NOVEL NEXT 38. A New Clue
A week later, just before Christmas, Harry was holding the Marauders' Map. The old, thick parchment lay heavily in his hands, placing a strange weight of responsibility on his shoulders.
Dobby had already warned him that the Weasley twins had found something that was created by his father and his group of friends and that they wanted to give him back his rightful inheritance. That they wanted to wipe themselves off the map, just in case, as if it would put them on par with their idols.
Harry didn't know how they discovered he was the Marauder's heir, but he didn't ask much. He did not trust himself to keep his emotions in check.
"They changed it." Harry muttered as he sat in the common room early in the morning, Hedwig looking over his shoulder with interest. His owl barked softly, as if asking what was wrong.
It was strange to understand his familiar's emotions, but in almost two years, Harry had become accustomed to this unusual method of communication, so he had no problem responding.
"You know I don't have enough of my parents' memorabilia. Their wands, my father's glasses, my mother's favorite hairpin… Even their diaries." He raised the Map before his eyes, looking at the moving ink with mixed feelings. "I don't have much. And it's one of the few things my father left behind. And they went ahead and changed the enchantments on the map."
The names of his fellow students and professors moved across the parchment, ink trails appearing and disappearing as if leading the names behind them. Harry couldn't take his eyes off their movements as Susan Bones walked somewhere with Hannah Abbott. Their footprints turned abruptly into the broom cupboard in the dungeons and stopped moving, only stomping in place.
Quickly opening the map on one of the higher floors, and trying not to feel like a creep, Harry sighed heavily. Now he knew why no one in his year could hit on the red-haired beauty from Hufflepuff.
For a couple of minutes, he just sat with his eyes closed, holding the map in his hands and trying to decide just how angry he should feel about the Weasley twins. In the end, he decided to think about it later and got up from the couch, deciding to go get ready for class.
But then his eyes fell on the map again.
The Marauders' map was open on the fourth floor of the castle and one name was written where he didn't expect to see it. Luna Lovegood was in a hidden room, somewhere north of the library. Next to her were two other names, but much smaller – Mantis and Billy no Bones.
What caught his attention was the last pair of flickering footprints that were in the same room with her name.
Luna and her pets – because no sane or insane wix would name their child Billy no Bones – didn't move, staying in place, but the second pair of footprints flashed all over the room and there wasn't even a name under them. The strangest thing was that these footprints disappeared as soon as they appeared. It looked like someone was apparating in the room.
"... What's going on there?"
Meanwhile, Danil was cleaning up in his room, teleporting around the place and picking up scattered books and clothes. There was even a dirty iron hoe lying somewhere in the corner.
"I will never leave the three of you unsupervised in the same room again." Dan muttered, picking up another book and teleporting to the bookshelf.
How those three had been able to bring his room into such a state in just ten minutes, he had no idea, especially considering the enchantments he'd placed on the room weeks ago.
"Sorry…" Luna muttered, along with Mantis and Billy, that made apologetic noises. Well, apologetic wobbles in case of Billy.
Dan stumbled over something and looked sharply at his feet. His eye began to twitch uncontrollably under the goggles.
"Where did you even get a bucket of water from?! Why didn't I see it before?!"
Harry couldn't ignore it. This type of teleportation reminded him too much of the one used by the monster Hermione had been talking about. And the absence of a name under their feet did not give him confidence in Luna's safety.
Getting up from his chair, Harry wondered for a moment exactly how he should approach the– whatever the hell that was. Of course, he could go alone under the Invisibility Cloak, but it seemed somehow wrong to him. Hermione deserved to know what was going on there, too.
The decision is made, Harry looked towards the girl's bedrooms. He just had to figure out how to wake her up without going up the stairs to the girl's half. He could've tried to see if the Invisibility Cloak would hide him from the staircase's enchantments, but then there was still a chance of getting into huge trouble.
"Maybe I can fly on a broomstick?" Harry muttered to himself. It will be difficult to squeeze through the corners, but he could handle it.
But apparently someone from above was looking after him today, because as soon as he thought about Hermione, the girl immediately appeared on the stairs.
"Oh, Hermione! Great, wait for me here, I'll take my Cloak and come down in a second, I may have found a clue that will lead us to that strange creature." Harry said quickly and went back up to his room, leaving Hermione standing there, baffled, only blinking occasionally, trying to figure out what had just happened.
After a couple of minutes of explanation, two teenagers went down to the fourth floor, sticking to the walls and hiding from the interested eyes of the students around. They decided to hide under the Invisibility Cloak when they were close enough to the room, and that time was now.
"Merlin, I didn't think the Twins had anything like that." Hermione muttered, snuggling closer to Harry so that his Cloak covered their entire bodies.
"...Yes, I was surprised too." He muttered in response.
