Hogwarts Card System Chapter 286

Chapter 286: Rescuing Ron Weasley

“Come in quickly!” Ted waved open the door. Outside stood Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

“Haha~ Kid, tell us, what do you need our help with? Better make it simple, so I can still have half a day of happy single time this afternoon~”

Sirius clapped Ted’s shoulder, plopped onto the sofa, and poured tea for himself and Lupin.

“Don’t get me wrong, but you don’t put milk in your tea, let alone sugar. This isn’t authentic!” The thoroughly British man took a sip of Ted’s black tea and casually complained.

Lupin also sat down, smiling as he surveyed the room.

He didn’t have much to do on the weekend, so doing something with old friends was a good choice.

Thinking of old friends, he couldn’t help but remember his other two good friends, and a faint sadness welled up in his heart.

Ted didn’t introduce his secret lair to the two of them.

After all, with land and house prices falling, Ted definitely couldn’t resist buying at the bottom.

Chinese people have a special obsession with owning their own house.

If there was no hope, who wouldn’t want to have their own home!

After this matter passes, Ted would super-double it here, and he’d definitely build a thousand-square-meter mansion!

Ted pulled out a stack of parchment from his embrace and placed it on the coffee table.

Sirius saw it and exclaimed, “Ha! Hahahahaha!” He laughed heartily.

“For this thing to fall into your hands, it really is… there’s a strange kind of wonder to it.”

This was the Marauder’s Map, made by the four Marauders, and it had a strong sense of legacy.

Lupin couldn’t help but reach out and caress the map, his face filled with unconcealable nostalgia. This made Sirius feel a bit sentimental too.

Ted’s expression, however, turned serious.

“I need to apologize first, because what I’m about to say might bring up your painful memories. It might even hurt you…”

The two of them paused, looking at Ted strangely.

“I know what happened back then, about Harry. I also know a name…”

“This goes back to a year ago when the Weasley twins gave me the Marauder’s Map…”

“Earlier this year, while I was looking through the map, I inadvertently discovered another unfamiliar name in Neville and Ron’s room… I apologize for not zooming in to examine their bedroom carefully before, and only discovering it now.”

At this point, Sirius and Lupin had already realized something was wrong – Ted had discovered a lurking stranger in the Gryffindor dormitory through the Marauder’s Map!

This was no small matter!

Ted glanced at them both and said, “What surprised me even more was that I had actually heard this name before, a person who should have been dead for over ten years… Peter Pettigrew!”

To explain how he discovered Peter Pettigrew and why he only found out now, Ted told a story that was nine parts true and one part false.

Actually, it wasn’t surprising. Hogwarts was enormous, and it had over a dozen floors from top to bottom. How big was the Marauder’s Map?

If you didn’t zoom in, all the lines and names would overlap, becoming a chaotic mess and completely illegible.

Unless you specifically zoomed in on a certain area, some subtle changes within it truly couldn’t be fully grasped.

Who would use the Marauder’s Map to monitor the boys’ dormitory for no reason? That’s too perverted, isn’t it?!

This was likely also why the twins, in the original story, held the map for several years and never noticed another name on their younger brother Ron’s bed.

Unless you were an extreme brother-complex, who would monitor who was on their brother’s bed for no reason?!

Besides, who would have thought there would be someone else?! Even in Great Britain, this kind of thing was a bit too early~

Only Harry, after getting the map, would pay attention to changes in his own dormitory.

…

“Impossible!” Sirius roared, his face turning red.

“Absolutely impossible! Peter, Peter died… they died over ten years ago!”

Lupin’s face was also full of astonishment, but compared to Sirius, he, who had more dealings with Ted, understood that Ted wouldn’t be joking or mistaken.

If Ted said it, then he must be absolutely certain, and he might have even investigated it thoroughly himself.

If it really was Peter… he was still alive? Then, then back then…

Sweat immediately broke out on his forehead, his lips trembled, wanting to say something but desperately holding back.

And Sirius was still desperately explaining, saying that Ted might have seen it wrong, that the map might be faulty, after all, there were similar situations before, and although they were resolved, magic going wrong was common…

In short, subconsciously, he didn’t want to think too deeply.

…

Meanwhile, in the underground maze of the abandoned shop nearby, Jerry had already solved some puzzles and explored more areas.

Ron, with his injured leg, could only stay put.

