32

"To be honest, Rupo, you're just like my... well, like a younger brother to me. Your personality is especially similar to one of my younger brothers."

Having stayed up all night, Rupo had dark circles under his eyes. He did not even notice that Fimiya had stuck a note reading "Panda Eyes" to his back.

"A younger brother?"

"Yes. His name is Draco Malfoy. The two of you have very similar personalities, though Draco is a year younger than me. If you two could enroll in the same year, you'd definitely become the best of friends."

"Birds of a feather flock together. The Malfoy family will inevitably enter Slytherin House too. But I hate the way the Malfoys do things—a bunch of cowardly rats who only know how to follow the wind! Mr. Sherlock, only people from the Lestrange Family are fit to be the most loyal subordinates. I would even brave fire and water for a great man like you."

Dandeni's words, which sounded as though he were swearing allegiance, gave Sherlock quite a headache. The boy had practically decided that Sherlock would become the next Voldemort-like figure. Still, at least he was not as suicidally reckless as Rupo, which was fortunate amid the misfortune.

"I-I can too! Our Adams family doesn't think much of the Malfoys either, though I have to admit they're doing fairly well these days. And I used to get along pretty well with that Malfoy kid, Draco. Mainly because his father, Lucius, is such a fence-sitter."

"Ahem! I think you should apologize to Mr. Sherlock, Rupo, because Mr. Lucius is Sherlock's godfather."

Sherlock's other roommate could not help but interject. There were four people in Sherlock's dormitory: himself, Rupo Adams, Dandeni Lestrange, and Kirk Avery. Kirk Avery was from the pure-blood Avery Family, though he himself was a half-blood.

He was not valued by the Avery Family. His mother had merely been an ordinary woman, the result of Kirk's father's drunken indiscretion. Kirk had never met his mother; the Avery Family would never permit an ordinary woman to enter their home.

Thus, having grown up in that environment, Kirk was particularly humble and tolerant. Most importantly, he was not an advocate of pure-blood ideology.

He wore glasses in a style similar to Harry Potter's. When they had enrolled, he had desperately insisted on sharing a dormitory with Sherlock, even going so far as to invoke his Avery Family background and heritage—the very thing he least wanted to do. Yet he had always believed that Sherlock would inevitably become someone who influenced, or even changed, the wizarding world, whether for better or worse.

And among everyone in the dormitory, including Fimiya by Sherlock's side, Kirk's personality was the one Sherlock appreciated most.

Yesterday, it had also been Kirk and Dandeni who had supported Rupo back from Transfiguration class to the Slytherin common room.

Upon hearing Kirk's explanation, Rupo and Dandeni immediately apologized to Sherlock. Dandeni even said that when Draco enrolled next year, he would make sure to take good care of the Malfoy boy.

But Sherlock thought, Just don't use that conspiracy-theory nonsense on Draco. He's already a pure-blood supremacist, and with a Lestrange like you beside him, wouldn't his heart turn even darker?

"Ahem! Actually, there's something else I need to tell Mr. Sherlock. Last night, while I was helping Filch patrol, guess who I found in Filch's office?" Rupo told them mysteriously.

Fimiya promptly kicked him. "If you're going to say it, then hurry up."

"All right. It was the Weasley twins. I didn't see exactly what they took from Filch's desk drawer, but it looked like a piece of parchment. When they came out, they spotted me too. We made a secret agreement: I wouldn't report them for sneaking out of their dormitory in the middle of the night or stealing from Filch, but they had to hand over what they took by noon today. Twelve o'clock, in the school's display room."

Hogwarts served lunch at eleven thirty, and it was already eleven fifty. They were on their way back to the Slytherin common room.

Dandeni said, "Isn't that almost time?"

"Uh... yes. So, do you want to come with me? What those twins did is enough to get them expelled. The fact that I didn't report them last night means they ought to be deeply grateful to me!"

Fimiya rolled her eyes. "That was only because you were patrolling with Filch at the time. If you'd been carrying what the Weasley brothers stole, Filch would definitely have found it."

"But at least I didn't tell Filch that there had been thieves in his office. That's true, right?"

Rupo wanted all five of them to go with him.

Sherlock, Dandeni, Kirk, Fimiya, and Rupo himself—five people exactly. At Slytherin House, they were Sherlock's closest friends.

Dandeni said, "I don't mind. But if Mr. Sherlock isn't going... then I won't go either."

From the very beginning, Dandeni had acted as though he would obey Sherlock's every command. Sherlock had repeatedly tried to emphasize that they were merely classmates and friends, but it had never done much good.

"Me too, me too!" Fimiya said.

"If you really want someone to accompany you, I don't have anything important to do at noon." Kirk was still holding a first-year Potions textbook.

Sherlock had spent a week revising every procedure in his Potions textbook, making them more convenient and efficient than before. He had shown the revised textbook to Snape, successfully earning twenty points for Slytherin. Snape had also been astonished by his speed.

After all, when Snape himself had been in fifth year, it had taken him an entire semester to finish revising one textbook.

Now, Sherlock had lent his Potions textbook to Kirk. The study-loving Kirk had instantly become completely absorbed in the book, with Sherlock's annotations.

He called it the best textbook in the world, and through it, Kirk could also directly sense the breadth and depth of Sherlock's knowledge.

Hearing them say this, Rupo simply went straight to begging Sherlock to go with him. From Rupo's description, Sherlock had also guessed that what Fred and George had stolen was very likely the Marauder's Map.

The magical map that the Marauders had invented together back in the day.

"I can go. But if the two of them truly refuse to give it to you, you are not allowed to force them. And if they are willing to give it to you, I hope you'll lend it to me for one night."

"Of course, of course! Mr. Sherlock, I can just give it to you outright."

Sherlock shook his head.

The place Rupo had arranged to meet the Weasley brothers was beside a lake near Hogwarts, where a tall, slender poplar tree stood.

"We agreed you would come alone!"

Seeing Rupo arrive with so many people from Slytherin House, Fred and George were clearly worried that someone might expose their nighttime escape from the dormitory.

But when they saw Sherlock among them, the two of them relaxed instead.

"No one will tell. Don't worry. So, where is that thing?"

"It's here! But it's just an ordinary piece of parchment!"

Rupo took the parchment, unfolded it, and examined it closely, but found nothing unusual about it.

He sneered, "You went to all that trouble to steal this thing from Filch's office?"

Fred and George looked rather embarrassed. Sherlock could tell from their expressions that the brothers had not yet discovered the Marauder's Map's true method of use or its wonders.

"Rupo, let me see that parchment," Sherlock said.

"Here, Mr. Sherlock. It's just an old piece of paper, really nothing worth looking at. Maybe Filch used it for keeping records."

Sherlock held it in his hand, now one hundred percent certain that it was the Marauder's Map. He took out his wand, its golden tip aimed at the center of the parchment.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!"

Lines instantly spread across the parchment's surface, along with named figures moving about, each followed by tiny footprints.

"That's amazing! Just as expected of Mr. Sherlock."