James Sirius Potter was absolutely elated. He had just begun his third year at Hogwarts, and he completely loved it. The magic, the adventures, the mischief... Nothing was better than Hogwarts, absolutely nothing.

Mischief was, as it turned out, James' unofficial last name; it became apparent early on in his first semester at Hogwarts that he took after both of his namesakes, as well as his dad in the mischief-making category. Sneaking out after dark, breaking into the kitchen, nicking a spare quaffle from practice... He was just like his grandfather in so many ways.

But not entirely, though. Unlike his grandfather, James actually studied. A lot.

It was almost an inconceivable idea, that a Potter would care so overtly about doing well in all of his classes. He didn't need to study. He was a Potter, for Merlin's sake! Any job he wanted, any job at all, could be his within seconds if he just asked for it.

He knew that, of course. James knew of the Potter legacy; he knew he'd never have to work if he didn't want to. He could spend every day playing Quidditch with Lorcan and Lysander if he so desired. But instead, he studied.

As it turns out, James had an ulterior motive; he wanted to make his parents proud. Not because he liked seeing the smiles on their faces as he scored high on the exams, or because he wanted to hear them brag fondly of him, no.

It was because he wanted the Marauder's Map.

Every night when he was little, he'd climb into his father's desk and stared down at the map in awe, waiting for it to tell him all of the secrets of the castle. He'd wanted to know everything; how to go under the Whomping Willow (his father never did tell him), how to sneak into a teacher's office (that would be so cool), how to hide from the caretaker (handy)... But he could never figure out how to work the map, and his mother refused to let Dad show him. So he'd just sat there, staring at the blank parchment before him, hoping that one day, he'd get to see it in action.

James just knew that if he studied hard enough, his father would give him the map. He'd see that as the eldest child, and obviously the brightest, he deserved the wonderful map and all of the adventures that went along with it.

At least, that's what he'd thought...

A few weeks after term began, he spotted his little brother Albus sitting in the Gryffindor common room with his cousin Rose Weasley, looking down at a piece of parchment together. With a mischievous grin, he headed towards them.

"Hey, you lot," he said, leaning over the back of the couch, causing them both to jump. "What are you two up to? Not studying already, I hope. Term has barely begun!"

Albus jerked, shoving what he and Rose had been looking at out of sight. "How long have you been standing there?" he demanded.

James raised an eyebrow. What an odd question... "Why? Are you planning something I should know about?"

"No!" Albus countered quickly, shoving his hands under the table. "Not at all."

James' eyes narrowed, glancing down at the place where his hands were... "What are you hiding, Albus?"

"Nothing!"

"Albus-"

"He's really not hiding anything," Rose interrupted, nodding hastily. "I swear!"

"Nice try, Rose," James said with a scoff. "But you're a terrible liar."

"No, I'm not!"

"What's in your hands?"

"Nothing, it's-"

"Albus!"

"Nothing!"

"Give it here!"

"No!"

"Give it here," James growled, grabbing his brother's arm and pulling it up, hoping desperately to find out what was being hidden from him. He tugged, struggling to get the object into sight.

"James, stop-"

"Give. It. To. ME!" And with a final tug, he pulled back, grabbing hold of the parchment that Albus had been hiding. He looked down on it, feeling triumphant, to find...

The Marauder's Map.

His mouth dropped open in surprise as he stared at the beautiful object in wonder, in shock. "How?"

"Dad gave it to me," Albus muttered, staring at the floor.

Betrayed, James threw the parchment to the floor and hurried away, heading towards his room.

"James! Wait!"

But he kept moving, unable to look back at his brother. How could he? James wondered. How could Dad?

"James!" Albus said, grabbing his brother's arm and turning him around. "Please, listen to me-"

"You knew that I wanted that map, Al," James snarled. "You knew! I can't... And you don't even understand how it works! You didn't even know I was standing right behind you! You don't deserve it!"

"James-"

"How could you do that to me? What the bloody hell could you have been thinking-"

"I didn't ask for it," he protested. "Dad just gave it to me-"

"Oh, because that makes it so much better," James snapped, jerking away from him and hurrying back to his room.

James refused to talk to his backstabbing brother for the next month, going out of his way to avoid him in the corridors and ignore him during breakfast time. He was upset and humiliated. How could Albus, young little Albus, have gotten the map, when he hadn't?

Lysander and Lorcan, the Scamander twins and his two best friends, were surprisingly unsympathetic.

