Vizette glanced at the moving staircase and determined his location.
On the Marauder's Map, his name and the Weasley twins' names appeared at the location of the moving staircase platform on the fifth floor.
Vizette pointed to two parallel dotted lines and asked curiously, "George, does marking them with dotted lines mean... a secret passage?"
"Yes!" George was pleased with Vizette's tone, raising his eyebrows and nodding. "We've learned a lot from this little darling!"
Fred, equally smug, added, "At least we can't learn as much from Lockhart and Trelawney!"
Vizette nodded. "I see! The secret passage you told me about last time was found on this map, right?"
George crossed his arms. "That's right! We have quite a few secret passages, all discovered from the map."
"Praise be to Prongs and Padfoot!" Fred exclaimed dramatically. "They're the ones who helped us!"
"Praise be to Moony and Wormtail!" George chimed in. "They are both incredibly noble people!"
"With their help, we were able to hold our own against Filch! That guy knows too many secret passages!"
"Oh, by the way, if you don't want to watch anymore, just take out your wand and tap it again..."
Following George's instructions, Vizette picked up his wand and tapped the Marauder's Map. "Mischief managed!"
The Marauder's Map shrank visibly, the ink lines on it rapidly shrinking, and the once exquisite and complex map reverted to an old, square parchment.
He tried to return the Marauder's Map to George, but George pushed it back, saying, "Keep it! We've already memorized everything on the Marauder's Map!"
Vizette began, "But..."
Fred interrupted him, "No buts! Actually, we're giving it to you with a bit of a plan behind it!"
"We still want to play with Filch! So... the task of finding the secret base is now in your hands!"
"Thank you!" Vizette said solemnly, deeply moved.
Whether from a practical or research perspective, the value of such a magic map is immeasurable.
The Weasley twins genuinely considered him a friend to be able to just hand it over like that.
"Your expression is great!" George made a photographic gesture. "It would be even better if you could add some tears!"
Fred chuckled, "Vizette, since you're willing to share your 'Rubik's Cube theory' with us, of course we'll give you our good stuff too. Don't be like that!"
Vizette nodded. "Alright! Leave the search for the secret base to me!"
He remembered that Fred and George had mentioned this when school started.
In fact, he happened to know that there was a place that was perfect for use as a secret base.
However, Serena told him about that place, so he would need to obtain Serena's permission to use it.
...
On the way back to the common room, Fred and George shared many of their past experiences.
They were all about how they, as freshmen, outwitted and outmaneuvered Filch.
Before they got the Marauder's Map, they were often at a disadvantage, and Filch would catch them from time to time, drag them into his office for solitary confinement, and call Professor McGonagall over to deduct points.
They only gradually gained the upper hand after finding the Marauder's Map in a drawer marked "Confiscated Items, High Danger".
...
Back in the common room, Vizette didn't immediately return to his dormitory. Instead, he found a chair, sat down, and opened the notebook from Serena.
He still remembered the letter from back then, in which Serena had said they would "do their best to provide you with the appropriate assistance."
However, at the end of the Guardian's Chamber, there was only this notebook.
Since the notebook possessed the magic of a Portkey, it was possible that it could also conceal even more magic.
The notebook cover featured a swirling crystal, much like the mechanism in the Guardian's Chamber.
Vizette picked up his wand, pressed the tip against the crystal, and tried to infuse it with ancient magical power.
After absorbing ancient magical power, the crystal shard glowed with a silvery-blue light, and the vortex within it began to flow.
A message traveled along the tip of the wand to Vizette.
Just as he guessed, this notebook could not only be used as a key to the door, but also as a communication tool to contact Serena and the others.
Vizette opened the notebook, used his wand as a pen and ancient magical power as ink, and wrote a message on it:
[Hello, Ms. Pendragon. I would like to use that warehouse room, is that alright?]
Just as he was about to close the notebook, a series of words suddenly appeared on it:
[What a polite junior! I didn't expect you to get the notebook so quickly; you seem to be a man of action! That storage room? You mean the entrance hallway? Of course you can use it!]
Vizette replied: [Okay, thank you!]
[Just call me Serena next time. By the way... you're still up so late, are you enjoying the nightlife?]
[Yes, I found quite a few interesting books in the Restricted Section.]
[The Restricted Section... what a nostalgic time. Oh, right! The key in the notebook isn't just for the secret room behind the hallway; there's another place we can go.]
[Another place.]
That place is called the Map Chamber. I spent quite a bit of time searching for it. If you're interested, you can go check it out sometime.
...
Considering the ancient magical armor found in the corridor, one might need to face similar challenges to enter the secret chamber on the map.
Vizette remembered that Dumbledore had told him at the end of the previous school year that he would teach him how to cast armor magic.
He planned to wait until he learned the armor magic before exploring the secret room on the map.
In this way, he should be able to better understand armor magic from another perspective by directly confronting ancient magical armor.
-------------------------------------
On Sunday morning, he spent most of his time working on potions, brewing a large crucible of developing solution, enough for a semester.
However, everything was going according to plan.
After preparing the developing solution, he still had time to borrow Colin Creevey's Polaroid camera and take many photos with Luna by the Black Lake.
Soaking photos in developing solution for a period of time would bring the scenes and people in them to life, preserving the emotions at the time of the photo shoot, which was quite interesting.
...
At 1:50 p.m., ten minutes early as usual, Vizette arrived at Professor Snape's office.
The office hadn't changed much, except for a cloth covering a corner, and a faint rustling sound could be heard, like the sounds of creatures feeding…
…
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