James never thought he’d find himself rushing to get up, but that was precisely what he was doing the next morning. “Get up before anyone sees you!” Ron had urged, hurrying to get into his robes. “Quick!”

To his utter annoyance, Lily was already up when he got down to the common room. “What made you so eager to get up today, Evans?” he had asked her. “Seeing me, I presume.”

Something that sounded like a snort had come from Lily. “Is he always this arrogant?” wondered Hermione. The question was left unanswered as they drifted toward the Great Hall, which is where the story starts.

James sat where the Marauders and he always sat, propping his feet up. It still felt normal, surprisingly- but what did he expect? It was still Hogwarts, after all.

Preparing to sit down, Lily heard a distinctive cough. “Pardon me, Miss Evans, but where are you going?” inquired James in an exaggerated tone of dignity.

“You’re not going to let me sit here, are you?”

“If you’re one of the Marauders, you may. But you’re not.” He made a large show of gesturing, showing her the back of his chair. Carved in gold letter, it read “Prongs.”

She narrowed her eyes and sat down, ignoring his statement. Jumping up, she exclaimed, “It shocked me!”

James shrugged. “I told you,” he replied in a teasing tone. “Marauders only.”

Lily was about to retort when the Great Hall doors were pushed open by Remus Lupin, looking rather pale and tired. Quickly crossing the room, he sat down across from James, apparently not seeing the irritated look on Lily’s face that the table let him sit. Normally, Lupin would never attempt to teach after a full moon. But today was different.

Leaning on his elbows, Lupin said quietly, “James, I’m going to have to warn you about a few things.”

James nodded, smiling slightly as the back of Lupin’s chair carved “Moony” into the wood.

“First off, absolutely no pranks on Severus or myself. I know what you’ll do… I’ve been watching your tricks for the past years.”

Watching the first few people trickle into the hall, James grinned as they crowded around Remus to look in confusion at his chair. This was going to be good.

“Next, please do not mention Sirius Black… don’t ask why, but I assure you, it will cause a commotion.”

“Professor Lupin?” asked an unattractive looking Ravenclaw hesitantly, hugging her books.

“Yes, Miss Carr?” Remus said, turning away from James to look at the girl.

“Why does your chair say ‘Moony?’”

At this, Lupin leapt out of the chair as if poisonous. James had already gotten the better of him. In the meantime, James laughed quietly, covering his hand to his mouth.

“I’m not quite sure, but I will figure out. Thank you for noticing that,” said Lupin courteously. He couldn’t help but add, though, “That young man behind me was eyeing you… but he’s a bit shy. I think he would appreciate it if you talked to him a little.”

James’s mouth dropped open. No, he didn’t want to talk to this girl! Oh, Moony, the war is on…

Smiling rather mischievously, Lupin went up to the Professor’s table. He couldn’t help it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“And I am pleased to inform you that our previous Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is back for another year- Professor R. J. Lupin!” announced Dumbledore.

The Great Hall filled with thunderous applause and loud whooping from the Gryffindor table, much to the delight of James. Good to see his friend was well received. Glancing over to the Slytherin table, they all sat sullenly and seemed depressed. Figures. As the clapping died away, James stood up and yelled, “Go Moony!”

Several heads swiveled in his direction, but he ducked as Hermione shot him a glare. Lupin had started blushing and sat down quickly at sound of the nickname. Ron immediately began to talk to Harry and hoped he hadn’t heard anything at the other end of the Gryffindor table.

“Someone has also told me that last year a pair of our most… mischievous… troublemakers made a dramatic exit involving a swamp, broomsticks, and a rather ill- spirited Defense teacher. The staff and I would like to present an award to these young men, which, may I remind you, is not an accomplishment, and has only been given out once in the past,” continued Dumbledore.

James started to chuckle. Oh, he remembered that award- Moony had been blushing like crazy and Padfoot was smiling manically when having received it at the end of their fifth year.

