The Marauding Five - Year One

Lily Evans woke up to a loud call of her name from her window. Drowsily, she got up and opened her window before calling out, 'Potter, can't I have a good snooze in? Go bug Sirius or Remus! They'll be up by now I expect.'

A messy haired boy with spectacles stood grinning broadly at her from his window, holding up a big envelope in his hands.

'Hey, Lily! Mum says you're coming too! Dumbledore sent her an owl! You coming with us to Diagon Alley?' he called out to her.

Puzzled, Lily rubbed her eyes as she stared at his grinning face, called back, 'Dumbledore? Owl? Just what are you talking about, James?'

'Hadn't you got that letter?'

'What letter? Go bug Sirius or Remus, not me. I give you full permission for that!'

'We're here, Lily. Now, hadn't you received your letter yet?'

A tall boy stood behind James Potter. Next to him, a slightly shorter one tried to look at her from the window but failed as James Potter and Sirius Black had taken up most space.

Remus Lupin called back, 'Lily, don't tell me you hadn't got it yet?'

'I'd always thought you guys will go bonkers one day, but not at the age of eleven,' Lily replied casually. 'By the way, I haven't checked the mail yet, so I don't know if I have a mail or not.'

'Hang on, we're coming over.'

As soon as this was said, the three boys had climbed down using a strategically placed ladder and fix it to her window before climbing up on it again. Lily stared at them as James and Remus helped Sirius in.

'Okay, so what's this letter thing? You've been saying nothing else but the letter,' Lily questioned them, hands on hips.

'Maybe the owl's late,' James replied as he looked out her window, towards the sky. 'Owl?' Lily repeated, clearly puzzled.

'Hey, it isn't late!' James cried in annoyance as he pulled out a small, brown and fluffy owl from the rafters. Lily glanced at it, even more puzzled at the fact of why an owl is in her rafters. 'This owl had decided to sleep in, lazy thing! Look, it's still snoozing, just like Lily this morning!' James pointed out as he let go of the owl.

Lily threw him her pillow, aiming straight at his face. The owl fell on Lily's bed, still sleeping.

'Lazy thing,' Sirius muttered as he poked at it. Remus was staring at it with an amused expression in his pale face.

Seeing an owl is nothing special in where Lily lived. She lived in a village near a forest, so seeing an owl isn't a very unusual thing. But one SLEEPING in her rafters? It's unbelievable.

Lily continued to stare at the tawny brown owl, taking it in from its small head to its long claws on its legs. James, however, paid no attention to the owl as he ripped off the envelope tied to the owl and opened it in a hurry.

'If it's my letter, who gave you full rights to open it, Potter?' Lily asked coldly, snatching the envelope from James' hand as he tried to undo the seal, showing four animals hovering over the letter H. Over it, written clearly in bright green ink, was her name - Ms. Lily Evans - and her address.

'Well, Lily, I thought you wouldn't open it so I'd volunteered myself to do so for you. Rights were given by me, James Potter,' James replied, grinning again.

'Hello, Lily! You're one of us now,' Sirius said, grinning stupidly as his long, black hair fell over his face.

'When am I not? We've known each other for as long as we can remember,' Lily retorted as she flip open the contents on her bed, covering the small owl that had been pulled in a while ago.

'No, we mean one of us. We're wizards, see, and you're a witch!' Remus pointed out excitedly.

'Rubbish, Remus! I mean, isn't that so untrue? If I'm a witch, I'll be wearing black robes, a black pointy hat and holding a wand in my hands,' Lily said as she looked again at the envelope.

'And that is what we'll be wearing soon,' Sirius said as he drew the letter, obviously bigger than the others, before pushing it right under her nose.

'Sirius, I resent - hey! I am a witch!' Lily said excitedly as she read the letter before moving towards the others. One that shows of her needed stuff at school and another, which is a train ticket to the Hogwarts Express, dated on September first.

'Gram, come look at this!' Lily called out to her grandmother.

You see Lily lived with her grandmother as her parents were out vacation with Petunia. The trip was for three and Lily had been left home with her grandmother. An old woman with twinkling bright green eyes and an apron over her dress burst in. She'd been in the kitchen when Lily had called.

'Gram, look! I'm a witch, gram! I'm a witch!' Lily said excitedly as James, Sirius and Remus looked on in amusement.

