John woke up the morning of Monday, December 20th with some confusion. James was already awake, like usual, but the room was still quiet. It took him a moment to remember winter break had begun, and he didn't actually need to be awake for classes. He pulled a thick jumper on before getting out of bed and heading over to where James was sitting on the floor. There was a transfiguration book open in front of him, and several pieces of parchment scattered about. John sat across from him, yawning slightly.

"What's all this?"

"Homework?" James said, but John didn't recognize what the open book was talking about. He raised a brow.

"I thought you finished your Transfiguration homework already."

"Well, yeah, I have." James admitted. "It's extra work. McGonagall said if I did this I wouldn't have to serve detention for that time I set up all those exploding balloons in her classroom."

"And you just felt like writing an essay instead of serving an hour of detention?"

"See, look at it this way. I get to learn something for future pranks now." James said.

"Ah. Thank you for enlightening me." John rolled his eyes. "Jeeze, how do you even understand this stuff?" He asked as he picked up the book James was using as his primary reference.

"I mean, it's not too hard, just some theoretical stuff on Gamp's laws." James said.

"I guess I'm just rubbish then." John pouted, putting the book back down.

"Wha- no, shut it." James sat up straight. "You're not rubbish, you're just a muggleborn. It's not like you knew any of this stuff beforehand."

"I mean, I guess." John rolled his eyes.

"You're great at Potions and Herbology." James told him. "Mum says we've all got our strengths and weaknesses." John laughed.

"You're right, you're right." He conceded. "It's just easy to get scared about that. Most pure-bloods are pretty, er…"

"They're a bunch of slimy gits is what they are." Sirius grumbled from his bed, and John whipped his head in his direction, not having realized he'd awoken.

"Took you long enough to wake up!" James laughed. "I thought you'd died!"

"If only." Sirius rolled out of bed. "I got a rude awakening from your voice instead."

James squawked, offended. Sirius only laughed at him, and John smiled in amusement. It was strange, not having Remus or Peter around. Both boys were rather quiet, yes, but they still brought a different dynamic to conversations. Sirius went to shower, and James went about putting his extra Transfiguration work away. Now that all three of them were up, there was no chance of him getting any of it done. John had a pleasant conversation with him about the giant squid before James started brainstorming prank ideas. Though he tried his best to contribute to the conversation, John wasn't exactly the most prank-savvy.

When Sirius exited the shower, he joined the conversation with much better ideas than John had. The three of them went down to breakfast, somehow on the subject of flooding the dungeons. It wasn't a practical conversation. None of them knew how to flood the dungeons, but James had a grand time joking about Snape's hair contaminating the water with its grease. John didn't feel the need to defend the Slytherin boy. He was somewhat nasty and unpleasant to be around, and John had the suspicion he only hung around because he enjoyed being around Lily.

Lily had gone home for the winter break, as had Herbie. The only member of that friend group who'd stayed at Hogwarts for the break was Snape. John didn't make a point of trying to talk to him. He instead had fun getting closer to his two remaining room-mates. Though he'd already known basic information about his friends before, it was over this break that he really grew close to them.

James Fleamont Potter was a spoiled boy. His parents were already in their seventies, and he was an only child. They called him their little miracle, as they tried for years and years to have a child and had given up when his mother, Euphemia, became pregnant. Fleamont Henry Potter was the maker of the famous Sleekeazy's Hair Potion; ironic, as James himself was constantly messing his own hair up. The Sleekeazy company had granted Fleamont a small fortune, and the three of them lived in great comfort. Anything James wanted, he got. He got the latest model of broom, the latest fashions, the latest everything. Even his aviator glasses were only a few months old. John suspected James didn't realize his privilege. He often assumed things of others, or suggested solutions that wouldn't work for those less fortunate than he. It didn't come from a malicious place, but John thought he needed to be taught a few life lessons.

