James was excited to be going back to school. He wanted to become an animagus badly, so that he could go with Remus when he transformed. Plus, he thought to himself, there could be a few more advantages. No one would ever know he was an animagus, so he could slip in and out of... places without notice. He was also eager to get back to playing Quidditch- he had been practicing all summer with those old golf balls and his reflexes had reached their peak, he felt. On September the first he eagerly jumped onto the train and found his friends in a compartment that was empty except for them. As Remus and Peter filled Sirius and James in on their summer's James looked out of the compartment door window and saw Lily. He felt butterflies in his stomach and it was as if his heart had leapt into his throat, which tightened. He quickly looked away as she peeked in to see if there was anyone in the compartment. Seeing James, she immediately shut the door and moved on, catching up with her friends. Sirius seemed to have been the only one to notice this, but didn't say anything. He was James' best friend, but he wasn't very good at advice when it came to matters of that sort.

After what seemed like an eternity, the train came to a stop at Hogwarts. After he and his friends watched the Sorting and finished eating, James was oddly tired, so he went straight upstairs, but couldn't sleep. He had started thinking about Lily, and couldn't get her out of his head. He lay awake long after the flames from the candles dimly lighting the dormitory flickered and expired, but finally, exhaustion overwhelmed him and he fell into a restless sleep.

James woke up the next morning to find that once again, his friends had already gone down to the Great Hall for breakfast. He got dressed quickly and, famished, headed down for breakfast. When he there, he saw Remus, Sirius, and Peter whispering excitedly to one another.

"What's all this about?" James inquired as he took his usual seat next to Sirius.

"Well," Sirius began. "We reckon that we shouldn't be the only ones who know all the stuff about Hogwarts we do."

"And.?" James said, still left in the dark. "So we thought we'd make some kind of. map that shows people all the secret passages out of Hogwarts and that sort of thing," piped up Remus.

"And we'd just leave this map lying around for anyone to find, like Dumbledore? Then we'd be in for it." James said.

"Well, no," Peter started nervously. "We'd. we'd put some kind of charm on it so not everyone can see it."

"Yeah, we're not stupid you know," Sirius said defensively.

James snorted; Sirius hit him on the head.

"And what would we call this map? Plus, with that masterpiece, I'd want some kind of recognition for it, wouldn't you?" James added.

"How about the Mischief Map?" suggested Peter.

"No, that's too plain." James said, waving his hand impatiently.

"I've got a brilliant idea." Sirius said suddenly. "How about the Marauder's Map?"

"Yeah," said Remus. "After all, that is the name we fashioned ourselves- the Marauders."

There was a murmur of agreement, and they all got up, leaving half empty plates, to head up to the Gryffindor common room to discuss the finer details.

"Well, even if we do make a map that tells people secret passageways and such, how can we guarantee them that they won't run into any teachers along the way? Or anyone else who might suspect them, for that matter." Sirius said thoughtfully.

"Well, this would make it even more difficult, but we could. well we could enchant it so it tells where all teachers and some students are. We'd have to be selective though. only telling teachers, ghosts, and students who are near a passageway," said James.

"And also, specific people. Like us, and that git Snivellus. He'd tell on us the first chance he got if he saw us doing this." Sirius added.

"Ok, so let's make a list of what we want on this map. We'll need someone to draw it out thought. How about you James? You're pretty good with art." Remus suggested.

James pulled out a quill, ink, and a bit of parchment. "So," he mumbled, "Passageways, Snivellus, Marauders, Person in possession of map, People near passageways, current teachers. it will change with the years. we'll need an automatic changing Protean Charm for that." he trailed off.

"Ok, let's draw the map already!" said Sirius impatiently.

"Hang on, we've got to make sure its perfect," said Remus.

"Always the perfectionist." mumbled Sirius.

"Well, the location of people will sort of be a spin off of the Floo Network. except it won't be based on location, it'll be based on the person.plus we'll need another automatic Protean Charm for that, because people will move and the dots need to move with them." James said aloud to no one in particular.

"Well, let's draw the map then, and we'll figure out how to work that part in later," suggested Remus, seeing the anxiously excited look on Sirius' face. "We aren't going have to walk around so you get all the parts of the map right, are we?" he added.

"Nah," said James indifferently, waving his arm as if shooing a fly. "Having spent three and a half years here, I have this place memorized."

He quickly sketched out a rough Hogwarts, adding a circle here, mumbling "Gryffindor Tower." and a large rectangle there ("Great Hall.") until he had Hogwarts, the lake, the Quidditch pitch, and everything in between, down to the last detail.

"Let's someone run and get a book on Protean Charms from the library." James ordered. "I'll draw the dots in the meantime, then we can put the charm on them."

Remus ran off towards the library, and James began making dots in a corner of the page, marking them Severus Snape ("Or else no one but us will know who he is," James said when Sirius asked why he wasn't Snivellus.) and Professor Dumbledore, going down the list of teachers and many students.

By that time Remus returned with the book, and James flipped through the pages until he found the Protean Charm.

"I guess first we have to make the dots mobile," he said. "Or the charm won't do a thing. Except maybe make a dot bigger when someone gets fat or something," he added, laughing at his own corny idea of a joke.

"Erm. Locomotor.Dots," He said, unsure if it would work.

