Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.
Written for the Occasion-A-Day Competition - Day 8
The Marauders Map
Harry was a soft touch where his kids were concerned. He knew it, they knew it, everybody knew it. However, there was one thing they asked for, and none received.
The Marauders Map lay in the top drawer of Harry's desk, protected by enough warding spells that if the Ministry were to come calling, they'd think he was up to no good.
Teddy was the first to try and get it. He tried the direct approach, and to his credit, when Harry swiftly replied in the negative, he left the subject alone and went on with life. Harry was proud, when at Teddys graduation, Teddy showed he had his fathers brains when he showed Harry his own, smaller but no less impressive, Marauder style map.
James came next with the request, but he took it a step further. On the summer between fourth and fifth year, James received a warning for the use of underage magic when he tried to disarm his Fathers wards. Needless to say, he sulked the rest of the summer long, which he spent the majority in his bedroom, writing and rewriting his homework until his mother finally allowed him outside.
Albus us tried the less direct approach. He hinted that it would be useful. He dropped it into casual conversation, and he even attempted bribery. Yet the Slytherin tactics had as much use as the Gryffindor ones that James had employed.
James and Albus told Lily she had no chance of getting the infamous map. She shrugged her shoulders, a mysterious smile adorning her lips. Harry wondered as the summers passed them by, and she didn't ask. His wards were left alone. There was no hinting, no pleading, no begging.
Lily didn't seem interested in the map.
When Ginny and Harry took Lily to the station, ready for her sixth year at Hogwarts, Harry winked at her when she hugged him goodbye.
When she looked questioningly at him, he smiled, the same mysterious smile she used on her brothers on many occasions, and told her to check her trunk when she was alone.
That night, alone in Rabenclaw common room, she checked her trunk and was unsurprised by what she found.
Lying the parchment flat on the bed, she murmured the words they'd all known by heart for years.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
She couldn't wait to tell James and Albus.