The Years We Were Alive: Year 1

Halloween

October 31, 1971

"I'm you know, really tired, so I'll dress up for a little while, then I'm going to go catch up on sleep," Remus told the group before they put on their costumes. They were going as a band of pirates.

"Alright, go ahead, miss out on the best night of our young lives thus far," James patted Remus on the back. Lizzie noticed that Remus jumped a little bit.

They had all been trying to figure out costumes for the past month until Lizzie said something about her brother's costume the previous year. A pirate. A marauding pirate. J always did surprise Lizzie with his casual grown-upness. How he would just say things like that. She had to look up the word in the dictionary at school! Of course, she didn't tell the boys that.

"The marauding pirates are being unleashed," Sirius joked, he jabbed his finger at Lizzie's ribs. He knew it bothered her, and he figured it was his job to bother his friends.

"Watch out world, for the Marauders," Lizzie put her hat on. It was a funny site though. She had a face hook over her right hand, and she was holding a bag in her left, so it took quite a bit of effort.

"I like that," Peter said faintly. He was gaining more confidence. Lizzie was happy for him, he deserved to be their friend and put in his input just as much as anybody else here. Lizzie knew that James and Sirius didn't really think of that kind of thing. She thought that it might just be because she was a girl.

They left the boys' dorm room to head for their first Halloween feast. Lizzie hoped it would include candy, especially chocolate. Chocolate was her favorite type of candy.

"Happy Halloween students," Dumbledore started his speech once the group had sat down. It seemed like he was waiting for the rest of the students to trickle in, and they were the last to come in. Lizzie tried not to let her face turn bright red as Dumbledore was speaking, but they really were the only ones dressed up. James and Sirius didn't mind that much, extra attention for him. Lizzie wasn't the biggest fan of it, even though it was her idea, but being in James and Sirius' confidence bubble helped.

"Now, I thought I would make an announcement," he smiled, "your favorite candy will be available to you in your rooms after the feast, eat as much as you would like,"

A rush of chatter spread over the Great Hall. From what Lizzie could hear from whispers, they usually didn't do this for the students. This was a special year though. Halloween fell on the full moon. This was kind of like the Friday the 13th they had had that August.

"Ooo," Remus smiled at Lizzie, "more chocolate,"

"It heals the soul, I swear," she moved her finger in an X over her heart.

After they had all had their fill of Halloween Feast, they stood up. They weren't quite sure what they would be doing in their costumes, but there was a party starting in a couple of hours. Until then, what were they even going to do?

"I mean, we are marauders Afterall, we could go on an adventure throughout the castle," Sirius pointed out when they were out of the Great Hall. They looked very silly. A very mismatched band of pirates.

James was dressed in an outfit that included a peg-leg. He had an eyepatch and a pirate hat. He wasn't sure exactly what a pirate looked like until Lizzie explained it to him and the rest of the band. Sirius tied his hair up with one of Lizzie's hair ties, "This is awesome! I see why you tie your hair back," he hadn't ever tried it, and it was a great relief in terms of heat and things touching him. Peter and Remus were both wearing pirate hats and eye patches. They looked a little odd, people usually didn't picture male pirates to be blond, usually, they would be scruffy, kind of like James and Sirius' long and disheveled hair. Lizzie went all in. She had a hat, a pirate-cut shirt, trousers, and a hook. Her golden blonde hair didn't look quite as out of place. Lizzie recalled the movies that she had seen, and she looked like the female pirates.