Author's Note: Hello everyone, and welcome to a new Marauders era story. This will follow the making of the Marauders Map. It will be multi-chaptered, although the chapters will be on the short side, due to my very prolific proffessional writing career (I have three books slated to come out this year, and another two in 2018). I hope you enjoy it, if you do please drop me a line. If you don't drop a line too, I respond to everything. Most of this is back story, but some is new. I will post at least once a week, on Wednesday. Thanks for taking the time, MNF
The Making of the Map
By Mutt N. Feathers
Chapter 1:
Band on the Run
Friday, November 9, 1973
"Damn it, that was too close," James Potter said as followed his mate and he slipped behind the tapestry which lead to the kitchens. "Filtch's new cat is more annoying than Mrs. Pidgwiddle." The boy had an easy charm which made him a natural leader. His hazel eyes were bright while his mop of dark hair went every which way.
"That's because you're too tall for your own cloak," retorted his best friend, Sirius Black. Aside from his eyes being grey and his hair being longer, the two boys could pass for twins; and they certainly acted like they were most of the time.
James and Sirius had known each other since they were little boys and had met at various functions within Wizarding society. Both being pure-blood and from Most Ancient and Noble houses it wasn't surprising they were thrown together. Thankfully, they liked each other. They spent gobs of time as children with James' cousin, Alice NIghman and Sirius' younger brother, Regulus. Everything changed, however, when they came to Hogwarts. Sirius was the first Black family member ever sorted into Gryffindor. James came from a long line of the members of the house of the mighty Godric Gryffindor. Alice was also in their house, but Regulus was sorted into the Black family's traditional house of Slytherin. It's not that there was anything wrong with Slytherin; they just didn't always mix well with each other.
Sirius knew this all too well, as his cousin, Bellatrix, was a perfect example. Haughty, snobbish, and incredibly prejudiced, she walked around like a princess rather than a regular witch. She had listened to the people claiming pure-blood status made them better than anyone else in the U.K – even the royal family. At first, he thought the talk silly, the kind of banter that old people often engaged in; but this summer it took a turn toward the deadly when Bella killed a Muggle woman who had insulted her. His father agreed that Bella had every right to do so; Sirius thought his father daft and said so. He thought his cousin should be taken to the authorities to pay for her crime. His non-belief in pure-blood superiority brought his father's wrath down on him. The Potters took him in, not needing to ask why he arrived in the middle of the night, bloody and bruised, with his school trunk in tow. He'd told no one.
"I think there's more than one of us too tall for that cloak, at least when we're all under it," commented their sandy-haired roommate, Remus Lupin. Remus was what the Wizarding World considered a half-blood – his father was magical while his mother was a Muggle. He was a quiet boy who was always amazed that his roommates had wanted to be his friend. Sometimes it was difficult to be with James and Sirius, they were like super-stars; Quidditch players, handsome, smart and from old families. Remus knew he was lucky to have friends, however, and it was why he tagged along regardless of his misgivings about the situation, even though he would often get them out of their calamities. Remus wouldn't tell them it was because he could hear sounds much further and at greater frequencies than they could. How he could do it was a secret he could never share. His father had drilled that into him nearly every day since he was five. His secret made his mother leave him. There were days the boy wanted to dig a hole and just lay down in and it and wait for death; his friendship was the only thing which saved him.
"Maybe we should use a potion to make us all disappear," said the final boy in a nasally voice which had yet to change. He also hadn't had the growth spurt the other three had gone through recently. It made Peter Pettigrew frustrated. He so wanted to be like the other three, but he wasn't. When people looked at the quartet, many wondered why little Peter was allowed in the group. Short and fat with a dirty, reddish-blonde sort of hair colour and small, dark, beady eyes he did not go with the other three dashing teens. Peter also wasn't nearly as smart as the other three. Admittedly, Sirius didn't get the grades he should, but it was from a lack of effort rather than a lack of understanding. Peter just barely passed most of his classes, save Arithmancy. His parents were both half-bloods, and both worked within the Ministry in dull, parchment-pushing jobs. Peter seemed destined to join them.
"Peter, I'm the best at potions," Remus said, "and I couldn't brew anything which would be of any use to us. If we're going to fudge curfew, then we need to use James' cloak."
"Gents, we came down here to get some snacks for our snooker game," Sirius said, "and I think we should complete our objective and get down to our playing." The others still didn't know how Sirius had brought a snooker table back to school with him—even though James recognized it as the one from his cellar storage—nor did they know how he had beer for tonight's festivities. But that was Sirius, capable of the impossible and a boy who could talk himself out of just about every detention. People just liked him; girls loved him. As of yet, he really hadn't met anyone he wanted to go out of his way to snog. His best mate, however, was madly in love. Sirius wasn't fond of Lily Evans nor the way she put down his friend.
In his utterly Sirius way, they were soon headed back to Gryffindor tower loaded down with cakes, biscuits, crisps and treats of all shapes. How he charmed the house-elves, James wasn't sure, but he wasn't going to argue with his friend.
"Sorting hat," James said to the fat lady on the portrait door. She was snoring so he said it louder.
"What, what, students out of bed at night? Sound the alarm!" She screamed, beginning to awaken the other portraits.
"You know, we won't be out of bed if you just open up and let us in," Sirius said with a wink. "We're growing boys and we needed a little snack."
"Well, I suppose I understand the need for a little nourishment," the woman in the portrait giggled. "Just this once, mind you."
"We swear, only this once," James quickly promised. It was an outright lie; they were always out after hours on weekends.
"Go on, then," she said, swinging wide the opening. "Get yourselves up to your room now." When the last was through, she closed the door. "Such nice boys."
Inside, the boys were traipsing up the stairs when Peter got an idea. "It's too bad we can't charm a map to tell us where people are, so we can avoid them when we're out prowling."
"Peter, we don't prowl," Remus quickly corrected. "We don't hunt things."
"Yes, yes, yes," he said, disappointed another idea had been shot down.
"Actually, Pete, that might be possible. James, do you remember that charm Nanny put on the wall in my nursery?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah, she always knew where we were, even if we out in the yard or the playroom. Why?" James answered.
They had reached their room now, and the two boys just dumped their haul on the end of Sirius' bed. Their minds were no longer on games.
"If she could charm a wall to tell her where we were, couldn't we charm something to tell us where others were?" Sirius hypothesized.
"It would need to be small enough to be carried around," Remus added.
"Two feet of parchment would work. We carry that much around most of the time," James said.
"And you can cram that much in your robe if you need to," Peter added. None of them talked about THAT particular incident anymore; but his stolen anatomy parchments were legendary. So was the detention for defacing a school reference book from the Restricted Section.
"We need to figure out how to make sure the people will show up on the map. I don't know how Nanny did it." James was already into the mental gymnastics of the project.
"There are ways to find out. Blacks are not good at keeping their secrets." Except him, Sirius thought. He'd never trust anyone with the whole truth about his childhood.