Chapter five: The Makings of a Map:
James was woken the next morning, by the same form as yesterday, but today, he didn't have the pleasure of trying to cheer up Lilly Evans. James got dressed and went down to breakfast with the rest of the Marauders, he was still in deep thought about Remus's idea about the map. James was quiet throughout breakfast, the other's noticed, but they knew he would just work his way through his little phase. "So, Money, got any thought on this map?" James asked while outside by the lake again.
"Actually, yeah, I have" Remus said
"Yeah? What is it?" Sirius asked
"Well, we know all the secret passages in Hogwarts, well, most of them, right? Well if we put our knowledge on to a piece of parchment, then that will show through, there's a quite complicated potion that we can do, but it wont take more than a few days, well need Penisive, and make sure its fresh, so if we put all our thoughts in it-"
"We can then drop the parchment into the potion and that will make the parchment have the knowledge of the secret passageways" Sirius finished for him
"Yeah" Remus said
"So then if and when we find new passageways, we can add them on, using the same potion?" James asked
"Yeah" Remus said again
"Remus, could we, if we got say bits of hair, or something, could we maybe make people show up on it?" Peter asked.
"We couldn't do it by usage of hair, there's to many professors and pupils, but, what we could do-"
"Is the potion again, put in our info of the professors and then seal it with a spell, so it wont change" Peter said
"Well, what if we get a new professor, I think we should just leave the spell open, you know, so new professors can come and go" Remus said
"A personality charm" Sirius said
"Huh?" Remus asked
"We can give it a personality charm, so it has a personality of its own, we can use our names, and our personalities, and anyone who tries to open it. Say with out knowing a password, will get an earful. Then the map will know the professors anyway, because even if we leave it here when we leave school, it will know all the new professors that come in" Sirius rounded off.
"What a wonderful idea!" Peter exclaimed, Sirius shrugged. "So how long will the potion take?" Peter asked
"Hold on. Yeah, Sirius, that's a good idea, but, I think we should do it differently, how about; we do the same spell the sorting hat has on it? Then it will have a mind of its own, but still have out personalities and names?
"Hold on. Yeah, Sirius, that's a good idea, but, I think we should do it differently, how about; we do the same spell the sorting hat has on it? Then it will have a mind of its own, but still have out personalities and names?" James asked, Remus nodded,
"Good idea. Oh and the potion will take four days, but it will need adding all through the night, like at four in the morning and stuff" Remus said answering Peter.
"Okay. So, when are we going to start it?" Peter asked again
"When we have a potion book!" Sirius answered.
"I've got one upstairs, I'll go get it now" Remus said.
The boys spent the rest of the day out by the lake, deciding how to get the potion ingredients, and deciding who would do which shift, Sirius kept charge of the paper work, Remus of the potion stuff, and James was going to take care of nicking all the ingredients. "No problem, Dibenes is easy to get passed, the dumb old bat, doesn't even lock her door. Wormtail, you're coming with me." James told him
"Why? Can't I stay here?" Peter asked
"No, cause I need a rat, to keep a look out, in case someone comes by." James told him. So James and Peter marched off to Gryffindor tower to fetch James's invisibility cloak. Five minuets later, James and Peter were heading down towards the dungeons, James was holding Peter in his rat form and James was secure under the cloak, so not to been seen. James edged the Potions room door open, there was no sign of anyone, not Dibenes or anyone, James half expected to see Snivellus here, sucking up to the Professor. James moved closer to the student cupboard and took out his needed supplies, then James edged his way slowly towards the door, that lead to were the restricted potions were kept. James was moving slowly, in case someone came out of there, and heard him moving. Thankfully for James, no one was in that room; there were tons of horrid slimy things in that room, they were floating all over the room. James knocked a of something with his head. James scowled at the bump forming on the back of his head. "Right, where are they?" James muttered, half to himself, half to Peter. Peter then transformed and he too started searching for the ingredients they needed. "Got one" Peter said
"Great, here's another one, three left to get" James said. When they had got all the ingredients they needed they got back under the cloak just in time to see Snape walk in to the classroom, "Professor?" He called out. James grinned widely, and pulled out his wand, "Expelliarmus" James said under his breath. Peter squeaked in amusement through his rat form, as he watched Snape go flying into the wall, James suppressed a laugh and watched as a bit of blood tricked down his face, "Scourgify" James said quietly, and Snape's face was suddenly washed and clear of blood, "Lets get out of here" James said to the rat. James and Peter went back up to Gryffindor common room and found Sirius waiting for them, "What took you so long, did you get caught?" He asked grinning,
"Nah, Prongs decided to have some fun with Snivellus, who was looking for his beloved professor, James took care of him though, he's probably still lying on the dungeon floor, wonder what the heck just hit him" Peter said laughing. James laughed and Sirius laughed too, "Your great, James" Sirius said. James raised his eyebrows and gave a little fake bow. "Common, let's go find Money" Sirius said
"Where is he?" Peter asked
"He's out at the edge of the forest." Sirius said
"The for- forest?" Peter stuttered
"Yeah, the forest" Sirius replied. Before Peter could protest, Sirius was out the portrait hole and off towards the forest. When they got there, Remus Lupin was indeed standing there, he had a caldron over a small fire, and a book propped up against the caldron. "What took you so long?" Remus asked frowning.
