#marauder origin

[thestralsofspinnersend]

Chapter 18: Some Things, Sacrificed

“As the weeks wore on, barrelling quickly towards the end of their third year at Hogwarts, Sirius, in his charismatic and distracting ways, had convinced them to put a hold on researching ways to break his unbreakable vow, and rather focus their clever skills and keen minds to something that seemed much less depressing and much more rewarding in the ways of mischief-making and nonsense.

The four of them had begun to compile a rough index for all of the hidden tunnels and secret recesses of the castle that they had discovered over their three years of getting up to no good, after nearly getting caught out after dark again and stumbling into a new corridor on the third floor. They were heckled by a portrait of three fair maidens, tending to a large cauldron over a fire, one of them threatening to call for Filch, brandishing her wooden spoon, and another telling them which rooms in the passage were unlocked with a wink and a smile.

“Just imagine how many secret places this place has,” James had whispered excitedly, climbing back up to the dorm at near 3am, “we need to figure out as many as we can before we leave.”

They all stayed up that night until the sun rose, all huddled onto Sirius’s bed, writing lists and drawing diagrams, consumed with the idea of uncovering the castle’s secrets. They only stopped when they heard the sounds of students heading towards breakfast, and blearily they dressed and raced out the door, eager to fuel up on strong tea and crispy bacon to get them through the day.

And, over the weeks the wall of their dorm room had become more and more occluded with spelled bits of parchment, poorly drawn diagrams of tunnels and niches in walls, brass thumb tacks holding strings between odd names for entrances they had found, and portraits with information.”

[thestralsofspinnersend]

Holidays, Cold and Hungry

We’ve updated Chapter 6 of Death, and Other Origin Stories!

Come let us know what you think!

Wolfstar, Marauders Origin Story, Slow Burn

@thestralhouseofblack

December 1, 1972

“Come on, Remus! You can go higher than that!” Sirius encouraged, clapping wildly. Cold winds whipped around them in the dull light of late morning, Remus’s hair flopping wildly onto his pale sweaty face as he strained against the magic in the broom beneath him.

“No! I really cannot! I can’t believe I let you talk me into this—” He groused, laughing nervously, hovering only a few feet from the ground on Sirius’s broom. Sirius, who was standing just there with eyes fixed on Remus and arms outstretched, ready to catch him should he fall, giggled madly, as if this were the funniest thing he’d ever seen. His hair was tied back in a low bun but the wind had caught errant curls that floated on the winter air around his face.

“Ouf !” Peter, a few feet beside him, had lost control, again, wobbling madly, and fell clean off of James’s broom, landing on his backside.

“Pete, mate, you’re a menace!” James said, helping him to his feet, yet again. “That’s the fourth time you’ve fallen off!”

“One more time!” Peter insisted, clambering to his feet and throwing a leg over the broom, James steadying him.

Remus stayed stationary, hovering, concentrating very hard on not falling or going any higher. His hands were sore from gripping the broom with white knuckles, and his butt hurt from sitting on such narrow wood, his thighs straining.

“How do you stop it from killing your bullocks?” Remus huffed, awkwardly adjusting himself on the thin wood, refusing to release his vice grip from the handle.

Sirius cackled so hard he toppled onto the ground, breathless with laughter, his hair coming undone completely, spread out, like some parody of a silk fan.

James was giving Peter another pep talk on how to grip the handle and sit properly on the broom so that he could avoid any more injury, when Sirius finally picked himself up off the ground, wiping the mirth from his eyes, looking fondly between his doff friends on their brooms.

“Can I come down now?” Remus asked, trying not to sound as scared as he was.

“Of course, Mister Lupin, well done. You did a sight better than Peter, here.” He said, still smiling, tugging at Remus’s pant leg to pull him back down towards the earth, his hand reaching up to firmly grip Remus’s arm. “Though you could have actually flown somewhere— anywhere— other than hovering there like a frightened gnat.”

Remus scoffed but didn’t argue, he was trying to gingerly stretch his legs to meet the ground without wobbling too much. But, as his toes grazed the frosted grass of the quidditch pitch, Peter lost control of his broom— again. He swung wildly towards Remus, crashing bodily into his side, knocking them both off of their brooms, toppling them onto Sirius. James, in a frantic attempt to help, tripped on the fallen brooms and landed onto the dogpile, forcing piteous moans from all of them in unison.

“ Auuhg!” Sirius groaned on impact, all the air in his lungs leaving him swiftly, the weight of his three friends squishing him into the earth.

“ Huuuuuh — Peter— get— off —“ Remus breathed out a pained grimacing laugh, sandwiched between bodies, Sirius’s sharp elbow digging into his stomach.

Laughing hysterically, James rolled off of the pile, pulling Peter with him. Finally, Remus managed to crawl away as Sirius burst out into hysterics again.

