Marauder Memories:

Chapter One: Cherish the Memories

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

I do own the character Cherish Meadowes and any other characters not already made by J.K. Rowling.

Note: This chapter occurs a few months before the Marauders ever start Hogwarts.

-l-flawsmadebeautiful-l-

James was soaring, the wind rushing through his already messy hair, and he angled his head down slightly so there wouldn't be a gleam from the sun to blind him. He could see the Potter Mansion below, with the sparkling blue pool, the colored tiles around it, and the large stained glass windows that continued to change their frames. He looked around then for his friend. He had to dip down much further, and feeling the need to show off, whipped past her as fast as his broom would allow.

"James Potter!" she shrieked, trying to keep her own broom in control. "You prat!"

He grinned at her look of puzzlement as she tried to guide the broom to do what she wanted.

" 'Cmon," he told her trying to sound cheerful though he was concerned she was about to fly off the handle if she didn't hold it correctly. "Cher, you're thinking too much. Just fly."

She looked up at him, her dazzling green eyes glowing. Suddenly, she turned to face him and flew straight for him, her bronze hair whipping behind her as she passed him narrowly, grinning. "You're finally eleven. I can't wait to go to Hogwarts together!"

James grinned back, adjusting his glasses. "You gotta be in Gryffindor, Cher."

She rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him playfully. "Yeah right! I'm not nearly brave enough," she sounded half-envious of him.

He only laughed. "Seriously, Gryffindor is perfect for you."

She stopped her circles, and turned to look at him over her shoulder. Then she turned to face him, tilting her head to one side curiously. "How so?"

Feeling somewhat awkward, he went into a sharp dive and came up behind her, and shrugged before answering. "I dunno." When she raised her eyebrows he continued. "I s'pose I figured you'd want to be in Gryffindor with me. Then we'd be classmates and we'd still be best friends."

She tossed her blonde hair out of her eyes, and blinked at him. "We are best friends," she said as though it were obvious.

"I know," he mumbled. "But I'm going to miss you if you go into Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff."

She looked at him, "Why not Slytherin?"

He shook his head fondly at her, "You'd never be in Slytherin. You're too good."

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Potter," she told him, clearly only teasing. "I'll race you home."

"You're on!" he went into a dive, leaned down close to his broom and behind him he could hear Cherish shouting at him.

"That wasn't fair! I never said go...James Potter!"

In that moment, everything was perfect. He was blissfully happy, oblivious to all the problems of the world. He felt like as long as he had his best friend, everything was perfect.

-l-l-

Now they sat across from one another, drinking pumpkin juice and nibbling on some muffins the house elf had made earlier.

"I bet we could make the Quidditch team," he told her wistfully.

She looked at him over her goblet of pumpkin juice and only raised her eyebrows skeptically at him before taking a sip. "You saw me out there, I'm not good enough on a broom." she swirled her goblet around and then added, "Not like you."

"No, no, not this year. But next year you'll be better. I saw you out there, that was amazing for your first time on a broom. You're a natural. Really," he added when she looked unconvinced. "We'll do it. Both of us."

"Promise?" she asked, looking hesitantly at him.

"For you?" he asked, smiling. "Anything."

She laughed at him, and then nodded. "We'll do it. We can make the Quidditch team together."

"Although Cher," he said in a jokingly serious way, "I'll disown you if you make Slytherin."

She looked at him with those wide green eyes. "You will not," she protested uncertainly.

He laughed his eyes sparkling with amusement. "No, but Slytherin is the worst. Only Dark wizards go there."

Her face slowly turned solemn and she answered, "I've heard my mum and dad talk about them. Say that they're the ones who are doing this to the world. The Slytherins are-and that they're too far up in Dark Arts and get in too deep." Then she rolled her eyes and grew more cheerful. "My mum was in Ravenclaw, says everyone there's really clever. My dad was in Hufflepuff, they're real loyal and hardworking."

James gave a half shrug. "That's not so bad." He picked up his own goblet and drained it. "Mum said she'd take us shopping now that I've gotten my list," James said, pulling open his list from where he'd tossed it a few days ago.

She nodded happily, "My mum will probably say yes, 'cmon," she raced down the hallway, her hair flying. With a yelp of objection, James chased after her, determined not to be beaten by her. He caught up with her as she rounded the corner into the sitting room, and there both of their mothers were chatting and drinking tea together.

His mother paused, her warm hazel eyes that matched his widened slightly and raised her eyebrows slightly.

