Author's Notes: Sorry if this chapter feels like filler. I had to modify the story slightly to show that Harry had more sense than he did in the book and also get Lupin to take the map.

Chapter 8

Harry went to bed that night with a plan already in his mind. He had pulled his invisibility cloak out of his trunk and put it under his pillow. Added to that was the marauders map and the charm necklace Hermione had given him. At a quarter to midnight, he pulled the cloak over himself and left the dormitory. Hermione was nowhere to be seen, and he hurried across the common room to the portrait hole. He'd been hoping that the Fat Lady was asleep, but she was wide awake.
"Who's there?" she called loudly as she swung closed, not seeing Harry under the cloak. Harry dashed down the corridor away from her, sure her shout would attract attention. Unfortunately, it did. Stopping next to a suit of armor to check the map he saw several teachers on patrol across the castle. His eyes scanned the seventh floor corridor and his heart jumped into his chest when he saw a dot labeled Severus Snape standing right where the Fat Lady's portrait hung.

Wiping the map Harry quietly moved back down the corridor, where he overheard the Fat Lady telling Snape that someone had just left the Gryffindor Common room but she hadn't seen who. Snape turned and almost as if he could see Harry his eyes locked on the suit of armor that Harry was hiding behind. Sweeping his black robes around him he started towards the spot, just as Harry backed away. Unfortunately, in his haste to get away, the heel of his shoe caught on the hem of the robe, making him stumble and fall.

"Potter!" called Snape, rushing towards him.

Harry landed roughly on his bottom; the cloak askew across his chest.

"Get up Potter!" Snape looked at him maliciously. "Prowling the castle at night, are we? Ten points from Gryffindor, and detention."

"I was just heading to the toilet, Professor" Harry tried lamely, even if it was partly the truth. He rose to his feet, brushing off his pants.

"Liar. You're just like your father, always strutting around the castle like you own the place"
"Don't talk about my father that way" Harry replied, the heat rising in his face.

"Ten more points from Gryffindor, Potter. Now, tell me where you were going."
"The toilet" Harry repeated, looking him straight in the eyes. He tried to casually put his hands in his pockets to make sure that the map was safely hidden. Unfortunately Snape noticed this.

"Turn out your pockets, Potter" Snape said looking him up and down.

"What?" Harry said, hesitating.

"You heard me. Turn out your pockets."
Harry slowly pulled out of his pocket the charm necklace and the Marauder's Map, which he had thankfully wiped.

Snape grabbed the charm necklace and map from his hand. "Oh ho, off for a midnight date are we Potter? Well then, lets go find your girlfriend, shall we?"

With Harry in his wake Snape slowly started off in the direction Harry had been going. Pulling out his wand Snape cried "Homenum Revelio!" A whooshing sound came from his wand but nothing else happened that Harry could see.

Snape continued along the corridor, recasting the spell as he went. Eventually as they got closer to the girl's toilet he reacted. "Found her." He said and knocked on the door. "Whoever is in there, this is Professor Snape. Come out immediately. After a few moments the door slowly creaked open revealing Hermione in her nightgown. Before she could say anything, Snape cut across her.

"Ms. Granger, I should have known." He slowly looked from her to Harry, a not pleasant smile on his face. "Follow me you two."

Snape led them down through the castle all the way to his office. Harry had been in this office once before and it hadn't changed. On shelves on every wall sat jars with different ingredients in different colored potions. Snape sat down behind his desk and looked at them. Then his eyes fell on the map which was lying on his desk.

"What's this rubbish Potter?"
"Just a spare bit of parchment" Harry replied trying to be casual about it.

Snape obviously didn't believe him and picked up the map. "Reveal your secrets" he said, tapping it with his wand. Slowly words blossomed on the page and Snape bent to read them. Harry was too nervous to get close enough to read them but by the way the color changed in Snape's face, he was sure that whatever it said wasn't good.

Snape rose, brandishing the parchment at Harry. "How do you explain this Potter?" He said coldly. Harry looked and his stomach dropped. There on the parchment were four sentences, one from each of the Map's creators, insulting Snape. If he hadn't been terrified, he would have almost laughed. Throwing the parchment back on his desk, Snape crossed to his fire and threw in a handful of Floo Powder. He called into the green flames for Lupin, who a minute later appeared, wearing a faded and patched robe over his pajamas.

