The Marauders and the Yami-shi
Chapter One: Interesting News

Peace and quiet. Anyone within the halls of Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry could have heard a pin drop. It was early morning on a Saturday, and all of the students and most of the teachers were still sleeping. Their beds were so warm while everything else was so cold that it seemed a shame to move away from them.

One group of four boys believed this wholeheartedly, and since they were the only residents of the fifth-year Gryffindor dormitory, all four of them were reveling in the peace and quiet of that morning.

That was, until that peace and quiet was shattered by a most unwelcome intruder.

"WAKE UP, POTTER!" The Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team yelled at the sleeping lump in the upper bunk. The lump responded by turning away with an angry grumble, expertly laced with a few well-placed expletives.

Gregory Billars was not fazed -- he had been the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain for three years now, so he was no stranger to such behavior. In addition to being one of the best Beaters the Gryffindor team had ever known, he was also one of the most enthusiastic Captains in the history of Hogwarts. 'Enthusiastic', of course, was a tactful substitute for 'obsessive to the point of madness'. But why couldn't Billars be a bit obsessive? This was, after all, his seventh year, and this was his last chance to win the House Cup!

"Oi, Potter!" Billars repeated, jabbing the lump with his Beater's Club. The other three bodies in the room growled at his unwelcome bellowing, but Billars didn't seem to notice or care. "Potter, there's practice today! Get dressed!"

Billars prodded the lump a few more times for good measure, before finally losing interest and looking around the room. There was one other bunk-bed to the side, in which there were two other sleeping figures. All that was visible in the bottom bunk was a mess of white-blonde hair, and in the other one, a large, chaotic jumble of honey-brown tresses.

As Billars was taking in the scenery, the lump he had just finished rudely poking finally decided to sit up. It wasn't a very happy lump, either. James Potter's unruly black hair was in state of disarray that rivaled Hagrid's, and his hazel eyes were filled to the brim with rage. There was nothing James hated more than being woken up early on a Saturday. Without bothering to put on his glasses, James snatched the Beater's club right out of Billar's hand and held it up menacingly, poised and ready to hit his Captain over the head.

Just as he did so, Billars crouched down to the bunk beneath James' to poke the second black-haired lump a bit. "Hey, Black," Billars laughed. "Joining the Quidditch team this year?"

Before Sirius could think up a sarcastic reply to that question, the wheels spinning in his head were interrupted by a loud 'thud.' James lay sprawled on the floor, the Beater's Club right beside him. James had been a bit too sluggish to hit Billars before he had moved down to talk to Sirius, and too groggy to keep his balance after he had swung, so the force of the swing had caused him to topple out of bed, leaving him sprawled on the floor, seething.

Billar's didn't seem to realize that the messy-haired fifth-year had attempted to send him to the Hospital Wing.

"Atta boy, Potter!" The seventh-year said proudly as he picked up his Beater's Club and patted James on the back. "I'll see you in the Dressing Room in ten minutes, then! I still gotta go wake up Longbottom!" With a hearty laugh, Billars slammed the boys' door shut, and ran off to the next Dormitory to awaken their poor fifth-year Beater.

"Augh," James grumbled, rubbing his head as he sat up. He felt a small lump on it where he had fallen. He frowned and stood up, squinting and groping at his pillows until he finally found a pair of oval-shaped glasses and put them on. He moodily opened his hazel eyes and looked out the window. He twitched.

Snow had fallen over the course of the night. It was the middle of December already, and most of the students had lost all hope in seeing a white Christmas that year. But no, no. Of course, the minute James had a Saturday-morning Quidditch practice, it had begun to snow. It was just his luck.

With another sigh, the messy-haired fifth-year walked over to the other bunk bed and gave the lump in the bottom bunk a light kick. The lump gave a small grumble and turned over. James gritted his teeth in mild annoyance and kicked again, harder this time, causing the sleeping lump to sit strait up and fall onto the ground, still wrapped in its blankets. The lump's bright-blue eyes blinked open, and he looked up at James with a small pout.

