33: The Secret To Success

[3rd Pov]

"How are so good at this?"

The Hogwarts' kitchen was large and round, with low ceilings adorned with copper pots and pans hanging from hooks. The walls were lined with shelves displaying stacks of colorful plates, mismatched teacups, and jars filled with spices and ingredients. The air was thick with the scent of freshly baked bread, simmering soups, and sizzling pans.

In the center of the room, a large round table was draped with a colorful tablecloth. Some plates were set in front of the four students and some elves, with golden roast chicken, steaming bowls of mashed potatoes, crisp salads, and trays of fresh-baked pastries.

"I'm a natural," Alaric casually shrugged his shoulders, a smirk playing on his lips, as if winning came easily to him. Some red and green poker chips floated effortlessly to his side of the table, joining the already substantial pile of winnings.

A good amount of kitchen utensils rested by his side on the ground, with most elves looking at it with longing and sadness.

Lee Jordan couldn't help but snort in disbelief. Ever since Alaric's arrival, both he and the Weasley twins had been experiencing an inexplicable losing streak. Even the house elves, who were eager to play with them at first, had now given up, having lost their most treasured possessions.

"Filk! Deal the cards!" Fred ordered, addressing the stout house elf. Filk skillfully shuffled the deck with a simple wave of his hand before distributing two cards to each player.

The three older boys sat at the table, carefully examining their pairs of cards and attempting to maintain poker faces. They couldn't help but notice the calm smile on Alaric's face, which displayed his complete confidence.

Alaric tapped his finger three times on the table, causing some of his chips to roll along the surface as he placed his ante.

"So... what's the reason for calling me here?" Alaric inquired, observing as Fred, George, and Lee followed suit, tapping their fingers and allowing some of their remaining chips to join the growing pot in the middle of the table.

Once again, Filk waved his hand, revealing three cards on the table as the flop. George's frown didn't go unnoticed by Alaric.

"Well, it's quite simple really — Raise," Fred declared, tapping his finger on the table and pushing additional chips into his bet. He leaned back slightly in his chair, wearing a self-assured smirk as he observed the other players.

George focused his gaze on Alaric and spoke with a hint of intensity, "Have you ever wondered... why we've been so successful in our pranks? — Check." He matched Fred's bet, while his leg nervously trembled up and down.

Arching an eyebrow, Alaric decided to go along with the bet, adding some chips of his own. He refrained from using legilimency on the older boys to dig out the answer from their minds.

His training had paid off, allowing him to resist using the mind-reading techniques on even unsuspecting students or professors. However, when it came to poker... well, he still struggled to maintain complete self-control.

"Since our first year, we've managed to sneak around the castle without getting caught even once. Do you know why? — I fold," Lee Jordan admitted defeat, not having enough chips to check the bet, and discarded his cards aside.

Once everyone had placed their bets, Filk revealed the next card, the turn.

"I'll check," Fred said, tapping the table once.

Alaric followed suit, tapping the table as well, his attention shifting to the Weasley twin.

"I fold," George conceded, realizing he couldn't win.

Now it was down to Fred and Alaric, the last two players remaining. They stared at the dealer, Filk, as he revealed the final card, the river. Alaric maintained a nonchalant smile, eagerly waiting for Fred's next move.

Fred began to sweat as he faced Alaric's confidence once again. Their eyes locked, and it seemed to Fred that Alaric could read him like an open book. Feeling defeated, Fred finally gave in.

"I fold," he admitted, tossing his cards to the house elf.

Alaric grinned triumphantly, revealing a modest two-pair. In unison, the pile of chips in the middle of the table slid over to Alaric's side, adding to his already substantial winnings.

"A two-pair?" Fred exclaimed in disbelief. "Oh, for goodness' sake, I had a flush!"

Lee chimed in, "That's your fault for falling for his bluff. That's why I folded early," he said as if it was common sense. In a way, Lee seemed to be the wiser one, recognizing that Alaric simply outplayed them at the game.

Taking a sip of cold pumpkin juice, Alaric chuckled, enjoying the taste. "You're just too easy to read," he remarked.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," George rolled his eyes, ashamed for falling for the bluff as his twin. He reached down to his pocket, taking what looked like a blank piece of folded parchment. "What we were getting at was — this," he said as he placed it near Alaric.

Observing the parchment, the boy stroked his chin in thought. "I can see it has some enchantments, but it just looks like a blank document..."

"This, Alaric, is the secret of our success," George grinned. With his wand, he opened the parchment, before placing the tip in the middle. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,"

Intricate ink lines and tiny words started to materialize on the old bit of parchment, revealing a detailed blueprint of the castle.

Every corridor, every room, every hidden passageway that Alaric knew of and not, was painstakingly etched onto the map, forming a labyrinth of interconnected lines. The names of students, teachers, and even the wandering ghosts were inscribed, constantly moving and representing their real-time locations within the castle.

"The homonculus charm," Alaric muttured. He had seen something similar in his ancestral home, back in the Austrian Alps. His grandfather had woven the charm in the wall of his old office, now used by Isadora, mostly to monitor intruders.

Nowadays, his mother used it to keep track of his and Lys's location, making sure they were behaving.

"You know of it? A nasty piece of magic, I tell you..." Fred noted.

