Hurry, James, we're going to be late for charms! A short, pudgy boy panted.

I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying! A tall, black haired boy replied irritably, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

We'll make it in time, Peter, don't worry!! A tall boy almost identical to James except without glasses said, grinning.

Sirius, calm down. The boy next to him said. This boy, Remus, was the same height as Sirius, and had brown hair.

The four boys were sprinting down a dark tunnel - a secret passageway they had found earlier in their fifth year at Hogwarts. The Marauders, as the four young boys were called, were infamous troublemakers, and were notorious for having the most detentions in their almost five years at Hogwarts than anyone else.

In fact, the Marauders had just returned from another rule-breaking session. They had been shopping at Zonko's and Honeydukes, and now their pockets were full of dungbombs, fireworks, and tons of candy. James was also carrying with him the Marauder;s Map, a magical map that he and his friends had been creating. It was almost perfect, but there was no way the marauders could finish it now, not with that pesky Lily Evans trailing around after them.

James, followed by the others, crawled out from behind the statue of the one-eyed witch. Remus had no sooner closed the hole up when the least person any of them wanted to see turned up. Severus Snape.

Remus hissed.

Snape stopped in his tracks.

Well, well, well.... what do we have here? The idiotically stupid marauding bears and their fan club.

Fan club? James asked, ignoring the remark, What fan club?

Turn around, Snape said in his icily cold voice.

James swiveled as if he were a wheelchair. He gulped. If he had thought this couldn't get any worse, he was wrong. Lily Evans was standing behind him in the corridor.

Well I'd better be going, Snape said casually, turning right.

Where are you going? James asked in amazement. The only thing that was right of the corridor they were in was the Hufflepuff common room.

Why, charms, of course,said Snape in a would-be dignified way.

But charms is left! Lily protested.

Really? Let me check a map.... is that one, James, in your pocket?

James glared at Lily, and then three things happened at once. Snape reached for the map; Lily, upon seeing the map, gave a small gasp and outstretched her hand to touch it; and all four of the Marauders defensively grabbed it. Time found all of the six 5th years pulling on the map.

James felt a strange feeling come over him, and there was an odd jerk above his navel. The next thing he knew, everything went black.