Disclaimer: I still do not own Harry Potter.

Hey all! I'm so glad you liked the last chapter and how I'm portraying Harry and Ginny's developing relationship!

Hope you enjoy this chappie too!

On a side note, I know that the scene of the Marauders' meeting is different than the one in canon. I wrote it this way because I didn't want to copy straight from DH!

Chapter 33: In the Olden Days...''

Harry, Sirius, and Remus thoroughly enjoyed their Christmas vacation. They went sledding, which was an experience Harry had never had before. Sirius told him that the Marauders had loved doing this. Harry drank in the stories, more and more enthralled about his parents.

It was now the day before Harry was to go back to Hogwarts, and he and his two guardians decided that it would be thrilling to go back into the Pensieve and see some more memories of the Marauders and the interaction between them and their peers. Harry was absolutely willing to take another dive in and see the sights of the 1970's and early 80's.

"Yeah, we started school in 1971," said Sirius as they walked into Harry's room. "The 70's were some whopping great years. You know, the whole disco era and everything."

"Oh, you loved the disco stuff, didn't you, Padfoot?" laughed Remus.

"Sure did. Ready, kiddo?" smirked Sirius as they approached the Pensieve.

"As ready as I'll ever be," said Harry happily. On the count of three, they plunged their hands in.

xxx

The first scene which greeted them was that of Sirius, sitting in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express.

"Funny we should start with this one," the present-day man chuckled as he ruffled Harry's hair playfully. "This is when we first met."

The young Sirius sat in his seat, tapping his foot on the floor. He was muttering to himself, "Good. I finally get away from the Noble and Most Ancient House of Bullshit. I finally get away from the screaming banshee who calls herself Mother."

Suddenly, the compartment door opened, and a brown-haired boy who looked exhausted came in. It was the younger version of Remus. He had dark circles under his eyes. "Uh, excuse me," he said shyly. "May I sit here, please?"

Sirius's gray eyes lit up. "Sure," he said. "And what's your name?"

"Remus Lupin," the boy said. "First year."

"Oh, a half-blood," said Sirius knowingly. "Not that it matters, of course. I've just heard about your family before, from my mother. My name's Sirius Black. I'm a first-year too. My family thinks purebloods are better than anyone else, but I don't know what they're talking about. I've met a Muggle before, and she was really nice. I'm sure mudbloods are the same."

Remus looked shocked and taken aback. "Don't say that word!" he cried hoarsely.

"What word? Mudblood?"

"Yeah!"

"Why not?"

"It's a really bad word."

"What do you mean? My family uses it all the time."

"Well, it's a word you shouldn't say. It's really insulting to Muggle-borns."

"Should've known," muttered Sirius. "I won't say it again. I didn't know it was bad."

Remus shook his head in amazement. "It's all right," he finally said. He put out his hand for Sirius to shake, and he shook it.

"So what house do you want to be in?" asked Sirius excitedly. "My whole family's been in nothing but Slytherin, but I don't want to be in that house. Gryffindor sounds like the best."

"Wow, you are really different from your family, aren't you?" said Remus, another flash of amazement showing in his eyes. "I want to be in Gryffindor too, but I don't think I'm brave enough. I'm amazed enough to be going to Hogwarts as it is." He blushed and suddenly looked ashamed, as if he'd said something wrong.

"Why wouldn't you be accepted?" asked Sirius, surprised. "Every English witch or wizard, as well as those who come from other parts of the UK, go to Hogwarts!"

A look crossed Remus's face which was a look that no boy that age should have. "Yeah, but none of us should take that for granted," he said wisely.

"Wow, you are something else, aren't you, Lupin?" said Sirius. "You sound a little like a Ravenclaw."

"No, I'm not smart enough to be a Ravenclaw," said Remus, blushing again.

Suddenly, the compartment door opened again, and two more boys stumbled in. One of them was chattering excitedly. He had messy black hair and was wearing glasses. The other one was a little pudgy, and had watery blue eyes. He looked absolutely terrified.

"Do you mind if we sit here?" asked the black-haired boy. "We're both first-years. I found him getting made fun of by some older boys," he added, pointing at the pudgy boy.

"Was one of them named Malfoy, by any chance?" asked Sirius, a scowl appearing on his face.

