And, now, for something a little different...

Today, we join our heroes... no, wait. I changed my mind. Those whiny babies don't get a story. Today's episode will take a look at the next, I mean LAST generation.

The Marauders were in their third year when our story opens. At this point, I should probably inform you about many things you already know or do not care about. For example, Remus was a werewolf, but no one knew. Well, he knew... Peter Pettigrew was this little runty kid who followed them around but was not yet evil. I've met evil 13-year-olds, but they weren't really EVIL in the way that evil things are evil. In the betray-your-best-friends-and-cut-off-your-hand sort of way. That Lily girl is around, but she's obviously not that important yet, except as someone to torment and hate and secretly adore for her spunk.

What was I talking about... oh, yes, they were third years. As is to be expected in any fanfic, all the fine young Gryffindors were in Potions. The teacher, Professor Splishinsplash, was quite accident-prone. She was notorious for stirring just a bit too hard and sprinkling the front row with some sort of potion. The smart students, for once in their careers, sat in the back of the room.

"I'm boooo-red!" Sirius whined in a loud whisper. James ignored him, watching Professor Splishinsplash catch herself on fire for the fourth time in ten minutes. Lily whipped her head around to glare at him, her long red ponytail nearly dragging through James and Sirius's potion's experiment.

"Watch it, Lily," James cautioned, trying to save her hair from the potion. At this point, their potion was as likely to shrivel her hair as set it on fire. He grabbed a handful of hair. Unfortunately, his hand went one way and her head went the other.

"Ouch!" Lily smacked James, causing his potion to overturn anyway. It glop, glop, glopped harmlessly to the floor. "What are you, four?"

"Nice move," Sirius whispered loudly again to the despairing James. "But I'm still bored."

"Talk to Remus. I'm busy," James murmured 'Evanesco' and began his potion again.

Sirius shot Remus a glance. Their friend was working one table over with the potions-challenged Peter. He looked pale and tired, but he couldn't be distracted because their table wasn't on fire.

"Remus is... weird," Sirius added. "There's something going on with him, and I don't know what."

James ignored him and worked on his potion. Sirius tapped a shrivelfig against the cauldron. "Quit that! I don't know either. Why don't you go bother him to find out?"

A delicious smell wafted across the room. James stopped chopping beetles and Sirius perked up considerably. Professor Splishinsplash even seemed to take notice. She swooped across the room, stumbling over five or six stools along the way and unknowingly catching her robes on fire. She stopped in front of Severus Snape's cauldron, and Lily quickly stomped out the fire.

The professor eyed his potion. She stuck a ladle in and brought the liquid to her nose. She sniffed delicately.

"50 points from Slytherin for making..." she sniffed again, "Chicken and stars soup."

Remus choked back a laugh, and James eyed him, saying, "Remus seems normal to me. He even had time to change Snape's ingredients list."