The Marauder's Map

When Sirius had told him that Lily hadn't got with Caradoc, it felt like someone had lit a candle in his heart; as though someone had blown a flame back into the dying embers of his soul. Even with the aftermath of the fight with the Slytherins; a broken collarbone that was healed in a day and the concussion, James felt more awake than he had done in weeks.

Having Lily as a friend had been nice, good even, but he hadn't had the courage to do anything about it. He had been too scared to try anything in case it sent them back to square one, but seeing her with Caradoc had been crushing and he had silently vowed that he would do all he could to win her over completely. After all, if she was capable of friendship and had gone on to reject Dearborn, couldn't she be capable of something more?

With the amount of attention she had been trying to give him lately as he stumbled around the castle, with only a little more exaggeration than was necessary, she must be. She had practically been walking him to lessons.

It would have to wait a day or two though; other events were afoot. Tuesday night was their monthly date with Remus' furry little problem and it was going to take everything they had to set up a ward around the entire castle at the same time. Either Padfoot or himself would have to take care of Moony alone while the other cast the ward lines represented on the Map, it was at times like this that James regretted Peter's Animagus form somewhat, but didn't begrudge his ability to press the knot on the Whomping Willow.

Lily couldn't figure James out at all; at the start of term he had been his old, arrogant self, just about proclaiming his right to rule over the castle with the other three. That seemed to have faded though; disappearing into the past when he had saved his friends, and Severus, from a werewolf in the Forest, almost sacrificing his own life. Then she admitted to herself that he could change and he responded in a way she couldn't have imagined only a year ago; maturity, honesty and schoolwork had enveloped him for a few weeks. Lily had come to admit that that short time had been the best in her school career.

If she believed what she thought might be true; that James Potter did actually like her, and hadn't want to admit her own feelings in return, then she had ruined something before it had even begun. She was sure that in his eyes, going to Hogsmeade with Caradoc had been a betrayal. He had barely spoken to her since; avoiding her effortlessly.

If he wasn't in the Common Room at Gryffindor Tower, which was rare enough these days, then he was at Quidditch Practise or lessons. But there were massive gaps in between those events when he wasn't anywhere; she had even checked the library in a vain hope she might be able to find him.

Every so often he would appear; like tonight, apparently having missed supper, but eyes agleam as he, Peter and Black strode into the Common Room. Even Peter looked oddly happy and confident. Lily expected them to turf the fourth years off the sofa by the fire and take it themselves, but they ignored everyone, crossed the room and vanished up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

'You really like him, don't you,' a voice whispered in her ear and she almost fell out of her chair.

Alice was leaning over her shoulder, looking strangely lonely without Frank in tow and an oddly serious expression on her face.

'What do you mean?' Lily asked suspiciously.

'Come on, Lily, it's obvious; you cried over him when he came back from hospital, then you practically spent a couple of weeks with him, then you decide to go to Hogsmeade with Caradoc. That was cruel, Lily.'

'I…' Lily began as Alice took the seat beside her.

'I may not spend as much time with you as I ought to, Lily, but I've known you for five and a half years and I've never, ever seen you watch anyone as much as you watch James Potter. You don't have to tell me anything, but I know you like him and it's obvious that he likes you. When was the last time you two had an argument? You might not have noticed, Lily, but whatever Mary says, he likes you and you know it.'

Lily stared at her friend and realised it was the most sensible thing anyone had said to her all year. Lily leant forward and hugged her; it was true, Alice didn't spend a lot of time with them, but she did watch over them like some kind of guardian angel.

'What should I do?'

Moony had gone to the Hospital Wing for his usual appointment with Miss Pomfrey before Full Moon, having spread the word that he was going home for the night to see his Mother. Peter was excited and a little nervous about tonight and what it might mean; it was almost as great an achievement as the Animagus transformation. Moony had made him promise that he would make a start on his Care of Magical Creatures essay though, so he left Padfoot and Prongs making final revisions to the Map and took what little notes he had down to the Common Room.

He caught Lily's eye as he came down the stairs and noticed she seemed to have been watching them expectantly over the top of whatever work she was supposed to be doing. Maybe she waiting for Prongs; she had been hanging about a lot lately despite the whole Caradoc disaster. In Peter's eyes, girls were a complete mystery and he wished someone could explain them to him, but even Remus couldn't help him there.

