Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is not meant to infringe upon copyrights.
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"Mr. Chopper, why didn't you grind the lionfish bones into powder before adding them to the cauldron, as instructed in the book?"
In Potions class, Snape stared at Kyle and said sarcastically, "Do you think you're some kind of Potions genius, daring to tamper with the textbook?"
"Because of your arrogance, Hufflepuff loses five points."
Kyle glanced at the blackboard.
It clearly stated: Lionfish bones do not need to be ground; simply boil in boiling water for five minutes and then cut into pieces.
Such large characters, written by Snape himself, how could it be him tampering with the textbook?
"Professor…" Kyle took a deep breath and read in as normal a voice as possible, "That's what you wrote on the blackboard."
"Oh, I wrote it wrong."
Snape calmly waved his wand, erasing the sentence on the blackboard.
"Does that mean what I wrote is necessarily correct? Where is your judgment? If I said to add your own heart tendons, would you do it?
Because you have no opinions of your own, Hufflepuff loses another three points."
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Until the end of class, Kyle's hand was tightly gripping the rock biscuit in his pocket, hesitating whether to throw it at the back of Snape's head.
Although Snape had been deducting points from him for no reason for a long time, today was particularly excessive, going to any lengths to deduct points, even losing all sense of shame.
Erasing his own writing?
This kind of outrageous behavior was an eye-opener for Kyle.
Of course, the effect was immediate; in just one class, Kyle lost more than thirty points.
Since starting school, he hadn't lost as many points in any of his other courses combined as he had in this one class.
The other badgers came over to comfort him, and even Kanna kindly offered him a licorice candy.
Kyle glanced at it and ignored it.
During lunch, Fred and George, having heard about what happened in Potions class, came over and patted Kyle on the shoulder, comforting him, "It's okay, Snape's been taking points from us too, it's nothing."
"Yeah, pfft... I mean, you have to take it easy."
The two said comforting words, but their faces wore undisguised smiles.
Clearly, they were there to see him make a fool of himself.
Just as Kyle was about to shoo them away, Fred leaned closer and whispered, "Alright, stop thinking about those unpleasant things, I'll show you something good."
He looked around and carefully pulled a square piece of parchment from his pocket.
"Remember what I wanted to tell you a few days ago? It's this." George leaned closer and whispered, "A magical item, I bet you'd never guess what it is."
"Could it be…" Kyle raised an eyebrow, a puzzled look on his face, "It's parchment that can automatically do homework?"
"…"
The twins, who had been so smug before, suddenly stiffened.
"If only…" Fred said wistfully, "I really hope it is."
"But its real function is quite amazing." George said, "It's a map of Hogwarts, not the ordinary kind you sell."
"We call it the Marauder's Map."
Fred said, taking out his wand and gently touching the parchment.
"I solemnly swear…"
Instantly, fine lines of ink, like a spiderweb, spread from where the wand tip touched, connecting and extending to every corner of the parchment.
Then, large green cursive letters appeared at the top.
"Messrs Moonie, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs.
Introduce you, to aid magical pranksters—"
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"The Marauder's Map."
Kyle took the parchment from Fred and examined the famous Marauder's Map closely.
It depicted every detail of Hogwarts Castle, far more detailed than ordinary maps, almost a microcosm of Hogwarts.
Everything in the castle, from a painting to a rug to even a vase, could be found on the map.
Most unusually, there were many small black dots moving across the map, each labeled with a name in tiny print.
Kyle saw Dumbledore in the Headmaster's office and Filch and Peeves moving swiftly from the fifth-floor corridor to the sixth floor.
All of this was clearly visible .
But in crowded places... like the Great Hall right now, it was impossible to see clearly. Numerous names overlapped, making it all dark and illegible.
In addition, Kyle noticed that the map didn't seem to show the locations of all the secret passages.
The location of the Whomping Willow was empty on the map, nothing there.
Kyle handed the map back to Fred and asked, "How did you get it?"
"Back then, we were firsties, young, carefree, and innocent…" Fred and George squinted, lost in memories.
"For some trivial matter, Filch dragged us into his office and threatened to…"
"Solitary confinement."
"Disembowelment."
"And we couldn't resist eyeing one of his filing cabinet drawers, which was marked, Confiscated Items, Highly Dangerous."
Fred suddenly chuckled and said, "Kyle, what would you have done?"
Kyle thought for a moment and said, "I would have lured Peeves there, given him plenty of dung bombs or pepper spray, and then emptied that drawer in the chaos."
"…"
Fred and George stared, speechless for a long time. After a while, Fred shook his head and said, "Kyle, you deserved to lose thirty points to Snape, really, you didn't wrong it."
"Don't bring up the sore spot." Kyle gave him an annoyed look and said, "So this map is what you took from that drawer."
"Yes." "George clicked his tongue. "We don't have your guts, so we only took this."
"But how did you know how to use it?" Kyle flipped through the parchment. "It's not written here."
"Speaking of which… we have to mention Moonie, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs." Fred exclaimed, "Those four are geniuses of mischief."
"They broke the password apart and hid it in every corner of the castle." George said, "Once you find all the clues, you'll get the complete password."
"Unfortunately, we've been searching for a year…" Fred said regretfully, "but we still haven't found the complete password."
"Therefore, we can only use the map five times a day, and only for half an hour each time." George said with a smile, "It's a great undertaking, and we plan to complete it in three years."
"What if you still can't find it in three years?" Kyle asked.
"Then it means we don't deserve it." George shrugged. "We'll find it a new owner then."
"Is that so?" "So you showed it to me so I could join you in searching for clues?" Kyle said.
"No, no, no, Kyle," Fred shook his head. "The password is a test from those four predecessors; we have to complete it ourselves."
"Then what about this time..."
"Let's go for a night stroll!" Fred and George said in unison.
[End of the chapter]