"Wow, how did you know?" asked the black-haired boy, awed.

"Malfoy makes fun of everyone. Don't mind him," Sirius said to the pudgy boy. "He's stupid anyway. Remus and I are both first-years too. My name's Sirius Black. Get that look off your face, I'm not like my family. I don't think purebloods are better than mud-er-sorry, Muggle-borns. Remus here just told me mudblood's a bad word. I didn't know that before."

"Wow," said the black-haired boy. "Sorry. It's just that I've heard of the Blacks. My parents, er, don't like yours very much."

"Oh," said Sirius. "But we don't have to be like them, do we?"

"I suppose not. The name's James Potter," said the younger version of Harry's father. "And I still haven't learned your name," he said to the pudgy boy. "What is it then, my friend?"

"P-P-P-Peter P-P-Pettigrew," stammered Peter. It was hard for the present-day Sirius and Remus not to feel anger and hatred, knowing what this boy was going to do in the future. But they just had to remember that they had had fun with him, once. He had been part of their group, one of their best friends. They could see in Harry's eyes that he was struggling with the same battle, trying to find a difference between this scared young boy and the vengeful man that had sent his parents to their death.

"Aw, what're you afraid of saying your own name for?" asked Sirius, grinning. "We're not like Malfoy."

"Yeah, it's not like we're gonna call you Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater or anything," smirked James. Peter looked from one to the other, intimidated, but a tiny smile broke out onto his face.

"I g-get that one all the t-time," he said. "From the kids at the Muggle school I went to."

"Oh, really?" chortled Sirius. "Well, it's fine if you both sit with us. Hey, how about we think of a prank to play on Malfoy?"

"Sounds good to me," said James.

"But we'll get in t-trouble!" Peter complained.

"Yeah, are you sure it's the right thing to do?" asked Remus, but a tinge of amusement was discernible in his voice.

"Aw, you know you want to," said James. "And who cares if we get in trouble? It'll be fun!"

Peter finally nodded, not being able to hide a small grin. "Fine, whatever you say," Remus sighed. Harry could tell by the look in his eyes that he was happy just to have people there talking to him, not shunning him.

The scene faded, and Harry grinned at his present-day guardians. "So that was the first time the Marauders ever met?"

"Yeah, and we were together the whole trip," Remus said fondly. "Sirius here found a spell to turn Malfoy's hair blue. He stopped by the compartment later to harass us, and believe me, he wasn't very happy with the outcome."

"You're darn right he wasn't," said Sirius with a barklike laugh.

The next scene evolved around them; Harry could hear the four boys whispering. They were standing in a hallway of Hogwarts.

"Oh, James's Invisibility Cloak is hiding all of us," said Sirius. "That's why you can't see us but you can hear us."

"So now we go into Filch's office, right?" the young Peter asked.

"That's right, Pete," James grinned. "Peeves caused the diversion for us, so now we're putting the dungbomb in his office."

All four boys then crept down the hallway, Harry and his guardians following them. Filch's office door was open; it was as if he'd left the place in a hurry. They all went in, and Sirius did the honors of putting the dungbomb right in Filch's drawer. "In ten minutes, it'll explode and cause a horrible smell in this room," he chuckled.

"We mustn't get caught," warned Remus.

"Ah, don't spoil the fun, Remy, my friend," laughed James, pounding Remus on the back. "We're the practical jokers extraordinaire, we'll never get caught!" They had taken the cloak off by now, and James had slipped it into his pocket. "As soon as we hear Filch coming back," he said, "we grab the cloak and put it back on, then we stay here and watch Filch's reaction."

Peter sniggered. "I can't wait to see the look on his face!" he said, tears of mirth shining in his eyes.

About eight minutes later, the sound of footsteps could be heard. James quickly grabbed the cloak and draped it over all of them. They all moved out into the hallway so that they wouldn't bump into Filch, but then something unexpected happened which wasn't to the four boys' liking at all. Peter's foot had not quite moved out of the way of Filch, and he stepped on it. Peter let out an "oh!"

"Who's there?" growled Filch. His cat, Mrs. Norris, was a few steps away from him. She sniffed the air, and it was obvious she could sense the presence of the rule-breakers.

