The Marauder's Map

Remus grinned slightly and Snuffles perked up too, both of them eager to find out how Harry had gotten their map; they knew he had it, but he had never mentioned when or how he got it. Fred and George seemed slightly excited as well, as did Ron, Hermione, and Harry.

"Wait, I just realised this means everyone will know about it," Ron groaned.

"And about what it shows," Harry agreed. The twins looked horrified.

"They can't know about that," they said.

"You never know, the book may not mention passwords," Hermione said with a shrug, which seemed to cheer up those who knew about the map and the secret passageways it showed.

Madam Pomfrey insisted on keeping Harry in the hospital wing for the rest of the weekend.

"She almost always does that. I've gotten used to it by now," Harry said with a sigh. Remus nodded his agreement, having remembered how many times she would keep him in there after his transformations if they were on the weekend.

He didn't argue or complain,

"Because it wouldn't have helped either way," Harry said, leaning back in his seat.

"If she doesn't want you to leave, you won't. Not unless you learn how to get passed all her wards and charms, at least," Charlie agreed, having been in there a numerous number of times for various Quidditch or creature related injuries.

He hadn't told anyone about the Grim, not even Ron and Hermione, because he knew Ron would panic and Hermione would scoff.

"You should have told us, mate," Ron said quietly.

"Would either of you have reacted differently?"

"Probably not, but we still would have listened Harry," Hermione said. "We would have tried to help in some way."

"We're here for you, that's what friends do. No matter what we think, if it's bothering you, then we want to know."

The fact remained, however, that it had now appeared twice, and both appearances had been followed by near-fatal accidents;

Snuffles whined slightly, not liking the reminder. It had been him that had distracted Harry during that Quidditch match and stopped him noticing the dementors, and it had been him that had scared Harry when he left his relative's house.

No one else heard echoes in their head of their dying parents.

The hall fell silent again, leaving only the book to continue describing the pained thoughts Harry had dwelled on in the hospital wing as the only sound in the hall.

Malfoy spent much of their next Potions class doing Dementor imitations across the dungeon; Ron finally cracked and flung a large, slippery crocodile heart at Malfoy, which hit him in the face and caused Snape to take fifty points from Gryffindor.

"Definitely worth 50 points though," Ron said.

"It was wicked," Dean agreed.

"If Snape's teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts again, I'm skiving off," said Ron

"Fair."

"I would have."

"Understandable."

"Completely fair."

"Same."

"— two rolls of parchment!"

"You were really hung up on the two rolls of parchment, weren't you Seamus?" Parvati called over. Seamus just shrugged and grinned.

"I've already finished it!"

"Of course, you had," Ginny said, rolling her eyes in a fond way.

Professor Lupin had brought along a glass box containing a Hinkypunk, a little one-legged creature who looked as though he were made of wisps of smoke, rather frail and harmless looking.

"Definitely not harmless," Ron grumbled, remembering how he had been misled by it during the exam at the end of the year; he had ended up soaked and extremely muddy, and it took two showers to feel clean again.

"It has nothing to do with weakness," said Professor Lupin sharply, as though he had read Harry's mind.

"Your expression told me pretty clearly what you were thinking," Remus explained, understanding the unasked question when Harry glanced at him. "Your face is always either an open book or completely unreadable."

Lupin made a sudden motion with his arm as though to grip Harry's shoulder, but thought better of it.

"What were you going to do?" Ginny asked curiously, glancing over at the man in question.

"I wanted to comfort him but didn't think it would be welcome. I was only his teacher that he barely knew."

"Azkaban must be terrible," Harry muttered.

The few in the room who had been to Azkaban all nodded; it was a terrible place.

"Can you teach me?"

"A Patronus is incredibly difficult," Kingsley said. "Not even most fully grown wizards are capable of performing one."

"To be able to perform it at thirteen, or even while still in school, the witch or wizard would have to be incredibly powerful," Amelia agreed.

No one noticed Harry flush a deep red at that, since he was leaning against Hermione in such a way that his face was hidden in her shoulder. Especially since he had only had access to 60% of his magic, since so much of his magic had been being sent to fortify his immune system, while most witches and wizards had access to between 90% and 95% of their magic; he didn't think he'd get over that fact any time soon, but also prayed to Merlin that no one else found out about that small piece of information.

Even as his face flushed, he decided to take it as a challenge. He would teach as many people in the DA to conjure a Patronus as possible by the end of the year and prove that it was possible.

