With great power comes great responsibility. Great power was precisely what Henry Potter had tucked away at the bottom of his trunk in Gryffindor Tower. As the second oldest Potter child at Hogwarts, Henry was given the Marauder's Map by his parents. It was Potter Family rules, you see, the passing of these valuable artefacts. The oldest child at Hogwarts was given the Invisibility Cloak, so Henry's older sister Holly was currently in possession of that prized item. Next was the Marauder's Map, which he was responsible for since he was the second oldest. The last item was their mum's purple beaded handbag with its Everlasting Undetectable Extending Charm. His younger brother Hayden kept this on his person after their mum transfigured it to a small brown rucksack. Hayden filled it with curious little plants he collected from Hogwarts' grounds since he was a burgeoning herbologist. Their youngest sister Heidi was the only one with no artefact, but she's only eleven anyway.

Rules are rules. When Holly graduates next year, the Invisibility Cloak would be passed on to Henry; the Marauder's Map passed on to Hayden; and the purple handbag passed on to Heidi. This was how it was dictated by their parents and it was how it had always been. They could share the items, of course, and they often do, but the items were still their keeper's responsibilities. As a family with six children and only a handful of these precious gifts, someone always had to be accountable. When Henry's two eldest brothers, Hector and Hugo, were at Hogwarts, he had no prized possession. It was only after Hugo graduated did he finally receive the purple handbag, and the following year after Hector left the school did he get the Marauder's Map.

There was only one other rule concerning these items and that was to use them responsibly. His older brothers were troublemakers, so he'd heard multiple tales before of when his brothers were at the receiving end of their mum's ire. This was when they used the Cloak and the Map to aid in their shenanigans. But Henry was no troublemaker, oh no, and he found his mum to be scary when she's vexed. Therefore, he made another rule for himself: the Marauder's Map was to only be used for emergencies.

After all, if a map which revealed all of Hogwarts fell to the wrong hands, trouble could easily arise. Imagine if that git, Scorpious, got his greedy paws on the Map. It would be a disaster and Henry would never hear the end of it.

Which was why the Map was tucked away in his trunk underneath all of his clothes and books. It was also protected by heavy security spells he learned from his dad.

He really wasn't planning on using it for the rest of the year until his little sister approached him during lunch.

"Henry," Heidi whispered. Henry turned his gaze away from talking with Asha and looked at his little sister. She was standing by his side of the Gryffindor table and wringing her hands in worry. She kept stealing glances at the Head Table. Heidi was sorted into Gryffindor with Henry while Holly was a Ravenclaw and Hayden, a Slytherin.

"What's wrong?" Henry asked.

"I… I lost Persephone," Heidi whispered. She bit her lip and her eyes flickered towards the Head Table as if expecting the professors to hear her confession.

Henry groaned. Persephone was Heidi's violently pink pygmy puff.

"You lost her again?" Henry asked softly.

Heidi nodded. "We were playing with her in between classes… and I did put her back in her cage but then when I turned around she was gone! I must not have locked it properly," she whispered in distress. "Can you please help me find her?"

Henry noticed another one of her glances towards the Head Table. He smiled and tugged on her chin.

"Hey, cheer up," he said, grinning. "Don't look so sad - we'll find her, I'm sure. Besides, you don't want mum and dad figuring out that you've lost her again, right?"

Heidi nodded her head and forced a grin on her face. "Thanks, Henry," she said.

"Let's look for her after classes today? Before supper," Henry offered. "I'll bring it too, so we'll find her quickly."

A genuine smile graced her face. "Okay! See you then!" With that goodbye, Heidi rushed off and rejoined her friends.

The sixth-year Gryffindor prefect turned to his girlfriend. She was watching him with interest on her pretty face. "Will I finally be able to see how this enchanted map works?" Asha asked teasingly.

Henry chuckled. "If that's your way of asking if you can come and help us find a pygmy puff then yes, I accept your help," he replied.

Asha snorted and returned to her food. Henry made a quick note to remind himself to grab the Marauder's Map after his Transfigurations class.

For Heidi's sake, he hoped that they really would find Persephone soon… and before their parents found her first. As the baby of the family, Heidi had every Potter wrapped around her cute little finger. She was spoiled, even though his parents insisted that they never spoiled any of the kids (maybe mum didn't… but dad totally did). How else would you explain the unspoken rule that once everyone else graduates from Hogwarts then Heidi would have ALL three artefacts in her possession?

Regardless, their mum was big on one thing.

Responsibility.

Unfortunately, eleven-year-old Heidi Jasmine Potter wasn't the most responsible of the bunch. She's a bit scatterbrained still but Henry's excuse for that was that she's still so young. Weren't they all the same in their first years? Well, maybe not Holly, but she's basically like mum anyway.