He wandered across the room and found a table in a slightly draughty corner, sat down and began to sort out his notes. It was boring and difficult and he really didn't care about chimaeras; it wasn't like he'd ever have to fight one off or anything.

He wished they could all go back to that summer; he put weight on again since the start of the year and felt terribly jealous of Padfoot and Prongs, even though he tried not to be. They had everything they could want, and he had seen Moony's point when Prongs asked him about Lily. If Prongs did manage to go out with Lily, then where would that leave the rest of them; would Prongs even have time for his friends in the future? He really hoped he would; he had always had the feeling that Padfoot only liked him because Prongs did.

If Prongs left them, then Padfoot would mostly like leave too; disappearing back into his own little world of girls and Quidditch. Where would that leave him and Moony? Would Moony go with Padfoot or would they be stuck as the two 'others' who hung about in Gryffindor Tower. Without Prongs the Marauders would fall apart.

Peter sat and worried and chewed his fingernails until Padfoot appeared at his side, saying loudly enough for anyone nearby to hear, 'I'm going to get some food, do you want anything?'

'Um… yeah, of course. I'll come with you.'

He couldn't see him, but he knew Prongs was in his invisibility cloak, just behind Padfoot.

They took their time crossing the Common Room and with exaggerated carefulness opened the Portrait Hole and climbed out.

Alice watched the two Marauders leave and looked at her watch, it read ten to eleven; far too early for any Marauder to be in bed.

Remus had gone home and Black and Peter were out of the way; if any time was a good time for Lily to speak to James it was now. She looked into Lily's beautiful, worried eyes and said simply, 'Go and talk to him.'

So Lily, with the only advice she had, packed away her books, left them with Alice and began the long flight of stairs to the top of Gryffindor Tower and the Marauders' dorm. Her heart beat a tattoo in her chest and she didn't know what she might say, but she was damn well going to try.

There was only one problem; when Lily knocked on the door, no one answered.

She knocked again. No one answered.

She opened the door. The room was empty.

She looked around, wondering if James was in the bathroom, but that door too was open and the bathroom empty. She noticed a cold breeze in the room and went to the open window to shut it, wondering if he had flown out of the window; it would be such a James Potter thing to do she thought with a smile.

She reached the window and began to pull it closed, but as she pulled it to, she saw a small approaching shape in the sky; an owl.

She left the window open in case it was for one of the boys and a few seconds later the owl landed on the open sill. She recognised it as James' Orphea from the many she had landed on James' shoulder during breakfast with fat letters from his Mum, and his complaints that he would have to read a novel's worth of writing.

Orphea regarded her with huge eyes and tilted her head to one side as if enquiring who this person might be and what they were doing in James' dorm.

'Hello,' Lily said, suddenly unsure of herself and feeling that she had been caught out, 'You're beautiful, aren't you,' she murmured, watching silky plumage ruffle and settle down again.

The owl hooted softly at her and turned to look down at the grounds, leaving Lily with the disconcerting feeling of being faced by the bird while it was looking in the opposite direction. She moved forward to see what the owl was looking at, as it turned its body and took flight again, still clutching the letter she had been carrying.

Lily peered into the dark grounds as Orphea became a shadow swooping low. Then the moon came out from behind a cloud and the lawn turned a silvery white in the moonlight, leaving Orphea clearly visible as a dark speck below. Suddenly a figure appeared, as if by apparition, bang in the middle of the lawn, except it couldn't have been apparition and Lily wondered how she could have missed them. The dark figure lifted one arm and Orphea landed neatly on his wrist; the figure was definitely male because it could only have been James Potter.

Lily watched as he took the letter and Orphea left, flying away round to the other side of the castle and the Owlery. Then he began to walk towards the Whomping Willow, which Lily noticed, was extremely still. She could feel her heart racing as he got closer and closer, expecting it to lash out at any moment.

It didn't.

His shadow reached the trunk and abruptly it was gone.

Lily sat on the windowsill for what seemed an age, wondering where he had gone and what he was doing. Was it another of their secret passages? What was there? How had he been able to control the tree?

It suddenly occurred to her that she knew very little about James Potter, other than what he was like at school and in lessons. She didn't even know if he had brothers and sisters or where he lived.

She puzzled over the questions that were flooding her brain as she kept vigil, waiting for James to reappear. She began to feel tiredness creep over her and although she knew it was a weeknight and she ought to be in bed, curiosity had her pinned to the window ledge, wanting to discover what the boy she liked, fancied even, was up to.

