THE WIND whistled past my ears as I chased the Golden Snitch, barely visible in the darkening sky. At the last moment, I heard the whoosh of a Bludger hurtling through the air toward me from my left, and I hooked my feet together as I threw myself to the right, hanging off my broom in a Sloth Grip Roll. Executing the maneuver caused me to lose sight of the Snitch, so I increased my altitude and resumed circling the Pitch, my eyes scanning back and forth in search of the tell-tale metallic sparkle.
With our first game less than a month away, and against our arch-rival Slytherin at that, Oliver Wood had been increasing both the pace and length of our Quidditch practices. Below me, Katie, Angelina, and Alicia were moving the Quaffle toward the goal hoops, where Oliver circled like a shark that had scented blood. Fred and George were flanking the Chasers, batting the other Bludger back and forth through their trajectory, and the girls were constantly changing levels to avoid being predictable targets.
On my next loop, I spotted the Snitch hovering by the unattended goal hoops on the other side of the Pitch. Aiming the tip of my Nimbus 2000 at it, I shot forward like a bullet, ducking my head down so low that my chin touched the broomstick, minimizing my air resistance. The Snitch shot up, spiralling around the goal post, and I jerked my broom up to follow. I flew directly through the center of the hoop, feeling my robes brush the sides of the hoop as my right hand darted forward, and snapped my hand shut when I felt the Snitch contact my Quidditch gloves with a satisfying smack.
"Got it," I yelled. "That's five!"
Angelina took advantage of Oliver's momentary distraction to send the Quaffle zipping through the left goal, and both the Chasers and the Twins let out whooping cheers. In addition to being a personal record for me, five catches of the Snitch meant practice was finally over. I flew down to join the rest of them where they'd landed on the side of the pitch closest to the castle.
"Well done, Harry!" Katie said breathlessly, hooking an arm around my neck in a brief hug.
"Took you long enough," Alicia said, though her smile indicated she wasn't actually upset. "I wouldn't have lasted five more minutes up there - that was at least four hours."
"You don't want the Slytherins to win, do you?" Oliver asked testily. "We need to-"
"Be prepared," the Twins chorused over him.
Oliver, the Twins, and I split off from the girls, heading to the locker rooms to change. I was the first to leave, and was halfway back to Gryffindor Tower when Fred and George caught up with me.
"Hold up a second, Harry."
"We have something to show you."
They pulled me into an empty classroom and closed the door, one of them casting Colloportus on the door.
"What's up?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "I've got to get back, Astronomy's tonight. Did you find anything out about Pettigrew, or the fourth Marauder?"
"Not yet, we haven't had the time-"
"You can thank Oliver for that-"
"But we've decided to show you something-"
"The secret to our success-"
"Behold!"
One of the Twins pulled a sheet of parchment from inside his robe, and held it out to me with a flourish. I kept my face calm as excitement bubbled in my gut. The Marauders Map!
"A piece of parchment?" I asked.
"Oh, it's not just any piece of parchment, Harry."
"No, it's a very, very special piece of parchment indeed."
"Now, give it a tap with your wand-"
"And say the words, I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
I followed their instructions, and a detailed map faded into existence. A few labelled dots moved across the map, while most were clustered in four jumbled groups, in what must have been the locations of the House dormitories. I thought that I recognized Remus Lupin's neat handwriting in the labels, though it was a bit more childish than it had been in the letter he'd sent me.
"This," a Twin intoned solemnly, pointing out the title along the top edge, "is the Marauder's Map!"
"By Messrs Padfoot, Prongs, Moony, and Wormtail," I said, reading the line below.
The redhaired boys grinned down at me, eyes sparkling.
"Nicked it from Filch's office in our first year. We can't let you have it just yet-"
"Big plans for the Halloween Feast tomorrow, you see-"
"But we have decided, in our vast generosity, to share it with you-"
"Since you're the son of a Marauder-"
"And wanted you to know how it works. To hide the map, just tap it with your wand and say-"
"Mischief Managed," they both chorused.
I did so and handed the parchment back to them.
