Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story itself.
With their arms filled with food the Marauders made their way toward their dorm. It was twelve on the night and obviously they were meant to be in bed by now, and it was a long time after curfew so they really shouldn't be running around in the hallways, but hey, they were the Marauders. When had they ever cared? Remus put a chocolate cake in his mouth. First he had felt a little guilty about sneaking out, but the chance of getting chocolate definitely won over the guilt. The chance of getting chocolate won over almost everything, much to his friends' happiness. With enough chocolate frogs or bars they could copy his homework without him even complaining about that they should do it themselves.
"Hurry up, Pete." Sirius hissed to their fourth member who was a little behind them but hurried up to them and they continued following the hallways. Remus watched James drag his free hand over the walls when he suddenly stopped.
"Guys." He hissed. "Come here. I think I found something."
The other three did as they were told and soon they all stood gathered around James who dragged his hands over the wall. Suddenly he gave away a triumphant "Ah-ha!" and pressed on a stone behind one of the castle's many armours. A secret passageway opened. Remus grinned. One more. They were soon up in two hundred secret passageways they knew about – between different parts of the castle, the grounds, or out of the castle. Their favourite was obviously the one that led to Hogsmeade. They had found that one two months before the end of their first year at Hogwarts, and since then they had been regular visitors of the village. No one in Hogsmeade told the teachers, seeing as they were the shops' best customers.
All of the four Marauders was grinning widely in appreciation and Sirius dunked James' back.
"Good job, Jamie." He praised and James smirked in return. "Wonder where it leads?"
Remus opened his mouth to answer that there was only one way to get to know when he suddenly stiffened. He jerked his head to the right and then to the left before his eyes widened.
"Quickly! Filch's coming!" he said when he recognized the footsteps. Sometimes his werewolf-hearing was to really good use. Desperately watching around where to go Sirius shrugged after a moment and dragged his friends with him into the new secret passageway, which closed in the last moment before Filch came around the corner. They could hear him muttering to Mrs Norris, the kitten he had gotten from the Marauders when his old cat, Miss Fiona, died in the beginning of the term when she unfortunately had decided to sleep onto some fireworks just before they should fire them off. And since they hadn't double checked because they thought that they had hidden them well enough… it hadn't ended well. The least they could do was getting him a new cat, they knew it, and to stay out of his way as much as possible except during the detentions they had gotten for it.
Remus grimaced when he remembered it. He and the others, even James and Sirius, still had bad conscience for it. Now they were very careful to place strong spells to prevent something like that from happening again. He let out a breath and nodded to his friends who looked relieved when Filch had passed them.
"Well, now when we're in here, why don't we go and see where it'll lead us?" James suggested and Sirius and Peter nodded. After a moment of hesitation Remus nodded too.
They followed the corridor and lightened their wands with Lumos to be able to see anything. There was nothing interesting in the corridor, only grey stone that water drops fell from now and then. After fifty meters or something they found an armour, though they had no idea what it was doing in here, but except that, nothing.
"We could really use a map over this place…" Peter stated when they had walked at least a hundred meter. Sirius rolled his eyes and slapped Peter lightly over the head.
"You don't say?" He asks with a slightly mocking tone. "But if you're listening to Professor Minnie it is impossible to make a map over Hogwarts."
Peter just rolls his eyes and nods. He knew that perfectly well. He hadn't actually meant it like that. Plus, whichever map there was would most likely not have nearly all of the secret passageways and rooms that they knew about.
After have been walking for a good while – this seemed to be one of the longer passageways – and have eaten nearly all of the food and candy from the kitchens they came to the end of the corridor. After a minute they found the way to get out of there, by pushing a brick in the wall.
"Moony? Is there anyone out there?" James asked the werewolf, who was their lookout thanks to his supreme senses. Remus listened for a moment, but couldn't hear anything.
"I don't think so. I can't hear anything." He answered and Peter pushed the brick so the wall opened. The four of them stepped outside and grinned again. The hallways was empty. They had walked from the seventh floor to the second in no time at all in comparison to how long time it would've taken without the shortcut.
The triumph was brief, though. Suddenly they heard someone clear his or her throat behind them. The four of them quickly turned around and found themselves face to face with their young Defence Against the Dark Arts-teacher, Professor Megara Merriweather (very tall, quite buxom, and with her always smiling clear blue eyes and thick chestnut brown hair with rainbow-coloured loops and tips she was considered very beautiful by nearly everyone in the castle), who had an amused smirk on her face.
"Out late, boys?" she asked teasingly. "Or maybe early, seeing as the clock is…" he looked at her wristwatch. "00.05 and therefore it's morning."
Remus blushed over being caught sneaking out from the Tower in the middle of the night and Peter looked down. James and Sirius grinned apologetically and Sirius held out a muffin to the teacher.
"Sorry Professor." He said. "Muffin? It's raspberry."