"Mate, it's not a question of whether your dad likes him better or not," Lysander pointed out. "It just means that he wanted to give it to Albus."

"But I'm the oldest. Me! Not Albus." James shook his head. "It's such a blatant... injustice! That's what it is, it's an injustice that he gets the map and I don't."

"Maybe your dad thought Al would need it more," Lorcan said with a grin. "After all, he does seem a wee bit slow with directions."

"It's not funny, Lorcan! I'm the smart one, I'm the mature one-"

"Not now, you're not," Lorcan said cheerfully.

"Shut it!"

"James, calm down," Lysander said, playing his unofficial role as the peacemaker of the group. "I know you're hurt by this-"

"You bet I am!"

"But shouting at us isn't going to change anything. You need to talk to your dad."

"No, no way! I am not talking to him. Why would I want to do that? Just so I can hear all about how much better than me Albus is? I think not," James spat in disgust. "No, I have nothing to say to either one of them."

"Well then," Lysander said with a shrug. "Then nothing's going to change."

Yet despite James' utter refusal to have anything to do with Albus or his dad, he quickly found out that he couldn't avoid them for long. For no sooner had November begun than his dad showed up at the castle, smiling down at his son.

"James! I was hoping I'd run into you," he said cheerfully.

"Dad," James said, his eyes widening. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm a guest lecturer," he said, gesturing towards the upper levels of the school. "I'm speaking to fifth years today about the importance of recognizing a Dark Spell before you shield against it. Some Dark Spells are impervious to shields, you know."

"No, I didn't."

"Well, now you do. Your cousin Fred is in that class. Should be interesting. So, hey, what have you been up to? Not blowing up more pumpkins, I hope?"

"That was a one time thing-"

"Your mother made sure of that," Harry muttered.

"And I've been too busy studying." His eyes narrowed. "You know, because I'm the good child. Unlike Albus, anyway, who is too busy traipsing around the school with the Marauder's Map."

Harry nodded once, understanding washing over him. "Ah," he said quickly. "So you've found out about that, have you?"

"No thanks to you."

"James-"

"Why, Dad? Why would you give it to Al? He's an irresponsible first year-"

"Hey! He's your brother. Be respectful-"

"I don't care! All I've ever wanted was that map, and you just gave it to him-"

"Well, I couldn't just give it to you, now could I?" Harry shot back.

"And why not?"

"Because you're bloody brilliant, James!" Harry gave a short laugh. "Don't you get it? You're so smart, and cunning, and you plan everything out so carefully... But you're also always breaking the rules and playing pranks and sneaking around, and you almost never get caught! Merlin, I don't even want to know half of what you've done... You should have been a bloody Slytherin!"

"I don't understand."

"James, if I'd given you that map, than you'd be unstoppable. You'd be able to do whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted, and you'd never face any consequences. You'd never learn that sometimes life isn't that easy. And your brilliant, brilliant mind would go to waste." Harry sighed, placing a hand on his son's shoulder. "You'd stop plotting all of your daft, genius schemes, and instead start relying on the map. I don't want that to happen to you, James. You could be so wonderful on your own; you don't need the map."

"But Albus does?"

Harry hesitated, searching for the right words. "Albus... He needs some fun in his life. He worries so much sometimes about the simplest of things... I know he won't use the map nearly as often as you would, or even as often as I did, but I want him to have that opportunity. I want him to have some fun every now and then."

"But not me?"

"James," Harry said with a laugh. "I never have to worry about you having fun! Sometimes, I think you have too much fun!" He reached down, pulling his son in for a tight hug. "This wasn't a slight against you, James. This was a gift for Albus."

He sighed. "I know. I just wish I had that map."

"I'm sure Albus will let you borrow it every now and then," Harry pointed out. "In fact, I'm sure he'd love to go with you on one of your ridiculous adventures."

"You think?"

"I know. Go ask him. I guarantee he'll say yes."

James nodded, a smile forming on his face. "All right. Thanks Dad."

"Of course," Harry said, turning to walk away. "Have fun. I'll come and say good-bye before I leave."

"Okay."

"Oh, and James?" The boy turned, raising an eyebrow at his father in question. "Don't tell your mother."

This was written for The 61 Themes Competition. My prompt was injustice, and I immediately got an idea for this story! I really like writing next generation now, and I really hope that, if you enjoyed reading this, you'll take a look at my other next gen story A Challenge of Epic Proportions.

Thank you so much to everyone who will review! I really appreciated it!

Lurve,

Selene