Chapter 229
Chapter 229
Only Ron was innocent enough to believe Suer’s story. He even went to question George and Fred.
The twins solemnly explained exactly how they intended to carry out the plan. Later, when Ron whispered the details to Harry and Hermione during Charms, Hermione rolled her eyes so far that they nearly disappeared into her head.
“Oh, how can any young wizard be so gullible?”
“Try to be a bit less trusting, Ron. Suer was obviously joking.” Harry could not suppress his laughter as he patted his friend on the shoulder.
Ron stared blankly at Suer, who was practising wand movements under Professor Filius Flitwick’s direction. Suer merely shrugged and assumed an air of perfect innocence.
Ron and Harry remained intensely curious about what Suer was doing with Fred and George, so they urged Hermione to ask him.
“If you truly have nothing else to do, you could read your textbooks or finish your Astronomy homework. It’s due tomorrow.”
Hermione already knew Suer’s plan. He had quietly explained it to her during a break in Herbology.
Considering his considerable skill with the Patronus Charm, she was not especially worried about the three of them encountering Dementors.
“You can do whatever you like. You don’t have to report everything to me. It’s not as though I’m anyone important to you.” Although secretly delighted that Suer had confided in her, Hermione raised her chin with an affected air of indifference.
“If you get caught, Hufflepuff will lose the points, not Gryffindor. Hmph.”
Hermione was no longer as fiercely opposed to breaking school rules as she had been in first year. Suer had spent years teaching her that it was not truly a breach if one was never caught, while Harry regularly went wandering beneath his Invisibility Cloak.
After discovering that all her eager answers and hard-won points could not keep pace with the points Snape deducted from Gryffindor whenever he was furious, she had finally surrendered.
As long as nobody lost a vast number of points, they could do as they pleased.
After dinner, Suer strolled out of the Great Hall with perfect composure. Nothing in his manner suggested that he was about to break school rules and sneak off to Hogsmeade.
On the way towards the library, he suddenly ducked into a narrow corridor and quickly reached his destination: the portrait on the second floor. Beside it stood a small room where, during first year, he and the twins had once divided the spoils of an adventure.
Suer had not been waiting long when Fred and George entered with their arms slung across each other’s shoulders.
“Oh, you’re here already. It seems young Master Bones is terribly impatient, George.” Fred stood on the left.
“So it would appear, Fred.” George nodded cheerfully.
“And you aren’t? Didn’t buy enough supplies to torment poor old Filch?” Suer replied in an equally mocking tone.
Fred and George paused, then burst out laughing and stepped forward with their hands raised.
Suer laughed too and slapped each of their palms in turn.
“Before we set off, however…” Fred glanced at George, who nodded with unusual gravity.
“We must formally introduce you to…”
“The secret of our success,” George finished.
Suer froze as Fred solemnly drew a roll of old parchment from his pocket.
“Fred and I have spent the entire day discussing it, and we’ve decided to show you the secret that has carried us in and out of Hogsmeade countless times without ever being caught.”
“This!” Fred patted the parchment.
“What’s that? Your finest joke product?” Suer asked, pretending complete ignorance.
“Oh, certainly not.” Fred shook his head. “We would dearly love to create something this marvellous. It would be a magnificent product. George, kindly explain it to young Master Bones.”
“With pleasure, Fred.” George placed one hand over his chest and gave a formal bow. Then he straightened. “This was made by pupils of some long-forgotten generation. We discovered it in Filch’s office.”
His voice filled with reverence. “The great Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail. We shall always remember how they helped us travel freely throughout the castle.”
“Its name is — the Marauder’s Map.”
“The Marauder’s Map?” Suer feigned confusion and ran his fingers over the parchment.
“Indeed,” Fred said. “At the time, Filch and we had suffered a minor disagreement. You may have heard of our crowning achievement…”
“And our very first product…”
“The incomparable…”
“Dungbomb.”
“We threw one in front of Filch during our first year. For some unfathomable reason, it made him extremely angry.”
“Then he gave us detention.”
“You may not know this…”
“But Filch has a large filing cabinet in his office, stuffed with things he has confiscated from pupils.”
“The Marauder’s Map was one of them.”
“We don’t think Filch ever worked out how to use it.”
“He marked its drawer…”
“‘Highly Dangerous.'”
“Naturally, that aroused our curiosity.”
Fred and George took turns speaking, recounting the map’s history in painstaking detail.
“So how do you use it?” Suer asked with every appearance of fascination.
Fred cleared his throat. “Ah, of course. That is precisely what we are about to demonstrate.”
He drew his wand, tapped the parchment and intoned with great solemnity, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”
The moment he finished, the parchment sprang open. Fine lines of ink spread from the point touched by Fred’s wand, joining and crossing one another until they covered every corner.
Large green letters appeared in ornate script, then faded:
“Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, purveyors of aids to magical mischief-makers, are proud to present the Marauder’s Map.”
Countless moving black dots appeared across the parchment. A name was written in tiny letters above each one.
Suer opened his eyes wide and bent closer, making appreciative noises as he studied it.
“It really is extraordinary.”
It was an object that anyone who loved this world would long to possess.
“You’ll have noticed that it marks certain routes which cannot be seen from the outside.” Fred pointed to a fine diagonal line that impossibly connected the fifth floor to the first.
“Secret passages,” said George. “Fred and I have always used them to escape Filch.”
“And to fetch delicious food from the kitchens.”
“Now for the important part: Hogsmeade.” Fred ran his finger lightly along another line. “There are seven passages in all, but unfortunately Filch knows about these four.”
“You must take care when you use it,” George added.
“These three are completely unknown to him, I guarantee it.” Fred pointed out three thin lines. “Don’t bother with the one on the fifth floor, though. It looks like a mirror from the outside, but the passage has collapsed and is blocked.”
“When I use it?” Suer repeated. His heart gave a jump at George’s choice of words, though he continued listening attentively as Fred explained the map’s other details.
…
“And that is everything.” Fred seemed parched after so much talking and swallowed. “Naturally, once you’ve finished with it, you must clear it–”
“It’s simple,” George said brightly. “Tap it again and say, ‘Mischief managed.’ It will become a blank sheet of parchment.”
Fred demonstrated, then rolled it up.
He exchanged a glance with George. Identical smiles appeared on their faces, and they spoke together.
“Now it’s yours.”
Suer accepted the parchment without thinking. Only when he felt its soft surface beneath his fingers did he understand.
“No. This is far too valuable. What will you do without it?”
“Don’t worry, my friend.” George smiled and put an arm around Suer’s shoulders. “Fred and I have memorised the whole thing.”
“Besides, we’re already fifth-years.” Fred put an arm around him from the other side. “We have only two years left before we graduate.”
“We agree that it ought to be passed down to the next generation of rule-breakers.”
“We originally intended to give it to Harry.”
“As his Christmas present, but giving it to you is just as good.”
“You’ll make certain it is passed on, won’t you?”
Suer had never expected this extraordinary object, which should have belonged to Harry, to fall into his own hands. He had only intended to borrow it from the twins for a while when the right moment came.
“Of course.” Suer looked from George to Fred and spoke earnestly. “When I no longer need it, I’ll give it to Harry.”
The twins smiled in satisfaction.
“Then let’s go to Hogsmeade! We’ll show you the route in person.”