Chapter VI: The Marauders Map
Madam Promfrey, the school nurse, had the twins cleaned up in a few minutes, all the while muttering heatedly under her breath. Every once in a while George would catch a word of what she was saying.
"… Irresponsible… and non- washable... she should know better…"
The boys left the Hospital Wing, still grinning. As they walked down to dinner, the boys discussed their small mishap.
"You know Fred, I think she set us up."
"I quite agree George. I just never thought she had it in her."
They arrived at the great hall, and to their astonishment Lee was already there, talking to Angelina Johnson. As the twins walked up to him, Lee turned a deep shade of red and Angelina got up and went to sit with her friends. George caught his brother's eye.
"Could this be?" George asked in mock astonishment. He sat down to the left of Lee.
"Does ickle Lee have a bit of a crush?" Fred said, sitting down to his right.
"Shut up." Lee muttered as he grabbed the large bowl of mashed potatoes.
The twins laughed, but dropped it for the time being.
The rest of the week went almost without a hitch. It was now the weekend, and the boys didn't have any homework.
They had been sitting for the better part of an hour, talking innocently, when Fred suggested they take a tour of the castle. George had nothing better to do and jumped at the idea.
The twins headed off, tricks in their pockets. Secretly hoping to run into a stray student, they wandered around the corridors. After a short while the boys became bored and decided to set off a Dungbomb. As soon as it hit the stone floor, the sickening stench filled their noses and mouths.
Before they could even react, the twins were being dragged away by the ears. Looking up, George saw that it was Mr. Filch who was leading them along a hall and down many flights of stairs.
Finally, they arrived at what George guessed was Filch's office. He ordered them to sit, all the while threatening them with detention, and George could have sworn he had heard Filch mutter the word "Disembowel" while he was rummaging through his desk drawers.
"Here we are." He said. His matted hair dangled in front of his eyes as he poured over the parchment he had pulled out.
George's eyes roamed his office, as Filch muttered to himself, and landed on a drawer titled 'Confiscated and Highly Dangerous'. He pointed it out to Fred.
Nodding, both boys held their breath as George dropped another Dungbomb. Filch rounded on him, his eyes bulging. Yelling at the top of his lungs, he was oblivious to Fred who had whipped open the drawer and grabbed what was in it. Then, shutting it quietly, he stuffed its contents into his pocket.
After about five minutes of more yelling they heard a crash from up ahead. The room was plunged into silence as Filch stopped yelling.
"I've got him now!" He roared, and sprinted out of the room. The twins, feeling that they had barely avoided getting into a heap of trouble, left his office as soon as the cost was clear.
The walk back up to the Gryffindor common room was quicker than it had ever been. Not until they had sat down in cozy chairs away from anyone else did Fred empty out his pockets.
The only thing that was there, other than the typical jokes and gags, was a folded up piece of old blank parchment.
"Well filch confiscated it for some reason." Fred said, his brow furrowed.
"Yeah, but what does it do?" George got up and started pacing.
"Well let's just try a few things. What could it hurt?" Fred said. Poking the paper with his wand he said "Reveal your secrets." And at once writing spread out across the parchment as though an invisible hand was writing upon it.
"Mr. Moony presents his compliments to Mr. Weasley, and begs him to not stick his freckled nose where is does not belong."
At this, George burst out laughing. The writing, however, continued.
"Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Moony, and would like to inform Mr. Weasley that he is an annoying little prat."
"Mr. Padfoot would like to comment on Mr. Weasley's horrible fashion sense, and would like to recommend him to Gladrags Wizardwear in Hogsmeade."
"Mr. Wormtail would like to wish Mr. Weasley a good night, and suggests that he not play with big boy toys."
"Well that didn't work too well." George laughed.
They sat for a while discussing what would work, every once in a while prodding the map, but the map still shone with the same words. Getting fed up, George tried once more, thinking of the most unlikely phrase. Sighing, he prodded the parchment and muttered.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
At once the previous words vanished and were slowly replaced. Great, curly green words began to write themselves at the top of the parchment.
Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
Are proud to present
The Marauders Map
George stared, dumbstruck, at the parchment. Slowly, he unfolded it, his brother's identical face right next to his. George's jaw dropped as he looked at what he had in his hand. It was a map of all of Hogwarts, secret passages included.
Looking a bit closer, they saw tiny dots moving around. Each dot had a tiny little label next to it, displaying a name. They quickly found themselves and watched as Lee Jordan's dot walked towards them. Looking up, they saw the real him heading across the common room from the portrait hole.
George grabbed the map and looking down, saw his dot had another label above it that said "Mischief Managed."
He shrugged and muttered the words. At once, the writing vanished just as Lee joined them. George grabbed it and went up to his dormitory to put it away somewhere safe. He didn't know why, but for some reason Fred and himself didn't want to share the map just yet.
George came back down and the twins filled Lee in on their near escape, all of them laughing about how lucky they had been.
