The Makers
"We should write a map."
James looked up from his half-hearted effort of an essay and watched Sirius carefully. "A map of what?"
"Of the school, of course. We've learned so much about it by wandering so much at full moons."
"Why would we do that? We know all the secret passages by heart."
Sirius swung his legs over the side of the couch and sat up. "No, James, I'm bloody brilliant. It can be our…legacy or whatever. A map, by the four greatest troublemakers that Hogwarts has ever seen." His eyes were glazing over, and James knew that Sirius was no longer aware of his existence. He got this way when he had an idea. "It will show every secret passage out of the castle, especially the ones that Filch doesn't know about. And it can only be read by those who will use it for its proper purpose."
James was quite sure that, this time, his friend had come completely unhinged.
Several months later, the four friends stood around a table. A completely ordinary piece of parchment sat between them.
"Sirius, it was your idea in the first place," Remus said. "You do it."
"Don't mind if I do." Sirius pulled out his wand with an exaggerated flourish and placed it on the parchment. "I, Sirius Orion Black, do solemnly swear that I am, and always will be, up to no good."
"Overkill, you idiot." James said as the spiderwebs of ink crawled across the paper. Sirius ignored him, entranced with their creation.
"We are bloody brilliant."
Two years later, the wizarding world had begun to feel true terror. This "Lord Voldemort," as he styled himself, was proving to be more of a threat than anyone could have predicted. And James, in Sirius' opinion, was taking things far too seriously. Pun intended. All the "Head Boy" nonsense had given him a rather tiresome sense of responsibility. They already had one responsible one, why did they need two? It was almost pessimism, the way he—
"Sirius, what if Voldemort attacks Hogwarts?"
—said things like that. Sirius rolled his eyes. "James, Voldemort is scared of Dumbledore."
"Dumbledore won't be around forever."
"Neither will Voldemort."
"But who knows how long it will be until he's beaten? It might be years."
"What's your point, Prongs?" Better to get him to summarize.
"Look, I had this idea. What if our map was also a tool? If we charmed it so it couldn't be fooled. Concealment charms, Polyjuice potion, things like that, couldn't trick it."
Sirius looked at him carefully. "Why?"
"So that if Voldemort ever attacks—or, more specifically, infiltrates—the school, someone might know."
"James, what could he possibly gain from infiltrating a school?"
"I don't know. It can't hurt, though. It might help troublemaking as well."
Sirius thought about that. James' idea did have some advantages to future marauding. Dumbledore had a scary good Disillusionment Charm. He had caught them that way one evening. He hadn't done anything, but it had been embarrassing.
"Okay, you have a point."
The Thieves
Fred was proud of himself and his twin. It was only the third week of their first term, and he had already lost count of the number of pranks they had pulled. Of course, this was the first time Filch had actually caught them.
He didn't know why Filch was so mad. It wasn't like this treatment was anything new to Percy. Of course, now they could finally use magic. That sped things up considerably.
The caretaker was searching through a drawer, muttering about horrible children and nasty pranks and something about someone named Black and someone named Potter. Fred wasn't listening. He had spotted a cabinet labeled "Confiscated and Highly Dangerous." Golden, he thought. He elbowed George and nodded his head towards it. George grinned and reached in his pocket for another bomb.
While Filch was busy coughing and spluttering at anger, unable to see through the smelly green fog, Fred yanked open the drawer and grabbed the first thing he touched. It was a blank piece of old and yellowed parchment. He stuffed it in his pocket and sat down, trying to pretend he couldn't smell anything.
"So what is it?" George asked after Filch had ordered detentions and let them go.
Fred produced the parchment and they looked at it carefully. "Must be good if he put it in a drawer labeled 'dangerous.'"
"Fred, he's just paranoid. It's just parchment."
"C'mon, let's just experiment with—"
Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs sense the spirit of true troublemakers.
Fred and George just looked at it in shock.
Do you solemnly swear that you are up to no good?
"We swear," they said, excitement bursting from every syllable.
Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present the Marauders Map.
"Wicked."
The Son
"Should we give him the Map?"
"He'll get into plenty of trouble without our help."
"You hid it?"
"Years ago. In my desk."
James grinned to himself. If it was good enough to hide, it was good enough to look for. He tiptoed up the stairs, to his father's office.
The eleven year old contemplated the big oak desk carefully. This map would be in the back of some drawer, out of the way. He started opening them, looking for something out of the ordinary. Files on every Death Eater they had ever caught, convicted or not, reports of what every Auror in the department was responsible for, blah, blah, blah. James felt bored just looking at them.
Finally, he moved one file and revealed a blank sheet of parchment. Wedged right behind "Macnair," it was yellowed with age and frayed on the edges. It seemed an odd place for a spare piece of parchment, especially one so old. James picked it up, hoping he was right. If he wasn't, there was a lot more places it could be.
Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs sense the spirit of a true troublemaker.
James dropped it in shock. When he picked it up again, the words had vanished, replaced by new ones.
Do you solemnly swear that you are up to no good?
"Umm…yes…" he whispered uncertainly.
Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present the Marauders Map.
Thin lines of ink began to spread, connecting and branching out to the frayed edges. Hogwarts, James realized. It's a map of Hogwarts.
xXxXxXx
I got to thinking one day about the fact that it must've taken extra effort to ensure that the map could never be fooled. Why did they do that? Well, I think it was Responsible James' idea. And then I was thinking about how to lead into the story and ended up with a little three-part piece about how three out of four of the map's owners got their hands on it. We already knew how Harry got it, so that was obvious. And even though in my version of things Molly and Dominique are the iconic pranksters, I wanted James to have the map. He's not anywhere innocent himself, and he'd share with them. After all, he knows that they would never use it for anything other than massive mischief.
Oh, and I KNOW that the only way to reveal the map is to tap it and say the "solemnly swear" line, but I figured that there needed to be a way to get it to work for the first time. After all, the Marauders meant for future troublemakers to use it.
Review please! Reviews are sustenance.