"But if the Dementors come to another Quidditch match, I need to be able to fight them —"

"Always thinking about Quidditch," Mrs Weasley said, shaking her head, although a fond smile played on her lips as she looked around at her children, including Harry and Hermione, although she knew Hermione wasn't a fan of playing Quidditch.

He had been riding one of the school brooms at team practice, an ancient Shooting Star, which was very slow and jerky; he definitely needed a new broom of his own.

"And yet you were still performing extremely well," Katie said.

He turned, halfway along the third-floor corridor, to see Fred and George peering out at him from behind a statue of a humpbacked, one-eyed witch.

"Why weren't you in Hogsmeade?" Tonks asked curiously.

"Oh, reasons," Fred said.

"So this what you were doing when you made me head to Hogsmeade without you, without telling me why," Lee said.

"Yup," George agreed.

He nodded toward an empty classroom to the left of the one-eyed statue.

Those who had used that specific passageway exchanged looks, grinning. Moody, Kingsley, Amelia, and Tonks all narrowed their eyes at the book, thinking hard about what could have been so important about the one-eyed statue; from the past few books, they'd seen that if something was mentioned multiple times then it would be important, and their Auror instincts were working fast to try and work out what was special about the statue.

It was a large, square, very worn piece of parchment with nothing written on it.

Snuffles perked up even more and Remus grinned. He should have known the twins had the Map before Harry had it; they knew the castle extremely well and the number of times they had tried to prank him had to be a record. In his first lesson with them alone, he had dismantled and dodged no less than 46 pranks, and they hadn't backed down for the rest of the year, often stopping for weeks at a time to try and catch him off guard; according to the rumours in the staff room, he was the only teacher they hadn't managed to prank.

Harry, suspecting one of Fred and George's jokes, stared at it.

"Yeah, that's fair."

"Completely understandable."

"You don't just accept anything from them. You always suspect."

"Nothing is safe from their pranking."

"I would have too."

"This, Harry, is the secret of our success," said George, patting the parchment fondly.

"Really?" Angelina asked, one eyebrow raised.

"It's a wrench, giving it to you," said Fred, "but we decided last night, your need's greater than ours."

And it belong to him, both Remus and Snuffles thought. They had all agreed to pass it down to the first child born to the Marauders before it had been found and confiscated during their seventh year, so it was technically Harry's birthright.

"A bit of old parchment!" said Fred, closing his eyes with a grimace as though Harry had mortally offended him.

"You had," Fred assured him.

"Well, I apologise for thinking that a piece of parchment that was really getting on in years couldn't possibly help me in any way," Harry said, rolling his eyes.

"I guess I can accept your apology," Fred said with an overdramatic sigh. "And I assume you know better now."

"Well… when we were in our first year, Harry — young, carefree, and innocent —"

Snorts were heard all around the hall at that.

"I don't think either of you were ever innocent. You were born plotting pranks," Bill said, shaking his head affectionately, thinking about all the mayhem they had caused while they were growing up.

" — well, more innocent than we are now

"That sounds more likely," Charlie agreed.

"We let off a Dungbomb in the corridor and it upset him for some reason —"

"For some reason," Lee agreed.

"So he hauled us off to his office and started threatening us with the usual —"

"Detention?"

"Disembowelment?"

"Stringing you up by your ankles in his office for a few days?"

"Torture?"

"Hanging you by your thumbs in the dungeon?"

"Whipping you raw?"

"Leave you hanging by your wrists for a few days?"

The teachers were looking around the students in horror. None of those things were ok. They really needed to do something about Filch if they were all saying those things in such a casual tone, as if it was an everyday occurrence.

"— and we couldn't help noticing a drawer in one of his filing cabinets marked Confiscated and Highly Dangerous."

"Did you happen to notice if anything was written under that?" Harry asked. He knew that Remus had mentioned them having seven draws between them – which he had further explained as one and a half for each him and Pettigrew and then two each for his dad and Sirius – plus a draw for all the things they had had confiscated from them. And knowing Filch, he would have marked that whole cabinet as Highly Dangerous.

"There was a word above it, but it was faded," Fred agreed.

"Although it did start with an M from what I could see, if I remember right," George added thoughtfully.

"Well, what would you've done?" said Fred.

"Not gotten caught in the first place," Harry offered with a cheeky smile. Fred did the mature thing and stuck his tongue out at him in return.

"George caused a diversion by dropping another Dungbomb, I whipped the drawer open, and grabbed — this."

"How did you even know it would be useful?" Ron asked. The twins shrugged.

