The Marauders' Map is Returned to Harry

“I think I will go back to bed.” It was Professor Snape’s voice. He swept past her, his robe billowing. He seemed to be seething with anger and didn’t notice Luna in the shadows.

Before she could move, she heard more voices. Touching the wand behind her ear, she whispered, “Adauctus audio!” Now the voices were audible, even though the people talking were at the other end of the hall from where she stood.

“What is this thing?” It was Professor Moody’s voice. Luna was suspicious of Professor Moody. There was something just not quite right about him, something she couldn’t put her finger on. Like he was trying too hard, trying to convince everyone he was really who he was supposed to be. Luna hadn’t quite worked out why he would act like that, she only knew she didn’t entirely trust him.

“Map of Hogwarts,” said another voice. Peering down the dark corridor, Luna realized it was Harry Potter -- The Boy Who Lived, and also one of the Triwizard Champions.

“Merlin’s Beard! This . . . This is some map, Potter!” said Moody.

“Yes, it’s . . . quite useful,” said Harry Potter. The two talked about the map and about Mr. Crouch, for some reason. Luna lost interest and was ready to move on toward her dormitory when she noticed Professor Moody looking intently at the map and the glancing in her direction.

“Oh, if there’s one thing I hate, it’s a Death Eater who walked free,” said Moody. For some reason, Luna was convinced Moody’s attitude towards free Death Eaters was much more complicated than it would seem on the surface. “And now I want to ask you a question, Potter. Can I borrow this?” asked Moody, waving the map in front of Harry Potter’s face.

“Oh!” Harry Potter seemed surprised by the request. “Yeah, okay.”

“Good boy! I can make good use of this. This might be exactly what I’ve been looking for. Right. Bed, Potter, come on now . . .” and the two moved up the stairway. Luna performed the counter charm to bring her hearing back into normal range, and set off for Ravenclaw Tower, wondering why the magical map would be so useful to Professor Moody.

* * *

Luna sat in the stands with the rest of the students, watching the third task of the Triwizard Tournament. There was shocked silence around her. It was hard to see what was happening in the maze, but it had looked as if two of the champions had reached the Triwizard Cup at the same moment, and both had grabbed it. Then, both champions and the cup had vanished! Luna wondered if this was part of the tournament, or something unexpected.

Everyone had sat in stunned silence for quite a while. Then slowly, people started muttering and whispering to each other, comparing thoughts on what might have happened. Luna saw Cedric Diggory’s parents, and several people with red hair, who must be Ronald Weasley’s family, looking anxiously around. Professor Dumbledore made his way up to them and talked quietly with them for a few moments, and then climbed down and entered the maze.

The crowd watched as Dumbledore waved his wand and cut through the hedges, heading straight toward the center of the maze where the cup had been. He stood for a long while, examining the plinth that the cup had stood on and the surrounding area. Then he exited the maze and stood outside the entrance. He’d been standing there for quite a while now. The crowd was beginning to grow restless.

Suddenly, two robed figures and the cup appeared and fell immediately to the ground at Dumbledore’s feet. The crowd couldn’t sit still any longer. They rushed down onto the grass. Luna managed to be one of the first to arrive, though many others were crowding and pushing behind her.

She saw Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory lying on the ground. Harry Potter had Diggory’s arm firmly in his grasp and was resisting Professor Dumbledore’s attempts to get him to let go. The Minister of Magic arrived, leaned over, and said in a loud voice that Cedric Diggory was dead. This caused the crowd to panic.

The Minister and the Headmaster discussed what should be done next. Luna heard Professor Dumbledore say, “Harry, stay here.“ But Professor Moody started to take Harry Potter to the castle, as Dumbledore went to speak to Mr and Mrs Diggory.

“Dumbledore said stay . . .” said Harry Potter weakly, but he was in no condition to argue with Moody. No one seemed to notice that Harry Potter was being led away, contrary to Dumbledore’s orders. Luna followed at a distance behind as Moody led Harry Potter into the castle. Inside, she was not really surprised when Moody headed in the direction of his office instead of the hospital wing. She continued to follow.

Chills ran down Luna’s spine as she heard the door to Moody’s office shut and the key scrape as the door was locked. She turned and ran back toward the castle entrance. As she reached the bottom of the main staircase, the big wooden door burst open and Professor Dumbledore hurried inside. Luna was very relieved to see him.

“Harry Potter and Professor Moody are locked in Moody’s office!” she blurted out.

“Good work, Miss Lovegood. I’ll take care of it,” said Professor Dumbledore grimly. At that moment, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape entered the castle. “Follow me,” Professor Dumbledore said to them, and all three of them hurried off up the stairs.

Luna trailed along some distance behind them, stopping at the corner of the corridor that led to Moody’s office. She didn’t need the Adauctus charm to hear Professor Dumbledore yell “Stupefy!“ and the splintering crash of the door breaking. After a moment, both Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape were back in the corridor, heading back towards Luna. She quickly ducked into an empty classroom.

Soon, Professor McGonagall passed again, this time leading the big black shaggy dog that Luna remembered seeing so many times the year before. She had to restrain herself from rushing out into the corridor to pet the dog. Luna liked dogs.

After another few minutes, Professor Snape hurried back past the classroom Luna was hiding in, this time carrying a small glass bottle. Behind him came a house-elf who looked like she was crying. Peeking out the door, Luna saw them turn the corner to go toward Moody’s office, and right behind them was Professor McGonagall coming from the other direction.

