Fred and George Meet Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs

It was completely blank.

“What do you think it is?” asked Fred.

“It’s got to be something special, or Filch wouldn’t have kept it,” said George.

“Maybe it’s something written in invisible ink.”

“I’ve got that Revealer that Bill gave me in my bag,” said George. “Let’s see if that does the trick.”

“Brilliant!”

Handing Fred the lit wand, George rummaged around in his bag. “Hold this so I can see.” Fred held it above the bag, watching as George dug through an assortment of dungbombs, quills, Chocolate Frog Cards, and Dr. Filibuster’s Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks. Finally, he came up with something that looked like a Muggle eraser, except that it was a glittery silver color.

Fred handed George the parchment, which he spread out on the desk and rubbed vigorously with the Revealer. At first, nothing happened. Then, words appeared to write themselves across the parchment:

Mr Moony would like to ask you to kindly refrain from rubbing that thing on his fine creation.

“Oy, what’s that mean?” said Fred.

“And who’s Mr Moony?” said George.

“Maybe we should ask the parchment,” said Fred. “Use my wand, so we can keep using yours as a light.”

George put down the Revealer, took Fred’s wand, pointed it at the parchment and said, “Who is Mr Moony?”

As the two boys watched, these words appeared across the parchment, as if writing themselves, and in a different hand than the previous sentence: Mr Prongs wants to remind you to ask politely. And it wouldn’t hurt to introduce yourself, either.

“Right, sorry,” said George. Again pointing his wand at the parchment, he said, “George and Fred Weasley would like to kindly ask who are Mr Moony and Mr Prongs?”

More words appeared on the parchment: Mr Padfoot would like to inform Messrs Weasley that we are proud of our secret names and are not likely to reveal our true identities to total strangers. We might be persuaded to answer some other questions about this parchment, however, if asked nicely. This was in yet another hand than the other two.

Fred took the wand and pointed it at the parchment. “Fred and George Weasley would like to very politely ask what this parchment does,” he said.

More writing appeared on the parchment, in a fourth and different hand: Mr Wormtail would like to say that we need to hear more about the Messrs Weasley and how they came by this parchment, before we reveal more secrets.

Fred and George looked at each other. George shrugged, and took the wand back. Pointing it at the parchment, he said, “George and Fred Weasley got into a spot of a bother with Filch -- uh, he’s the caretaker here at Hogwarts -- and he took us to his office. When he wasn’t looking, we grabbed the parchment from a drawer labeled ‘Confiscated and Highly Dangerous.’ "

As the boys watched, the parchment fairly erupted in a diatribe against Filch: Mr Moony wishes to congratulate Messrs Weasley on managing to nick the parchment with such ease. Mr Prongs wonders what horrible form of detention Filch might have dealt out to Messrs Weasley. Mr Padfoot would like to express his opinion that Filch is a meddling old git. Mr Wormtail agrees with Mr Padfoot, and would like to add that his cat is even worse.

Fred and George exchanged amused and astonished glances. Fred took the wand back and said, “Fred and George Weasley are glad to find they have something in common with Mr Moony, Mr Prongs, Mr Padfoot and Mr Wormtail. We are very interested to learn what makes this parchment so Highly Dangerous to people like Filch.”

Mr Moony would like to divulge that the parchment is a magical map of Hogwarts, which we created when we were students there. Mr Prongs would like to add that the map may only be used by those bent on breaking the rules. Mr Padfoot agrees with Mr Prongs, and would like to add that it’s very important that this map not fall into the wrong hands. Mr Wormtail believes that Messrs Weasley will have a fair idea of what we mean by ‘the wrong hands.’

George scratched his head. Fred grinned. George reached for the wand, pointed it at the parchment and said, “George and Fred Weasley would like to thank Mr Moony, Mr Prongs, Mr Padfoot and Mr Wormtail for their confidence in us. We -- er -- we think we need a few more details about how exactly to use the map.”

Once more, writing appeared on the parchment: Mr Moony is confident that smart boys like you, with obviously devious minds, will be able to figure it out. Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr Moony and urges Messrs Weasley to give it a go. Mr. Padfoot hopes Messrs Weasley enjoy exploring the secret passageways as much as he did. Mr. Wormtail adds that the map has saved him from Filch’s cat numerous times and he hopes it will do the same for Messrs. Weasley.

Fred and George stared at the writing for a long while. As they looked, it faded away until the parchment was blank once more. They glanced at each other, each holding a wand. The parchment offered no help. They started reciting bits of what they had read on it, hoping to get a clue to how it worked.

“Magical map of Hogwarts,” said Fred.

“May only be used by those bent on breaking the rules,” said George.

“It’s very important that this map not fall into the wrong hands.”

“Smart boys like us, with obviously devious minds, will be able to figure it out.”

They were silent for a moment, both staring at the blank parchment.