Sirius Orion Black was not a spoiled boy. He held great contempt for all Slytherins; his family in particular. There had been moments he went on terribly passionate rants of how much he hated his mother and his family's view of blood purity. He was rebellious to a fault, and showed great fascination for muggle culture. This was in direct contrast to his family, and it was clear his mother loathed him almost as much as he loathed her. He acted as if nothing bothered him, but if the late nights in the common room spent burning letters from home said anything, John would say he had more going on within. Though Sirius was incredibly smart, he barely tried in classes and didn't care for doing his homework.

John found himself to be envious of both. They had much more confidence than he had, and were smart in a supremely careless way. Nearly all of their classmates loved them, and they relished in the attention. They had a reputation, and had made names for themselves as fun-loving pranksters. Many of their pranks were harmless and well-received, if the person being pranked had a fair sense of humor. Some were more humiliating. These pranks were generally pulled on Slytherins; Severus Snape in particular. Lily would try to stop them, when she was around.

The other boys in the first year Gryffindor boys dorm of 1971-72 were not as known for their pranking abilities. Others viewed Peter as an awkward tagalong, not very skilled at magic or anything in particular. They were unaware of his surprising skill with chess, or penchant for weaseling himself and his friends out of tight situations. His home life was slightly strained, as his mother and father's relationship was on the verge of falling apart. Peter insisted it didn't bother him, and that he would prefer they just get on with it and get a divorce so he never had to see his father again. Pushing his thoughts of family life away, he idolized Sirius and James. He fed off of their accomplishments in a way, though the others made a point not to treat him as anything less than them.

Remus was a difficult case, as none of them truly knew anything about him. He was a half-blood with a history of family illness and a great number of scars on his face. There were heavy bags under his dull green eyes, and his brown hair was thin and already showed signs of stress in a few stray grey hairs. His health was precarious, and it seemed he could be perfectly healthy one week and nearly bedridden the next. Sirius often joked he should've been placed in Ravenclaw thanks to his bookwormish attitude, but Remus was the true genius behind many of their pranks. His humor was subtle, and he almost never got caught because nobody believed he would break a single rule. This was all they knew about Remus. They weren't sure if his father was still in the picture, or what home life was like other than his mother being sick.

John supposed he didn't talk much of his family either. The others knew the two of them were muggle doctors. They knew he had a childhood friend named Allie. What they didn't know was that he'd been born with an entirely different name and biological sex. John didn't want them to know this, and dreaded the start of puberty. Part of him wished he could stay eleven forever. The other part of him realized how awkward that would be. He hadn't bothered to purchase an owl, as he feared his parents writing a letter addressed to the name he hated would out him to his friends. The Sorting Hat had told him he couldn't hide his secret forever, but he very much wished he could.

Apart from his own personal problems, he'd initially been excited for the subject of Transfiguration as he'd been interested in body modification. He quickly realized the subject wouldn't help him with this in the slightest (not for years at least), but still found it fascinating despite his utter lack of skill in it. Strangely, he was the only one of them in the room who was particularly skilled at Potions, and John suspected this stemmed primarily from his prior knowledge of cooking and medicines. His mother had wanted him to be the perfect housewife, and had taught him many of her own mother's recipes. While he wasn't a huge fan of cooking and cleaning, they were chores he wasn't unskilled with. He also found it quite simple to grasp the information they learned in Herbology, as it was easy to relate to Potions (which he was already quite good at).

Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts were both subjects he couldn't say he was good or bad at. It was in Defence, however, that he began to hear whispers of violent attacks against muggles and muggleborns across the British Isles. Half-blooded students were the first to bring the subject up, as they had both a magical parent to inform them of the magical world, and a muggle parent to be concerned for. Upon learning of the attacks, muggleborns would concern themselves with this as well, worried for the safety of their family. Most pure-bloods thought nothing of it. John knew Sirius and James hadn't bothered to mention it at any time, and his other two half-blooded friends simply didn't feel the need to discuss such subjects when they could be discussing ideas for pranks.

