Harry Potter & The Thousand Mysteries

22/?

The Marauders Map

'I don't know if you know this,' said Lupin, as he sat on the cheap armchair opposite the couch where Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting, waiting anxiously to hear the story that was about to unfold.

'About two months before Sirius went to prison, his mother Rosie Black died. It was probably best that she died before he was thrown to the Dementors- even though she was a Muggle, she was very intelligent and read a lot about the wizarding world.

'Her husband, Petrie, had died about ten years before her, and left her his entire, rather sizable, fortune. When she died, it passed on to Sirius, their only surviving child.'

'Surviving?' asked Harry.

'They had another son, Stuart, who died in infancy,' said Lupin sadly. 'But of course, Sirius hasn't been able to spend the money- the only thing he paid for in twelve years was your broom, Harry, and that made no serious dent in his vault!'

He took a sip of his tea, during which time Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged quizzical glances.

'Well anyway,' said Lupin, resetting the mug on the small, flimsy coffee table. 'Where was I? Ah, yes! Sirius had his money transferred to my vault, without my knowledge, last month. He told me to buy a small house in Hogsmeade with it. Firstly, it gave me a place to stay- usually I have to rent accommodation from people, and have to move on as soon as they learn of my... attribute. Secondly, it provides Sirius with a place to use as a refuge- this old cottage has quite a deep basement. Thirdly, we are going to use this house as a headquarters for our side- we're working, with the help of several skilled people, on developing an impregnable security system, equal to that of the castle.'

'So you and Sirius will be living here?' asked Harry excitedly. This was fantastic news.

'Well, no, not exactly. We're usually off out around the country doing missions or collecting research for Dumbledore. We'll only be using this place as a base.'

'But can't Dark Wizards just apparate in here?' asked Hermione. 'Isn't it a bit dangerous?'

'We have thought of that,' said Lupin. 'Let me show you.'

He beckoned to them to follow him, and led them out into the hall, and up the staircase. In the middle of the staircase was a window looking out onto the back garden, which was large and grassy.

He took them through a door, and into a big, spacious room with a high ceiling. Like most wizarding houses, the inside was far bigger than one would have expected, looking in from the outside.

This room had probably, Harry surmised, had the most attention paid to it than any other room in the house. There was a long wooden desk on one side of the wall, with several cauldrons and potions. On a spice rack were several differently coloured potions.

There were sheets of parchment everywhere. Several books lay open across three other desks, and piles of information and files were piled up on the floor.

'Look at this,' said Lupin. He looked excited. Shifting some books off the surface of one of the desks, he exposed a large section of brown oak.

Withdrawing his wand and placing the tip in the centre of the desk, he pronounced:

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

The tabletop quivered for a moment, before a large square of parchment appeared upon it, nailed down with gold screws.

'Is this...?' asked Ron.

'It's not a...' said Hermione speechless.

'Don't tell me...' said Harry.

Lupin looked at them excitedly. 'The Marauders have struck again!'

On the large square of parchment was a bigger, more detailed version of the Marauders Map, except this map included Hogwarts Castle, Hogsmeade village and several caves hidden among the mountains.

Harry watched small dots labeled Minerva McGonagall and Albus Dumbledore talk in the entrance Hall, while seven dots with the names of the Slytherin team moved quickly about the Quidditch pitch. The Madam Rosemerta labeled dot was standing behind the bar in the Leaky Cauldron, while the dots labeled Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley and Remus Lupin all stood in the fourth bedroom of the cottage down the lane. Harry watched a small green dot labeled Greta Galumphed walk down the lane and up her garden path, stopping briefly to pat a yellow dot labeled Finn the Cat.

'I don't believe you made the Marauders Map, only on a bigger scale,' said Harry, not taking his eyes off the immensely detailed parchment.

'Oh, we've improved on it as well,' said Lupin, smiling insanely. 'Watch.'

He pointed his wand at the dot labeled Madam Rosemerta, and said: 'Vorty!'' The parchment seemed to zoom in on her, and he saw the dot grow bigger. A speech bubble came from her, with tiny words.

'Another mulled mead?' it said. 'Coming up!'

'Hinty!' said Lupin, his wand on the parchment, and the view receded outwards, showing the castle and Hogsmeade once more.

'Why are all the dots differently coloured?' asked Hermione. Ron was still goggling at the parchment, watching all the different dots move about.

'Here,' he handed her a roll of parchment, which she unfolded.

'A yellow dot's a cat, a blue dot's a dog, a grey dot's a bird or mouse. If the dot has a red circle around it then it's an animagus, if it has a black circle around it then it's Polyjuice, if it has a bright green circle then they have a dark mark, if it's a blue dot then it's a man, a purple dot it's a woman, umm.'

