The conversation had turned to the ages old argument of the merit of finishing their formal education and taking the NEWTs. Hermione Granger nosily clanked her teacup and saucer as she adamantly made her case. Sitting with one arm draped around her shoulders and the other generously shoveling a biscuit into his mouth, Ron Weasley rolled his eyes dismissively.
"..ER…mion…e" Ron managed to spit out every other letter between bites of food.
"Ronald! You could try chewing your food before speaking." Hermione snapped.
Harry Potter rolled his eyes at the familiar sounds of his best mates bickering as he kicked up to balance on the back two legs of his rickety old chair. He leaned back far enough to see past the bulky traveling cloak hanging from the back of Neville Longbottom's chair. His eyes patiently scanned the room and a slight frown formed as he focused on the plush armchair near the fireplace. A tiny toy broom hung less than two inches from the floor, held in place by one forgotten limb of a sleeping Teddy Lupin. The toddler seemed to have fallen asleep mid climb, as one of his arms reached above his head clutching the armrest. The boy's flushed cheek was smashed against the cushions and his head was in an awkward bend over his other arm. Harry didn't understand how his godson could possibly manage to fall asleep so quickly and uncomfortably. He lazily pulled out his wand and flicked it at the sleeping tot, pulling up his leg and bringing down his arm.
"… Hermione just because you did it, doesn't mean…" Ron was arguing. Harry continued to ignore his friends, as he lifted up his wand commanding the toy broom to stand and rest against the leg of the armchair. Teddy fidgeted against the cushion and turned his face away, revealing his untamed black hair of the day. The metamorphmagus toddler was becoming quite skilled at mirroring his godfather's appearance, down to the faint scar on his forehead. It had been unnerving the first time the baby had done it but now Harry thought it rather endearing.
"Sirius use to sit like that a lot." George Weasley whispered as he sat down..
"Yeah, he did." Harry agreed, as he allowed the chair to drop back down.
"Use to look at you, same way you look at Ted." George gave a small sad smile as he nodded towards the sleeping baby. Harry started opening his mouth to ask George how exactly Sirius had looked at him but the words never left his lips.
"I don't understand why we all had to get here so bloody early." George stretched.
"Professor McGonagall didn't want you lot to cause a scene." Hermione shrugged.
"Didn't want you lot to cause a scene," George pointed at Harry, Ron and Neville while grumbling. "Me, I could bloody well be traveling under an invisibility cloak, no one knows me! But Kingsley insisted you lot just had to apparate into my store."
"We are the most popular faces on the chocolate frog cards." Ron chuckled.
"You aren't on the chocolate frog cards." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Yet, Hermione, yet." Ron winked.
"Can any of you believe it's been a year?" Neville sighed craning his head to look out the window behind him. The staff room on the first landing of the castle had a clear view of the black lake and the edge of the forbidden forest. A soft murmur of disbelief rippled among the small group as they all followed Neville's gaze. The grounds were as lush and calm as any of the afternoons from their school days, as if the battle had never transpired.
"We have spent most of the year rebuilding." Hermione whispered.
"When you weren't busy playing at seventh year school girl?" George mocked.
"Could have any job at the ministry, she could. But not without taking her NEWTs. Completely mental this one." Ron shook his head disbelievingly.
"I heard little Dennis Creevey showed off quite a bit during his Defence OWL?" Neville tried to distract from yet another argument about schooling.
"Yes, did rather well. All the DA did brilliantly on their exams." Hermione smiled.
"They also put up a brilliant party last night." George laughed as Hermione scowled.
"Yes, Miss Weasley would have made you proud with such a display of frivolity." The door of the staff room had silently creaked open and Professor McGonagall stood just steps away from the table. Her fixed stern glare lingered on George Weasley for a moment, as if the man was to blame for the party that had kept up most of Gryffindor the night before. But she slowly cracked a smile and stepped forward.
"I am glad to see you all here."
"Didn't have much of a choice Professor, Kingsley mentioned something about retroactively losing house points…" Ron muttered.
"Now Potter you will speak directly after…" Professor McGonagall ignored Ron.
"Professor, I would prefer if Neville spoke." Harry interrupted.
"Longbottom is to speak before you, Potter." McGonagall stated sharply.
"Couldn't Neville just speak on behalf of both us?" Harry sighed, running his head over his forehead in agitation.
