A Spare Bit of Old Parchment
"Psst, Ted, you won't believe wha-" A self proclaimed strawberry blonde girl started to whisper to a boy with teal hair, sliding in next to him in Transfiguration. Most people would consider her more strawberry than blonde, as all the members of her family were, but there was no point in arguing this point with her.
"Ms Weasley! Tardiness seems to be becoming a habit of yours. If you are going to be late, at least you could try to be quiet when you enter my classroom. Ten points from Gryffindor. As I was saying, before we were so rudely interrupted by Ms Weasley, Transfiguration of an inanimate object into an animate object is complicated so…" This is where Ted Lupin stopped paying attention, and started writing a note to his friend. What is it Victoire? You were very late, and I didn't see you at breakfast, did you oversleep again? He promptly received a glare from his friend before she wrote back. No, but if you're going to lecture me again, than I'm not going to tell you what I discovered this morning. Fine then, I don't want to know anyway. Ted than turned back to the lesson that McGonagall was teaching, knowing that this would do just the trick. He watched subtly as his friend became increasingly agitated. Finally after about two minutes, he started to count down in his head… 'Five, four, three, two, one…'
"I finally discovered the secret passageway to Hogsmeade," Victoire whispered excitedly.
"WHAT?" Ted shouted loudly. The entire class turned sharply towards the noise. McGonagall cocked an eyebrow.
"Is there something you would like to share with the class Mr Lupin?"
Teddy blushed, and mumbled, "Sorry Professor."
"As you should be, I'm afraid that will be another five points from Gryffindor, now back to the lesson at hand…" All the Gryffindor students glared at Ted and Victoire, but no one was really surprised, it was the second year of the infamous Lupin Weasley duo wrecking havoc on the Gryffindor point system. Ted sent them all an apologetic look, and then continued to write on the piece of parchment that should have been notes. Where is it? How did you find it?
As I was walking on the third floor corridor, early this morning, I could have sworn that I saw a statue of a one-eyed witch wink at me, which made me suspicious. So I used the path finding spell that Uncle George taught me, and sure enough there was a passage there. I followed it for a really long time, until I came to the cellar of Honeydukes. It was 20 minutes until lessons began, so I ran back as quickly as I could, only to arrive here five minutes late.
Ted was going to respond, when McGonagall announced to the class, "Parchment and quills away, wands out, let's see how well you were all paying attention." Unfortunately for Ted and Victoire, they hadn't been paying the least bit of attention during the entire lesson, so the passageway was temporarily forgotten, and the two began to frantically try and figure out what it was that they were supposed to be doing.
Ted and Victoire left Transfiguration with a pile of extra homework, a couple nights of detention, and a total of 30 points taken away from Gryffindor due to their inattentiveness and failure to complete the class assignment. The only reason that any of this bothered the two of them was because this put off their Hogsmeade adventure. Both Ted and Victoire had visited Hogsmeade before with their parents, or in Teddy's case, his grandmother, but there was something exciting about being able to go a full year before the school would allow it. So they suffered through three days of detentions and homework. (Polishing trophies in the trophy room mostly, Ted couldn't wait to tell his Uncle Harry that he had personally cleaned five of the eight trophies awarded to his godfather while the older man had been in school.)
Finally, it was the weekend. Ted and Victoire changed out of their Hogwarts robes, so that they would be less obvious to the people of Hogsmeade and filled the pockets of their robes with money before they darted through the corridors avoiding any teachers or prefects who would yell at them for not wearing the appropriate attire. As they approached the one-eyed witch, Victoire had to whisper, rather urgently, "Dissendium," as they saw Professor Vector turn in their direction.
"Woah, that was close." Ted sighed with relief after they had started to walk through the tunnel. "A little too close to my liking. What happens if we get caught?"
Victoire rolled her eyes. "We'll get more detentions added to our already huge pile of them. And we might lose some points, but the Quidditch team is supposed to be really good this year, so I'm not too worried about the House Cup. Also, life is a little more fun with adventures. Plus I know that you enjoy being the brains behind all of our operations."
"Well someone has to be…Merlin knows that you're not capable of thinking up anything." Ted mumbled under his breath.
"What was that Teddy-bear?"
"Nothing you would understand carrot top." Ted made his hair change to Weasley red for emphasis.
"My hair is STRAWBERRY BLONDE!"
"Yeah and I'm a veela." They continued to bicker until they got to the end of the tunnel. "Shut up," Ted said suddenly. "I think we're here." Victoire looked like she was about to make a snappy retort, but she thought better when she heard voices coming from the cellar of Honeydukes. After about five minutes of sitting as still and quiet as they could, the two Gryffindors worked up the courage to peek. "They're gone," Ted whispered. It was easier than either of them expected to get up into the main shop. Because the shop wasn't very crowded Ted and Victoire had to sneak out the door, just so that they could come back in.
The store clerk looked at them suspiciously. "Shouldn't you two be at school right now?" He asked in an authoritarian tone. Practiced identical innocent looks appeared on the twelve-year-old's faces. Ted subtly changed his face to look a little younger, but Victoire was the one to answer.
"No sir, we have full year before we can start. We're so excited about getting our Hogwarts letters. Did you go to Hogwarts sir?" She asked in her "little girl voice" usually reserved only for her father. The clerk's face softened a little.
