The Marauder's Map Saga

“I don’t understand why we’re doing this,” whined Peter that evening. They were in the library, and Sirius was casting a Hologram Charm.

“There, now it looks like we’re all hard at work, studying our books,” said Sirius in a smug voice. “Snoopy Snape won’t figure it out till it’s too late to find out where we’ve really gone.”

“Brilliant!” whispered James, throwing the invisibility cloak over himself and Sirius. “Let’s split up and meet at the fourth floor mirror.”

“Right,” said Remus briskly, ducking around the far end of the bookshelves they’d been hiding behind, careful to take an exit route that would not allow anyone to see himself and his hologram image at the same time.

“But why can’t all four of us travel under your cloak, James?” asked Peter in a petulant voice.

“We’ve been over this before, Wormtail,” James replied in a frustrated voice. “It’s too clumsy with three of us under here. Snivellus is looking for me and Padfoot more than you or Remus, so we have to be invisible.”

“We can’t transform into an animal that can hide very well in a castle corridor, now, can we?” Sirius put in. “You just assume your animagus form and run along. We’ll meet you in a few minutes.”

James and Sirius backed away, making sure to make just enough noise so Peter knew they were leaving. After they saw him transform into a rat and run toward the door of the library, they doubled back to watch the hologram for a moment.

Just then, Severus’ head appeared from behind one of the bookshelves in the Restricted Section. His eyes narrowed as he focused on the image of his four dorm mates studying quietly at the table.

After spying for a few moments, Severus sat at an empty table on the other side of the room. He pulled a couple of books from a shelf nearby and opened one of them on the table in front of him.

Sniggering quietly under the invisibility cloak, James and Sirius tiptoed quietly out of the library and down the corridor in the direction of the mirror. Soon they saw Remus casually combing his hair and looking into the mirror.

“Where’s Wormtail?” Remus asked as soon as James and Sirius had made their presence known.

“He left the library almost five minutes before we did,” said James, glancing around. “Even on his little rat legs he should have been able to make it here before now.”

Hiss!

Remus gasped and pointed his wand at the mirror. “Penetralis Speculum!” The mirror turned misty. James and Sirius looked around in time to see Wormtail, in the form of a rat, running as fast as his little legs could carry him. Remus, James and Sirius stepped through the mirror. A few seconds later Wormtail joined them. Remus had recognized the danger just in time to open the tunnel.

“Colloportus!” said Remus. The others stared as Mrs. Norris ran headlong into the mirror just as it went dark.

“Brilliant!” said Sirius. “Just in the nick of time. That ought to teach that foul feline not to chase us!”

“Are you okay, Wormtail?” asked James.

Peter lay on the floor of the tunnel, panting heavily. He was apparently too exhausted to transform back to his human form.

“Right. The library closes at eight, so we don’t have all night,” said Sirius in a businesslike tone. “Moony, you go to Zonko’s while we start the potion.”

“Right. See you!” said Remus, moving quickly off down the tunnel as Peter still lay panting on the floor.

Finally, Peter recovered enough strength to effect his transformation back to human form. “That loathsome cat! She snuck up on me and chased me around and around the fourth floor,” he groaned, still panting slightly.

“It’d be great to find a way to be warned when she’s coming. Or Filch,” said James casually.

“Or Snivelly,” added Sirius. “When he poked his head out at the library, I worried he’d been there long enough to see me set up the Hologram Charm.”

“A bell around her neck, that’s all I ask,” whined Peter, still stuck back on the subject of Mrs. Norris. “Just so I know she’s sneaking up on me, that’s all. Not too much to ask, is it?”

“No, being a rat you’re in a bit of a spot when she catches sight of you,” laughed James.

“A warning . . . . Yes, that’s brilliant!” Sirius said softly. “We can add it to the map!”

“A map with a bell on it?” asked Peter, puzzled.

“No, not a bell. The map is a document, drawings and words. What if our map doesn’t just show the castle, the corridors and the tunnels? What if our map shows the people in the castle, right where they are at the moment?” asked Sirius excitedly.

“Excellent!” James exclaimed. “Then we’ll know if Severus is sneaking up on us.”

“But how can we do it?” asked Peter. “It sounds like awfully difficult magic to me.”

“Let’s get to work on the potion,” said Sirius. “Maybe Moony’s got an idea how we can add warnings to the map.” Pointing his wand in front of him, Sirius conjured up a cauldron out of thin air, complete with a tripod and a brightly burning fire in a small furnace beneath it.

