Prefect
When Remus received his Prefect badge in the post, his parents had been very proud. He had been shocked. James was the smartest Gryffindor and a natural leader. He couldn’t believe that Dumbledore was placing this level of responsibility on him. Prefects helped enforce the rules and keep the younger students in line.
Remus grew anxious. If he couldn’t stop his friends, how could he be a Prefect? He briefly considered sending the badge back to Dumbledore, but what would he tell his parents? No, he had to keep the badge and do his best not to let Dumbledore down.
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Hearing the trapdoor scraping, Remus looked up nervously. This close to moonrise, it was dangerous for anyone to be with him. “What are you doing here?” he asked his friends.
“Success, mate. We are now full-fledged Animagi,” replied James smugly before transforming into a stag.
Remus was shocked. They’d really done it. “Well, you two had better hurry; I can feel it coming, and I don’t want to hurt you.” As he felt the tingling turn to pain, he saw Sirius and Peter turn into a dog and rat. As the wolf took over, he hoped they would be safe.
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When Remus returned to the dormitory, his friends met him with raucous cheers, recounted the fun they’d had, and how much better it would be next month. He couldn’t really remember, but he had impressions of running free.
“We came up with nicknames, too. I’m Prongs, Peter’s Wormtail, Sirius’ Padfoot, and you, naturally, are Moony. What d’you think?”
Remus was overwhelmed.
“I still think we need a group name,” added Sirius.
James thought a moment. “How about Marauders? We’ll be our own private club.”
Remus couldn’t help the sick feeling in his stomach, but there had been no harm, right?
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Knowing what they did had been wrong, he had barely slept the night before. He never should have let them join him. What if he had got free? He had never been careless about his transformation before, and he had promised Dumbledore he would stay in the Shack. Never before had he felt so miserable. Surely, he would be expelled if anyone found out what he had done. And what would happen to him if the other parents found out? He had to put a stop to this now, before it became a habit. Surely, they would listen to him.
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Pulling his friends to the side at breakfast, Remus said, “We can’t do that again. What if I’d hurt someone?”
“Wasn’t going to happen. James and I are big enough to keep you at bay.”
“And we’ll stay well away from the village,” added James.
“You started to remember last night, and we can tell you had fun. Do you really want to be a prisoner in that creaky old shack?”
He had to admit being free had been wonderful. The grass had been soft and fragrant. “I suppose not.”
“Good! The Marauders ride in a month,” said James triumphantly.
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Sirius slammed the book down. “I’ve been thinking.”
“That would be a first,” quipped James.
“Ha-ha. Seriously, if we’re going to sneak around, we need a way to avoid getting caught. What if we make a map of the school?”
“What good would that do?” asked Remus, not entirely liking the idea of breaking more rules.
“If the map could tell us where everyone is, a lot.”
“How do we do that?” asked Peter.
“We have James and Remus, our Charms geniuses. I’m sure they’ll work something out. A variation of a Locator Charm, perhaps?”
James grinned at the challenge.
************
It took months. James finally convinced Remus to get a note allowing him access to the Restricted Section since no one would question Remus’ research motives; after all, he was a Prefect.
Sometimes, Remus thought he was being used, but he reminded himself that friends helped each other. And what he was doing was not really hurting anyone. Besides, this could be incredibly useful magic. When they finished the Map, he couldn’t help feeling proud of his accomplishment. Even though they were planning on using the Map to break the rules, it was still a very elegant piece of magic.
Chapter End Notes:
A/N: I hope that you are enjoying this fic. Many thanks to such_heights for her help beta reading and Brit-picking this story.