The Marauders; A Generation

The Marauders; A Generation.

Prologue

"POST'S HERE!"

11-year-old James Potter had been waiting anxiously through the whole of the summer holidays for the mail to arrive to see if he'd gotten into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, to see if he truly was a wizard.

James brushed his untidy black hair away from his alert eyes as a large brown tawny owl swept importantly into the expansive kitchen of his family's huge magically enhanced home and dropped an official looking letter in front of him. After catching it, and reading his name on the front, he turned it over, hands trembling excitedly. He gasped when he caught sight of the symbol of a lion, badger, bird and snake entwined around the letter 'H', that was the Hogwarts Crest, printed in red on top of the seal.

The door to the kitchen opened and his mother Cynthia Potter walked in, immediately hurrying over to the table where her son had sat himself down when she saw the envelope he held encased in his small hands.

Mrs. Potter smiled encouragingly at him, "Go ahead darling, open it!" she said as she tried to contain her own excitement.

James quickly ripped open the envelope and unfolded the parchment inside, smiling contentedly all the while.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY.

Headmaster; Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Please find enclosed a list of the necessary books and equipment you will need for your first year at school and note that the Hogwarts Express will be leaving from Platform 9 ¾ at 11am on September 1.

R.S.V.O (Reply Soon Via Owl) no later then July 31.

Yours Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

Headmaster.

"I got in," James whispered. His mother cried with joy and engulfed him in a warm hug.

"I'm so proud of you darling, I knew you could do it, you always had it in you ... your father would be so proud of you if he were here now," she said with a sad smile. James swallowed hard as he saw the tears that were glistening in her eyes. The late Henry Potter, who was better known to those close to him as Harry, and his wife Cynthia, had been one of the most well-known Auror teams of the current age, but had unfortunately been the targets of a fatal Dark Magic attack the previous year, by none other then the newly risen Dark Lord: Voldemort.

Harry had died shielding his wife from the Avada Kedavra curse, pleading with her to make a run for it, to live.

Cynthia had stopped being an Auror after the attack, trying to put the pieces of her life back together. She couldn't work without Harry; he was her love, her life. Cynthia decided to bring her son up the best she knew how and give him the life he deserved: the life that her husband would have wanted for him. She would honour his death.

"I know he would, and I'm going to make him proud, I'm going to make you proud, I'm going to be the best wizard there is!" he exclaimed, breaking the tense mood and sighed in relief as his mothers smile became happier and they hugged again.

They were interrupted suddenly by a large banging at the front door. They looked at each other strangely as an odd yelling could be heard. Both James and Cynthia cautiously opened the kitchen door and made their way down to the front door, which was at the other side of the house. They both convulsed into laughter when they realized that the odd yelling had actually been James' best friend Sirius Black, with whom he'd grown up with as they lived just down the road from one another.

Opening the front door caused Sirius to stop mid-knock and fall into the Potters front hall.

"Sirius?" James asked incredulously.

"I BLOODY GOT IN!" Sirius yelled excitedly, without missing a beat and getting back up onto his feet before suddenly realizing that Mrs. Potter was right there: he hung his head down sheepishly and apologized for his language. Cynthia smiled, shaking her head.

"I'll leave you boys to it shall I? Don't be late James. Nice to see you again Sirius." And with that she went back upstairs.

As soon as she was gone, Sirius started jumping up and down fanatically again: his dark hair flying around wildly and his equally dark eyes sparkling with excitement. He tackled James onto the ground who replied laughing merrily.

"Sirius mate, this is going to be a great year."

~******************************************~

Both the Potters and the Blacks had sent replies back to Hogwarts immediately informing the school that both boys would be attending.

The next week, Cynthia Potter and Sirius's parents Arcturus and Venus Black, took the boys through the Floo Connection to the chimney in the Leaky Cauldron leading to Diagon Alley.

"Whoa!" they breathed as they walked out onto the Alley. Even though they'd both grown up in an entire wizarding village, they'd never seen anything as wonderfully full of magic as it was in Diagon Alley.

"Please mum, can Sirius and I go look in Quality Quidditch Supplies? They say the new Cleansweep model's just come out!" James pleaded with his mother.

Cynthia looked at Venus skeptically. "I suppose the adults can get your things, but don't expect this to happen every year! You'll have to meet us at Ollivanders in an hour alright?" she said compromisingly.

