User:David~enwiki/Marauders (Harry Potter)

The Marauders are a group of friends from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series of novels. They were students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a generation before the events of the series.

Members
The Marauders consisted of:
 * James Potter, father of Harry Potter. James was an unregistered animagus who took the form of a stag; this earned him the nickname Prongs. James is generally seen as the ring leader of the group.
 * Sirius Black, Harry's godfather. Also an unregistered animagus, he took the form of a large black dog and the nickname Padfoot. James' best friend, and tends to be seen as 'second in command.' Sirius Black was a "trouble maker" along with James at school and they were largely popular
 * Remus Lupin, became a werewolf when bitten by Fenrir Greyback as a child, earning him the nickname Moony. The other three Marauders became animagi in order to keep him company during his transformations each month. He was the bookish one of the group, and during Snape's Worst Memory, while the other three were teasing Snape, Remus was seen off to the side, reading. He later became one of Harry's teachers at Hogwarts, and Harry is the godfather to Remus's child, Teddy Lupin.
 * Peter Pettigrew, an unregistered animagus who took the form of a rat and the nickname Wormtail. Later in his life, he became a Death Eater; upon Lord Voldemort's disappearance, he took the form of Scabbers, (first Percy Weasley's pet rat until Ron Weasley inherited him. He admired James and Sirius and followed them around.

History
Their friendship is implied to have begun in their first or second year at Hogwarts (Sirius and James where alreay somewhat aligned on their first train to hogwarts, as seen in the pensieve by Harry). All were members of Gryffindor House, and in the same year. By their fifth year, James, Sirius, and Peter had secretly become unregistered Animagi in order to provide company for Remus, a werewolf, while the effects of his affliction played themselves out every month.

After school, the four all went on to join the original Order of the Phoenix in the first war against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Sometime in this period Pettigrew secretly joined the Death Eaters, and began leaking sensitive information about the Order. This betrayal culminated in revealing the secret location, magically entrusted only to him (through the fidelius charm), of the young Potter family. On October 31, 1981, Voldemort killed James and Lily Potter, but was thwarted by baby Harry. The Potters had cast the Fidelius Charm on Pettigrew secretly, choosing him as their "Secret Keeper", and the only person who knew was Sirius Black.

When Black discovered that Pettigrew had betrayed the Potters, he confronted him on a busy Muggle street. To escape Black, (who was a far more powerful wizard) Pettigrew cunningly caused everything around him to explode - killing twelve muggles in the process - and faked his own death. He left behind one of his own fingers to represent the last remains of his annihilated corpse, and Black was arrested and sentenced to the wizard's prison, Azkaban, without a trial. The wizarding world assumed that, as Potters' best friend, he had been the traitorous Secret Keeper, and Pettigrew was hailed as a heroic martyr who had foiled Black's escape.

Pettigrew's tactics were so believable that even Remus Lupin believed his old friend Sirius had joined Voldemort and murdered his friends. After Voldemort's defeat, Pettigrew went into hiding, remaining in his rat form for 12 years and taking up residence as the pet rat of the unsuspecting Weasley family.

Black was held in Azkaban for 12 years. By pure chance, he saw a picture of Pettigrew, in his rat form - now known as Scabbers - in a newspaper article on the Weasleys. He immediately realized where Pettigrew was, and escaped Azkaban in his dog form. Knowing that Pettigrew had taken the role as Ron's pet rat, Black set off for his old school Hogwarts, which by then his old friend Lupin had gone on to become a professor.

By the time Black arrived at Hogwarts, news of his escape reached the entire Wizarding world, including his godson Harry. Black made various tries to apprehend his traitorous friend, but his many attempts were foiled in some form or another. Eventually, Black (in his dog form) dragged Ron, who had Scabbers with him at the time, through the Whomping Willow and to the Shrieking Shack. Harry and Hermione quickly follow him, and when they finally got to the Shack, Black revealed his true form and attempted to explain himself. Harry however, convinced Black betrayed his parents, took none of it, and looked ready to kill the traitor.