"How did you get it past the castle's wards? Surely there's a restriction on this charm on school grounds," Alaric asked.

He didn't consider the Homonculus charm a complicated spell, but a complex one. Mostly due to the fact one had to map the entire grounds they desired to cover with pinpoint accuracy, or else, the spell wouldn't work.

"We didn't," George noted.

"They did,"

Fred placed his finger slightly above what seemed like the map's title. 'Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present — THE MARAUDER'S MAP'

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs... who are they?" Alaric asked. He was quite curious about those who were brave enough to map the entirety of the castle.

"Now that's the catch," Fred stated. "Do you remember Sirius? Harry and Hope's godfather?"

Alaric nodded, remembering the outgoing Senior Auror he met at the Potter's house.

"He's Padfoot," George revealed. "We heard him and Harry's father talking once, and he called Sirius that,"

"And who're the other ones?"

"We don't know, but one of them as to be James,"

Alaric nodded again. It was definitely possible, because if they wrote their nicknames on the map, probably not many people knew those names, only those closest to them.

He spent some more time studying the map, mostly pointing out the minuscule differences their charm had to the normal homunculus charm. His gaze hovered for a while on their names, who were present in the kitchen, along with the busy house elves.

"What if someone steals the map from us?" Alaric asked. While he could cast a strong enough delusions charm to hide them from people, if someone had the map, they could spot them with ease.

Then, all of a sudden, an idea popped into his mind. Grabbing his wand, he conjured a needle that he used to poke his finger. Letting a drop of his blood fall onto the map, he muttered an incantation and watched as the parchment absorbed it.

Slowly, his name that was displayed on the mapped kitchen started to disappear. Everyone looked at him with wide eyes, mouths open in disbelief.

"W-What... How did you do that?" asked Lee, as he stared at the map, Alaric's name nowhere to be seen.

"Give me your hands," Alaric requested.

He conjured another three needles, each drawing a droplet of blood from the three boys. As the map absorbed blood once again, Alaric casted the same spell, making the other three names in the kitchen disappear.

"Merlin's balls — You're a genius!"

"Now we don't have to worry about someone stealing the map! They won't be able to spot us!"

Examining the map, Fred, Lee, and George beamed with excitement.

The four spent some more time talking with each other, mostly about the pranks they were planning. Alaric realized once again that, compared to those three, he was severely lacking in the mischief department.

He had to admit that some of the ideas they had were amazing and would cause severe headaches to those affected.

"Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?"

"It's the shop we want to open," George said, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"We actually had another name in mind for it," Fred added, grinning. "But then Lee, that cheeky bloke, decided he wanted to pursue his commentating gig full-time. So we had to go back to the drawing board and come up with something new,"

Fred proudly displayed a list of items they had meticulously planned to sell once they graduated and finally opened their very own shop. The parchment showcased a colorful array of magical goods and novelties, each item carrying the potential to bring joy and excitement to its users.

At this point, Lee Jordan had already left, as he needed to plan his catchphrases for the upcoming Quidditch games.

"We've got Skiving Snackboxes, Puking Pastilles, Extendable Ears, and even some Wildfire Whiz-bangs," George explained, his voice filled with enthusiasm. "Not to mention our famous Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products, guaranteed to cause mayhem and laughter wherever they're used!"

"Bloody hell, this is so much stuff," Alaric muttered, before reading the last sentence on the parchment. "What's this? — The Mischief Brigade,"

"That, my friend, it's us!" said George.

"And now that you know all of our 'secrets', you're our newest member!" Fred added. "Our objective is simple. Cause as much chaos as possible, earning some laughter along the way!"

__________

As the moon shined through the windows of the castle corridors, a lone figure was walking through them.

Being three hours past midnight, the silver-haired figure was under a discernment charm, happily humming a classical song.

Alaric really enjoyed the company of the Weasley twins. Their manner and way of being brought a lot of laughs and ideas to his life.

The Mischief Brigade — as they called it — was something he was looking forward to, as a way to decompress from the various problems left to solve in his life.

The constant visions about snakes, the mysterious pendant, and the book that awakened what seemed to be ancient magic inside of him, the fact that Voldemort was still out there... all of it was putting a strain on his mind. A strain he was to release unto Lockhart.

It was his fault anyways. Hadn't he made Alaric's sister enter a fangirl stage for a year, perhaps he wouldn't be destined for his inevitable future.

"Pure Blood," he said. A metallic snake emerged from the ground, slithering up the wall, revealing the door to the common room.

Slowly opening the doors and dispelling the charm, he calmly walked down the stairs, expecting most students to be asleep. While the curfew was a thing, it was never enforced in the common rooms.

The common room was darkly lit, with a few candles barely illuminating the room. The moon's glow couldn't make it past the water, causing the lake to appear pitch black through the windows.

Near one of those windows, with a candle floating right above, a golden-haired girl sat on a big dark-green armchair, an old tome opened on her tighs.

Curious, Alaric approached, trying to see the title of the book. "Blood maledictus...?" he muttured.

Startled by a voice behind her, the girl closed the book in an instant and looked behind her, angry. Alas, her anger swiftly disappeared when she gazed at the boy.

"Daphne?"

**********

A/N: Took me a while to figure out a name for their little group. Do give some suggestions if you have any. If I like any of them, I might change the name.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!