"It's so early, Prongs..." Peter whined, trying to get himself untangled from the blankets that were suffocating him. There was a faint pink flush over his normally pale, freckled cheeks, which meant that he was embarrassed about falling.

"You don't wanna be late for detention with Slughorn," James responded as he scratched his head. He hadn't meant for Peter to fall out of bed, but he was far too annoyed with being awoken to care. "Thanks again for that, though, Wormtail," He added a second later with a small smile.

Peter returned his smile with one of his own bucktoothed grins, along with a small laugh. "Anything for a Marauder!" He exclaimed before going back to attempting to get away from his blankets, kicking them as thought they were a snake trying to strangle him instead of a cloth meant to keep him warm at night.

James shook his head a bit, watching the blonde boy struggle. Though Peter wasn't the brightest of students, to say the least, he was awfully loyal when it came down to it. A few weeks ago, James had let loose a Dung Bomb attack outside the Potion Chambers, and had hit Professor Slughorn directly on the head. Just as James accepted his capture by Slughorn to be inevitable, Peter had turned the corner and run right into Slughorn. The blonde boy had taken the blame for everything, even though he knew that it had been James' doing. In doing so, Peter had earned himself a month's-worth of early-morning detentions, just so that James could continue going to Quidditch practice.

James smiled drowsily once again as Peter finally managed to escape his blankets. Prongs then walked over to his trunk and pulled out a gold-and-crimson scarf, wrapped it around his neck, pocketed his wand, put on a pair of shoes, and stated to walk towards the door.

"Aren't you going to change out of your pajamas?" Peter asked in a rather confused tone. It was freezing outside and James was still clad in only his red pajama shirt and pants. Any rational person would have at least put a sweater or two on before daring to step outside.

"I'll change into my Quidditch robes once I get there," James said with a yawn. He opened the door, but then turned back to give Peter one last, confident grin to reassure the boy that he was going to be alright. "After all, what's the worst that could happen?"

Roughly two hours later, James sat in the Hospital Wing, cursing the snow as blood seeped from his nostrils. He was still in his Quidditch outfit, sans for the robe itself, and his glasses lay broken on the table beside the bed he was sitting on. During practice, James had attempted to knock Billars off of his broom, but the snow had been falling too quickly for James to be able to see anything through his glasses. James wound up getting his glasses broken by the Quaffle multiple times, but by his fourth 'Occulus Repairo', a Bludger had come his way, seemingly out of nowhere, and hit James square between the eyes. Billars ordered him to go to Madam Pomfrey's right away, and with a grumble, Potter did as he was told, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.

James sat on the bed closest to the exit, holding a handkerchief to his nose to slow the bleeding as Madam Pomfrey tended to a first-year Hufflepuff who had been poisoned by a Doxy at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. James groaned, very annoyed with how his day had gone thus far, but his noises of self-pity quieted once he heard two familiar female voices drifting from the hall behind him. He strained his ears for a moment, and found that he could recognize them; Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout, the Transfiguration and Herbology teachers, were having some sort of conversation. McGonagall sounded tired and defeated, whereas Sprout sounded ecstatic.

"...So, they're coming today, are they?" Professor Sprout's small voice said with a delighted giggle. "I'll be pleased to hear anything I can about Eastern plants! We have to stick to European ones, after all. Their plants are hard to get -- the East is very protective of their Magical World-"

"I merely hope the rumors I heard aren't true," McGonagall said with an annoyed sigh. "I heard these two from Japan are real troublemakers. I spend enough of my time worrying about when Potter or Black will strike next or convert another good student to evil, without having two new students that are already expert mischief-makers joining my House!"

"Oh, so they are in Gryffindor? Congratulations, Minerva!" Professor Sprout said, as though she heard nothing of the taller Professor's worries.

"Yes, they arrived on school grounds no more than ten minutes ago," Professor McGonagall replied, this time with a mild smile. "The one with the blue eyes seems very odd to me, but other one looks like an ideal student. From what I understand, both were at the top of their class in their previous school."

"Isn't that difficult?" Sprout asked in awe. "After all, in the East, they actually train physically in their schools! My, I wouldn't have ever been able to do such a thing," She giggled a bit, looking her figure over. She was rather short and round, but she, personally, didn't seem to mind.

