Relationships at Hogwarts were always changing and evolving. Being away from your parents and near so many children your own age brought about tons of drama and also tons of fun. It wasn't particularly hard to make friends at Hogwarts and the children who were dorm mates would always become as close as the proximity they lived in. Despite losing a group of children and gaining a new one every year, the people at Hogwarts were fairly constant. The seven years you would be spending time with the kids in your grade meant that everyone found friend groups fast.

James and Sirius had become as close as brothers in the mere two months that school had been in session, and ever since the howler incident, they seemed to have a newfound bond. To this date, no one other than the two boys really knew what happened, however, Remus and Sirius did have quite a long talk that night.

The staff at the school had an interesting relationship with the four fairly recently sorted boys, they knew that they were a force to be reckoned with and for the most part, the crazy pranks were dealt with in a series of detentions. Considering who the friend group was made up of—James and Sirius as a conniving duo and Remus with his extreme intelligence— they couldn't be stopped, and although Peter was more of a tag-a-long, he proved quite useful when their schemes unfolded.

Outside of their small group Sirius had become good friends with Marlene, although that was to be expected from day one, and Remus spoke commonly to Lily Evans, with both of them being at the head of their classes they could occasionally be found studying together in the library.

Whilst on the topic, Lily Evans was without a doubt the smartest Gryffindor first year (only placed above Remus for his serious lack of judgment when it came to the four boys' pranks). Despite being a muggle-born, most of her time was spent with Severus Snape, who had been sorted into Slytherin just as he'd hoped on the initial train ride to Hogwarts.

Severus, often the focus of many of the Marauders' jokes, hung out with an interesting crowd of elitist Slytherins, the oldest of which would have to be Lucius Malfoy, who was currently in a relationship with Narcissa, Sirius' cousin. Ever since the day Narcissa brought Lucius home to meet her family, all of the Blacks took a liking to him. Except for Sirius who shared very little values with his family. Needless to say, Christmas was to be interesting in the Black household.

It was the first Wednesday in November and the Gryffindor students were at flying lessons. Their weekly lessons became a fast favourite for the boys, especially James and Sirius who were still quite set on obtaining their desired Quidditch positions.

Each of the houses' first years had one class a week, for the Gryffindors, that day was Wednesday. All of the students had slowly gotten better at controlling their brooms and were able to go higher and farther each week. Some of the students had their own brooms, but others were allowed to borrow brooms from the school. There was a shed for those who brought brooms for the school year and among those students were James and Sirius. The two boys headed over to one of the broom sheds.

As Sirius swung open the door to the shed he gasped. Peering over his shoulder, James shared his shocked expression. Their gaze was set on Sirius' broom which was snapped in half and had been quite dismantled. Sirius crouched down and noticed a note next to the broom.

"Blood Traitor"

Sirius crumpled the paper and sighed. He stood up and turned to James, his expression said it all, he had no clue what to do.

"You alright? 'M sorry mate" he ran his fingers through his hair causing it to look even messier than it was already. "You can borrow my broom, for now, maybe we can get you another one?"

"Don't worry about it James, it'll be alright. I can borrow a broom from school. Don't do anything you'll regret, okay? I don't really care all that much, wasn't even a good broom" Sirius was lying. Of course, he cared, Quidditch was super important to him and he had saved for months to get that broom, but he knew James. He was fiercely protective of his friends and would make it a big deal, and that is not at all what Sirius wanted. He turned walking out of the shed towards the rest of the class, James was quick to follow suit after grabbing his broom.

After a few words to Madame Hooch, Sirius walked away to return with one of the schools' brooms. In his absence, James muttered a few words of explanation to Remus and Peter, but on the whole nobody in the class mentioned anything.

They all continued with their class and had a pretty fun time practising their Quidditch skills. Most of them had worked up quite the appetite by the time that dinner rolled around. The Gryffindors sat and piled on some food, however, two boys, in particular, were not eating much. One was clearly upset over the evening's previous events and the other had been looking a little sick ever since the boys saw him come back from one of his monthly off-campus visits.

