The Original Mapmakers

The Original Mapmakers

"Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything."
-Muhammad Ali

There once lived a boy named James Potter. James was a highly unusual boy in many ways. For one thing, he had messy black hair that always stuck up no matter what he did. For another, he was very small for his age, with chocolate brown eyes behind eye glasses. And he also happened to be a wizard.

He lived in a quaint little brick house on the end of a street called Murphy Court. When his parents had moved there years before, they had been apprehensive; for it was an all-Muggle street, and they certainly were not Muggles. After staying for a while, however, they grew fond of the place, and even made friends with many of the families that lived there. The Evans was one of these families.

The Evans had two daughters; one was thirteen with blonde hair and blue eyes; the other was eleven with bright red (though not orange) hair and green eyes. James thought she was pretty, but of course would never admit that.

Lily; however, had detested James ever since she had first met him and he threw some kind of round thing that; when it hit her, burst open and smelled horribly like cat poop. That round object, which she later found out was called a Dung Bomb, spurred one of the biggest rivalries between two eleven-year-olds in the history of England. Lily just couldn't stand James at all. She didn't understand why he had to call her names and make fun of her freckles. But, she supposed, all boys were like that. Boys were just weird.

One day, Lily was sitting at her kitchen table carefully slicing up a pear for a snack when something brown went shooting through the dining room window. Lily had never seen live owl, but she had seen them in pictures and read about them, so she knew that an owl had absolutely no business flying into a house unless it was sick or rabid(if owls could get rabid.)

"Dad!" she yelled, knowing that her father was probably upstairs. "There's a rabid owl in our kitchen!" Her father came clumping down the stairs.

"Don't yell in the house Lily," he said, trying his best to look agitated. "And what's this about a rabid owl?"

"This owl came flying through the window, Dad," said Lily. "It's daylight, so I assumed that it must be rabid."

"Well, it might be sick, but I don't think owls can get rabies," he assured her, frowning slightly as he turned to look at the owl.

All this time the owl had been patiently sitting on the table, clicking its beak expectantly and staring at them with large yellow eyes. It was then that they noticed the official-looking white envelope sealed with a wax stamp tied to the owl's leg.

~*~*~

Miles away, a boy named Remus Lupin was staring expectantly out of a window of a shabby apartment complex in the heart of Knockturn Alley. He seemed tall for his age, but very thin and tired looking.

To most people he'd seem fairly normal for a boy living in the Alley, and compared to some of the people and creatures living there, he was.

His favorite food was chocolate. He loved music of any kind, including Muggle. Like any boy his age, he wanted to be an Auror when he grew up. But most people didn't know that, because most people never bothered to find out.

Because there was something else about Remus. If someone did actually try to talk to him, which was rarely, they'd notice something about the way his eyes seemed so sad, like they had seen things no 11-year old should ever see. They'd also notice the shadows under his eyes which seemed to suggest an illness of some sort. Remus was not completely normal after all. Remus was a werewolf.

Remus was bitten when he was five. His parents had been well-respected members of the wizarding community. They both had good jobs at the Ministry. But because of the horrors of lycanthropy and his parents' refusal to give him up for "experimental tests", they had been fired.

For years the Lupin family traveled, trying to find a cure. They also tried finding a job, but everywhere they went, people would chase them away. No one wanted to hire the parents of a werewolf.

Worse than that was the way people treated Remus. Some people were terrified of him. Others were spiteful and would calmly suggest to his parents that they take him to the vet and have him "put down."

That was before they found the Alley. To most people it was a dirty, awful place, but for the people living there, it was a sort of twisted sanctuary from the rest of the world. They found work there, and, although it was the type of place that you would get jumped just for walking down the street, Remus learned to defend himself.

But still they had to live with the fact that Remus would never be able to go to school or find any real work. It wasn't fair that Remus would never be treated like a human being just because of something that happened once a month.

Then Albus Dumbledore came along. When the previous headmaster died, and Dumbledore took his place, the Lupins begged him to let their son attend school. Dumbledore agreed to try to plead the Lupins case before the Ministry, hoping that their past good reputations would let them make an exception for Remus. Of course he wished that every werewolf that wanted could go, but Remus was the only one who had a chance. After a long, drawn out debate, they won.

Now Remus was nervously waiting for his letter. He had barely left the window for the past three days. He was starting to think that maybe the Ministry had changed their mind when suddenly he saw a dark, tawny shape flying through the sky. He smiled.

~*~*~

Two weeks later

Sirius Black walked down Diagon Alley humming softly to himself. It was so wonderful to think that in just a few weeks he would be leaving his house out in the middle of nowhere and his crazy mother. For the first time he would be making a fresh start where no one would know who he or his father was.

Sirius had never known his father. Brandon Black had been in the inner circle of the long-defeated Grindelwald, and had lost his life for it. Sirius sometimes wondered if his mother had gone crazy when that happened, or if she had always been that way.

