The Map

"Senior Cyberlina..." Fred sighed, lowering his wand. "You're a bit too much of a ghost."

"You really startled us," George chimed in, also lowering his wand.

"Can't blame me, you mischievous Weasleys," Cyberlina said, approaching the two with her hands behind her back. "You've followed me many times, so I had to get a little revenge."

"Oh, of course, we understand completely," Fred said, mimicking Cyberlina's posture, standing tall with his hands behind his back. "After all, you're our inspiration for pranks."

-- Indeed, Cyberlina had "funded prank inspiration" for the Weasley twins, right on the first day of school.

The Weasley twins found Cyberlina to be different from other Slytherins. Coupled with her name sometimes appearing and sometimes disappearing on the Marauder's Map, they had initially greeted her like students from other houses and walked past. But unexpectedly, Cyberlina called out to them.

"You have incredible talent and abilities, Weasleys."

Fred and George exchanged a glance, unsure what this mysterious fifth-year student wanted. Still, Fred stepped forward with a cheeky grin and teased, "Thanks for the compliment, mysterious Senior Sekerei."

"I'm speaking the truth. People from the Weasley family have always been formidable," Cyberlina said sincerely. "You seem to enjoy tinkering with gadgets. Coincidentally, I have quite a few interesting things here. Would you like to take a look?"

"So our reputation has even reached new friends."

"This is truly surprising."

Fred and George were clearly taken aback.

"Because Headmaster Dumbledore told me about you," Cyberlina chuckled. "He told me a lot about you."

"Oh..." The two exchanged a look, their voices synchronized. "I'm sure it wasn't anything good."

"Don't worry, it was all good things," Cyberlina said, producing an exquisite small bag enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm and handing it to George. She winked. "I don't want to be late for class on the first day, so I'll give you these for now. Remember to ask me for more later."

That afternoon and evening, they tried out the strange and wonderful items in the bag on Percy and Ron. The next day, they excitedly intercepted Cyberlina in the corridor, and subsequently, they received a second bag.

The three of them became familiar with each other this way.

But becoming familiar didn't mean the twins stopped wondering why Cyberlina's name sometimes didn't appear on the Marauder's Map. They guessed it was because she had entered a place not even marked on the map—like the Room of Requirement.

How could they miss out on exploring the Chamber of Secrets?

So, they began a long-running series of night-time tracking attempts—but they always failed.

Cyberlina's name would always suddenly disappear in unexpected places, and her nightly routes varied, making it impossible to intercept her. Although their tracking attempts repeatedly failed, Fred and George became more determined, their excitement growing each night.

Tonight's route was not the first they had followed. In fact, it was on this very route, the night after the feast, that they had seen Cyberlina's name suddenly vanish. Relying on their experience from previous attempts, they followed for a longer period this time, but Cyberlina's name still disappeared from the map without warning. Then—they were caught by Cyberlina.

The two prank experts weren't foolish. Seeing Cyberlina's smiling face, they knew they had been played recently. Cyberlina's "revenge" wasn't just about what had just happened.

"But how did you—" Fred started, but then realized that for Cyberlina to do this, she must have known they had the Marauder's Map. He looked at George, who was already looking at him—clearly, his brother had realized it a moment sooner.

"You should have thought of that earlier," Cyberlina said with a smile, raising her wand arm and giving a gentle wave. The Marauder's Map in Fred's hand flew into hers.

"Oh, we're doomed," Fred tried to grab the map back but failed, watching helplessly as Cyberlina flipped through it.

"Do you want to improve it?"

The twins' eyes lit up. They stepped forward, flanking Cyberlina, and looked at the Marauder's Map with her.

"How can this be improved?"

"Mark more secret rooms?"

"Like the ones you usually go to."

"And more undiscovered ones?"

Cyberlina chuckled at their voices from either side. She waved her wand gently—and then Fred and George watched in disbelief as her name disappeared from the map, even though she was still standing right in front of them.

"So, I didn't go to some secret room or an unshowable place," Cyberlina said with a smile.

"Then what was it?"

"Can you teach us?"

"It's not difficult. It's just a Confundus Charm targeted at my whereabouts—" Cyberlina waved her wand again, disappearing and then reappearing. "It can also be used on myself."

"Oh!"

"Merlin's beard!"

The brothers exchanged a look, both recalling the feast.

"So, during the feast—"

"You weren't standing right behind us, were you?"

"Almost everyone was looking in our direction then."

"So you just made yourself invisible to us?"

"Don't worry, only the professors could see me then. Otherwise, you would have known already, wouldn't you?" Cyberlina said, looking at the Marauder's Map in her hand. "This isn't difficult either. You just need to add some conditions to the spell—like using Accio on a specific item."