"Mum, you said you'd take us shopping!" James told her, looking at her expectantly.

"What do you think?" his mother asked, turning to her companion.

The blonde woman nodded. "It's fine with me."

"Yes!" even as James shouted, he could hear Cherish cheering beside him. Then they both ran to grab their lists.

"Be careful," his mother warned as he was the first to step into the emerald flames.

He took a pinch of the glittering powder and nodded, barely refraining from rolling his eyes, "Yes, mother."

He took one last glance at Cherish and his mother and threw the powder into the flames, "Diagon Alley," he spoke clearly and was whisked away in seconds.

His mother and Cherish followed quickly, and his mother brushed the soot off of him as he cleared his glasses from the sparkling powder.

"What's first on your lists?" she asked, looking around Diagon Alley.

James glanced at his list. "New robes, hat, gloves, and a winter cloak, books, potions ingredients and telescope," he listed off.

"We'll start at Madam Malkin's to get your robes," she said even as Cherish and James began weaving through the crowd towards the tiny shop.

Sighing, she hurried after them.

James stood on one stood, while Cherish stood on the other. She turned to grin at him.

"Hogwarts?" the witch asked them as she began to take their measurements.

James and Cherish nodded. "Alright dear, hold still."

He held as still as possible as she pinned the black cloth to the right length. Cherish was not one to stand calmly and began to voice her thoughts on the shop across from them, which was filled with animals of all sorts.

"James, look at that owl!" she pointed to a snowy owl, "I'd sure like to have an owl like that. She's gorgeous."

His mother hummed softly and found a nice set of blue dress robes she liked and was holding them patiently while she waited.

"James, do you like rats?" Cherish asked, even though she knew the answer.

"They're all right, but of course there's always the chance an owl would eat 'em," James pointed out.

They purchased the robes, and his mother led them to the apothecary, the only place to get potions ingredients without going down Knockturn Alley.

"Look, Cher," James pointed to shining unicorn horns and a tie of unicorn hairs.

She wrinkled her nose and sniffed in a disapproving way. "Hm, I don't like potions," she declared after a moment.

James laughed at her expression. "Neither do I," he agreed easily.

His mother carried their cauldrons, half full with the robes and packaged potions ingredients. "James, how about you and Cherish go get yourselves some ice cream? I'll run up to the bookstore and get your books. Meet me in an hour at Ollivander's, okay?"

James and Cherish both nodded, excited to be let off on their own. His mother handed them each a gold galleon and taking his list, bustled away up the busy street toward the bookstore.

James looked at Cherish and they both made a race of it to get to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour first. James ordered a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of peanut butter, and was happily slurping the mixture. Cherish ordered strawberry and lemon, a rather odd combination that James had tried years earlier and found rather good.

As they ate their ice creams, James led the way down the street. They paused to look in Quality Quidditch Supplies, and James paused at a jokeshop to take a look.

At Ollivander's, James paused at the door. His mother was already there, talking to Mr. Ollivander. James was very excited to get his own wand, sure he'd borrowed his mother's more than once but his own want would recognize him much better.

Mr. Ollivander greeted him with a odd look. "Ah, Mr. Potter I presume," and then he looked at Cherish. "And this young lady would be?"

"Miss Meadowes," his mother answered before James could respond.

"I see," he pulled out a tape measure. "Which is your wand arm?"

James raised his right arm and the tape measure began to measure the length of his arm, wrist to elbow and elbow to fingertips.

Mr. Ollivander wandered through the shelves, picking up a few now and then, and muttering to himself.

"Try this," he had returned, and pulled out a light tan colored wand. "Maple and dragonheartstring, ten inches."

James waved it, and found it snatched back almost instantly.

"No, try this one. Yew and unicorn hair, eleven inches," James had barely lifted it when Mr. Ollivander took it back.

"No, no, ebony and phoenix feather." He waved it and nothing happened.

"No, no," Mr. Ollivander seemed quite pleased. "Don't worry. We'll find the match here somewhere," he gestured to the shelves of boxes.

Again and again he tried wands, and Cherish did as well.

Then, one of the ones Cherish was trying worked. "Ooh, James, look!" she squealed, her eyes bright. She brought the wand down, green sparks flying from the end.

"Very good Miss Meadowes," Mr. Ollivander paused in his search to pick up the wand she'd gotten. "Walnut and unicorn hair, eleven and a half inches," he told her.

Annoyed, James gave the next wand he tried a sharp flick toward the counter. There was the tinkling of shattering glass, and something on the countertop exploded with the force of a loud wizard cracker, and James ducked in fear of something hitting him in the head.

