In the Beginning: The Marauder's Story

Remus Lupin bolted from the doorway of the Three Broomsticks, and headed towards Honey Dukes sweet shop at a flat run. He dashed through the deserted streets cursing his own stupidity, and praying that he would actually be able to get into Honey Dukes, which contained the closest, and most accessible entry back into Hogwarts.

There was little light, except for a soft, eerie glow coming through the windows of a few modest Hogsmeade homes. Remus, completely engrossed in formulating as to what he would do if he could not get into Honey Dukes, failed to notice the large, shadowy figure of Padfoot bounding towards him.

Remus turned his head to look at a cat sitting on the corner with glowing red eyes, which he could have sworn was glowering at him.

"That couldn´t possibly be Mrs. Norris..."

"Hey!"

Remus let out a yelp of surprise as he fell backwards to the ground, and suddenly found himself entangled with a large mass of black fur.

Remus instantly knew who he collided with.

"Padfoot! What are you doing here?" he whispered.

The dog gave no reply, but righted itself to its feet, gave a decisive swish of its tail, and continued walking towards Honey Dukes.

Remus stared agitatedly after his furry friend before quickly getting to his feet, and following. Upon arriving at Honey Duke´s, Remus and Padfoot found the store to be completely empty, and completely dark.

"Oh great, now what are we going to do?" Remus sighed.

Remus sighed once again before turning to Padfoot, "You know, I really wish you would turn back into yourself. I feel like an idiot talking to you this way."

The dog sat there, as though it were pondering its possibilities, before trotting off behind the building. In a few moments, Sirius Black emerged.

"You´re too kind," Remus said dryly.

Sirius just shrugged. "Don´t worry about it. So, how are we going to get in there?"

"Gee, I don´t know, but, if I had the answer, I wouldn´t just be standing here!"

"You don´t think they have any charms guarding the building, do you?"

"I´m not sure, but I´m also not sure if it´s worth it to find out the hard way."

This boys sighed simultaneously before sliding down the wall into a sitting position. They sat there motionless, engrossed in thought. Remus felt himself growing agitated as each valuable minute ticked away, especially when he looked over and saw Sirius idly drawing in the dirt with his finger. Remus thought he would explode any second, until Sirius suddenly sat up, and his face lighted with an epiphany.

"You know, when I went behind the building to change into myself, I saw a window back there."

Remus raised his eyebrows. "And...?"

"I don´t think it was locked."

Remus exploded.

"You idiot! It took you this long to realize that?"

Sirius stood up and lazily dusted himself off.

"I don´t know, I might be wrong, but it´s worth a shot."

Ignoring Remus´s still outraged face, Sirius turned and walked to the back of the building.

"Come on, Remus! It´s open!"

Without waiting, Sirius climbed through the now open window, which conveniently entered into the back room containing the secret passage. Before getting up, Remus silently counted to 10, and followed his friend through the window. When Remus crawled into the dark, dusty room, Sirius was sitting on the edge of the small opening in the floor. He grinned sheepishly, and muttered, "Sorry," before dropping through the trap door.

In spite of himself, Remus smiled slightly, and slipped through the door himself, making sure to close it behind him.

~*~*~

Sirius and Remus sprinted the entire distance back to Hogwarts, bumping their heads numerous times on the low passageway. After finally reaching the end of the tunnel, a slight glimmer at the bottom of the steps caught Sirius´s eye. He leaned in closer, and discovered James´s invisibility cloak with a note tied to it. Remus peered over Sirius´s shoulder.

"What is that?" he whispered.

"The invisibility cloak, with a note from James."

Sirius reached into his robe, pulled out his wand and whispered, "Lumos!"

Sirius´s eyes were greeted with James´s large and childlike handwriting hastily scrawled on a small piece of parchment.

-James

Remus felt incredibly cramped underneath the cloak with Sirius; it had been quite some time since two people had attempted to fit underneath it. He glanced down at his feet, and realized that the hem of the cloak was hardly even touching the ground.

"One of us must have grown a lot over the holiday, or this cloak just isn´t as long as it used to be. Look! It´s not even touching the ground!"

Sirius glanced down at his feet.

"You´re right, but quit worrying! I don´t think anyone will be out there to see us, and even if there were, they wouldn´t notice anyway."

