Hogwarts could be an brainnumbingly boring place. It was the weekend, so there were no classes. It was the middle of winter, so going outside would just get him sick. He had been searching for something, anything to do for a while, so out of pure desperation even the five foot Charms essay was researched, written, finished, reread, restarted, and refinished ages ago.
The castle was huge. It was centuries old. There had to be something interesting to do, right? Right now he was sitting with his back against a cushioned wall on a windowsill in a deserted corridor of a deserted wing of a deserted floor after wandering around for nearly an hour in a futile search for excitement. For the seventh time in as many minutes, he fished in his robes for an old piece of parchment and droned out the activation phrase without conscious thought.
It showed him where he was. That is, it showed a network of lines that formed hallways and rooms, but nothing was labeled except his own footprint-styled marker. Apparently even the legendary thirst for exploration of the Marauders, which drove them to create the magical map, didn't extend to this abandoned corner of the school. Although, he wondered what he expected them to label the rooms around him with. "Don't go there, the dust will be the death of you" seemed a likely candidate.
Hogwarts did have an odd interior design, though. For example, on the map he could see that the next corridor on the left from where he was had regular walls except for an S-curve right in the middle. There was no reason for it. It didn't show on the outside wall and the walls directly above and below didn't have it. But it was there, just because. It seemed wizard architects just couldn't help themselves. Another example was that thinly drawn circle in the room across from him. Wait... that wasn't there the previous six times he checked the map, was it? Could it be he found something the Marauders hadn't? Maybe he could make his own small contribution to the magical map. More importantly, would he find something to sharpen away the dullness that had taken hold of his mind?
After making a mental note to have his memory checked out for not remembering seeing the circle the last times he checked the Map, to research how to add a new label to the Marauder's map and to have his memory checked out for not remembering seeing the circle the last times he checked the Map, he stiffly slid off his alcove. Well, he couldn't fault himself for not noticing the room when he arrived. The door was utterly unremarkable. By now, his curiosity level had skyrocketed from 'buried' to 'barely measurable', which was like a burst of toddler excitement compared to the previous hours of soul-crushing boredom.
He reached for the handle and pushed down. Nothing happened. Even though he was completely alone, he felt a bit silly for that anti-climax. He stuffed the map back into one of his pockets while removing his wand from another. His impressive repertoire of a whole of two basic unlocking spells did exactly nothing for him or the door.
He sighed. It appeared that today was destined to be a victory for uneventfulness. He turned around and headed back to his common room, resigning himself to the zillionth game of Gobstones. Maybe he should read "Hogwarts: A History". Anything would better than feeling brain cell after brain cell commit suicide from disuse.