Disclaimer: As usual anything you recognize isn't mine.
A/N: Well here we go..the next chapter, their 6th year..gulps..hope all goes well..Enjoy!!!! Oh..and sorry it's so long.
Chapter 5 The Makers of the Map
The summer had sped by quickly in the Potter household, so quickly that it seemed to take them by surprise.
Erica found herself quickly, but neatly, packing her things back into her Hogwarts trunk...until she found some things missing.
"James!" she yelled standing up and storming off to his room. She began to bang on his door, "James! Give them back! There mine! Get your own!"
"Hold on!" came a muffled response from behind the door.
Erica growled and tapped her foot in impatience. She waited for nearly five minutes. "James! NOW!"
"WAIT!"
"NO! AND WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO YOUR OWN QUILL AND BOOKS!" she yelled at the door.
There was a sound of footsteps coming up the stairs, "What going on?" Sirius asked. Sirius had spent most of the summer with the Potters. His mother had kicked him out of the house again, shunning him from the family. Sirius seemed to be very happy about this.
"James took my quill and three of my books!" she yelled at the still closed door.
"Here." Sirius said handing her a knife. She looked at him curiously. "It's a knife that will open any door." he said proudly. Opening the knife she ran it by the lock. There was a small click.
She grinned at him, "I need to borrow this sometime!"
"You can keep it for now if you want."
They headed into the room and found James sitting at his desk writing so fast that ink was spattering on his face.
"Oh, for gods sake James! I keep telling you not to save your homework till the day before!" she scolded him, her hands on her hips. "Thanks mom.." James said distracted, "I'll come down to dinner in a minute.."
Sirius laughed, "It's not even lunchtime yet, mate."
James looked up, "Oh..uh..sorry Erica but I really have to finish this."
"But what happened to your own quill? And your books?" Erica questioned angrily.
"Lost my books and broke my quill..by accident of course."
"Really..? You know..I don't have to let you borrow them." she said slyly, moving to take her books and quill back.
James sighed, "What do you want?"
"I want to ride your broom!" she said looking to James's racing broom in the corner of the room.
"Ok." James said turning back to his work, "Take it..just be careful with it."
"Sure.." she said happily taking the broom.
"Wait for me! I brought my broom too!" Sirius ran off to get his own broom and met her outside.
James and Erica's parents had boughed a house out in the country where they got plenty of privacy, so they could ride there brooms with out being noticed.
Erica was already weaving through the trees and doing some fancy spins.
"Hey!" Sirius flew up to her, "Your not half bad..it must run in the family. I only wish we had Quidditch balls to practice with..."
"We can throw apples.." she suggested pointing to the apple trees.
"Ok...will your parents care?" Sirius asked.
"No we have plenty."
Sirius landed and picked a few apples and then began throwing them. Erica was a natural Seeker, almost as good as James. They switched places occasionally as the morning sped by.
"Dinner!" Mrs. Potter called out the door.
"Yes! I'm starving!" Sirius exclaimed.
Erica laughed and agreed. They quickly headed inside and washed up.
"James! Dinner!" Mrs. Potter called up the stairs.
"I'll be down soon!" he called back. "What on Earth can that boy be doing?!" Mrs. Potter said suspiciously.
"Don't worry mum, he's actually working on homework he put off again." Erica explained.
Mrs. Potter sighed, "Alright, well you two sit down and start eating." she disappeared into the kitchen. "So...where's your dad?" Sirius asked after filling his plate with food.
"Still at work.."
"What does he do?"
"He's an Auror..works for the Ministry."
"And your mum?" he asked curiously.
"She works in the Management of Magic. You know..she handles illegal stuff like underage magic."
"I'd love to be an Auror.." Sirius said dreamily.
"You'll need top grades for that." Erica informed him as her mother came back into the dinning room. James could also be heard running down the stairs. James ran into the room and plopped down into a chair next to Sirius.
"Dad home yet?" he asked filling his plate.
