It was a crisp, cool evening when they arrived at Hogwarts, the perfect atmosphere in which to start September. The sky was clear, and the stars were bright. It was beautiful, even though Remus cast a nervous glance at the sky. He didn’t always completely trust the almanacs.

The Marauders piled into a carriage that was horseless to all, except Remus. He had seen his father killed by the same werewolf that left him cursed. His father had attempted to pull the vicious creature off his small son, and had suffered the consequence. Moony had been raised by his kind and patient mother.

As they walked through the doors of the marble entrance hall, Sirius froze. James stopped suddenly as well, and Remus retraced a few steps to see what his friends were staring at. He could’ve guessed. Severus Snape was glaring at them from the other side of the entrance hall, his hand poised to pull out his wand. He had never forgiven Sirius for the near fatal trick that Sirius had pulled last year. If James hadn’t pulled Snape back . . . well, Hogwarts could’ve hardly handled two werewolves. Sirius and James were preparing to pull out their wands as well, when something bumped into Sirius. Wormtail had finally made his way through the crowd. The trance was broken.

“Come on,” Lupin hissed, “I’m hungry.” James and Wormtail started to move, but Sirius didn’t. “Sirius,” Lupin reasoned, “there are too many teachers and students present.” He tugged on Sirius’ sleeve, and they started towards the entrance hall.

The start-of-term feast, as always, was excellent. However, the high spirits of the students was dampened by Dumbledore’s speech. It held all the traditional facets (“Don’t go near the Forbidden Forest,” “Astronomy tower is off limits except for classes,” “Quidditch trials will be held next week,” etc.), but it also contained a warning. The Wizarding world was immersed in troubling times. For many years now, a Dark wizard, the self-named Lord Voldemort had been gaining power. He was obsessed with “pure-blood” idealism, and loved to torture Muggles and Muggle-borns. At first there wasn’t too much to worry about, at least not amongst the Marauders. Lupin’s family and Pettigrew’s family were too insignificant to notice. The Blacks wouldn’t have anything to fear from Lord Voldemort. Not only were they pure-blood, they would have no problem with the Wizarding world being scourged of all Mudbloods and Muggle-borns. This was, of course, Sirius’ chief reason for running away the summer between fifth and sixth year. He went to live with the Potters, another family with nothing to fear as they were also pure-bloods.

Or, at least, that’s how it was in the beginning. Voldemort’s reach seemed to threaten everyone now. Oddly enough, it was probably the Potter family who was in the most danger. They were what Voldemort would label as “Muggle-lovers”, and were also prominent in the Wizarding community. James’ mother had been a seeker for the English National Quidditch team. Tomboyish though she was, she had developed a maternal side when she had James late in life. Also, her cooking was excellent. Mr. Potter had recently retired as the Head of the Auror office at the Ministry. He was a highly intelligent man, and a good friend and great admirer of Dumbledore. Both Mr. & Mrs. Potter were fairly open-minded, caring, and over indulgent of their only son, all of which showed up in James. They were also never scared of voicing one of their well-thought out opinions. Being as they were, their recently voiced opinions on Lord Voldemort put them at great risk.

But James seemed more worried about Lily. Being so young, he could only see what was immediately in front of him. At school, that was Miss Evans.

Dumbledore continued with his speech. “ Whether it seems true or not, all of you will soon enter the magical world as adults, especially you-seventh and sixth years. You will be entering a world that is being ripped apart. As I speak, Lord Voldemort is spreading discontent and labeling members of the magical community, setting us all into different groups. Half-bloods, Muggle-borns (Lily shrank a little in her chair.), half-breeds (Lupin winced.), pure-bloods (Sirius shot a look of loathing at the Slytherin table, where his younger brother, Regulus, sat.), and blood-traitors (James glared.) Are just a few of his groups. However, at Hogwarts you have the opportunity to meet wizards and witches with all different backgrounds, and observe that blood makes no difference. I turn to the teachers to promote and demonstrate that truth everyday in the classrooms.” Dumbledore nodded to his staff seated at a long, oak table behind him. “And I also turn to the students. You have all fallen into one group of friends or another, but I ask you-no, I charge you to reach beyond your differences and create a bond that no evil can penetrate.” He let that sink in for a moment, before finishing, “Off to bed, now.”

The Great Hall slowly began to stir. Before the Marauders had stood, Lily Evans was before them. “Ready, Remus?”

The Marauders turned to Moony, who nodded to Lily. Explaining quickly about a meeting with Dumbledore, he walked away from the table. A few paces on he noticed that Lily was lingering by the rest of the boys. She looked slightly confused. James glanced up, smiled, nodded towards her, and then turned back to Sirius, who was busy forcing the last bit of pudding down his throat.

“Lily,” Remus called.

Lily hastily turned and blushed. This was the second time today that she had stood there in front of James like an idiot. “Good night, boys,” she called back over her shoulder as she quickly walked away. She heard their collective tonight as they got up to leave the table.

When Moony entered the dormitory later that night, he found that his companions had already sent it into disarray. There was evidence of the destruction that only teenage boys could cause throughout the room. Wormtail was hanging off his own bed, eagerly listening to Padfoot and Prongs as they pored over a piece of parchment. They were sitting on Padfoot’s bed, bouncing ideas off each other to complete the plan for the first big prank of the year. There was a shout of laughter as Moony strode to his trunk at the foot of his four-poster. Surveying the scene, he immediately caught on to what his friends were doing. He frowned, but didn’t say anything.

Soon, all four boys (They were a small batch of Gryffindor boys. Most of the males in their year had gotten sorted into Hufflepuff. So many, in fact, that it was rumored that Dumbledore himself had to magically enlarge their dormitory to fit all their beds.) were in their pajamas. Remus pulled his covers up to his chin as he curled up to sleep on his side, his mind heavy with Dumbledore’s speech. James lay on his back with his chest exposed and his arms behind his head. He was looking at the ceiling, but saw only Lily. He was surprised at how much effort it had taken him to keep himself from asking her out. He was also confused by her . . . hovering? It was the only word he could think of through his drowsiness.

In the girl’s dormitory, Lily was mentally kicking herself for her stupid behavior as she hugged her pillow, equally confused by her . . . hovering? It was the only word she could think of in her tired state. Ah, well, she sighed, he’s just waiting for tomorrow to ask me out is all. And with that certainty, Lily squeezed her pillow a little tighter and fell asleep.

A/N: Hello, there. Sorry if this story is a bit slow, it picks up. I just first wanted to establish some history on the characters, and work in the war with Lord Voldemort. Tell me what you think. Constructive criticism is welcome.