Mischief Managed- Chapter 7 "The Marauder's Map"
"Ahh, here's Mr. Lupin now," said Dumbledore with that seemingly permanent smile, "Remus, would you please escort Miss Weatherby and Mr. Just-Draco to their dormitories? They'll both be in Gryffindor."
"Sure thing Professor," Lupin replied, ready for action. "Wait…you said both were in Gryffindor?"
"Yes, Remus. So the hat stated. Why do you ask?" Dumbledore look inquisitive, though he knew exactly what Remus was thinking.
"Umm…he just reminds of many Slytherins I know, especially Lucius," Remus explained in a soft voice.
"Oh," Draco spoke up, "that's my…"
Then Ginny gave him a say-another-word-and-die look.
"What were you saying Draco?" Lupin asked curiously
"Oh…It probably wasn't important. Was it Draco?" Dumbledore said, staring at Draco intently, his eyes twinkling. "You three best be getting to bed."
"Oh and Ginny," Dumbledore said kindly as she turned to go, "if you ever require anything of me—or need any help at all, all you need do is ask…"
"Thanks Professor," she said with a smile. She knew that Dumbledore knew. The man knew it all.
"Right this way, Ginny and Draco!" Remus said in an unusually happy tone.
Remus had a good reason to feel happier than usual on a full moon night. The Marauders finally had just the incantation they needed to finish their magnum opus—the Marauder's Map. Lupin could see it now: Mrrs. Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs proudly present the Marauder's Map. Though it was a brilliant idea, Remus couldn't help feeling a bit guilty that he was helping his friends break about a thousand school rules by lending his expertise to the project.
"This passage," he paused as they reached the first floor, "leads straight to the Great Hall, where we eat all our meals. It's also the social center of the castle. By the way, what school did you two transfer from?"
Ginny and Draco stared blankly at one another.
"Er—Durmstrang—" Draco found his voice first.
"Really?" Remus said, quite interested, "I've heard that it's an excellent school, but—," he lowered his voice, "don't they have a bit of a shady reputation?"
Draco grinned evilly, "of course they do! At Durmstrang you actually learn the Dark Arts instead of that Defense rubbish you people do here."
Remus looked slightly offended; nevertheless, the smile remained on his face.
"Fascinating," he said kindly, "Well, this is Gryffindor tower. Each tower has a portrait guardian, and ours is the Fat Lady. This week's password is Snitch."
"Oh, and I suppose James is setting the passwords now." Ginny said jokingly.
Seeing Draco's apparent revulsion, Remus laughed, "Doesn't James wish he could do that!" he said lightheartedly, "I could just see it now. He and Sirius would be locking poor Peter out every other day! Anyhow, this is the Common Room. It's where you'll spend most of your free time. You can read and study and do—" he blushed as they walked by a snogging couple, "—whatever it is you want to."
So this is what it looks like, Draco said to himself. The Gryffindor Common Room was ridiculously overdone in red and gold, but even he had to admit that it was more comfortable than his own. The Slytherin one hadn't even had any proper seats until his father had donated the black leather recliners.
"Well," Remus said, "this is where we split up…Ginny, you will take the staircase to the right and find Lily Evans. She's got long red hair and a badge like mine, and she'll get you settled into your dormitory. You, Draco, will follow me."
"What the bloody hell did you bring blondie-boy into our dormitory for, Remus?" Sirius said, thoroughly disgusted at the sight of Draco, "I can see my Slytherin cousin and her disgustingly rude boyfriend any time I wish, and here you've brought mini-Malfoy himself into our room—he might have some disease."
Draco laughed in spite of himself, at least Black recognized good features when he saw them.
"Well, you see Sirius..." Lupin began calmly.
"THE BLOODY HAT PUT ME HERE!" Draco retorted as he crossed his arms sullenly, "It thinks I'll do better in Gryffindor. God that hat has gone to the dogs."
"Lights out!" prefect Lupin yelled, in an attempt to subvert any argument that may have followed, "We'll sleep on it, and it will all be better on the morning. Now, is anyone up for a chocolate bedtime snack?"
"You might want to save that for later, Mooney," James whispered to Remus with a wink.
"Later?" Draco said, attempting to sound uninterested. "What's later?"
"Oh…wouldn't you like to know. Nosy little git!" Sirius scowled under his breath.
"Nothing," Remus said louder to drown out Sirius, "I'm going to go to bed now, before these two geniuses come up with another clever idea to get us killed, or worse, expelled."
What Draco didn't know is that neither Remus, nor his other three roommates, had any intention of sleeping any time soon. They had important business to tend to before the full moon was out in full force that night.
Later that Evening…
"Excuse me. Sorry. Hello?" Ginny's eyes fluttered open. Had she fallen asleep?
A girl with long red hair and remarkable green eyes was looking at her with an expression of both amusement and annoyance.
"Sorry I had to wake you up, but this is my bed."
"I'm so sorry," Ginny jumped up quickly, "Remus just sent me up here to find the girls' prefect, and I was so tired that I must have just passed out."
The girl's face softened, "well you found her, I'm Lily Evans, and may I ask who you are?"
"I'm Ginny. I'm a transfer student from—eh—Durmstrang."
Lily raised an eyebrow, "and you're in sixth year?"
Ginny shook her head, "actually I'll be in fifth."
