Chapter 10: The Marauders Map

Professor Marvin Dragana was sat at his desk when the owl arrived. Dragana had taken to eating his evening meal in his office; the teachers were not on good terms with him. Dragana had been asking far too many questions for his own good, and stirring up too much trouble. Despite all the obvious signs of trouble, the teachers simply didn't want to believe that anything might be going on at Hogwarts.

An owl swept through the open window and landed, neatly on his desk. He thanked the bird, handed it a piece of his chicken, and let it back out of the window. Dragana opened the scroll and read the letter.

Dragana, developments regarding Malfoy's investigations. You must make sure that no one gets up to the corridor - seal it off if you have to. Whoever's hiding in there seems to be planning some very dark business indeed. The teachers may tell you they know nothing about it, but they know how close you are to the Auror office. Send word if you catch anyone going in or out of the Room of Requirement. Especially if it's a Professor. Harry.

Dragana swore. He threw the fork down onto his plate, with a clatter. This was another letter which brought bad news from his old colleague. Dragana stood up and looked out of the window, hands behind his back, thinking hard. How on earth was he going to persuade Merrigan to let him block off that corridor?

As the months passed on, Rose noticed that the teachers were slowly becoming more and more nervous. They had stopped being kind and genial, but snapped and docked points for the littlest things. Rose often saw a huddle of teachers in the corridors, having hushed discussions. Professor Abell and Professor Fay in particular appeared to have lost their minds. Professor Abell had developed a slight twitch, as if he was constantly looking over his shoulder. Professor Fay had started laughing hysterically in lessons, and often looked on the verge of tears. Rose would have been worried for her teachers' sudden loss of sanity, but she had her own problems: exams were approaching, and Scorpius and Albus had done nothing about them.

"I'm going to start revising this weekend," she said, after weeks of hints. The three were walking down to the lake on a warm Thursday afternoon. It was late-April, and the Easter Holidays – which they had spent at school – had finished the Monday before.

"Really? But we've got ages 'til the exams-" Scorpius started to say.

"Actually we've got 5 weeks this coming Monday. I've drawn out revision time tables for you both, because they're practically the same as mine," Rose babbled, "except you've got an extra History slot, Scor, and you've got an extra charms slot, Al."

"Why!" they both cried, outraged.

"Because those are your worst subjects," Rose snapped, "I've got an extra Defence against the Dark Arts slot if that makes you feel any better."

"No," said Scorpius, gloomily. Rose hit him with a book.

"These are really important exams!" Rose exclaimed, but she could tell the boys weren't listening. She gave up and chose a spot for them to sit. She put her bag by the weeping willow, took off her heavy black robe and lay it out. She sat, leaning against the tree trunk, and the boys copied her.

"Shall we get Abell's essay out of the way then?" Rose asked after a moment.

"No!" Scorpius exclaimed, "Give us a moment. It sounds like this is the last free time we'll get, what with you making us revise seven hours a night." Rose hit him again.

Albus sighed. Both of them were right, of course. It would be up to him.

"Well let's just mess around for a bit, then we'll start Abell's essay. We should have it done by dinner, then we can start Fay's charm practise, and we'll be done by eight. Then we can have the rest of the evening off."

The other two agreed. They all sat back, relishing the quiet. The peace. The sound of the lake drifted over to them, and the wind rushed through the tree's bows. Rose saw a bee fly lazily onto a flower, and heard the chirping of a fledgling. Summer was definitely approaching.

"You know," Rose said, coming out of her revelry, "I reckon something fishy is going on at Hogwarts."

"Do you?" Scorpius asked, unconcernedly. Rose knew that Scorpius wasn't a big fan of her and Albus's speculating, but this time was different.

"Let's look at the facts. A girl gets attacked outside the seventh floor corridor. Dragana tries to stop us investigating, and that pretty much proves that there is something there," Rose said slowly.

Scorpius looked impatient, "We know this. But that reached a dead end."

"Harry is sending owls to your father. When do you think that started? Because I'll bet my broom that it was when that girl got attacked," Rose said.

"We know that too," Scorpius said. He rolled his eyes, "We've gone over this ten times."

"And now the teachers are acting strangely, as if they're worried about something."

"Are you saying…?" Albus said, slowly, a twinkle in his eye.

"I am. I think they all must be linked. I think the time has come for some more detective work."

Rose grinned at the two shocked faces. Rose was almost certain that all of these things were linked. It may be a whim, but Rose had a feeling that her Uncle Harry might know something about that room. And Rose's feelings usually turned out right.

