Marauder's Tale of Horror

I've always wanted to write a really long Harry Potter fic about the marauders. Then one day my friend, Elly, told me to. And, not wanting to get hit on the head by her massive fist, I did. Hope you enjoy it!

A Marauder's Tale of Horror:

or How I Survived My Years at Hogwarts...

Chapter 1

Don't be fooled by the title. School wasn't hard. In fact...it was relatively easy. The `getting the perfect score so I can graduate and get out of school as soon as I can' part, I mean. It was awesome; don't get me wrong; it was only a few minor bumps along the way that made it rough.

Sirius: What are you talking about?! A few minor bumps?! What `bout all those countless time when you got turned down by Lily? Or when we almost killed ourselves trying to become animagi? And that time when we almost killed ourselves and Remus because we had learned that he's a werewolf and tried to go after him under the whomping willow?! Now that I think about it...we almost got ourselves killed a lot.

Good point. But...as you should know, Siri...

Sirius: Don't call me that.

...we got through it all with the upper hand; I actually got married to Lily, we became successful animagi, and we came out of that whole werewolf thing with just a few serious life-threatening wounds.

Remus: Yeah!

So we're going to tell you all about it.

Peter: All about what?

Sirius: If you would show up for the meetings...

Guys...you only get one warning. Anyway...Emmablk1 has kindly interviewed us, at twenty-one years of age, and is telling our story with as few jokes as possible. Right...?

Emmablk1: Whoops...

And now...The Beginning...

James Potter

“Stupid bloody owl...Can't even deliver a bloody letter...stupid bloody...bloody...” James Potter muttered very loudly under his breath, searching the skies outside his bedroom window for the fifteenth time that morning. He had hit his head on the side of his window ledge so many times, he was sure that he was going to go to school with a gigantic bruise that spanned across his entire forehead.

“Jamesie?” James' mother called from her position on the staircase. James inwardly cringed at the nickname. Since his older sister, Rachel, had entered her final year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, their mother had run out of things to worry about-except for James. “Your letter...hasn't it arrived yet?”

James groaned and pounded his fist over and over on the winder pane. His mom took the hint and walked quietly down the stairs.

There came a rapping at the door, and James turned around to see Rachel leaning against the doorway, smiling blatantly at him. James stuck his tongue out at her and she rolled her eyes, close to laughing. “You know, little brother,” She warned him, grinning evilly. “If you never get your letter, then mum and dad will disown you and you'll have to get a job in the muggle world at age eleven.” When this didn't make James burst into tears, Rachel kept going. “Not to mention the fact that you'll be labeled a squib...” James tried to keep his face from paling, but with no luck. Rachel laughed at his attempt and began to walk out of his room, although she couldn't see very well because she was laughing so hard.

Barely controlling his anger, James turned back to the window. The next second, he was shouting and flinging open the window while the brown barn owl flew blindly into the opposite wall. “Mum! Dad! Rach-er...” He almost called his sister's name before reconsidering. “Um...Mum!” Grabbing the owl and wrenching the paper from out of its beak, he ran downstairs, practically ripping the letter in half trying to open it.

Absolutely sure that his future at Hogwarts was secure, James Potter ran into the living room, tore the letter out of the envelope, read the first line on the paper, and immediately fainted.

It took three glasses of water and an acid pop to wake him up seven hours later, but it was worth it to see the look on James' face when he learned that he had fainted. He never thought he would hear the end of it from Rachel, which he was right about, as usual.

Sirius Black

The house was fairly large and although you would think that the dark thunderclouds around it suggested rain, everyone on the block knew that the only reason it was so dark and evil was because of the family that lived in it.

Sirius Black was most likely the only member of the Black family who was harmless. Almost harmless. Ok, not harmless at all. Though the family was pureblood and prominently part of the Wizarding world, Sirius wasn't exactly happy to be a part of it. He was notorious for being quoted for making up last names.

Currently he was drooling in his bed, getting some last minute sleep before his brother, Regulus, came in again to taunt and torture him about not getting a letter from Durmstrang or Hogwarts. Not that Sirius was concerned about that fact or anything. He had been pulling pranks by magic since he was in a crib with diapers. The only thing he couldn't understand was why the letters were so late.

There came a horrifying crash from right outside his door. Not wanting to wipe the drool from his lips just yet, Sirius barely opened his eyes. There were hushed tones whispering, but he knew exactly what they were saying.