Remus reluctantly pushed open the trap door, and both boys assumed the difficult task of crawling out without revealing too much of themselves from under the invisibility cloak. They made it successfully, with only minor difficulties, and began stealthily walking towards Remus´s Ravenclaw tower. As they made their way past a potions classroom, a flicker of candlelight behind a partially closed door caught Sirius´s eye. Letting his curiosity get the better of him, Sirius grabbed the back of Remus´s robes and yanked him towards the doorway.

Remus suddenly felt himself being pulled sharply towards his right, and almost tripped over himself in the confusion.

"What are you doing?" he hissed angrily.

Sirius did not reply, and continued pulling Remus until he reached the door.

Sirius peered through the crack eagerly.

Severus Snape sat hunched over a desk, carefully cutting newt´s tails into tiny slivers. His medium-length black hair fell to the side of his face, blocking it from view. Even still, his eyes gleamed with an odd sort of glee. Although it seemed as though they were fixed intently on his work, his eyes were truly fixed on some distant point, almost as though he could look straight through to the future. Snape´s black ensemble clung loosely to his frail form, making his tightly drawn skin seem all the more pale.

"How poetic, how tragic this is," Sirius whispered tauntingly, "the lone student working, for endless hour in the potions lab, meticulously creat..."

Remus jabbing his elbow painfully into Sirius´s side stopped Sirius´s speech short.

Snape´s head shot up, and looked straight towards the doorway. Thinking he had been found out, Snape quickly gathered up his supplies, stuffed his cauldron into a back closet, and locked it.

"C´mon, move, he´s leaving!" Remus hissed.

Sirius turned on his heel, and began moving away from the classroom, and quickly as possible.

Snape stepped gingerly out of the classroom, and closed the door quietly behind him. Then he saw it. He shook his head slightly to be sure he was not hallucinating. A heel of a shoe stepped down, then disappeared, again, and again, and again. Snape felt the corner of his mouth twitch slightly in a malicious grin.

"This is almost too good to be true..."

Snape lengthened his stride until he caught up with the disappearing shoe and casually put his foot down exactly where the invisibility cloak should be. The cloak slowly slipped to the ground, revealing Sirius and Remus.

"Well, what have we here?" Snape seethed.

Remus and Sirius stopped in their tracks, and turned to face Snape. His countenance was filled with an expression of utmost hatred and contempt.

"Careful, Severus, if you keep making that face, it will get stuck that way," Sirius practically spat the words at him.

Remus stood there uneasily, wondering what Snape was planning. He didn´t have to wait long to find out.

"I wonder what the Professors of this school would think if they found out that last year´s head boy was sneaking about the school after hours with his delinquent friend."

"I wonder what the Professors of this school would think if they found out that a greasy sniveling rat was lurking about the school after hours, and concocting a suspicious potion." Sirius´s face almost matched the utter hatred expressed by Snape´s.

Knowing that he was beaten, Snape merely stood there clenching his fists, before storming off, with his long, black cape trailing behind him.

~*~*~

"I hate that bastard." Sirius sneered as he watched Snape`s long cape slowly fade into darkness. He turned to look at Remus, and stood there slowly clenching and unclenching his fists.

"Hey, it´s Snape you hate, not me," Remus said quickly. "Now, let´s get out of here before someone else wanders through."

Sirius nodded in agreement, and once again slipped beneath the invisibility cloak with Remus. The two boys slowly made their way through the enchanting Hogwarts hallways to the Ravenclaw portrait entrance. In the portrait, Sir Cadogan snored softly as he slept next to his fat, gray pony, while clutching his sword; always on the alert.

Remus groaned, "Aw, I hate waking him up. He always makes such a raucous, and he half the time, he´s so grumpy, he won´t let you in, even if you know the password!"

Sirius snickered. "At least we have the fat lady; she´s a reliable one."

"Oh, you Gryffindors wait, one day Cadogan will be forced upon you, and you´ll have to deal with his drunken antics."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Yes, Remus, I´m sure that will happen."

Remus allowed himself a large yawn.

"Well, I´d love to stay here and chat, but I´m rather tired."

Remus turned, and began to lift the edge of the invisibility cloak when Sirius pulled him back. There was one question that had been burning in the back of Sirius´s mind ever since he and Remus collided in Hogsmeade.

"What were you, of all people, doing roaming about Hogsmeade after hours?"

Remus shifted his weight from foot to foot, while looking mildly uncomfortable.

"Oh, well, I was just hanging about with some girl..."

