Chapter 248. The Lost Map
At the same time, in Adrian Wesson's office.
He was using a delicate magical needle to draw fresh blood from his arm.
This kind of magical needle could find a person's vein on its own and channel the blood out.
As for why Adrian was doing this—of course, it was to brew Growth Potion.
In fact, Adrian had a large blood bank, and what was stored in it was all his own blood.
But he had discovered that, as time went by, the amount of Variant Factor in his blood was slowly increasing.
So the Growth Potion brewed with fresh blood worked much better.
"Phew—" After extracting two vials of his own fresh blood, Adrian set them in a small box. It was a custom potion box designed specifically for storing blood, able to guarantee at least ten years of vitality.
When all this was done, Adrian poured himself a large, brimming glass of his homemade Blood-Replenishing Potion.
Lemon-flavoured—tart, sweet, very tasty.
Adrian felt that if he were willing to open a potion beverage shop, he would definitely make a fortune.
Of course, that would be far too time-consuming.
Maybe he could sell his potion recipes…
Just as Adrian's thoughts were running wild—
"Knock, knock!"
The office door was suddenly rapped.
"Come in!"
Adrian sat down behind his desk and took an unhurried sip of the Blood-Replenishing Potion.
The office door was flung open; George and Fred burst in like a whirlwind.
"Professor!" they panted. "We need your help!"
Adrian arched an eyebrow and set down his Blood-Replenishing Potion with great deliberation. "No rush, you two. What's happened?"
"The map!" George got straight to the point. "We were out last night and our Marauder's Map went missing."
Adrian froze for a second, then let out a slow sigh. "All right, you two—I will pretend I didn't hear about your nighttime roaming. But how did your Marauder's Map go missing?"
"We don't know," Fred said miserably. "It was like it vanished into thin air. When we needed it, it just wasn't there."
Hearing this, Adrian rubbed his chin. "No leads? In that case, I'm afraid I'm powerless."
Fred and George exchanged a look, and saw the same bewilderment in each other's eyes.
They didn't know how the map had gone missing, nor when it had gone missing.
Trying to find something with no leads whatsoever was practically like searching for a needle in a haystack.
"Professor," George scratched his head, "do you have any… er… spells or tools that can track a magical object?"
"Of course not."
Adrian gave a helpless little laugh.
If such a convenient tool existed, he would have dragged Sirius Black back long ago.
"That's awful!"
The twins' faces fell in unison.
It looked like they wouldn't be getting the Marauder's Map back any time soon.
"However…" Adrian, seeing how dejected they were, added, "I can ask around for you. Naturally—"
He raised a finger, dashing cold water on the hope that had just rekindled in their eyes: "Don't get your hopes up."
Fred's shoulders slumped. "All right—better than nothing… Thank you for your help, Professor Wesson."
After the twins left, Adrian wore a thoughtful expression.
So the Marauder's Map had gone missing—that was unexpected.
Still, it didn't have much to do with him.
Perhaps some student had taken it.
Or Sirius Black?
The last week of term.
Snow was falling thick and fast; in a single night it had swathed the castle in silver and white.
Even so, the blizzard did not dampen the students' enthusiasm, because a Hogsmeade weekend had come round again.
On Saturday morning, students filed out through the gates, heading for the village.
Harry and the other two were among them.
Early that morning, they had already wrapped on their scarves and thrown on thick robes.
On the stairs in Gryffindor Tower, they ran into the Weasley twins.
"Hello there, Ickle Ronniekins."
The twins hemmed Ron in left and right, slinging an arm around his neck.
At some point, "Ickle Ronniekins" had become the twins' exclusive nickname for Ron.
"Don't call me that, I'm begging you!" Ron said in despair. "We're on our way to Hogsmeade."
"Ah, what a coincidence," George said with a grin. "So are we."
"You ought to wear heavier robes," Hermione advised after giving them a once-over. "It's a blizzard out, and Hogsmeade isn't exactly next door."
"No worries—we've got a secret weapon," Fred said airily. "Oh, time's getting on. See you."
The three watched the twins head off the opposite way.
"Where are they going?" Hermione asked, puzzled. "Aren't we going to Hogsmeade?"
"Follow them and see," Ron decided on the spot. "They're probably up to some trick again."
"Following people isn't a very good habit…"
Before Hermione could finish, Ron was already tailing them on the quiet.
Seeing this, Harry and Hermione had no choice but to follow as well.
After a few flights of stairs and a couple of corridors, the twins stopped before a statue of a one-eyed witch with a crutch.
Ron's trio hid around a nearby corner.
"We really shouldn't be doing this…" Hermione muttered under her breath.
Of course, though she said so, her feet were being very honest.
Just then the twins moved. George muttered something under his breath and tapped the statue of the One-Eyed Witch.
At his touch, the statue split open, revealing a pitch-black opening.
"Ha! You two—" Ron darted out from the corner and shouted, "I've caught you!"
The twins jumped and spun round at once.
When they saw it was Harry and the other two, they let out a breath of relief.
"Keep your voice down, Ickle Ronniekins," George said quickly. "Don't let anyone else hear."
"What is this?" Harry stepped forward, pointing curiously at the hole.
Since the secret passage had been discovered, the twins didn't bother to hide it.
"A passage," Fred explained. "It leads to Honeydukes in Hogsmeade."
"I never knew Hogwarts had passages like this!" Hermione said in surprise.
"There's a lot about Hogwarts you don't know," George said with a proud little smile. "And this is only one of the secret passages we know."
Ron's eyes lit up at once. "What are the others?"
"Can't tell you that," Fred said slyly. "Even if you are our dearest Ickle Ronniekins—perhaps you can try tailing us again."
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