The Confiscated Item:
1977:
The last day of school for the Marauders. After so many years of pulling pranks together on these grounds, they had to leave. Of course, the Marauders would never stop being friends, they knew that.
It was a very sunny day, but, thankfully, not hot. As they grabbed their trunks, coming out of the Gryffindor Common Room, James stopped suddenly. Remus bumped into him, he hadn’t noticed his abrupt stop since he had been looking at a book. Peter was behind Remus, wondering what the hold up was.
“What’s wrong, Prongs?” Sirius asked from the corridor. He had left first.
“What are we going to do with the map?” asked James to the others. “We don’t need it anymore, really.”
“We could just take it for the time being. Later we could give it to someone,” said Sirius.
“But who?” asked Remus, throwing his book into his trunk. Sirius shrugged. He didn’t have someone in mind, but just thought to throw out the idea. “We need someone trustworthy.”
“There’s no one we know as trustworthy as each other,” said James.
“That’s true,” said Peter, from the back. He was on his toes to look over Remus’ shoulder, so that he could see the others.
“Maybe we could give it to little Tonks when she gets to Hogwarts. I’m sure she could put it to good use,” siad Sirius happily.
James pulled his trunk out of the portrait hole and waited for Remus and Peter to get out, too. “She’s only four, Padfoot. We can’t give it to her. She’d probably rip it up,” James said.
“Well, we could”” Remus started.
They turned to the portrait hole to see Peter’s trunk had fallen over onto the floor. Some contents had fallen out, littering the area. He looked up, his cheeks red. James and Remus walked over to help him get his things in order.
As they put back the last couple things, Sirius asked, “Who has the map?”
“I have it. It’s in my trunk,” James replied. He heard Sirius open his trunk, take it out, and close it back up.
Remus consulted his watch. “We got twenty minutes before the train leaves,” he said as he grabbed the handle of his trunk.
“Maybe we should let it leave. I’d rather stay here at Hogwarts,” said James.
“I agree,” said Sirius. He was looking at the map. “I have an idea. Maybe we should just leave the map.”
“Leave it? As in, leave it anywhere? Where anyone could pick it up? Even Snape?” siad Remus, looking at Sirius incredulously.
“I didn’t think about that,” said Sirius.
The four friends grabbed their trunks and walked down all the flights of stairs, down to the first floor. They stopped in front of the Great Hall. Sirius and James had been thinking about the map the whole way down.
“I like the idea about leaving the map. True, that anyone could pick it up, but we’ll just have to take that chance,” siad James.
“I agree. We could leave it somewhere where we know someone will pick it up. Someone who wouldn’t use it for the wrong reasons,” said Peter.
“You mean the way we used it?” asked Sirius with a smile. James laughed at the thought. Wrong reasons. What they did during their seven years, could, quite possibly, be called wrong reasons. But they meant for even worse reasons, of course.
“Alright. Where are we going to leave it?” asked Remus. “We have five minutes to figure it out.” He had looked at his watch again, but he didn’t really mind if tey missed the train. He would much rather stay. He loved it at Hogwarts. It had been seven difficult years, but with the help of his three years, he had made it through.
James left his trunk and looked around the Entrance Hall, finding the perfect place. “Maybe can leave it around here. In the beginning of next year, some unsuspecting student might pick it up.”
Sirius gave the map to Remus before he left his trunk, and looked at the wall opposite the Great Hall doors. He scanned the old stones that made up the wall, and found a crack large enough to fit the parchment the map was upon.
“How ‘bout here?” said Sirius, as he turned back to the others. James was looking at the cracks in another wall, Remus was sitting on his trunk, looking at the map, and Peter was following James around, also looking. They all turned to him when he said this.
Since Remus wa closest, he got there first and looked it over. “Looks fine to me,” he said. James and Peter agreed, as well.
Remus rolled the parchment, so that there wouldn’t be any creases. Slowly, he put the parchment into the little crease. None of them wanted it to rip.