"Mate, you knew you would have to speak." Ron leaned forward to reason with him. Professor McGonagall clapped her hands resolutely and ignored the pleading look on Harry's face as she continued to instruct them on their duties for the memorial. It wasn't until George dropped down to retrieve his lost bit of biscuit from under the table, dropped out of boredom, that anyone noticed the tiny toy broom was missing.
"Teddy?" George whispered under the table, scanning the room. He swatted at Ron's bouncing knee to get a clearer view of the far side of the room.
"George, what are you doing?" Ron kicked at his older brother's hand.
"Is the door open?" George popped up from underneath the table still searching the room. Everyone stopped mid conversation, Neville and Harry snapped their attention to the open door while Hermione, Ron and McGonagall gawked at George.
"How does the door being open matter to what order we're reading names in?" Hermione asked quietly. But Harry had suddenly realized how quiet it really was, a still silence never maintained when his godson was in a room. Harry jumped from his seat as his head whipped to the direction of the empty armchair.
"Teddy?" Harry called out softly. George scanned the room while Neville and Ron were on their feet calmly glancing behind things and under chairs.
"But he wouldn't…" Hermione frowned.
"Andromeda did say he'd taken to running off." Harry groaned.
"I reckoned she meant it mate." Ron stood up from behind the dresser in the corner.
"Harry! Why didn't you say anything earlier?" Hermione screeched.
"He was napping Hermione, I didn't think he'd take off." Harry shrugged.
"Now, now. No need to panic, young Mr. Lupin couldn't have traveled very far or gotten into too much mischief quite yet." Professor McGonagall stated simply.
"Hasn't played hide and sneak with the little tot in the office, has she?" Ron muttered. Hermione smacked Ron in the shoulder and Harry jumped past them. In the corridor he glanced up and down finding it empty. Harry instinctively reached into his robes and pulled out a worn moleskin pouch.
"Keep figuring out the ceremony, I will find Ted and be right back." Harry called into the room. Ron and Hermione exchanged a look as George broke into a knowing grin.
"Need help Harry?" Neville questioned. Harry replied back in the negative before clicking the door shut behind him. He waited until the murmur of voices could be heard behind him before pulling out the ancient piece of parchment.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Harry whispered. The ink started to weave the familiar patterns of the marauder's map. Out of habit, the first dot he located was Ginny Weasley, traveling through the Gryffindor common room. Then he found his dot standing outside the staff room. It was another several seconds before Harry caught sight of the dot labeled Edward Lupin whizzing up the stairs of the first floor.
"I'm going to take that toy broomstick away for good." Harry grumbled as he started jogging down the corridor. It was a halfhearted attempt at annoyance, the truth of the matter was Harry could rarely stay too cross at the young Lupin. About halfway up the stairs, Harry discovered the discarded shards of the toy broom.
"It's a wonder it last this long, just like Tonks." Harry shook his head as he pointed his wand at the pieces of wood. The remains disappeared. Harry glanced at the map once more to notice the tiny dot was traveling, slower now on the third floor. More dots were starting to move around the school and even the portraits were starting to stir. As Harry started running up the stairs a few of the portraits called out to him to slow down. He turned the corner of a familiar hallway, slowing his pace once he caught sight of Teddy Lupin standing still and starring up at a statue.
"Teddy." Harry sighed bending down to grab Teddy, dropping the map.
"Up!" Teddy demanded as his pudgy arms jumped up to pull on Harry's robe.
"We can't have this running away bit happening often now. I don't have a magical map of every place we go." Harry warned as he pulled the boy up to sit on his knee. Teddy gave his godfather a gap tooth grin before pointing excitedly at the statue in front of them. Harry obligingly turned to stare at the object of Teddy's amusement. They sat at the base of the statue of Gunhilda of Goresmoore, the one-eyed witch.
"Of all the statues in the castle, you would find this one wouldn't you?" Harry laughed at the giggling boy in his arms. Reaching down to grasp the map once again, Harry saw the password appear over his own dot on the map.
Because these mapmakers would have wanted to lure you out of school. They'd think it extremely entertaining. Remus Lupin's voice came echoing back to Harry as he stared at the map and held the man's son.
"Teddy, want to hear a story?" Harry asked the toddler.
"Sor! Sor!" Teddy clapped his hands excitedly again. Harry laughed at his enthusiasm. He pulled out his wand and muttered mischief managed, clearing the map before standing up with Teddy sitting comfortably on his right forearm. Harry walked across the wide corridor and leaned directly on the wall across from the witch. In a slow motion of dropping his weight, Harry settled onto the stone floor.
