The first year Gryffindor boys spent their first weekend at Hogwarts exploring the castle and getting to know each other, only vaguely wondering where Remus had gone off to. Though they had gotten lost a significant number of times, they believed they would be able to find their way to their classes without too much trouble. John wondered aloud why Hogwarts didn't have a map drawn out for its students. Peter reasoned it would be difficult to plot out every hidden passage and corridor, while James and Sirius seemed to take the idea as a challenge.

John had been correct in his previous assumption that James would continue to be an insufferable morning person. He found himself pitying Sirius, who had shoved his head under his pillow in an attempt to sleep as James obnoxiously hummed and made his bed. Remus was nowhere to be found, but John figured he probably just went to breakfast early. Peter was putting his bookbag together. John himself was pulling his robes on. He'd already neatly pulled his uniform on, save for the pathetic attempt at tying his tie.

"You call that a tie?" Sirius asked, finally giving up on sleeping.

"Well, I mean, my parents never taught me to-"

"I need to fix this. Hold on." Sirius went over to John and nimbly tied his tie for him.

"What are you, my mum?" John's cheeks flushed, embarrassed.

"Oh Merlin, no." Sirius stuck his tongue out in disgust and made his way over to the shower.

"You've only got half an hour!" James called after him. "I don't know about you lot, but I want to go get breakfast before classes start."

"Do you think they have french toast?" Peter asked, shouldering his bag.

"They'd better." James said, his voice much heavier than it needed to be.

"I just want sausage." John said, fiddling with his tie.

"We're going to breakfast!" Peter shouted towards the restroom before the three of them left.

Remus was not at breakfast when they arrived at Gryffindor table, so John could only assume the quiet boy had decided to go to class early. It was a fleeting thought, and it was quickly chased from his mind as he shoved food in his mouth. At this rate, he was going to be overweight before he even turned twelve. Maybe this was why muggle schools required physical education. John remembered trying to play with the boys. They never let him. Nothing was stopping him from playing with the boys now that he was at Hogwarts though, and the thought made him grin.

"I can't believe Potions is really in the dungeons." Peter lamented. "It's creepy."

"My mother says they hang misbehaving students up by their ankles down here."

"Oh please, that's Filch, not Slughorn." James rolled his eyes at his friend.

"You guys are joking, right?" John asked cautiously. "That sounds illegal."

"Sorry John, it's wizard law." James patted his shoulder solemnly. "The caretaker gets to do whatever he wants, so long as he's grouchy enough."

"Oi, stop scaring him." A voice sounded from behind, and the four of them turned around to see the red-haired girl from the train.

"We're just joshin' around, Evans." James shrugged, running a hand through his hair in an attempt to mess it up even further.

"I'm fine, I try not to take these two very seriously." John added.

"Oi!" Sirius looked affronted.

"Well, if you ever need to get away from them, come find me." Evans tucked her red hair behind her ear and stopped outside of the Potions room.

The door was open already, so John assumed she was waiting on someone. He walked in with his friends, and his assumption was proven correct when she joined the rest of the class a few minutes later with one Severus Snape beside her. James and Sirius taunted him about his greasy hair messing up his potions, and Evans took her friend to the other side of the room. Professor Slughorn sat at the front of the room with a jovial grin. He was rotund like a man who enjoyed a good meal, and his cheeks were rosy despite the unpleasant classroom. Peter quietly hoped he wouldn't favor the Slytherins too much.

"Welcome, young witches and wizards!" He boomed, standing and walking in front of his desk. "I see many many fresh new faces, take a seat, take a seat. Take care who you sit by- they'll be your potions partner for the rest of your life."

"..."

"Or today at least!" Slughorn laughed loudly.

Everyone seemed to know who they wanted to pair with already. James and Sirius simultaneously tried to put their arms around each other's shoulders, which resulted in an awkward collision. They sat down, pretending nothing happened. Peter and Remus quietly paired off, and John tried to remember if he'd seen Remus walk in previously. Evans had paired off with Snape, and the rest of the Gryffindor girls had paired with each other. The same went for most of the Slytherins, and John awkwardly found himself sitting with a Slytherin boy he couldn't remember the name of from the sorting ceremony.