“Right,” said James, opening his bag and taking out the potion ingredients and the directions. They quickly set about making the Personality Potion. They were just adding the last ingredient when Remus returned.

“It’s got to steep for twenty minutes,” said James. “When we’re done, we’ll have to store it in these phials for later, or we’ll be out too late tonight.”

“Wouldn’t want our hologram selves to be kicked out of the library!” said Sirius.

“Tell Moony about the bell idea,” said Peter.

“Bell?” asked Remus.

“Not a bell, a warning,” James explained. “Sirius came up with a brilliant idea to get the map to warn us when someone’s nearby who might, shall we say, disrupt our plans.”

“Like Mrs. Norris,” grimaced Peter.

“Or Severus!” said Remus and Sirius at the same time.

“But we’re not sure how to get it to work,” said James.

Remus scratched his head thoughtfully. “I think I read something like that in a book about the history of the Sorting Hat. Since this project’s obviously going to take several days, I’ll have time to visit the library and look it up.”

“Aren’t you in the library now?” asked Peter. “Can’t your holo-thingy look it up?”

“Yeah, and maybe your holo-thingy is being chased by Mrs. Norris!” said Sirius cruelly.

“Have you started to prepare the final ingredient of the potion?” asked Remus, changing the subject.

“Final ingredient?” asked Peter, puzzled. “I thought it was all done.”

“It’s a Personality Potion,” said James. “We have to put a bit of ourselves into it so it can recognise good mischief-makers from those who shouldn’t be allowed to see the map’s secrets.” James reached into his bag again and produced four miniature inkwells, four quills, and a scrap of parchment, which he laid on the floor. “Everyone have a seat.”

Remus took a folding knife from his pocket and sat down. Sirius and Peter also sat. Peter had an uneasy look on his face.

“What’s the knife for,” Peter asked nervously.

“I remember now,” said Sirius. “We need to write something with our own blood and add that to the potion.”

Remus quickly made a small cut on his finger and allowed his blood to drip into one of the inkwells. James took the knife, did the same, and passed the knife to Sirius. Peter watched all of this uneasily. When Sirius passed the knife to him, he sat staring at it.

“We’ve only got five minutes before it’s time to put the parchment into the potion,” said Remus gently. “Then we’ve got half an hour to bottle the potion, hide it somewhere, clean up, and get back to the library and remove those holograms before the library closes.”

“Okay, I -- I’ll do it,” said Peter. After three tries he succeeded in getting a few drops of his own blood into his inkwell.

James was already writing. “To magical mischief-makers everywhere.”

Sirius wrote next. “Our brothers in spirit.”

Remus wrote: “Keepers of the secret passageways.”

With a shaky hand, Peter was last to write. “To forewarn our brothers about those who stalk them.” He ran out of blood and had to use a bit of James’ blood to finish the last four words.

Remus took the parchment and slipped it into the cauldron. They all watched as it vanished in a puff of smoke. Remus stirred the potion four times and pronounced it done. He and James set about bottling it while Sirius cleaned up the other items. They hid the finished potion behind a loose stone in the wall of the tunnel.

Emerging from the mirror, James and Sirius again donned the invisibility cloak. “Can I please get under there with you?” Peter begged. “I don’t think I’d survive if I had to run away from Mrs. Norris a second time tonight.

They compromised; Peter assumed his animagus form and James carried him. Remus sauntered off toward the library, stopping just outside the door. “Peter, could you sneak in there and see if Severus is still sitting there?” suggested Remus.

James put Peter on the floor and he scurried through the door and jumped onto a bookshelf and disappeared. After a moment he was back. He looked up at them and shook his head. Severus had given up and gone away.

Sirius and James, still under the invisibility cloak, walked awkwardly toward the table where the holograms were still studying. They could hear Peter’s little rat feet following. Remus stayed in the corridor.

They were in luck. There were no other students in sight in this part of the library. Sirius raised his wand and performed the counter-charm to make the holograms disappear. As he did so, a movement caught his eye. Evan Rosier, one of Severus’ vile Slytherin friends, was watching from behind a bookshelf. When he saw the holograms disappear, he turned and almost ran out of the library. Madam Pince swept after him and caught him at the door, reminding him firmly that there was to be no running in the library. James and Sirius sniggered beneath the invisibility cloak.

On the seventh floor, as they approached the portrait hole, they weren’t surprised to see Rosier in whispered conversation with Severus. Severus sneered at them as they went past, all in their human forms, and with the invisibility cloak safely tucked in James’ bag.