"Not going to answer me?" grumbled Filch. "I knew I heard something! Who's got an Invisibility Cloak around here? Heard some bloody students talking about someone having one. Was it those troublemaking Gryffindor second-year boys?" he muttered to himself angrily. Then he said to the air, "If it's you boys, show yourselves! I've heard enough about you from some of the professors!"

Suddenly, a horrible smell wafted to them from the office. "THAT's IT!" shouted Filch to no one he could see. "Dungbombs again! I swear, when I catch who the culprit is, I'll have them hanging by their ankles! And if it's you four Gryffindor scoundrels, you'll have detention for a whole month!" As he walked into his office, the boys heard him muttering under his breath, "I can't stand you four, always marauding around all over the place. I've never known such a bunch of troublemakers."

When it was safe, James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter all began to walk away. "Phew, that was close!" squeaked Peter as they went. "I'm sorry! Are you angry with me?"

"No," chuckled Sirius. "You've just got to be more careful, Mr. Pettigrew!"

"And how could Filch accuse us without proof?" grumbled Remus. "I suppose he has good reason to, though."

"Maybe we should tell him tomorrow, or at least make him aware it was us. The best pranks are the ones where we don't get caught, but we also want to let the whole school know exactly who we are, right?" snickered James.

"And what's that he said about marauding?" said Sirius, a devilish grin on his face. ""Marauding around all over the place ..." I like that one! He does come up with some good expressions, doesn't he? Miserable old man, but he's great to poke fun at!"

"We should call ourselves that, you know!" Peter squeaked enthusiastically.

"What, the Marauding or something?" said Remus.

"The Marauders," said Peter, a mischievous glint in his watery eyes. "Mischief-makers extraordinaire."

"You know what, Pete? That's perfect!" beamed James. "Marauders it is, then."

"Yeah, and we're not afraid to show Filch just what he's made of," said Remus.

"You're especially mischievous around now, aren't you, Rem?" said James. "You know, with the moon and all?"

Remus blushed. "Yeah, it is that time of the month," he chuckled. "Full moon tomorrow."

"Yeah, you're like a girl in that respect," said Sirius, trying to keep his laughing under control. "Girls and werewolves both have their times of the month, and their moods can dramatically change."

"Ew, who wants to talk about girls?" said Peter, repulsed. "And who wants to talk about what they go through every month?"

"Well, I eavesdropped on my mum having a conversation with my aunt about it," said James. "It's so disgusting. I'm so glad I'm not a girl."

"Yeah, and people don't think twelve-year-old boys know about that stuff," said Sirius. The present-day Sirius and Remus could see that Harry was blushing to the roots of his hair.

"Sorry, kiddo," said Sirius. "We kind of forgot this part was in there."

"It's fine," said Harry, smiling behind his hand.

"Anyway," said the young Sirius, "you know we're working on our big Animagi project."

"And don't you dare start on us again about how dangerous it is, Remus, because we don't care," said James, adopting a stern tone. "We're doing it whether you like it or not." Then, he, Sirius, and Peter began to sing terribly out of tune:

"Who's afraid of the big bad wolf,

Big bad wolf,

Big bad wolf!

Who's afraid of the big bad wolf,

Tra la la la la!

Certainly not us!"

"Don't get all sappy on us again, Rem," said Sirius, watching Remus's face go from absolutely floored and shocked to one of great emotion. It was obvious that he'd never had anyone take his dangerous condition so lightly and treat him so normally because of it, even going so far as to try and make him laugh about it. "Guys, you really don't understand," Remus tried to tell them. "You don't get how dangerous my condition is."

"Oh, what's wrong with a little danger?" said Sirius. "And we're not going to let anyone get hurt. And you're our friend. We're not going to let you hurt yourself on the full moon anymore."

"You know, I'm tempted to be disturbed by you making fun of it, but I know you mean well," said Remus, looking all the boys straight in the eye.

"Of course we do," said Peter. "We know werewolves can kill or bite people. But we know you'd never hurt anyone if you had anything to say about it."

"As I told you before, my parents tried to tell me all werewolves were bad," said Sirius as they got closer to Gryffindor Tower. "They said they're monsters, and that they don't deserve to be part of society. I think it's really stupid now, and you were the one to change my mind about that, Rem. I mean, I'd known you for a little over a year when the three of us found out what you are. And you're not a horrible person at all. Then I started thinking what if my parents were wrong, like they're wrong about a whole lot of other things?"

