"AH, FEEL THAT COOL FALL BREEZE. IT feels so nice to be bundled up in our scarves and jackets." Iris cooed as she walked down the paths of Hogsmeade. The leaves that fell to the ground now sport a nice fall color of red, orange, or yellow. It wasn't too cold, not too hot, it was amazing. It is October now, really only a month into the school year. Everything is perfect and blissful for Iris and her friends.
School work is obviously a pain, in Iris' opinion. Though that's a given, it's school work! She's having all sorts of fun getting back into the swing of things. Mainly just getting to pull pranks on anyone and everyone that she wants. Also having the Marauders to hang around with and help her with all of her hijinks.
Not only that, but with it being Fall now, Halloween was right around the corner. The spooky season is one of Iris's favorites. While she enjoys Christmas for the presents and food, Halloween is all about sweet treats and tricks. What better chance did she get to dress up in a costume, get a boatload of tooth rotting sweets, and pull as many pranks as she wanted? Not only that but it's always better to be in the wizarding world for Halloween! What better way to spend All Hallows Eve in a world completely surrounded by supernatural things?
Currently the group of Gryffindors were all in Hogsmeade on their usual trip on the weekend. The girls wanted to go shopping a bit and then maybe get a butterbeer later. Meanwhile, the boys wanted to head off on their own, though not before stopping at the candy shop with the girls of course.
"Yeah, it's pretty nice out right now." Marlene commented as the group entered the bustling shop. The sweet aroma that bombarded the group made quite a few of them lick their lips happily.
Iris quickly picked up a large lollipop from a shelf, "Mhm, not too cold, not too hot, just a perfect day. Don't you just love fall?"
"I'm surprised you like it so much considering it's the season right before winter." Wendy commented while grabbing a bag of sweets.
"Eh," She just shrugged, taking a lick of her lollipop, "it's my moment of bliss before the hellscape of snow and such."
"Fall is really great!" Marlene exclaimed, grabbing quite a few different types of sweets as she started to drool, "Just think of it, pumpkin pie, pudding, pumpkin juice."
"Is all you think about food? Especially pumpkin?" Lily asked with a giggle in her voice.
Marlene asked, "What's wrong with pumpkin? It's quite delicious."
"Don't judge her!" Iris exclaimed, also grabbing some of her favorite sweets to restock her private stash in her room. A stash that Lily would most certainly have a fit over since Iris may or may not eat a worryingly large amount of sweets every once in a while.
"Oh, you're the same way, Iris." Wendy laughed heartily, knowing that Iris would stick up for her comrade in food.
As the girls continued to grab a couple of treats to bring back with them to school, and also bet on how much food/sweets Marlene and Iris could consume, Iris noticed something a bit peculiar. In a far corner of the shop, the Marauders were muttering to each other about something. Iris was able to notice them quite easily, since she usually kept an eye out for them. She would be able to notice her boyfriend's luscious hair from a mile away, honestly. If they hadn't been here, she knew that they would have been checking out some quidditch equipment. Though to see them being somewhat secretive got her curious. When they get like that, it just meant that they were planning something, and she definitely wanted to know what.
She slid over to them and caught a few words of their conversation, "you sure it'll work?" It was James who had asked Remus, desperately curious.
"What'll work?"
The four boys jumped at Iris' question, suddenly doing their best to act as though they weren't just whispering some sort of secret to each other.
"Iris!" They all exclaimed.
Sirius made sure to put his arm around her waist and give her a peck on the cheek, "Hello, love."
Iris smiled lovingly at her boyfriend, "So? What are you four up to? No good if I had to guess." She flashed them a devilish smile, "I want in."
"It's not anything like that," James said, "Just going over some potions work, you know."
She just rolled her eyes at the excuse, "You have attempted to use that excuse on me before, I didn't believe it then and I don't believe it now. Now, what is it?"
"James had this idea some time ago, the castle is full of secret passages and hidden rooms. Now have you ever wondered," Sirius started to explain excitedly and paused for dramatic effect, "what if we mapped it out?"
Iris pursed her lips and thought it over. It certainly was an interesting idea, one that she knew she would love to have a hand in. She smirked at them, "Mapping out a magical school? That's got to be difficult."
James just smiled wider and clapped Remus on the shoulders, "Well, our resident genius thinks he's got a good idea on what to do."
"Not really," Remus rolled his eyes, "It's just a theory at this point."
Sirius jumped in, "Not only that, but what if we knew everyone's locations!"
"So that way we know when the coast is clear from Filch or any other professor."
Iris' eyes were wide with wonder, the devious thoughts running through her mind at the prospect. She chuckled, "Sounds like a brilliant idea. How are you going about it then?"
