Harry Potter: Magic and Guns

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*Knock, knock, knock.*

"Come in."

Lupin set down the weights he was lifting and grabbed the towel hanging around his neck to wipe his sweat. He turned to look at the office door.

"Harry, is that you? What's up?"

With a faint smile, Lupin gestured with his hand. A teapot floated into the air, pouring tea into two cups.

"There's something I'd like to ask you." Harry sat down in a chair and placed the Marauder's Map on the coffee table in front of him.

"The Marauder's Map?"

Lupin immediately recognized the parchment. "I never imagined you'd be the one to find it. I recall it being confiscated by Filch ages ago. We didn't bother getting it back, thinking it might someday fall into the hands of someone just as mischievous as us."

"Do I look like a model student to you?" Harry shot Lupin an amused glance. "If the Ministry knew half of what I've done, they'd slap me with a lifetime Azkaban sentence—and probably enforce it on the spot."

"Well, the professors don't seem to think so. Most of them speak highly of you, Harry. You're easily the most dedicated student of them all."

"Like my mother?"

"Absolutely. But I'd say you've also inherited a thing or two from your father. Not that James ever did anything worthy of Azkaban," Lupin added with a playful look. "Congratulations, though—you've managed to outdo him."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Harry replied with a shrug. "Anyway, I didn't find the map myself. Fred and George got it in their first year, from Filch's office."

"The Weasley twins?" Lupin thought for a moment, then nodded knowingly. "That makes sense if it's them."

"What I wanted to know," Harry began, "is whether the map can be modified to highlight a specific person—maybe even track their movements."

"Using the Marauder's Map to stalk a girl?" Lupin gave him an amused glance. "You really are James' son, Harry."

"No, no, no," Harry waved his hands. "It's a girl, sure, but I'm not interested in underage kids, Lupin. That's illegal, and I have no plans to visit either Azkaban or Muggle prisons anytime soon."

He continued, "I just happened to see this girl go into the third-floor girls' bathroom—the one that's broken and home to Moaning Myrtle. I also read a lot about Hogwarts' history last year."

"Fifty years ago, the heir of Slytherin opened the Chamber of Secrets, leading to the death of a Muggle-born girl. The place of her death was that very bathroom—Moaning Myrtle's haunt."

"You think the Chamber of Secrets is there?" Lupin immediately caught Harry's drift. "But what if it's just a coincidence?"

"At the time, Hagrid was accused by a wizard named Tom Marvolo Riddle, and everyone believed he was responsible. Dumbledore, however, stopped that absurd accusation and vouched for him. But even so, Hagrid was expelled from Hogwarts, his wand broken, and he became the gamekeeper."

"Tom Marvolo Riddle," Harry said, writing the name in the air with his finger. The letters rearranged themselves into a new phrase: I am Lord Voldemort.

Lupin's pupils dilated and quickly contracted. His knuckles whitened as he gripped the chair's armrest, clearly shaken.

After a moment of silence, he asked with a serious expression, "That's a startling revelation, but what does it have to do with this girl?"

"It does, but I can't explain." Harry shook his head slightly. He couldn't tell Lupin that he knew from books and movies that the diary was with the Malfoys. "More importantly, though, it's time to clear Hagrid's name. He's a wizard—not some gorilla smashing dragon skulls with a club. Wizards need wands."

"I despise the Ministry's outdated laws. They're a joke. Those medieval-minded fools surviving this long is nothing short of a miracle. I refuse to see them as a legitimate governing body."

Harry looked at Lupin with determination. "Hagrid deserves justice. He's our friend."

"No gorilla could smash a dragon's skull with a club." Lupin chuckled despite himself, then nodded earnestly. "Yes, if it was all a mistake, it must be corrected."

Lupin had a strong sense of justice, and he'd always gotten along well with Hagrid. The Whomping Willow, for instance, had been planted by Hagrid to keep Lupin safe during his school years. Back then, Professor Sprout wasn't yet teaching at Hogwarts—the Herbology professor at the time was far less skilled and had even died from a magical plant accident.

"Exactly. Correcting mistakes." Harry shrugged. "As for the Chamber of Secrets, the Marauder's Map might give us some answers. At the very least, it can prove she entered a room not shown on the map."

"I need her name highlighted and her movements tracked. Can you do that, Uncle Lupin?"

"Of course. It's a simple task." Lupin picked up the Marauder's Map. "The map's spells for name revelation and tracking are quite powerful—far beyond what we could've managed on our own. Sirius got us something special from his uncle, allowing us to embed the map's magic into Hogwarts' massive enchantments."

"No one can hide from this map unless their magic surpasses that of all of Hogwarts—an impossible feat."

Lupin tapped the map lightly with his finger instead of using his wand. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

The spot where his fingertip touched the map darkened with ink, and the ink quickly spread into numerous fine lines, rapidly covering the entire parchment with intricate patterns and text. Before the map fully revealed itself, several lines of text appeared.

"Wow, looks like Moony is the first one to willingly engage in some mischief. Bigfoot really wants to give you a hug; you've finally figured it out."

