Another author's note on excuses why I haven't written the chapter yet.

I haven't finished writing the list of students. It's harder than you think, for the most part I have more than fifty students per year, and I'm trying to make sure I have a realistic amount of muggle-borns, purebloods, and half-bloods. I only have Slytherin and Gryffindor left but since almost all the main characters are from those houses, I want to make sure I'm happy with the list.

I'm contemplating something. I'm not sure if I'm going to have the marauders do pranks or not. Like I've stated in previous chapters, I want to make the story realistic to canon (why I won't have neither James nor Snape as angels nor demons, why James won't be obsessed with Lily and ask her out an absurd number of times, etc). And I don't think they were pranksters, they're described as similar to Fred and George but more due to their troublemaker habits I believe. I might have them do tricks on people, but I won't describe it as most fanfics do.

I can already tell you, mine will be different in terms of the description of characters than perhaps 90% of fanfics you've read. And I'll list some more of the differences here:

-James' parents are obviously canon

-Lily won't be that mean to James-unless she sees him doing things he shouldn't be, but even then I'm going to try to keep it more as stern than her being a b**** as she tends to come across in most of the FFs I've read.

-I don't know if I stated this before, but Remus and Lily won't be friends until around the time James and her are friends/friendlier. A lot of FFs have Lily and him as friends way before her and James and to me that's unrealistic because of Snape. Snape hated the marauders, and Lily stuck with Snape longer than most would have (since she was in denial about what he was becoming), so it shows she's loyal. And she wouldn't have befriended someone who allows her friend to be bullied, same goes for Remus. He's loyal and grateful and wouldn't befriend someone who seemed to hate one of his best friends. Also the fact that Lily says, "They say he's ill," rather than "He's ill."

-I've already stated that Lily won't know he's a werewolf until sixth or seventh year. I've always thought that Lily is the type to deny bad news until she's not given a choice but to admit it (as with Snape). Plus she's not close with the boys, so she wouldn't pick up their habits.

-They won't be called the Marauders in my story. I think "the marauders" are more of a term for us to describe them as like "the golden trio." Plus, it's called The Marauder's Map (singular), and it makes no sense for them to go declaring their nicknames in public seeing as Remus' is Moony (yeah, they'll use them but it's not like they advertize them).

-Again, *This paragraph talks about sex, so ignore if it makes you uncomfortable, but I'm rationalizing why James (and Sirius for that fact) won't be shagging every girl (or half the girls) in the acceptable years*. I refuse to describe them as that for many reasons. Sirius will still be a ladies' man but ladies' man does not mean they have to shag every girl they come in contact with. One of the reasons (for James) is because he was raised by older parents and I imagine them raising him to be more traditional in some aspects (some which he'll ignore, some which he won't). A second reason, is because I find it offensive the way some of these fanfics say that all these girls are so willing to sleep with James and Sirius (sometimes Peter and Remus as well but it's usually the former two) like there's something wrong with being a virgin or every girl would hop into bed with someone who is popular, good-looking, and rich. Think of the most popular, the richest, handsomest, or the best jock you know. And now think of how many girls you honestly think they slept with. Not every girl wants an one night stand, some want to wait for marriage or just don't want to jump into bed without some sort of feelings for a person (and not all guys would have sex with girls they barely know). As I was saying, it's disgusting the way a lot of FFs portray all these girls throwing themselves at James and Sirius (it's one thing to acknowledge someone's good looks and another to insinuate that any girls would hop into bed with rich, popular, handsome jocks and basically by that describing every girl as a slag). Three, I just don't think of James as that type. Four, it's the UK in the 70s. Apparently in the UK, the average age people lose their virginity is eighteen right now and in the 60s it was 22 (some say 50s-21), and 80s 20 (some say 17). Either way. I won't say every character will be a virgin, but a lot of the main characters will likely be.

-the distinction between James and Sirius (a lot of fanfics I think try to make them a bit too much alike, but I don't think they were, you'll hopefully see what I mean when I post the chapter).

I'm going to try finishing the names in one go, but I have like a hundred and thirty to go (most of slytherin and about half of gryffindor).

What to look forward to in the next chapter:

-full moon

-two characters fighting, making up (take your guess)

-howlers

-people being bullied/picked on (and it's not always Snape, but him too-I don't like Snape, like I've stated before-more like I hate him-but I will be making him realistic as possible).

-James

(Keep hanging on. Marie.)

Also, review and give me your opinions on what you think about my ideas, if you have any of your own (any headcanons, etc). I do value your opinions and will consider them.

Also do you think wizards (students) always wear robes or just during class hours/patrols/formal events?