...and in the beginning, there were the marauders

Remus returned from the hospital wing for breakfast that Monday morning, still looking weak and frail. Every time someone asked him about his condition, he brushed it off and changed the subject. But by Tuesday, he was beginning to look normal again. It was now a week since then, and they were back in Transfiguration.

Transfiguration seemed to be James' forte. It was the only class he could really rival Lily Evans in, although he liked think he wasn't hopeless in his other classes. He actually found it mildly enjoyable, despite the woman who taught it.

James quickly found that Professor McGonagall to be as strict as she had appeared on the day of their arrival. A woman in her forties, she was Hogwarts' newest teacher, having only joined the staff the previous year upon the death of the previous headmaster and Dumbledore's assent to the position. She had been an old friend of Dumbledore's, helping him in the fight against Grindlewald during the years following her graduation, and had taken on his old duties not only as Transfiguration teacher but also as deputy headmaster (or, in her case, deputy headmistress). She did not behave like a new teacher, however, and instead acted as though she had been there for years.

"Who would want to turn a king into a queen, anyway?" Remus asked, throwing down his wand and glaring at his chess piece.

Although Remus was earning a reputation as and intellectual, (a reputation that was well deserved), he couldn't quite get a handle on Transfiguration, much to his annoyance. His king, which was supposed to be turned into a queen in the same set, had remained virtually unchanged in the half hour he had spent on it. Of course, its head was slightly smaller, but Remus did not seem to view this as much of an accomplishment.

"Someone who lost their queen?" Peter suggested.

"Then you wouldn't have a king," Remus replied.

James moved his piece (which was now a queen, albeit a very masculine looking one) out of Remus' view before speaking.

"It's just a stupid exercise," he said. "You'll have it down before we do anything important."

"How's yours coming along, James?" Remus said, trying unsuccessfully to sound pleasant. As Sirius and Peter were sitting between he and James, he had been unable to see his friend's progress.

"Oh, you know, alright, I guess..." James replied, leaning on the desk, his arm further blocking his queen from Remus' view.

Unfortunately, the professor chose this time to pass by their row. She picked up James' piece and beamed upon inspecting it.

"Well done, Mr. Potter!" she exclaimed. "Two points to Gryffindor!"

James' face burnt red and he turned to see Remus cross his arms and sink down into his chair, a look of loathing on his face as he continued to glare at the chess piece.

*************

Professor Hetting served as Potions Master at Hogwarts, and, like almost all of his predecessors, also acted as head of Slytherin House. He was old, probably older than all the other teachers combined. His back seemed to have given up on supporting him, as he was always hunched forward and was forced to use an ornately carved wooden walking stick. The little hair he had left was thin and the color of dirty cotton blossoms. His watery eyes were blocked by small copper-rimmed glasses.

Today, in the second week of October, the Slytherin and Griffyndor first-years were finally doing something productive in double Potions. After Peter almost decapitated Remus during their first session after unintentionally blowing up his cauldron, all they did was theory and safety lessons.

"Now, boils," Hetting was saying. "Follow the recipe for the treatment exactly, and be sure to read the first line, that in red. We'd better not have any accidents today. I'm bloody tired of having to lecture you idiots."

He was sure to be looking at the Gryffindor side of the room when he made the last statement.

The students, after reading the sheet that had been passed out to them at the beginning of class, began to brew the potion. James couldn't help but notice that Remus was not allowing Peter to touch anything. Things were going smoothly until about twenty minutes after they began, when James and Sirius heard a voice from behind them.

"Don't!" the voice hissed.

It was Snape. He and Adonis Avery were sitting behind them, something both Sirius and James had failed to realize. Severus was leaning over his worktable, looking irritated.

"Stop what?" Sirius asked him.

"If you add the geranium pollen before the nettles, you will cause a reacting with the-"

"Oh, shut up," James said, interrupting him. "We know what we're doing."

"Obviously not," Snape said coolly. "But if you want an irritating rash..."

"You're making that up," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

Lily, who was across the aisle turned to them. "James, Sirius, just do listen to him, alright?"

James would have liked to listen to Lily. Really, he would have. She was finally talking to them again. He still thought she overreacted about the whole prank with the bush (she disagreed), but having the smartest girl in the year for a friend had its advantages. But sometimes, you had to take a stand.

Sirius seemed to agree, as he again reached for the small bowl that contained their geranium pollen.

