Early Morning Cuddles - The Marauders

J. Potter

"Lilyflower, must you be so mean." James pouted, trying - and failing - to give puppy dog eyes in hope of any kind of affection off of his favorite ginger. 

"Must you be so infuriating." Lily responded with a frown.

"Must you both talk like this is a Shakespeare play?" Sirius jested, faking a 'posh' accent - which, coming from such a high class child, sounded more lower class than intended. Remus snorted with laughter, slapping a hand over his mouth as Lily shot a glare in his direction. 

"Well I do say, it does sound quite comical-" Remus continued, snorting with laughter as he attempted to speak.

"You're all so infuriating!" Lily huffed, storming away. The three boys looked between each other and Evans as she stormed out of the room. James got up, a sour look turning his face, and followed after the girl. Sirius and Remus blew teasing kisses in his direction, then curling over, clutching their stomachs with laughter. 

------{ 1st September 1971 }------

"Muuuuuum, stop it." I whined, swatting her hand from my face. 

"I just can't help it, my handsome boy finally off to Hogwarts. Oh, I'm just so proud of my baby. Your father too." My mother paused, waiting for my father to respond. Of course my dad missed the cue so my mum gave a soft elbow, "Right, Fleamont?"

"Oh, uh of course. I'm so proud of you son. I'll be cheering you on in the quidditch stands!" he said with a giddy smile. Sometimes I wonder if he stopped ageing when he hit my age and he's just acting like an adult for the sake of the gag.

My mum started playing with my hair again, running her fingers through my unruly curls and doing a quick 'spit check' on any lasting dirt from my tumble with Peter earlier.

Peter's my best friend, we've known each other since birth, our parents are neighbors so our families are great friends. Peter's this little blonde boy, he's chubby and quiet and has a pretty dark sense of humor once you get to know him. His favorite joke goes something along the lines of 'Why don't asian kids believe in santa? Because they're the ones making the toys.' He's always getting into trouble for that joke. I keep telling him it's a bit racist but he doesn't care, and I suppose it is a bit funny.

A knock sounded at the door and I spun so rapidly I fell into the wall. "I'm okay!" I shouted, picking myself up and running to open the door. "Peter!" I shouted excitedly.

I welcomed him in and my mum turned her attention to my friend, now fidgeting with his mousy blonde hair and trying to flatten it, the same way she attempts to tame mine. We both have unruly hair that sticks up at all angles, our mothers constantly jokes that if we were swapped at birth, they'd never even notice. We're mistaken for twins all the time, even though he's mousy blonde with a round face and i have curly black hair and a defined jawline. 

But then again, we've known each other forever. We basically act like each other. I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised. "Mrs Potter, we really should get going." Peter said, trying - with a red face - to escape my mother's grasp. I laughed (or snorted, i guess) and then shooed my mum away.

"We have to leave now or I'll miss the train."

And within minutes, we were racing through the streets of London in my dads little blue muggle car - hes always been obsessed with those kinds of things. We arrived at the station, ran at the barrier with excitement, hugged my mum and dad good bye and rushed onto the train as it sounded the final alarm.

"Peter come onnnnn." I whined, grabbing his hand and dragging him through the isles. We found a practically empty room and walked in, setting our bags on the shelves about the seats then plopping down and sighing. 

"Hi?" a small voice said. It was low and gruff, growly like an animal yet sweet and a little scared. I felt that. I looked across from me to see a tall, lanky kid. He was hunched over in a way that looked painful and there was a big red scar poking out from his collar. He moved his shirt to hide it when he saw me looking. He had a book in his hands but it didn't look like he was actually reading.

"You wanna go mate? Whacha starin' at?" His voice was gravelly, he had a deep accent, i couldn't tell where it was from but it sounded cheap - the kind of accent you see in films like Oliver Twist. He was easy enough to understand though, his voice was kinda refreshing.

"Sorry, this was the only free compartment. Hi, I'm James potter." I said with a smile, sticking out my hand to greet him. He just glanced at it, rolled his eyes and went back to staring blankly at his book. "Rude." I tutted quietly.

Then the door opened rapidly. "FUCK OFF NARCISSA! I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR STUPID CRUSH ON MALFOY!!" a boy screamed before stepping into the compartment and slamming the door. "Hi, how do you do?" he said, calmly, with a posh accent. More posh than me. "I'm Sirius Black, from the most ancient, most noble house of black or however the fuck the saying goes."

"I know you." I said with a grin. I stuck my hand out and he grabbed mine, shaking it roughly. "James Potter." His hands were so soft and delicate yet his grip was firm - the hands of a man who's never worked a day in his life but has the capability to be the best in his field. Great help for all the pranks I wanted to pull in the next 7 years.

"A Potter, brilliant. Mother's going to love this." The boy said with a devilish smirk. 

"Remus. Remus Lupin." the boy across from me said, looking up from his book once again.

"He speaks." I teased and he rolled his eyes, using a hand to push his mousy blonde hair out of his face. 

"What are you reading? It looks gay." Peter said, looking at the cover of the book. The boy - Remus - glared at him before kicking Peter in the shin roughly. "Ow, what was that for?"

"Careful rat, ya don' wanna come of homophobic. That's so 1960s." he said in a mocking voice, glaring at the page he was on. I still wasn't sure if he was actually reading or just pretending so he could ignore us. He slammed the book shut and for a moment, he just stared at it, then he looked up at Peter. For a moment I thought he was going to lunge at him, then Remus just tutted and said, "An' who're you? A rich boy, no doubt. Mummy and daddy give you too much freedom so now when someone tells you no, you don't listen. You cant just call things 'gay' because you feel like it. If i catch u saying that shit one more time, forget acting like a rat, I'll turn you into one."

"Can you do that??" Peter asked, squeaking slightly and looking frightened. Remus ignored him, looking down at his book again. Peter turned to me. "James, can he really do that!? I don't wanna be a rat!!"

I snorted and relaxed back into my seat, watching as Sirius slowly edged towards Remus and Peter backed away nervously, muttering "I don't wanna be a rat." over and over again.