"No not yet. He sent a letter saying he'll be back tomorrow and he said to have a good term if he doesn't see you in the morning. He's off chasing dark wizards... as usual." Mrs. Potter added a bit sadly.
"Don't worry mum. He's a really good Auror. He'll be fine." James said confidently.
"Yes..I think your right..but I can't help but worry about him.."
The rest of dinner was about Quidditch and the two most likely teams that would reach the finals for the Quidditch World Cup. After dinner they all helped with the dishes, and then played wizards chess in the living room.
Mrs. Potter came in at the end of the fifth game, "Alright, time for bed. It's late and we have to catch the train to Hogwarts tomorrow." they obediently got up to go, "Oh, and James dear?"
"Yes, mum?"
"Please pack your trunk tonight. We won't have time in the morning, and remember you made us all late last year..."
"Yes, yes, yes...I'll do it tonight!" James said flushing a deep red as he ran upstairs, with Erica and Sirius laughing at him.
They all got up relatively early to eat and dress with plenty of time to get to the station, but naturally there were problems.
"James! What are my books?" Erica was yelling from her room.
"I gave them back!"
"No you didn't!"
"Yes I did." James said as a-matter-of-factly.
"Where did you put them?"
"Don't remember.." James said vaguely.
"You..I .. gonna kill you!" she charged at him from the hall and knocked him to the floor.
"Ow..hey...ah...what? Why are you..urg..attacking me?!" James tried to push her off, but she got him in a headlock.
"Where are my books..and my quill?!"
"Urg..MUM!" James yelled.
"James Potter! Give back what ever you took from your sister!" Mrs. Potter yelled up the stairs, knowing what had happened. Erica let go of James so he could start looking for her stuff.
Nearly an hour later and they were finally leaving the house. They rushed to the train station pushing their trolleys as they went.
"Hurry, Hurry!" Mrs. Potter urged them on, "We have 3 minutes!" They quickly went to platform nine and ran through it to platform nine and three quarters. The great scarlet engine sat before them giving off puffs of steam, waiting to go. Mrs. Potter quickly helped them onto the train.
"Now be sure to write!" She yelled to them from the platform.
"Don't forget to tell dad we said 'Bye'!" Erica yelled out the window.
"I will!" was her last response, before the train was off.
It was raining heavily by the time the train reached the school.
"Oh, great!" Peter whined, he had already been complaining for most of the trip. "Still a whiner are we?" James asked in annoyance and he hopped off the train. Peter flushed a bright red.
They pulled their trunks to the carriages and got in after making sure their stuff was secured to the carriage. About ten minutes later the carriages came to a stop at the oak doors. Everyone headed inside to escape the now pounding rain.
"Come on! I wanna get good seats this year!" Lupin said hurrying towards the part of the table that was closest to the front of the room. The rest quickly followed.
As usual the sorting hat was sitting on a stool in front of the teachers table. The hat broke into it's song. The song was quick, explaining all the houses and the requirements for each. Gryffindor favored bravery, Ravenclaw favored intelligence, Hufflepuff like hard workers and Slytherin who only took the best and pureblooded. When the song was over the sorting began. Professor Growth was the one to call out the names this year. The sorting took a good 20 minutes of their time, and by the end of it James and Sirius were chucking pieces of balled up tissue at each other, until Professor Dippet stood to speak.
"Another year here at Hogwarts! It is good to see both old and new faces! Now with out further a do let the feast begin!" with a clap of his hands the plates filled with food.
"I love this part!" James said seizing a piece of chicken. They all ate until they were stuffed.
"Now that we are all full and quit comfortable," Professor Dippet said standing before the school again, "On with the few announcements I have. Quidditch will begin at its normal time but with tryouts this year since all our 7th years left us, for there are now places on the teams that must be filled. And as every year I say this for the first years and a reminder to all, that the Forbidden forest is off limits to all. Well I believe that is it, may you all sleep well and be ready for tomorrow's lessons." With that, Professor Dippet left the Great Hall.
