Disclaimer: See Chapter One.
It was the week after Final Exams, and the Sixth Years were EXHAUSTED. Although, I'm sure Mme Pomfrey, the school nurse is pretty tired too, y'know, treating all those students suffering from nervous breakdowns, all the students who had been hexed by the older kids because they were being too loud, and the kids the Marauders and I had hexed (to relieve stress levels and because we were bored). But I digress. So-oh, wait! You don't know about the Marauders! Well, in Third Year...
•~*~*~*~•
Aurora had just finished explaining the story if Sleeping Beauty to Sirius James, Remus and Peter. Unfortunately, it now meant that Sirius had a new nickname for her. Briar Rose.
It had annoyed Aurora to no end, but a couple weeks later, she was right fond of it. Her familiar group of friends rarely called her 'Aurora' anymore, it was always ' 'Rora', or
'Briar'. But of course, Sirius now became 'Siri'. Sure, it wasn't the most creative name in the book, but at least it irritated him just as much as 'Briar Rose' had irked her.
Then one day, in the group's Third Year at Hogwarts...
"Hey, Briar! Aurora!" Peter hurried to catch up to the diminutive girl before the stampede to get to the next class began in the hallways.
The tween in question stopped.
"Oh, hullo Peter."
"Uh, James said to," Here the boy lowered his voice a smidge, "meet him in the old broom closet next to the tapestry of the dancing trolls. you remember; the one we accidentally set on fire? And pass the message to Sirius."
"Alright, got that. My last class is Herbology, I'll meet you guys right after."
Peter grinned, " 'Rora, try not to make a mess, yeah?"
"Aw, shut up, you twit." Aurora punched him good-naturedly. Unfortunately, she was completely rubbish at the class and anything remotely similar. It was a curse. Their most recent assignment, to repot Mandrakes, she accidentally set a plant on fire. Professor Sprout, the new teacher wasn't amused when Aurora told her that it tried to attack her.
An hour and an explosion later 'Rora and Sirius silently closed the door behind them and tiptoed into the ancient broom closet. James and Peter were there waiting for them already. Aurora noted that Remus was absent from this meeting.
"So, lads and girl," James started pompously, "I called you here to discuss a topic of extreme importance, of utmost secrecy."
"Hurry up, Jamsie-boy, I don't have all day. And you're horrid at American accents, so don't even try. " James rolled his eyes at Sirius.
" Alright, be cranky. Have any of you noticed anything about Remus lately? Doesn't it feel like something's off?'"
Aurora raised an eyebrow. So she wasn't the only one.
Sirius commented slowly, "He always seems to be sick."
"Exactly!" crowed James, triumphant (only in his mind, sadly)
Peter scrunched up his face, "I still don't see what you're on about, mate"
"Do you think that, maybe, he's a...a you know..." here 'Rora paused, hesitant, "a werewolf?"
Sirius immediately sprang to his friend's defends, "Don't be ridiculous, Briar. Remus is NOT a werewolf. Where did you get that stupid idea from?" he said sharply.
"Uh...mate, "James started solemnly, "if you think about it-"
"No! Remus isn't a dark creature, you guys are being idiotic. Just leave the poor lad alone!" the aristocratic boy snapped through gritted teeth. He turned on his heel and stormed out of the small room, slamming the door on his way out.
•~*~*~*~•
A couple of days later, the foursome (they had made up with Sirius) confronted Remus about his condition.
"Hey, Remus, you trust us, yeah?" James asked randomly when they were lounging in the boys' dormitories. Aurora was slumped on Remus' pillow, tossing her wand from hand to hand. Peter was scribbling away at his Astronomy essay, and the rest of the boys were sprawled across the room.
"With my life." Remus answered immediately, "Why the question?"
"And you know we keep secrets extremely well, right? We all love you very much" Sirius added, glancing at the other two in the room that were aware of what was taking place.
Remus narrowed his eyes, "'Course, but what are you guys going on about?" Aurora sat up on the bed, now alert. James, Sirius and Peter all watched the boy warily.
Aurora took a breath, "So we don't care if you're a werewolf, Remus."
The bomb had been dropped. The reaction was instantaneous. The young werewolf immediately dropped his head and looked at his shoes, "S-so you guys found out?"
