Ask the Marauders > October 13, 2006

Name: Mae
If muggle devices don't work at Hogwarts, how can you tell what time it is, if there aren't any clocks?

James: Magical clocks, of course.

Sirius: There's always the sundial. That's not affected by all the magic around Hogwarts.

Remus: Magical clocks are more accurate.

Lily: It's electricity that doesn't work at Hogwarts. A wind-up watch works perfectly fine. Also, like James mentioned, there are magical counterparts to the more technically advanced muggle watches. They're just magically driven, not electrically powered.

Name: Opal
If you had to pick the most annoying thing about your lives (or previous life) what would you pick?

Remus: Lots of restrictions.

James & Sirius: Snape.

Lily: You can't be serious. (Sirius: Yes I can! *grin*) You annoyed him just as much, if not more so.

Sirius: His existence annoyed me.

Peter: A lot of random things annoyed you, actually. But I suppose we shouldn't get picky.

Sirius: Har har....

Lily: I suppose the whole being marked by an evil wizard is rather annoying, but I think other feelings about that situation overrode any annoyed feelings.

James: Other than that, I think life was pretty good, aside from the usual annoyances, like homework and detention.

Lily: You could have avoided so many detentions if you weren't such a git.

James: I grew out of it. *grins*

Sirius: I didn't!

Lily: No kidding....

Remus: I think he gave me my first grey hair.

Sirius: Oooh, can you name it after me, then? *grins*

Name: Nameless
So, I noticed that in the books Harry is quite a bit...er... angsty...and I was wondering, James and Lily, who'd he get from?

Lily: James. Totally from James.

James: I am not angsty!

Sirius: I'll have to agree with Lils on this one. You had some serious angst going on until she agreed to go out with you.

James: ....

Remus: It was really bad, Prongs.

Peter: Well, Lily never seemed very angsty, so I don't see it coming from her.

James: Well, I would argue that it came from his circumstances, not his parents, but you all like poking fun at me, right?

Sirius: Yup!

Name: PaintMistress
What color would you paint a house?

Sirius: Chartreuse.

James: You have got to be joking.

Sirius: I think it's a nice color.

Peter: You think it's a nice *sounding* color.

Sirius: ....that, too.

James: I don't really have a preference on house colors. Nothing horribly loud, or too girly. Maybe a blue or something?

Remus: Brown? Brick-red? Something that doesn't hurt the eyes?

Lily: Yellow or white might be nice. I'd rather the gardens have the bright colors than the house.

Name: Katie
Ok... so I know that the Marauder's Map insults anyone who tries to read it without knowing how it works, but what would it say if Lily tried to use it?

James: It might have been relatively polite to her.

Remus: Key word being 'relatively'.

Sirius: Because you insisted that we put that in.

James: We didn't need it insulting *everyone*.

Sirius: Meh, I don't see why not.

James: This is why you ended up with more detentions than me by the time we graduated.

Sirius: That, and you were Head Boy our last year. You hardly got any detentions at all!

James: You didn't get as many that year, either. Maybe we just had more important things to think about.

Sirius: Though there was always time to mess with Snape. *grins*

Name: Bono
Its seems like in high school, if you haven't conformed to a certain fad/stereotype or joined a clique, you are a nobody. Any suggestions how to put up with this until college?

James: Make friends with everyone? Or at least a lot of different people.

Sirius: Who cares what others think of you, so long as you're happy with yourself?

Remus: I'm with Padfoot on this one. After high school, no one cares about what clique you were in.

Peter: Maybe you can try and befriend some of the more popular kids.

James: Yeah, but they could use her instead of being friends. It's a fine line.

Peter: I suppose....

Lily: Everyone uses everyone else to some degree. It's human nature, though it's usually unintentional.

Name: Miss Marauder
Okay, I was reading through some old ATMs and I came across the one about silver. Remus, you said "Werewolves and silver don't get along. *shudders*" Out of curiosity, was there some bad experience in your past involving silver? *huggles* You're sweet.

Sirius: Totally wasn't my fault.

James: Who said it was? ...what were we talking about again?

Remus: It involved something Padfoot unintentionally did that left me in pain for a while. Can we leave it at that?

Name: I'm Crazy
What were your reactions on the first mornings of both your OWL and NEWT exams?

Peter: I threw up a couple times.

James: Meh, I did what I always do in the morning, though I suppose I was a little nervous for the NEWTs.

Sirius: I almost overslept. Moony had to throw water in my face to get me to wake up. *grins*

Remus: I had enough of trying to wake you up. I was nervous before the OWLs, but the NEWTs weren't as bad.

