A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long. I hope it's worth it.

Pursuing Sanity

By: Max Pilote

Chapter Ten – The Marauders' Map

It was morning once again, and the Great Hall was once again crowded with students for the morning meal. The conversations were along the lines of the usual, though the incident in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class was still an avid topic amongst the students. The staff table, of course, was filled with professors save for two empty seats.

Towards the later part of breakfast, Professor Lupin and James Potter entered the Great Hall. The former Auror was smiling as he seemed to always be, for he was a carefree and seemingly relaxed man with an innate ability to spread an odd sort of cheer. Remus Lupin, however, was a man with secrets, and they were dark. He was far more uptight than James, but he was always more calm with him around.

Of course, if the three Marauders hadn't spent the entire night reminiscing, they might have been earlier for breakfast. James and Remus spent the night filling Sirius in on everything that he had not already been told of in James's letters.

"Whose class are you visiting today?" asked Remus as he and James took their seats.

James shrugged and smiled, "I figured I'd visit old Snivellus today during Harry's class."

The werewolf laughed slightly, "When are you two going to stop torturing each other?"

A wicked smirk was the only answer he received to that question, it was expected. Everyone in the same year as James and Snape knew that there were probably no rivals bitterer than those two. There was no clear reason why they hated each other, for that was something only they knew.

"Before I do that," started James, "I will probably check Filch's office for the Marauders' Map, but I doubt it's still there."

"Why wouldn't it be? Are you saying that someone in this school is skilled enough to actually get it from there?" suggested the professor.

"It could happen," his friend suggested. He gathered things on a plate and draped a napkin over it. "You have fun in class. I'm gonna go feed and walk the dog, right?"

James laughed and waved to Remus as he left the Great Hall, stopping only briefly to ruffle his son's already messy hair before disappearing around the corner.

Sirius, who had been lazing around in front of the fire as the black shaggy dog that was so familiar to James, lifted his head as the door to Remus's living quarters opened. The body of the dog twisted and stretched before it stood as a man before his friend.

"Food!" exclaimed Sirius excitedly as James handed him the plate. "It's food!"

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," replied the wizard as he took a seat in one of the overstuffed armchairs in front of the fire. A heavy sigh escaped his lips as his shoulders sank slightly, his body relaxing with the release of the frustrated breath.

He seemed tired now. The dark circles under his eyes were more defined now that he had seemed to relax. In fact, if it had not been for Sirius pulling at his sleeve, he might have fallen asleep.

"What is it?" asked James, not even bothering to look at the sickly wizard unwittingly vexing him.

"Are you aware of the fact that the night time is supposed to be used for sleeping?" asked Sirius teasingly.

"I am well aware of that, Padfoot," answered his friend with an irritated growl. "Just because people are supposed to sleep at night doesn't mean that they do or that they are able to."

"Aww, is wittle Jamie-kins having scary nightmares?"

"I'll give you nightmares you—"

"Come on, James. What's wrong?" pressed Sirius, his voice making a surprising change from a tone of teasing to that of concern.

"I just...no, we've got other business to take care of. Finish your breakfast," replied James bluntly. "Maybe we'll discuss this later. Maybe."

A small whimper indicated that Sirius felt a little rejected, but he sighed heavily and went back to his breakfast. After several moments, James stood up and pulled a coat off the rack by the door. His hazel eyes were distant and sad. Dark eyes followed his trail out of the door.

Nightmares were really the least of his problems at that moment. The horrid dreams served only to bring those problems to light through frequent nightmares. His worries weren't the normal ones anyone his age would have normally worried about. Instead, his thoughts dwelled on the Dementors currently hunting his friend and the rat that ran freely through his dreams and over the fragile structure of his now paranoid life.

There was nothing worse than a double dose of Potions with the Slytherins. In fact, Harry could remember a few times he had fallen off of his broom that were better than the class he was currently in. He watched through the steam coming out of the cauldron while he cut the ingredients as Snape paced through the classroom in his usual manner. Hands clasped behind his back, face emotionless or sneering...it was definitely a normal day in the professor's seemingly dark life.

Actually, he sensed that there was something more in his stealthy walk. It was as if he were angry about something other than the stick that was constantly lodged in his—

"Harry, watch what you're doing!" cried Ron. "You're going to cut your fingers off!"

