Thank you so much to my reviewers, they have inspired me to keep writing (hopefully better than the last chapter.) I guess this chapter isn't that great, but please hang on with me and I promise the story will get better. Thanks

Disclaimer- No, the Marauders belong to the wonderful Rowling lady, still…*sigh*

Chapter 2- Brewing Trouble

The next morning at breakfast, I found myself cracking up with Sirius, James and Peter. It was the first time I noticed that each of them had a different, unique laugh. Sirius's laugh reminded me of a fearless wild animal, more of a bark of mirth than anything. Once he started, he couldn't stop. James's laugh was more controlled, but just as strong. Peter seemed more of a tag along friend, so if the others thought something was funny, he would give a little hesitant chuckle.

Our first class was Potions with Professor Slughorn. My father is pure wizard, but my mother came from a muggle family, showing magical characteristics at a young age. Sadly, neither of them are very good at potion brewing, which has been unfortunately passed down to me. No matter how hard I try, it always turns out wrong. I'm okay at simple potions, but saying that would be an exaggeration of the truth. Considering that I do pretty well in most of my other subjects, I think that I was a minor disappointment to Slughorn.

Professor Slughorn isn't a good or bad teacher. Whenever I decide what to think of him, I get confused trying to think of all the different aspects that create his personality. He has his favorites, but he isn't full of prejudice. He really likes Lily Evans, another first year in Gryffindor. She's superb at Potion brewing; actually, she is rather perfect in all of her subjects. We've never really talked because she always talks to Severus Snape, a Slytherin. She kind of hates our little group, probably due to all of the pranks we pull on him. Yes, the pranks are rather funny, but I'm not sure if it is right. In his defense, he hasn't really done anything wrong, as Sirius and James put it, "It's more like the fact that he exists if you know what I mean." The only thing that worries me is that Severus seems awfully interested in the dark arts, what if he uses that on James or Sirius, or even Peter? Those two would probably fight back with the little magic we have been taught, but Peter wouldn't stand a chance.

Slughorn paired us up; we had Potions with Ravenclaw today. Luckily, I was paired up with another Gryffindor, Frank Longbottom. He's pretty nice, even if he doesn't talk that much. Peter was paired with Ravenclaw Gilderoy Lockhart, a giant showboat. James was with Kingsley Shaklebolt, another Ravenclaw, while Sirius was with Lily Evans. We were supposed to be creating Pumpion Potion, which temporarily turns the drinker's head into a pumpkin. Rather useless, but hilarious. Crushing the Flitterby Moth, I glanced around.

Frank is just about as good at potions as I am, but we were doing better than Peter and Lockhart. So far, most of the class was halfway through the instructions, turning the potion to a rich red. Meanwhile, theirs was a deep bubbling brown. Gilderoy was trying to prove he could fix it without following the instructions, only making it worse. Peter was red in the face, looking like he was stepping on spikes. Other students were snickering at them, while Gilderoy was using his most charming voice to prove everything was all right, though everyone could hear the panic in his voice.

While they were failing, I looked at Sirius and Lily. Sirius was slicing Foxglove, and Lily looked frustrated.

"Black, what do you think you are doing?" Lily exclaimed

"Um, slicing. And my name's Sirius, not Black."

"Fine Sirius, but that is not slicing. Look at it! They are all uneven and messy! How does that even qualify as slicing? A blind Viking with an axe could do better than that!"

"A blind what?"

"Never mind Black. I'll do everything, just stop messing things up."

"Back to last name basis already, Ouch, that hurts," Sirius said mockingly, leaning back in his chair. He smiled at me, happy not to do any work.

Meanwhile, James and Kingsley were having success. Their potion was a successful light orange, and they were already filling up a glass vial to submit to the professor. When no one was looking, I saw James fill up three extra vials and slip them into his cloak. When he saw me, he winked, looking very proud of himself for being so stealthy. Slughorn walked around, examining each potion. When he arrived at James's, he said there were a couple small flaws, but nothing major. Upon seeing Peter's, which was now spilling out of the cauldron and smoking, Slughorn waved his wand to clean up the mess. He gave a small sympathetic frown, and wordlessly rumpled Gilderoy's blonde hair, much to Lockhart's discontentment. When he saw ours, he said it was okay, but could use some work.