[thestralsofspinnersend]

Death, and Other Origin Stories

Chapter 5 Wood on Iron on Flesh and Bone

by @thestralhouseofblack

“The ground was muddy and the sky was a solid, flat grey the morning of their first quidditch match. They trooped out of the locker rooms, clad in red and gold and quidditch leathers laced up around their shins and wrists, Sirius and James touching foreheads together, ruffling each others hair before slapping the others shoulders and running together out toward, and then onto, the pitch. At centre field, they split to their different positions, Sirius now back to back with Gideon, beaters clubs gripped tightly against weathered hands. Neither of them wore gloves. 

“Ready, Black?” Gideon’s voice was calm, but hungry, and Sirius was grinning, filling himself with the same single minded drive. Hunger, yes, that was it. Wood against iron. Iron against flesh. Against bone. All things in unison, together, unfettered, powerful and unforgiving. 

Wood against iron. 

“Ready.” He slapped the wood of his bat into his open palm, and readied to mount the school broom he’d nicked so long ago, the one he’d befriended, a bit slow and old and cumbersome, but then again, he didn’t need speed, just ferocity, and he had that aplenty. And he was hungry, and that would prove dangerous enough. 

James mounted his broom, eyes quick and decisive, darting between Longbottom and Fabian. Cordelia wore thick cornrows and a steely expression, staring down the similarly focused Ravenclaw seeker, a thin boy with short hair, of whom Sirius had forgotten the name. Behind him, Ravenclaw’s chasers included Lyla and her friend, Alena Greer, but Sirius wasn’t worried. He didn’t think Gideon knew how to play favourites. Not like this. Not with a bat in his hand and hunger in his heart. 

At the whistle, they were up in the air, and Sirius let the noise of the crowd fall away, his eyes and ears trained on the whistling blunger that was his charge, which had shot off down the field in their direction of the Gryffindor keeper, a sixth year girl by the name of Danae Montrose, who was wide and threatening, stationed before her middle hoop. 

Cordelia and the Ravenclaw seeker spun by him on the left, while above him Lyla and Alena passed and dipped and spun and caught the quaffle. Longbottom and James swerving between them. 

The chaos of the match mattered little, and Sirius let his bat swing wide and heavy and collide so satisfyingly into his chunk of iron, which had been hurtling directly for Danae, but now was redirected wide and haphazard toward the section of stands that housed so many indistinct green-clad supporters, then arcing back to find purchase among a knot of Ravenclaw brooms.  

Protect his team. Hunt the others. That’s all he needed to do.” 

[thestralsofspinnersend]

Chapter Update

Death, and Other Origin Stories by @thestralhouseofblack and @spinnersendslytherin

Chapter 4: The Kitchen at Night

Wolfstar, Marauders era, Marauders origin story, Hogwarts.

Warnings: Gore, violence, animal death, werewolf stuff, it's pretty brutal, his mom is also dying, I’m sorry, disordered eating, ED.

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Sirius had declared suddenly that since September 1 landed on a Friday, that it was an unencumbered weekend for getting up to no good.

“What would you know about getting up to no good, Black?” Severus said from where he stood waiting for Lily as she hugged her parents goodbye.

“A damn sight more than you, I’d say.” Sirius shot back, dropping the end of his trunk and facing him.

Severus looked him up and down, sizing him up. “Bet you wouldn’t have the guts for a wizard’s duel.”

“Been duelling since I could stand, you greasy git,” Sirius countered, his chest puffed up, stepping forward. Lily appeared at Severus’s side with a furrowed brow. “Who's your second?”

“I am.” Lily said. Severus shot her a startled glance, clearly not having anticipated her involvement.

“Well, then, I’m Sirius’s.” James piped up, stepping forward. Lily glowered. Remus ran a scarred hand over his face, exasperated. Couldn’t get they get through their first day back without this nonsense?

“Seventh floor, the duelling room.” Snape said with his arms folded, looking overly pleased.

“There is no duelling room on the seventh floor.” Peter said, clearly confused with a furrowed brow.

“Shows how much you know.” Severus said as he turned away. “Midnight, duelling room. Unless you’re a coward.”

Lily whispered waspishly as she pulled Severus down the platform, “Must you?”

Remus had to grab Sirius’s shoulder to stop him from running after Severus, “Why do you let him bother you?”

Sirius had shot him a challenging look, the yew wand spinning between his fingers, of mingled provocation and reproach. That’s what led them to wandering around the seventh floor at near midnight on their first day back at school, cramped and hunched under the cloak.

“We’ve been wandering around forever, there’s nothing here.” Peter griped, sniffling loudly again. “I told you he was lying.”

“If we don’t show up, then he’ll think we’re cowards and I’ll never be able to live with myself.” Sirius said, his voice filled with righteous anger. “I’m going to make him eat slugs, then vomit them up and eat them again.”

“There’s no special duelling room on the seventh floor, Sirius, I tried to tell you, he was making it up. He’s probably laughing his head off in the Slytherin common room, or worse, he’s told a teacher and—”

“Shhh!” James bit out. Footsteps were echoing off the walls and moving swiftly towards them.