Her grandmother broke into a smile before saying, 'I'm so glad for you, Lily. See, I was one too. Your mother was one, too, a pretty good one I must say. I see the magic-blood had been passed down to you. It's really nice, dear.'

'You knew about this, gram?' Lily asked, bewildered, as everything her Gram had just said sunk in.

'Of course, dear! You are no muggle; you're a witch, just like old gram here and your mother was,' her Gram smiled warmly at her. 'Now, would you like to come for breakfast? I'm sure you are all hungry in all the excitement,' the old woman said as she ushered the boys and Lily down before they could even reply.

A strong smell of pancakes and eggs wafted through their noses as she led them down the stairs and sat them at the Evans' dining table.

'Mmm… simply lovely!' Sirius said as he stick his nose up in the air to smell the pancakes. James merely rolls his eyes as Remus looked on, rubbing his tummy eagerly. 'Your parents are from the wizarding world too?' Lily jumped onto a seat beside James.

'Yep! Ages ago. We're a very old wizarding family.'

'Remus? Sirius?'

'Pure-blood'

'Pure-blood.'

'Pure-blood?'

'He means that they're all wizards.'

'Oh.'

'Okay children, food's here! Duck in,' Gram appeared, levitating four plates in the air as the plates swept down upon them.

'Gram, isn't it dangerous, doing so?'

'Lily dear, Gram's a witch, remember?' as Gram draw up a wand before dressing herself up in midnight blue robes and a pointy hat.

Lily stared for a moment.

'Wow, Gram! That's nice! Is that your wand? Can I see it?'

Laughing warmly, Gram handed her wand for Lily to inspect.

'It's nice, Gram. Where did you get it? Can I have one too?'

'We're going to Diagon Alley, Gram. Mind if Lily follow us? She can get her textbooks,' James asked. 'Sure, James. I'll be coming along to guide my granddaughter,' Gram said, smiling. 'Now, how about we finish everything now? I'll send a note over to Emily to tell her that she can have a break from you boys and I'll take you over with the Floo Powder,' Gram said as she got went up to call on old Mrs Potter.

'This sounds interesting! I wonder what'll we do? Anyway, we'll still be able to play tricks, right?" Lily asked, looking hopefully at the boys.

'Yep! The wizarding world has more than enough tricks for us than in the Muggle world. We'll be the mischief makers of Hogwarts!' James said as they got up to make a vow.

'Now, mischief-makers sounds a little too em, common. We'll be the Marauders of Hogwarts as we'll be marauding all of Hogwarts! Oh, and we'll be torturing just everyone with some good tricks of ours,' Sirius said as they place a vow on that, topping their palms against each other's.

'Wait. They ask me to send a reply before July 31st. What date is today?'

'1st July. Maybe if we're quick, we may be able to get good seats for the train.'

'Alright. Where's that owl?'

'Still in Lily's room.'

'I'll get it. I need to change.'

'Fine. I'll eat these fabulous pancakes.'

Lily ran towards her room to get dressed as she grabbed the brown owl from her bed (he's still sleeping) and rushed downstairs. The boys were already scribbling the replies and send the owl off after waking him up.

'I wonder if they'll miss us?' Lily pondered questioningly. 'I mean, without us, what's this village? A really boring place with boring things happening and all. How about a little goodbye present?' Lily asked, a gleaming twinkle in her emerald green eyes.

'Sounds good enough to me. We'll grab some things from Diagon Alley,' Remus nodded as they all bend their heads, planning on what to buy.

Gram bustled in happily as she called to the boys and Lily.

'Well kids-' she started, but was cut off by Sirius.

'We're no kids! We're eleven and eleven year olds aren't kids!'

'Fine, children-'

'The Marauders.'

'Okay, the Marau- what?'

'It's our group name," Remus explained.

'Oh. Okay, Marauders, grab a pinch of the Floo Powder now. Lily, you'll have to take a pinch, throw it into the fireplace,' she gestured towards the now cackling fireplace, 'and say "Diagon Alley" clearly before jumping in.'

Lily gulped in a huge amount of air as a lump began forming in her throat. She hadn't done this before. Will she end up in the correct place? Will she still be alive or get swallowed by the flaming fire tongues? Only one way to find out. Lily reached out to the box Gram was holding and pulled out a pinch of fine, green powder.

She sprinkled it into the blazing fire, which turned green instantly, before jumping in and calling.

'Diagon Alley!'