A/N – Hello everyone! Looks like I got the page numbers mixed up! Oh well, I'll fix that up later if I ever decide to re-write this, which I am not planning on doing. I hate to re-write stuff because I personally feel that it is best the way it was! Anyway, please enjoy!

The Cold Room

"I'm sorry that you can't come, Harry" Hermione sighed as they walked down the stairwell from Gryffindor tower. Both Hermione and Ron were dressed for the cold weather, while Harry wore torn up jeans and a baggy shirt. Harry had his defense book in hand.

"It's all right – Uncle Vernon wouldn't sign it," Harry replied.

"Bad luck, Mate, we'll bring something back for you though," Ron said, trying to make Harry feel better.

"Don't worry about me, I need to go to the library anyway," Harry shrugged.

"WHAT!" Ron looked as if he would keel over any minute while Hermione squealed in glee.

"You're mental!" Ron said, but Harry just laughed.

"Look at what I found! It says here that Werewolves are very protective of their family and those that they feel are family to them, So, here is what I want to know…" Harry explained his theory.

"You think Professor Lupin is a Werewolf?" Ron asked.

"It makes sense! He has been sick around the week of the full moon ever since he came here! You do remember how sick he was on the train?" Hermione asked.

"Exactly! I'm going to go look up stuff about Werewolves and then go talk to Lupin about it," Harry said.

"Do you think he'd appreciate that?' Hermione asked.

"He said he knew my parents, maybe Dad knew about him," Harry said.

"Well, IF the Professor is a Werewolf, why would Dumbledore let him teach?" Ron asked.

"Lupin is very good at what he teaches, and he did come to school here, I mean, Dad did, and Lupin said that he knew Dad and he has always alluded to stuff that happened with Dad and his friends, it makes sense that they both went to school here or were even in the same house and year!" Harry explained.

"Just be careful, I hear that some Werewolves don't like to be confronted on it, Professor Lupin can lose his job because of it," Ron said.

"We don't want that to happen," Hermione shook her head.

"No we don't! Lupin is so much better than Lockhart!" Harry smiled.

"What a smarmy git! I never liked him!"

"Still, losing his memories was rather much," Hermione sighed.

"Don't tell me you still have a crush on him!" Ron looked at her scathingly.

"What are you talking about Ron?" Hermione sniffed.

"You still have that permission slip for that book from the Forbidden Library section that Lockhart signed for in second year!" Ron pointed out.

"It's nice! And loopy!" Hermione rolled her eyes.

"What's loopy?" someone asked. The three turned to see Professor Lupin coming out of a class room.

"Oh, Hermione has a permission slip for a book that she got Lockhart to sign in second year, she said his hand writing was loopy," Harry explained.

"Ah, I remember him…" Lupin had a far off look in his eyes.

"Really?" Ron asked.

"Was he a stuck up git?" Harry asked.

Lupin gave them a smile; "In deed he was, he was always trying to one up James, once he took credit for a prank that the Marauders did, James wasn't happy about it and hexed Lockhart to go around and say "James Potter is a god!" all week long," Lupin laughed.

"My Dad did that!" Harry asked, his mouth slack.

"You look like a fish out of water, now please, close you're mouth," Lupin said. Harry did so.

"That is brilliant! Harry, you're Dad is cool!" Ron laughed.

"What was that about the Marauders, was it?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, the Marauders were a group of students who pranked everyone, there favorite targets were the Slytherins, no one could figure out who they were," Lupin said with a secretive smile.

"Than why did Dad hex Lockhart? Was he part of the Marauders?" Harry asked.

"Like I said, no one knows, James could have been, but then again, maybe not, he could have been best friends with them though…" Lupin had a mischievous look in his eyes.

"Why is it that I get a feeling that you know more than you're letting on?" Harry asked the Professor.

"Maybe because I do, I do want to tell you everything!" Lupin sighed.

"But Dumbledore would have my head…"

"Has that ever stopped you before?" Hermione asked.