Sirius and James nodded eagerly, saying goodbye before running off towards said store. When they got there, they paused outside, looking through the wide glass window, staring in awe amongst the crowd, at the new broomstick that was propped up in front for all to see.

Both boys had grown up whizzing around the air on their broomsticks, but both of them had always had the oldest models of Silver Arrows and Comets, handed down by their parents as they weren't old enough to have their own brooms yet.

"Look at it. It's beautiful, gosh I wish first years were allowed brooms," James moaned miserably. He was a bigger Quidditch fan then Sirius and was actually an exceptional chaser while Sirius played a mean keeper. The crowd stared in admiration at the Cleansweep 4, with its sleek birch-wood handle and acceleration of 0-90 miles in 15 seconds. It was the first model to be so advanced in aerodynamic control.

"Let's go in, we can prepare for next year."

James nodded in agreement and the two of them walked into the store, immediately drawn over to the special Quidditch Equipment hanging from the far wall. They'd just begun discussing the extra-cushioning charm kit when the bell on the door tinkled again and a cold silence fell over the entire store.

A tall, broad-shouldered man stalked towards the counter. He had slicked back silver-blond hair, and blue eyes so cold they could surely freeze fire. His complexion was deathly pale but the aura that surrounded him was powerful and one that James surely thought should not be provoked. Behind him stood a boy about their age. Like the man, he was blindingly blond and pale, yet there was something even more malicious in his eyes - if they could be even icier, they would be. Their long expensive robes draped off them in a luxuriously rich sort of manner and they were obviously father and son.

"M-Master Malfoy, what can I d-do for you today?" the shopkeeper stuttered. As the man called Malfoy began to make his purchase, his son sauntered over to James and Sirius, a look of extreme superiority marring his pointed face, his lips curled in a disdainful sneer.

"Hogwarts?" he demanded at the two. James and Sirius both nodded, James with slight confusion, Sirius with contempt. The boy regarded the two of them with scrutiny. He looked pointedly at James.

"Oh, that's right, you're Potter." If it could, the sneer on the boys face turned even nastier.

James had only heard of the Malfoy name through passing, but known vaguely that they were not well liked. He was not one to judge on appearances, but decided to stand straight and tall and stare the boy in the face. Sirius stepped forward bravely, replying him.

"And you are ... " he asked innocently, as if he'd never heard of the Malfoy name before.

"Lucius Malfoy, who are you?" he asked Sirius sharply.

Sirius stood up tall next to James, but the look on his face was a lot harder. He looked at Lucius with hatred before answering.

"Sirius Black. Now why don't you toddle off to daddy and don't bother us again," he spat out. Lucius looked shocked for a moment but regained his composure almost instantly, as if he'd had lots of practice at this. In fact, he looked fairly impressed at their gall.

"Black ... Now I understand. It's a good thing you two are both purebloods, else I'd not have worried about the little chitchat. Hope to see you in Slytherin." Just as he had said this, his father called for him and he whirled around, following him out of the store.

"What was that all about? How does he know who I am?" James asked his friend curiously. The look on Sirius' face was dark as he regarded James.

"James, his whole family practices the Dark Arts. They are followers of Lord Voldemort," he said bluntly. At this, James' face turned ashen, painfully remembering the way his father had been killed. He closed his eyes as a feeling of hatred welled up inside his body. Sirius regretted the way he had said it immediately: he'd never meant to hurt James. As if he could read his mind, James spoke.

"No it's alright, I'm glad you told me. It's just that ... mum's never said anything about that, and she doesn't like to talk about ... well ... you know ... " his voice trailed off and Sirius nodded, placing a shoulder on his best friends shoulder.

"C'mon, let's go get our wands."

~********************************************~

James and Sirius met their parents in Ollivanders as arranged and Mr. Ollivander set to work finding them their wands. Sirius found his after the first couple of tries, producing a magnificent display of red sparks in the shape of a shooting star (coincidentally matching his name). But it took a little while before they found the one for James.

"Now, this one is mahogany, eleven inches, pliable. A powerful wand, excellent for transfiguration, why don't you give it a go?" No sooner had James touched it that an indescribable feeling fluttered around inside of him, he knew this was the one, it felt right. He smiled, and gave the wand a bit of a wave, and everyone gasped as it produced a large display of multi-coloured fireworks.

"I think we've found our match!" Mr. Ollivander said happily. The Blacks and the Potters made the monetary exchange with him whilst Sirius and James ran out of the store happily, in search of a pet. A few minutes later as the adults were turning to leave, the door jingled again as someone else entered the wand store. The new customer was a small girl of about 11. She had a slight build with long wavy auburn hair and startlingly piercing green eyes.

