Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle.

Chapter 262 The Marauder’s Map
Gryffindor common room.

The plump lady sat upright in the picture frame, holding a white cat. She wore an expensive pink and white dress, one hand supporting her chin, her eyelashes slightly lowered. When a young wizard came to the portrait cave, she didn't even look up, only going through the motions listlessly.

"Password?"

"Fairy Light."

The three of them went into the portrait hole one after another. Ron was half asleep and drowsy, and Harry was still not in the mood. The two of them were just unconsciously imitating Hermione's actions. The silence had lasted for a long time, and the two of them had no idea how they got back to the common room.

“Harry, did you hear what Professor Levent said? You can see your parents again, as long as you find out the truth about Godric's Hollow.” Hermione said in a low voice, “This may be your only chance to be reunited with your parents.”

Complex emotions weighed heavily on Harry's heart, like an entire castle pressing down on him. Ever since receiving his Hogwarts acceptance letter, he had been hearing about what had happened back then from various professors and wizards. People kept telling him how brave and kind his parents had been, until he finally accepted this bleak reality.

Even with Voldemort's victory over death and his lingering ghost in the world after his death, he never considered the possibility of reuniting with his parents. Now, Professor Levent has proposed an incredible option.

“What does Professor Levent mean? This is impossible!” Harry wanted to believe the professor, but reason told him it was impossible. “How can the dead and the living meet again?”

The tense atmosphere was broken, and the trio's thoughts became more active. They found a corner to discuss their ideas.

Is it possible that your parents are actually not dead?

Hermione lowered her head, her voice soft, igniting a fire in Harry's heart.

“I wish they were all still alive, but Dumbledore and Voldemort are never wrong.” Harry shook his head, his voice hoarse. “They’re definitely not coming back. I survived because my mother sacrificed her life to complete that ancient magic, and she’s still protecting me now. Professor Levent’s words that we can meet again must be… a different kind of goodbye.”

"Is there such a necromancy?" Hermione couldn't help but ask, as there were always similar legends in the Muggle world.

No! It's impossible!

Ron, who had been feeling sleepy, spoke up, shattering their illusions, "There is no such magic in the magical world. I have never heard of it in my life. No wizard has ever been able to break the boundary between life and death. Magical portraits are just props, and ghosts are just another form of lingering in the world. The living and the dead can never meet!"

Harry and Hermione fell silent again, the sounds of other students making noise in the common room on the weekend sounding particularly jarring.

"Is it possible to do it in another way?"

Hermione suddenly remembered something, unconsciously clutching the gold necklace around her neck, and whispered, "The wizarding world doesn't have necromancy, but it does have time-travel magic. Perhaps Professor Levent has a way to send you to the past, or bring your parents to the present so you can meet!"

After a moment of silence, a look of surprise flashed in Harry's eyes.

“Wait a minute!” Ron interrupted in time. “Have you considered that Professor Levent is just giving you a clue? Even if the truth is found out, he will only give you a video or a shadow mirror, after all, he is the founder of the Magic Mirror Club.”

“Professor Levent isn’t that kind of person. If he couldn’t do it, he would have found another way to comfort Harry,” Hermione retorted.

They recalled Professor Levent's past teaching methods and fell silent. He helped Neville regain his confidence, curbed Malfoy's arrogance, and helped Marietta. The professor often acted unpredictably, but in the end, he always managed to keep his promises.

“The most important thing now is to find out the truth. According to your previous account, the cause and effect of your parents’ murder are very clear, and there’s nothing to investigate. But Professor Levent’s statement must have its reasons,” Hermione analyzed calmly. “There are still things we don’t know about.”

Ron frowned in thought, but his sleep-deprived mind was completely stuck. He scratched his head and said, "How about we just ask Dumbledore?"

“If Dumbledore didn’t mention it before, either he didn’t know the truth either, or he felt he shouldn’t tell you. Asking now won’t get you anywhere,” Hermione explained to the two of them. “The other professors are in the same boat. We need to find a new angle… Professor Lupin!”

