Map

"Senior Cyberlina..." Fred breathed a sigh of relief and lowered his wand. "You're quite the elusive one."

"You really gave us a fright." George chimed in, lowering his wand as well.

"You can't blame me, you prank-loving Weasleys." Cyberlina approached them with her hands behind her back. "You've followed me so many times. Surely you'll let me get a little revenge."

"Oh, of course. Absolutely." Fred straightened his back and clasped his hands behind him, imitating Cyberlina. "After all, who can blame you when you're our sponsor of prank inspiration?"

—Yes, Cyberlina had "sponsored the Weasley twins' prank inspiration" on the very first day of term.

The Weasley twins had noticed that Cyberlina seemed somewhat different from the other Slytherins. Combined with the way her name appeared and disappeared on the Marauder's Map, they had treated her like a student from another house, casually greeted her, and walked past. They had not expected Cyberlina to call them back.

"You two have incredible talent and ability, Weasleys."

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

"I'm only stating a fact. The Weasleys have always been impressive." Cyberlina sounded sincere. "You seem to enjoy tinkering with little things. As it happens, I have quite a few interesting items here. Would you like to take a look?"

"So our reputation has already reached even our new friends?"

"That's truly surprising."

Fred and George were both clearly taken aback.

"Because Headmaster Dumbledore has told me about you." Cyberlina smiled. "He told me quite a few things."

"Oh..." The two exchanged a glance and spoke in unison. "Then he definitely didn't say anything good."

"Don't worry, it was all praise." As she spoke, Cyberlina took out an exquisite little bag enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm and handed it to George. She winked. "I don't want to be late for class on my first day, so I'll give you the things first. Remember to come ask me for more."

That afternoon and evening, they tried the bag's strange and unusual items on Percy and Ron. The next day, they excitedly stopped Cyberlina in the corridor, and she gave them a second bag.

The three of them gradually became familiar with one another.

But becoming familiar did not stop the twins from investigating why Cyberlina's name sometimes failed to appear on the Marauder's Map. They guessed that she had entered a place that did not exist on the map—like the Room of Requirement.

How could they possibly miss the chance to investigate the Chamber of Secrets?

So they began a night-after-night tracking operation—one that kept failing.

Cyberlina's name always vanished from the map in places they least expected. Moreover, her route during each nightly excursion was different, so they could not intercept her in advance. Although their tracking attempts repeatedly failed, Fred and George only grew more determined, becoming more excited with each passing night.

They had not followed this route for the first time tonight, either. On the night after the feast, they had seen Cyberlina's name suddenly disappear here. Relying on their experience from previous attempts, they followed her for longer this time. Yet Cyberlina's name still suddenly disappeared from the map—and then they found Cyberlina waiting to ambush them.

The two prank experts were not idiots. Seeing Cyberlina smiling at them, they realized they had simply been played recently. The "revenge" Cyberlina had mentioned was not limited to what had just happened.

"But how did you—" Fred stopped halfway through his question, realizing that for Cyberlina to do something like this, she first had to know they possessed the Marauder's Map. He looked at George, who was already looking back at him. Clearly, his younger brother had realized it slightly earlier.

"You should have thought of that sooner." Cyberlina smiled as she raised the arm holding her wand and gave it a light flick. The Marauder's Map in Fred's hand flew into hers.

"Oh, we're done for." Fred tried to snatch the map back, but failed. He could only watch as Cyberlina examined it.

"Would you like to improve it?"

The twins' eyes lit up. They stepped forward and gathered on either side of Cyberlina, looking at the Marauder's Map with her.

"How else can it be improved?"

"Could we mark more secret rooms?"

"Like the ones you usually visit?"

"And more undiscovered ones?"

The voices on either side amused Cyberlina. She gave her wand another gentle wave—and Fred and George watched helplessly as her name disappeared from the map, while she herself remained standing in front of them.

"So I didn't go into some secret room or other place that couldn't be displayed." Cyberlina smiled.

"Then what was it?"

"Can you teach us?"

"It isn't difficult. It's only a Confundus Charm targeted at my traces—" Cyberlina flicked her wand again, making her figure vanish before reappearing. "It can also target me directly."