Lily: Before we sat for our OWLs, I was nervous. I couldn't eat much. I mostly reviewed some things instead while trying to eat some juice and toast. Before the NEWTs I was a little more confident, though I still didn't eat much. I don't get much of an appetite before exams.

Name: i like barbecue chips!
I have a report on the Berlin Wall. I really want to blow something up. What should I do?

James: Do those two sentences even have anything to do with each other?

Remus: No.

Lily: Do the report. You can do what you like, within reason, after you finish it.

Sirius: Whiile blowing things up is an admirable pasttime, I agree with Prongs. Those two things have nothing to do with each other.

Peter: Perhaps she'd like to blow up the Wall?

Lily: The Berlin Wall came down in 1989. There's only parts of it left at this point, so there's no reason to blow it up. Do the report and then entertain yourself. Just don't hurt yourself or anyone else in the process.

[Angie: Something about der Mauer? Whoa...I left Germany only a few months before it was torn down.

Robyn: I...watched it on TV? *grins*]

Name: Spelling Nazi
Did you know that in the last AtM, you misspelled acorn?

Peter: Somehow that doesn't surprise me.

James: Typing this stuff up is hard sometimes. Especially under a deadline.

Lily: This is why people created spellcheckers.

Sirius: But they hate Moony, so we don't use them.

Remus: Or at least, my name.

Lily: *sigh* They don't hate Remus. You just need to add his name to the list of words that are spelled correctly and it will not pick up his name every time you spellcheck a document.

James: Really? Wow, that's amazing! You're so smart, Lils!

Lily: *rolls eyes* It's just common sense if you actually looked at the box that pops up for the spellchecker. It has a button that says, 'Add,' so you can add the word it's questioning. Robyn's had to do this for her last name on every computer she's used.

Remus: So does Angie. It really doesn't like her last name either.

Name: cheese is good
James, why don't you get contacts; I mean really, they're GOOD FOR YOU!!

James: They're good for you? How can putting something in your eye be good for you?

Remus: Angie does it most of the time...

Lily: He's got a bit of an eye-phobia.

James: I hate going to the eye doctor. All the lights in the eyes and drops and things. And things coming way too close to my eyes, thank you very much.

Lily: *giggles* Yeah, he's quite a baby about it. But I must say, while contacts would be less prone to getting smushed, I rather like his glasses. Very cute.

James: Haha! Lily backs me up!

Sirius: ....crybaby. *grins*

James: Shut up, Mr. 20/20 Vision.

Sirius: Haha! Victory!

Name: Arla
Don't you think Remus is the most adorable thing in the world? Goodness, I don't know a person who doesn't want to bite, tickle, and snuggle him to death!

Remus: ...I'm frightened...

Peter: I can understand the tickling and snuggling, but why would you want to bite him if you like him so much?

James: Wormtail, one day you, too, will discover the womenfolk.

Peter: Why do I get the feeling that this answer is about to go somewhere that I really do feel like going this early in the morning? Or ever?

Sirius: Because you got James talking about couple things, and that's never a good thing.

Peter: *sigh* I'm sorry. It wasn't intentional.

Sirius: We know, Wormtail. We know...

Name: Spirit
Lily, you do snap at Sirius a lot, I was wondering if it was for a reason or if he is just a good punch bag?

Lily: No, I don't do it on purpose. He just says or does a lot of things that are questionable or just plain hurtful or stupid.

Sirius: We disagree. A lot. *grins*

Lily: But he's not such a bad person. Just a bit....misguided at times?

James: He's a looney, but once Lily got to know him better, I think she understood him a little. She doesn't snap at him nearly as much as she used to. Or at me, for that matter. We probably deserved most of it, though. *sheepish grin*

Remus: Yes, you did deserve it most of the time.

Sirius: Haha, but not ALL of the time!

Lily: Not really helping your case, Sirius...

Name: Axel
So... Harry was first the "Boy Who Lived", then he was a nutcase, and now he's "the Chosen One. Why don't they just put it all together and call him "the Chosen Nutcase Who Lived"? Seems more logical to me.

Sirius: Haha! That's perfect! I can see the Prophet headlines now....

Remus: But they would use another word in place of 'nutcase'...

James: I don't think he wants to be called anything. Except Harry, of course.

Sirius: So 'hey you' is out, huh?

James: Har har....

Name: A pretty pink pony in spandex
Can ghosts get fat?

Lily: Ghosts don't really eat, so they can't get fat. If they're fat when they die, then they'll be fat as ghosts.