Disclaimer: Many of the characters, thoughts and ideas that are in this fan fiction are not of my own design. Though this story is from my imagination, I realize that this is the property of Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling. This is not J. K. Rowling's work. I also read many FFs and if you see something similar to another work it is entirely unintentional. I have posted this on harrypotter.com as well…. There it is complete and filled with cliffies… hence my screen name Princess of cliffies on the Harry Potter boards I go by the name of rebcschult in case you would like to read it in it's original form…. Also this was written preOotP hence the name…. but I decided after much deliberation and coercion from my on line friends who wanted me to post it here that I would finally do so! I am also writing a year six to follow this year five on the boards, which when I'm finished over there and done editing it I will post here as well…

Becky(rebcschult and PrincessOfCliffiesRCS)

P.S. Please read and review!

CHAPTER TWELVE – DREAMS AND VISIONS

Harry, reaching his dorm room in record time, flopped onto the bed and let his mind travel back through the day for something to distract him from the growing feelings that he was having for his professor. Then he remembered about the Marauder's Map and the quill. He hopped off of his bed and pulled out his trunk. After a few moments, he found what he was looking for.

He pulled out the piece of old and worn looking blank parchment that the map was invisibly written on and the box that help the quill. He sat down on his bed and unfolded the parchment in front of him. He pulled out his wand, tapped it gently, and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Suddenly the parchment seemed to come to life as the map of the whole school appeared on it. Harry opened the box that held the quill and re-read both the article on Wormtail being seen and the note the Sirius had sent him. He felt a slight pang of guilt when he realized that he had been back at school for more than a month and this was the first time that he had thought about this to pull it out. He vowed to keep the parchment and quill with him from then on.

He carefully pulled the snowy owl feather out of its box and put the quill next to the map. Harry watched as the great curly, green words Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers, are proud to present THE MARAUDER'S MAP… that had always appeared across the top of the parchment disappeared. A message box appeared in its place. In the box in the same loopy writing appeared the words: "Please state your name using the quill that activated this box." As quickly as they arrived, the words disappeared.

Harry jumped off his bed and grabbed his ink well out of his school bag. He placed the well on his bedside table and gently dipped the quill into it.

"My name is Harry Potter…"

"I do not recognize the name Harry Potter… however you do have a surname of one of the creators and you are using the creator's quill… State your parents' names…"

"My father's name was James Potter or Prongs as you probably know him and my mother's name is Lily Evans Potter."

"Ah, yes…. Hello son…"

Harry's hand quivered. That was the last response that he had expected to get. His breath quickened and his heart pounded in his chest as he dipped the quill into the well again. "Dad?" Harry watched as his ink disappeared….

Just at that moment Ron burst into the room, making Harry jump. He looked up seeing Ron standing there. "Harry…."

Harry could hear Ron's thoughts and knew exactly why he was there. "Ron, not now…. I'm fine. I just need to…"

At that moment a response to Harry's question welled up through the paper at Harry and it caught his eye. Ron looked down at what had caught Harry's attention. He walked around beside his friend and sat down.

"What's going on here, Harry? Isn't that the Marauder's Map?" Ron read what was written there on the page.

"Technically I'm not your father yet Harry. You see I found a way to preserve a memory of the four creators of this map, myself included. We finished this map when we were all 16. So the James Potter that you are speaking to is actually not your father yet…. But I am proud to know that my son has taken up where I have left off…"

"Yes, Ron. It is…. Sirius gave me this quill for my birthday and I wanted to find out what was so important about it…." Harry handed Ron the note that Sirius had written to him about the quill. "And as you can see, I just found out that a memory of my father, Sirius, Lupin, and Wormtail at the age of sixteen were preserved in this Map…. They must have used the same magic that Tom Riddle did in his diary…."

"At last someone put that magic to good use. I still hate that my sister got pulled into that snake's world."

"I don't blame you, Ron…. After all he did almost kill her in the Chamber of Secrets just so that he could come back again…."

"Well, thanks to you he didn't succeed…." Ron trailed off thinking about how closely he had come to losing his sister in her first year at Hogwarts because of that diary. "Still. Are you sure you can trust this? After all we did learn that my father was right… that you should never trust something that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain…"

"Ron, I understand your hesitance, but this is my father we are talking about…."

"Yeah but there is also Wormtail…."

"You're right, but that was probably long before he had ever joined Voldemort."

Ron cringed at the name, but he did have to agree that Harry probably was right. Ron sat quietly and let Harry continue with what he had been doing. Harry noticing that Ron was quiet went back to the map.

"So what should I call you then? Dad or James?"

"James, for now if you don't mind…. It's not that I'm not proud to be your father, I just… feel uncomfortable with being called Dad when I'm only 16…. Now what can I do for you?"

" Okay… Well I guess what I really wanted to know was…. What is the real importance of this quill? My Godfather gave it to me and told me that I needed to keep it close in case of emergency."

"Your Godfather? Why would your Godfather give this to you and not your father…. I mean, not me?"

"James, much has happened and I do not wish to get into it now…. What I'm asking is important…."

"Okay but just one question before I tell you…."

"Okay…"

"Who is your Godfather?"

Harry looked at Ron and they both smiled at the question before Harry dipped his quill into the ink well and responded.

"Sirius or Padfoot as you call him…."

"WHAT?!?!?!" came a new handwriting that Harry recognized as his Godfather's. Harry and Ron chuckled at the obvious indignant tone that the question seemed to take on.

