Chapter 31: No Luck?!

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Harry bursts out laughing. Hermione does not find this as amusing as I do. "There are so many things wrong with that image that I'm not even going to dignify that with a response. I think the nightmares will be quite enough. I'm serious, William."

I bite back the obvious Sirius joke here. "Okay, so what have you got?"

"We've got a way to make sure nobody will ever see us come in here."

Ah, yes, that. I play dumb. "The cloak?"

"No," Harry answers, moving to kneel on the floor then spreading out a folded sheet of parchment on the coffee table in between us. "This. The Marauders' Map."

I join him on my knees, leaning over to study the Map. The movies don't really do it justice, it's really incredible. My eyes find Moody and Crouch next to each other, and my blood runs cold.

"What's wrong, William?" Hermione asks.

Damn, she must have seen my face pale. "Uh..." I glance around on the map, trying to think of something. Oh yeah! "We're not on it?" That's a pretty lame excuse, I know, but at least it took their attention away.

"That's impossible," she says, and starts searching for us herself. After a few moments, she looks back up with a frown. "You're right..."

"This has never happened before..." Harry says.

I know the answer, of course, but I let them stew on it.

"Maybe we aren't on it anymore?" Ron offers.

"I didn't do anything to it," Harry says, "and even if I had thought of trying to remove us, I've only known William for a couple weeks, so I wouldn't have thought to go back and remove him, too. No offense, William."

"None taken," I say. I almost say more, but I figure I should let them figure it out.

"Maybe we should ask somebody," Hermione says.

Okay, maybe I shouldn't. "What if it's just the Room? It's not on here, is it? Maybe the people who made it couldn't add it since it changes shape or something."

"Or maybe they just never knew about it!" Hermione says excitedly. "That has to be it. That's brilliant, William!"

I shrug, feeling uncomfortable for taking credit. "The people who made this are the brilliant ones. So Harry or Hermione hides under the cloak and consults the Map, making sure the coast is clear for the rest of us. I guess it'd look least suspicious if I were the one hiding, but I think my feet would be visible under the cloak. Hermione's probably the next best choice."

"Why?" Ron asks.

"I think I get it, William. We three have been friends all this time, people might ask questions if it looks like Ron and I ditched Harry and William was there. But if I wasn't around, people would probably assume you guys ditched me in the library." Hermione then puts on a fake pout. "Prats."

"Makes sense," Harry says.

"So it's agreed then," Hermione says with a nod of finality. "And we can check the corridor right here before we leave."

"Smashing," I say, trying out more British-style slang. That one actually doesn't sound too different with a British accent, so I like it. "Now, what say we bring up a dueling dummy and melt it?"

Hermione lands a solid whack. "Don't you even—"

"Kidding! Kidding!" I say rubbing my shoulder. "So what's the plan, my Mistress? How may I serve the Dark Lady Hermione?" I duck another swing.

"Well, William the Great Prat, I actually wanted to find out some information on the Imperius Curse, to see if there might be a way to throw it off."

"We already know that. Just be wicked powerful, right Harry?" Ron asks.

"Yes, I suspect that could be a solution to most problems in the wizarding world," Hermione says wryly. "But until then, it would be nice to find alternative solutions."

Hermione hands Harry and Ron one book each, and sets her stack of books in front of us, gesturing for me to grab one. I swipe the one off the top and settle in. 

Unsurprisingly Hermione was quite thorough in collecting potential sources. This one is an account of one of the first wizards accused of using the Imperius curse after it was made Unforgivable in 1717, an effort led by then Minister for Magic Eldritch Diggory. 

The accused wizard staged a significant legal battle that split the opinion of the Wizengamot almost down the middle, partially because some members felt the relatively young Ministry of Magic had usurped its authority. 

The Wizengamot traces its roots to the Wizards' Council that had been around since the time of the Founders, while the Ministry of Magic was formed about a century prior to the trial. 

I try to skim through unimportant parts like legal proceedings, but I keep finding potentially promising tidbits of information. 

For example one alleged victim claimed to have resisted the curse using 'mind magic,' but unfortunately no further details were given. I'm fairly certain this refers to Occlumency, but I suppose there are other types of mind magic than what was discussed in canon.

I glance up and it looks like Ron is nodding off. Harry is flipping through pages as if he's looking through a magazine. Hermione, on the other hand, is in the zone. 

Sighing, I leave a placeholder on the page that refers to mind magic and continue. A short time and no further leads later, a sigh of disgust from the chair next to me signals the time for the first discussion.

"No luck?" I ask.

She sighs again. "Not really. These ones only really discussed possible ways to recognize victims under the Imperius curse. I think there is something to your theory about only finding books in the castle if all we have to work with are scraps like this. Did you have any luck?"

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