✓ | Constellations; Fred Weasley [Book One]

Chapter 5

The Map And The Shack

On a day in mid October, Venus found herself at a table in the library, nose buried in a book of advanced charms, which was not a rare sight since she had been like this ever since school had started. In front of her laid a pile of several similar books, her mother's diary and a parchment. To everyone, it might look like only a piece of parchment. However, the Weasley twins and Venus knew that it was actually a map, that they had stolen from Filch's office in their first year at Hogwarts.

"This seems like an awful amount of research. What are you up to Venus?"

It was Grace that interrupted her study session. Of course it had to be a Ravenclaw, speaking of which, most of the students in the library were from the same house as the two. Venus smiled at her friend while deciding that the most convincing excuse would be that they had homework.

"Well you see, it's uh something for the Charms homework."

"Ah I get it. You can't tell me because we definitely did not have Charms homework."

Venus grinned at Grace gratefully, who smiled back before going to join her other friends. She was not bad at lying and could come up with the most convincing excuses but that was a bit difficult when she had to lie to someone who was at the same level as her when it came to wit and intelligence and who knew her well. As if on cue, two ginger haired boys entered the library, quite noisily so, which earned them a glare from the librarian. They rushed over to her and took a seat in front of her. Venus huffed and placed the book on the table and looked at them.

"What is it boys?"

"Well," Fred started and looked at George before returning his gaze on Venus, which made her a bit fidgety for some unknown reason, "it's about the map."

"Have you found anything yet?" George asked.

"Well, I think I may have found something but I'm not sure if it is true yet. It's still a theory as of now."

"Go on." The twins Venus to continue.

"I've found out about certain spells the Marauders may have used to create the map. The thing is that these are the same spells I found in the first page of my mother's diary. So I'm thinking that it might have to do with the Marauder's Map."

"So does that mean we'll be able to create a replica?"

"Sure, if my theory is correct."

☆

Halloween morning came rather quickly, which made the twins, Lee and Venus even more excited. They were supposed to go on their first Hogsmeade visit for the semester. For some odd reason that Venus could not figure out, she decided to dress up a bit more nicely for the Hogsmeade visit. Soon the four friends were in a carriage on their way to the little village and it seemed like everyone was in Halloween spirits. A few shops had taken out their Halloween decorations and there were carved pumpkins almost everywhere.

The four stood outside of the Shrieking Shack. They decided it was finally time for them to visit it. Of course, they have tried it every other Halloween they spent in Hogsmeade but they never dared to enter the Shack as one of them would always chicken out, which was not a surprise since it was said to be haunted for decades.

"Guys, are we sure about this? Wha-what if it's really haunted? We may never come back alive." It was Lee who tried to chicken out that time. The twins and Venus grinned at Lee as Venus opened the door. The latter had actually expected it to be locked and was surprised when the door opened with ease. The friends stepped inside, the wood beneath them creaking as they walked.

Needless to say, the Shack was untidy and full of dirt. The twins, Lee and Venus, each went their way to explore the place. The whole shack looked as if it was abandoned for years. Layers of dust covered the couch and the paintings she found. However, she knew that someone had been there very recently. After all villagers had told them that they heard howls and screams the previous night. What she saw next, made her freeze in her tracks. They were claw marks. She wondered how she did not notice it before. The marks were over the couch and the floorboard. Getting closer, Venus saw blood stains. She was terrified when she noticed that the blood did not look as if it had been there for too long. It turned out that the guys had noticed them in the other rooms of the shack too. Soon all four were running back outside while holding onto each other.

"Well," Fred started, smiling, "that was fun." He turned to look at Venus and then their hands, which were still intertwined. The girl's face went red and immediately let go of his hand.

"We finally did it." George laughed and soon all of them were laughing despite the fact that entering the shack was potentially dangerous.