It was fairly early in the morning when Remus and Sirius made their way back into the dormitory. The two of them were surprised when they saw James hunched over a stack of papers. He looked up when he heard them. "Oh, hey guys," he said. "Shouldn't you be heading down to the Whomping Willow before Remus transforms?"
"We just got back," said Remus. "Did you not realise it was seven in the morning?"
James looked over to a grandfather clock in the corner of the room. "Huh, so it is," said James. "Apparently I've been up all night."
"What the hell were you doing?" asked Sirius. "Didn't we plan all this so we wouldn't all be up all night every night?"
"But guys," said James. "It's done."
"What's done?" asked Remus, looking over James's shoulder. "Wait, is this…"
"The map," said James proudly. "I think it's done. Now, for the last step…"
"Wait, we need to grab Peter," said Sirius, dashing up the stairs to grab him out of bed. It wasn't long before Sirius returned with a groggy looking Peter behind him.
"This had better be good," said Peter, rubbing his tired eyes.
"It will be," said James, pulling out his wand. "We've got the map done. Now, in theory we can make the map into a single piece of parchment using the conjoining spell."
"James, we only got taught that yesterday," said Remus. "And none of us really mastered it then. And you've just gone all night without sleeping. I don't think…"
"Oh, what's the worst that could happen?" asked James, aiming his wand before clearing his throat. "Coniungo." The stack of papers on the table suddenly started flying into each other, before leaving a single, larger sheet of parchment on the table.
"Did…did it work?" asked Peter.
"I hope so," said Remus. "Otherwise all that hard work has been for nothing."
"Let's have a look, shall we?" said Sirius, picking up the paper and unfolding it. "Holy crap…"
"What? What is it?" asked James, as Sirius slammed the map back down on the table. "Oh my God…"
"It…it worked…" said Remus.
"I can't believe something James did actually worked," said Peter, earning him a punch from James.
"Look, there's Filch in his office," said Sirius, pointing out a dot on the ground floor labelled 'Argus Filch', with another dot labelled 'Mrs. Lewis' sitting nearby.
"And there's Dumbledore pacing around his office," said Remus, pointing out another dot a few floors up from Filch.
"And there's McGonagall, heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast," said Peter, pointing to another dot.
"And there's us," said James, pointing to Gryffindor Tower. "And there's Lil…" James stopped as he realised Lily Evans's dot was coming down the stairs of the girl's dormitory.
"Hey guys, what are you doing up so early?" asked Lily, as Sirius hid the map behind him.
"Nothing," said all the boys in unison, making them seem all the more suspicious.
"Right…" said Lily, not believing them at all. "Well, I'm gonna go get breakfast. See you." She started making her way towards the entrance. "Oh, and Peter? You may want to get dressed properly." Lily disappeared down the passageway towards the entrance covered by the Fat Lady.
"That was close," said Sirius, putting the map back on the table. "We probably need to figure out a way to turn this thing off before someone sees what it is."
"Way ahead of you," said James, wand in hand. "Mischief managed." All of a sudden, the map began folding in on itself, and became blank.
"Whoa," said Peter, staring in disbelief. "Then how do we get it back?"
"Simple," said James. "Just say the words 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good'." The map then immediately started to reveal itself again, but this time with some more text on the top.
"Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers, are proud to present THE MARAUDER'S MAP," read Remus. "Really James? You gave us all nicknames?"
"Well…" said James. "I mean, we couldn't use our own names. And now, if it falls into the wrong hands, no-one can know it's us, right?"
"I guess…" said Sirius, as James closed the map again.
"Guys, come on, we did it," said James. "The Marauders Map is complete." Suddenly, James let out a huge yawn. "Just give me a minute." And with that, James collapsed on the couch, asleep.
Remus sighed with annoyance. "And this is why we shouldn't be up all night," he said, preparing to wake him up.