"Oh! Are we going to have another big operation this semester?" Ron started to get excited. Magic school should be full of extraordinary and legendary stories. What's the point of just going to school and doing homework in the second half of last semester? It's boring and dull.

Harry didn't speak, but instead raised his hand to touch the scar on his forehead, a mark left by Voldemort, and also a mark left by his parents' protection.

……

After dinner.

The castle gradually quieted down. Several main lights were turned on in the office. Melvin sat behind his desk, looking at the black ring in the box. The light shone on the black gemstone on the ring face, and the symbol of the Deathly Hallows gleamed faintly.

It's truly a mysterious and ancient creation of alchemy, making one wonder if there really are gods in this world.

"Knock knock knock..." A restrained knocking sound came from outside the door.

"Please come in."

George and Fred peeked out from under the door like ghosts, their smiling eyes filled with curiosity:

"Professor, you were looking for us?"

"Are they trying to persuade us to switch to Muggle studies?"

They couldn't understand why Professor Levent had approached them. Two weeks into the semester, they hadn't had time for a night out or to develop any new products. They thought they hadn't violated any school rules, and even if they had, they wouldn't have been caught.

Professor Levent was not the kind of professor who valued school rules.

Melvin put away the Gaunt ring, took out a tea set, and poured hot pumpkin juice for the two of them: "How's your joke shop going? Will it be able to open after graduation?"

"The prank products are under development in an orderly manner. We'll be scouting locations in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade during the summer vacation and weekends. The biggest obstacle right now is our mother," George said nonchalantly, picking up his teacup.

“She always wants us to find a stable and respectable job, preferably close to home, with a high salary, like a Ministry of Magic employee or something…” Fred shrugged.

The two looked at each other and laughed: "We didn't dare mention the joke shop to her."

“A mother always cares about her children and hopes they are healthy and have stable careers, but that doesn’t mean she will hinder her children’s dreams.”

George looked around the office: "Let's talk about obstruction and support after graduation. She was still scolding us for procrastinating on our homework the night before school started. Let's wait two more years, until we get twelve subject certificates, then Mom should support us in opening a shop."

"Twelve?" Melvin asked, puzzled.

“Twelve cards in total for the two of them,” Fred grinned.

Twins have this quality: they can bring laughter at any time, never sigh or worry about things that haven't happened yet.

Melvin shook his head and smiled. "Opening a shop requires some start-up capital. We're saving it up slowly."

“I can lend you money or invest in you,” Melvin suddenly said.

The twins were taken aback, not understanding what Melvin meant.

"During the dueling exhibition match on Friday night, I saw you guys setting up betting odds and gathering people to gamble. As far as I know, you also set up betting odds for matches that have nothing to do with Gryffindor during school Quidditch matches."

Melvin asked curiously, "I've seen the odds you set. They weren't based on any mathematical design. Aren't you worried about losing all your savings in the event of an upset?"

George scratched his head: "Ever since the school games were shown through the projector, a lot of people have been paying attention to our games. There are also people in the Three Brooms who bet on the games. When classmates place bets with us, we will place our bets through the owl to the Three Brooms. We can't possibly lose money."

"..."

It turned out to be a sure-fire way to make money.

Melvin looked at the two of them with uneasy expressions. It's understandable that students would feel uneasy when their misdeeds are exposed by the professor, and their biggest worry is that their parents will be notified.

“Gambling is a bad thing… don’t do it again. Let’s continue talking about loans and investments.” Melvin explained in a slow tone, “I am very optimistic about the prospects of your joke shop. I can provide you with a sum of start-up capital, enough for you to use for the development of prank props and small-batch trial production during your years in school, and to use it to rent or buy the shop after graduation.”

Fred's eyes lit up: "Then we won't have to gamble anymore, or sell summer homework answers and insider information?"

"We no longer need to help Lee and the others write papers and make predictions to deal with Binns and Trelawney, nor do we need to provide guidance on night outings, violate school rules, or offer counseling on detention!" George added.

Melvin listened quietly as the two talked about their future, smiling without interrupting. Only after their excitement subsided and they calmed down did he mention, "Also, I have something I need your help with."

"Professor, please speak."

"I need to handle some special matters on campus this semester, and I would like to borrow the live map you have."