"Thanks! That's an amazing bit of magic. Percy told me there aren't any maps of Hogwarts."
"Ha! Percy likes to think he knows everything-"
"Quite the big head on our dearest Prefect-"
"But we take every opportunity to correct his misconceptions-"
"And deflate his head a bit!"
"I'm sure you do," I said, chuckling. We left the classroom, and Fred and George regaled me with stories of the many various pranks they'd pulled on Percy on our way back to Gryffindor Tower. Outside the Portrait Hole, I thanked them for showing me the Map again.
"No problem, Harry-"
"We're sorry we can't give it you just yet."
"Make sure to take a close look at it, when we do; there are quite a few secret passages marked on there-"
"Which we don't think anyone else knows about. Well, at least, Filch doesn't-"
"Or for sure he'd have caught us a lot more!"
We gave the Fat Lady the password and entered the Common Room. Glancing at my watch, I saw it was already past eleven, and I hurried up to the First Year dormitory to grab my things for Astronomy.
The next day, classes passed in a blur. I wasn't the only one who was having a hard time focusing. Everyone was excited about the Halloween Feast that evening, though for more mundane reasons than me, and quite a few House Points were taken away by exasperated teachers.
Ron, Hermione, and I recouped some points for Gryffindor in Charms when we demonstrated our competence with the Levitation Charm. An astonished and delighted Professor Flitwick avoided us ten points each for our accomplishment, and we spent the rest of the class helping the other students in our House master the charm.
With the extra tutelage, even Neville, Lavender, and Seamus - usually the slowest to learn new spells - had their feathers floating around in the air. Flitwick continued to award five points to each student who demonstrated the charm, and by the end of class Gryffindor had earned a whopping sixty points.
After class, the entire group of First Year Gryffindors swung by the Entrance Hall to check the House Point hourglasses, and found that we were now well ahead of Ravenclaw and Slytherin, who had previously been neck and neck with us. This led to much jubilation, and even Neville seemed to be walking a bit straighter in pride as we hurried up to Gryffindor Tower to drop our things off before the Feast.
As we made our way to the Great Hall, I followed behind my housemates, reflecting that all the First Years seemed to get along quite well. Hermione was walking with Parvati and Lavender, chatting amiably, and Seamus and Dean were walking with Ron and Neville, jostling each other as they guessed what Professor Snape's costume would be - I heard "giant bat" and "vampire" proposed as possibilities, to gales of laughter.
My memories of the books suggested that at this point in that timeline, our House had been more divided into pairs of friends - Ron and me, Seamus and Dean, Parvati and Lavender, with studious Hermione and shy Neville much more isolated. I hadn't set out to increase the unity of our House, but in befriending Neville and Hermione early, while not being quite as close with Ron, seemed to have accomplished it nonetheless.
As far as I could remember, all of my year mates had joined the DA in Fifth Year, and had braved perils that weren't even covered by the narrative during Seventh Year while Harry had been off hunting Horcruxes. Lavender Brown, who had come off as rather ditsy in the books, had even given her life at the Battle of Hogwarts.
So far, while I hadn't been unfriendly, I had pretty much ignored the children who hadn't been close to Harry in the books. I resolved to correct this oversight and make greater efforts to get to know them on my own. While in general I was having a hard time relating to my fellow eleven year olds, I decided to try my best to engage with them more.
Perhaps I could start a study group; I'd have to be careful, though, as I suspected that Hermione might get a bit overzealous in attempting to be helpful, and I didn't want her to alienate herself from the other girls. Normal eleven year olds only had so much tolerance for schoolwork, after all.
Reaching the Great Hall, we took our seats at the end of the Gryffindor table closest to the High Table, which the older students had left empty. I sat down next to Percy Weasley, who greeted me politely but with a distracted air. He kept looking across the Hall to the Ravenclaw table and blushing, and I followed his gaze to a pretty blonde witch who had a Prefect badge pinned to her purple and silver-trimmed robes.