Dear Mum and Dad,

Thanks for your last letter, sorry I didn't reply straight away. School's fine thanks and we're starting our revision on Saturday. Rose is getting pretty frantic.

I wondered if I could ask you about something. Our friend told us that there is a hidden room up on the seventh corridor. Is it true?

"No, he won't believe that," Albus said, screwing the letter up and throwing it in the common room fire.

"This is harder than I thought," Rose said. Albus agreed.

"Let's just go to bed. It's half ten!" Albus said, and put away his quill and ink. He and Rose headed up their separate staircases, wishing each other goodnight.

Albus was third into his dormitory, and was just getting under the covers when Stuart and Lysander came in. Albus really liked Lysander, and his twin brother, Lorcan. It was strange that Lorcan wasn't in the same house as Lysander, but that apparently often happened to twins. Albus wondered what it would be like if James was in a different house to him.

Albus sat bolt upright. Of course. Why hadn't he thought of it before? The answer to the existence of the seventh floor room may be sleeping just above him, in the third year dormitory.

"I've had a brainwave!" Albus said, excitedly, on Friday morning. Rose and Scorpius looked up at him. The two were eating breakfast quietly, trying not to draw attention to the fact that Scorpius was at the wrong table. Rose raised an eyebrow.

"That's unusual," she said. Scorpius laughed.

"We need to find James. He has the Marauders Map. We could look at it, and see if we see if we can see a room up there. Then, we'll know," Albus said, triumphantly.

Rose sprang into action. "Right, I'll go up to the library to find him, and I'll check in the common room on my way."

"You really think James will be in the library? I'll check by the lake, and… oh, he's just over there," Albus said, motioning up the breakfast table. James was there, along with his two best friends, Andrew and Fred, and was talking to their other friends.

Albus got up, and went over to them. Albus was usually quite nervous in front of James's friends, but he didn't really have time to worry about that now. With a confidence which was quite unfamiliar to him, Albus marched over and started talking.

"James, can I please talk to you?" Albus asked. James shrugged and followed Albus out of the hall. Albus could hear Rose and Scorpius coming up behind them. They marched into the entrance hall, and pulled James into a small side room. The room was no bigger than a broom cupboard, and it had no windows.

"Lumos," Scorpius said. Rose did the same and the room flooded with light.

"What's up?" James asked, looking down at the three stern faces.

"James, I, we need to borrow the Marauders Map," Albus said firmly.

"You what?" James said, "How do you-"

"Dad told me. He knows you nicked it." Albus tried to remain patient.

"He knows I-" James said, dumbfounded.

"Yes he does. He told Albus about it when he gave him the invisibility cloak back in October."

"You have an invisi-"

"Keep up!" Rose snapped. Scorpius bit his lip.

"And you want to borrow the map…" James said quietly. The three waited, holding their breaths. James seemed to come to a conclusion, as a wide, wicked smile lit up his face, and he turned to look directly at Albus.

"I'll swap you," he said, excitedly, "the map for the cloak."

"Fine," said Rose. Albus blinked. "Do you want to find out what's in that room or not?" Rose muttered. Albus sighed.

"Fine," he echoed Rose. James grinned.

"Here," he said, pulling out a piece of scruffy old parchment from the inside of his robes, "I'll show you how to work it." Rose, Albus and Scorpius crowded in around James and watched intently.

"First, to see the map, you have to say 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good' and tap it with your wand." James tapped the map once, and to Albus's astonishment, ink started to appear on the parchment. It started at the wand's tip, and snaked out to form rooms, doors, staircases and tiny dots labelled –

"That's us!" Rose exclaimed. Albus looked to where she was pointing, and sure enough, four little dots showed 'Albus Severus Potter', 'Rose Harriet Weasley', 'Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy' and 'James Sirius Potter'. They all stared at themselves.

"To wipe the map – and make sure you do wipe the map – you tap it again and say 'mischief managed'." Albus watched in amazement as his own ink-self seemed to be absorbed into the parchment. Albus stared at the place that had said 'Albus Severus Potter' and gulped.

"So I'll go up to your dorm now and get the cloak Al, cheers," James said, and handed the scruffy piece of parchment to Rose. James sauntered out and with a merry wave, shut the door behind him.

"Crap!" Rose yelped, "We're super late. Dragana's going to kill us!" The three dashed from the side-room and up the marble staircase.

We have the map, Albus thought ruefully, but now we just need a bit of time to read it.