"Um!?"

George and Fred took a deep breath and stared at him with wide eyes. "How did the professor know we had the Marauder's Map?"

“Why can’t I know?” Melvin found it amusing.

The two men wore smug expressions and began to recount the origins of the Marauder's Map in a call-and-response manner:
"Because this was the year we first entered school (the innocent first grade year)."
"The first time we were put in solitary confinement by Filch (because of the stinky eggs we put in the hallway)"
"When he tried to hang us up by putting a rope around his thumb (and then pull our intestines out)."

“We noticed his file drawer (one of the drawers had a sign that read 'Confiscated items, extremely dangerous').

"I acted quickly and threw another stinky egg in the office (while he was jumping up and down cursing, I opened the drawer and took this one)."

As soon as he finished speaking, Fred took out a small, tattered piece of parchment and spread it out on the table.

Melvin felt as if he had just watched a comedy show. Suppressing a laugh, he took out his wand, gently touched the parchment, and recited in remembrance, "I solemnly swear that I will not do good deeds."

As the tip of the stick touched the map, a round ink dot remained on the paper, and fine, spiderweb-like ink lines spread out, intersecting and extending to every corner of the parchment, faintly revealing the outline of a castle.

Above that are crooked, dark green characters:
"Moon face, worm tail, big feet and forked head"

Gentlemen who are dedicated to helping those who create magical pranks
Introducing
Marauder's Map

Having witnessed Melvin use the map correctly with their own eyes, the twins had no choice but to believe it. Even their gaze towards him changed, becoming bright and determined.

“Professor Levent, I knew it! We noticed it the moment you arrived at the school!”

"You understand the essence and true meaning of pranks; we're the same kind of people!"

“Stop your wild imaginations.” Melvin raised his hand to interrupt, pointing to the first two names on the map. “I just happen to know these two gentlemen, so I know about the Marauder’s Map.”

The two became even more excited, their eyes shining.

Melvin seemed to know what they were thinking: "Stop, I can't introduce you, at least not now."

“Moonface, Wormtail, Bigfoot, Prongs…” George looked at the list of names and sighed, “We owe them so many favors since we entered Hogwarts.”

Fred said solemnly, “Noble people, working hard to help a new generation of people who break school rules.”

The two looked up simultaneously, staring directly into Melvin's dark eyes: "Now this legacy of the map has come into your hands, Professor. I hope that after you've used it, you will pass it on to the right person to succeed you."

“What you need to do now is go back to the common room, write down a reasonable budget request, and figure out whether you need to borrow money or invest.” Melvin gestured the shape of a financial statement on the parchment.

The twins nodded with a grin, and left only after finishing the pumpkin juice in the teapot. They didn't feel like they had been taken advantage of. After using it for several years, they had basically memorized the contents of the Marauder's Map, and no longer needed to rely on the map to avoid Filch during nighttime scouting.

On the other hand, the professor knew the mapmaker and knew that the map was in their possession, so even if the professor used his authority to forcibly requisition it, they would have no way to refuse.

Now I've used the map to get the start-up capital to open a store, and I've made a profit.

George and Fred were all smiles as they closed the office door.

Melvin didn't mind if they treated it as some kind of deal. Doing business is about weighing the pros and cons and making trade-offs. To some extent, he used the Marauder's Map as a prank. If George and Fred knew the truth, they would probably support him.

He didn't put the map away, but looked down to observe the ink dots that moved along the map.

Each ink dot is marked with a tiny letter indicating a name, a professor, a student, various pets, and even a wandering ghost, densely distributed throughout the castle.

Dumbledore was pacing in his study, Filch and Mrs. Lorris were wandering around the third floor, Myrtle was in the prefects’ bathroom, and Peeves was jumping around in the prize room.

Following the floor signs, Melvin's gaze fell on the Gryffindor boys' dormitory, and he finally understood why no one had noticed Wormtail.

One of the ink dots was slightly thicker, with "Peter Pettigrew" and "Ronald Billys Weasley" stuck together, the two names overlapping and becoming an indistinct blot of ink.

(End of this chapter)