As always the beginning of the year started slowly for everyone but then gradually sped up. It was now the middle of the term, a rainy, cold day. Peter and Sirius were playing wizards chess by the window. Lupin and Moody were working on a class project for Care of Magical Creatures. James, as usual, was piled high with homework that he had put off.
"Why do you wait so long to do it?" Erica ask him. Erica was sitting on the floor by the fire reading a book she had gotten over the summer. She unlike James finished all her work ahead of time.
"Yes, well sorry we all aren't all like you miss perfect!" James snapped.
"You could do with being more like me! Your current grades are horrible!" she snapped back.
"Whatever." James said throwing his books back into his bag, "Hey Sirius want to go play some Quidditch?"
"In this weather?" Sirius asked raising an eyebrow. James sighed walking over to the chess board.
Erica glared at him, "Why don't you ever ask me?"
"Because your not a Seeker, you're a Chaser.." James said as if it really mattered.
Erica had made the Quidditch team and had taken the place of a student that had left last year. Even though Sirius thought she would make a better Seeker she was good at being a Chaser too. Erica probably would have done well anywhere..well maybe not a Beater...too dangerous.
James gave an even bigger sigh, "I'm bored!" he growled in aggravation. Then he seemed to be hit with an idea. He waved everyone closer. Once gathered he began to talk quickly, "Why don't we make a map!" he said eagerly.
"Map? Map of what?" Peter asked curiously, Moody already not liking the idea left the little circle they had made and continued his work.
"Hogwarts you idiot! Something worth doing!" James hissed in annoyance.
"But..what would the map do?" Lupin asked a little confused, "I mean if we put secret passages on it anyone could read it..."
James smiled mysteriously, "That's where Erica comes in," he nodded at her, "She knows everything..so all we have to do is draw it and she'll charm it to make it do anything we want it to do.."
"You make it sound like she'd do it.." Sirius said glancing at Erica.
"I will." she said shortly. Everyone looked surprised, James usually had to beg Erica to do the littlest thing for him.
"Really?" Peter asked shocked.
"Yes..I already have a few charms I want to put on it.."
"Have you two talked about this?" Lupin asked suspiciously.
"He's talked about it all summer." Erica said smoothly, "I just agreed that it was a good idea."
"So what will this map be able to do?" Sirius asked wondering why he hadn't heard about this.
"It'll show all the secret entrances and how to get into them, and it'll keep tabs on people, animals and ghosts wondering around the castle. That's so you can avoid trouble." James explained eagerly.
"And you can charm it to do all this?" Lupin asked Erica.
"Yes." she said confidently.
"Well let's get started!" Sirius exclaimed quietly, "I can't wait to use it!"
It took the Marauders nearly two months to draw every room in the castle and add details that would be useful to know. It only took Erica four days to charm the map to show everyone moving around and add security. She personally thought her security idea was a good one.
"So what does it do?" Lupin asked.
"Well try it. Try a reveling spell or something." she said eagerly.
"Alright, show your secrets!" Lupin said firmly pointing to the map with his wand. Sirius, James and Peter watched eagerly.
There was a long pause before something happened, "Spiral would like it if Remus Lupin would keep his big fat nose out of other peoples business!" the words appeared on the map.
"Why does it only say you?" James asked.
"Well I still have to add you guys and I wanted to test it first. The insults get better the more you try to find out what it is.." she said with a evil like smile.
Lupin tapped the map again curious to see what it would say, "Miss Spiral would like you to go away and boil yourself in frog spawn!" Sirius snorted with laughter, James tried and got the response, "Go marry a hippogriff!" and Sirius got, "Calling you an idiot would insult all the stupid people!" James broke into insane laughter. The peter tried and got, "You've got a face that only a mother would love..too bad she hates it too." they all laughed at that.
"I like them..but I think we should all add some.." Sirius said wiping tears of laughter away.