Of course, seeing Lily's, he showed a smile.

"Shall we try this out Ms. Evans?" Slughorn asked.

He looked around the room for a volunteer, but no one wanted to volunteer.

"Will it get me out of my next class?" A large, burly Ravenclaw asked.

"I suppose so," Slughorn said slowly. " Who can tell Mr. Murry here what some of the aftereffects of this potion consist of?" Lily's hand shot into the air, along with a couple of other bright students. I think we all know whom Slughorn chose.

"Well," Lily started off, brushing her gorgeous red hair out of her face, " Some major aftereffects of the potion, if brewed correctly, consist of short lapse of dizziness, laughing fits, and the inability to concentrate, with all symptoms lasting up to half an hour after the potion has been drunk."

"Very good Ms. Evans, ten points to Gryffindor. So Mr. Murry, what is your next class?"

"Transfiguration."

"Then yes, I believe you would be excused for s short time, because I do not believe professor McGonagall is the type of teacher to allow any of those symptoms to disrupt her class. I'll right a note to her right now." He quickly scribbled on a piece of parchment, and then used magic to send it off.

Slughorn used a goblet to scoop out some potion for Murry, then handed it to him. Murry downed it in one gulp, waiting for something to happen. After about thirty seconds, there was an audible pop, and Murry's head was swapped with that of a pumpkin. Suddenly features started to form on the face of the orange surface, making it not a pumpkin, but a jack-o-lantern. The class burst into laughter as Murry tried to feel his surroundings blindly with his hands.

After a couple minutes, his head slowly shrunk back to his own, all the while Murry looked dazed.

"Mr. Shaklebolt, if you would be so kind as to help take Mr. Murry to the Hospital wing, as I am afraid the can't walk very straight at the moment. Thank you, you will be excused from class until you get back. Well now, everyone cleanup, and then you are dismissed."

James, Sirius, Peter and I all met in the back of the room, by the sinks. James pulled out the three vials filled with the orange liquid. He looked back to make sure no one was watching.

"The book said the more potion consumed, the longer the affects last. What do you say tomorrow morning we give Snivellus what he deserves through his morning pumpkin juice?"

The others nodded rapidly, but I didn't. Was this right? Surly he couldn't' pinpoint the potion back to us, since the Ravenclaws helped. Then again, Snape treated us like we were deadly enemies, so maybe anything done to him he would blame on us.

"Remus?"

"Uhhhh," I racked my brains, trying to decide what to say. Surly it was harmless, right? "Uhh, yeah, okay with me."

"Sweet, so how do we manage it?" Peter asked.

"My friends, art thou forgetting about a certain invisiblility cloak in our friend's possession?" Sirius asked, nudging James.

Oh, yes, the cloak. James said he had inherited it from his father, who had gotten it from his father..ect. We could all easily fit under it, and that way no one could see us. Perfect for pranking.

"So, tomorrow morning?" James asked. We all nodded, mine a little hesitant.

"You know, we really need to come up with a name for ourselves," Sirius said. "I'm sick of having to say all of our names. We need something short and snappy, something to define us as a group. We all stick together now, so we need a name."

Later that night, I lay in bed, thinking about what we were about to do tomorrow. If it went wrong, we could get expelled. I remembered what Slughorn said about a couple small flaws in the potion we were using. What if something terrible happened? Even if nothing went wrong, if Snape could tell it was us, we would surely have detention for who knows how long. This really wasn't a well thought out plan. I could name about a million things that could go wrong. I prayed to a god, if there is one, before I went to bed. This could be really bad; maybe I should carry an antidote. Wait, if I made an antidote, It could be even worse that the potion itself. Oh well.

That morning we agreed that James would be the one under the cloak to pour the orange liquid into Severus's morning juice. The rest of us waited the table, watching patiently. We all waited for Severus to sit down, sulking about. Soon James appeared next, grinning with mirth.

"It's done," he said, shoving the rest of his cloak into his pocket.

"You guys ready for Halloween to come early?" Sirius said, rubbing his hands together.

Severus lifted his goblet, drank, then set it back down. All of us gasped in horror. Severus's eyes rolled back into his head, he fell of his bench, and started to convulse in the ground.

Cliffhanger! Wow, I can never say that word right. I will update soon, please leave a review, they encourage me to write a little faster.