I solemnly swear that I am up to no good…
I paused and looked at the door with a fear so strong that I was frozen in place.
The door was blasted open and the tall, hooded figure I’d seen so many times in my nightmares stood with its wand clutched in a long, pale hand.
“Lily! Take Harry and go! Now!” I shouted to Lily who grabbed our son and flew up the stairs.
Time slowed.
Memories flashed by as I faced Lord Voldemort with no wand but with the adrenaline only a father feels when protecting his family. I saw a flash of bright green light and then it went black.
I was a prankster.
I was a Gryffindor.
I was a stag.
I was an athlete.
I was a husband.
I was a father.
I was a Marauder.
I am Prongs.
I am James Potter.
”Nice one! I told Harry as I shoved his head down so that we were able to dodge the stunning curses aimed in our direction. I turned back to face him and told him, ”Now I want you to get out of”“
We both ducked again as a sudden flash of green light shot past us. My head snapped up to the stairs where Bellatrix and Tonks had been dueling. I watched as Tonks flew into the air and Bellatrix laugh with victorious glee and ran to join the fray further.
”Harry, take the prophecy, grab Neville, and run!” I yelled, I didn’t turn to see if he did as I asked.
I ran to where Nymphadora and Bellatrix had been fighting in the Department of Mysteries and threw a curse towards the crazed woman.
“Hello Bellatrix, are you ready to die for your Master?” I asked scathingly.
“Only one of us shall die today, Black. And it shall be you,” she said as we began to circle each other with our wands at the ready. She lunged forward and aimed the Killing Curse at me. I dodged at the last second and laughed at her attempt.
“Is that the best you got, come now cousin,” I taunted. She let out a yell of rage and aimed more curses at me. I looked over and spotted Harry and Neville struggling to get up the stairs. Neville was still bleeding at the nose and under the Tarantallegra curse. I refocused on Bellatrix, our wands were blurs and it was just me and her.
I ducked as a jet of bright red rocked towards me and I laughed once more, ”Come on, you can do better than that!**”
I began to laugh again when her next curse found the very center of my chest.
I fell backwards with my eyes wide. I felt nothing but a cold, soft touch as the vapors from the veil behind me latched onto my skin like leeches.
I fell through the veil.
I was a prankster.
I was a Gryffindor.
I was a dog.
I was the family’s black sheep.
I was the ladies man.
I was an accused murderer.
I was a Godfather.
I was a Marauder.
I am Padfoot.
I am Sirius Black.
I watched from the shadows as Greyback led a very shaggy group down to the Malfoy’s dungeon cellar. I knew it would only be a short while before I could forget the life-debt and could sleep with my mind at ease. No more would he be alive to haunt my dreams. No more would his voice ring through my head as he stopped my former companions from finishing me off at the Shrieking Shack.
I sat in the shadows as Bellatrix tortured the Mudblood mercilessly as she questioned her. I knew that Bella was scared to death of what the Dark Lord would do to her if he found out the sword wasn’t in her vault at Gringotts.
I smirked at the thought, she would deserve it.
It was several minutes later that there was a pop from below.
“Wormtail! Go down there and see what’s going on,” Lucius barked at me. As I walked across the drawing room there was a deathly silence.
I made my way down to the dark abyss like dungeons of Malfoy Manor to check on the prisoners and when I reached the doorway I pulled out my wand.
”Stand back,” I tried to sound more firm and commanding than I felt. ”Stand away from the door. I am coming in.”
I shoved the door open with more force than I really meant to, but I stood in the doorway and looked in the cellar.
It was empty except for three balls of fire hanging in midair.
That’s when Potter and the Weasley boy tackled me. The Blood traitor grabbed hold of my wand arm and lifted it into the air while Potter rammed his dirty hand over my mouth.
I tried to do a nonverbal spell, but I had never mastered it and only sparks flew from my wand as I used my silver hand to gain a grip on Potter’s throat. Lucius called down to me and I heard the Weasley boy call back in a voice similar to mine.
”You’re going to kill me?” he choked out as he fought for his life. I knew he could barely breathe. ”After I saved your life? You owe me, Wormtail!**”
Stop this! He’s right, you owe him Peter!
