James and Sirius dashed back inside to the train compartment. Lily, Severus, and Remus looked up.

"Somebody barricade the door!" exclaimed Sirius, terrified.

"It's okay," said the boy with messy hair, who Lily was fairly certain was called James. He was still catching his breath. "I don't think she followed us. Still, just to be safe-" The wizard rolled up his sleeves and cast Alohamora on the door. Nothing happened.

"Let me try," said Remus, pulling out his wand and casting the correct spell, Colloportus, correctly. Deciding that the room was now safe and secure, James and Sirius sat down, still shaking. Remus pulled two chocolate bars out of his pocket and handed one to each of the mischief makers. James, who was clearly still annoyed that Remus was able to lock the door, decided that chocolate was more important than pride. He accepted. For several moments, the five children sat their quietly. Then:

"Well, are you going to tell us what happened?" Lily demanded. James and Sirius looked to one another for a moment, as if contemplating whether or not to tell the girl.

"I couldn't say," said James, grinning. "A Marauder doesn't prank and tell!"

"Marauder?"

"Indeed. Sirius and myself, the Marauders, at your service." James bowed. "Our mission, of course, being to break every rule in existence at Hogwarts. You're welcome to help."

"Rule breaking?" asked Lily. "Unlikely. I don't want to risk losing any points for Slytherin."

Sirius and James stared at her, dumbfounded. "Slytherin?" they cried out in unison.

"Is that where you're headed then, if you've got the choice?" asked Sirius, in disbelief.

"We'll be in Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart! Like my dad... Got a problem with that?"

"No. If you'd rather be brawny than brainy..." Severus retorted.

"I just can't imagine why anyone would want to be in Slytherin!"

"I don't know, Sev said it was the best house."

"And it is!" Severus exclaimed. "Did you know that Merlin himself was in Slytherin?"

"So was You-Know-Who, and just about all of my family," retorted Sirius.

"Gryffindor is clearly the best!" James exclaimed.

"Sevvy said that Gryffindors are arrogant prats," Lily said. Severus mentally pleaded for her to never again use that nickname.

"Did Sevvy also tell you that Slytherins are ugly Muggle-hating gits?" The argument continued to escalate, until finally Severus got so upset that he stormed out of the compartment. Lily got up to follow him.

"Goodbye. It was nice to meet you Remus, at least. I'm sorry it had to end like that," Lily waved, as she exited the room.

"You two are ridiculous " Remus told James and Sirius after she left. "You haven't even been Sorted yet. How can you be arguing over which house is better. Good and bad wizards come from all of the houses. Honestly, I don't think it even matters which house you're in."

"You're just mad that the girl left 'cause of us." Sirius replied knowingly.

"What, Lily?" cried Remus, taken aback.

"It most certainly is her to which I am referring. The feisty redhead who you are obviously madly in love with!" Sirius cried dramatically.

"No! Not at all! I don't like her!" Remus sputtered. "I just think we ought to be more... civil to her. I mean them. We should be more civil to them. I mean, we should, behave nicely. And stuff"

"So you admit it? You like her!" Sirius shouted gleefully. "Lily and Remus, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"No I don't! There will be no kissing between Lily and I! No kissing!" It was true that Remus had thought she was pretty. Really pretty. The redness of his cheeks proved it. But he certainly wouldn't say that he had a crush. Merlin's gym shorts! He was only eleven!

"That settles it!" declared James. "The Marauders have a new mission now: Operation Lemus. Actually no, hold on. I think Remily has a better ring to it. Yes! Operation Remily! We shall ship them religiously, and we will pair the two together! Don't worry, Remus. Within no time, we'll have you two actually sitting in a tree, snogging. Although why you would want to do that in a tree, I don't know. I mean, you could fall and be seriously injured. Imagine explaining to the school nurse that you were snogging someone up a tree!"

Remus buried his head in his heads. He could tell that any attempt of protestation against 'Operation Remily' would be ignored. He chose a new tactic.

"Assuming that your assumption was correct-which it isn't!" Remus said hastily, "If it was true, and it isn't, but please promise not to tell other people! "

"Marauder's honor!" James promised. "We would never share such a secret to an outsider!"

Despite Remus' annoyance and James and Sirius' insistence of his love for Lily, he was secretly pleased that they were accepting him so quickly as one of them. He had never really had friends before. His irritation returned when James added, "Unless of course, it is vital to Operation Remily!"

"And please don't try to pair us up. I mean..." Remus searched his mind for a reason against him and Lily. He found one. "I mean, she's a Slytherin! It could never work."

"But Remus, darling. You told us yourself that we haven't been sorted yet! She could turn out to be a Ravenclaw or... or a Jigglypuff!" Sirius reminded him.

Remus groaned. It was going to be a long year.

James, Remus, and Sirius departed the train later to find a giant bearded man ushering everyone into carriages. The boys stepped inside of one.

"What were those creatures called? The ones pulling the carriage?" asked Remus.

"What are you talking about? There are no creatures pulling the carriage." James replied.

At that moment, the giant bearded man appeared at the entrance of their carriage. He forced his body through the opening, patting his stomach and saying, "I really have ter stop eatin' so many rock cakes!" As he sat down, he looked around and noticed three children. "Oh hello ter all of yeh! Rubeus Hagrid's me name! I'm the gamekeeper here a' Hogwarts. What's yer names?"

After James, Sirius, and Remus introduced themselves, Hagrid asked them if they were looking forward to Hogwarts, if they had any questions, and told them that they were welcome to come visit him if they wanted a chat. They boys politely responded that they were excited to begin learning, that they had no questions, and that they would love to come visit.

"Yeh lot sure are giggly," Hagrid remarked uncomfortably towards the students. The Marauders were failing quite miserably at stifling their laughter, and this was causing Hagrid to feel incredibly self-conscious.

By the time the half-giant learned that his hair had been charmed pink, the sorting ceremony had already begun.

Hello again!

Thank you to everyone reading this! Especially to those of you who reviewed. Again, I own nothing, this is all J.K. Rowling's brilliance!

Some of the conversation that took place on the train was adapted from Snape's memories. In the future, I will try to write scenes mentioned in the book close to how Harry described them, but there will of course be variances.

And no, this is not going to turn solely into a Remus/Lily ship. Well... maybe a little. 'Operation Remily' will come up, but it will be over by their first year. Probably.