The dots immediately began to zoom over the page, the name of the person they represented following along.

"Ok," said Remus. "Now you have to make them stop moving long enough to do the Protean Charm on them. Then you have to say Reticulo Dots."

James nodded in comprehension, then pointed at the dots. "Immobulus!

The dots immediately stopped in their tracks. James pointed at them again. "Reticulo.dots!" The dots began to move again, but went to their places. Professor McGongall's dot, for instance was in her study, and Snape's was in the Slytherin Common Room.

"Well done, mate!" Sirius said excitedly. Now we have to make it say Marauder's Map and our names."

"Hang on," said Remus. "If we put our names on it, we're sure to be caught. We need some kind of nicknames."

"Brilliant." James whispered suddenly. Peter, Sirius, and Remus stared at him without a clue. "How about," he continued, "a nickname that has to do with our animals?"

"Great idea James!" said Sirius, who was the most excited about all of this. "But what's a good nickname for a dog?"

"Umm." said Peter.

"How about. Wormtail, for Peter." Remus said suggestively.

"S-sure," said Peter, happy enough just to be included in all of this.

"You can be Moony, Remus!" said Sirius. "After all, you transform because of the moon."

"Yeah," said James. "We need nicknames that are distinct characteristics of our animals. Like Prongs."

"Who.?" started Peter.

"Me, a stag!" said James, impatiently cutting Peter off.

"And I could be. Snout?" said Sirius, at a loss for ideas.

"No," said James, concentrating. "Padfoot," he said suddenly. "After all, dogs have padded feet, don't they?"

"Ok," said Remus. "But how do we fit all this on half an inch of parchment?" he added, indicating the small space they left themselves for writing on the map.

James began scribbling, and we he was done, he held it up for them to see.

Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
Surveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief Makers
Are Proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP

"Perfect," whispered Remus.

"Now all we need is a charm that will make this map hidden until you say certain words to it. And a diversion type thing, so that if someone says the wrong thing, it will say things back to him," suggested Sirius.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," James blurted out suddenly.

"What?" said Remus, looking at Sirius, who shrugged.

"Those can be the magic words to make the map appear. And to wipe it, say. Mischief managed!" James explained.

"Brilliant," said Sirius. Peter nodded in agreement.

"But," James said, "is a charm that will hide this until those words are said?"

"Well, that's kind of like Apparating and Disapparating, isn't it?" said Sirius thoughtfully. "We'd have to look it up to be sure, but I think that would work."

James turned to Remus. "Feel like another trip to the library?"

Remus sighed, then turned and walked toward the library. A few minutes later he returned with a book on disappearing spells. James slowly flipped the pages.

"Aha!" he said after a few minutes. "To conceal information, point at it and say 'Vanescero' and the words you want to make it disappear. To make it appear, say 'Patescero' and the words you want to make it appear."

"Ok," said Sirius, pulling out his wand. "Can I have a go at it?"

James thrust the map at him.

"Patescero I solemnly swear I am up to no good." The page glowed in a golden light for a moment, then went back to beige parchment. "Vanescero Mischief Managed!'" Sirius finished, and the words vanished. "I hope that worked, or all our work will be lost."

James took the paper. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good!" he said loudly. The map started to draw itself onto the page, until it was completed, people and all. "Mischief managed!" he said, and the map immediately disappeared.

The four boys whooped and cheered, but cautious not to draw attention to themselves.

"Now we have to find a way to create our diversion part." James said. "I'm lost on that one though."

Remus piped up. "Well I remember something about a spell that can make words appear out of nowhere, talking to whoever it is. Problem is, they've got to say their name."

"What spell is that?" Sirius inquired.

"It's a type of memory charm, except it would conceal our 14 year old personalities into the paper, so it will say whatever we would have said in that situation. I think its called a Remembrance Charm," he said knowledgably. Looking at James and Sirius, he added with a sigh, "I guess I'll be getting another book then," and trudged off towards the library.

About 10 minutes later he returned with a fairly thick book in his hands. He flipped it open.

"Each of us will have to do this charm to ourselves," he said. "What we've got to do is say 'Recordaro' and then our name, or in this case, our nickname, and our words will appear on this page, using the person trying to get at our map's name and talking to them."

The three boys looked at him in puzzlement, still not understanding. Remus sighed. "Let me show you. 'Recordaro Moony' he said. The end of his wand erupted with silver light that lit up his face, floating in front of him for a moment. It then mimicked his exact shape and size and floated toward the page, disappearing on contact.

James, Sirius, and Peter looked at him in amazement, and then did the same thing to themselves, until all of their personalities were stored in the map.

"Well, lets test it then," said James.

Peter stepped forward. "Peter Pettigrew demands that you show me your contents!" he said, repeating what James was mouthing at him.

Words appeared, one by one, reading:

Mt. Moony would like to say that Peter Pettigrew has an abnormally large head, but unfortunately that head has no brains.

Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Moony and would like to add the Peter Pettigrew is one of the most pitiful wizards in existence.

Mr. Padfoot would like to say that he is astonished Peter Pettigrew is not a squib, what with his lousy charms skills.

Mr. Wormtail bids Peter Pettigrew a good day, and advises him to brush up on his speaking skills.

"Well," said James cheerily, "I guess it works!"

~End of Year 4~