Snape dropped behind the worktable, and most of the nearby Slytherins followed suit. Lily and Daphne hid behind the far end of their table. James, however, felt perfectly safe as Sirius added the powder.

KABLAAM!

Several of the girls screamed as the potion exploded. James almost fell off his chair. A thick, salmon-colored mess covered he and Sirius from head to toe. Luckily, most of the people in a three-foot radius of their cauldron had ducked, and they appeared to be the only ones covered in the potion.

Professor Hetting, however, looked as though he were about to have a heart attack.

"You fools!" he cried in that horrid hoarse voice of his, "Didn't you read your instructions!"

James looked down at the sheet of parchment, and wiped away some of the goop to read, in red, at the top of the page 'DO NOT ADD GERANIUM POLLEN BEFORE DRIED NETTLES'.

Oops.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor! Now go to the hospital wing!" Hetting shrieked.

Sirius seemed determined to maintain a modicum of dignity and walked out with his head held high. James wasn't so sure he could pull that off, especially after he saw the look of mixed anger and disappointment on Lily's face. But smirk Snape shot in his direction convinced him that he could.

"He knew we would add the powder then if he told us not to," Sirius said. "He was trying too make us look bad."

"I know," James said. "Don't scratch. It'll only make it worse."

"But it's awful!" Sirius argued. "And how do you know?"

"Well, that's what happens with most things," James answered, shrugging his shoulders. "Anyway, I think it's time we resurrect you-know-what."

"Definitely," Sirius said, wiping potion from his brow. "I didn't stuff all those cushions for nothing."

**********

Severus Snape was not a smiling type of person. Smirking, yes, smiling, no. He was dark and brooding, even now, at age eleven. He rarely showed emotion, at least under regular circumstances. He was famous for glaring at people, although whether it was intentional or instinctual was a matter for debate. However, when he entered the library and sat down across from Lily Evans two days after James Potter and Sirius Black blew up their Potions assignment, he looked absolutely giddy.

"Have you seen them yet?" he asked her.

"Who?"

"Potter and Black. They just got back from the hospital wing."

"Are they alright?"

"Pink."

"What?"

"Pink. They're pink."

"Pink?"

"Side effect of the rash. It leaves the skin tinted pink for a few days."

"And this is a good thing because..."

"Because they deserved it. Think they're so great, so invincible. Hah. Maybe this will knock them down a notch or two."

"If the three of you don't kill each other before graduation it will be a miracle. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll let you celebrate in peace."

"Come on, admit it. Even you think its funny."

"Yes. But I have no desire to get thrown out of the library for laughing too loudly." A grin spread across her face. "And I admit, I do want to see what Sirius looks like in pink."

She gathered up her books and walked out, leaving a still-grinning Severus. She was alone in the dark stairwell, one of the many she had to take to get to Gryffindor Tower. She almost slipped down the stairs in fright when she heard the cool drawl echo behind her.

"Remember me, Miss Evans?"

Lily had been hoping that see had seen the last of Lucius Malfoy. She had heard things about him since their arrival at school, of course, but he was yet to speak another unkind word to her. After a month and a half of his letting her be, Lily had decided that she had been blowing the incident on the train out of proportion. But here he was again.

"What do you want?" Lily asked, trying to control her revulsion at the cold smile on Lucius' face.

"Well, Miss Evans, I thought it was only right to give you fair warning."

"Warning of what?"

He didn't answer her question. "You see, I've heard about you, Miss Evans. All the teachers seem to think you're so smart."

"Is there a point to this?" Lily interrupted. She let her free hand, the one not holding a tall stack of books, slip into her pocket and her fingers slowly wrap around her wand, just in case.

"Yes," he replied, suddenly seeming to grow...darker somehow. "a very important point."

He turned, and, taking a few steps forward, had her backed against the wall.

"Listen, Evans," he began, "I'm doing you a favor. A lot of people, myself included, don't like the idea of upstart Muggles at Hogwarts. It's bad enough you're here, don't show off. Believe me, it will make your life much simpler."

"Are you threatening me?" Lily demanded.

"No. I'm just doing what any self-respecting wizard would do."

"From what you're saying, talking to the likes of me isn't very respectable, but you're still doing it."

"Sometimes certain sacrifices must be made," he spat.

"Like the Brights?"

Suddenly Lucius calmed. A wicked grin spread across his face.

"Ah, them. Meddlesome people, the two of them. The wife was a Muggle, like you. So you see, muggles who stick their noses in where they don't belong don't do so very well, now do they? Especially now."

