Snape's Big Secret

Disclaimer: I do not own anything affiliated with Harry Potter. (though I wish I did)

Harry Potter is my favorite book series and has been an inspiration to write for me. I hope you enjoy my first installment and I will try and update the story regularly. Your feedback is always wanted! Enjoy!

"Look!" said Harry as he, Hermione, and Ron were walking back from tea at Hagrid's. Snape was running as quickly as he could from the direction of the Whomping Willow towards the castle.

"What in the world is he running for… or from?" asked Hermione in an amused tone.

"Maybe he's being chased by a herd of giant arachnids!" said Ron with a worried look on his face.

"Don't be silly Ron!" said Hermione in her best "matter -of-fact" voice, "Giant spiders don't venture out of the woods! I'm sure Snape has his reasons for running across the grounds! Though I don't have a single idea why he might, myself! He barely ever ventures out past the dungeons!"

"Let's follow him!" said Harry excitedly.

"Oh harry!" said Hermione, "Your hunger for adventure will never cease, will it?"

"Not if I can help it!" Harry said with a smirk on his face, "now c'mon!"

Quietly yet quickly the three friends made their way after Snape who kept looking worriedly behind him as if he were being chased by giant arachnids. Harry stopped abruptly, causing Ron and Hermione to bump into him from behind.

"Ouch!" yelled Harry as he was rammed in the back by his friends.

"Sorry!" whispered Ron and Hermione together and they rubbed their heads in pain.

"I think we should continue under the invisibility cloak from here," Suggested Harry. "Snape's headed into the castle. It would take a whole lot of dumb people to not notice us chasing after him!"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione slipped under the invisibility cloak and made their way after Snape. But right as Snape arrived at the front of the castle he stopped, looked around, and hurriedly decided to change his course by running around to the left side of the castle.

"Where do think he's going?" asked Hermione seeming very confused.

"Let's find out!" said Harry as he pulled his friends along to keep following Snape.

Once at the side of the castle, Snape paused, looked both directions (thank goodness for that invisibility cloak), and vanished, seemingly straight into the wall. The three pursuers ran to stand exactly where Snape had vanished.

"Where did he go?" asked Ron who looked just as or more astounded than the others.

"That's a wonderful question Ronald! Now help us look instead of just standing there like a muggle's statue!" said Hermione looking quite annoyed.

"Hey!" Harry exclaimed, "I think I found something!"

Ron and Hermione walked to where Harry was crouching and looked to see what he was looking at.

"A disguised switch!" cried Hermione triumphantly.

"How can you be so sure?" said Ron.

"How else would Snape have vanished into the wall?" she said smartly.

"True, very true," said Ron trying not to show his disappointment in being outsmarted by Hermione again.

"Should I push it?" asked Harry more directing the question at Hermione that Ron.

"Yeah! Push it!" said Ron excitedly.

"You always have to throw your two cents in there don't you Ron!" said Hermione, "I highly doubt this door will open by just pushing the button. That would seem way too easy for a secret passage created by our "cunning" Professor Snape." She said smugly. Though Hermione had good relationships with almost all of her teachers, she had never gotten to that level with Snape. For an obvious reason: She was friends with the most famous, Harry Potter, as Snape would say. But that is completely beside the point.

"Fine then!" said Ron, "I won't tell you about my special marks given to me by Professor McGonagall for my essay on transfiguring a bottle of pumpkin juice into a steaming mug of hot chocolate!"

"Oh Ron!" said Hermione sounding very exasperated, " I would love to hear about it except that you can't seem to remember that you told me exactly what you made on that essay and how much you wish you had done better than unsatisfactory!"

Ron became very quiet and alarmingly red in the face and decided that it would be wise to stop speaking now.

"Will you two break it up and help me out here?" asked Harry who always seemed to get quite agitated when Hermione and Ron got into arguments.

"We're sorry Harry!" said Hermione shooting a nasty look at Ron who cringed and looked away, "Try hitting the button,"

Harry pressed the button and to his and the others' surprise a door shot open revealing a long passageway.

"Wow!" said Hermione, "I didn't expect it to be that easy!"

Ron rolled his eyes.

"Looks like this won't be needed any longer!" Harry said stuffing the invisibility cloak back into his robes.

"We're going in there?" asked Ron as Harry and Hermione walked into the tunnel.

"Of course we are pudding brain!" said Hermione, "Why else do you think we followed Snape!"

Ron mulled this over in his head and apparently decided to accept Hermione's explanation so the three of them walked into the tunnel.

The tunnel had low ceilings and was full of ancient, exposed pipe-work. It was cold and musty as if it was only used every once in a while. It smelled of mildew and moss which most likely covered the walls.

"Lumos!" whispered Harry as a sphere of light burst from the tip of his wand. The others did the same.

"This place is eerie!" said Ron taking in his surroundings.

"That's an understatement!" Harry replied as he coughed as if the mustiness of the tunnel was inside him.

"I can't believe Fred and George don't have this tunnel mapped out?" said Ron. "I thought they had every nook and cranny of this place figured out!"

"Well they obviously missed one!" said Hermione. "No one could entirely "figure out" Hogwarts anyway!"

Harry was barely paying attention to the other two's conversation. He was too deep into his own thoughts and ideas. Did Dumbledore know about this tunnel? When and why was it created?

Where did it lead? Whose idea was it? Could it have been created by his father and Sirius? Why was Snape using it to get into Hogwarts? What secrets could he be hiding? Too many thoughts were being stirred in the cauldron of his brain.

The tunnel sloped and swerved through who knows where until finally Harry, Ron and Hermione arrived at an old, worn down, wooden door.

"Should we open it?" asked Hermione snapping Harry out of his short-lived trance.

Harry looked at the door and then at the handle and then at the lock and said, "Yes, we should try, but I have a feeling we're going to have to be ready for something more than moss and dust this time."

Ron gave Harry an uneasy look.

"Wands at the ready?" asked Harry in a bold, confident tone.

"Ready!" said Hermione and Ron in sync.

"One, two…THREE!"

The door burst open and the three students were showered in a bright, golden light. Their eyes adjusted and all three gasped at the astounding sight before them.