The Memoirs of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs

Year 1977:

Told by the strikingly good-looking Mr. Padfoot:

Hi there! Seeing as we are going to be telling things in a sort of chronological order I'll be writing about the first train trip to Hogwarts and a bit of the Sorting. Which I might add, was a lot of fun. It was the first time I'd ever met James, Remus and Peter. Lucky I have a great memory. So let us go back... back into time... back to the Year of 1971, the year of opportunities, the beginning of an Era...

Year 19-

..."Uh, Padfoot, don't you think that's a little too dramatic? And what's this about 'strikingly good-looking?'" Moony was standing over my shoulder and looking down at the page with an expression of barely-suppressed amusement. I suddenly stopped writing...

"Moony!! You just wrecked the whole dramatic effect! You idiot! Go away and let me finish!" I scolded.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly still with that annoying expression on his face. He turned and went away.

Anyway, as I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, the Year of 1971 was a new year of opportunities; it was the beginning of a New Era...

Year: 1971, 1^st Year...

Quote of the Era: "You, Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin, and Mr. Pettigrew, are a bunch of good-for-nothing-dim-witted marauders!" - Said by the infamous McGonagall.

And So The Ever-Famous Marauding Era Had Begun...

"Have you got all your things Sirius? All of your school robes? All of your Slytherin things?" my mother said in an almost threatening tone. We were standing on Platform nine and three quarters. It was packed, students were chattering away happily, and there were animals of all sorts hooting, meowing, and making strange noises all around the place. I looked over to the Hogwarts Express, a scarlet steam engine, of which steam was billowing out of and over the crowds, how I longed to be on it already. With the countryside slipping behind me with every mile, and my parents far, far behind.

"Yes," I mumbled, I really did not need to listen to one of my mothers boring, long-winded lectures about Slytherin again, and upholding the family honour, or something equally boring.

"Speak properly boy! And look at me when I'm speaking to you!" I looked up at my mother; she had long black hair, and a menacing look in her eyes, she was wearing black robes with the Black crest embroidered on the chest, as if she was part of some big important group and was very proud of it.

To put it bluntly, I really didn't like my family. In fact, to tell you the truth, they annoyed the crap out of me. My parents watched my every move and tried to control everything that I've ever done, they ran my life, and if there was one thing, I, Sirius Black, hated, was people trying to run my life. My parents had always controlled my life; ever since I've been born they've been keeping tabs on me. But all this would soon change. Because, I, Sirius Black, was destined for Hogwarts.

Almost every single relative in my family is a pureblood. And they are convinced that being pureblooded makes them practically royal, like they're above everyone else. I don't know what the big deal is with all this pureblood stuff, their pureblood tendencies seem too extreme to me, I mean, if they accepted other people and didn't flounce around raving about their superiority I wouldn't mind so much, but they don't, and that's what really gets to me. I wonder if everyone is like that, if Hogwarts is full of pureblood freaks and the like, Slytherin definitely would be like that, but from what I've heard the rest of the Houses; Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff aren't like that at all, they accept everyone, even muggle-borns. I wonder if a lot of people share the same thoughts as my family on purebloodedness.

I mean, what's the difference between being pureblood and half-blood? I never really knew why my family cared so much about being purebloods, to me everyone was the same, and as long as they were wizards it is all the same to me. Apparently, though, my parents are not inclined to share this view, and when I told them this, they threatened to send me to Durmstrang instead of Hogwarts, which is another school, somewhere in Europe that emphasizes the Dark Arts. Well, after a lot of yelling, (most of which was on my mother's and my part) it was decided that I would go to Hogwarts.

Most of my family are a bunch of arrogant, stuck-up gits. Especially my dumb cousins. I've always been pretty distant from my family and their ways, partly because I saw how they treated normal people (whom were muggle-born) in public, and how they wouldn't let me talk to anyone but pure-bloods when I was younger, I was made to play with my cousins and brother. Which, after a while can get very boring. Or could end up in a screaming match.

