WARNING: Involves mild violence. Please notify me if I should change the rating of this fic.
The Weasleys and Hermione exchanged greetings with Harry and the Marauders. Courtesy was not to be forgotten amidst their desperation to catch Peter. Scabbers in his cage finally caught their eyes as Ron laid him on the coffee table in the hall. James, Sirius and Remus stood in front of the cage with identical maniacal looks on their faces. Scabbers squeaked in the cage, his fright evident.
"Hello Peter," they said together, grins on their lips but murderous glints on their eyes.
They opened the cage, and as the rat tried to run away, they turned it back to its' human form of Peter Pettrigrew with a wave of their wands.
The Weasleys, Harry and Hermione gasped as the three Marauders stood in Peter's way of escaping.
"You filthy, rotten, man. You've been living in my house for almost twelve years when you've belonged in Azkaban," said Molly disgustedly.
"If you'll all would excuse us for a few minutes, we have a few things to catch up on as old friends. Don't we, Peter?" said Sirius as he and his two bestfriends laid a hand each on Peter.
Peter looked pale with fright as James, Sirius and Remus apparated away with him. The Marauders apparated into a guest room upstairs.
"James," Peter tried to appeal, but James gave Peter a hard slap which swung him all the way towards Sirius.
"Sirius," but Sirius gave Peter a hard slap too which swung him all the way towards Remus.
"Remus," Peter got a third hard slap, courtesy of Remus which landed him on the floor.
All three of them had their wands pointed at his pathetic, pitiful figure on the floor.
"You sneaky, conniving rat," said James through gritted teeth.
"James, Sirius, Remus, I had no choice. You know what 'you know who' is like. It was either tell him or be killed," said Sirius.
"A decent human being would have chosen death over betraying their friends to death," Sirius snarled.
"I TRUSTED YOU. BUT NOW LILY'S DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU," said James, enraged.
"JAMES AND I SPENT ALMOST TWELVE YEARS IN PRISON BECAUSE OF YOU," Sirius yelled.
"MY SON SPENT ALMOST TWELVE YEARS IN AN ABUSIVE HOME BECAUSE OF YOU," said James, still burning with anger.
"In all fairness, you both being in Azkaban and Harry being raised by the Dursleys were Dumbledore's faults," said Peter timidly.
James knew Peter had a point there, but he wasn't going to admit it. He was not letting Peter off the hook on technicality.
"It's not just your betrayal, Peter. You killed twelve muggles to save your own skin when you were confronted by Aurors," said Remus firmly.
"You selfish bastard. Your own skin meant more to you than the lives of your friends and innocent strangers," said James.
"Enough chit chat. I spent almost twelve years in Azkaban and I want my revenge RIGHT NOW. Let's kill the rat," said Sirius.
"Nooo. Please have mercy. I didn't mean to. I was scared. Please," Peter lay at Sirius' feet, begging.
"GET OFF ME," Sirius yelled, yanking his legs free.
"On the count of three," Sirius and Remus raised their wands. "One ..."
"Sirius, Remus, stop," said James.
"James, he ..." Sirius began.
"I know. I know. I want revenge too, but we don't have to turn into murderers for it," said James.
"You're right, James," said Remus, a little ashamed of himself. "Consider what Professor McGonagall said, Sirius. We shouldn't do anything rash that could get us thrown into Azkaban and Harry back to the Dursleys."
"Oh alright," said Sirius who looked a little ashamed of himself too.
"Thank you James," said Peter gratefully clinging himself on James' feet.
James yanked his feet away.
"Don't be too grateful, Peter. We're handing you over to Aurors who would throw your pathetic arse in Azkaban where you belong," said James.
"And consider yourself officially no longer a Marauder," Sirius hissed.
Peter grew very pale and was shaking as James, Sirius and Remus apparated him back to the living room and tied him to a chair. They refused to listen to any of his pleas. Peter tried appealing to everyone in the room not to hand him over to be put in Azkaban, but they were all disgusted by him. Ron and Percy were both especially traumatized at the thought that a grown man slept on their bed and watched them dress. Harry said that he deserved Azkaban. Soon, Peter was dragged away by Aurors sent by the Ministry.
After Peter was taken away, the Weasleys and Hermione were properly introduced to the Marauders and they were given a tour of the Potter Manor. Ron was to share a room with Harry, Hermione with Ginny, Arthur with Moly and the Weasley twins together. Percy was delighted to get a large, elegant room to himself. James thanked the Weasleys for their hospitality towards Harry.
After lunch, Arthur and Molly went to visit a sick friend at St. Mungos while Percy was in the Potter library reading. Percy and Hermione admired the Potter library. As tempted as Hermione was to join Percy in the library, she decided to enjoy the company of her friends at that moment. The Marauders, the Golden Trio, the Weasley twins and Ginny were having a chat in the living room when the trouble-making ways of the Weasley twins and the Marauders were brought up. This led to the Marauders mentioning their creation of the Marauder's map and how they called themselves the Marauders.
"You guys created the Marauder's map?" asked the stunned Weasley twins.
"Yes we did," said the Marauders, a little proud of themselves.
"Prove it," said the Weasley twins, handing the empty parchment that was the map to the Marauders.
"You found our map?" asked an amazed Sirius.
The Weasley twins received looks of admiration from the Marauders as they recounted how the stole the map from Filch.
James took the map, taped it with his wand and said "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
The map appeared but after a few seconds, Remus made the map disappear with "Mischief Managed."
"I can't belief I just met my heroes. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs," said Fred in awe.
"Me too. Who's who?" asked George, also in awe.
"I'm Padfoot, James is Prongs, Remus is Moony and Azkaban's latest addition is Wormtail," said Sirius.
"Harry, you didn't tell us your dad was one of the four coolest people on earth," said Fred. "Well, three coolest people," he corrected.
"What does Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs stand for?" asked Hermione.
James, Sirius and Remus explained to Hermione and the Weasley children how they became illegal animagi to keep Remus company during his transformation as a werewolf. They were initially dissonant about Remus being a werewolf but were quickly convinced that he was nothing to be feared.
"We didn't put much effort into stealing it back from Filch's office because we created the map to not only help us, but to help future trouble-makers who were up to no good," said James cheekily.
"We were hoping that one day our worthy heirs in trouble-making would find the map and figure out how to work it. And I must say, the map could not have found itself worthier heirs than you boys," said Sirius to the Weasley twins who glowed at the compliment.
"We pay our respects to the Marauders," said Fred and George with a dramatic bow towards James, Sirius and Remus.
The Marauders and the Weasley twins quickly formed a special bond as they exchanged stories about their trouble-making and tried to determine who the bigger trouble-makers were. It was a close fight. The Weasley twins had agreed to pass the map to Harry after they graduated since Harry was an actual heir of a Marauder.
A/N: Please, please review. So that I know how I should improve. And please follow the story if you want updates.
I hope this chapter was alright. I had half a mind to add more violence against Peter from the Marauders, but I thought it would be too much. I hope it's not too much that all three gave him hard slaps. Should I change it to tight slap?
Anyways, just a foreshadowing of what's to come in the upcoming chapters: A mystery in their third year (original plot). And "maybe" more secrets revealed!