I woke up fairly early the next morning, feeling rested for the first time all week. I'd spent a little time studying the map last night, and it was insanely cool. It showed the location of every single person in the school; it even showed the staircases moving!
Obviously Hogwarts was a lot bigger and weirder than a corn maze, so I couldn't memorize anywhere near all of it in one night. I did make a pretty good dent though, and when I met Fred and George in the Common Room I thought I had a solid idea of some of the more complicated corridors.
"Alright Alexa, let's go!" said Fred, practically jumping up and down in excitement.
"We're going to go from the Common Room to the Great Hall now, and then we'll test how much you've learned," George explained.
"Sounds like a plan to me!" I followed the twins out the portrait hole, and I tried extra hard to look around and make note of the route we were taking to expand the map in my head. I was a pretty visual person, so when I studied the map last night I started building a picture in my mind. Little by little I'd complete it, until I didn't need the map anymore.
"So how'd the memorizing go last night?" asked Fred.
"Pretty good I think! Where did you guys get that thing anyway? It's really amazing!"
"We stole it from Filch's cabinet of contraband," answered George with grin.
"He'd labeled it 'Confiscated and Highly Dangerous'," added Fred. "What did he expect?"
"I threw a Dungbomb—"
"—and I reached into the cabinet and grabbed the first thing I could."
"Dang, that worked pretty well for such a ridiculous plan! How did you figure out how to make the writing show up? When you first handed it to me I could've sworn it was just a blank piece of paper," I said. We were into the secret passage now, but both boys still glanced around to make sure we were alone before answering.
"When you get the words wrong, the map talks," said George.
"Whoever those people were—"
"—Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs—"
"—they set up some kind of system to help future troublemakers like us," explained Fred. "Whenever we said something or tried the wrong spell, they would give us hints."
"It took us a while, but eventually we got to the right words."
"Wow. Who are these guys? They're amazing!"
"We don't know!" said Fred.
"But we'd give just about anything to find out. We need to thank them!" added George.
That was all it took for the gears to start turning in my head. I was a puzzle solver, and now I was curious. When I had the map again later tonight, I would do my best to backtrack the creators and memorize all the corridors.
We popped out of the secret passage just a little ways from the Great Hall, right in front of a group of Ravenclaws. They all jumped, which made me grin. I was gonna have fun messing with people once I knew the corridors better.
"Alexa? Where did you come from?" I looked closer to see who'd spoken and I found David standing among the group.
"Oh, hey David! Don't worry about it." I grinned, and I could tell Fred and George were having just as much fun as I was. "Oh! Hey, so does it still work for you to meet in the library today?"
"Uh... yes. Yes, that should still work."
"Great! I'll see you around... one?"
"That sounds perfect."
"Cool! See you then David!" I gave him a smile and marched past the Ravenclaws with the twins right behind me. I was feeling pretty cool, running around in the secret passages and popping up all over the castle like it was nothing.
The twins could clearly tell.
"So, what do you think so far of all this jumping around the castle?" asked Fred with a massive grin on his face. George came up on my other side with the same expression.
"It's probably pretty obvious, but I absolutely love it! This might be too much power for me, I think I'm gonna end up using it for evil."
"Good!" both twins yelled at the same time. We all laughed, practically cackling as we found a seat at Gryffindor table.
"What are you three laughing about?" asked Percy. He was just a few seats down the table from us, and he had a slightly suspicious expression on his face. "I hope you're not corrupting Alexa to your troublemaker ways."
Oh Percy. You had no idea. I had so much experience from spending time in a house full of super powered people that acted like five-year-olds that I could give Fred and George a run for their money without the map.
I didn't want to show my hand just yet though, so instead I said, "Don't worry Percy, they're just helping me practice navigating the castle."
"Are you sure that's the best idea?" he asked. "If you really want some more practice, I would be more than happy to help."
"Oh, bugger off Perce!" laughed Fred.
"We've got this covered! Come on Alexa, grab some toast and let's get going." George shot Percy a wicked grin and I could see Percy twitching in his seat. The three of us stood up anyway, me trying to contain my laugh and Fred and George not making any effort at all.
I shot one glance behind me before we left, and I noticed Percy trying to look casual as he stood and started following us out of the Great Hall.
"Percy's decided he wants to come with us," I said as the three of us picked up the pace a little bit.
"It's up to you Alexa," started Fred.
"Where do we go?"
"How do we lose him?"
I thought for a second, trying to picture the map in my mind.
"Umm...okay, okay. Quick left at this first corridor and through the passage behind the suit of armor!"