Despite John's initial minor excitement for the subject of Potions, one thing that remained consistent between muggle school and wizarding school was that nothing happened on the first day. Slughorn told them the basic syllabus, which John barely managed to pay attention to. After this, he lectured them on basic potions ingredients, using magic to have his chalk draw images of the ingredients on the board. As much as John wanted to be fascinated by the new information, he found his attention wander and he instead decided to inspect his new potions partner. He was a bit pale, with black hair and blue eyes.

"I see you're all tired of hearing the basics, so why don't I let you all see the ingredients yourselves?"

Slughorn waved his wand, and the ingredients he'd just been speaking of flew from the storage cabinet to each table. John was impressed by such casual magic, as he was still a bit new to this whole 'magic' business and the adults tended to make it look so easy. True, he hadn't tried much on his own, but he was impressed nonetheless. John briefly wondered how much time was left in class, but his attention was diverted with the odd flowers now in front of him. Some of them looked just like normal flowers, but others were a bit more magical and sparkly. A hand interrupted his viewing of the flowers, and John traced the arm to its owner. It was his table partner, though he supposed he should've expected that.

"What's your name?" He asked, and John was startled by his friendly face.

"Er, John Smith?" John shook his hand.

"I'm Herbert Davidson-Moore." Herbert introduced himself.

"Can I just call you Herbie?" John asked, not a fan of long names.

"Yeah, sure." Herbie laughed.

The somewhat awkward air between them had dissipated, and they sifted through the potions ingredients. John got bored quickly, wishing he could just make potions already. He glanced to the side, trying to gauge Herbie's interest in the subject. His face was hard to read, as he maintained the smile. There were only a few minutes left in class, and John politely said goodbye to Herbie when the bell rang. He went over to his room-mates after getting his bookbag.

"You alright, mate?" James asked as they began walking to charms.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" John adjusted his bag.

"Because you got paired off with a Slytherin." Sirius practically spat the word out.

"I thought he was nice." John shrugged.

"What if he's just pretending to be so he can strike when you least expect it?" Peter squeaked.

"Oh come on, that's ridiculous."

"I wouldn't underestimate them if I were you." Sirius warned.

"Yeah, well if he tries anything I'll hex him so hard he can't walk straight." John huffed, crossing his arms.

"Good on you, mate." James patted his back.

Charms with Hufflepuff was uneventful. They received much of the same first day information they had from Potions, albeit with a different subject matter. After lunch, Defense Against the Dark Arts was similarly boring. The only interesting moment in classes was when one of the Hufflepuff girls cast a spell on one of the plants in Herbology that caused it to turn bright pink. James and Sirius confronted her afterwards, wanting to know what spell she'd used. They had a mischievous glint in their eyes that John was unsure he wanted to encourage.

A week later, the robes of every Slytherin entering the Great Hall had mysteriously turned bright pink. Sirius and James were mysteriously absent from double Potions on Friday. The Slytherin robes had returned to their original colouration, and Professor Slughorn was mildly disgruntled. When John asked Herbie what he thought of the ordeal, the taller boy only smiled and shrugged. It was the first class they would be brewing an actual potion, so John had no more time to dwell on the matter. His two troublemaking friends shuffled into the classroom late, scrambling to try and catch up with the potion-making progress of the rest of the class.

John and Herbie managed to follow the instructions on the board adequately. Their potion was not outstanding, but both of them were satisfied with the outcome. James and Sirius, despite their lateness, had a better potion than Remus and Peter. The true stars of the class, however, were Evans and Snape. Their potion was perfect in every way, and Slughorn awarded ten points to both Gryffindor and Slytherin. James grumbled about Slytherin getting points. Peter optimistically pointed out that Gryffindor received points as well. Sirius proposed finding some way to sabotage Snape's potion.

