Previously on The Sun Still Rises:

"Well, I – Potter – what?" Lily spluttered. "I'm not going to bet with anyone on how far my best friend goes. Who does?"

"The Marauders."

"On who?"

James chuckled and said, "Padfoot."

Lily stared at him, and James continued, "I always win the bet with Peter."

"Is there some sort of trick you use for winning?"

"Yeah – just say all the way for every girl."

The Marauder's Map

"Finished?" Sirius plopped down next to James who was carefully tracing an outline of the Astronomy Tower. He let out a small noise of indignation at the shaking of the table. It was now past midnight in the library. Sirius had moaned that the library was not somewhere he wanted to sneak into, but it was the best resource for the spells, and they were guaranteed privacy during the early hours.

"I've told you before that it takes longer than five minutes. I'm almost done," said James in a frustrated voice. Since he was the best at sketching, the other Marauders had assigned him the job of drawing the map. Remus would do any writing the map required since his was the neatest, and Sirius was looking all possible charms they could put on it; Peter was the cheerleader.

"So I've devised a list of everything we should do. We obviously need protection spells, a password to use the map and charms to keep it from being destroyed. It needs to be able to show all people at all times, regardless of disguises and charms. I've been looking at several books, but the spells required are much more difficult. We would have to cast a variation of the Homorphus Charm, along with tweaking the magic of Polyjuice Potion. Since the Invisibility Cloaks don't hide the human presence, we could cast a different form of Homenum Revelio."

James, Sirius, and Peter just gaped at Remus like he had grown a second head. They did not understand one word of the long gibberish that Remus said.

"Moony, you need to use English more."


"I already feeling like I'm drowning in homework," Mary complained as they ate .

"Ditto," said Lily. She spooned some more mashed potatoes onto her plate.

She and Mary were the only ones sitting together. Alice had abandoned them for Frank. She was currently curled up in the common room with food from the kitchens, and Lily didn't want to know what they were doing. Marlene was nowhere to be found, and Sirius had also mysteriously disappeared from the Marauders' spot at Gryffindor's table.

"So did you hear about the next Hogsmeade visit? It's in a couple of weeks," said Mary.

Lily nodded. "You thinking about asking anybody in particular?" She jerked her head in the Marauders' direction.

Mary's eyes widened. "Is it really that obvious?"

"No, but I remember you having a huge crush on him a couple years ago, and I was just wondering if you might still like him," said Lily. Mary was the only one out of the four girls who did not have much experience with boys. She had kissed a boy during a Christmas party in fifth year, but it didn't lead to anything.

"I don't want to be turned down. I'm starting to become the Peter of our group," said Mary sadly.

"No you aren't, Mary. You just haven't found the right guy yet, and you are not the Peter of our group," said Lily. Peter had been unable to find a girlfriend because he was the opposite of the rest of the Marauders: short, plump, and nervous. Mary just hadn't put herself out there that much. She was definitely pretty enough, with her shoulder-length, glossy brown hair, full lips, and large, deep brown eyes, Lily was surprised her friend hadn't realized that there were already several guys looking at her.

Mary sighed and picked at her mashed potatoes. "But you, Alice, and Marlene are so much more beautiful than I am."

"Mary, you are just as pretty as Marlene," said Lily confidently. Sure, she gained a bit of weight, but not as much as Peter or some other people, and Mary was very pretty.

"You really think so?" asked Mary quietly. Ever since fourth year, she had needed reassurances that she was going to find the right guy.

Lily nodded, and she wasn't lying.

"So what's up with you and Potter?" asked Mary slyly.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Why does everybody keep asking me that? He and his family are helping me with the Ministry problem. Besides, Terry and I are still together, or has everybody else forgotten that little fact?"

"Do you think he's hot?"

Lily closed her mouth. Yes, James was handsome, but that didn't mean much. "He's good-looking. Happy?"

Mary smirked as Lily stabbed bits of her chocolate chip pancakes forcefully. "Do you think he's smart?"

"As much as I hate to say it, yes, but he doesn't work at all. It all just comes to him." Lily was liking this conversation less and less.

"Do you think he's nice?"

Lily shrugged. "Depends. Are you asking me right after he's done being an arrogant prick? Since the thing with the Ministry and his parents, he has shown me a side of him I didn't know existed, and I'm really grateful that he's doing that."

"So do you like him? At least as a friend."

"I'm deciding," said Lily, taking another bite of her pancakes. "And I'm late."