"A girl!" Sirius´s face filled with an odd combination of glee and pride. "Why, our own little Remus Lupin, spending his hours with a living breathing female. My, you do grow up fast! Do you believe that she´s a bit taken with you?"

Remus´s face broke into the tiniest of smiles.

"Actually, I do, and I´m quite taken with her as well."

Sirius continued grinning.

"Well, if you care to know, I also spent my evening with a lovely lady."

Remus once again felt himself rolling his eyes.

"Well, that´s hardly surprising. I´m sure she´s fallen madly in love with you, right?"

"Actually, that is not the situation at all, for you see," Sirius clasped his hands together and brought them near his chin, while exaggeratedly batting his eyes. Sirius sighed a mock dreamy sigh, and continued, "For you see, Loony Lupin, she hates me."

Sirius jumped away from Lupin, removing him from the safety of invisibility. Lupin stood there, staring at where he knew Sirius would be standing, and gave a meek wave.

"See you tomorrow."

Lupin heard this faintly, for Sirius already turned and began heading away from Lupin and Sir Cadogan, towards the Gryffindor tower.

Remus stood with his hand frozen in mid-air. He was so happy; all he wanted to do was replay each moment of the day in his head on a never-ending cycle. Finally waking from his momentary stupor, Remus shook his head, and said the password, Sugar Lumpkins, only loud enough for Cadogan to hear. The tiny knight let out a loud snort, ruffling the hairs of his moustache. He then mumbled something that sounded like "yellow-bellied coward," and turned on his side.

Remus was about to repeat himself, until the portrait swung open, nearly decapitating him. Yawning once a gain, Remus slipped through the opening in the wall, and closed the portrait behind him.

~*~*~

Sirius maneuvered his way across Hogwarts, which was not nearly as enjoyable when he had to traverse them alone, especially when there were things like nearly treading upon Mrs. Norris´s tail, or having a run in with Peeves, the poltergeist to deal with. Luckily, Sirius arrived at the Gryffindor tower undetected. The Fat Lady sat primly within her frame, reading a romance novel. Her cheeks were flushed, and she failed to notice Sirius, completely uncovered from the invisibility cloak, standing in front of her portrait, and tapping his foot with mock impatience.

"Ahem."

Sirius loudly cleared his throat, and watched delightedly as the Fat Lady slammed the book shut, and flushed to an even deeper shade of crimson. Still flustered, the Fat Lady smoothed her hair, and anxiously asked, "Password?"

"E Pluribus Unum," Sirius answered. Before the portrait swung open, Sirius winked at the Fat Lady and said, "Don´t worry, I won´t tell anyone."

Looking slightly offended, the Fat Lady swung her painting open, and slammed it shut after Sirius crawled through, eager to get back to her reading.

Sirius felt a comforting feeling of warmth wash over him as he stepped into the Gryffindor common room. The last embers of a once roaring fire still glowed in the fireplace, casting dark shadows over the deep reds and golds of the room. Huge, plush chairs were scattered about, and the rich mahogany tables were covered with huge, leather bound books, quill feathers, and empty inkbottles. Sirius couldn´t keep the thought from entering his mind, "I´m home..."

The room was completely deserted, except for James Potter, who sat hunched at one of the tables, scribbling furiously on a piece of parchment, his hair a bit more untidy than usual.

Sirius strode over to the table where James was working, and leaned casually against the wall behind it. He watched James work for a moment before saying, "Don´t work yourself too hard, James."

Startled, James stopped writing, and looked up.

"Well, if it isn´t Sirius Black. I was wondering when you would come strolling back in here."

Sirius glanced at the elaborate, gold clock encompassed by two roaring lions on each side, which sat ticking away on top of the mantle; just as it had been doing since the first day Sirius had arrived at Hogwarts.

"What, is midnight not late enough for you?"

"Actually, it´s not. I was expecting you around three or so tomorrow morning."

James once again looked down at his parchment, but instead of working, he merely glared angrily at it, as though his sleep deprivation was the parchment´s fault. Sirius moved from his position on the wall, and sat down in a chair next to James. Sirius placed the invisibility cloak on top of a huge pile of books, and glanced over to view what James was working so laboriously on. James suddenly threw down his quill, splattering ink spots across his planetary alignment chart.

"Bloody Divination! If that bespectacled insect of a teacher gives us anymore of these charts to do, I´ll give her a prediction she won´t be happy to hear."