Ah, that must be Penelope Clearwater. I grinned. That romance was already beginning to bud, it seemed. I didn't comment, not wanting to draw the attention of Fred and George to Percy, who I was sure would love nothing more than to interfere in his love life. Instead, I loaded up my plate and looked around the Great Hall, which had been elaborately decorated for Halloween.
Massive carved pumpkins floated in the air above our heads, along with merrily twinkling candles. The castle's ghosts were floating around up there as well, adding to the ambience. Spider webs hung from the High Table, where Dumbledore sat in the middle of the rest of the staff, beaming down at the gathered students benevolently. I noticed that Quirrell was conspicuously absent, as there was only a single chair that remained empty.
After a few minutes, the general din in the Hall increased by a few notches, and I looked up from my food, expecting to see Quirrell rushing in. There was still no sign of him, and the cries of shock and outrage coming from the Slytherin Table drew my gaze in that direction. Every single student's robes bore huge, garish orange polka dots, and they were all sporting hair of an equally eye-wrenching hue of the same color.
I glanced over at the Weasley Twins, who were pointing and laughing along with the rest of the students not at the Slytherin table, and one of them winked at me. I grinned and started to clap, and soon everyone in Gryffindor, then after a few moments Hufflepuff, and finally Ravenclaw had followed suit. Even Dumbledore stood and joined in.
Thus it was to thunderous applause that Quirrell rushed into the Great Hall and ran up to the High Table.
"Troll, in the dungeons!" he gasped out, barely audible above the sound of several score clapping students, then promptly collapsed in a faint.
Most of the hall hadn't heard him over the noise, though some stopped clapping and looked up toward Quirrell's crumpled form in curiosity or concern. Dumbledore stood immediately and pointed his wand at his throat.
"Dear students, please quiet down and remain calm. There is situation requiring the attention of the staff, and I'm afraid we must cut short our revelry. Prefects, please escort your Houses to your dormitories and await further instructions. Do not allow anyone to leave until a Professor tells you may."
The teachers formed a huddle and began to converse among themselves, worried expressions on their face. All of them ignored Quirrell except Snape, who was frowning down at him suspiciously. The Prefects quickly mustered their students and we departed the Great Hall in four tightly clustered groups.
Once we were in the safety of the Common Room and our Prefects had determined that everyone was accounted for, I hurried over to catch up with the Weasley twins, who were edging their way away from the chattering crowd of students toward the staircase to the boy's dormitory.
"Did you hear what Quirrell said?" I asked them as I approached.
"Yes, a troll-"
"In Hogwarts, imagine that!"
"I assume this isn't part of your prank. Going to see if the Marauders can give us an idea of what might be going on?" I queried, and they nodded.
"Yes, not us, and too many eyes here-"
"Come along if you want, Harry."
I followed the pair of redheads up four flights of stairs to their dormitory, taking the steps two at a time. The scene that met my eyes looked like a small tornado had recently passed through. Splatters of ink in every color of the rainbow covered the ceiling and walls, along with a few scorch marks. There were only two beds, and I realized that the twins must be the only male Fourth Years in Gryffindor.
Apparently their dormitory doubled as their laboratory, which probably explained why we hadn't been able to find them when we'd gone searching for them with Ron on the previous Sunday. I didn't have time to comment on the state of their room, as one of the Twins had already whipped out and activated the Marauder's Map and laid it down on a battered desk in the center of the room.
The dots representing the teachers were mostly scattered around the dungeon, moving through the halls in pairs. I glanced at the Great Hall, and saw that Quirrell's dot wasn't there anymore.
"Look," I said, pointing it out. "Quirrell's not in the Great Hall anymore, but I don't see him in the dungeons with the rest of the staff."
"Good eye Harry. I noticed Snape's not in the dungeons either."
"Look, he's on the third floor. And there's Quirrell too - that's the forbidden corridor!"
"Do you guys know what's up there?"
One of the Twins shrugged. "We checked it out, of course. There's a locked door at the end of the corridor."
"We didn't want to push our luck by going inside - it might be charmed to alert the staff if someone unlocks it," explained the other. "Look, Quirrell's dot just disappeared! He was right outside the locked door."
