Marauders Era One Shots

Balloons in History of Magic

Balloons in History of Magic

It'd only been a week and the four had already made a name of themselves.

The four of them had all been sorted into Gryffindor, to most of their surprise.

James, of course, knew he'd be Gryffindor. (He'd gone so far to boast about it on the platform at Hogsmeade, pushing past students, dragging Sirius, dragging Remus, dragging Peter, shouting "MAKE WAY, MAKE WAY FOR THE NEWEST EDITION OF THE GRYFFINDOR TEAM." After which, Sirius Black would shout, "AND HIS AMAZING BEST MATES, OUTTA THE WAY LOSERS." Followed by Remus saying, "you absolute idiots, YOU CAN'T BE ON THE QUIDDITCH TEAM IN FIRST YEAR.") So when James had been sorted into Gryffindor, none of them had been surprised— Sirius Black had whistled from where he already sat at the Gryffindor table, and Remus across from him had whooped. Lily Evans, Marlene McKinnon, and Mary McDonald, others who had been sorted into Gryffindor, had clapped politely and then gone back to the conversation they'd struck.

Sirius had been the first to be sorted, having a last name that began with B. When his name had been called, the hall had gone quiet, save for some of the the Slytherins clapping and cheering from their seats at the Slytherin table. Sirius had looked a bit queasy. It was the moment he'd know if he went on with his new found mates, because if he was sorted into Slytherin, surely their friendship would fall apart.... Or lose his already distant family, because surely his parents would disown him if he was any house other than Slytherin. All his talk on the platform and on the train, and he wasn't actually sure what he'd do if he wasn't sorted into Slytherin. James gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder and Remus muttered "good luck," while Peter gave him a shaky smile. Sirius' heart had dropped even more with these reactions, because what would he do without them? He had only met them a few hours before then, but after long hours of joking and laughing he felt closer to them than he ever had to anyone in his family (save for Regulus). His heart was torn.

In the end, the hat had sorted him into Gryffindor, and the whole hall had fallen still, until James had started clapping as hard as he could in the middle of the group of First years, closely followed by Remus yelling "YES, WE KNEW YOU'D GET IN SIRIUS," and Peter started following along with James, clapping enthusiastically. After that, the first student at the Gryffindor table, who Sirius later found out was Frank Longbottom (unfortunate name, Sirius thought) started clapping as well, and soon the entire table was clapping for him. Sirius had grinned, but his stomach turned with anxiety.

Remus had been the second of the four sorted, and the hat had spent a good forty seconds deciding between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, but finally Gryffindor had won out, with the Hat remarking, "great deal of bravery you have Remus. A good heart too. It'll get you as much pain as it will get you happiness. Good luck, Remus Lupin." Remus didn't really know what to make of it, but it had shaken him up.

Peter was perhaps the most surprised of them all.

He hadn't really known what house mold he fit into. He wasn't smart, so Ravenclaw was out of the question. He wasn't particularly ambitious– he was more of an 'oh well, that didn't work out, lets go get some food' type of guy. He liked to think he was loyal and hard working, so he guessed he would be Hufflepuff.

If there was one thing Peter Pettigrew was, it most certainly wasn't brave.

Yet, he was sitting at the Gryffindor table every mealtime, among his newly made friends, and he had heard the Hat yell out "GRYFFINDOR". He was pleasantly surprised.

It was during their third History of Magic lesson, on the first Friday of term, that the four of them had started to work towards their well deserved name— The Marauders. It was then when they got their first taste of mischief.