“Don't bother Sirius, Reggie,” His mother's voice carried a bit too much. “He's resting...Well; he's more moping than anything. I swear, MY letter never came this late. There must be something wrong with him.” Sirius would have groaned if he wanted to move his head. If he had heard her say it once, then she certainly must have said it a thousand times more after that. The only reason that his mom was being so infuriating was because he wasted to go to Hogwarts more than Durmstrang. That and the fact that he was a lazy slob most of the time. And that his parents preferred his younger brother, among other things...

There was a silence after his brother's laughter died away and Sirius' headache vanished. His mind was soon wandering off into his usual dream about vanquishing his parents and brother, moving away, and living in some huge house with tons of girls when there came an annoying noise of pecking coming from one of the windows on the other side of the house.

Instantly Sirius was out of bed and throwing open his windowsill. “Bloody bird!” he yelled, shaking his fist at it to get its attention, but apparently every bird in the Wizarding world was stupid, for it simply waited until the window it was sitting at opened. Sirius' father reached out and allowed the bird to step inside. The next second there was a slamming of a door coming from his father's room and a frenzied stomping coming towards the stairs.

Sirius winched even before the shouting started. “SIRIUS BLACK!” his father's voice had the capacity to be heard across all of London if it wanted.

In a moment it became blear what all the shouting was about. When Sirius saw his father waving a piece of parchment with a red wax seal on it, he could hardly control his glee and smiled, nearly giggling. Apparently this was not the thing to do at that second.

“And just WHAT do you think you're smiling about?!” his father's voice was worse when it was in his ear. `Just my luck that I threw my magical earplugs at Regulus yesterday...' he thought to himself.

To his father he said the complete opposite. Well...nearly. “I found the fact that the vein throbbing in your neck turns green every time you shake that parchment at me very funny, actually.” Sirius' face showed complete calm; inside every emotion was bouncing around, making his brain soggy.

“Don't be smart with your father,” His mum cut in, her shrill voice piercing through the silence that had followed his words. Sirius caught sight of his brother grinning at him from his place behind the kitchen door. Regulus stuck his tongue out at him, but Sirius ignored him.

His father had obviously decided to ignore Sirius' last comment and continue with lecturing him. “Do you see this?” He asked in a fake calm tone. Sirius looked up at the waving letter, knowing full well what it was, but too distracted by the vein in his father's neck.

`I wonder what would happen if I poked it...' He thought, laughing inside at the picture in his mind's eye. Sirius tuned out, his daydream suddenly turning into one where he wasn't afraid of his dad and his brother was locked up in St. Mungo's.

He began to listen again when what he was seeing reached his brain. His father was tearing up the letter, yelling at the top of his lungs. Mrs. Black was nodding and Regulus was making faces of Sirius dieing a bloody death. “...Inconsiderate...No thought for propriety...” His dad was screaming, but Sirius hardly heard his words. Seeing the letter from Hogwarts torn up was enough to make any eleven-year-old boy deaf to anything else.

With one last rip, His father stormed out, followed by his wife. Regulus also disappeared from the door, bored now that the fight was over. Sirius bent down, scooping up every last fragment of the parchment, still in shock over how this could have happened.

Closing his eyes to forget about the letter, he told himself that he'd just have to form a plan that would allow him to go to the station himself. If he could manage it...Opening his eyes again, he smiled wider than he had while he was being yelled at.

“I love re-attachable paper...” He thought aloud, fingering the parchment that was now in one piece. In a single bounce, Sirius was at the stairs, his great escape already half-formed in his mind.

Remus Lupin

Remus J. Lupin was in the place that you'd least expect. At least, that's what he thought. He couldn't stand the tension anymore; doctors rushing in and being rushed out hours later, the skies being cleared of owls for days, foul-smelling ointments being applied on the blasted bite. The medicine was supposed to help, but it just made the cut stop itching for a period of time. Remus didn't have the heart to tell his parents that all it was is anti-itch medication.

He suddenly shivered as a biting breeze passed over him. Then he realized that it wasn't wind, but his own breath on himself. He looked around at his dismal surroundings. It was a broom closet, that much was true, but it had potential. Remus was hoping it did, anyway. At least no one in the hospital would know he was there.

`Why do they keep their closets so cold, anyways?' He thought to himself, wishing that he had enough common sense to grab his blanket off his bed and bring it with him before he had run off to seek shelter.

St. Mungo's wasn't the ideal place to be awaiting your acceptance letter to Hogwarts, but it was the only place for Remus right now. The doctors were only interested in that dang bite. And the transformations every month were made worse now by the fact that he was worried that he'd even be allowed to go to school.