The young Potter blinked and looked down. Indeed, Ron had stopped the knife, which had been dangerous close to cutting through the tips of his friend's finger. Harry laughed nervously and smiled.

"I'll finish those," said the red-head, giving a concerned look to his friend. "You go ahead and mix the ingredients in the cauldron."

There was a faint creak as the door opened. That faint creak, however, caused what little color was left in Snape's face to drain. He turned on his heel and saw what he deemed to be the most horrific sight that any god could dare him to look upon.

"James Potter," said Severus icily as he turned his cold glare away from the Gryffindors in his class to his arch rival, "what are you doing in my classroom? I don't recall inviting you."

"Aww, Snivelly, I'm hurt," said James with a smirk as he walked into the room, glancing at the third years within before focusing his attention on Severus. "You never invite me anywhere. I figured you just forgot and invited myself."

The Potions master rolled his eyes then pointed towards the door, "I am teaching a class. Get out!"

"Don't act like you're the only one who knows a thing or two about Potions. I guess it slips your mind that I'm a former Auror, and we know a good deal about these silly little concoctions you make in this pathetic little place you call a classroom, Snape," continued James as he walked through the rows, peering into random cauldrons. "I guess you also forget that I had better marks than you. No, I doubt that slipped your mind, but it would be hard to keep track of. After all, it's just one of the countless things which I surpass you in."

While Snape struggled for an answer, James stopped at Harry's cauldron. The potion was supposed to be a dark green, but the two Gryffindor boys working at the cauldron were mortified at their potion, which was a horrific shade of brown. Discreetly, the marauder dropped something in the cauldron. It bubbled and became dark green.

"Potter," growled Snape, causing both Harry and James to look up at him, "get out of my classroom. Whatever you have to say can wait until my class is over!" The glare currently fixed on James would have sent a series of chills down any student's back.

James Potter, however, seemed to not even notice. He finished his seemingly innocent inspection of the class and left without continuing his conversation with Snape. As the door closed, the satisfying shrieks of several unfortunate young Slytherins whose cauldrons had began to spew their contents in every direction rang out in the hallway.

He took a deep breath and started to leave the dungeon. That was just what he needed to get his brain working again. Of course, it was not the only prank he had done. There was no need to even glance at his watch to know that at that precise moment, several unhappy toilets were going to start roaming the hallways. Exploding toilets were always a little more amusing to Mr. Prongs, but they didn't create a large enough window of time for him to get into Filch's office and out.

A curse echoed in the empty hallways before Filch hurriedly left his office with his cat trailing closely behind. This indicated that James's plan had been executed perfectly, as most of his plans were.

Before the door had time to close, James had entered the forbidden area that was the caretaker's office. He searched it quickly and thoroughly for any signs of the Marauders' Map. While he found quite an impressive store of items (from which he had formerly contributed to and now freely took from), he saw no sign of the item for which he searched.

Footsteps were coming down the hallway. With a heavy sigh, James turned and quickly left the office, hurrying out of the dungeon as if he were going to help in the chasing of the toilets. In the confusion, he ducked into an emptier hallway and went to tell Sirius the news.

While he walked down the hallway, however, he saw something interesting. A set of identical twins came out of a secret passageway which he had believed to be a mystery to them. Standing out of view behind a statue, he watched one of them pull a paper out of his cloak.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

James quickly turned and went in the opposite direction. Then, he waited for roughly thirty seconds before he began to travel down the hallway again. The Weasley twins were gone by now, which is what James had expected.

Sirius stared at James in disbelief as the wizard entered. He had left looking like one of the most depressed people in the world, yet he now stood in the doorway with a cheerful smile.

"Okay...you have to tell me exactly what happened!" exclaimed Sirius as James came in and sat down beside the fire. "You leave here looking like some sort of zombie and come back smiling like you just pulled off some sort of elaborate prank."

"Remy's gonna be pissed when he gets back, but I'm sure he'll get over it. They probably have him out in the hallway chasing toilets," replied the joyous Prongs. He watched as Sirius's drop open, but cut him off before he could ask the question. "Our map isn't in Filch's office. The toilets were a diversion so that I could get into his office."