"Ok sure..just tell me what you want to put.. But first you should know how to work it. You say 'I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good' to be able to see everything, and to clear it you say 'mischief managed'." For the rest of the day they came up with nasty little insults for the Map of Hogwarts, a lot of them like, 'Your mother's so fat that when she gets on the scale it says 'To be continued'.'
With the map the Marauders went out almost every night and never got caught. They went to Hogsmeade during the weekends, snuck into the caretakers office and took confiscated items (mostly joke items like dung booms) and wandered into the Forbidden forest just for the heck of it. Before any of them new it, they only had 3 months of school left. Feeling better then usual Lupin wandered into the Great Hall for breakfast.
"Morning." Lupin said happily to his fellow Marauders.
"Well someone woke up on the good side of the bed today." Peter grinned. Peter would have said more but he was interrupted by the post owls flooding the room. An owl landed in front of Erica, who looked confused.
"Why would mother be sending an owl now?" Erica took the note from the family owl, Krone. She quickly read the letter. By the time she was done reading she looked very pail. "What? What is it?!" James asked quickly after seeing her expression.
"Dad...is dying.."she choked.
"What?!" James yelled. Everyone in the Great Hall turned and looked at him. "What happened? Where is he?!"
"He's at St. Mungo's...he got attacked by a dark wizard.." she looked around to make sure that no one else was listening, "Mum thinks that the Dark Lord himself attacked him...because dad keeps muttering all this strange stuff about Him and his Death Eaters.." she whispered darkly.
"Where did he get attacked? And when?" Sirius asked concerned, the Potters were like a second family to him (If you considered the Blacks his family).
"Dunno..mum doesn't say.." Erica said sadly, reading the letter again.
"We have to go to him!" James said firmly.
"Relax James," Lupin began but James cut him off.
"No, this is my dad were talking about! I'm not going to sit around and wait!" he stood and stormed off back to the Gryffindor common room.
"James!?" Erica called running after him. The others stayed where they were, knowing very well, not to get involved.
"We can't just leave school! Dad wouldn't want us to get expelled for leaving!" she said catching up to him.
"You might not care but I do!" James said glaring at her out of the corner of his eye.
"What rubbish! Of course I care. If you haven't noticed he's my father too!"
"Well then you can stay here and I'll go..." he turned away from her and ran into someone, "Watch where your.." he began angrily.
"Headmaster!" Erica said startled.
Professor Dippit smiled at them, "I believe I heard something about leaving.."
"Oh..well..yes...Professor, you see we got a letter from our mum...our father is very..well..he's dying." Erica explained quickly, stammering.
"Ah yes, that was the reason I was looking for you two. You are to both go home at once, by your mothers wishes of course."
"Really?" James asked eagerly.
"Yes." Professor Dippit smiled again, "Now go fetch your things..." "But Professor!" Erica argued halfheartedly, "Not that I'm not worried about my father..but..what about school...O.WLS?"
"You will return for finals." Professor Dippet said more seriously.
Erica nodded and quickly followed James to the Gryffindor common room. "That's just like you!" James spat.
"Like what?" she asked, mildly angry.
"For you to worry about school and not give a rats tail about anything else!" he raged at her.
Erica kept her face expressionless, "Well, I've set priorities, father wouldn't want me to fail! So I want to make him proud..." she said quietly.
"Whatever!" James said angrily. He disappeared into the boys dormitory slamming the door behind him.
Erica tried to remain calm but found herself cramming things into her trunk and throwing things around. Why did everything have to happen this year? When O.W.L tests were starting soon. She didn't blame her father, he had only been doing his job. He had known that there were risks involved with his job. A job that one day she considered doing. She didn't know she was crying till she looked in the mirror before she left. Wiping the tears away, she met James in the common room and walked silently out to the carriage that was waiting for them.
Before the carriage pulled away Professor Dippit said quietly to them, "You will return a week before O.W.Ls. Give your mother my best." And with a sad look at the two of them he signaled the carriage to leave.