"Like just now," Fred said, looking at the map in Cyberlina's hand.

"Yes, just like just now," Cyberlina flipped the Marauder's Map over.

"So how do you want to improve it?" George asked, clearly very interested. "Make the Confundus Charm ineffective on it?"

"Hmm, that's a good idea, but what I mainly want to do is—" Cyberlina said, releasing her grip. The unfolded Marauder's Map floated in front of her. She gently waved her wand up, down, left, and right. The old parchment began to tremble, then expanded as it shook—until its edges extended far beyond the original map, leaving a lot of blank space.

"Whoa!"

"Cool!"

Fred and George clapped together.

Cyberlina tapped the map with her wand, and the names and footprints on it disappeared, leaving a bare map. Then, before the twins could exclaim anything, Cyberlina began drawing circles and lines on the map with her wand. The ink that appeared out of nowhere transformed into a detailed map as she sketched, filling in the areas outside Hogwarts on the Marauder's Map.

"That's amazing."

"You really won't teach us?"

"Of course, I can teach you. It's not difficult. Actually, I suspect this map was made by a student." Cyberlina asked as she drew, "Where did you get it?"

"From Filch."

"It was marked as dangerous."

"Oh!" Cyberlina chuckled. "For Mr. Filch, it certainly is dangerous—students can avoid him and his keen cat."

"Huh? So the secret passage behind the Whomping Willow leads to the Shrieking Shack?" Fred looked at the half-finished map in Cyberlina's hand, pointing to the familiar house connected to the Whomping Willow.

"It really does," George chimed in. "Cyberlina, how did you know?"

"I went out to see for myself, of course. But I only discovered it recently. There wasn't this secret passage in Hogwarts before." Cyberlina completed the area Fred was pointing at.

The twins exchanged a glance, then asked in unison, "'Before' Hogwarts?"

"Yes, before." Cyberlina chuckled and said no more.

Soon, Fred and George discovered that Cyberlina had even drawn the details of the Forbidden Forest!

"Merlin! I suspect you never sleep in the dorms at night!"

"I suspect your nighttime excursions aren't limited to the school grounds."

"Clever!" Cyberlina admitted without guilt, then stopped drawing. The map, now three times its original size, was displayed before the Weasley brothers.

"That's so cool!"

"Can you take us out of school next time?"

"I can take you out right now," Cyberlina said with a smile.

"Now?"

"What do you mean?"

Cyberlina didn't answer directly. Instead, she placed her wand on the enlarged Marauder's Map, closed her eyes, and then—thin blue magical traces crawled up the map from her wand tip, intertwining and merging with the ink until the entire map glowed with blue light. Then, Cyberlina tapped the map twice and suddenly raised her arm—the beautiful blue magical traces lifted off the paper along with her wand tip, tiny lights instantly taking flight on the paper. Then—a Hogwarts, with blue borders and glowing points, hovered above the worn parchment.

The Weasley twins couldn't see the magical flow, only the blue, beautiful castle that appeared out of nowhere on the paper. They gasped in unison.

But that wasn't all.

"Human Presence Charm."

Cyberlina whispered, and the names of people within Hogwarts appeared in the three-dimensional castle. The ink footprints turned into small points of light.

"So cool!" the twins exclaimed in unison, their eyes shining as they looked at the magnificent castle filled with names and lights.

"Oh, I see Ron!"

"And Harry!"

"Oh no, bad, Professor McGonagall is right behind them."

"Gryffindor loses ten points."

Cyberlina was amused by their back-and-forth. She leaned closer and indeed saw Harry and Ron cornered by McGonagall near the Gryffindor common room. In another part of the eighth floor, Snape's name flashed past Cyberlina's peripheral vision and disappeared.

Cyberlina raised an eyebrow slightly, then turned to the nearly identical red-haired brothers opposite her. "I promised I'd take you out. Are you ready?"

"Of course!"

"We've been ready for a long time."

"But the foundation of this map isn't quite enough yet. We need to find another place to buffer first... let me see..."

Then, Fred and George watched as Cyberlina casually tapped the Astronomy Tower within the floating castle, and—a powerful gravitational pull emanated from the castle before them. They felt a distortion in front of their eyes, their bodies uncontrollably pitching forward.

Cold wind rushed past Fred as he regained his senses first—only to find himself on the edge of the Astronomy Tower's rooftop! Half his foot was already outside! He immediately pulled George, who was leaning precariously next to him, back.

"Careful, children."