"Well, if it isn't in Filch's office, where the hell could it be?" asked the fugitive as he watched James.

"I think we should be asking two identical red-headed brothers that question. The Weasley twins have it, and we need to get it back. Without it, we won't be able to find Peter so easily."

Sirius nodded and nearly jumped out of skin when something began tapping at the window. James walked over and opened it, letting a familiar owl in. It was a typical brown owl, but he had a little scarf tied around his neck and a pair of miniature goggles like they showed in old movies of pilots in their rickety old planes.

"What the hell is your owl wearing?" asked Sirius as he watched the owl drop a package on the table between the chairs and perch on James's shoulder. The package was a broomstick wrapped in brown paper along with a sealed cardboard box attached to the broom with strings.

"It was a collaboration between Lily and Harry when he was four," replied his friend. He gave the owl a treat, which nipped his ear playfully before flying off again. "At least Lily's thinking about me," he muttered as he unwrapped the broom and set it by the wall.

He opened the box and sighed. There were several indications that she was still angry with him. The most blatant clue sat at the top, which was a framed picture of a school-aged Lily slapping the young James. He winced as he watched the scene replay over and over again in the picture.

James sighed and threw it in the trash, the glass shattering when it hit the bottom of the waste basket. The rest of the contents in his box were simply things she thought he needed, which showed that she wasn't about to leave him over a small spat like that. There were some clothes, pajamas—things a doting mother my send her child at summer camp.

There were two things at the bottom of the box, though, that made his heart almost stop. In the beautiful colors of England sat his Quidditch uniform...right beneath his Auror badge.

Padfoot frowned as he watched James. He shook his head and decided to intervene. He grabbed James's broom and handed it to him.

"I think you need to get your head in the clouds," he said with a smile and demanding tone. "Have some fun."

It was now a Saturday, and the Gryffindor Quidditch team was already starting their practices for the year. Remus watched as they did their drills, practicing play after play. His eyes were on Harry most of the time, who was definitely his father's son. The young boy had a natural talent on that broom. He was born to ride it.

Being the parents that James and Lily were, they encouraged him in everything that he was good at. Thus, Harry was the only kid in school with a Firebolt. James was a little more dedicated to his old broom and still used it instead of getting a Firebolt for himself. Sirius called him a sentimental old fart, but that was back when they were in school and was over two completely different brooms.

Remus chuckled as he remembered the old Sirius. Of course, Sirius hadn't changed so much. Or rather, he had changed but changed back slightly when he was around his friends again.

In his reverie, Remus hadn't noticed a few of the Slytherin Quidditch players come onto the field.

Wood groaned as he and the rest of the team landed.

"Is this going to be an annual thing?" he asked with a scowl, his dark glare fixed on the captain of their rival team.

"We've got permission," was the reply.

"As do we, but we were here first so get lost," continued Wood.

"I've got a better idea."

All the players on the field turned to see James Potter standing in his Quidditch robes with a smile on his face. Like Harry, he wore goggles instead of glasses because they had a nasty tendency to fall off one's head when flying at high speeds. His hazel eyes held a glow of excitement behind them.

"How about a friendly skirmish," he said with a smirk. "One bludger, no new plays, and no cheating. If tradition still holds, I bet you dirty Slytherins still do a lot of that."

Harry watched as Draco Malfoy step forward and stepped to the front of his team as well.

"My dad says the only reason you're a Quidditch player is because you're too crazy to be an Auror anymore," he said with a sneer.

"Yes, well, I'm glad your father can take so much time out of his busy day ruining other people's lives long enough to stick his large nose into my business," replied James with a laugh. "What's your job on this team, anyway? Target-practice for the Beaters?"

"No, I'm a Seeker," replied Draco indignantly.

"Oh, don't blame yourself. Slytherins have never really been good at Quidditch," remarked the professional with a smile. "They've always had to scrape the bottom of the barrel."

Remus shook his head, once again amazed by his friend's inability to mature past the age of fifteen.

Well, he had actually gotten better. If it were their fifth year, he would have simply cursed him.

After several more exchanges, James decided it was time to start. They attempted to play a friendly game, but Slytherin lacked the ability to not cheat. Fortunately, the England Quidditch player had seen all of their tricks before and prevented anyone from getting injured.

