Harry paced up and down the Potter Manor hall before turning to face the Marauders.
"I don't know what to think of Draco Malfoy. On one hand he seems alright and on the other hand he ... he disdains muggle-borns and seems like an arrogant git," he said in confusion. "His dad was a Death Eater, does that mean Draco is ... bad and I should keep away from him?"
"How did you know Lucius Malfoy was a Death Eater?" asked James incredulously.
Harry grimaced sheepishly. "I might have overheard you, Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus mention it when Professor Dumbledore was over."
"Overheard or eavesdropped?" the Marauders asked together, narrowing their eyes at him.
Harry looked down, unwilling to meet any of them in the eye.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," Harry apologized.
"Harry, Draco is not bad. He's an eleven year kid. It won't be fair to judge him based on who his father is," said James.
"But he has the same prejudice that Death Eaters have," said Harry.
"Of course he would," Sirius shook his head. "His parents, including my dear cousin raised him with those beliefs. Very few children your age actually question the beliefs of their parents."
"Harry, Draco doesn't necessarily have to turn out like his father. But if he only mixes with people with the same beliefs, it would only serve to strengthen his beliefs and make him like his father. If he mixes with people that have opposing views, it might broaden his perspective and actually make him question his beliefs," Remus reasoned.
"So I should be friends with him?" asked Harry, confused.
"Everyone deserves a fair chance, so it certainly won't hurt to give Draco one, as long as he doesn't cross too many lines and you remain firm on your principals. Even if you're not friends, there's no need to be enemies either. You can always be civil," said James.
"I guess it won't hurt to give him a chance," Harry shrugged.
"Are you sure about Harry being friendly with Lucius's kid?" Sirius asked James after Harry had left the room.
"I'm not saying they should necessarily be friendly but I don't want a repeat of our animosity with Snape in Harry and Draco's case. Now Snape's about to be Harry's professor and Harry's probably going to face the consequences of my past with Snape," said James ruefully.
Remus narrowed his eyes and pressed his lips together. "You don't think Snape would take out his hatred against us out on Harry. I mean, after all these years."
"I wouldn't put it past him," Sirius twisted his lips. "He's always been so bitter and pathetic."
"I hope he doesn't, but either way, I don't want Harry repeating my mistakes. I'm not proud at all of how I handled my hate for Snape regardless of his faults. I know Harry wouldn't go nearly as far as I did but it doesn't lead to anything good," said James.
"I agree that we were arrogant berks in how we treated him and I'm not proud of it either. Our whole animosity was pretty pathetic," Sirius agreed.
"Yes it was," Remus shook his head. "James and you relentlessly bullied Snape. Snape in turn constantly followed us and tried to get us into trouble which made you both even more vindictive towards him, leading to the werewolf prank and both of you attacking him worse than usual after our OWLS."
James and Sirius bowed their heads and looked down in shame.
Even after James deflated his head and stopped hexing people for fun, your fights continued because by then Snape had started cursing James at every opportunity," Remus continued.
"I agree that we went way too far, but you have to admit that Snape was no saint and was at least funny sometimes. Like the time he got pranked by us when we actually meant to prank Lucius Malfoy," Sirius reminisced bemusedly.
James, Sirius and Remus couldn't help but snigger as they remembered the incident. The Marauders regretted their bullying but couldn't help but still be amused by some of their pranks. They were in their first year and Lucius Malfoy was in his fifth year when they sneaked into the prefect's bathroom and switched the shampoo in Lucius' container with a potion that would turn his hair pink. Snape, with Lucius's permission, sneaked into the prefect's bath and used the soap and shampoo in latter's container while he tried out the prefect's bath. This resulted in Snape being the one to use the "shampoo".
=Flashback=
The eleven year old Maraurders, including Peter Pettigrew were heading towards one of the stairs in the Hogwarts castle when they saw a figure heading towards them. It was Snape and his head was wrapped with a cloth. He looked around to ensure they were alone.
"You'll all pay for this," he said dangerously.
"Pay for what?" asked James.
"For this," he snarled.
Snape looked around again before taking the cloth off his head. It was a pretty amusing sight. Snape's hair was pink, frizzy and sticking out in certain places. James, Sirius and Peter threw their heads back in laughter while Remus sniggered in amusement.
"Your hair actually looks better Snivellus," Sirius mocked.
"Don't call me that," Snape snapped.
"Actually Snivellus, we meant to prank Malfoy. It isn't our fault you were thick enough to use the prefect's bath and his shampoo. Who would have thought you even used shampoo," said a bemused James as his friends sniggered.
"Can't say we're that disappointed with the result though," said Sirius as the four friends showed no signs of dialing down their amusement.
"You all better watch your backs," Snape threatened, shooting them a look of pure venom
"Ooh, we're shivering. I suppose Lucius Malfoy and his Death Eater friends are a warm up act compared to you," said James sarcastically.
Snape glared at them with utmost hatred before walking away as he heard the sniggers of Marauders turned into laughter behind him.
=end of flashback=
"Ok, we might have gone a little overboard with the teasing," said James.
"Yeah, but he did look funny," Sirius said in amusement.
"Yeah," James and Remus agreed.
The three friends then had an amusing time reminiscing about several other pranks that they pulled or tried to pull at Hogwarts.
That evening, there was a birthday party for Harry. The attendees were mostly his school friends. Harry had recently graduated from Brownstone, an elite private school. James sent him to a muggle school as he wanted him to get to know the muggle world. He also wanted Harry to be surrounded by kids who didn't know who he was or his fame as the "Boy Who Lived." At Brownstone, Harry was just an ordinary kid and considering most kids at his school were rich, he wasn't the rich kid either.
James conveniently picked a school that was a forty minute drive away from their home so that they could avoid his friends abruptly showing up at their wizarding home where there were moving pictures, paintings and magic. Since their home was a distance away, Harry's friends hardly came over and usually informed them before showing up. Hence, they usually had time to make the pictures and paintings stop moving and ensure the house looked magic free. The Quidditch pitch had a disillusionment charm placed on it. So far, there was only one incident where one of their ancestor's in his painting thought it was funny to scare two of Harry's friends by speaking to him. James had to obliviate their memories.
James owned a Quididtch team called the Phoenix Pioneers. Almost two months after Lily's death, Sirius and Remus had encouraged him to try-out for the Phoenix Pioneers as their new chaser. James was cooped up in the house in grief and they wanted him to have a change. He was initially reluctant but caved to the coaxing of his bestfriends, especially when they pointed out that doing something he loved would help him forget his pain.
Later in his career, James managed to get the chaser's position on the England's Quidditch team, eventually becoming captain. He played for England twice in the Quidditch World Cup and won the cup for his country both times (the second time as captain). During the non-world cup years, he retained his position at the Phoenix Pioneers but the owners of the Pioneers sold the team and moved out of the country in 1989. Desiring to follow his father's footstep as businessmen, James bought the team and retired as a player after he turned thirty.