Morning sunlight pierced the Castle's high walls.
The beams cast long, distinct shadows across the spotlessly polished stone paving.
In the corridors, students instinctively kept to the right, and it was so quiet that they could hear only their own orderly footsteps and a few hoots from the distant Owlery.
Fred and George trudged dejectedly among the students, feeling uncomfortable all over.
"Even the air has started following the rules."
Fred complained under his breath.
"This is an outright insult to the Gryffindor spirit."
George irritably kicked a small pebble by his feet.
In the silent corridor, the pebble made an especially loud, grating "tap... tap... tap..."
The students around them immediately shot them disapproving looks.
Humming a wildly off-key tune, Peeves drifted lazily over their heads.
Unexpectedly, he neither threw water balloons nor shouted.
"Watch yourselves, brats!"
He pulled a face at the twins and spoke in an exaggerated, theatrical tone.
"The great demon king Black has eyes everywhere! And that Magical Eye can see right through your socks!"
With that, he drifted through the wall, leaving the twins looking utterly stunned.
The legend of the Academic Affairs Office Panoramic Surveillance Map had clearly become Hogwarts's new code of conduct.
Its deterrent power was far greater than Filch's bellowing and Mrs. Norris's meowing.
The twins exchanged a glance. They knew that the map in Sirius's hands was the genuine, original Marauder's Map.
Professor McGonagall stopped Douglas in the corridor as he was about to head to his office.
She wore a rare smile, one that could almost be called heartfelt.
"Douglas, Hogwarts hasn't run this... smoothly in years."
She adjusted her pointed hat, her voice full of gratification.
"Yesterday, I even saw Peeves trying to submit a written application to Mr. Filch before dismantling the Astronomy Tower's chandelier."
Douglas