It was quiet for quite a long time. Luna considered moving closer to try and listen, but the events outside had shaken her so badly she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what was happening in the room. She decided to just stay and watch, to try and see if Harry Potter was okay.

After a while, Professor Snape came out and hurried past Luna. This time she didn’t try to hide, and he hardly seemed to notice her. After another moment, Luna noticed Professor Dumbledore and Harry Potter coming out of the office and heading toward her. She ducked back into the empty classroom. The Headmaster was helping Harry, who seemed to be limping, and the two of them were walking much more slowly than Professor Snape had been.

After they passed, Luna continued to watch Moody’s office. After a while, she decided to walk past it. Peeking in the door as she went past, she saw Professor McGonagall standing sternly in the doorway. Luna kept walking. Turning the corner, she ducked into another empty classroom and sat down in one of the chairs.

So Harry Potter was injured, but okay. She remembered the time, two years earlier, when the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lockhart, had tried and failed to heal Harry Potter’s broken arm. At least he would be in better hands this time. It was very sad, what had happened to Cedric Diggory, though. He was very handsome and Luna thought he’d been a nice boy. She knew his parents would miss him. She didn’t think Harry Potter would have killed him, but she wasn’t sure what had happened. It sure seemed to have been the work of Dark Wizards. She was sure Moody was involved, somehow, despite the fact that Moody had been standing outside the maze the entire time Harry Potter and the Diggory boy had been missing.

Suddenly, she heard Professor McGonagall’s voice yelling, “No! You can’t --”

Luna hurried back towards Moody’s office. She was just in time to see the back of a dementor’s robe as it glided through the office door. She turned quickly and ran back to the classroom she’d just come from, this time hurrying all the way to the far corner and cowering against the wall. She stayed there for quite some time, ignoring the noises coming from outside the classroom.

* * *

Luna wasn’t sure how much time had passed when she finally crept out of the classroom. All was quiet in this corridor, though she could hear students moving about in other parts of the castle. Walking toward the door to Moody’s office, she could tell that it was empty. She quickly ducked inside, and moved immediately to the desk. She searched each drawer, starting with the top right. She found what she was looking for in the bottom left-hand drawer -- the folded up parchment map that she’d seen in Moody’s hands that night when he was talking with Harry Potter in the corridor.

Unfolding the map, she glanced at it. She saw that it was a detailed map of Hogwarts. She could even see the tunnel behind the fourth floor mirror. There were other tunnels as well. She noted with satisfaction that the passageway behind the bookcase in the Restricted Section of the library wasn’t shown on the map. Looking again, Luna noticed something else about this map -- this must be what had so impressed Moody. Tiny dots, labeled with various people’s names, were moving about all over the map. Luna saw one labeled “Luna Lovegood” in Moody’s office. There were none in the corridor outside, however. Luna looked in the area of the hospital wing. She saw dots labeled Harry Potter, Poppy Pomfrey, Molly Weasley, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Alastor Moody. She wondered what had happened to cause Moody to have need of the hospital wing. Looking elsewhere, she noticed that Albus Dumbledore, Rubeus Hagrid and Olympe Maxime were in the Headmaster’s office.

Luna folded up the map and tucked it in the secret inner pocket she’d sewn inside her robe, and hurried out of the office.

* * *

A month later, Harry was lying on his bed at Privet Drive, reading a book about Quidditch, when a strange owl appeared in his window. It was a small owl with yellow eyes, buff-colored feathers with indistinct streaks of white, and a very short tail. There was a rather odd-looking envelope attached to one of its legs, which Harry quickly untied. The owl immediately flew to Harry’s dresser and went to sleep.

It’s not my birthday. I wonder what this could be? thought Harry. The envelope looked like it had been made with bits of parchment glued together. Other than his name and address, there was no writing on it.

Harry opened it and took out a blank piece of parchment that was folded several times. The parchment was quite old, and looked oddly familiar to Harry, but there was no writing on it whatsoever. Harry was puzzled for a moment, and then realization dawned on him.

Taking out his wand, he pointed it at the parchment, saying, “I solemnly swear I am up to no good.” Immediately, the familiar markings of the Marauder’s Map appeared on the parchment. Harry grinned. He’d thought the map was gone for good, when the term had ended and it hadn’t been given back to him.

Harry bent over the map. It had never occurred to him before to look at the map over the summer, when he wasn’t at Hogwarts. Part of him felt empty, longing to be back there, back where he belonged. But this was a bit of a connection. He might be able to get a clue about what his teachers were up to, at least. Professor Dumbledore was in his office. His dot wasn’t moving much so he must be sitting at his desk. Hagrid was moving quickly across the grounds. Snape wasn’t on the map at all. Professor McGonagall was in the library, as was Madame Pince. Looking at the library on the map, Harry noticed something he’d never seen before. There was a secret passageway leading away from one of the bookshelves in the Restricted Section of the Library. He was just about sure he’d never seen that on the map before. He traced its path, but it went off the map and he couldn’t tell where it went.

He looked again at the homemade envelope, but it offered no clue as to the sender. He bent over the owl sleeping on his dresser, but it didn’t look familiar at all. He’d never seen an owl quite like it before. As he looked at it, its eyes popped open. It had only been pretending to be asleep. What kind of owl pretends to be asleep? thought Harry.

Harry ripped a bit off of the homemade envelope, scribbled “Thank you!” on it and signed his name. He tied it to the owl’s leg, asked it to take it back to whoever had sent it, and settled back on his bed to continue reading his book.