He stormed off.

**********

Severus was not concerned about Lucius' little chat with Lily.

"He's a Malfoy," he explained in his usual cool tone after Lily told him about the incident the day after. "They think it's their God-given right to terrorize Muggles. He's just showing off. Seeing how scared you'll get. You're the third Muggle-born first year he's done this to since we've gotten here."

"Who else?" Lily asked.

"Two other brains. Marguerite Sloan and Rebecca Yang."

"Rebecca Yang?" Lily exclaimed. "She's a muggleborn?"

"Didn't you know that?" Severus asked.

"Well, with that attitude of hers, you'd think she was a direct descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw or something."

"She's trying to compensate for not having wizarding blood. I take it the two of you are still at each other's throats?"

"We were never at each other's throats. She attacks and I defend myself."

"If you like to think of it that way."

**********

"Swish and flick, now, swish and flick."

It was Halloween morning, and Professor Flitwick was doing his best to review proper wand motion with the Gryffindor first-years so the could begin making objects fly. He apparently chose this lesson for Halloween every year, as it was the only thing that would keep his students focused on something other that that evening's feast. All the wizard-born students acted like today was Christmas, and the Muggle-borns were exceptionally curious as to why they were. Of course, after that morning's breakfast of pumpkin pancakes and honey, it was hard to not be in the Halloween spirit. But it was hard for someone who grew up dressing up as a princess and wandering about the neighborhood collecting candy on Halloween to see what all the fuss was about.

"We've done this a million times already, why won't he just give us the incantation and let us go at it?" Daphne whispered, still swishing and flicking her wand.

Lily, Eve, Eden, and Arwen all nodded in the direction of Peter Pettigrew.

"Ah."

Lily smiled at her friend. Daphne was probably the most sarcastic girl in their year, but also had more common sense than the rest of them. She was able to think straight and logically in any situation (a very un-Gryffindor-ish trait). Not that she was cold or dark or rude. She just knew the truth and would tell it to you, sometimes even if you didn't want to hear it.

Lily was at least an inch shorter than everyone else in their year, but Arwen was the only one who really made Lily feel tiny. She was at least half a foot taller that most of the other girls, and had an air of supreme confidence that made her seem even taller. She had fallen into a rhythm with her wand movement that she repeated over and over again, sure in her ability to do it correctly.

"All right, now, wands down, now!" Professor Flitwick announced, clapping his hands and almost falling off the stack of books he needed to stand on to be seen by the class. Small clicking noises could be heard as everyone placed their wooden wand down on the desks.

"Let's practice the incantation!" he called. "Repeat after me! Wingardium Leviosa!"

"Wingardium Leviosa!" the class echoed.

"Once more!"

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

"Alright then, try it with your wands. See if you can get your feathers to do anything."

Lily picked up her wand and was about to try the incantation when Daphne nudged her and nodded towards the twins.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Eden and Eve called in perfect synchronicity. Their wand movement was completely in sync.

"Scary, isn't it?" Daphne asked, before going back to her feather.

Once again, Lily lifted her wand. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Slowly, the feather crept into the air. It gained speed as Lily gained confidence. She used her wand to change its direction and its speed. A wide grin had spread across her face. Slowly, people took notice of the flying feather.

"Well done, Miss Evans!" exclaimed the professor. "You've got it! Ten points to Gryffindor!"

Suddenly, a second feather rose into the air. It belonged to Remus.

"Look, we have another!" Flitwick cried. "Good show, Mister Lupin! Five points to Gryffindor!"

"Hey!" called James. "Why does he only get five? You just gave Lily ten for the same thing!"

"Well, Miss Evans was the first," explained the professor.

"Well, yeah, but he still deserves the whole ten," James continued. "It's not like Lily made hers do anything special."

Lily's feather stopped in midair. With her wand arm still extended, holding the feather in place, she spun around and glared at James. He suddenly realized that now he was in for it. He hadn't been trying to be mean to Lily, he just thought Remus deserved more points. Although, the more he thought about it, it might have been fair (Lily was first), but how could he admit that now?

"I think I shall leave the point totals as they are, Mister Potter," Professor Flitwick said. "But please, in the future, try to remember to try to show some respect for your classmates and their work."

Remus shot him a stern look once attention had been drawn away from them, but he didn't seem to be angry. He continued to make his feather waltz around the room. It was soon joined by everyone else's feather, except for Peter's, which he could only make to hover a few inches off his desk. Everyone was in a good mood when they ran from the classroom, eager to go to the feast.