"Can we go now?" Scorpius asked Rose. The three had started their homework in the library, as Scorpius wasn't allowed in Gryffindor Common Room. It wasn't an ideal place for staging a whispered conversation; the librarian, a decrepit old woman called Madam Pince, kept hitting them with newspapers to get them to be quiet. "It was you who wanted to find out what's up there anyways."

"I want to get my work done," Rose huffed, "I want to pass my exams more than I want to find out what's up there."

"I think you need to sort your priorities, Rosie," Albus said under his breath, as he slaved over his charms essay.

"I think you need to sort yours!" Rose snapped, dipping her quill into her inkpot, refusing to look up at the boys opposite her.

Ten minutes later however, she had finished. Rose permitted Scorpius and Albus to escort her from the library and down to the courtyard. They had found a good place for them to have their private speculations: a small area just beside the courtyard, where a low wall was conveniently placed to be used as a bench. The bushes around the wall meant that no one could see you there from the courtyard, but you could see teachers coming. It also got a good bit of sunlight in the evening, and had a spectacular view of the lake and mountains.

Rose jumped up onto the wall and sat. Albus and Scorpius copied her, and Rose got out the map from her pocket. Albus took the map, and tapped it, saying the magic words.

Albus was still shocked to see himself, Scorpius and Rose on the map, but he moved past it. He, Scorpius and Rose searched the map to try and find the Seventh Floor Corridor until-

"What are you looking at?" said a growl. They turned to see a familiar mane of dark blonde hair, flashing glasses and a scowl. Professor Dragana walked forwards and Albus felt his spirits fall.

"Mischief managed," he whispered to the map.

"What?" Dragana barked.

"Nothing, sir. We're just going to look at this book," Rose said, and to Albus's relief she withdrew a small battered textbook from her pocket.

"Oh, really." Dragana didn't look convinced.

"Yes, sir." Rose said, firmly, looking up into Dragana's disbelieving face. She didn't even flinch under Dragana's scorching look. She kept eye contact with her Professor for at least ten seconds and he regarded them suspiciously. She didn't even blink.

Dragana soon walked away, and Rose turned back to the two boys. Albus was impressed.

"You lie way too well, Rosie," he said.

"Years of practise. 'No mum, I don't know who put Filibuster Fireworks under your chair'." Rose quoted, and Albus laughed.

"Okay, we'll look at the map, and Al, you make sure no one's coming. Especially Dragana." Albus agreed to Scorpius's suggestion. He watched through the bushes as his friends scoured the map.

"GOTIT!" Rose yelped.

Albus turned and looked at the map. He felt an excited glow in his chest; were they about to find out what the seventh floor corridor was hiding?

Apparently not. The corridor had no rooms leading from it. It was just as door-less and empty on the parchement as in real life.

"Damn," Rose said. She looked up at Albus, "It was a really good idea though, Al."

It was late at night. Albus looked at the map miserably. His one idea, the one stroke of genius had led them nowhere. The curtains were drawn around his four-poster bed, and the tip of his wand gave out the only light in the dormitory. It seemed the thick curtains blocked out most of the light from his wand, as his friends around him slept peacefully. Albus even heard Lysander give a little grunt in his sleep.

He sighed, and Albus turned the parchment over and looked at all the marked dots representing the sleeping school. Nearly everyone was motionless; only the ghosts and the caretaker, Crippen, were moving around the school.

No… wait… Albus rubbed his tired eyes and unfolded the map a bit further. He was sure he had seen an unfamiliar name moving.

There they were. Cassandra Spion was strolling down a corridor on the fifth floor. Albus watched her make her progress. She went up a flight of stairs and was met by-

Albus gasped, and rubbed his eyes again. Now Professor Spion, Professor Abell and Professor Fay were all standing together at the foot of the flight of stairs that lead up to the seventh floor. What on earth were they doing? Albus watched them, a smile on his face. This map was very interesting.

The heads of Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff set off up the winding staircase. Albus followed their progression, with a grin, until he realised where they were headed.

The seventh floor corridor.

Albus watched the three teachers with bated breath. Hardly daring to blink, he watched Professor Spion lead the teachers down the corridor and…

No… Albus must be wrong. His eyes must be lying to him. He rubbed them one last time and looked at the Marauders Map.

The teachers had disappeared. They had turned slightly towards the wall, Professor Spion in the lead, and vanished.

Through a door to a hidden room where an evil lady lives? Albus asked himself. It sounded ridiculous, but that was the only answer.

