CHAPTER SEVEN
NOTES IN FRENCH




Much to Ron and Harry's dismay, every Gryffindor stayed up late that night, complaining of too much homework. It wasn't until almost midnight that the Weasley twins finally went up to bed and they were left in silence, playing Wizard's Chess.
As soon as the last sounds of "getting ready for bed" died down, the two of them slipped on Harry's Invisibility Cloak and went straight for the door, taking the Marauder's map with them as well.
They climbed silently out of the portrait hole, then pushed the entrance closed. As Ron turned around and started walking he was almost yanked off his feet. Harry had remained standing, staring up at the Fat Lady's portrait.
"Ron... bad news." He pointed up at the painting. There was definitely something wrong with it -- the Fat Lady was gone!
"Oh no... Harry, maybe we'd better stay hear until she comes back. I mean, if we get caught we'll be trapped!" Ron was almost astonished at himself, being sensible for once.
"Well, maybe by the time we come back, she'll be there. We may have just as much chance of being caught sitting right here than anywhere else." Harry glanced down the hall at the other picture frames in case the Fat Lady was nearby. "I have a feeling she will be. Come on, let's go." Ron was pulled by the arm down the rest of the corridor to the stairs, protesting nervously all the way.
Harry managed to remember most of the turns they took those few nights ago, and it took them considerably less time to finally arrive at the long, flame-lit hall which led to the dark staircase.
Just as they started down towards the stairs, faint shouts from just ahead were heard. They were coming from the mysterious room! It wasn't as loud or urgent-sounding as it had been, though this made it more difficult to hear the words.
Harry and Ron exchanged glances, then immediately took out the Marauder's Map. Now they'd know precisely who was in there without actually risking a peek inside.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Harry whispered to the map, and thin black lines and drawings appeared as the rooms of the castle. His eyes quickly flew to the spot which showed the most people. Ron and himself were shown as two labeled dots in a hallway, the one they were standing in now. There were two other dots a few inches away up the staircase. The dots were labeled "Severus Snape" and "Fleur Delacour"!
Both boys' eyes were widened. They looked up at each other again.
"What are Snape and Delacour doing in there?" Ron whispered to Harry, "Do you think they've been working together on some kind of project?"
"It's possible... after all, Snape did say the other night that he was going to retrieve more ingredients for something." Harry gazed back down at the Map as if it were hiding some kind of clue that was invisible anywhere else.
"But why is Delacour in there too? She doesn't know all that much... only coming out of school last year." Ron gazed down at the map as well. "Do you think we should wait here for them to leave, then see what's in there?"
"I'm not sure if we should even risk that. If they leave, it most likely won't be for very long."
"Then what'd we come all the way out here for?!"
"We were going to have a look in that room, but we can't now, can we?"
Just then, the door up the stairs creaked open, a faint light shining down the dark staircase. Harry and Ron froze, listening hard for any voices. For a second, there was complete silence. Then, a man's voice, Professor Snape's, echoed down into the hall. Harry pushed Ron to the wall and they both stood as flat against it as they could.
They could make out a second voice, Fleur's. As the sounds traveled down the stairs the words became clearer.
"-possible zat zey will not work zis time." Fleur's voice held a hint of anxiousness and as her creamy, angelic face appeared from the darkness of the staircase in the light of a candle, it expressed the same. Snape followed just behind her, an unusual look of concern or worry etched in through the lines made from his constant scowling.
"I doubt they'll fail this time. We've spent too much time on them to-"
"You know and I know zat any slight disturbance could ruin zem completely. Zey are very delicate. Zey must be 'andled properly." Fleur almost seemed angry with Snape.
His concern quickly turned into annoyance. "We've no time to waste making sure everything's taken care of properly. The most important thing is that we get it done and over with!"
As the two professors passed Ron and Harry, the corner of Snape's robes just barely whipped Harry's leg. He must have felt the slight tug, for his head turned just enough to glance behind him out of the corner of his eye. Harry held his breath, standing as still as he could though trembling uncontrollably. Snape paused only a second, then continued on almost nonchalantly, though retaining a watchful eye.
Harry snatched Ron's sleeve and tugged it to get his attention. He nodded towards the dark staircase and they both slowly started down the hallway. Harry continually glanced over his shoulder to make sure Snape and Delacour weren't making an early return.
When they reached the base of the staircase, they could only barely see the first five steps or so. Harry looked around on the window sills for a lamp or candlestick as there had been the other night. There was not one to be found and the flickering torches that lit the hallway were at least a good ten feet off the ground. Harry sighed and turned around again to face the darkness of the stairs.
"We have to go up there with no light?" Ron said, his voice wavering. He gave Harry a nervous glance.
"I guess so." Harry replied, just as shaky. He took a courageous step forward, Ron following close behind, the invisibility cloak tugging him along. They slowly climbed the shadowy staircase, keeping a hand on the wall so as not to run into it in the dark. Soon enough, it was pitch black except for the faint light behind them from the torch-lit hallway. Harry could feel the wall making a gradual curve and he turned with it. He made sure to feel each step with his foot to keep from tripping.
A faint sound from behind them made Harry stop dead, Ron running into him. They both stumbled forward and Harry braced himself on the wall while Ron clutched onto his robes.
