Chapter Twenty-four: Go in. This would end in pain anyway
With a hammering heart, you steal your emotions and turn the handle.
You open the door just a fraction and peak inside. You frown, open the door wider and step into the classroom.
It's completely empty. There's two candles hovering in the air, one near the door, the other on the other side of the room. Other than the candle's flame, nothing moves in there.
You listen hard and sneak further inside. They might be hiding, or a terrible voice in your head suggests, injured and unconscious.
You pull up your wand and consult the map again.
It still shows you two dots a couple feet ahead of you to the right. You look up. They must be near the teacher's desk. You tiptoe closer, looking out warily for any kind of noise, but other than your own heartbeat, you hear nothing.
If they are there, they must be on the ground, otherwise you would already see them. The thought brings with it a crushing bitterness.
You edge closer. The Marauder's map shakes in your hand. You watch your own little dot move closer and closer to Snape and Malfoy's, you're only a couple feet away. You look up. You still can't see the ground; a smaller desk keeps it hidden.
You move further between chairs, then at last step in front of the teacher's desk with baited breath. You look up from the map, scared what you might see.
There's nothing. No one's there.
Confused, you blink around but see no one. You even look behind the desk, and up on the ceiling, but not a soul is there besides you.
You look down on the map once more. Your dot is right over Snape, when in reality, you're alone.
You poke the group of little dots with the tip of your wand and to your surprise Malfoy and Snape's name vanish.
Frantically, you search the map for them. You find Malfoy where he should be, in Slytherin Common Room and Snape…
Snape's in the next room. You walk a couple steps ahead and behind the teacher's desk in a little nook you find a heavy wooden door.
You know where it leads. To Snape's private chambers.
On the map, you see another line appear under your name. You look at it confused. It just says, "Harry." You read it out aloud.
The door clicks open. Your eyes widen. Your name, your first name is the password to Snape's room?
A long sliver of orange light shows up on the ground. Like a rope to safety, it seems to beckon you.
This time you don't feel like you have a choice.
Walk in Snape's room. (Go to chapter 25)