Merriweather laughed and took the muffin he offered. She liked the boys a lot, they were funny and extremely loyal to each other – and loyalty was something she measured highly. And all of the boys were talented in her class, especially Remus Lupin, even if he missed classes when he was sick quite often. But the boy was kind of a prodigy in Defence, so it didn't matter much. And they liked her in return, after McGonagall she was Sirius' favourite teacher, and quite much everyone in the school found her extremely charming.
She took a bite out of the muffin and then she tilted her head to the side.
"I guess you've been in the kitchens – even if I don't know how you found them in the first place – but then, what are you doing down here?" she asked, frowning. James shrugged.
"We fell into a secret passageway and ended up here." Not entirely the truth, but teachers didn't need to know everything. For a moment she looked concerned but then shrugged it off, seeing as the whole school knew that the Marauders knew a lot of the secret passageways and probably found new nearly every day.
She smiled.
"Well, wedge up to your common room again now, boys. You have school tomorrow and me the first lesson. There will be no sleeping on my lesson because you were running around in this time at night, otherwise you'll get detention. And a detention for being outside after curfew, with me when you've eaten lunch tomorrow. Got it?"
Remus and Peter nodded meanwhile James and Sirius saluted.
"Yes ma'am!" they exclaimed with militaristic discipline before grinning again. Merriweather smiled waved them to leave and they obeyed.
As soon as they was out of sight for her they took the nearest secret passageway they knew about and came out just in front of the Fat Lady who yawned and shook her head both amused and tiredly. She was quite used to the boys' nightly escapades by now, after three years and some months with them in her House. Peter told her the password and she let them in after scolding them for waking her up once again.
They threw themselves in the couches to eat up everything before going to bed.
"Mooooony." Sirius complained loudly. "Didn't you say the coast was clear?"
Remus sighed and threw a pillow on his black haired friend and smirked when Sirius spluttered.
"I did, but I guess the wall was just too thick for me to hear properly. My hearing isn't perfect, you know, even if it is better than yours."
Then he realized that James was quiet, which was worrying. A quiet James (or Sirius) did mostly mean that they would get in trouble soon. But luckily, if you asked Remus at least, he soon shrugged and said that they should go to bed.
Next day after the school day's end.
Remus gripped Sirius' wrist meanwhile Peter gripped James' and they began to drag their friends away, forcing them to run. The Slytherins growled behind them and began to chase them. Normally they would've fought, but they were only four meanwhile it was at least ten Slytherins.
"Come on, Sirius!" Remus almost shouted when he dragged his friend behind him. "You can't fight them all! I know you're a good dueller but they're too many!"
Luckily enough James seemed to take reason and nodded and helped Remus to get Sirius away. It was much bigger chance that Sirius listened if James said it than if Remus or Peter did, and it worked this time too. Sirius nodded and followed his friends, trying to escape the Slytherins.
It was late, and it wasn't many out in the hallways at this time, neither students nor teachers. They met a Ravenclaw and a Slytherin that was talking, but they hurriedly stepped out of the way at the sight of the Marauders coming running, followed by a gang of angry Slytherins with pink hair. They weren't to any help, even if neither of the Marauders had expected that – especially not the Slytherin 2nd year.
Peter looked around frantically, trying to find a way to escape.
"Shouldn't there be a secret passageway somewhere here?" he panted out. His friends realized he was right. Somewhere here there should be a secret passageway that lead to the Fat Lady's corridor on the seventh floor. The one they had found yesterday before getting caught by Professor Merriweather.
"Yes, but where?" Remus asked, desperately trying to remember where it was. It had been close to an armour, he remembered, but there were many armours in this part of the castle.
The Slytherins came closer and Sirius dodged a hex by throwing himself to the left and almost hitting the wall. In the same movement he dragged his own wand and shot a hex back, which hit. It only seemed to make the Slytherins angrier, though, and they came closer and closer. They turned a corner.
"There!" James shouted and dived toward one of the armours. He pressed one of the stones and the wall opened up. The four boys hurried in there and sighed of relief when the door closed and they heard the Slytherins run past them.
"I don't like to run." Sirius muttered sullenly. "We could've taken them."
Remus rolled his eyes and hit Sirius over the head.
"Face the facts, Siri. They were at least ten, and we're four. And at least three of them is older than us. No, we couldn't have taken them."
Sirius sulked a little more, but he knew deep down that Remus was speaking the truth. He just didn't like to admit that he couldn't take down a few slimy snakes.
"That really was too close." Peter said when they began to follow the corridor to get back to the common room. "We should write down where the passageways and secret rooms are. They aren't really useful if we can't remember where they are when we need them."
James, Sirius and Remus nodded, agreeing. The only problem was that write it down wouldn't really help. How should they do? Write Secret passageway to the Common Room in the third to the Charms Classroom on fourth level of Hogwarts, behind the seventh armour. And then read through them all every time they needed one particular passage or room? It wouldn't work, especially not in the middle of escape, and they all knew it.
"What we really should need is a map, as Pete said yesterday. But that's impossible." Remus agreed. James looked thoughtful again, like yesterday. Remus looked at him, cautious. Who knew what James Charlus Potter would come up with when he looked like that?