"Well…" Peter's mousey voice spoke up for the first time, sharing a look with his friends, "we aren't sure."
Iris tapped her chin as the smile on her face never left her face, "I'd be happy to help you lot!"
James whooped, "Great! The more the merrier!"
"We'll definitely need all the help we can get." Remus sighed out, seemingly relieved that there was someone else who would be able to help them.
Iris smirked, "Good thing you've got a genius like me to help, eh?"
Remus just scoffed and grumbled under his breath, "Obviously, these numpies will rely on me to do most of the work."
That seemed to offend all the others, "OI!"
"We're smart enough to help with this!" James exclaimed, Sirius nodding his head enthusiastically next to him.
Remus smiled sarcastically, "I totally believe you."
"Now, remember, we have to keep this between us." James said, his voice taking on an urgent and commanding tone. "If anyone else catches wind of the map, we're done for!" Though it's not like he doubted any one in this group would go blabbering about it. They all do well to keep secrets within this group, so he didn't have all that much to worry about. Still, he figured it had to be said, just in case.
Sirius nodded his head, "The teachers would be on us so fast."
"They'd be the least of our worries. If Lily found out, she'd scold us just for thinking about it." Iris said, scaring herself just thinking about it. They all shuttered, knowing that Lily would be quite scary if she did find out. Lily wasn't necessarily a stickler for the rules, but with something like a magical map of their school, she would have to scold them for that.
They then heard Lily, Wendy and Marlene heading over to them, after having finished picking out what they wanted. The boys plus Iris all scrambled, making sure that they kept themselves quite about the map for now. They tried to act natural… but it wasn't that convincing. Iris and Sirius hung onto each other pretending to have a conversation, Remus busied himself with staring at a shelf of some random candy, James was already eyeing Lily, and Peter was just standing there.
"You guys okay?" Wendy asked with a manicured eyebrow raised. All the girls were suspicious from the way that they were acting. Then again, when were they not suspicious of the Marauders doing some devious prank?
"Perfectly fine, especially now with Lily here." James suavely said with his most charming smile.
Lily just rolled her eyes, though there was a small up turn to her lips. "Oh, hush. Come on, we're heading to the Three Broomsticks."
So the group all headed for some drinks and idle conversation as they enjoyed the rest of their time at Hogsmeade. It was always moments like this that Iris loved. Simple moments that didn't really seem like much but was just a brief time of bliss with her favorite people. Slurping on a butterbeer and sharing laughter with her friends really brought her joy.
After some hearty drinks and laughter, the group headed back to the carriages to go back to Hogwarts. Once they got back to the Gryffindor common room, The Marauders made a beeline for the boys dorm so that they could get right to work. They had to show Iris what they had already done so far, after all.
They got into the room and closed the door to keep any prying eyes away from seeing their work. The last thing they need is someone to over hear their top secret map! Remus rummaged through his trunk, digging to the very bottom to pull out a worn looking parchment from it. Iris tilted her head, seeing that it was completely blank. Remus placed it on his bed as they all surrounded it to get a look at it.
Well, she thought, they have to start somewhere.
"Now this, is what we have so far." Remus said, presenting it to the newest addition to their secret.
Iris nodded her head, "a blank paper… I can see it working."
Sirius shook his own head, "this is just what we're using, look," he pulled out his wand and placed it on the blank parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Just as he said those words, maroon lines started to move across the pages. It amazed Iris as she watched those lines start to turn into the words 'Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present THE MARAUDER'S MAP'. Iris marveled at it as an impressed smile crawled onto her lips.
James opened up the parchment to show a crude map, only about one-third of the school finished. "This is really all we have at the moment," he explained, "we have to finish mapping out the school, secret passageways and all."
"Then we have to find the right charms and spells to show who is where," Sirius sighed. He may not exactly know the correct spells and such for it, but he knows that they can get it to work. Especially now with his lovely girlfriend helping out with their little project. He knew that she was smart and thought that this was such an amazing idea. She was definitely going to put her all into getting this to work, just like them.
Iris' eyes raked over the crude work that was already finished as he mind ran with how they were going to get this done. She certainly didn't know how they were doing to get the charms done, but she'll do her best to help them find the right ones. She's pretty decent at drawing, so she'll ask if she could redo some of the drawing since they seemed a bit jagged.
She picked up the map to get a closer look at it, "this is a bit small, definitely going to need a bigger paper."
"We just figured we can add onto the parchment," James explained.
She hummed, "that could work, I suppose." There was a lot of work that would have to be done to get to where they wanted with this map. A lot of work that she was more than enthusiastic to put into this. She then put it down and flashed them all a devious smirk, "so where do we go from here?"