“Fred and George Weasley please step up!” smiled Dumbledore, a twinkle in his eye. The twins, who had obviously been informed of this earlier, came up with large grins on their faces, a piece of parchment sticking out of Fred’s robes. They needed the Marauder’s Map for luck- Harry had given it up as soon as they asked.

Once again, the Hall applauded for the graduated boys, looking a little sheepish.

“You know, I cannot say who worse- the men who received this award previously or Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley over here. Do you remember the Marauders, Minerva?” he said to her.

“How could I forget? Those boys- called themselves the Marauders- well, one of them always asked for a kiss… he proposed to me in the seventh year you know… started to gag when I said yes- Oh, I didn’t hold him to it. He was just joking... they were the worst boys I’d ever seen.” She smiled fondly, eyes drifting to James and to Lupin.

“The Marauders?” Fred asked interestedly as George continued, “They actually were our inspiration. Sort of.”

Dumbledore gave a small quizzical gaze as he replied, “Oh?”

“Well, we didn’t know them personally, but they left something of… practical use lying around the castle. Right, Fred?” The other twin nodded in agreement.

“Right. How could we forget Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs- helping troublemakers every step of the way?”

Lupin, who had just taken a sip from his goblet, began choking in surprise as James beamed with pride.

“Are you okay, Professor?” asked George. Lupin waved a hand and said, “Just fine. Please, do continue.”

“Anyway, they were our idols back while we were in Hogwarts-” began Fred reminiscently, but McGonagall cut him off abruptly.

“It wasn’t that long ago, Mr. Weasley.”

“Yes, you do have a point. Well, we never imagined the Marauders actually went to Hogwarts… that anyone actually KNEW them- they seemed kind of like mysterious figures- you never knew who they were.”

Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled again rather merrily. “Oh, I believe Professor Lupin and Professor Snape did,” he added offhandedly. “They were in their same year.”

Fred glanced at them interestedly. “You knew them? Wow.”

Trying to keep calm, Lupin replied, “We’ve met.” Snape snorted and dug savagely into his food.

“Who were they? I mean, Fred and I bet that Moony had more common sense than the lot of them, Padfoot was the totally irresponsible and wacky one, Prongs was just like Padfoot, just keyed down a notch and Wormtail… well, we had a hard time figuring him out,” explained George quickly.

“You guessed right,” Lupin said simply.

Fred smiled cockily as George slipped in one last question. “Did you ever… hang out?”

Lupin seemed to be pondering before he answered, “Oh… a little.” A faint crease had appeared between his eyebrows as he realized James had disappeared. Where had he gone?

It should be here somewhere… right under that board. God, he hoped it was still there…

Yes! It was! Buried under a loose board in the closet and a large sheet of dust, the video camera laid tranquilly on the ground. James smiled and brushed off it off. Good as new… Hogwarts, meet the Marauders!

Hermione knew something was up when a video camera floated through the hall. Something to do with James. Reason number one, the Potter wasn’t here. Point number two, Professor Lupin looked as if someone had just kicked him in the gut.

It floated toward the center of the hall, and then stopped, almost settling on the air. A click was heard and Lupin took a sharp breath. He remembered this… how long Sirius and James had worked on it…

The lights turned off, and most students gasped. A light swirled out of the camera, reminding Lupin of a film projector- which it mostly was. This had to have been James’s doing. An image appeared on the wall behind the teachers, though simply a black square. Suddenly, voices were heard. Ron glanced up, confused, while Harry didn’t look. In the matter of fact, he tuned it out. What did anything matter?

“Is this working?” came the voice of James.

“I think so. After a year of work, we actually got this thing done!” shouted the voice of Sirius excitedly. “The Marauder’s talent shines again! So can they actually see us? I mean, it took a while to get this powered by magic and not batties…”

“Batteries. Actually, they can’t see you, Padfoot,” a slightly hoarse voice laughed. “The cap’s still on.” Lupin froze. It was him.

“There’s a subject! Let’s talk about ourselves! I know you’re good at that, Prongs,” joked Sirius, still not having unscrewed the cap.

