Disclaimer - Me owns nothing! Characters are the works of J.K. Rowling, *bow*, and I am making no money from this - its merely for my own amusement. Anyways, on with the fic!

Chapter 1 - The Beginning

"Hey, Siri!"

Sirius Black blew his long black tendrils out of his face and whirled around, clutching at a trolley with both hands and craning his neck around to see who had shouted him. His face broke into a cheerful grin and he waved towards a bespectacled boy with messy dark hair, who was running towards him, clutching an owl's cage and a large trunk. The brown owl inside it gave an irritated hoot, before flapping its wings angrily and placing its head underneath one of its wings.

"Sh, Apollo, its ok." He tried to soothe his owl, who had cast him a disgruntled look before replacing its head back under its wing again.

"Alright, James?" Sirius smiled.

The two best friends stood and looked at each other happily, glad to see each other. James and Sirius had known each other since they were 2 years old, and were inseperable and more like brothers than friends - both were tall for their age, intelligent, full of mischief and adventurous. Both of the boys were 11 and ready to start their first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - they were currently at Kings Cross Station, ready to board their train at Platform 9 3/4. Only problem was, they couldn't see it anywhere.

James turned around to see where his parents had went; Sirius followed his gaze and saw his mother standing talking to them, his younger brother Regulus standing beside them, a scowl etched on his face. Shrugging, James led the way towards them, Sirius pushing his trolley close behind his heels.

"Mum," began James, "how do Sirius and I get-"

"Onto the platform, dear?" James' mother, a friendly woman, smiled and bobbed her head in the direction of the barrier between platforms nine and ten. "Just walk through the barrier. Come on, I'll go with you."

The black-haired woman took James' trunk from him and walked briskly towards the barrier; instead of stopping she kept going and walked right through it, vanishing from sight. Eyes gleaming, Sirius jogged after her, and he too disappeared. James followed at a run, not wanting to be left behind, cradling Apollo's cage.

A large, smoking, red train stood before them, the words 'Hogwarts Express' gleaming on its front. The platform was packed with pupils all dressed in ordinary muggle wear and the sounds were deafening; owls hooted, cats hissed, people were yelling, some were sobbing, and one girl was shrieking at the sight of something large and hair lurking in a corner....

"Wow! This is brilliant!" Sirius whooped with laughter and ran towards the train, James sprinting after him. Sirius stopped at one of the entrances to a carriage and turned, waved towards his mother and brother who shot him identical steely glares, before going inside. James grinned and waved at his mum who smiled proudly back before following suite.

The pair prowled up and down the train for a while looking for an empty compartment. They found one that was occupied by a young boy with sandy- colored hair who was sitting by himself, immersed in a large book.

"Hi there!" Said Sirius cheerfully. "I'm Sirius; this is James. Mind if we share your carriage?"

The young boy looked up, folded his book shut and gave them a weak smile. "Sure. My names Remus."

Sirius nosily edged forwards and picked up the large volume from Remus' lap; he read the title and grimaced. " /A Guide to Dark Creatures? /"

"Yeah, its quite interesting," smiled Remus, but the expression seemed oddly stretched. Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but was distracted by the compartment door opening.

The figure of a small, plump boy filled the doorway; he had blonde colored hair, and there was a worried expression set deep into his face. He gingerly set down his trunk before him and heaved a sigh of relief, puffing slightly as though he had been running. As three pairs of eyes rounded on him and watched him expectantly, he realised that he had better say something and opened his mouth, stammering slightly.

"H-H-Hi... I'm Peter P-Pettigrew. M-Mind if I s-s-sit here?"

Remus, (who was smiling towards the seemingly frightened boy kindly,) nodded and patted the empty seat beside him. "Sure. I'm Remus, this is Sirius and James. Nice to meet you."

After the boys had made their greetings they began to talk amongst themselves nervously; before long they were chattering away happily, laughing and joking, and as they shared food bought from the plump woman with the trolley they were totally unaware that over the next few years they would become best friends and the worst trouble-makers Hogwarts had ever seen.

