"These two rascals," Dylan muttered, shaking his head.
He then gracefully unraveled the parchment from its humble canvas wrapping. In his hands, the Marauder's Map lay before him. Dylan gazed down at the surface, which, at first glance, appeared to be nothing more than a simple, blank piece of parchment. It held no apparent magical properties or distinguishing features.
Dylan took out his wand and tapped it gently on the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
This incantation was practically the spell to awaken this magical artifact. As the words left his lips, dark ink lines began to spread across the map. These lines gradually revealed the intricate layout of Hogwarts Castle, along with its hidden passages and secret shortcuts.
Dylan immediately spotted a lone footprint moving at a surprisingly steady, almost rigid, yet strangely swift pace along a corridor leading to the underground classrooms. "Hmm," Dylan mused, pulling his gaze away. The owner of that particular footprint was undoubtedly clear.
His eyes then darted to his own location. Three sets of footprints stood side by side. One pair remained steadfast, rooted to the spot, while the other two shuffled back and forth, seemingly pacing in place.
"Alright, you two," Dylan sighed, looking at his companions, "can you please settle down and stop jigging about?"
George shrugged. "If you insist."
Fred let out a hearty laugh. "Isn't it brilliant? The moment George and I figured out what this thing did, I was absolutely certain! It's the ultimate prankster's tool, made by a true master of mischief! Simply amazing!"
Dylan gave a slight smirk. If one were to put it that way, then yes, the Marauder's Map was more than just interesting; it was a symbol, a testament to the sheer ingenuity and depth of pure-blood wizarding families. It wasn't about how difficult the map was to make. In truth, creating such a map merely required combining several different charms onto a single piece of parchment.
The first spell, of course, was the Hominem Revelio Charm. This was the pivotal and most crucial enchantment for the Marauder's Map. Without it, the map wouldn't be able to function as a map at all. It allowed the map to track the footsteps of everyone within the castle, revealing the movements of all individuals within the school grounds. Moreover, whether someone had transformed using Animagus, ingested Polyjuice Potion, or even donned an Invisibility Cloak, the Marauder's Map would still reveal their presence.
The Hominem Revelio Charm could be seen as an amplified version of the Trace Charm. It wasn't limited to a single target but could cover an entire area, revealing the whereabouts of everyone within it. It even possessed the ability to penetrate concealing magic, specifically targeting Invisibility Cloaks. Because the spell affected an entire area, while an Invisibility Cloak might make someone invisible to the naked eye, their presence would still be revealed if they were within the enchanted zone. As for Animagus transformations and Polyjuice Potions, they were even less effective against it. These transformations merely altered one's form; they didn't make a person completely unseen like an Invisibility Cloak. Their shape would still be displayed. As long as a person existed and hadn't vanished into thin air, the Marauder's Map would track them.
The second enchantment on the map was for its activation and deactivation. This Concealment and Revelation Charm was quite straightforward in its function.
The third enchantment was the Banishment and Insulting Charm. As for why the Marauders, or rather, the Plunderers, would include such a spell... Dylan blinked. It was quite clear they didn't want Professor Snape to be able to use the map. If Professor Snape ever got his hands on it, all it would show him were crude, insulting words. Knowing Professor Snape's temperament, he would surely think it was another one of those pranks cooked up by the Potters specifically to humiliate him. Of course, Professor Snape wouldn't even touch the map if he knew it was made by the Marauders in the first place.
Dylan could tell that the map's enchantments weren't limited to just those three. He knew both the Hominem Revelio Charm and how to fix spells onto an object. In fact, he had even learned the counter-charm to Hominem Revelio—the Concealment Charm—from Professor Flitwick. Hiding text on the map or setting a password to activate it was also a simple matter.
Of course, this "simple" was relative to Dylan's own skill level. At his current proficiency, these spells were child's play. But truly, not even witches and wizards two years his senior would necessarily understand them! The Marauders, when they made this map, were only fifth or sixth-year students at Hogwarts. It had to be said, the students during Professor Snape's time were quite something.
What truly fascinated Dylan was something even deeper—the reason why the Marauder's Map had remained undiscovered for so long, its true function unknown. It wasn't merely its ability to hide text. Remember, Filch had previously categorized this map under "highly dangerous items." Even if Filch didn't know the map's exact function back then, it was something created by troublesome little wizards, so he kept it securely put away. Later, when the map was stolen, he tried to get it back, but after so long with no sign of it, no anomaly whatsoever, Filch simply gave up trying to retrieve the parchment.
"This ability to hide tracks and trace footsteps..." Dylan turned the map over and over in his hands. Although Animagus transformations were also tracked by the Marauder's Map, Animagus forms could even fool Dementors. Dylan wondered if the map tracked all living beings in an area, or if it specifically targeted only humans.
A few images flashed through his mind. Dylan used divination to recall records concerning the Marauder's Map. The map could track not only humans but also wizards' pets, house-elves, ghosts, and apparently more.
"I wonder if the map would still detect my presence if I were inside my briefcase?" If so, that would be truly astonishing. Dylan found it hard to imagine such a detection method being developed by a fifth or sixth-year student. This was one of the reasons Dylan marvelled at the depths of pure-blood families. However, whether the map tracked all creatures within such a vast area, or simply detected the presence of a creature that had transformed into an Animagus, wasn't terribly important anymore.
