1976

Remus had spent the greater part of the past few days working in the library on a project not even remotely related to his schoolwork; even he was surprised by this. Ever since his friends had become Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, he had wanted to do something for them. For the Marauders. He and the boys had been mapping out the passages around Hogwarts for years, and Remus had a few secret ones himself thanks to his need to sneak in and out of the castle at various times during the month. It was quite obvious what Remus should make as a present: a map.

Of course, this wouldn't be just any map. In order to make it useful for sneaking, you had to make sure you weren't caught. Remus, therefore, had learned about a charm that could be used to track people walking about the halls. It wouldn't work for most rooms, given Hogwarts' cloaking spells, but hallways didn't have this issue—and hallways were where they were always caught in the first place. Between this map and James' cloak, the boys would be unstoppable for the remainder of their time at school. There were just some finishing touches that Remus needed his friends' help with.

One thing Remus liked to do was keep things secret. Furthermore, he enjoyed making sure that if someone did try to uncover his secrets, they were turned away. He had used this spell before on class notes and his journals: if someone tried to read his things, he made the parchment insult them with Remus' own written voice. Of course, to teach a parchment how to behave like a person, you had to talk to it and train it to your voice. He had done this a bit with his friends, but for a piece of this complexity he would need each of the Marauders to take turns teaching the map.

Remus put down his quill and smiled. The Marauder's Map, as he had called it, was nearly finished. It certainly needed some more artistic touches, which Sirius and James could put on, and he assumed the boys would want to add some of their own ideas. However, as far as gifts went, Remus was sur this would be a home run. Six months prior to that day was the Marauder's first "nightly romp" during the full moon. Every month since had gone just as well, much to Remus' surprise, and he was happier and healthier than he had ever been during his life as a werewolf.

Standing up, Remus stowed the map in his robe and gathered his things, exiting the library. He turned the corner and began to head to the Gryffindor common room before he paused. He should check and make sure everything worked.

"Open me," Remus whispered, tapping his wand to the parchment he had discreetly taken from his pocket. Sure enough, the fanciful scrawl appeared, and Remus opened the map. There it showed his name floating right outside the library. The boy smiled and re-stowed the map once more, continuing on his way.

Eventually, Remus arrived in the common room. His friends were nowhere to be seen, which meant they must be in their room. Remus grinned and bounded up the stairs, opening the door.

"Boys! Do I have a surprise for you!" He exclaimed.

Pete, who had been napping, groggily sat up. James had been writing a love letter to Lily on his bed, and Sirius had been…well, it looked like he had literally been twiddling his thumbs, sitting on the floor. All four Marauders smiled.

"A surprise, Moony?" Sirius quipped. "Don't you think you've surprised us enough?" He joked.

"First the whole furry problem, then the fact that you actually do look at girls occasionally—" James was cut off.

"A real surprise," Remus said, rolling his eyes. "Not one that you already knew." Sirius' face lit up.

"Oh, Moony, do tell us," he pleaded. Peter nodded vigorously, and James patted on his bed.

"Marauders, circle up."

Peter climbed to the edge of his bed, Sirius got off the floor and jumped nearly on top of James, and Remus calmly took a seat at the foot of Peter's bed, smiling. Remus unleashed the blank parchment from his cloak. The boys' faces fell slightly.

"Oh, Moony…parchment," Sirius began, trying to sound excited. "It looks, er…"

"It's not parchment," Remus said, rolling his eyes, "It's a thank you—these past six months have been healthier, happier, and the best I've had since I was four. I feel like a real person again—"

"You are a real person," James insisted, poking Remus in the chest. "And you best not forget it—"

"Yes, yes," Remus said lazily. "Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you and let you all know how much I appreciate what you've done. So, I made you something."

Remus took out his wand and tapped the parchment gently.

"Open me," he said softly. James grabbed the map and grinned, reading aloud.

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs proudly present the Marauder's Map."

"The Marauder's Map?" Peter asked. "What is that?"

"Open it, Prongs!" Remus said gleefully. "It's a map of Hogwarts—charms tell you where everyone in the hallways are at any given time, and it has all the hidden passageways we've been mapping out for years—and a couple I've kept a secret," He added mischievously.

James opened the map and began showing it to the other boys.

"Look!" Sirius yelped. "There's Minnie patrolling the hall," He said, pointing to her name slowly moving down past Dumbledore's office. Moony, mate, this is—"

"Brilliant," James grinned, looking Remus right in the eye. "Absolutely brilliant. And you did this all for us?"

Remus nodded. "It's my way of saying thanks—and we can all use it. Whenever you're done, just tap it with your wand and say 'Fini' and the whole map goes blank—just like our notes we pass in class. I've added the bit where it insults those who try and read it too, but I need your help—the map needs to learn our voices and personalities. I've done mine, but yours…" Remus sighed. He took the map from James, whispered 'fini' and then tapped his wand again, saying:

"Revelio."

Remus' own scrawl began to float across the map.

Mr. Moony is wondering why he forgot how to get into his own bloody map.

Mr. Prongs has glasses and is in love with Evans.

Mr. Padfoot is a member of the Black family.

Mr. Wormtail is Peter Pettigrew.

James snorted, Sirius laughed, and Peter crossed his arms.

"Hey! You know more about me than my name!" He insisted. Remus rolled his eyes.

"I put in placeholders—it's up to you guys to add more about yourself, just like you did for our notes," he explained.

"Oh," Peter said quietly. "Well, let me see that then—what's the charm you used for this one to start speaking to it?"

"'Marauders,'" Remus said.

"Wait a moment," Sirius began, "Can we change the opening and closing charms as well?" Remus nodded and Sirius continued. "Right, so how about we make the first bit 'I am up to no good?'" He suggested. James' eyes lit up.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," He added. Remus grinned.

"And we can change the closing to something more us…how about 'mischief managed?'"

"Brilliant!" James exclaimed. "I love it. Moony, you are incredible," he said, beaming at his friend. "Here, let me add some stuff," he said, taking the map back from Remus.

"Marauders," He said, taking out his own wand and tapping the map. "Mr. Prongs is most in favor of all tings mischief, and he absolutely detests Severus Snape—who must be referred to at all times by his true name, Snivellus."

"Well hang on," Sirius began, "How can we call ourselves in favor is mischief when we are the only ones using this map? One day, there will be a little Prongslet, Moony cub, Padfoot puppy and, I don't know, maybe a little Pete—"

"Hey!" Peter squeaked.

"—and they'll need to use this map. Is there a way to determine who is worthy, and how to let them figure out how to use the map?" Sirius asked. Remus pursed his lips.

"I suppose…it would be complicated, and I don't think we could limit it to…" he rolled his eyes. "Biological successors. No way are Pete and I going to have kids," Remus joked, "So someone has to take over for us. Still," he paused. "I think it could be possible."

"Excellent!" James exclaimed, but Sirius looked puzzled.

"Moony…no kids?" He asked, a bit puzzled. Remus shrugged.

"No werewolf has ever had a human child," he explained. "What am I supposed to do—go walking a wolf cub on a leash? And even if I did have a human child…it would be like me."

James rolled his eyes. "Well of course he would be—he's half yours, isn't he?" James joked. Remus shook his head, and looked at his friends a bit darkly. James' face fell. "Oh…" He drifted off. "You mean—"

"I can't bear the thought of having a child grow up, from day one, and be a werewolf—it wouldn't be right," he said softly. "It was hard enough going through that as a young kid. A baby would surely die from its injuries," Remus explained, clearing his throat. "If it didn't kill its mother first."

The boys fell silent. They hadn't really thought of that. Remus smiled softly, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, cheer up," He said, trying to be joyful. "I'd be a wonderful godfather. And besides, I'd have to actually get someone to shag me first, which means I'd have to look at a girl," He grinned, "Which we all know is impossible."

Sirius put a hand on Remus' shoulder. "Your kid might not, you know. I mean, has anyone else with a furry little problem even tried?" He asked. Remus shrugged, causing Sirius to grin. "See! You don't know this for sure."

Of course, Remus' own son would be just fine—a bit irritable and sore at times before the moon, but overall fine—and it never caused Tonks any problems. The only thing young Teddy would complain about was the interest his Defense professor would take in him—wanting to get some sort of blood sample, getting overly excited by Teddy's existence and wanting to study him like some sort of creature on display. Eventually, the boy had to go to McGonagall's office and complain: "Minnie, I'm a half-werewolf metamorphmagus. I get that I'm special, and brilliant, and oh so wonderful, but I'm a human boy just like the rest of 'em. My professor can't prod me like he does."

Of course, Remus would never know any of this, so he just rolled his eyes at Sirius.

"Let's get back to the map," James suggested. "We've got loads to tell it."

For the rest of the day, the four Marauders finished up their map and began discussing how to put it to good use. Peter even managed to add some bits about himself, though not nearly as much as the others—as a result, he never managed to say much in map-form. Years later, Remus would eventually rid the map of all evidence of Peter, claiming the boy the map knew no longer existed. Sirius, the last remaining Marauder, had no problem with this whatsoever, and it could not be said anyone missed Peter's input much.

Last bit was hard to write...I hate Pettigrew and could not stand having him in the map.