As the day wound down and the students retreated up into the dormitories, things were uncharacteristically quiet. As a result of this, the boys were asleep far earlier than usual. In the morning, nobody spoke of the day before and everything continued as normal.

In the short time, they had been at Hogwarts, the first-year Gryffindor boys had established themselves as resident pranksters and trouble-makers. It had started off small, things that they didn't even get caught for, but as time went on, the boys got more confident in their skills and now nearly every teacher on campus was aware of their tomfoolery. They had landed themselves in detention a number of times already, but they were nowhere near done.

Things had been quiet recently due to James and Sirius' continuous practice for the upcoming Quidditch tryouts. Others had never seen the boys working so hard on something in their lives, but no one was complaining. All of the teachers could use a break from the constant chatter and pranks.

Now it was October 30th, the Friday before Halloween and the Marauders were all piled onto James' bed as they talked. They were planning their biggest prank yet and it was all going down on Halloween night. The prank would involve all of the Marauders being proficient in charms so they were all practising now.

The big night came and The Flying Book Brigade was about to begin. The boys had snuck away from the Halloween feast to head to the library. After performing an impressive Leviosa charm, many of the books from the library started to float towards Ravenclaw Tower. The boys slipped back into the Great Hall and waited to watch their plan unfold. When the feast was over and everyone started making their way back to their rooms, chaos erupted. Even from a safe distance away from Ravenclaw Tower, you could hear the chants. All of the books that were floating in circles around the tower were screaming "NERDS NERDS NERDS NERDS"

The boys couldn't contain themselves when they saw the look on the Ravenclaw students' faces'. They must have looked guilty because then they heard "Messrs. Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew!" They all turned to look at a very angry-looking McGonagall. They stopped the charm and all the books dropped to the floor with a loud thud. The shouting from the enchanted books had gone quiet. The Ravenclaw kids walked into their tower and most of the other students began to walk away before they had to witness whatever kind of punishment McGonagall would inflict upon the troublemaking boys.

"My office now!" She asserted before turning and walking. She didn't need to tell them to walk behind her because the boys knew better, they hung their heads and followed her.

Down in Minerva's office, the boys were getting chewed out.

"What on earth were you boys thinking? Do you have any idea just how much trouble you are in right now? You're all a bunch of marauders. You stole books from the library and disturbed many sleeping paintings. Not to mention you owe a serious apology to the Ravenclaw students. You all could be doing so much with your talents and yet you choose to do this," she paused "Do you have anything to say for yourselves?"

Sirius looked up, "I would like to say something"

"Go on Mister Black" she sighed.

"I just wanted to put on record that you look ravishing today." Remus literally facepalmed, James kicked Sirius in the shins, and Peter looked as if he might faint.

"A week's detention for all of you, and two weeks for you Mister Black"

"Yes ma'am" They all begrudgingly said before heading up to the Gryffindor common room. On the staircase, James paused on the steps.

"Marauders... I kind of like that."

It was a weekend at Hogwarts and the majority of the upperclassmen were on a trip to Hogsmeade so the campus was deserted. With less than 100 kids on the grounds and a majority of them holed up in their respective rooms or common rooms, the hallways were essentially empty making it prime time for the boys to plan out their next prank, they had already had several successful pranks, but most of them were on the smaller scale. It had been nearly a whole month since the big Halloween prank and the marauders figured it was about time for another large-scale prank.

The boys were scouting around campus looking for a new idea of what to do. The last large-scale prank was targeted at the Ravenclaws, but this time the boys were going for a much more ambitious group. Targeted for this prank was none other than the Slytherins. The only problem was that for this scheme to work they needed to find a way to get from the dungeons to the Gryffindor common room in only a few minutes to avoid looking suspicious. In the 3rd-floor corridor near the charms room, the boys tried to figure out a way to make their plan succeed. Peter was leaning on a tapestry on the wall before it fell causing all the boys to turn their attention in that direction.

