# Hermione
"We'll bring you both plenty of sweets from Honeydukes."
Hermione promised.
# Ron
"Yeah, loads."
Ron chimed in. Since Scabbers had been moved to the dungeon by Orli, he and Hermione were finally on good terms again.
# Harry
"Don't worry about us."
Harry reassured them,
# Harry
"See you at the feast. Have a blast."
He gave Orli a secretive wink, and Orli smiled back subtly.
Orli and Harry accompanied the departing group to the entrance hall, where Filch stood by the door, holding a long list and checking off each name, scrutinizing every face to catch anyone who shouldn't be leaving.
Malfoy shouted, standing in line with Crabbe and Goyle.
## Orli
"Harry, let's go."
Orli said, pulling Harry towards the stairs.
# Malfoy
"Waters!"
Malfoy yelled angrily, but Orli had no desire to turn back and argue with him. She was eager to get to the secret passageway behind the statue of the witch, where the twins were already waiting.
They ascended the stairs at a normal pace, but as soon as they turned the corner, they broke into a run. Panting, they returned to Gryffindor Tower to retrieve Harry's Invisibility Cloak, then carefully avoided the watchful eyes of the younger students staying behind, winding their way to the one-eyed, humpbacked witch statue in the fourth-floor corridor. Fred and George peeked out from behind the statue, winking at them conspiratorially.
# Fred
"There you are at last, we've been waiting forever."
Fred said.
# George
"Come over here."
George grinned at Harry.
# George
"An early Christmas present for you, Harry."
# Harry
"Christmas present? It's only October thirty-first."
Harry said, puzzled.
Fred waved his hand and pulled out something from under his cloak, spreading it out. It was a large, square, old piece of parchment with nothing written on it. Harry thought it was another one of Fred and George's jokes and stared at it. But Orli's heart skipped a beat; she recognized this item immediately—it was the Marauder's Map.
# Harry
"What is this?"
Harry asked.
# George
"Well, Harry, it's our secret to mischief."
George explained, patting the parchment.
# Fred
"It's a bit hard to part with, really,"
Fred admitted,
# Fred
"but we reckon you need it more than we do. Don't underestimate this parchment—"
# George
"In our first year, we got detention from Filch and found this in his office."
George continued. He took out his wand, lightly tapped the parchment, and said:
# George
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Thin lines of ink spread like a spider's web from the point George's wand touched. These lines connected and intersected, extending to every corner of the parchment. Then, at the top of the parchment, some curly letters appeared, forming the words:
"Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers, are proud to present the Marauder's Map."
The map depicted every detail of the Hogwarts castle and grounds. However, the truly remarkable feature was the tiny ink dots moving around the map, each labeled with a name in minuscule letters.
Orli and Harry leaned in to examine it closely. A tiny dot in the top left corner showed Professor Dumbledore pacing in his office; Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, was prowling on the third floor; Snape was moving from the dungeons to the first-floor staircase; and Peeves the poltergeist was bouncing around the trophy room.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
"9 amazing fanfics available on my Patreon.
Support for 350 + advance chapters:
patreon.com/DarkGolds"