"What was that?" his mother asked, and he jumped. He'd forgotten she was there.

She took the wand and set it on the counter, repairing the candle and candleholder he'd destroyed.

"Mahogany, unicorn hair, eleven inches," he noted, and as James waved it, he brought it swishing down leaving a trail of gold and red sparks.

"Pliable, good for transfiguration," the wandmaker commented.

James walked out, uncertain if he liked Mr. Ollivander, though he did like his new wand.

-l-September 1st-l-

James shoved his trunk into the compartment, still rubbing his cheek where his mother had kissed him, ignoring his objection of "Mum! Get a grip, geroff me!"

He managed to store his trunk with great difficulty and then plopped down in a seat. "Hey, I'm James," he held his hand out in greeting.

"Sirius," answered the other boy. He had short, wavy hair and unmistakable grey eyes.

"Who's she?" he asked, jerking his head to a young girl in the corner. She had flaming red hair and her green eyes were red from crying. She sniffed and shot him a fierce look, even though her tears.

Sirius shrugged, lounging in his own seat. "I dunno."

James glanced once again at the girl and then shrugged. "So, what's your Quidditch team?"

Instantly, it broke the ice and the two began debating their own Quidditch teams.

Sirius shared James's love for Quidditch, something Cherish lacked even though she'd only flown a few times. She wasn't nearly as good as James, at least in his opinion.

The compartment door slid open, but James was still fighting with Sirius over whose Quidditch team was best and James only glanced to see if it was Cherish and turned back to Sirius when it wasn't.

He was just explaining why his team was better, their best player being the incredible Chaser and James's idol, when he heard the other person in the compartment mention Houses.

He paused, turning to see what he was saying and heard the boy say something about being in Slytherin.

He turned abruptly to look at the boy, who was talking to the redhead girl. She was sniffing, though she'd stopped crying. The boy was scrawny, with sallow skin and black, greasy hair and black eyes.

"Who wants to be in Slytherin?" James announced his presence loudly. "I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" he asked his new companion.

Sirius looked rather sour. "My whole family have been in Slytherin," he informed James, seeming very sulky about it.

"Blimey," James said in shock, "and I thought you seemed all right."

Sirius's cold gaze softened slightly and he grinned at James. "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the chance?"

James mimed lifting a sword, "Gryffindor, where dwell the brave heart! Like my dad," he said proudly.

The greasy haired boy made a sound that sounded rather disapproving, and James whirled on him. "Got a problem with that?"

"No," the boy answered with a cold sneer. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy-" his black eyes narrowed with mirth.

Sirius flashed to James's defense. "Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?"

James laughed, as did Sirius.

The redhead, who had been quiet until now stood up, flushed with anger. She threw both boys looks of dislike.

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment," she said as she walked toward the door of the compartment, swinging it open.

"Ooooo..." James and Sirius did their best to imitate her lofty voice, and James tried to trip the boy as he passed.

"See ya, Snivellus!"

The compartment door had barely closed when it opened again, Cherish appeared, her face flushed and she appeared rather out of breath. "James! Thank Merlin, I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Who are you?" Sirius asked sharply, eyebrows raised.

Cherish turned to him, having not yet recognized his presence. When she met his eyes however, she stared and speech seemed to fail her. She blinked and closed her mouth. Something about him radiated his high-prestige from his good looks to his tone.

"This is Cherish," James interrupted, when it appeared she was stunned into silence.

"I'm Sirius Black," the boy held out his hand in greeting and after a moment Cherish took it.

There was a knock at the door and James pulled it open to reveal a sandy haired boy, "Hey, is this compartment full?" he asked, seeming out of breath like Cherish.

"Nah, you can join us," James told him and helped the other boy with his trunk.

"I'm James," he told the boy as he helped shove the trunk into the overhead compartment, "That there is Sirius Black-"

"And Cherish Meadowes," Cherish cut him off, smiling and taking the boy's hand.

"Remus Lupin," he answered with a smile, and extracted a book from his shabby trunk. "How're you?"

"Good, and you?" Cherish asked, but before Remus could respond there was a sharp squeal from outside in the hallway.

Cherish was the first to react, racing to the door and sticking her head out, looking up and down the hall to see what the commotion was about. Her eyes landed on a smaller, but pudgy boy who had clearly been shoved over by an older student, and was sporting a cut lip.

