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Chapter 14: The Marauder's Map
"Excellent, excellent, Miss Evans! I must say, you are a dab hand at Potions!" Professor Slughorn exclaimed. "I really think you ought to have been in my House!"
"I really think I belong in Gryffindor," Lily countered, smiling.
Slughorn chuckled. "Here you are then," he handed Lily a tiny bottle filled to the brim with a golden liquid. "One bottle of Felix Felicis as promised! I don't doubt that you'll use it wisely!"
Lily smiled in relief as she put the vial in her inner pocket. She was filled with even more delight at the looks on Callaway, Snape, and Potter's faces. Sirius sat with a dumbstruck look on his face.
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"So…when are you going to use it?" Addison asked excitedly as they walked along the corridor, away from the Potions room.
"I don't know…I haven't thought about it yet," Lily said, slinging her bag over her shoulder.
"Well…ya know…if you don't want it…" Jo trailed off, teasingly.
"Uh, uh! I won it fair and square!" Lily laughed.
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Later that night after his patrols with Jo, Remus ran up to his friends breathlessly. They were lounging about in the common room. "I've got it!" Remus said excitedly.
"You've got what?" Sirius asked.
"The Map! It's almost complete! I've been working on it and I haven't had a chance to show you guys yet!" Remus said.
"Shh!" James and Sirius chorused.
They were the only ones in the common room except for Jo. They all watched in silence as she disappeared up the stairs to the girl's dormitory.
"Here it is," Remus said, handing James a blank sheet of folded white parchment.
"That's it?" Peter asked incredulously.
Remus glared at him. "No, that's not it…I'm going to show you how to open it. Here…hold it out like this," Remus said, moving James hands to the edges of the paper. Pointing his wand in the middle of the parchment, Remus said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
At once, thin ink lines began to spread like a spider's web from the point that Remus's wand met the parchment.
"Whoa!" Sirius exclaimed, scooting closer to James to have a better look at the Map.
The lines joined each other, they criss-crossed, and they fanned into every corner of the parchment. Then words began to blossom across the top in great, curly, green letters.
Mssrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
are proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP
They all were silent as they looked at the Map in awe. The most remarkable thing about it was the tiny ink dots moving around on it, each labeled with a name in miniscule writing.
"This is amazing Remus!" James said looking it over.
"We just need to put in any other passages we know about and put our voices in." Said Remus.
"Put our voices in?" said Sirius.
"I thought it would be neat to have our own remarks show up if anyone tries to read it." Remus said.
"I like the way your mind works!" Sirius said smiling, wagging a finger at his friend.
"But our sayings will only come up if they tell their name," said Remus.
"So we have to think of something to say for everybody?" Peter asked in disbelief.
Remus rolled his eyes. "No, I found an easier way. Taking a piece of our DNA and putting it into the Map will make a response appear. The response depends on who is trying to read it. Understand?" he asked, annoyed.
Peter nodded.
"I figured the best thing was a hair." Remus said. "All we have to do is soak it in water and place it on the tips of our wands. We then place the tip of our wands on the parchment and say either 'Mr. Moony', 'Mr. Prongs', etcetera, wishes to confer his thoughts to the Marauder's Map. The hair should vanish after that…if it works."
"Cool," Sirius said, pulling a hair out of his head. The others followed in suit and took turns dipping their hair in the quill that Remus had transfigured into a cup of water.
"You first Remmy," Sirius said.
Remus sighed and placed the tip of his wand on the Map. "Mr. Moony wishes to confer his thoughts to the Marauder's Map," The hair vanished in a small flash of light.
James went next, placing his wand on the parchment. "Mr. Prongs wishes to confer his thoughts to the Marauder's Map," his hair vanished as well.
Sirius and then Peter followed in suit.
"This is awesome!" Sirius said when they were all done.
"I'm pretty sure the remarks that show won't change as we get older. They'll only show up as what we'd say as sixteen year olds." Remus said. "And to close it…" he pointed his wand at the Map again. "Mischief Managed." The ink lines disappeared the way they had come, vanishing into the spot that Remus's wand had touched.
"Nice," James and Sirius chorused.
"We'll just have to wait until tomorrow to try it out on somebody, to make sure it really worked." Remus said.
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Unfortunately for Lily, she was their experimental subject the next day during break before Herbology. They didn't choose her exactly, she just happened to be the only one in the common room.
She was reading on the couch when the four Marauders approached her.
"Erm, Lily?" Remus asked uncertainly.
"Hm?" she said, looking up from her book, surprised to see the four boys surrounding her.
"Um…could you do us a favor?"
Lily looked at all of them suspiciously. "Depends."
"Just point your wand at this paper and say, 'Lily Evans wishes to read this', okay?" Remus said.
Lily continued to look suspicious. "It won't blow up on me, will it?" she asked.
"No, no. Just do it please," Remus said.
The four Marauders watched intently as Lily placed her wand on the parchment.
"Lily Evans wishes to read this," she said boredly.
Slowly, green ink appeared.
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Mr. Moony presents his compliments to Lily Evans and asks her to stay out of other people's belongings.