'Green's a hag?' asked Hermione. 'Greta Galumphed is a hag?'

'Yeah, can you believe it?' asked Lupin, entirely seriously.

'This is so awesome!' said Ron. 'You'll know straight away if anyone tries to get to you!'

'I still don't see how this helps with security,' said Hermione severely. 'This is just a big Marauders map.'

'Let me show you our security,' said Lupin, smiling.

He led them over to the window, which overlooked the back garden. Harry saw a greenhouse filled with all kinds of mystical and probably dangerous plants, along with a murky pond and several gnomes.

'The walls,' he pointed towards the large brick walls which stretched around the entire garden, 'are unscalable and rock-solid - not even a thousand hexes could make them fall over. No one can Apparate into the house, basement or garden, and the front gate can only be opened by someone who's name we have written in this book here.'

He pulled from a desk a thick green book, and opened it to the first page.

Remus Lupin

Sirius Black

Albus Dumbledore

Minerva McGonagall

Harry Potter

Hermione Granger

Ron Weasley

Arthur Weasley

Claudia Janney

Alastor Moody

'Ten people?' asked Harry. 'You're only going to allow ten people into the house?'

'Everyone else can contact us via Dumbledore,' said Lupin plainly.

'I still don't think that's enough security,' said Hermione.

'Well, that's what I thought,' said Lupin. 'So, I developed a little bit of my own. Let me show you.'

He led them downstairs, and into the kitchen. It was completely empty except for a small campers stove and a few plates.

'As I said, I've only just moved in.' Lupin looked at them apologetically.

The back garden was a paddock, filled with shrubs and bushes. Harry stepped aside from some plants with massive yellow snappers, waiting to bite.

'The garden has thirty venomous snakes in it,' said Lupin. 'Also, there are some other dangerous plants and animals which I won't go into- they're all pretty horrible. There's some cockatrices, some blast ended skrewts, one acromantual. Lot's of horrible things. They have been trained to attack intruders, so we won't stay out for very long- Sirius, Dumbledore and myself are the only ones who can control them.

'Also...' He fired some red and gold sparks into the air from his wand. They went straight up for a couple of yards, before hitting an invisible dome barrier, and ricocheting off.

'A two foot deep shield protects against bombs, people on broomsticks, people in guise as birds, bats, everything. It's a dome shape, which runs over the front garden, back garden, and entire house. I think we're safe enough.'

'Well, I'm satisfied,' said Hermione.

'I thought you might be,' replied Lupin. 'Now, you all have to be back at the castle in an hour, so lets go in and give you a full tour of the house?'

***

The entire building consisted of a living room, dining room, a big kitchen, two bathrooms, and three bedrooms. (The third one was to be Harry's, when Sirius got finally cleared.)

The biggest surprise, Harry found, was the basement. Ron showed no sign of surprise as they descended a long stone staircase and found themselves in a draughty stone room. There were three staircases leading to three further rooms, and, if the third staircase were taken, you would find yourself in a further, seemingly empty, stone chamber.

However, if the third brick below the second flaming torch in bracket was tapped with either Sirius' or Lupin's wand, then, like the wall in Diagon Alley, the bricks would move aside to give the entrance to another set of stairs.

'How far does the basement go down?' asked Harry.

'Oh, only about forty or fifty feet,' said Lupin. Seeing the look of shock openly plastered over Harry and Hermione's face, he elaborated.

'Most wizarding houses have large basements. My parents house had twelve rooms- they're used mainly for storage.'

'Does the Burrow have a basement?' Hermione asked Ron.

'Yeah, but it's not this big, and it's crammed with old books and broken things and all our toys. Mum refuses to throw anything out.'

The last chamber was a square room. In one corner was a single bed, and there were also a small fireplace and a seat.

'Sirius can hide down here if he ever needs to,' said Remus. 'If the Ministry come down here, the only place that fireplace leads to is Dumbledore's office, up at the castle.'

***

'You've certainly got yourself a nice little place here,' said Harry, as the three Hogwarts students prepared to make their way back to the castle. They had spent the previous forty five minutes chatting idly about the OWLs, Quidditch, and the pranks the Marauders used to get up to. When they were leaving, Remus walked them to the garden gate.

'Thanks for having us round,' said Ron.

'Not at all,' said Lupin. 'I'm going to Nottingham in an hour to meet Sirius...'

'Sirius is in Nottingham?' asked Harry.

'Yes, he's monitoring Dark activity in Sherwood Forest- there's a lot of Death Eaters down there.

'Anyway, I'll be back in two weeks, but just for one night, then Dumbledore's sending me off to Canada.'

'Why?' asked Hermione inquisitively. Lupin tapped his nose.

'It's not for me to say. I'll probably be back in about a month and a half, so you can all come down then. I'll owl you.'

