Chapter Eighteen
Of Forgiving and Mapmaking

Not wanting to hear who the new chasers were Remus picked himself up and walked lamely back to the castle. As he was approaching the steps leading to Gryffindor Tower he saw Professor McGonagall walking towards him. She approached him and told him to follow her. He had not done anything yet. Maybe it was something about his last homework? He had not worked on it very hard, he was so angry with James that his anger flowed onto the page and he accidentally wrote, "I couldn't really care less about transfiguring a rabbit into a shoebox, but since I must..." She brought Remus to her office and told him to sit down. He sat and she sat across from him.

"No Mr. Lupin, this is not about your homework," she said. "I understand why you would write something like that. You're still angry with Mr. Potter, Black and Pettigrew?" Remus nodded shamefully. McGonagall nodded and shuffled through some papers on her desk. Was that all she wanted? Remus thought, if it was why could he not just leave? Remus started to get up but Professor McGonagall gave him a stern look that told him she was not through with him. Remus settled himself down again and waited for the professor to talk.

"I read the note your uncle told you to give me," Professor McGonagall said, staring at Remus over the rim of her glasses. Remus nodded; obviously she should have read it because he gave it to her a week ago. "I have made the arrangements at Saint Mungo's, you have a room and understand this will not get you out of the holiday work you will be given." Again Remus nodded, it was not as if he had expected to be let off the hook with homework. Professor McGonagall shuffled through some papers, placed them in a desk drawer, and began to speak once more. "Your time there will depend on how well the operation goes."

"How long do you expect me to be there?" Remus asked pleasantly. He was curious, but was not keen on finding out what answer he might get.

"Well if all goes well you could be out of there in three days." Remus grinned. "If not you could be there from three weeks to a month." Remus's smile vanished. Professor McGonagall told Remus that she had been doing some research on the whole theory of werewolves having one more chromosome that holds their werewolf DNA. She warned him that unless he had a reliable healer he might not come out alive. Remus's eyes widened and she added quickly that all of the healers at Saint Mungo's are reliable. After giving him the unnerving information she let Remus go.

Remus walked aimlessly down the deserted corridor. He occasionally passed Nearly Headless Nick floating after the Bloody Baron, who was chasing Peeves, who was rushing to get the Vanishing Cabinet. Dinner was now going on in the Great Hall, but Remus didn't feel much like eating. He headed up to Gryffindor Tower and to his surprise when he walked through the portrait hole and into the common room he saw the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team assembled. The captain, George Finnigan, was standing in the middle of the team huddle and Remus also noticed that all the students that had tried out were there as well.

Remus guessed correctly that they were about to announce the new chasers. Remus prayed it was not Peter. Peter had not done anything too rash with him like James and Sirius, but he had allowed them to play that dirty trick on him. He sat and listened as George explained to all the competitors that in heart they were truly chasers. But on the outside they had to show it more. He said they considered it with the utmost care and to remember that they would all get another chance next year. Yeah right, Remus thought, like I'm going to try out again and make a fool out of myself. George was quieting everyone who was now talking so swiftly he could not get a word out.

"All right people!" he shouted loudly. "I'm going to make the announcement so if you'll all just shut up!" There was a rush of silence. George stood on the wooden table so he could be seen through the whole common room. "I've been carefully considering who shall be our new chasers and have consulted the team. The two new chasers are, and one of them quite shocked me, fourth year Louis Miller. The next one is the one that nearly made me fall off my chair." Remus leaned forward, he knew who it was. "Second year Peter Pettigrew." Remus literally did fall off his seat. He landed with a loud thud that drew the attention of the other Gryffindors, who tried to hold back their sniggers. He grinned foolishly and excused himself to his dormitory. He sat down on his bed and rested his head in his hands. The only thought that could run through his mind was, Peter? Peter Pettigrew? The klutzy kid he had known for the past year could play Quidditch? That just was not possible! Remus could have been the one chosen if it were not for them!

Two months went by and was very eventful. There had been Remus's worst transformation yet, as the most recent event. He had such a painful transformation that his whole face was tinged green, he couldn't move a muscle, whenever he tried he vomited all over, and they had him in the hospital wing for nearly a week. He did not know exactly why it was so painful and frankly he did not want to find out. He had only been released the day before. That day was a Friday and he had been hospitalized the Sunday before. There were tests, homework, and class work. The usual morning prank Sirius and James bestowed upon the unsuspecting Slytherins. Then there was Remus being ignored by his former friends and spending most of his free time in his dormitory doing homework, looking at wizard cards, talking to his owl, working on the moon chart he had constructed so he knew when a full moon would approach. He had also been working on a map with all the passages he knew of leading out of the school and every place inside the school. Other than those activities he spent a great deal of time sleeping. He figured that when you're alone you had to make the best of your time.

