Marauders (Harry Potter)
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The Marauders from the Harry Potter novels were four friends who attended Hogwarts, a generation before that of Harry Potter. They consisted of: James Potter (Harry's father), nicknamed "Prongs"; Sirius Black, nicknamed "Padfoot"; Remus Lupin, nicknamed "Moony"; and Peter Pettigrew, nicknamed "Wormtail".
It is worth noting that the The Marauders has never, as a title, been 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. They have been referred to, in canon, as The Marauders only by Ron Weasley. However, Rowling has confirmed in interviews that the group of friends did indeed refer to themselves as The Marauders. They were, even before the confirmation, liberally described as such by fans.
Their friendship is implied to have begun in their first or second year at Hogwarts. By their fifth year, James, Sirius, and Peter had secretly become unregistered Animagi in order to provide company for Remus, a werewolf. James' Animagus form was a stag, Peter's a rat, and Sirius' a very large black dog. The four were all members of Gryffindor House, in the same year, and maintained a bitter house rivalry against Slytherin house. This was displayed in their harsh treatment of the Slytherin Severus Snape, upon whom they played many unpleasant tricks.
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 Order information. This betrayal culminated in revealing the secret location, magically entrusted only to him, of Potter's young family. On October 31, 1981, Voldemort killed James and Lily Potter, but was defeated 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, a far more powerful wizard, Pettigrew cunningly exploded everything around him - killing twelve muggles in the process - and faked his own death. Pettigrew made this look possible by leaving behind one of his own fingers to represent the last remains of his annihilated corpse. Black was then arrested without a trial. The wizarding world assumed that, as Potters' best friend, he had been the traitorous Secret Keeper. Pettigrew was hailed as a 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, Peter Pettigrew went into hiding, remaining in his rat animagus form for 12 years. In this time, he became the pet rat of the unsuspecting Weasley family, which named him Scabbers.
Black was held in the wizarding prison Azkaban for 12 years. When, by pure chance, he saw a picture of Scabbers in a newspaper article on the Weasleys, he realised Pettigrew was alive and escaped in his Animagus form to seek revenge. In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Scabbers the rat is revealed as Peter Pettigrew. At this time, Remus Lupin had gone on to become a professor at Hogwarts and discovered Sirius was not guilty. The two then united to stop Pettigrew; however, he escaped and rejoined his master, Lord Voldemort, when Remus suddenly transformed into a werewolf, having forgotten to drink Wolfsbane Potion.
When Voldemort rose to power for the second time - the Second War - a New Order of the Phoenix was established whose members included Remus and Sirius. However, Sirius was apparently killed in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries by Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange.
Now, only Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew (still a Death Eater and still in hiding) remain alive out of the group.
[edit] The secret map
During Harry's years in Hogwarts, he came across a mysterious map, given to him by the pranksters Fred and George Weasley who had swiped it from the school caretaker, Argus Filch's collection of confiscated items.
The ink appeared on the map through a spoken code phrase ("I solemnly swear that I am up to no good") and when in use, showed where everyone within Hogwarts property was located and revealed numerous secret passages. It was called the Marauder's Map and as it turns out, had been created by the four friends during their teenage years in Hogwarts.