"Oh!"

"Merlin!"

The brothers exchanged a glance and thought of the feast at the same time.

"So during the feast—"

"Could it be that you were right behind us?"

"Almost everyone was watching our side at the time."

"So you only made us unable to see you?"

"Don't worry. Only the professors could see me then. Otherwise, you would have noticed, wouldn't you?" Cyberlina looked at the Marauder's Map in her hands. "It isn't difficult either. You only need to add a restriction to the spell—like using Accio on a single specific object."

"Like just now." Fred looked at the map in Cyberlina's hands.

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

"So how do you want to improve it?" George was clearly very interested. "Make it immune to the Confundus Charm?"

"Hmm, that's a good idea, but what I mainly want to do is..." As she spoke, Cyberlina released the map and let the unfolded parchment float 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 large blank spaces extended far beyond the map's original edges.

"Wow!"

"Cool!"

Fred and George applauded together.

Cyberlina tapped the map with her wand. The names and footprints vanished, leaving only a bare map. Then, before the twins could react, Cyberlina began sketching and circling things across it with her wand. Ink appeared from thin air, transforming her simple strokes into a detailed map and filling in areas beyond Hogwarts.

"That's incredible."

"Can't you really teach us?"

"Of course I can. It isn't difficult. Actually, I suspect this map was made by students." Cyberlina continued drawing as she asked, "Where did you get it?"

"From Filch."

"It was marked as dangerous."

"Oh!" Cyberlina laughed. "For Mr. Filch, it really is dangerous. Students can use it to avoid him and his sharp-eyed cat."

"Hm? So the passage behind the Whomping Willow leads to the Shrieking Shack?" Fred pointed at the familiar house connected to the Whomping Willow on the unfinished map in Cyberlina's hand.

"Really." George joined in. "Cyberlina, how did you know?"

"I went out and saw it for myself, of course. But I only discovered it recently. Hogwarts didn't have this passage before." Following Fred's finger, Cyberlina filled in that section.

The twins exchanged a glance, then asked together, "'Hogwarts before'?"

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

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

"Merlin! I'm starting to suspect you never stay in your dormitory at night."

"I suspect your nightly excursions extend beyond the school."

"Clever!" Cyberlina admitted it without the slightest shame, then stopped drawing. The map, now three times larger than before, spread out before the Weasley brothers.

"That's so cool!"

"Can you take us with you the next time you leave school?"

"I can take you out right now." Cyberlina smiled at them.

"Right now?"

"What do you mean?"

Cyberlina did not answer directly. Instead, she pressed her wand against the enlarged Marauder's Map and closed her eyes. Then thin blue traces of magic slowly climbed from the tip of her wand onto the map, intertwining and merging with the ink until the entire map glowed blue. Cyberlina tapped the map twice, then suddenly raised her arm. The beautiful blue traces of magic rose from the parchment along with her wand, specks of light lifting into the air. Then—a Hogwarts outlined in blue and formed from points of light floated above the old parchment.

The Weasley twins could not see the magical currents moving through the map. They could only see the beautiful blue castle that had appeared on the parchment from nowhere, and they cried out in astonishment.

But that was not all.

"Trace Charm."

Cyberlina spoke softly, and the names of everyone in Hogwarts appeared within the three-dimensional castle. The original ink footprints became points of light.

"That's so cool!" the twins exclaimed together, their eyes shining as they gazed at the dazzling castle filled with names and lights.

"Oh, I see Ron!"

"And Harry!"

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

"Ten points from Gryffindor."

Amused by their alternating commentary, Cyberlina leaned closer and discovered that Harry and Ron had indeed been cornered by McGonagall at the turn outside the Gryffindor common room. Elsewhere on the Seventh Floor, Snape's name flashed through the corner of Cyberlina's eye before vanishing.

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

"Of course!"

"We've been ready for ages."

"But this map's foundation still isn't quite enough. We need to find somewhere else to use as a buffer first... Let me see..."

Fred and George then watched as Cyberlina casually tapped the Astronomy Tower on the floating castle. Immediately, a tremendous force of gravity surged from the castle in front of them. Their vision warped, and their bodies pitched forward uncontrollably.