Mr. Prongs agrees and would like to add that Lily Evans is quite attractive.
Mr. Padfoot would like to tell Lily Evans that she is a very smart witch and that she is not allowed to read this.
Mr. Wormtail bids Lily Evans good day, and advises her to go study.
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"What is this?" Lily asked, slightly offended after reading the responses.
"It worked!" James said excitedly, ignoring Lily.
"Nice job, Remmy!" Sirius said, clapping him on the back.
"Wait!" Lily said, but it was too late, the four had already run back to the boy's dormitory. "Them and their stupid pranks," she grumbled with a scowl.
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"What's up with Jo lately?" Addison asked Lily during Herbology.
"What?" Lily asked, looking up from her paper, on which she was writing down the differences between the Flitterbloom and Devil's Snare sitting in front of her.
"Just look!" Addison said, pointing with her quill across the greenhouse to where Remus and Jo were sitting.
Lily watched as Remus and Jo laugh about something.
"Yeah…so?" she asked, turning back to her blonde friend.
Addison rolled her eyes. "She's been his partner for every class lately and they've been getting back from prefect patrols later and later every night!" she exclaimed.
"Oh…oh yeah! You're right!" Lily exclaimed. "You think they…?"
"Hooked up? Definitely." Addison said.
"Well…I don't know. Jo would've told us if she and Remus were going out." Lily said.
"True…but you never know…"
"We should follow them tonight!" Lily exclaimed.
"On their patrols?"
"Yeah!"
"I can't Lils." Addison said disappointedly.
"Why not?"
"I have detention with Flitwick for accidentally knocking him down with the book I was summoning…remember?" Addison said. "For some reason he thinks I did it on purpose."
"Oh…right…" Lily snickered.
"You can go though,"
"Alone?"
"Yeah…just pretend you're going to study in the library if any teacher catches you. And Jo and Remus's rounds are early enough that you wouldn't get in trouble for being out of bed."
Lily thought about it. "Alright…I'll see if I can…but what do I do if they catch me?"
Addison thought for a minute. "I dunno…run?"
Lily looked at her contemptuously.
"Put the Befuddlement Charm on them if all else fails." Addison said, trying to grab her quill back from the Devil's Snare.
"Lumos!" Lily said, pointing her wand at the plant. It immediately let go of Addison's quill. "I'll give it a try," she said.
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"Look at those two!" Sirius said disgustedly, motioning Remus and Jo with his quill.
"What?" asked James.
"They are so annoying! Laughing at everything together! Moony's been ditching us for her a lot lately!" Sirius said angrily.
James tried not to laugh. "I wouldn't count prefect patrols as 'ditching us', mate."
Sirius glared at him. "You know what I mean!"
James sighed. "Yeah…so…what are you suggesting we do?"
"Find out if they are really going out first of all."
"You mean spy on them?" said James.
"Hey, we've got an invisibility cloak!" Sirius said innocently.
"And a map…" James said, resting his chin on his palm.
"Plus, we've never made any rules saying that we can't spy on each other, right?" Sirius added.
"Right, but—"
"It's for the good of the Marauders, Prongs." Sirius said.
James sighed. "Let's go tonight then."
"Can't." said Sirius. "Detention with McGonagall every night this week."
"We haven't even had Transfiguration yet!" James cried.
"I know…she caught me hexing Snape in the hallway yesterday."
"Oh." James said with understanding. "Well, it's worth it then."
"Of course…" Sirius agreed, nodding.
"Well, I'll just go tonight. I'll take the cloak and the Map to make it easier." James decided.
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Around seven o'clock that night, Lily sat in the common room "reading" when she was really waiting for Jo and Remus to leave.
Pretty soon, Remus came out of the boy's dormitory. "Ready Jo?"
Jo got up, smiling. "Yep…see ya later Lils," she said.
Lily nodded, pretending to be absorbed in her book.
As soon as the portrait hole closed, she snapped her book shut and whipped off the blanket she was laying under.
She quickly zipped up her favorite dark blue sweatshirt and pulled her red hair into a ponytail.
Running to the portrait hole, she slowly opened the door a crack and peeked out to see where Jo and Remus were.
They were walking down a large staircase to the third floor.
Sneaking out and shutting the door as quietly as she could, Lily walked with her back flat against the wall. She tiptoed along, trying to stay in the shadows.
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"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," James stated, pointing his wand at the Marauder's Map.
After all of the lines and dots had appeared, James searched for Jo and Remus.
There they were. Walking side by side through the trophy room. Then they were working their way to the armor gallery adjacent to the trophy room.
Putting the invisibility cloak on, James slipped from the boy's dormitory and the common room out to the silent corridors.
Taking another look at the Map, he ran down several flights of stairs until he got to the third floor. Looking at the Map again, he noticed that Jo and Remus were walking past the statue of the humpbacked witch. (It was really a passage into Hogsmeade that James himself had discovered in third year.)
Running along, trying not to make his shoes squeak, he ran around a corner. Jo and Remus were heading towards him, twenty feet away.