"Not at all, now, I believe that Professor Snape gave you all some homework on…Werewolves…" Lupin cringed at that last word.

"I've finished it!" Hermione cried.

"Well, I'm sorry about that, I was going to tell you not to bother with it," Lupin shrugged.

"Are you taking it back now?" Ron asked.

"No!" Lupin laughed, "No need to do it,"

"Thank you, Professor," Harry and Ron said at the same time.

"James always hated homework, he made me promise that if I ever taught here that I wouldn't make the students do more than they had to for the class, in fact, I wasn't even going to teach you about Werewolves," Lupin explained.

"Than why did Professor Snape do that lesson?" Harry asked.

"He's always rather have the defense position than potions – I'm not sure why, maybe he just wanted to give you all an excuse to do homework on something you have no idea on," Lupin shrugged.

"Now, I must go, I need to look up some things," he said.

"So do I, may I come with you?" Harry asked.

"What about Hogsmead?" Lupin asked with a raised eyebrow.

"My Uncle didn't sign it because I blew up my Aunt," Harry said.

"Really?"

"She was saying some things about my parents, I didn't know them, but I'm sure that Dad wasn't a drunk," Harry said with a shrug.

"In deed he wasn't, still, there were those instances where he would sneak some fire whiskey, but it was never enough to make him drunk, he was responsible in that at least," Lupin sighed.

"We have to go, the trip will start soon," Hermione said.

"We'll bring something back for you," Ron said and then the two continued to the court outside the entrance of Hogwarts to await the chaperones and the other students. Harry mean while, walked quietly beside Professor Lupin; wondering if his theory was truly off, or truly right.

"So, do you like the library?" Lupin asked.

"No really, Hermione does though, but I found something interesting while Professor Snape was substituting and I just wanted to check it out," Harry said.

"Really?"

"I just wanted to know if the Ministry of Magic had anything against Werewolves have families, I mean, they aren't dangerous all month long, only during the full moon," Harry said.

"True," Lupin nodded.

"Do you know anything about it?" Harry asked. They were drawing near the library now.

"A bit, but it's complicated," Lupin said,

"Can I ask you, you know…if you don't mind, that is?"

"All right," Lupin gave Harry a look.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, you're the best defense teacher we ever had!"

"Thank you Harry," Lupin said.

"I wanted to talk to you, I think it would be best if you learned a charm that would dispel Dementor's,"

"Extra lessons with you! Cool!"

"It is a bit of hard magic, but you can do it," Lupin ruffled Harry's hair a bit.

"When can we start?" Harry asked.

"How about Monday evening? After dinner?"

"I'll be there!" Harry smiled. They both entered the library then and went to their own separate sections. Harry Didn't know what Lupin was looking up but it had to do with some cursed objects (There was a separate section in the defense sections of the library) while Harry looked through the History of Magic section. If there were laws, he figured that they would be in the history sections.

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The big, black dog waited in the underbrush of the Forbidden Forest; it was quite hidden there, even with the cold snow covering the ground. He watched as several students made their way to Hogsmead, Harry wasn't among them, but the dog was glad of that, Harry was in danger as it was – even inside the castle – but Padfoot knew that Wormtail wouldn't dare do anything for fear of being caught.

The dog growled to itself, he hadn't received a reply from Moony about the letter he had sent to him weeks before, but he was sure that meant that Moony didn't want Padfoot to get into any more trouble by his hiding place being found out. Good old Moony was like that! He always did have a firm grasp of situations, no matter how weird they seemed.

Padfoot whined then – he wanted to see Harry, the boy would be thirteen now, from what he had seen at Winning Surrey, the boy looked exactly like James! James Potter had wire rimmed glasses though. Harry's were thick and ugly, but those green eyes stood out! Just like Lily's….

The dog stood and shook itself of the snow before going into the forest, he had to find something to eat before trying his luck to get inside the castle with Professor Dumbledore knowing. Though, Padfoot wasn't sure hoe much the Head Master knew all ready.

