the marauders- an inseparable bond

[14] september the first

Lily Evans and James Potter both woke up with a smile on their faces that morning. They had been waiting for September the first for so long.

However, Lily's smile faded ever so slightly when she arrived downstairs for breakfast.

"Where's Petunia?" she asked her parents, trying to sound casual.

"She's gone to school." answered her mother, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"But- her school only starts later." There was definitely no use in hiding the hurt from her voice.

"Yes, I thought it was a bit odd, but she said she wanted to meet up with some friends."

Lily's heart fell. No matter how much Petunia had called her freak, how much she had loathed it, she had always come to see Lily off to Hogwarts. Cheer up, Lily told herself, you're going to Hogwarts. You're going to see Mary, Amy and Camilla. With a newfound confidence, she ploughed through her cornflakes and ran upstairs to check she had not forgotten to pack anything.

***

James happiness, on the other hand, was not as short lived as Lily's. The three marauders had woken up and decided they wanted to play Quidditch, but that it was too much of a hassle to get changed, get their brooms and visit the secluded field behind the Potter's. So, naturally, they had bewitched random objects to fly around the room hitting people like bludgers, using odd items such as books or telescopes as beater's bats, charmed a di to zoom overhead like a snitch, made lines on the walls with their wands to serve as goals and used a t-shirt (unclaimed, maybe Peter's?) as quaffle. Since they were only three, they had decided that there would be three teams each consisting of a singular player. Remus, Sirius and James soon learned it was not easy to catch the snitch, defend your goal, score, and ward off items thwacking into people at the same time. Sirius soon devised a strategy of using the Wingardium Leviosa charm to hover himself mid-air in front of his goal posts, one hand clutching a copy of Standard Book of Spells: Grade 6 and the other outstretched, believing that the dice had to fly down to his end at one point or another.

Mrs. Potter had walked into the room holding a pile of clothing, saying:

"That's the last of your clothes, make sure they stay folded in your trunks or they'll get all wrin-"

She looked up and noticed the state of the room. Her eyes moved wordlessly from Remus, who had been mid-lunge for the di and had fallen onto the floor, the brass telescope that was held in his left hand knocking him on the head, to Sirius, levitating in the corner and still trying to discretely reach to grab the "snitch" (this stopped abruptly when Mrs. P looked his way), then finally resting on James, who was making a star position with his body, trying to cover all his goal posts, a telescope in one hand and a crumpled looking book in the other, and a t-shirt hanging from his teeth. All boys had frozen, but this wasn't much good as the "bludgers" still flew around psychotically, one of them choosing that moment to hit her in her face. She opened her mouth, then closed it. Finally, she spoke:

"I am going to come back in ten minutes and if you three aren't ready to go there will be consequences."

As soon as the door shut behind her, there was a fraction of silence and then the boys all burst out laughing. It was one of those laughs that make you feel good, one of those laughs where you can't stop, one of those laughs that reminds you that you are amongst people you love.

***

Surprisingly, they were, indeed, ready, in ten minutes. They knew that though Mrs. Potter was a warm and kind-hearted woman, you did not want to get on her bad side. King's Cross Station wasn't very far from James' house, so they strolled happily through the sunny streets to get there. When they arrived, Remus and Sirius noticed something odd. James seemed to be trying to flatten down his hair.

"James!" hissed Sirius as they pushed through crowds of muggles on the busy train platform, "What are you doing?"

"Huh?" James looked up, as though he had just come out of a daze.

"What are you doing to your hair?"

Sirius' friend's face acquired a reddish tinge.

"Um, I dunno, is it against the law for me to fix my hair?"

"But-"

"If he wants to, that's fine." interrupted Remus.

"But he-"

"Besides," cut in Moony again, "It's pretty damn obvious why."

Realization hit Sirius Black's face like a fifty-pound truckload being dumped out onto the pavement. Whether he was going to voice his thoughts or not, they never found out, because at that moment, Mrs. Potter said:

"James, why don't you go first?"

They had arrived at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. James casually leaned against the wall, and slid out of sight. Remus went after, followed by Sirius and then finally James' mother. On the other side, all four emerged, and at the thought of four, James thought of Peter, and said, without thinking;

"We're going to see Peter."

"I don't care. We'll just ignore him." said Sirius quietly.

"No." said James.

"No?" repeated Sirius incredulously.

"No! I'm tired of just letting you decide if we're friends with him or not just because I don't want another fight. Yes, what he said was terrible, but if you hadn't noticed, he is our BEST FRIEND. Once marauder, always a marauder."

"It was more than terrible! It was homophobic! Or do you agree with him?"

"God, Padfoot, you know I'm not like that! Or do you? Because right now you sure seem confused of who your friends are!"

"Well?" Sirius looked over at Remus, "Are you actually going to fight this time? What do you have to say?"

Remus' face flushed.

"I- uh-"

"Like always, of course!"

It was at that moment that Peter Pettigrew walked up to them.

"Um- is this a bad time?"

"YES IT BLOODY WELL IS!" shouted Sirius.

"Not at all." said James, "Are you here to apologize?"

The short boy nodded his head bashfully.

"It was a terrible thing for me to say. I'm just- not used to that sort of thing. I've never met anyone who was gay before. But I realized, it doesn't matter someone's sexuality, and besides, I'll get more comfortable about it. You guys are my best mates, and that's what really matters. I'm sorry."

James smiled and hugged him. After a second, Remus did too. They all looked at Sirius, who finally followed.

Have you heard of the expression what doesn't kill you makes you stronger? Well, the same can be said for friendships. The more they go through, the tighter they become.