Albus could remember his Auntie Hermione reading him stories about a muggle detective. He remember sitting up late at night when he was a child, Auntie Hermione reading from a thick old book, about a hero and his friend solving crimes. He remembered every single story and nearly every single thing the detective said. His favourite line: "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." This applied here too.

Well, the teachers hadn't disappeared. You can't disapparate in Hogwarts. The map doesn't lie.

The room definitely exists. Albus thought. And you can get in there. All we need to do is find out how. And why the teachers are going in there. And what's inside…or who…

Harry Potter sat in his office at the Ministry of Magic. He liked the room. It wasn't huge, but it was comfortable. There was a handsome, rosewood desk, a large ornate bookcase, a high backed, comfortable chair and a nice little window. At the moment, the pretend sun was being blocked by dark, artificial clouds. The turbulent clouds echoed Harry's own mood. He was not at all happy today.

He had to work on a Saturday. His wife was in a towering temper with him. The cat had scratced holes into his dress robes. His daughter had shaved the cat's tail. Harry had shut himself in his office when he had arrived at work, demanded that his secretary didn't disturb him - unless it was urgent, and sunk into his chair. He had been sitting in it for nearly an hour, and Harry had just come to the conclusion that he should probably start doing some work, when Hermione had came in, telling him that she wouldn't be able to come for dinner that night.

And now, something else had arrived to dampen his mood. A harassed looking witch came into his office without knocking and said "this stupid bird has been at my desk for nearly an hour. I told him that you didn't want to accept any letters today, but he wouldn't listen." She threw the owl at him and stormed out.

Harry gritted his teeth and regarded the black and white bird. "Now, what do you want?" he asked it. He recognised it at once as Titus, his son's owl. Titus fixed Harry with a glare, and held out his leg. Harry took off the scroll of parchment, and Titus flew from the office, obviously offended. Harry shut and door behind him and opened the letter.

It was fairly short, and Harry recognised the small, spiky writing. Albus had written the letter in a hurry, it seemed, as there was ink splattered all over the parchment, and the paper was slightly crumpled. Albus had also apparently made sure that his father would receive it. Titus was an intelligent bird, and Harry wouldn't put it past Albus to tell Titus to deliver the letter directly to Harry.

Dad,

Hi, how are you? Thanks for your last letter, and school is going really well. Rosie is getting hectic about revision, and we're starting today. Don't tell Auntie Hermione that we started this late.

So on Friday, I borrowed the Marauders Map from James, and me, Rosie and Scorpius saw something really strange. On Friday night, I saw Professor Spion leading Professor Abell and Fay up the seventh floor corridor. Then they disappeared.

We know there is a room up there, no point denying that.

The teachers are acting really strangely. I mean, Abell is constantly looking over his shoulder, and Fay won't stop laughing. We wondered whether you thought the fact that those two went into the hidden room and that they have been behaving strangely was linked.

What do you think? And can you tell us anything about the room? It's not like we want to go in there, we just want to know what's in there.

And what was in the letter you sent to Draco's father?

Tell Lily that we met a baby unicorn the other day. She would have loved him.

See you soon.

Love Al

Harry sighed. He supposed he would have to reply. But there was no way that he was going to tell his son everything. Harry folded up the parchment and put it in his robes' inside pocket. He fished around in his desk for a piece of parchment, and dipped his quill in the ink pot on his desk. The bright purple ink dripped as Harry thought what to say.

Fifteen minutes later, Harry read over his letter. Yes, that would do nicely. He hadn't told Albus too much, and he hadn't sounded too worried.

Dear Al,

We're all good at home thanks. Lily shaved Conker's tail, and Mum isn't too happy about it. I'll tell her about the unicorn when I get home. She'll be seething with jealousy.

And about the room. There is a hidden room up there, as you've worked out. It's called the Come and Go room, or the Room of Requirement. I'm not going to tell you how to get in there, and there's no chance trying to find it out from the library. Please stay away from there. There may be something dangerous in there, but it doesn't concern you what so ever. You need to be concentrating on your exams. You know that the muggle-born got attacked outside that room, but it may be an isolated incident.

The fact that your teachers are acting strangely may be nothing to do with the fact they went into the Room of Requirement. I wouldn't worry about it, Al. Concentrate on your exams for now, and before you know it, you'll be back home.

And what ever I sent to Scorpius's father is private. If you really want to know, ask him yourself.

Remember to revise hard, or Auntie Hermione will have a fit.

Love Dad

Thank you for reading! This chapter took me a lot longer to write than it should have. I don't know why, but I kept reaching dead ends... I should be back to my normal habbits next week.

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Jennifer Apple