She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to keep a little warmer, determined to find out as her eyes grew heavier and her chin began to sink down onto her chest.

A stag stepped out onto the moonlit lawn, snuffing the cold night air, stretching its legs after the confines of the tunnel it had emerged from. Then a huge figure emerged behind it; Moony was almost too big for the tunnel and had only been able to squeeze through as he had kept enough of his human mind to understand their objective. So far it had been a good night; a little rough and tumble in the shack had distracted the werewolf from itself and all it had needed was a nudge to get Moony moving down the tunnel.

The werewolf drew huge panting breaths, blowing billowing clouds of steam into the sky as the last two members emerged from the tunnel; a dog and a rat. Prongs tossed his head and snuffed the air once again, searching for anything unusual.

Cold: the air. Water: the lake. Musty oldness: the forest. And a hundred others scents and sounds pricked at his ears and filled his nose.

Then one he couldn't place.

Moony drew back on his hind legs, bracing himself and drew a deep breath. The great, shaggy jaws began to form the shape that would send his call out for miles, echoing of the hills and mountainsides.

Padfoot noticed Prongs stiffness and pawed at the werewolf, trying to attract its attention.

Moony growled, low and threatening. Padfoot snapped his jaws playfully. Wormtail cowered among the tree roots. Prongs realised what he could smell.

The stag turned, lowering his antlers and began to push the werewolf towards the forest, interrupting the howl and hoping it too wouldn't catch the scent. The werewolf growled and swung a lazy paw at the stag, who stepped backward.

The stag pushed again and the werewolf decided it was too much effort to resist, it turned and headed for the treeline.

Lily's head shot up, muscles contracting as she woke suddenly.

Down below a huge shape moved into the shadow of the Forbidden Forest.

She blinked, unsure of what she had seen. Then she noticed something else on the treeline; a magnificent stag moving its head slightly from side to side. It almost looked as though it was scanning the castle for something, but then it turned and stepped into the trees.

Then she remembered where she was.

She checked her watch, gasping at the time and then realised the room was still empty. The boys had never come back.

She put their absence down to being Marauders and carefully lowered herself from the windowsill. Deciding that she really ought to go to bed, disappointed that she hadn't seen James and wondering what on earth they were doing.

Wednesday morning found James, Sirius and Peter staring at the Map. They'd spent all night taking to turns to look after Remus while one of the others drew the ward lines round the castle grounds. They'd finished just as dawn began making its presence known as a faint glow over the mountains.

'I don't understand,' James said, frowning concernedly and running a tired hand through his hair, 'why didn't it work?'

'No idea, mate,' Sirius muttered, yawning hugely, 'But I'm shattered.'

'I can't believe we spent all that time and it didn't work.' James said morosely.

'Maybe we could try putting the password on it?' Peter suggested.

'There's no point; there's nothing to protect.' Sirius scowled.

'Yes, but-'

'Merlin, Wormtail! You're a bloody genius!' James suddenly exclaimed.

'I… wh…Yes?' Peter stammered, surprised at James outburst.

Sirius leant back on the pillows of his bed though and said sulkily, 'What?'

'It's the ward; you need a source of magic for the ward to sustain itself. We drew it out; but with such a large ward you need more than just a wand to sustain it.'

Sirius' eyes lit up as he realised what his friend was getting at, 'So we finish the password thing and that should leave enough magic in the actual map to sustain the ward as well?'

'I think so,' James blurted excitedly, 'Where's Moony when you need him?'

All day James sat in a haze of anticipation, waiting for Miss Pomfrey to let Remus out of the Hospital Wing. He appeared after supper, looking tired but alert, answering the curious girls in the Common Room that his Mum looked a little better, until James collared him and lead him up to their dorm.

'So?' Remus asked as the door closed and James set a Sealing charm on the door.

'It didn't work, but we think we know why.'

James explained what they thought had gone wrong and that Sirius had set up the preparations that afternoon.

'All we need to do is try and put memories into the map.'

Remus looked sceptical, 'And then it'll just work?'

'I hope so,' James said with a grin.

Remus looked unconvinced, but said, 'Alright; if it doesn't kill us-'

'We're geniuses!' Sirius finished for him.

Peter unfolded the map in the middle of the floor; it looked like someone had been doodling randomly on it for years. Floor plans were covered in notes of how to open secret passages, when staircases changed position, where trick stairs appeared and other vital notes. Over the top of that were runic symbols intended for preserving memories, and interspersed between those were faintly glowing ward symbols.

