Lucien was walking back toward the Slytherin common room when two familiar figures suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Fred and George Weasley instantly trapped him between them, one on each side.
"So," Fred said dramatically, "did you see Mum when she gets angry?"
George shivered exaggeratedly.
"Terrifying, isn't she?"
"You were smart enough to stay far away."
"Exactly!" Fred proudly patted his chest. "Percy went over to say hello without thinking and got roasted alive."
George sighed heavily.
"She even blamed us for not keeping Ronnie under control."
"And told us to supervise him in the future."
Fred looked deeply wronged.
"Honestly, we're pranksters, not mind readers."
Despite their constant mischief, the twins rarely got caught themselves.
Especially not in disasters this severe.
Losing dozens of House points in one night would've gotten them publicly executed by angry Gryffindors years ago.
"That's easy," Lucien replied casually. "You should just teach him your methods for sneaking around at night without getting caught."
He deliberately guided the topic toward the real thing he wanted.
The Marauder's Map.
He had been interested in it for quite some time already.
The twins exchanged a mysterious look before suddenly dragging Lucien toward a quiet corner nearby.
Then Fred triumphantly pulled a crumpled piece of parchment from his pocket.
Lucien pretended to look confused.
"What's this?"
"Our secret weapon!"
George grinned proudly.
"The reason we never get caught during nighttime adventures."
"Come on then, Fred," George said dramatically. "Show our generous sponsor the goods."
The twins raised their wands solemnly together.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Instantly, black ink spread rapidly across the blank parchment.
Lines and corridors unfolded one after another until an incredibly detailed map of Hogwarts appeared completely.
Every corridor.
Every classroom.
Every hidden passage.
Even sections of the Forbidden Forest.
Countless tiny dots moved slowly throughout the castle, each labelled with names.
Even Lucien couldn't help feeling impressed.
James Potter and his friends truly had terrifying talent.
Decades had passed, yet the tracking enchantments on the map hadn't weakened in the slightest.
The map could even expose Animagus transformations and Polyjuice disguises.
Most adult wizards couldn't accomplish that.
And they had created it while still students.
No wonder Snape had suffered so badly against those four.
"Don't look so shocked," George laughed proudly. "We didn't make it ourselves."
"That's right," Fred added. "We liberated it from Filch's office."
"Definitely a graduation gift from some like-minded senior students."
Then, before Lucien could even ask further questions, the twins shoved the map directly into his arms.
"Now it's yours."
Lucien genuinely hadn't expected things to go this smoothly.
Even his expression showed a trace of surprise.
Fred immediately burst out laughing.
"We already know every secret passage on there anyway."
"So there's no point keeping it."
George nodded enthusiastically.
"Besides, if our sugar daddy has it, we'll probably get caught less often ourselves."
"That too."
George pointed toward the parchment.
"When you're done using it, just say 'Mischief managed' and everything disappears again."
Lucien carefully tucked the Marauder's Map into his robes before nodding seriously.
"I'll make good use of it."
The twins immediately groaned dramatically.
"Don't sound so serious!"
"You're starting to sound like Percy."
Then Fred suddenly grinned again.
"Come on, we'll show you our newest invention."
"It'll blow your mind."
"Not tonight."
A trace of apology appeared in Lucien's eyes.
"I haven't contacted my family in a while. I still need to send them a letter."
"That's fine," George replied easily. "There'll be plenty of time later."
Watching the twins leave, Lucien finally understood why they remained so popular despite constantly causing trouble.
They were playful.
Good-tempered.
They understood boundaries surprisingly well.
And toward friends, they were unbelievably sincere.
Honestly, they were almost perfect companions.
After parting ways with them, Lucien returned to the Slytherin common room and immediately wrote a coded letter to Vinda Rosier.
He instructed her to meet him in Hogsmeade within the next few days.
After sending the owl away, Lucien grabbed a large pouch of Galleons before heading toward Hagrid's hut.
"Fang? Is Hagrid home?"
Before he even reached the door, Fang came rushing over enthusiastically while wagging his tail.
"Lucien!"
Hagrid immediately emerged from inside looking delighted.
As a half-giant, very few people willingly treated him like a genuine friend.
Naturally, every friendship became precious to him.
"I came to see the magical creature materials we discussed previously," Lucien said calmly. "If everything's organised already, I'd like to take them today."
"It's all ready!"
Hagrid waved excitedly.
"Come on, I piled everything inside the storage shed."
He led Lucien toward a large wooden building nearby.
The moment Lucien stepped inside, he froze.
He originally thought the materials piled around Hagrid's house were already excessive.
Now he realised those had merely been a tiny fraction.
Bundles of unicorn tail hair were tossed carelessly into corners like piles of ordinary straw.
Stacks of unicorn horns nearly towered above Lucien himself.
And in the deeper sections of the warehouse sat materials Lucien never expected Hagrid to possess at all.
Manticore teeth.
Augurey feathers.
Erumpent horns.
Lucien's heart nearly bled at the sight of Hagrid's storage methods.
These weren't materials.
These were mountains of Galleons.
Any single item here could sell for ten or even dozens of times the normal market price due to rarity and quality.
For the first time in quite a while, Lucien suddenly doubted whether he even possessed enough money.
"These are everything I've got organised so far."
Hagrid scratched his beard casually.
"Didn't count everything exactly though."
Then he pointed toward several giant piles of unicorn hair.
"No point counting these individually. We'll just weigh 'em."
Weigh them?
Lucien almost twitched.
This was the first time in his life he had heard unicorn tail hair measured by weight.
"You sold this much material to other shops before?"
The question instantly triggered Hagrid's resentment.
"Of course not!"
He snorted loudly.
"I'm not giving all the good stuff to those bloodsuckers in Diagon Alley."
"What I sold before was mostly random things I picked up off the ground."
Then he proudly patted one enormous pile nearby.
"This stuff's much better."
Hagrid looked genuinely pleased with himself.
"See? Told yeh I wouldn't cheat a friend."
You wouldn't cheat anyone.
You're just absurdly honest.
Lucien stared numbly at the mountains of rare magical materials surrounding him.
How many years had Hagrid been hoarding all this?
Was he seriously planning to dump his entire collection onto Lucien at once?
For perhaps the first time since arriving in Britain, Lucien genuinely felt poor.
That same evening, Lucien finally received Vinda's reply.
The letter stated she would arrive in Hogsmeade this Saturday evening.
Which also happened to be the day after tomorrow.
She advised Lucien to prepare in advance.
After reading it carefully, Lucien flicked his wand lightly.
Pale blue flames immediately engulfed the parchment until nothing remained but ashes.
"Saturday…"
Lucien rubbed his forehead slowly.
"That's also the day Voldemort arranged to meet me."
A headache immediately formed.
Sneaking into Hogsmeade itself wasn't difficult.
After all, he lived inside Snape's private quarters, meaning few people would notice his absence at night.
But Voldemort…
Fooling the Dark Lord convincingly required far more effort.
Lucien suddenly felt several future headaches approaching at once.
....
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