"I could not possibly be anyone's Godfather…. I don't want that kind of responsibility…. My spirit is far too carefree for that…."

Harry smiled to himself, thinking about how carefree his Godfather must have been at age 16. He privately wished that his Godfather could have that again, but Harry knew that wouldn't happen until he was exonerated, which Harry hoped would happen soon so that he would not have to return to the Dursley's for another summer.

Harry looked back at the map and noticed that a war of words between his father and godfather was going on. James was arguing why Sirius would make an excellent godfather to Harry, because he was just an overgrown kid himself and that they had grown up together so who else would he have take care of his child if anything had happened to him. Sirius was arguing that he would never settle down enough to be a family man…. Harry and Ron laughed at the argument. Finally when the argument seemed to calm down a bit, Harry dipped his quill into the ink and in a quiet moment wrote:

" If you two are quite finished, I'd like to have an answer to my question."

"Sorry, Harry… Just got carried away. Okay the quill that you hold in your hand is one of the four that was used to create this map. Only it or one of the other three can be used to do anything with this map… including use this box to access the knowledge held with in this map. Only those who would trust with your life should know anything about this map or about what I'm about to tell you…."

"Okay."

"This is not the only map that we created…. There are 24 maps that were created in all. Each of the creators had one and the rest are strategically placed throughout the Hogwarts castle, disguised as other things, paintings and the like. Every one of the Marauder left their maps behind when we graduated."

"Okay, but what does that have to do with the quill?"

"I'm getting to that…. But first I want to show you where the maps are located…."

Several places on the map suddenly had shining, golden spots that weren't there before. Each of the spots had a label on them stating the exact location and what they were hidden in. All of the spots were near an exit or a large room with doors that could easily be locked.

"These spots should be memorized, in case you need to make a quick escape…."

"Escape?"

"Yes…. How old are you Harry?"

"15… Why?"

"Is Voldemort still a threat to the world?"

"Unfortunately… yes…"

"I see…. You are not at the age yet when everything will be explained to you about your responsibility and… your importance to the world. Know only that if you are ever in peril and need to escape from anywhere inside or outside the school, these maps and the quill will help you."

"How?"

"You need to touch the map with this quill and say, 'Mischief failed. Transportation needed.' Than you will need to point to the location that you wish to travel to. However, if you do this the Map that you leave behind will be wiped clean of all of it's memories and disintegrate promptly thereafter. Effectively cutting down the number of maps that you have to use…."

"Is there any way to make another map to replace the one that is used?"

"Yes…. However, I will not tell you how here…. There are too many ears and eyes that could use this knowledge to your disadvantage…."

Harry and Ron glanced at each other. They each seemed to be thinking about the same thing.

"James, what if, say, one of the Marauders decided to… betray the others? Would the maps and their locations be compromised?"

There was a pause, followed by the box filling completely up with green ink. The green ink then changed to a blood red color and emitted a bright, blinding golden glow before disappearing. Harry looked up at Ron questioningly to see if he saw the same thing that he had. Harry noticed the edges of his vision were darkening. He felt his eyes roll back into his head as he fell into darkness….

Ron had watched the exchange between Harry and the map with mild interest. He was still fairly skeptical about it, since it held not only the memory of Harry's father, godfather, and Lupin, but also the memory of the man who betrayed the lot of them, Wormtail.

He was as curious about it as Harry, but he didn't want to put too much faith into it. After what happened to his sister, he found it very difficult to trust any item that thought for itself. But the longer that the exchange took place, the more Ron felt himself doubting his own skepticism.

Harry did seem to be enjoying talking to his father, even if it were the memory of the 16-year-old version of him. Harry even laughed, something that he hadn't seen him do very often this year. Ron knew that there were many things that weighed heavily on Harry's mind, not the least of which were his newfound feelings for their professor. Even Ron could see why Harry would feel that way. She was after all quite beautiful.

Ron felt his doubts slipping away, especially when 16-year-old James started telling them about the real purpose of the quill. But just when it seemed trustworthy enough to him, Harry asked the one question that Ron had been curious about since the beginning, "What if one of the Marauder's decided to betray the others?" He watched as the box filled with green ink and then turn blood red.

Harry seemed to stare at it for some time. Ron watched him closely. He barely even looked like he was breathing. Harry almost seemed to have become a statue, except that his eyes seemed to start to glow just like when Harry had had his visions before.

Ron couldn't stand not knowing what was going on. He looked back down at the map and watched the blood red ink disappear. He reached out with his mind trying to see if there was anything in Harry's mind that could tell him what was going on. He found Harry's mind strangely blank of all thoughts and emotions. Not even the walls, that Ron knew Harry had put up in his mind to block his thoughts and emotions about certain things from the others, were there.

Ron decided to try to get his attention. "Harry," he said softly. Harry sat unmoving. "Harry," he said again a little louder. He reached out his hand to touch Harry to see if he could get his friend to snap out of it that way. But before he could Harry, he began to slowly lift his head. Harry's eyes met Ron's and Ron froze. Harry had a strange questioning look on his face.

Ron watched as Harry's eyes rolled slowly back into his head. Then, as if in slow motion, Ron watched in horror as Harry collapsed onto the floor. "Harry!" he yelled. He shook his friend, but when he couldn't rouse his friend he opened Harry's eyes to look at them. What he saw there, made his jaw drop and he shuddered in disbelief….