A/N: Well here we go..the next chapter, their 6th year..gulps..hope all goes well..Enjoy!!!! Oh..and sorry it's so long.
Chapter 5 The Makers of the Map
The summer had sped by quickly in the Potter household, so quickly that it seemed to take them by surprise.
Erica found herself quickly, but neatly, packing her things back into her Hogwarts trunk...until she found some things missing.
"James!" she yelled standing up and storming off to his room. She began to bang on his door, "James! Give them back! There mine! Get your own!"
"Hold on!" came a muffled response from behind the door.
Erica growled and tapped her foot in impatience. She waited for nearly five minutes. "James! NOW!"
"WAIT!"
"NO! AND WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO YOUR OWN QUILL AND BOOKS!" she yelled at the door.
There was a sound of footsteps coming up the stairs, "What going on?" Sirius asked. Sirius had spent most of the summer with the Potters. His mother had kicked him out of the house again, shunning him from the family. Sirius seemed to be very happy about this.
"James took my quill and three of my books!" she yelled at the still closed door.
"Here." Sirius said handing her a knife. She looked at him curiously. "It's a knife that will open any door." he said proudly. Opening the knife she ran it by the lock. There was a small click.
She grinned at him, "I need to borrow this sometime!"
"You can keep it for now if you want."
They headed into the room and found James sitting at his desk writing so fast that ink was spattering on his face.
"Oh, for gods sake James! I keep telling you not to save your homework till the day before!" she scolded him, her hands on her hips. "Thanks mom.." James said distracted, "I'll come down to dinner in a minute.."
Sirius laughed, "It's not even lunchtime yet, mate."
James looked up, "Oh..uh..sorry Erica but I really have to finish this."
"But what happened to your own quill? And your books?" Erica questioned angrily.
"Lost my books and broke my quill..by accident of course."
"Really..? You know..I don't have to let you borrow them." she said slyly, moving to take her books and quill back.
James sighed, "What do you want?"
"I want to ride your broom!" she said looking to James's racing broom in the corner of the room.
"Ok." James said turning back to his work, "Take it..just be careful with it."
"Sure.." she said happily taking the broom.
"Wait for me! I brought my broom too!" Sirius ran off to get his own broom and met her outside.
James and Erica's parents had boughed a house out in the country where they got plenty of privacy, so they could ride there brooms with out being noticed.
Erica was already weaving through the trees and doing some fancy spins.
"Hey!" Sirius flew up to her, "Your not half bad..it must run in the family. I only wish we had Quidditch balls to practice with..."
"We can throw apples.." she suggested pointing to the apple trees.
"Ok...will your parents care?" Sirius asked.
"No we have plenty."
Sirius landed and picked a few apples and then began throwing them. Erica was a natural Seeker, almost as good as James. They switched places occasionally as the morning sped by.
"Dinner!" Mrs. Potter called out the door.
"Yes! I'm starving!" Sirius exclaimed.
Erica laughed and agreed. They quickly headed inside and washed up.
"James! Dinner!" Mrs. Potter called up the stairs.
"I'll be down soon!" he called back. "What on Earth can that boy be doing?!" Mrs. Potter said suspiciously.
"Don't worry mum, he's actually working on homework he put off again." Erica explained.
Mrs. Potter sighed, "Alright, well you two sit down and start eating." she disappeared into the kitchen. "So...where's your dad?" Sirius asked after filling his plate with food.
"Still at work.."
"What does he do?"
"He's an Auror..works for the Ministry."
"And your mum?" he asked curiously.
"She works in the Management of Magic. You know..she handles illegal stuff like underage magic."
"I'd love to be an Auror.." Sirius said dreamily.
"You'll need top grades for that." Erica informed him as her mother came back into the dinning room. James could also be heard running down the stairs. James ran into the room and plopped down into a chair next to Sirius.
"Dad home yet?" he asked filling his plate.
