Harry Potter Fanfic shorts

Stolen Map: Short Story

**Based on a Vine compiliation 

Characters:

James: (10 years old at the time)

Albus (8 years old at the time)

Lilly (6 years old at the time)

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Albus tried his best to focus on his book, hoping to drown out his brother and sister giggling on James' bed. Their dad had left his map of Hogwarts out on his desk when he had left that morning, and James had not missed the opportunity. While Lilly distracted mom by asking for a snack, James snuck in and swiped the map. 

As much as Albus wanted to see that map, he knew his mother would be in the room looking for the map as soon as dad let her know that he did not have it with him. As soon as she found his desk empty, she would know exactly where it went. He wanted to know what they saw and hear about what was happening, but he also wanted to make sure he was not caught red handed with one of the few things dad had told them, explicitly, not to touch. So he had contented himself with sitting on the floor of James' floor, pretending to read while he listened in on James and Lilly's conversations. 

"Try to find Teddy!" Lilly begged James as he searched the map. 

"I am, there's a lot of people though." James responded. 

"You could try places where Hufflepuffs hang out." Albus suggested. 

"I'm sorry, I thought you were too good to look at the map, Mr. Goodie-two-shoes." James said sarcastically, even as he began to move the map to see the Hufflepuff common room. 

Albus shrugged. "No, I just don't wanna be caught and in trouble, like you." 

"Well, your idea was stupid, because he's not here either." James said. 

Albus stopped responding, and went back to pretending to read. He had been looking at the same page the entire time, but his brother and sister hardly seemed to notice. 

While James and Lilly were debating whether Teddy would be in the great hall or in the library (both seemed like weak options to Albus, but it wasn't like he knew where to look any better than them), Albus noticed a sound coming from downstairs. It sounded like an owl coming in through the window. Not too long after, he heard his mom moving around downstairs, sounding like was looking for something. First her footsteps moved towards the study, then they moved around in the entry way for a bit, before moving to walk up the stairs with purpose. It was time. 

Albus didn't really have much time to react before him mother had pulled open the door, and now stood looking angerly at James. It looked like she was so focused on him and Lilly, she hadn't noticed Albus yet. 

"I can't believe you'd do this, you know your father needs that map!" She reprimanded James. 

"I need it!" James countered. "I'll be there next year, I need to know what I'll be dealing with!" 

"Give it back James." Mom demanded. 

"No! I should have it!" James shouted back. 

Ginny took a step torwards them, but Lilly jumped between them. She threw a pencil at mom and shouted "No! Bad mommy!" while laughing hysterically. 

Mom's face began to grow red. Her facial expression went from frustrated to angry. Albus knew where this was going. He quietly backed away from the scene. He thought about leaving through the door, but he decided he did wanna see what was about to happen to his siblings. If he left, he would just have to hear about it from one of them. Albus backed himself quietly into the closet, out of sight but still able to witness what was about to unfold. 

"That's it." Mom said. "Grounded! Both of you! No brooms, and no birhtday parties for the next two weeks!" 

Lilly burst into tears, loudly crying as she fell to the floor, her body going limp. Mom moved past her torward James on the bed. James stood up on the bed, trying to back farther away. He was shielding the map with his body. 

"Give it here James, or I'll add another week." Mom demanded. 

"No!" James shouthed. 

"James -" Mom started, but she couldn't finish. James had began shouting again, just saying "No!" over and over again. He did this until mom shouted over him;

"This is not up for debate!" She then reached over and pulled the map out of James' hands. He violently sat down on his bed, looking dramatically away from his mom. 

The map back in her hands, mom finally seemed to notice that Albus was gone. It also seemed she had noticed Albus in the room initially, just had not said anything to him. 

"Where's Albus?" Mom demanded, but the other two were in no state to answer her. Lilly was still loudly crying and James was busy giving the silent treatment. Mom turned away from them and shouted out the door "Albus!!" as she left the room looking for him. 

Albus made the decision to stay in James' closet, at least until James got over it enough to kick him out.