Except for Lily.

She shot James an angry glance and walked out of the room straight-backed and her head held high.

"You know, I tend to irritate her a bit, but I've never actually had her mad at me," Sirius observed. "This is the second time you've made her furious in two months. With no involvement from me!" He slapped James on the back. "So proud, Jamsie! Knew you had it in you!"

"It was kinda stupid, James," Remus said. "You shouldn't have spoiled it for her."

"I'm hungry," Peter announced. "Let's go to the feast."

"Yeah. We're going to need our strength for tonight," Sirius said, a wide grin spreading across his face.

**********

Lily had to admit, Hogwarts knew how to throw a feast. And as Halloween was one of its most important holidays, it went all out. The largest pumpkins she had ever seen were lined up against the two long side walls. There were at least fifty of them, ten feet tall or more, a unique face carved on each one. The candles that usually floated in midair to provide light had been replaced by several large, ornate candleholders on each table. The tables themselves had been given orange and black tablecloths, a different pattern for each house. A gigantic arrangement of dried flowers and stalks of wheat sat before the Head Table, spilling down the steps.

A giant swarm of bats flew over the students' heads as they entered the Hall. Several first-year girls screamed, but it was obvious that this was a yearly occurrence, for no one else seemed startled by it.

"Who needs bats when you have Snape hanging around?" she heard James Potter whisper to Sirius Black. They snickered. She scowled.

When they all had taken their seats, a huge amount of food appeared on the table. This banquet rivaled the Greeting Feast in the amount of food, but it quickly became obvious that tonight's menu was much different from the one they enjoyed at the start of term. Almost everything contained pumpkin. The meats were topped with pumpkin gravy, pumpkin powder was sprinkled on the potatoes, and the rolls were buttered with pumpkin spread. There were bowls of dried pumpkin seeds, baskets of pumpkin bread, and plates of plain pumpkin slices. The smell was overwhelming.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to eat pumpkin again," Lily announced as she put down her desert fork. Of course, they had been given pumpkin pie.

"Wait until next year," Daphne told her.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Eve said, a hand on her stomach. "I ate too much."

"I think we all did," said Daphne.

Sirius Black, who was sitting a few seats down from them, suddenly jumped up and walked quickly from the Hall.

"Don't want to know," Eve and Eden said in unison.

"Alright, curfew hasn't changed, up to bed everyone, follow me!" William Brigsby was saying, walking along the table at his usual quick pace.

"He acts like we're cattle," Daphne said.

"Could be worse. He could treat us like dogs," Lily pointed out.

William was standing at the portrait hole when they arrived in Gryffindor Tower.

"Where's Black?" he demanded.

"How should we know?" Daphne asked.

"And why should we care?" Lily added.

William scowled. "He wasn't with Potter, Pettigrew, and Lupin. He must be up to something."

"Well, we don't know what it is, and frankly, we don't care," Daphne said, before she pulled Lily into the common room.

**********

"What took you so long?"

"Everyone was wound up from the feast. It took forever for us to be sure they were all asleep."

"Did you get it?"

"Yup. You'd think they'd be a little more concerned with people overhearing it, but no, they just scream it from the rooftops..."

"What is it?"

"Peacekeeper."

"What?"

"That makes no sense."

"None of ours make any sense either."

"But theirs is so..."

"Not them?"

"Yeah."

"Can we get on with this please?"

"Here, I got these out of the laundry."

"We can leave ours here. Pick them up on the way back."

"Wait. Our ties. They don't match."

"Who pays attention to ties anyway?"

"Just take them off. Most people did that at the feast anyway."

"Mine doesn't fit."

"Well, make it fit!"

"Shhhh!"

"Is the coast clear?"

"I think so."

"Let's go."

*****

They had annoyed Lily Evans. They had frightened her. They had made her frustrated, irritated, uptight, and upset. But so far, they had never really made her furious.

When James saw her face on the morning of November first, he realized that they had finally done it. She looked ready to kill.

"The Mime Charm," she said between gritted teeth.

"Beg pardon?" Sirius said.

"A charm named after a kind of muggle street performer, who does not speak at any time during his or her performance and uses no props, but pretends to perform ordinary, every-day tasks using invisable objects," Lily continued, ignoring Sirius. "Famous for a routine in which they pretend to be trapped inside a box no one else can see."

