The night after Remus was released from the hospital wing, the Marauders decided to try out the prefects' bathroom. They fashioned up an Out of Order sign to hang on the door so they wouldn't be disturbed, especially considering the fact that Remus was the only one of them who was actually a prefect. They filled up the room's swimming-pool-sized bathtub with multicolored soaps and foams, fiddling with the dozens of different taps set around the tub. Peter's favorite was a sapphire-topped tap that produced a stream of sudsy water that changed color every few seconds. Then they stripped down to their boxers and dove off the tub's diving board, with James attempting an elaborate midair flip that led to water and soap flying everywhere, before settling along the marble steps lining the tub and reclining contentedly.
"This place almost makes me jealous of the prefects," Sirius said with a sigh. He had an arm slung around Remus's shoulders—even after several months, Peter still sometimes found it strange to see them together the way they were. "And that's saying something."
"Quidditch captains get to use the prefects' bathroom too," said James from beside Peter. "And I will most certainly be our team's captain next year. Frank told me so at today's practice." He and Sirius fist-bumped proudly, and Peter gave a delighted cheer at the news.
"Speaking of Frank Longbottom," Remus said, "can we talk about how I nearly mauled him and Alice the other night?"
The Marauders exchanged glances; this was the first time since the full moon that Remus had broached the subject of their escapades that night. "I dunno about nearly mauled them," James said. "Sirius and I held you back before you could get anywhere close to them. They didn't even notice you."
"Still, it was pretty reckless for you to take me out of the Shack."
"Well, maybe," Sirius conceded, leaning forward so he could meet Remus's eyes, "but no one got hurt, Re, and your wolf loved it. He was so happy to be out in the open."
"Yeah, I know." Remus's lip quirked up in spite of himself. "I don't think the wolf's ever felt so happy. It was…fun, for both of us. Different." His smile quickly faded. "But also ridiculously dangerous. Dumbledore would have me expelled if he ever found out."
"He's not going to find out," Sirius insisted. "And James and I aren't going to let you hurt anyone. You can trust us, Remus; you know we won't let you hurt anyone."
The two of them locked gazes for a long, heavy moment while James and Peter watched silently. Finally Remus gave a little nod. "All right," he said. "I'll trust you. Please don't make me regret it."
"Yes, Moony!" James raised his fist in the air while Remus rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Next moon, we can go searching for more mysterious trapdoors out on the grounds. Maybe we'll find one into Slytherin's common room next."
"That would be brilliant," Sirius said dreamily.
"It's strange that there are so many secret passageways around Hogwarts," Peter observed. "I wonder who made them."
"I think we should try to find them all before we graduate," James said, sitting forward with a glint in his eyes. "Our Animagus forms can help us dig things up on the grounds, and we can use my Invisibility Cloak to look for passages around the castle on the nights when there's not a full moon. We've stumbled on so many weird things around this place without even trying—I'm sure there's still plenty more left for us to find."
"Seems a bit pointless to find a bunch of passages for no reason," Sirius said. "We won't be here for too much longer anyway."
"We can map them all out and pass on our knowledge to our progeny, Pads." James was starting to talk too fast the way he always did when he got excited about something. "It'll be a map for all the future Potters and Blacks and Lupins and Pettigrews. How amazing would that be?"
"None of us are going to have children, Prongs," Sirius said with a smirk.
"Then we'll give it to the next generation of Hogwarts mischief-makers—we've got a legacy to uphold, after all. Someone's got to continue the work that we've started."
"That's actually not a bad idea, James," Remus said. "Hogwarts is Unplottable, so it's hard to put on a map, but we should be able to map the castle and grounds internally."
"Well, if Moony's in, I'm in," said Sirius, squeezing Remus's arm. "It's not often he agrees so readily to one of our plans."
"I'm in too," Peter added quickly. "I sometimes forget where the passages are, or even some of the classrooms. I'd love to have a map of Hogwarts."
