𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐑𝐀 | 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬

✧ chapter 4 ✧

1975

James, Sirius and Peter wandered into the Great Hall, half an hour late to breakfast and rubbing their eyes sleepily. All three struggled to hide their yawns as they sat down at the Gryffindor table opposite four of the eight fifth year girls, the other four girls electing not to sit with their classmates during meals as that put them directly in the firing line for rogue hexes or flying mashed potatoes. No one said anything as the dishevelled looking three filled their goblets with pumpkin juice, Peter failing to notice that his goblet was full until pumpkin juice had overflowed and spilled onto the table, seeping through the cracks and sprinkling everyone's shoes.

"Bloody idiot!" Marlene yelled, hurling the crust from her toast at Peter.

All three boys wordlessly set about mopping up the mess with spare napkins, ignoring the profanities hurled their way by the girls. Aurora, noticing the uncharacteristic silence, nudged Lily in the ribs to get her attention.

"What do you think's up with them?" She mused, nodding her head towards the boys who were still moving slowly as if on autopilot.

"I'm not entirely sure," Lily responded, waving a hand in front of James' face to try and capture his attention, she couldn't help but notice the shadow of a bruise on his cheekbone, "James has been sitting across from me for three whole minutes and I have not been accosted by a barrage of date offers yet. Something must be wrong." She half joked, retracting her hand from its place in front of James lifeless face.

"Where's Remus?" asked Mary, joining in on the conversation.

"Not a clue." Replied Aurora, not taking her eyes off Sirius who had fallen asleep sitting up and as a result slammed face first into his scrambled eggs.

The three boys ignored the commotion around them, all far too battered and tired to pay it any notice. The previous night had been the first full moon of the school year, so naturally they had hardly slept at all. Towards the end of their fourth year James, Sirius and Peter had succeeded in becoming Animagi. After locating a book on advanced and human transfiguration in the restricted section of the library the three boys set about preparation. The process was long and gruelling, and often frustrating. It took them three attempts to keep the mandrake leaf in their mouths for a full month alone. The first time Peter accidentally swallowed his and nearly choked, so the other two boys took theirs out as they had all vowed to do this together. The second misdemeanour came about when Sirius was propositioned by an unknown third year girl who began snogging him in an empty hallway before he could protest, only to pull the leaf out of her own mouth in confusion. The silence of the Marauders as the mandrake leaf period became known was one of the greatest mysteries Hogwarts had ever seen. What had silenced the infamous Gryffindor foursome? To lay all the rumours to rest, they began wearing chalkboards hung around their necks and writing down anything they needed to say. In one detailed post Remus stated they were betting on who could stay silent the longest (he had joined in to really sell the story while simultaneously supporting the boys and all they were doing for him). Sirius and James mainly used their boards to write down profanity and hold them up while professors were looking away. The four boys also started using nonverbal tripping jinxes on unsuspecting passers-by so they could write down diving scores. After almost three months of near silence from the boys they finally succeeded in keeping the leaves for a month. They then headed out to the clearing in the forest they found where the moon was always visible and completed the first part of the process, combining their spit soaked leaves with morning dew and burying their individuals phials at the base of separate trees marked with their initials. The next step required an electrical storm, which the boys luckily only had to wait two and a half weeks for. Unluckily, it came in the middle of classes. All four Marauders were spotted fleeing their respective classes and sprinting towards the Forbidden Forest at alarming speed, resulting in a weeks' worth of detentions.

The first to succeed at switching easily between human and animagi forms was James, who shocked all three of his dorm mates by transfiguring into a large stag in the middle of the room. The three who remained human all stared in shock at the stag in their room, and James looked, for lack of a better term, like a deer caught in headlights. He tried to walk around, but wasn't used to the new form and skidded halfway across the room, slamming into a chest of draws. Trying to recover from the mishap he spun around quickly and got his antlers caught in one of the curtains surrounding the beds. His sudden loss of vision caused him to panic and he began bucking uncontrollably, trying to free himself from the drapes. After getting over the initial shock, the reality set in and Remus tried to help James while Sirius and Peter rolled around on their beds laughing uncontrollably at the scene in front of them.

The second able to successfully transform with ease was Sirius, who scared the pants off an unsuspecting Peter one morning when he woke him up by jumping up onto his bed and licking his face. Peter, not accustomed to waking up face to face with a huge black dog understandably freaked out and ended up flipping both himself and the dog off the bed, landing in a tangle of bed sheets and fur on the floor.

The last to succeed was Peter, who had never been as magically gifted as the other boys but tried his hardest to keep up. As revenge for what Sirius had done the first time he transformed, Peter decided to use his new found form to crawl up Sirius trouser leg while he lay on his bed reading, and bite him dangerously close to the family jewels. Sirius jumped nearly three feet in the air and shook a large brown rat out of his trouser leg, dry retching at the fact that he had nearly been de-sexed by vermin. A hysterical Peter quickly transfigured back to his human form, laughing so hard tears sprang to his eyes.

By the time they all boarded the Hogwarts express home at the end of their fourth year the three could all confidently shift back and forth between their human and Animagi forms. During the long train ride Remus revealed the map he had been working on, now fully completed. The other three boys all looked at in adoration, and James suggested making a password so only they could use it. Sirius then suggested that they somehow include a way to show all the people on school grounds whereabouts at all times. Peter's contribution came in the form of the map insulting anyone who tried to decipher it without permission, particularly Severus Snape.

The map became a sort of a group project and as a result much of the Marauders time before school resumed went into writing letters back and forth, exchanging ideas on how to improve the map. The final product was quite a magnificent piece of magic that revealed all of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Not only did it show every classroom, every hallway, and every corner of the castle, but it also showed every inch of the grounds, as well as all the secret passages that were hidden within its walls and the location of every person in the grounds, portrayed by a dot. It was also capable of accurately identifying each person, and was not fooled by Animagi, polyjuice potions, or invisibility cloaks; even the Hogwarts ghosts were not exempt from this. The magic used in the map's creation was advanced and impressive; it included the Homonculous Charm, enabling the possessor of the map to track the movements of every person in the castle. In order to reveal the map, you had to tap the blank parchment with your wand and utter the phrase; "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Once done with the map, you were required to tap it and repeat "mischief managed." This ensured that if it fell into the wrong hands no one could use it against them. The final touches on the map came in the form of a tasteful title page that read; "Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present, THE MARAUDER'S MAP". The four Marauders decided to sign off on the map with their newfound nicknames, selected for each as a subtle homage to their animal forms.

Now with the Marauders Map on their side, the beginning of fifth year started off with a bang, quite literally. During the welcoming feast on the first night the four now fifth year Gryffindor boys snuck out during the sorting under the invisibility cloak and used the map to make sure to coast was clear before setting off fireworks in the entrance hall, gaining attention from the entire school. The doors to the Great Hall were flung open to reveal fireworks apparently setting themselves off. Filch rushed from the Hall in an attempt to control the situation, but ended up being levitated six feet in the air and eventually hung by his belt from a torch sconce on the wall. The fireworks then continued to explode, some even shooting into the Great Hall until eventually the faux night sky was alight with coloured sparks. During the pandemonium in the Hall all four boys snuck back to their seats at the table hidden beneath the cloak, and calmly sat down to watch the rest of the mayhem unfold.