I'm baaack! Be afraid-be very afraid…I was re-reading this story today and I inspired myself to write the next chapter because all of a sudden I had so many ideas running through my head and my friend Elly, the one who told me to write this, just moved all the way to Georgia(cries)…wait, you people don't care, do you? You want to go on with the fic!
Well…the show must go on!
A Marauder's Tale of Horror:
Or How I Survived My Years at Hogwarts
Chapter Two
Now we enter the realm of the mystical platform 9 and ¾ and the marvelous first time we all met. As told by James Potter, the brilliant novelist, of course!
Remus: why are you talking like that?
Like what?
Sirius: like a writer who can't actually write but thinks that they can.
I am not! I'm merely setting the mood up for the rest of the chapter!
Peter: good luck with that.
Great, now Peter's making fun of me.
Remus: well, it is quite easy.
Shut up! Just get on with the rest of the chapter, already!
Platform 9 and ¾
"Mum! Stop licking my hair!" James pulled away quickly as she bent down and licked her finger for the fourth time. "It's just fine!" His mom tried to re-adjust another hair sticking out of place, however, it snapped right back where it was without a moment's hesitation.
She sighed heavily, stepping back to survey James' hair at arm length and the damage she had done to it (Which was nothing…). "Where you got this hair, I'll never know…" she muttered, turning around to find her husband tapping his foot patiently to some unknown tune in his head, staring up at the scarlet Hogwarts Express.
"See that, son?" he asked James, turning toward him and clasping a hand on his shoulder. "That train represents every good memory that I've ever had…" he breathed in deeply, as if to soak up even the exhaust from the train. James raised his eyebrows. He knew his dad was a little kooky, but even this was a little over the top for him.
James' mother rolled her eyes and bent down again to straighten his new robes for the hundredth time. "You know what the scary thing is?" she whispered in his ear so that only he could hear. James shook his head in confusion. "The way your father acted while he was at school is hereditary." She laughed a little.
"How do you know!" James asked, his voice rising a little above his already squeaky tone.
"You have spoken with your grandfather before, right?"
A little ways over on the platform…
Remus stood between his father and mother, hoping beyond all hope that the older boys and girls wouldn't notice that he was shaking the tinniest bit. Not that he really cared what they thought, anyway, but he couldn't shake the feeling that every person who glanced at him could see right through his mask and see the animal within him.
His father seemed even more nervous than he was. Born a muggle, the only real wizard interaction that he had was his wife and her family at Christmas and major holidays. (A/N: I actually have no idea whether Remus is a half-blood or muggle-born, but…I'm just guessing here.) The sight of so many wizards and their children in one place freaked him out a little, but according to Remus' mother, he was dealing with this better than he did whenever she told him she was a witch after they were married.
Remus' mom was gently stroking his hair, pulling and teasing it so that it almost stood upright. Remus pulled away and smashed it back down, jumping a little bit from his nerves.
Over on the other side of the platform he could see another mother trying to control her son's hair, except his refused to stay down. His father seemed lost in a memory and Remus could see the boy's mother laughing slightly at him.
Why can't I be normal like that? Remus asked himself furiously, feeling the jealousy welling up within him. Luckily, he was momentarily distracted by some loudmouth on the platform, speaking to everyone as if he were on a soapbox.
"Yes, yes, I know that Durmstrang missed out on the opportunity of a lifetime when Sirius Black decided to go to a better school…" there were several laughs, mostly from the very young or from the older students. Many of the first-year girls were now looking him over with interest. "But fortunately, I am here now, so there should be no more fear!"
Most of the parents were rolling their eyes at him. "Where on earth are his parents?" Remus' father mused out loud. His wife sighed.
"I can't believe the Blacks would even allow their oldest child to go to Hogwarts." She said, shaking her head. She bent down to face Remus. "If he's anything like I think he is, which is how all of his family is, I want you to stay away from him." Remus gave her his confused look.
She didn't say anything more. "He probably ran away to get here," she said to answer her husband's question.
He laughed a little. "That explains a lot…"
On the train in an empty compartment…
"I always wondered what it would be like to be a rat," Peter Pettigrew said softly to the two boys sitting across from him. They just stared at him, neither one knowing exactly what to say to that. Peter didn't seem too discouraged.
The two boys he was sitting across from him had really only sat in this compartment because there was only one person in it. And, since there were two of them already, there wouldn't be any awkward silences between them and the sandy-haired kid. Neither expected him to open his mouth in an instant and start talking for ten minutes about nothing.
"It would just be an experience, you know?" Peter continued, thinking about his own boring life. His parents, although both purebloods, had many squibs on both sides of the family. In fact, there had been heavy doubt that Peter was even a wizard at all. His letter from Hogwarts arrived on schedule, though, and they went out as a family to celebrate and buy Peter his books.
"Yeah, sure." One of the boys answered after a long pause, glancing at his friend as if to say 'On he count of three…run!'
The other boy spoke up. "Well…we got to be…urm…going…" Peter turned away from him and stared out the window. Taking advantage of his glare being somewhere else, the two boys left quickly before Peter could speak again.
Peter hardly noticed, but kept looking silently out the window. It was facing the station, where his parents had already disappeared, and was half open just enough so that he could hear a preview of the noise outside. There were a lot of first years waiting with their parents. Apparently the older students thought it childish to be out there with all the first students and had already begun to fill the compartments around him.