"How did you know it wouldn't be dangerous? It was in a drawer marked dangerous," Mrs Weasley said.

"Yeah, but Filch thinks everything is dangerous," George replied casually. All the students in their group nodded or voiced their agreement.

He probably suspected what it was, though, or he wouldn't have confiscated it."

Remus nodded absently; Filch had definitely known what it was. He had seen them using it when they weren't paying full attention to their surroundings, and they had only just managed to wipe it before he was in front of them and confiscating it. And he now hated remembering how it had been Pettigrew how first noticed how close Filch was on the map, so they actually had time to wipe it; before he found out about the switch, he had been alright thinking about that memory, as it had been Sirius who had been holding the map at the time and he had felt he could blame the traitor for the loss.

"Oh yes," said Fred, smirking.

"How long did it take you to work out?" Hermione asked curiously, and Snuffles tilted his head in question as well. Remus leaned forward slightly, having wondered how someone had worked it out since he had seen Harry with it.

"It took us ages. A whole two days," Fred said with a dramatic sigh.

"The makers did seem keen to help us. They kept giving us hints," George added.

"This little beauty's taught us more than all the teachers in this school."

"Is that true, Weasleys?" Minerva asked.

"Yeah," the twins said casually, ignoring the rest of the questions about how it had taught them more than the teachers had.

He took out his wand, touched the parchment lightly, and said, "I swear I'm up to no good."

"Who came up with that?"

"Whoever made that has a sense of humour."

"That's an odd password."

"Definitely for pranksters."

Those who knew about the map exchanged sly grins, happy to know that the book hadn't said the actual password – now anyone who found them with the map wouldn't be able to get access to it, but they wouldn't have to deal with questions about what the password was. It was similar enough anyway.

Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present THE MARAUDER'S MAP

Remus smiled reminiscently as the words were read out, the book reading them in a combination of four voices, the individual voice of each stating their name before finishing it together; their voices when they had been teenagers.

It was a map showing every detail of the Hogwarts castle and grounds.

"That would have taken ages."

"But isn't Hogwarts unplottable?"

"That's truly an accomplishment."

"Why couldn't we all have maps of the school?"

"Every detail?"

"But the school's huge."

"It doesn't show everything," Harry said to their group while the rest of the hall marvelled at the fact that a map showed everything about Hogwarts.

"Really?" Lee asked.

"Yeah. It doesn't show the Chamber of Secrets or the Room we used to use. And I've found passageways and shortcuts that aren't on it," Harry said.

"It's probably just everywhere the Marauders' found," Fred said.

"And it still shows a lot more than we would have known about otherwise," George agreed.

But the truly remarkable thing were the tiny ink dots moving around it, each labelled with a name in minuscule writing.

"It tells you where everyone is?"

"It tells you who's in the castle?"

"It shows where everyone is?"

"That's incredible."

"It makes sense why the Weasley twins were never caught."

"That's truly a remarkable piece of magic."

A labelled dot in the top left corner showed that Professor Dumbledore was pacing his study;

"He does that a lot," George remarked.

the caretaker's cat, Mrs. Norris, was prowling the second floor; and Peeves the Poltergeist was currently bouncing around the trophy room.

"You can not be allowed to keep that Mr Potter. I will have to confiscate it," Umbridge announced. Harry knew that she couldn't confiscate it – it could technically be counted as an heirloom, however new that heirloom was – but he couldn't say that without revealing who the marauders were early, and he didn't want to spoil the surprise. Then an idea came to him.

"It was already confiscated. Snape caught me with it later on in my third year and it was confiscated then," Harry said, and there was not one point in that where he lied – the best way to not get caught lying is to not lie and simply omit certain truths. Snape had caught him with it, and then Remus had confiscated it. He just forgot to mention that he got it back again. And by the time they all found out he had got it back, it would have been revealed that his dad had helped make it, making it technically an heirloom (in the loosest definition), so they couldn't confiscate it.

Umbridge huffed but didn't say anything else.

"Right into Hogsmeade," said Fred, tracing one of them with his finger.

"Really?"

"There's passages that lead out of the castle?"

"So that's how you always manage to get butterbeer for our parties."

"There are seven in all. Now, Filch knows about these four"

"That sucks."

We used it until last winter, but it's caved in — completely blocked.

"Which is horrible luck because it was a great passageway. Very roomy," Fred said.

And we don't reckon anyone's ever used this one, because the Whomping Willow's planted right over the entrance.