It was at this point where Lupin, using the Marauder's Map, burst into the scene. Lupin quickly realized the truth of the matter and disarmed Harry and his friends. It was after this that Lupin embraced his old friend. Though Harry, Ron, and Hermoine were initially shocked to see what they viewed as a betrayal, Lupin and Black attempted to explain themselves to the horrified students. However, the three would take none of it, and Hermione revealed that Lupin was a werewolf.

After many attempts, Lupin and Black finally revealed to Harry the truth of James and Lily's demise along with exposing the true identity of "Scabbers". After changing Pettigrew back in his human form, Lupin and Black then united to expose and stop Pettigrew from delivering Harry to Voldemort, but Harry stopped the other two from killing Pettigrew. He escaped narrowly and rejoined Voldemort when Lupin, who was holding him, suddenly transformed into a werewolf.

In Harry's fourth year, Pettigrew was instrumental in Voldemort's return to power. He had been aiding the dark lord in secret, and when Harry and Cedric Diggory were taken into the Little Hangleton cemetery, it was Pettigrew who killed Diggory and created the potion that would return Voldemort to his full-powered form - this potion also needed to include his hand in order to work, which he cut off willingly. Voldemort replaced it with a magical, silvery hand. After Voldemort's rise to power was complete, Dumbledore revived the Order of the Phoenix, inducting Lupin and Black.

Black was killed in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries by Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange (who was also his cousin). Pettigrew continued working with Voldemort behind the scenes until the group of Death Eaters working out of the Malfoy estate captured Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. While Harry attempted to make an escape, Pettigrew was sent to check on them and Ron and Harry jumped and silenced him. When Pettigrew tries to choke Harry, he reminds him of his life-debt and his grip slackens. For his hesitation to kill the escapees, the magical hand Voldemort had given him choked him to death, and Pettigrew's life-debt to Potter was repaid.

The final remaining Marauder, Remus Lupin, participated in the Battle of Hogwarts with the Order of the Phoenix, including his wife, Nymphadora Tonks. Both were killed at some point during the battle, leaving behind their son (Harry's godson), Teddy.

It is interesting to note that all four of the Marauders were killed in the act of protecting Harry Potter from Lord Voldemort or a Death Eater, and died in the exact reverse order of how they were first introduced - Moony last, Wormtail then Padfoot before him, and Prongs first. The original order was, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs.

The two characters who are associated most with the group, and known to be in the same year as the Marauders, are also dead by the end of the series. Lily Potter dies on the same night as her husband, and Severus Snape is killed on the same night as Remus Lupin, in the Battle of Hogwarts. These two also die (in Snape's case, against initial impressions) whilst trying to protect Harry Potter from Lord Voldermort in some way.

The Marauder's Map
Harry Potter was given a mysterious map by the pranksters Fred and George Weasley who had swiped it from the school caretaker Argus Filch's collection of confiscated items in their first year. Once the code phrase was spoken ("I solemnly swear that I am up to no good"), it revealed its name - the Marauder's Map - and showed a detailed map of Hogwarts, secret passages and the location of everyone on the property. The notation at the top of the map listed its creators - "Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," the nicknames of the four Marauders - Lupin, Pettigrew, Black and Potter, respectively. The phrase "Mischief Managed" causes the map to go blank. It also had the ability to tell off anyone who tried to access the map without the password, particularily Snape, as seen in Prisoner of Azkaban.

The Title
It is worth noting that the The Marauders was not shown to be used by the four themselves. The Marauder's Map, by the placement of its apostrophe, means The Map of a Marauder, rather than The Map of the Marauders. In canon, they have only been referred to as such by Ron Weasley. Rowling has, however, confirmed in interviews that the group of friends did indeed refer to themselves as The Marauders. They were, even before the confirmation, described as such by fans.

In Fanfiction
Because of their still vague histories and ultimately tragic ends, the Marauders are extremely popular in the Harry Potter fanfiction world, sometimes even more so than the lead Harry Potter characters themselves. A popular form of Marauders fanfiction is found in writing about the group, along with Lily Potter (James' future wife), and sometimes Severus Snape, during their school days at Hogwarts. The Marauders have a cult following on many fanfiction archives and websites.

In the films
In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the Marauders' backstory is excluded, but the characters, their friendship and the map are present. A short scene of the Marauders taunting Severus Snape is included in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.