The Marauder's Map
By Kayhera
Author's Notes: Hello, reader! Here's my Harry Potter fan fic! It's not my first one--I've written quitea lot of Harry Potter fan fiction, just on differnet websites (on I'm JessicaLupin). And, in testing out how to put a fan fic on this website, I picked this one because everyone who's ever read it really liked it. I don't exactly know... I had to read it so many times to make it "perfect" that now I'm sick of it, though I guess it's good... Basically, it's about Fred and George getting the map. I worked really hard at it, and I know at one point I was really proud of this story (but I've had to read it so many times I'm sick of it, like I said). I hope you like it, and please--with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on top--reply! Thanks!
DISCLAIMER
I don't own Harry Potter or the world or any of its characters. It all belongs to J. K. Rowling and its respectable companies. I'm just borrowing them. However, my version of how this story goes is my own (I understand it's been done a billion times, but I've never read any, besides the one my friend wrote. :D).
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The Marauder's Map
"WEASLEY! YOU GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!"
"Opps," muttered George Weasley, attempting to hid behind the shadows by leaning against the stonewalls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"Reckon we run for it?" whispered his twin brother Fred.
"Oh, whittle firsties!" cried a voice towards the left.
"Peeves!" moaned Fred.
"You're hiding from Filch, aren't you?"
"Isn't it obvious?" hissed George.
"I could go get Filch if you want me to."
"DON'T!"
"I think I should… I think I will…"
"For the love of everything holy, don't!" cried Fred.
"HEY FILCH!!! ICKLE FIRSTIES NEAR THE CHARMS CLASSROOM!!!" Peeves bellowed at the top of his lungs. A second later, the twins saw Flich coming from the end of the hallway with that bloody cat of his, Mrs. Norris.
"Dungbombs going off all around the third corridor… I knew you two were trouble right from the start! Follow me, Weasley."
"It's for your own good, you know," muttered Peeves as Fred and George gloomily followed Flich to his office. They had been there once before after "accidentally" hexing the caretaker's cat. It was a pretty musty place that smelled a lot like tuna—probably for Mrs. Norris.
But as Filch was busy filling out their crime on parchment and muttering things like, "…detention…" and "…disembowelment…" something in the corner of the room caught Fred's eye. There was a filling cabinet with the words Confiscated and Highly Dangerous written on one of it's drawers, and it gave him an idea.
Being a twin had its uses. Though it does seem that some people thought of Fred and George as one person, they really were truly separate people. George was the smart one, since he usually planned everything out. Fred came up with most of the idea, and George fixed it up a bit so it would be the "ultimate prank." He was the quiet one, while Fred did most of the talking, though both can be as loud as a herd of hippogriffs when they want to. Also, Fred had a fiery temper that George couldn't compete with. But whenever one of them came up with another one of their brilliant plans, the other one could tell just by looking at him.
So when Fred glanced at George, he grinned back. Now, the twins weren't physic or anything; in fact, they though of Divination as a complete waste of time and preferred Quidditch. But they know each other so well that George knows that what Fred needs is some sort of distraction, and he has just what they need.
As Filch continued to add more to the slip, occasionally muttering things like, "…bloody kids…" George set off the rest of the Dungbombs they had left as Fred stuck his hand in the drawer, grabbing the first thing that made contact with his hand, and with another quick glance at his brother, they both rushed out of the office as Filch screamed, "WEASLEY, GET BACK HERE!!!"
They wouldn't stop running till they got to Gryffindor Tower, and by then they were gasping for air. Their older brother Percy gave them a glare, but as usual they ignored him—after all, it is just Percy. But finally they got enough air into their lungs to speak proper English.
"What'd you get?" asked George.
Fred looked at what he was holding in his hand—he never got a chance to with all the running—and discovered that all he was holding was a bit of very-worn parchment.
"Well, why'd you grab that for?"
"It was in a filling cabinet drawer labeled Confiscated and Highly Dangerous!" Fred said in defense.
"Bloody hell! What's it do?" wondered George, staring at the parchment that Fred had put on the table.
"I don't know. Maybe it's used with invisible ink." Not being able to think of the spell at the moment, George touched the parchment with his wand and cried, "Reveal your secret!"
Nothing happened.
"Show yourself!"
Nothing happened.
"It doesn't look very dangerous to me," said George.
"Let me try. I, Fred Weasley, King of the World, command you to show whatever you conceal!" his brother said sarcastically, thinking that it wouldn't work. Apparently it did something though, since words at the top of the page began to appear.
Mr. Moony would have to ask if Fred Weasley really is the King of the World, if there is such a thing.
"What did you do?" cried George.
"Nothing! I was just kidding…" But more started to materialize…
Mr. Prongs has to ask, if that's the case, what he's doing with a bit of old parchment.
"You were in a cabinet labeled Confiscated and Highly Dangerous!" blurted George, finding it odd to be talking to an inanimate object. As if to answer, the parchment "wrote" back:
Mr. Padfoot wonders what two fine gentlemen such as yourselves are doing with something that's labeled Highly Dangerous
"Well, it might be useful for a prank or something," said Fred.
"Yeah, like maybe you could go and make all the Slytherins glow the Gryffindor colors or something," agreed George, but before it came out, two words showed up, saying:
A prank?
"Err, yeah!"
Then, all the writing disappeared, and was replaced with the words…
"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good?" cried Fred in disbelief. But he forgot that the tip of his wand was still touching the page. All of a sudden, little lines seemed to be pouring through his wand. They flowed together, and words showed up that proclaimed:
Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
are proud to present
The Marauder's Map
"Bloody hell!" yelled George. So loudly, in fact, that the whole common room shouted, "Shut up!" But he just ignored them and cried, "It's a map!"
In was in fact a map, showing every detail of Hogwarts, from classrooms to secret passageways, even the trick stairs! There were even little ink dots moving around, labeled with the name of the person walking about. They watched as Filch wandered around the library entrance with Mrs. Norris, obviously looking for the two of them; Professor McGonagall was walking towards the headmaster's office, and Professor Dumbledore was sitting as his desk; they could even see Hagrid walking out of the Forbidden Forest with his huge black dog Fang.
The twins wanted to just sit there and perhaps admire it forever, but it was just then that Percy showed up and asked, "Just what are you two doing?"
"Nothing," said George, putting on an innocent face as Fred shoved the map under the table.
"Well, keep the noise down! Some of us are trying to do our homework!" The twins rolled their eyes as Percy sat back down at his table.
Fred pulled the map back out and said, "That was a close one! How are we suppose to clear this thing? It was cleared before, so it should—"
The map interrupted as it showed the little ink dot labeled Fred Weasley say, in a speech bubble, "Mischief managed!" He quickly took out his own wand and practiced it; it worked perfectly, just as the map said it would.
"Fred, you are a genius!" exclaimed George.
"It takes a genius to know one."
"Hey, I'm not the one who figured out how to use the bloody thing!"
"I wonder where Lee is – we should show this to him. He'd love this sort of thing."
As if right on cue, Fred and George's best friend Lee Jordan walked through the portrait hole, greeting the twins and sitting down at their table. "What's new?"
"Guess what we found in Filch's office…"