"Good plan!" they yelled together. We all took off down the corridor at a full sprint. Well, at least as close to a full sprint as we could get while laughing our heads off. I heard footsteps picking up the pace behind us, and I could just picture Percy speed-walking down the corridor behind us. The three of us started laughing even harder, swinging around the first left turn and ducking behind the suit of armor as quickly as possible.
"Nobody make a sound!" I hissed as we all tried to stifle our laughter. We peeked out to look into the main corridor and after a few seconds we saw Percy hurrying past, looking anxious.
"This is not good..." he muttered, glancing around. We all ducked back as he turned towards our hiding spot, and once we heard the footsteps fade we sunk to the floor laughing.
"Is it bad that I feel a little guilty?" I asked between breaths.
"Yes! Don't feel guilty!" Fred yelled.
"Percy's fine. He needs stuff like this to keep his life interesting!" agreed George.
"We're the reason he needs that Prefect badge."
"We give him purpose."
"Well, I guess when you put it like that." I smiled. Fred and George were right, and even if they weren't, maybe we could get Percy to lighten up a little.
"Alright! So, Alexa, take us to the astronomy tower," ordered George.
"Let's go, quick as you can," agreed Fred, clapping his hands to get us all moving. I thought for a second about the map, then started speed-walking down the passage. I wasn't sure this was necessarily the fastest way to the astronomy tower, but it was the best way I knew. And it was definitely faster than the normal way.
We got to the tower pretty quickly, and Fred and George were actually impressed. They gave me a couple more challenges, and I was proud to say I could do most of them. I didn't quite get everything, but a couple more days of studying and I'd probably have it down.
After running all over the castle we were pretty hungry, so we swung by the Great Hall for lunch before it was time for me to meet David.
"So, Alexa, you remember the route you need to take?" asked George as we finished up lunch.
"Yup! I'm gonna pop out of a bookshelf and make David jump for the second time today."
The twins high-fived me, and then I took off for the library. I had to swing by the Common Room and grab my laptop, and then I was back in the secret passage ways.
I got to the end, just behind the moving bookshelf, and peeked out to see where David was. I got lucky; he was right in front of my hiding place. I paused to psych myself up, then threw open the bookshelf secret door and jumped out, swinging it shut behind me.
"Boo!" I whisper-yelled. Madame Pince would've killed me if I'd been any louder.
David jumped out of his chair and spun around to face me. "Alexa! Wow, how did you- where did you come from?"
"Eh, just a little magic. Don't worry about it." David looked confused, but he apparently decided to let it drop.
"Alright, well, should we get started?" he asked. I nodded, and we sat down at the table David had been at before I came in.
"Okay, let's start by talking about what the magical diseases are," I started. "I'm kinda new to this world, so I have no idea what exactly we should be focusing on."
"Of course. Well, let me think." I pulled open a word document on my computer and started typing as David listed a dozen different magical diseases and illnesses ranging from deadly to just ridiculously persistent.
"Okay, and magic is really the only thing people are using to treat this stuff? Like no medicine or anything?" I asked.
"Well, they do also use potions, but otherwise that's correct."
"Hmm... okay, well, we should definitely look into those potions and see exactly what makes them work. I mean, just because they're not muggle remedies doesn't mean they don't work the same as muggle medicine."
"Sounds like as good a starting point to me as any," agreed David. "If we want to make progress we should do our best to understand where we already stand."
"Exactly." I smiled, leaning over and giving David a high-five. I might be a Gryffindor, but sometimes I really needed to spend time with the Ravenclaws.
David and I spent the rest of the afternoon buried in research on all different kinds of potions. It felt so good to be working on a science project again.
We walked down to dinner together, still talking about everything we'd learned. As far as I could tell, the potions worked similarly to muggle medicine, targeting the problem in the body and taking it out. The only difference was that sometimes stuff just happened with no clear cause. It was like the segfaults in my computer all over again.
"Thank you again for being willing to help me with this," said David as we got to the Great Hall.
"Of course! Thank you for looping me in. Science projects are one of my favorite pass times. It's about time I got started on another one, and this one's insanely interesting. We're gonna change the world one day at a time," I said, then grinned and high-fived David again before heading to my table.
"Alexa! Come here!" called Fred, gesturing to the seat between him and George. The rest of our friends weren't there yet, but when I sat down both boys still leaned in to whisper.
"We're going to give you the map again tonight so you can practice more," whispered George.
"And then tomorrow we're going to put it to good use messing with Percy," added Fred.
"It's about time we started planning our first prank, too, and we need to know if you want in," finished George.
I grinned. "Hell yes I want in."
"Perfect! So here's what we were thinking..."
From pioneering scientific discoveries to planning pranks in .2 seconds. I freaking loved Hogwarts.