"All right," Lily said, "I'd advise talking to Professor McGonagall about arranging your schedule. Depending on your prior education, it might be possible for you to take some of the more advanced classes."
"Classes?" Ginny said, with a little disappointment. She had been under some sort of delusion that she and Draco were here as guests, rather than students.
Lily nodded her head, "well, its late, you go ahead and sleep here tonight, I'll pull out the couch in the Common Room."
Ginny's last thoughts as she fell asleep were of Lily's beautiful green eyes: eyes she knew and loved so well. Why couldn't Harry be here to see them instead of Malfoy? After all, Harry would do almost anything to see his mum and dad again. Sometimes that was what frightened her most about Harry: his stupid heroics. Ginny knew that was Harry's weak point. After all, that was the reason Sirius had died, the same strikingly handsome Sirius of this time. The Order had been fortunate that there had been no more causalities—yet, she thought to herself with a shiver…with Lord Voldemort growing stronger every day—there was just no being sure anymore.
Sunday, September 4th
6:45 AM
"That was the best full moon yet," James Potter exclaimed happily.
"Yea," exclaimed Peter Pettigrew, "Last night was just---"
"The best full moon ever?" Sirius Black suggested. Peter had been developing the annoying habit of repeating every statement James made.
Remus Lupin glared at Sirius, silently willing him not to be too unkind to Peter.
"Isn't it grand, Mooney?" James ruffled his hair, "Don't you like having some company?"
Remus rolled his eyes at him. "Yes, I suppose it is great unless you get caught..." Remus was not about to let his friends' stupid idea about becoming illegal Animagi get him in trouble. Until, in the previous term, they had actually done it, which greatly surprised Remus, who knew their stupidity greatly outweighed their intelligence ninety percent of the time.
He added as an afterthought, "I guess it's been nice to have some company."
"He looks a right sight better than he normally does," Sirius grinned, "and besides, I think I make quite a wicked looking dog, exceptionally handsome if I do say so myself."
"I'm in total agreement, Padfoot. In fact, I think you should make the change permanent," James stated quite seriously.
"Me too," Peter agreed eagerly, looking especially ratty after the transformation.
"Wish you would," Sirius said a bit coldly, "we could have been doing this a year ago if we hadn't wasted time helping you."
"Sorry," Peter mumbled, going red in the cheeks.
"Its fine Peter," Remus glared at James and Sirius, "just because you aren't as good at Transfiguration as them doesn't mean you're any less---"
"Oh come off it Mooney, are you going for sainthood or something?" James said to Remus, only half sarcastically.
"No, no Prongs," Sirius interjected mockingly, "he's dreaming about something better: Head Boyship..."
"That's great Remus!" Peter exclaimed, "You can get us out of detention."
"Mooney, Head Boy?" James laughed, "I wouldn't be surprised. It'll make front page in the Daily Prophet I'd expect: Remus Lupin: First Werewolf Head Boy—"
"You're right, mate," Sirius said confidently, "Mooney's the good one. He'll get the badge for sure."
"Keep your voice down," Remus implored, looking around the Common Room frantically, as if someone might have overheard their conversation.
"Mooney! Its seven o'clock on a Sunday morning, nobody will be awake at this hour, let alone be eavesdropping," James said with a grin.
"Having fun gentlemen?" a cold voice snapped from their doorway. Though only five foot one, Lily Evans could strike fear into the hearts of many with her mere presence.
"What the blazes are you doing, woman?" James said with horror in his eyes as he hid the newly dubbed Marauder's Map behind his back, "spying on us are you?"
"I heard you come in," she glared at her least favorite person, who looked much shorter than 6'2 at the moment, "I was asleep on the couch—"
"What the bloody hell for?" James was frantically messing up his already untidy hair.
"Well," she said importantly, "I am a school prefect, and so are you, Remus. What on earth happened to you?"
The young werewolf wasn't used to receiving visitors so soon after a transformation. He looked sheepishly down at the angry looking bruises appearing on his skin, and the fresh claw marks on his arms and legs.
"Oh well, I don't want to know. Wait a minute; you haven't been brawling have you? Because if you have, I'm going straight to Professor McGonagall—"
The boys looked guiltily at one another…
"Remus?" Lily looked expectantly at her friend, "Give me one good reason why you four mischief makers were strolling into the Common Room at 6:47 in the morning!"
Remus took a deep breath as he stared into Lily's emerald eyes. He was a terrible liar, but it was worth a try.
"We have a transfer student, Lily, his name is—" Remus stopped as the blonde in question appeared from the doorway.
"Where the fuck is the fucking bathroom?" Draco whined miserably.
"See," Sirius leapt over to Draco, putting his arm around him, "we had to take care of the little tyke. So, we brought him the essentials."
At that moment James stuffed the armload of stolen food from the kitchen into Draco's arms.
Draco looked at Sirius with revulsion, "remove your arm, and don't you ever touch me again."
"Oh bless him!" Sirius said, a little too sweetly to be believable.
Lily looked disappointed, though skeptical, "well, I suppose I can't punish you for trying to help your new friend."
"Brilliant! So you're free on Friday then, Evans?" James asked hopefully.
"Go to hell, Potter," Lily said through clenched teeth.
"Wait!" Draco said with frustration as the boys rushed off to their dormitories for an hour or so of shut-eye, "I still need to use the bathroom!"