0242 Hanging by a thread

0242 Hanging by a thread

After a while, Bryan returned to his office and brushed off the ashes from his robe. He opened his hand to Sirius and said, "Filch said he will try to look for it again, but I don't have much hope."

This result was expected, so Sirius was only slightly disappointed for a moment before regaining his composure.

Perhaps because he had spent more time as an animal than as a human in the past few months, Sirius returned to the sofa, but instead of sitting down, he crawled on all fours like a cat or a dog. He felt more comfortable and natural in this posture, as if he had forgotten how to be a man. If it weren't for Bryan's strange gaze, he wouldn't have noticed anything wrong.

"Whether it's lost or destroyed, it doesn't matter," Sirius muttered to ease the awkwardness. "I just hope that thing doesn't end up in Peter's hands. Otherwise, he will be able to track all of us."

Bryan slowly returned to his desk. He had never seen the magical map that Sirius mentioned, so he lacked a certain understanding of its wonders. However, through the description, he could roughly understand how it worked. It was a map of Hogwarts that showed the location and identity of every person in the castle, regardless of their disguise or concealment.

Just like during the time when Voldemort was active many years ago, people were afraid to even say the name "Voldemort" because for a long time, Voldemort had placed a spell on his name. Names have power, and Voldemort used it to locate and brutally kill those wizards who dared to speak his name.

Over time, these three words became taboo in the wizarding world. People referred to him as "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" or simply "the Dark Lord". Only a few brave souls, like Dumbledore dared to utter his name.

"Names and Magic, you probably referred to this book's knowledge–" Bryan mused, stroking his chin, lost in thought.

As far as he knew, among all the conventional concealment spells, the Polyjuice Potion and the Animagus transformation were probably the most outstanding, especially the Animagus transformation. Even with Bryan's current eyesight, which was enhanced by his magic, it would be difficult to detect if he wasn't on guard. But Sirius claimed that the map could expose the disguises of the Polyjuice Potion and the Animagus transformation, which was truly remarkable.

"I can't tell you how we did it," Sirius said, surprising Bryan with his level of wizardry. Sirius's face regained a bit of color, and he looked proud. He had a mischievous grin on his face, as if he was recalling some of the pranks he and his friends had pulled with the map. But in the face of Bryan's subsequent questions, Sirius regretfully said,

"In order to make this map work, the four of us spent a long time. Just designing the magical corridors related to alchemy took us several months in the library. And when it came to the actual production stage, 'Names and Magic' was just the basic framework of the map. Each of us used our own expertise in magic on the map, some using incomplete ancient magic from the restricted section, some magic exclusive in our family library. You know, Bryan, considering our magical abilities at the time, it was beyond our capabilities to contain so much magic on a piece of ordinary parchment. Some tracking spells failed, some merged together, so..."

Sirius spread his hands, feigning innocence. He shrugged, as if to say that he didn't know what they had done, or what they had created.

Bryan nodded. One of the wonders of magic was its unpredictability.

"So, there's no way to evade the tracking of the map?" Bryan asked, feeling less pleased now that he might be the one being monitored. Especially after what happened with Cliodna, he was wary of any means that could mysteriously find him.

"So, we came to ask," Fred said seriously, looking at Harry. "Have you talked to anyone about the map?"

Harry obviously didn't make such a stupid mistake. He hadn't mentioned it to anyone except Ron and Hermione. He shook his head, and said, "No, I haven't. I swear." He looked confused, and said, "But how did Professor Watson know about it? And if he knew about it then why did he let me keep it?"

Maybe Professor Watson found something related to the map, but the chances of that happening were slim. Harry had kept the map in his backpack, and he had never left it unattended.

"Maybe it's Professor Lupin," After a moment of silence, Harry, who was thinking, suddenly raised his head and said to Ron and Hermione,

"Remember that strange question he asked me that night? He asked if I had any help in finding the passage under the Whomping Willow?"

Harry's guess was reasonable, but it raised a new question: how did Professor Lupin find out about the map's existence?

"Is the map on you, Harry?" Hermione's question reminded Harry. He opened his backpack and hurriedly spread the parchment on the table, then tapped it lightly with his wand. He said, "I'll show you. Maybe we can find some clues."

In an instant, fine ink lines spread like a spider's web from the tip of the wand, connecting and intertwining, expanding to every corner of the parchment. The lines formed words and symbols, names and locations, showing a detailed map of Hogwarts and its surroundings. The map was alive, and it showed the movements and identities of every person in the castle.

Even though Ron had seen the Marauder's Map before, he still looked at it with awe. Hermione, on the other hand, instinctively averted her gaze, but after a moment, she suppressed her thoughts about the map's mysterious origin and turned her head back. However, she suddenly noticed that Harry's face had turned pale, and something seemed off.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione's heart raced, thinking of the notebook from last year.

"Nothing," Harry said, pointing to the spot where Professor Watson's office should be. He expected to see his name and location on the map, but there was nothing there, just a blank space. It seemed that Professor Watson and their suspected Professor Lupin were not in their offices.

'But the disappearing name... Was it my imagination???' Harry thought, feeling a chill in his spine.

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