The four of them stood at the entrance of the library, surrounded by students bustling in and out.
After rubbing his sore ear, George muttered spitefully, "She wasn't mad because I wrinkled her book. It's because I talked trash about Filch!"
They all exchanged mischievous grins.
Rumor had it that Madam Pince and Filch had a rather... unusual relationship.
Fred suggested, "Well, since we can't stay in the library anymore, why don't we head to the Gryffindor common room and study the Marauder's Map?"
The group had been working on their own map of Hogwarts, hoping to sell it to other students.
Initially, they thought they could simply copy the Marauder's Map, but it turned out to be far more complicated than they had anticipated—far beyond their current abilities.
As for Dumbledore's suggestion of using the official Hogwarts architecture books, William had already tried that.
The set of books consisted of seven massive volumes, each several thousand pages long. William suspected Dumbledore recommended it purely to keep him busy and out of trouble, knowing full well it would be a lifetime's task to read through them.
Who could find that entertaining? William thought. It was practically a never-ending series!
Besides, William had no intention of becoming an architect—his past life had already involved studying civil engineering. He knew the curse of recommending such a career path: Advising someone to study civil engineering is like asking them to invite a lightning strike!
Cedric glanced around and whispered, "We could always go to the Room of Requirement and check on Fluffy. It'll be empty there."
William nodded.
"Wait... hold on," Fred and George said, looking utterly baffled. "What's the Room of Requirement?"
Standing across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy on the eighth floor of the castle, William walked back and forth three times. As expected, a smooth door appeared on the once blank wall.
When they entered, the room had changed dramatically.
To be precise, Fluffy had turned the place into a complete mess, with many of the items inside torn to shreds.
Fred looked around in confusion. "That's odd. We've hidden from Filch in here before, haven't we, George?"
"Yeah," George confirmed. "Last time it was just a broom cupboard..."
But soon the twins were bubbling with excitement again—discovering one of Hogwarts' hidden secrets was their favorite thing.
Their attention was quickly drawn to Fluffy.
George, with a grin, circled around the room. "You guys kept a three-headed dog in here and didn't tell us?"
"No, it's Hagrid's," William explained, recounting the events of the previous night.
"So, Charlie knows about this place but didn't tell his own brothers?!" Fred grumbled loudly.
"So, you didn't see who broke into Snape's potion storage while you were stashing Fluffy away?" George asked, sitting on an old cabinet with a thoughtful look.
"Could it have been Professor Tywin? You ran into him sneaking downstairs, didn't you?" Fred added.
Cedric shrugged. "We don't have any proof, and... I mean, why would Professor Tywin need to attack Snape's storage? If it's revenge, it doesn't seem like something a professor would do. It sounds more like..." He glanced meaningfully at George and Fred.
Fred picked up one of Fluffy's battered toys and threw it at Cedric, who caught it with a laugh.
Cedric immediately regretted it. The toy was damp, covered in some unidentified goo. With a grimace, he wiped his hands on William's robes, William dodged, leaving the others laughing.
Cedric sighed and used a cleaning charm to rid himself of the mess. "I have a feeling the person who broke in might try again. If we could crack the Marauder's Map, we could watch the room and catch them."
George pulled out the worn parchment from his robes. "Exactly! If we could figure out the password, we could keep an eye on it!"
Just then, Fred yelped.
He had been teasing Fluffy with a treat, but Fluffy's middle head had latched onto Fred's hand, and now the massive dog had him pinned to the floor, playfully gnawing on him.
"Help! Someone get this thing off me!" Fred shouted, as Fluffy's three heads began to tug at him like a chew toy.
"Music!" William called out. "Fluffy loves music! It makes him fall asleep!"
Fred immediately began whistling.
Fluffy stopped chewing, tilting all three heads to one side as they stared at Fred's lips, clearly confused by the sound. They looked as if they were eyeing a pair of greasy sausages.
Fluffy was no ordinary three-headed dog—he had an unusual love for music, much like Dumbledore. His greatest weakness was soft, melodic tunes, which would quickly send him into a deep sleep.
But whistling was an exception. For some reason, it made Fluffy more excited than ever.
With a joyful bark, Fluffy pounced on Fred, all three heads licking him furiously.
It took the group a while to separate the two. Fred, red-faced and breathless, spat out fur while clutching his lips, which had now swollen to the size of sausages.
"Alright," George said, stifling a laugh. "Let's get back to studying the map."
The four of them huddled around the Marauder's Map, a mix of frustration and admiration on their faces.
The map was a thing of beauty and a pain at the same time. It showed the entire layout of Hogwarts in real-time, including the status of the moving staircases and the precise location of everyone within the castle, even Dumbledore.
It was the ultimate tool for sneaking around.
William's plan was to create a simplified version of this map to sell to other students.
But there was one problem: they hadn't completely unlocked the Marauder's Map. It was charm-protected, and they couldn't open it fully without knowing the correct incantation.
In simple terms, the map was locked by a secret password. Without it, they could only access the basic features– they were normal players.
Besides praising the four creators of the map, the map's creators had installed a system that required them to perform a series of pranks and mischiefs to gain full access.
Every time they pulled off a prank, they earned limited use of the map. At first, they had 24 hours of usage per prank, but as they used the map more, the duration decreased to just one hour per prank.
This was one of the reasons Fred and George had been laying low lately.
To truly master the map, they needed to solve its riddles and complete enough pranks. Only then would the map reveal its full potential.
It wasn't impossible to get the password. The simplest, albeit longest, way was to complete the hundreds of pranks the map demanded. Eventually, after completing enough, the map would reveal the password.
In short, the map was a prank system, designed to continuously lure its users into breaking the rules. The creators had quite a sense of humour.
"I think I have an idea that might work," William said.
He tapped the map with his wand. "Reveal the password!"
This was a method he'd picked up from Professor Flitwick, who had assured him it would work.
Nothing happened.
A moment later, it was as if an invisible hand began writing across the smooth surface of the map.
Mr. Moony sends his compliments to Professor Flitwick and advises Mr. Stark to stop wasting his time. Every spell you can think of, we've already tried.
William gave an awkward smile.
But the map wasn't finished yet. More words appeared beneath the first message.
Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Moony and would like to add that while he appreciates Mr. Stark's enthusiasm, the attempt was a failure. As a consequence, the map's next usage time will be reduced by five minutes.
"...."
But there was more.
Mr. Padfoot expresses shock: Have the Weasley twins stopped causing mischief? What a pity! I'll restore the five minutes in exchange for more chaos.
Mr. Wormtail sends his regards to Mr. Diggory and advises him to avoid bad influences. Stay on the straight and narrow path, dear boy.
And with that, the writing disappeared.
join my patreon for 60+ advanced chapters: patreon.com/HyppoTL