“Okay, let me try something,“ said Fred, reaching for the wand. “Magical Map, show us your secrets.”

Nothing happened.

“My turn,” said George, taking the wand back. “Two rule breakers are asking for help from the map.”

You’re getting warmer. appeared on the parchment, and then faded away.

George grabbed the wand, pointed it at the parchment, and said, “We’re bent on breaking the rules, and we need your help.”

That’s close. Now you need to swear. said the map.

Fred took the wand, touched it to the parchment, and said, “We solemnly swear we are up to no good.”

That’s it! Well done! Just make sure you wipe it blank when you’re done each time.

This message quickly faded, as Fred and George exchanged glances. The parchment remained blank for a moment, and then, starting from the point where the wand had touched it, lines began to draw themselves until the whole parchment was filled with a map of Hogwarts. Fred and George bent over the map. George took his wand back and lit it, to get extra light. They saw that the map showed the whole castle and the grounds. As they searched for the secret passageways, movement caught their eye. Tiny dots were moving around the corridors, each labeled with the name of the person it represented. They saw groups of dots, crowded together too tightly to be readable, in the common rooms of the various houses.

“Brilliant! Now we know where the other houses’ common rooms are,” said Fred.

“If we ever need to know,” said George. “There’s us, look!” he said, pointing to two dots in the empty classroom on the fourth floor.

“There’s Filch, safe in his office,” said Fred, pointing to a room on the ground floor.

“And Mrs. Norris is far away,” said George, indicating a dot on the second floor, on the opposite side of the castle.

“There’s Percy, he’s the only one left in the library.”

“There’s the secret passageway we found last month, behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy.”

“Here’s one we haven’t seen before. It’s right nearby, too,” said Fred, pointing to a spot outside the classroom next to the one they were in. Extinguishing their wands, the boys took the parchment and went out into the corridor. The spot on the map was where a large mirror hung.

“Now what do we do?” said George, reaching out to touch the mirror.

“I dunno,” said Fred, gently pulling to see if he could look behind the mirror’s frame. The mirror was firmly attached to the wall and did not budge.

George looked down at the map. “Oy, look!” he said. The dots that represented themselves could be seen, in front of the mirror, and a small circle next to them contained the words “Penetralis Speculum!”

“It’s like a little cartoon!” said Fred.

Pointing his wand at the mirror, George said, “Penetralis Speculum!” Immediately, it was as if the mirror’s surface had turned to fog. The twins were able to step right through it, into the tunnel beyond. After a moment, the solidness of the back of the mirror reformed itself.

“Lumos!” said George. They were in a wide, stone passageway. Following it a short distance, they came to a set of stone stairs leading down. Eagerly they descended the stairs, watching as the dots that represented themselves moved to the edge of the map and disappeared. Still the stairs headed downwards.

Finally they reached the bottom, and found themselves in another wide stone tunnel, similar to the one at the top of the stairs, but colder. They proceeded forward for several minutes, in a relatively flat tunnel, and then came to a set up stairs leading upwards.

“Hope these don’t go up for as long as those other stairs go down,” said Fred.

“They probably won’t, the castle is on a hill, after all,” said George.

“Unless this tunnel leads into the mountains.”

The upward stairs were much shorter, however, and the wide passageway at the top soon ended at a heavy wooden door. Extinguishing his wand, George pushed the door open and the twins stepped into a dark, dirty, dimly lit corridor. Fred wrinkled his nose. Wherever they were, the place didn’t have the most pleasant smell to it. They could hear a dull murmur of voices coming from the far end of the corridor, occasionally punctuated by a loud laugh.

“I think we’re in a pub!” said George as they crept closer to the direction the noise was coming from.

“It sure is a dirty pub, if it’s a pub. No wonder Mum doesn’t want us going to pubs!”

“I just hope we don’t attract attention, being much younger than the rest of the clientele.”

Soon they found themselves in the main room of the pub. An odd assortment of beings was seated around the room, some on stools at the bar, some at tables and booths around the room. One man with a grey beard was stretched out on the floor, snoring. No one seemed to take much notice of him, or of the twins either. Nodding to the barkeep, who looked up at them briefly, they made their way to the door and outside. No one made a move to stop them or follow them.

“The Hog’s Head,” read Fred, looking up at the sign hanging rather lopsidedly above the door they’d emerged from. “I bet we’re in Hogsmeade!”

“What luck! Here we are in Hogsmeade, and me without my money bag!” said George.

“I have twelve Knuts in my pocket. I’ll lend you six.”

“Where should we spend it?”

“Let’s check out the joke shop first. We probably can’t buy anything there, but we can look.”

“Right. Then we’ll buy some sweets at the sweetshop and come back tomorrow with more money.”

“Brilliant!” said Fred as the twins set off for their first of many trips to Hogsmeade.