When I received my letter from Hogwarts my parents were convinced that I was going to be sorted in Slytherin since every person in my family before me had been in Slytherin. And everyone after me would also be in Slytherin. It was almost like a threat, because they knew that I wasn't conformed like Bellatrix, Narcissa and Regulus, I wasn't one to follow their ways completely, I had never really openly opposed them, but they knew I had the capability and confidence to oppose their ways, unlike Regulus, who doesn't have any control over his life at all, even if he is young, he doesn't know any better. My mother had already bought every possible school item with the Slytherin emblem on the front of it. Joy for me. (In case you didn't catch that, it's called sarcasm) Of course, since I am the oldest Black child on my side of the family, they expect me to uphold the family honour.

I, for one, do not want to be in Slytherin, I've already had heard plenty of things about that house, there's not one dark wizard that wasn't in Slytherin.

"Now, make sure you're in Slytherin boy!" my father threatened. My father always backs up my mother in whatever she says, he's always indifferent, it's pathetic really, my mother is definitely the one who runs the family, the boss, or the one who 'wears the trousers' as they say. I've always been distant from my father, we've never had a proper loving father and son relationship, and we've never done anything as father and son. A simple game of Quidditch between my father and I would be the last scene that you would see at number 12 Grimmauld Place.

"I can't make sure I'm in Slytherin!! It's not like I can demand Dumbledore to put me in Slytherin!" I snapped back, my temper getting the better of me.

"Don't talk back to us boy! If you're not put in Slytherin then I'm going straight to Dumbledore! That place is going to the dogs with him as Headmaster! Letting all the mudbloods in!" my mother screeched, glaring around at anyone whom looked anything like a half-blood or muggle-born, causing them to edge away uneasily. Great, I thought to myself, as people edged away from me. Just fantastic.

"Remember to stay around Narcissa and Bellatrix," my father reminded me, yet again. Yeah right, I thought to myself, they would be the last people that I'd hang around, they are both stuck up cows, and they are both in Slytherin, Narcissa is in her 2^nd year and Bellatrix is in her 3^rd. It is most unfortunate that they also happened to be my cousins.

A whistle sounded from the scarlet steam engine. Finally I thought to myself, as I picked up some of my possessions; my trunk was already on the train.

I started to leave, "Remember boy: You'll be in Slytherin!" My mother screeched at me as I walked towards the train.

What a pleasant mother I have. Her last words to me were not "Have a nice time son," or "we'll miss you", no, she was not like any other normal mother.

I boarded the train and walked to the compartment that I had put my trunk in, and sat down. The train started to move; I could hear my parents somewhere outside of the window saying something about upholding the dratted family honour. We rounded the bend and the platform sped out of sight, and I never once, looked back.

After about five minutes of sitting in the compartment absent-mindedly twiddling my thumbs and looking out the window the compartment door opened to reveal a very skinny boy with very messy black hair that stuck up at the back, he wore round black-rimmed glasses and his hazel eyes scanned the empty compartment, he was smiling and looking excited and happy. I'm glad someone was.

"Hi... Mind if I sit here? Only, there are no other compartments left." the black haired boy said, almost bouncing up and down with anticipation on the balls of his feet. I looked him over; he didn't look like the interesting type, in fact, he looked like a twit. What with his gawky hair and over-excited-about-to-wet-yourself manner. But I let him stay in the compartment anyway.

"Sure, knock yourself out." I said as the boy beamed and sat down.

"So, are you a first year?" the boy asked, looking over at me, still smiling "I am." Great. I thought sarcastically as the boy looked at me for an answer. I have some twit that has a permanent grin plastered to his face wanting to make conversation with me. Just great. I don't know why I ever let him in the compartment in the first place.

"Yes," I replied.

"So, how do you know you're in Slytherin?" the boy said, eyeing my possessions with the Slytherin symbol on it.

"I don't. My parents bought them for me. Hoping that I would be in Slytherin," I replied somewhat bitterly. Though apparently the boy didn't notice my bitter tone as he started talking again.

"Oh. I hope I'm in Gryffindor, my dad was in it," the boy said. Congratulations, I thought. But I replied to him anyway.

"Yeah? Me too. Except my family wants me to be in Slytherin with my 'loving' cousins," I explained. The boy looked like he wasn't sure whether to laugh or not, so he smiled awkwardly.

"So, what's your name?" The boy asked.