Harry's eyes were still glowing when Ron opened them. But they slowly lost their glow and took on the appearance of the empty shells of a corpse. He watched Harry's breath grow shallow and raspy and then seem to stop altogether. Ron began shaking Harry, but to no avail.

Ron had never tried sending a message to anyone outside of the room he was in, but he projected a thought right toward Hermione that he need help and to bring Madam Pomfrey. He prayed that the message had gotten to her because he knew he needed to try to figure out what happened to Harry.

Ron ran to the map and picked up the quill. He had intended to just write to find out what happened, but the map was blank. He took out his wand and tried to activate it. When it didn't work the first time, he tried it again and again, prodding the map harder and harder each time. But when that didn't work, he thought that Harry was trapped in the map by Wormtail. He remembered how Harry had released Ginny's spirit from Tom Riddle by jabbing the diary, that had held Tom's memory, with the basilisk's fang that had broken off in Harry's arm when he had killed it.

Realizing that the bed was too soft, Ron pulled the parchment off of Harry's bed and onto the floor next to his best friend. Ron looked around for something sharp to jab into it, but couldn't find anything until he realized that the very quill that they had used to create the map had a sharp tip. He grabbed it and threw himself on the floor in front of the map.

As he lifted the quill into the air, the door to the dormitory flew open and Hermione and Madam Pomfrey came flying in. Seeing what Ron was about to do and knowing his thoughts, she yelled out, "No, Ron! We don't know what will happen if we do that. It could kill Harry!" Hermione started running toward Ron to stop him. But it was too late, she knew that there was no way to stop him in time….

Ron had already begun to bring the quill to the parchment and hadn't heard a word that Hermione had said. Ron felt like there was an eternity between when he had begun to bring his hand down and when he was about to reach the parchment with the quill. But he was determined to stop the thing from hurting his friend any longer. Suddenly a hand was there, blocking Ron's hand's decent toward the parchment, but the sheer momentum of Ron's hand made the tip of the quill pierce the paper any way.

Harry let out an awful yelp and blood appeared on the hand that was holding Ron's hand. He looked over and realized it was Harry's hand that had stopped his from doing considerable damage to the Map. Ron looked down at the paper in front of him and watched as the blood from Harry's hand mingled with the blood red ink flowing up from the parchment. Ron quickly removed the quill from the paper and got up looking at Harry's blood in his hand.

"What have I done?" asked Ron.

"It's okay Ron…. Look," said Hermione.

They watched as Harry's hand, which was now lying on the parchment, and the parchment itself healed with a golden glow. Ron looked on with disbelief evident in his eyes. He looked down at his hands and the blood disappeared from there as well. Ron slumped onto his bed and Hermione sat down and wrapped her arms around him, trying to comfort him as Madam Pomfrey got busy trying to figure out what was going on with Harry.

"Mr. Weasley… if you would please help me to lift Mr. Potter onto his bed…"

Ron nodded numbly still quite shaken up about what he had almost done. They lifted him onto the bed and she fussed around him for several minutes as Hermione and Ron looked on from his bed.

"Well," Madam Pomfrey said finally, "He's in no danger… and he is not dead…. He's just in some sort of very deep state of sleep. I'd even go so far as to say he's in a trance of some kind…. I see no need to move him…. He should be fine when he wakes up… though you may want to keep watch over him for a while, just in case…." Madam Pomfrey left the room swiftly.

Hermione and Ron sat very still on Ron's bed. They could not take their eyes off of their sleeping friend. Eventually after several hours of vigilance the exhaustion of the very interesting day overtook them and they fell asleep in each other's arms….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as Harry fell into the darkness, he felt himself beginning to fly backward so forcefully that he felt as if his very essence had been ripped away from his body. He flew backward very fast for quite some time. He saw many colors and shapes rush past him. Harry felt that this was strangely familiar, but he couldn't place his finger onto why. His ears were pounding and he tried to yell, "What's happening?" but no sound seemed to escape his mouth and reach his ears. He felt his hand fly outwards and suddenly there was a sharp, jabbing, pinch on his hand and he yelped in pain, though he couldn't hear it…

Suddenly Harry felt himself stop and everything came into focus again, but he realized that he had not felt the ground under his feet. He looked down and realized that he was once again only in spirit form, floating in the middle of the common room. What's going on? was all he could think of. He looked around and noticed that it was empty. Then at his hand that had gotten pinched and saw that there was blood on it. But strangely, the blood flowed back into the wound and, with a golden glow, healed.

Suddenly four people entered the common room through the portrait hole. Harry studied them, but he couldn't see them that well. One of them looked like himself, another looked like Nicolas, but the other two, though strangely familiar, were not people he recognized. He looked at all of their robes and they were obviously all from Gryffindor. Harry racked his brain for their identities, until one of them began to speak.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked the smallest boy with his back toward Harry, in a strangely high pitched voice, that Harry knew he recognized, but just couldn't put his finger on.

"Don't worry…. This book should help us through the process of creating it," said the boy who he thought was himself, as he held up the book in his hand.

Creating what? thought Harry.

The boy opened the book and he placed in the middle of the table. They muttered quietly and excitedly over the book. Harry couldn't really hear what they were saying. Then the portrait hole opened and in strode four girls. The book quickly disappeared.

Again Harry studied them. There was a red headed girl that looked strangely like Susan Bones she was laughing together with a girl that looked like Natalie McDonald. The other two girls looked like similar to Hermione and Cho. They were chatting animatedly with each other. Harry noticed that indeed the girl that looked like Cho did have on Ravenclaw robes.

