The Room of Requirement shifted as the four friends stepped inside, its stone walls warping into tall shelves stacked with ancient tomes.
At the center, an expansive worktable emerged from the floor, followed by four chairs.
Each subtly engraved with their family crests: Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin.
The air buzzed faintly, as if the castle itself sensed the weight of what was about to begin.
Nero placed a thick roll of enchanted parchment on the table.
Its surface rasped beneath his fingers, threads of dormant magic coiling just beneath the surface.
As he unrolled it, the parchment crackled softly, releasing the faint, nostalgic scent of aged ink.
Silver light flickered in Nero's eyes as he scanned the room with his Raven Eyes, checking for magical disturbances.
Satisfied, he sat down and tapped the table twice.
"All right," he said, his voice calm but brimming with anticipation. "This is it. Our final project for the year…and maybe the most important one we've ever attempted."
Ember leaned forward, idly twirling her dagger between two fingers. "So," she said, a glint in her eye, "is this the one where we finally get to spy on professors? Because I've been waiting all year for that."
Alaric snorted. "You mean, avoid them."
"Same thing," she said with a smirk.
Nero chuckled. "Yes, it'll help with that. But this map will do far more than help you sneak around. It's a tool for understanding this castle, its secrets… and its dangers. The Chamber of Secrets was only the beginning."
Lilith, sketching idle runes in the air with her wand, raised an eyebrow. "You want to remake the Marauder's Map?"
"Not remake," Nero said, eyes glinting. "Improve it. I am now confident we can do it now."
A beat of silence stretched before Ember slammed her hands on the table, nearly sending her dagger flying. "Finally!"
"And," Nero continued, tapping the parchment, "I've been thinking of embedding the map into our rings. With the right enchantments, we'll be able to summon a kind of digital map, one only visible to the wearer.Think of it as a personal magical mind map."
Lilith's gaze sharpened. "Projected only to the wearer's vision?"
"Exactly. We'll use something similar to how mental barriers block mind reading, coupled with illusion spells tied to our unique magical signatures. That way, no one else can see it."
Ember's grin widened. "So I could check the map mid-sneak, and Filch wouldn't even notice?"
"Correct," Nero said. "But don't push your luck."
"No promises," she said, hands raised in mock innocence.
Nero unrolled the parchment fully, revealing a rough but detailed outline of Hogwarts. "Let's list the features we want."
Alaric conjured a quill and held it poised. "Real-time tracking, obviously."
"With names," Lilith added. "Not just dots."
"And a search function," Ember said. "So we can find anyone or any room."
Nero nodded. "Agreed. Also, zooming in and out. And ideally, a way to track past movement, something like a magical replay."
Lilith tapped her wand against her chin. "If we anchor the enchantments to Hogwarts' ley lines, we could trace residual magic. Movement leaves a trail."
"Exactly. We'll call it the Temporal Trace."
Alaric jotted it down. "So: real-time tracking, name identification, search, Temporal Trace, and… hidden passages?"
"Obviously," Ember said. "The Marauders didn't find them all."
"We'll use detection enchantments for magically concealed architecture," Nero said. "My Raven Eyes have already identified anomalies the Marauders couldn't see."
"Five core functions," Alaric said. "All tied to our rings."
"I'll handle the core enchantments," Nero said. "The map needs a stable magical anchor. But the final binding, to your rings, has to be done by each of you. The visibility charm requires your individual magical signatures."
"Security?" Ember asked.
"Privacy," Nero replied. "Only you can activate your map. Even if someone steals your ring, they won't see a thing."
Alaric nodded. "Let's get to it, then."
They stood, forming a square around the parchment, wands raised.
Silver light shimmered faintly from Nero's eyes as he monitored the ambient magic, his perception diving beneath the surface.
"The foundation is cartography magic," he said. "I'll cast Auto-Cartographus to capture the castle's structure."
He pointed his wand at the parchment.
"Auto-Cartographus."
Golden ink spilled from the tip of his wand, spider webbing across the parchment in sharp, angular lines.
Corridors bloomed outward, shifting and reshaping as staircases moved and walls flexed.
The castle's living magic pulsed through the map like a heartbeat.
"Beautiful," Alaric murmured, watching the ink twist and flow. "It's like it's breathing."
"Hogwarts is never still," Nero said softly, watching the golden lines pulse across the parchment. "The castle breathes."
"Now, time to give eyes to our map."
He stepped forward, raising his wand alone.
"I'll handle this enchantment. Hominem Revelio."
His voice was quiet, but the magic surged with precision.
A faint tremor rippled through the parchment.
Slowly, dots began to bloom across the map like softly glowing embers, moving, flickering, living.
Each one representing a person inside the castle.
Nero didn't look up.
His gaze was fixed, Raven Eyes threading through the parchment's responding aura.
"Now, identification. We need to link the dots with people's names."
Nero gestured, and the others raised their wands around the table.
"This part needs stability," he said. "Four magical signatures will ground the resonance."
Together, they cast:
"Nomen Lux."
The glow around each dot deepened.
Names etched themselves beside each one, neat and glowing.
"Professor McGonagall is there!" Alaric read aloud, pointing to a dot in the Transfiguration Wing.
"Exactly as expected," Nero said, satisfied,
He stepped back, eyes sweeping the map as names continued to pulse into place.
"That's another enchantment down," he said, lowering his wand. "Now… the search function."
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