"Yeah I did, best years ever…" He looked off dreamily into the distance.
"Hey Ted, did you hear that?" Victoire asked suddenly.
"Hear what?"
"I think mum is called us. We better go."
A wand light up in Ted's brain. "Yeah, I think I heard her too. Thanks mister, we'll be sure to stop back here before we have to leave!" Before the man had a chance to answer, Ted and Victoire were out the door.
"Yeah! We made it. After a full two years of trying to find a way out of the castle, we've finally made it! Now, what should we do first? I mean, the Three Broomsticks is a classic, but we could always start at Uncle George's shop…what's wrong Vic? Why do you look like that?" While Ted had been talking excitedly about the many options they had in Hogsmeade, Victoire's face had gone from equally excited to a strange white colour. Ted felt a tap on his shoulder.
"I think she's worried about us," came an amused voice from behind him. Ted didn't have to turn around to know who it was.
"Uncle Harry?" Ted asked, turning around to give his godfather a hug.
"Huh hum." Another man cleared his throat. "What about me?"
"Uncle George! What are you two doing here?"
"I think that we should be the one's asking you that Theodore Remus Lupin. Second years in Hogsmeade, not even on a Hogsmeade weekend," Harry said in his best "you're in trouble" voice. Ted gulped. It was never a good idea to upset Uncle Harry, he had a pretty bad temper. The unfortunate second-year looked to his other uncle for support. Uncle George looked just as pleased as Uncle Harry.
"Well you see…" Ted started, not looking either of his uncles in the face. "Vic found this…I mean…"
Harry cut him short. "I'll take my godson, if you take your goddaughter George. I think it's time."
George showed no emotion. "I quite agree Harry, come on Victoire we have something very important to discuss." George and Victoire walked off in the opposite direction. Vic shot Ted a very confused and worried look, before she was led off.
"This way Ted," Harry said, steering his slightly terrified godson to the Three Broomsticks. The two walked in silence until they reached the restaurant, and Harry ordered two butterbeers. When they were seated, Ted finally summoned enough courage to speak.
"Uncle Harry," he started. "You're not going to tell Grandma are you? She would be so disappointed; she would tell me that my mother and father would be…"
This is where Harry cut him off. "Your mother and especially your father would be…very pleased with your adventure today. As am I." The-Boy-Who-Lived grinned.
"Wh—wh—at?" Ted was able to stutter.
"Oh Teddy do you know so little of your father? Mr Moony would have been thrilled to hear that his son carried on the great tradition of the Marauders. In fact I have something to give you. George and I were going to wait until your third year, but upon recent developments, we felt that now was the time. Who knew that we were going to run into you when we were checking on the store. Now where did I put that thing…"
Ted didn't know what to say as Harry started digging through the pockets of his robes. Finally he pulled out a piece of parchment. A very old piece of parchment. With a lot of flourish, he placed this parchment in front of Ted. Ted was even more confused.
"What do I need with a spare bit of old parchment?"
Harry started laughing. "You know, I asked the same question when Fred and George handed this to me in my third year of school. This, dear godson, is The Marauder's Map. I solemnly swear I am up to no good." He tapped the map with his wand. Ted stared in amazement as words appeared.
Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
are proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP
"What is it?" he asked.
"Why, it's a map of course! One created very long ago, it has most of Hogwarts' secret passageways, as well as little black dots that mark where everyone in the castle is. So when you go sneaking to…well let's say Hogsmeade, for example, you can make sure no professors will be in your way."
"Wicked! But why would you give this to me? I mean, it's dead useful, but…"
The look on Harry's face became serious again. "It is my solemn duty as the first born of the Marauder sons to pass this map onto the next."
"You mean…this belonged to my dad?"
Harry nodded, "He, my dad, and some of their old school friends created it while they were in school. I imagine that they used this map to sneak out to Hogsmeade many a time. That is why your father would be extremely pleased that you accomplished the same thing, and that you will be the next possessor of this map."
Ted glowed a little inside. He had things that belonged to his mother that his grandmother had given him, but this…
Harry chuckled at his godson's loss of words. "It's ok, I understand, I felt the same way. Use it well." He looked down at his watch. "I must be going…but enjoy your day in Hogsmeade." He got up to leave, but before he left the table he turned back. "To clear it say, 'mischief managed,' and it will return to being a spare but of old parchment. I'll see you at Christmas time Teddy." With that he turned to go out the door.
Ted grinned. He spotted Victoire on the map, and then muttered, "Mischief managed." He would make his dad proud.
"Oh and Teddy," Harry called from the door, "don't get caught."
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AN- Well, that's my oneshot, I hoped you all enjoyed. In case anyone out there is as dorky as I am, I figured that (from the epilouge of DH) that Teddy must have started
school in 2009, and that he was born at the time of year where he would have been on the older side of the grade, making him and Victoire, both 7th years when Albus was
a first year in 2017. Albus would have been four at the time of this fanfic, but I am not sure of the ages of the other two. Also, I assumed that Teddy would be brought up
by his grandmother, not Harry. Anyway, REVIEW please! I might do another one shot as a sequel to this one, but I'm not sure yet!