Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 461 Sirius's Bookshelf

"Map? What map?"

Harry seemed very curious about the item Sirius mentioned, which he, James, and Lupin had made together and left at the school after graduation.

Sirius Black, in particular, stated that the item was a legacy of certain wills among them, and therefore of extraordinary significance.

"To be precise, it was an alchemical item." Sirius tilted his head slightly, as if lost in memories.

"Back then, we were naughty and didn't like to follow school rules, but we were often caught by Filch and other professors when we went out at night."

"After being caught by Professor McGonagall for the third time, James came up with a brilliant idea in the solitary confinement that would make it impossible for Filch and the professor to catch us again."

“It wasn’t an easy task. The four of us were in the library…yes, and that traitor Peter too, though I’d ​​rather not mention his name, but he did help out a bit.” Sirius noticed Harry’s hateful look, patted him lightly on the shoulder, and handed him a bottle of Butterbeer.

Harry drank half the glass in one gulp.

Sirius Black also picked up a glass of wine from the table and took a sip.

"So you did it?" he asked, taking a deep breath.

“Of course,” Sirius said. “Although it took a long time, we finished, exactly as planned. We made a map and cast many different spells on it, the effects of which are… oh wait, I just thought of something that might be interesting.”

“Oh, could you finish what you were saying first…” Ron’s tone was a little hurried, “So what’s the purpose of that map?”

"Well, I've decided to keep that a secret for now," Sirius chuckled.

“You…I…” Ron stood there, his face growing redder and redder, his hands clenched tightly, looking like he might rush over and beat Sirius at any moment.

Even Harry's expression couldn't be pleasant.

"Calm down, calm down," Sirius quickly explained. "Here's what I'm thinking: instead of me telling you, why don't you try to find it? If I'm not mistaken, the map should still be in the castle."

"Who? Us? Looking for a map in the castle?" Ron pointed blankly at himself and Harry, his voice filled with shock.

"Are you kidding me? What if that map gets tucked inside a book... Let's not even talk about other places, there are so many in the library, we could read them all before we graduated!"

"Probably not." Sirius thought for a moment and said, "That map is quite big. If someone accidentally put it in a book, Mrs. Pince would definitely be able to see it and wouldn't put such a book back on the shelf."

Mrs. Pince is the librarian at Hogwarts, an extremely strict and meticulous witch. Moreover, she has an extraordinary protectiveness towards books; even if Dumbledore accidentally dirties a borrowed book, he will be severely reprimanded by her.

If there's something tucked inside the book, it will indeed be difficult to get past her.

Harry was somewhat tempted.

Although the fifth grade workload is very heavy, with endless homework every day, it's not like there's no time to rest at all.

Moreover, it was something his father left behind. According to Sirius, the map contained their friendships, adventures, and legacy from their school days.

He hoped he could find it, even if not to prove anything, at least to keep it as a memento.

However, when it came to maps, Harry felt a sense of familiarity, as if he had seen them somewhere before or heard of something similar.

But it must have been a long time ago, and his memory was a bit hazy. He only remembered that there seemed to be a map in Sirius's territory, but he didn't know if it was the one Sirius had mentioned.

Harry glanced at Siren instinctively. Siren and Hermione hadn't said a word the entire time they were talking.

Harry then noticed that they were standing in front of a bookshelf, looking with great interest at the numerous magic books on it.

“I didn’t expect you to actually read books,” Harry blurted out.

"That sounds a bit odd," Sirius said, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.

“I, I didn’t mean that.” Harry blushed. “I just didn’t expect you to be reading in your office.”

“Okay, you’re right, I really won’t read it.” Sirius sighed. “I’d rather do something more meaningful than read.”

Siren noticed Hermione frown, glancing at Sirius with a hesitant air.

“Don’t look at me like that, Hermione. It really is to me,” Sirius said. “I really don’t like reading. Strictly speaking, I’d say I’m a pragmatist.”

"And what about these?" Hermione pointed to the bookshelf next to her.

"I brought them from home, just for show," Sirius explained with a grin. "As a professor, you need to have a few books in your office to make it look proper, right?"

Hermione took a deep breath and didn't speak to him again.

Because she suddenly noticed that Siren had just taken a thick book off the shelf, the cover of which featured a distorted human figure and a strange brain.

To be honest, the picture on the cover made her very uncomfortable; just looking at it made her feel dizzy.

Black magic books!
Hermione immediately thought of the restricted section of the library. Many of the books there were chained up, and their covers featured such disturbing images.

"Don't look!" Hermione shouted, immediately pressing down on the cover to stop Siron from opening the book.

“This is a book of dark magic,” she explained earnestly. “Most books of dark magic carry some kind of terrible curse, so it’s best not to open them rashly until you’re sure it’s safe.”

“I was just curious to take a look, I wasn’t planning to open it,” Celen said. “Also, were you touching something just now?”

"Huh?" Hermione immediately looked down at her hands, which were covered in dust, leaving a clear fingerprint on the black cover.

Then look at the book she's holding in her other hand, "The Art of Disguising Magic as Magic," which also has a fingerprint on the cover, but it's been wiped clean, and underneath the fingerprint is the book's real blue cover.

"Oh, Sirius, how long have you left these books here?!"

"Clean up!"

“I don’t know the exact time,” Sirius said. “It’s probably been over a hundred years.”

Hermione was now convinced that Sirius was really using these books as a mere formality; he hadn't even read them, which explained the dust on the covers.

And that book on dark magic, he probably just grabbed a few random ones when he was picking them out at home and didn't notice them getting mixed in.

Otherwise, given how conspicuous that book was, Sirius would have spotted it if he had just glanced at the bookshelf.

……

(End of this chapter)