Author's Disclaimer: I didn't invent Harry Potter, the Dursley's, or any other recognizable character. They belong to that great and honored J.K. who I am trying to humbly honor by inventing a few new characters to interact with hers.

Author's Note: I appreciated those of you who have taken time to review. I will try to update this story about every week and make it no longer then two if I can help it.

Chapter Three

The Vault

The ride was a considerably long one, about 20 minutes, passing several dragons, breathing fire at them, and other security measures of the bank.

Harry was getting a bit sick by the time the cart arrived, and he noticed that both Odila and Remus looked a little green, as well. All three of them, a little shaky, exited the cart and stood on the solid stone floor. Griphook looked at them and gave a toothless grin, "It's been awhile since I was this far down, too. The ride is a little more than what I'm sure the three of you are used to. Key, please."

Harry handed over the three keys and Griphook selected the one he needed. "Griphook, can you somehow identified each of those keys, so that I know which vault they belong too?"

"Certainly, it is a simple matter of selecting a symbol for each vault. I will get you the symbol list and the numbers of each of your vaults, so you may identified them yourself," and with that Griphook took the key and inserted it in the hole, while using his other hand to run a fingernail down the length of the door. "This vault also requires a sample from the heir, himself, and any others wishing to enter it. Simply put your hand over the keyhole and state your name."

The three of them did so, Harry first and Remus last. Harry was a bit surprised when the door glowed red for him, green for Odila, and gold for Remus.

"Griphook, what did the color change mean?"

"Simply, that you were all acceptable by means of either being a descendent of the vault's owner or you had already been keyed in by another relative."

As the door changed back from gold to the dark brown it normally, the door opened with several sounds indicating that of a long time of disuse. They walked in and took a look around. Remus and Griphook were the only ones that didn't have their jaws hit the floor. The one wall in the vault is fill of books from the top to the bottom. Most of the books were magical. One of the wall had pictures on it the other wall all sort of weapons. But to Harry surprise one of the walls was blank except for a coat of arms. That Remus was walking up to and pulled out his wand touched the coat of arms in the middle and announced, "I, Remus J. Lupin, solemnly swear that I am up to no good." As he said this the wall stared to shake and slid to one side and inside was a table and three chairs, also a bookcase full of books and several other prank ideas. It was decorated very much like the Gryffindor common room, except it also contained pile of boxes covered by an old sheet. Remus walked into it, went to the bookcase, pulled out a certain book, and sat in one of the very comfortable chairs around the table.

Harry started toward the room, and to his dismay the wall slid back so that he could no longer see his mentor. "Odila, did you see that?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Harry, I did. What do you suppose it is?"

"Must be some kind of hidden vault room. Griphook, do you know anything about this?"

"No, sir. I don't. But there is a record of something being added to this particular vault about eighteen years ago. I don't know the specifics, if you'd like I could go and ask the head of my department for the record."

"No, thank you, Griphook. I think we can figure this out on our own. Is there a way that you might let us have some privacy for awhile?" Odila asked.

"Of course, I shall be waiting in the cart. Take as long as you need," Griphook stated as he made his way out of the vault.

"Why did you do that? That might have been the only way to get to Remus?" Harry shouted, he was a bit upset.

"Harry, did you hear what he said before the wall slid out of place?"

"Not really. I was too stunned by everything else, and the lack of anything on this wall except for this strange coat of arms."

"Well, I overheard some of it. It had something to do with 'being up to no good.' Do you know of anything that has that phrase in it?"

"Yeah. A map of Hogwarts. Fred and George gave it to me during my third year, so I could get to Hogsmead. The Marauders created it."

"Yeah, and examine the coat of arms, Harry. Do you see anything familiar about it?"

Harry turned to study the coat of arms. It resembled the Hogwarts crest, except it was divided into three instead of four. Each third had an animal on it; on the right, a stag, on the upper left a werewolf, and on the bottom left, what looked like a grim. On the hilt of each sword, Harry could just make out a single white lily.

Odila pulled out her wand and reverently touched it to one of the lilies and then the grim, as she stated, "I, Daffodil Anne Black, solemnly swear I am up to no good." The wall immediately slid to one side again, and allowed Odila to pass through to the small room on the other side.

When Harry tried to quickly follow her, the wall slid closed again, blocking him. Harry studied the coat of arms once more, pulled his wand, reverently touched it to the other lily and the stag, and stated, "I, Harry James Potter, solemnly swear I am up to no good." The wall slid back to allow him entrance.

"Wow, Remus. How did you do that?" Harry exclaimed

"Your fathers and I did this the summer after sixth year, Wormtail had to go to his family vacation and couldn't make it to James' for a visit. I'm glad now that he doesn't know about it. We decided to keep all of our really cool prank ideas in this vault, so that one day we could sell them and make some money for a Lycanthropy Research Institute. I believe that Prongs and Padfoot also put a book they wrote about becoming Animagi during school."

"That's really cool, Uncle Moony," Odila said, as she looked up from the bookcase. She had gone straight there after entering and was now looking for the book on becoming an animagus.