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The rat was laying on Ron's pillow when Harry got back to the dorm – he had a couple of huge books with him, but both seemed promising and even Professor Lupin had said that they were good choices for the old laws that Harry wanted to find.

Harry took no notice of the rat, even though the rat seemed very interested in the books. Harry shot the rat a glance as he opened up the first book. There was nothing in the index about the laws he was after and so he decided that he would have to go through it chapter by chapter. However, as his stomach grumbled, he knew that he had to get something to eat first.

He closed the book and left it on the bed – then he went out into the castle again, but this time, he went to the kitchens. Professor Moony had dropped a hint as to how to get in. He seemed to want Harry to feel comfortable with him and so he had told about the first time James and Sirius and himself had gone to the kitchen in order to lay a prank on the whole school.

Harry hadn't thought of Professor Lupin being a trouble maker, but Lupin had explained that he had always been a loner and whenever James or Sirius would include him something, he would go along with it (as long as they didn't get into too much trouble or if it wasn't too dangerous). Harry smiled; he figured he'd have to do something along those lines in order to make his father stop rolling around in his grave because his son wasn't one to prank people!

Harry was looking for the portrait of the fruit basket, when four hands dragged him into an unused class room. Harry was surprised to see George and Fred grinning in front of him.

"What are you two doing? Aren't you going to Hogsmead?" Harry asked the twins.

"We've come to give you a cheer-up," Fred gave a wink.

"An early Christmas present, if you will," George said, pulling out a bit of worn parchment.

"It's blank," Harry dead panned.

"'it's blank' --"

" – says he," Fred and George rolled their eyes heaven wards before huge grins formed on their faces.

"This, Harry, is the secret to our success -- " George said.

"We know it by heart, so we give it to you so that you, we don't need it any more," Fred said.

"But, it's blank," Harry raised an eyebrow.

"George, please explain," Fred smiled.

"When we were young, care free and innocent…" George started, Harry snorted at the 'innocent' remark, but the twins ignored him.

"We were hauled into Filches office for setting off a dung bomb in the corridor --"

" – For some reason he wasn't happy and was talking about detention -- "

" – disembowelment -- "

"Hanging in the dungeons by our ankles!"

"However, good old Peeves saved the day," Fred said.

"Yes, he was making a rather bad mess in the trophy room, Sir Nick came along to inform Filch -- "

" – who went off right away to run Peeves off,"

"And that was when we saw it! The door labeled "confiscated and highly dangerous"…we flitched if from filch and it has helped us out ever since!" George said. Then they took out their wands and tapped the parchment.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," they said in unison, and suddenly a loopy and rather sophisticated form of writing started to trickle over the parchment. Once it was done it said:

Messers. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers

Are proud to present

THE MARAUDER'S MAP

"Is that…?" Harry started.

"Dumbledore --"

" – pacing"

" – in his study,"

"Now, we suggest using the tunnel of the One Eyed Witch, the map will show you the pass word when you get close to it, it goes right to Honeydukes sweet shop," George said.

"AH, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, we owe them so much!" Fred fake swooned with his hand over his heart.

"Right, after you're done, don't forget to wipe it,"

"Or anyone can read it,"

"Just say 'Mischief Managed'," Fred said.

"Thank you," Harry said, still enraptured by the map.

"See you later," the twins said and then they left Harry in the class room, with the map. It then hit Harry….

Lupin had mentioned a group of pranking students, he called the 'The Marauder's' – he seemed to know all about them…what if…

"Naw! Lupin is way to tight to do stuff like that!" Harry waved the theory off. Then he wiped the map and went on to the kitchens.

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A/N – Someone mentioned the Marauder's Map; I totally forgot about putting it in! Okay, I took some quotes from the movies and books, but I tried to re-word everything else. I like the twins a lot because they're always finishing their sentences for each other! Putting in the dashes is fun! Lol! Anyway, Please review!

Ta,

Poppy