Twenty Things That Never Left the Marauders

THE SORTING

1 Sirius Black expected to be placed in Slytherin. When the Hat offered him Gryffindor, he said no. It ignored him.

2 Remus Lupin was never going to be a Ravenclaw.

3 Peter Pettigrew became a Gryffindor only because he heard James Potter declare he would be one. Even then, he knew strength when he saw it.

4 James Potter was almost a Slytherin.

FIRST YEAR

5 Sirius and James were mortal enemies for about two days, before they caught each other pulling the same prank on a Slytherin first year - Sirius to spite his would-be house, James to prove to himself that he couldn't have been a Snake.

6 Afterward, they were inseparable. Peter Pettigrew joined them because he could not be pried off of James' side, for fear of... well, just about everything.

7 Remus Lupin considered dropping out no less than twelve times within the three months before his dorm-mates discovered his secret. Afterward, all but Peter expressed their awe at meeting an actual werewolf.

8 Peter was terrified of wolves.

THIRD YEAR

9 They broke several records, Ministry laws, and laws of magic with their pranks. The Marauder's Map was a curious by-product of an attempt to create an in-castle teleportation system.

10 James found a book on Animagi that said werewolves didn't care to attack a transformed wizard.

11 Sirius, who'd had a cousin die during the transformation, never said a word against it.

FIFTH YEAR

12 They all became animals on the full moon. A favorite game was Peter Hunting, wherein the rat would hide and they would sniff him out.

13 Years later, Sirius thinks about what good practice this was.

14 Remus started noticing some things.

THE LANGUAGE

15 Sirius said he was bored, which meant entertain me, James.

16 James played around with a snitch, which meant look how cool I am, everyone.

17 Sirius watched him, which meant something Remus wasn't quite able to decipher - or maybe he did and just didn't like the answer.

THE LIES

18 Sirius said I'm happy for you when James announced his and Lily's engagement.

19 Sirius said nothing's wrong, I'm fine when James asked.

THE TRUTH

20 With James gone and Sirius in Azkaban, Remus can tell himself that it was nothing. (But it's all-too-easy to see the viciously jealous Sirius Black standing at Voldemort's side with YOU BETRAYED ME FIRST burning in his eyes.)