“You know I am. Anyways, as you already know, we are the famous Marauders. Obviously, you’ll want to hear about our amazingly vast career in troublemaking. Motto, Padfoot?”

“Causing mischief and mayhem wherever we go, Snivellus Snape will get stepped on the toe!” exclaimed the voice of Sirius.

A large sigh was heard as the cap was unscrewed and everyone craned their heads eagerly to see the Marauders. Oddly enough, they could only see the bottom of the bed and two pairs of shoes. The hoarse voice to the left of the camera moaned, “That was the worst rhyme ever, Padfoot. I thought you would get better as the years went by, but I was proven wrong.”

“Thank you, Moony. So, everyone can see the amazing me now?”

A snort was heard from Moony. “You do know they can only see your shoes- the center of vision comes from that glass circle.”

“This?” A finger was poked at the glass, clouding the attentive audience’s vision. “The things Muggles come up with. Oy, Peter! Can you hold this camera up?”

A mumbled, “Sure,” came from behind them, and after a few seconds of swaying blurriness, the Great Hall was able to see the Marauders. James, with his untidy black hair and glasses, handsome Sirius with that cocky smile and relaxation exaggerated in every limb while Remus was in the background, back toward the camera, looking at something. There they were, sitting on the bed that hadn’t changed twenty years in the future. Same room, same décor… different people.

“Introductions… the man that you see here is the incredible-” started Sirius, tossing back his long, dark hair.

“Insane-”

“Arrogant-”

“Padfoot,” finished Sirius, giving a glare at James and Remus.

“And I’m Prongs… leader of the pack, best out of all,” boasted James jokingly, holding his head high to the ceiling.

“Just so you all know, I’m not the only one who’s arrogant,” Sirius whispered, pointing a finger at James.

“I heard that. Mr. Moony, would you be so kind as to explain who you are?” James said, turning to the figure in the back.

Moony sighed again and slowly got up, facing the camera, looking pale and exhausted. Hermione didn’t know how anyone couldn’t see this was Professor Lupin, but apparently they didn’t.

“I’m Moony… the sane one of the Marauders. Mostly, I keep them in check and warn them about things.”

“You don’t JUST do that! What about that time you turned McGonagall’s hair red and gold, Mr. Prefect?”

“Or that time that you turned the Slytherin common room into a swimming pool?” insisted Sirius.

Rolling his eyes, Moony replied, “They had it coming. If you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to work…”

Sirius and James shot a look at each other before one muttered, “I thought he was going to say get back to sleep.”

Laughter was heard around the Great Hall, at what the mysterious Moony had done and by Padfoot and Prongs’s comment. Lily was watching in pure disgust at the confession on tape. That was Remus that made the common room full of water? So much for a rule-abiding Prefect. James slipped in next to her, grinning like mad. “Like our tape, Evans?”

“Hate it,” she said levelly.

“Thank you. Such a rare compliment,” James replied and went back to watching the video.

McGonagall frowned at Lupin, who was calmly watching the film. If she would have known it was him, he would have gotten two weeks of detention for that prank. The color took forever to get out- regular scrougify charms didn’t work, nor did putting it in a bun- everyone still noticed.

Fred and George, however, were looking extremely awed. Their idols were right here on screen, relating all their experiences. Why hadn’t they thought of doing the swimming pool prank…?

A small, squeaking voice was heard on the clip. “Can I…?” Sirius and James shrugged as Remus obligingly went behind to hold the camera.

“Be our guest, Wormtail.” A slightly chubby, round faced boy made his way to the camera, pausing, as if at loss of words to say.

“I’m… I’m Wormtail… the… less famous one.” This produced a bark-like laugh from Sirius, making Harry’s head snap up. He remembered that laugh. Peter and Remus once again went back to their original positions while James attempted to turn Sirius’s hair purple, but gave up quickly.

“I believe it’s time to show our audience of our greater accomplishments… like a prank. What are you working on back there, Moony?” asked James, rather devilishly.

