Winter, 1989
Alicia Spinnet jumped the last three steps and hurried into the Great Hall. Have to hurry, have to hurry, or else I'm going to be late to Transfiguration! And since she wanted to be on the Quidditch team next year, Alicia was determined to stay on Professor McGonagall's good side.
Alicia slid into the seat next to Angelina Johnson and said, "What time is it? Are we gonna be late?" as she grabbed a muffin and took a large bite.
"Chill, Alicia, we've got plenty of time before class," Lee Jordan said from across the table.
"He's right," Angelina said reassuringly. "We've got... around fifteen minutes before we have to leave," she decided as she consulted her watch.
Alicia chewed, swallowed, and said, "Good. Thanks. Hey, it's the post." The novelty of hundreds of owls swooping down from the ceiling had not quite worn off yet.
As Angelina payed the owl that delivered her copy of the Daily Prophet, Fred commented from one side of Lee, "Late today, aren't they?"
"Who cares?" George muttered from Lee's other side, and turned his attention back to something in his lap.
"Anything interesting?" Alicia asked, eying the paper with curiosity.
"Alicia, you should really get your own paper," Angelina commented as she skimmed the front page. "Then you wouldn't always have to ask me about the news."
"I know. Asking you is free, however. You didn't answer my question."
"Nothing. Just more Merlin hypotheses."
"Like what?" Lee asked.
"That he got out of the ward because he can fly... that he was a supporter of You-Know-Who... that he's dead..."
Alicia rolled her eyes. "Nobody can fly without a broom. It's not possible."
"It is if you use Wingardium Leviosa," Fred countered.
"That spell just makes stuff float."
"Yeah, but wouldn't floating have been enough if he floated out the window and to the ground?"
"He escaped during the day; someone would have seen. Anyway, Merlin or whatever his name really is didn't have a wand."
"Someone could have done it for him."
"Look," Lee interrupted, "This is a really pointless argument. Can we please move on?"
"Fine," Fred muttered. Alicia was too busy eating to respond. "The other two actually sound reasonable," Fred continued. "Except I'm pretty sure Merlin and You-Know-Who had some very different ideas."
"Well, he's not really Merlin," Lee argued. "So he could have been one of his followers."
"Hadn't he already been captured when You-Know-Who was in power?" Angelina asked.
"How would I know?"
"If he's dead, it would explain why he hasn't done anything over the last couple of months," Alicia commented.
"Wouldn't someone have found the body?"
"Not if it was hidden well enough."
"What else does the article say?" Lee asked.
"It also took a survey to find out who believes he's actually Merlin and who thinks he's a fraud," Angelina reported.
"What were the results?"
"Ninety-five percent think he's a hoax, five percent think he's real."
"What do you guys think?" Lee asked curiously.
"Fake," Alicia scoffed.
"Yeah, definitely," Fred agreed. "What d'you think, Angelina?"
Angelina shrugged. "I dunno. Fake, I guess."
"You guess?" Alicia argued, honing in on the relevant word.
"I... look, what do you think, George?"
George jerked, and glanced up. "What?"
"You weren't listening to a thing we just said, were you?" Alicia accused.
"Sure I was," George protested. "You were talking about Collins, the fake Merlin, right?"
"What about Collins?" Lee demanded. The silence was the only answer needed. "And what have you been looking at all breakfast, anyway?"
"Nothing!" George blurted out, too fast.
Alicia snorted. "Sure you aren't. Come on, let us see."
Lee snatched it out of his hands. "Got it!" He frowned. "It's just a ratty piece of parchment."
Fred challenged, "So how come in Filch's office it was labeled 'Confiscated and Highly Dangerous'?"
"No way."
"Yes way," George said with a grin. "But we can't figure out how to work it."
"I tried just poking it with my wand and telling it to open, but all it did was insult me."
"What?" Angelina said, echoing Alicia's sentiments exactly.
"Try it." George shoved the parchment at them.
Angelina said, wand on it, "I order you to... do whatever you're supposed to do." Skepticism was clear in her voice.
Writing appeared almost immediately.
Mr. Prongs would like to say that that sounded stupid.
Mr. Padfoot agrees with Mr. Prongs, and would like to add that the attempt had no creativity.
Angelina stared at the parchment with disbelief. "How on earth can parchment insult people?"
Mr. Wormtail would like to suggest that if Ms. Johnson does not believe in the Marauder's Map, that she should give it back to the proper owner and stop attempting to use it.
Mr. Moony would like to advise Ms. Johnson to put more effort in next time, or not bother trying at all.
"No way," Alicia muttered. She frowned abruptly as a thought occurred to her. "How did it know your name?"
Everyone stared at the piece of parchment.
If it was possible for an inanimate object to look innocent, the parchment was.
Fred continued, "We looked up the spell for putting personality into an inanimate object, and it's incredibly complicated."
"Nobody would cast a spell like that-"
"-if it didn't have a purpose."
Lee said thoughtfully, "It called itself the Marauder's Map."
George nodded decisively. "There's definitely something different about this parchment, and we are going to figure out what it is."
Angelina said abruptly, "Oh no."
"What?" Fred demanded.
"We have about a minute and a half to get to Transfiguration."
All thoughts of breakfast, Merlin, and the Marauder's Map were abandoned as the five students sprinted out of the Great Hall.
