Early morning. Sunlight pierced through the castle's high walls, casting long, sharp shadows across the polished flagstone corridor.
Students walked instinctively along the right side, the halls so quiet you could hear nothing but their own orderly footsteps and a few distant coos drifting from the owlery.
Fred and George trudged through the line looking utterly defeated.
"Even the air's fallen into line," Fred muttered under his breath.
"This is a public insult to the Gryffindor spirit," George said, and irritably kicked a pebble at his feet.
It clattered down the silent corridor. TAP... TAP... TAP. Loud enough to make heads turn. The surrounding students shot them looks of immediate disapproval.
Peeves drifted overhead, humming a tune so catastrophically off-key it had clearly abandoned any pretense of melody. He floated past without throwing a single water balloon. Without screaming even once.
"Watch it, brats!"
He pulled a face at the twins, his voice pitched to full theatrical drama.
"The Dark Lord Black's eyes are everywhere! And that Magical Eye of his — it can see right through your socks!"
He slipped through the wall and vanished, leaving the twins staring after him in pure bafflement.
The legend of the Academic Affairs Office's panoramic surveillance map had apparently become Hogwarts's new code of conduct. Its deterrent power outstripped Argus Filch's shouting and Mrs. Norris's yowling by a considerable margin.
The twins exchanged a glance. They knew the map in Sirius Black's hands was the real one. The original. The actual Marauder's Map.
Professor McGonagall caught Douglas in the corridor before he could reach his office. Her face wore a rare expression , almost, by her standards, warmly genuine.
"Douglas, Hogwarts hasn't run this... smoothly in years." She adjusted her pointed hat, something unmistakably satisfied in her voice. "Yesterday I actually watched Peeves attempt to submit a written application to Mr. Filch before dismantling the chandelier in the Astronomy Tower."
Douglas smiled. "Order is the foundation of freedom, Professor."
The atmosphere inside the Academic Affairs Office, however, was considerably less dignified.
The huge, Douglas-modified Marauder's Map covered most of one wall, glowing with a soft steady light, every moving dot sharp and clear. Sirius Black had both feet propped up on the mahogany desk with absolutely no concern for appearances, his face set in the particular expression of a man who has given up on life.
He let out a groan the moment Douglas pushed the door open.
"I'm serious, Doug. Dealing with patrol schedules and student misconduct reports is worse than Azkaban." He dragged a hand through his still-impressively-dashing black hair. "At least in Azkaban I didn't have to write monthly summaries."
Before the words had fully settled, the office door swung open with a shove of brute force.
Moody walked in, leaning on his newly replaced wooden leg , rough-hewn, clearly a hasty job. THUMP... CLACK... THUMP... CLACK. Each heavy, uneven step landed like a fist on the chest.
His Magical Eye spun a wild circuit of the room before snapping onto the map and locking there. He moved as though Douglas, sitting to one side with a cup of tea, didn't exist.
"Black."
His voice came out like gravel.
"I've reviewed every incident report from last semester. The school's defense system has gaps."
His Magical Eye slid from the map to Douglas and back again, oscillating.
"I hear there are a few... very interesting practical classrooms in the school now?"
"For the safety of the students," he added, leaning into the words, "I need to know the specific functions and internal defenses of every location."
Sirius lowered his feet from the desk slowly. The last trace of laziness left his face. His gray eyes went sharp as a hawk's.
He stood, unhurried, and walked toward the map.
"During working hours, please use the proper title, Deputy Director." He put a deliberate weight on the words. "Safety is always the top priority."
His finger landed on a section of the map marked as a secret chamber.
"This one — formerly Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets. Now it functions as the senior-year practical exam facility and backup O.W.L. examination hall."
He moved his finger to several other rooms, each glowing with a distinct light.
"These are Defense Against the Dark Arts practical classrooms. Douglas's handiwork."
He lifted a parchment scroll from the desk and held it out to Moody.
"This is the individual ranking list from last semester's curse-breaking challenges. The students have come a long way."
Moody didn't take it. His Magical Eye stayed fixed on the map.
Sirius tapped the map lightly with two fingers. KNOCK KNOCK. Unhurried. Deliberate.
"I should mention, Deputy Director."
"Those spaces are Douglas's territory."
He glanced sideways at Douglas, who was still serenely drinking his tea.
"He's not as easy to deal with as I am." A flat pause. "If you're planning an inspection, I'd think carefully first about how sturdy that new leg of yours really is."
Moody's normal eye finally cut to the man who had been sitting there, undisturbed, through the entire exchange.
Douglas seemed not to have heard a single word. He was focused on dropping a lychee into his black tea.
Moody's Magical Eye drifted to the far edge of the map. It stopped on a tower , small, wholly unremarkable at first glance. A tower that didn't appear on any of Hogwarts's official architectural plans, which made it stand out all the more.
"What about the Demon-Suppressing Tower." The scrutiny in Moody's voice was unmistakable.
Sirius followed his gaze. Then he let out a short, dismissive snort.
"Oh, that."
His expression shifted into something between contempt and weary exasperation.
"Just a prop Douglas threw together to spook Peeves. The inside's stuffed with echo charms and illusion spells — all dark and creepy, like a haunted house. Peeves is absolutely terrified of it, brainless as he is."
Moody's normal eye narrowed. The suspicion there was undisguised.
He didn't press further. He made a low, noncommittal sound in his throat.
Then he turned and limped toward the door.
"Stay vigilant, Black."
In the last instant before the door closed, his electric-blue Magical Eye swept back one final time , and held, long and hard, on the tiny glowing dot marked Demon-Suppressing Tower.
The door slammed shut.
➤ Next: Hermione in Tears, Ideals Shattered! Douglas: Girl, Broaden Your Horizons!
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