That day was the best for James, Sirius, Lupin, and for all Gryffindor in particular.
For four hours, 90% of the first-year Slytherin boys had picturesque flowers on their heads reaching up to their waists.
Rabastan was furious. He knew it was James and his group, but he had no proof. At breakfast, he went furiously to the professors' table and wanted an audience with Dumbledore, but he wasn't there at the time.
Even McGonagall could be seen smiling slightly in amusement at the sight of the picturesque scalps. Also, since the flowers were harmless they couldn't go to the infirmary and skip classes, so they had no choice but to go to classes.
One of those classes was Potions, where they shared a class with Gryffindor first years. An embarrassment that Rabastan and his friends would never forget.
It was very amusing for Sirius to see Rabastan's usual haughty and arrogant face full of colors and flowers, so he kept throwing taunting remarks at the Slytherin, who was scowling all morning.
"Hey Lestrange!" shouted Sirius, suddenly, to get the other boy's attention. Rabastan turned around, looking up. His hair full of flowers and various colors gave his face a strange look.
"You look good with those flowers. Maybe you should get a perm!" sneered Sirius, and the four boys dissolved into giggles as Rabastan returned to his cauldron furious.
By the time the first period was over, the entire castle was buzzing with rumors about what exactly had fallen upon the Slytherin boys. James was very pleased with the outcome of his first big prank at Hogwarts.
'I must tell Mum and Dad,' he thought with a smile.
...
"Those damned Potter and Black! I'm sure it was them!" growled Rabastan angrily in a dark corridor of the castle. He had to endure the first class of taunts from all of Gryffindor. Now in a few minutes, he had to go to another class, even though they weren't sharing with another class, all the girls would be laughing at him.
"We must know how they did it. So they get punished. No, better get them expelled!" shouted Rabastan angrily as pink flowers obstructed his view.
"You saw how little importance the teachers gave it. I don't think it's grounds for expulsion..." said Mulciber annoyed while sneezing because he had a flower near his nose.
"Never mind, minimally a punishment... no, that will not suffice," said Rabastan as he grinned evilly. Mulciber and Avery looked at each other strangely, as the smile with a full head of hair full of flowers did not give him an evil touch but rather a grotesque one.
...
"Today was a great day!" said Sirius slumped on the couch. His voice was a little hoarse from spending all day laughing and mocking the Slytherin boys loudly.
The group was in the Gryffindor common room which was empty, as it was late at night.
"I wondered if Rabastan will be leaving Hogwarts?" said James with a slight smile as he read the weekly quidditch magazine sitting on the floor.
"We should tread carefully, who knows what he'll do for revenge," commented Lupin, who was doing late homework.
"T-that's right, they're going to want revenge!" said Peter shivering and thinking internally that he mustn't get separated from the group as they wandered the dark corridors of the castle.
"They don't know who they were, and even if they suspect us it's no time to think about that," said Sirius, rolling his eyes and standing up straight, "This is the day where our journey as professional pranksters began!" he continued in a dignified tone of voice as if he was making a motivational speech.
"Professional pranksters?" asked James, amused as he looked up from the magazine.
"Exactly! It's the day when we complete our first official mission," said Sirius.
'First mission?' thought Peter fearfully.
"Mm, let me think of a name..." said Sirius with a thoughtful look.
"A name...?" said the others as they started looking for a suitable name for the group.
"How about the pranksters?" suggested Lupin.
"Very ordinary," said Sirius, shaking his head.
"The prankster lions?" asked Peter.
"You just add the lions to it, and it'll be obvious it's us or someone from Gryffindor," said Sirius. James couldn't think of any names, it wasn't his forte to think of good names.
"I know, stand up!" said Sirius, standing up enthusiastically.
"Since this day, we are The Marauders!" he added making it as if it was a very important gala. The others raised their fists, then started laughing because they thought it would be really weird for someone to see them acting like that.
"Why The Marauders?" asked James, sitting down on the couch.
"These last few days we've been exploring the castle, its secret passages, and stuff. In other words, we were marauding, and I'd say we don't have very good intentions," explained Sirius with a slight smile.
The next few days, they were giving more importance to exploring the castle to respect the new name of the group.
On the first Friday of October, James had finished his training with the quidditch team and was left putting the equipment away, doing his duty as props boy. The others wanted to help him, but he refused as McGonagall had given him this punishment, and he had to fulfill it to some minimal extent.
After finishing setting everything up, he began his walk back to Hogwarts Castle to have dinner with his friends. The sky was already completely dark, 'I never thought school would be so much fun' thought James as he walked alone towards Hogwarts castle.
It had been a month since he had arrived at Hogwarts and made friends. Not having friends was one of his regrets from his past life, although in his childhood he was close to Emily and Gwen, because of age he considered himself more like an older brother.
'I wonder what those two are doing,' thought James a little sad that their relationship had drifted apart since he was chosen in Gryffindor and they were in Slytherin.
James at that moment the attack of the masked wizards in the Quidditch World Cup final came to his mind. Since he arrived at Hogwarts he stopped training and reading new interesting and useful books.
Although he was fascinated by magic, most of his childhood was spent reading books and practicing with his father in the training room. Nowadays he found it much more fun to spend time with the Marauders.
Besides, his schedule was tight, he had classes until the afternoon, quidditch training three days a week, and then he had to spend some time completing homework assignments left by all the professors. If he spent any more time practicing and reading new books he would be hours and wouldn't be able to spend time with his friends.
Besides, he had a lot of time on his hands, so he didn't think much of it.
'I have time. Another day I'll look for a place to keep practicing and visit the library...' thought James. It had only been a month, he had time.
Before he reached the dining room he was intercepted by Lupin, who had a lot of sweat on his face. He looked like he had been running.
"Lupin, are you all right?" asked James, approaching his friend, who was catching his breath.
"It's bad... James...!" said Lupin with difficulty.
"What's bad?" asked James with a bad feeling.
"Toby's in the infirmary, badly hurt!" replied Lupin, and James' brow furrowed.