"She's the anti-Trelawney, that's for sure. With her, it's all math and calculations. We know the date it'll happen, but she wants us to factor out the exact timing right down to the minute. Pure busywork if you ask me. She's a little kooky about it."

        "She's kooky in general, if you ask me," Ralph stated.

        "I think she might be onto us," James said in a hushed voice. "I've seen her looking at me sometimes."

Zane raised his eyebrows and pointed at his eyes. "She's blind, if you remember. She's not looking at anything, mate."

        "I know," James said, undeterred. "But I swear that she knows something. I think she has ways of seeing that don't have anything to do with her eyes."

        "Let's not freak ourselves out," Ralph said quickly. "This is freaky enough already. She can't know anything. If she did, she'd act on it, right? So forget about her."

        The next day, James and Ralph went to visit Hagrid in his cabin, ostensibly to inquire after Grawp and Prechka. Hagrid was rebuilding the wagon Prechka had accidentally destroyed and was glad of the break. He invited them in and served them tea and biscuits while he warmed himself by the fire, Trife lying over his feet and occasionally licking Hagrid's lowered hand.

        "Oh, it's all ups and downs for them," Hagrid said, as if the tumults of giant courtship were a quaint mystery. "They fought fer a while over the holiday. Lovers' spat over an elk carcass. Grawpy wanted the head, but Prechka wanted to make the antlers into a bit o' jewelry."

Ralph took a break from blowing steam off his tea. "She wanted to make jewelry out of elk antlers?"

        "Well, I say jewelry," Hagrid said, raising his huge palms. "It's a tricky concept. Giants use the same sound fer jewelry an' weapons. Comes to the same thing when yeh're twenty feet tall, I s'pose. Anyway, they worked that all out and now they're happy as can be again."

        James asked, "Is she still living up in the foothills, Hagrid?"

        "Sure she is," Hagrid said, a little reproachfully. "She's an hon'rable girl, is Prechka. And Grawp, why, he bides his time in his hovel most days. Got 'imself a right nice firepit and a lean-to of birches. These things take time. Giant love is… well, it's a delicate thing, don'cher know."

        Ralph coughed a little on his tea.

        "Hey, Hagrid," James said, changing the topic. "You've been around Hogwarts for a long time. You probably know lots of secret stuff about the school and the castle, don't you?"

        Hagrid settled into his chair. "Well, sure. Nobody knows the grounds s'well as myself. Except maybe Argus Filch. I started out as a student, I did, a-ways back before even yer dad was born."

        James knew he had to be very careful. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Tell me, Hagrid, if somebody had something really magical they wanted to hide in the castle somewhere…"

        Hagrid stopped petting Trife. He turned his great shaggy head toward James slowly. "And what would a first-year pup like yerself be needin' to hide, might I ask?"

        "Oh, not me, Hagrid," James said quickly. "Somebody else. I'm just curious."

Hagrid's beetle black eyes twinkled. "I see. And this somebody else, I'm wond'rin' what they might be up to, then, hidin' secret magical items here and there…"

        Ralph took a large, deliberate sip of the his tea. James looked out the window, avoiding Hagrid's suddenly penetrating gaze. "Oh, you know, nothing particular. I was just wondering…"

        "Ah," Hagrid said, smiling slightly and nodding. "Yeh've been told a lot of stories about old Hagrid from yer dad and Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron, I'm guessing. Hagrid used to let slip some details that maybe he was supposed to keep secret. S'true, too. I can be a bit thick sometimes, forgettin' what I should and shouldn't be saying. Yeh may recall stories about a certain dog named Fluffy, among others, yes?" Hagrid studied James intently for a few moments, and then heaved a great sigh. "James, m'boy, I'm a good bit older than I was then. Old Keepers of the Keys don't learn much, but we do learn. Besides, yer dad clued me in that you might be getting up to dickens and asked me to keep an eye out for yeh. Soon as he noticed yeh'd, er, borrowed his Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map, that was."

        "What?" James blurted, turning so quickly he almost knocked over his tea.

        Hagrid's bushy eyebrows rose. "Oh. Well, there yeh go, then. I don't s'pose I was meant to tell you that." He frowned thoughtfully, then seemed to dismiss it. "Ah, well, he didn't actually tell me not to mention it."

        James sputtered, "He knows? Already?"

        "James," Hagrid laughed, "yer dad's the Head of the Auror Department, in case yeh forgot. Talked to him about it last week right in me own fire, here. What he's most curious about is whether or not yeh've gotten the map to work yet, since so much of the castle's been rebuilt. He forgot to test it when he was here. So, had any luck, then?"

        In the adventure of capturing the Merlin robe, James had completely forgotten about the Marauder's Map. Sulkily, he told Hagrid that he hadn't tried it yet.

        "Prob'ly for the best, yeh know," Hagrid replied. "Just 'cause yer dad knows yeh nicked it, doesn't mean he's happy about it. And so far as I was able to gather, yer mum doesn't know about it at all, yet. If yeh're lucky, she won't, neither, although I can't imagine yer dad keepin' that kind of secret from her fer long. Best just to keep yer contraband packed away rather than hidin' it anywhere on the grounds. Trust me, James. Keepin' suspicious magical items around the school can cause a lot more trouble than it's worth."

        On the way back to the castle, bundled against the windy cold, Ralph asked James, "What's he mean about getting the map to work? What's it do?"

        James explained the Marauder's Map to Ralph, feeling vaguely worried and annoyed that his dad already knew about his taking it and the Invisibility Cloak. He'd known he'd get caught eventually, but had assumed he'd get a howler about it rather than a ribbing from Hagrid.

Ralph was interested in the map. "It really shows everybody who's in the castle and where they are? That'd be seriously useful! So how does it work?"

        "You have to say a special phrase. Dad told me a long time ago, but I can't remember it off the top of my head. We'll give it a try some night. Right now, I don't want to think about it."