By YoukaiJilly
Summary:
Peter Pettigrew was not what his friends were. Good-looking, intelligent, skilled at Quidditch, he was just Peter. He was the Marauder who always stuffed himself at mealtime. Peter loves his friends, being they were the only ones he has, but now he wants something for himself. Some glory, some fame, some recognition...and he will do anything to get it.
Chapter Three: The Epiphany of PetersLast Chapter:
Peter felt a small pride in placing the first flask on Professor Gideon's desk with a slight smile. Remus and Peter collected their things and stuffed them into their bags as they waited for Sirius and James. They smiled happily as they walked behind the Slytherins that had been teasing Peter. Sirius winked at them and they smiled and suddenly James "tripped" and went crashing into the boy with the flask of potion. They sprawled out on the floor and the flash burst open and oozed the potion onto the floor.
"So sorry mates. I'll run and get you some more," said Sirius, grabbing the flask off the floor. He made his way back to the cauldron where his school bag was strategically placed and he moved so that he was out of view. He pretended to refill the flask and "dropped" it again. "Er, sorry. I got it."
Peter watched as Sirius ducked down and pulled another flask from his school bag, tucking the real potion back into his bag. He glanced at Peter and flashed him the smile that won him many fancies from the girls. He slinked back up to the desk and put it down. With that he clapped James on the shoulder and the group exited the dungeons.
"What was that?" asked Peter.
"A wonderful Bubblegum Potion. The minute that Gideon opens it, it will stick to just about EVERYTHING." Sirius laughed.
"What won't it stick to?" questioned Peter. It was near dinnertime and he was quite hungry.
"We think mostly eyeballs and bottoms." Said James. "Now how 'bout some food? I'm starving! I wonder what Lily's eating..."
"No, stop." the group said together as they rolled their eyes. James stuck his tongue out at them and they walked in, happily, bellowing out another round of the school anthem.
The Story Continues...
It was the next day at breakfast when Professor Gideon stopped by the Gryffindor table and loomed down over the Marauders. "Uh, hey Professor Gideon." Said James. "Nice day isn't it? Gum?" He pulled out a cube of Dribble's Best Blowing Bubble Gum and held it out.
"Very amusing Mr. Potter. I do admire you for sticking up for your friend, but since when does that literally mean STICKING?" asked Professor Gideon.
"Uh...guys? Do you have an idea what he's talking about?" asked James.
"Not the foggiest." Replied the rest of them.
"Mr. Potter..." started Professor Gideon.
"Professor, if I may inject a few words into this conversation?" asked Peter. Professor Gideon sighed and nodded. "Thank you, but I do believe that it would be quite impossible for Sirius or James to have switched the flasks with one containing the supposed prank material. When did they have an opportunity?"
"May I direct your attention to when Mr. Black so gallantly dropped the flask then returned it to my desk?" asked Professor Gideon.
"But Sirius had filled it before he dropped it correct?" asked Peter.
Professor Gideon was silent a moment but then said yes. Peter smiled most innocently and continued. "Wouldn't the supposed prank material have been unusable if he had actually poured the class potion into the flask? Yes it would have. So therefore, it could not have been any of us who filled the flask. You simply must have accidentally gotten the flask mixed up with someone else's."
Professor Gideon didn't reply but merely shot looks at the four boys and walked away up to the teacher's table. James, Sirius and Remus clapped quietly for Peter.
"You may not be too well along with charms and spells as we are Wormtail, but you sure have a way with the teachers that even Remus doesn't have. And he's supposed to be the teacher's pet!" said James.
"Yeah, but they know he'd cover for us. They think Peter's not as well knit with us as Rem is." Sirius said.
"Thanks guys, that means a lot to me." Said Peter in a sarcastic tone. Sirius threw a bit of tart at him. It bounced off his forehead. "And you're wasting good food."
"Last night was great wasn't it?" asked Remus, changing the subject. "Winnie sure had a nice spread for us didn't she?"
"Wonderful way to bring in the new school year!" declared Sirius.
"Too bad we kept nearly bumping into teachers. I wish they would all wear neon signs at night to tell us where they are." Peter grumbled.
James slammed his goblet down on the wooden table with the most absurdly happy look on his face. "Wormtail, that's it!" he exclaimed. James looked like he was about ready to jump atop the table and dance his giddy little heart out. "We can do that!"
"Make neon signs for the teachers to wear at night?" said Sirius, cocking up an eyebrow. "You're loony."
"No, no, no, no, no!" James whispered to them frantically. "What if we made something that showed us where the teachers were at all times!"
"Better yet," said Remus sarcastically. "Let's make one that shows us where everyone and everything is at all times and can never lie."
There was silence and Sirius, James and Peter got the goofiest grins across their faces. Remus put his head in his hands and muttered, "Why me and my stupid mouth?"
"Do you think we can do it?" asked Peter. This would be wonderful! Maybe...he could use the map to see where Lily was...and talk to her!
"Granted, it might take awhile and we'll probably have to come up with some of our own spells, but it's not like we haven't done that before." Put in Sirius.
"So, we're going to make a map? You know, if anyone of the teachers got a hold of something like that, we'd be in the biggest trouble ever. And imagine if Snape found it and turned it in!" said Peter.
