Harry was sitting in the hospital wing early in the morning after spending the night under observation. Madam Pomfrey had insisted on keeping Harry in the hospital wing for the rest of the weekend. He was currently staring at the remains of his Nimbus. He knew that it was beyond repair, but it still felt like one of his best friends died.

The doors to the hospital wing opened as Ginny walked in. Of the people that had been here when Harry woke up yesterday, she and the Quidditch team hadn't returned to visit him. Hagrid had visited yesterday and given him a bunch of earwiggy flowers that looked like yellow cabbages. Harry hoped that Ginny didn't come with a gift that was embarrassing, for her sake more than his. He noticed that Ginny was only slightly blushing as she walked towards him, which he took as a good sign.

Ginny sat down at the chair beside his bed and very quietly said, "Good morning."

"Good morning," Harry responded.

The pair sat in awkward silence for a moment before Harry decided to break it.

"How have you been doing this year?"

Ginny smiled faintly in relief. "Good. I'm getting to know my classmates better and Ben has been helping me remember what I learned or learn what I didn't last year."

Harry winced slightly at that. "I'm sorry."

Ginny shot him a puzzled look. "For what?"

"For not realizing something was wrong and for not helping you afterwards," said Harry.

Ginny rolled her eyes before responding. "Harry, I don't blame you. First of all, because I wouldn't have been able to stay in the same room long enough for you to make a difference and, secondly, you had other things going on."

"Still - "

"Saying you didn't blame me was enough, Harry," Ginny replied sternly. "Besides, I'm fine. Ben and Bill were a great help in convincing me that it wasn't my fault. At least, not the petrifying."

"Falling for Voldemort's tricks wasn't your fault either," Harry said, ignoring Ginny's slight flinch. "Remember that Dumbledore said that older and wiser people were tricked by him, so don't blame yourself for Riddle being charming. Remember, I wrote in the Diary, too, and I initially thought Riddle was alright."

Harry noticed that Ginny wasn't blushing anymore and, thinking about it, hadn't been since early in the conversation.

"I was going to make you a get-well card," Ginny said, redirecting the conversation.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I made the mistake of telling Ben."

"Oof," Harry responded, trying to smother his grin. "What did he do?"

Ginny shook her head fondly. "He went over the top in trying to 'help' me as well as teasing me. I was about to hex him when I realized that he was trying to get me not to do it, at least alone."

Harry valiantly tried to not laugh as he asked. "So, he got out of being hexed?"

Ginny shook her head. "No, he got out of being Bogey-Bat hexed. I still hit him with a stinging hex."

Harry could hold in his laughter anymore. Ginny followed not a second later. They were still laughing when the Gryffindor Quidditch team walked in not a minute later.

Fred and George were the first to respond.

"Well, look at this, Fred, it seems our seeker is laughing with our sister," said George.

"It seems so, George," replied Fred. "I wonder what about."

"Ginny was telling me about what happened with Ben," Harry said, calming slightly.

"You mean when she hexed me?" Ben's voice responded from behind the Quidditch team. The team parted to reveal that Ben, Ron, and Hermione had come in just after them.

"You mean you've been hit with the Bogey-Bat hex?" Ron asked. "How'd you get it?"

Ben frowned. "I was hit with a stinging hex. And I was trying to help her, albeit in a teasing, over-the-top kind of way."

"And that's why you weren't Bogey-Bat hexed."

The twins and Ron shuddered before looking at Ben in slight awe as the chasers laughed. Wood ignored it as he walked right up to Harry, grabbing his hand and shaking it vigorously. "Good work on catching the Snitch yesterday. You'll need to replace your broom, though."

"Sirius said it'd be my Christmas gift from him," Harry replied.

Wood nodded. The rest of the team congratulated Harry on a successful catch in terrible conditions before being kicked out by Madame Pomfrey, who left with them. The Weasley twins, however, stuck around for a moment.

"So, you've gotten yours to work, then?" Ben asked.

"Yes indeed," Fred said.

"Early Christmas present for you, Harry," George said.

Fred pulled something from inside his cloak with a flourish and handed it to Harry. It was a large, square, very worn piece of parchment with nothing written on it. Harry, suspecting one of Fred and George's jokes, stared at it.

"What's that supposed to be?"

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

"We only just managed to replicate it," said Fred. "So, we decided last night, your need's greater than ours."

"And it is something that is an heirloom of yours," said George.

"And what do I need with a bit of old parchment?" said Harry.

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

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

Harry and the others snorted. They all seemed to doubt that Fred and George had ever been innocent.

" - well, more innocent than we are now - we got into a spot of bother with Filch."

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

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

"- detention -"

"- disembowelment -"

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

"Don't tell me -" said Harry, starting to grin, Ginny matching his look.

"Well, what would you've done?" said Fred. "George caused a diversion by dropping another Dungbomb, I whipped the drawer open, and grabbed - this."

"It's not as bad as it sounds, you know," said George. "We don't reckon Filch ever found out how to work it. He probably suspected what it was, though, or he wouldn't have confiscated it."

"And you know how to work it?"

"Oh yes," said Fred, smirking. "This little beauty's taught us more than all the teachers in this school."

"You're winding me up," said Harry, looking at the ragged old bit of parchment.

"Oh, are we?" said George.

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

And at once, thin ink lines began to spread like a spider's web from the point that George's wand had touched. They joined each other, they crisscrossed, they fanned into every corner of the parchment; then words began to blossom across the top, great, curly green words, that proclaimed:

Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present

THE MARAUDER'S MAP

It was a map showing every detail of the Hogwarts castle and grounds. But the truly remarkable thing were the tiny ink dots moving around it, each labeled with a name in minuscule writing. Astounded, Harry bent over it. A labeled dot in the top left corner showed that Professor Dumbledore was pacing his study; the caretaker's cat, Mrs. Norris, was prowling the second floor; and Peeves the Poltergeist was currently bouncing around the trophy room.

"That map," Ben started, interrupting Ron before he could complain, "is something that was created by your dad, my uncle, and their two friends. With the two remaining creator's help, both the twins and I have managed to create our own versions. Mine only got finished faster because I had more access to Professor Lupin and Sirius."

Harry frowned, "But, shouldn't you -"

"I didn't have a parent that I never knew have a hand in making that," Ben interrupted. "That is a piece of your father's legacy. It's yours. You have the better claim."

"Back on topic," said George, "don't forget to wipe it after you've used it -"

"- or anyone can read it," Fred said warningly.

"Just tap it again and say, 'Mischief managed!' And it'll go blank."

"Why'd you give it to him now?" Ginny asked.

Ben, Fred, and George exchanged glances.

"I already know about," Ben said.

"Harry would have told Ron and Hermione," Fred said.

"And you can keep a secret," George said.

"Besides, there's no teachers around to confiscate it or learn about it," Fred said.

AN: Sorry about this being late. I had no clue what to do with this chapter until Sunday. I do know where I want the story as a whole to go, but I don't always know on a chapter by chapter basis. I also kept getting inspiration for the sequels at worst and later scenes at best, so that slowed me down.

Uploaded May 4th, 2021