The Making of the Marauder's Map

Hello! We meet again! I am more than glad that my first chapter is such a success. To all my reviewers, thank you all so much. If you scroll down to the end of this chapter, you will find the individual replies. Once again, I would like to thank my reviewers. If you have read the first author's notes in the first chapter, you will find the disclaimer near the end of it, so there will be no point repeating it again. Once again, please read and review. Construstive criticism is always welcomed. Flames are, like I said before, not accepted or tolerated. With that, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Two

Quiet footsteps shuffled through the dark and almost deserted corridor.

"Ow! Wormtail, that's my foot!"

"Shhhhhh! Do you want to get caught?"

"Wh-why are we doing this a-again?"

"To save and keep up our reputation, Pete, to save and keep up our reputation."

"Oh."

Right about now, you must (and should) be wondering why the usually noisy group of four was so secretive. Well, it all started with James' oh-so brilliant idea to sneak into the library in the middle of the night.

Flashback

James, Sirius and Remus gathered around for James' plan. "First, we find a spell that enables us to map out the castle and all it's secret passages."

"Why?" Sirius asked. James and Remus slapped their foreheads and sighed exasperatedly. "Padfoot," James said slowly and patiently, as if talking to a child, "even with supernatural memory, how do you expect us to memorise all the details of the castle that is so huge?" Sirius blushed at his short-term stupidity (so that Sirius fans don't kill or at least, severly injure me). "Oh," was all the reply he offered.

"Yes, oh. Anyway, forgetting Sirius' stupid question ("Hey!" Sirius exclaimed indignantly), let's focus back on the main problem." James sighed.

"Which is what?" Sirius asked again. The other two groaned. "So now you have short-term memory loss?" Remus asked casually, as if they were asking about the weather.

"Hey," Sirius sniffed (awwwww...), "what's this? Let's-pick-on-Sirius Day?"

"We know, sorry Paddy."

"It's ok." There was silence except for Peter's snores.

"Back to the problem. To find a spell that enables us to map out the castle and all it's secret passages." James looked expectantly at Remus.

Remus stared back at him. "What?"

"Well?"

"Well what? I don't like where this is heading, James."

"You're the one with the answers."

"You're the one who came up with the plan in the first place. Remus pointed out. A staring contest broke out. Sirius sighed. This is going to be a long night.

All was silent until...

"No! Bad books! Leave me alone!" Peter tossed and turned and as a result, fell of the couch which woke him up.

"Wha -?" Sirius suddenly had an idea.

"Guys!"

"What is it?" James and Remus said together while not taking their eyes off the other's.

"We could go to the library!" That's when the staring contest broke.

"Brilliant idea Padfoot!"

"The library, why didn't I think of that?"

"Thank you, thank you. You're far too kind." Through this, Peter remained clueless.

"Guys?"

"When do we go?"

"Guys -"

"Today?"

"Guys -"

"Nah, tomorrow, at midnight, we go. I'm far too tired tonight." James commented while yawning.

"Good idea."

"Let's go get some sleep." Sirius suddenly felt less hyperactive. Peter had it. "GUYS!"

That stopped the trio in their tracks as they turned to face him. "Oops, sorry Pete."

"Wha-what are you guys talking about?" James' reply was, "didn't we tell you?"

"T-tell me? T-tell me what?" By now, he was completely confused.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. You were asleep." James said as if it was a new revelation to him. "Never mind, come here Wormy." Peter groaned at the use of his hated nickname but did as he was told. Ten minutes later, the four went to get a night's rest with Peter still digesting what was explained to him.

End of Flashback

And that was why the Marauders, as they call themselves, ended up sneaking into the library after curfew. The trip could be consideredsmoothuntil James suddenly signalled them to stop and be quiet. "Nox," he said softly and the light from the wand tip disappeared. It was just in time too, because a second later, under the Invisibility Cloak, they watched as Argus Filch, the Caretaker, lifted the lantern around their hiding place, grunted and walked away.

After he was a good distance away from them, they sighed in relief. "Wonder where his blasted cat is," Sirius asked in a whisper. The "blasted cat" refers to Mrs Norris, Filch's cat.

"Don't know, and I'm not staying around to find out. C'mon, let's hurry get the book or books, whichever applicable, we need and get back to the Gryffindor Tower before someone finds us gone."

"Good point Moony."

"Of course he has a good point, he's Moony." Sirius said to Peter. "Come on, let's go." James waved his hand a little, signalling for them to follow him. No words were said until they have reached the library.

Frantic yet trying to keep as quiet as possible, they spread out to find what they needed. During the search, one or two prefects had walked pass where Peter was searching near the library entrance, forcing Peter to change into his Animagus form, a rat.

After what seemed like forever, which in actuality is only half an hour, Sirius found the book they were looking for. Gathering the group, they went to a corner to see what it have to say.