The trio all struggled to keep a straight face, having used it themselves and knowing that, when the Whomping Willow was first planted, people had used that passage every month for years.

But this one here, this one leads right into the cellar of Honeydukes.

"Why would there be a passage leading to Honeydukes?" Susan asked.

"It probably wasn't Honeydukes when the passage was first made when the castle built. It was probably an abandoned building," Justin said with a shrug.

"And they could have used it for evacuation, along with all the other passageways out of the school," Ernie added.

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," sighed George, patting the heading of the map. "We owe them so much."

Snuffles seemed to preen at that comment, which made Harry have to muffle his laughter; seeing a dog preen was very amusing.

"Noble men, working tirelessly to help a new generation of lawbreakers," said Fred solemnly.

The teachers all groaned. They did not agree with that assessment at all. The marauders had been menaces. They may have kept very high grades and done well in school, but they were always pranking – individuals, separate houses, and the whole school. They had all been grateful when they had graduated. And then Rogue had started mimicking their pranking style as well as the twins' pranking style.

"Just tap it again and say, 'Chaos Caused!' And it'll go blank."

Remus blinked slightly at the changed closing phrase before grinning. It was brilliant. I carried the same message, that the prank had been pulled, or their secret dalliance was a success, and it had the same alliteration, while still keeping the actual phrase secret.

"See you in Honeydukes," said George, winking.

"You gave it to him knowing he'd use it," Alicia hissed.

"Yeah. Why else would we give it to him?" Fred said.

"There was a mass murderer after him and you encouraged him to sneak out of the castle," Angelina said, just as angry. The twins exchanged looks before raising their hands in surrender; the three chasers could be vicious when they were angry, and especially when they were protecting someone they cared about.

"We didn't know that," George said.

"No one told anyone that he was apparently after Harry."

"And the Ministry didn't even think Harry knew."

"So how were we meant to know it would be dangerous?" they asked together.

"You should have known that it would be dangerous, regardless of the fact that you didn't know Black was after Harry specifically," Katie said.

"As far as we knew, Harry would be safer in Hogsmeade."

"Majority of the students were there, and a large castle with just first years, second years, and teachers was nowhere near as safe as a populated town."

"He had already gotten past the dementors and could get into the castle, so staying in didn't make it any safer, especially when only first and second years were still there."

"And it was a basically a snowstorm out there. No one would have been able to make out Harrikins from the rest of the students."

"And he wouldn't have been able to even try to attack Harry without hundreds of people seeing him and calling the aurors."

They left the room, both smirking in a satisfied sort of way.

"Of course, we were satisfied. We had just corrupted Harrikins," George said. Harry grinned; that's what they thought.

This map was one of those dangerous magical objects Mr. Weasley had been warning against… Aids for Magical Mischief Makers… but then, Harry reasoned, he only wanted to use it to get into Hogsmeade, it wasn't as though he wanted to steal anything or attack anyone… and Fred and George had been using it for years without anything horrible happening…

A lot of the teachers grumbled at that. They would argue that a lot of horrible things, or at least annoying things, had happened from the Weasley Twins' pranks.

The word inside said, 'Disedum.'

Many murmurs filled the hall as students began planning how they could use the passage now that they 'knew the password'. Meanwhile, those few who had used the passage before smirked, happy to know that the passageway was still a secret – even if everyone knew where it was, no one else could actually use it.

"I'm surprised the Toad hasn't said anything about the passageway," Hannah commented quietly to her friends. Susan giggled slightly before answering.

"I was talking to Auntie during the break. She told me she didn't want to have to listen to her, since the Toad annoys most people in the Ministry as well, but that she hadn't done anything yet since she had kept her mouth shut pretty well during the reading so far. Auntie said she would silence her if she spoke again though."

"Look at the Toad," Justin whispered, pointing over at Umbridge, where she was silently ranting, arm gestures and all, clearly not caring that no one could actually hear what she was saying.

After what felt like an hour, the passage began to rise.

"Yeah, it's a pretty long passage," George agreed.

"Feels like it takes longer than it does though," Fred added.

A hundred steps, two hundred steps, he lost count as he climbed, watching his feet… then, without warning, his head hit something hard.

"Fred headbutted it too the first time we used that passageway," George said as Harry blinked back a few tears at the impact to his head, resisting the urge to rub it.

"So did James when we first found it at school," Remus added. "And Pettigrew did multiple times when he forgot there was a trapdoor."

Creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-colored toffees; hundreds of different kinds of chocolate in neat rows; there was a large barrel of Every Flavor Beans, and another of Fizzing Whizbees, the levitating sherbet balls that Ron had mentioned; along yet another wall were 'Special Effects' — sweets: Droobles Best Blowing Gum (which filled a room with bluebell-colored bubbles that refused to pop for days), the strange, splintery Toothflossing Stringmints, tiny black Pepper Imps ('breathe fire for your friends!'), Ice Mice ('hear your teeth chatter and squeak!'), peppermint creams shaped like toads ('hop realistically in the stomach!'), fragile sugar-spun quills, and exploding bonbons.

Many of the first and second years were staring at the book, wide eyed, at the description of the sweets in Honeydukes. A few of them were even drooling.

"How come Fred and George never gave it to me!" said Ron, outraged.

"Yeah, but we barely wanted to give it to Harrykins."

"We only did cause every third year should get to go to Hogsmeade."

One of them's got the Whomping Willow planted over the entrance, so you can't get out of it.

The trio coughed, hiding their snorts, while Remus forcefully kept his face straight and Snuffles let out a huff. You could definitely get out of it if you knew how, and that had been one of the ways Sirius had been getting onto Hogwarts grounds; he had been staying in the Shrieking Shack most nights too.

And the one I just came through — well — it's really hard to see the entrance to it down in the cellar — so unless he knew it was there —"

"Which he did," the trio said quietly, although they weren't quiet enough to stop the group they were sitting with from hearing them, causing some wide eyes from those around them, especially Neville and Lee, who didn't know he was innocent; Luna might not have known he was innocent but she didn't seem concerned by the new like the others did.

"Tell you what," said Ron, his teeth chattering, "shall we go for a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks?"

"Oh Merlin, I just remembered what we overheard," Hermione said with a gasp.

"I'd forgotten that was coming up," Ron agreed with a groan.

"So everyone's going to find out what else supposedly happened that night," Harry said, his head dropping into his hands.

"What did you overhear?" Lee asked. Harry plastered on a bright smile and turned to Lee.

"Just a conversation between McGonagall, Flitwick, Hagrid, and the Minister about the various crimes that were committed the night my parents were murdered."

"And they had no clue we were sitting literally at the table next to them," Ron added.

It was the most delicious thing he'd ever tasted and seemed to heat every bit of him from the inside.

Harry sighed slightly as the warmth rushed through him, making him suddenly very much want a glass of butterbeer.

Harry looked over the rim of his tankard and choked.

And his longing for butterbeer was gone as he gasped for air slightly, throat burning slightly as if he was choking on the warm drink.

Professors McGonagall and Flitwick had just entered the pub with a flurry of snowflakes, shortly followed by Hagrid, who was deep in conversation with a portly man in a lime-green bowler hat and a pinstriped cloak — Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic.

Cornelius, Minerva, and Filius all reacted to that, either freezing or stiffening slightly, remembering what they had talking about that day. And now to find out that Harry Potter had been there, and very likely had heard the conversation…

He needed time to sneak back into Honeydukes if he wanted to return to school tonight… Hermione's leg gave a nervous twitch next to him.

"I was thinking the same thing," Hermione murmured.

"How are we supposed to teach with those horrors floating around?"

All those third year and above shivered, stiffened, or froze, imagining trying to learn and simply live in a castle filled with Dementors.

"It would have been like trying to go to school at Azkaban," Hannah said into the silent hall.

"The worst he did isn't widely known."

The hall broke out into murmurs and muttering as people tried to work out hat he had meant. What could have been worse than murdering thirteen people with one curse?

Quite the double act, Sirius Black and James Potter!"

"What?"

"No."

"Black and James Potter?"

"That can't be true."

"But Black's a Death Eater."

Dumbledore told them that their best chance was the Fidelius Charm."

The few Ravenclaws who had heard of the charm before froze, their minds already making connections to where the story was going.

The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find — unless, of course, the Secret-Keeper chooses to divulge it.

"Can they be forced to tell? If they were under the Imperious?" Padma asked.

"Or a truth potion?" Terry added.

"It is a secret bound to their soul and they can only divulge it willingly. The Imperious controls their mind and prevent them from willingly doing anything, and truth potions force the truth, taking away the option. So neither the Imperious or a truth potion would allow someone to tell a secret hidden in their soul," Filius explained to the students, having heard his Raven's questions.

"What if it was tortured out of them?" Cho asked.

"That, unfortunately, provides the opportunity to willingly tell. If the Secret Keeper refused to speak, refused to break under torture, then the secret would be safe. But if they chose to break down to the torture, they would be able to divulge the secret," Dumbledore explained sombrely.

