Love You In My Mind // Sirius Black

Chapter 6

I arrived early, about ten minutes before the time they had said that they wanted to meet.
I figured that there would be no better time to explore the wall's mechanism/magic, so I wanted to do that.

I pushed the carpet aside and took a close look at the wall. Nothing. There wasn't a trace of anything that would imply a secret entrance.
I traced the wall at the place where the outline of the door would appear with my fingers, and then with my wand, trying to sense or trigger anything. But there was nothing, again. I pointed my wand at the wall. "Revelio!" Still. Nothing. How on earth had they managed to find that secret room!?

I got frustrated and kicked the wall, careful not to crush my foot in the process, but froze when I heard a voice.

"What are you doing?"
James Potter smirked.
The marauders were there, and Merlin did I want the floor to swallow me up whole. They saw me kicking a wall. Bricks!

I cleared my throat embarrassedly and stepped back from the wall as if nothing had happened. "This mechanism is extraordinary," I mumbled, probably blushing terribly.

"It really is." Remus walked up to me and pushed his shoulder against the wall, like he'd done a few nights ago on our patrol.
There was the crack again, and the hidden brick door appeared. We all went in, and it looked like last time; a round wooden table with chairs surrounding it. Only the parchment on the table was gone.

"How did you find this room?" I just had to ask. The chances were... Like 2 percent. I mean, it was hidden incredibly well, nearly impossible to open or find.

Peter snickered and James blushed crimson red.
"We had a lot of time to explore," He murmured.

"He walked into the wall," Remus clarified. "Because he tripped on his shoe laces."

I burst into laughter, and Peter, Sirius and Remus grinned at James, trying to keep their amusement at bay.
"I hate you all," He crossed his arms in front of his chest and flopped down on a chair. "You said you wouldn't tell anyone."

"Ts ts ts," Sirius raised an eyebrow. "You demanded we wouldn't tell anyone, but we never agreed."

"Whatever."

Calming down, all of us sat down around the wooden table. I was sitting next to Sirius and Remus, who pulled out parchment from his robes. He laid it down in front of me and I stared at it. It was just random, blank parchment.

"So? What am I here for?"

"For this." Remus nodded his head at the parchment. "Sirius, if you were so kind?"

"Of course, Mr Lupin." Sirius pulled out his wand, cleared his throat and touched the parchment with the tip of his wand. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

I gawked at the sight in front of me. Where Sirius' wand had touched the parchment, a black dot appeared and several small lines extended from it, spreading across the parchment. It almost looked like there was a geometrical structure behind it, but I couldn't put my finger on what it reminded me of.

Something else caught my attention.
"Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers, are proud to present the Marauder's Map?" I read out loud, both amused and fascinated. I looked up at James, Sirius, Peter and Remus, all grinning like proud dads.

"Precisely." Sirius reached over to unfold the parchment- or map. "In our six years at Hogwarts, we've explored every corner of the castle, and we got the idea to make a map."

Ooh, so that was the geometrical structure I'd recognised. A map of Hogwarts. "Honestly, it surprises me that no one has ever thought of that before," I mumbled, not even necessarily wanting them to hear me. I'd just wanted to get the thought out of my system. A map would really help all first years, even if it didn't have every corner of Hogwarts on it. Apparently, the marauders had heard me.