Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Oliver sat numbly at the Gryffindor table. Voices swam around him, loud early morning chatter bouncing easily off the Great Hall’s walls. He read the letter over again, as if expecting to see something different, feel something different. Unsurprisingly, that didn’t happen. It had only been a month after the tryout that never was, and his mother had surprised Oliver when she had appeared in the stands at Gryffindor’s first Quidditch match of the season.
They hadn’t even been sitting in the same section. As Oliver, Fred, George, and Lee were heading back to the castle, Oliver had spotted her. She hadn’t looked happy. Oliver had tensed, expecting her to make a scene right there. Instead, she gave him a cool look that felt like an ice storm, turned, and exited the grounds of Hogwarts. Now, Oliver was reading the aftermath on this crisp, sunny Saturday morning.
The letter seeped with disappointment, not anger. Oliver almost wished she had sent a Howler to scream at him, instead of this barely restrained loathing in the letter. He sighed. According to his mother, he should’ve been more persuasive, forced the current Keeper; yes the captain, out of his current spot by any means necessary. At the very end, his mother stated that he needn’t bother coming home for the Christmas holiday in two months as “this house is only for those who want to be winners, the best of the best.”
Oliver rolled his eyes and snorted a small laugh. “Hilarious.” He muttered.
“What’s funny Oliver?” Fred’s voice startled Oliver, and he quickly hid the letter in his sweater pocket.
“Er…nothing. How are you two this morning?” He asked the twins, who sat down across from, on either side of Percy, who was scribbling madly on a piece of parchment, his Transfiguration Year 2 book propped against his goblet.
“Oh well I’m so glad you asked.” George responded cheerily, grabbing bacon off a nearby plate.
“Yes Oliver, thank you so much for volunteering.” Fred added, spilling a small amount of juice on Percy’s parchment.
Percy, for his part, let out an exasperated sigh, closed his book with a loud thud, scowled at his brothers, and promptly vacated the table, heading for the doors of the Great Hall.
The twins watched him go, shoveling toast and sausage into their mouths. Oliver watched them, an eyebrow quirked.
“See, now we definitely couldn’t ask him to volunteer. Too uptight.” Fred said around a mouthful of food.
“I haven’t actually volunteered for anything.” Oliver told them. “I do have homework to do, as do you two.” He reminded them.
They looked at each other, rolled their eyes, and returned their attention to Oliver. “Homework can wait Oliver, it’s Saturday, you can do it tomorrow. What we have planned is much more exciting.” George said with a grin.
Oliver eyed them warily. He did only have that one essay to do for Herbology. Depending on how long whatever it was they had planned he could do it later he supposed. Or, even tomorrow like they said. The letter in his pocket weighed like an anchor. Heavy, holding him down, reminding him of its words. “Alright what have you got planned?” He finally asked, half hearing the words like they were spoken by someone else.
“Excellent!” George exclaimed. Fred, slapped down a large piece of parchment on the table.
Oliver expected a detailed prank to be written on it, but instead it was blank. It also looked quite old. “Right….well on second thought you two have fun with…whatever that is.” Before Oliver could get up from the table, planning to spend the rest of the morning on his Herbology essay, words began to appear on the parchment. He could hardly believe what he was seeing.
‘Those who seek adventure, mischief, and fun, simply speak these words with a tap of the wand, and you will be shown the way.’
“What..?” Oliver stared at the twins dumbly.
“Not here.” Fred muttered, before grabbing the parchment backup and stuffing it into his pocket.
“Come on Oliver, let's go get some snacks for the journey.” George stood up from the table, followed by Fred.
Oliver followed them out of the Great Hall, his mother’s letter fading from his memory and being easily replaced by the strange parchment. He was surprised to see that Fred and George were heading to the library of all places.
“You two are willingly going to the library?” Oliver was stunned.
“Well my dear Oliver, we are going to do homework.” George said a little loudly.
Oliver looked around and noticed that they were within earshot of a passing Professor Flitwick. Oliver suppressed a laugh. George was being a little ridiculous. However, Fred and George had changed his mood quite easily. They had piqued his interest and helped him forget about his mother’s letter.
The three of them entered the library, ignoring the watchful eye of the librarian and headed into the shelves. They found a quiet desk, and Fred pulled the parchment out once again and tapped his wand on it before saying “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”
Oliver watched in awe as the words appeared in large letters. A drawn picture of Hogwarts was on the front below the phrase, “Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are proud to present The Marauders Map.”
“Where on earth did you find this?! Wait…you two didn't make it did you?” Oliver had to drop his voice back to a whisper. He had practically shouted.
Fred laughed. “No Oliver we didn’t. Wish we had thought of it though because it’s brilliant!”
“We stole it out of Filtch’s office a few weeks ago. On one of our already mounting detention visits.” George added. He sounded strangely proud.
Oliver was reminded of his own mother’s letter and had to ask. “Isn’t your mother upset by all the detentions you two have gotten?”
George shrugged. “If she is, she hasn’t let us know. Probably too busy being proud of Bill, Charlie and Percy.”
Oliver looked for any trace of sadness or annoyance in the twins’ faces. They didn’t seem bothered by their mothers indifference to them. He felt a strange twinge of jealousy at that. His own mother had practically banished him from his house over something that was beyond his control.
Fred opened the parchment and Oliver was too stunned to speak. He could see themselves, standing right where they were, students in the Great Hall, Dumbledore in his office, little footprints moving in a circle. He must’ve been pacing. “This is…a map.” Oliver said. He realized how obvious it sounded. “How in the world…?”
“No idea. These four gentlemen must’ve been great wizards if they made this.” Fred said proudly, as if he knew them personally.
George pointed to a corridor on the seventh floor. “Right, there’s a secret passage there and we want to go see where it leads. Are you doing this or not Oliver?”
Oliver stared down at the parchment. He thought of his essay, his mother’s letter, and the nagging thought of wondering where he was going for the Christmas holiday. Hogwarts he supposed. He thought about how upset his mother would be if she found out he got into trouble. But, honestly, he wasn’t sure how much he cared about that anymore.
He looked up at the twins. “I’m in.” He told them, watching as they both broke out into wide grins. Oliver hoped he wasn’t going to regret this.