Bring a fairy tale to Hogwarts!

Inside the dimly lit Screaming Shack, a sliver of light seeped in through a crack in the wall, illuminating a corner of the room that had been cleaned. Before it was cleaned, there had been a trail of clothing marks there—the Weasley brothers had climbed in through that spot.

Fred Weasley's eyes darted around, and he changed the subject with a grin:

"Oh dear, Professor, your shoe just flashed! Was that some kind of magical effect? ​​I've never seen anything like it before."

"Yeah, yeah!" George chimed in with a grin. "Is it some kind of rare magical effect? ​​We've never seen anything like it before. Do you think it'll be on the history of magic test?"

Victor glanced at the two of them expressionlessly, but did not refuse to talk:

"It was modified from a broken magical artifact; it was originally a witch's silver shoes."

"A witch?"

"Silver shoes?"

"Long ago, in a place called Oz, there lived an evil witch from the East. She ruled over everyone there with these shoes. Legend has it that these shoes were the source of her magic, and could take people anywhere they wanted to go."

"But her good fortune didn't last long. One day, she was crushed to death by a house that fell from the sky, and her shoes ended up in the hands of others."

After saying that, Victor closed his mouth. It was only after a long silence that Fred and George reacted, asking in confusion:

"That's it?"

"That's all."

"Who is this witch? A witch who rules an entire region would be killed by a house that falls from the sky? That's too absurd!"

"Life is unpredictable," Victor concluded, then countered with a question, "Even your British Dark Lord can be killed by a baby, so what's so strange about an evil witch being crushed to death by a house?"

"...You're right."

"Can those silver shoes really go anywhere?"

"Pretty much. With the complete silver shoes, you can go anywhere in the world you want to go with just three steps, crossing countries and continents with ease."

"However, the witch who originally possessed it had too weak a magic power to go anywhere, and the shoes were also easy to lose. When the shoes carried a person flying in the sky, once they were lost, it would take a lot of effort to get them back to their original position."

"Cool! Doesn't that mean leaving school will be a piece of cake?" Fred's eyes gleamed.

"If you were given a pair of shoes that would take you anywhere, and all you wanted to do was run away from school, then your future would probably be bleak, Mr. Weasley," Victor said calmly.

"You're right, we should at least go to Gringotts," George muttered.

"Don't even think about it. After the evil witch was crushed to death, the next witch unfortunately damaged it and abandoned it in the desert for many years. It took me quite a bit of effort to find it. That's why its effects have changed after the alteration," Victor said.

Fred and George seemed to want to ask more about the new effects, but Victor was getting impatient and interrupted them, bringing the topic back to the main point.

He could tell, of course, that Fred and George were trying to change the subject. While they were talking, the two students would occasionally exchange glances or gesture to each other behind their backs.

But none of them were of much use.

Victor looked down at the two boys, then changed the subject:

"Alright, enough chit-chat. Now, tell me, what exactly are these 'Marauder's Map' and 'secret passages connecting to Hogwarts' that you were just talking about?"

"I'm pretty sure Professor McGonagall wouldn't allow students to have these things, and leaving campus without permission has long been strictly prohibited."

"We didn't!" Fred protested immediately, waving his hands in the air. "We just wanted to find a secret passage, we didn't intend to leave the school without permission!"

"That's right, Professor, this isn't fair!" George added.

Victor didn't argue with them, but simply stared coldly at George and Fred with his dark eyes. Instantly, the twins broke out in a cold sweat; the more they were stared at, the more guilty they felt.

They weren't telling the truth. Since getting the map, they'd left Hogwarts many times and even visited Hogsmeade Village—otherwise, where did they buy those dung balls from a few years ago? Their mothers wouldn't give them the chance to buy such things.

I finally managed to come here openly today, wanting to try out the secret passage I'd never been through before, but I was caught by Victor right away.

Fred's stubborn head quickly drooped, realizing with frustration that they couldn't escape today.

Victor simply spread his hands.

"Give it to me."

Fred slowly took an old parchment from his robe and handed it to Victor. It was a square parchment, badly worn at the four corners, but there was nothing on it.

Upon receiving it, Victor asked without hesitation, "How do I activate it?"

The twins exchanged a glance and became even more dejected.

"Just point your wand at the parchment and say, 'I solemnly swear I will not do anything good,'" George said listlessly.

Victor seemed to find the activation spell interesting; he raised his eyebrows, then picked up his wand and tapped it on the spell.

"I solemnly swear that I have not done any good deeds."

In an instant, fine lines of ink spread out like a spider web from where the tip of the wand touched, connecting and crisscrossing, extending to every corner of the parchment—it presented a map.

At the very top, lines of green cursive text began to appear:

"A moon-shaped face, a worm's tail, large feet, and a forked end;"

"Gentlemen, dedicated to assisting those who create magical pranks;"

"Introducing Marauder's Map"

Looking down, the ink outlines details of Hogwarts Castle, from which several lines extend crookedly towards their current location, marked 'Hogsmeade'.

Although not displayed in Hogsmeade, there are countless tiny dots in the castle grounds, each labeled with a name, moving around within the castle. For example, Professor Snape is currently pacing in his Potions Lab, while the dot representing "Albus Dumbledore" is in the Headmaster's Office.

But just as Victor was looking at it, another line of cursive text suddenly appeared at the top—

"Mr. Pointed Fork emphasized that our opening mantra is 'Don't do anything good,' not 'Didn't do anything good.' Hopefully, this professor, who clearly isn't a good person, will maintain basic pretense and not accidentally reveal his true feelings."

Victor: "..."

This isn't even the end of it.

"Mr. Moonface lamented the Hogwarts professor selection process, and although the story of the silver shoes he mentioned was somewhat interesting, it only highlighted his eccentric nature. How pathetic, how lamentable, that pure-bloods who judge by their noses and strange dark wizards may have taken over Hogwarts."

"But Mr. Bigfoot asked the other gentlemen not to judge by appearances, or at least not entirely by appearances, but to include exceptions, otherwise he would launch the 23rd infighting in Marauder's Map on the grounds of collateral damage."

This Marauder's Map...

Is that a bit much?

Viktor couldn't help but raise his eyebrows again. However, more than anger at being offended, he felt a sense of novelty.

Can this map also hear conversations around it?

Perhaps Victor's strange expression was too obvious, because Fred and George both curiously craned their necks, trying to see the paper by stretching their necks.

Unfortunately, before they could see it, Victor rolled up the parchment and put it in his cloak pocket.

"Where did you find this map?" he asked.

"Well... I found it by accident. You know, we love exploring Hogwarts and often notice new things. This was something we stumbled upon."

Victor realized they were lying, but considering the map only marked the interior of Hogwarts, the possibility of it being found inside Hogwarts was quite high, so he didn't press the matter.

If you press them further, they'll likely find out which professor they stole it from.

However, the magic itself is quite interesting.

Although Victor had been in the magical world for some time, this was the first time he had ever seen such location and signature magic, and even the creator within it could react to the outside world.

If he could figure out how it works, it might even elevate the level of many of the magical items in his house. At the very least, the magic mirror would definitely be "interested" in it.

With that thought in mind, Victor became interested and decided to take the Marauder's Map back to study it.

"I'll take this with me. Any prop that allows you to leave school without permission is also a prohibited item. As for this secret passage to Hogsmeade, I hope you won't look for it either."

Fred and George both sighed, unable to even muster their usual playful attitude.

But seeing that they also had potential, Victor didn't just leave. Instead, he said:

"However, in exchange, I can give you a small blessing."