The Marauders had been working extra hard that year on pranks. It was, after all, their last year of Hogwarts. James had finally convinced his love Lily Evans to go out with him, even though he was forced to deflate his ego. Sirius continued being to ladies' man of the group. Peter, the slacker, had dropped out of school in the end of 6th year, finally pursuing 'other' dreams. Remus had become more responsible, though slightly disappointed when James received the position of Head Boy. The boys had been planning their latest prank on the Slytherins in their dormitory room when James ran up. The black haired Marauder had pulled out a certain old piece of parchment.
"Finished!" Prongs grinned foolishly and proudly at his friends. The Marauder's black hair was as messy as ever and his hazel eyes were full of mischief. The sandy haired Remus looked up interestedly.
"Does it show everyone?" Remus asked, his blue eyes lit with calm excitement. He had just been though his transformations the night before and was keeping his mind off it by plotting.
James sighed dramatically, "My dear friend, I decided it would only be proper to open our masterpiece together."
Sirius, who was lounging on his bed with a relaxed attitude, barked out his laughter. "Jamesie didn't want to twy all by his lonesome?" Sirius mocked jokingly. The teen had a handsome face and elegant hair. Though he had become more reliable, he still had had many girlfriends in this term.
Prongs, who had gotten used to his friend's mocking by now, just said, "To open it, say our motto and tap it with your wand. Ready? One, two, three!"
Three deep voices echoed out, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." The parchment unfolded and they found themselves looking at a wonderfully detailed map, full of miniscule footprints. Remus, the most logical, looked through to see if he could find himself. In small writing, he saw the names James Potter, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black sitting motionless in a small room in the Gryffindor Tower.
With a yelp of delight, Sirius began dancing a victory dance in the room. Remus saw with amusement that the map showed the exact movements Sirius' feet were making. He grinned and pointed it out to Prongs.
With an evil smirk, James took out his wand and muttered incoherently. Immediately, Padfoot began hopping from foot to foot saying, "Ouch- James! - Ow-take-ouch-this spell- owie-off! Ow!"
With a small smile, Remus mumbled the counter curse… after he watched the map for a while. With a relieved sigh, Sirius said in mock hurt tones, "Remind me to never express my feelings of happiness near you lot ever again."
"Did likkle Sirius get a boo boo?" grinned James with a not so small bit of smugness in his voice. Sirius sent James a mean look and proceeded to jump on the bed to see the rest of the map.
Over the next week, the Marauders went through almost every secret passageway the map showed. The boys had already discovered most of them, but they could always find new Hogwarts surprises. They went out of their way to study a random person's movements for a whole day at a time. Of course, Prongs watched Lily the whole time the map was out while Padfoot and Moony made sure they had chosen a worthwhile person to spy on. They first spied Frank Longbottom, then Snape. Snape was definitely the most amusing of all.
The Slytherin spent most of his time alone in the library, and only went into the Common Room at night. The Marauders had fun making up conversations Snivellus was having with the few people he talked to, especially the girls.
After two weeks of spying on random friends and enemies, they decided to see who knew the most people. To prove it, they had to be able to describe them. Remus was in charge of making the actual list considering the pranksters loathed anything that involved ink. That is, unless they were using it during their pranks. One memorable one had been when they had 'drawn' magical ink mustaches on all the Slytherins, even the girls. Snape had gotten an extra special one, with the word 'loser' situated inside the ink.
During the competition, the Marauders slowly realized that they all knew the same people. Sirius, though, was ahead by one person, who happened to be a girl. As they finally were about to give up, accepting that they knew everyone at Hogwarts, they saw someone pacing in the Room of Requirement.
The boys had only been in there once, and they had found it rather dull. A room with everything they need. How boring. It was much more fun to steal. What really surprised them was that they didn't know the person in the room. They stared at the name in shock, realizing Hermione Granger was the only person in the school they didn't know. So, the guys did what they did best: formulated a sneaky plan.