Chapter 52 The Marauder’s Map
“Fred, George, what are you doing here?” Albert pretended to be surprised and looked at his roommates who were sticking their butts out and mopping the floor.
“Mop the floor,” Fred said dryly.
“By the way, I didn’t know you had become so hardworking.” Lee Jordan looked at the twin brothers with a look of gloating. Dung bombs are difficult to clean, especially since Filch didn't give them any detergent, so they couldn't clean them with just mops and rags.
"This is the consequence of throwing dung bombs into the corridor." Filch said to the people who stopped to watch, "Don't think you can get away with it if you do bad things."
“Don’t worry, I will take time off from Defense Against the Dark Arts for you.” Albert reached out and patted the twins on the shoulders, comforting them.
“Why do I always feel like you’re a little gloating about your misfortune?”
"Is there any?" Albert turned his head and looked at Li Jordan and said, "No, who asked them to throw dung bombs in the corridor and Filch caught them?"
“I thought they would secretly throw dung bombs into the corridor.” Li Qiaodan was also puzzled. Isn’t this causing trouble for himself?
Of course Albert knew the reason. If Filch was not around, he wouldn't mind using the descaling spell to help them reduce their trouble. Unfortunately, Filch was watching from the side and he was not allowed to do that.
It took Fred and George several hours to completely clear away the traces of dung bombs left in the hallways and offices.
For this reason, they also missed lunch.
The two people, who had sore backs and waists, only went to the kitchen to make a sandwich, and now they were sitting under a tree to eat.
"Where are the things? Did you take something? Don't say there is nothing." George stuffed all the sandwiches in his mouth and looked at Fred, waiting for the other person to take out the prohibited items he got in the drawer.
“Here we go. Look, it’s the stuff.” Fred took the envelope out of his pocket and handed it to George.
"What is this?" George looked at the old-looking envelope and turned it over. There was no sender. There were two sentences written on the envelope: I solemnly swear that I did nothing good. The prank is over!
“Look what’s inside?”
George quickly opened the envelope and found a large, square, and very old piece of parchment inside.
Hmm, it’s just a piece of parchment that’s a bit old.
It’s just that there’s nothing written on the parchment.
"What is this?" George looked at his brothers in confusion. They could all feel that there was some secret on this parchment, otherwise Filch would not have put it in a confiscated and highly dangerous drawer.
"Do you need a password?" Fred suddenly remembered the two sentences on the envelope, "I solemnly swear that I have done nothing wrong."
"Idiot, wand, use a wand." George took out his wand and held it against the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I have done no good."
Ink lines began to appear where the wand had just touched, converging and crossing each other on the parchment like a spider web, and began to extend to every corner of the parchment.
“You actually need a password!” The twins’ faces showed unconcealable excitement.
Sure enough, there is some secret hidden in this parchment.
“Look what is this?” Fred stared at the surface of the parchment and found a row of writing beginning to appear on the top of the parchment:
Suppliers of aids to the Magical Prank Maker: Gentlemen Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs proudly present the Marauder's Map.
“The Marauder’s Map?” the twins chanted in unison, “This old parchment is actually a map.”
“George, look, the ink spots on the parchment can actually move.” Fred was surprised when the twin brothers shared their discovery.
The two came together to study the secrets of the Marauder's Map, and soon discovered that the map detailed the specific locations of Hogwarts Castle and various secret passages, as well as the passwords to open the secret passages.
Finally, you no longer need to worry about being unable to open the door after finding the location of the secret passage.
Most importantly, it also marks each person’s location with an ink dot.
Albert came out of the library and seemed to be preparing to return to the lounge. Filch was on the fourth floor, and Peeves, the prankster ghost, was on the sixth floor.
“George…”
“Fred…”
“You say it first…” the two said in unison, and couldn’t help but burst into laughter after confronting each other.
“Then, let’s talk together.”
“Night excursion.”
The two looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh again.
“When we go out at night in the future, we don’t have to worry about being caught by Filch even if we don’t have the Disillusionment Curse.”
"Yeah, that's great. There are many secret passages up there that we haven't discovered yet."
“Try another password quickly,” Fred reminded. He held his wand against the map and whispered, “The prank is over.”
The next moment, the traces on the parchment gradually disappeared, and within a few seconds it turned back into a blank old parchment.
“The traces were actually erased!” George said in surprise, “The maker really thought a lot.”
"If everyone knows that there is such a thing, it will definitely spread to everyone." Fred thought for a while and said, "It should be to prevent others from seeing the secret of the parchment."
"Tell me, has Filch discovered how to use this parchment? He knows the locations of so many secret passages better than all the students." George raised his doubts, "Also, why did he put the parchment in the drawer? If I were there, I would definitely carry it with me."
“I don’t know, never mind, anyway, the Marauder’s Map now belongs to us, do you want to tell others.” The other people here in George refer to Albert and Lee Jordan.
"No more for now." After thinking about it, Fred shook his head and said, "The fewer people know about it, the better."
"Don't forget, Albert knows about this." George suddenly said, "He must know what we took from Filch."
"But if we don't tell him, he definitely doesn't know there is such a thing." Fred raised his eyebrows.
Actually, the two of them don’t mind sharing the Marauder’s Map with others, but they are also worried that some big mouths will let them lose this good thing.
"Don't think too much, let's go and see other secret passages first." The twins looked at each other and left arm in arm.
“Who do you think the makers of this Marauder’s Map are: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs?”
“I think they should be former students of Hogwarts.” George raised his hand on the head of the light statue and quickly opened a secret passage.
“Hurry up, someone is coming this way.” Fred reminded him as he stared at the map.
After the two people hurriedly entered the secret passage, the statue was restored again.
“Where does this secret passage lead to?” George made his wand glow. Unfortunately, he had not yet fully mastered the luminous spell, and it would suddenly go out after walking for a while.
“Fifth floor. Fred couldn’t help complaining, “You haven’t mastered the glowing spell yet!” ""
“Speak as if you already have it.”
(End of this chapter)