"Siri, didn't you say yesterday that it was impossible if you listened to Minnie?" he asked after a while of quietness. Sirius looked a little startled but then he nodded. He had said that. A big grin lightened up James' face and that light shone in his eyes that only shone when he had something big planned.
"But when have we ever listened to Professor Minnie?"
After a moment a similar grin began to take place on Sirius' face.
"You're right. We never listens to her."
James nodded and looked a little like Christmas had come early.
"If anyone could do it, it's us. I mean, we're geniuses. Well, maybe not Pete." He added after a moment and Peter looked offended. James looked at him and shook his head slightly.
"No offence Peter. I mean, your grades is acceptable, but…"
Peter sighed. He knew James was speaking the truth. Meanwhile his grades was acceptable he had to work hard in all his subjects (except Arithmancy) to get them meanwhile his three friends all had practically only Os and were the best students in their year, only competing with Evans (and Snape in some subjects – and Snape was absolutely superior in Potions). At least Remus studied, but James and Sirius didn't even care about schoolwork and still had perfect grades.
"Moony, do you think it would be possible to use that map to track people down too?" Sirius asked eagerly. If they could, they could avoid getting caught ever again. They already had the record in most detentions, so they didn't need to get more. Remus thought after before nodding hesitantly.
"Perhaps… I can't promise anything, but I read a spell for some weeks ago that we maybe could use…"
"So we'll do it?" James asked. "We'll do a map over the whole school, and the grounds? And then tries to use a tracking spell on it?"
Sirius immediately nodded eagerly and after a moment so did Remus and Peter.
"We'll begin to do the research tomorrow, then, I guess." Remus said. James and Sirius groaned at the thought of having to spend time researching in the library but nodded. They had now reached the end of the corridor and stepped out in the Fat Lady's corridor. They told her the password and stepped into their common room again, still grinning widely at the thought of the map.
Quite much exactly a year later, in the one of the 5th year boys' dormitories, 8 p.m.
The four boys held their breaths in anticipation when Sirius raised his wand and tapped on the parchment that he was holding.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He said clearly and held his breath and they all gasped when ink began to appear on the brown parchment.
"Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot & Prongs" Remus read aloud. "Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present… The Marauder's Map."
Then the map itself appeared and they immediately saw their own footprints standing together with their names. Watching the Gryffindor Common Room they saw Evans reading, Frank Longbottom and Alice Hamilton in 7th year talking and Jacob McKinnon, their classmate Marlene's little brother, playing wizarding chess with himself.
For a moment the four Marauders just stared at the Map and each other before bursting out in loud cheering and screaming in triumph. James and Sirius did a high five. They had succeeded! They danced around the room in excitement before they caught themselves and stopped – dancing around like that was for girls. They stared at each other a little more in happiness before Remus realized something.
"Prongs, take on the Cloak." He ordered and James nodded and placed the Invisibility Cloak on himself. He immediately disappeared, but when Remus looked on the Map again, he was still there. His eyes widened.
"It works! You can see people beneath an Invisibility Cloak! Guys, I think we really succeeded! You can see everything on this Map."
The boys was frantic of excitement. They had succeeded something that people though was impossible – again, seeing as they had become Animagi at the age of fifteen – for two months ago, to be exact.
"Now we only need to make sure the charms that protects it from Snivellus works too." Sirius said, grinning widely. "And then it's perfect." He tapped his wand on the Map once again and said "Mischief Managed." And the ink immediately disappeared.
"Now, shall we try the Map on the field?" James asked, still grinning widely. "Someone who feels for a prank against the snakes?"
He was met by roaring support by Sirius and Peter, and after a moment Remus too agreed happily. Pranks was always fun, and the thought about that they had succeeded with the Marauder's Map made it almost irresistible to get the chance to use it for real. He grabbed the Map from Sirius and they began to discuss which way they should take into Slytherin dungeon.
Next morning the Slytherins' pajamases had turned into very short and girlish night gowns with flower pattern, and their hair had turned rainbow (both girls and boys). Their clothes had also mysteriously disappeared and the gowns was protected from transfiguration and other kinds of magic, so they had to walk up to the Great Hall dressed like this to tell the teachers. The Marauders had a good laugh together with the rest of the school and thanks to the Map they hadn't been seen one time and even if everybody knew it was them they couldn't be punished, because there was no evidence.
And now, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry better had to watch out, because the Marauders were very eager to use their fantastic invention. The number of pranks increased drastic, but the numbers of detentions decreased on the same time. The teachers was very confused, and the Marauders was triumphant. And Lily Evans was furious.
Review please!
I got a request to write how the Marauders came up with the idea of making the Marauder's Map, and here it is. Thanks for the idea, and I hope you'll like it, because siriusly, this was quite hard to come up with. I had no idea how to write it, or how they possibly came up with it, but after thinking for a while this is what my brain made of it. I hope that's good enough and that it met your expectations.