Moreso, this wasn't the first time Heidi lost Persephone. She lost her pygmy puff twice before: the first was soon after the pink ball was purchased from the Menagerie that summer, and the second time was during the first month of school! Heidi was disciplined pretty strictly by their mum about this.

Every Potter child had a pet but they were responsible for looking after said pet. Losing the pet - twice! - was simply unacceptable.

If their mum finds out Heidi lost Persephone again…

Henry shuddered. He wouldn't want to be in his sister's shoes.

So Henry made a mental note to retrieve the Marauders Map since this was certainly considered an emergency.

Henry and Asha met Heidi at the Gryffindor common room after all of their classes ended for the day. There was a free period for everyone in the castle before supper was to begin forty-five minutes later. Still, most of the castle would be in the Great Hall at this time, or in their common rooms, so the hallways should be relatively empty.

Heidi gave a hopeful grin when she saw the parchment in Henry's hands.

"Thanks again, Henry!" She chirped. Henry simply tweaked her nose and ushered his companions towards the door.

"Let's go before somebody else finds Persephone first," Henry said as he walked towards the portrait hole. "You haven't heard anything from the professors right?"

Heidi pouted as Asha helped her climb over the hump. "No," she said. "But that's good, isn't it? Otherwise, mum will know too…"

Henry nodded grimly. If the professors know, mum knows.

When he stepped out from behind the Fat Lady, he was surprised to see his two other siblings waiting for them outside. Holly was leaning against the stone wall, her dark black hair tied high in a ponytail and the glasses perched on her slender nose. Her brown eyes were trained on the book in her hands as she read. Sitting next to her on the ground was Hayden. His head topped with curly brown hair was bent over his rucksack as he shuffled through the things inside. He pulled out a sprig of something which he handed to Lukas, Holly's boyfriend, who was crouching down beside him. Lukas took the sprig, studied it thoroughly, and handed it carefully back to Hayden.

"What are you all doing here?" Henry asked.

Heidi skipped over to Holly and hugged her older sister around the waist. She then bent down and kissed Lukas on the cheek in greeting. "I asked them to help too! Won't it be easier if we have more people looking for Perse?" She said with a grin.

Henry frowned. "But we'll attract more attention. If mum and dad sees us…"

"Dad said he's busy," Hayden piped as he stood up from his seat. "I just had Defence with him and he said that he'll be in a meeting."

"And Lukas and I just had Charms with mum," Holly said. She closed her book and put it in her bag. "She had to rush out as soon as class ended to go to a meeting too. So I think we're safe… at least until supper since if mum sees we're missing she'll get suspicious. Besides, this shouldn't take very long since we have the Map."

"Well, alright then," he acquiesced. His head scanned the hallway around them and found no other person. He lifted the parchment for everyone to see. Everyone surrounded him, eager to finally witness the Map in action. Henry grabbed his wand and pointed it to the blank surface.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he recited.

Ink seeped from the tip of his wand and began to fill the page. They watched as the magical ink began to trace the pattern of calligraphed text.

Messrs
MOONY, WORMTAIL
PADFOOT & PRONGS
are proud to present

THE MARAUDER'S MAP

A picture of a castle appeared. A flag was waving from one of its tall towers and it's inscribed with the word HOGWARTS.

"Wicked," Asha whispered. Hayden nodded in agreement. "Who are Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs?" She asked.

The Potter children shared a knowing look. "They're the original Marauders," Heidi responded. "Prongs was our grandfather."

Asha didn't ask for clarification since Henry carefully opened the parchment. It was quite a thick document though the first full spread showed most of the castle. Everyone stared as little flags bearing people's names followed along small, ink footsteps. At the top left corner, in an illustration of a cylinder topped with a turret, Henry spotted his name amongst a small cluster of flags and footmarks.

Prefect Henry Potter
Prefect Asha Patel
Head Girl Holly Potter
Head Boy Lukas Winchester
Hayden Potter
Heidi Potter

Henry looked at the map and everyone leaned closer. "Okay, so, we're at Gryffindor Tower," he said, his index finger pointing to their names. "Most of the castle is either in the Great Hall, the library, or their dormitories," he recited, his finger pointing to each landmark on the page as he listed the different places. There were so many flags in the Great Hall located at the centre bottom of the page that it was hard to read what all of the names were. The library told the same story, though a little less busy. Madam Irma Pince's footsteps were seen walking up and down the stack of books while some students' footsteps remained stationary in the study areas. They saw the flag for Headmistress Minerva McGonagall enter the library and move towards the direction of Madam Pince.