"Oh no! James, they're hurting him! Stop it!" she shrieked, racing out and James had no choice but to follow her.

There was a blonde haired boy, standing over a smaller, cringing blonde with wide blue eyes who lay on the ground. Cherish was kneeling over him to help the smaller blonde up. The larger blonde drew his wand. "Back up girl, I'm just having a friendly chat with Peter here," he pointed at the cringing blonde with his wand and gave the other boy a sharp kick to emphasize his point.

"Not very friendly chat from where I'm standing," Cherish told him rather boldly. "Cut it out, will you, what did he do to you?"

The other boy's mouth curled into a smirk. "He was in my compartment. One reserved only for Prefects," he growled. "Do you know what that means, girl?"

Cherish narrowed her eyes but didn't back down. "It means you're supposed to be kind and respectful to others. Not hurt them simply for being in your compartment. I'm sure he didn't know," she crossed her arms and glared at the blonde.

James strode forward, instinctively drawing his wand.

"James, no!" Cherish's objection came too late. He'd already struck the tall blonde with a curse.

"Run!" he told the two, and Cherish pulled Peter up and shoved him into their compartment, James following with one last backwards glance at the Prefect.

"What was that for?" Cherish hissed angrily at James, reminding him of an angry cat.

James grinned. "Oh come off it Cher, he's a git and you know it. I meant to disarm him but it didn't work. Only knocked him backwards a bit."

Peter was now sitting next to Remus, staring at James with wide eyes. "Thanks mate, I thought I was done for."

James shrugged, trying to look modest. "It was nothing."

Minutes later, they were playing Exploding Snap and Peter was proving to be very good at it. "You just have to know which ones to pull," he explained when Sirius and James asked him how he managed it.

Remus had buried his nose in a book, but glanced over at them whenever Sirius gave a particularly loud cheer.

Cherish wondered if there would be any food at all, when there was a rap at the door.

"Anything off the trolley dears?" The woman pushing the cart was older, with a soft smile like Cherish's grandmother and her hair was light brown streaked with grey.

James leapt up immediately, knocking over the Exploding Snap game, and Sirius gave an outraged cry when it was in his face that the cards exploded.

"Sorry mate," James passed them to grab his money pouch from his trunk.

He returned, his arms bulging with the sweets he carried and waved off the others, saying he would share with all of them.

Cherish took a few Licorice Wands and tore into them without hesitation.

Sirius glared at James, and then took the packets of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum from James as a peace offering and lessened his glare.

Remus hesitantly accepted a few Chocolate frogs, and used one of the cards to mark his book. Then he sat, eyeing the pile of sweets though he didn't take any more.

James and Sirius had resumed their game of Exploding Snap with Peter, who kept brushing crumbs from his Pumpkin Pasties into a pile.

Cherish peered curiously at Remus's book. "Secrets of the Darkest Art," she read off of the peeling cover. Remus nodded, watching as Sirius's card exploded loudly.

James noticed Remus looking at the pile of sweets and taking a bite of Cauldron Cake, motioned to it. "Want some?"

Remus shook his head quickly. "No, I'm fine."

James nodded and shrugged, helping set up the next game although it was clear to him that Remus was not fine.

After five minutes and Lupin still hadn't made a move towards the pile, James tossed him a Chocolate Frog, which surprisingly Remus caught deftly.

Remus gave him a small smile said "Thanks," and after that had no problems devouring half the pile of Chocolate Frogs.

Cherish, who was now reading the magazine, Witch Weekly, and cautiously eating Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans when she held one out to James.

"Try this, will you?" she held out a dark brown bean.

He stared up at her and then popped it into his mouth with a shrug. Then he coughed and made a face. "Coffee," he informed her.

Cherish laughed, then reached behind her to the seat full of candies and took another Licorice Wand, tearing off the wrapper and taking a bite.

Even though they were playing a game, James brought up the subject of Quidditch and found the game quickly forgotten.

Peter, though he loved the sport, claimed he was easily the worst player. Sirius and James fought over who was more skilled at flying on a broomstick and who was more likely to make the team next year. Remus munched on his chocolate, simply stated he didn't care much for the sport and vanished behind Secrets of the Darkest Art.

Cherish smiled, and turned to the section of her magazine that read, Fifty Plus Ways to Charm Your Wizard, No Love Potions Involved and was quickly immersed in the section.

Half an hour later, she left to allow the boys to change into their robes, and went to find an all-girl compartment to change herself. "I'll be back soon," she told the boys as they were still talking of Quidditch.

