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0%The Usual Suspects
Robyn: What the title suggests. A little background information on our favorite pranksters and their cohorts.
Angie: Though we did get a *little* biased...
Robyn: Hey. You try writing about Wormtail next time. :P
Angie: And we've also compiled a timeline of events involving the Marauders and company, for your convenience. And ours. *grins*
The four authors of the Marauder's Map, the reigning pranksters of Hogwarts, the likes of which haven't been seen since. Fred and George Weasley idolize these four, even though they don't know that their heroes are an accused murderer, a dead guy, a werewolf, and a Death Eater. Then there's the love interest, and the requisite 'bad guy'. Here's the players in our little story...
Sirius "Padfoot" Black
Probably the most reckless of the group, Sirius
usually got the other
three to go along with a prank, when even
James wasn't sure if it was a
good idea. He almost got Snape killed when
he suggested that if he wanted
so badly to know where Remus went every month
that he should go check out
the Whomping Willow. We can only assume that
he was just as reckless after
graduation as he was in school, and he owed
a flying motorcycle. He's
fiercely protective of his friends, and will
do anything for them. He's believed to be
guilty of selling out James and Lily to old
Voldie, but
he'd suggested that they switch the secretkeeper
to Peter so he would be a
decoy. He's Harry's godfather, and still driving
Snape nuts, probably just
by existing. He can transform into a large
black dog, which greatly
resembles Professor Trelawney's favorite death
omen, the Grim. In Harry's
fifth year, he dies fighting to protect his
best friend's son, falling
through the veil in the Department of Mysteries
at the Ministry of Magic
after being hit with a spell by his cousin,
Bellatrix Black Lestrange.
During the first fight against Voldemort,
Sirius was a member of the Order
of the Phoenix. His family, 'the ancient and
noble house of Black', is a
bunch of pureblood nutters, producing some
fan favorites like Bellatrix
and Narcissa Malfoy. He had let the Order
use his family home, 12
Grimmauld Place, as their headquarters, and
when he left all his
possessions to Harry, his godson continued
to lend it to the Order.
Remus "Moony" Lupin
The
quiet voice of reason in the group, Remus is
a werewolf. But that
didn't keep him from attending Hogwarts or becoming
friends with the other
boys. And even when his three friends discovered
his illness, they weren't
put off by it in the least. This discovery led
to their eventual animagi transformations. He
almost killed Snape as a result of one of Sirius's
pranks, and the slimeball has never liked him
since. In their fifth year,
Remus was named as a prefect for Gryffindor House.
He eventually became
one of Hogwarts' most popular DADA professors
when he taught during
Harry's third year, in spite of Snape's attempts
to get him fired. Remus
is currently unable to get a job anywhere due
to the work of Dolores
Umbridge and others in the Ministry of Magic,
but he is still working for
the Order of the Phoenix as he did more than
a decade earlier. His
birthday is March 10, making him a Pisces. He
is currently seeing
Nymphodora Tonks, and auror also in the Order
and Sirius' younger cousin.
James "Prongs" Potter
The
quidditch star, James was most likely every
teacher's dream. Great
grades, well mannered--with adults--, not to
mention good looking. Of
course, there was the small problem of his
pranking habits and tendancy to
show off. Not that this stopped him from being
Head Boy in their 7th year.
Not bad for someone who illegally became an
animagi with his friends in
his 5th year--he can turn into a stag. Along
with his friends, he was also
a member of the Order of the Phoenix during
the first rise of Voldemort,
which doesn't really surprise any of us since
he hated the Dark Arts quite
a bit. He was somewhat of a prat when he was
younger, tormenting Snape
just because he disliked him, but he eventually
grew out of it, which is
one of the reasons Lily finally agreed to date
him in their seventh year.
He's very intelligent, but you can bet that
either one of two things is on
James's mind. Quidditch, the only sport in
the world in his opinion, or
Lily, the most beautiful and perfect girl in
the world--probably not only
in his opinion. He eventually marries Lily,
and has a son who inherits not
only his looks, but his tendency to bend the
rules as well.
Peter "Wormtail" Pettigrew
Peter
was the tag-along in the group, idolizing James
and Sirius. No one
is quite sure why he sold out everything good
in his life and became a
Death Eater sometime after graduation. He was
Secret Keeper for James and
Lily, but gave up their location to Voldemort.
In that one act, he
destroyed the lives of all his former friends.
He hid as Scabbers the Rat
with the Weasley family for 12 years until
he was found out by Sirius, who
had escaped from Azkaban after Peter framed
him. He helped Voldemort come
back at the end of Harry's fourth year, bringing
darkness back into a
world that had barely survived the first war.
That's pretty heavy
considering he isn't a very powerful wizard,
and is rather timid. He now
has a silver hand, having given up his real
one to bring back Voldemort.
We have yet to have a real reason behind why
he betrayed his friends,
aside from his "But You-Know-Who was taking
over all over the place"
excuse. Instead of just running away, or even
turning himself in, he
helped Voldemort come back. He could have left
him to rot, saving the
wizarding world a lot of trouble, but instead
he did like he was told. Of
note is the fact that Harry spared him in the
Shrieking Shack, and
Pettigrew now owes his life to Harry, which
could have some meaning later.
Lily Evans (Potter)
This
is probably the one person that James would
listen to, short of
Dumbledore himself. She's very gifted with
charms, not to mention quite
beautiful. She's a very caring person, though
she will speak her mind when
she feels someone is doing something wrong.
This is probably why she was
named prefect in their fifth year. She and
James didn't actually start
dating until their seventh year, when they
were Head Boy and Girl. In
fact, before James stopped being a total idiot--like
many boys are wont to
do when they're teenagers--she could barely
stand him. Or at least that's
what she told him whenever he was around. She
never liked when the boys
tormented Snape, and didn't hesitate to tell
them so, even though Snape
never appreciated it very much. She's a Muggleborn
witch, and the only
that we know of in her family. Her only living
relatives are her sister
Petunia and her family. When Voldemort came
to Godric's Hollow, she died protecting Harry,
though apparently Voldemort said she needn't
have died. [As if he would spare someone.]
Severus Snape
Everyone's
favorite slimeball, Snape is the one Slytherin
that the boys
love to hate. He was a Death Eater, but turned
spy for Dumbledore for
reasons we don't yet know. He seemes to get
ragged on at every turn by the
entire world, never getting the DADA position
at Hogwarts, and even losing
it to one of his least favorite people, Remus,
at one point. Not to
mention he has James's son, Harry, in his class.
He's antisocial,
house-biased, and mean-spirited, but he can
be noble in his own weird way.
He did protect Harry from Quirrel in his first
year. Back when they were
in school, Snape and James were always at odds,
from the first moment they
laid eyes on each other. He was tormented a
good deal, but that didn't
mean he didn't hex James back. He's a difficult
character to understand at
times, but you have to respect him for being
a spy for the good guys.
However, in Harry's sixth year, things change.
It is revealed that Snape
is actually a half-blood, with is strange considering
he is a Death Eater,
when Harry finds out that he is the self-proclaimed
'Half-Blood Prince'.
[His witch mother's maiden name was Prince.]
Also, during the battle at
Hogwarts, he kills Dumbledore, though it is
still unclear what his
motivation was. Was it on Voldemort's orders?
Was it in order to save
Draco from that fate as per his Unbreakable
Vow with Narcissa? Or did
Dumbledore ask him to do so in order to spare
Draco, knowing of the Vow?
Whatever his motivation, Harry is after him
and Voldemort both now, so we
will soon see where his loyalties truly lie.