Vanilla Pudding with blueberries

Luna couldn't believe it. Months of friendship, full of laughter and vivid, happy memories, and it all collapsed in one moment. If she knew that her friend… No, that this monster could think such things, that he could spin a web of lies of this size… She would never have become his friend.

Dan leaned on the table, his glasses reflecting the light from the torches. His thin figure was wrapped in a dark cloak that reached almost to the ground. Any reasonable person would say that he looked threatening. One glance in his direction would make the weakest in spirit lose consciousness.

But was everything lost? Maybe the girl needed to show him the way to the light! Then everything can go back to how it was before… before this!

"There is no better dessert in the world than vanilla pudding with blueberries." Luna stated, pointing her spoon threateningly at Dan, a bit of the mentioned dessert still on it. "Any other opinion is dirty propaganda and lies. Why can't you see that, Danil Khromov?"

The monster boy just shook his head, disappointed in his friend.

"Blinchiki with jam are much better and you know it."

Luna tossed her spoon into the bowl of pudding, slapping her hands on the table and rising from her chair to meet Dan's eyes.

"You're just saying that because they're a Russian dessert!"

Dan and Luna argued about desserts for the last two hours. The house elves who were preparing supper in the castle kitchen gave them a table near the wall, trying not to distract them from their conversation. There was only two weeks left before the start of the Christmas holidays and everyone had enough stuff to do.

The students were loaded with more work, which in turn created more work for the Professors. It seemed that the only one who wasn't busy in the whole castle was Fawkes. Even Mantis and Billy were busy with something! So finding a moment to relax with friends was difficult. But not for Dan and Luna.

The monster boy had a very simple schedule: each of the professors tried to teach him as much as possible, as if they were afraid that Danil would disappear. Luna, on the other hand, was already not a very social girl, so she spent all her free time in the company of her best friend.

The door to the kitchen slowly and creaked open, forcing Dan to fade into invisibility and rise from his chair. However, it proved to be unnecessary.

"Ooh! The Messeres Weasels are here!" One of the house elves excitedly squealed. "What can Tilly dos for you?"

The two twins went inside, closing the door behind them. Their eyes quickly found the blonde at the table.

"Ah, two cups of coffee–" Fred began.

"–for each of us, please." George finished.

Tilly nodded and disappeared into the sea of work in the kitchen.

"Miss Lovegood! It's a pleasure to see you on such a great evening." Fred jumped forward, putting his hand on the girl's left shoulder.

"Definitely, such a meeting is worth an entry in the book of friendship." George took a stand to her right.

"You have a book of friendship?" Luna asked in interest.

"Of – course! – It's – right – next – to – the – debt – book!" they said together.

By this time, Dan had already dropped his invisibility and was looking at the two with interest. Both brothers stood over Luna like an angel and a demon on her shoulders, he was sure that they knew about it.

"And Danil! The man of the hour."

"The man of the day."

"The man of the week, I would even say!"

Dan waved his hand in their direction. "Stop it, my brain is starting to hurt. Sit down and explain, why do you need so much coffee?"

Fred and George exchanged glances and sat down opposite Luna and Danil, immediately assuming the identities of businessmen. It was obvious that they had not come here for prank planning, this time they were even a little serious.

It was concerning.

"We'll getting ready to work on one… interesting project."

"An important one even, we can say one of the most important ones in recent times."

George pulled out a thick, folded parchment from his inner pocket and put it on the table. It was obvious what exactly it was.

The three people in the room were already connected by one secret: the existence of Danil. So the twins weren't afraid to reveal on of their own secrets to their new little friend, especially when they weren't going to use the artifact anymore.

The Marauders' map came to life under the twins' wands and the words: "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."

Luna looked at the parchment with interest and her face brightened a bit.

"Oh! I get it now. So that's how you're stalking Angelina and Alicia when they-"

"You know a lot." George spoke quickly, interrupting her words.

"A bit too much." Fred continued, feigning trembling.

""Scary.""

Luna just smiled back, returning to her pudding.

"Anyway, we've run into a problem." The twins continued.

"This map, as you know, has served us faithfully for five long years."

"A beautiful piece of magic, a brilliant execution of a simple idea."