Remus had become indulged in working on this new map of his and thought that if maybe, just maybe, he showed it to James, Sirius and Peter they would be so impressed that they would talk to him again. However they did not. They would just glance at him and walk in the other direction. Remus hated being alone and he also learned that he would be the butt of many practical jokes of his former friends. There was the dung bomb in the morning pumpkin juice, the self-tying shoelaces that instead of tying your shoelaces they tied them together so you would fall when you walk. Remus had been shoved in the vanishing cabinet a number of times and wound up in some unusual places such as, the History of Magic classroom, the kitchens, the prefect's bathroom, a sink and to top it all off a toilet bowl!

There was the first Quidditch game Peter ever appeared in and it could not have been more disastrous. Peter played horribly! Three minutes into the game he had given up three quaffles to the Hufflepuffs, of all teams, Louis and James were the only ones who managed to score and whenever Peter had the quaffle they would shout for him to give it to one of them. Louis ended up being unseated by a bludger because Peter had flown into him and knocked him straight into one that was hurtling towards a Hufflepuff chaser. They had to stop the game so they could bring an unconscious Louis to the hospital wing. Then Peter slammed into George just as he was about to get the snitch. All in all the game was given to the Hufflepuffs. Gryffindor had only scored two times, once by James and once by Louis.

Remus once again missed the feast due to being in the hospital wing. Lily and Alice had taken pity on him and brought him some treats from the feast but Madam Pomfrey would not allow him to eat it. She said his stomach was too weak and if he ate it he would get sick. Remus thanked the girls anyway and said he would eat it when he got better. Once or twice that evening Julius Mangorn showed up for no apparent reason and would just say hullo to Remus and leave. The whole time Remus was in the hospital James, Sirius and Peter had not even acted like they knew.

Remus never dreamed in a million years that his best friends would treat him like this. He never thought it, but now that it was happening he was getting used to it. The night he was released from the hospital wing (November 1st) he was sleeping soundly in his bed when he suddenly remembered something. He sat upright and felt hot tears welling in his eyes. His uncle had told him that November 1st (which had dawned two minutes before he woke up) was the day his parents died. He stood up shakily and walked over to the window. He leaned on the windowsill and looked out. He then buried his face in his hands and began to sob. He had been so stupid, he thought, to have forgotten about the day his parents died. He had been so busy walking around in his own misery that he had not even taken any time to remember them! He had been crying a bit loudly because he heard James wake up and say, "what's that." James's eyes focused in the dark, and he grabbed his glasses off the nightstand. He looked over and saw Remus hunched over and still crying.

His hatred towards Remus had softened a bit and he went over.

"Anything wrong?" he said calmly. Remus jumped and quickly wiped his face, not wanting James to see he had been crying. Though he knew James already saw. Remus shrugged, but gave no verbal response. "Come on Remus," James pressed on. "Something must be bothering you if you woke up in the dead of night just to cry."

"What would you care," Remus snapped. "You hate me, so what would you care?" James flinched and remembered how cruelly he, Sirius and Peter had been to Remus over the past two months.

"I don't hate you, neither do Sirius or Peter. We were just angry. We were almost caught practising illegal magic; it's enough to get anyone angry! We did all of those stupid things because we were holding grudges... Remus we're only kids, what do you expect? We shouldn't have done anything at all. I know I'm speaking for all three of us when I say I'm sorry." Remus looked up and smiled through his tears. He wiped his face dry and looked out the window.

"Remus what's bothering you?"

"Its nothing... really... I just forgot today was the day my parents died. I'll be fine. You go back to sleep." James hesitated, feeling that he had to say something, but heeded Remus's request and went back to sleep. Remus looked once more outside before going back to sleep.

He woke up the next morning to find a deserted dormitory. It was a Saturday morning and it was unusual to find an empty dormitory at nine o' clock. He put his robes on and went down into the common room. He saw a couple of third years playing wizards chess, but no one worth talking to.

He went down to the Entrance Hall and heard a petrified yell coming from outside. Only imagining whose scream it was and who made it happen, Remus dashed out to see. As he stepped on the stone steps his eyes bugged out. There just mere feet in front of him was Snape upside-down with his underpants flashing in broad daylight. Remus also saw James, Sirius and Peter behind some bushes and waving their wands, laughing hysterically. Remus looked at Snape once more and went over to James, Sirius and Peter.

"I've always wanted to do that!" Sirius whispered excitedly. "Flip Snape over in front of everyone!" James and Peter started laughing while Sirius waved his wand in a circle and Remus looked over and saw Snape spin, unwillingly, around. He laughed and the three finally noticed he was there. Sirius and Peter frowned angrily but James smiled.

"Hey Remus," he said. "See our latest work?" He gestured to Snape, who was still spinning around in the air as Sirius twirled his wand even faster.

"Its kind of hard to miss," Remus answered. "But still brilliant!" Sirius was now spinning his wand so fast that it slipped between his fingers and fell to the ground. The good thing was that Snape did the same. The crowd around him burst out laughing. James tapped Sirius on the shoulder and gestured for them to follow him. He led them over towards Hagrid's hut so that when Snape recovered from the fall they would be so far away that it could not possibly look like they did anything. James leaned against the hut.

