I Solemnly Swear I am up to no Good

Lost - The Marauder's Map Part 1

15th October 1971 

"This is useless," Peter sighed. "We're lost and late. Professor Slughorn is going to kill us!"

"Oh lighten up Pete," Sirius laughed as the stair case they were on began to move again. "We're not lost, we've just misplaced where we're meant to be going. Old Slugy won't care and I'm sure Remus will explain that we're just coming."

"I should've just gone with Remus, why did I believe you knew a short cut?"

"Because we're awesome and you should believe everything we say?" James suggested as he glanced down at the complex maze of staircases.

"Oh, I wish we had a map." Peter moaned.

"Don't be ridiculous." Sirius said. "You can't have a map of a building it just..."

"Sirius you're a genius!" James interrupted.

"Wait, why, what did he do?" Peter looked between them as if he'd missed something really important.

"Oh, I probably didn't do anything. It's just that being around me makes people cleverer simply by osmosis." Sirius shrugged. "What amazing idea have I come up with this time, James."

"A map!" James grinned, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "We make a map of Hogwarts, it shows all the floors and tracks all the staircases."

"Yes," Peter jumped up and down a little. "We'll never be late and get told off again."

"And," Sirius added mischievously. "It'll be great for pranks. I'm sure there are loads of secret passages and hideouts we could find if we were writing it all down. I really am a genius aren't I, James."

"You certainly are my dear Mr Black. I couldn't have thought of it without you. We can explain it to Remus in potions, I'm sure he'll know a spell we can use to track these damn stairs."

"About that," Peter looked nervous again. "That still doesn't solve the fact that we have no idea where potions is right now."

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"Where the hell have you three been?" Remus whisper-shouted as Sirius slid into the seat next to him with 15 minutes of the lesson to spare.

"We got caught up saving one of the 6th years from a rabid 2nd year who had been bitten by a deranged owl and was now..."

"You got lost again didn't you?" Remus said raising an eyebrow.

"Well, not exactly but..." Sirius tried to correct.

Remus just laughed. "I told Peter he shouldn't trust you when you said you had shortcut and I was right. What was I?"

"Right," James echoed as he took the seat on Remus' right. "You're always right and that, dear Remus, is why we need your help."

"No," Remus said, immediately.

"We haven't even said what we want yet!" Sirius protested.

"No but I'm not going to help you prank the Slytherins again. Anyway, I'm trying to make notes."

"Oh, lighten up Remy," James laughed, giving him a light shove. "Your notes are already perfect and you know it all anyway. Also, this isn't actually about pranking the Slytherins..."

"But I thought you said..." Peter piped in but quickly shut up when James gave him a pointed look. Remus raised an eyebrow but allowed James to continue.

"This," Sirius continued in James' place. "Is about making sure that we're never late again. We want to make a map of Hogwarts to track the staircases so we stop getting lost. We just need some help with a tracking spell and thought that, as you practically live in the library, you'd probably have come across something which could help."