Chapter 12 - Caught and Rescued

~*~*~*~

"Why is this place like Kings Cross in the middle of the night?"  Harry panted as they ducked into an abandoned classroom two levels down from Gryffindor Tower after a desperate sprint to escape Mrs. Norris.  They'd found the vile cat lying in wait for them as they passed Professor Myfanwy's office.

Ginny nodded, still too out of breath to speak.

"I think it's clear."  Harry whispered after a few moments, creeping out of the room and pulling Ginny out after him. 

They both jumped a foot as a sharp female cry tore the air from behind them.  Ginny shrieked and jumped into Harry's arms as he turned to face this latest threat.  Sybil Trelawney stared, horror-struck, at the pair, a dramatic hand draped across her forehead, causing her thick glasses to slide down her nose.

"The Potters!"  She cried.  "Just as Orb predicted!  You have returned to the realm of the physical!"

"Professor!  It's just me!"  Harry hissed frantically at her, hoping her wails wouldn't bring the entire staff wing down on them.  Somehow the old bat had managed to mistake him and Ginny for the long dead James and Lily Potter.  "Uh, Professor Trelawney?"

Trelawney blinked owlishly at the two, visibly calming herself and smiled mistily at Harry and Ginny.  "Ah, my children!  A vision!  The mark of your parents, my boy, is upon you both!"  She nodded and Harry began to seriously wonder what the Divination Professor had been added to her incense clouds.

"I shall consult the Cards and divine the true intent of cruel Destiny in this matter."  Trelawney mystically assured them.  "Perhaps the unhappy fate of your parents may yet be avoided."  Trelawney sounded as though avoiding that unhappy fate would be a great disappointment.  Harry caught Ginny trying valiantly to contain a sudden fit of giggles.

"Perhaps, my children, you may assist me."  Trelawney regarded the two shrewdly, like a great glittering preying mantis.  "I search for Professor Snape.  The stars are aligned most unfavorably for him at this time and he must be warned."

"He went that way, Professor."  Ginny answered, masterfully composing her voice and face and pointing down the hall behind them.  Harry, for his part, was fighting not to double over laughing.  Trelawney smiled thinly at them before sweeping away in a jangle of jewelry and beads.

"I think I almost pity Snape."  Ginny commented thoughtfully, a small smile tugging at her lips.  "Um, Harry?"  Ginny looked up at him with a now permanent blush staining her cheeks.  "Could you let me go?  I really think we need to get moving."

Ginny found herself propelled several inches across the hall as Harry released her and stepped back, firmly keeping his eyes on the floor and praying to whatever being or deity might be listening that the night ended soon.  Ginny Weasley was doing confusing things to his emotions. 

Harry managed to stammer and apology before bolting up the stairs ahead of her.  Harry was so intent on escaping the confusing presence of Ginny that didn't quite see the skeletal cat that leaped out to block his path until it was far too late.  Mrs. Norris managed to avoid harm by moving quickly and slashing Harry's ankle as he swerved, sending him off balance and pin wheeling into the air.  Harry grunted as his shoulder slammed into the floor accompanied by the indignant hiss of Mrs. Norris.  Before he'd quite managed to right himself, Ginny appeared at his side, helping him up while simultaneously pulling him down the hall.  She's raced up the stairs behind him and managed to shut Mrs. Norris in a broom cupboard, giving them a few moments to escape.

They sprinted for the next set of stair, the final ones between them and Gryffindor Tower, but only managed a short distance before they heard Filch's footsteps on the stairs.  Harry and Ginny dodged through a door, ending up in the boys' loo.  Harry stifled a groan as he realized where they were.  Ginny said nothing and barely acknowledged their surroundings and wondered vaguely why he was being punished.

Ginny, thankfully, took one look about them then ignored the furnishings.  Apparently having six older brothers desensitized her to things like this.  She looked far more nervous about the approaching footsteps of Mr. Filch.  "Come my Sweet," Filch said, his voice slightly muffled by the wooden door.  "They aren't far."

All along the corridor Ginny and Harry could hear Filch opening the doors one by one while farther down a second set of footsteps arrived, much more softly than Filch.  Harry shut his eyes.  Filch would open the door any second.  The handle rattled, the door slid open a crack and a light voice spoke from down the hall.

