"We're friends. We're the Marauders. We stick together, remember?"
"Yes, Moony. I remember."
One of them was mischievous and brave and had the perfect life.
Another of them was reckless and loyal and desperate to leave behind his family name.
The th...
After Christmas break, the Quidditch season came. James, Gryffindor captain, had kept the entire team same, except that a fourth year boy John Creevey was Seeker, taking Emily's place.
The first match of the season was Gryffindor vs Slytherin. James was very excited and noisy that day from the morning.
He saw Lily at breakfast.
"Hey, Evans, my first Quidditch match as a captain-wish me luck?" said James, rumpling his hair.
Lily didn't reply.
"Best of luck, James," said Alice in an extra friendly voice, to make up for Lily's coldness.
To nobody's surprise, James surpassed himself in the match, and Gryffindor won it comfortably.
--------------------
"We have our OWLs in five months," said Remus grimly in the common room in mid-January. "I really do think that you three should make some extra effort."
"Nah, we're well placed," said Sirius complacently.
"No, in History of Magic you're not. We have five years worth History. You all always mugged up in the end. I'm sure you need to revise."
"Plenty of time, Moony," said James. "Full moon in two days. Let's plan what we'll do."
"I reckon we'd better study the Hogwarts ground thoroughly before we venture out to Hogsmeade. We need the stuff for our map," said Sirius.
They had got a bunch of high level Charms books from the library, which they would need for the map.
--------------------
After their exploration of the grounds that full moon, they kept a few days for exploring the castle. Within a week, they had discovered five secret passages barring the one to the Shrieking Shack and that to Honeydukes.
Towards the end of January they officially started writing the Marauder's Map.
"First thing-a password," said Sirius.
"Let's make it a pass sentence," said James, grinning. "Five minutes to think."
This map belongs to the greatest troublemakers of Hogwarts," said Sirius. "Well, no..."
"I solemnly swear that I will use this map to..." began James.
"The beginning is nice, James. Let's make it, 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,'" said Remus.
"Yes, that sounds perfect!"
"Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs..." said James, and Sirius tapped the parchment with his wand, and the words appeared in an artistic style on it.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers..." continued Remus.
"Are proud to present..." said Peter.
"The Marauder's Map," finished Sirius. "Then we need to draw up the outlines of the grounds and castle."
"Remus, look at the time," said Lily icily, coming up. Remus glanced at his watch and jumped up. "Got to go to patrol, guys."
