"What happened next?" Harry asked curiously, "What did you do again?"
"Yes, yes... Then, we 'accidentally' noticed the drawers of Filch's filing cabinet. One of the drawers said: Confiscated supplies, highly dangerous."
"Don't tell me you-" Harry said, unable to help but laugh, "Well, what did you do?"
Fred winked at Harry and said, "George threw another dung bomb to distract him. And I quickly opened the drawer and grabbed - this!"
He said, pointing to the old parchment on the table.
"It's not as bad as it sounds, you know," said George. "We don't think Filch ever discovered how to use this parchment... but he probably guessed what it was, or else he wouldn't It won’t be confiscated.”
"Do you know how to use it?"
"Oh, yes," Fred said with a silly smile, "This little thing has taught us more than all the teachers in the school!"
"Are you kidding me?" Harry looked at the tattered parchment with a look of disbelief.
"Oh, you said we lied to you?" George spread his hands exaggeratedly, then took out his wand and tapped the parchment lightly.
"I solemnly swear that I have done nothing wrong."
Suddenly, thin lines of ink began to spread like a spider web from the place where the wand had just touched.
These lines intertwined with each other and extended to every corner of the parchment, and then some curved dark green writing began to appear on the top of the parchment:
"Suppliers of magical mischief makers: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs—Gentlemen proudly present the Marauder's Map!"
This map details everything within Hogwarts.
But the really remarkable things are the tiny dots of ink that move along the map, each labeled with a name in tiny letters.
Harry was so surprised that he leaned over to take a closer look.
A small dot of ink in the upper left corner shows Professor Dumbledore pacing the study; Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris, prowling the third floor; and Peeves, the prankster ghost, hopping around the trophy room.
Harry's eyes flicked up and down the familiar corridor.
"Uh-" Harry suddenly raised his head and looked at the Weasley twins, "Have you seen Maka?"
"Oh, let's see... um... maybe he has left school?" George shrugged, "Don't worry about that, today I mainly want you to see -"
Following George's finger, Harry noticed something.
The map showed a series of passages he had never entered before, many of which seemed to lead to...
"That's the one leading to Hogsmeade," said Fred, pointing his finger along one of the passages. "There are seven of them! Well, Filch knows these four—"
He pointed out the four strips one by one, "But we are sure that only we know about the other ones... Don't bother with the one behind the mirror on the fifth floor. We used it until last winter, but it collapsed - completely blocked. .”
"We don't think anyone has walked through this one, because the whomping willow was planted at its entrance..."
"But this one - yes, look at this one. It leads all the way down to Honeydukes' cellar, which we've walked through many times. You may have noticed that the entrance is just below this room, through this one-eyed old woman. The hunchback."
"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," Qiao Qia sighed as he patted the title of this map, "We owe them a lot!"
"A noble man, working tirelessly to help the new generation of rule-breakers!" Fred said solemnly.
"By the way," George said briskly, "don't forget to wipe it off after use!"
"—or others will see it," Fred warned. "Just tap it again and say 'Prank done' and it becomes a blank parchment again."
"Well, little Harry," said Fred, mimicking Percy's accent, "just remember to behave yourself."
"Meet you at Honeydukes," George said with a wink.
Then they both left with satisfied giggles.
…
In fact, Maka is indeed not in school. At the moment, he and Tyrande are visiting the administrator family of Hogsmeade Village!
"...Mr. Horsa, this event is also to commemorate the founder Hanjis." Maka sat on the sofa and said calmly, "You have to know that I am also a member of Hufflepuff College, and Hanjis So does Mr. Si—it’s an honor for our college.”
Opposite him, a fat old man with a big brown beard was half lying on another larger sofa. If we only talk about the width, he is almost like a lost brother of Hagrid.
The fat old man Horsa looked at Maka lazily and said: "Yes, this does sound like a good proposal... My great ancestor created Hogsmeade village here. This is something worth recording in the UK. A major event in the history of magic!"
"In fact, it was indeed recorded in the history of British magic." Maka agreed.