"They also have dueling classes," McGonagall muttered in a mildly worried tone. "The odd one supposedly excelled in it, where as the other one was much more academic. I just hope they don't plan on pulling anything in our school! Professor Dumbledore was kind enough to accept them during a time such as this, with that Voldemort attempting to take over all of the Eastern Magical World. These two are more than lucky to have been allowed to transfer in!"

"Minerva," Professor Sprout began, lowering her voice a bit, so that it was closer to a whisper. "Why did Albus allow these two to enter our school? We got hundreds of requests, after all-"

"These two are a special case, for different reasons. No more is to be said on the matter," McGonagall replied with a sharp tone, conveying to Sprout that pressing the matter further was unwise. "Now, I must meet with Mister Billars to discuss his practice plans for the Quidditch team this year. Excuse me, please," With that, Professor McGonagall turned away from her shorter co-worker and walked off towards the Quidditch field.

James sat for three minutes, trying to take in everything he had heard. New students? Two of them? From the East? James had only heard rumors about such wizards! His parents, being pure bloods, taught him a lot about magic, but the East had always been rather hazy. Apparently, their magic was severely different from that of the West, since the Eastern wizards had evolved separately and didn't want to make contact with the West. But for two students to enter not only their school, but the Gryffindor House no less, was one of the most exiting things James could have heard that school year. To think, once the Marauders knew of this, they could be the first ones to come into contact with them and find out whether they were worth anything or not. After all, if the transfers really learned how to duel in their classes, they were bound to make powerful allies-

"You again, Potter?" Madam Pomfrey asked with a sigh as she looked at the messy-haired fifth-year. James snapped out of his train of thought to look up at her with a cocky grin. That was all she needed in response, really. Before James could say anything, she tapped his nose with her wand. James' nose pushed itself back into its proper place, and the blood ceased its rapid flow. With another wave of her wand, the dried blood and handkerchief vanished.

James took a moment to touch his nose, noting that it was good as new, before smiling up at the school Nurse.

"Perfect as always," he said with a laugh, bringing his legs to one side of his bed. "Thanks Madam Pomfrey!" James jumped to his feet, causing the Nurse to lift an eyebrow in suspicion.

"You seem awfully happy today, Mister Potter. You're not planning on anything I have to clean up after, are you?" She said, crossing her arms over her chest and pointing her wand at him in accusation. "I'm tired of all of your silly pranks! You might be expelled any day now!" She warned him, glaring down at him as though he was one of her own children. James only laughed at her accusation and waved a hand to dismiss the thought.

"I just wanna tell my friends about something very interesting I heard, is all! That, and I'm starving! Billars made us come to practice without any breakfast," he whined, rubbing his stomach, which as though on cue, gave a rumbling sound. "See you soon!" he said, before giving the Nurse a mock-salute and running out of the Hospital Wing towards the Great Hall, dying to tell his fellow Marauders of the great news. Slytherin third-years whimpered and leaped out of his way as James ran, but the Marauder didn't seem to care at the moment. Oh, today was going to be a fun day.

Little did James know, that these two new students would change his, Sirius', Remus', and Peter's lives forever. .

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Disclaimers

Hogwarts, the Magic World, most spells and creatures, and most of the characters (the more awesome ones) belong to J. K. Rowling, creator of Harry Potter. And one of the most awesome authors ever. I'm so sorry for ruining your characters. v-v
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The Marauder's Map was not created in reality when this story took place, I know. That part is innacurate. It was created in the Marauders' either sixth or seventh year. The Marauders just became Animagi in their fifth year and made the Map a year or two afterwards. See Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
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Plots, Fou-Bing Bokuseiinzenmoninari, Deenu Ramento, Kokoro, Chugi, Nermid, Bing-Fou Bokuseiinzenmominari, Tujoshimo Jan'ro, most of the idea on Japanese/Asian magic world belong to Neko Shin'rai/Faithie(Me!)
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Half of this plot belongs to all my RP buddies that have ever RPed Harry Potter Past with me as Sirius and Remus. Thanks, guys. ^-^