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A Day in the Life of a Marauder - Part 3 | | Author: | Christopher Durston | | Genre: | General | | Rating: | G | | Score: | 4.22222   | | Story: | Sirius Black stuck his handsome face out of the trapdoor, heaving the rest of his body up, shaking long hair out of his sweaty features and pulling James Potter up after him. James stared around the room with his glasses-covered hazel eyes and nodded.
'Good work, Padfoot.'
Sirius made no reply but to nod back.
There was a grunt behind them and they turned to see Remus Lupin hauling himself out of the hole left by the opened door in the wooden floor, pulling Peter Pettigrew after him.
'Let's go,' said Sirius in a whisper.
'Wait!' commanded Remus, pulling him away from the staircase with a scarred hand.
'What?'
Lupin took a certain old piece of parchment and his wand from a pocket in his robes.
'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.'
Remus tapped the parchment with his wand. Ink lines appeared on the surface of the blank sheet; they criss-crossed each other and spread into every corner of the Marauder's Map.
'That won't help here,' said Sirius, looking at it doubtfully.
'It only goes to the Hogwarts boundaries!' squeaked Peter.
'Moony and I bewitched it so that it'll temporarily work in Hogsmeade,' replied James.
'And though it won't tell us who a particular person is...' continued Remus.
'...Unless they attend Hogwarts...' James told them.
'It will show people as unlabelled dots.' finished Remus.
Comprehension slowly spread across Sirius' face, but Peter looked rather bewildered.
James sighed.
'For the benefit of Wormtail, the map shows people but doesn't tell us who they are while in Hogsmeade.'
'Oh!'
Peter looked as though he understood at last, so the Marauders donned James' Invisibility Cloak and made for the stairs.
Later, in the Three Broomsticks, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs discussed the day's adventures.
James was laughing and saying to Sirius,
'When I said, 'go get me some Dungbombs from Zonko's,' I didn't think you were going to take a pack, knock the rest over and scarper!'
'Neither did I,' admitted Sirius.
Remus was sipping his Butterbeer and listening to Peter in full flow about his little jaunt into Madam Puddifoot's, thinking it was Scrivenshaft's, and walking in on about a hundred kissing couples who all broke apart when he entered and stared at him as if he were mad.
Suddenly the doors were flung open and Hagrid, the massive Hogwarts gamekeeper, entered, knocking over a hag, two goblins and what looked like a vampire.
He strode to the table inhabited by the Marauders and told them,
'You'd best come with me.'
Mystified, the Marauders followed him over into the other Hogsmeade pub, the Hog's Head. There, Headmaster Dumbledore and Argus Filch, the moody caretaker of Hogwarts, awaited them.
'Oh, dear, you're in trouble now,' muttered Filch, but Dumbledore silenced him with a wave of his hand.
'Boys, Mr. Filch tells me that you did not sign out at Hogwarts. Is this true?'
'Yes, Professor Dumbledore,' chorused the Marauders.
'So how, may I ask, do you come to be here?'
Each of the four friends turned pale; indeed, Peter had become an odd shade of green.
'Um...'
'We just, er...'
'Don't look at me...'
'Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick...'
Dumbledore did not shout at them - perhaps it would have been better if he had. Instead, cold disappointment radiated from him.
'Turn out your pockets,' Filch ordered them.
James stepped forwards and removed his wand and a pouch of money.
Peter followed suit and removed his wand.
Sirius copied them and removed his wand.
Then Remus put his hands in his pockets.
'Good thing you thought to leave the Cloak in the passageway,' breathed Sirius to James.
But James just stared, apparently horrified, at what Remus was removing from his pockets.
A wand, a leather pouch filled with coins... the map. The map which they had forgotten to wipe clean.
'What is this?' Dumbledore demanded, holding it up.
'It's, erm...'
'We got it from Zonko's!'
Peter's voice rang out over the mutter of the other three.
'Oh?' Filch looked skeptical.
'What is it's purpose?' Dumbledore asked them.
Peter answered again.
'Look, you can wipe it clean, it's a map of Hogsmeade - mischief managed-'
And the map disappeared.
'But if you don't know the words to get it back it insults you, see? Um...reveal your secrets!'
And new words appeared on the map:
Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
Would like to ask the idiot attempting to read this
To go and take a bath and try drowning themselves
THE MARAUDERS RANDOM INSULT GENERATOR
Dumbledore stared at it. For a few minutes the Marauders thought he was going to shout at them. Then he chuckled.
'On your way,' he said, handing the map to Peter.
'You're not punishing them?' they heard Filch ask indignantly. 'I demand punishment! Punishment! PUNISHMEEENNNTTTT!'
'Good thinking there, Wormtail,' James told him as Filch's cries faded away behind them.
'Thanks,' Peter answered, smiling.
He took his wand from his pocket and tapped the map.
'Mischief managed.'
A/N
Yes, sadly this is the last in the series. But you haven't heard the last of me!
Christopher Durston (the author)
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