Sirius checked his school list. Okay, next is Ollivander's, he thought to himself. He walked slowly to the shop, he wasn't in a hurry. He already had most of his things.

As he walked in, he saw that there were two people already there, a boy and a girl. Sirius's first thought when he saw the girl was that her head was on fire. Not only was it bright red, but there was smoke coming off of it. Apparently the boy had shot sparks at her from his new wand and lit her head on fire.

"James Potter," Lily huffed, "you promised me you wouldn't do anything to me while we're in Diagon Alley!"

"Hey, it's not my fault that you can't take a joke. And you're the one who suggested that you come with us anyway." He laughed when he saw Lily turn as red as her hair.

"I didn't suggest anything! I had to come because, unfortunately, your family is the only wizarding family we know."

"Well, if you hate me so much, why don't you just leave?"

"I think I will!" And with that Lily brushed past Sirius, clutching her new wand.

"Terrible temper, that one," James said, shaking his head. "Comes from the hair."

Sirius grinned at him. James suddenly paled. "Oh man, my parents are going to have my head when they find out I lost Lily!"

"Yes, that would be a shame, wouldn't it, Mr. Potter?" said a new voice.

Sirius jumped. He hadn't noticed the man who had been watching the entire scene with a bemused expression on his face.

"Well, I better go find Lily before she kills anyone," moaned James as he hurried out the door, leaving Sirius all alone with the man.

Sirius stared up at him. He looked a bit creepy, with large gray eyes shining like silver orbs.

"Would you like to try out an Ollivander wand as well? There's no better brand," said Mr. Ollivander.

"Er," said Sirius.

"Of course you would. Now just come this way," said Mr. Ollivander, leading him to the boxes.

~*~*~

Lily walked quickly and nervously down the streets. She was really starting to get frightened, she did not know where she was.

The streets seemed to be getting smaller and shabbier as she went along. Dirty looking old men kept giving her looks that she did not like. She wondered if she was even in Diagon Alley any more.

Okay, okay, she thought to herself, calm down, you've just gotten yourself a bit turned around. When you turn this next corner, you'll be right back to where you started.

But when she turned the corner, she was not back to where she started, nor was she back at the next, then the next, and the next. She kept thinking that things looked familiar, but when she came closer, she found that it was not familiar at all. Whether this was more magic or her own mind playing tricks on her she did not know.

Tears stung her eyes as she began to walk faster and faster. James Potter, she thought, this is all your fault. Now I'm probably going to get killed or raped or have to live here and become a hooker because I won't be able to feed my kids and-

Lily shook herself. This is silly, your being over dramatic, she told herself. All you have to do is ask someone directions. Lily smiled. Now why hadn't she thought of that before? All she had to do was find someone decent-looking to ask. Easier said then done.

She decided to ask first an old humpbacked witch for directions. The old toothless witch opened her mouth and hissed at her.

"Uh, sorry?" said Lily. The witch reached out at her and tried to claw her. Lily turned around and ran.

She ran fast and didn't realize where she was going until she ran into a boy, sending all her new school things flying. "Why don't you watch where you're going?" snapped the boy.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said the girl, wiping away her tears.

The boy's eyes softened when he saw that she had been crying.

"No, I'm sorry," he said, bending down to help her pick up her things. "I shouldn't have gotten so mad."

Lily smiled at him. He wasn't really good looking on the eleven year old standards, just more interesting. He was very tall, with sandy hair and green-gray eyes fringed with dark eye-lashes. His eyes reminded her of the sea.

"Thank you," she said, as he handed her the books. "I didn't mean to run into you like that, I wasn't paying attention. I'm sort of having a bad day."

"Oh?" said the boy. "How so?"

"Well, I was out shopping for my school supplies, and I got lost, and I ended up here," she explained.

The boy nodded. "It happens," he said. "But come with me. I'll show you the way back."

Lily grinned again, much relieved.

He took her down many streets that she had never thought of. It seemed to take an eternity. Just when she thought that they were now both lost, they emerged onto the streets of Diagon Alley.

"Lily! Lily!" yelled several voices all at once. It was the Potter family, running up and grabbing her.

"Oh, where were you? We were so worried!" exclaimed Ms. Potter. Lily was caught up in the warm embraces of the family. Even James said that he was glad she didn't get eaten or something.

It was then that Lily remembered the boy. She turned around to find him and saw that he was gone. She searched frantically till she saw the back of his shirt disappearing in the crowd.

"Wait!" she cried, running up to him. "I never got to thank you!"

"Don't worry about it," he mumbled, looking embarrassed. "Well, bye," he said, turning to leave.

"What's your name?" she called out to him.

"Remus," he yelled back, "Remus Lupin."

"I'm Lily Evans!" yelled Lily. "I'll see you at Hogwarts, I guess!"

"Yeah," he yelled. "Bye."

Lily smiled. Well, at least now she had a friend at Hogwarts!