"Your on speaking terms with Lupin?" Sirius asked as if Remus were not standing there.

"Yeah," James said simply. "I realised that we were being stupid. None of this was his fault and we shouldn't have blamed him. So excuse me for having a conscience." Sirius and Peter looked as though they were in deep thought. Finally Sirius looked up and said

"I guess so, we were being kind of stupid." He turned to Remus and held out his hand. "Buddies?" Remus nodded and shook his hand. So all was right in their friendship again and Remus was happy again.

James was simply ecstatic that this was his first prank where Lily had no clue it was him doing it. In reality it was not him... it was Sirius. Anyway, later that day James and Peter bid Remus and Sirius farewell as they headed off to Quidditch Practise. Remus and Sirius spent that afternoon hidden behind the trees in the Forbidden Forest while Sirius practised turning into a dog. Remus had to admit he was doing well. Sirius was able to focus on becoming a big black dog and only that. He grew some ears and a snout but could not go any further.

Remus showed Sirius the map he had been working on for the past two months. Remus had gotten nearly the whole castle charted out, going into deep detail. He even knew the exact places where Peeves had caused destruction. When Sirius asked how he knew all this Remus answered simply that he was bored so for some excitement he followed Peeves all over the school. He explored nearly the whole school and had only a few bits left. He had found some passages that lead out of the school and into Hogsmeade. There was the one under the Whomping Willow, one in the kitchens (you had to go through a crawl space, only bad thing was that Filch caught Remus when he tried going through and had him scrubbing caldrons in the dungeons all night). Sirius was highly impressed. To chart out a whole map was very advanced magic. Remus said the reason he did this was so that they could make more elaborate pranks and find different ways of getting into mischief, rather than their plain and simple tactics.

Remus and Sirius were working on what to call it. It had to be a catchy title and since all of them would put some input on this map it would have to show that they all did it. It would have to show they were a group of faithful friends. They had made a list of names, including partners (sounded too goofy) mischief makers (too long) and were at a loss. It should be simple, yet catchy. Remus ran to Flitwick's classroom and found a dictionary and ran back to the common room and opened it. He and Sirius searched for a long time before falling upon the word, "Marauder." Basically it meant one who looks for treasure. It was still a cool name and would serve perfectly. They could call it the, "Marauder's Map." They both agreed on the name and would show James and Peter when they got back. Next they had to think of what they would do to keep everything hidden. They would have to create a spell to reveal the information and then use one to wipe it off the map. It was going to be more difficult than Remus thought. They did, however, figure that if by some chance another did find out how to reveal the map, they better keep their identities secret.

"Well," Remus said thoughtfully. "We'll need some sort of code names... nicknames!"

"Perfect!" Sirius said. "But what are we going to call ourselves?"

"Something that relates to us... maybe... since you, James and Peter are going to be Animagus and know what animals you're going to be... why not use them as a guide?"

"What? I'm going to call myself 'Dog Boy' or something like that?"

"No! I meant something that relates to a dog." Remus dropped his voice to a low whisper because there were people filing into the common room at alarming rates. He and Sirius moved from the couch over to the stairs. "Well... we'll use me as an example. I'm a werewolf... something that relates to a werewolf."

"How about silver?" Sirius grimaced.

"No way! Silver kills werewolves! I was thinking... something that has to do with the moon, maybe?"

"Yeah... moon...moon...moona? No too dorky. Moonbeam? Sounds too much like a girl... Moony?"

"Perfect! Moony!" Remus loved that name; finally he could appreciate the full moon when he was referred to as that. Since Sirius figured out his name for him, he should think of something for Sirius. He thought that since Sirius was going to be a dog get something like that. Immediately the name Fang came to mind. But Hagrid's dog was named that and it just would not work. He thought a while before coming to the conclusion that dogs have padded feet. He would call Sirius Padfoot. Sirius loved the name and accepted it eagerly. They decided to wait for James and Peter so they could try and figure out names for them. Remus and Sirius busied themselves by playing Wizards Chess (Remus won) and Gobstones (Sirius won).

Just as they were heading down to dinner, James and Peter came stumbling into the common room. They were still in their Quidditch robes. They informed Sirius and Remus that practise had run late because Peter kept slamming into the other Chasers and trying to take the quaffle from them. They went down to the Great Hall and Remus showed them the Marauders' Map. James and Peter marveled at it. Sirius and Remus had nearly gotten the whole school charted out and told them that they were going to figure out how to find out where other people are in the castle. As Remus was trying to put a spell on the map to wipe it clean

"What's that?" They looked up to see Lily Evans standing over them, her eyes intent on their map. Remus quickly snatched the piece of parchment up and shoved it in his robe pocket.

"Nothing," James said quickly. "Just a bit of homework."

"Looked more like a map if you ask me."

"No," Remus said. "What James meant to say was that it was a drawing! Right James... drawing?" Lily looked at them questioningly but returned to her spot at the table (James staring as she walked back).

"Nice save Moony," Sirius said.