The warmth of the girl next to him pulled him away from his darker thoughts, the smell of old books and ink and something definitely Hermione flashing in front of his nose, doing something unspeakable to his thoughts. Harry silently cursed his teenage hormones and could only focus on the flickering footprints on the map to distract himself.
"What are we going to do? Just wait until Luna leaves the room and try to see what's inside?" Hermione asked, still a little out of it.
Even though she was a morning person, that didn't mean that her brain was working at 100% from the moment she woke up. Normally, Hermione needed at least a cup of tea to really start her day.
"Pretty much," he checked the map, making sure that teleporter was still there. "We can try to sneak in, but I can't read the password to the door, I don't even know what language is this. We would be stuck inside."
Humming in agreement, Hermione pulled him forward, closer to where the map showed the hidden room. Although to be more precise, there were several hidden rooms. Some of them were closed with passwords, and some were simply sealed shut, never to be open again.
Where a door should have been, hung a picture of an old wizard dressed in some rather dashing robes. The portrait was still not completely awake, only rising lazily from its seat and looking around.
"What, Graham, the girl didn't let you sleep?" Asked the snug portrait of a young Lady that hung opposite Sir Graham.
If Graham looked like an old and respected wizard, then the woman was more on the freedom-loving side. She was not wearing an old dress or even a skirt like other portraits did, instead she wore long trousers and a shirt with wide sleeves, but most notably was a sword on her side.
"Oh, hush, Elizabeth, as if she let you sleep. Although I'm ready to admit, it's hard for me to remain annoyed with her. Her friend, however, is another matter entirely. The password, the language he speaks is so terrible for my ears, that sometimes I think I can feel the pain again!"
Muttering some very interesting curses under his breath, Graham sat back down in his chair and frowned. "I don't like that these kids have to live apart from everyone else because of the fear of attack from other students. In my time, no one even thought to do so!"
Elizabeth rolled her eyes and folded her arms under her chest. "Because everyone preferred to have flashy duels and breaking each other's lives with cold blades in front of the crowd instead. I don't want to hear a word from you that your time was better." Was her sarcastic response.
Hermione agreed with her words. Although in the old days' problems were solved more openly and… brightly, this didn't mean that no one struck from the shadows.
"That's not what I'm talking about, you insufferable woman!" Graham grunted as he pulled out a flask of something clearly alcoholic from his robes. "I'm afraid Albus won't be able to keep these two at school for long. You've heard the rumors yourself; they won't feel welcome here. Once his identity is revealed to the world, the boy will either have to defend himself or run without looking back."
The two Gryffindors looked at each other in confusion. The more they listened to the conversation of the portraits, the more questions they had. "Even Professor Dumbledore knows…?" The girl muttered in shock.
The woman had no answer to that. She just frowned as she scanned the floor outside the painting. "It's days like these that make me regret my death. If I were alive, I could help the poor dears."
Harry saw Graham suppress a chuckle. It was clear that the man did not agree.
"They don't need help. The professors are already doing their best to cram as much information into their heads as possible. They know their time is limited. I just hope they're not too late to help the boy."
"What are you talking about, Graham?" The portrait of the man said nothing, choosing to get up from his chair and go behind the screen in the back of the painting. "Oh, how I hate it when this man does that!"
Moving a little further away from the frustrated woman so she couldn't hear them, Hermione glanced at the map in Harry's hands, only to sigh in shock.
"Harry, look!" She hissed, pointing at the map. And when he looked, Harry nearly stumbled in confusion.
The names of Luna, Mantis and Billy disappeared from the room along with strange footprints, as if they had never been there.
"What…?"
"Are you sure your map is working properly?" Hermione asked doubtfully, but shook her head sharply, understanding her mistake. "No, the girl the portraits were talking about is definitely Luna. So how did they leave?"
Harry frowned as he ran his fingers over the old parchment, feeling the ink move under his skin. Scrolling through the map through all the floors, he noticed Luna in the Charms office, where her first class was held. The other three names were nowhere to be found.
"He can teleport other people along with him." He concluded, and Hermione couldn't help but agree.
The danger of this creature immediately increased several times in her head. If he could apparate anyone through any wards as if they weren't there, then it promised hundreds of problems not only for Hogwarts, but for all of magical Britain.
"... If things continue like this, we might have to ask Professor Dumbledore about it. Maybe he'll answer."
Given his track record, Harry strongly doubted it.
Meanwhile, Sir Graham had returned, and with a heavy sigh sank into his chair. The portrait of the man looked amused, to say the least.
"What's happened?" Elizabeth asked with interest.
"The girl and those two little ones are grounded. Now she has to wait for Professor Flitwick without her morning pudding." The old wizard chuckled and took another sip of his flask.
'Just what are we getting ourselves into this time?' Harry couldn't help but think.
