Regulus Black and The Marauders

JAMES POTTER (singer, songwriter, and lead guitar for Regulus Black and The Marauders): We all met at Hogwarts our first year. That was… 1970, if my math’s correct. Except for Pete and Reg. I met him back in primary school, after he showed me how to use paste. What a gem. I met Reg a year later. 

PETER PETTIGREW (keyboardist for Regulus Black and The Marauders): James said 1970? Don’t trust his math. We all met—with the exception of Regulus, of course—in 1971. [laughs] Dumbass. 

SIRIUS BLACK (drummer for Regulus Black and The Marauders): James is probably right if he said we met in ‘70. I trust him. But yeah, we met in our first year at Hogwarts, which is a seven year boarding school. We met when we were all eleven. Except Reggie. I’ve known him since his birth, believe it or not. 

REGULUS BLACK (singer and songwriter for Regulus Black and The Marauders): Of course he’s known me since birth, I’m his little brother. I met the rest in ‘72. Evans, Remus, Pete, and of course, James. Fucking James. 

JAMES: Did we all like each other when we met? Erm—not all of us. The Marauders had a… rocky start. 

REMUS LUPIN (bassist for Regulus Black and The Marauders): [laughs] God, I wanted nothing to do with James, Sirius, and Peter. I thought they were your typical, bratty rich twats who could pay their way out of anything. 

But they were fucking relentless, man. Especially James. He’s always been like that. He would quite literally go out of his way to get me to hang out with the rest of them. He’s like that with everyone. Wants everyone to feel welcomed. 

And Sirius… Sirius Black is something else, you know. He’s always understood me. I don’t know how. But even when I was so against joining their little group, I would always find myself talking to him at night, when neither of us could sleep. He always knows the right thing to say.

But funnily enough, they weren’t the ones to rein me in. Pete was. He was the least pushy of them all. He never tried to make me join. Finally, one day at breakfast, he looked at me and said, “I promise you they’re fun. I wouldn’t be around if they weren’t. And even then, you don’t have to stay.” 

But I did. 

In the end, I was partially right. They could pay their way out of anything. But they never needed to. They’re good boys. They’re my boys.

SIRIUS: Yeah, Remus wanted nothing to do with us. At all. I changed his mind, of course. I tend to have that effect on people. 

JAMES: Remus came around after a few weeks. That wasn’t quite the case with Lily, though. 

LILY EVANS (singer-songwriter): Good God, I had never loathed anyone the way I loathed James Potter. Arrogant, snobby, egotistical James Potter. A true nuisance. More so than most ten year old boys. Peter was nice and sweet. Sirius was fine, but too similar to James for my taste. Remus was my favorite. He saw me reading Anne of Green Gables and we formed our own little book club. We’ve been close ever since. But yeah, I did not like James. Not until I was about fifteen. 

JAMES: Yeah, I was a nuisance. I was an eleven year old boy. Aren’t we all at that age?

But yeah, Lils didn’t like me. I did though. Contrary to popular belief, I didn’t automatically fall in love with her. At first glance, I thought she was cool . She was the coolest person I’d ever seen. 

She had this care-free attitude and this aura of confidence about her. I mean, I did too, but hers was real. She knew she was the shit. And so she acted like it. And in about .2 seconds, I loved her. It was as simple as that. 

But I went about it the wrong way. Too arrogant, too much. And she made up her mind real quick. If there’s one fault she has, it’s how stubborn she is. You have better chances of convincing a rock to do something. 

But everybody loves Lily Evans. Even those who claim to hate her. You can’t hate Lily Evans. You can’t even try. 

SIRIUS: I’ve always loved Lily. Fierce, fun, and a damn good singer. We didn’t really hang out much until we were older. 

But the four of us… it was the family I had been looking for. I came to school fully expecting to end up like my parents. I was ready to marry a girl of their choosing and go to law school like every other Black man. Before meeting the lot of them, I dreamed of doing something different, yes. But I never considered it possible.

But when I met them, though… I knew I didn’t have to be who my parents wanted me to. If I wanted to join a circus, then I could be the damn clown. They taught me that. And I have no regrets about that. 

[pauses]

Well… that’s not true, actually. I regret leaving Regulus in the dark. I should have taken him sooner. 

REGULUS: I hated all of them. Truly. It was just a matter of who I hated more or less. I hated Remus the least, then Peter. I wasn’t a big fan of my own brother because of how easily he left me. I mean, we spend our entire lives together and he leaves me for three random twats? I was hurt. Back then, I didn’t realize it wasn’t a me thing. It was a home thing. He needed to get out.

But so did I. 

I hated James the most because when Sirius came back for Christmas, it was all James this and James that. James, James, James. James was his new best friend, his new confidante. 

He was my best friend. But I wasn’t his. 

I was devastated, but I convinced myself that everything would go back to normal at school. 

JAMES: We were all more than ready to welcome Regulus into the group. Sirius talked about him all the time. So imagine our surprise when we walk up to him and he walks away and doesn’t speak to us unless it’s absolutely necessary. Sirius was devastated. 

He never talked about him again. 

REGULUS: The night before we went to school, I went to steal something from Sirus’s room since he was downstairs. I think it was a book?

Anyway, I stumbled upon his journal, which I know sounds bad, but it was wide open. I glanced at the first page, which said, “I’m starting to think that the way this family is is not how it’s supposed to be.”

And I was eleven, so of course I thought it was about me. When you live in a house where everything is your fault, you think it’s about you. 

So, of course I walked away. I didn’t want to be a reminder of his painful upbringing. I should have talked to him about it. But I didn’t know how. So I walked away.

Do I regret it? Yes and no. I wanted him to be happy. I was looking out for him. 

But who was looking out for me?