Chapter Nine
Death Eaters At Hogwarts

"Harry, wake up!" Harry heard someone hiss. Harry sat up quickly and was face to face with Hermione.
"You're not supposed to be here," Harry muttered grabbing his glasses.
"Em's not in bed," Hermione said.
"What?" Harry said a bit too loudly.
"Harry you prat, shut up," Ron muttered from his bed.
"Em's not in bed, Ron," Harry said. Ron sat right up, yawning.
"Do you have the map?" Hermione asked. Harry nodded. He got out of bed and headed towards his trunk. He moved things around and found his Marauder's Map.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Harry said. The map came to life.
"She's not one here," Ron said, looking over Harry's shoulder.
"But what are those?" Hermione asked. On the map showed three dots in the corridors, Basil Snape, Lucious Malfoy, and E. Macnair.
"We have to go get Dumbledore," Ron said. The three of them raced down to the entrance of the Gryffindor common room and out into the hallway. Harry never took his eyes off the map.
"Dumbledore's in his office," Harry said. "Follow me." They ran, almost slipping a few times until they got the entrance to Dumbledore's office.
"Cockroach cluster," Harry said. It didn't move. "Peppermint. Chocolate Frogs." Harry looked at the map. The three dots were moving closer. Harry didn't want to think of what would happen if Luscious Malfoy and Macnair caught him in the hallways, especially at night, with no teachers around. Harry began speaking more rapidly. "Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans. Um, pumpkin pasties." A black cat rounded the corner and halted, looking at them in surprise. The cat meowed and looked at them as if it knew that they had to hurry. "Lemon Drop. Sherbet Balls." The cat sat in a corner, its head looking from them to the hallway. Harry saw that they were about to turn the corner when the cat started making noises and writhing on the floor. Harry thought that he saw the cat wink at him, but it was probably his imagination. "Honeydukes!"
Finally the door opened and they ran up the steps. Dumbledore was sitting at his desk and looked totally shocked to see them there.
"There are Death Eaters here," Harry said. He felt his whole body shaking, partly from fear, but partly from running across the castle. Dumbledore looked at them confused.
"Hermione woke us up. Emily, the transfer witch, wasn't in the tower, so we got out the map. We saw Malfoy and Macnair's name along with Basil Snape, we don't know who that is, so we came to tell you," Harry panted.
"You three, stay here," Dumbledore said. "I will alert the other teachers. We have been expecting this for quite awhile. Of course it fits, break in the first night of Christmas break. Hardly anyone here."
"What do they want here?" Hermione asked.
"That, Miss Granger, will have to wait for another time," Dumbledore said. He magiked three sleeping bags and moved his desk out of the way. Fawkes stared at them from the corner. "Do not leave my office." Harry, Ron, and Hermione all looked at each other and got their things ready for a good nights sleep.

The next morning when they awoke, they were woken up to the voices of Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore.
"We were out last night, lucky thing too, they almost got caught, but she made a diversion," they heard McGonagall say.
"Very lucky they were," Dumbledore agreed. "I will wake them so you can take them to Gryffindor tower. You can make the announcement there. I think Gryffindor has the most students staying anyway." Dumbledore walked in and they all three got up and followed McGonagall to their common room.
They sat with the rest of the Gryffindors left (George, Fred, Emily, Lavender, Parvati, Seamus, Dean, Katie) while McGonagall looked at them all one at a time.
"During the break, you are all to stay together, which means, you all must travel in packs. I want all of you to do everything together. Girls will all go down and shower at the same time, as will boys. All the girls will sleep in the Girl's second year dormitory and the boys in the Boy's second year dormitory. More beds will be in there, you can all sleep comfortably. You will all go down to meals together. While you are not eating you are to be in here, all of you, together. If anything abnormal is to happen, anytime of day, you are all to come to me, together. Do you all understand?" They all nodded. "Now once everyone else gets back there will be a rule change for them, not as strict as these however. These are only in place because there are only a few of you here over the holidays." McGonagall gave them all a once over and left.
"There were Death Eaters at Hogwarts?" Lavender asked. Harry nodded.
"How did they get in? I mean, its not easy, Hogwart's is too protected," Fred said. "Unless of course they've been here since Hagrid was attacked. They could have been hiding out in the Forbidden Forest or something."
"Is there anything in any of the books that you've read Hermione that could tell us how they got here?" Emily asked. Hermione shook her head.
"What I want to know," Ron said, just loud enough for Harry and Hermione to hear him, "is who in the bloody hell is Basil Snape."