Snape's dot was rapidly approaching the same spot. Right as he neared the corner to that stretch of corridor, Quirrell's name reappeared on the map. They passed each other without slowing, then Snape's name vanished.
"Huh, that was odd. They didn't even slow down when they passed each other," I mused.
"Strange indeed, young Harry. There's no love lost between those two-"
"Snape's always wanted the Defense position, you see-"
"And it's rather unlike him to forgo a biting remark when running into Quirrell."
"Looks like Quirrell's heading back to the Great Hall."
"Weird," I said when the dot stopped moving. "That looks like the same spot he fainted in. Think he's pretending that he's still out cold? That seems kind of suspicious."
Fred and George wore identical frowns.
"Yes, he's an odd one-"
"But that's weird even for him."
The dots for the teachers were all converging at a location on the second floor, around a small icon of a person in a dress. Snape's dot had reappeared and seemed to be moving to join them.
"I think they found the troll," I remarked, tapping the spot on the map.
"Yes, that seems likely-"
"The second floor girls' bathroom."
Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Flitwick moved inside the bathroom, followed shortly by Snape as he arrived, while the rest of the teachers formed a half circle outside the bathroom, probably to prevent the troll's escape should it get past the Headmaster and the Heads of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.
"They must be subduing the troll," said one of the redheads.
"I wish I could see that! Poor troll doesn't stand a chance against those four," the other chuckled.
Nothing happened for a few moments, then the three Heads of House exited the bathroom, while Hagrid's dot moved to join Dumbledore's inside.
"Show's over," announced one of the twins.
"Clean-up crew," the other chimed in.
Professor McGonagall's dot was heading toward Gryffindor Tower. A twin deactivated the map, and held it out to me.
"Well, that was interesting! You fancy taking a turn with the Map?"
"Our prank tonight on the Slytherins was a stunning success, as you saw."
"Shame that Troll had to show up and steal our thunder."
Grinning, I took the Map.
"Thanks! I'm going to do some exploring this weekend. Do you mind if I show it to my friends?"
They grudgingly agreed that I could show it to Ron, Hermione, and Neville - and absolutely no one else. I thanked them again, promising that I'd take good care of it, and that they could use it whenever they wanted, and put it into my robe's inner pocket. We hurried back to the Common Room to hear what McGonagall would have to say about the incident.
When she arrived, Professor McGonagall was tight-lipped about what had happened. She simply explained that the situation had been resolved and that we could leave the dormitory now, but warned us not to forget to be back by curfew, then rushed off.
Hermione noticed me and hurried over, trailed by Neville and Ron.
"Where were you, Harry? We noticed you were missing. I was worried, but Neville said you wouldn't have been so foolish as to leave the Tower. Ron seemed to think you had gone off to battle the troll on your own," Hermione said, frowning at the red-haired boy, who blushed and looked down at his feet. I chuckled.
"No, I don't fancy my chances against a troll. They are resistant to magic, and I doubt we've learned anything that could stop one. What would I do, stick my wand up it's nose?"
We all laughed at the image that evoked, and it seemed that was enough to make everyone forget about my earlier absence; I'd be able to reveal the Map to them at my discretion.
"I don't know Harry, you're awfully good at magic. Even Hermione has a hard time keeping up with you in Charms and Transfiguration!" Ron said.
"Oh no, I still need to revise my Transfiguration essay for tomorrow!" Hermione rushed off toward the stairs to the girls dormitory.
"Bit mental about homework, isn't she?" Ron commented, but he said it fondly so I just smiled and nodded in agreement. "Either of you up for a game of chess?"
"I've got to do my essay too. You always beat me anyway, Ron." Neville said, and headed for our dormitory. Ron looked at me and raised an eyebrow.
"Sure, I'll play a game. Just one though, I haven't done my essay yet either."
Ron threw his hands up in the air.
"Me either, but there's plenty of time before bed! You won the last one Harry, I think it's time you take the black pieces."
I agreed, and we made our way over to the table with the chess board, but I was distracted, excited by my acquisition of the Map. Ron seemed to have already forgotten about the night's events, and beat me handily.