Still shaking, Remus suddenly found himself in his room again, his mum gently glaring at him through her tiny glasses. Remus smiled weakly; he knew that his mum couldn't be too mad at him-after all; his parents were too worried about him to be that mad when he tried to escape the hospital.

“Where'd you flee to this time?” She asked him, a small smile lighting her face. She had her wand in hand, holding it as if she wouldn't be tempted to use it against him.

Remus smiled sheepishly. “The broom closet.” His mum laughed, sounding as if chimes were making their way down the hallway. There was quiet for a minute, with the exception of the regular noises in the ward. “Why'd you make me come?” He said.

“Oh...Your father went to get something to eat for us and...” She trailed off, her eyes dancing toward an envelope sitting on the bedside table. Remus' eyes became as large as saucers and he rushed over to the letter, ignoring the pain coming from his bite. Wasting no time, he ripped open the paper, noting the red wax seal, and began to read.

Dear Mr. Lupin,

As I am sure you know, there has been some questioning over your entrance here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Remus nearly stopped reading. The way that this was heading didn't seem too good.

...But, none of that will matter in a few weeks, when you join your fellow students at the said establishment.

He threw the letter to the floor in joy, as he started dancing, jumping up and down as if he had all the energy in the world.

“What? What is it?” His mother quickly picked up the letter and read it, tears beginning to form in her eyes. A smile was forming, but then it stopped. “Remy...”She began, putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him from jumping, and handed him the paper.

Remus looked at it intensely reading it once, then again and again. “How could they?!” He shouted, ignoring the grunts from the people around him who were sleeping.

“But it's so wonderful, sweetie!” His mother insisted. “They have a whole place set up for you for when you...change. And they even planted a tree for you!” She tired to smile and ended up looking like she was flinching. “It's a...a...”

“Cage!” Remus yelled, outraged at the audacity. “That's all it is! A cage for me to go and exclude myself from everyone else! I won't be normal...everyone will wonder why I'm gone every month...and then I'll get kicked out!”

“It's a blessing. This is the only way that you can have a chance to lead a semi-normal place in this world. Your father and I want this for you, no matter in what form it is in.” Remus swallowed and looked at his mum, thankful that he wasn't tearing up. “Will you take the chance?” She glanced at him expectantly. He nodded briefly, holding the parchment so tight in his hands that his knuckles turned white.

“Hey! I've got Jelly Slugs! Anyone want?” Remus' father came bursting through the doorway, his arms filled with every kind of candy that the cafe served. They looked at him for a moment, and then burst out laughing. “What?” His eyes switched back and forth between his wife and son. “What'd I do?” When they didn't answer, he set the candy on the bed and dumped a whole chocolate frog in his mouth, closing it before the frog jumped out.

Peter Pettigrew

Emmablk1:Uh...er...due to some technical difficulties, we are not telling the story of Peter's letter from Hogwarts.

James:He said it was boring.

Sirius:It was! He got his letter, went to go buy his supplies, and then went home. THE END.

Peter:Hey! I never said that!!

Remus:Sush...you're going to ruin it...

Peter:Ruin what?

Emmablk1, James, Sirius, and Remus:Nothin'.

Peter:oh. Ok. Hey...wait a minute!!

James, Sirius, and Remus:It was all HER fault!!!

Emmablk1: Was not!

James:Aww...just finish the story already...we all don't really care what happened to Peter, anyway.

Remus:Yeah, all I know is that I met him on the train first day of term.

Sirius:It's not important. Case closed.

Tune in next time for the continuing adventures of the Marauders!!

Oh, and don't forget to REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whoops....my finger slipped...hehehehe...MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...uh...that wasn't me.

Emmablk1

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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!

Yay! A third chapter!

A Marauder’s Tale of Horror:

Or How I Survived My Years at Hogwarts

Chapter Three

Ahh…the first day of term. It has always held some sort of memory for me. Sirius, remind me again of our tradition for the first day?

Sirius: we get in trouble.

Say it with more gusto!

Sirius: we get in trouble!

Adding an exclamation point doesn’t count.

Sirius: bossy.

Always…for some weird reason, we always seem to be in trouble on the first day of the year.

Remus: I think that one year we hadn’t even done anything yet and McGonagall punished us anyway.

She was grouchy that year.

Emmablk1: can we please get back to the task at hand?

Oh, fine; if you insist.

---

Hogwarts Express

For the rest of the train ride, Sirius and James were locked together in the trolley lady’s private compartment with the promise that there was much more than this to their punishment. They spent the entire time flinging the two rubber bands that Sirius had found in his pocket earlier.