Am I in the future? thought Harry briefly before one of the girls began to speak.

"Look who I found skulking around out side the door waiting for a certain black haired gentleman, and I use that term loosely, to notice her there," said Susan to the dark haired boy that Harry wasn't entirely sure of who he was. Cho walked over to him and blushed slightly with her eyes on the floor. The boy lifted her head and placed a soft kiss upon her lips.

Harry was rather shocked to see Susan walk over to the boy who he thought was him, and plant a rather long, intense kiss upon his lips. He did another double take when Hermione went over to Nicholas and did the same to him.

What is going on here! thought Harry fiercely. Where is Ron? I thought he and Hermione were happy together! And who are those two other boys?

Just then a blond boy that Harry had never seen before and did not recognize at all, came running down the stairs from the boy's dormitory. He surveyed the scene.

"Excuse me!" said the boy.

Everyone jumped apart, swallowed hard, and stared at the boy who had entered the room.

"How is it that everyone thought it would be okay… to start the party without me," a wide grin broke across his face. He strode across the room and kissed Natalie on the lips softly before saying, "Good evening, Patricia, my love…."

"Hello, Anthony, dear…."

"Bloody hell, McDonald. Don't sneak up on us like that," said the black haired boy.

Anthony laughed, "What are you afraid of, Black? Do you have something up your sleeve? Something planned that I should know about?"

Black smirked. "I don't know… why don't you ask the brains among us? So what say you, James…. Are we up to no good, tonight?"

"Nope, not a thing," smiled the boy, that Harry thought was himself, slyly.

Suddenly everything started making sense to Harry. He wasn't looking at himself and his friends, but at the Marauders. He watched the scene for a while, as everyone began to talk animatedly about the Christmas Ball that was coming up, all the while trying to figure out exactly what was going on….

Every time he had ever gone into someone's memory he had fallen forward in to it…. First when Tom Riddle had shown Harry in his second year how he had framed Hagrid for being the one to open the Chamber of Secrets and letting out the monster that had murdered one of the young witches of the school. And then again when he accidentally fell into Dumbledore's Pensieve, the bowl that Dumbledore kept his memories in, last year when he was left alone in Dumbledore's office. So he knew that it probably wasn't a memory, but then what could it be? Then he remembered that when he and Hermione head used her time turner in their third year, that he had been pulled backward, just as he had been this time. So he realized that somehow he had been pulled into the past…. But for what purpose, Harry did not yet know…. But one question that plagued him was, once he found out what he needed to know…. How was he going to get back…..

Harry was drawn out of his thoughts when he realized that the couples were breaking up for the night and the girls all began to leave the room. Harry opened his mind to listen to the thoughts that were flying around the room, as he didn't want to miss anything that could be important to why he was there. Instantly, he noticed that Wormtail's feeble thoughts were centered on the girl that looked like Cho. Wormtail was in fact staring at her and she looked very uncomfortable with him doing that. She moved in closer to Sirius and they walked away.

"Don't stay up too late planning your next outing, James," said the redheaded girl that Harry realized was his mother, before she headed up the stairs to her dorm room.

"Lil, you know me… would I ever stay up late for some foolish nonsense like that?" asked James with a very sly look in his eyes.

Lily just rolled her eyes and turned toward the girl that looked similar to Hermione and then toward Patricia, "Are you coming, girls?"

"But of course, do you think we really want to be left down here with these troublemakers? Good night, Remus, my love," said the bushy haired blond. She kissed the boy who looked like Nicholas, sweetly, before walking toward her friend waiting on the stairs.

A lovesick looking Lupin replied with a sigh, "Good night, Enid."

Harry's mind reeled with realization. Lupin! I was right! He looks exactly like Nicholas does…. He has to be Nicholas' father! Harry vowed to collect more proof as soon as he could. He continued to watch as Patricia joined the other two heading up the girls' stairway. James smirked at Lupin, obviously formulating some sort of plan for teasing him about the exchange that had just taken place between him and his girlfriend. Harry wondered briefly if Enid was Nicholas' mother.

Harry noticed Wormtail was looking toward the portrait hole with longing in his eyes. Harry followed his line of vision to see that his godfather and the girl who resembled Cho were standing holding one another by the portrait hole.

They kissed softly before separating. Sirius crawled through and opened the portrait hole and held it open for her. "Good night, Sen…. See you at breakfast." He smiled a winning smile, which she returned, showing how much they cared for each other. Lupin, James, and Wormtail had sneaked over by the portrait hole and watched the tender exchange between Sirius and Sen.

As soon as Sirius turned toward the common room, the other three ran back to the table and waited for Sirius to return to the table. They watched as he walked in with a lopsided grin on his face. They all were trying to hold back the laughter, all except Wormtail who looked like he had just eaten something very foul.

As Sirius sat down at the table rubbing his hands together, he said, "Well, mates… what do you think? Should we get down to business here?"

Having calmed themselves slightly, they all agreed. Wormtail continued to throw icy daggers at Sirius, when no one was looking, and slowly Harry began to realize, that Wormtail was jealous of Sirius because he liked Sen.

James turned toward Anthony as he pulled out the book again and placed it on the table. "So what do you say, Tony, mate? You going to stay and help us with our little project?"

"As much as I've loved hearing about your… jaunts in the past… I am now the Head Boy and I think I'd rather be able to claim ignorance on the part of your plans… if you ever get caught that is…."