Scabbers had been gone for about ten minutes, and the longer he waited, the more anxious he became, so he decided to try to find another way.

After fumbling for a long time, he found that besides his wand, his “First Unit,” some loose change, and the Sheikah Slate, he had nothing else.

This item had only been made a couple of days ago and was still in internal testing.

Ron had taken one so he could play Wizard Chess or 5v 5 anytime.

“Wait! This thing seems to be able to connect within the Ideal Land network! But Hogsmeade is so far from the school, will it be in the network?”

He poured magic into it, and the card-like stone tablet lit up with magical patterns, flickering intermittently.

There’s a chance!

But the signal was poor.

He could only try his best to control his magic, sending out limited information: Ron, help, Hogsmeade, underground…

The game development team members, who were on vacation, suddenly discovered a piece of information.

Harry was originally double-ranking with Malfoy, trying to compete for the top spot on the ladder, when she suddenly saw the message and jumped out of her chair.

She ripped off her gaming glasses and rushed to the boys’ dormitory to find Neville.

“Where’s Ron?”

“He and Jerry went to Hogsmeade. What’s wrong?”

“Not good!” Harry immediately pulled out her two-way mirror, but this thing was a bit too big, good for a landline, but generally not easy to carry around.

She then found Hermione through the “contact list”: “Where’s Ted! Ron and the others seem to be in trouble in Hogsmeade!”

“Ted, he went out, he’s not at school. He said he had something to find Sirius and them about!”

“Damn it, why now! Can’t worry about it, we have to go save Ron and them first. Meet at the castle gate!”

Hermione said, “Okay, give me a minute, I’ll bring some things!”

At this moment, she was in the secret base, entering Ted’s lab directly and putting many items from the shelves into her “space pouch.”

Among them were some magical items and alchemical bombs developed by Ted. The most striking one was a five-centimeter diameter glass bottle containing a small ball of brilliant lightning.

The Hogwarts Rescue Team was formed, objective: Save Wizard Ron!

…

“Help, help! Is anyone there? Please help me!” A soft female voice echoed in the underground space.

Jerry’s round ears twitched slightly, searching for the direction of the sound.

Jerry was invisible in a corner of the underground corridor, carefully observing the girl who was slumped on the ground not far away, seemingly with an injured leg.

“Who? Who’s there?” The girl seemed to have discovered Jerry.

Jerry walked out, wand in hand, maintaining vigilance.

“You, who are you? Help me, I’m injured. Please help me…”

Jerry approached slowly. The girl’s eyes were empty. Suddenly, her mouth opened wide, her entire upper jaw, up to below her eyes, flipped up, and her entire lower jaw also flipped down, revealing the mechanism inside her mouth.

“Duiduidui~” Three sharp spikes pierced through Jerry’s body.

Then Jerry dissipated!

“Retreat three feet! Severing Charm!” Two spells flew out from another corner consecutively, smashing the bizarre puppet into pieces.

A very human-like head rolled to Jerry’s feet.

“Hmph~ I could tell you weren’t human at first glance!” Jerry had used an illusion to trick the mechanical puppet just now.

This underground maze was definitely man-made, and even had many puzzles, traps, and these monsters.

At this moment, Ron was also in crisis.

A strange spider-shaped puppet was patrolling the corridor not far away, its scuttling footsteps making Ron’s scalp tingle.

However, his friends had already arrived. They found the shop and also discovered the box with teleportation abilities.

Hermione distributed items to Harry and Neville: “When we trigger the teleportation magic later, if we get separated, be careful! If the enemy is too strong, prioritize self-preservation. I’ve already informed Ansu, and it will notify Ted…”

The three friends jumped into the box and appeared in the maze.

This was actually a real-life horror amusement park set up by Ted, developed from the existing underground ruins of this abandoned shop.

That’s why Ron was able to contact others through the Sheikah Slate.

The Ideal Land network currently only covered the castle; even the school wasn’t fully covered yet.

Ted’s original intention was to kill two birds with one stone: bring Peter out and force him away from Ron.

Then, through this underground real-life game, he wanted to stimulate the Patronus Charm in his friends.

He had created some monsters here that could only be effectively dealt with by the Patronus Charm – Smokers.

Developed from Dementors, Gastly still needed further research, but these man-made magical creatures called Smokers were already quite interesting.

However, he hadn’t expected Ron to break his leg!

This was truly unexpected, just too unlucky, wasn’t it?

(End of Chapter)