Chapter Thirty: The Marauders's Secret

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James places two things on the table. An old cloak and a pit of parchment. He picks up the cloak first. "It's been in my family for generations. An invisibility cloak."
"Seriously? Those are hard to get. Most of them are just charmed." I comment.
"Seriously, it's not charmed. Watch." He throws the cloak over him and disappears.
"Impressive." I admit with a smile. "So, do your parents know you have it?"
"Of course! Dad gave it to me."
"What's the parchment for?"
James grins. "The final part of the Marauders' legacy." He taps the parchment with his wand and says, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Slowly, ink lines start to appear on the page. Shapes appear from the lines. Words. Messr Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are proud to present The Marauders' Map.
"A map?" I say in disbelief. I open the parchment and stare at it. It's Hogwarts! Suddenly, I notice footprints with names under them. I scan the map briefly. Dumbledore is pacing his office. Mr. Filch is walking along the corridors with Mrs. Norris. "How?" I gasp. "Hogwarts is unplottable."
James grins. "There's a way around any magic, if you just know where to look. C'mon, let's go. Filch won't catch us."
I nod and take James' hand. "Remus, was right, James. You are a bad influence."
James shakes his head. "Of course, I'm a bad influence. I am the lead Marauder."
I follow him out of the Head's dorms. "Oh, the lead? Who ever told you that?"
"Everyone just knows it."
I smirk. "Really? I think Peter is a better fit for that job."
"As if."
"You think you're so cool," I taunt, vaguely remembering the words that I said at Black Lake nearly three years ago.
"I don't think it, I know it." James says as he throws the cloak over us.
"Prat." I mutter under my breath.
James' low soft chuckle tells me that he heard what I said. We continue down the silent halls of the school.
"No students out of bed," a voice croaks from behind us. It's Filch.
James grabs my hand and moves to the side. He nods at me and looks at Filch. I glance uneasily between the two. Slowly, we shuffle out of the hallway and outside into the darkness. "That was close." James declares with a stupid grin.
"How many times have you been caught?" I ask.
"By teachers? Less than five times. By prefects? Well, more like nine or ten."
"But not while you were pranking?" I guess, knowing that those were the times that he got caught snogging another girl. I'm not one of those girls, who get jealous about their boyfriend's exes. Though, I'd rather hear the truth from him than from the gossipers.
"Not exactly." he admits.
"It's fine."
"Not really, but it's the past now. C'mon, we should do this in the Forest." I shudder slightly. James looks at me for a moment. "Relax; we won't be going very far into the Forest. Besides, we're the brightest of our year, we'll be fine."
"You just jinxed it."
"Huh?" James asks, looking confused.
"Oh, sorry, it's a Muggle saying."
"What does it mean, because I'm thinking of a wizarding jinx?"
"It means that basically, you've claimed that something won't happen, but then by saying that, there's a higher possibility of it happening. It's more or less a joke."
James nods. "Good to know."
The trees start to thicken and we walk through the darkness, until we can't see the school. "Lumos." I whisper. The tip of my wand lights up with a brilliant white light.
"Okay, I'm gonna change now. So, don't jump and make take a few steps back."
I nod and follow his instructions. I carefully lean against the trunk of a large tree.
Suddenly, James' body is blurred. A beautiful stag stands in his place. If it wasn't for the fact that I knew that it was James, the only thing that could possibly clue me in is: his eyes. They're still the beautiful hazel. I take a step forward and reach out and touch the stag's nose.
Tonight is the night of secrets. I just hope that we never have to hide secrets again...
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Hi guys! I'm back! Thanks for the birthday wishes and great suggestions and support. I'm sorry that I couldn't post sooner. Unfortunately, this will be the last chapter that I post for a few weeks, I have finals and I have to focus on them. I'm sad, cuz I really enjoy writing this story, but school has to come first.
So if anyone has ideas or questions, let me know. Until next post, have a nice couple of weeks. :)
-myflowereh

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