Countess

17. Ratatouille

𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯: 𝘙𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦

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Professor Trewlawney had been wrong when she said Tilly and I would 'soon have a great shock.' At least, I thought that was putting it too mildly, anyway. Let me start from when we left her class room.

It was hard to think about anything other than the prophecies as we made our way back down stairs. I mean, a war? Seriously? We couldn't stop something like that, we were only two thirteen year old kids. But now that we knew about it, we couldn't just sit back and let it happen either. It was a very confusing time.

"Ah, Magnus. May I have a word?" I'd been so distracted by my own thoughts I hadn't noticed we were walking right by Professor Lupin's office.

I winced, knowing exactly what he wanted to talk about. "Will I get in trouble for saying no?" Tilly jammed her elbow into my side. "Ouch! Rude." She glared at me, and I knew what she was thinking. You have to give the map back. But I wasn't sure I wanted to. For starters, we'd barely done anything with it. I also got the feeling I might need it for later. I don't know.

It didn't help that Lupin was smiling good naturedly; he didn't seem mad even though he must have known I'd taken it by now. I just knew he was going to ask for it back. And he was going to be super nice about it too. That just made me feel like a jerk. That was his plan, I'm sure. Evile.

"It won't take long," he promised.

"Well," I said, "you see... the thing is... I... don't have an excuse to get out of this one..."

Lupin chuckled lightly and stepped to the side, allowing us to step inside first. He shut the door behind us. His daughter, Ramona, a girl I hadn't spoken to all year, was already there, using his desk for a chair. When she spotted me, she jumped up, a huge grin on her face. "Bro, do you have it? Can I see it? Lemme see it!"

I pulled the map from my pocket and she snatched it from my hands before I could do or say anything. Ramona held up the blank sheet of parchment and said, "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." And her grin widened when the map of the school appeared on the page. "Wicked." I had no idea how she knew about the map or how she knew how to open it; my best guess was that either her father or one of the Weasley Twins had told her about it.

"It's not a toy, Ramona," Professor Lupin told her.

"Really? Because I think the Marauders might disagree."

Matilda nodded seriously next to her.

"Still a terrible name," I muttered.

"We were fifteen," Professor Lupin complained.

"Wait." I shared grins with my sister and Ramona. "We?"

The professor froze, realising his slip up a moment too late. "Did I say we?"

"You did say we," Matilda nodded. She looked at the names on the map. "So, which one are you?"

"My money's on Moony," Ramona said. Lupin did nothing to confirm or deny it, but he did look like he was starting to regret bringing my sister and I in here.

At least, I was starting to forget about the prophecies, anyway.

"If you were friends with our dad and Harry's does that mean they helped make the map too?" I asked.

Lupin hesitated like he didn't want to say, but eventually he relented. "Yes. They did. Peter was Wormtail and James was Prongs. And... Sirius Black helped write it as well. Which is exactly what makes this map so dangerous and the precise reason I confiscated it from Harry earlier. He may very well use the map to lure any one of you off grounds."