(A/n) Sorry again for the delay in posting. I was on vacation, and we've been busy since then. We've had a few family emergencies, and I've been helping out a lot more around the house. So, enjoy!
Disclaimer: If the name "The Next Generation" belongs to any band out there, I'm very sorry. Considering the one in this story isn't real, however, I doubt you'll be competing for money with it.
It wasn't until we got back to the common room that my map found its way back into the conversation.
"Oy, James?" Lew said suddenly. I looked up from my Gobstones game with Marco.
"Hmm?" I asked, flinching as ink hit my face. I'd lost a point.
"You know that map your cousins were talking about?" he started.
"Does he mean the Marauder's Map?" Fred asked from his seat on the couch.
"One and the same," I told him, pulling it out of my pocket.
"Yeah, that one," Lew confirmed. "What does it do?"
I looked around. The common room was full of people.
"I'll tell you in the dorm." I told them quietly. "C'mon, Sam."
She looked utterly terrified. "B-but that's the boys dorm."
"Aunt Hermione went up to visit Dad and Uncle Ron all the time," I argued.
She still looked doubtful, but when we all filed up the stairs, she followed hesitantly.
We sat down on the various beds, and I pulled the map out of my pocket.
"Watch," I told them, pulling out my wand. I pointed it at the map.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
They watched in amazement as the ink spread out across the parchment, forming the complicated map.
"So that's what this looks like!" Fred said in awe. "Dad's explanation didn't do it justice!"
"Is this a map of the school?" Lew asked.
"Yeah," I answered. "This is how we found the common room last night."
Comprehension flickered on his face. "I wondered how you did it!"
"What are those?" Marco asked, pointing at the dots moving across the corridors.
"Those," I said, grinning with pride, "are people."
"What?" Lew asked excitedly.
"Teachers, students, us," I explained. "The map shows every single person who is on the grounds. And look," I pointed to the one-eyed witch who blocked a secret passageway. "When we get near that, it'll tell us exactly how to get past on the map."
"This is wicked!" Kagan said in awe.
I grinned evilly. "And that's not the only thing I've got," I told them. I stood and crossed to my trunk. I pulled out my secret item and showed the rest of them.
"I know what that is!" Lew said excitedly. "Where'd you get an invisibility cloak?"
I grinned as the others looked at me in awe. "It was Dad's. He gave it to me - said it's been in the family for generations."
Lew's face fell. "It can't be very good, then. Dad says they don't last very long."
"But mine's special," I told him. "Watch." I threw it around myself, watching in amusement as their faces lit up when I disappeared. Deciding to take advantage of the cloak, I snuck behind Kagan, gauged the distance, and tackled him. He shouted in surprise as I knocked him off the bed and onto the floor. I got up quickly, making sure the cloak still covered all of me, and scurried across the room, laughing in glee when Kagan tried to tackle me back, only to find I was no longer there.
So he sat and pouted.
"That thing is brilliant!" Fie said happily, as I pulled off the cloak and sat back down.
Lew grinned mischievously. "We could pull some amazing pranks with that," he said.
Marco suddenly looked worried. "Pranks?" he asked.
"We won't pull mean pranks," I assured him. "Just funny ones. And we won't pull them on a specific person unless we know they won't really mind."
"What about people who do something to us first?" Lew asked.
I thought this over for a bit. "I don't know…" I admitted finally.
"I don't like revenge," Marco said. "My dad's always said that 'revenge is just a synonym for stooping down to their level.'"
"What's wrong with their level?" Fie asked defiantly.
Marco just smiled. "My mum has a saying that answers that question."
"Which is?" Fie asked.
"'Never argue with an idiot. He'll just drag you down to his level and then beat you with experience.'" Marco smiled again. "Which is why I'm done arguing with you."
Fie stuck his tongue out.
"Oy!" Lew said suddenly. "James, we were going to check our beds for carvings, remember?"
"Oh yeah!" I said, excited.
"What are you two going on about?" Fred asked, never liking to be left out of my adventures.
"Look what I found last night," I said, motioning for all of them to come over to my bed. I leaned over and pointed to the words.