"Peter, are you okay?" Remus asked.

"Yeah the tapestry just fell, I'm fine" he answered.

"Woah guys look!!" James exclaimed, shaking Sirius to get his attention. When the boys paid attention to the wall where the tapestry once hung they noticed there was a strange aperture with a wooden covering. The kids exchanged awestruck glances before Sirius stumbled forward to open the door-like covering. Upon further inspection, it was noticed that they had uncovered a passageway. Being the curious children they were they figured the only way to get to the bottom of this mystery was to go through the tunnel. Before their unknown journey, they rehung the tapestry and made sure to recover the entrance.

It was very narrow in the passage only just big enough for the boys to comfortably walk single file with about a foot between the top of their head and the ceiling. Not to mention it was pitch black which meant that all four boys had to cast a Lumos charm to get through the tunnel without tripping. They followed along the path following any turns and eventually down a few staircases until they reached another door. They opened it and scrambled out of the tunnel and into a corridor. It didn't take long to realize that they were in the dungeons just yards away from the entrance to the Slytherin common room.

"Blimey, you guys! Do you know what this means?" Sirius exclaimed, a mischievous grin spreading across his face. The boys exchanged knowing looks as the realization hit them. Schemes were brewing in all of their heads. They sat down in an empty side corridor to finalize their plan before heading back up into the common room to wait.

At precisely 7:30 pm, the plan was put into motion. One by one, the boys made their way out of the Great Hall in a discreet way so as not to raise suspicion. They made their way down to the dungeon. James, Sirius, and Remus worked on the spells and incantations while Peter kept watch. Eventually, they finished and just in time seeing as it was not 7:55 pm. The boys raced to the secret passageway that they had found earlier and entered. Making sure to close the door and fix the tapestry, the boys clambered into the third-floor corridor and started their fast walk up to the 7th floor.

They reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, which was posted at the entrance of the common room, and stated the password "cogitationem pessimam". When they got into the common room they immediately spread out to look as casual as possible. Remus reclined on the couch and began reading a book, James and Peter went to a table and started playing a game of wizards chess, Sirius ran upstairs to their dorm and jumped in the shower. They had not a moment to lose because only minutes later McGonagall stormed in.

"WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?" She shouted. All of the students in the common room sat upright and turned to look at the professor. Sirius walked downstairs, hair still wet from the hastened shower, and pulled the most confused look he could. Peter stood up from the table and walked towards McGonagall.

"I'm sorry, what's the issue professor?" He said innocently.

"Oh I'm quite sure you know what's going on Mister Pettigrew," she said severely. She suddenly noticed the presence of Sirius. "Mister Black!!" Sirius snapped his head up and made eye contact with her.

"Yes, Professor?" Sirius said sweetly.

"I assume you are responsible for this tomfoolery"

"I have no idea what you mean by that Professor" Sirius was lying of course, but he put on a fine show.

"Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew. My office. NOW." She kept her loud tone throughout her tirade. By now, the boys knew there was no chance of keeping their little lie going so they resorted to reason.

"But professor, it's after-hours"

"And thank you for that update on the time, Mister Lupin," the sarcasm was present in her voice. "I am well aware of the time, but my previous statement still stands, follow me." Sighing quietly, the boys followed in line out of the Gryffindor common room. The hallways were dimly lit due to the hour in which they were caught, their only source of light was a Lumos charm cast by the professor. They walked along the corridors and to Minerva's office. Once they'd arrived they took their place standing around the edge of her desk as she sat down with her hands on her temples.

"It seems to always be you for causing trouble." She states exasperatedly. "I figured after your previous prank in October that you would've learned your lesson, but it appears that is not the case. What do you have to say for yourselves?" The boys looked at each other quietly anticipating who would speak first. To their dismay, it was Sirius who decided to interject.

"They had it coming." He said nearly deadpan. With those four words their fate had been sealed, they wouldn't be getting out of this one easily. Remus kicked Sirius from behind the desk. "Ouch," Sirius muttered under his breath.