"Sirius. Sirius Black," I said.

"Nice to meet you. I'm James Potter," the boy offered his hand and I shook it.

The conversation continued quite a bit like this, with very long silences, until a witch came around with stacks of food on a trolley. I looked at the food longingly, it wasn't that I couldn't afford it, quite the opposite actually, my parents refused to give me any money to spend for on food on the train, saying that it was a waste of money, and instead Kreacher (our stupid house elf) gave me stupid sandwiches to eat. Stingy parents.

James though, got up and bought piles of food from the trolley, he basically bought the whole contents of it, leaving only a few items left. He turned and grinned at me, then said, "help yourself", and pushed some food towards me. Perhaps this boy wasn't so bad after all.

"So, do you know any magic yet?" James asked me excitedly.

"A bit," I replied.

"I know some cool stuff! I'll show you!" James was practically bouncing up and down in his seat with excitement. Crazy. Maybe he needed a sleeping potion. I thought to myself.

What happened next resulted in a very hilarious (well in my opinion) situation; James pointed his wand at the compartment door to show me some of his so-called 'magic' not knowing that someone was about to open the door from outside. The door suddenly opened to reveal my cousins, Narcissa and Bellatrix and some boy that I had never seen in my entire life (for which I thank my lucky stars). Before anyone could stop him, James bellowed something inconceivable, (Noticing, too late that people had just walked into the compartment) and several jets of light shot out of the end of James' wand hitting Narcissa, the slimy-looking boy and Bellatrix square in the face. Bellatrix and Narcissa screeched and the boy looked panic-stricken as great green boils started to cover their faces. If I'd ever doubted James' coolness before, I definitely didn't doubt it at that moment. I burst out laughing as my idiotic cousins started running around wildly, like it would help them, James looked stunned, then grinned sheepishly, and emitted a small 'oops', and the slimy-haired boy was looking evilly at James.

"YOU EVIL LITTLE GITS!" Bellatrix screamed as her face took on the appearance of a Grindylow with every passing second. (Personally, I thought it was an immense improvement)

"SIRIUS BLACK! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!!" Narcissa screamed at me, as she desperately tried to fix her face. Ah, that was a memory that I'll never forget, I thought to myself as I fixed the image of Narcissa and Bellatrix with great big boils all over their faces into my head. If only I had a camera. Picture perfect.

I was still howling with laughter when I noticed the slimy boy pulling out his wand and pointing it at James, "watch out James!" I warned, but too late; the boy yelled something, and his wand emitted a jet of light that hit James in the face, which was soon sporting some very ugly looking spots on it. James screamed, and aimed his wand at the boy. Soon, the boy and James were yelling curses, hexes and anything they could think of left, right and centre at each other (well I think James was yelling any spell that he had ever learnt, which wasn't very effective). I fumbled in my pocket for my wand to help James, but as soon as I had pulled it out, the compartment door slid open again, this time to reveal the trolley lady, who was looking very furious.

She took one look at the scene and started to yell "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

"Uh, practicing some magic?" I suggested.

The lady gave me a glare that spelled death, then she told Narcissa, the slimy boy (I think I heard Narcissa call him Snape, his first name sounded like 'Snivellus' or something, I'm not sure, because when she said it her mouth was sort of swollen, so I couldn't catch it) and Bellatrix to leave, all of whom shot death glares at me and James. If looks could kill, then let me tell you, we would have died on the spot.

But it would have been well worth it.

After Narcissa, Bellatrix and slime head left, the lady told us that she'd be going straight to McGonagall, and then she left in a huff.

James and I looked at each other. It was too much for us and we both burst out laughing.

James' face was covered in weird looking spots, his nose was all squashed up and his hair was bright pink. James had definitely come off worse then Snivellus (whom, by the looks of it, knew more curses then the whole sixth years put together). My hair was bright blue, because one of the slimy boy's curses had missed James and hit me instead. Even if James did look more like a troll in that moment, I didn't care, because for the first time in my life I had a true friend. Not someone to laugh at me, but someone to laugh with me. And even if I did not realise it at the moment, someone who I could share my secrets and fears with, someone who would accept me for what I wanted to be and someone who would be there for me when times got tough. I had found a real friend the first day of school and formed a friendship that would never waver in all the seven years that we were to share with each other.