"Hey, Remus?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"How would one go about becoming a marauder?"

"This book, 'The Official Marauder Handbook,' should answer any questions you might have. And yes, Fred and George are only lacking one qualification."

"Really?" Harry asked.

"Yes. Although since it is rather difficult for them to now become illegal Animagi at school, I'd let them in, anyway. Besides, I doubt they'd object to doing so now, even if they only piss off their mother."

"I bet you could talk them into helping you out with the research institute, as well, if you'd let them see the prank books and the rest of this stuff," Harry suggested.

"That's a good idea, Harry. I think I might talk to them about it. See if they wouldn't mind an old Marauder as a partner."

"Of course they wouldn't, Moony," Harry replied, "And if they don't I can always demand my investment back."

"Blackmailing, Harry?" Odila spoke up, "I think my father must have rubbed off on you, especially since you're doing it to your friends."

"I'm getting hungry," Harry said, ignoring Odila, "Why don't we write down what we want to eat and I'll write a letter to Fred and George asking them to go get it and meet us down here?"

"Great idea, Harry," Remus replied, getting up and going over to the bookcase. He pulled off of the top shelf a roll of parchment, a quill, and an ink bottle. He handed it to Harry.

Harry tore a piece off and handed it to Odila saying, "Write down what you and Remus want."

As Odila wrote down their food order, Harry wrote the following, 'Fred and George, I have an interesting business proposition for you, if you will please get the following food from the Leaky Cauldron or Florean's, get something for you too, and come to Gringotts, ask for Griphook and he'll bring you to me. I sincerely hope that you will find this of enough importance that you will close your shop for an hour or two.

Harry

P.S. Moony requests your presence.'

Harry folded the parchment and took the one Odila held out to him, added his own lunch request and left the Marauder vault. Walking back through the Family vault he noticed a lumpy stack of something covered by a muggle dust cover underneath the portraits. He opened the vault door and called out, "Griphook?"

From the cart came a funny sort of burp, then appeared Griphook's head, "Yes, Master Potter?"

"Would you take this note upstairs and have it delivered to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes?"

"Yes, sir," and with that Griphook jumped out of the cart and came over the Harry no longer looking at all odd from the wild ride.

"Could you please wait for them to arrive and ask them this question," and Harry whispered something in the goblin's ear. "If they answer Moony, Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail, could you bring them to this vault and let us know that they've come. They'll be bringing food is that okay?"

"It is your vault, Mister Potter, whom you wish to come in, may. If you want to eat in the vault, that is also not a problem," and with that Griphook started back to the cart

"Griphook?" Harry called.

"Yes, Mister Potter."

"Could you call me Harry?"

"I would have to become your Financial Advisor in order for that familiarity to be permitted by the bank for someone of you status."

"Oh," Harry thinks a moment, "When you come back can you explain to me how that could happen?"

"Of course, Mister Potter."

"Thank you, Griphook."

After Griphook took off in the cart, Harry reentered the vault and called out, "Moony, Odila will you come out here, please?"

A few moments later, he saw the blank wall moved back and out walked Odila and Remus.

"What do you want, Spike?" asked Odila.

"I wanted to check out some of the stuff out here while we're waiting for Fred and George. Can you guys help me get the cover off of this pile?"

"All right, Harry."

After some tugging and careful lifting, the cover came off to reveal an ornate dining table with eight chairs set around it, and an assortment of weapons on the top of the table. There were swords, daggers, bows, quivers of arrows, and staffs. In the middle of the weapons sat a small box. As Odila and Harry started to touch the various weapons, Remus said, "Wait. Let us open the box first, there may be instructions for these."

Harry lifted the box from the table and Odila moved over to stand beside him, her wand drawn, "Just in case," she said to Harry's raised eyebrow.

As Harry opened the lid, a soft melodic sound floated through the vault. Inside was a parchment and a small book of needles. Harry lifted the parchment and began to read aloud it's contents:

Greetings Potter descendant,

You have just found the greatest kept secret in all of the Potter family history. Before you can know what exactly you have found, you must first pass the ancient blood test and if anyone that is not of Potter descent is with you, you must inform this parchment of who they are and why you trust them.

To take the blood test, remove a needle from the book and drop a single drop on this parchment.

Harry looked up at Remus, "The rest is blank. Should I take the test or wait?"

"I think it would be best to wait for another day. We still have Fred and George coming, remember?"

"Hey, that's right, how will they get into the marauder's vault?" Harry asked.

"A currently accepted marauder has to swear that to the best of their knowledge the person they are sponsoring is up to no good."

"Who sponsored Harry and I?" Odila asked.

"Prongs and Padfoot. I think it was just after Harry's first birthday because Professor Dumbledore was there and made a comment about Hogwarts being invaded by the Marauders children."

"Why, what happened?" asked Harry.