"You've got a point, but I think that the Grease ball would keep it for himself to use on us." James said.
"So, when we add the spells we'll make some sort of password that only we'll know and so only we can look at it." said Remus.
"Hey guys...what are we going to call it?" said James quietly, glancing up at the teachers' table. "A map with all this stuff about it is going to need a name. To carry on the Marauder legacy!"
There was a brief silence and the same goofy grin that James had worn earlier slowly spread across the faces of all four of them. "The Marauder's Map." They said all together.
"Mr. Potter! If I have to ask you one more time to be quiet, you and your little friends will be out of here for the rest of the day!" snapped Madame Pince.
"Sorry, sorry." He said waving at her. "Okay, now exactly how are we going to do this?"
In front of them was a bunch of folded up parchment, blank and void of any ink. Remus was the one who cleared his throat and pulled out his wand. Muttering a short incantation he tapped his wand down and suddenly the paper sparkled but then returned to its original state.
"Nothing happened." Peter muttered.
"Rem, you actually didn't do something right. I think my heart stopped." Sirius said.
"Would you guys can it?" asked Remus. "I did do something. Watch. I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
Suddenly, ink lines burst onto the paper, outlining nearly every detail of the Hogwarts Castle and grounds and a bit of the surrounding area. The three others stared in awe.
"How'd you do it Rem?" asked Peter with excitement.
"It took awhile to get the spell just right and I practiced with our dorm room and had to tweak it to fit all the grounds. Sorry it took so long; I mean we did come up with the idea about two weeks ago." Said Remus, scratching his chin with a slight flush of satisfaction on his face.
"Well, I haven't added my bit yet." James said. "We still need to see where everyone is. Plus, we can add the words to get into some of the secret passages. Peter sure has a hard time remembering them."
"Yeah, they don't have the words cupcake or pumpkin juice in them." Peter told him with the silliest of grins. The group chuckled and James put his wand to the paper, muttering an incantation that was hardly less of what Remus had said.
Suddenly, words began to write themselves on the paper. At the top in an empty section of paper is said:
Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
Purveyors of Aid to Magical Mischief Makers
Are Proud to Present
The Marauder's Map
James looked around at his friends. "Well, I think this certainly clarifies that we, are the Marauders! This map is not to be shown to anyone, ever. Now, Rem, got any genius ideas on how we can keep this from prying eyes in case it falls in the wrong hands?"
Remus cleared his throat and stated: "Mischief managed."
The map wiped itself blank. The group stared in awe. Then they let out loud cheers and whoops, shouting that they had done, they'd done it. However, the group did forget that they were still in the library and were promptly thrown out by Madame Pince.
As they clamored into the hallway, they bumped into Snape. "What's that?" he sneered. "Another ingenious plan of yours to get more House Points taken away?" He motioned to the parchment in James' hand. With a quick snatch, he had it and was looking it over. James had to be held back from just pouncing on his fellow classmate.
"A piece of ruddy parchment? Some hidden joke right?" asked Snape waving it around. James snatched it back.
"None of your bloody business grease ball." He snapped meanly.
'Here he goes again,' thought Peter as Snape and James engaged in a battle of name-calling. 'I doubt he's ever going to grow up. This is so immature. I should just push both of them down the stairs.'
Sirius had to drag James away as they headed back up towards the Gryffindor common room to continue their work. As they went up the stairs, something popped into Peter's head. He smiled and dashed past his friends calling for them to hurry up. They exclaimed for him to wait up and followed. Peter let out the password in a huff and burst through into the common room. He went straight up the stairs and to the room that he shared with his friends. He waited for them to catch up.
"What...is...wrong...with you...Pete?" said James in a puff of breath.
"And more important...ly...where...did you learn...to run like...that?" continued Sirius. Remus said nothing but tried to catch his breath with the rest of them. Peter flopped down onto his bed.
"I think...I've had a what-ya-ma-call-it. An ehimy." He said.
"You mean an epiphany." Remus stated.
"Yeah, that." Peter said. "Say, the Map still got into the wrong hands but didn't show anything. Why not make it insult them so they get so made they want nothing to do with it?"
He waited for the suggestion to sink into his friend's mind. He thought it was brilliant. A brilliant idea for him came so very rarely that normally he was quite proud of them, whether his friend's approved or not.
"That..." Sirius said.
"Is, totally wicked Pete!" said James. "Oh, why didn't we think of that?"
"Because you insult so many people all ready with your mouth, your so used to the idea." Remus said.
"I take that as a complement." James said plainly. "Now, who's up for another kitchen binge to celebration Worm's brilliance?" All the hands went up instantly. As they headed toward the fruit painting, a thought popped into one of their heads...
'My name is not Worm.'
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Author's Note:
Okay my darlings!
Here is the awaited chapter three! Since I'm in school, I have less free time than I would prefer. However, I know that I have not been too faithful to this story as I have been to my others and deeply regret that.
I am having a hard time writing this because I am not used to following the rules of a universe set by another person. Anyway, I decided that I'm going to try and cut the chapters down to five pages, that way I can save time and hopefully get more down.
Please bear with me and review so I will be encouraged.