"This is the map?" asked Sirius, holding the parchment out at arm's length. He examined it, tracing his finger along his favorite passageways. "Do you think we could charm it to tell us where the Chamber of Secrets is?"

"That's not real, Sirius. It's just a myth the Slytherins like to talk about to scare younger students," said Remus as he came up behind them, levitating at least thirty different books.

"It's real!" cried Sirius. "I overheard my mum talking about it Bellatrix at her engagement party several years ago."

"Your cousin is getting married?" asked Peter in disgust.

Sirius scowled. "Why anybody would ever want to marry that psychotic bitch is beyond me, but yeah, she's married Lestrange's older brother. Just another Voldemort fanatic in my messed up family. Good thing I got out."

Peter flinched slightly as Sirius spoke Voldemort's name.

"Some people are saying it isn't wise to say the name, and You-Know-Who hasn't done much."

"What are you talking about, Pete?" asked Sirius incredulously. "If you are believing the Ministry when they say who is behind the attacks, maybe you should double check Lily-Bean, but I'm damn sure she nor any other Muggle-borns had nothing to do with it."

"But it's just-"

"Just what, Wormtail?" asked James fiercely.

"Nothing, but the Ministry says that You-Know-Who just wants people to believe he's more powerful than he really is," Peter squeaked.

"It's the other way around, Peter. The Ministry is just playing into Voldemort's wishes with them doing what they're doing," said Remus.

Peter nodded jerkily. He clearly wanted to change the conversation.

"Give me the map, James," said Remus. He held out his hand for it, and James complied. "We need a pass code first."

"I got one! With the help of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, I completely agree to cause mischief whenever and wherever I can, against all Slytherins and any of the Marauder's enemies." Sirius said with a grin.

"Too long. It needs to be shorter, but other pranksters have to also figure it out with a little help," said Remus.

"How would they get help?" asked James.

"I was thinking that we could put an imprint of ourselves on here, you know, to insult people if they don't have a reason to use this or to help future pranksters if they need this."

"Well, what is one thing a prankster is always?" asked James to the rest of them.

"Fighting Slytherins, annoying Minnie the Mc G, hiding in broom closets with girls..." Sirius said, ticking one thing off at a time on his fingers.

"They are never doing something good," said Peter.

"That's obvious, Wormtail," said Sirius, interrupting his list.

"But that's what we need, Padfoot," James said, saving Peter from further embarrassment that night. "Something most good pranksters would know, but nobody else would have a chance of getting it."

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good?" asked Remus.

"That's good, but what would we say to lock it up again."

"Mischief managed," said Sirius promptly. "What?" he asked as they all stared at him.

Remus flipped the page of one of the books, and then he raised his wand and performed some sort of complicated weaving motion over the parchment. James jumped up as the castle that he had spent several days completing vanished, leaving the parchment blank.

"Relax, James, just say the password."

James shot Remus a suspicious look but pulled out his own wand.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good." James tapped his wand against the blank parchment. They all gasped except for Remus who looked smug. Starting at the middle of the parchment, little lines curved and twisted all the way to the edge of the page. It was the castle, just as James had drawn it. It showed every single little detail, from the shortcut that James and Sirius had found on their second day to the hidden passageway starting at the Whomping Willow.

"Now you just have to label some things, Moony," said James, handing him the map.

Remus took it, but not before asking, "What should the introduction be?"

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are delighted to show you the...Map?" asked Peter tentatively.

Sirius shook his head. "Too boring. Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are proud to present – nice alliteration there, isn't it – the Map."

"We need a better name than the Map. The Marauders made it, so why not call it the Marauder's Map?"

"So it would be, Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are proud to present the Marauder's Map?" asked Remus.

They all nodded at him.

"Got it, I'll finish writing everything on it by the end of the morning. We should get back up to the common room."

Remus flicked his wand, and all the books floated back to their proper place. James withdrew the Invisibility Cloak while Remus cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself since the Cloak could barely cover three of them, let alone four.


"She's deciding?" asked Marlene as they listened to Professor Burbage plow on about Muggle sayings.

"That's what Macdonald told me," said James. He could see how it was a huge improvement from last year, but he didn't want to think about how would take for Lily to look at him as someone more. "Is it safe to assume that I can call us friends?"

Marlene thought for several seconds. "I would say yes-ish."

"Ish?" asked Sirius.