"Pitchfork agrees, today is going to be a celebration, Moony's first time, let's remember this well."

"Could this be my day too? Oh no, I must have been possessed by something weird."

"If we get caught, without Moony, who's going to clean up the mess? Wormtail is worried."

"You can all zip it, Wormtail. Otherwise, Bigfoot's going to give your butt a good kicking. Pitchfork swears I'll do the same."

"Quite noisy, isn't it?" After seeing the text, Lupin smiled lightly. "There are many ways to activate the map's spell. After all, it was meant for future worthy individuals, and the keyword here is mischief."

The Hogwarts map unfurled completely, its dense, intricate lines enough to make anyone's head spin. It was nearing dinnertime, and the ink black dots indicating people were heading towards the Great Hall, creating a chaotic mess on the map.

"Look, even Professor Dumbledore's there. Though he cast a spell on his name to avoid unnecessary disturbances, even with someone as powerful as Dumbledore, he can't hide from the map."

"No individual can oppose the magic of Hogwarts. Now, tell me the name of the girl you want to track. I'll help you locate her. By the way, your father used this map to secretly find your mother's location and 'accidentally' ran into her multiple times, creating plenty of opportunities for them to be alone."

"Cassandra Malfoy."

"She's a Malfoy?" Lupin raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't seem right. If Lucius were the heir, he should have already done something about it."

As he spoke, Lupin wrote Cassandra's name on the parchment. The densely packed ink dots disappeared, and the map became clean again.

"Let me see where she is."

Lupin furrowed his brow as he stared at the map. "This doesn't make sense."

He looked up at Harry. "The girl might have gone to the Chamber of Secrets. Her name isn't appearing on the map."

"Impossible."

Harry waved his hand. "I placed a magical marker at the entrance to the Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. As of now, that marker hasn't been triggered. No one has entered the bathroom, and no one has even come close. If they had, my marker would have reacted."

"I set up the marker as soon as I saw her leave the bathroom. There's no gap in time."

Lupin, realizing something was off, gently tapped the desk. "There's only one possibility left."

"What?"

"Cassandra Malfoy is not the girl's real name. The map shows a person's true name. You can think of a name as a person's label. Although it may change or be concealed for various reasons, once it appears on the map, it means the person has acknowledged that name."

"By the way, Draco told me that Cassandra is actually Lucius Malfoy's illegitimate daughter. She only returned to the Malfoy family two years ago."

"If that's the case, this situation makes sense. Cassandra Malfoy is the name she uses publicly, but in her heart, she doesn't claim it."

"Perhaps we can directly locate anyone with the Malfoy surname at Hogwarts? She is, after all, an illegitimate daughter."

"That's a good idea. It will certainly reduce the amount of filtering we have to do. Otherwise, I'll have to resort to the slower method."

Lupin nodded and wrote the Malfoy surname on the parchment.

As the surname was written, several small black dots grew larger, and the ink figures on the map became easier to spot. Malfoy was not an uncommon surname. While people in the wizarding world typically thought of the Malfoy family when they heard it, it didn't mean every Malfoy was a member of that family.

Three ink figures were highlighted. The first was Draco Malfoy, who was currently in the Great Hall, presumably having dinner. At the Hufflepuff table, there was another glowing Malfoy—Mikla Malfoy. This name was unfamiliar, but Lupin quickly took note of it.

"This is a seventh-year Hufflepuff student. If I'm not mistaken, there's also a girl with the Malfoy surname in Ravenclaw. Oh yes, here she is—Leanna Malfoy."

None of the highlighted ink figures were the ones they were looking for.

"It looks like we'll have to resort to the backup method."

Lupin helplessly spread his hands and then walked over to a nearby bookshelf. He pulled out a roll of the attendance book that every professor had, which contained the names of all Hogwarts students. Defense Against the Dark Arts was a required class, taken by students from first to seventh year.

Lupin drew his wand and began to drag the names from the attendance register onto the map. The dense ink dots continued to disappear.

"This slower method takes a little longer since the map was created when we were young, and it's not perfect."

The method didn't take long, and within a few minutes, the map was cleared of all the students' ink dots. Only the dots of a few professors remained, along with their target—the girl who claimed to be Cassandra Malfoy, whose true name was still unknown.

As the truth was about to be revealed, Harry couldn't help feeling a little nervous, or perhaps excited. The mystery surrounding this situation had sparked his curiosity. What kind of secret was hidden behind all these layers of identities?

Lupin erased the professors' names. The only remaining ink dot on the map was the true name of Cassandra Malfoy.

Both of them leaned closer, and there, in the Great Hall, the dot appeared, with fine ink lines spelling out a strange name—one that absolutely should not be there.

*Nagini.*

There was no surname, just a single word—like Hedwig.

Nagini.

Harry was certain he didn't misread the name. He knew exactly who it referred to.

It was the serpent that had accompanied Voldemort in the Albanian forests for ten years—a wizard who had been transformed into a beast by the Blood Magic Curse.

Nagini.

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(End of Chapter)