"Mr. Filch?"  The door stopped.  Filch released the handle and an inky blur flickered by the crack in the door, shooing Mrs. Norris's prying lamp-like eyes away.

"Professor Myfanwy?"  Filch answered, sounding surprised at the sudden intrusion.  Harry chanced peeking through the narrow opening and saw Myfanwy standing just beyond Filch, watching him curiously.  Orion sat neatly at her feet, glaring steadily at Mrs. Norris.  Professor Myfanwy's pale eyes flickered to the partly open door before returning to Filch without betraying any emotion; though Harry almost believed the slightest of smiles touched her lips before disappearing.

"I apologize for the interruption, Mr. Filch.  I'm just stepping out to the greenhouses for some potion ingredients I forgot to gather earlier.  Is everything all right?"

"There are students out of bed, Professor."  Filch declared.  "And up to some despicable mischief, no doubt."

"I've not seen anyone."  Professor Myfanwy noted with a slight frown.  "Are you sure?"

"They locked Mrs. Norris in that cupboard, Professor!"  Filch pointed at the offending door, still standing open a ways down the hall.  "Who else would do such a thing?"

"Peeves, perhaps?"  Professor Myfanwy suggested.  "He went whizzing by me just a few moments ago downstairs."  She said, guiding the irascible Caretaker away from the hidden pair.  Orion growled warningly at Mrs. Norris, his sleek ebony fur fluffing slightly when she didn't immediately follow Filch.

"Peeves!"  Filch's nostrils flared in anger.  "I'll have that meddlesome poltergeist out of this castle yet!"

"He was heading for the dungeons."  Myfanwy supplied helpfully.  Filch quickly thanked her before quickly disappearing in search of Peeves.  A very slight smile appeared on Professor Myfanwy's lips as she looked down at her cat.  "Rather like old times, isn't it Orion?"  The cat looked up at her with his mismatched eyes and mewled softly.  She reached down and scratched his back fondly.  "Let's just leave this night to its ghosts, then."  Myfanwy suggested before turning and disappearing back down the stairs.

~*~

Ginny carefully pushed the door open the rest of the way and scanned both ends of the corridor for any more surprises.  Seeing none, she and Harry bolted the rest of the way to Gryffindor Tower, stumbling through the portrait hole slightly breathless.

"What took you two so long?"  Ron demanded, stomping up to the pair.  "What happened?"

Harry and Ginny looked at each other and dissolved into laughter.  "You don't want to know, Ron."  Harry assured him, passing by and taking the invisibility cloak from Ron on the way up to their dormitory

Harry slipped silently into the fifth-year dormitory, careful not to wake up the other three boys that slumbered there.  He quickly stowed the invisibility cloak in his trunk and reached into his robes to pull out the Map.

Harry bit back a yelp as his hand encountered fabric but no parchment.  The Marauder's Map was gone!  Harry swore under his breath, utilizing several of Ron's more colorful vocabulary as he realized he must have dropped it when they escaped from Mrs. Norris!  Grabbing the invisibility cloak, Harry started back out the door, intending to go back out after the Map.

Ron nearly barreled into Harry as he skidded into the room seconds later.  "McGonagall's in the common room!"  Ron hissed, pushing Harry further into the room.  "Filch must have told her there were student's roaming the halls."

Or Myfanwy, or Peeves, or Trelawney or Snape.  Harry added silently.  "Ron, I lost the Map!"  Harry whispered back.  "What if one of the Professors finds it?"

Ron's eyes widened in horror.  "Did you clear it first?"  He demanded.  Harry shook his head.  There hadn't been time.  "This is bad, Harry.  Filch would love to figure out how the Map works!"

"I know."  Harry said miserably.  Worst of all, he thought, Sirius and Professor Lupin had trusted him with it.  Harry thought for a moment then shrugged.  "We'll have to get it back.  Raid Filch's office."  Ron shuddered, thinking back to what else Filch's office contained.  Manacles, and thumbscrews and chains, which he kept well oiled and constantly begged Dumbledore to let him use on the students.  On the other hand, allowing Filch to keep the Marauder's Map was unthinkable.  Ron sighed.

"We'd better not say anything to Hermione."

~*~*~*~