"Ted, this is a map made by a four friends, one of them was my father and one of them was your father." Harry explained to the squirming child as he held up the aging piece of blank parchment. Little fingers grabbed hold of the corner of the map and pulled it out of Harry's hand.
Careful. The patient handwriting of Moony curled around Ted's fingers but went unnoticed by either Harry or the toddler.
"Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and even Wormtail were so much more than these mischief makers you know." Harry tickled the boy enough to get him to release the map.
"Moo!" Teddy squeaked at Harry.
"Moony. He was your dad, one of the best men I ever knew. I don't think the marauders could have known how important they would be the second war. Without them Teddy, maybe even without their map, we would have never won. These four men, these once in lifetime friends, all died saving me." Harry murmured more to himself than the toddler. Teddy stilled at Harry's musings and suddenly the little boy had one of his small hands patting Harry's cheek.
"Go. Go." Teddy tried to form the word good a few more times before burying his nose in Harry's shoulder. Harry ran his fingers through Teddy's lightening locks, the toddler seem to be growing bore of mimicking Harry's look.
"You don't understand any of this yet… but look at this Teddy," Harry urged as he tapped his wand against the map once and whispered the words to unlock it. As the ink spread to every corner of the parchment, Teddy Lupin watched with fixated glee.
"I present to you the marauder's map. A map that came about because your dad was a werewolf and his friends were clever enough to figure it out. See here, these two dots they are you and me." Harry pointed at two huddled dots with his wand. Teddy had relaxed against his chest and Harry knew the toddler was about to nod off again. Harry couldn't help the growing sense of dread as thoughts of a teenage Teddy Lupin wandering the grounds of Hogwarts began to form.
"I don't know much about how your dad or even my dad really used the map. But the first time I used it, I was standing right here. See, there are seven known secret passages from Hogwarts into Hogsmeade…" Harry began rubbing circles against Teddy's shoulders.
Harry told the stories of his years with the map until his voice was hoarse. As a godfather, Harry wasn't sure if he would ever tell the boy these stories again when he was old enough to understand or even remember them. Teddy's breathing had grown deeper and his head lolled uncontrolled across Harry's chest for only seconds before his godfather quickly tucked him into a cradle hold. Glancing down, Harry immediately noticed the familiar dot of Ginny Weasley floating towards him.
"...And leading up the Battle of Hogwarts, the one we're remembering today, I would use this map to watch a certain girl." Harry murmured.
"A certain girl?" Ginny smiled before crouching down and leaning over the map and sleeping Ted to kiss Harry. Teddy popped his thumb into his mouth and tugged at the map with his free hand gripping it like a blanket.
" You taste of fire whiskey." Harry whispered. He reached out to push back a strand of Ginny's red hair, tilting his forehead to touch hers as he inhaled sharply. Ginny pushed his glasses back up his nose before pulling back to rest on her heels.
"Teaching Teddy how to use the map a bit young, no?" Ginny quipped with one eyebrow raised in amusement. Harry frowned at the crumpled map.
"His dad was a marauder too…" Harry worked to carefully pull the aged parchment out of the toddler's fingers without waking him.
"McGonagall asked me to get you." Ginny stood upright, before reaching out to take the sleeping boy. Harry tapped his wand against the map once and muttered something under his breath before pressing his hand clumsily against the parchment in a poor attempt to work out the wrinkles.
"Will you give it to him, when he gets to Hogwarts?" Ginny asked quietly.
"The map? To Teddy?" Harry asked surprised through a yawn.
"It's been so important to you, to have a bit of your father." Ginny stated softly.
"But where Prongs would have been disappointed if I hadn't found all the secret passages out of the castle, I don't think Moony would approve of his son getting any magical mischief making aid. And I am beginning to think he won't need any aid." Harry pressed his hand nervously against the faint scar on his forehead. Ginny immediately tucked herself against his unprotected torso, distracting the young man from his worry. Harry reacted by stretching out his arm to wrap around Ginny and the sleeping Teddy. He spared one glance over his shoulder to the one eyed witch. Harry remembered Lupin, in his last moments as a professor, explaining how the marauders would have found the mischief amusing. The memory rang in his ears.
And so we would have done. And so they had done, Harry thought. And so they had.