A/N okay, so before I even START, I want to say that when I first started writing for second gen in my first ever fanfic, I made Dominique younger than Louis, and Roxanne and Fred twins. These are not completely accurate, but I am going to keep going with my innacuracies so at least they line up with my other stories. I have a chart off what I will KEEP their ages and houses in MY version cannon. That being said, okay, so I've wanted to write a series of one-shots about 2nd gen for a while, and this just sort of came to me the other day. So yeah, without further ado, here is my fanfic!

James was a lucky, lucky boy. His father was Harry Potter. Now, this made him lucky and unlucky on an assortment of different levels, but the one we're here to discuss today is the level of the ancestry his famous father connected him to. Not a Peveral brother or anything of the sort—that was the area in which Albus had benefited—but the recent generation of James's two namesakes. After all, two of four signatures on his most prized possession belonged to them. Prongs and Padfoot. James and Sirius. Two of the creators of the Marauders' map. James had received it on account of he could barely find his way from the front door of his house to his bedroom. Similarly, Albus had received the cloak because he was amongst the most stealthily-challenged people on god's green earth. And, again, the topic of the map is one that could lead in even more directions than James' heritage, but we are here to focus on a single one, and, arguably, the most important.

The Shrieking Shack.

James, you see, had made it a point to neglect school for the first few weeks, in favor of an activity that would surely benefit him more than grades in the future: exploring. And not just any exploring. Exploring with The Map. And it was sometime during the second week of his education and journeying throughout the castle and it's grounds that he reached the tree. The tree that had once tried to kill his father and uncle. Which, of course, only served to make it far more interesting. The young brunette picked up a nearby rock and, with the aim of a true seeker-in-training, promptly proceeded to miss the tree completely. Seekers, you see, don't often throw things. Funnily enough, James would soon enough grow out of his following-in-his-father's-footsteps phase and discover a true passion and skill for chasing, once his aim had developed. But anyway, after three or so more throws, the boy finally hit the knot indicated on the map. The effect was instantaneous and left the boy mildly impressed—only mildly because he had, on his own, discovered several more impressive doors already.

James then walked around the trunk several times, examining it carefully, perhaps more than was strictly necessary, and continued in through the passageway that had become obvious at this proximity, which he assumed people weren't supposed to reach. It took a few minutes, but at the end of the tunnel, he found himself in a dark, dank house of some sort, that had been ripped to shreds from the inside. He had absolutely no clue as to where he was, but he didn't really care. There were some signs to hint at this house not being in use. For instance the lack of inhabitants, and, upon further inspection, anything that could lead one to believe there had been inhabitants or guests for twenty-some years.

It quickly became his favorite discovery. Even two days later, when he found the room of requirement, he found himself returning to the El Castillo del Merodeador. That's what he had named it, by the way. It really just meant the Marauder's castle, but James strongly stood by the opinion that most things sounded cooler when translated into random other languages. And something about this 'castle' attracted him far more than a room that could be whatever he wanted it to be. In a way, the castle, as he shortened it to after less than a day, could be whatever he wanted it to be, the only difference being that he would have to work for it. It didn't matter. It would feel more like his if he made it, and didn't just walk by a wall three times and have whatever he wanted appear. James was a hard worker, and, unless it had to do with something that actually mattered, did not approve of slacking off.

That was how it came to be that, in his third week of school, he started sneaking furniture into the Castle with the help of the three cousins closest to his age at school: Louis, Fred and Roxanne. The latter two took far more interest in the whole ordeal. That's not to say that Louis didn't like it, but once there was a couch that wasn't covered in dust or slashed to ribbons, he would most likely be found reading or supervising the renovation with a composed, condescending attitude that 11-year-olds shouldn't be able to pull off, especially when they're the youngest in the group.

The other three, however, put in a good portion of time in the first month to make the building their own. First, they had brought in some essentials: a couch, cleverly stolen from the history of magic section of the library (no one knew about it but the librarian, Madame Pince, who had lost the will to care years ago, and Louis, who was in favor of the theft, since it got more use in the castle than in that sad, dust-coated corner of the library, and he only knew about the couch in the first place because he was bookish to the point where even the history of magic section was safe territory for him), a surprisingly comfy arm-chair that Roxanne had taken out of her purse upon arrival, and enlarged from the size of a chair one might find in a doll-house to what James assumed was slightly beyond it's original size, as he was sure it would comfortably seat Hagrid (Roxanne refused to tell them where it had come from, so it was agreed upon that it would remain a mystery of life), and lastly an enchanted refrigerator that the houselves had given them willingly, being quite fond of the whole weasley-potter clan, that could keep food fresh for up to ten times the normal expirations of it, and hold up to ten times more food than one would expect from the outside (a useful feature, but, as it turns out, it is very difficult to shrink something with that sort of charm already on it, and therefore moving it required a few days of patience for Al to send his cloak. It also required a significant amount of skill to appear to be on a nonchalant stroll while really pushing a magical, invisible refrigerator. It is also equally difficult to force the aforementioned object through a tunnel).

After that, they had set about repairing things, at which point Louis had come in handy. He was a Ravenclaw, and an exceptionally gifted one at that. He and Fred were the most accomplished of the group in terms of magic and cleverness, and somehow managed to restore most of the furniture to it's former beauty and elegance (the last owner had had good taste, which one could only see after copious amounts of work), and used what bits they couldn't restore in various, creative ways. A month and a week or so into the year, they decided to show it to older cousins and, of course, Teddy, James' god-brother. They were the last to be included, but they were no less a part of it. Lucy decided to boycott it, but Victoire, Molly, and Teddy were completely onboard. So was Lucy, when it was done. She was just lazy.

The older people proved useful because they helped with spells and such that could make it amazing, as well as the fixing of the house it's self, which had remained dark and dank. They, of course, immediately recognized the Castle as the Shrieking Shack, and, knowing that they could get in trouble if they weren't careful, put up spells on the outside so that they could fix it all up inside, and have it maintain it's ancient, wrecked exterior. They also put a spell on it so that only certain people could get in: Teddy, Vicky, Molly, Lucy, despite her stubborn, prefect attitude, Fred, Roxanne, Louis, James, and, looking ahead, Rose, Albus, Hugo and Lily. The whole clan had access, and no one else could enter without their permission, which took some crafty spell-work on Teddy and Molly's part. When they were done, the whole house was brightly colored, and filled with all sorts of goods they had stolen, borrowed, bought in hogsmede, or gotten from home or from friends in high places. As one final touch, Victoire used some clever charms and made it so the tree's branches, once immobilized, would automatically arrange themselves in such a way that, if one were to look up from right at the doorway, they would see elaborately arranged words spelled out in the branches in a way invisible from all other angles: El Castillo del Merodeador.

A/N I'm pleased to announce that my next update is already in the works, so it should take that long. Just for clarification, these are pretty much all going to be (I think) stand-alone one-shots all themes around their little club-house, not really a story per say. So if you want, you can also skip around, probably. I think they'll be in chronological order, but idk, I haven't thought that far ahead, so I might mix things up a bit. Idk. READ AND REVIEW! TAKE FIVE SECONDS OUT OF YOUR LIFE TO BRIGHTEN SOMEONE'S DAY!!!! XOXOXO