Chapter 499: Marauder's Map

When they left the castle, Luo En was still holding his head and shouting in pain.

Because Fred and George had secretly given him two punches with a strange gadget.

Their methods were recorded in "One Hundred Ways to Prank Luo En."

"Then how are we going to avoid Professor Sineipu on patrol?"

Luo En asked, holding his head; sometimes even if he knew who the culprit was, he couldn't get revenge.

Fortunately, the two had a good sense of proportion, just to the limit of what Luo En could endure without screaming.

"Not everyone can become a believer of the great Green,"

Fred exaggeratedly pulled something out of his cloak and placed it in Xiang Xien's hand. It was a large, square piece of parchment, heavily worn, with nothing on it.

"What is this?"

Luo En was puzzled.

"This, Luo En, is the secret to our success."

George said, patting the parchment lovingly.

"If it weren't for the summons of the great Green, we wouldn't have brought it out."

Fred said.

"But I... what use is a piece of old parchment to Xiang Xien?"

Luo En asked.

"A piece of old parchment!"

Fred closed his eyes and made a face, as if Luo En had deeply hurt him,

"Explain it, George."

"It's like this... when we were in our first year—young, carefree, innocent—"

Luo En chuckled; he doubted whether Fred and George had ever been innocent.

"Ouch!"

Luo En soon paid the price for his laugh.

Luo En looked at the two of them resentfully; Xiang Xien was laughing too.

But the next second he felt relieved; well, Xiang Xien was always different.

"—aha, more innocent than now—back then we had a bit of a disagreement with Filch."

"We set off a dung bomb in the corridor, and for some reason, this annoyed him—"

"So he dragged us into his office and started using his usual routine to threaten us—"

"—detention—"

"—disembowelment—"

"—and we couldn't help but eye one of his filing cabinet drawers, which was labeled 'Confiscated Items, Highly Dangerous'."

"So—"

Xiang Xien guessed it.

"Hey, if it were you, great Green, what would you do?"

Fred said,

"George threw another dung bomb to distract him, and I immediately opened the drawer and grabbed—this."

"It's not as bad as it sounds, you know,"

George said,

"We reckon Filch never figured out how to use it. But he probably guessed what it was, otherwise he wouldn't have confiscated it."

"Do you know how to use it?"

"Oh,"

Fred smiled triumphantly,

"This little treasure has taught us more than all the teachers in the school combined."

The two pulled out their wands, tapped the parchment lightly, and said:

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

In an instant, thin ink lines spread out like a spider web from where George's wand tip had touched, connecting to each other, crisscrossing, and extending to every corner of the parchment;

then words appeared at the top, in large, green, flowery letters:

【Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs】

【Gentlemen who provide help specifically for magical pranksters】

【Proudly present】

【Marauder's Map】

Marauder's Map...

"Can I..."

Xiang Xien had just started to speak when Fred held up the map as if offering a treasure:

"Great Green, your loyal believers proudly present to you—"

"Marauder's Map—"

George took over,

"We've memorized it anyway."

He winked.

Xiang Xien held the parchment in his hand; this map depicted all the details of Hogwarts Castle and the grounds, but what was most unusual was that many small black dots were moving on the map, each labeled with a name in tiny font.

A marked black dot in the upper left corner showed Professor Dumbledore pacing in his study; the caretaker Filch was patrolling the third floor; the prank-loving Peeves was currently bouncing around in the trophy room.

Xiang Xien and Luo En's eyes scanned up and down those familiar corridors, and suddenly they discovered something new. There were some passages on the map they had never walked through, many of which seemed to lead to—

Hogsmeade.

And right halfway there, a footprint named "Gete" was pacing back and forth.

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs."

George sighed, patting the title of the map,

"Thanks to them." ===== CHAPTER 500 =====