James smiled wickedly, "Don't know why you'd think we would ever get caught…. We have always taken the proper precautions in the past…. Besides with me as a prefect… I don't have to worry about being out after hours any more…"

Anthony laughed heartily. "Too true. However you must admit, you've had a few close calls…. And with that Slytherin chap…. What's his name again?"

"Who? Snape?" growled Sirius.

"That's the one… with him always running around trying to find out what you're up too…. It's only a matter of time."

"Yes, well, with our new plan… I doubt that anyone will ever catch us now… Especially that greasy git Snape…. Or even that Squib git of a Caretaker, Filch, that they hired just last year…," smiled Sirius slyly.

"Why would anyone think that he would be a good Caretaker of the school? He can barely take care of himself. He doesn't even have a Familiar to help him, like Old Man Pringle, the old Caretaker, used to have that dog named Snuffles. And the way Filch skulks around here you'd think that he'd catch a student out of bed, or something, but he's never done anything but clean frog brains off of the ceilings of the dungeons…," said Wormtail quietly and bitterly.

"Well, thanks for the offer mates… really…. But I think that it is best if I just sit this one out," said Tony ignoring Wormtail's rant. Tony stood up and went toward the stairs to the dorms.

"Your loss, mate!" yelled Sirius up the stairs after him. Tony turned, smiled and shrugged before continuing up the stairs to bed.

James pulled the book toward himself and opened it again very carefully, as it was old and looked as if it were about to fall apart at any moment. Harry wished that he could get a closer look at the book and instantly he was at James' side looking at what was in the pages.

After several minutes of discussing what they were going to do, James and Lupin looked at each other with sly, mischievous looks upon their faces. Lupin nodded at some sort of signal that James gave him.

"You know, James, I still don't understand how you were able to charm McGonagall into giving you permission to get this book out of the restricted section of the Library…."

"Yes, do tell," said Wormtail quietly, but completely missing the cues that James and Lupin had been giving each other.

"Not much to tell really…. It's obvious that McGonagall thinks me an angel that can do no wrong…"

"That's cause you suck up to her all the time, mate," interjected Sirius.

"Well, that too…." James smiled broadly.

"Careful there, Prongs. I believe I see the horns holding up the halo," Lupin piped in, smirking.

James smiled innocently. "I think you're thinking of the wrong person there, Moony…," he chuckled.

"Well, you are the only one that has horns on your other form…," said Wormtail quietly, smirking at his own cleverness.

"They're not horns… they're antlers." James threw a look at Wormtail to shut him up and wipe the smile off of his face. Wormtail finally realized that there was something that James and Lupin were planning, so he kept quiet to see what they were up to.

James and Lupin exchange of words continued for some time to the amusement of Sirius. At first Wormtail was amused as well. But after a while, he looked like he was about to burst, but surprisingly Harry had no idea what he was thinking. He was obviously shielding his thoughts. His face grew redder and redder, but finally he had had enough. "Can we just get on with it here! I'd like to finish this while we still can hold a quill," he yelled, squeakily.

Everyone looked at him in shock. Harry gathered from the thoughts of the others that they were surprised because Wormtail rarely spoke above a whisper and had never used that tone with any of them in the five and a half years that they had known him. James suddenly seemed to get a really bad feeling about Wormtail because he had noticed Wormtail's behavior had become increasingly erratic, but brushed it away and dismissed it as nothing.

Harry shook his head, thinking, No, Dad, don't dismiss those feelings… they are right!

Harry noticed one last glance and smirk that his father and Lupin shared. They had definitely gotten carried away on trying to top each other that they had forgotten the real reason that they had began the exchange. James thought fast and came up with a way to get back to their original purpose.

Lupin spoke first though, "Well, thank you for that charming declaration, Wormtail…." Lupin smirked at James.

"Speaking of charming…. Padfoot, that display earlier seemed an awful lot like you were getting in deep…. I thought you said that you weren't going to get serious with anyone," said James.

Sirius blushed deeply and looked horrified as realization set in that somehow they had witnessed the exchange between Sen and him.

"Yeah," piped in Lupin, "I think your exact words were, 'My name may be Sirius, but I am most definitely not ever going to be that way… in life or in relationships….' You said that just after you had just watched Prongs over there make a fool of himself when he had asked Lily to our first ball…"

"Oh, thank you for bringing that up…," said James.

"You are quite welcome, sir…"

"How do you remember things like that, Moony?!" yelled an exasperated Sirius. "That was almost two years ago…."

"It's a gift and a curse, I must say, Padfoot," said Lupin, smirking wickedly at his friends.

"So, how serious are you getting with Sen, Padfoot," chuckled James.

"I'm not getting serious about anyone!!" yelled Sirius, irritated.

"Then what was that?" asked Wormtail loudly, pointing toward the portrait hole and throwing Sirius an icy look. Drawing attention back to himself once again. James and Lupin exchanged a look.

"Nothing! She mean's nothing to me! She's just today's fling! You know that, I would never get involved with someone enough to fall in love!"

"Oooo. He said the 'L' word…. It really is getting serious isn't it, Sirius," taunted Wormtail bitingly.

"No! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed… as well you should to James since we do have a game against Slytherin in the morning…."

"I'll be up in a while, Padfoot…. I really would like to start with our plans here."

"Fine! Then I guess I'll have to sit this one out then!" Sirius got up from the table and started to head toward the stairs to boys' dorm rooms.

"Padfoot, it's not like we are going to finish it tonight…. We still haven't finished making our choices…."

"Do whatever you want, Prongs…"

"We can't do this without you, Padfoot…. It was your idea, after all."