It looked like a plan for some kind of daemonic ritual.

The four boys crouched down around it and Peter said, 'Together?'

'Together.' Sirius agreed and Remus rolled up his sleeves, they all touched their wands to their temples.

James thought of everything that made up his character; exactly who he was, everything he had done and remembered of his life. He could see Remus' face screwed up in concentration; it would be harder for him than the others. The three Animagi had spent years figuring out exactly who they were, and Remus had a dual personality to add to the mix.

James, Sirius and Peter waited; silver strands of glistening… stuff, waving gently around the end of their wands and until Remus slowly drew the tip of his wand away from his temple. A similar glistening thread dangling from the tip.

'Alright?' James asked.

'Yeah, fine.' Remus replied, as beads of sweat broke out across his forehead.

The four boys lowered their wands and touched the paper. The glistening strands ran off the wands and disappeared into the creases of the folds. For a moment, nothing more happened.

Then the runes began to glow as well, then the ward symbols flashed like miniature suns and the whole room lit up like a beacon. James flung a hand across his eyes, blinded and fell back with a cry.

Suddenly he felt weak, tired, almost exhausted to the depths of his soul and for a moment was tempted to just lie there on the carpet and go to sleep. He blinked though, trying to shake off the tiredness and rub the flashing afterglow of the runes out of his eyes. He grabbed the edge of his bed and pulled himself up into a sitting position; Remus looked like he had passed out, Peter was blinking at the ceiling and Sirius… James frowned at his friend.

Padfoot was curled up by his bed, head resting on his paws.

James shook his head at the oddities of his friends, wondering why Sirius had changed. Then he looked down at the map; it had folded itself up.

'Hey, guys?' he said, his throat felt dry and he sounded hoarse.

Peter yawned and looked at him, Padfoot blinked and grey eyes turned on Remus' still form. Then Sirius was back, lying beside his bed, 'I think Moony's asleep; I'm knackered.'

James leant forward, still shaking off the lethargy in his bones and prodded Remus.

He didn't move.

James prodded him harder and was rewarded with an eye opening slowly.

'I think it worked,' he announced, looking back at the folded map.

'Do you think so?' Peter asked.

'Let's give it a go; try and get it to reveal itself.' James said.

'By doing what exactly?' Sirius asked as Remus stretched and sat up, leaning back against his hands.

'Tell it to reveal itself.' Remus slurred, bags showing under his eyes.

'Reveal yourself,' Sirius said.

The blank map just sat on the floor.

'It didn't work,' Peter said.

'Wow,' Sirius said sarcastically, 'I didn't realise we were playing the obvious game…'

Peter blushed and looked at James for support; James produced his wand though, tapped the paper cautiously and commanded, 'Reveal yourself.'

Still nothing happened.

'Great,' Sirius snapped, 'that's five years' work down the drain.'

Then, as though an invisible writer was hunched over the sheet of parchment, writing blossomed across it. Extravagant and curly lettering read:

'Mr Padfoot would like to commend himself for his excellent choice of aftershave today, but refuses to respond to ridiculous commands.

Mr Moony seconds Mr Padfoot and would recommend a good night's sleep; he looks tired.

Mr Wormtail states that Mr Padfoot ought to have a little more faith in his friends and suggests that in future he not be so impatient.

Mr Prongs agrees with the rest and would like to offer a password for the Marauders' Map; "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."'

The four boys gaped at the Map for several seconds until Sirius burst out laughing, 'Merlin, I'm such an arrogant bastard!'

Then they were all laughing; astounded by their own cunning, genius, brilliance and nerve.

James leant forward though, tapped the Map again with his wand as the writing faded and said, 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good.'

Writing blossomed once more, but this time it had changed:

'Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs congratulate themselves on another spectacular display of magical skill and are proud to present The Marauder's Map'

Beneath this, as though an invisible person was sketching a map of the school, appeared lines that became corridors and rooms and staircases. Small dots appeared, tiny labels above them displayed them as people walking down corridors or standing in rooms.

Once again, the four boys were awestruck at their own intelligence and forgetting their exhaustion, perused the Map until far into the night. Eventually Remus fell asleep where he sat; James and Sirius lifted him into his, as Peter fell asleep on top of his duvet. James simply kicked off his shoes, pulled his robes over his head and rolled under the covers, knowing that tonight at least, he would sleep right through.

A/N: Reviews are thoroughly appreciated!