Sirius nodded sympathetically as James rolled up the parchment and tossed it aside. James sighed, and placed his head in his hand, massaging his temples with his fingers.

"Anyway," James said, his emerald eyes peering at Sirius from between his fingers, "where did you and Remus go tonight?"

Sirius stretched his arms back behind his head and folded them across his chest before beginning his story.

"Actually, Remus and I weren´t even together. I left long before he did as Padfoot, and I was just off wandering around. Remus went on the Hogsmeade trip, or something..."

"Yeah," James interrupted. "He was with me and Petticoat, and we lost him at some jewels table right after we got there, and didn´t see him for the rest of the day.

Sirius shrugged. "I don´t know exactly what happened, but apparently he was with some girl."

James reacted with the same mock surprise as Sirius when he heard this comment, although it was a bit more subdued. Sirius continued on for a long while, describing his own adventure of the day, to an incredibly curious James.

"Wait, so you attacked her as Padfoot?" James gave a hearty laugh, leaned back in his chair, and placed his feet on top of the table, crushing his planetary alignment chart. "For some reason I always thought attacking a girl as a huge beast wasn´t exactly the best way to initiate conversation."

When Sirius and James finished their conversation, the fire in the great fireplace had completely died out, and the Gryffindor clock had continued ticking for a good hour or so.

James swung his legs of the table, and stood up, stretching his long, lean frame, and scratched the upper part of his back.

"Right, well, your romantic escapades are always entertaining, but if I don´t sleep, there´s no way I will make it through Professor Binns´ class tomorrow."

Sirius stood up, and also stretched.

"I haven´t managed to stay awake through Professor Binns´ class once since we´ve been back this year. "

Sirius continued as he and James walked up the winding staircase to the boy´s dormitory.

"I probably won´t even be awake in time to go to Divination tomorrow."

James nodded.

"Neither will I. Lucky you´re a genius Sirius, otherwise you´d never survive."

"Oh, I think I´d find a way."

When James and Sirius reached the boy´s dormitory, they collapsed simultaneously on their familiar four-poster beds, which they´d been sleeping in for seven years; ever since they arrived at Hogwarts. Sirius stared at the ceiling, his mind overflowing with thoughts. He glanced over at James, who was already asleep, his feet dangling off the edge of his bed. Sirius returned his gaze to the ceiling. In spite of what he said, this was home for him. He took a deep breath as he turned onto his side. At that moment, everything in his world was perfect. With this thought, Sirius was asleep.

~*~*~

The next morning, sunlight spilled through the thick windows of the Gryffindor boys dormitory, and obtrusively worked its way across each boy´s eye lids, forcing them to wake up. Sirius pulled his pillow tightly over his head. There was no way he would be going to his first class of the morning, the invitation of more sleep was far more appealing.

Suddenly, Sirius felt the pillow being pried from his hands, and once again he was vulnerable to the sun´s glare. When this failed to rouse him, Sirius felt himself being rolled from his warm, comfortable bed onto the cold, stone floor. Then, and only then did Sirius open his eyes to view his attacker. James stood before him, not looking much more awake than Sirius himself. James stood there groggily for a moment, then wordlessly walked back to his trunk, and began pulling out his robes.

Sirius glared at no one in particular, before heaving himself off the floor, and beginning the cumbersome task of getting dressed. Sirius made it through the entire process with little difficulty, until he engaged in an all out battle with his tie. James sat on the edge of his bed, watching Sirius struggle to force the tie into an acceptable knot. Finally, Sirius surrendered to the red and gold piece of silk, and merely stuffed it beneath his gray vest.

James walked up and patted Sirius´s shoulder, holding back a laugh.

"Well, good morning sunshine," James said with unrestrained cheerfulness. "I do know how much you love mornings," he continued sarcastically. Sirius merely responded with what sounded like a growl, and began walking down the steps, and towards the Great Hall for breakfast.

Ignoring the typical house seating arrangements, Sirius, Remus, and James sat together at the end of the Gryffindor table. Out of nowhere, Peter Pettigrew came scampering towards them, his pointed chin flecked with crumbs.

"Morning, all," Pettigrew said cheerfully, taking a seat next to James. All three boys replied with a muffled greeting of their own. The four Marauders sat, engaged in amiable conversation, until a piercing shriek, followed by a flapping of wings descended upon the Great Hall.

