"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Malfoy, wearing pajamas, leaned back comfortably on his small bed, took out his wand, and gently touched the parchment.
Of course, before that, he had cast a layer of magic around his bed that could absorb light, so as to ensure that the flickering light would not disturb his sleeping roommates.
Almost instantly, fine ink lines like spider webs began to appear from where the wand had just touched.
These lines converged and crossed each other, extending to every corner of the parchment; then, words began to appear above the parchment, in curved green letters, which read:
Messrs.
Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
Suppliers of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
Are proud to present
The Marauder's Map
These words quickly faded away, and then new words appeared on the parchment:
Mr. Moony welcomes the new owner of the map and hopes that he can make good use of it for the right purposes.
Mr. Prongs declares that he is not happy to accept a Slytherin user.
Mr. Padfoot says that he doesn't mind the identity of the holder, but only hopes that the holder can continue the great mischief-making business.
Mr. Wormtail agrees with what they said.
After these sentences flashed above the parchment, the words completely faded away, and the ink seemed to dissolve, seeping into the gaps of the Marauder's Map.
Looking at the detailed details of Hogwarts Castle and various locations drawn on the map in black ink, Malfoy could only use the word genius to describe the creators of the Marauder's Map.
Perhaps the impression that wizards usually give is that they are a template existence with extraordinary powers, and no one can deeply understand the preciousness of the Marauder's Map. No matter how powerful it is, it is just a map.
However, this magical item, in various senses, shows something that is not only limited to a map.
What is the first step in drawing an ordinary map?
Of course, it is to be familiar with the location to be drawn.
The Marauders' exploration of Hogwarts has surpassed all previous students.
The three Animagi were a great help to their adventures in Hogwarts. In the 20th century, there were only eleven registered and unregistered Animagi, and they accounted for a small half of them.
No one would unnecessarily suspect that a mouse or a black dog is an Animagus, just like Muggles walking on the street would not think that everyone is a wizard, which provided too much convenience for their exploration and adventure.
When helping Lupin on the night of the full moon, they may not have known how many related secret passages they had explored. They found seven just through Hogsmeade Village.
Apart from the Room of Requirement, which has special magical protection, and the Great Lake, which is too difficult to explore, the map details the entire Hogwarts Castle, from the Quidditch pitch to the Forbidden Forest, from the Great Hall to the stairs, everything is simply perfect.
Just for the concept of the map, no one can do better than them, and the landscape lines on it are also very beautiful. The smooth and powerful lines outline the beautiful outline of Hogwarts, and the various intersecting and complex road sections are also clear and strive to be concise, reflecting a high degree of aesthetics.
"Tentacle monster." Malfoy sighed slightly, and once again sincerely admired the creators of the map.
Not to mention the map's ability to display people's names.
The Ministry of Magic uses the Trace to track the location of underage wizards, which is already a huge project. It is impossible for the Marauders to collect the names of all the wizards in the world and then create the Marauder's Map.
Then the solution is obvious.
They may have set up a Trace-like existence in every inch of the castle. When someone steps in, those Trace-like existences will automatically detect it and then display their names on the map.
This spell may be called the Tracking Charm.
Even so, this is still an extremely large project. Perhaps their spare time, apart from pranks, was mostly spent on this, in order to ensure that there were no omissions.
"Are you in detention again?" Malfoy suddenly saw that the two small dots symbolizing the Weasley twins did not appear in their dormitory, but stayed in Filch's small house.
Turning his gaze, he turned his attention to Ron's bedroom. Not surprisingly, apart from Harry, who was still in the hospital, and his roommates, a small ink dot was marked with very small letters: "Peter Pettigrew."
"Sleeping in bed with an old man for many years, it's really disgusting to think about it." Thinking of this, Malfoy felt a chill and couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for someone.
"Can't be distracted." Malfoy suddenly became alert and reminded himself.
Peeping into other people's privacy is a very satisfying behavior. Think about it, you only need to stare at the map with your own eyes, and you can know the movements of anyone in the castle. With just a little reasoning, you can know what he wants to do, go to class or read in the library. Everyone's behavior, as long as you want, you can grasp it.
This will give you a sense of control over everything.
As long as you want, you can show a mysterious smile in front of someone and say: "Hey, what did you secretly sneak out of the dormitory to do with Judy last night?", and then enjoy the surprised eyes of others, and the somewhat fearful look in your eyes, and taste the satisfaction that should not belong to you.
If a person with evil intentions masters its use, it may really be a disaster.
Adjusting his mentality, Malfoy then concentrated on searching for his target—Sirius Black.
"Too obvious." Looking at an ink dot that moved extremely quickly, Malfoy showed a faint smile.
He was obviously trapped at the password checkpoint, so he could only choose to give up and return the same way in a dejected manner. But on the way back, compared to the speed when he came, Black's speed slowed down. Now there were many Aurors in the corridors, walking back and forth from time to time, holding up their wands and releasing the Lumos spell to check the surroundings, not letting go of any suspicious corners.
What is displayed on the map is many small ink dots symbolizing the names of the Aurors.
Whenever he seemed inevitably about to encounter the patrolling personnel, he could always find another unexpected secret passage, turn over and go in, and shuttle through the narrow paths hidden in the darkness.
Malfoy just watched this little black dot rush left and right, and finally left the scope of the Marauder's Map and arrived at Hogsmeade Village.
"You won't be so lucky next time." Malfoy tapped the parchment in front of him lightly with his finger and murmured in a low voice.
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