"What's the hold-up then?"
Fred and George practically lunged forward, their curiosity far outweighing their caution.
Maurise pointed a steady finger at the heavy wooden door that had just clicked shut. His voice remained unnervingly flat. "There is a dog in there. It is exceptionally large, and it possesses a rather pungent odor."
It was a masterpiece of understatement.
"A dog? That's what's got your knickers in a twist?" Fred rolled his eyes, shrugging with practiced nonchalance. "Since when are we afraid of a bit of fur and a wagging tail?"
With a flourish, he threw the door wide open.
The air in the corridor did not just chill; it seemed to solidify into a block of pure terror.
"Run! Run for your lives!"
Fred had never moved faster in his entire life. He slammed the door shut with a resounding bang before George or Maurise could even blink. Without waiting for a response, he grabbed both of them by the scruffs of their robes and hauled them down the hall with the strength of a man who had seen his own funeral.
George stumbled, nearly face planting into the stone floor. "Ease up, Fred! Merlin's beard, let go!"
"Calm down," Maurise said, keeping pace with surprising ease despite Fred's frantic tugging. "The beast is chained. It is not going anywhere."
That stopped Fred in his tracks. He skidded to a halt, chest heaving, and stared back at the door with wide, frantic eyes. Silence followed. No scratching at the wood, no splintering timber. It seemed they had not actually provoked the beast into a murderous rampage just yet.
Maurise shook out his sleeves, glancing at the red marks on his arms where Fred had gripped him. "The monster has a collar and a very thick chain. We can go back and actually look, if you are finished with your cardio for the evening."
"Just a dog, he says," George muttered, straightening his robes. "A dog with three heads and a mouth the size of a fireplace!"
Driven by that classic Weasley brand of recklessness, the three of them crept back. Maurise led the way, easing the door open once more.
Under the dim, flickering light of a few wall sconces, the creature was finally revealed in all its grotesque glory. It was the size of an elephant, a mass of dark fur and muscle sprawled across the floorboards. All three heads were currently resting on its paws, eyes half lidded, emitting a rhythmic, bass heavy snore that made the floorboards vibrate.
A massive, gleaming silver chain was indeed bolted to its collar, disappearing into a trapdoor beneath its paws.
"By the Founders," George whispered, his voice trembling with a mix of awe and horror. "They have actually got a Cerberus in a school. A literal man eater."
Fred took a shaky breath. "Well, I think we have solved the mystery of why Dumbledore told everyone they would die a painful death if they came up here. He was not being metaphorical, was he?"
Maurise stood with his arms crossed, remarkably unfazed by the proximity of a legendary killing machine. "Right. Curiosity satisfied? Excellent. We should probably leave before the middle head decides we look like oversized biscuits."
As if on cue, the head on the right twitched. Its wet, black nose wrinkled, sniffing the air, and a single lid flicked open to reveal a blood red eye. It fixed on the three intruders with predatory precision. A low, rumbling growl began to vibrate deep within its three throats.
"See? It is practically showing us the exit," Maurise noted. "Shall we?"
He had no desire to spend another second in a room that smelled like wet dog and rotting meat. Fred, though baffled by Maurise's icy composure, did not need to be told twice.
"Out. Now," Fred whispered, turning for the door.
"Wait!" George hissed, his eyes glued to a piece of parchment he had pulled from his pocket. "Fred, stop! Someone is in the corridor!"
Maurise glanced over. It was a map, or at least it looked like one, covered in intricate ink lines representing the castle.
"Who is it?" Fred demanded, his face going pale.
"Dumbledore," George whispered, his voice tight. "He is heading straight for us. He is practically at the door!"
Fred's wand was out in a flash. He cast a quick Disillusionment Charm over the three of them, turning their bodies into blurry, translucent ripples against the wall. It was a desperate move. Against most people, it worked wonders. Against Albus Dumbledore, it was about as effective as hiding behind a blade of grass.
To make matters worse, the three headed dog was now fully awake, its six eyes staring directly at their "invisible" forms. The beast did not care about charms; it could smell the fear radiating off them.
The sound of footsteps echoed from the other side of the door. They were slow, rhythmic, and terrifyingly calm. The footsteps of a man who knew exactly where everything in his castle was supposed to be.
Fred and George held their breath, looking like they were ready to pass out. Getting caught by the Headmaster during a midnight stroll to a forbidden corridor was a one way ticket to a very long, very miserable detention.
Maurise knew he had to intervene.
"Relax," he whispered, grabbing both twins by their shoulders. "Close your eyes. This is going to feel like being stuffed through a keyhole."
Before they could protest, Maurise breathed a single incantation.
"Shath... Môr... Keth." (Umbral walk)
A shroud of absolute darkness rose from the floor, swallowing them whole. In an instant, the world twisted.
Fred and George felt as though they had been compressed into a tiny, airless box. It was pitch black, cold, and claustrophobic. They tried to speak, but the words felt heavy in their mouths.
"Do not make a sound," Maurise's voice echoed in the void, sounding oddly distant yet right in their ears. "If you move, the spell breaks."
Inside this "shadow space," Maurise could see the world in a different way. It was not sight, exactly, but a reconstruction of the room. He felt the outlines of the stone walls, the heat radiating from the massive dog, and the silhouette of the man who had just pushed open the door.
Dumbledore entered. He looked tall, his long silver beard shimmering even in the gloom. He did not look like a man searching for intruders; he looked like a gardener checking on a prize rose. He hummed a soft, tuneless melody, patted one of the dog's heads, which remarkably did not bite him, and checked the trapdoor.
After two agonizingly long minutes, the Headmaster turned on his heel and wandered back out, closing the door softly behind him.
Maurise waited a further three minutes, ensuring the "Dumbledore" dot on George's map was well away, before releasing the spell.
The shadows dissolved. The three of them collapsed back into reality, gasping for air in the safety of a nearby abandoned classroom.
"Sweet Merlin's hat!" Fred wheezed, leaning against a dusty desk. "Are we alive? I feel like I have been through a laundry mangle."
"We are safe," George panted, checking the map. "He has gone back toward the Great Hall."
Maurise leaned against the wall, watching them. His eyes drifted to the parchment in George's hand. "So. Are we going to talk about the map that tracks people's souls, or should I just guess?"
George looked at Fred. Fred gave a sharp nod.
"It is called the Marauder's Map," George explained, still catching his breath. "As for how it works, well, that is a trade secret."
"Fair enough," Maurise said with a faint, knowing smile. He was not one to pry where he was not wanted, though he had a feeling the "Misters Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs" listed on the map were not the ones currently holding it.
"And you?" Fred asked, looking at Maurise with a newfound sense of respect, and perhaps a little suspicion. "That magic. That was not a Disillusionment Charm. I have never felt anything like that. What was it?"
Maurise pushed off the wall and headed toward the door, his expression unreadable.
"That?" he glanced back over his shoulder. "That is a secret."