The Marauders were bullies. Everyone knew that. It didn't exactly matter which grade, since they managed to even get some twelfth graders down, but the most targeted grade was grade eight and seven, when they rarely stumbled across them in the halls. Sure, they were grade nines, and it was a little inappropriately to bully middle schoolers, or at least that's what the principal said, but eh.. whatever. Thing was, you were a grade eight, and you were already heavily picked on, given it was your first year at the school and it's grade eight. The Marauders were the worst, though. They made going to school worse than it was for the average person, and then, in November, they had the audacity to start calling you their friend. It was odd, like a switch was flipped. They found your socials, you were added to group chats, and people started leaving you alone. You didn't interact with them, though. It was surely just a cruel prank being played. But it continued for months. You were invited to hangouts, they stopped to interact with you on the hallways, and at least one of them seemed to always go out of their way to stop by your class. It was like they were oblivious to your dislike towards them, and like the has completely forgotten about their relentlessly insults toward you.

Over the summer, after you graduated, you were constantly being talked to. As usually, you rarely replied to their messages, wether in a group chat or privately, but they were relentless. Finally, sometime in August, you finally replied to one of Sirius' “GOOD MORNING”s. To say the group chat blew up would be an understatement. You started warming up to them, but you kept up a barrier. You replied, occasionally join voice calls, joined in with jokes, but refused to ever meet up with them. They still didn't seem to understand why, but they were happy with the progress they were making.

A couple days before the end of summer, which you were dreading, Peter @ed you in one of the many group chats. The message was pretty simple, obviously not written by him, though. Sirius probably stole his phone again. “How about we met up before classes on the first day? :D”. Great. That's not something you can deny. He might as well have said “we're meeting up on the first day before classes”. You just replied with a small “Sure", and the whole chat blew up again. Great.

The first day of school arrived, and the Marauders were waiting at the front of the school under the shade of a tree. Peter anxiously checked his phone again, as if he hadn't done it just a minute before. No new messages,

“You don't think they're sick today, do you?”

He said to no one in particular. No one replied for a second, before Sirius spoke up, checking his own phone,

“No. They would've told us, wouldn't they? Moony, check your phone. They talk to you more than any of us.”

Remus groaned, pulling out his phone. After a moment of searching through his notifications, he shook his head,

“Nothing. And, for the record, they text Peter way more.”

Peter mumbles something at that, ducking his head down to hide his face. James was frowning down at his watch, clearing a notifications,

“Y'know, maybe they still don't like us. I mean, we apologize and all that–”

“Shut up."

Remus and Sirius say in unison. Peter looked up for a moment,

“Wait, we apologized to them? When?”

“Well, Sirius did.”

Remus answers. Sirius frowns at that,

“That was my job? I thought it was James'?”

Everyone falls silent for a moment and Remus rubbed a hand over his face,

“Great. They most certainly hate us then, if none of us apologized.”

Silence again. Everyone has their eyes locked on their phone, aside from Peter, who was looking at the main door,

“There they are!”

He suddenly exclaims. Before anyone else had time to react, Sirius, was over to where you were and pulling you towards the group in a flash,

“You must've accidentally walked by us.”

He said, finally letting go of you

“We're glad you're here, though. Aren't we?”

Lots of mumbled ‘yes’s were said. Great, this was wonderful.