A/N: *waves with both hands* Hellooo, everyone! My beta and I had a conversation several months ago in which I joked that all I needed to do to overcome writer's block was to write a Weasley boys scene, and maybe I would stop trying to write a story that actually made sense and just write random events involving our six (yes, six!) favorite gingers. She thought it an excellent idea, I thought it a load of fun, and here we are. Harry will feature occasionally; I sometimes think he was more of a Weasley than Ginny was a Potter ;) This is going to be a sort of mental dumping ground in which I deposit snippets of ideas too short for their own story or scenes I wrote for another fic that got cut for whatever reason, so don't expect anything cohesive: unrelated one-shots and drabbles are the name of the game. I also do not promise internal consistency as little details in my head canon often change, not to mention that some ideas that don't fit canon (head or otherwise) are too good to pass up. The bad news: No weekly updates. The good news: If I have something, I won't wait for Wednesday ;) Also, I feel obliged to say the rating will vary, so please watch the updates if that matters to you. Enjoy!
Number 12 Grimmauld Place
Summer 1995
"Where's Moony?"
Fred and George looked up from their parchment. Sirius had just walked into the kitchen, where they sat at the table writing ad copy for the Skiving Snackboxes.
"Who?" The brothers wore identical looks of confusion.
"Right here, Padfoot." Lupin emerged from the pantry with a tin of biscuits.
Fred and George looked at each other.
"Wait a minute," Fred said. "'Messieurs Moony, Wormtail—'"
"'Padfoot, and Prongs—'"
Sirius and Lupin grinned.
"'Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers—'" George continued.
"Are proud to present—'"
"'The Marauder's Map'!"
"I knew it was you!" Lupin looked absolutely delighted. "I knew you must have been the ones to find the Map. See, Padfoot, I told you someone would find it and put it to good use."
"No way," George whispered, staring at his old professor. "No way!"
"Believe it, mate," Sirius said, taking the tin from Lupin and helping himself to Mrs. Weasley's cinnamon biscuits.
"You wrote the Marauder's Map?" Fred said.
"We did," Lupin confirmed, sitting down beside Sirius and gathering his own collection of biscuits. Fred and George were too fascinated by this revelation to be distracted, even by their mother's excellent baking.
"How did you know we found the Map?" George said.
"After I confiscated it from Harry—"
"You took it from him?" Sirius said. "Harry has more right to the Map than anyone!"
"It was last year, Sirius, when everyone, including I, thought you were a mass murderer bent on adding Harry to your list of victims. I did it for his safety and that of everyone in the school."
"And?" Fred prompted.
"Well, after I had some time to think about it, I reckoned you two were more likely to be in Filch's office, and more likely to investigate his Confiscated and Highly Dangerous drawer, than Harry. He generally disregards rules for a very good reason, while you two—"
"Do it just for fun," George said, grinning.
"Exactly," Lupin said dryly.
"Why does Harry have more right to the Map than anyone?" Fred said.
Siruis's mouth was full, so Lupin answered for him. "Because Sirius is his godfather, and Prongs was his dad."
"You knew Harry's dad?"
"And Lily," Lupin said quietly. "We were in the same year at Hogwarts. We were best friends, James and Sirius and I."
"And Peter," Sirius said bitterly. "Don't forget Wormtail, that rat."
Lupin shot him a sharp glance—the boys didn't need to know they were Animagi—but Sirius apparently referred to the metaphorical meaning.
"Peter Pettigrew?" Fred said. "The one who betrayed Harry's parents to You-Know-Who?"
"Someone's been listening in on Order meetings," Lupin said, trying for a disapproving tone, but the twins just grinned back at him.
"Why did you take the Map from Harry?" Sirius repeated, still put out.
"I gave it back to him at the end of the year, but I had to take it because Severus found him with it. I don't know how he found out, but he called Harry to his office and must have made him turn out his pockets, because the map, a Zonko's bag, and a collection of sweets were all on his desk when I arrived. He thought I had given the map to Harry."
"Why would he think that?" George said.
"Because Snape was in our year too, and knew the nicknames we had for each other," Sirius said.
Fred and George looked horrified. "Harry didn't wipe the map? We told him to always wipe it!"
Lupin snickered. "Oh, he wiped it. Snape tried to figure out how to work it."
Fred and George laughed, remembering how the map had responded to their first attempts.
Sirius gave his bark-like laugh. "Oh, please tell me it said something about his nose."
"And his hair, and his intelligence—or lack thereof."
They laughed again.
"We always wanted to meet you," Fred said, a touch of awe in his voice. "I can't believe we actually have."
Sirius preened, but Lupin just smiled modestly.
"Yeah, this is great," George enthused. "Next time Mum's mad at us for eavesdropping on the Order, we'll just tell her you're the reason behind all those letters from McGonagall!"
Lupin choked on a biscuit, and even Sirius looked alarmed as Fred and George's mad laughter echoed off the old stone walls.