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Inspired by this {X} post on tumblr.
IT ALL STARTED with four boys, the best of friends that any four boys ever were. They made a name for themselves- literally. They called themselves ‘The Marauders’ and pledged to become masters of managing mischief and just generally being up to no good.
They were wizards, all four of them exceptional in their own way. The oldest- James Potter, was a master at Transfiguration. He could take any object and turn it into anything else. Then came Sirius Black, the uncontested best friend of James, they were practically glued to each other's hips. Sirius was a master of charms- both the magical kind and the charismatic kind. He could make things float or change color with the simplest flick of his wand.
And then there was Remus Lupin, half blood son of Lyall Lupin and the bookish, ‘innocent’ one of the group. But what no one knew was that Remus had a nasty side to him, and I’m not referring to the fact that he was a werewolf. He was a master of Defense Spells and Offensive Hexes. He could cast a protego shield faster than any angered Slytherin could blink and make his opponent erupt in boils with a spell.
Finally, there was Peter. An unassuming boy that was lacking in both the pleasing physical attributes and stature that his older three friends seemed to possess. He was quite pathetic as a wizard, but was a great listener and spy. No one ever expects the quiet ones, after all.
The Marauders weren’t always The Marauders, but were four quite average pranksters to begin with. It started with the small things- scaring their classmates with randomly levitating objects or charming the shampoo of their nemesis, Severus Snape, to turn his hair red. (That had been a horrible mistake, the boy looked horrendous with such garrish hair contrasting with his sallow skin. It had the added disadvantage of the boy refusing to use his shampoo ever again for lack of trust.)
But then several things happened. Remus’ werewolf side grew more aggressive as puberty hit and the other three boys came up with the perfect solution to help- becoming animagus. And then the war hit. There had been darkness building in background for a while, a nameless shadow that people seemed to fear without reason. And then he made himself known in the worst way possible.
Forty-eight people dead. Twelve half-bloods, thirteen muggleborns, and twenty three muggles- the parents and families of the muggleborns. Above each desecrated house was a black and green skull and snake, a dark mark in the sky. The Hogwarts semester started up that year with a grim veil over the festivities. There were no muggleborns in the class of first years, they had all been murdered. No one seemed to laugh anymore.
But for the Marauders, that just wouldn’t do. They called a meeting in the fourth year Gryffindor boys’ dormitory and plotted. They decided to step up their game and make themselves known. And so, at breakfast the next day, their most elaborate prank yet unfolded. Everyone’s oatmeal turned their teeth rainbow coloured and their pumpkin juice made them burp bubbles. The ‘sky’ charm on the ceiling snowed whipped cream down on the students and staff alike. And a rainbow shot over their heads with incandescent words that read: ‘Laughter Courtesy of The Marauders- Messrs Moon, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs!’
And there was laughter. The darkness that had overcome the hall the past days lifted as the mood improved. From then on, they pranked left and right. At first it was anonymous, but it didn’t take long for the teachers to figure out who was behind it all. McGonagall, as their head of house, punished them accordingly for their crimes, but never too harshly. She knew, just as they all did, that the school needed some pranksters to keep them hopeful in the dark times ahead.
The Marauders became famous. When the boys were in their fifth year, they helped Sirius craft a modified alert charm and combined it with a mild stinging hex. They went to their secret place- the round room at the core of the castle- and chipped off some stone, using it to combine this nex charm with the raw magic of the castle. Anytime anyone within the castle walls said any of their names or ‘The Marauders’, they would know. They used the same technique to create a map of the castle and all the people in it- useful for planning and setting up pranks.
But this new charm they had created was their greatest legacy. It started one day when a Ravenclaw, Maury Boot, was looking for Remus. He caught up with the small boy named Peter after Potions.
“Hey, Peter!” Boot called. Peter paused and turned to greet the boy with a nod. “Do you know where Remus is? I need his help with that new defense spell.”