“Why were these even in your pocket, anyway?” James asked as Sirius pulled on out and flung it across the room.

Sirius shrugged. “My younger brother shot them at me because he can’t do magic yet.” He laughed as the rubber band bounced off the seat cushion and then made a dent in the wall near Sirius’ ear. He picked it up after it landed right next to him. “I guess he thought that it would punish me for going to Hogwarts instead of Durmstrang.”

“Yeah, I have an older sister.” James said, allowing his face to contort to show just how much he really loved her. “She’s a sixth year this year and she acts like she knows everything just because she can do more advanced magic than I can.” He fingered his rubber band, twirling it around in his hand. “But I’ll show her; I’m going to be better than she is when I’m a sixth year.”

Sirius grinned, staring out the window. “Yeah, but I can tell that underneath all that you really do love her.”

James looked alarmed. “What! Are you crazy, mate? Why would I love a pompous know-it-all?” Sirius’ grin vanished.

“Because I know what true hate is. I really, truly hate my brother. Regulus is…he’s the perfect image of a death eater. Or, at least he will be when he gets up here to Hogwarts. He’s only a year younger than me, you know.” Sirius stuck his tongue out.

“You mean that your parents are going to allow him to go here?” James leaned forward.

“Well, they have to now, don’t they?” James still seemed slightly confused, so Sirius went on. “I mean, they can’t disgrace the family by allowing both their sons to go to two different schools?”

“Oh…” James leaned back again, joining Sirius’ eyes at the window.

The two boys were quiet for a moment or two, a first for either. James sat thinking about Sirius’ family for a while, mulling over everything that his parents had told him about the Black family. “Don’t you go near that Black kid,” his mother said, clicking her tongue. “They’re all bad, the lot of them. I wouldn’t be surprised if all of them had joined the side of You-Know-Who by now…”

James turned to look at Sirius, the immediately wished that he hadn’t; Sirius had a devilish grin on his face that James was beginning to recognize. James narrowed his eyes.

“What do you think you’re planning now?” he asked, half excited by the prospect of a new joke and half wary. As soon as Sirius opened his mouth, however, the wary part of him drifted away and he was left with the side of him that only wanted to prank.

A few minutes later the boys had picked the lock with a hairpin of Rachel’s and were out in the hallway again, ready for action.

We’re with the Trolley-lady now…

“That’s the best thing on this train that I’ve seen in years…” she laughed, wiping off tears that had come out as soon as she went back to the back of the train after locking James and Sirius in her compartment. She was currently restocking the cart, laughing the entire time. In all the years that she had been the food lady for the Hogwarts Express, there had never been a student (or students for that matter…) who had done such a thing even before the term had started.

Imagine! The nerve of those two kids! If this is what they can do when they’re first years, what on earth will they think of when they’re second years! At once she stopped laughing. Those boys didn’t just deserve the stupid punishment of being locked in the compartment together for the trip. They needed something more…hmmm…

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud noise in the hallway. BAM! What on earth was going on!

Neglecting her trolley, she raced out into the hallway to find…absolutely nothing. Suddenly thinking that she was going crazy, she walked back into the little room and began to put chocolate frogs on the cart.

But, a few minutes later a loud CRASH came from the hallway again. The lady ran out to punish whoever was making the noise and once again found no one out in the hallway. With a suspicious look backwards, she once again walked back into the room and began to stock up.

When at last a third BOOM came, she was ready at the doorway and was in the hallway before whoever it was could escape. Of course, she thought, gazing down at the two boys she had now come to recognize. Who else?

Hallway a couple minutes before they were caught…

“You know third year spells already?” James stared at Sirius in amazement as he pulled out his wand to do sometime extremely dangerous.

Sirius nodded a little reluctantly. “Well…they’re mostly things that are more than a little dangerous…you know…with my family and all…” James nodded, his stomach flip-flopping in anticipation.

“Just do it already!” James nearly shouted, holding in the urge to jump up and down. He swallowed a giggle that he caught in his throat. Sirius pulled away from him, afraid that he would try to grab the wand and try to do the spell himself.

“Hold on a second!” he laughed, twirling his wand around in his fingers. “We have to have a back-up plan in case we get caught,”

James merely shrugged his shoulders and pulled something silver out of his pocket. “That’s taken care of.” He said, fingering the small silver square and smiling a little.

“What the heck is that?” Sirius asked.