"Yes, you are right." Horsa stretched out a fat finger, pointed at Maka and said, "To be honest, I also really want to go to this open-air party, but it's a pity. My body—you know.”
"I don't care about other people's comments about my figure. It's not a big deal... but I have to say, it makes me feel a little tired." Horsa said naggingly. "It's really not convenient to move around. …”
Behind Horsa, a woman who looked like a nurse patted his shoulder gently.
"Sir, it's time to take your medicine," she said.
Horsa narrowed his eyes and shook his fat head slightly.
"Okay, okay - then I won't send you off," he said to Maka, "Child, I agree to this event - I have no reason to refuse - I will let my son attend on my behalf."
After that, Maka nodded to Tyrande who was sitting next to her, then politely stood up and left.
"I said, ahem... Mr. McClain..." Outside the house, Tyrande kept staring at Maka, "I think I'm still not quite... ahem... not quite able to accept this fact -"
"The first thing businessmen care about is profit," Maka said calmly, "But I am very happy. Sometimes, more humane cooperation is more conducive to continuation and development."
"But I don't see how you are happy at all." Tyrande couldn't help but secretly cursed.
After taking only a few steps, Tyrande couldn't hold back anymore.
"Mr. MacLean," he asked again, "I also want to ask, your event this time... ahem... although it didn't cost many gold galleons, after all, it was, ahem... it was also a sum of money -"
"You want to ask what's the value?" Maka turned around and asked.
"Ahem... yes!" Tyrande said.
"This is a favor investment with an uncertain return," Maka said naturally, "I also said it just now - I like cooperation with a more human touch."
After learning this from him, how could Tyrande, who was always doing business in the magical world, still not understand? Indeed, building a good relationship with graduating students is a low-cost and efficient option.
If done correctly, Macca can build a network of his own in just a few years. No matter what the results are, the value that can be created will definitely be higher than the cost of investment.
And the most important thing is - this kind of investment is not complicated and does not require frequent follow-up operations.
The relationship between people is sometimes that simple.
"This is like... ahem... a shrunken Hogwarts?" Tyrande couldn't help but said.
But Maka shook her head: "That requires a strong strength to support it - the pharmacist's ability alone is not enough."
"You want to be the next...Dumbledore?" Tyrande's eyes widened.
In fact, Tyrande meant to say "Grindelwald."
After all, the latter did it more directly and more thoroughly; he left a dark legend in the wizarding world - but he failed. Dumbledore used his personal strength to defeat him in an unprecedented duel.
However, Maka still shook her head.
"I am who I am, not who is next." He said calmly, "I have no love to protect the magic world, nor do I have the ambition to conquer and change the magic world... I am just preparing for a rainy day, that's all."
The two of them talked from time to time and walked towards the main road of Hogsmeade Village.
…
On the other side, Harry had followed the secret passage to Duke Bee's cellar.
It was filled with wooden chairs, boxes, and barrels, probably filled with all kinds of inventory.
Harry climbed out of the trap door and closed it carefully - it blended so seamlessly into the dusty floor that it was hard to tell there was such a door.
He slowly climbed toward the wooden stairs leading upstairs.
Now he was convinced that he heard various voices, not to mention the sound of bells ringing and doors opening and closing.
Harry didn't know what he should do. At this moment, he suddenly heard a door opening very close and someone was about to go downstairs.
"Get another box of jelly slugs, honey... they're almost out of our stock..." a woman's voice came down.
Immediately, a pair of feet stepped onto the stairs.
Harry quickly got behind a huge wooden crate and waited for the footsteps to fade away.
He heard the man moving boxes against the opposite wall. He felt that he might not get another chance—
Harry came out of his hiding place quickly and silently and climbed the stairs as fast as he could; looking back, he saw an extremely broad back and a shiny head buried under a trunk.
He walked to the door at the top of the stairs, slipped out, and found himself behind the counter of Honeydukes.
Honeydukes was packed with Hogwarts students as always, and no one gave Harry a second glance.
Harry walked among them, looking around.