There came a sudden noise from the doorway over. Some kid was talking very loudly to the crowd, who had only just noticed him. Peter pressed his face against the glass to listen better, never thinking for a moment that he could simply just open the window wider.
Peter still couldn't make out what the boy was saying, so he smashed his whole face against the window, making him look very funny to the people on the other side. The speech stopped and normal volume returned, the door shutting firmly behind the boy, who Peter could now hear in the hallway. He was whistling.
In the hallway, about ten minutes later…
As James stepped onto the train, Sirius was being pushed out of a compartment a little down the hallway. James stopped, recognizing the profile. That's not who I think it is…is it? He thought.
Sirius was still laughing at something that hadn't seemed so funny to the people inside. He turned around after a second and stared at James the same way that James was staring at him.
He gave James a look. "You're a Potter, aren't you?"
James shrugged. "Aren't you a Black?" Sirius shrugged back nonchalantly. The tow stood there for a few seconds before someone finally said something.
"So…you have any chocolate frogs?" Sirius asked, eyeing James' empty pockets. James shook his head.
"You want some?" James smiled, directing his thumb over his shoulder to where the food cart was sitting several yards behind them. Sirius' face broke into a full-fledged grin.
"As long as there's no one around…" he extended his hand toward James and they shook, then preceded to steal everything the even looked like chocolate on the cart and put it under their robes.
Back in Peter's compartment…
Remus was now seated somewhere that made him very uncomfortable. It wasn't that the compartments were unwelcoming…it was just that the sandy-haired boy sitting next to him wouldn't stop staring at him. Remus giggled slightly to get rid of the silence.
"Will you be my friend?" Peter asked him, tilting his head to the side a little. Remus gave him a look. "I'm Peter," he smiled to show that he was completely harmless.
Remus gave a quick smile before murmuring a quick 'yeah, sure, whatever,' and then murmuring something else about having to get some food from the trolley. Peter resumed staring out the window, which was what he was doing when Remus had walked in.
Remus sighed as he shut the door behind him. Was this the kind of weirdoes that went to Hogwarts? Yeesh…
He suddenly realized that he wasn't the only person headed for the food trolley. There was a huge crowd surrounding it and there were still people running down the hall to get there. Remus followed a Ravenclaw Prefect down to see what was going on.
At the food trolley…
James and Sirius were now grinning so much that their faces were in danger of staying that way for forever. They were standing on top of the food cart, surrounded completely by older students.
"I've got five on the chocolate frog!" James yelled, auctioning off the last frog left on the cart. "Ten! Can I hear a fifteen?"
"Galleons?" Sirius asked suspiciously, reaching for another box of every flavor beans. James grinned wider, if it was even possible. "You know you're my best friend, right?" Sirius said, holding up the box. James laughed.
"Why wouldn't I be?" he replied, throwing the frog out at the lucky person, who threw back his ten galleons. James caught it with ease.
"Our parents won't be too happy," Sirius said in between trying to catch all the people wanting the beans.
James gave him a look while searching for more candy in the cart. "Well, they don't have to know about that yet, now do they?" Sirius nodded in agreement.
"I surprised that any of you older students would be foolish enough to pay such ridiculous prices for such simple candy." The noise of kids shouting out money prices dwindled down to nothing. James and Sirius froze and saw the cart lady standing out in the crowd, a venomous look on her face.
If they hadn't been the two getting punished, this would have seemed extremely funny to the both of them.
Thankfully at that moment, the train started with a bump that threw James and Sirius off the cart and into the crowd. Momentarily distracted, the duo took the chance to race into the nearest compartment, rushing past Remus on the way.
Unfortunately, the compartment they chose was the one that Sirius was thrown out of earlier in the day. And the occupants weren't too happy about the intrusion.
"Oh…hello again…heheheh…" Sirius grinned weakly, the complete opposite of himself from just a few seconds earlier.
The blonde girl smiled, winking at him. The boy sitting next to her seemed to be her boyfriend, because split seconds after Sirius and James arrived, his face turned purple and all of his veins began to pop out of his skin.
"I thought I told you…to stay out of here!" he roared, suddenly launching himself at Sirius' neck. Sirius and James fell back against the door, which they had quickly closed after them. Sirius tried to hold him back while James fumbled for the handle.
"Any…time…now…James…" Sirius spit out, failing miserably to step on the boy's shoes.
"The handle is on YOUR side!" James yelled at him, unable to reach the handle because Sirius was leaning all his weight against the door. Sighing dramatically, James kicked the boy in the leg, not even thinking that it was going to work. The boy fell down, his girlfriend gasped, and Sirius and James wrenched open the door, running out into the hallway without even thinking about the fact that they were still in trouble.
They only remembered when they saw the trolley lady standing over them.
"How in the world did she get here so darn fast?" James whispered to no one in particular as they were both led away to be punished.
James: I still can't believe we got in trouble for that…
Sirius: really! I mean, considering what else we did without getting into trouble.
Remus: I just can't believe that you two ran by me without even saying hi.
James: Mooney…we didn't know you yet.
Sirius: yeah, that wasn't our fault.
Remus: it's the principle of the thing.
Peter: huh?
Emmablk1: oh…I forgot you were here.
Peter: it's really easy to do.
Sirius: Boooring! Whose ready for the marauders to see Hogwarts for the first time!
Emmablk1: that's right; get them hyped up and then let me bring them down later when they hate the next chapter.
Sirius: exactly.
Read...Review...go eat cheese. just make sure that you do the one in the middle. lol...hope you enjoyed it!