It had been several weeks since starting school, and classes were finally beginning to teach them interesting subject matter. Potions was a slow class, but the others had already begun with spellcasting and practical application. They'd learned the levitation charm, and turned matches into needles (though John wasn't particularly good at the second one). In Defence Against the Dark Arts, they'd learned of various low-danger creatures, such as gnomes and doxies. The only class John could say he was entirely bored with was History of Magic, but he would be lying if he said he hadn't been warned.

The five first year Gryffindor boys had grown closer. James and Sirius had the most obviously close relationship, but Peter was always tagging along with their antics as well. Remus would join in as well and, despite any initial assumption that he was a responsible kid, it was clear he was the reason they didn't get caught with their mischief. John was not much of a prankster, and found himself feeling somewhat out of place with the four of them.

He'd taken to spending time with Herbie, who he realized was still definitely a Slytherin despite his friendly manner. This was most evident when he was playing chess, as John had never seen him lose a match. Another person he'd spend time with was one Lily Evans. He'd taken her up on her offer to hang out with her if he ever wanted to get away from his room-mates. She was often with Snape, who had been against the thought of John calling him by his first name. John, Lily, Snape, and Herbie would sit outside in the courtyard to do homework when classes weren't in session.

Lily and Herbie got along surprisingly well, as he enjoyed brushing her hair. He'd explained that he had an older sister at home, and Lily shared she also had an older sister. The subject seemed to sadden her, so Snape brought up potions, and the group talked about classes until some other, unrelated subject came up. Upon learning that Lily and John were both muggleborn, Herbie shared that he was as well. He was relieved to tell them. Snape seemed slightly uncomfortable in the group, though John couldn't understand why.

Despite having a generally different friend group from his room-mates, John still spent time with them during meals and in classes. He also enjoyed hanging out with them in the dorms, and had succeeded in keeping his secret over the months. Sirius and James had been eager to show off their flying skills during the weekly flying lessons with the Slytherins. John had been impressed by their skills, and lamented his own lack of expertise. Him and Peter were equally terrible, and Remus had an unfortunate case of motion sickness.

Remus also had an unfortunately sickly family. He was frequently being excused from classes to spend time with his mother, or go to a grandparent's funeral. His room-mates worried for him, though Peter often wondered if there were something more going on behind the scenes. James and Sirius told him he was being silly. Remus was unaware of the increasingly ridiculous conspiracy theories Peter thought up. John only wondered if there was any truth to Peter's theories. He didn't know the half of it.

John was convinced Hogwarts was the best school one could possibly go to. Classes were exciting, and meals were delicious. The dorms were ridiculously comfortable, and it felt like home. Time seemed to fly by, and winter break was fast approaching. Sirius had immediately signed to stay at the castle, and James sent a letter home asking his parents if he could stay as well. They told him it was important to experience at least one Hogwarts Christmas, but they hoped he would spend the holidays with them again. When questioned, James briefly mentioned how old his parents were, and quickly moved on from that conversation topic. Peter had begged and begged to stay, but his parents insisted he return home. Remus didn't even consider staying. John signed up to stay without even asking his parents, as he didn't wish to be forced into a dress. Lily had gone home as well, and John was unsure about Herbie, but he instead hoped the winter break would be pleasant even with the more rambunctious members of his friend groups.

Word Count: 2,361

I'm actually struggling a lot to write this fic... I don't know why that is. Maybe it's because I'm still in first year, and not much happens in first year.

I have also only received One OC from you guys and that makes me sad! While it's true my irl friends have given me OCs (that's where Herbie came from), I really want to include you guys's OCs as well!

Here is the blank template if you're interested, more details on what I want for each section are in chapter one.

Name:

Gender/Sexuality:

Birthdate: (to be the same year as the Marauders it needs to be a 1959-1960 birthday)

Blood Status:

Wand: (wood/core/length/flexibility)

Appearance:

Preferred House:

Personality:

Values:

Backstory:

I AM ALSO IN SEARCH OF DADA PROFESSORS! Like, seriously, I didn't make any oops? Fill out the same template for a DADA professor, just leave out the Preferred House section.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed this despite it being kinda 'eh' in my opinion, I'd love it if you could leave a review of some sort because that would tell me there are people who are actually interested in this fic.