The werewolf sitting in the stands watched James and Harry in the sky together.

It was too perfect. With a smile, Remus picked up the camera he had borrowed from James and took a picture.

James stretched as he pulled on a fresh set of robes. He frowned when he smelled what was supposedly supposed to be fresh mountain air. It was the laundry detergent that Lily always used. His heart broke, knowing that she hated him at the moment.

There was a knock on the door of his living quarters, for Dumbledore was kind enough to give him somewhere to stay, and then the door opened.

"Remus!" said James with a frown. "I could have been naked, you know."

"You act like I've never seen you without your clothes on," replied the werewolf, rolling his eyes. "Besides, you're not the impressive."

"Oh, I knew you swung that way," retorted Prongs with a smirk as he straightened out his robes.

Remus growled and random article of clothing at James, who caught it and tossed it in a chair. "Dumbledore wants to see you in his office, prat."

"Why?"

"Snape."

"Oh.

It sounded as though James had been expecting this for quite some time now, but all three of them had. Snape would be watching them very carefully. It was the only reason James refrained from letting Sirius wander around without the invisibility cloak. Even the slightest of hints that the fugitive was anywhere in Hogwarts Snape would be aware of.

The professor watched as James put his wand in his pocket. Under normal circumstances, there was no reason for anyone to bring a wand into Dumbledore's office.

Someone was going to end up in the Hospital Wing.

"Do you want me to come?" asked Remus with a frown, knowing that someone had to be there to calm the wizard down should Snape push him over the edge. There were a few subjects that were to be tread upon lightly. Undoubtedly, Snape would stomp on them.

James shrugged and sighed heavily as he started to leave. He decided to leave that decision up to Remus. There was really no doubt in his mind that things were going to go too far and someone was going to kick the other's ass.

Thus, a thick air of tension hung in the air as the two Marauders entered to room. Dumbledore sat behind his desk watching the three with a calm gaze while Severus sat in one of the three chairs set before the headmaster's desk. He wore the usual scowl on his face, but there a slight hint of satisfaction in his glare. His eyes followed Remus and James as they came in and took their seats.

Remus glanced sideways at his friend and noted that his hands were in his pockets.

The wise elder was the first to speak. "James, it seems Severus has accused you of harboring a fugitive here on the grounds of Hogwarts. Is this true?" he asked.

As arrogant as always, James simply smiled and shook his head. "Not that I know of," he replied.

"There, it's settled," said Albus with a smile. "I believe it is almost time for dinner. Maybe James would like to join his son—"

"That's it?" exclaimed Snape, jumping to his feet. "You're going to simply believe him because he said he's not hiding him?"

He growled and turned to James. "You've always had them fooled, haven't you? As many times as you got in trouble, all you had to do was flash that charming smile and world bowed before you, didn't it?" he said angrily. "Not only did you get Head Boy, but you even got Lily! Oh, I thought she was much smarter than that, but then she started dating you."

At the mention of Lily, James was on his feet. Of course, he was a gentleman at times and a gentleman always defended his lady's honor.

Of course, Severus was not yet finished. He seemed to have lost control of his temper, but it wasn't exactly a surprise. It had been building up since their school years together.

"Then you two got married and had that little brat who's just like his father—arrogant and stupid! But a happy family wasn't enough for you, was it, Potter? No! You had to go and supposedly defeat the Dark Lord, making the entire wizarding world worship you like some sort of god."

"I didn't go looking for him, Severus! He came to me and I did what I had to do to protect my family!" yelled James, his own anger rising.

Remus jumped up and grabbed his friends arm. "James," he said, "calm down before you do something you'll regret!"

"He's right James. You don't want to embarrass yourself further," continued Severus, now taunting James instead of yelling at him. "Then again, what could be more embarrassing than the man who defeated Voldemort losing his job because he's a nutter?"

"I'll show you what's more embarrassing!" yelled the enraged wizard. He jumped forward to bludgeon the antagonist standing before him, but Remus got in his way, holding him back before someone got seriously injured.

Everyone in the room froze when a loud pop rang through the office. They turned and Dumbledore cleared his throat. "I do believe we need some time to calm down," he said sagely. "Professor Snape, Professor Remus, you may leave. James, if you can calm down long enough, I'd like to speak with you."

