Chapter Twenty-One

Hidden in Plain Sight

"Two Dracos?" Ginny asked groggily. She was still in her pajamas and sat before the fireplace, head in her hands and half asleep. "How can there be two Dracos?"

"I don't know. But that's what I saw. I saw one of them walking to the Quidditch Pitch and a few minutes later as I was heading back here, I saw another one walking to the Great Hall." Neville explained, his was still breathing heavily. It had been a difficult sprint up the seven floors, his legs felt as if they were turning to jelly, weak and shaking. "He couldn't have made it back to his house or to the stairs before I could have. And you can't apparate in Hogwarts."

Ginny was nodding slowly, her eyes closed and face locked into concentration. "Why two Dracos, though? What's makes him so special?"

"His father is a Death Eater." Neville said. "Isn't that reason enough? Maybe he's working for You Know Who. Spying and stuff."

"We got to tell Dumbledore or McGonagall." Ginny said, opening her eyes. She looked at Neville with a bit of fear, Neville nodded also suddenly realizing what they were getting themselves into. If these people were Death Eaters then they wouldn't be the nicest people in the world. The Battle of the Ministry sometimes still replayed in his mind. There they hadn't been really trying to kill them, but what if they were willing to now? What if they were willing to do anything to keep what was going on a secret?

Neville felt a shudder of fear. "But how can we find them? They're invisible. Plus there's the other person in the Cloak. I didn't see who they were, only their feet. Who knows what they're up to. They could be beside us as we speak."

Ginny frowned for a moment. "We can't see them." She muttered. "I think I have a way to solve that." She suddenly got up and began heading for the staircase leading up the boy's dormitories. Neville shook his head and began following, wondering what she was up to.

Neville saw Ron snoring on his bed, the beds of Seamus and Dean were empty also. Neville nodded, suddenly remembering them calling out as he was running up the stairs. Of course, Harry's bed was also unmade. Ginny looked around a moment and Neville suddenly felt a little uncomfortable. The boy's dorm room wasn't exactly clean and the floor was scattered with things that hadn't been put away or picked up after their use.

Ginny just shook her head and headed toward Ron's bed. She stopped at it and looked down at him, shaking her head again. Instead she walked over to Harry's chest and flipped open the lid. Neville glanced around nervously, what was she doing? He said so a moment later.

"Ron's been through a lot. He needs to rest, he's worrying himself sick." Ginny said, digging through Harry's chest.

"No. I don't men that. I mean you digging through Harry's stuff. You can't just dig through Harry's things." Neville said in a low voice. Again he looked around nervously, as if a professor would jump out and catch them red handed.

Ginny glanced at him. "You want to find these invisible people? You want evidence to show the professors?" She asked, Neville nodded slowly. "Harry's got the thing to find them." She began digging back into his chest, carefully removing things and setting them aside.

Neville sighed and kneeled beside her. He had seen Harry's map a time or two. He knew it somehow showed where everyone was in the school, but he didn't think the professors knew. They were stealing from Harry and the professors would probably take the Map itself to find the invisible people and to make sure that the Map wasn't used for mischief by anyone. These people had to be found though. Who knows what they were doing. Still Neville felt as if he were doing something wrong as he watched Ginny dig through Harry's chest.

"Gotcha." Ginny whispered triumphantly. She pulled out a battered looking piece of parchment and began folding it. She looked at Neville. "Let's head back down stairs. Don't want to wake up Sleeping Beauty here." She gestured toward Ron, Neville nodded in agreement and they headed out of the room, closing the door softly behind them.

"Do you know the password to make it work?" Ginny asked as they plopped down in front of the fireplace again.

Neville shook his head. "Close your ears." Ginny said. Neville stared at her.

"You're serious?" He asked.

Ginny nodded. Neville sighed and covered his ears as Ginny muttered something, touching her wand against the parchment. Seconds later it blossomed with ink and moving letters. Neville stared at it; he'd never gotten a good look at the map before. It was a mess of names, diagrams of the castle, and passages. He shook his head. How were they to find anyone in that mess.

"Draco. Draco." Ginny muttered scanning the names. She leaned forward, a finger moving along the parchment. "You said he was heading to the Quidditch Pitch, right?"

Neville nodded.

"Don't see Draco there. There's only two people by the names of Samuel Richards and Alexander Grainer." She looked up at Neville who shrugged. The names were unfamiliar. "Could these be the people? There are ways they can pretend to be Draco. Potions that can be used to look like them." She glanced back down at the map. "They could be anyone? Do you know if they're students are not?"

"No." Neville said. Thinking quietly. There had to be something that had all the names of the students, a directory or something. He'd have to look for it, after they'd given Dumbledore the proof. "Where's Draco now?" He wondered out loud.

Ginny looked back down at the Map and searched it for a few moments. "Harry?" She whispered in confusion. Neville looked down where her finger was pointed. He saw the names of Dean, Seamus, and Harry at the Great Hall. Harry was up? Suddenly he watched as Harry's name began moving quickly toward Draco's. "Damn." Ginny whispered, seeing as names suddenly began crowding one another and becoming impossible to tell apart. "He's fighting Draco."

She suddenly stood up. "We have to go help him!" She said jumping to her feet. Neville looked at her.

"In your pajamas?" He asked.

"We don't have time. He could get hurt again!" Ginny said quickly and already heading for the portrait.

"Oh. I think your time has just run out." A gravelly voice suddenly said.

Neville gaped as he saw a wand suddenly appear, pointing straight at him.