"Well, yeah." Sirius answered first, in his normal tactless demeanour, "It wasn't that hard once we looked for the signs, I mean-Hey! Where are you going?"
"Going to pack my bags. I know students won't want to go to school with a vicious werewolf." Remus finally looked up, his eyes dull.
James finally piped up, with his cousin and Peter nodding in agreement, "Mate, I thought we already made it clear. We don't care if you're a werewolf. You're still same old bookworm Remus to us!"
And the rest was history. Remus was assured that his secret was safe, the self-proclaimed Marauders decided to try and become Animagus to help Remus through his monthly transformations, and they stuck together.
•~*~*~*~•
So yeah. That's how us Marauders banded together. And now, I was BLOODY EXCITED FOR THE SUMMER! Now we could all focus on turning into animals, so once Seventh Year started, Remus wouldn't be alone anymore during the full moon. James, Sirius and I were all pretty close to completing our transformations. It was obvious that I would be a fawn, with the hooves and all, and I just needed to finish turning my head. Sirius seemed to be some kind of shaggy animal and the antlers gave James away to be a stag. Ah, the irony. Six-foot James got to be a majestic stag whereas little ol' me got to be a puny fawn. All we could deduce from Peter's form was that he was small and rodent like. Remus was nearly in tears when we explained our plan to him back in Third Year.
"OI! Briar!" I turned to see my cousin loping towards me. I grinned. When James was wearing that face, I knew there would be a prank to follow. Sure enough, his first words when he reached my were, "Hey, 'Rora, the boys and I were planning to stick a couple of teachers to their chairs. Wanna join?"
"Definitely, what time?" I returned.
James paused thoughtfully, "Uh, let's say Flitwick's room by ten?" I nodded eagerly. Tonight was going to be great.
•~*~*~*~•
"Guys, do we have the Cloak and Map?" Remus whispered as we snuck out of Gryffindor Tower.
"I've got the Map," Peter volunteered, and James added that he had the Invisibility Cloak. See, the Marauders' Map was something we had created in our Fourth Year, an useful tool that helped us pull off our pranks. It showed every single person in Hogwarts, and we had painstakingly included a detailed map of the castle and all the secret passages we had found. The Map was an astounding creation for some Fourth Years, if I do say so myself, and it was charmed to never EVER lie. The Invisibility Cloak was a Potter family heirloom that James, the oldest male of his (our) generation received when he turned twelve.
"We're getting too big to fit under this thing." I heard Remus mutter to himself as we squeezed under the cloak. Which was true, in his defence. We didn't fit under the shimmery fabric like we once had as five little First Years.
"We solemnly swear that we are up to no good." James whispered to the Map. The familiar green text blossomed across the previously blank parchment.
Lady Briar Rose and Messrs Moony, Padfoot, Prongs and Wormtail are proud to present ...
The Marauders' Map.
Sirius was starting to become impatient, hissing, "Stop dawdling, let's go." As he fidgeted. So we tiptoed down several flights of moving stairs, avoided the trip step, and found the right classroom. Remus and I played lookout outside under the Cloak as James, Sirius and Peter charmed Flitwick's seat. We repeated this procedure to all the teachers except for Dumbledore and McGonagall. We were pranksters, but we weren't disrespectful or looking for an early death. Once we finished, I muttered "Mischief Managed." to the Map and the lines of ink folded in upon themselves, quickly becoming just another piece if parchment. As the five of us snuck back into the Common Room, after whispering the password (Gobbledegook!) to the Fat Lady, Sirius burst out laughing,
"Guys, we forgot that Professor Flitwick stands on his chair! Only his shoes are going to be stuck, he can slip his feet right out of them."
We all chuckled as I added, "I've always wondered what his socks looked like. Surely they can't be as crazy as Dumbledore's." At Peter's reaction to my words, (screwed up his eyes and nose trying to imagine this scenario) we burst into another peal of giggles. Merlin's beard, I was going to miss this during summer holidays.
•~*~*~*~•
Thanks for reading!
-Small Owl
*Please do not plagiarize any part of this story. Any spin offs, etc. should be with the author's express permission and referenced back.