“It’s still in experimental testing, Prongs. It’s supposed to make a person sound like an animal… for example, ‘Bark, bark,’ but right now, it’s…”

James threw this comment off with a flick of his hand. “Good enough. Let’s call it…”

“Moony’s Not Yet Perfected Prank,” interrupted Remus, glancing up at the two Marauders.

“…Excellent!” James cried, not realizing that Remus was rather dryly joking. Stepping over to the werewolf, he swiped his wand over the cylinder shaped item, inscribing, ‘Moony’s Not Yet Perfected Prank.’

The Weasley twins’ mouths dropped open. They’ve used that trick before, right in their first year. Watching the men who made it almost blew them away…

“And who shall we drop it on?” asked Sirius rather innocently, though everyone could see through his gleaming eyes he knew exactly who.

Remus shook his head. “Not Snape, Padfoot. You already know we caused him enough trouble with that Whomping Willow… I’ve apologized about a billion times, but he still thinks I was in on it…”

“Fine. Whoever enters here first, agreed?” Sirius asked, obviously guilty over tricking Snape into the tree.

“Agreed,” said James firmly. Remus looked extremely hesitant, but nevertheless nodded.

“Perfect… toss me one of those, Moony,” commanded Sirius. For a while, nothing happened. Sirius Black stood, poised at the door, waiting equipped, while James was also armed with the prank and standing on the other side of the door. Remus was shaking his head and went back to scribbling on a piece of paper.

Several girls in the Great Hall were giggling over Sirius, while the teachers were staring at Lupin in amusement. Harry watched eyes wide and Ron was totally disbelieving. This was Sirius Black? That was Professor Lupin? Wow, life sure changed when you got older…

Finally caving into the temptation, Remus stood up and joined the armed Marauders at the door. “If it’s McGonagall, I’m killing you,” he said briefly.

“You would never do that to me, Moony old friend… exception when you’re a man eating beast, of course.”

“Shut up.” At that moment, the door creaked open. The Marauders gave each other mischievous grins before Sirius casually flipped the Moony’s Not Yet Perfected Prank out the door.

A shout, exclaiming, “What the…?” Then, a quack.

Sirius was laughing so hard, he was on the floor, soon accompanied by James. Remus, on the other hand, dashed out to see who the unfortunate victim was. When he came back in, he appeared rather dazed.

“You idiots,” he breathed. “You just… turned…” Suddenly, everyone noticed the duck resting in Remus’s hands.

“Quack!”

The hall exploded with laughter, as did Sirius and James on the video. “It’s not funny,” protested Remus, but he began to chuckle helplessly anyway.

“Who… was it?” gasped James, struggling for air. The whole rest of the Hall listened attentively.

“Frank Longbottom,” Remus said. “He’s a seventh year PREFECT, Prongs! We turned a seventh year prefect into a duck!”

Neville went into a state of shock. These men turned his dad into a duck. A duck.

“We’ve got to turn him back…” murmured Remus, still laughing slightly. “A duck! I never knew…”

Abruptly, the door to the boy’s dorm was flung open. “Siri… I’ve been looking for you everywhere, I…” The attractive girl stopped mid-sentence as she took in the flapping duck and the boys rolling on the floor.

“Siri?” choked Remus, almost dropping Frank. “You let her call you that, Padfoot?”

“That’s me mum!” shouted Seamus suddenly, much to the surprise of everyone in the Great Hall. Sure enough, Padfoot’s girlfriend did indeed resemble Seamus’s mother.

“Maggie! You have now officially witnessed the Marauder’s newest prank…”

“Turning people into ducks?”

“Turn off the camera, Padfoot!”

“A duck!”

“Quack!”

“I can’t hear anything!”

“Aren’t you proud?”

“This is chaos.”

“This prank is going straight in the book, Moony!”

The last scene the Hogwarts students and staff saw was Moony rushing over and turning off the camera, looking rather exasperated.

Fred and George stared at the wall where the image once was, gazing hungrily at it. Their idols were everything they imagined them to be and more.

Author’s Note: This was just a really twisted chapter that came into my head. The plot will progress after this, I promise. Was the duck thing too weird? Please, tell me in your reviews!