Sirius jostled them trying to indicate that they should shuffle towards the wall to get out of the middle of the corridor. Peter shook his head with panicked eyes. He had never been capable of silent sneaking, and clearly thought they ought to risk it where they were.

All three of them rolled their eyes and silently grabbed Peter, hoisting him off the ground beneath the cloak. They all shimmied sideways, Peter twisting in their grasp. Into the deep shadow of an alcove between two windows, they sank, as the steps approached, quick and purposeful. The voices accompanying them made them all freeze in fear.

“My dear Minerva, I understand your worries, and share them with you. I too believe the boy— all three of them, actually— need more help and supervision—” came the low voice of the headmaster.

“Then why aren’t we doing more? Can’t we do more? All four of them are giving me grey hairs, Albus, and Poppy is being run ragged every full moon.” Minerva was saying with a tight frown as they approached the huddled boys under the invisibility cloak.

Remus’s heart was pounding in his chest and he was suddenly drenched in sweat.

“I do believe they may have set the record for most detentions in a year—” Dumbledore chuckled as they passed their hiding place.

“It’s no laughing matter, Albus, I think we need to revisit the idea of keeping the school open over the summer.”

“I thought they were giving you grey hairs, Minerva? Don’t you want some respite?” He asked, curiously, their voices fading.

“No, I want them to have stability and safety.” She declared as they were rounding the corner out of sight. Her voice trailing off. “I spoke with Tom. Both Lyall and Pearl have been at the Leaky nearly all summer, and, well, you remember how pleasant Orion was—”

They didn’t hear the rest of her thoughts, as her voice became dimmer and harder to hear through the echoing expanse of the stone halls. It was a long moment before Sirius finally spoke. “I think you’re right, Pete, I don’t think Severus really meant to duel us. He was trying to get us sent to detention, that little half-blood snitch.”

James snorted but Remus still hadn’t recovered from the shock of almost overhearing McGonagall talking about the full moon. “I’m standing right here, you know.” He reprimanded with a thin voice.

“Oh—” Sirius said after a moment, his face contorting in a grimace, seeming to realise what he had said. “Sorry, mate, I didn’t think— I— I mean Snivellus—”

“It’s fine.” Remus waved him off.

“We’ll get him back, don’t you worry.” James said, sounding determined and consoling, breaking the moment. “Can we sneak to the kitchens? I’m dying for a scone.” Peter chimed in, starting to pull away from the wall.

“Yeah.” Sirius answered, tugging on Remus’s overlarge sweater. “And we can decide what retribution to reign down on that slime ball for lying about a duelling room on the seventh floor. What utter rubbish.”

And off they went, all soundly ignoring what they may or may not have overheard in the dark of the castle.

When they finally climbed back in through the portrait hole at near two in the morning, it was to see Lily sitting smugly in an armchair by the fire. Her hands were steepled in front of her face as if she were waiting for them. Her pink fluffy robe and tartan pyjama bottoms, doing little to detract from the foreboding scene.

“Hello, boys.” She said with a smirk.

“Evans.” James said with a slight nodded, looking wary.

“I see Severus curled like a gnarl at the thought of a fair fight.” Sirius bit out, crossing his arms in indignation.

“Oh, no, Severus did no such thing. I told him if he left his common room tonight I’d tell McGonagall and Slughorn.”

“Must be spending too much time with the Slytherins if you’re so quick to rat out a friend.” Peter said with his sniffling wheeze.

Sirius and James grunted in agreement. Remus narrowed his eyes.

“No, you see, I have a different agenda.” She continued.

“Could you get on with it? I’m tired and you’re boring.” Sirius barked. Lily raised her eyebrows.

“Leave Severus alone, or I’ll tell McGonagall how you’ve been sneaking about all the time.”

They all stood very still, watching her.

“We don’t sneak out.” Peter lied lamely, and Lily gave him a withering look that didn’t need words.

“Snape starts it half the time, anyways!” James nearly shouted.

“You’re no better!” She retorted. “You’re always goading him, four on one. How is that fair?”

“I’m not making deals with Slytherins!” Sirius said, his face hard.

“I’m a Gryffindor —” Lily said, getting to her feet.

“The sorting hat made a mistake.” Sirius said, meanly.

“With you? I’d believe it.” Lily sniped with narrowed eyes, taking a determined step forward. Fearless on her own in the face of confrontation, of being outnumbered.  Sirius moved forward to meet her challenge, bristling with indignation, but Remus and James grabbed his arms.

Remus could smell the tension. Could hear Sirius’s rage building. Could feel James’s pulse staccato next to him. Even Peter stopped mouth breathing.

“I protect my own, that’s being a Gryffindor.” Lily said with venom and righteousness. “It shouldn’t matter that he’s Slytherin. You should know better.”

“You don’t know how we’ve been sneaking around, you’re bluffing.” Remus deflected, also bluffing.

“Suit yourself.” She said, turning towards the stairs. “Leave him alone, or I’m busting you.”

And with that, she disappeared up the stairs to the girl’s dormitory.