Cold water splashed over James's head and he immediately jerked upward
Cold water splashed over James's head and he immediately jerked upward. His supposed best friend was chuckling over him, his wand pointed at James's head. Sirius Black put his wand back in his jeans' pocket.
"Finally up, are we mate?" He said, his body still shaking somewhat with mirth. James only grunted in response. He would have gone straight back to sleep, but now his head and pillow were drenched. James reluctantly swung his legs over the side of his bed and searched for the clock. On seeing the blasted thing, he gasped.
"Quarter after ten? I thought you were going to wait until half past? And I only said that because today's the first." James said, trying to sound indignant, but he was still too tired to show much emotion. James had always slept too late. Noon was the optimal time for waking. Even the excitement of returning to school couldn't make him get up with any enthusiasm.
"Remus just owled me. He said it," Sirius answered, his voice filled with excitement, "was ready. He said we were going to finish it on the train."
"It?"
"It." Sirius nodded vigorously. James quickly jumped out of bed, all tiredness forgotten. It was almost done, now all they had to do was sign it.
James had never gotten ready at a faster speed in his entire life. It only took him a total of fifteen minutes to get cleaned up, dressed, and to make sure he had all of his things before rushing down the stairs, his trunk floating behind him, with Sirius right in front of him. He was saying a hurried good bye to his parents, while insisting they didn't have to come along ("No mum, it's fine, really. You two both have work and all.")
The two Apparated straight onto the Platform, rushing past crying mothers and frightened first years, and straight into a compartment with a view of the platform. The two mates spent a few anxious moments waiting for Remus and Peter, until they were both found and quickly made them hurry to their compartment and open it up.
"Alright now, let's finish this thing up." James asked, not bothering to hide his excitement.
"Hold up there, mate. I still have to do a couple more things. Maybe you should go to your meeting with the prefects."
"Oh damn, I forgot about that. I'll be right back."
James sprinted down to the Prefect's compartment, where he had to endure Lily talking for what seemed like hours about patrolling and conduct and rules. When the meeting finally wrapped up, James raced back to his friend's compartment. He was in such a rush that he completely forgot to shoot Lily a trademark smirk, making her extremely confused about his sanity.
"Done yet?" He asked as soon as he got through the door.
"Yeah. We just have to sign it now." Peter answered, holding up what looked like a blank piece of parchment. He handed it to Remus, who laid it down in front of his.
Remus took his quill and dipped it with ink, while the other three Marauders watched holding their breath, and signed it Moony. The words disappeared moments after he wrote it. The quill was then handed over to Peter like something sacred and he signed Wormtail. The name disappeared in the same fashion as Remus's. Then the quill was passed off to Siriuswho quickly wrote Padfoot, which vanished as well. James was the last to take the quill, signing himself as Prongs, which also absorbed into the paper.
"Remus, I believe you should do the honors." Sirius said, holding the parchment out to Remus, who held it gingerly in his arms, and took out his wand.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Green ink began to spread over the page, a map of Hogwarts, with all of its inhabitants (only teachers at the time, seeing as no students wee there) and where they were was laid out before the four, just as they had planned. Along the top was writing, which said:
"Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
Are proud to present
The Marauder's Map"
Sirius spoke first.
"Wicked."
Here is the 1st chronologically in The Map Series, though I wrote this last. So if you enjoyed this, check out #2, Confiscated and Highly Dangerous, and #3, Stealing the Legend. Both can be found on my author's page.