"Hi" she said shyly. Cynthia Potter greeted her.

"Hello dear, are you at Hogwarts this year as well?" she asked kindly.

The red-haired girl nodded, smiling. "I'm Lily. Lily Evans" she said, and the Blacks chorused a cheery hello and good luck before heading for the door.

As the door was closing Mr. Ollivander could be heard taking out a wand for her to try.

"Ten and a quarter inches ... willow ... swishy ..."

Cynthia, Acrturus and Venus met their sons at the store across the road, purchasing an owl each before heading towards Madam Malkins to get fitted for robes.

"Oh Cynthia, I do hope they both get put in the same house, it would be such a shame if they were separated!" Venus said, glancing sideways at her friend.

"I know, I'm crossing my fingers, but if they are put in different houses, then it must be the right choice. The Sorting Hat has never been wrong!" They stopped their conversation as they entered the robe shop and Madam Malkin herself ushered Sirius and James onto parallel stools, getting out her magical measuring tapes and equipment to work on both of them.

"You're allowed to purchase a sash the color of your choice as well as your official black ones, for weekends and times you're out of school," Madam Malkin informed them, smiling kindly. She conjured up a book of colours and shades and waited patiently whilst they mulled over them, occasionally muttering something that was incoherent to everyone but each other. In the end, Sirius picked a deep red roman-style sash, whilst James picked a sleek, modern-age golden one. Their choices made Madam Malkin smile and nod approvingly at their parents.

"You can tell these ones know where they're going." The boys looks at each other in confusion at her words, but did not have long to ponder their thoughts as Cynthia, Venus and Arcturus ushered them out of the shop, and towards the Leaky Cauldron.

"Venus, Cynthia, I need to stay on and take care of some business: I'm meeting Cornelius here for lunch, we're going over some matters for our department at the ministry." Both women nodded at Arcturus as he hurried off. Arcturus was Deputy Head of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic. Cornelius Fudge was currently Head of that department, and a very influential member of the MoM.

The remaining group headed back to the Cauldron and waited for Cynthia to ignite the connection.

"Cynthia, I'll call in tomorrow to talk about how we're going to get to the platform alright? Wait by the fireplace at around 3ish. See you then." And with that, Venus and Sirius cried the name of their home and whizzed off.

"Come on James. Let's go home."

~***********************************************~

It was the day they would be going to Hogwarts. James Potter could not be more excited. After double, triple and quadruple checking that he had everything packed, Mrs. Potter finally allowed him to get his things (levitating his trunk for him, to make it easier to carry) and his owl and meet up with the Blacks so they could all drive to Kings Cross Station together in Arcturus' old Falcon.

Finally reaching the muggle station, the group made their way down to platforms nine and ten, and inconspicuously 'fell' through the wall between, landing cleanly on platform 9 ¾, where the bright red Hogwarts Express awaited to take them to school.

"Owl me as soon as you get a chance alright darling? I want to see how you're settling in, and James ... please don't go wandering around after dark, especially not into the forest, I know that Professor Dumbledore will tell you this when you get there, but be careful, the full moon is in three days, you don't know what is going to be out there," Mrs. Potter said as she leaned down to give her son a kiss on the cheek. James nodded, heeding her warning, and blushed, dutifully allowing her to kiss him and saying goodbye before grabbing Sirius away from the farewells of his own parents, and rushing onto the train with their belongings.

Once they'd found an empty compartment together, they fell back onto to plush seats, sighing happily.

"We're free! I can't WAIT until we get there!" James breathed excitedly. Sirius nodded in agreement. They were just about to get into a conversation of what kind of mischief they'd be getting up to at school, when they were interrupted by the compartment door sliding open with a rattle. Looking up, they saw a sandy-haired boy entering, although his hair was actually more of a light brown then blonde. He was fairly built for his age (he looked to be in their year by his face, and lack of house attire).

"Is it okay if I sit here?" the boy asked them. Both Sirius and James nodded dumbly as for the first time; they saw the boy's shaded blue eyes. It wasn't just that they were dark and mysterious, but they had such a brooding depth to them. It was quite a shock to see someone so young, have eyes so old.

"S-Sirius Black, and that's James Potter," Sirius told him, still transfixed. James had recovered much better, and held his hand out to shake.