"No not yet. He sent a letter saying he'll be back tomorrow and he said to have a good term if he doesn't see you in the morning. He's off chasing dark wizards... as usual." Mrs. Potter added a bit sadly.
"Don't worry mum. He's a really good Auror. He'll be fine." James said confidently.
"Yes..I think your right..but I can't help but worry about him.."
The rest of dinner was about Quidditch and the two most likely teams that would reach the finals for the Quidditch World Cup. After dinner they all helped with the dishes, and then played wizards chess in the living room.
Mrs. Potter came in at the end of the fifth game, "Alright, time for bed. It's late and we have to catch the train to Hogwarts tomorrow." they obediently got up to go, "Oh, and James dear?"
"Yes, mum?"
"Please pack your trunk tonight. We won't have time in the morning, and remember you made us all late last year..."
"Yes, yes, yes...I'll do it tonight!" James said flushing a deep red as he ran upstairs, with Erica and Sirius laughing at him.
They all got up relatively early to eat and dress with plenty of time to get to the station, but naturally there were problems.
"James! What are my books?" Erica was yelling from her room.
"I gave them back!"
"No you didn't!"
"Yes I did." James said as a-matter-of-factly.
"Where did you put them?"
"Don't remember.." James said vaguely.
"You..I .. gonna kill you!" she charged at him from the hall and knocked him to the floor.
"Ow..hey...ah...what? Why are you..urg..attacking me?!" James tried to push her off, but she got him in a headlock.
"Where are my books..and my quill?!"
"Urg..MUM!" James yelled.
"James Potter! Give back what ever you took from your sister!" Mrs. Potter yelled up the stairs, knowing what had happened. Erica let go of James so he could start looking for her stuff.
Nearly an hour later and they were finally leaving the house. They rushed to the train station pushing their trolleys as they went.
"Hurry, Hurry!" Mrs. Potter urged them on, "We have 3 minutes!" They quickly went to platform nine and ran through it to platform nine and three quarters. The great scarlet engine sat before them giving off puffs of steam, waiting to go. Mrs. Potter quickly helped them onto the train.
"Now be sure to write!" She yelled to them from the platform.
"Don't forget to tell dad we said 'Bye'!" Erica yelled out the window.
"I will!" was her last response, before the train was off.
It was raining heavily by the time the train reached the school.
"Oh, great!" Peter whined, he had already been complaining for most of the trip. "Still a whiner are we?" James asked in annoyance and he hopped off the train. Peter flushed a bright red.
They pulled their trunks to the carriages and got in after making sure their stuff was secured to the carriage. About ten minutes later the carriages came to a stop at the oak doors. Everyone headed inside to escape the now pounding rain.
"Come on! I wanna get good seats this year!" Lupin said hurrying towards the part of the table that was closest to the front of the room. The rest quickly followed.
As usual the sorting hat was sitting on a stool in front of the teachers table. The hat broke into it's song. The song was quick, explaining all the houses and the requirements for each. Gryffindor favored bravery, Ravenclaw favored intelligence, Hufflepuff like hard workers and Slytherin who only took the best and pureblooded. When the song was over the sorting began. Professor Growth was the one to call out the names this year. The sorting took a good 20 minutes of their time, and by the end of it James and Sirius were chucking pieces of balled up tissue at each other, until Professor Dippet stood to speak.
"Another year here at Hogwarts! It is good to see both old and new faces! Now with out further a do let the feast begin!" with a clap of his hands the plates filled with food.
"I love this part!" James said seizing a piece of chicken. They all ate until they were stuffed.
"Now that we are all full and quit comfortable," Professor Dippet said standing before the school again, "On with the few announcements I have. Quidditch will begin at its normal time but with tryouts this year since all our 7th years left us, for there are now places on the teams that must be filled. And as every year I say this for the first years and a reminder to all, that the Forbidden forest is off limits to all. Well I believe that is it, may you all sleep well and be ready for tomorrow's lessons." With that, Professor Dippet left the Great Hall.
