Thoughts on Various Marauder Questions

Posted to the Marauder’s Slash List

February 2004

Question- Was there a fifth roommate for MWPP?

My Answer- Possibly. I read in one of the JRK interviews that she says there are about 1000 students at Hogwarts. And I don't believe the sorting hat cares anything about numbers- if every kid in a class fit into Ranvenclaw, then they'd be all in Ravenclaw. I don't think the sorting hat or the founders would want people in houses they didn't fit well into. That being said, I don't think five is at all a magic number, just how it happened to work out in Harry's year for his bunch of Gryffindors. If there really can be 1000 students in the school, I don't think there's any limit as to how many there are per year per house. My reasoning for lower numbers for Harry's year and ones below and above it are that not a lot of procreation was planned and carried out during the dark years. So yeah, I think there could have been many more than just five in their room back then. Maybe even fifteen.

Question- Was Lucius in school with Snape and MWPP?

My Answer- I think there could definitely be some overlapping in their times at school. I've written fics that placed him roughly in the same year as Snape, or maybe a few years above at most. But I also like to think the animosity started between Mr.Weasley and Mr.Malfoy in their school years... but I've got no proof to back that up with aside from the fact that Mrs.Weasley HAD to have been out of there the spring before the Marauders started in the fall due to the Whomping Willow they hadn't seen before the visit in book 4. Given that all three families (Weasley, Malfoy and Potter) all have children the same age, I don't think there's a horribly significant gap in their ages, but the Weasleys did have many children before Ron and the Potters did pretty much have Harry right out of school. It's certainly possible in my mind that Lucius is a good deal older than Snape and Marauders but it's fun to put him into fics in the old days. Afterall, it’s possible that he and his wife waited many years (he being tied up helping Voldy to power) before having children. Do we *know* that Draco is an only child or is it just a good assumption?

In addition, there’s no proof for this, but I have a strong feeling that heads of houses were members of those houses in their days at school there. Again, nothing to back that up, but I doubt there would be a head of a house who didn’t share traits, at least, with the house members. I have no doubt that Severus was in Slytherin way back when. And I certainly imagine Draco as a mini version of his father for lack of any other distinguishing differences between them, so I imagine people treating Lucius much like Draco is regarded now and not getting in either’s way. As for Snape… I have trouble thinking of him as bossing people around, but I think his very presence now indicates an air of high-and-mighty-ness that perhaps developed in his school days due to certain abilities or character traits. Hard to tell, but I can’t see why anyone would want to mess with the slimy git aside from our boys.

NOTE: Thanks to book 5 there’s a better answer for this. See my thoughts on Ages for more

Question- How old do you think James and Lily were when Harry was born?

My Answer- I follow the HP Lexicon pretty much on that. If they were born in about 1960 and had Harry in 1979 or 1980 then they'd be 19 or 20, wouldn't they? This is based on a JKR interview where Snape was 35 or 36 and as Remus states that they were in the same year as Snape (in Chapter 18 of the third book). I like to think of theirs as absolutely blinding true love where there was no question that they would be married as soon as possible after school. And I can see them as the family types, rather than thinking that Harry was an accident. In a few fics I've written, I've been sure to highlight that Harry was intentional, a way of bringing more good into the world, a way of giving hope to their group. I like to imagine Peter, Remus and Sirius as helping them through the pregnancy and putting all their hopes and dreams into Harry as a positive force counteracting the evil. I can totally see Remus and Sirius baby sitting *G* I can also see them all as very young and headstrong and perhaps trying to think about the positive more than the possibility that they'd all be dead next week. In addition, there's a lot we don't know about James' family and the reason Voldy wanted him and Harry dead so badly. I'd like to think there was a strong reason that James *needed* to have children- to carry on something that was obviously so powerful that Voldy felt threatened by a baby. I like the very interesting Sirius theories floating around and they’ve given me a lot to think about… but I still hold that it was James Voldemort wanted to get at. And there’s nothing to say he couldn’t actively fight in some way while they were in hiding, though I have to believe there’s an awfully important reason that James and Harry are targeted that constitutes this drastic measure of hiding. If Voldemort would stop at nothing to get at Harry, the least James could do is be there to help protect him.

Question- Do you think the Marauders were prepared for one of their own to have a child?

My Answer- Yes, I think so. Though, it is hard to guess at the extent of their dynamics as a group and as pairs within the group. Yes, MWPP were somewhat childish in their adventures, but also brilliant intellectually and I like to think of their love as sort of pushing them through to the prepared side. With James and Lily, yes, I think it was planned so they were prepared. And the others... I think they coped with it and understood reasons behind it soon enough. If anyone, I can see Peter as not being comfortable with the idea. I like this question... wish I had a better answer... maybe I shall think more about this. Oh! How's this? Wars make people grow up VERY quickly- that's something we see in many cultures. I can definitely see them going straight into the fight, being very loyal to Dumbledore. Perhaps they were young and naive and that’s why they dropped so deeply into the order so quickly. Or perhaps it’s something in James’ heritage that triggered the need. Or, yes, something that threatened just one of them and made the others rally loyally to the cause.

Question- Er...who do you all like seeing slashed together the most?

My Answer- Remus and Sirius, without hesitation. I’m a One True Way-er also. I seem to fall within house lines when I slash. I’ve written some Snape/Malfoy fics and some Harry/Ron fics but I don’t seem to gravitate towards mixing them up much. While I can sometimes see the pairings, it’s just not always as much fun for me.

Another point- I wanted to mention an issue I’ve been mulling over with some people... Dumbledore. I have a hard time believing he’s really evil… and the line in Goblet of Fire where he has a look of triumph on his face as Harry mentions Voldemort’s rebirth using Harry’s blood. All right, there’s a million good reasons he could be looking triumphant- that the furthering bond between them will allow Harry to defeat Voldemort in the end, etc. But the fact is, he *did* know a lot about the Potters and other things that were important to Voldemort. Dumbledore suggested they use the fedalias charm and offered to be their secret keeper. James entrusted him with the invisibility cloak, they were friends, and I’d like to think much more than that as they were all working together and apparently on the same side. So why did James insist on Sirius? Wouldn’t Dumbledore be a more logical choice? What did Sirius have that Dumbledore did not? I realize Siri was his best friend and best man and Harry’s god daddy and so James and Lily both must have loved and trusted Sirius above anyone else… but wouldn’t trusting this bit of info to Dumbledore make more sense if they knew someone in their Order/group was a spy?

Ok, so my thought is, if Dumbledore is indeed evil or power hungry or working above/along with Voldy… and he got the info on the Potters, great. Work is done. If it was entrusted to Sirius, then there’s a problem. Something *made* Sirius shake it off onto Peter as the least obvious choice. Something very, very important in that they didn’t even tell Dumbledore about the switch- why not? Why couldn’t they trust Dumbledore? And knowing now that if they had, Sirius wouldn’t have been sent to Azkaban, there must have been some big reason why they couldn’t tell Albus. If Dumbledore somehow planted doubt/cause/reason in Sirius’ mind… and Dumbledore knew he would switch to Peter who worked for Voldy, the job is done as well. Either way, the Potters would be destroyed… So why then was their bond with Sirius so strong as to refuse Dumbledore but be able to accept doing bluff without Dumbledore’s knowledge? And Remus.. well… maybe there are ways of making werewolves talk, but I don’t exactly have any idea why they would or wouldn’t confide in him, either.

I just find their choices very interesting… and I’d like to hear thoughts about this. No, I don’t think Dumbledore’s evil… but if he were, it all seems like he’d know he’d be coming out on top in the end, whatever they did. All very hypothetical, though. :-)