A Web Of Magic - Volume 1 Chapter 85 Mapping

A week has passed since classes started and Magnus was enjoying his time. The time-turner gave him extra time to not only attend classes but also perform his own experiments. He had to dodge some questions from time to time from both Roger and the Weasley twins regarding his sudden appearances or disappearances whenever he used the time-turner, but apart from that, it was all good. Sometimes it wasn’t all good having smart friends.

Speaking of the twins, Magnus met them today after lunch and borrowed the Marauder’s map once again. He quickly moved to the Room of Requirement after classes and got ready to begin his experiment. ‘Alright, it is time to remove my name from the Marauder’s map. It wouldn’t do for the twins to find two of me when I use the time-turner. That would raise more questions than they already ask,’ Magnus decided. His recent proficiency in Enchanting made it easy for him to understand the inner workings of the map. He would borrow the map once in a while from Fred and George to tinker with it. In one of his experiments he found a nifty enchantment hidden in the map that one can make use to add, remove or hide someone from the map selectively. Even Fred and George are unaware of its presence. ‘I’ll leave it to them to figure it out. They do spend plenty of time with it after all.’

He placed the map on a table in the room in a ritual circle filled with runes. There was a similar circle beside it which was empty. Whoever created the map used plenty of spells that weren’t available in the Hogwarts library. That meant they likely used spells that were exclusive to their own families. While Magnus couldn’t find the exact spells, he can copy and modify them easily with his present knowledge.

He uttered an incantation and cast a spell of his own making, “Hominum Erado.” A stream of light rose from the map and the name “Magnus Webb” was projected into the air. It then faded away from view. Magnus looked at the map once again and confirmed that his name now disappeared from the Marauder’s map. ‘There, now I don’t have to worry about the twins finding out my whereabouts. Now for the main part,’ Magnus looked at the other ritual circle.

Magnus placed a silver looking pocket watch on the inside of the ritual circle. His work this time required more magic than he himself had but there was plenty of magic around Hogwarts to make up for it. He cleared his head and started muttering incantations as he tapped the four corners of the fully unfurled Marauder’s map. The map started glowing once he was done. He then tapped different places on the pocket watch. The watch too started glowing once he was done. The ritual circles around both the objects lit up brightly for a moment before everything went back to normal.

‘Did it succeed?’ Magnus wondered. He did a quick divination to confirm success. But what he saw next confirmed his thoughts.

[Impact Points+50]

He went over the map to make sure it was still working as usual. Once he was satisfied, he then looked towards his new pocket watch. There’s a good reason for not picking a parchment to make his own map. Parchments are delicate and can be easily destroyed. What if it gets wet or gets burnt by falling into a fireplace? There are plenty of fireplaces in Hogwarts. It might even get blown by the wind or get hit by a stray spell from some student. It’s also unwieldy to use with both hands and may get torn. All these reasons made him give up on making it a parchment.

He flipped open the pocket watch to observe. It looked like a regular watch with nothing different. He pressed the button on the side and it immediately changed. A projection of a map appeared in the air in front of him. It was the map of Hogwarts and all of the people inside it in real time. ‘Alright, it’s all working. Now to the modifications,’ Magnus thought.

He placed the pocket watch back on to the table and started casting spells of his own onto it. He got 10 impact points for all of it. ‘Hmm, is it low because it already gave me points before?’ he mused. Magnus picked up the pocket watch to observe again. It looked the same as before, but now it would only respond to him. Everyone else will only see a regular watch even if they press the button on the side.

The map projection is also only visible to him. This was similar to the function of the Marauder’s map where some of the names will only be visible to certain people. Magnus was able to find and figure out the enchantment but he didn’t know whose names were hidden. That would only be possible to know if the creators were standing beside him. While the invisibility function might not work against someone like Headmaster Dumbledore, Magnus wasn’t planning to use it around him. Who knows what the old wizard has up his sleeves?

He also added a functionality where those he had given permission to can also use the map. There might be rare situations where he needs someone’s help to use the map so it’s better to have such an option. Unlike the original Marauder’s map, his map will also show the hidden places in Hogwarts. Magnus had explored more places than the Marauder’s map’s creators and knew of places that they hadn’t like the Room of Requirement or Slytherin’s laboratory. Unfortunately, these rooms were unplottable so his map only showed their entrances and not their interiors.

Since his map is a projection, he can also see the castle in a three-dimensional view. This meant he could see the vertical locations of people inside his map which wasn’t possible in the original which only mentioned the floors in text. The map wasn’t in color regrettably but that was a small inconvenience. Of course, just like the original, his map also doesn’t show the places that he hadn’t visited. He had many more modifications in mind but this would have to do for now.

In the future, he wanted his map to have both an increased range as well as be more dynamic in nature. ‘What if the map moves to whichever location I’m in? That would make exploration into unknown places very easy. It would also prevent any ambushes. Hmm, maybe I should change it into something like the muggle’s radar? How does a radar work again? I need to do some research on that front. This would have to do for now,’ Magnus thought. He was very happy with his accomplishment. He could already skirt around Filch and the prefects if he ever missed curfew with his Disillusionment charm but prevention is better than cure. Why hide from them when you can bypass them altogether?

‘There would be more information if I can manage to make my crystal ball, but that isn’t as portable to use compared to the pocket watch.’ Magnus looked at the watch to see how it’s working. He first looked at the Ravenclaw tower and saw Roger, Noah and Eva in the common room. No doubt working on their potion’s essay for tomorrow. He saw Percy moving together with Penelope Clearwater, a Ravenclaw prefect, on the seventh floor. ‘Percy you naughty boy. What will your mother think?’ Magnus smirked at the map. While prefects did rounds at night, they usually stuck to their own house’s prefects.

He saw Harry and Ron moving towards the castle from what looked like Hagrid’s hut. ‘Hmm, what are you two doing out there so late? It’s close to curfew time,’ Magnus mused. He then saw Hermione moving quickly from the library towards the Gryffindor tower. ‘Typical Hermione, probably lost track of time in the library,’ he shook his head with a smile. He did meet her occasionally in the library and had a chat whenever possible. He let her settle down and get used to life here. ‘Maybe I should meet with her more later?’