The Strangest Person

The day after the conflict.

In the Slytherin common room, Betty sought Lynn out again.

This time, Lynn did not avoid her. Or rather, he had been waiting for her here.

"I heard about it, Lynn. Raphael gave you trouble yesterday, and he even... even called you those filthy names. Are you all right?"

Lynn sighed inwardly. So childhood sweethearts really could not compare to a sudden arrival. Raphael had been taught such a harsh lesson by him yesterday, yet the first thing Betty asked was whether he was okay.

"I'm fine, Senior," Lynn said, still grateful for her concern.

"As for Senior Raphael, he probably isn't doing so well."

At the mention of her ex-boyfriend, Betty showed no pleasant expression.

"He deserved it. After this, Professor Snape may even strip him of his prefect status. What he said was utterly vile."

Betty wound a strand of hair near her shoulder around her finger and said casually, "Why have you been eating at Ravenclaw's table lately? Are you free tonight? My family sent me some snacks. We could eat them together by the Black Lake..."

"I'm sorry, Senior." Lynn took a deep breath. Though he had never dated in either of his two lives, this was not his first time turning down a girl.

Two idioms described it perfectly: practice made perfect, and he knew the drill.

"I know you like me, but I'm still too young. I don't plan on getting a girlfriend for now, and besides... you're a good person."

Lynn's rejection was too direct, leaving Betty no room for hope. She felt disappointed and embarrassed.

"O-okay."

Being direct was better.

That way, he could avoid getting tangled up again and having some melodramatic nonsense happen later.

After Herbology class ended on Thursday, Lynn planned to look for the Room of Requirement hidden somewhere in the castle.

He definitely could not use that Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom again. Who knew whether something similar might happen in the future?

At the moment, he only vaguely remembered one clue about the Room of Requirement: on the wall opposite it hung a tapestry depicting a troll and ballet teacher.

He did not know the exact location.

But there were plenty of "people" in Hogwarts Castle to ask for directions. He questioned the portraits along both sides of the corridors for clues and, before he knew it, arrived on the third floor.

There were not many people here, but there was a statue of a one-eyed, hunchbacked old witch.

Just as he passed the statue, a hand suddenly reached out from behind it and grabbed his arm.

Lynn did not panic, because he saw who the arm belonged to.

"What are you two hiding here for?"

He looked helplessly at the grinning Weasley twins. They always seemed to appear and vanish without a trace.

George draped an arm around Lynn's shoulders.

"We heard all about what happened to you. Well done, Lynn. I've hated that Raphael bloke for ages. He always looks down his nose at people. Who does he think he is?"

Lynn could do nothing about these two troublemakers who feared the world was not chaotic enough. He glanced at the thing Fred was sneakily hiding behind his back.

"Don't change the subject. You still haven't answered my question."

The twins exchanged a look, as though reaching an agreement on something.

"We're planning to sneak into Hogsmeade to buy materials for making dungbombs," Fred said.

"Behind this statue, there's actually a secret passage leading to the cellar of Honeydukes. We're planning to go through it in a moment."

Then the brothers pulled Lynn behind the statue together. Fred mysteriously took out what he had been hiding behind his back.

"We were watching the people in the castle just now. If someone passed by while we were opening the secret passage, that would have been a disaster."

Lynn looked at what Fred held. It was a worn piece of parchment covered in dense ink lines, clearly outlining every part of the castle, including all its secret passages.

Even more amazingly, it marked the location of every person in Hogwarts, and as they moved, their names constantly shifted across the map.

Lynn saw Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape in their respective offices. Professor Dumbledore's name was nowhere on the map; he had probably left Hogwarts. As she did most of the time, Professor Sprout was in the greenhouses tending to those precious magical plants.

There was also Professor Foxx. He was not in the castle; his name showed that he was in the hut beside the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid, possibly still discussing the Red Cap.

He also saw Raphael in the Hogwarts hospital wing. He was walking around, apparently about to be discharged.

And Filch and his cat, whom the twins were most worried about, were somewhere on the first floor of the castle. There was no need to worry about them suddenly appearing.

As for where Lynn and the others were now, there was no one nearby apart from them. Clearly, this was very safe for the Weasley brothers' outing plan.

"What is this?" Although Lynn knew the name of the parchment, he still asked with feigned curiosity.

"The Marauder's Map!" George proudly announced its name as though introducing a priceless treasure to a friend.

"Fred and I found it in Filch's office during our first year. At first, we thought it was just an ordinary piece of parchment. Later, we had to put in a great deal of effort to figure out how it worked."

Fred bragged as well.

"Thanks to it, George and I have never once been caught by Filch during our nighttime excursions or trips out. Everyone's movements in the castle are right under our noses."

Lynn nodded lightly, then suddenly remembered something.

"On the morning Hubert was attacked, did you two happen to check the Marauder's Map?"

George and Fred both shook their heads.

"No. We usually don't get up until right before class. When the attack happened, we were still asleep."

"We're leaving now, Lynn. Do you want to come with us? There are plenty of interesting shops in Hogsmeade."

Lynn shook his head. He was not particularly interested in that wizarding village.

"I'll pass. Maybe next time."

George shrugged.

"All right, then. But we hope you can keep this secret for us."

"No problem."

Just as the Weasley brothers opened the secret passage and prepared to crawl inside, Lynn suddenly spoke again.

"Then, from the start of this term until now, have you noticed anyone with particularly strange movements while watching the Marauder's Map?"

Fred and George both seriously considered Lynn's question. In the end, they gave the same name.

"If we're talking about the strangest person, it has to be Professor Foxx."

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