December 25, 1973
In the Hogwarts corridors, JAMES, SIRIUS, and MARLENE walk to dinner together.
SIRIUS: You sure you're alright, mate?
JAMES: Yeah. Evans just does this kind of thing to make me angry. But I'm getting over it.
MARLENE: That's good. She never told us anything about it- we definitely wouldn't have set her up to do this-
JAMES: I know. Honestly, I'm not mad. Let's just put it behind us.
MARLENE: (smiling) Okay.
JAMES: Anyway, what happened with your brother earlier today, Sirius?
SIRIUS: He's just been going around with old Snivelly. I tried to talk some sense into him, but he's halfway to becoming a Death Eater at this point.
MARLENE: (gasping) You're joking.
SIRIUS: Wish I was. Our parents will certainly be pleased with him- I'm the Gryffindor degenerate in the family, anyway.
JAMES: (laughing) You're no more of a degenerate than I am, mate.
MARLENE: Or me.
SIRIUS: (smiling) Yeah, yeah. Anyway, he's looking up to my cousins as role models.
MARLENE: Your cousins?
SIRIUS: Yeah, Narcissa, she's in seventh year.
MARLENE: The one that nearly made Potter wet himself on the train ride in the beginning of the year.
JAMES: Shut up!
SIRIUS and MARLENE laugh, while JAMES lightly shoves SIRIUS.
SIRIUS: Yeah, her and everyone's favorite Bellatrix Lestrange.
MARLENE: Bellatrix Lestrange? She's your cousin?
SIRIUS: Unfortunately, yes. I told you my family was messed up. Anyway, the both of them are in You-Know-Who's pocket right now. But the third sister, Andromeda, she's my favorite cousin. She married a Muggle-born and disowned the family. It's her footsteps I'll be following in the future, believe me.
MARLENE: Wow. And I thought my brothers were annoying.
JAMES: My family's not that crazy about that pure-blood stuff.
SIRIUS: It's just the whole "Sacred Twenty-Eight" thing. The Black family has high expectations to live up to. It's just the way we were raised, but it's not what I believe.
MARLENE: Good for you.
JAMES: Forget them, right? You're in Gryffindor for a reason.
SIRIUS: (smiling) Yeah, I suppose. We've got to make our own way in life, right? I say let's live it to the fullest.
They arrive at the doors to the Great Hall and enter it, admiring the winter decor of the room and finding their places at the Gryffindor table.
YOU ARE READING
The Marauders Rise (II)
FanficIn 1973, the Marauders enter their third year at Hogwarts and are immediately thrown back into a world of magic and mayhem. James, Sirius, and Peter, under the guidance of Minerva, devise an unorthodox way to help Remus during his transformations, a...
