Chapter 84: Marauder's Map
The next day, Ethan knocked on Snape's office door. "Professor, I've come to request some ingredients to brew a potion."
Snape said nothing, simply nodded for Ethan to list the ingredients.
After listening, Snape looked at him expressionlessly. "You're the one who wandered last night, aren't you? Filch told me this morning that a Slytherin student was invisible, wandering the castle at night. He didn't catch anyone.
"So, you want to brew a scent-removal potion? Was it Filch's cat that smelled you last night?"
"Heh, can't hide from you."
"My first night wandering was last night, and Mrs. Norris saw through it. I want to brew a potion to hide my scent." Ethan smiled sheepishly.
"When you're done brewing, give me a copy as extra homework."
Snape gathered all the ingredients and handed them to him.
He took the materials from Snape, using Scarpin's Revelaspell to test them repeatedly before daring to use them.
He brewed the scent-removal potion. To test its effectiveness, he walked around Fang several times while under the Disillusionment Charm.
Fang, who could only hear footsteps but see no one and smell nothing, cowered into a ball, whimpering softly.
Only when Ethan became visible again did the timid dog excitedly jump up, trying to lick his face.
Satisfied with the potion's effect, Ethan used it that very night during his wanderings.
It worked well. When he stood before Mrs. Norris holding his breath, she didn't detect him.
Ethan continued wandering the castle night after night, practicing his magic in the Room of Requirement.
Until one day, the Room of Requirement wouldn't open.
He instantly understood someone was inside.
But he didn't leave, standing at the entrance, planning to wait three to five minutes to see if it was the Weasley twins.
Sure enough, after a while, a door appeared, opened a crack, and a head peeked out.
"Ethan? Is that you?"
"It's me," Ethan, invisible, answered softly.
The head twitched, locating the source of the sound, but saw nothing.
"Come in. Is that an Invisibility Cloak?"
"No, a Disillusionment Charm." Ethan opened the door wider and entered.
"Fred, where's Ethan? Gone?" It seemed Fred was the one who opened the door, as he was usually the instigator.
"I'm here." With that, he lifted the charm.
George set down his work and exclaimed, "That Disillusionment Charm is well done!"
Ethan modestly replied, "I just learned it recently."
"How did you know it was me outside the Room of Requirement?"
"Heh, with this." The two exchanged a smile, and Fred pulled out a square piece of parchment.
He tapped the parchment lightly with his wand.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
As soon as he finished speaking, thin ink lines like spiderwebs began to appear from where the wand had touched.
These lines converged, intertwined, and spread to every corner of the parchment.
Then, four curved lines of green text appeared at the top:
Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
are proud to present
the Marauder's Map
"The Marauder's Map. We swiped it from Filch's office in our first year," Fred said proudly.
"We were caught throwing Dungbombs in the corridor and got his usual speech."
"Detention..."
"...and have our guts strung up..."
The brothers spoke in perfect tandem, one after another.
"So, after exchanging glances, George dropped another Dungbomb while I pulled open the drawer and grabbed this."
"Ha ha ha, this might be our most rewarding accomplishment in first year." George laughed heartily, pointing at the map.
"See, it shows every detail of Hogwarts castle and grounds.
"And look at these moving ink dots, each labeled with a name. That's how we knew it was you standing outside."
Ethan carefully examined the figures, seeing Dumbledore pacing in his office, Snape brewing potions in the potions lab at midnight, and of course, Quirrell constantly moving in his office.
Ethan noticed, strangely, that Voldemort's name wasn't displayed, even though Dumbledore's was.
He suddenly had an idea and looked up at them. "Could you lend me this map for a while after Easter?"
"Well, boss, just take it if you need it." Fred's eyes showed the pain of having his beloved possession taken.
Ethan shook his head and declined. "No need. I just need to borrow it for a while. I have a Disillusionment Charm, so I won't need it for wandering at night. Besides, would you refuse me if I wanted to borrow it in the future?"
"Of course not." George smiled, relieved to have it back.
"What are you working on?" Ethan looked at the small, dark, sludge-like substance on the table.
"Portable Swamp. The trial versions we distributed before were still unstable, and the swamps they created weren't realistic. This is our newly developed swamp effect."
"Perfect timing. Come take a look. Does this look more like a real swamp?" George brought Ethan to their workbench.
"Yes, the texture is indeed close to swamp sludge, but the smell isn't quite right." He held his palm over the sludge and fanned.
"We've never seen a real swamp. We can only base it on book descriptions. If only we could visit a swamp to get real samples," Fred said regretfully.
"If you can't see a real swamp, you could dig a small pond somewhere in the school and use the smell of the mud instead. That might be more realistic than what you have now," Ethan suggested after some thought.
"We could try that."
"But it's hard to choose a location."
The two looked at each other and simultaneously said, "The Forbidden Forest!"
Ethan rubbed his forehead. "If Hagrid catches you, don't say it was my idea."
"Also, I suggest you dig the pond before vacation and let it fill with water. After summer break, you should have swamp mud."
The Forbidden Forest had been dangerous lately. Quirrell frequently hunted unicorns there to sustain Voldemort. Ethan couldn't guarantee Quirrell wouldn't suddenly turn on them.
"Good idea!" "Let's do it!"
The brothers readily agreed.
The Room of Requirement wasn't very suitable for magic practice tonight, so Ethan didn't stay long and soon returned to his dorm to rest.
Before drifting to sleep, a thought popped into his head: Ah, is this the earliest I've slept in half a month?
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