Sirius nodded and waved his hand like he didn't care about what James had to say, as he continued toward the stairs to the boy's dorm rooms. Harry watched as Sirius walked the length of the Common Room without looking back. As he took his first steps up the stairs a single tear fell down his cheek, and though he made a move to wipe it away he thought better of it and left it there as somberly walked up the stairs….

All of the other Marauders sat there watching him go. James realized that Sirius was indeed getting deep feelings toward the girl that had been in his life for just a couple of months, which was longer than he had ever been with a girl before. He usually tired of the girl that he was with after only a week or two, and only James knew why…

James suddenly felt a pang of guilt. He hadn't thought about what this teasing could do to his best friend, because he usually took it in stride, but not that time. James vowed to talk to him before he went to sleep, knowing that Sirius would not go to sleep for a while after that. He turned back to the book but had lost all interest. "You know maybe he's right…. I do have to get up in the morning for the game," James said flatly, pushing the book away.

He got up and the others followed him. James turned toward Lupin, "Wish you were joining us, mate. You'd be better as the Keeper than that lay about we have now…"

"You know perfectly well why I haven't tried to join the team, James," said Lupin very gravely.

"Yes, I know…. But you are the bloody best there is, mate. You've proven that every time that we just play for fun. Sirius has never been able to get the Quaffle past you…." Their voices faded away as they walked up the stairs to their dorm.

After several minutes floating there, staring after the Marauder's, Harry thought Okay… now what? Harry wondered once again how he was going to get back to his body and hoped that he was not going to have to wait for time to catch up to him. He started floating back and forth as if pacing, when he noticed something was lying on the table. He floated over to the table and realized that it was the book that James had taken out of the library.

Harry knew that this was the book that the Marauders used to make the map. He studied the cover of it closely. "Pensieves to Paper: How to Preserve Memories for the Advanced Wizard," was the title, written in silver lettering on a deep blue worn cover. Suddenly he heard footsteps echoing around him, and he realized someone was coming back down the stairs from the boys' dorm.

Forgetting he was in spirit form he hid behind the chair closest to him. He watched as Wormtail sat down at the table right near where Harry had just been. He moved closer to see what Wormtail was up to.

Harry watched as Wormtail pulled some ink and parchment from inside his pajama shirt. Curious as to what Wormtail would need to sneak down and write about so late, Harry floated closer to Wormtail to see what he was writing. Harry gasped at what he saw him writing on the paper….

Severus, there is something new that Sirius has planned…. I dare not say too much right now as I really don't have too many specifics on what they are doing, but I thought that you should know that what ever it is, will make it more difficult for you to catch the Marauders at anything.

Peter

Wormtail then folded up the note and put it into his pajama top. Then he looked around as if expecting someone to come down any moment and catch him, then he pulled another piece of parchment out. Suddenly his mind was open and what Harry heard projecting from Wormtail's mind horrified him.

I will write an anonymous note to that pompous windbag's girlfriend, beautiful Sen…. Because although I happen to know that he was lying about how he feels about her tonight… I know what kind of person he is and he will end up hurting her. Besides she has a right to know what he says about her behind her back. I'll write this to her and when she brings it to him, he will undoubtedly deny it, which will reassure her…. But then I will conveniently bring it up in front of her…. With his reputation and his pride, he will deny his feelings for her, and I'll be there to comfort her and pick up the broken pieces. Then she will fall in love with me…and I will finally be better at something then perfect Sirius Black, not to mention that I will finally have my revenge on him for making fun of me all of those times. And finally then James and Remus will see that I'm better than him and they will like me better. Now if I could just find the right words….

Harry felt as if he had just swallowed something very foul. His stomach gave a funny kind of lurching sensation, as he watched Wormtail sit there trying to formulate the exact wording for his note to Sen. Harry turned away not really wanting to hear any more of Wormtail's sickening thoughts. As he started to turn he realized that the stream of thoughts that he had been hearing from Wormtail ceased.

He turned back and realized that Wormtail had stopped because he suddenly observed that the book that James had gotten out of the Library was still sitting there. He pulled it toward him and put it next to himself, so that he could bring it up to James after he was done, not wanting James to get into trouble about it. He went back to his thoughts about what to write, but his thoughts were far more erratic now that the book was lying next to him. His mind kept drifting to the curiosity of what Sirius had had in mind.

James had marked a page, Wormtail noticed, and pushing the parchment and ink aside, he opened the book in front of him. Harry came over and glanced at what was on the page. It was talking about how to make a map…. Harry read over Wormtail's shoulder as he skimmed through the pages.

When Wormtail got to the end of the section, there was obviously something that caught his eye. Harry followed what he was reading on the last page….

Caution: There is a danger with making a map of this type. When someone accesses it, the person leaves an imprint of themselves in it, because it will update itself automatically every time it is activated. All memories and knowledge of any person that has used the map can be accessed by any other user. This knowledge can be accessed by asking a question that is outside of the realm of information of the memory placed into the map by the creator, using only the creator's quill. The person holding the creator's quill will then be pulled back into the past to witness whatever the map knows about that subject. When it has shown everything that it knows, the person will find themselves back in their own present time, but with the time that they were in the past, missing from their own time.

One final note: the map should never be replicated without changing something about it first, for every map that is replicated from the first without change will contain the same knowledge as the original or any of the other replicas whether it has been accessed directly or not.