"Well, Lily, we're all glad that you know your charms and Parisian entertainment, but why do you feel the need to show off in front of us at seven o'clock in the morning?" Remus asked, keeping a straight face.

"It's what you used on Severus," she spat. "You've been planning this since we got here. The first week, when Sirius was caught out of bed. You were by the Slytherin dorms, looking for the entrance, I'd bet. And you must have snuck down there to hear the password, which would explain why Sirius was so keen on leaving in a hurry last night as soon as some Slytherins got up, and why he was late getting back to Gryffindor Tower."

"Lily, we have no clue as to what you're talking about, but it sounds like you need to eat something," James said calmly, a smile of mock concern on his face.

"Well, I'm sure your memories will be refreshed in a few moments," Lily snapped. "Needless to say, when Severus woke up this morning and couldn't get out of bed because there was an invisible wall around it, he was kind of annoyed, and I'm sure you four will be the first he shares that sentiment with once Professor Flitwick gets him out!"

They couldn't take anymore. Sirius, Peter, Remus, and James burst into laughter. Loud, roaring laughter. The rest of the Hall turned to stare at them. Tears began forming in their eyes, and Sirius doubled over in his chair from the pain his stomach.

"Did he put his hands up on the wall?" James asked when he caught his breath again. "That's why they call it the Mime Charm, because people hold their hands up, like the mimes do, you know..."

His laughter overtook him as he held his hands up in an attempt to demonstrate.

"I don't know, I only heard about it from one of the other Slytherins," Lily said, still trying to maintain a normal conversation. "But he's down there screaming his head off, saying he's going to hex the four of you to high heaven once Professor Flitwick gets him out."

"They can't prove anything," Remus said, beginning to clam down.

"Professor Hetting doesn't seem so unsure," Lily said smugly. "He's already talking about getting the four of you expelled."

Their remaining chuckles died suddenly.

"Expelled?" Peter squeaked.

"Hettng doesn't seem so unsure about his ability to prove your guilt. Have a nice day."

Lily walked away.

"Why was she so worked up?" Peter asked. "We didn't do anything to her. She should be grateful."

"She's just trying to be dramatic," said Sirius, shoving some egg into his mouth.

"Snape's her friend," Remus pointed out. "She'd be just as upset if we had done it to Ellie, or Daphne, or William."

"But how's Hetting going to prove we did it?" Sirius questioned.

"I think Snape should be our worry at the moment," James said. "He's no idiot when it comes to hexes, I hear."

**********

They were called out of History of Magic that morning.

This ordinarily would have been cause for a celebration, but when they saw the look on McGonagall's face, they knew they were in for it.

She led Peter, James, Sirius, and Remus into the corridor, where Hetting and Snape stood waiting. Snape had a look of complete and utter loathing on his face.

"The four of you have some explaining to do," Professor McGonagall said sternly.

"What do you mean, Professor?" Sirius asked. The uneasiness in his voice worried James.

"You know perfectly well what she means, Black," Snape spat.

"A Mime Charm was performed around Mister Snape's bed some time after he went to sleep last night," McGonagall continued, ignoring Snape.

"And we have evidence that you did it," Hetting added, a dark note added to his scratchy voice.

They hadn't noticed what Hetting had been holding the entire time: a school robe with the Gryffindor insignia stitched to it. Hetting opened the robe to show a label sewn into it. It read 'Peter Pettigrew'.

Peter had left his robe.

"This was found in a corridor a few feet away from the entrance to the Slytherin common room," said Hetting. "And I'm sure that once we search your dorm, we will find Slytherin robes, as you would have needed to be wearing them to gain entrance to our common room."

"While this only implicates Pettigrew in being out of bed after hours, Professor Hetting believes, and I must agree with him, that the three of you must have been with him," said McGonagall, motioning to Sirius, Remus, and James. "But we can't prove that at this point. So you must chose if you will make Mister Pettigrew take the fall for all of you, or if you will confess, and go down with him."

James glanced at Peter. He looked so scared, all the color gone from his face. Peter turned quickly to his three companions, a pleading look of terror on his face.

"I was with him," James said quiety.

"So was I," whispered Remus.

"And I was too," added Sirius.

Professor McGonagall sighed. "Well, I suppose we have to inspect your dorms before we decide on punishment."

The seven of them began down the hall. Snape was grinning, Hetting looked content, and McGonagall seemed thoroughly annoyed at the fact that she had four such idiots for Gryffindors.