As always the beginning of the year started slowly for everyone but then gradually sped up. It was now the middle of the term, a rainy, cold day. Peter and Sirius were playing wizards chess by the window. Lupin and Moody were working on a class project for Care of Magical Creatures. James, as usual, was piled high with homework that he had put off.
"Why do you wait so long to do it?" Erica ask him. Erica was sitting on the floor by the fire reading a book she had gotten over the summer. She unlike James finished all her work ahead of time.
"Yes, well sorry we all aren't all like you miss perfect!" James snapped.
"You could do with being more like me! Your current grades are horrible!" she snapped back.
"Whatever." James said throwing his books back into his bag, "Hey Sirius want to go play some Quidditch?"
"In this weather?" Sirius asked raising an eyebrow. James sighed walking over to the chess board.
Erica glared at him, "Why don't you ever ask me?"
"Because your not a Seeker, you're a Chaser.." James said as if it really mattered.
Erica had made the Quidditch team and had taken the place of a student that had left last year. Even though Sirius thought she would make a better Seeker she was good at being a Chaser too. Erica probably would have done well anywhere..well maybe not a Beater...too dangerous.
James gave an even bigger sigh, "I'm bored!" he growled in aggravation. Then he seemed to be hit with an idea. He waved everyone closer. Once gathered he began to talk quickly, "Why don't we make a map!" he said eagerly.
"Map? Map of what?" Peter asked curiously, Moody already not liking the idea left the little circle they had made and continued his work.
"Hogwarts you idiot! Something worth doing!" James hissed in annoyance.
"But..what would the map do?" Lupin asked a little confused, "I mean if we put secret passages on it anyone could read it..."
James smiled mysteriously, "That's where Erica comes in," he nodded at her, "She knows everything..so all we have to do is draw it and she'll charm it to make it do anything we want it to do.."
"You make it sound like she'd do it.." Sirius said glancing at Erica.
"I will." she said shortly. Everyone looked surprised, James usually had to beg Erica to do the littlest thing for him.
"Really?" Peter asked shocked.
"Yes..I already have a few charms I want to put on it.."
"Have you two talked about this?" Lupin asked suspiciously.
"He's talked about it all summer." Erica said smoothly, "I just agreed that it was a good idea."
"So what will this map be able to do?" Sirius asked wondering why he hadn't heard about this.
"It'll show all the secret entrances and how to get into them, and it'll keep tabs on people, animals and ghosts wondering around the castle. That's so you can avoid trouble." James explained eagerly.
"And you can charm it to do all this?" Lupin asked Erica.
"Yes." she said confidently.
"Well let's get started!" Sirius exclaimed quietly, "I can't wait to use it!"
It took the Marauders nearly two months to draw every room in the castle and add details that would be useful to know. It only took Erica four days to charm the map to show everyone moving around and add security. She personally thought her security idea was a good one.
"So what does it do?" Lupin asked.
"Well try it. Try a reveling spell or something." she said eagerly.
"Alright, show your secrets!" Lupin said firmly pointing to the map with his wand. Sirius, James and Peter watched eagerly.
There was a long pause before something happened, "Spiral would like it if Remus Lupin would keep his big fat nose out of other peoples business!" the words appeared on the map.
"Why does it only say you?" James asked.
"Well I still have to add you guys and I wanted to test it first. The insults get better the more you try to find out what it is.." she said with a evil like smile.
Lupin tapped the map again curious to see what it would say, "Miss Spiral would like you to go away and boil yourself in frog spawn!" Sirius snorted with laughter, James tried and got the response, "Go marry a hippogriff!" and Sirius got, "Calling you an idiot would insult all the stupid people!" James broke into insane laughter. The peter tried and got, "You've got a face that only a mother would love..too bad she hates it too." they all laughed at that.
"I like them..but I think we should all add some.." Sirius said wiping tears of laughter away.