"You called Severus?" He said, stifling a yawn.
"I did. I just caught Potter and Granger here, and when I told Potter to turn out his pockets, I discovered this" Snape replied, holding out the map for Lupin to read.

If Lupin had been groggy that changed as soon as he saw what Snape was holding. Quickly he gave Harry a look to stay quiet and calmly answered Snape. "And what is that Severus? A bit of parchment that insults anyone who reads it?"

"It is plainly full of dark magic, Lupin, which is supposed to be your area of professional interest."
"Dark magic? Indeed, it might be. I should take it for investigation." He tried to reach for it but Snape pulled it back out of reach.
"Where do you think Potter got this dark item, Lupin? Perhaps for the manufacturers?"
"Harry," Lupin said turning to him with a strange look on his face, "Do you know who these men are?"
"No, I don't. I bought it in a joke shop in Diagon Alley" Harry replied, the idea coming to him in that moment.
"There you have it Severus, I still think I'll take it just to make sure it's safe however. Now, if that's all I'm heading back to bed." Grabbing the map before Snape could react, he stuffed it into his shirt and walked back to the fire. A pinch of powder, a whirl of green, and he was gone, leaving an irate Snape alone with Harry and Hermione. Turning to them with cold fire in his eyes he said "Detention, both of you, Tuesday night. Now go to bed." He threw the charm necklace at Hermione and the cloak at Harry.

Not needing to be told twice they scurried from his office, the door slamming behind them. Quietly they both started up the marble staircase towards Gryffindor Tower. Neither of them spoke until they reached the second floor where, to their surprise, waiting for them was Lupin. Silently pointing at the open door to his office he ushered them inside and closed the door. The conversation that followed wasn't a pleasant one. In many ways it was even worse than being caught by Snape. Lupin told Harry that he was disappointed in him for not turning the map in. Harry was surprised that Lupin knew what it was but didn't say anything. The biggest bombshell was when Lupin told him that he couldn't give Harry the map back, and sent them to bed.

When they finally reached the Common Room, Hermione, who had barely spoken the entire time, turned to Harry. "I'm so sorry Harry, this is all my fault."
"It's ok Hermione, we'd better get some sleep though. We can talk soon, right?"
"Definitely" She nodded, and turned for the girls' stairs.

The next few days were busy, what with the detention with Snape and Buckbeak's impending trial. That Thursday a notice went up announcing that the upcoming Saturday would be the next Hogsmeade Weekend. When he saw this Ron turned to Harry.

"Hogsmeade! What'd you think? Gonna make another trip out Harry?"
"I dunno Ron, it might not be smart."
Hermione, who was standing next to them gave Ron a look of incredulity.

"Ron, Sirius Black just broke into this castle trying to get Harry, almost murdered you in your bed, and now you want Harry to sneak out of school?"

"Well, I mean" Ron blurted out, as if that hadn't occurred to him, "It's like you said, Black can get into the castle so Harry's no safer here than he would be in Hogsmeade."

Hermione had no answer other than shaking her head. Turning to Harry she said "Harry, don't go. It's not worth your life."

Harry stood there looking at the notice, thinking about how fun it would be to visit the village again before turning to them.

"She's right Ron, it's not worth it."
Ron, who looked slightly put out, asked "It's still ok if I go right?"

So that Saturday while Ron left for Hogsmeade, Harry and Hermione went to the library, where Harry sat catching up on his unread copies of Witch Weekly, disguised behind his potions textbook, while Hermione read. Both of them weren't able to focus much on what they were doing. Hagrid had sent them a letter last night thanking them for all their help with Buckbeak's trial, and they were waiting to hear the verdict. Hermione eventually gave up on her translation and picked up a copy of the magazine and rifled through it.

"You're really enjoying these aren't you?" She asked

"I am, even though part of me still thinks of it as nonsense." Harry replied, looking around to make sure no one was within earshot. Neville had been floating around earlier hinting that he wanted to join them.

"I mean, they honestly are, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy them. Found anything in them you want to try?"

"Actually kinda, I've been looking at tips for doing your nails and was curious about that. I want to get back to practicing with my makeup, that still isn't easy for me to find privacy for."

"It just takes time." Hermione said.

At that moment Hedwig tapped on the window, a piece of paper tied to her leg. Opening the window Harry unrolled the parchment.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron,

The trials over. Buckbeak lost. Execution date to be determined. Thanks so much.
Hagrid.