Suddenly there was a sound of footsteps on the stairs coming down to the common room from the boys' dorm, again. Wormtail rushed to put the ink and parchment back into his pajama top. He was about to close the book, but thought better of it. He ripped out the page and stuffed it to down his shirt before closing the book and sitting in a chair by the fire.

Moments later, James appeared and stepped off the last step. He walked to the table. Wormtail caught his breath and closed his eyes, trying to completely relax himself. James grabbed the book and started heading toward the stairs, but noticed Wormtail sitting in the chair by the fire, pretending to be asleep. He walked over to Wormtail and shook him slightly. Wormtail opened his eyes and looked around questioningly. "Where am I?"

"I think you were sleep walking again, Wormtail, cause you're in the common room…."

"Oh." He got up and followed James back to the dorm room stairs and disappeared.

Suddenly Harry felt himself being pulled forward. The wild ride that felt strangely like using floo powder, made his stomach nauseous. He closed his eyes and tried to calm the flip flopping sensation in his belly….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry felt himself stop and he opened his eyes. He was lying on his bed with the map on the bedside table next to him. He sat up and looked around. He realized that it must be fairly late in the evening. He looked over to Ron's bed and saw Hermione and Ron lying there in each other's arms. And though he didn't want to disturb them, he figured that they hadn't left his side. He got up and went over to touch Ron on his shoulder.

Ron sat up with a wide eyed confused look on his face until he realized that Harry was standing right in front of him, then a wide grin broke across his face. "Harry! You're awake!"

This woke up Hermione who threw herself at Harry giving him a huge hug. "Harry, you have to stop doing this to us. You scared us half to death."

"Sorry."

They sat for several minutes while Harry explained what had happened and what he saw. Ron sat flabbergasted and Hermione looked thoughtful when he finished telling them everything. "Harry, there's just one thing that I don't understand…. When did you get your map back? I mean last that I knew Crouch, disguised as Mad-Eye Moody had it…," said Hermione.

"I…." Harry thought back to the end of the last year. He looked at the floor as memories that he wished not to think about flooded his mind, bringing tears to his eyes about what happened for the first time in a while. He blinked back the tears and swallowed hard against the growing lump in his throat as he continued to think about when he got his map back. After several moments he looked up at his friends and said, "Actually I'm not sure I remember exactly when. But I think I vaguely remember something about Mad-Eye Moody having gone through his things and finding what he thought was an interesting parchment with a map of the school on it. He gave it to Dumbledore who gave it back to me around when I met up with Cedric's parents. I'm not totally sure though, because that time is still very scattered and foggy to me."

"Oh." Hermione still looked thoughtful. She was suddenly up and heading toward the door.

"Hermione, where are you going?"

"To finish some research in the library…"

"But aren't you hungry?" asked Ron.

"Yes, but dinner is over now isn't it…"

"Why don't we go down to the kitchen and get something to eat and then go to the library together," said Harry. Both Hermione and Ron looked surprised and questioningly at Harry, but after a few moments, they all agreed.

Moments later they were heading out of the Common Room and down to the kitchen, where the House elves treated them to a delicious snack and sent them on their way, before Hermione could speak to any of them. Dobby had run into Harry and hugged him tightly, before bounding off to finish what he had been doing.

They ate quickly as they headed to the Library. Madam Pince looked a bit bothered that they were coming into the library so late, but since Hermione was a prefect and since she came to the library all the time, Madam Pince allowed them to stay. "But you had better put every book back that you take out…," she said over her shoulder as she strode out of the room. They agreed to her terms and were left to their own devices.

Harry went looking around near by the Restricted Section and sneaked into it when he saw that Hermione and Ron were busy with their own things. He wandered around and finally found what he was looking for, the book that he had seen in the memory. He pulled it out and flipped through it. He noticed that it was in fact the copy of the book that his father had taken out when he was 16, as his name was still listed on the card in the front of the book. He stood there reading the section on the maps and realized that there was in fact a page missing.

Harry suddenly felt like a cube of ice had slid down into his stomach as he thought about what would happen if Wormtail had taken one of the maps with him. It was obvious that Wormtail had always had something against Sirius and he was pretty sure that when his plans to win over his father and Lupin failed that he would have been bitter and resentful. It was possible that he could have taken a copy with him.

Harry felt the need to go back to his room and look at the map again to see if all 23 other copies showed up on the map. He closed the book and started putting it back when he realized that there was a newer looking copy of the same book next where he was putting in the old one. He pulled it out and looked through it, realizing it was a newer version. He flipped to the same section and discovered that there was a way found to block the map's ability to read who had accessed it.

Harry ripped out the page vowing to bring it back and fix it later. He folded the page and pocketed it. Then returned to the main part of the library.

Hermione and Ron watched as Harry had slunk away into the darkness of the library. Ron turned to Hermione, "Now what was so important that you couldn't wait until morning to finish researching?"

"I remember reading something somewhere that is similar to what Harry is going through with Professor Clovis in relation to the school… but I can't remember where I read it…"

"Please tell me this is not going to become another thing like Nicholas Flamel was in our first year…"

Hermione looked indignant. "Well, I need to find it for Harry's sake, even if I have to look for it for the rest of the year, by myself. I think it's important."

"I agree Hermione, but…. Oh, never mind… just pass me a book." Hermione smiled and passed him Hogwarts, A History. He rolled his eyes thinking he had just been duped into reading the book that Hermione had always gotten onto his case about not reading. Ron was surprised to find that he actually found the book to be quite interesting.