A gentle force came from their backs, pulling them away from the dangerous edge. They both looked back simultaneously and saw Cyberlina smiling at them from behind, the castle still floating beside her.

In the darkness, the light emanating from the castle wasn't confined to the map; scattered points of light surrounded Cyberlina, a cool halo encircling her gentle smile. It gave the twins a feeling similar to the strange circular disc and peculiar light they had seen underground earlier—eerie yet sacred.

Fred and George exchanged a look, and this time George spoke first. He asked Cyberlina, "Senior Cyberlina, how old are you exactly?"

"So direct, Weasleys." Cyberlina smiled at George. "But I'm not very old. Just six years older than Albus."

Fred and George fell silent, a rare occurrence.

If they remembered correctly, Headmaster Dumbledore's name was "Albus"?

"Alright, little Weasleys, the next stop is outside the school."

Although Cyberlina had been calling them "little sir," "little Weasleys," and "little gentlemen," Fred and George had previously thought it was teasing. After all, even if Cyberlina's background was a mystery, she couldn't be that much older than them. But now... they didn't feel it was so out of place.

"We're ready," they said in unison. At Cyberlina's signal, they moved closer to the map, watching as Cyberlina raised her hand and tapped Hogsmeade Station, which was very close to Hogwarts.

The next second, the scene before them shifted from the Astronomy Tower to the familiar station. It was the first time they had seen the station empty in the dead of night.

"This is so cool! It must be more convenient than Apparition!" Fred said excitedly.

"Aren't you guys about to learn Apparition too?" Cyberlina asked. "I remember by the time I was in fifth year, many of our classmates could already do it."

"No," George shook his head. "We probably won't be able to learn it until seventh year."

"Oh, that's a real shame," Cyberlina gave them a sympathetic look.

"But this is way better than Apparition," Fred said, excitedly walking around the map that was still floating in the air. "At least you can't Apparate within Hogwarts."

"Actually, there are many places in the world where you can't Apparate," Cyberlina shrugged. She reached out and pulled the map closer, cupping her hands underneath the parchment. Then, she brought her hands together – the parchment, along with the three-dimensional castle on it, folded up.

"Oh... 'Moony', 'Wormtail', 'Padfoot', and 'Prongs'... It seems the original creators of this map were quite fond of nicknames," Cyberlina said as the words on the map gradually disappeared. She then handed the folded map to George. "Other than the magic I added, nothing else has changed. You can use it just like you normally would."

"You're giving us this improved map?" George asked in surprise, quickly taking the map into his hands.

"Of course. After all, you helped me complete this experiment," Cyberlina watched his actions with amusement.

"But we just provided the map," Fred chimed in, standing next to George and looking at Cyberlina together.

"More than that. Do you think I've just been taking you for strolls for the past month?" Cyberlina chuckled and continued to explain, "Anywhere you've walked within the school, just tap on the map and wish to be there, and you'll go. It's safe. But for places outside the school, only I can take you."

"...Merlin, you were having us scout locations for the map," Fred sighed.

"And we didn't even realize it," George shook his head.

"Even though you two were so keen on finding the 'unknown Chamber of Secrets'."

"So, esteemed Cyberlina, is there really a Chamber of Secrets?"

"We're talking about the one that appeared last night."

"Of course, there is," Cyberlina nodded, her expression sincere. "Beneath the stairs you almost went down just now, there's also a Chamber of Secrets, but you can't see it and can't open it."

Fred and George wore identical expressions of "Are you kidding us?"

"But why didn't you just tell us? You know, we'd be happy to search all over Hogwarts," George expressed his confusion.

"That's why I said this was an experiment," Cyberlina smiled at them, hands behind her back. "I wanted to see if this magic would work without you knowing."

"It truly is a rare kind of magic," Fred thought. He had certainly never heard of such a wondrous spell that could take you anywhere you pointed.

"Perhaps you've heard of the Floo Network? It's probably a node in the current Floo Network," Cyberlina said wistfully. "A long time ago, that method of travel was quite common. The magic on this map was inspired by the Floo Network when it was created."

"If it's a Floo Network node..." George mused, "does that mean this map can also connect to other similar maps?"

"Provided there's a second map," Cyberlina sighed softly. "But there isn't another one. This is also the first time I've made a paper map like this."

"So, are we going back using the original method now?" Fred asked, looking at the map George was stuffing into his pocket.

"Oh, you want to go back, Fred?"

The two exchanged a smile.

Cyberlina instructed them with a hint of helplessness, "Tomorrow is Monday. Don't be late for class – I'm sure you've already mastered the method of returning to Hogwarts from outside the grounds."