Card the moon
Chapter 26 – Twas the time before Christmas
…
"We'll bring you something back."
Once again, Harry watched his friends head out the castle to the coaches waiting to take them to Hogsmeade.
"Have fun," he said without enthusiasm.
He shouldn't have been so depressed. It was the second time after all. But when they'd announced the impromptu Hogsmeade weekend, everyone else had been so excited, because they got to go, it was hard not to be depressed just by comparison.
"S'probably not that great anyway," he muttered, which just goes to prove we save the biggest lies for ourselves.
It was depressing, and a little annoying that without his friends he was reduced to such a state; idle, bored.
That's not to say he had nothing to do. He had several spells he'd picked up during the loops he'd yet to master. He had homework he could be checking over, because it was already done. He could even go out for a fly, if he didn't mind using a school broom.
He did.
It wasn't that he lacked things to do, just anything he wanted to do. Even the Lunas had abandoned him. The cat was staking out Dumbledore's office and the girl had last been seen that morning, chasing something that looked like, what Harry assumed was the inside of a kaleidoscope, farted out by a unicorn.
Much as he might fancy tracking her down to see if she'd made progress, that would entail finding her. And if there was one thing you could say about Hogwarts, it was a good place to hide things. Provided you didn't point out to the whole school where it was.
Tired of moping he left the hall and headed back to the tower. He hadn't gotten far when he was accosted by a pair of ginger doppelgangers.
"Harry."
"Old boy."
"Uh oh, what did you two do this time?"
Their shared evil grins suggested too many things to speculate.
"Oh Harry."
"It's not what we did."
"It's what we're going to do."
"Which is?"
"Give you your Christmas present a little bit early."
Pulling him into a darkened alcove, they produced an old folded up bit of parchment, reverently placed in his hand.
"What is it?" he said, trying not to sound as unimpressed as he felt.
"This is the secret to our success."
Several sarcastic remarks vied for his attention, but then he stopped. He was a wizard; magic was a thing, wasn't it.
"How's it work?"
A wand was drawn and pressed to the paper, "I solemnly swear, I am up to no good."
A very sarcastic 'no duh' was on the tip of his tongue, but then he saw it, a small spot on the parchment, from which spread line after line, racing each other across the paper. Lines became words and Harry marveled at what he saw.
Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-makers are proud to present the marauders map.
"What is this?"
"A map of Hogwarts."
"And Hogsmeade."
They opened the parchment to reveal, not only a map, but a living map, showing everyone and everything moving about in the castle in real time.
"Wicked!" to say the least. "Where'd you get this?"
"Nicked it from Filch's office."
"First year."
"It has been a great boon to our work."
"Bit of a wrench giving it to you."
"But we decided, your need is greater than ours."
An understatement, even if they didn't know. If it did what they said, what he held in his hands could probably find every youma currently in the castle; maybe even the Clow cards.
It may have been a bit selfish the first thing he thought of was, "Did you say Hogsmeade?"
The twins quickly revealed to him the various secret passages, pointing him to the one Filch was unaware of before turning the map off and going to join their friends down in the village.
"See you down there."
"Or maybe we won't 'see' you."
That, thought Harry, was probably a good idea. Handy, he was carrying the invisibility cloak.
Sneaking into the humpback witch Harry pulled out the map and headed for Hogsmeade. "Best day ever." Nothing could ruin his mood now. Not youma, not Clow cards, not even Sirius Black.
…
"You all go on; I'll catch up later."
"Oh, you hear that girls, she'll catch up later."
"Oh, later."
"Better not make it too much later."
Susan Bones scowled at her persnickety housemates. Just what were they implying? She wasn't doing anything wrong. Just because she was going to that shop. Nothing wrong with that. Lots of people went to that shop, or so she'd heard.
Turning her nose up at the now absent annoyances, she marched proudly, down the main street toward that shop. She wasn't doing anything wrong. Nothing wrong at all. Who did they think they were?
Her proud march slowed to a timid shuffle when the shop came into sight. She wasn't doing anything wrong. They had no right to judge her. She could just march right in there and no one would so much as bat an eye.
She dithered.
She scuffed the snow, she walked in circles, she did everything and anything she could think of to psych herself up. She was going in there. She was GOING in there.
"Mmmm," she whined.
"Oy, ya gonna stand there all day," a passerby shouted.
"I'm not doing anything wrong," she shouted back.
"Who're you foolin?" he shouted back, then cackled like he knew something she didn't.
"Oooooo!" angrily she marched up to the door and went in.
The light was poorer inside, the economy you know. Glowing orbs hovered over empty sconces and torches attached to walls and shelves. The poor lighting was by virtue of one such shelf being placed not three feet in front of the big windows taking up most of the store front. Poor planning to be sure, but it did make use of this by being full of the widest variety of—things, she'd ever seen.
"Good morning," said a cultured tenor.
The sound of it sent shivers down her spine and into her—you know what.
"Good morning," she replied timidly, as the source of that voice came into view.
"Well, well, Miss Bones, back again? Is it a Hogsmeade weekend then?"
"Uh, um, YES! Uh, yes, yes, yes it is," she babbled like a fool.
"How fortuitous, I just recently received a shipment of the most interesting knickknacks and oddities from the continent," the man rambled amiably. "But that's not important right now, what can I do for you Miss Bones?"
Several ideas ran through her head, like a bunch of streakers, absolutely shameful. "You—you could call me, Susan," she mumbled, "Mr. uh," dammit, what was his last name.
"Oh, there's no need to stand on formality," he waved, "Just Neph will do, Susan."
"YES!" she squeaked, face full of heat.
"What can I do for you today? Anything in particular you're looking for. I've just been reading the most interesting set of books on the history of the dragon preserves."
"I like books," she said.
'He likes books,' she swooned in her head, and nearly in real life. That heat was starting to go to the rest of her head.
"Why don't I show you some of my new favorites. I'm sure we can find something to your liking."
Head too full of heat to speak she just nodded. She wasn't doing anything wrong. There was no rule that said you had to go into a store for the items. That didn't mean she was there 'just' to ogle the hunky shop keep. Absolutely not. Mm, mm, no way, nope… okay maybe just a little, but don't tell anyone. If people found out, it would be the worst thing ever.
…
Of all the things he'd imagined happening, this was the worst thing ever. Why did he have to find out? Why did it have to be true? Sirius Black, the man who was trying to kill him, the man who betrayed his parents, was their friend. Best man at their wedding no less.
He lay in his bed, fuming silently. Why hadn't they told him? Why hadn't anyone told him? They must have known, Fudge knew. But could Harry know, of course not, we have to protect Harry. Bloody lot of good that was doing.
He remained perfectly still when Ron came up, feigning sleep when his best mate tried to talk to him. He didn't want to talk. He wanted to kill something. And he would. Black wanted to find him, well, he'd just find Black, and when he did, he'd give the traitorous bastard exactly what he deserved.
The holidays were starting, that would give him all kinds of time to train.