After some time they heard Harry coming and they quickly closed their books and put them away. Hermione asked if Harry had found what he was looking for and he nodded simply. They left the library and went back to their rooms and went to bed.

Once he heard Ron snoring Harry got up and grabbed the map. He pulled out the page that he had ripped out from the book and walked down to the common room. He performed the binding spell on the map explained on that page, so that it could only read the surroundings and not who accessed it. He asked it to reveal the locations of the other maps.

The same shining golden spots that had appeared before came up again. Harry counted them and his heart sank when he realized… there were only 21 maps shown, which meant not just one was missing, but two… Harry sat back and sighed heavily.

Knowing there was nothing he could do right then to find out who had the maps, Harry deactivated and took the binding off of the map. He rolled it up with the page that he had ripped out of the book and walked back up to the dorm with a bad feeling in his belly. Harry tossed and turned for some time before he finally drifted of to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry ran into Professor Clovis' classroom, thinking he was late but the room was completely empty, except for the professor who was sitting at her desk reading something. She looked up at him and smiled broadly.

"Harry what can I do for you?"

"Don't we have class right now? Aren't I late?"

"No actually your watch must be fast, because we don't have class for some time yet."

"Oh." Harry looked down at his watch and found that strangely enough he couldn't read what it said. "Sorry to bother you then…"

"Harry, why don't you stay and we can talk again, like we did in Hogsmeade…"

Harry wanted to, but feared what would happen if they were alone. He stood there trying to make his feet move toward the door, but found that instead he stepped toward her desk. As he approached she summoned a chair for him to sit in. He sat down feeling quite giddy at the prospect of sitting so close to her. They chatted for a short time about nothing of consequence and then it happened. Their hands touched and there was an instant feeling of electricity that ran through both of them.

Harry wanted to kiss her, but knowing it was wrong, he dropped his eyes to the floor not wanting Professor Clovis to see how he felt about her. "Professor…"

"Please, Harry, call me Lina…"

"Okay…. Erm Prof – erm, I mean–" All thoughts that he had were jumbled and confused. He wanted so badly to tell her how he felt, but he could not even formulate what he would say to her even if he though it would be okay to. Then she put her hand over his, which instantly made him look up into her eyes. Their eyes locked and before they knew it they were kissing….

Harry felt like he was flying, as their kiss ended. He opened his eyes and realized that it was because he was. He looked down and realized that he was on the back of an eagle owl flying through an inky black fall night sky. There was a cold wind blowing in Harry's face giving him a biting chill. He shivered and realized suddenly that he was not alone as he first had thought. He could feel someone's arms wrapped around him. He turned his head to see that Professor Clovis was holding onto him for dear life.

"Harry, where are we and where are we going?" she asked with a bit of apprehension evident in her voice.

"I'm not sure yet, Lina…." Harry shivered, but he wasn't sure if it was because he suspected where they were going, because of the night air, or because he was enjoying the feel of her arms around him, knowing that she was with him.

In the distance he could see the moonlight reflecting off of a lightly colored house. He knew he had been there before and felt his heart quicken as the owl flew lower and lower, finally soaring in through a broken window in the upper story of the house. They flew down a darkened passageway before entering a room at the very end that was lit only by the fire in the hearth.

Suddenly he and Lina were standing side by side in the corner of the room, watching the bird fly to its perch with its meal dangling from its beak, a simple gray rat. Looking around the room Harry noticed a very large snake curled up on the rug in front of the hearth like an obedient pet dog waiting for its master's love and affection. There were spidery shadows playing across the walls. And a small man with watery eyes and a pointy nose standing in front of a chair that was turned toward the hearth.

"My Lord, we have spent the last week and a half thoroughly checking the basement room where you were keeping Potter's spirit and there were no weaknesses found. All that is known is that he is most definitely back at Hogwarts and functioning as if nothing happened…."

There was a sound of something shifting in the chair, and a hand with long spider-like fingers appeared. They were pointing to the eagle owl that Harry and Lina had come in on. "As you can see, Wormtail, Morgan has returned with her dinner. And it would seem that she has caught one of your 'cousins'…. So if you disappoint me again by allowing Potter to slip through my fingers, yet again, I will fix you in your rat form and feed you to her!"

Wormtail fell to his knees and kissed the hem of the robes that were visible to Harry and Lina. "Master, thank you for your mercifulness and caring. I flourish beneath your ever benevolent keeping."

"Oh, stop your groveling, Wormtail. Stand and give me the rest of your report!"

"Yes, My Lord…. We have sent for our loyal spy inside Hogwarts, he should respond to your request by the end of the weekend."

"When did you say that he would be able to get away?"

"By the middle of November, Master."

"And you're sure that he will be able to do the appointed tasks that I have set out for him before he leaves that Muggle-loving-fool's school?"

"Yes, My Lord."

"Good. Crucio."

Suddenly Harry's scar felt as if it were about to burst. He fell to his knees, clutching his scar. He wanted to scream out, but gritted his teeth as it felt like his body was set on fire. Lina pulled him up and held him. Voldemort suddenly seemed to be aware of their presence. He got up out of his chair and walked to where Harry and Lina stood, Harry gasping for breath as the dull pain in his head increased exponentially as Voldemort approached. He raised his wand and pointed it at Harry. Harry reached inside his robes for his wand, but realized that it was in fact not on him. Harry had no defense.

Voldemort laughed and screeched, "Avada Kedavra!" Harry saw the green light of the spell approach him. He closed his eyes waiting for the inevitable to happen….