"James Chrysanthos Potter…" Marco read. "Who is that?"
"My granddad," I told them. "My dad's dad. He slept in this bed!"
"So I thought we should check the other beds to see if they had carvings too," Lew told them.
They all went to their beds, searching them for carvings. Sam stood uncertainly at the end of my own bed.
"Why don't you go check John's bed?" I asked. I pointed to it, and she went to check it.
"Remus John Lupin slept here," Marco read a little bit later. "Who's Remus Lupin?"
"Wasn't that kid in your house named Teddy Lupin?" Sam asked, straightening up.
"Yeah," I confirmed. "Teddy's dad must have slept in that bed."
"Mine says that Sirius Black slept here," Lew told me. "Didn't you say Sirius was your middle name?"
"Yeah. Sirius Black was my Granddad's best mate," I told them. "And my dad's Godfather."
"This one says Peter Pettigrew," Sam told me.
I frowned. "I haven't heard of him," I admitted. "But the other three were the best of friends. In fact, they were the Marauders."
"You mean Marauders, like the Marauders' Map?" Kagan asked.
"Yep," I said. "They were really, really close friends."
"Really good friends…" Lew mused, and I could tell he was thinking about something.
"What're you thinking about?" I asked him.
"We're all really good friends, right?" Lew asked.
We all looked at each other for a moment. "Yeah," we all agreed.
"Then why don't we sign our names, too?" he asked. "We can be like the second group of Marauders. Only we need a different name."
"But something similar," I said, catching onto what he was saying. "So that everyone knows we're like the new them."
"Exactly," Lew said with a grin. "But let's carve our names first."
"Wait," Marco said quickly. "What about Sam? She won't be sleeping in any of these beds…"
We all thought about this a while.
"How about this," I said finally. "We all sign our own beds, and then tonight we can carve our group name and all of our names on the common room door. That way we can sign our beds, but all of our names can be together too."
"That…" Lew said slowly," sounds like a good idea!"
The others nodded in assent.
"So what are we going to call ourselves?" Fred asked.
We sat in silence for a long while, thinking about what to call ourselves. This was the hardest part of anything: Coming up with a name. What to call ourselves? My mind kept attempting to wander. Marco pulled out a notebook.
"What're you doing?" I asked him.
"I've found that writing down my ideas helps me focus and come up with better ideas," he explained. "I write down every idea, even the stupid ones. It really helps."
And it must be a pretty good strategy, too, because within ten more minutes, Marco spoke up.
"I've got it!" he gasped suddenly.
"What's your idea?" I asked.
"Okay, so, James Potter was your grandfather, right?" he clarified.
"Yeah…"
"So he was the last generation. And we're the new generation. The Next Generation of Marauders!"
"That… that's brilliant!" Lew said happily. "Why didn't we think of that?"
"The question is," I said slowly, "are we going to keep our identity a secret?"
"What?" Kagan asked.
"Like, are people going to know we're the Next Generation of Marauders? Or are we going to keep that little bit a secret?"
"I reckon we should keep it a secret," Fie decided. "Why?"
"I was thinking that The Next Generation could be a cool name for a band, too," I said.
"Well, we can still use that too!" Lew said.
"That'll give us away!" I said indignantly.
"No, listen!" Lew insisted. "Our pranking name will have "of Marauders" in it! So yeah, everyone'll know it's us, but they won't ever be able to prove it," Lew said. "We've just got to be really careful to never get caught."
"He's got a point," Fred agreed, nodding.
"All in favour of the name 'The Next Generation of Marauders,' raise your hand," I said, leaving it up to a vote.
It was a unanimous yes.
(A/N) I'm sorry. I know it was sort of short. But that just seemed like the natural end of the chapter.
I'd really appreciate any of these things:
1. Prank Ideas. I'm not clever enough to come up with enough of them myself!
2. Sorting Songs. It was hard enough to write the first one!
3. Any other input into the story. Ideas, thoughts, whatever
! Please! Even if you hated it. I just want to know how many people read this story!
Also, I've written a one-shot called "One is the Loneliest Number." It's about Remus, and it should be up shortly. Please read it!