I saw my silver fingers loosen their grip and watched Harry’s face turn to shock at what had happened. But no one’s shock could match my own as I watched the evil hand. I watched with pure fear as the fingers began to make their way to my throat.
And even then, after I’d tried to kill him, Harry tried to stop my death. Just as his father would’ve done.
Just like James Potter’s son would do.
I wanted to tell him how sorry I was. I wanted to tell him how much he reminded me of his brave father. I wanted to tell him how much I hated myself for my betrayal to the Order. To the Marauders.
To him.
I couldn’t breathe as the two boys fought to stop the evil hand. I felt the last bit of my life ebb away from me and in one last attempt I looked at the son of my former idol. The son of the man that would’ve risked his life for me over and over again. The man that had once been my best friend.
The son of the man that I had killed.
I was a prankster.
I was a Gryffindor.
I was a rat.
I was a coward.
I was a murderer.
I was a Death Eater.
I was a traitor.
I was a Marauder.
I am Wormtail.
I am Peter Pettigrew.
Were is Harry? Were is Tonks? I thought as I aimed a curse at another of Voldemort’s Death Eaters.
So many bodies from both sides were scattered across the Hogwarts grounds. I dodged a curse and my mind kept going back to either Harry or to Tonks.
It focused on Harry because, well it’s the Second War and Voldemort is calling Harry out for a one-on-one and Harry’s only seventeen. And with that prophecy that Dumbledore had informed me about, well one couldn’t help but worry.
It focused on Tonks because…I love her. I had loved her for a long while and when I finally accept her love and have a scrap of a chance at normal happiness with her and our baby boy, we are called to fight in this final battle. I felt my heart tear wide open at the thought of what would happen if Tonks was killed. I felt it tear open at the thought of little Teddy growing up without a mother.
“Tonks!” I gasped as I flew into a frantic frenzy to locate the mother of the precious blessing I had been granted. I fought like…like a werewolf. I wanted in that moment for the full moon to come and let me have the sharp senses of the wolf so I could find her faster. I wanted the speed and the hunger for human flesh that I had denied for so long so I could take down as many Death Eaters as I could.
That’s when I saw a flash of pink hair.
I lunged towards the color, my wand a blur to those around me as I fought to get to my life.
My fantasized love. The one that saw the man behind the beast.
I won’t lose her to these bloody cowards.
I saw a flash of green as I jumped in front of Tonks as a shield of love.
I didn’t get to say good-bye.
I was a prankster.
I was a Gryffindor.
I was a werewolf.
I was a prefect.
I was an outcast.
I was a father.
I was a husband.
I was a teacher.
I was a Marauder.
I am Moony.
I am Remus Lupin.
~+~
We were the Marauders, the Masters Prongs, Padfoot, Wormtail, and Moony.
We were four friends to the end until one betrayed another.
We were then three until one died as a result of said betrayal.
We were then two when the accused was imprisoned and the criminal still free.
We were then one when one remained from a murder, an imprisonment, and a transformation.
We were two again when the accused was shown as innocent and freed.
We were three again when the traitor revealed himself.
We were four again when we met on the road to what lies beyond the living life.
We were, we are still, the four Marauders of Hogwarts.
We are James Potter, died October 1981.
We are Sirius Black, died June 1996.
We are Peter Pettigrew, died March 1998.
We are Remus Lupin, died May 1998.
And for the final time we say,
Mischief Managed.
I am... by Maximum Potter
Story Notes:
I do not own these fabulous characters, however J.K. Rowling does so you can thank her for these four special boys. The spells mentioned are in italics and the citation for quotes used shall be in the end notes of the chapter. Please read and review.
Chapter Notes: I, like so many other authors on this site, love to get reviews and hope that you enjoy this little one-shot on the four Marauders we all came to know and love. The warnings are only if you consider Pettigrew's way of dying a suicide or self-injury, and the violence deals with how I described the way Lupin died, or how I thought he died.
Please tell me what you think.
Chapter Endnotes: **Citation: HP and the OotP, pages 803-806. English version. **HP and the DH, pages 469 and 470. English version. So tell me what you thought about it and let me know if I need to improve.