John wondered what Herbie and Lily thought of the whole thing. They were both muggleborn like him, and hadn't known a thing about these attacks before arriving at Hogwarts either. He didn't want to bring it up himself, but he still wondered. Their conversations hadn't strayed in that direction yet, so he decided he would wait until they did. Severus Snape's blood status was unknown to the rest of them. It was something he kept quiet about. While John wasn't a huge fan of Snape, he supposed he did understand why.

Blood tensions ran high within the magical community. Pure-blood supremacy ran rampant, and pure-blood students often clashed with those they deemed beneath them. These tensions were most prevalent in Slytherin house, as most ancient pure-blood families tended to have a history of being sorted into Slytherin. Salazar Slytherin himself wanted to keep those of muggle heritage out of Hogwarts. As the founders were long dead and could no longer sorted students personally, however, there were plenty of muggleborns and half-bloods in Slytherin thanks to the Sorting Hat.

Pure-blood supremacists weren't limited to Slytherin house, unfortunately. John had met more than a few older Gryffindor students who looked down on those they deemed beneath them in terms of blood status. Even some teachers showed a clear preference for pure-blooded students. Professor Slughorn claimed not to discriminate, but was always genuinely surprised when a muggleborn or half-blood student showed exceptional promise in his class. This didn't stop him from recognizing their skills, but John didn't think he would ever forget the unbridled rage Lily had expressed upon his clear shock at her perfect potion.

The house with the least blood tension was Hufflepuff, followed by Ravenclaw. Both houses greatly valued acceptance, and he'd never heard of a Hufflepuff who was a blood purist. There had been a few Ravenclaws here and there, but those had been rare cases.

Every house values dedication, ambition, and drive in some way. The daring and nerve to perform almost implausible feats to achieve a goal. The dedication and patience to see a plan through to the end. The endless amount of research one could do to learn of their interests. The cunning and resourcefulness to look at problems from different angles and find a way to make things work in the way they desire. They all had that in common, in a way. Each house was similar, just as people are all people. John wondered why the fabricated pureness of their blood should have any impact on how they treat each other.

"You alright there, mate?" James's voice jolted John out of his internal monologue.

"What?"

"You were staring at your pancakes for about twenty minutes. We were starting to place bets on if you'd ever snap out of it." Sirius laughed.

"Oh." John rubbed his face. "Whoops."

"What's on your mind, anyways?" James asked, drinking what John presumed was pumpkin juice.

"Oh, you know. Just wondering who the next poor sap you'll embarrass will be." John said pleasantly, though he hadn't been thinking of that in the slightest.

"Him." James and Sirius point at each other simultaneously.

John laughed as the two began having a very silly argument about who could prank who best. He didn't need to worry about violence and discrimination. He was only eleven, and letting your childhood pass by too quickly was something one could never amend. The young boy decided to enjoy spending time with his friends while he still could, political tensities be damned.

Word Count: 2,319

I'm not gonna lie, this chapter really ran away from me. This story is still difficult for me to write because I jumped in without fleshing out the details of the plot for part one. The main points of interest for me with the Marauder's era are the political climate of the time (with blood tensions running high and the threat of war looming overhead), and the internal complexities of the children themselves. We know plenty about Sirius, James, and Remus's backgrounds and family lives, but nothing about Peter's. I chose to make his home life strained, because I want to have different dynamics for each character's family life. James has adoring parents; Sirius has pretty much abusive parents; Remus has caring parents who are trying their best with what little they have; Peter's parents don't care for each other but his mother cares for him. As the group is still building trust and getting to know each other, I can't really write all of the interesting character relationships between them, so that part of the story will probably start in second year (which is definitely more fleshed out in terms of plot than first year).

Sorry for rambling there! Having John ramble through all of that information in this chapter helped me sort of flesh things out and figure out where I'm going with it, so hopefully it won't be difficult for me to continue writing this story. I have big plans for it, and while I'm still kind of frustrated with the lack of commentary on it I do understand that not everyone is a huge fan of OC stories and I'm only on chapter 5.

I hope you enjoyed this ramble-y mess of a chapter! If you could leave a review I would be so happy to talk to you because it can really help get my ideas flowing. I love you all, and hope to see you next time!