"The Boys Called Marauders"

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Summary: James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter begin their sixth year at Hogwarts and enjoy life just being themselves and the Boys Called Marauders.

Disclaimer: The Marauders, Lily Evans, and all other things that can be found in the Harry Potter books belong to J.K. Rowling and therefore do not belong to me. This is a work of fan fiction, after all.

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It was the 31st of August and the boy called Peter Pettigrew had just boarded the shiny scarlet steam engine that would take him and the rest of the students away to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He assumed his three best friends were already sitting in the compartment they had ritually made their own. By ritually, we mean done so by way of ritual, of course… it was very official, Marauder business. Peter's assumption was indeed correct, and he soon found the three boys called James Potter, Sirius black, and Remus Lupin.

"Oy! Pete! Where've you been mate?" James asked as Peter entered the compartment, very loudly.

"I'm not late. The train hasn't left yet!" Peter said in defense of himself.

"Don't let it bother you, Pete," Remus said, in a very dignified, very Remus-like voice. "Sirius has just deafened James, and he's become a bit irritable."

"Don't talk about my mother that way!" James shouted.

"James, mate, stop being a prat and shut up," Sirius said. "Pomfrey'll fix your ears, no need to worry."

There was a pause. Then Sirius whispered, "Although she'll have a bit of trouble fixing your face…"

"What did you say?" James asked, yelling again.

"Bother… it's no fun if you can't hear me, anyway," Sirius said, dejectedly.

He was beginning to regret having accidentally deafened his friend after aimlessly pointing his wand and saying words in gibberish when a pretty girl walked by the compartment. As it happened, it wasn't so aimless after all, as the wand was pointed directly at James' head.

The rest of the train ride was spent playing exploding snap and plotting future pranks, all of which would have to be retold to James once his hearing was restored.

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The next morning, the Marauders trooped down to breakfast before their first day of classes. The previous night's welcome feast had passed by relatively uneventfully, except for Sirius' running commentary on how attractive (or unattractive) the sorted first years' older sisters were. Otherwise, it was quite dull.

They received their time-tables from Professor McGonagall like they did every year, and proceeded on to their newly assigned N.E.W.T. level classes. The first of which was Charms, one of the three classes they all four had together.

Charms was a class in which normal students would find little time to write and pass notes. The Marauders, however, were never what you would call normal students. So, they of course found time to write and pass notes to each other.

Padfoot: How're your ears, mate?

Prongs: A little fuzzy, but better

Moony: It's lucky Madame Pomfrey was too busy to ask questions

Padfoot: I reckon she just didn't consider it worth the time to even bother asking. She'll have known it was us behind it.

Prongs: It wasn't us. It was you. And why didn't Wormtail write?

Remus read the note and looked over at Peter.

"Because he's… ON FIRE!" he said, taken aback by the sight of his flaming friend. "Professor Flitwick! Help! Peter's on fire!"

Professor Flitwick did not hear the cry for help, however, because he was not in the room at the time.

"Oh! Don't you boys know anything?" an exasperated voice from the auburn-haired girl two tables away said.

The three Marauders who were not on fire turned and looked at her. She was pointing her wand at Peter and saying an incantation.

"Augamenti!" shouted the girl called Lily Evans.

The flames that had previously engulfed the flailing and screaming Peter were now gone, and Peter was left standing in the middle of the classroom soaked and steaming.

"Thanks Lily," he said meekly, "you were always so good at Charms."

Lily acknowledged neither Peter nor James, who was smiling at her from his table. Instead, she turned away and went back to her assignment as if nothing of interest or importance had just happened, as if she hadn't just extinguished a fellow student. James, on the other hand, continued to stare rather dreamily at the back of her auburn-haired head.

Remus picked up his quill and began another note.

Moony: Well, I suppose we can count Prongs out of further note-passing, and welcome to the conversation, as well as the world of non-flaming people, Wormtail.

Wormtail: It is nice not to be on fire, yes

Padfoot: I think Evans is starting to change her mind about dear old Prongs. She didn't snarl at him or anything this time. She just turned around and ignored him. I'd say it's improvement.

James came back from his little fantasy world and snatched the note from Remus, who was just about to read it.

"Do you really think so, Padfoot?" James asked eagerly.

He did not get an answer, for just then Professor Flitwick returned to the classroom and dismissed the class. The Marauders packed up their things and headed off to the Gryffindor common room for their free period, with the exception of Remus, who went off to the library for an early start on some research because, well, he was you might call… a nerd.

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