Duties for others

-Can you repeat it again? -said Silvia, thinking she had misheard.

The three of them were currently standing on the shore of the Black Lake, while Soisen was throwing large loaves of bread towards the giant squid, who was in a good mood because of the goodies the students gave him.

-You heard me, I agreed to do the exchange and I have until Christmas to make some preparations. I will need to stock up on magic soap and our other products to introduce to Beauxbatons, anything that is focused on the female clientele. I will also give you some duties while I am away that I want you to fulfill.

-What kind of duties? Hermione asked intrigued as she handed him a two-kilo loaf of whole wheat bread.

-First, I will help you learn the spell of disillusionment," said Soisen as he took a run and then threw the whole wheat bread hard, "Once you are proficient in the spell, I will show you a magical place in the true sense of the word, so magical, it's unbelievable that it exists at Hogwarts.

-Really? -Is it better than the Prefect's Bathroom?

-They don't even have a comparable spot," laughed Soisen.

-And why do we need to be proficient in the disillusionment spell to know where it is? -Hermione asked.

-Because I don't want anyone, and I mean ANYONE! -She raised her voice to emphasize the matter seriously, "Know the place for a long time apart from us and I think if we know anything, it's that at Hogwarts secrets are the hardest thing to keep. All it takes is for one gossipy person to know about it and everything will be ruined forever.

Soisen intended to show the two witches the Room of the Masters, and given the practicality, he preferred to monopolize the place for as long as possible.

-Soisen said, "Aren't you worried we'll tell someone after you show us around?

No, I think we have enough trust in each other to be confident that you won't betray me behind my back," Soisen matter-of-factly laid out the trust she had in them and made sure at the same time to use the word "betrayal" to once again emphasize the seriousness of the matter.

And by the looks of joy and nerves of the two witches, it seems that the effect she was looking for was achieved with great success.

-That place is perfect for both of them," Soisen explained, "It could be a magical craft workshop," Silvia's eyes lit up, "A library with hidden books," Hermione opened her eyes wide, "Or a perfect place to practice dueling spells in a relatively safe and private environment.

-And the disillusionment spell is so they won't follow us, right? Knowing you, you'll even tell us to use the silencing spell to mute our footsteps.

-Exactly. Surely after I show you around, someone starts to notice your escapades and decides to follow you to find out what you're hiding. But with these countermeasures, unless it's a teacher, I doubt anyone has the magical abilities and skills among the students to follow your path.

-Do you really think anyone would do something that creepy? -Hermione asked with obvious distaste.

-You'd be surprised what some students can do," Soisen assured her as he collected some squid ink, which he very kindly exchanged for a few dozen loaves of bread.

Just look at Potter and his invisibility cloak along with Ron's unhealthy curiosity about matters that don't concern him. Soisen was sure they would be among the first to try to find out where Hermione will go, when he leaves during the school exchange.

And so, Soisen spent the next few days teaching Silvia and Hermione not only the anti-spying spells he knew, but also warned them of certain tricks they might try to play to get information out of them unwittingly. He even set them the task of starting to practice Occlumency under the guise of keeping trade secrets. Needless to say, when the two learned that the ability to read the minds of others existed, they took the privacy of their minds very seriously, which saved Soisen the trouble of convincing them.

That's right, he was training them to develop resistance to the dark spell: talk-no-jutsu.

He also asked Hermione to take Rada to the Gryffindor common room for a few days and look after her scarb while she was in a delicate phase of her research. The redhead was delighted to do her the favor and Rada was enthusiastically welcomed by the lions. Three days later, the scarbate infiltrated the Weasley twins' room when they were out for a prank and searched for his target, a blank piece of parchment, but one that was folded into several creases. After rummaging through a few things, he found what Soisen asked for and despite it not being shiny, he tucked it away in his bag.

That same day Hermione rushed to Soisen with Rada, because he had suddenly started acting sick. Soisen gave Rada some "medicine" that was actually his scarbate's favorite honey and let him "rest" in his room. He soothed Hermione's somewhat guilty conscience and assured her that this happened every year and was no big deal, in two days Rada would be as good as new.

He couldn't help it, Hermione changed a lot compared to her original counterpart, but she was still too innocent and he wouldn't know how to explain to her how she knew about the existence of the Marauder's Map. Moreover, knowing her, perhaps she would burn it for being an invasion of other people's private lives.

-Good job, Rada! -After dismissing the witch, Soisen met her pet in her room and gave her some shiny coins for her good performance. After receiving the blank paper and saying the words that acted as a password, he tapped his wand and the Marauder's Map officially appeared in front of him.

-Although I feel a little bad for the twins, they simply don't understand the potential of this artifact. The map is not the key, but the ability to locate everyone within these walls.

Soisen wasn't sure if the Weasley twins would also be curious about the escapades of the two witches, so he made sure to take hold of the best means of espionage they had at their disposal. After adding a few extra protection spells to it, he stowed it safely in his trunk.

-If only he could replace Potter's cloak with a demiguise cloak.....

He had tried to use Accio to get the cloak during one night when he was walking under the spell of disillusionment and discovered the surviving boy walking down one of the corridors without much care to speak of, but it seems that the cloak was either protected against this kind of magic or Potter held it very tightly.

He wasn't sure which of the two situations it was.

As he expected, during dinner on the same day he obtained the map, the twins were not displaying a fun and unrestrained attitude, but instead were looking around nervously, something that caught the attention of many.

Their conclusion? Perhaps the twins went overboard with one of their recent pranks and were vigilant not to fall for the prankster's revenge. They even began to place bets on when it would happen.

Soisen even approached and asked them if everything was all right with a worried expression or if they needed help, which moved the twins a little.

How would they connect Rada's arrival and their convenient "illness" at the same time their most precious treasure disappeared?

They were not at all suspicious of their "good" friend!