"Then it's settled," James said delightedly. "Now we've just got to—"
"What is this?" came a gravelly voice from outside the bathroom. "Who put this sign here?"
"Shit," Sirius whispered. "It's Filch." Quickly the Marauders leapt out of the tub, soaking wet, and James ran to hide under his Invisibility Cloak, ushering Sirius and Peter under as well while Remus wrapped a towel around his waist and went to answer the door. James, Sirius and Peter huddled together underneath the Cloak, their bare wet skins pressed uncomfortably close together.
"What is it, Mr Filch?" Remus asked innocently as he drew open the door.
Filch stepped inside with a scowl, his pale eyes flitting around the room while his cat purred loudly behind him. She was probably the one to alert him to their sign, Peter thought.
"There's a sign on the door saying the bathroom's out of order," Filch growled at Remus. "I didn't put in there, and I've no idea who did."
"Wasn't me," Remus said with a shrug. "But the bathroom's fine, see? I've just been taking a bath in here for the past hour—I would've noticed if something weren't right."
Filch inspected the bathroom one last time, his eyes skimming right over the Marauders waiting tensely under the Cloak, before muttering something under his breath and exiting with Mrs Norris in a huff.
Remus shut the door and sagged against it, sighing with relief. James threw the Cloak off the rest of them. "Thank Merlin he didn't catch us," he said. "I think I've just about had it with detentions for the year."
Sirius tilted his head to the side to wring water from his hair. "You know," he said, "that's something that would be really nice to have on our hypothetical map. A way to tell where all the people are in the castle, not just the passageways. Imagine how much easier it'd be to avoid Filch if we knew where he was all the time."
Remus frowned, stopping on his way back to the tub. "Actually, I think I might know a spell that could do that."
The other Marauders watched as he ran to the bag he'd left by the bathroom entrance and pulled out a hefty book entitled Advanced Charm Work.
"That's not one of our textbooks," James said. "Are you doing extra homework again, Moony?"
Remus ignored him, flipping quickly through the pages. "Here," he said; "the Homonculous Charm." He handed the book to James.
"'The Homonculous Charm can be placed onto an object in order to track the movements of nearby people,'" James read. "'The charm's range of effect can be up to approximately three miles depending upon the skill of the caster. It is not fooled by concealment charms and disguises, and will faithfully report the names and locations of any person within the spell's range.' Oh, this is perfect, Re!"
"It's a very advanced spell," Remus said. "But I think I could figure it out if I worked at it for long enough."
"That's my Moony." James gave him back the book and cannonballed into the tub, spitting out a stream of soapy water as he emerged. "Blegh. All right; Padfoot, you're the best at drawing, so you can handle all the artsy stuff."
"Says who?" Sirius demanded.
"Well, the doodles you scribble in your notes are definitely better than mine and James's," Peter pointed out.
"That big dog on your History of Magic parchment last week was impressively accurate," James added.
"Yeah, I know." Sirius heaved a sigh. "All right—I suppose I can handle the drawing stuff. You got any paper, Remus?"
"Now?"
"I just want to try something out." Remus fetched a spare bit of parchment and a quill from his bag and handed them to Sirius—Sirius laid back against the marble floor and began to write, his eyebrows drawn in tightly with concentration.
When he was done, he sat up with a satisfied nod and held up his paper to show the others. James climbed back out of the tub, curious, and Peter and Remus leaned in over Sirius's shoulders to read. In stylized, curly letters, he'd written:
Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
Are proud to present the Marauder's Map
"The Marauder's Map," James murmured. He gave Sirius a cheery wet hug from behind. "Brilliant, Pads; I love it!"
Peter broke out into a grin as he studied Sirius's writing. The Marauder's Map…it would be their legacy, like James had said, something that could outlive them all. Maybe one day he would be known to future Hogwarts pranksters only as Mssr. Wormtail. He found the thought strangely comforting.
"I love it too," he said quietly. "When can we start?"
