The Ghost of His Smile

Chapter 6: The Marauders Map

Chapter 6: The Marauders Map

As stated in the previous chapter the marauders left a letter detailing helpful hints and wisdom which helped the twins greatly in their endeavours to continue the spirit of mischief, they had cultivated in their time at Hogwarts.

Did you ever wonder why Fred and George took what seemed to by a blank piece of old parchment from Filch's office in their first year? Did you ever wonder how the twins came by the information to read this map and to be able to make sure that no one else could? This is the story of how the twins came by the map that helped them so greatly.

I suppose you just assumed that Filch just had the map in one of his many cabinets, in which he stored all of his files on the naughty or misbehaved students at Hogwarts? Well you'd be wrong. I mean why would you confiscate an old bit of parchment from some kids? Exactly you wouldn't. (A.N. Snape was only trying to take it from Harry because he hates or at least strongly disliked Harry, as well as recognising it, and Lupin stopped it because he too recognised it, the names of cause confirming their suspicions.) No it was kept in a secret compartment that not even Filch knew about, and even if he did he would have been unable to open it as it required magic, a particular spell in which to open it. Kind of like the compartment under Georges bed.

Except unlike that compartment you literally could not have stumbled across it or opened it by accident. You would have first had to have found the secret compartment under a bed in the first year Gryffindor boys dorm, then you would have had to have been deemed worthy to open it by the wards around it, then you would have had to of been persistent enough to get it to open and close. Then you would have had to off been willing to get in trouble, with Filch enough to get you to take you to his office, and most likely written up in a file in one of those aforementioned cabinets. Finally you would have to be lucky (or devious) enough for him to be distracted long enough that you could get it without him noticing that you've done anything at all. Slightly more complicated than you would have thought yes?

: * MP * :

So I suppose you want to hear all about it then? Well a lot of people don't know or suspect that Fred and George Weasley are planners. They create detailed plans of attack, they plan out every little detail. In fact Fred once told me that planning was half the fun and they were both excited and disappointed when something didn't go to plan.

Now don't get me wrong they could be spontaneous too but they preferred to be the detailed mischievous planners then the fly by the seat of your pants kind of guys. They often would spend hours planning tricks and pranks. They hardly ever did anything (in relation to their pranks anyway) out of the blue though they were masters of making seem as if they did. It helped that they left enough wiggle room in each of their plans, that should previously unforeseen events happen, that they could compensate for that and still have the desired outcome.

The twins were also exceedingly talented in practical magic, particularly that of charms and transfiguration. And while this was a natural talent they also helped it grow by studying and learning different spells and charms, as well as other things like wand movements and pronunciations.

So to all you jack arses who think that the Twins didn't take their school work seriously, are ... were slightly dumb with a penchant for mischief and exceedingly lucky in their endeavours. Particularly that of their shop.

You are wrong. They are both exceedingly talented in magic and this is proved by their incredible and devious inventions. They exceeded in Charms, Transfiguration and Potions. However unlike most witches and wizards they are also creative, imaginative and inventive. They unlike many others before them have dared to follow their passions and schemed (there can't be another word for it) to do it, and in doing so have seceded beyond anyone else's imagination and in truth many people's belief in them. All save a few like their family, Harry Potter and me. Hell even some in their family like Percy and to some extent Mrs Weasley didn't believe that they could achieve it, or that it wouldn't be as lucrative as it was, or that they would get bored and quit when it became too hard.

Now don't get me wrong the Weasley are a very loving family and Molly is supportive of her family, but to her it just wasn't a safe bet. She just didn't want to watch her boys fail, or get disheartened when their venture went belly up. However you can bet she was the proudest mother in all of the wizarding world when her boys revealed that they did actually know what they are doing, and they could run a successful business.

I suppose I should get on with telling you how they did it then.

: * MP * :

First as I have mentioned they planned their deeds. Then decided that one of them was going to have to get in trouble by Filch enough to get taken to his office and the other was going to have to create the distraction they needed to get the Map. So to decide who got which job they did the mature thing and played 'Scissor, Paper, Rock'. After half an hour of playing it was finally decided that Fred would collect the Map and George would be the distraction.

They then studied Filch to determine the best time and place as well as deed that would get Fred in to his office, as well as where and what the distraction should be.

After a week of study they decided that Fred should start a flash mob in the second floor corridor on the left hand side at exactly 4.36pm on a Tuesday afternoon. He should get the other students to form a circle while he shows of his dance movies and plays music from his magically charmed muggle music player (a boom box). And that he should crank it up very loud so that the caretaker of Hogwarts would come to investigate his the disturbance in his usual route. They had determined that the caretaker had a serious dislike of students almost on par with Snape, but also disliked large amounts of noise. So they planned to tell the other students to run while Fred distracted him and "accidentally" got caught.

The plan went off without a hitch and Fred was escorted to Flitches broom cupboard of an office. Then he just had to sit (fidget) patiently while George came through with his part of the deal.

They had also noticed that Filch had a bit of a limp and could only move so fast. But that he often was left without the culprit of an accident because of this (even with his use of the secret passage ways).

So they decided that they needed to extend the chase as much as possible to get the map, and make it seem as if nothing had happened. So they decided that George would break something in the room right down the hall from Filch's office. That he would do this using the loudest means necessary and that he would wait to leave the room until Filch left his office and could see him. Then he would run leading the Caretaker on a wild gooses chase through the halls of Hogwarts. Dodging and weaving and trying to escape capture for as long as he could while leading the caretaker far away from his office, to give Fred the most time possible to get to the secret compartment and free the map.

Again this went of without a hitch George led the caretaker on the chase for twenty solid minutes and by the time he was caught they were on the other side of the castle and four stories up.

While George was puffed from running so long and navigating the stairs and of cause the adrenaline rush he got. Filch was practically exhausted, and his bad legging was about ready to kill him. As they slowly walked back to the caretakers office he caught his breath and bought Fred another ten minutes as Filch led George the long way, not willing to give the little trouble maker and access to the secret passageways and shortcuts.

: * MP * :

Suffice to say that this was their first encounter with Mr. Filch, but it was not their last, and that it was a success. It was also their first in-depth plan for pranks and their first realisation that they actually liked the planning side of it. They also realised that they quite enjoyed the thrill of the chase and a plan well executed. As well as their realisation that they did all of it without much magic at all, and they had successfully 'robbed' the caretakers office as first years, but not only that they had only been at Hogwarts about a month. It was a start of a beautiful career for the Twins.

Please let me know what you think. Reviews and Comments are appreciated. Thanks for sticking with me. I'll try and upload the next chapter ASAP

Love Always,

Mistress XoX