Era of Potter (HARRY POTTER FanFiction)

Chapter Thirty-Seven-The Map

Not knowing what the voice was and not hearing it again, Harry put it to the back of his mind for something he will deal with later. Actually right now the two things he had been worrying about were Quidditch and the map that he wanted to make.

Working on the map was not as easy as Harry thought it would be and he started to doubt Sirius claim that the marauders only spent a month on this. Hermione had looked up the basic spells that would be needed to make the new map and they were all difficult spells to perform, which in itself wouldn't have been so bad but there seemed to be more to this than just casting the spells on a new piece of paper. It seemed that some of the charms would work against each other and paper would end up becoming a pile of ash.

When Harry had gone to the twins to asking them to copy the map and if they knew any way to cast these spells together, they didn't seem to have any answer either. Harry was discouraged by this, for though he knew the twins were not very studious, he also knew they were capable wizards and they were especially good at charms. However, Hermione seemed to think this was a challenge and she decided to read all the books on charms that she could find to see how she could make this map work. When the first month had gone by and still she did not have any success she got angry and would spend every spare second she had on this.

It was only a few days after that that they got the break they were looking for, though it was in the form that none of them were expecting it to be in. Harry, Ron and Hermione were walking back to the castle from the Quidditch pitch, the boys having just had a very strenuous practices (Wood was pushing everyone harder than usually to prepare them for their next game), and Hermione had decided to take her research outside because it was actually a nice day. However, just before they could go into the castle they saw Luna who seemed to be looking for something.

"Hey Luna," Harry said, smiling at his friend. They hadn't actually seen each other that much, not being in the same house nor having classes that were near each other, but Harry still thought of her as a friend. "Do you need some help?"

"Yeah, we can help you find whatever it is you're looking for," Ron added.

"Well, actually I'm looking for the Crumple-Horned Snorkack," Luna said. "My dorm mate said that she thought she saw one down her the other day. I was about to lure it out with some cheese, Daddy said that it's their favorite."

"Er... Luna," Hermione said biting her lip, and looking at the boys uncomfortably before she pressed on, "I'm not sure if your dorm mate was telling the truth..."

Luna turned her dreamy eyes on Hermione then, her expression was hard to read but she said, "Yes, I believe you're correct, but one cannot exclude the possibility that the Snorkack would want to come here until one has investigated the scene for themselves."

"That's a very interesting way to look at it," Harry smiled at her, but Hermione was frowning at Luna. She didn't believe that this Crumple-Horned Snorkack really existed and she couldn't understand why Luna would waste her time on this thing, especially when it was clear that he girl was actually pretty smart.

"So... er... how have you liked Hogwarts so far?" Ron questioned uncomfortably.

"Oh, it's been lovely," Luna nodded her head; "I think I have found some evidence that there is a great infestation of Nargles around here. It makes sense of course, with this many people they can cause plenty of the mischief that they love so much."

"Er... that's nice," Ron mumbled, not knowing what else he could have said.

"Hm..." Luna smiled at him, placing some cheese on the grass and then walking to join the others.

"What are...?" Harry started to ask.

"The Crumple-Horned Snorkack is shy, its best if they don't think I'm watching them," Luna said sincerely. "So what have you've been doing?"