"So now, we just have to look for the name Persephone…" he mumbled, his eyes darting across the wide page. Madam Poppy Pomfrey was seen in the infirmary beside a flag which read Nathaniel Weasley. Henry made another note to himself to visit his best friend after the pygmy puff was found. The redheaded troublemaker wound up in the hospital wing with a broken leg after a confrontation with Peeves.

"Are you certain this works for animals too?" Lukas inquired. He'd seen the Map in action before when Holly was its keeper, but they never used it to search for non-humans. In fact, they used it mostly to catch unsuspecting couples hidden in broom cupboards when they would patrol the castle as Prefects.

Hayden nodded his head. "Look, Mrs. Norris is right there by the Defence classroom," he said, his finger pointing to the hallway outside of Classroom 3C on the third floor. They saw small pawprints creeping slowly down the corridor against the wall.

Heidi gasped, her red curls bouncing as her head jerked back. "And there's Persephone!" She screamed, her finger jabbing at the flag further down the same hallway. The little flag was seen zigzagging the hall.

"Oh Merlin," Holly whispered. She and Henry exchanged worried looks since a pygmy puff against a cat as vicious as Mrs. Norris was not a good thing.

"Let's go," Henry said. All four Potters and their two companions rushed down the hall, their cloaks flying behind them.

It took but two minutes of running for them to finally reach the third floor hallway. It was empty since the floor was mostly made up of classrooms. They hurried down the length of the corridor, Henry's gaze once again trained on the Marauder's Map as he kept an eye on the cat stalking its prey.

Midway down the hallway they finally spotted Mrs. Norris.

"Shoo!" Heidi cried. The cat meowed and her feline eyes seemed to glare at the redheaded Gryffindor waving her hand frantically in the air.

Henry walked further down the hallway with Hayden trailing at his heels. Against the wall, cowering behind the statue of a humpbacked witch, was something incredibly pink and incredibly puffy. Hayden bent down and removed a couple of mint leaves from his rucksack. Gently, the younger Potter offered the mint to the animal. Henry watched when its nose twitched as it sniffed the air. Satisfied, the pygmy puff approached Hayden and his palms gently closed around the trembling puffskein. He cradled Persephone to his chest just as Heidi approached her two older brothers.

"Oh! Perse!" She squealed. Carefully, she took the puff from Hayden and nuzzled Persephone against her cheek. "I'm so sorry for losing you. I promise it won't happen again!" Henry and Holly shared another look above their sister's head. They certainly hoped it wouldn't happen again. Heidi hugged each and every one of her helpers and thanked them.

"Well, that didn't take very long," Lukas commented about their search.

Asha nodded. "This Map is brilliant. Babe, do you mind if I study it? I wonder how it was created…"

Holly fell in step beside Asha as the group turned into the Charms corridor on the same floor. "Our dad actually told me how, though it's incredibly difficult. I've been meaning to try for myself… do you want to work on it together?" She asked. Asha nodded her head enthusiastically.

"So how does it go back to just normal parchment?" She asked again.

As the group walked down the empty corridor, Henry retrieved the wand from his pocket. He pointed the wand to the parchment and said the counterspell.

"Mischief-"

But before he could finish, something on the Map caught his eyes. The Charms corridor showed the cluster of seven names (Persephone's name being the seventh) right in the middle of the hall. There was no one else in their immediate vicinity… except for the two names he least expected to see.

His brain short-circuited and he stopped walking. He almost dropped the Marauder's Map.

The Map showed two names in a very tight space behind the wooden door ahead on their right. Henry knew what was behind that door.

It was a broom closet.

It was a broom closet he would often check during his patrols at night. It was also a broom closet he and his girlfriend had explored before.

Hayden noticed his silence and ashen face.

"What is it, Henry?" He asked. When he didn't say anything, Hayden peered into the Map. "Oh Jesus! Gross!"

The rest were immediately around them and looking at the Map as well.

"Oh my god," Holly whispered, eyes wide.

Lukas turned his head away, the blush creeping into his cheeks.

Asha stared at the Map, mouth agape.

"What is it? What is it?" Heidi asked curiously. She looked at the Map and her eyes narrowed. "Why are mummy and daddy in that broom closet?"

The Map proudly displayed two flags inside the aforementioned broom closet of the Charms hallway.

Deputy Headmistress Hermione Potter
Professor Harry Potter

And what made it so much worse were the positioning of their footsteps. The Deputy Headmistress was against the far wall of the cupboard and facing her husband whose back was to the door.

Yet… the ink images of her shoes were behind his.

The footsteps were hardly moving either. They were mostly stationary save for some small shuffling… almost as if… as if…

"M-mischief managed," Henry stuttered. They silently watched as the ink faded from the parchment until the Map was no more.

