Marauders RPG

The Marauders' strong friendship began in their first year at Hogwarts. Sirius and James met on the train and had been inseparable ever since and the two met Remus and Peter afterwards. By their fifth year, all but Remus Lupin, who was a werewolf, had secretly become unregistered Animagi in order to assist Remus during his transformations. James Potter's Animagus form was a shining red stag (Prongs), Sirius Black's was a shaggy black dog (Padfoot), and Peter Pettigrew's was a fat grey rat (Wormtail).

As 'Padfoot' and 'Prongs', Sirius and James were large enough to control Remus (Moony) during his monthly transformations into a werewolf. 'Wormtail' (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.

In the period between their fifth and seventh years at Hogwarts, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter created the Marauder's Map, a small, bewitched roll of parchment that displayed the castle grounds and inhabitants of Hogwarts — including all staff, ghosts and students — in great detail. At an unspecified point, Hogwarts caretaker Argus Filch confiscated the map and kept it in a drawer in his office labelled 'Classified and Highly Dangerous'. Fred and George Weasley stole the map in their first year, and later passed it on to Harry Potter in 1993.[8] Harry had been the sole owner of the map since then. The Marauders were all members of Gryffindor House and greatly despised their Slytherin enemy, Severus Snape. It was discovered in Harry Potter's fifth year at Hogwarts that James and Sirius often bullied Snape (calling him 'Snivellus' and using humiliating spells on him), while Peter cheered them on.Although he greatly disapproved of their bullying, Remus did not try to stop them, something he would later come to regret.

James was a clever and talented wizard, but very mischievous in his youth. He was arrogant and boastful. He occasionally bullied and jinxed other students just for fun, particularly his long-time rival, Severus Snape. However, even in this stage of arrogance, he still displayed some positive qualities of character. Despite being a pure-blood, he strongly disagreed with the concept of blood purity. He was disgusted with any prejudice towards Muggle-borns and did not hold prejudice towards creatures like werewolves, and was shown to be very kind to Remus Lupin, his friend who was a werewolf.

Sirius was true to the ideal of a Gryffindor student. He was true-hearted and brave, as shown by his participation in both wars and his willingness to die for those he loved. He was particularly loyal to his best friend, James Potter, a fellow Gryffindor. In his youth, he was a witty and talented wizard, but he was also quite an arrogant and mischievous troublemaker and, sometimes, a bully. He bullied and humiliated those he particularly disliked, namely Severus Snape. He was vicious towards those he hated, sometimes unjustifiably — deliberately sending the teenage Snape off to the Shrieking Shack when Remus Lupin was a full-fledged werewolf while knowing that it could be fatal for Severus. He, along with James, were acknowledged to be some of the most brilliant students Hogwarts had ever seen, as proven by their ability to become Animagi as underage wizards and by the creation of the Marauders' Map.

Remus was compassionate, intelligent, tolerant, levelheaded, peaceful, selfless, brave, kind, and good-natured. Despite having suffered a great deal of prejudice in his life due to his lycanthropy, he managed to retain an ability to see the good in almost everybody and was extremely forgiving. Remus also had an excellent sense of humour. When he was a student at school he was also part of the Marauders. However, unlike his friends, he never partook in bullying. He hence could be described as the most mature and responsible one of the group. He even became a prefect in his fifth year. Also he was able to, or at least would try to maintain civil conversation with those he did not get along well with.

Peter Pettigrew was characterised by weakness. Despite having been Sorted into Gryffindor, he was not especially brave, possibly proving that the Hat saw potential in him rather than any actual inborn courage, potential that he never lived up to. The Sorting Hat may have mistaken his adoration of James and Sirius for steadfastness, or sensed in him a desire to surround himself with respected individuals and believed that he would make a compatible friend to a Gryffindor; Pettigrew clearly looked up to strong, courageous people and it is possible that the Sorting Hat put him there because he wished to absorb that quality.