Wish Upon A Star (Cont.)

Filler 2.007

James calling an emergency meeting was the weirdest and the most alarming thing ever. So obviously all of them dropped whatever they were doing and rushed to the library.

"What's this about?" Albus said sitting down at the table in the corner they had occupied.

"We need to pool our resources," James said seriously. 

"Okay..." Lyra muttered uncertainly. 

"No, really, get out all your stuff," James said and plunged his arm into his robes' pockets and pulled out a few things. Flesh coloured strings, edible dark marks, a few sweets from the Skiving Snackboxes. 

"Extendable Ears?" Scorpius said picking it up. "You have these with you?"

"Only a few, use sparsely," James warned.

"And an old parchment?" Albus scoffed.

A mischievous, proud smile crept up James' face as he straightened himself.

"Old parchment?" he said with a laugh. "Old parchment? This, my dear brother, is the secret to all of Hogwarts,"

"Uh-huh," Albus said disbelievingly.

"Listen here you dumb shit," James snapped. "You know how Fred and George go on and on about their pranks, and how they knew all the secret passages in Hogwarts?"

"Yeah, so?" Dominique prompted.

"So, I asked them how they found them all, and they let me in on a secret," James said a mad excited gleam in his eyes. 

"This," he held up the parchment. "This was their guide. This is a treasure, you uncultured swines,"

Lyra sighed. "Either explain or let us go, James," she said.

"Watch carefully, now," James said placing the parchment on the table and pulling out his wand. He placed the tip of his wand on it and said,

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," 

"Yeah, we all can agree to that," Albus said sarcastically, but the next second his sneer dropped and a look of astonishment took its place.

"What in the world," Rose muttered as they all leaned forward.

All of Hogwarts stretched in front of them, nothing but ink and parchment. 

"You see those little dots?" James said. "That's everyone in the castle,"

"Fred told me that they had help from a map, which they passed on to dad. Apparently, this; the Marauders Map was made by our grandfather, Sirius, Remus and Pettigrew when they were in school," James told the other five who were leaning over the Map.

"Dad hid it in his office," James said. "Nicked it with the mirror," 

His smirk only widened.

"It shows everyone?" Lyra said.

"Everyone," James nodded.

"And we just leave it lying around?" Rose asked.

"Of course not," James said, waving his hand dismissively. "Watch, Mischief Managed,"

The map wiped itself clean.

"Dad had this the whole time, and he couldn't give it to me?" Albus said indignantly. 

"Don't you have your invisibility cloak?" Scorpius asked. James gave a sad sigh and shook his head.

"Why didn't you carry it with you, you idiot?" Albus snapped.