"I'll have to test later if the Fidelius Charm would be affected by this map." Dylan hadn't really considered the map's purpose before. Even now that he held the Marauder's Map in his hands, he simply wanted to study it. And, of course, to see if he could gain any inspiration from it. He certainly didn't want to be discovered every night when he secretly met Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest to look after their child, Norbert.
Speaking of which... Dylan looked up, his gaze sweeping over the two Weasley brothers. The originally cheerful pair suddenly felt a surge of foreboding under Dylan's quiet scrutiny.
"Have you two ever tried to use this map to see where I am?"
George and Fred's expressions instantly froze. They began to stammer. "Well..."
"We don't usually use this map."
"Right, right, we're almost always researching new items every day!"
"So we don't have time to play with the map!"
"Besides, the map isn't even that fun; it just shows where people are."
Dylan narrowed his eyes, staring directly at them. Fred and George lowered their heads further and further, until they looked as if they wanted to burrow into their chests. Dylan scoffed. "Since you've already checked my whereabouts, I won't waste time experimenting myself."
"Tell me, every time you checked my whereabouts, could you always see where I was?"
Fred and George exchanged a glance. Fred swallowed, then said, "Actually, sometimes we were quite puzzled."
George nodded cautiously. "Fred and I would notice your trace suddenly vanish from the map."
Dylan remained silent, his eyes still narrowed. Suddenly vanished from the map? After a moment of thought, Dylan spoke. "Roughly what times, and for how long?"
"Uh, the times varied, and the duration wasn't fixed either, but most of the time it was at night—"
"So, you two have been secretly checking my whereabouts almost every day?" Dylan's voice was chilling.
George: ( ; ) Fred: ( ω｀ l )
Both of them suddenly broke into violent coughing. "Cough, cough, cough! Dylan, believe me, I swear I haven't!"
"I swear too! I swear on Merlin's saggy trousers! I absolutely haven't been secretly watching you every day!"
"It's just... occasionally we get curious about what you're doing..."
"Yes, absolutely just occasionally—"
Fred and George explained, one after the other. But the more they explained, the softer their voices became, losing all conviction. George suddenly remembered something and, with a jolt, quickly added, "We really don't look at the map every day, so Dylan, we're not quite sure how long your trace was gone from the map."
Fred nodded repeatedly. "Exactly! One time we tried to calculate it, but your trace still hadn't appeared even at midnight, so we just fell asleep."
George scratched the back of his head. "The quickest time, I think your trace was only gone for about ten minutes, Dylan."
Both of them fell silent after that, looking meekly at Dylan. They didn't ask what Dylan was doing during those disappeared times, though they were certainly a little curious. Dylan stroked his chin, glancing at the Marauder's Map in his hand. It seemed that once he entered his pet space, even the Marauder's Map couldn't detect his presence. It made sense, really. After all, his pet space could practically be called another world now. No matter how extraordinary the Marauder's Map was, could it truly overcome spatial interference?
Dylan pondered for a moment. He planned to study the enchantments on the Marauder's Map in the next couple of days, and then completely erase his own trace from it. After that, he could give the map to Harry. It wasn't much use to him anyway.
He looked up at the two trembling brothers. "Alright, I wasn't off committing murder, you know. Have you forgotten I have a briefcase?"
Hearing this, the Weasley twins paused, blinked, and then came to their senses. "Dylan, you mean, during the time your trace disappeared..."
"You were in your briefcase?"
They had never seen anyone else with a spatial briefcase that could practically serve as a room. So they truly didn't know if entering another space would make one disappear from the Marauder's Map. Dylan couldn't be bothered to explain it to them. The more he explained, the more questions they would have. Especially these two brothers who seemed to know no fatigue. If he really opened that Pandora's Box, these two goofballs would probably badger him until they got every last detail.
Dylan directly changed the subject. "Can you see people in the Forbidden Forest?"
Fred and George exchanged glances and both shook their heads. "No."
"The map can't detect such a large area."
"Only traces within Hogwarts can appear on the map."
"However..." George paused.
Fred cautiously looked up.
Dylan gave a hum. "However, once I leave Hogwarts, my trace naturally won't be on the map anymore, right?"
The brothers nodded. Dylan wasn't surprised by this answer. "Alright, I know." He looked at the two brothers, who were starting to shiver a bit, and his expression darkened. "Why are you two looking so scared? Do you think I'm going to eat you?" His tone softened slightly. "The fact that you were willing to give this to me tells me that you wouldn't recklessly use it to spy on me."
"If your conscience is clear, then what's there to be nervous about?"
The Weasley twins were momentarily stunned. "You mean, you're not mad that we checked on you?"
"We really swear, we absolutely didn't randomly spy on your location or track your movements!"
"And besides..."
Dylan waved his hand, cutting off their rambling. "I'm not mad. Anyway, the places I go aren't exactly secret."
Fred seemed to agree with this. "Right, when we first knew you, we wanted to use the map to see where you were—"
"But you were either in Professor Snape's office, or Professor McGonagall's office, or Professor Flitwick's office..."
"After that, we didn't really spy on you much."
"No, wait, how is that spying? We just wanted to know where Dylan was, to see if it was convenient to go play with him."
The two brothers started arguing among themselves. Dylan rolled his eyes. "I'll accept this gift for now. Thank you, I like it very much."
Dylan's thanks stopped the squabbling pair. They both looked over at him in unison, their eyes shining brightly. "Dylan, you really like it?"
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