"If I remember correctly, I believe you and Odila had something do with bouncing Tonks and Padfoot while making Dumbledore's beard cycle through the colors of the rainbow and leaving it multi-colored for the entire party no matter what he did. I do believe he told us the next day that as soon as he had left his beard returned to normal. A few days later he came to visit Prongs and Lily and as soon as he walked in his beard returned to rainbow. Which was odd considering Odila was with Padfoot and I at the time."

Harry and Odila were holding their sides. BANG! Harry and Odila jumped. Then came Griphook's voice, "Master Potter, Misters Weasley to see you, bearing gifts."

Remus quickly levitated the weapons to an empty rack, neatly and put the box with parchment and needles on the floor in front of them. Harry went to the door of the vault and opened it the admit Fred and George. Griphook took him aside and handed him a roll of parchment, saying, "This will explain about the various bank officers you should personally look into having for an account of your size, and inform you in the procedures to request certain goblins for the job."

"Thank you, Griphook," said Harry, putting the roll into a pocket of his robe. "I'll be just a while longer is there anything that you need to do elsewhere?"

"I have been informed that I should wait as long as you need me to, sir."

"Have you had any refreshment?"

"Yes, while waiting for Misters Weasley."

"All right, then. We'll try not to be too much longer."

"The bank will be closing in about three hours, sir. You will need to be done for the day at least a half hour before that."

"Thank you, Griphook," and Harry reentered the vault and sat down to eat.

While they were eating, they reminisced about Hogwarts days, from the marauders map to Odila's first year and meeting with the twins. After quite a bit of laughing, George finally turned to Harry and said, "You said that Moony wanted us here?"

"Yeah, I did. Fred, George meet Remus J. Lupin also known as Moony."

"Really?" said Fred.

"Cool!" exclaimed George.

"Thank you, I think," said Remus.

"We didn't know that you were" said Fred.

"A marauder when you taught at Hogwarts," finished George.

"I was the more studious of the group, not that it didn't help when it came time for thinking up alibis," Remus said, "But that is a story for another time. We asked you here for a certain reason. We have a hidden room in this vault that contains the secrets of the Marauders. Prongs, Padfoot, and I made it just before our final year at Hogwarts. Harry, Odila and I have decided that you should be entitled to this information. But there are some conditions."

Fred and George were leaning on the edge of their seats, "What are they? We'll do anything to become acquainted with the Marauders secrets," George said in an awed whisper.

"First, you must learn to become Animagi, and only reveal your forms to the three of us and any that decide to join us later. Second, I wish to become a partner in your joke shop. I've valuable experience in the prank department and many of the secrets would not be understood without one of the original Marauders. Third, a portion of our profits must be saved to fund a Lycanthropy Research Facility. That's all of the conditions, what do you say?" Remus explained.

"Yes!" the twins shouted at the same time. "But," continued Fred, "we have something to show you, first." They looked at each other for a few seconds and nodded. They stood up and moved away from the table. When they were in the middle of a large space, they coughed to get their audiences attention. Two small pops sounded, and where Fred and George had been there was a silver back ape and a tiger.

"Wow!" whispered Odila.

"Awesome!" exclaimed Harry.

"Well, when did you do that?" asked Remus.

"During our time in Umbridge's classes. We figured that we could defend ourselves better if we had something unexpected under our robes," George explained, after they had changed back.

"We figured that she wouldn't teach us anything useful after the first class, so we checked the library for some study material, and this is what we thought would be the most fun after we finished," Fred continued.

Moony got up and shook both of their hands. "Congratulations, you met all of the requirements to become Marauders. I will give you nicknames based on your forms after I have gotten to know you a bit better. But that's good enough for now."

He then went to the crest and touched the wolf and said, "I, Remus J. Lupin do hereby solemnly swear that Fred and George Weasley are up to no good and have met the requirements to enter herein."

The four young people entered the vault and the twins explored the bookcases a bit, while Remus stayed outside and added something to the crest. Harry and Odila sat at the table, Odila picking up the Animagus book and Harry looking through the photo album Remus had left on the table when he went to help Harry.

Remus entered the vault about ten minutes later. "I see the twins have found the prank and joke books. You may each take two at a time, I don't want too many leaving the protection of this vault. But you have to take this one," he said walking over and pulling a thin book from the top shelf.

"Why that one?" asked Gred.

"This is the one that holds the small amount of pranks James, Sirius, and I came up with to use during the war. They were never finished to the point that we could use them and after James died, I had no way of getting into this vault to work on them."

"We have an idea that we think could go into that book," said Forge.

"Right," said Gred, pulling out of his pocket an extendable ear, "we used them to find out information at Grimmauld Place."

Odila looked up from her book and let out a small snort, "I guess some of my ideas actually stuck, huh?"

"Of course,"

"It took a while,"

"But we did it."

They all started laughing, and could barely hear the sound of Griphook's magically transferred voice telling them it was time for them to go.

They left the vault after Harry promised the twins that they would come back before school started so they could borrow more books. After they left the bank, the twins took off for the shop telling Remus they were looking forward to seeing him at his earliest convenience.

The others went back to the Leaky Cauldron and their rooms, Remus telling Harry and Odila that they were going to explore the next day.