Harry Potter and the Obscurus

Chapter 26 Marauder's Map and the Wandering Ball

"Hey! Fred, George! I need to talk to you about something!"

"What's wrong, Harry? Is it about Quidditch? Or are you trying to get a dung bomb from us to give to Malfoy?"

Harry (Mo Ran) made a shushing gesture, then pulled the Weasley twins to a corner of the common room and whispered:

"I'd like to borrow a piece of parchment from you, a... cough cough, a piece of parchment that can be used to play pranks, to do bad things."

"How did you know...?"

"Shh!"

Harry (Mo Ran) almost cast a silencing spell on George, but after confirming several times that the students in the common room were all alright, he lowered his voice and said:

"I want to use it to investigate the real culprit behind the attack."

Fred and George exchanged a glance and replied, one after the other:

"To be honest, Harry, it's not that I can't lend you this."

"We're just all too curious about how you know about the Marauder's Map and how it's in our hands!"

Harry (Mo Ran) rolled his eyes, then revealed that he possessed an invisibility cloak. (Actually, it was a lie told by the time traveler to conceal the truth.)

"In short, you can basically understand it as me seeing you use this thing when you were invisible."

"cool!"

After praising Harry in unison with his brother, George reached out and patted his junior on the shoulder, saying:

"Let me make this clear first, Harry. We're only lending you this temporarily. After all, the Marauder's Map is the secret to our success, and we really don't want to give it away directly."

Fred chimed in at this point:

"But instead of using it for pranks, we think you can use it to achieve something much greater, right, George?"

"That's right, Fred!"

"Well then, George! You explain here how to use the Marauder's Map, and I'll go back to our dorm to get it for the Savior."

……

"I solemnly swear that I will not do good deeds."

Late at night, a faint sound suddenly echoed in the deserted corridors of Hogwarts. Harry (Mo Ran) had taken out the Marauder's Map on his way to the Room of Requirement. Using the glow from the tip of his wand, he saw countless lines of ink slowly spreading out like spiderwebs, crisscrossing and connecting to each other, drawing a complex and detailed map of Hogwarts on the parchment. Only after the ink lines filled all the blank spaces did several lines of large, green, cursive script appear at the very top:

Moon face, wormtail, big feet, and forks. For the gentlemen who wish to aid magical pranksters. Introducing the Marauder's Map!

"let me see……"

Harry (Mo Ran) muttered to himself as he focused his attention on one small black dot after another with a name on it.

Professor Dumbledore was pacing in the Headmaster's office. Filch was... in his room? Shouldn't he be out patrolling? Oh no, Lady Lorris was just attacked, and lately he hasn't been able to do anything but cry. And Peeves is in the prize room, well, that's good, at least no one will bother me.

"Next, let me take a look at the Gryffindor dorms. Neville, Andy, Ron, and... Peter Pettigrew, hehe, I'll spare you for a while. Then the girls' dorms... Seriously, am I being a little perverted? Oh well, great men don't concern themselves with trifles. It's all about finding the Horcruxes and taking down Voldemort!"

Just as Mo Ran was about to check the situation in the girls' dormitory, a chilling voice suddenly rang out.

"I'm hungry...the smell of blood...come...let me kill you...tear you apart...crush you..."

Experiencing Parseltongue from the first-person perspective is a fascinating experience, but the terror of the Basilisk isn't something to be savored too closely. Almost instantly, Harry (Mo Ran) conjured two roosters around him with his socks. Then, gripping his wand in one hand and casting a levitation charm with the other to lift the Marauder's Map, he began searching for suspicious black dots on the parchment under the double protection of the Invisibility Cloak and the Basilisk Busters.

"Where's Ginny? In the dorm?! How is that possible..."

"Then where is the basilisk? I think the English name for the basilisk is basilisk, it starts with B. If it crawls through pipes, it should be very fast! Where is it?"

……

The next morning, before Harry could even figure out why he was aching all over after a good night's sleep, he was told several baffling things.

"First of all, Dobby's warning was not unfounded. The attack on Mrs. Lorris was not an accident, but something that was deliberately done."

"Secondly, when I was wandering around campus last semester wearing the Invisibility Cloak, I stumbled upon Fred and George using the Marauder's Map. To find out the truth, I borrowed it. To activate and deactivate it, point your wand at the parchment and recite: 'I solemnly swear I will not do anything bad,' and 'Pranks over.'" (A lie told by the time traveler to conceal the truth)

"Finally, during last night's search for the killer, I heard an extremely eerie voice. That voice belongs to the attacker. Make good use of the Marauder's Map and don't make a sound during the investigation. I've already asked Fred and George to cooperate with us on this. Protect yourselves and your friends, and also be wary of classmates and teachers who weren't at the crime scene."

"Oh, right, there's one more thing I need to remind you... This Marauder's Map only shows wizards who are present in Hogwarts Castle. If you find anything strange on it like I did, or find any clues, don't mention it to anyone, and definitely don't take any action rashly... I'm going to rest now."

