My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 386, Section 383: Harry Escapes the Cage

Harry stared blankly at the four signatures on the Marauder's Map, as if his soul had been sucked away.

The Weasley twins, however, were completely oblivious to Harry's unusual behavior, assuming he was simply stunned by the Marauder's Map.

Fred pointed to the routes on the map.

"There are seven roads in total, and Filch knows four of them now," he said, pointing them out.

"But we're sure we're the only ones who know these roads. Don't look at the one behind the mirror on the fourth floor; we walked that way last winter, but we couldn't get through—it was completely blocked."

I don't think anyone uses this road anymore, because that "hitting willow" tree was planted at the entrance.

But look at this one. This path leads directly to the cellars of Honeydukes Candy Shop in Hogsmeade. We use this path often; you might have noticed it. The entrance is right outside this classroom, on the back of that one-eyed witch we just saw.

"Hey Fred, I bet we're not the only ones who know about these four secret passages. If Lynn can control that statue, there's no way he wouldn't know there's a tunnel behind it."

Hearing George's words, Fred shrugged.

"I know Lynn knows. Don't forget, he watched us enter this secret passage when he was a freshman. But I don't think we can treat Lynn like a normal person. That's not fair to the others."

The two brothers chatted excitedly on the side, but Harry didn't respond to them until they realized that he had been staring at the title on the map.

"Moonface, Wormtail, Bigfoot, and Prongs," George sighed, patting the Marauder's Map title. "We owe them so much."

"Do you...do you know them?" Harry suddenly looked up, grabbed George's arm, and looked very excited.

George and Fred looked completely bewildered.

"How could we possibly know them? We don't even know which class of students left this parchment."

Harry looked visibly disappointed, and he turned his gaze back to the Marauder's Map, muttering to himself.

"A moon-shaped face, large feet, and a pointed fork are all blessings to you; what you secretly hate is only the tail of a pest, the tail of a pest, the tail of a worm."

Looking at Harry's current state, Fred and George were somewhat puzzled as to why he was reacting so strongly to these code names that were clearly not his real names.

But it was almost noon, and after the twins gave Harry the Marauder's Map, they had other things to do at Hogsmeade.

"Oh, and don't forget to wipe it after you're done," George said succinctly.

"Otherwise, everyone will see it," Fred warned.

"Just take another pat and say 'Prank over,' and it will go blank."

"So, young Harry," Fred mimicked Percy's tone, "watch your behavior."

"See you in Hogsmeade." George blinked and waved to him.

They left the classroom, looking quite pleased and satisfied.

Harry didn't leave immediately; he wandered around the classroom, pulling at his hair.

"Moonface, Wormtail, Bigfoot, and Prongs—who are they? Why do Moonface, Bigfoot, and Prongs protect me, while Wormtail wants to harm me? And if they disagree, why did they work together to create this Marauder's Map?"

The prophecy Lynn had told him not long ago, coupled with the names Harry saw on the Marauder's Map today, had left his mind in utter chaos.

He even considered going directly to Lynn's office to ask him what his relationship was with these four people.

But that day in the office, Lynn made it clear that he wouldn't tell him the answer; he would have to figure it out himself.

This made Harry angrily slam his fist on his forehead, regretting why he had thought Lynn's prophetic manner didn't resemble that of a prophet.

Ultimately, with no clue what to do, he decided to first use the secret passage on the Marauder's Map to go to Hogsmeade and meet up with Hermione and the others.

After all, compared to the prophecy, the magical town of Hogsmeade was also very attractive to him.

He was arguably the only junior wizard above the third grade who hadn't been there.

He took out the map again and was surprised to see a new ink dot on it, marked "Harry Potter".

This little figure is exactly where the real Shali is, about halfway up the fourth-floor corridor.

Harry watched closely as the tiny Inkman Harry seemed to be tapping the witch lightly with his wand, but nothing happened.

He looked at the map again, and next to Harry on the map appeared a spell made of tiny bubbles: "Separate Left and Right".

"Separate left and right!"

Harry muttered to himself, following the markings on the Marauder's Map, and then tapped the statue of the blind, hunchbacked witch.

The statue's hunchback immediately opened, large enough for a slightly thin person to enter.

Harry crawled inside, and after he went in, the hole behind the witch closed up on its own.

The single eye carved from stone on the statue flickered, as if a faint light had appeared, but it quickly disappeared as if nothing had happened.

Harry slid quite a distance through the secret passage, which was like a stone slide, before he came to cold, damp ground.

He stood up and looked around; it was pitch black all around.

He raised his wand and used the Wand Illumination Charm, then put away the Marauder's Map using the method George and Fred had taught him, and continued walking forward on the uneven dirt road, wand in hand.

The journey took about an hour, and Harry finally reached the bottom of a flight of stairs.

He climbed up the steps until his head hit a wooden door and he stopped.

At that moment, Harry even had the illusion that he was a bird that had escaped from its cage, throwing all thoughts of misfortune, Sirius Black, and prophecy to the back of his mind.

He slipped into the shop from the Honey Duke's cellar.

The place was almost completely packed with young wizards from Hogwarts, and no one noticed Harry's sudden appearance.

He walked through a group of sixth-grade students and saw a sign hanging in the farthest corner that read: "An Unusual Attempt".

Ron and Hermione were standing below, looking at a box of blood-flavored lollipops, when Harry sneaked up behind them.

"No, Harry wouldn't like these. I think they're for vampires," Hermione said, rejecting Ron's recommendation.

"And what about these?" Ron then pushed a box of cockroaches in front of Hermione.

"Of course I don't like it either," Harry said.

(End of this chapter)