Christmas. A wonderful time filled with carols, gingerbread, and laughter. Of course what is a Weasley Christmas dinner without a few gags from Uncle George.
My unsuspecting Aunt Ginny took a mint from the candy bowl, popped it into her mouth, and started foaming at the mouth. Literally and figuratively. Ha ha ha. I've never seen Uncle George run so fast from a room before.
Once everyone had settled down, all of the cousins headed outside to the tent. It had become a long standing tradition, especially so "Santa" could drop by without any interruptions.
It was a perfect time for Albus and I to make a brief stop at his house and pick up the item that was on the top of my Christmas list, the Marauder's Map.
"Shh!" Albus whispered as we crept into Grandma and Grandpa Weasley's house.
We slid into the kitchen and grabbed some floo powder. "Harry Potter's residence," Albus quietly stated. I quickly followed his example.
I stumbled out of the hearth into my cousin's kitchen.
"We are in and out. If anyone asks I wanted to show you my newest quidditch collector's card," Albus decided.
"No one would believe that. I hate quidditch. It's like watching a bunch of mosquitoes buzzing around drunk on firewhiskey," I pointed out.
"Fine. Then make up your excuse," Albus huffed.
"I will. Now let's get down to business," I replied hastily.
"He keeps it upstairs in the attic," Albus informed.
I nodded my head and followed Albus up the surprisingly non-creaky stairs. They looked older than Professor McGonagall and that is saying something.
"It's in here. There is a booby trap spell," Albus said as he pointed towards a desk drawer.
I chanted the anti-booby trap spell and slowly opened the drawer. At the bottom of a stack of papers lay the Marauder's Map.
"You think your dad would have made this harder to get," I stated.
"Hmm . . . I don't think he thought about how conniving you can be," Albus suggested.
"Ha ha ha. Glad you recognize some of my best qualities," I laughed.
Albus rolled his eyes and then put a copy of the map in the drawer.
"Well let's check it out," I voiced as I shivered in anticipation.
"Not here. We need to get back before anyone misses us. I don't want to get caught by Santa. I don't want to end up on the naughty list," stressed Albus.
"But we need to make sure this is the actual map," I demanded.
"Fine," agreed Albus.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," I recited as I tapped the map with my wand.
Immediately a map of Hogwarts appeared showing some students and teachers. Then something caught my eye.
"Weird," I mumbled.
"What is it?" asked Albus.
"Now what would Ophelia Hornblast be doing in the library's restricted section after hours? This is not how a Ravenclaw prefect should be acting, especially one so straight-laced," I wondered.
"Obviously to learn something," Albus replied.
"Yes, but what?" I thought out loud.
"There is only one way to find out," Albus pointed out.
"Are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting?" I said surprised.
"Yes," confirmed Albus.
"I'm shocked that such a stickler for rules would say such a thing," I retorted.
"You must be rubbing off on me," noticed Albus.
"Well then let's go catch a prefect," I announced.
"How do you suppose we get there?" urged Albus.
"My father's flying carpet. I took it just in case we would need a quick getaway during double M activities," I answered.
"Is it s- s- safe?" stuttered Albus.
"As long as you don't let go of the hand straps," I replied as we exited the front door and I lay the carpet on the ground.
Albus clung to the leather hand straps as I sat down and grabbed the reigns. The carpet was of an intricate gold and red Arabic design. My father had obtained it after one of his assignments as an auror. Fortunately for me, it was a secret between my brother, my dad, and I. If my mum had known about it, the carpet would have several spells placed upon it so we would not be able to use it without her permission.
"Bibbidi bobbidi boo to Hogwarts we'll take you," I chanted and the carpet swiftly flew into the night sky.
When we arrived at Hogwarts, Albus breathed a sigh of relief and I rolled the carpet back up and put it in my item shrinking bag. Very useful when you had to carry bulky items with you, but it made it easier to become a hoarder.
Sadly we did not have access to an invisibility cloak, so I cast an illusion spell that Jasper taught me. Very useful when you didn't want someone to see you, but it only lasted an hour.
We crept in through the loose library window I had used previously to sneak out to Black Lake and capture the anguis dodos.
We checked the map before reaching the restricted section. Ophelia was still there. As quickly and quietly as possible we snuck as close to her as we could without being noticed.
Ophelia was intently staring at a page in a gray tattered book.
"I have finally found it. I must alert the others," cackled Ophelia.
I took a couple of steps closer to catch the page number, 703. Then Ophelia shut the book and began to walk in my direction. I dove to the left to get out of her way. Unfortunately, I knocked into Albus. Oof!
"Show yourself!" spat Ophelia as she whipped out her wand.
Not being a fan of following orders, I hightailed it out of there. Albus of course was already ahead of me.
We flung ourselves out of the window and shut it. I took out the map and watched Ophelia's name. She was still in the restricted section.
I tapped my wand to the map and said, "Mischief managed."
Albus and I took a few seconds to catch our breath.
"Let's go before we get caught," I suggested.
Albus nodded his head in agreement.
I took out the flying carpet and said, "Bibbidi bobbidi boo to the Burrow we'll take you."
Albus seemed to be just as tense on the way back. Not that I blame him. A flying carpet takes getting used to. It's not the smoothest of rides.
"Merlin's scraggly beard. I thought we were done for," Albus confided.
"Me too. I'm not as quick on my feet as I thought," I noted.
"That's why you should play quidditch," Albus replied.
"How would that have helped me? You are on a broom when you play quidditch," I pointed out.
"Yes, but you learn to read people's body movements and react quicker to what you see," Albus informed.
"Maybe," I said as I nodded.
"So who do you think she was talking about?" Albus wondered.
"No idea, but one thing I do know is we are going to find out. Did you happen to catch the title of the book?" I asked.
"No," sighed Albus.
"Me either, but I did catch the page number, 703. Plus, we know that it is a gray tattered book," I concluded.
"Well at least that is something to go on," Albus optimistically stated.
"I have a premonition that this next term will be quite eventful," I said.
"No doubt about that," Albus agreed.