Map-Tracing

A charm created by Henry Fills the Third in 1769, it allows the user to map out a place without having to memorise the place. The smallest detail would be inside the map if this spell is used. All that needs to be done is to point the wand to a piece of blank parchment, and say Mapus and walk throughout the place the user would like to map, and the charm would traced itout exactly. This is often considered Light Magic although some had called it Dark Magic because sometimes the intent is dark.

Silence followed Remus' words. "I guess this is the one we're looking for then." Sirius finally said.

"No shit sherlock." James deadpanned. "Guys, this isn't the place nor time to be fighting." Remus said. Ever the logical one.

"Ok, now we need to find a spell that makes names appear on the map that will be exactly where the actual people are standing. We also need to find a spell that allows us to put a password and makes fun of anyone who tries to open it without the password." James thought aloud. The other three raised an eyebrow.

"You really have it all planned out huh James?" Sirius voiced out all three of their thoughts.

"Yup, now let's hurry."

"Wait, when I was looking through the book, I think I saw which spell we needed." Sirius spoke up when his fellow Marauders got ready to find the spells needed for the plan.

"Hold on..." he took the book from Remus and flipped through it. He could be heard mumbling "here? Nope. Here? Nah. Not here either. Aha!" Sirius whisphered triumphantly. "Here we go," and he read out loud.

Password

A charm created by Dalissa Ave in 1603, it allows the user to place a password on an item that needs protection for privacy (eg. diaries and personal notebooks). All that needs to be done is for the user to point the wand at the item, and say Pasa clearly. If it is not said clearly, the item would burst into flames. To see an additional protection, please turn to page722.

Sirius did as instructed and flipped the page to 722. The others gathered more closely to read the book.

Password Protection

A charm created by Gills N. Holm in 1707 to add on to the charm by Dalissa Ave (see page 614), it allows the user to add an extra protection from potential and future intruders. Point the wand to the item and say Pasu and should anyone try to open the item by force, words would appear to humiliate or warn the intruder. To change or add words, please say Edite after pointing the wand at the item.

Sirius closed the book and James could feel exhaustion coming on. "Let's go guys. And don't leave the book behind Padfoot."

Sirius looked offended that James would think that he would leave it behind. "I won't," he said, stating quite clearly in his tone that he was not happy with the suggestion at all.

Taking forty-five minutes to return to the Tower because "damn prefects seems to have multiplied" (James), they said the password to a confused-looking Fat Lady, because according to her, "noone was there". She opened a big enough gap for them to pass through. As soon as they took off the Cloak, they sat heavily on the couches. A comfortable silence followed this.

"Well," Sirius stood up first, "I'm going to bed. All that searching and reading has made me exhausted." He announced and walked into a room which said "Sixth Year Boys Dormitry". James rolled his eyes but followed Sirius' example. Remus and Peter followed after and they went to bed, falling asleep as soon as their heads touched their pillows. The shrunken book lay forgotten inside of Sirius' pants pocket.

To be continued...

Phew! This chapter is longer than I expected! I've noticed a bit of Sirius-bashing in here and I would like to clarify that it is not intentional. I am not making it a habit out of it, so Sirius lovers, don't worry. Was it good? Boring? Please review! No flames please! Talking about reviews, here are the replies for the reviews I received last chapter:

Mei1105: Thank you for the compliment. I hope this is soon enough for you.

Emeldir aka Finduilas: Thank you. You're not being pushy, and I have stated the year in this chapter.

Millicent-vs.-Hermione: Hello to you too!

luprius: Thanks! Is this long enough for you?

BurpingBubbles: Thanks!So this plot is original? Here's the chapter! Love your pen name by the way.

Sonicdale: Whoa. Don't worry, I don't think of it like it's a flame. I'd rather call it improvement guidelines. Thank you for your compliment as well.

1. True, thanks for telling me that. I'm working on trying not to go into first person, but it could be a while.

2. I'm actually best at dialogues but I'm trying my best not to start with dialogues. It's actually midnight and people are sleeping. Notice that "SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO SLEEP HERE" line? Yeah. But I should have mentioned the place didn't I?

3. Actually, I missed the word. I was supposed to include it inside the sentence. Thank you for pointing out my mistakes.

Thank you for your compliment once again. I don't have a beta reader but I'm thinking of getting one the next fic I write. Is this length enough for you? Thank you once again for all the guidelines and I'll edit it ASAP (hopefully).

geektothemaxx183: Thanks a lot!

felinefairy91: Here's the chapter, enjoy and I'll be sure I will.

EosRaven: Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm not a big fan of his either.

Buckbeak's Revenge: Thanks and the pun is very overused isn't it? So I can't blame you for not liking it. Love your pen name as well.

Loki Mischeif-Maker: Thank you for the welcome and compliments! Don't worry, you're not putting me down. Thank you for pointing out my mistakes. I just hope this chapter is as good, or even better than the last!

Atled Willy: Thank you!

livy black: First of all, thank you. Second of all, Sirius doesn't keep putting them to sleep. It's just that he was ranting in the first paragraph.