With the impending release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child coming in 2016, you’d think most Harry Potter fans would have all that they ever wanted. But we don’t. While we’re excited for Fantastic Beasts, it’s not the prequel story fans have been waiting for. Ever since Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban released, we’ve been craving the full story of the Marauders. “Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs purveyors of aids to magical mischief-makers” is the story we’ve waited over a decade to learn more about.
In case you’re not 100% caught up on who the Marauders are (you’ve either never read Prisoner of Azkaban or it’s been a really longtime since reading/watching PoA), we’ll get you up to speed. Moony is Professor Remus Lupin, who has that pesky werewolf affinity. Wormtail is Peter Pettigrew, the old friend of James Potter who betrayed him to Voldemort, framed Sirius Black, and hid as the Weasley family’s pet rat for 13 years, until he escaped and returned to Voldy’s side. Padfoot is Sirius Black, Harry Potter’s godfather, whose animagus form is a giant black dog. And Prongs is James Potter, whose animagus form is the same as his son Harry’s, a giant buck. The Marauders were best friends during their years at Hogwarts and while there, they created the Marauders Map.
The Marauder’s Map is one of the greatest inventions we’ve ever seen in the wizarding world. Created by the Marauders (while they were young teens, we might add) it shows the entirety of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is a map of every classroom, hallway, and the grounds, along with every secret passageway through the castle. The map is not fooled by anything, such as animagi, polyjuice potion, or invisibility cloaks, it always reveals every individual, even the Hogwarts ghosts. Remember when Harry saw Peter Pettigrew’s name on the map? The map never lies!
The map plays a critical role in the series after Harry first receives it from Fred and George Weasley, but we are never told how it was made, only who made it. The Marauders never got the portrayal they deserved on-screen. It’s time we got the rest of their story.
Ideally, we’d like the prequel saga about the Marauders to begin with their first year at Hogwarts. Based on the personality traits we’ve seen and heard about James and Sirius, it’s very obvious why those two were attached at the hip. But how did they become friends with the quiet and reserved Remus? And how did those three adopt the squirrely little Peter into their gang? A great arc in their story would be when they all learned about Remus’s werewolf affliction, then when they made the decision to become unregistered animagi to keep him company during the full moon. We’d want to see their entire tenure at Hogwarts was like. How did their first interactions with Lily Evans go? We only see bits and pieces in the HP series, but those snippets are clouded as they’re told from Severus Snape’s perspective.
There are many big and little things we’d like to see more of. What was Sirius Black’s home life really like? Was it worse than he told James? We want to actually see who Regulus Arcturus Black was. How warm and loving were Mr. and Mrs. Potter? What happened to them? What did the young Order of the Phoenix look like while operating? How difficult was the first Wizarding War? Was Voldemort scarier during his first reign? What did James and Lily’s wedding look like? Did Sirius give a drunk best man’s speech, while Remus gave a touching speech about how perfect Lily was for James and that he didn’t deserve such a wonderful woman, while Peter was just thankful they included him? We have too many unanswered questions.
We’ve been with this series for almost 20 years now and all we want is more. J.K. Rowling, it’s quite obvious that Harry Potter is here to stay. We love the idea of Fantastic Beasts as a prequel, and we are thrilled to read The Cursed Child as our sequel, but we’re begging you, we need the Marauder’s story. We’ve been sitting on your hook for years now, patiently waiting for more. It’s time to give it to us.
