Chapter 67 - Necessary Ingredients! Part-1 (Patreon)

{7th Floor Corridor, Hogwarts}

{6th Sep 1991}

{3rd Person POV}

"I'll invest a 1000 Galleons in you two, we'll each get 33% of the business you create and I'll just be the silent investor, never interfering in your business," Rigel spoke. His words finally had some effect as George finally turned to face Rigel once again.

George was carefully observing Rigel, he was doubtful that Rigel was telling the truth about his parents being a part of the original Marauders, from the rumor mill he had heard that he was the son of Regulus Black, although the accuracy of that statement was not verified it did bring up doubts in his mind. Still, the younger boy knew about the map and since it was not their property he didn't mind selling it to him.

The fact that James Potter was part of the Marauders was the main reason for his change in attitude. If what Rigel was saying was true, and he did believe him as the four Gryffindors had a rather notorious reputation then he can't sell something that belonged to Harry for their own benefit.

He was angry at himself knowing that they fucked up, since they already gave the map to Rigel the only way to get it back would be through violence or blackmail. And with the amount of knowledge he had about the map, he was pretty sure that he had at least some claim over the magical artifact.

The offer was lucrative though, a 1000 Galleons would allow them to achieve everything that they want. Still, does he want to go into business with Rigel, someone who just lied and deceived them moments ago?

'I don't think it is a good idea to agree to any terms without a contract.' George thought.

"We need a magical contract..." George demanded straight away, something solid that couldn't be ignored.

...

Rigel took a sigh of relief and nodded, at least their denial of gold wasn't related to any prejudice. He nodded easily agreeing to their request, "Alright, but I don't know any good lawyers? Do you have any recommendations?"

His question seemed to have caught them off guard a little but after a moment Fred suggested, "We could go for the Tonks? They have a good reputation and their daughter is in 6th year hufflepuff..."

...

'Nymphodora...' Rigel realized. He had totally forgotten about the only other Metamorphmagus in Hogwarts since she was introduced quite late into the story. Rigel's thoughts wandered for a bit before he nodded, he could move forward this way since he was not in a hurry.

"Alright, you can talk to the Tonks, if I read my family tree right then then Andromeda Tonks was formerly Andromeda Black, she could represent me and her husband could represent you. You can draw out a basic contract and then we can meet for further negotiations." Rigel offered. Fred and George shared a look before George nodded.

Rigel was beginning to understand the dynamics of the twins, while no one was able to differentiate between them so most likely no one should be aware that George was the one who liked to take charge.

'But then again no one can see their names floating above their head... They are surprisingly high leveled for third years...' Rigel noted as Fred and George walked out of the room.

...

[Fred Weasley Lv 20]

[George Weasley Lv 19]

...

As the two names disappeared from his vision, Rigel pointed his wand at the door again and cast, "Colloportus~"

The door glowed a soft pink to his senses signifying that the spell had taken effect and Rigel then focused on the map in his hands.

"I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good!" Rigel exclaimed as he touched his wand at the map, a sense of excitement and wonder bubbled from inside of him as he watched dark ink slowly become visible on the piece of parchment.

'''Messrs Moony Wormtail Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present the Marauders Map...'''

The parchment was folded like a wedding card when he opened the map further by pulling it, he was overwhelmed with the amount of names that were on the piece of paper. Hogwarts was enormous and only by looking at the numerous names and their footsteps, Rigel felt a little lost.

There were 7 main floors in the castle, plus 4 towers that extended the floors a little more, there were also the Dungeons, Kitchens, and hidden rooms like the Room of Requirement and the Chamber of Secrets. He pulled the map open completely and placed it on the table, contrary to what was shown in the series, the map was far larger than he was expecting.

When he completely laid it flat on the table, it took almost all surface area. Still, he reasoned that it was necessary as the Marauders wouldn't have been able to cramp up the information in a single parchment. Each floor of the castle had its own map with the Dungeons having their own section and so did the 4 towers.

The map moved every second as not only did the tracked footsteps change but so did the stairs and different connections and hidden passageways. Looking through everything the question of how the Marauders created this living breathing map once again sprung to his mind.

'There is no way they managed to explore every corner and every shortcut or hidden passageway, remembered everything and then somehow managed to figure out the secrets to so many things...' Rigel thought. The canon did explain that because of Moony's problem the 4 friends did explore the castle a lot but the scale of the map that was in front of him was a little too large.

After pondering over this mystery for a bit, Rigel shook his head and then he focused on the Gryffindor tower. The Tower was one of the most detailed sections and after a couple of seconds, Rigel easily found the name in the 1st year Dormitory.

{Peter Pettigrew}

...

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AN -  Plan rat catcher is a go... I need a better name for the plan don't I?