As the two others left, James sank back into a chair and doubled over. He took a few deep breaths before he calmed down. After several moments, he sat up and looked at Dumbledore.

"It doesn't mean anything," said the headmaster as he watched the wizard. "You realize that."

"It hurts, Professor," replied James, his voice shaking and emotions strained. "I don't know how to convince them that I'm not crazy! How? How do I fix everything?" He looked at the wise old man, searching desperately for answers.

"You can't fix everything." It was a simple answer, and certainly not what he wanted.

"I suggest staying away from Severus for some time, and maybe getting yourself a nice hot cup of tea," continued Albus. "Take some time to calm down, and the answers will come to you."

He shrugged, deciding it couldn't hurt to take the old man's advice. James stood and left the room silently. He didn't have anything worth saying. The wizard sighed as he came to his current sleeping quarters.

Remus was already there. He placed a cup of tea on the table by the fireplace for his friend. "I thought it might help calm you down," he said with a small smile. "It's always a comfort to me when things are rough."

"Thanks, Remus," replied James, "for a lot of things. I'm sorry I lost my temper."

"You don't need to apologize to me," corrected Remus. "I've known you too long." He chuckled and placed the teapot on the table as well. "Sleep well, Prongs."

"You, too, Moony."

Remus left James to his own thoughts. He returned to his own quarters where Sirius was sitting by the fire in his human form reading through the Daily Prophet. He turned around in his seat and frowned as he saw the look on his friend's face.

"What happened? Why are you so sad?" inquired the fugitive.

The professor sat down in the chair beside his friend's and let out a heavy sigh. "I feel useless," he admitted, knowing that there was no reason to beat around the bush with his old comrade.

"Oh, you're not useless, Moony!" said Padfoot cheerfully as he bounded from his chair and knelt in front of Remus. "You're the voice of reason and—"

"Some voice of reason I am!" cried Lupin.

"Well, I was going to say that you're the brains—"

"Stop it, Sirius! I'm not the voice of reason anymore and I don't have the brain to solve these problems! I just have no idea how to help you and James solve your problems! It's gotten to the point where I'm not sure if I'm even fit to be called a Marauder anymore. I'm no help to you guys."

Remus hung his head and buried his face into his hands out of frustration—and to hide the fact from Sirius that tears were starting to roll down his cheeks.

But you couldn't hide something like that from one of your oldest friends and especially not if that friend was Sirius Black. The fugitive moved his friend's hands and pulled the wizards face up a little.

"We don't expect you to be able to solve all of our problems, Remus," he whispered softly. "We just need you there for support. We need you here to stand by us when no one else will. Please, Moony, don't feel this way. No matter how many problems you can't solve, you will always be a Marauder."

Life had been cruel to Remus J. Lupin, but he would never openly admit it. He could never find that one person that he could just break down with when everything was hopeless.

The walls built up around the werewolf's emotions broke. He leaned forward and buried his face in Sirius's shoulder and started to cry. There as no way for him to explain why—or for him to stop.

Thus, as Sirius held Remus, trying his best to calm his friend down, he let a single tear roll down his cheek. This tear was followed by another, and then another.

"It's gonna be alright," whispered Sirius. "Everything is going to turn out fine."

He held onto the crying Remus and continued to cry himself, wishing that he could believe those words.

Author's Notes: There's really only one review I want to address, because, frankly, it sort of pissed me off.

Whoever you are (you could at least have the guts to sign your name or a name or something), I'm not trying to be completely and totally serious about this, alright. I like the way that I am doing things, and apparently, so do a lot of other people. Besides, I will do things that way I want to do them in my fanfictions. This being said, I really have no comments on what you wrote. Those are issues that I have thought about, but this is something I do on my spare time. I don't have the time to be that serious and in-depth with it. You are the only person out of the several who have read this fanfiction that has a problem with it, so I'm not going to change it. I would also appreciate it if you didn't review again, please. I don't want to have to put up with your whining. Wow, I think that sort of does count as a comment...doesn't it?

So, for those you who were wondering, that damned bastard did not scare me off. I'm slightly just lazy.

Woo! That was cool! Anyway, be on the look out for chapter eleven coming real soon! We're nearing the very end, so be wary!