~*~*~*~*~

"Did you see his face?" Sirius Black collapsed into a large, squishy armchair in the Gryffindor common room, tucking his long dark hair behind his ears and wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. "He'll never live it down!"

James Potter fixed his askew glasses and slumped down besides Sirius, roaring with laughter - he only managed a nod before slumping onto the floor, banging his fists on the plush carpet. Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew followed the pair to the sitting area, before both taking their usual seats in seperate armchairs in front of the fireplace, killing themselves laughing.

The four boys were now in their 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and were the best of friends, famed amongst the Hogwarts corridors as the Marauders. Time had, in general, been kind to them; Sirius was tall and handsome, with soft black locks that fell just below his shoulders - he was infamous for his many quick relationships and the mere mention of his name was enough to make many girls from every house swoon. James was slightly smaller than Sirius with scruffy, unruly black hair, and was in his own way quite attractive. Remus' tawny colored hair fell into his honey hued eyes, and he was of medium height and slim - he too received his fair share of attention from the more intellectual Hogwarts females. Peter was shorter than the rest, chubby and still struggling with his lessons, but he didn't seem to mind as long as he had Remus, James and Sirius.

From the stairway to the girls dormitory there was a loud bang, followed by some thuds that sounded suspiciously like footsteps coming down stairs; a flustered looking, red-haired, green-eyed girl emerged with a dressing gown wrapped around her slim form, her hair slightly ruffled and a thunderous look on her face. She was quickly followed by 3 more girls; a blonde, who was grinning, a tall brunette and a chinese girl with long black hair and furrowed eyebrows. They were her best friends, called Jennifer, Chloe and Mali.

"Do you mind?" snapped Lily Evans, rubbing her bleary eyes.

The brunette butted in, practically snarling. "Some of us are trying to sleep!"

Lily's gaze swept across the room and furrowed as she saw the fits of hysterics the Marauders were in; she looked down upon James and rolled her eyes. /Idiot./ she thought, as he writhed about the carpet. "What the hell did you do now?"

Remus and Peter managed to stop laughing as they gazed towards Sirius and James enquiringly, wondering who would tell Lily the story, if anyone. James managed to push himself up onto his knees, sides heaving, and choked out a few words, trying to make the situation mysterious.

"Well, lets just say that Snape's hair will be looking a little different tomo -"

"We turned it gold and red!" roared Sirius, unable to hide his joy. He was quickly silenced, however, by a quick glare in his direction by his best friend, James.

Lily snorted. "That the best you could do?"

At that question Sirius and Remus exchanged glances, eyebrows raised - they had been expecting a telling-off from the Gryffindor Prefect, not taunting. James, however, was now on his feet, had drawn himself up to his full height and was standing before the four girls. "What do you mean?"

At this, Mali stepped forward; "Come on! Wow, you changed his hair to Gryffindor colors - /so/ inventive!"

"Anyways," said Chloe, "I thought stupid pranks like those were not worthy of the famed Marauders."

Sirius stood up, and said jokingly, "Don't worry, Prongs. Like this bunch could do better."

"As a matter of fact, I'm sure we could, no problem, hands tied behind our backs." said Jennifer, grinning.

"Prove it." snapped James waspishly.

"I'm sure we could," smiled Chloe.

Remus decided to step in before James over-reacted and threw a punch at one of the girls. "Come on, calm down, its just a prank and you know they couldn't do any better."

Mali opened her mouth to protest against the latter statement but was stopped by Sirius. "Go on then; I bet you guys can't pull better pranks than us, cause more mayhem or torture Snape any better than we can."

"Your on!" said Lily, her voice raised and looking extremely happy. "Tomorrow we begin."

With a gentle nudge of her head in the direction of the dormitories the four girls departed, leaving James seething with silent rage, Sirius looking proud of himself and Remus and Peter looking slightly nervous.

The war was about to begin.