"They had a run in with old Snivellus, he's now slumped up against the wall, and maybe still bleeding" Sirius said as he, James and Peter laughed, Remus frowned slightly, and then joined in the laughter. Remus, although he didn't notice, accidentally toppled the book on to the fire, "Shoot, I can't touch that!" They all said after they noticed where the book was. "I'll get it" James said bravely
"And how the hell, do you plan on getting that?" Sirius asked, but his questioned was answered for him, James had just transformed into a Stag. James was pounding the book, trying to get it out again. James the Stag seceded, but when he got out he transformed to quickly, and his human foot, was on fire. "Ahhh, put it out, put it out!" James demanded, but his friends just sat there laughing, as James ran around the caldron like an escaped lunatic, trying to put out his foot. There was a little puddle near them, and James ran straight into it. The boys were roaring with laughter, "You have no idea how lucky you are that it was only us who saw that!" Peter said
"So how about I do that to you, eh, Wormtail, how would you like that?" James said advancing on Peter
"Oh come on, I was joking, mate" James said seeing Peters face, who was cowering and backing away, "Common, lets get this potion set up, without any more accidents, especially, not-," James trailed, him and the other Marauders had just burst in to fits of laughter, at the most recent laughing event. By seven o'clock that night, Remus was still adding the potion ingredients, "Come on Money, we'll miss dinner at this rate" Peter said. James and Sirius laughed.
"Hey, Prongs, you still got your invisibility cloak?" Remus asked James
"Yeah, why?" James asked
"So we can hide this potion, we cant just leave it out here, what if it rains, then it will be ruined, and..." Remus said, but was cut off by Sirius,
"Okay, okay, cool it Money, cool it, mate" Sirius said. The boys took the potion up to their dormitory and then went down for dinner.
James was woken the next morning, by the same form as yesterday, but today, he didn't have the pleasure of trying to cheer up Lilly Evans. James got dressed and went down to breakfast with the rest of the Marauders, he was still in deep thought about Remus's idea about the map. James was quiet throughout breakfast, the other's noticed, but they knew he would just work his way through his little phase. "So, Money, got any thought on this map?" James asked while outside by the lake again.
"Actually, yeah, I have" Remus said
"Yeah? What is it?" Sirius asked
"Well, we know all the secret passages in Hogwarts, well, most of them, right? Well if we put our knowledge on to a piece of parchment, then that will show through, there's a quite complicated potion that we can do, but it wont take more than a few days, well need Penisive, and make sure its fresh, so if we put all our thoughts in it-"
"We can then drop the parchment into the potion and that will make the parchment have the knowledge of the secret passageways" Sirius finished for him
"Yeah" Remus said
"So then if and when we find new passageways, we can add them on, using the same potion?" James asked
"Yeah" Remus said again
"Remus, could we, if we got say bits of hair, or something, could we maybe make people show up on it?" Peter asked.
"We couldn't do it by usage of hair, there's to many professors and pupils, but, what we could do-"
"Is the potion again, put in our info of the professors and then seal it with a spell, so it wont change" Peter said
"Well, what if we get a new professor, I think we should just leave the spell open, you know, so new professors can come and go" Remus said
"A personality charm" Sirius said
"Huh?" Remus asked
"We can give it a personality charm, so it has a personality of its own, we can use our names, and our personalities, and anyone who tries to open it. Say with out knowing a password, will get an earful. Then the map will know the professors anyway, because even if we leave it here when we leave school, it will know all the new professors that come in" Sirius rounded off.
"What a wonderful idea!" Peter exclaimed, Sirius shrugged. "So how long will the potion take?" Peter asked
"Hold on. Yeah, Sirius, that's a good idea, but, I think we should do it differently, how about; we do the same spell the sorting hat has on it? Then it will have a mind of its own, but still have out personalities and names?
"Hold on. Yeah, Sirius, that's a good idea, but, I think we should do it differently, how about; we do the same spell the sorting hat has on it? Then it will have a mind of its own, but still have out personalities and names?" James asked, Remus nodded,
"Good idea. Oh and the potion will take four days, but it will need adding all through the night, like at four in the morning and stuff" Remus said answering Peter.
