"Excuse me," Ryan apologized, expertly finding a secret passage behind a painting and slipping inside.
"Oh, another night wanderer... a young wizard these days..." The awakened witch in the painting muttered drowsily before falling back into a deep sleep. Meanwhile, Ryan walked through a secret passage about a meter tall—his height made it surprisingly spacious.
With his intimate knowledge of the castle's structure, he knew this passage was incredibly useful, serving as one of the fastest routes from the upper levels to the lower levels. It contained three exits, leading to the fourth floor, the second-floor library, and the castle's main gate.
This secret passage was originally created by a founder of the Lion House who also enjoyed night wanderings, even taking young wizards along. Well, the entrance to Gryffindor Tower is also on the eighth floor.
Ryan still remembered the awkward whispers when the other person quietly came to him one night.
"Hey, Ryan, hush... keep your voice down, don't wake Rowena."
"I heard you were designing the castle's secret passage with her. You have to... ahem, I mean, there's a possibility... my best student would help his teacher—you know what I mean."
Ryan smiled and nodded, then reported him to Ravenclaw on the spot. But the secret passage was eventually designed.
"Oh, precious memories," Ryan commented softly, but soon frowned. He saw a thick layer of dust in the secret passage, and scattered footprints on the dust—some side by side, clearly human footprints, some deep, some shallow. But more numerous and newer were the small footprints that were densely packed around the edge of the secret passage.
"Rats... Mr. Filch should give the castle a thorough cleaning," Ryan muttered after a glance, not paying much attention. Soon, he arrived at the exit of the fourth floor of the secret passage—located on a display stand beneath an oil lamp.
But as he exited the passage...
Ryan saw the pendant around his neck flicker, and his gaze instantly sharpened. Filch? Another young wizard wandering the night? Or something else? He pondered, his movements never pausing.
"Sensus Amplifico!" He skillfully drew out his magic spell and softly chanted it—it was an extrasensory spell, learned only by students in sixth grade and above! And after using it, Ryan felt the world around him suddenly become completely new.
He could see the details of the torches burning on the walls at night. He could smell the scent of the ancient castle and its chaotic odors in the air. He could hear the subtle flutter of insects outside the castle, even the snoring of the wizards in the murals. But most importantly, Ryan could sense that someone was staring at him.
He couldn't pinpoint the source of the gaze, but he could hear breathing—two heavy breaths!
So, he instantly raised his wand, pointing it in the direction of the breathing.
"Petrificus…"
"Hey! Don't!"
"It's us!"
But just as he was about to cast the spell, two familiar voices rang out. Two men, hiding in the shadows, suddenly leaped from the corner of the corridor, their movements so quick and deft that Ryan was taken aback.
"George? Fred?" The two men who had just darted out from the corner were none other than the Weasley twins, whom Ryan hadn't seen in a few days.
"Ryan, you're a little too nervous," Fred nodded.
"Please stop pulling your wands out at us—it's too scary! We all have shadows!" George exaggerated his fear.
"Shadows?" Ryan didn't put his wand down, but simply raised an eyebrow. "Are you worried it'll be the same as last time in the bathroom on the second floor?"
"...What bathroom?" Fred scratched his fiery red hair. "Didn't we last meet in the Room of Requirement?" His face paled, clearly recalling that exhausting night. Merlin, it took them two full days to recover.
Very good. Ryan nodded secretly—himself, not the others who'd taken the Polyjuice Potion. It wasn't that he was overly vigilant, but since they'd chosen the Slytherin common room yesterday, he felt a need for caution.
So...
"Tell me." Ryan still didn't lower his wand, pointing it at the twins even more fiercely: "How did you do it?"
"...What?" Fred's eyes flickered.
"How did you follow me?" Seeing the other party still trying to resist, Ryan sneered. "If you want to say this was just a chance encounter..." The tip of the wand flashed with a light like lightning, making a sizzling sound, giving Ryan a rather sinister aura.
This situation made George's eyes light up: "Hey, Ryan—how did you do that?" He felt that if he could develop this kind of lightning spell, it would be very useful for pranks!
"George! I think you should first be more concerned about your brother who is being pointed at by a wand!" Fred grumbled softly, then decisively chose to compromise.
"Okay, okay... Ryan, don't get excited. We do know your whereabouts, but the word tracking doesn't seem quite right." He smiled and took out something from his arms: "We usually call this—finding a compatible partner!"
Ryan looked at the object Fred took out. It seemed to be a blank piece of parchment. "What is that?" Ryan was a little confused, which made Fred and George smile at each other.
"This is our treasure." The twins simultaneously drew their wands and tapped the parchment. "Look here—I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!"
As soon as they finished speaking, Ryan was surprised to see black ink lines extending across the blank parchment, forming a dense outline. It depicted Hogwarts Castle, along with four codenames—Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. The twins unfolded the parchment, allowing Ryan to see what was inside.
"A map of the castle?" Ryan, who had memorized the structure of Hogwarts practically by heart, only needed a cursory glance to recognize it as the Hogwarts map.
"That's right," The twins clapped their hands and said with a grin. "It's the Marauder's Map!" They happily explained the map's origins. Simply put, they had been caught on a night out in their first year and had stumbled upon it while cleaning Filch's office.
"We think it might be something Filch confiscated in the past, or perhaps it was deliberately confiscated by those who left it behind—he's a Squib, he can't detect the secret!" Fred was pleased. "Isn't it cool? A perfect prank, right under our noses!"
George added, "Ever since we got this treasure, we've embarked on a glorious but lonely life of nocturnal wanderings... Filch still thinks we cast a spell on him, so he and his cat can't catch us!"
As they spoke, they handed the map to Ryan. The boy took it and examined its full scope. It was a holographic map, with every floor of Hogwarts depicted within the pages—as one of the designers of Hogwarts, Ryan was certain that the secret passages were fully documented.
Meanwhile, footprints appeared out of thin air on the map, each with its corresponding name. For example, Ryan could see Dumbledore's footsteps in the Headmaster's office, seemingly pacing. And in the Potions office, Snape's footsteps were frozen.
In addition, Ryan saw many names on it.
There were familiar names—such as Hermione, Harry, and Ron... They were also on a night tour tonight, and were in the trophy display room. In addition, there were some names that he was not very familiar with or did not recognize.
"Cedric Diggory, Lee Jordan, Quirinus Quirrell, Peter Pettigrew..." Ryan only glanced at it, knowing that most of these were young wizards on a night tour... Oh, and professors. But soon, he was surprised to see his own name and the twins' names—their positions on the map were exactly correct.
So...
"Incredible." Even Ryan couldn't help but murmur in surprise.
---
Author's note
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