"Remus Lupin," the boy replied, giving them a small smile and taking James outstretched hand, before seating himself opposite them.

"Where abouts are you from Remus? Sirius and I are from the north, we live down the road from each other." James said cheerfully. Remus looked quite flattered that James wanted to know things about him.

"I'm from-uh, around the place really ... yeah," he said quietly, not quite meeting their eyes. When he turned away, James and Sirius exchanged a look. They both quite liked the boy, he wasn't at all like them, but there was a sense of natural power in him that was quite noticeable despite his quiet demeanor. Sirius cleared his throat.

"I'm still really excited about Hogwarts! I haven't been able to stop jumping around all day! The only thing that could put a damper on this moment would be-"

"Well well well, if it isn't Potter and Black and ... oh, I see you've found a friend." The boys all looked up to the entrance to their compartment, and frowned as they saw none other then Lucius Malfoy himself, standing there with his usual air of superiority. He looked down his nose at the three, seated boys, smirking.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Sirius growled. James looked on, hatred settling itself inside him, not trusting himself to say a word. The blond-haired boy stayed put at the entrance of their compartment, perhaps smart of him, as the looks he was on the receiving end of looked like a sneak preview of his death.

"Who are you?" he asked Remus, with a slight edge to his voice. Remus stood up and regarded him with cool eyes, taking Sirius' and James' distaste with this boy as a sign of what he was really like. For a moment, Lucius almost stumbled back as he saw red glinting in the boy's eyes, but when he looked again ... it was gone. He muttered something incoherent and left. After he had closed the compartment door James jumped out and punched the back of his seat angrily. Sirius looked up in alarm and immediately took action.

"James, calm down, it'll be no use killing the seat and getting into trouble before we've even arrived! Don't worry about it, he'll get what's coming to him." As he said these words, Sirius made an oath to himself that they would be true: Lucius Malfoy would pay. As if suddenly realizing that Lucius had left because of Remus, Sirius looked at the new boy with admiration.

"What did you do? How did you get him to leave? That was amazing!" he exclaimed, but holding back his impressed state when he saw that Remus' face was clouding over. He looked at James for help, but James wasn't looking at either of them, he was staring out the window, a closed expression on his face.

"Who was that?" Remus asked softly, not wanting to aggravate the situation, but still curious to know how such a boy could have an affect on someone as collected and calm as he thought James was. Sirius glanced at his childhood friend again quickly before turning to Remus to reply.

"You don't need to worry about him, he's an absolute git. Bet he'll be in Slytherin too." At these words, James nodded, still looking angry. Remus looked between the two of them and decided from that moment on, he would use his power to protect them.

~***************************************************~

"Hi there! Can I sit down?"

Lily Evans looked up to see a fair-haired girl, around her age, walk through the compartment door to which she was sitting.

"Of course," she replied, smiling. The other girl's long dark blonde hair fell straight around her shoulders, and her eyes were bright blue. She had an intelligence around her that Lily couldn't help by admire.

"I'm Narcissa Delacroix," she said, before sitting down.

"Lily Evans," Lily replied.

"Oh! I love that name, my mother absolutely loves lilies, so we've got them all over the place at home!" Narcissa said enthusiastically. She went on.

"What house do you think you'll be in?" she asked. As Lily came from a non-magical background, she didn't know much about the houses at Hogwarts, but thought this was a good time to learn.

"I don't actually know about the houses ..." she replied, blushing. Narcissa smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry about it, you must be from a muggle family." Lily looked confused.

"Oh right, muggles are non-magical people," Narcissa explained. Lily nodded.

"Can you tell me a bit about the houses then? I do hope I get into a good one."

"Of course, I'm from a completely magical family, so I've heard nothing but advice and encouragement from every which person about what house I should be in, or how I should try to get in, it's so confusing! Most of my family's been in Ravenclaw, but we occasionally get a few Gryffindor's now and then ... oh right! You don't know about the houses. Well, Ravenclaw, that's after Rowena Ravenclaw, I guess it's a pretty hard-working house from what I've heard, everyone's always trying to fight to stay at the top of classes, but that's not to say the other houses don't work hard, they all just work hard at different areas. Ravenclaw's colours are blue and bronze, I really like those colours, ooh I do hope I get in there!" Narcissa exclaimed, looking nervous as she thought about what would happen if she didn't.

Lily thought about what her new friend had told her about this house. It sounded like a good house, and Lily had always strove to be the best at everything she did, but she wasn't an over competitive person, though she had her moments.