All of the Hogwarts students stopped eating, and looked up, scanning the bright blue "sky" for a sign of their owls. Each of the Marauders caught their own individual package or letter as their owls swooped down upon them.

Remus unrolled the most recent edition of the Daily Prophet, which he subscribed to as a first year, and had been receiving ever since. A huge headline, taking up nearly the entire front page shouted, Fifth Member of Ministry Found Dead! Remus eagerly began reading the article that accompanied the head line.

Byrd´s body was found by a Muggle hiking expedition, which Arthur Weasley, who had just been recently hired to the Muggle Control section of the Ministry. He had been accompanying the Muggle team on a hike, for a study he was conducting on Muggle outdoor recreational activities.

Byrd has been the fifth victim of the unexplained deaths which have been randomly occurring for the past four months. Also, there have been many abductions of powerful officials in the Ministry, whose bodies have not been found, but officials assume to be dead.

All of the discovered bodies have been linked together by the cause of death. The dark curse of Avada Kedavrahas been used in all five killings.

Many Ministry officials have been abandoning their jobs, and refusing to attend work, because they fear for their lives.

Remus´s thoughts were interrupted by a heavy sigh from James, as he crumpled the letter he had received and tossed it down on the table. Sirius looked up from his own letter and said, "Is that another letter from dear ol´ dad?"

James nodded angrily.

"I don´t even know why I bother reading them, it´s the same thing every time. All he does is tell me I´m not trying hard enough, that I´m letting my talent go to waste, and my intelligence would not be wasting away had I been placed in Slytherin; just like him."

A pair of small, elegant hands came to rest on James´s shoulders, subduing the hatred he felt towards his father. He looked up and smiled at a small girl with copper hair, and velvety brown eyes. James took the smaller hand within his own, and said, "Hi Lily," before continuing on his speech.

"I swear, if I ever have a kid, I´m just not going to even bother sending him mail, because I´m sure he won´t even want it anyway."

James then stood up, and embraced Lily, whose head barely came to James´s chest.

"James, don´t let your father get to you. If he doesn´t realize how wonderful you are, he doesn´t deserve you."

Lily spoke softly, yet forcefully. Just hearing her voice washed away any bitter emotions James possessed. James bade farewell to his friends still sitting at the table, took Lily´s hand, and began walking with her towards her first class.

Peter, who had been silently taking all this in with his small, beady eyes, tucked the package he received inside his robes and said, "Well, I guess I better be going," and slinked back towards the Hufflepuff table.

Remus, who had almost forgotten what he just read, once again unrolled the parchment of the Daily Prophet, and showed the article to Sirius. When Sirius had finished reading, Remus asked, "Do you have as bad of a feeling about this as I do?"

Sirius merely nodded, and for once, the ever present gleam in his eyes had vanished.

"Yes, this is extremely bad. But, you don´t really think it could filter down and affect us here at Hogwarts, do you?"

Remus nodded solemnly. "I think it can, and I think it most definitely will. I get the feeling that our times of peace will soon come to an end."

Remus then told Sirius what he had seen at the Slytherin table between Snape and Lucius.

Sirius stared coldly into the distance.

"Well, it´s not surprising that Malfoy would pounce on anything that had to do with Dark Magic. It´s also not surprising that Snape, would do exactly as Malfoy."

Sirius sighed. "Well, thanks, Remus, that just ruined my day."

Sirius stood up from the table and quickly stuffed something into this pocket. He was not quick enough to get past Remus though.

"What was that you just shoved in your pocket?" Remus asked curiously.

Sirius reached back into his pocket, and pulled out a small dog treat, attached to a small note.

"Evelyn sent it to me," Sirius said excitedly.

Remus stared at the dog treat, completely puzzled.

"I´m not even going to ask, Sirius. But, I must say, you certainly do have a way with people."

"You know it," smiled Sirius, and once again he placed the dog biscuit and the note back into the pocket of his robe. Remus stood up, hastily folding the Daily Prophet before putting it inside his book bag. "Come on," said Remus, "we´re going to be late to Herbology. I guess we´re stuck with you Gryffindors today."

"You say that as though it´s a bad thing."

Remus and Sirius continued arguing all the way out of the front entrance of the Great Hall. Slowly, all the students began filing out in numerous directions. Soon, the huge room was completely vacant, all except for a small pair of glowing red eyes, peering from beneath a table, and in an instant, they were gone.