Instead of nodding, Peter merely smiled. “Look to your right,” he ordered the boy.
Confused, Maury complied. “O-kay,” but there was nothing there.
“Now, look to your left,” Peter instructed.
Maury did so and jumped two whole feet when he saw Remus standing at his left, nonchalantly munching on a liquorice wand as if he had been there the whole time. “Blimey! How-,”
“I hear you nee help with the defense spell,” Remus stated. “Come on, we can use an empty classroom to practice,” he started off, a sputtering an confused Ravenclaw at his heels.
This game was made even more fun by the fact that they had access to all the school’s secret passages. After one particularly long day of potion brewing, they were wandering down one said passageway when they felt the telltale double sting of someone mentioning them.
“I wonder where The Marauders are? They missed class today,” a Hufflepuff was saying. In triangle formation, Sirius at point, they all stepped out from the passageway and slipped out from behind the tapestry that covered the entrance.
“You rang?” Sirius asked cheekily. The Hufflepuff and her friend sputtered in surprise, blanching and looking wholly confused. Remus repressed his grin as Sirius stepped forward to flirt. James and Peter merely exchanged a glance and rolled their eyes. They slipped back into the passage to let Sirius work his ‘magic’.
There was one passageway that James was particularly fond of. It ended in a hole in the ceiling of the atrium just outside of the Great Hall. The hole was warded with a notice-me-not an disillusioned. It made for spectacular entrances. The Gryffindor quidditch beater, Blake Beasley, wa witness to that.
“I wonder where James is,” he muttered to his counterpart, the current Gryffindor Center Chaser, Lila Howle. “I need to ask him about the next Quidditch practice.”
A quick levitation charm on his feet and James as slipping out of the hole, landing lightly on the stone floor next to the two students. They gaped at him as he grinned and ran a hand through his messy hair.
“Sorry I’m late!” he apologized cheerily. “What’s up?”
Remus and Peter, standing off to the side, watched with amusement as Beasley stuttered through his question.
As with most people, there came a time for even The Marauders to grow up. They stopped targeting Snape with nasty pranks and became more accepting of the other houses- yes, even Slytherin. Even Lily Evans, Head Girl, admitted to their genius every now and then.
“I just can’t get the hang of this four-way dueling strategy Professor Smythe is teaching us,” Alice Longbottom was saying to her best friend.
Lily sighed. “Let’s ask The Marauders,” she huffed.
“Where are they?” Alice spun around, confused.
“Oh, don’t worry, they’ll come,” Lily grumbled. The two friends rounded the corner of the courtyard.
“What do you-,” Alice’s question was interrupted by the four boys in question springing out of a bush that surely as much too small to conceal them all. She blinked, mouth hanging open mid-word.
“Every time,” Lily muttered with a sigh. “Every damn time.”
But perhaps the most fun they had was with the teachers. Because even if they thought they were clever, The Marauders always won over them in the end.
It was the day before graduation and the Marauders were finally going to be done- gone forever. McGonagall was beyond relieved but she knew she would miss them like she had never missed any student before them. She was in the nearly empty staff lounge, the only other teacher there was Professor Flitwick. The little man watched in amusement as she cast revealing charms on the cushioned chair she was contemplating sitting down on.
“Are you expecting The Marauders?” Flitwick asked, trying to stifle his smile with a sip of tea.
McGonagall shot him a withering look and delicately sat down. After a moment of tense silence, she relaxed. “Nobody ex-,”
The door burst open at the same time the cushion of the chair exploded into feathers and green and gold powdered paint. The Marauders (and even Lily) stumbled in almost comically, wearing the red graduation robes and hats of Gryffindor house. Sirius was at point, his hair swaying with his abrupt stop, feet planted and pointing an accusing finger at Minerva.
“Nobody ever expects The Marauders!” he shouted.
There was silence and then, Flitwick’s snorting laughter rang through the room. After a moment of glaring, Minerva reluctantly joined in. She really was going to miss these boys.