A profound emptiness settled over Harry as he sat up in bed, utterly bewildered. He remembered the last time his second personality had fallen into a deep sleep was after an accident in the Room of Requirement. But last night, hadn't Mo Ran simply been wandering around the hallway wearing an invisibility cloak? What on earth had happened?

For the next month or so, Harry would look at the Marauder's Map whenever he had a spare moment. Since no one knew when the attackers would strike again, he had no choice but to monitor Hogwarts as closely as possible, 24/7. Most professors turned a blind eye to Harry's occasional lapses in attention, except for Professor Snape.

“Don’t blame me for not warning you, Potter. If your talent only brings you arrogance, you might as well give it to someone who needs it more, like Mr. Longbottom.”

Harry initially thought Professor Snape said those words because he had high expectations of him, until one day in Potions class, he found that the other looked at him with a disgusted yet somewhat regretful and complicated look, and he realized that things were probably not that simple.

Harry declined invitations to sign autographs for Professor Lockhart's fans and to the near-headless Nick's death anniversary party, but as the Quidditch season approached, he still hadn't learned anything about what Moran had told him. And because no other attacks had occurred at Hogwarts besides Madam Norris, many students began to believe that the rumors about the Chamber of Secrets were just a prank by someone who disliked Filch.

Just like last year's draw, this year's opening match was once again presented by Gryffindor and Slytherin. The news of the seven Nimbus 2001s immediately attracted a large number of Quidditch enthusiasts from outside the school to watch, and Hogwarts even had to build several extra stands to accommodate the sudden surge in "visitors".

The sky was overcast, and the damp air and occasional rumbles of thunder from the clouds seemed unable to dampen Wood's fighting spirit. He shouted:

"The weather is on our side today. Those Slytherin guys only rely on their brooms and never train on days other than sunny! As for us, we've flown in all sorts of harsh conditions!"

"Oh yes, my Quidditch robes haven't dried since August!"

George said that.

"Stick to our tactics. In the rain, flight speed, difficulty, and visibility are all greatly limited, and attacking players can't even aim at the goal properly! We just need to set up a solid defensive formation as we usually train, and we'll definitely catch those slackers off guard!"

Wood acted as if he hadn't heard George's complaints. His breathing became more and more rapid, and his chest began to rise and fall noticeably.

"Harry! You don't want that little bastard Malfoy, who got into the team by using Galleons, to win, do you? Today you either catch the Golden Snitch before him, or you die on the battlefield!"

"Harry! We have to win today! We have to win!"

Harry wasn't angry with Wood; on the contrary, he understood perfectly why the other man had spoken so harshly. Once the match exceeded 25 minutes, Slytherin would have a significant chance to gain a 150-point lead over the Golden Snitch, thanks to the advantage of Nimbus 2001. At that point, even if Harry, as the Seeker, beat Malfoy, Gryffindor would be automatically forfeited. For the sake of morale, Wood couldn't be so explicit, but everything was indeed as he said: getting the Seeker to catch the Golden Snitch as quickly as possible was Gryffindor's only hope of winning.

"rest assured!"

Harry nodded emphatically.

We will definitely win!

The cheers in the stadium were even louder than last year. When the doors opened and the players entered from the corridors, the sounds of wind, rain, and thunder were completely drowned out by the clamor of the crowd. The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students were almost as enthusiastic as the Gryffindors. They might not believe that Harry and his friends could defeat the Seven Nimbus 2001, but none of them wanted to see Slytherin defeated.

"Go for it, Harry! Show them what's what!"

"Long live Lord Malfoy!"

"Fred! George! Use the traveling ball to knock Flint down!"

"Oliver! You can do it!"

……

Amidst cheers and boos, Wood and Flint shook hands, their gazes so fierce they seemed capable of devouring each other alive. Mrs. Hodge even had to blow her whistle to rouse them from their clapping hands.

"Listen to my whistle! Three! Two! One! The game begins!"

The Slytherin team took off almost twice as fast as the Gryffindors, and of course, Wood and his teammates had no intention of even trying to steal the Quaffle, which they couldn't possibly catch. Just as Flint was about to show off his speed, he realized that his opponents had already reached the goal and were in defensive formation.

"Ha! A bunch of cowards! Guys! Let's teach them a lesson!"

Six figures streaked through the air, leaving six green trails. Besides the goalkeeper, even Malfoy joined the team's first attack. All the Gryffindor players instinctively gripped their broomsticks, constantly shifting positions to form a defensive network according to Wood's tactics. Unfortunately, the six broomsticks from the Sweeping Series and Comet brand were ultimately no match for the six Nimbus 2001s.

Ta-da!

"Slytherin scores, 10-0."

The Slytherin audience was nearly in an uproar listening to Lee Jordan, whose commentary was far less enthusiastic than usual. They could see, of course, that if Slytherin's Seeker were to join the attack, it would be virtually impossible for Gryffindor to defend successfully.

In the VIP section, Lucius Malfoy, dressed in a magnificent black robe, smiled as he accepted the flattery of two middle-aged wizards beside him. His gaze swung back and forth between his son Draco and Harry Potter, appearing quite composed.