Marauders

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief Makers Are proud to present THE MARAUDER'S MAP"

- Introduction to the Marauder's Map

Marauders is the friendship between James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew from the Harry Potter fandom.

Canon
The Marauders met in their first year at Hogwarts. James and Sirius became friends as soon as they met on the Hogwarts Express. At Hogwarts, they were joined by Remus and Peter after the Sorting Ceremony, being the four sorted into Gryffindor.

In their second year, Sirius, James and Peter discovered that Remus was a werewolf. At some point, James, Sirius and Peter decided to become Animagus (a wizard who can transform into an animal at will), as this would make the werewolf transformations more bearable for Remus. In their fifth year, they completed the Animagus transformation: Sirius was able to turn into a shaggy black dog known as Padfoot, James into a deer known as Prongs and Peter into a rat known as Wormtail. Every full moon, they would all escape and join Remus in the Shrieking Shack. In their Animagus form, James and Sirius were large enough to contain Remus during his transformations month after month; while Peter was small and nimble enough to get past the Whomping Willow's defences, so the group could get to the Shrieking Shack. The Marauders were frequently out of their beds at night to explore Hogwarts' grounds and the village of Hogsmeade during Lupins' transformation.

Between their fifth and seventh years, the four of them created the Marauder's Map, a small scroll of enchanted parchment that pointed out the castle grounds and every inhabitant of the school, from ghosts to staff and students, in minute detail. Simultaneously, Sirius was running away from home to start living with James and his parents. This strengthened the bond between the two.

During their time at Hogwarts, the Marauders earned a reputation as mischievous, but also as bullies. The main target of their bullying was Severus Snape, Slytherin student. The enmity between Snape and the Marauders dates back to the first interaction between Snape and James and Sirius, which occurred on the same day that James and Sirius met and befriended each other on the Hogwarts Express. This rivalry would grow between James and Snape because of Lily Evans, for whom they both vied for his affection. The only one who disagreed with such abuse towards Snape was Remus, who later remarked that he regretted never doing anything to prevent it.

Fanon
Marauders era fan fic is extremly popular within the Harry Potter fandom. The ship currently has 3803 works under it on AO3 and even more on other fanfiction websites. It is popular to the point where many consider it to have it's own fanbase. Many who enjoy this era and the friendship tend to not consider themselves as part of the HP fandom at large. The ship's popularity is due to how close they were and how far they would go for each other. The friendship's tragic end only add to its charm.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION