Sorry everyone, last chapter I accidentally said that Remus Lupin the Great Werewolf was a Muggle born. Well he's not, I never read the history books all that well so, sorry. Just kind of pretend that, that never happened. Enjoy!
Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter made their way to the horseless carriages with the loud crowd of chatting Hogwarts students. They themselves were making a large racket about the habitats of werewolves in which Remus attempted to hide his face. The first years like every year, were herded to the boats by the large gamekeeper of Hogwarts, Hagrid.
"I swear that man is large enough to fit four babies in his beard." Remus whispered walking past the first years.
"You're telling me." James said looking over his shoulder back at him.
The boys climbed into an empty carriage and continued conversing. James explained all the pranks and things he and Sirius had thought up over summer break. Most of them consisted of sneaking into other common rooms and messing them up in some way. James explained the one that he was planning on doing that night in the Slytherin common room and dormitories. He told them about how he would find out the Slytherin password when the prefects told all of the new first years, then at midnight they, meaning Remus, would make it rain throughout the whole Slytherin dungeons. Another plan was to move all the Hufflepuff furniture over by one inch so everyone stubbed their toes, and for the Ravenclaw common room they decided to mismatch all the books on the bookshelfs making it impossible to find any book anyone was looking for.
During the conversation Remus subconsciously looked up at the moon. It was a small waning crescent moon meaning that it was only a little more than two weeks until the full moon. In fourth year of school at Hogwarts, September first was a full moon so Remus didn't come to school for the first week and made an excuse to his friends saying that he had been on vacation in America and he hadn't gotten back until just that morning. His friends however, didn't believe the excuse this time. That was the year they had found out he was a werewolf, and instead of rejecting him like some sort of street animal, they welcomed him and accepted him saying that he should have told them earlier. Sirius caught Remus staring at the moon while Peter explained to them his prank idea that he had come up with two weeks earlier while James laughed at even the idea of it. He was saying how it was the stupidest prank idea he had ever heard.
Sirius nudged Remus who looked over at him irritated. Sirius nodded up at the moon, "It's still only three weeks away." He whispered, making sure the others didn't hear him. Sirius did this often without knowing, he acted very brotherly and made the other marauders feel very comfortable around him. James did this as well. Except James made a face that if you looked at it you would feel as if you could trust him.
"Two weeks, four days." Lupin whispered back still staring at the moon. The two scars on his right cheek and across the bridge of his nose shown white in it's light. "I usually count." he finished turning his gaze to Sirius.
Sirius started to smile, "Hey it's only monday! Put it out of your mind." He joked. "And remember, with us always there for you, it's going to be a party." He went on. The carriages jolted and began to move toward the large castle of Hogwarts. The castle looked ominous through the darkness and the trees became thicker on either side of them blocking out the moon as they traveled farther into the forest which led to Hogwarts. The scars on Remus' face were barely visible now through the shadows that were now cast over them. "Tomorrow's Tuesday," Sirius continued, "and I have some plans, you all would like." Sirius spoke up so that James and Peter could hear him through their conversation. "You know we've always got your back, don't you." James more stated than he asked he had obviously been listening to Remus and Sirius' conversation. James was doing the brotherly thing again, Remus could tell because he made the facial expression that looked fun and trustable. Remus knew that he meant something by saying this like it was a promise of some sort. Remus wiped his dirty blond hair out of his blue eyes and stared back into James' brown ones. James ran his hand through his hair out of habit and continued to stare at Remus.
Remus sighed, "I know you always have my back." He agreed, looking at the three of the friends that he would never had dreamed he'd have before coming to Hogwarts. They all smiled at him, giving him a pat on the back each, "And I'll always have yours." He added.
Sirius gave Remus another hard pat on the back that almost made the werewolf fall out of his seat, "That's the Moony I met two years ago!" Sirius laughed.
"Do you hear what we're doing tomorrow since it's tuesday?" James asked changing the subject. " All the first years don't know what classes to go to." James explained to them that while all the first years would go looking for their new classes they would misdirect them to where they think a classroom is potions class but it's actually divination. And maybe while doing this, they could mess with Severus in the process. James also had something else planned but it involved all of them to sneak under his invisibility cloak to the Ravenclaw common room and switch two paintings so something was bothering every Ravenclaw the next day. It was getting harder for all of them to fit under the invisibility cloak now. And although they all liked to stick together like glue, huddling that close together was getting very uncomfortable. Especially with Sirius making gay jokes every other second.
James ideas were going into detail now when an idea struck Remus, "Boys I have an idea!" He exclaimed, his friends all looked at him expectant. Whatever he had to say better be more important than pushing Severus into the lake. Remus was about to share when the carriage stopped, preventing him from going into explaining what idea he had.
"I'll have you know Moony, it's not rare for you to have an idea." Peter teased hopping out of the carriage after Sirius. James and Remus followed quickly after them. They entered the enormous castle and the sound of hundreds of shoes tapping the smooth floor hit their ears as they entered the great hall. Conversation was bubbling on everywhere making it hard for Remus to speak to his friends without being heard. They sat down in the middle of the already crowded Gryffindor table. No food was set out but Remus could tell all the seventh years complaining about how hungry they were. The floating candles above them illuminated the whole of the great hall up to the, what looked like, transparent ceiling which showed the millions of stars in the great black ocean of sky. The four tables and all of their occupants were all chitter chattering as Remus took his seat. He spotted hundreds of people that he knew from either remembering them being sorted or getting into trouble with them. He looked across the great hall at all the people he knew and when he scanned the slytherin table he met eyes with the all too familiar Severus Snape. Severus glared at Remus who glared right back. Snape mouthed what looked like, 'You filthy Werewolf.' and sneered at him. Remus was shocked, and nugged Sirius harder than he meant in his ribs. Sirius gasped in shock and was about to complain nut Remus stopped him by nodding his head in the direction of Severus. Severus looked scared but he wasn't eyeing them anymore. He was shaking his head at a hysterically laughing fourth year. The fourth year whispered something to the sixth year next to him. Now the sixth year turned to look at Remus who now looked confused at what was happening over at the Slytherin table. All this commotion at the Slytherin table now caught James and Peter's attention as well. They were probably looking for Severus when they spotted the fourth year and his friend laughing and pointing their scared fingers at Remus.
Severus now looked terrified as the sixth year climbed up on the table and gave a big howl. The whole of the Slytherin's were laughing now. Whatever Severus had said to that fourth year must've spread fast.
"Don't worry Remus we'll get him back tonight." James whispered in his ear now glaring at Severus. Lilly was sitting next to them turning her sea green eyes from the Slytherins to Remus and the Marauders. Surprisingly James was not paying attention to her.
Peter was the one to changed the subject this time, "You said you had an idea Moony?" His friends turned to face him, their hair swishing with the speed in which the did it. Sirius of course flipped his hair bringing out his slight tan he had gotten over the summer, the Hufflepuff girls behind him sighed.
"Oh! Yes, it'll help us get past all of the teachers that might find us sneaking around and it'll help us do more pranks at night without detention and without the invisibility cloak." the boys were staring eyes as wide as saucers at what Remus was telling them. "It'll take some advanced magic though…" He continued. Before they had tried hundreds of different spells to be undetected by teachers but so far none had worked more than once. "What if we made a map?" Remus finished exited. This was the best idea that, Remus thought, he had ever come up with.
"A map of what?" Peter asked confused, he could obviously feel the excitement in the air.
"A map of King's Cross station." James said sarcastically, "A map of the school you dummy!" James exclaimed, he looked as if He had just won the quidditch world cup.
"A map that would show the teachers moving around?" Sirius questioned. "That is some complicated magic." he finished bewildered. To them this was just another trick that would probably fail, but to Remus it was pure brilliance. He knew with the right spells and materials this map could be the key to their trouble making success.
"Not just teachers,students as well." Remus said getting more excited. Another howl came from the other side of the room followed by a boom of laughter but Remus ignored it. "That way if we have a certain student in mind that we want to prank or a certain student we want to ask out…" Remus paused raising his eyebrows at James who hit the top of his head. Sirius and Peter laughed at James' embarrassment. Remus continued, "...then we can find them without a hassle." He went on, "I know it'll take a while and we'll have to spend a lot of time in the library but I know I can do it."
"That's brilliant!" Peter shouted. The Gryffindors around them started to stare annoyed. Lilly however, seemed amused and eavesdropped when they thought they weren't listening.
"Quiet down Wormtail!" Sirius hissed as the other Gryffindors turned back to their conversations. Lilly pulled out a book from her robes and started to read, she was really just listening in on them.
"We could put all of our secret passageways and passwords into them as well." He whispered and Lilly strained to listen.
"This is a fantastic idea Moony, it really is! But Moony what would we do if a teacher found it? We could be expelled!" James said. Remus looked at each of them. They all looked like they wanted this idea to go on but they didn't know what they would do to keep teachers from finding it they were obviously thinking really hard about what they could do. Lilly was thinking as well not that she would help them but still, was there any way they could make a map without a teacher finding it?
"Well..." Peter broke the silence making the listening Lilly jump. A Prefect next to her jumped as well because she had been so silent up until that moment, she quietly apologise and pointed to her book.
"Jump scare." She laughed nervously although she was reading The Tales of Beedle The Bard. She turned back to listen to Peter's idea.
We could make a password or something to make the map appear. I mean it could look like a spare piece of parchment at first but when we say the password it would make the map appear." Peter stared at the shocked marauders around him. They were shocked, how could their little Peter Pettigrew come up with such a smart idea? But Peter wasn't finished and he continued, "And if someone tries to open the map without the password like teachers or nosey students by saying something like 'reveal your secrets' or what not the map or our magic can throw insults at them." Wormtail finished his watery eyes were staring at all of his friends waiting for a response.
Sirius responded which surprised Lilly because he was sitting right next to her, "I didn't know you had that many words in your entire vocabulary." He was obviously joking but Pettigrew blushed anyway.
"Oh yeah Sirius? The only words in your vocabulary are: women, James, snogging, Moony, werewolf, Wormtail, Prongs, and I, look, sexy, today." Remus numbered each of the words on his fingers, "Not to mention No and yes. That's thirteen." Sirius head locked Remus and noogied him, messing up his perfect dirty blond hair.
"I know other words you little puppy!" Sirius laughed. "Anyway, is it even possible to do that?" He said letting Remus out of the head lock. "Can we really make a kind of lock on the map that wouldn't be opened by simple spells like 'Alohomora'?" Sirius questioned as if the map had already been made.
"The magic's more simple than you think." Remus replied. He quieted down because the sorting had begun and the hat was singing it's song.
"How long would the map take to make? Something like this would take months wouldn't it?" James whispered. Lilly leaned in more to hear the conversation the actual sorting had begun now.
"It wouldn't take as long as becoming Animagi." Remus confirmed, Sirius and James exchanged glances but quickly looked back at Remus who was continuing. "Actually making the map should take about a month or so." he went on. "We would have to ditch at least one class to actually map out the whole school secret passages included. Not to mention the kitchen or running around the borders of the school grounds."
"Can't we map the school during the weekend?" Peter asked not wanting to miss too much class.
"Now what's the fun in that!" exclaimed Remus as Geneva Smith was sorted into Ravenclaw.
"Oh my!" Sirius gasped their conversation was growing louder making it easier for Lilly to hear them. She had put down her book to watch the sorting. "Don't tell me our teacher loved Moony is becoming the Big Bad Wolf! Sneaking off when he shouldn't!"
Theresa Torres was being sorted when James joined Sirius in joking about their little smart teacher friendly best friend. "Oh not our little wolf cub!" James exclaimed. Lilly was becoming quite confused now. Why were they making so many wolf jokes? Was what Sev said really true?
"Slytherin!" the hat announced, Theresa hopped off the stool and joined the Slytherin's table which was cheering wildly. The cheers hid James, Sirius, and Peters laughs at the most recent joke.
"Oh yeah, very funny." Remus said sarcastically while rolling his bright blue eyes at them. " And I'll have you all know I started breaking rules the first day I met you four and a half years ago." He smiled. "Now after we make the actual map part we'll have to research how to bond two things together so we can tie the map to Hogwarts so the map show where everyone is at all times unless we forget to map a room then that room will not show up on the map. But that's purely impossible, we know every secret room and passage in this entire school." The boys had forgotten their joke and were staring at Remus like he was a saint sent from God. All of this was seeming awfully difficult to Lilly. How on earth would they be able to make such a map as this. It was crazy even for them especially for them. Jeremy Hatter was sorted into Ravenclaw and was being gratefully greeted and welcomed.
Erin Scott was now being called to the stand, and to Remus' surprise she didn't look nervous at all.
"Five Galleons she's in Gryffindor." Sirius whispered to James, putting off Remus explanations for a moment.
"Oh you're on."James whispered back mischievous look in his eyes.
The hat had barely even touched the girl's head when the hat shouted "Gryffindor!"
"Oh my Godric Gryffindor!" James cursed pulling out five Galleons and handing them to Sirius who took them gladly. They did this at least once every sorting since their first year. James ran his hand through his hair messing it up yet again.
A boy at the Hufflepuff table cat called Erin as she sat down. She glared at him then rolled her eyes. Remus saw her turn to the head girl Molly who he could see saying 'Boys, am I right?' She had been dating Arthur Weasley until he had graduated three years ago. As far as he knew they were still dating.
Remus heard a bang right next to him and he spun around. Sirius was standing one foot on the table gritting his teeth and glaring at the Hufflepuff boy. Lilly had been sitting next to Sirius but fell out of her seat when he startled her.
"What did you just do to our new Gryffindor!?" Sirius shouted at him. The Hufflepuff boy was obviously shocked as well.
"I-I-" He stuttered.
"You just cat called her!" Sirius yelled. The whole great hall was staring at them now. Sometimes Sirius was a very strong Feminist.
"Sirius sit down." James said pulling him back into his seat. "He's not worth it." He finished. "Continue with the sorting!" He yelled up at professor McGonagall. She rolled her eyes and called up Meghan Romero. Sirius started mumbling something about no respect for women these days as James helped Lilly to her feet. She thanked him and continued to pretend to listen to the sorting. Meghan was sorted into Ravenclaw and Remus' eyes followed her as she sat down at the next table.
"On with the map." Remus said capturing his friends attention again. "We'll get to the difficult part after we bond the map and the school." He said, "I'll have to do the password thing and I will research and practice it before we actually use it on the final map…" He trailed off. "We don't want another one of those Rosie's cauldron incidents." The others flinched. James pinched his nose at the memory.
"That smelled worse than that one creature Professor Dragonheart brought in at the end of the year third year." James cringed. They all looked up at the teacher's table in search of the new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher. It was an old short woman who looked just as carefree as Dumbledore was. Annon Aleck was sorted into Gryffindor as Remus recalled the Rosie's cauldron incident. He had attempted to, as a prank, turn Rosie's cauldron invisible while he was in potions class. He had never used the spell before and it went terribly wrong. He ended up turning the contents in her cauldron into the thickest slime ever. What was worse is that it smelled so horrible, the smell lingered in the room for another month. He shuddered at the memory.
"Anyway, I'll need to practice." Remus repeated. "After that we can do insults." Remus looked at Peter while saying this. "Then we can do designs." Remus finished.
"Designs?" James asked, "Like what?"
"Like we can make the people on the map all look like footprints with names or different plants." Remus explained. "And we'll make an introduction." He continued. "Something like 'Secret map of Hogwarts' or 'Map of the Marauders' or-"
"Or 'The Marauder's Map'" Sirius interrupted.
"Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter Present... The Marauder's Map!" James announced feeling official as the last student Isabelle Cortez was sorted into Slytherin.
Dumbledore stepped up to give his annual speech and the entire hall went silent. This was the only time of the year that the marauders were actually respectful. Dumbledore had accepted Remus as a werewolf when he was sure that no other headmaster would. So Remus greatly respected him and listened intently to what he said always. When Dumbledore had finished food immediately appeared in front of them and boys started to dig into the delicious food that was provided for them.
"But what if a teacher breaks into the map? Pat the password?" Remus asked, "They would see our names and know we made the map!"
"We'd be expelled…"Peter sighed."And expect anyone else because Sirius is the only Sirius in the entire school,and all the teachers know who you hang out with. So even if they expected James Homer they would almost at once narrow it down to us.
"There is a simple solution to all of this." James replied stuffing his face with mashed potatoes, "We all made nicknames for each other at the end of last year according to our patronus remember?" He continued grabbing some chicken "And none of the teachers know what they are."
"Yeah we can just do that!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs Present, The Marauder's Map." James pronounced now sounding very proud of himself as if they had already made the map successfully. Lilly was listening very intently to what they were saying now. If they told each other the password then she would be able to get into their map without a problem… if she wanted to she could at least.
"That sounds really official." Peter said in awe. The main course disappeared and was just as quickly replaced by puddings and cakes. The boys again dug into the treats in front of them.
"This is brilliant." Sirius bit through his fifth pudding.
"Without the full moon it would take a shorter time…" Remus trailed off. James and Sirius were now looking anywhere but Lupin. He usually brought up the subject of the full moon and the others looked like they felt a bit uncomfortable with this subject. But Remus knew they would just make another joke about it later so he really didn't care.
Sirius pulled out a small bag from his cloak and showed it to James who smiled. Remus couldn't see what was in the bag but he really didn't care it was probably a hundred Galleons that he was showing off, although Lilly could see in the bag, though she had to crane her neck to see. It was mandrake leaves, Lilly became quite confused. Mandrake leaves were only used in very complex potions that they would not be making this year, so why would Sirius be carrying them? Then the thought hit her out of nowhere. She had read this in Intro to Transfiguration and Professor McGonagall had mentioned it at least one time in class. If you wanted to become an Animagus one of the requirements to do so was to hold a mandrake leaf inside your mouth for a full month. This confused her more, were they using the mandrake leaf to brew a potion or to become animagi? Lilly looked over at Sirius who was having an eye expression conversation with James.
Maybe they used mandrake leaves in Divination she thought to herself. To make sure they were not doing something dangerous she was going to ask Sirius if he was in divination this year, and if he wasn't she decided that they were just going to attempt to make a shrinking solution.
"Um Excuse me Sirius." She tapped his shoulder. Sirius turned to face Lilly. He smiled a nice smile at her.
"Yes Lilly?" He responded, a little overdramatically. He had flipped his hair and winked. Lilly just ignored this and went on with her question.
"Are you in Divination this year?" Sirius blinked once and turned to James.
"James we are in divination this year, aren't we?" Sirius asked James. James looked up from examining the leaves.
"Yes." He responded confused. Sirius jerked his head towards Lilly and James made an O shape with his mouth. "Yeah we're in divination this year Lilly, are you?" He asked more politely than he should've.
"Yeah." Lilly responded tucking her red hair behind her ear. "We're probably in the same class… With the Slytherins." She added quickly not wanting to sound awkward.
"Yeah, we probably are." James said coldly turning back to his conversation with Lupin. Sirius gave her an apologetic smile and turned back to Remus as well. Remus went on about how the full moon would interfere with their plan and how long it would take with it. James and Sirius exchanged looks yet again, Remus had started to grab more puddings and cakes and ate them furiously talking of the full moon made him want to forget all about it so that's what he tried to do. Lilly was thinking that perhaps Sev was right, maybe Remus really was a werewolf. She shuddered at the thought. If Remus really was a werewolf, he was keeping it under wraps, he hadn't hurt anyone so far so why would he hurt anyone now? And Dumbledore must know he knows everything, so if he trusted Lupin, so should she. Lilly put it out of her mind and continued to eat her pudding.
A smile crept across James face, "Wow Moony," He said winking at Sirius who was now smiling as well .
"You're really…" Sirius glanced at Remus who was looking at them confused at what they were doing.
"Wolfing those down!" James and Sirius said in sync. James started pounding the table and Sirius nearly fell out of his seat , clutching his stomach because he was laughing so hard.
Remus grabbed still eating Peter's hand and dragged him into the crowd that was exiting the great hall. "You boys better come too." He called back to still laughing Sirius and James. Lilly was sitting on the bench next to Sirius. Remus thought to himself, "Maybe she heard the entire conversation." But the thought was immediately pushed out of his brain. There was no way sweet little Lilly would eavesdrop on what everyone thought was a boring little conversation. "Remember that thing that we're doing tonight!" He shouted back. They both stood, still laughing a bit, and followed Remus out of the hall.
"I'm going to go and find out the Slytherin password." James said steering to join the group of Slytherins and pulling the invisibility cloak off of him and over himself. "Sirius can you wait outside the Gryffindor common room for me so I can get in?" He asked.
"I will but if I get tired then I will not stay there for you." Sirius responded. The three boys followed the Gryffindors up to their tower of dorms. A Prefect left his place at the front of the line to join Remus.
"Oy, Remus, you weren't at the Prefect meeting on the train. Were you sick or something?" Remus jumped at the words and quickly apologised. He had been chosen by Dumbledore to be a Prefect and he had already forgotten his responsibilities but ditching the first meeting.
"Oh! I am so, so sorry! I completely forgot about that! I swear I will make it up to you all!" Remus apologised. The Prefect smiled down at him.
"Don't really worry about it." He responded. "We really didn't do anything too important. We just learned each other's names and that we need to put a cap on all of the reckless students." He glanced over Remus head to where Sirius was standing. "I missed my first meeting as well." He whispered to Remus. "So don't worry about it. By the way, I'm Wood, Jason Wood." He finished smiling. Well Remus I'll see you around!" and with that, Wood sneaked his way up to the front again. Sirius and Peter stared in disbelief at Remus.
"What?" He asked smiling. He knew what they would say though. 'Our little wolf! A Prefect! We could never be prouder!' But they didn't.
"You won't tell on us will you?" Peter squeaked. Remus pause for a moment. Of course he wouldn't tell, he was their friend. But something in the back of his head was pulling at him. If he told that would mean he was going to tell Dumbledore which meant that Dumbledore would know that he had betrayed his trust, after all he had done for Remus, and he couldn't stand that so that was a large reason he wouldn't tell on his friends, it was all a matter of guilt.
"Of course I won't!" Remus laughed, pushing that dark reason into the back of his mind. "You boys are my friends! There is no way on Nearly Headless Nick that I would." Sirius smiled at him and stopped at the portrait hole.
"Hungarian Horntail." Wood announced to the Fat Lady, loud enough for everyone to hear the new password. The portrait swung open granting passage to all of the Gryffindors. Sirius bid them farewell dramatically.
"I may just never see you both again." Sirius announced flipping his hair.
"Yeah what a treat that would be." Remus joked. Sirius glared after them as Peter closed the portrait but turned back to waiting for James. Peter and Lupin climbed the stairs to their old dorms. Their old dorms were at the very top of the Gryffindor tower. Remus loved this for two reasons: He had a better view of the Hogwarts grounds and no one could throw snowballs at his window to wake him up in the winter.
The boy's things were waiting for them at the foot of their beds neatly stacked. Remus owl cage was empty, obviously. He was probably up in the owlery having the time of his life. Remus yawned staring up at the elaborate painting of the Gryffindor lion who was happily entertaining himself with a butterfly that had found its way into their room.
Remus stared out the window for a moment, avoiding looking at the moon. Hagrid's hut windows were glowing from the lit fire inside. The lake was also very peaceful. It's smooth surface had no ripples. But Lupin knew different, there were hundreds of little grindylows waiting for another victim, and a whole underwater society. The moon even though it was three days away from a new moon was reflecting brightly on the unbroken surface of the lake. Remus quickly turned away and began to change into his night clothes with Peter. Remus crawled into his four poster and turned out the light. Remus and Peter just began to doze off into sleep when James and Sirius burst into the room chatting noisily.
"Their password is so obvious!"James said happily making a racket as he looked for a quill to write it down, so he wouldn't forget. "Sirius, do you have a spare quill I could borrow?" James looked up from his bag to Sirius who was changing into his night clothes, bare chest showing as he pulled on his night shirt.
"Nope, sorry. Peter do you have an extra quill?" Sirius turned to the bed next to his with a sleepy Peter lying face down. Peter gave a grunt' meaning no. "Remus?" Sirius turned to the bed across the room.
Remus spoke into his pillow so what he was saying was muffled, "It's the first day of school and none of you have a single spare quill."
"Oh nope found one." James stopped Remus from criticizing them any more. Remus sat up and glared groggily at the two boys.
"Ooo! Quiet down James." Sirius had spotted Lupin now, "Our wolf child needs sleep!" Remus glared at them even more his scar looked frightening on his nose as the two started to laugh.
"What was the password." The werewolf demanded. Sirius and James snickered, then gave each other particularly evil looks. "Really," Remus flopped back down on his pillow. "What was it."
"Werewolf." James smiled.
"Don't call me werewolf." Remus thought that they had gone past the line now.
"No, that's the password." Sirius laughed, Remus had a look of utter disgust on his face. Those stupid Slytherins were just doing that to make fun of him within their own house. "Calm down Remus." Sirius said backing away. "The Slytherins are just jerks who are picking on us, the even bigger jerks."
"I don't care." Remus said quickly. "It doesn't really matter the password won't stay 'werewolf' forever." to be quite frank, even though Remus himself was a werewolf, he despised everything about them. He hated the moon, he hated the animal, and he most definitely out of all of them, hated the scars most. Being locked up in the shrieking shack was good for all the other innocent people, but not exactly good for Remus. Having no one to bite even though werewolfs lived to infect others had its effects on Remus.
Most of Lupin's scars were not from the werewolf who infected him but from himself. Since he had no one to bite and infect Lupin bit and scratched at himself as a werewolf leaving him with so many scars everywhere. He hated the scar on his face the most because it was the only scar that shown besides the one on his neck. Lupin rubbed his upper arm where many of his scars were. He hated it, not having control of anything he did once every month. It disgusted him.
"Anyway," Sirius gave Lupin an uneasy look, "James tell him about the other password."
"Oh Yeah!" James sighed happy to change the subject. "I heard two prefects talking to their portrait, and you know I thought it was just gossip so I stuck around because Hey! Slytherin gossip? Nothing could be better. So I snuck closer to them and the portrait told the two of them what the next password is. Starting the day before winter break so everyone will know it after the break." James explained, "This one's a bit harder though." James paused looking at his paper so he could read it aloud, "Coal-oo-bra." He broke it into syllables to read it better.
"How did you spell it?" Remus snapped out of his hatred mode and stared at James who was frowning at the paper.
"C-o-a-l-o-o-b-r-a." He spelled out for Remus. He looked prouder than he usually was.
"Actually, it's colubra c-o-l-u-b-r-a, Latin for snake, serpent, or adder which is a venomous kind of snake in Euroasia. They're a very interesting type of snake, we use them in potions class sometimes to make the metal melting potion that goblins use to make swords. They give birth to-"
"Ok, ok, that's enough fangirling Remus." Sirius broke in. Lupin sniffed and lay down grumbling about how important of creatures they are. "Well that's kind of stupid. Why on earth would they make their password just mean snake in a different language?"
"Get to sleep you two." Remus growled, "Remember, we're pranking the Slytherins tonight at midnight because somebody wanted to come into this year with a bang." James laughed.
"We always come in with a bang."
"Get-to-bed." Remus spaced each word for them to hear clearer. "You need sleep for later, and it's tuesday tomorrow."
"You're starting to sound motherly." Sirius laughed climbing into his four poster.
"Are you calling me a woman?" Remus shot up from his sleeping position.
"No." Sirius said in a matter-of-factly tone of voice. "I am calling you motherly! Motherly is an adjective meaning I am describing you as having a mother ish kind of trait. If I said Remus is a mother, then I would be calling you a woman." Sirius lectured, "You can tell motherly is an adjective because of the ly."
"Adverbs have ly's too you know." James sassed. James and Sirius stuck their tongues out at each other and lay down to go to sleep. Remus lay down complaining about how he didn't care about grammar, and began to fall asleep.
"The one day he isn't all motherly we'll all die." Half asleep Peter yawned. And all the boys laughed, even Remus who was mostly asleep.
…...
"Wormtail you're stepping on my robes!" James hissed through gritted teeth. Filch, the caretaker, was lurking ten feet away hands in his pockets looking around a corner for some unsuspecting student.
"I'm sorry…" Pettigrew moaned as they inched along the wide dark hallway. They all had to duck so their feet wouldn't show under the large cloak that barely fit all of them under now. Filch turned, that nasty smile on his face as if he had just had the time of his life. He paused turned in the direction he had heard the voice. Not seeing anyone, he turned back to lurking.
"Will you two shut up!"Sirius whispered after they had passed Filch. He jumped at hearing a voice so close to him, but not being able to see it's source. He was startled turning in all different directions looking for the source of the sound. "I just look too good tonight to be put in detention." Sirius said, attempting to flip his hair. He hit Remus in the face in his attempt to do this. Lupin had not been paying any attention to the conversation that was gaing on at all. He had been reading over the incantation for instant rain and making flicks and twirls with his wand.
"Ow!" Remus exclaimed. Sirius turned back to Remus and gave a little shrug of apology. He rubbed his head and turned back to Sirius. "Watch it!" He said elbowing Sirius because of his hair flip and hit. Since all of the boys were so closely huddled together, Remus ended up elbowing all three of them.
"You watch it!" Sirius shouted as the four of them turned around a corner. A few paintings woke up momentarily mumbling about neighboring portraits. Just then Filch slid around the corner. He had heard Sirius shout and came looking to bust some students and kick them into detention. Behind them he held his lantern high to see farther down the hallway. The paintings mumbled about not getting any sleep and dozed off again. The boys glued themselves against the wall behind them so the passing Filch had no chance of accidentally running into one of them.
Once Filch had passed Remus decided he needed a little bit of practice before he could take on the whole of the Slytherin dungeons.
"Hey guys, watch this." He stifled a laugh. Remus slowly rose his wand, flicked, and circled it clockwise just above Filch's head. He whispered, "Ibi Eliget Aqua"
A small cloud formed in the place where Remus had circled above Filch's head. As quickly as it had come, the cloud turned grey. Or Remus thought it was grey, it was too dark to tell. The small cloud began to rain on Filch surprising him. His lantern was put out due to all the water filling inside of it. The caretaker covered his head in attempt to block out the rain although he was already soaked to the bone. He dropped the lamp running and screaming for help, raincloud following him.
The boys laughed and Remus flicked his wand and circled it counterclockwise in the place where he had circled it at first. Very inaudibly he whispered "Corrumpitur Aqua." The water evaporated off the floor into the thin cold air as if time was sped up. His friends were impressed and patted him on the back.
They continued onto the dungeon where the Slytherin dorms were. Step by step they crawled down the stairs continuing to the portrait that led into the Slytherin rooms. Sirius suddenly stopped, Remus and Peter slammed into him and James fell out from under the invisibility cloak.
"Hey!" Remus shouted but Sirius didn't turn to look at him. "Don't stop in the middle of walking! You made James slip out of the invisibility cloak!"
"Someday there will be a song that we can sing to with those lyrics, and we'll sing it all of the time." James said feeling the air around him for the invisibility cloak.
"What? The lyrics will be something like 'Don't stop right in the middle of walking'?" Remus attempted to sing, but couldn't find a tune.
"Yeah, whatever." James continued in the direction he had heard Remus' voice. Sirius however did not join into the conversation. He was staring at his nonexistent reflection into a mirror next to the entrance to the Slytherin dungeons. He slipped out from under the cloak, revealing his reflection in the cold dark hallway.
Sirius swallowed, staring into the mirror, "I'm sorry." He said, looking grave and saddened, "Our relationship is getting too… serious." he said dramatically. "I feel if we go on like this any longer you'll… blacken my name!" He collapsed on the floor, fake sobbing. That was Sirius. A drama queen.
"Sirius stop complimenting yourself and climb into the portrait hole." Remus joked. Sirius frowned and followed behind Remus, climbing into the dungeons.
Thankfully there were no Slytherins in the common room… well none they could see anyway. There were hundreds of places where someone could hide and not be seen by people coming in through the entrance. They had left the invisibility cloak in the hallway through which they had come so Remus could cast his spell better. Unnoticed by all but the grumbling painting which had let them in.
Lupin raised his wand preparing to run from the incoming Slytherins and preparing to get soaked. He heard a sneeze behind him. This distracted him from continuing the spell.
"Bless you." Remus said.
"Oh thank you." Said a voice that was none of his friends. He quickly turned to see little Severus Snape curled up on a chair so anyone coming through the painting could not see him. He looked as shocked, or more than Remus felt. Severus stood still shocked by their sudden appearance.
"What are you doing in here?" Severus asked surprised. He was not even running for a teacher. He just stood, surprised. The Messers looked from one another back to Severus. They really shouldn't have left the invisibility cloak out in the hallway. Remus did some quick thinking, looking from the stairs to the rooms back to Severus.
There was no way Remus would leave without pulling this prank. He had worked so hard on the spell.
Then without warning Sirius yelled pointing his wand at Severus, "Levicorpus!" And Remus knew this was his cue.
He flicked his wand and circled it clockwise, "Ibi Eliget Aqua!" he shouted. A large cloud covered the whole of the Slytherin dorms, but before Remus could see it change, he dragged startled James and Peter out of the room. Sirius let struggling Snape go and ran out after them.
Remus through the invisibility cloak over the four of them and they all ran away before they could be trampled by the horde of Slytherin students who were now streaming and screaming out of the portrait hole. Prefects tried and failed to get everyone under control.
Corridor. Not caring if their feet were seen or not. They rushed past Professor Slughorn, who was rushing down toward the screams and shouts. Peter pulled them towards a secret Hogwarts passage that they had discovered in their first year there. They climber the slight slope and exited through a sleeping painting of cows who were lying, asleep until they had pushed them open. The boys climbed the ever changing staircase which they had memorized the patterns to by now.
James huffed and puffed the password to the sleeping Fat Lady, "Mandrake." he gasped she mumbled a few words in her sleep and slowly swung open. They ran as fast as they could up to their rooms tripping and falling on their way. As they reached the door James tugged off the cloak and threw open the door. Remus strode across the room flopping on his four poster.
He heard the panting of the boys around him as he fought to catch his breath as well. After a few minutes when they all were breathing normally Remus sat up at his friends who were laying all over the floor. James was laying against the window staring at the lion who was peacefully sleeping above their heads. Sirius was looking at the lion as well, except he was laying on the floor in the shape of a star. Peter was laying against the door to the room looking at the lion.
As if at the same moment the boys turned their gazes to each other, knowing what they had done was the best thing they would come up with all year. They all burst into laughter clutching their stomachs and rolling around. Remus knew that the boys had just thought what he had thought. They were laughing so hard they didn't care if a Prefect came stomping into their rooms yelling at them to be quiet.
Peter was the first to stop his laughing. He looked left and right, then up at the lion who had awaken at their laughter. It stared down at them pacing from one side of the ceiling to the other.
"That was a close one!" Sirius breathed still smiling from the outburst of laughing that they had just finished. "We really did start off the year with a bang." He sat up glancing up at the prowling Lion. It was watching them all intently now. It had sat down, flicking it's tail left and right, waiting for them to say more. "Although that's not the first time we got out of a situation without that much trouble."
"But…" James broke in, "With that map, we won't have to be spotted by anyone." He continued, still on about the incredible idea Remus had, had earlier.
"But what about Snivellus?" Peter questioned, he was shaking and looking from James and Sirius to Remus. "What if he rats us out." He finished worried. Pettigrew was always worried about this, but the boys really weren't. Snape had no proof that they were there when it started to rain. Some people would believe teachers Lupin knew wouldn't believe him, or give it a second thought.
"Well if he did rat us out," Remus answered, "He'd feel like a golden snitch." James and Sirius again burst into laughter, rolling on the floor. Remus heard Sirius breath between barks of laughter, 'Best pun of the night!' Peter still wasn't laughing, in fact, he was shaking quite a bit.
"Really! What if he does tell someone?" He shook with every word. "Couldn't we be expelled?" He panted. The other boys looked at each other thinking of ways to calm him down. They knew that they wouldn't get caught but how could they make him understand that. Remus was usually the one to think all of these things that calmed him down, but he had run out of ideas.
"I was under the cloak when the password was being told." James assured Peter, running his hand through his already messy hair. "There is no way anyone other than you three know about the cloak." He continued. Peter stopped shaking now and looked up at James happily. Who knew that something so small could cheer him up like a cup of butter beer. He looked a lot more cheerful now, staring up at the most popular kid in the school.
"Alright." Peter said, full of confidence. He stood up back leaving the door. "Omph!" Peter grunted a second later. The door had burst open since Peter had not been leaning on the door, supporting the person who was leaning in on the outside. They had tumbled on top of Peter who was now scurrying away from this strange new problem of theirs. There was a pink haired girl sprawled in the middle of their bedroom floor rubbing her head. Peter stumbled as he ran to hide himself behind Sirius who rolled his eyes at him. The child in the middle of the floor stopped rubbing their head. The child turned to look at the boys. It was a girl, Remus saw. Like a very cute fifth year like them. She gave the boys a nervous smile, intertwining her hands. A mischievous twinkle shown in her sky blue eyes as she smiled up at the marauders.
"I hope I'm not intruding." She said, "The name's Nymphadora Tonks. Nice to meet you!"
...
You know I'm done with the history books. I know Nymphadora Tonks went to school two years after the Marauders graduated and she was a Hufflepuff, but this is a fan fiction so I give up. If I want Tonks to be in Gryffindor and be a fifth year, then that's what she'll be.