'We better get going, but have a good journey, and tell Sirius I'm asking for him,' said Harry. They all exchanged goodbyes, and hurried off up the lane.

They turned the corner into the main street, and walked straight into Draco Malfoy.

'Watch where you're going,' he spat at them.

'Get to, Malfoy,' said Ron.

'What're you doing, Weasley? Seeing if someone dropped a Knut you can use to buy Christmas dinner?'

'Christmas was two months ago, Malfoy,' said Hermione. 'Or did you forget?'

'I'm not just some dumb blonde, Mudblood.'

'Fooled us,' she snapped back.

'Come on,' said Harry. He didn't want a big fight in the middle of Hogsmeade. Lupin was probably watching on his map anyway.

'Bastard,' said Ron, as they left Malfoy to go into the Post Office.

'Yeah, I know,' said Hermione.

'Hermione, are you... blushing?' asked Harry.

'What? No! No, of course not!' She looked flustered.

'Hermione, please don't tell me you fancy Malfoy,' said Ron, his face contorted in disgust.

'Ron, really, I have some taste.'

'Oh really?' said Harry. 'Does the name David Drake ring any bells?'

'Shut up, you two,' she said. Harry and Ron both laughed.

'Outwitted once more, my dear Hermione,' said Harry, and they continued their evening stroll back to the castle.

***

'You have three months precisely,' said Professor McGonagall, as she watched the second hand on her watch move to the twelve, announcing that it was ten o'clock exactly, 'until you sit your Transfiguration OWL. I hope you are all studying independently, on top of the revision work you have been set.'

'Ha!' Harry let out a laugh from his seat at the back of the classroom.

'For those of you who have not studied appropriately,' she said. 'I highly recommend you intensify your programme of work! That will be all!' she snapped, and less than half a second later, the bell rang.

'More work?' said Ron. 'But I'm so tired.'

'Maybe if you hadn't stayed up all night in the Common Room chatting with everyone else, and left your homework until three o'clock in the morning, you wouldn't be so tired.' Hermione had exactly the same expression as McGonagall; it was scary.

'Oh, shut up you tight old crone,' said Ron, as they packed their things away and headed out the door.

'But Ron, you heard Professor McGonagall,' protested Hermione. 'We're not revising as hard as we could for the exams! The first Transfiguration exam is on the twenty first of June- three months from today!'

'And? We work every hour God sends to cram for these tests- much more than Fred and George, and they both got threes.'

'Ron!'

They pushed through the portrait hole, and into the common room. It was filled with the hustle and bustle that usually echoed throughout Gryffindor Tower after the last class of the day.

Harry, Ron and Hermione all settled down in their usual revision seats around the circular table in the corner of the room, and opened their books for an hour of revision.

'TEN POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR!' shouted Hermione at a noisy hyperactive first year who had run screeching down the staircase. Everyone in the common room was revising for their exams- everyone was either in fifth, sixth or seventh years- everyone else had gone up to bed, their heads free from the trauma of exams. Many prefects, especially Hermione, took large numbers of points from their own house when punishing those who committed the heathenish foul of disturbing the quiet study of others. As usual, it was well past ten o'clock- candles were burning low around the room, and the bags around everyone's eyes hung lower with every passing minute. Harry felt like Hermione must have when she had been revising for every subject the school offered in third year. Only this time, with the exams were three months away, Harry felt that everyone was revising too hard for the upcoming tests. After all- three months? That was long enough, surely.

He was searching through his bag for a new pot of ink- he could barely see two inches in front of him, when his heart leapt in fright as he heard a loud hoot resonate through the room.

'Hedwig!' he hissed, opening the window and letting the snowy owl in. Several people, including Hermione, looked at him venomously.

Taking the small scroll from between her claws, he shooed her out the window. He watched, as she swooped around towards the Owlery, before unrolling the scroll.

Harry,

Something most urgent has happened. Meet me at my house ASAP. Bring Ron & Hermione,

RJ Lupin

Harry stood up, and packed his things hurriedly away in his bag.

'Hurry,' he said. 'We have to meet Moony.'

'What?' said Ron, looking up from his Astronomy charts.

'Just come on. Hermione, hurry.'

They hurried up to their dorms, and grabbed their cloaks.

***

'Faster,' said Harry, as they hurried across the grounds. The sun was barely a whisper on the horizon, as they walked quickly across the grass.

'Why do we need to see him?' asked Hermione. 'I thought he was in Canada.'

'Something urgent,' he said. 'We'll find out in two minutes, just hurry up!''

They dashed through the gates of Hogwarts, tripping in their rush. They ran down the cobblestone paths of Hogsmeade, and knocked on Lupin's door.

It opened with a quiet creak and they tiptoed inside.

Thank You