"However, we no longer need it and we decided to return it to the heir of the original creators."

Dan's eyes jumped from brother to brother, following their words. To be honest, he didn't see the problem right away, but after a couple of seconds he realized how problematic it could be for him.

"Oh, then they'll see me on the map… This isn't good." Danil thought for a moment. Maybe it wasn't that bad? "Who's the heir?"

""Harry Potter."" Fred and George answered together.

'Okay, that's definitely isn't good.' Dan thought.

Knowing that in all the worlds Potter and all his entourage were somehow Fate's bitches, Danil did not want to get involved with the Chosen One at all. And those rare times when he saw the Golden Trio, they didn't make a grand impression on him. He definitely didn't want to deal with them.

Tilly placed four cups of coffee in front of the twins and left before they could give their thanks. Dinner time was close and she had unfinished business with some mashed potatoes.

"... You were talking about some new project?" He quickly caught on.

"Naturally! I always knew you were a quick one."

"You see, we want to hide some names from the map."

"Our own, of course, and yours."

"And seeing that you're strangely good with enchantments, we decided to recruit you as an assistant."

Luna silently chewed her pudding and stared at the twins, her eyes jumping from one to the other in a strange game where the girl was trying to keep up with the conversation, just like Dan did.

Looking at Fred and George, Dan allowed a smile to spread across his face. He knew well how much the map meant to them. It wasn't a simple tool for pranks, it was the legacy of their idols. Seeing that these two were willing to get into the entanglement of the enchantments of the map and change things for his safety, even at the risk of destroying the map…

"You two are good guys, did you know that?" He eventually said.

The twins immediately acquired offended expressions, as if he had just called their mother a courtesan.

"Do not offend our honor, sir!" Fred puffed up like a rooster, only missing the feathers sticking out.

"The good guys are not about us, but we will settle for the title of a neutral pranking force."

Luna finally finished her meal and tilted her head in thought. "Does this mean you accept commissions?"

"Well, I'm glad you asked, my dear." George started with a smile, always ready to advertise their services.

While they were giving their sales' speech, Danil picked up the map and began to examine it from all sides. Strangely, there wasn't that many heavy magical parts to the map, he could feel it on the paper, but their complexity and function was indispensable.

The first enchantment was used to keep track of all the magical signatures in the mapped area, the second to hide the ink from prying eyes and the third to repel especially persistent people who didn't know the password to the map, but tried to reveal its secrets.

These were the main and most powerful enchantments. Danil could feel dozens of smaller and more precise ones that connected the map with the Hogwarts wards, but in such a way that it was not noticeable.

How did those crazy Marauders get to the center of the wards? Dan couldn't even imagine, but he really wanted to know.

"Yes, it's definitely an interesting project. You couldn't have chosen anything easier." He ran one finger over the thick parchment. Too thick to be normal. If the map also worked on runes, then they were definitely hidden inside. "I can help, but only by pointing you in the right direction. I have no idea what exactly the Marauders used to create this map."

The twins nodded in agreement and began discussing their next move, not even noticing the one eccentric-looking elf who overheard their conversation. He had several caps on his head, and his feet were wrapped in layers of warm multicolored socks. Unlike the rest of the house elves, he didn't wear a pillowcase instead of clothes, he was the proud owner of an ugly, but warm Christmas sweater!

"A map that belongs to the great Harry Potter?" Dobby muttered in awe. "The great Harry Potter needs to hear about this!"

To Dobby and many house elves, Harry Potter was a great wizard who ended the war and reduced the suffering of elves throughout magical Britain. Just a few months ago, the Boy-Who-Lived personally freed Dobby from Malfoys' control as payment for Lucius' schemes.

Of course, there was much more political horror going on behind the scenes, but what mattered to Dobby was his freedom at the time.

Unfortunately, Dobby couldn't become a personal house elf for the Potter family, but the fearsome Lady Black said she couldn't trust him with young Harry's safety. Which was absurd, of course! Dobby only wanted to save the great Harry Potter!

"Dobby, where be's the lamb sauce?!" Tilly yelled from the kitchen, making the elf with the multicolored socks wince.

"The great Harry Potter can wait for an hour…"

"Dobby!" Tilly shouted again.

"Mayhaps a week."