"Shhh!" Harry said, and they both fell silent. From the hall came the faint, yet unmistakable voices of Snape and Delacour. Harry could feel Ron starting a panic attack and grabbed onto his arm, hauling him up the rest of the stairs before he could do (or say) anything. He wrenched open the door and yanked Ron inside, shutting it quietly behind him.
When they both turned around, there was not much to see. The room was just as dark as the staircase. A low fire crackled in a stone-set fireplace and they could just make out another door on the other side of the room. Harry could somehow recollect being in a similar room... or was it just because of the fire that it was familiar? Either way, Harry had no time to muse on it. The voices from the other side of the door were slowly rising in volume.
He pulled Ron to a dark corner of the room and they fit themselves as snugly into it as possible, tucking the invisibility cloak tightly around them. A low creaking indicated the door opening and the echoes of the two professors' voices entered the room.
"It looks like our candle 'as gone out." Professor Delacour's voice said. "I didn't zink it would. We weren't gone zat long."
"I believe it was somewhere over in this direction..." Snape responded somewhat annoyed, footsteps moving across the stone floor. Sounds of a hand clapping on what seemed like a wooden shelf echoed in the room and rustling of papers. Then, more footsteps... suddenly, a crash!
Harry and Ron heard Snape's voice cursing from somewhere on the ground. They both tried to hold in a snigger.
"Severus? Are you okay?" Delacour shouted from near the door. Her footsteps were heard crossing the room to where Snape's scrambling sounds were coming from. "What 'appened?"
"It was that bloody chair sitting right there. I must have tripped over it and knocked some things down." He started to fumble around on the ground, searching for anything that might have fallen off the desk. Harry and Ron could hear Snape's hands and feet clapping and sliding on the floor, picking up papers, quills, and other strewn objects. In the faint light, Snape's outline was barely visible and was slowly approaching.
The rustling sounds were now only a couple feet away. One individual piece of parchment had drifted onto Ron's foot and would have looked peculiar if the room had been lighted, floating halfway in midair. Snape reached his hand out towards one that Harry was only inches away from, then turned in Ron's direction. Harry could feel Ron flinch and try to scoot back further into the corner. Snape's hand inched along the floor, trying to find that last piece of paper. It raised into the air, directly over Ron's foot... then froze.
"You know, this would be much easier with some light. Let's see if we can't go find another candle or lamp of some sort." Snape pushed himself to his feet, brushing off his robes. He strode to the door with Delacour following, then, finally, exited the room. The younger professor shut the door behind her with an unintended slam, making the two boys in the corner jump.
After five seconds, Harry and Ron let out their breaths and stood, somewhat awkwardly under the cloak. The only thing they knew to do now was to get out of there before the professors returned again. They crept across the stone floor, Ron slightly bumping into the upturned chair. Harry stepped on what sounded like a piece of paper and paused, yanking Ron to a halt as well. He kneeled down and felt around for whatever it was he stepped on. He found a corner of a piece of parchment which had been ripped.
"Come on Harry, quit fooling around! We have to get out of here!" Ron urged, tugging on Harry's robes.
"Right" Harry said, standing once again and following Ron to the door. He stuffed the paper into a pocket as Ron pulled the heavy door open and stepped out, shutting the door again behind them.
They jogged briskly down the stairs, it being much easier to see where they were going since they were facing the light of the hall. When they arrived at the landing, they glanced down the torch-lit corridor to make sure the coast was clear. Not a soul was in sight, so they continued off at a jog. The boys were rather nervous on their way back, starting at any small sounds or creaks. It was plainly uneventful, though, returning to Gryffindor tower. It seemed to take an eternity, but was actually a new record! Harry now knew the way by heart, and Ron didn't hold him back being a faster runner. They were breathing hard when they approached the Fat Lady's portrait.
They both leaned over, trying to catch their breath and Ron muttered "Pickle juice...". When only stillness answered him, the two of them looked up and a sudden sense of dread washed over them. The Fat Lady hadn't returned!
Just as a lump began to rise in Harry's throat with panic, a high voice rang in the hall. "Just a moment, dears! I'll be right there!" Harry and Ron breathed a sigh of relief as they saw the Fat Lady rushing through picture frame after picture frame, her fluffy pink dress rustling.
She did a funny leap into her own frame and sat down, trying to catch her breath. Pushing some wisps of hair back into place she let the portrait swing open. Harry pulled the invisibility cloak off of them both and folded it up. Ron crawled in through the portrait hole with Harry following. The portrait closed with a click behind them and they trudged to the fireplace, plopping down in two overstuffed armchairs.
When their heart rates resumed to normal, Harry remembered the odd piece of parchment he had stuffed in one of the pockets in his robes. He pulled it out and uncrumpled it. Ron furrowed his brows at it.
"What's that?" he asked, leaning forward to get a better look.
"I'm not sure. I picked it up off the floor after Snape knocked over the chair." In the dark room he couldn't make out the words on the paper, but now in the light of the fire he could see that he wouldn't have been able to read it anyhow. It was handwritten with purple ink, completely in French. Though, it was torn off so that some sentences would be illegible.

Aujourd'hui, le dernier des l'orbes ont complet. Je suis confident de ça, l'orbes vont travailler la prochaine fois. Mon
Nous avons manque des ingrédients necessaire pour la potion. Professeur S
demain. Nous allons étudier la
Je réga


"Do you think Professor Delacour wrote that?" Ron said, now out of his seat, kneeling by Harry's chair.
"She must have. Who else here speaks French?" Harry turned the page over, hoping to possibly find something on the back. His breath caught in his throat.

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