"Okay. So, when are we going to start it?" Peter asked again
"When we have a potion book!" Sirius answered.
"I've got one upstairs, I'll go get it now" Remus said.
The boys spent the rest of the day out by the lake, deciding how to get the potion ingredients, and deciding who would do which shift, Sirius kept charge of the paper work, Remus of the potion stuff, and James was going to take care of nicking all the ingredients. "No problem, Dibenes is easy to get passed, the dumb old bat, doesn't even lock her door. Wormtail, you're coming with me." James told him
"Why? Can't I stay here?" Peter asked
"No, cause I need a rat, to keep a look out, in case someone comes by." James told him. So James and Peter marched off to Gryffindor tower to fetch James's invisibility cloak. Five minuets later, James and Peter were heading down towards the dungeons, James was holding Peter in his rat form and James was secure under the cloak, so not to been seen. James edged the Potions room door open, there was no sign of anyone, not Dibenes or anyone, James half expected to see Snivellus here, sucking up to the Professor. James moved closer to the student cupboard and took out his needed supplies, then James edged his way slowly towards the door, that lead to were the restricted potions were kept. James was moving slowly, in case someone came out of there, and heard him moving. Thankfully for James, no one was in that room; there were tons of horrid slimy things in that room, they were floating all over the room. James knocked a of something with his head. James scowled at the bump forming on the back of his head. "Right, where are they?" James muttered, half to himself, half to Peter. Peter then transformed and he too started searching for the ingredients they needed. "Got one" Peter said
"Great, here's another one, three left to get" James said. When they had got all the ingredients they needed they got back under the cloak just in time to see Snape walk in to the classroom, "Professor?" He called out. James grinned widely, and pulled out his wand, "Expelliarmus" James said under his breath. Peter squeaked in amusement through his rat form, as he watched Snape go flying into the wall, James suppressed a laugh and watched as a bit of blood tricked down his face, "Scourgify" James said quietly, and Snape's face was suddenly washed and clear of blood, "Lets get out of here" James said to the rat. James and Peter went back up to Gryffindor common room and found Sirius waiting for them, "What took you so long, did you get caught?" He asked grinning,
"Nah, Prongs decided to have some fun with Snivellus, who was looking for his beloved professor, James took care of him though, he's probably still lying on the dungeon floor, wonder what the heck just hit him" Peter said laughing. James laughed and Sirius laughed too, "Your great, James" Sirius said. James raised his eyebrows and gave a little fake bow. "Common, let's go find Money" Sirius said
"Where is he?" Peter asked
"He's out at the edge of the forest." Sirius said
"The for- forest?" Peter stuttered
"Yeah, the forest" Sirius replied. Before Peter could protest, Sirius was out the portrait hole and off towards the forest. When they got there, Remus Lupin was indeed standing there, he had a caldron over a small fire, and a book propped up against the caldron. "What took you so long?" Remus asked frowning.
"They had a run in with old Snivellus, he's now slumped up against the wall, and maybe still bleeding" Sirius said as he, James and Peter laughed, Remus frowned slightly, and then joined in the laughter. Remus, although he didn't notice, accidentally toppled the book on to the fire, "Shoot, I can't touch that!" They all said after they noticed where the book was. "I'll get it" James said bravely
"And how the hell, do you plan on getting that?" Sirius asked, but his questioned was answered for him, James had just transformed into a Stag. James was pounding the book, trying to get it out again. James the Stag seceded, but when he got out he transformed to quickly, and his human foot, was on fire. "Ahhh, put it out, put it out!" James demanded, but his friends just sat there laughing, as James ran around the caldron like an escaped lunatic, trying to put out his foot. There was a little puddle near them, and James ran straight into it. The boys were roaring with laughter, "You have no idea how lucky you are that it was only us who saw that!" Peter said
"So how about I do that to you, eh, Wormtail, how would you like that?" James said advancing on Peter
"Oh come on, I was joking, mate" James said seeing Peters face, who was cowering and backing away, "Common, lets get this potion set up, without any more accidents, especially, not-," James trailed, him and the other Marauders had just burst in to fits of laughter, at the most recent laughing event. By seven o'clock that night, Remus was still adding the potion ingredients, "Come on Money, we'll miss dinner at this rate" Peter said. James and Sirius laughed.
"Hey, Prongs, you still got your invisibility cloak?" Remus asked James
"Yeah, why?" James asked
"So we can hide this potion, we cant just leave it out here, what if it rains, then it will be ruined, and..." Remus said, but was cut off by Sirius,
"Okay, okay, cool it Money, cool it, mate" Sirius said. The boys took the potion up to their dormitory and then went down for dinner.