The Marauder's Map Saga

“I know you’re planning something,” hissed Severus from his bed the next morning when the others started to awake. “I’m watching you, I’ll find out what you’re up to!”

“I’m right scared now, Snivellus,” whispered James.

“We might as well go down to Filch right now and turn ourselves in,” sneered Sirius in a tone of mock dismay.

Peter looked furtively around. Remus saw him looking right at the spot where the bottle of disappearing ink sat, barely concealed on his bedside table. Remus threw his pillow at him. Severus stared at Peter and then at Remus and then at Peter again, before turning and lurching from the room.

“Do you think he figured it out?” asked Sirius when they were sure Severus had gone.

“Doesn’t matter,” said Remus quickly. “Invisible ink could be used for lots of different things.”

“I’m still not clear on how we’re to use it for this map,” said Peter.

“Okay, I’ll go over it one more time,” said Remus patiently. “We put a switching spell on the ink, and then we draw the map.”

“But how does that keep people like Snivellus and Filch and Mrs. Norris from reading it?” asked Peter.

“Mrs. Norris is a cat so she can’t read it,” Sirius shot back.

“Don’t be too sure,” said Peter darkly.

“Once the map is finished, we’ll soak it in the Personality Potion,” James explained. “And then after it’s dry, we’ll put an Anti-Tampering Charm on it.”

“This is really very complicated!” said Peter, shaking his head.

“You’d better be glad we’re doing it,” said Sirius. “It’ll save your scaly tail from Mrs. Norris!”

* * *

During the morning break from classes, the foursome ducked into the library to copy a map from a book about Hogwarts. James did the drawing.

“This is going to have to be a big map,” said James, pen in hand, staring at the book. “Look how many pages it takes up in the book.”

“You’ll have to write really small!” Peter exclaimed, peering at the book from across the table.

“Wait a moment, I read something about this,” said Remus excitedly, disappearing toward the section where the Art books were shelved. He soon reappeared carrying a book entitled Magical Art in Three Dimensions. This book explains how Wizard Artists do their work. It talks about how they make portraits move and speak, but it’s also got a section about making other types of drawings like maps and charts.”

James took the book and flipped it open, finding the chapter on maps. The page showed a map the Ministry of Magic. As they looked at it, they soon forgot the page was flat; it was as if they were looking at a three-dimensional model of the Ministry headquarters, except that it stayed flat on the page. After staring at it for a few moments, the room swam before their eyes when they looked up.

Sirius leaned over James’ shoulder. “Here’s the spell: Multiplicis spatium. Brilliant!”

* * *

Later that evening, James, Sirius, Peter and Remus met again behind the mirror on the fourth floor.

“Why do we always meet here?” asked Peter.

“Severus is watching us everywhere we go,” said Remus. “But so far, he hasn’t discovered this tunnel. It’s roomy and private and not made of something that could’ve caught fire when we were brewing the potion.”

“Oh,” said Peter with dawning comprehension. “Now I get it.”

The map had been drawn and the multi-dimension charm applied. Sirius performed the anti-tampering charm next. Then Remus conjured up a cauldron, this time without a fire underneath. Retrieving the potion they’d made the day before, he poured it into the cauldron and dipped the parchment into it.

Sirius pointed his wand at the wall of the tunnel, then waved it toward the opposite wall, conjuring a clothesline across the tunnel. Remus hung the dripping map on the clothesline to dry.

“Now all that’s left to do is give the map a way to warn us when we’re about to be caught by Mrs. Norris,” said Peter.

“Not just Mrs. Norris, but Filch, Payne, or any of the school staff. And Severus, of course,” said James.

“It would be most helpful if it could warn us of the location of anyone in the castle, actually,” said Remus. “Think of it, we never know for sure whether anyone’s in the corridor out there when we’re about to go back out through the mirror.”

“I know the charm we need,” Sirius exclaimed. “I found it in the book I got the hologram charm from, Charms for the Charmer. My cousin Andromeda gave it to me last Christmas. It’s really more of a book of mischief-making charms now that I think of it.”

Sirius performed a series of complicated wand movements, and then spoke a single word, “Locatum!” pointing his wand at the map as he did so.

“Nothing happened,” whined Peter.

“We have to look at the map in order to see the effect of the spell,” said James, taking the now dry map down from the clothesline.

“But it’s blank!” said Peter, highly disappointed.

“The tamper-resistance charm, you prat! You have to say, “We are bent on mischief-making!” said Remus. Pointing his wand at the map, he watched as the lines of the map seemed to draw themselves across the parchment, starting where the wand was touching the paper.

“I’ll never remember that.” Peter was whining again.

“It doesn’t matter exactly what you say, as long as you say you’re breaking the rules or something with a similar meaning,” said Remus, reassuringly.

“Yeah, Wormtail, we knew you’d never be able to use it if you had to remember specific words,” laughed Sirius. He and the rest of them were grinning as they beheld their finished creation. James’ fancy green lettering stretched across the top: Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present The Marauders’ Map. Beneath that, the three-dimensional image of the map of the castle could be seen.

“There’s Severus. Wonder what he’s doing down near the dungeons?” wondered Remus, pointing to a small black dot labelled “Severus Snape“ in one of the lower corridors.

“Probably visiting his Slytherin friends,” sneered Sirius. “I told you we couldn’t trust him.”

“Why’s Moony listed first?” asked Peter in his whiny voice, pointing to the heading at the top of the page.

“It’s because of him that we found all the tunnels,” said James simply. “If he wasn’t a werewolf, we’d never had tried so hard to go out at night.”

Remus looked at his feet.

“And Wormtail’s next because his scrape with Mrs. Norris led us to the Locator charm idea,” said Sirius.

“Well, there’s no one outside in the corridor right now,” said Remus. “And Severus is still downstairs, so right now would be a good time to head back to the dorm.”

Sirius waved his wand to make the clothesline and the cauldron disappear, and the Marauders left the tunnel, James pocketing the map as they went.