

"Much better than last year's," Peter added. "You could become Minister for Magic with talking ability like that," he said admirably.

"I wouldn't choose you," James scoffed.

"And why not?" Sirius flung his hand to his chest pretending to be insulted.

"Because he knows you," Remus added.

"Now, now Remus should a prefect really be discouraging another student?" Sirius playfully pushed him. If it hadn't been 3 o'clock in the morning, Remus would have taken him to the ground. The four boys made their way up the stairs and into their beds. They knew it wasn't wise to stay up that late before the first day of classes, but none of them cared. When being a Marauder, frivolous things, such as the rules or basic human intelligence, didn't matter.