"Tell me about the other houses then," she asked. Narcissa looked surprised, then smiled sheepishly, realizing she'd gone on so much about the house she wanted to be in, she'd forgotten to tell her about the others.

"Right, well there's Hufflepuff, after Helga Hufflepuff. That's where you go if you're ... I think it's loyal and patient, that's what the sorting hat said when my mum and dad were in school. They're yellow and black, not bad colours, yellow's certainly the brightest! Anyway, Slytherin ... well, they say that most of the dark wizards and witches come from Slytherin but I don't know, I think I'm going to have to see for myself. My family don't really associate with many of them, although I did meet a nice man the other day in Diagon Alley who said he was in Slytherin, he didn't sound nasty at all ..." she trailed off looking thoughtful for a minute before Lily prodded on.

"What are their colours?"

"Oh, they're um, I think they're green and silver, yes that's right, nice combination wouldn't you say? A little ominous, but none-the-less, oh by they way, that house was named after Salazar Slytherin, there's a myth that says his heir is going to come back to Hogwarts one day and open a secret chamber inside the castle, but I'm pretty sure that's just a rumour. So that only leaves Gryffindor. They say Gryffindor is a really great house; you have to be a pretty brave person to get into Gryffindor, and not afraid of a challenge. Apparently that was what Godric Gryffindor was like; he was really into fighting for what he believed in, and pride and honour and all that. They're red and gold, pretty good at Quidditch too from what I've heard."

Lily thought about what she'd heard. Weighing around her options, she thought that Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sounded like the houses that would suit her best. She didn't voice her opinions though, as she thought Narcissa sounded like she was pretty dead set on being a Ravenclaw. She hoped she got the house she wanted.

Night was beginning to fall outside, and soon the night sky was dark and sprinkled with bright shining stars. Narcissa and Lily had chatted the whole way on the train, finding out as much as they could about each other and Narcissa explaining to Lily exactly what Quidditch was, by the end of it, they were firm friends. Lily knew that even if they were put in different houses, they'd still be close.

"We'd better put on our robes, we should be arriving soon," Narcissa announced, and so the two of them got out of their (in Lily's case muggle clothes) normal day-wear, and into their black robes that had the Hogwarts crest embroidered over their hearts. Lily looked out of the window into the night and marveled at the beauty of her surroundings. She still couldn't believe she was a witch, no matter how long ago she'd been told (about a month) she was still getting used to it, and it filled her with a great sense of belonging. She couldn't wait to get to Hogwarts.

~***********************************************************~

The ride over the lake was rough, windy and extremely wet, but the first years trudged on determinedly after Hagrid, all the way to the entrance hall where they were greeted by the young transfiguration teacher and deputy headmistress; Professor Minerva McGonagall. She'd gone inside the Great Hall for a few moments to see that everything was in order before stepping back outside and leading the first years down through the middle aisle, all the way up to the front where the sorting hat sat, limp on a stool in front of the teachers table.

Professor McGonagall explained to them what would be happening, and how the sorting would be taking place before taking out a list. All of the first years looked nervously around at each other, as the friends they'd made on the train, might'nt be the friends they'd be living with, as Professor McGonagall had pointed out about the house being like your family.

"Arness, Tarquin!" she said, and a tall, tanned boy stepped out amongst the group and walked onto the stage, placing the sorting hat on his head. After a few moments, the hat yelled out: "RAVENCLAW!" and 'Arness, Tarquin' headed over to the cheering Ravenclaw table, with a smile on his face.

Lily watched as the professor went through more 'A' names, and then headed on to the 'B's'. She watched interestedly as a dark boy, who's name was 'Black, Sirius' stepped up and put the hat on his dark hair.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table cheered louder then any other table, as Sirius had become the first new Gryffindor.

James patted Sirius' back before he went over to sit with the Gryffindors. He caught James' eye again as he sat down and gave him a quick thumbs up before he was accosted by the rest of his new house. James looked on nervously; he had so much to live upto, there hadn't been a Potter yet that hadn't been in Gryffindor, much like the Black family, both being from pure magical bloodlines. He watched as 'Delacroix, Narcissa' was made a Ravenclaw, and 'Donetti, Karla' was made a Hufflepuff, and glanced back at Sirius in trepidation. He stood next to only Remus now and watched as the red-haired girl he thought he'd seen in Diagon Alley stepped up, when Professor McGonagall called 'Evans, Lily' to the stage.