"Umm… let's go to the Great Hall?" Holly offered. She tried her hardest not to look at the door of the broom closet.

Everyone but Heidi nodded. "But shouldn't we wait for mum and dad? They're right there!"

"No!" Everyone basically shouted. She pouted, affronted.

Hayden grabbed her hand. "They're… busy with… with... um…"

"They're getting materials!" Asha provided. "To… clean a spill. Yeah, didn't you see the puddle behind us?"

"No-"

"Let's go, Heidi," Holly said firmly. Hayden tugged on her hand and they led the unsuspecting eleven-year-old down the hallway.

Everyone kept their gazes strictly forward save for Heidi who stared at the wooden door they passed by.

They made it to the Great Hall in no time. Everyone (but Heidi) was still too stunned to speak so they all sat at the end of the Gryffindor table nearest the entrance. The non-Gryffindors didn't even bother moving to their own house tables since they still couldn't stop thinking about what they saw. Henry put the now blank document inside his bag.

He was never going to use the Map ever again.

It was a silent but unanimous decision to not speak about what they saw. Soon, the Potters and their friends had their study materials scattered around the table as they worked on their assignments to forget all about The Incident.

It worked for a while, until the two guilty parties entered the Great Hall, hand-in-hand.

Deputy Headmistress Hermione Potter was smiling brightly. She wore a dress the colour of the ocean and her curls were pinned in a chignon at the nape of her neck. Her legs were encased in black tights and on her feet were black patent leather heels. Her dark midnight blue cloak fell from her shoulders like a waterfall. Beside her was Professor Harry Potter. He had a grin on his face and his hair was its usual mess of black curls which fell over his scar. He wore dark black trousers, a white buttoned up shirt, and a deep green waistcoat where his watch was clipped. His own cloak the colour of ink was fastened to his shoulders.

To everyone else in the Great Hall, the two professors looked extremely put together. But not to Henry, oh no…

His critical eyes saw how his dad's shirt wasn't buttoned at the very top…

And how his mum seemed to have more curls framing her face since they escaped from her bun…

And…

Stop it!

He shut his eyes and willed his brain to stop its analysis. He painfully opened them and looked to his older sister. Holly looked horrified as well.

Heidi was completely innocent though. She was waving with one hand as she cradled Persephone to her chest with the other.

"Hi, professors!" She called.

The Deputy Headmistress looked to their direction and her smile widened. The two professors crossed the short span between the entrance to the table and stood over the group of students.

"Hello," Deputy Headmistress Hermione Potter greeted warmly. "How are you all doing this evening?" She placed a hand on top of Heidi's head and stroked her red curls affectionately. Heidi beamed.

"Just working on assignments, Professors," Asha responded with a weak grin.

"Keeping out of trouble?" Professor Potter asked with twinkling green eyes.

Hayden cracked a small smile. "Trying to," he replied.

"How are your meetings?" Heidi asked with wide eyes.

A faint blush graced the Charms professor's cheeks. "It was… good," she answered in a whisper.

"Very productive," the Defence professor supplied with a nod.

Lukas choked on his pumpkin juice.

"Sorry, it went down the wrong pipe," he mumbled. Holly handed him a napkin and tried to avoid her parents' eyes.

"Well, we better leave you to your studies," the Deputy Headmistress said. Heidi stood quickly and hugged both of her parents around the waist. The rest of the children waved and bid their farewells. They watched as Professor Potter led his wife towards the Head Table with a hand at the small of her back.

When they were well out of earshot, Henry grumbled. "We are never going to speak about this."

They nodded.

"Agreed," Hayden replied.

"Absolutely," Holly said.

Asha and Lukas concurred as well.

It was time to feed Persephone so Heidi ignored them.

Much later that evening when he finally returned to his dormitories, Henry removed the Marauder's Map from inside his bag. He looked at the magical document with a grimace on his face. He walked to his trunk and propped open the heavy wooden lid.

He laid the Map at the very bottom of the trunk. Afterwards, he cast the protective spells his dad taught him. They should prevent anyone from removing the parchment from his trunk without his explicit permission.

He closed the lid and looked at it with pursed lips. Great power, indeed. Never did he imagine that he would see that when looking upon the Map.

Ironic that his parents stressed the importance of responsibility.

Henry wondered when's the next time he would be able to look them in the eyes.

Fin.

Micca's Notes: Just a quick one-shot combining three of my favourite head-canons: 1. Professor Potters, 2. HJP initials for the whole family, and 3. Marauder's Map shenanigans. Penned for the Harmony & Co. Harmony For Essentials Gift Exchange as a thank you to all of the essential workers out there who keep the world turning during these crazy times. Your hard work is very much appreciated. Stay safe and healthy everyone!