"Did... did you that slime boy's face?! And his hair?!" James asked, in between howls of laughter.

"Y... yes! What a freak!" James and I laughed loudly. If everyone at Hogwarts was like James then Hogwarts was definitely the place where I wanted to be.

"What'd they want anyway? How do you know them?" James asked after we'd calmed down enough to speak in full sentences.

"They were my cousins, Bellatrix, and Narcissa, and I have no idea who that slimy boy was, looked like a first year that'll no doubt be in Slytherin. They probably wanted to introduce me to him or something," I said in disgust. If there was one thing that I hated it was my cousins trying to introduce me to people that I didn't want to know.

"They were your cousins?" James asked, apparently worried that he'd just cursed my relatives.

"Unfortunately, yes. Good job on cursing them!" James let out a sigh of relief, "I've wanted to do that for ages but never had the chance. I salute you!" I bowed to James, and he grinned.

"So I take it you don't like them too much?" James asked.

"Don't like them? That's an understatement," I snorted.

"Oh," James replied.

"So how are we going to fix your face?" I asked, having no idea how to fix curses.

But my question went unanswered, because for the third time the compartment door slid open. A pale, very skinny boy with light brown hair stood at the doorway, looking very nervous.

"Er... H....Hi... Could I sit in here? I just kinda... got kicked out of my compartment," the boy said, looking nervously at us, probably due to the fact that James looked more like a troll with bright pink hair than a human, and my hair was a bright shade of blue.

"Sure, make yourself at home," James said, as the boy smiled gratefully and sat down.

The boy introduced himself as Remus Lupin. And as it turns out, he had gotten kicked out of his compartment by -none other than- Narcissa and Bellatrix. Poor bugger, I thought, I wouldn't have wanted to be in his position when they came in. We told Remus about what we did to them and the slimy boy, he laughed and said that he'd been wondering what happened to their faces, or maybe they were naturally like that. I laughed, Remus was turning out to be pretty cool.

"So what's the slimy boy's name? Do you know?" I asked Remus, "cause I think I heard Narcissa call him Snivellus, but that doesn't sound like a name, well a name for an alien maybe, but her mouth was all swollen, so I couldn't catch it properly," I explained to them. They both burst out laughing.

"Snivellus! That's a great name for him! Who cares if we don't know his real name, we can just call him Snivelly!" James laughed.

"I think it's Severus or something like that, that's what your cousin called him, and I think his last name is Snape," Remus said.

"Who in their right mind would want to call their kid Severus?" I snorted.

"Who in their right mind would want to call their kid Sirius? I mean seriously," James teased.

I just laughed. It was so good to have a friend that I could laugh with.

"So are you going to leave your face like that or what?" Remus asked James after a while. Despite Remus' nervous manner he was turning out to be a nice person.

"Well I can't exactly fix it. I don't know how, and I'm not letting Sirius either, he'd probably give me antennas or something," James snorted, Remus and I laughed.

"I could try and fix it for you, though I could only fix the spots, I don't know how to change hair back. I've been practicing a couple of spells," Remus explained.

"Uh, okay," James agreed.

Remus pointed his wand at James' face and said a spell, suddenly antennas started to grow out of the top of James' head. Remus went bright red and I burst out laughing, James looked at his reflection in the window and burst out laughing as well, soon all three of us were shaking with uncontrollable laughter.

"And I thought Sirius was hopeless!" James said after we had stopped chuckling.

"Sorry! It was worth a try," Remus apologized.

"No need to apologize Remus, all he needs now is a pair of googely eyes and he'd look like an overgrown insect," I said, and we started laughing again.

I looked out the window, it was getting very dark and rain was hammering down outside, the wind was howling as the train zoomed along the tracks.

"We should be at Hogwarts soon," Remus said, checking his watch. I was starting to get nervous; I'd never been in the company of a whole school before.

Sure enough, in a five minutes time the train slowed down and pulled to a stop, a voice echoed through the train "We'll be reaching Hogwarts in a couple of minutes time. Please leave all luggage on the train, it'll be brought up to the school separately. Thank you. Have a nice term."