James slid out of the way as fast as he could, moving around to the other side of a large pillar.
What am I doing? I'm wearing an invisibility cloak! They can't see me! James thought. He waited for the couple to pass before he moved out from behind the pillar to walk right behind them. Only then did he notice that the two were holding hands. They are together after all, James thought with a smile. Good for Moony.
"—I couldn't believe it! They've only been here less than two days and they've already landed themselves a weeks worth of detentions!" Jo said. "My mother's already mailed a howler to Klaus for the—" she was cut off by a noise behind her. Jo, Remus, and James all turned around to see Lily standing next to the pillar James had just come out from behind.
She smiled weakly. "H-hi guys!" she said. "I-uh…I was on my way to the library but the staircases moved and I ended up way over here! I saw you guys and decided to come say hi!"
James covered his eyes with his hand, shaking his head.
Remus and Jo were no longer holding hands.
Jo looked confused. "Okay then…hi."
Lily laughed nervously. "I'm gonna go now…bye!" She waved before running off.
James shook his head and as much as he wanted to follow Lily, he continued to follow Remus and Jo for another half hour. Getting extremely bored with nothing else exciting happening, James finally decided to head back up to the Gryffindor common room.
Looking at the Map to see which route would be fastest, he noticed in the middle of a staircase a stationary dot labeled: Lily Evans.
Confused, James ran to the fifth floor staircase as fast as he could. He grinned when he got to the bottom of it. Lily evidently had forgotten to jump the vanishing step in the middle and was stuck.
Looking extremely miserable and bored, Lily was situated between the two steps, propping her head up with her hand.
James took off his invisibility cloak as he ran up the steps.
He grinned at the horrified look on her face.
"You! How-? What are-? What are you doing here?" she asked wide-eyed.
James kept grinning as he leaned against the railing on the opposite side of the stair.
"I was doing the same thing you were."
Lily looked confused.
"Spying on Remus and Bellamont."
"Oh," said Lily, still confused.
"It's a lot easier when you have an invisibility cloak," James grinned, holding up his prized possession.
Lily flushed. "Were you there…?"
"Yep," he laughed. "And I must say you are horrible at spying."
Lily looked livid. "I swear Potter…if you tell anyone about thi—"
"Calm down, Evans!" James laughed. "I'm not going to."
Lily glared at him, embarrassed. "Well?" she snapped.
"Well what?"
"Aren't you going to help me out of this?" she cried.
James just grinned. "Well…" he said stroking his chin as if to think about it.
"Potter, you evil little—"
James laughed. Glancing down at the Map to close it, he stopped laughing when he saw two dots labeled Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore coming around a corner that would take them in clear view of the two of them.
"What?" Lily asked worriedly.
Glancing quickly towards the large clock on the opposite side of the hall, James swore. It was past time that they should have been in the common room.
"What?" Lily asked.
Not answering her, James quickly sat down next to her and threw the cloak over them.
"Potter, what are you do—" James covered her mouth with his hand just as McGonagall and Dumbledore appeared beneath the staircase across from them.
Lily's eyes widened as she saw them. James slowly took his hand away from her mouth.
It was the most uncomfortable experience Lily had been in in her entire life. Being stuck in a stairway in the middle of the night is one thing, but being stuck and hiding from teachers under an invisibility cloak with Potter is another.
Lily realized how close they were, but there was nothing she could do about it. The invisibility cloak was only so big. Potter's probably enjoying this, she thought with malice. She glared up at him and he grinned.
Sighing and rolling her eyes, she turned her attention back to Dumbledore and McGonagall. She nearly had a heart attack when she saw them coming up their staircase.
Glancing up at James, he looked just as apprehensive as she was.
Lily recoiled as James scooted closer to her. She could smell his cologne now. It was surprisingly pleasant. Their heads were only four inches apart.
Both of their hearts nearly stopped when Dumbledore looked right at them, but he looked away again quickly.
"Minerva," he said as he stopped on the step before theirs. "I think all's well for tonight, don't you?" he said turning around to face McGonagall. "How about we go back to my office for a nice cup of tea?" he suggested, going down onto the same step as her.
"I suppose," she said uncertainly.
As they descended, Dumbledore turned back and winked at them. Lily and James looked at each other, taken aback.
As they walked away, Lily slowly got her breathing back.
Only when they disappeared from sight did James throw the cloak off of them.
"Whew! That was close!" James exclaimed in a whisper.
"Too close." Lily said. "Dumbledore knew."
"Dumbledore always knows."
They were silent for a minute.
James got up and Lily stuck out her hand.
With simple ease, James pulled her free.
They looked at each other uncertainly for a second. "Thanks," Lily said.
"No problem," James replied.
They headed back up the stairs (jumping over the vanishing one this time,) and proceeded back to the Gryffindor common room.
Before James could say the password, Lily turned to him.
"Not a word about this to anybody!"
"Wouldn't dream of it," James grinned.
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Sorry about the cliffhanger in the last chapter…I had to do it. =) Don't worry…it's probably the only one I'll have.
Did you all like the way I had the Marauder's Map created?
Please review!
AlannaDragon