"Thanks, Siri," said Remus quietly. "That means an awful lot. I thought you'd all hate me when you found out, like my other friends at home."

"Like I said before, they're stupid," scowled Sirius. "You guys were able to look past my being a detested Black, and I don't know what would have happened eventually if I hadn't become friends with you. Would I finally have believed my parents about the stuff they said about Muggle-borns and Muggles not deserving to live? Since you were able to look past who my family is, why shouldn't I be able to look past you being a werewolf?"

They had almost reached the Fat Lady by now. The four friends smiled at each other, and when they got to the portrait, Remus muttered the password and they all went into the Gryffindor common room.

"Thanks again for a great night, Marauder pals," said Remus, smiling.

"Yeah, Filch gave us a new name! Never thought I'd thank that old piece of dung for anything," snorted Sirius as they went up the stairs.

The scene faded, and Harry and his guardians told the Pensieve to take them back into Harry's room. When they arrived, Harry immediately started firing questions.

"Wow, you guys were so mischievous," he said. "I don't think I'd have the courage to play a prank on Filch."

"Oh, he didn't scare us at all," laughed Remus.

"I can see that," Harry said. After a few seconds of silence he asked curiously, "How come you didn't know the word mudblood was bad? I mean, when Malfoy said it to Hermione in second year, the way he said it, he knew it was bad and that it would rile Ron up."

"Well, if you lived in my family," Sirius said with disgust, "we didn't associate ourselves with Muggle-borns or Muggles at all. I never had any real friends before Hogwarts, so I never called anybody a mudblood and learned that the word was bad. I went to the park once when I was a boy and met a Muggle, and when I asked them if they were a mudblood, they didn't know what I was talking about, so I knew they were a Muggle. My stupid old mother never let me play in the park again after that. My tattletale of a brother Regulus told her who I'd been talking to."

"Oh," said Harry. "Life must've been really rough for you."

"Well, I got away," said Sirius, sighing.

"But I love the memories," Harry said, trying to lighten the mood. "Ron, Hermione and I have gotten up to stuff, but we've never put dungbombs in anyone's office before."

"That's going to change now, isn't it, pup?" Sirius grinned. "Now you have us to teach you the Marauder ways!"

"Now now, Sirius, don't teach him bad behavior!" Remus reprimanded. "He's already got the cloak and the map, don't give him any more ideas!"

"Fine, fine, whatever you say, Moony," Sirius smirked.

xxx

Later that night, when Harry had gone to bed, Sirius and Remus sat in the living room, sipping cups of tea.

"I miss those days," said Remus reminiscently. "And the way Harry looks at us, I think he's worried. I think he wonders if it hurts us to see the memories, now that we know all four Marauders will never be together again."

"Yeah, he's a good kid," said Sirius. "It is painful sometimes, you know? But we want our legacy to live on in Harry, and the best way for that to happen is for him to see us growing up. And all those years in Azkaban tore so many of those memories from me, it is good to see them and get them fully back again."

"I know," Remus sighed. "How do you think he is, you know, after the trial and everything? Our therapy sessions with him seem to be going all right."

"I think he still has a lot of healing to do, but he's strong," said Sirius, running a hand through his black hair. "He hides a lot inside, but I hope he's coming to understand that we'll always be here to help him."

"That we will. And I'm so glad he has the friends he has. Even though Ron Weasley can be a bit temperamental at times, he seems to always come through."

"And Hermione Granger reminds me a little of you," said Sirius, grinning. "Someone with a mischievous streak but reluctant to pay attention to it."

Remus smiled at his old friend. "And Ginny Weasley has such a strong spirit, too. I'm glad they're helping each other."

"Oh, Remy, I'm not ready to send him off to Hogwarts again tomorrow!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Don't worry, Padfoot, we'll see him in a week's time," chuckled Remus.

"I know, Moony, I know."

The two men continued to sip their tea and chat about Harry, the old days, and life in general. A little later, they went to bed, and fell asleep after checking in on Harry, who looked so peaceful and content while snoozing soundly. They knew, as they'd said, that their legacy would live on in James's wonderful son.