When they were satisfied, they grabbed their trunks. The four friends took one last look around before leaving the castle, making their way down to the Hogwarts Express.
They heard the train sound loudly and felt it move violently before going into a steady pace. “Good bye,” the Marauders all said, not noticing that the others had said it, as well.
* * *Filch was silently cheering to himself, knowing that the Marauders would never set foot on Hogwarts grounds again. He was standing in the doorway of the Entrance Hall, watching the Hogwarts Express leave. Smoke was billowing out from the front of the red train.
Mrs. Norris meowed, and Filch responded by saying, “Yes, my sweet, you won’t have to see those four horrible boys again.” Mrs. Norris turned away and began to walk to Filch’s office. Filch followed his lovely cat.
He looked around, making sure that nothing had been ruined by the Marauders before they left. Filch glanced at the walls for no particular reason, but saw a piece of parchment stuck in the wall. He hadn’t seen that this morning when he was checking the Entrance Hall, like he usually did.
Filch pried the parchment from the crack in the wall. When he had taken it out without ripping it, he looked it over to see that it was just a regular piece of parchment. Filch was slightly disappinted, but realized that this piece of parchment had probably been put in the wall for a reason.
Thinking it was or would be used for wrong reasons, he rolled it back up. After getting into his office, Filch opened the drawer marked “Unknown Objects” and placed it inside.
Afterwards, he opened another drawer and took out a container of oil. Filch pressed a lever under his desk, and the chains above his head, moved down, so that he could oil them. He smiled oddly as he put the oil on the chains.
* * *1989:
“Always disprupting the civility of this school!” said Filch loudly, as he made Fred and George Weasley go into his office. “Stay here while I get rid of your dugbomb!”
Mrs. Norris followed Filch as he left his office. Once the door closed, the two first year boys began to laugh at what they had just done.
“That was…” started George, as he grabbed his stomach in laughter.
“…the funniest prank ever!” finished Fred. He too was holding onto his stomach.
Fred glanced around the room, and saw the chains hanging above Filch’s desk. “So it’s true.”
“I’m glad he can’t use those anymore,” said George, who got up to get a better look at them.
George looked around the room and saw the file cabinet with the drawer labeled “Unknown Objects.”
“Fred, come ‘ere,” George said as he motioned for Fred to come over. He heard Fred get up and stand next to him. He turned to his twin and said, “Are you thinking, what I’m thinking?”
“I always am,” said Fred with a mischeivous smile.
They bent down and opened the drawer, checking every now and then that no one was coming. They rummaged through all the old stuff. Some of it seemed useless to Fred and George, but others were stuffed into their pockets for…safe keeping.
Fred came across an old piece of parchment. “What’s this?” he asked, holding it up.
“Probably nothing. You know how paranoid Filch is,” said George. He had looked at the parchment, but then looked back to the drawer.
“I want to keep it anyway. Look,” said Fred, as he handed the parchment to George. “It seems somehow worth it to me.”
George took it and looked it over. “Thick parchment. Maybe this is important. We can test it out later.” George handed it back to Fred, who put it in his cloak pocket.
They heard the rickety old door creak a bit. Quickly, they closed the drawer, making sure nothing looked out of order, and sat back down in their seats. The creak had been from Mrs. Norris, who was ow inside the office. She was soon followed by Filch.
“Once I tell Professor McGonagall about your smelly addition to the Great Hall, she’ll wish I still used these precious chains,” said Filch, as he sat down in his seat. He took out a piece of paper and began to write down their names and “crime.”
When Filch was done, Fred and George left the office with detention on Thursday night. They made their way to Gryffindor Tower, making plans along the way for when they could put their new items to good use. They laughed as they walked through the portait hole.
Finding that no one was there, they spilled the contents of their pockets onto the floor. Fred and George saw the blank piece of parchment on the floor and picked it up first, wondering what it did.
A/N: Did you like this idea I came up with? With the help of a reviewer, of course. Whether you liked it or didn’t, just tell me what you thought. Thanks.
~Sara