"Indeed, he had suspected for some time that someone on our side had turned traitor and was passing a lot of information to You-Know-Who."

"Bloody rat," Ron muttered viciously, scowling.

"Filthy, stinkin' turncoat!" Hagrid said, so loudly that half the bar went quiet.

A couple of people in the hall winced at Hagrid's loud volume, and the trio covered their ears, all of them remembering the outburst that was to come from Hagrid. Their group noticed what they were doing, and once again copied them, encouraging others around them to do the same.

"Keep your voice down!"

At the plea from McGonagall to keep his voice down, the hall collectively uncovered their ears after the trio had, taking it as a sign that the noise would be kept to a manageable level.

"There, now, Minerva," said Fudge kindly, "Pettigrew died a hero's death.

A collective noise of disgruntlement came from the trio as well as Ginny, George, and Fred, while both Remus and Snuffles growled softly. Those who heard, and were unaware of Sirius' innocence, turned to stare at the small group in shock and confusion. Wouldn't the trio, Harry especially, be glad to hear that someone had died a hero's death trying to avenge the Potter couple?

"I tell yeh, if I'd got ter Black before little Pettigrew did, I wouldn't've messed around with wands — I'd 've ripped him limb — from — limb," Hagrid growled.

Snuffles flinched at the threat, whining softly. With Hagrid's giant descent, he didn't doubt that he could have too.

And Black standing there laughing, with what was left of Pettigrew in front of him… a heap of bloodstained robes and a few — a few fragments —"

"That's not how any blasting curse works though," Michael said slowly. "Anything that gets blasted to pieces leaves traces behind."

"Even if he was exploded to almost nothing, there would have been a lot of blood. And if his body was in pieces, the robes would have been in even smaller pieces," Anthony agreed. Terry nodded his own agreement.

"A human has 5 litres of blood in their body. If he was exploded to pieces, the robes wouldn't have been bloodstained. The robes would have been soaked in blood and blasted into tatters."

"Is it true he's mad, Minister?"

"Yes," Remus said, without hesitation. Snuffles whined and turned to him with an almost betrayed look, while those who knew Sirius laughed.

"I daresay that is his — er — eventual plan," said Fudge evasively.

"Oh, so you believed then that he was still out there for his number one Death Eater to return to. But now, oh no, the Incompetent Evil Overlord is dead, he couldn't possibly be back," Harry grumbled, causing those around him to either laugh or choke at his newest name for Voldemort.

I must say, You-Know-Who alone and friendless is one thing… but give him back his most devoted servant, and I shudder to think how quickly he'll rise again…"

"Oh, less than a year if he has one servant too terrified to go against him and a second so loyal, he was willing to infiltrate Hogwarts for a year as one of Dumbledore's friends," Harry said. "But no, let's stick out heads in the sand and ignore the problem and pretend that the Dark Git couldn't be back at all and that he couldn't possibly be rising again."

They were both staring at him, lost for words.

The hall was in a similar state of shock, either not knowing what to say after the revelation, or stuck in their thoughts, thinking over the details they had just been told and trying to piece them together in a way that made sense. Many who had heard Michael, Anthony, and Terry's short discussion were trying to piece together what could have happened, while many were starting to think that things didn't make sense.

"I'm concerned about the things the Marauder's Map told," Hermione murmured to the other two in the trio amongst the rising conversations surrounding the newest information as those in the hall slowly broke out of their shock.

"Why?" Ron asked. "It's shown it won't reveal passwords, which means we don't have to worry about it mentioning Headquarters. I mean, it came from the future, where it might not be hidden anymore, or where a different person may have been able to tell and have been the one to write this."

"I hadn't even thought of that," Hermione said. "But I meant it not telling the truth. The note at the start said it was all the truth, and the spell Professor Flitwick used proved that it was telling the truth. So if anyone finds out that it wasn't telling the truth about the map and the passageways password, they could argue that the rest of the information isn't truthful as well."

"We could argue that the person who wrote it in the future simply write those small details down wrong or believed them to be the truth when they were writing it so the spell took it as the truth. I mean, everything else has been true, and everyone mentioned in the books could back that up. Even Fudge, since he knows that last conversation, plus all the other interactions I've had with him, happened," Harry said. Neither Ron and Hermione got a chance to reply, though they both seemed to be thinking his words over, as Filius took a small lull in noise to start the book reading again.

The Firebolt