James laughed a bit, eager to show his new friend something only he knew about. “This, my uneducated friend,” Sirius sniffed a little at that remark, “Is an invisibility cloak.” James enjoyed the now astonished look on Sirius face as he took the square that had been neatly folded and shook out the cloak fully.

“Shiny…” Sirius said absentmindedly. Then he snapped back to his usual self as James began to talk more in depth about the cloak.

“It was given to my dad by my granddad, who had gotten it from his dad, and his dad, and his dad, and-” Sirius put his hand over James’ mouth to shut him up.

“That’s ok. I don’t need the life story of the cloak.” James sighed into Sirius’ hand and gave him the cloak. Sirius brushed it out as if it had wrinkles. It didn’t, of course.

“Now watch this,” Sirius warned him, standing in a stance that reeked of trouble. Wand out, he muttered something under his breath.

Suddenly the entire hallway was filled with a fantastic light and James could hear the locking of every door in the corridor all at once, making a sort of BAM sound as some of the doors shut at once to lock themselves.

James stifled an uproarious laughter welling inside him when he heard someone coming to check out what was going on at the other end of the hall. Quickly, he buried himself and Sirius under the cloak and tried to stop himself from breathing. Watching from beneath the cloak, the two boys saw the trolley cart lady and Sirius almost cursed. James elbowed him in the ribs.

The woman went back into the back of the train and the two pulled the cloak off immediately.

“That wasn’t all that dangerous.” James complained, hoping that it would stimulate Sirius into doing something more. “I could have done that, you know.” Sirius gave him a look that made him reconsider. “Well, not the locking the door part, but the slamming I could have done.”

Sirius turned away from him, a ‘yeah, right,’ expression on his face. Then he turned back, the expression gone. “I’ll have you know that that’s not all that’s supposed to happen.”

James raised his eyebrows. “What happens next, mister-I-can-do-it-all?”

Sirius said nothing, but just gestured toward the nearest compartment. Within a few seconds there came a CRASH from each compartment simultaneously. Through the window they could see all the luggage falling from the racks and every chocolate frog in the room jumping up and down.

James hurriedly looked down the hall to where the trolley-lady was and pulled the cloak over the both of them again. He was right, and a few seconds later the woman was out in the hallway, searching for what the trouble was. Fortunately no one was screaming too loudly yet.

She disappeared back into her little door yet again. Sirius and James sighed in relief in unison.

“Still,” James said, a little shaken, but throwing it off as he pulled the cloak away from him, “That was nothing extremely dangerous as you claimed. I doubt you could even do anything-”

James was cut off as a BOOM shook the hallway. He watched helplessly as the frogs inside the compartments breathed out a certain flame.

“They breathe fire!” James asked, astonished. He shook hands with Sirius, who had a smirk written all over his face. “Great job! But, from now on, I’m the leader, ok?”

Sirius pulled away a little agitated. “How about you be the leader and I’ll be the co-leader?”

“So…we’re like…partners?” James asked, scratching his head.

“Partners in crime.” A voice from above them stated. “How fitting.” James and Sirius slapped their foreheads unanimously.

“Don’t look at me,” Sirius said, shaking his head at James. “You’re the one who forgot to use the cloak!”

“This whole thing was your idea!” James retaliated.

The two boys argued all the way back to their old prison cell, AKA the trolley-lady’s compartment. They were still arguing until she told them to shut up and they caught their first sight of the castle.

“Do we really get to swim in the lake?”

“Are there secret passages?”

“If we jumped off that tower, would we fly?”

The lady gave them a stern look and they shut up for the rest of the ride.

---

James: Didn’t you actually try to jump off the tower, Padfoot?

Sirius: Well, that depends on what you mean by ‘jump.’

Remus: As I recall, you actually fell off.

Sirius: Now that was a vicious rumor.

James, Remus, Emmablk1, and Peter: Right…

Sirius: Do you remember what our first punishment was, James?

James: How could I forget? It was never implemented again after it was used on us.

Peter: It was that bad?

Sirius: No, it was that stupid.

Emmablk1: Hey, you guys actually meet Remus and Peter in the next chapter!

Remus: I would rather not remember how I met them, thank you. Especially Peter. I’m quite happy the way I am now.

James: It really wasn’t that bad.

Sirius: Yeah, you only embarrassed yourself in front of everyone in the dining hall.

Remus: didn’t I just say I would rather not be reminded?

Peter: What are we talking about?

Emmablk1: Never mind…Let’s just end this, shall we?

Sirius: I was getting bored anyway.

---

yay! i finished it...hope you enjoyed it...

emmablk1