"Yes, Sirius. Ish. She's extremely grateful to your family for helping her, but keep in mind that you did bully her best friend for five years and many other innocent students."

James looked down guiltily. "Does Lily ever forget anything?"

"Not really," said Marlene flatly. "But she does believe that people can change. You were an idiot before, but if you spend some time proving to her that you aren't the same person, she might just agree to be friends. Getting your parents to back her while the Ministry tries to discredit all Muggle-borns is really helping. Keep it up, and in several months you might get lucky."

"Several months?" gasped Sirius.

Marlene scowled. "Since you spent five years being the biggest, most arrogant assholes this schools has ever seen, then I would say several months is very generous, Sirius."

"But – but you said that Lily thinks people can change!"

"So I did. It might just take a little bit."

"But Marley-"

"Don't call me Marley."

"Hem-hem," Professor Burbage cleared her throat at the arguing Gryffindors. "Ms. McKinnon, would you be so kind as to tell me the Muggle translation of 'the fire's lit, but the cauldron's empty'?"

"Umm," Marlene thought hard. Muggle Studies was one of the hardest subjects for her because there were so many different topics in the class. "The television's on, but everybody's home?"

"Wrong, Ms. McKinnon. I would appreciate it if you would refrain from talking to Mr. Black. The correct translation is, 'The lights are on, but nobody's home'."

Marlene ducked her head as a light pink appeared on her face, and James grinned.

"Is there something you don't want to tell me, you two?"

"Shut it, Potter," snapped Marlene.

"Take that as a yes."

"I said shut it."


"I give you... the Marauder's Map!" said Remus. He withdrew that blank piece of parchment and handed it to James, who took it with great care.

"It really works?" breathed Peter.

"No, Wormtail, Moony's only yanking your wand," said Sirius sarcastically.

James unfolded it and tapped his wand. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Like last time, black ink appeared, but it started somewhere near the top.

Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are proud to present:

The Marauder's Map

James gasped in wonder as the black lines traced the castle, but now markings emerged. James found their dormitory, and inside were four new dots labeled James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.

Sirius cocked his head slightly, but then a large, black dog was in his place. James scratched his ears and looked at the map, but the dot labeled Sirius Black did not disappear. Sirius transformed back into his human self.

"Wormtail, try on the Invisibility Cloak," ordered Sirius. Peter obeyed and swung the silvery cloak over himself, vanishing in thin air, but Peter's dot was still there.

James traced his finger along the corridors. There was a wave of rage when he saw two dots labeled Lily Evans and Terry Abbott together in the otherwise deserted Charms corridor, but James swallowed painfully and looked away, Alice's lessons echoing in his head; Lily and Terry would break up soon enough. They just didn't have enough in common, but looking at their dots, James felt that day couldn't come soon enough.

"I've also done a little charm to input each of our personalities on it, so if anybody else tries to read it without the password, the parchment will respond like we would."

"Mischief managed," said James, and the map went blank. Then he got an idea. Smirking, James tapped his wand against the parchment again. "I, Lily Evans, demand you show me what mischief Potter is doing."

All of the other three boys stared at him in confusion before he answered, "I want to know what my map self would say to Evans."

Mr. Moony sympathizes with Mr. Prongs goals, but would like say that it isn't very Marauder-ly to pretend to be a girl, even if said girl is the object of Mr. Prongs infatuation

Mr. Wormtail agrees with Mr. Moony and would like to wish Mr. Prongs the best of luck to seduce the ever-elusive Ms. Evans

Mr. Padfoot wishes Mr. Prongs would just do Ms. Evans already, so Mr. Padfoot can enjoy the innuendos he would love to say in front of Mr. Prongs and Ms. Evans and their parents, should Mr. Prongs and Ms. Evans ever be together

Mr. Prongs begs himself not to look so stupid in front of his friends but to concentrate on getting Ms. Evans

James gapped at the shining words.

"Well, I think it is safe to say we've succeeded, my fellow Marauders," Sirius chuckled.

I said I would update by Sunday, so here is the promised update.

As always, I am begging all you readers who have kept with the story to please please please review. I need to know what I need to improve on and what elements you feel I don't have enough of. So PLEASEreview!

Thanks to the people who reviewed last chapter: lynnnnyl, ItDidntMeanForever, twilightstargazer, ClamatiWP, I'mMrRecklessWithACapitalR, and lily617 :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Your :D Muggle,

12-:D-Nerds-On-The-Twelve-Worlds

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