Cold wind swept past them from below. Fred was the first to recover—and discovered that he was at the edge of the Astronomy Tower's rooftop terrace! Half of one foot was already hanging over the edge! He immediately grabbed George, who was leaning just as precariously, and pulled him backward.

"Careful, boys."

A gentle force pressed against their backs, drawing them away from the dangerous edge. They turned around at the same time and found Cyberlina smiling behind them, the castle floating beside her.

In the darkness, the light from the castle was no longer limited to the map. Specks of light also swirled around Cyberlina, and the cool glow framed her gentle smile. It gave the twins the same feeling as the strange underground disk and bizarre light from earlier—eerie yet sacred.

Fred and George exchanged a glance. This time, George spoke first. "Senior Cyberlina, how old are you, exactly?"

"That's rather direct, Weasleys." Cyberlina smiled at George. "But I'm not that old. I'm only six years older than Albus."

Fred and George fell uncharacteristically silent.

Unless they were mistaken, Headmaster Dumbledore's first name was "Albus"?

"All right, little Weasleys. Our next destination is outside the school."

Although Cyberlina had always called them things like "little sir," "little Weasley," and "little gentleman," Fred and George had previously assumed it was teasing. After all, even if Cyberlina's background was mysterious, she could not possibly be that much older than them. But now... it no longer seemed so strange.

"We're ready." They spoke in unison and, at Cyberlina's gesture, approached the map. They watched as Cyberlina raised her hand and tapped Hogsmeade Station, which was very close to Hogwarts.

The next moment, the scene before them changed from the Astronomy Tower into the familiar station. However, this was their first time seeing the station deserted at night.

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

"You're about to learn Apparition too, aren't you?" Cyberlina asked. "I remember that when I was in fifth year, many of my classmates already knew how."

"No." George shook his head. "We probably won't learn until seventh year."

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

"But this is much more impressive than Apparition." Fred excitedly circled the map, which still floated in midair. "At least you can't Apparate inside Hogwarts."

"Actually, there are many places in this world where Apparition is impossible." Cyberlina shrugged. She pulled the map over and supported the parchment from beneath with both hands, then brought her palms 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 very good at coming up with nicknames." Cyberlina watched the words gradually vanish, then handed the folded map to George. "Other than the magic I added, nothing has changed. You can use it as usual."

"You're giving us this improved map?" George asked in surprise, quickly taking it.

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

"But we only provided the map." Fred moved over beside George, looking at Cyberlina with him.

"Not only that. Did you think I had spent the past month simply taking you around?" Cyberlina snorted with a laugh, then explained. "As long as you've walked somewhere inside the school, you only need to open the map, tap that location, and wish to go there. There's no danger. But for places outside the school, only I can take you."

"...Merlin, you've been taking us around to map out locations." Fred sighed.

"And we never realized it." George shook his head.

"It was you who were so obsessed with finding 'unknown secret rooms.'"

"So, our dear Cyberlina, are there really secret rooms?"

"We mean the one that appeared last night."

"Of course there are." Cyberlina nodded with complete sincerity. "The stairs you nearly went down just now lead to another secret room. You simply can't see or open it."

Fred and George both wore expressions that said, "Are you messing with us?"

"But why didn't you just tell us? You know we'd be happy to search the whole of Hogwarts." George voiced his confusion.

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

"It really is a rare kind of magic." Fred had certainly never heard of anything so miraculous, something that could take you wherever you tapped.

"Have you perhaps heard of Floo Flame? It's roughly a node in the Floo Network." Cyberlina's expression turned nostalgic. "A long time ago, that method of travel was very common. The magic on this map was created with Floo Flames as a reference."

"If it's connected to Floo Network nodes..." George pondered. "Could this map connect to other maps like it?"

"Only if there were a second map." Cyberlina sighed softly. "But there isn't another one. This is the first paper map of this kind I've ever made."

"So do we have to return the original way?" Fred looked at the map George was beginning to stuff into his pocket.

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

The two exchanged a smile.

Cyberlina helplessly reminded them, "Tomorrow is Monday. Don't be late for class—I trust you've already figured out how to return to Hogwarts from outside the school."