For some reason, he found himself crossing his fingers and holding his breath as he waited for her to be sorted, he really hoped she'd be in his house.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat cried, and Lily jumped up in excitement before rushing to her new house table. She looked over at the Ravenclaw table where Narcissa was sitting, and they looked at each other with sad smiles, but for only a moment before the excitement of the occasion overcame them and they couldn't help but be happy.

"Hi, I'm Sirius Black," the boy she was sitting next to her said. Lily smiled at him and shook his outstretched hand.

"Lily Evans," she replied before they both turned back to watch the rest of the sorting. Professor McGonagall went through the rest of the 'E' names, then 'F', 'G' and went down to 'K'. When she reached the 'L' names, Sirius clutched the table.

"Lupin, Remus," the professor called, and Lily watched a well-built boy head up to the hat. It took quite a while for the hat to decide where to put the boy, and there was a noticeable distress beginning to settle on his face before finally the hat jumped up and pronounced him as a Gryffindor. Sirius sighed with relief, and Lily also let out the breath she'd been holding.

"Malfoy, Lucius," Professor McGonagall called, and Lily was surprised to see that many of the halls student occupants allowed their expressions to turn into either nasty ones, or fearful ones, it was certainly quieter now then it had been. She watched as a tall slim boy walked up to the hat. It only took the hat a moment to decide that this boy would be in Slytherin, and the Slytherin table rejoiced in their new arrival. Lucius Malfoy sauntered off the stage, and walked casually over to them as if this were a common occurrence.

Sirius muttered a few profane words to Remus before continuing to watch the sorting ceremony. The next few names 'Marcell, Cordelia', 'Noxworth, Adele' and 'Owens, Rochelle' were sorted respectively into Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Ravenclaw, and then Professor McGonagall called on a short, slightly plump boy called; 'Pettigrew, Peter'. The brown-haired boy walked up and put on the out and was shortly pronounced a Gryffindor. The table cheered and welcomed him as he shakily walked over to them. Next was a black-haired boy that Sirius and Remus seemed to know already, as they were crossing their fingers and quietly, repeatedly chanting 'Gryffindor, Gryffindor, Gryffindor'. Shortly after he had placed the hat on his head, 'Potter, James' was declared a Gryffindor, and nobody cheered more loudly then Sirius Black.

James ran over to the table, shaking Sirius' hand madly and then Remus' as well as some of the prefects who had taken it upon themselves to shake the hands of all their new house members.

"Spiffing mate, I'm bloody glad we're in the same house! And Gryffindor at that!" Sirius said excitedly. They couldn't continue their conversation just then though, as the rest of the first years were still to be sorted. After a few more moments, they finally came to the end of the alphabet where 'Tornel, Abbey' was made a Hufflepuff, 'Warver, Janine' was made a Ravenclaw, and 'Xavier, Orus' was made a Slytherin.

The sorting ceremony was finally over, and after Headmaster Dumbledore had set out a few rules and such, they dug into their well-awaited feast. James had found himself sitting next to Sirius who was on his right, and opposite Remus and the short boy named Peter, and on his left, was the red-haired girl he'd seen before.

"James Potter," he said to her, smiling. The girl smiled back, her whole face lighting up when she did.

"Lily Evans," she replied, and then asked for the others' names. The new Gryffindor's besides James, Sirius, Remus, Peter and Lily, were Cordelia Marcell, Chelsea Brighton, and Melissa Harven. That meant exactly eight.

After supper, the first years were instructed to follow their prefects up to their separate dormitories, which were hidden away, and guarded by a magical moving picture, whom you had to give a password too. When the new Gryffindor's got to Gryffindor tower, they waited, whilst the fifth-year prefect Richard Wood, told the picture of the Fat Lady, the password 'Draco Dormiens'. The picture swung open and the first years gasped in delight as a sandstone passageway led into a beautiful, fully furnished and comfortable-looking common room. Richard told the boys where their sleeping places would be, and did the same for the girls, then enforced some more of the school rules that Dumbledore had explained before sending them all off to bed.

James, Sirius and Remus all headed up to the first-years boys dormitory and found a bed for each of them. A minute later, the short boy that had been sitting at their table walked in and introduced himself as Peter Pettigrew.

"I'm James Potter, that's Sirius Black over there in the right, and that's Remus Lupin." James said, taking over to introductions. Peter smiled, he seemed like a quiet boy from what they could tell, and James was never one to exclude anyone, so from that moment, the four boys became firm friends.