"Ok sure..just tell me what you want to put.. But first you should know how to work it. You say 'I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good' to be able to see everything, and to clear it you say 'mischief managed'." For the rest of the day they came up with nasty little insults for the Map of Hogwarts, a lot of them like, 'Your mother's so fat that when she gets on the scale it says 'To be continued'.'
With the map the Marauders went out almost every night and never got caught. They went to Hogsmeade during the weekends, snuck into the caretakers office and took confiscated items (mostly joke items like dung booms) and wandered into the Forbidden forest just for the heck of it. Before any of them new it, they only had 3 months of school left. Feeling better then usual Lupin wandered into the Great Hall for breakfast.
"Morning." Lupin said happily to his fellow Marauders.
"Well someone woke up on the good side of the bed today." Peter grinned. Peter would have said more but he was interrupted by the post owls flooding the room. An owl landed in front of Erica, who looked confused.
"Why would mother be sending an owl now?" Erica took the note from the family owl, Krone. She quickly read the letter. By the time she was done reading she looked very pail. "What? What is it?!" James asked quickly after seeing her expression.
"Dad...is dying.."she choked.
"What?!" James yelled. Everyone in the Great Hall turned and looked at him. "What happened? Where is he?!"
"He's at St. Mungo's...he got attacked by a dark wizard.." she looked around to make sure that no one else was listening, "Mum thinks that the Dark Lord himself attacked him...because dad keeps muttering all this strange stuff about Him and his Death Eaters.." she whispered darkly.
"Where did he get attacked? And when?" Sirius asked concerned, the Potters were like a second family to him (If you considered the Blacks his family).
"Dunno..mum doesn't say.." Erica said sadly, reading the letter again.
"We have to go to him!" James said firmly.
"Relax James," Lupin began but James cut him off.
"No, this is my dad were talking about! I'm not going to sit around and wait!" he stood and stormed off back to the Gryffindor common room.
"James!?" Erica called running after him. The others stayed where they were, knowing very well, not to get involved.
"We can't just leave school! Dad wouldn't want us to get expelled for leaving!" she said catching up to him.
"You might not care but I do!" James said glaring at her out of the corner of his eye.
"What rubbish! Of course I care. If you haven't noticed he's my father too!"
"Well then you can stay here and I'll go..." he turned away from her and ran into someone, "Watch where your.." he began angrily.
"Headmaster!" Erica said startled.
Professor Dippit smiled at them, "I believe I heard something about leaving.."
"Oh..well..yes...Professor, you see we got a letter from our mum...our father is very..well..he's dying." Erica explained quickly, stammering.
"Ah yes, that was the reason I was looking for you two. You are to both go home at once, by your mothers wishes of course."
"Really?" James asked eagerly.
"Yes." Professor Dippit smiled again, "Now go fetch your things..." "But Professor!" Erica argued halfheartedly, "Not that I'm not worried about my father..but..what about school...O.WLS?"
"You will return for finals." Professor Dippet said more seriously.
Erica nodded and quickly followed James to the Gryffindor common room. "That's just like you!" James spat.
"Like what?" she asked, mildly angry.
"For you to worry about school and not give a rats tail about anything else!" he raged at her.
Erica kept her face expressionless, "Well, I've set priorities, father wouldn't want me to fail! So I want to make him proud..." she said quietly.
"Whatever!" James said angrily. He disappeared into the boys dormitory slamming the door behind him.
Erica tried to remain calm but found herself cramming things into her trunk and throwing things around. Why did everything have to happen this year? When O.W.L tests were starting soon. She didn't blame her father, he had only been doing his job. He had known that there were risks involved with his job. A job that one day she considered doing. She didn't know she was crying till she looked in the mirror before she left. Wiping the tears away, she met James in the common room and walked silently out to the carriage that was waiting for them.
Before the carriage pulled away Professor Dippit said quietly to them, "You will return a week before O.W.Ls. Give your mother my best." And with a sad look at the two of them he signaled the carriage to leave.