Remus gave him a pointed look, "Seriously, mate" Sirius cursed Remus under his breath and turned to look at McGonagall again. Her expression was somewhat of a mix between exasperated and livid.

"Two weeks detention and 50 points will be taken from Gryffindor for each of you" She states finally.

"But professor—" James started but stopped immediately after receiving a hit to the back of his head from Remus and a glare from McGonagall. "Yes professor," he says instead. The rest of the boys also offer murmurs of agreement.

"You may go," McGonagall concludes "You better be going straight back to your dormitory."

"Yes, of course, thank you professor" Remus spoke on behalf of the others, not trusting them to say something they wouldn't regret, and steered them out of the room quickly.

It was pitch black in the corridor so each of them cast a Lumos charm so they could see as they made their way back to the Gryffindor tower. After a few wrong turns the boys finally decided to stop in the corridor and regroup.

"Where the hell are we?"

"I don't know Remus, it's James' fault, he shouldn't be leading."

"Shove off Sirius, you would've gotten us lost too"

Amidst the quarrelling, Peter piped in, "Would you all just shut up and stop fighting!" The other three stopped in their tracks and looked at the younger, shorter boy in shock.

"Didn't think you had it in you, mate" James said referring to Peter's outburst.

"Me either," Remus added, "But he's right, we need to get back to the tower before Filch finds us."

"Second that," James chuckles dryly "So where are we?" They all start looking around for some sort of marker to show what floor they are on.

After ten minutes Remus shouted, "I think I found something" Peter, Sirius, and James all simultaneously shushed him. "Sorry," he said whispering "Come over here" They all joined Remus to see what he was talking about he pointed towards the entrance to the hospital wing. "If that's the hospital wing, then we must be on the fourth floor."

"Okay, so let's go we can't waste any more time," Peter says.

"Very true, it is past Peter's bedtime," Sirius says, mockingly laughing at his own joke.

"Shut up Sirius," Remus said shaking his head, but lightly giggling anyway. The rest of the journey to the Gryffindor Tower was mostly in silence until they reached the portrait of the fat lady. They muttered the password once more and went up to their dorm. Sirius flopped back onto his bed.

"God, this place needs a map."

Things had settled down at Hogwarts since the big Halloween prank. The weather had turned rather cool and pleasant and the leaves had begun to turn lovely shades of amber and russet before falling to the ground. Along with the weather changes astronomy had become a much more interesting class. With the newly clear constellations, every midnight class they had was spent with the kids glued to the telescopes looking at the breathtaking stars from the top of the astronomy tower.

The month of November also contained a certain Marauder's birthday, but no one seemed to be aware of this. In fact, none of the Marauders knew about Sirius' birthday until they were in the hallway after flying lessons.

The Marauders were standing on a staircase that was in the process of moving. Since the stairs were not finished readjusting, there was a gap between the two stair platforms. The four boys were crowded by the edge, Sirius was chanting "JUMP JUMP JUMP" at a very eager-looking James, while Remus shook his head chuckling dryly at the insane antics of the two boys next to him. Peter was laughing a little nervously, no doubt worried that some actual harm would befall James if he were to go through with the ridiculous plan.

The plan, however, was not allowed to unfold because Professor McGonagall turned up right behind them. "Absolutely not!! Your birthday will not excuse you from detention Mister Black!!" Everybody stopped in their tracks and whipped around to face the professor. James' mouth was agape as he looked at his best friend.

"It's your birthday?" James explained, shocked by the recent information. "Why wouldn't you tell us?" Sirius lifted his gaze to look at his friends and then McGonagall.

"I- uh- yeah" Sirius answered, he seemed almost uncertain if he wanted to disclose the information. Not wishing to look at the shocked expressions on the faces of his dorm mates any longer, Sirius ran off. Abandoning any idea of getting into some mischief, the remaining three boys murmured quick apologies to the professor before splitting up to look for their friend. Remus had already checked around the courtyard before finding Sirius lying