The Birth of The Marauders
November 20th, 1971
The Gryffindor boys spent the next few days planning their revenge with a single-minded focus. Snape’s hex on Remus had crossed a line, but they weren’t about to stoop to his level.
“No hexes,” James declared during a late-night strategy session in their dormitory. “No curses. We’re going to get him back the right way.”
“And make sure it’s something everyone remembers,” Sirius added, a wicked grin spreading across his face.
Peter nodded enthusiastically, though his contributions to the planning were mostly nodding and agreeing.
Remus sat on his bed, arms crossed, watching the three of them with an amused but wary expression. “Just try not to get us expelled, all right?”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Sirius teased, earning an eye roll from Remus.
November 22nd, 1971
The boys spent the next two days refining their idea, sneaking around the castle to prepare. Sirius and James charmed Peter into doing some of the more unsavory tasks—like obtaining certain “ingredients” from the Potions classroom—while they worked out the finer details of the prank.
Even Remus, who had initially been reluctant to participate, couldn’t resist adding a clever touch or two to their plan.
“You’re a devious little thing when you want to be, Remus,” Sirius said, smirking.
“Someone has to balance out your recklessness,” Remus replied dryly.
By the end of the second night, they had everything ready. All that was left was to set it in motion.
The prank began early the next morning, long before anyone was awake. The boys crept through the castle under James’s Invisibility Cloak, carrying their supplies and whispering excitedly to one another.
“Quiet, Peter,” Sirius hissed as Peter tripped over a loose stone. “Do you want Filch to catch us?”
“Sorry,” Peter whispered back, his face red.
By the time the rest of the school began to stir, the stage was set.
It started in the Slytherin common room, where a series of charmed green and silver banners suddenly burst into Gryffindor red and gold. The snake emblem on the wall behind the fireplace was replaced with an enormous lion that roared every few minutes, startling anyone nearby.
As the Slytherins made their way to breakfast, they discovered that the prank wasn’t confined to their common room. The corridors leading to the Great Hall were lined with enchanted suits of armor, all of which began to chant whenever a Slytherin walked by:
“Slytherin, sly and mean,
Charming snakes since seventeen sixteen!”
The hall itself was the pièce de résistance. Every chair at the Slytherin table had been hexed to emit a loud farting sound whenever someone sat down. The enchanted ceiling displayed a series of mocking messages, including:
“Beware the wrath of Gryffindor!”
“Don’t mess with the best!”
“Courtesy of the Marauders.”
As the chaos unfolded, James and Sirius watched from the Gryffindor table, trying and failing to contain their laughter.
“You really went with ‘Marauders’?” Remus asked, raising an eyebrow as he sipped his pumpkin juice.
“It’s perfect,” Sirius said, grinning. “A little mysterious, a little dangerous—like us.”
Remus snorted. “I’m not sure anyone’s going to call you dangerous after that farting chair bit.”
“Don’t ruin the moment” James said, nudging him.
Peter, who was beaming with pride, pointed to the enchanted ceiling. “Look! Everyone’s reading it.”
Sure enough, the name “Marauders” was on everyone’s lips by the time breakfast was over.
Snape stormed into the Great Hall halfway through breakfast, his face a mottled shade of red. He glared directly at the Gryffindor table, his dark eyes narrowing as he spotted James and Sirius laughing together.
“This was you,” he snarled, marching over to their table.
“Us?” James said innocently, looking up at him. “What could you possibly mean, Snivellus?”
“Don’t call me that!” Snape snapped, his wand twitching in his hand.
“Careful now,” Sirius said, leaning back in his chair with a smirk. “Wouldn’t want to make a scene, would you?”
Snape’s hand tightened around his wand, but before he could say anything else, Professor McGonagall appeared behind him.
“That’s quite enough,” she said sternly, giving Snape a pointed look. “If you have something to say, Mr. Snape, I suggest you take it up with your Head of House.”
Snape scowled but backed away, shooting one last glare at the Gryffindor boys before storming out of the hall.
The prank was the talk of the school for days. Even some of the professors couldn’t hide their amusement, though none of them condoned it publicly.
“You’re lucky there’s no proof it was you,” Remus said later that evening as the boys lounged in the common room.
“Proof is overrated,” Sirius said with a grin.
Peter nodded eagerly. “Everyone knows it was us.”
“Which is exactly the problem,” Remus said, though he couldn’t help smiling. “You’re going to get us all expelled one day, you know that, right?”
“Maybe,” James said with a shrug. “But at least we’ll go down in history.”
And from that day on, the name “Marauders” stuck, whispered in awe and amusement throughout the halls of Hogwarts.