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August Auction: Day 6, Auction 1 Magical Objects Marauder's Map

This story will be told from the point of view of the Marauder's Map. Which is a point of view that I have never written from before. So, there might be a slight bit out of character due to this being told from the point of view of the map. It's kind of biased towards Remus and the other Marauders. Word count is 1,280 words. I hope you all enjoy Becoming the Marauder's Map.


Once upon a time, I was but a simple piece of parchment in the possession of one Remus John Lupin. I had been kept very tidy and very safe in his bag of books with others of my ilk. They would always get chosen to written upon and to be handed to one of the ones who stand up front and talk all day. But I never was. Which is a thing that I'm glad for because then I wouldn't have become one of the most prized possessions anyone could find. This is the story of how I was created. My name? The Marauder's Map.

It had all started on a lazy Saturday afternoon. My owner Remus and his friends were down by the lake as I later learned it was called. They were bored out of their skulls with nothing to do but sit and watch the water.

"What do you think old Snivellus is doing?" the one called James asked, his voice sneering as said the name which I found strange. Who named a child Snivellus?

"I don't know," Sirius said, leaning back upon his elbow and looking up at something in the sky. "Hey doesn't that look like a pin-up girl?"

"It certainly does," Peter chimed, wanting to please everyone. But most of all the leaders of this small group. Sirius and James.

James was about to say something when a looked crossed his face. Anyone who knew these particular boys knew when that looked crossed James or Sirius's face there would be trouble. Double trouble.

"I think I have an idea about something we can do today," James said, jumping to his feet and walking over to where my owner sat against a tree reading a book. "Moony, do you have a piece of parchment I can use?"

"What for, Prongs?" he asked, knowing his friend well enough to know the look of trouble that was still fresh upon his face. "You aren't going to send Snivellus a Howler again are you? They tracked that paper back to me and I got in trouble for it last time…"

"No. Nothing like that."

"Then what?" Sirius asked, sounding curious as he joined them with Peter not too far behind him.

"What if we could know where everyone in the castle was at all times?" James asked, looking around his friend group. "We could pull off more pranks without getting caught. We could find Snivellus no matter where he's hiding. We could do almost anything our imaginations could come up with."

"How do you propose we do that?" asked Peter, looking up at James like he was Peter's own personal hero or something like that.

"I was thinking we could try and make a map with this spell I found in…."

"Not the Restricted Section," Remus sighed, putting a hand over face and shaking his head. "You wonder why we get in so much trouble all the time."

"No," Sirius said, laughing as he plucked me out of Remus's bookbag and handed me over to James. "We all know it's because McGonagall doesn't have a sense of humor."

"Or she's just fed up with you breaking the rules like everyone else is," Remus suggested, shrugging offhandedly. "I do however wish you'd stop and think before you do stuff that will get all of us in trouble."

"What's the fun in that, Moony?" Sirius said, walking back over and slapping Remus on the back affectionately.

"Alright," Remus said, knowing this was going to cause more trouble than not. "Show me this spell you found in the restricted section."

"Why you?" James asked, folding his arms over his chest.

"Have you been paying attention in either Transfiguration or Charms lately, Prongs?" Remus asked, folding his own arms over his chest with a look of content I told you so.

James, Sirius, and Peter all shook their heads even though Remus was talking only to James. The dark-haired bespectacled boy got up with a sigh and handed over the parchment and the book with the spell on it.

"Do you think you can manage it, Moony?" asked Peter, looking over Remus's shoulder at the spell in question. "It look rather complex to me."

"Everything looks complex to you, Wormy," Sirius jokes, ribbing Peter with good humor. "Even breakfast looks complex to you sometimes."

"Well there are a lot of choices," Peter pointed out.

"I think I can manage it," Remus said, setting me down on a rock nearby. He quickly began to say words that I'd never heard before. Words that sounded like the mumbo jumbo to me. When he'd finished his speaking he got quiet and looked at me expectantly.

What was it that I was supposed to do? I was only a piece of parchment. A tiny scrap of something that was much bigger. I couldn't do anything other than be used for something to write upon.

But then a strange thing started to happen. I began to stretch and elongate. I could feel something being etched into my parchment skin. A handful of something small being etched followed shortly after.

"I didn't think it was going to work for a minute there," James said, looking at me in abject awe. "See there's Filch prowling the halls around the Headmaster's office."

"Dumbledore's in the kitchens," Peter said, pointing excitedly at a spot that must have been the kitchen. I really wished that I could see what they'd done to me.

"Guys, do you see that?" Sirius asked, pointing to something next to where I assume a mouth would have been if parchment could have a mouth. "I think when we made the map we made it sentient too."

"Why do you say that?" Peter asked, he then looked at his shoes before looking at his friends. "What's sentient mean?"

"It means that the map can think and feel for itself, Peter," Remus said, looking at the book. "Did you read this spell properly. It says in the last paragraph that this could happen. The spell could bring the very object to life."

"Uh…." James rubbed the back of his neck and looked sheepishly at all of his friends, "to be honest, no I didn't. But seeing as what's done is done, why don't we give our new friend here a name?"

"How about we call it…."

"We're not naming it Bill, Wormy. That wouldn't make sense."

"It's a map, right?" Sirius asked, looking at me quizzically.

"Yeah," James looked at me too. His eyes shone with understanding which kind of scared both myself and Remus.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think am Padfoot."

"What are you two thinking so the rest of us can either agree or disagree with it?" Remus said, wishing he'd just kept his mouth shut.

"Well, it's our map, right?" Sirius asked, looking at the group who all agreed to that much. "How about we call it The Marauder's Map?"

"I like it," Remus said, surprise coloring his voice as he looked at me speculatively. "The Marauder's Map. It has a ring a to it."

"I still think it should be called Bill," said Peter. "But if it can't be called that, I guess that The Marauder's Map is as good a name as any."

"The Marauder's Map it is," Sirius exclaimed, holding me up in the air in triumph. "What should we use it for first?"

As the boys launched into a discussion of all the things they wished to do, I felt complete. I felt like I had a purpose in life. I felt like I was someone. After all, I was. I was the Marauder's Map and always would be.


I hope you all enjoyed Becoming the Marauder's Map as much as I enjoyed writing it.