She pulled open the door of a compartment. It only contained two girls, her own age, who stared at her.

One had auburn red hair, and the other had brown, and they both looked questioningly at her.

"I was in a compartment of all-boys," she explained. "Mind if I change in here?"

Both girls shook their heads. "I'm Lily," the redhead told her. "And this is Alice Prewett."

"I'm Cherish, nice to meet both of you," she answered politely.

She changed, pulling her robes on and buttoning them up and straightening her skirt nervously. Alice pulled her hair out from her robes where it had stuck and said, "I love your hair. It's very beautiful."

"It is," Lily agreed. "I wish my hair wasn't red. It clashes so badly with other colors."

"No, it's gorgeous," Cherish told her. "It would look nice with blue or gold."

"Hm," Lily dismissed the comment. "What House are you going into?"

"Gryffindor," Cherish answered automatically, grinning.

"I'll probably be in Ravenclaw, from what I've heard," Lily mused looking uncertain. "My friend wants me to go into Slytherin with him."

Alice wrinkled her nose. "Slytherin? Ugh. I'm going into Gyrffindor with Cherish if I have the choice. You're too good Lily, you won't be in Slytherin in a million years. Salazar himself wouldn't put you in it."

Cherish made a small sound of agreement. "I should be going. My friends will be wondering where I am," she said, and the two girls turned away with goodbyes and resumed the conversation they were probably having prior to her interrupting them.

Cherish walked back, knocking before she pushed open the compartment door. James turned, and hurtled a handful of Cauldron Cakes at her.

She let out a shriek, and ducked to avoid most of them and then caught one, throwing it with quite good aim at Remus who was still behind his book. How he caught it was a miracle, and he then threw it at James, who caught it easily.

"Thanks mate, how'd you know I wanted one?" he asked Remus as he tore the wrapper off and took a bite.

Cherish laughed and resumed her seat as before, taking one of the remaining snacks before picking up her magazine again.

James, Sirius and Peter were all talking about how sorting into their Houses might work. Over her magazine Cherish saw Remus give an odd sort of smile but keep silent as he closed his book.

"I've heard it's some sort of test," Peter was saying, looking frightened. "I dunno much magic though."

"Nah, can't be. Muggleborns wouldn't know much, would they?" James disagreed. "Must be something practical."

"You just put on a Sorting Hat and it sorts you based on what it sees in your mind," Remus said calmly from where he sat.

They all turned to him with wide eyes, even Cherish.

Cherish gave him a skeptical look, raising her eyebrows. "How do you-"

"Asked my mum," he answered easily. The other three boys looked at him, stunned. Cherish hid a grin behind her hand at their disbelieving looks.

"The train's stopped," she commented, breaking the silence.

"We have arrived. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be brought up to the castle separately."

Cherish led the way to where a large man was saying, "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"

At his instruction, Cherish scrambled warily into a small boat with James, Sirius and Peter. Looking around, she realized with a start that Remus wasn't with them.

"Where'd Remus go?" she asked the other three. They all looked around, realizing he had vanished.

"He must've hopped in another boat. We'll see him soon," James said with a shrug. "He's probably forgotten his book."

The small group of boats pushed off all at once, gliding across the black water, silent except for the sound of the oars in the water. They all ducked through a curtain of ivy, and were carried along a dark tunnel.

It led to a underground harbor of sorts, and they all scrambled after the large man, Hagrid, who held up a large lantern to the large oak doors of Hogwarts.

He knocked on the door, and the woman who answered it was tall, her black hair pulled back into a bun and fixed them all with a rather stern look.

She led them through an entrance hall where the stone walls were lit brightly with torches, and then stopped to speak to them.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. You will be sorted into your Houses momentarily. As such, you will have your classes with the rest of your house and so forth. The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. You can earn or lose your house points. At the end of the year the house with the most points will be awarded the House Cup."

James, already bored by the prospect of following instructions instead turned his attention to fellow classmates. Remus had reappeared and was now chatting with another boy in their year.

Cherish was talking to the redhead from the train. Upon noticing his gaze, the redhead shot him a reproachful look before turning back to Cherish.

A few rough looking boys surrounded the greasy haired boy from the train. Severus as the redhead had called him, narrrowed his black eyes coldly at James. Not to be outmatched, James glared back until the other boy looked away. James stood a little taller and raised his head a bit more.

"Slytherin for sure," Sirius muttered to him.

James nodded in agreement. "We'll be seeing more of him for sure. Greasy git."