Chapter 4: Trapped

That night at seven Harry waited under the invisibility cloak for Pansy. So many things had changed since Harry had last stood in this spot. He fumed at the thought of Ron, how could he have just done that? Harry had trusted him and he had i told Hermione /i !

It had been right after Harry and Pansy talked, being a good friend Harry decided to tell Ron about it. The little voice in Harry's head told him to wait and see what would happen, and then tell Ron, but Harry went against his better instinct and told him. Ron's face had been easy to read, it clearly showed worry and for some reason anger.

"So…" Ron had said. "Are you going to meet Pansy tonight?" His face was a mask of indifference.

"Yeah! Why shouldn't I?"

"Because she is a Slytherin!" Ron had just blown up in his face.

"I know that, but I think I can trust her. Just this once." He couldn't believe Ron.

"Why do you think you can trust her NOW?"

"Do you think I want to trust her? I have no choice!" Harry bellowed across the room. Ron gave him an icy stare.

"You have a choice. You could just trust Hermione."

"I've tried, but I have to know. Please don't tell Hermione about tonight. Please Ron." Finally Ron agreed not to tell.

As Harry remembered this he grinded his teeth together. It was true, Ron hadn't told Hermione about the meeting Harry had with Pansy that night, but what he said was ten times worse. He had found out about what Ron said, not from Ron, but Ginny. She had been in the room when Ron had told Hermione.

He had told Hermione that he and Harry had been trying to find out who Hermione's mystery guy was. This went over well, because she already knew that. Then he presided to tell Hermione that b he /b gave up, but Harry wouldn't. Also that Harry had found someone to help him find out who would help him, at this point he said Pansy Parkinson. Hermione didn't like this. Ginny said the whole room shook, so she couldn't tell what Hermione was saying, but she made out a few things. When Harry asked what they were Ginny went wide eyed and looked over his shoulder.

Hermione was there and she looked mad. Thanking Ginny hurriedly Harry jumped up and left.

"Run Harry!" Ginny shouted after him.

"Harry!" Hermione roared after him. "Come back here!"

Harry shuddered slightly at the memory. Hermione's voice echoed through his head. He was in so much trouble when he got back to the common room tonight. Because he was certain that Hermione would find out, one way or another.

Pansy looked around the apparently deserted corridor. Harry watched with interest, he wondered why she couldn't see him, until he realized that he was wearing the invisibility cloak.

"Potter, where are you?" She muttered to herself.

"Right here." Harry took off the cloak and Pansy screeched. "Be quiet, you don't want someone to find us do you?"

She eyed the cloak respectfully. "That is a good thing to have, we'll definitely need it."

"Great, now can we get going?" With that Pansy went under the invisibility cloak and Harry followed.

It felt odd being under the invisibility cloak with Pansy. She was taller than Hermione, but shorter than Ron. Which made her practically the same size as Harry, the cloak usually covered three people. So it made it easier to cover two people.

"Pansy where are we going?" Harry whispered.

"To the dungeons, and don't talk!" She retorted and turned her attention to the tunnels in front of her. Harry stayed quiet as they made their way through the twists and turns of the dungeon. He knew that if he had gone alone, he wouldn't have been able to get there. This made it important that he didn't get separated from Pansy, other wise he would never find his way back.

Soon Harry's legs began to ache, he wanted to ask Pansy how long until the reached there, but knew she wouldn't answer. Or he would just get scolded again. Finally, they came to a halt at the turn in a corridor.

"We can talk here," Pansy said, "the place were they are going to meet is just around the corner. They'll be here in about twenty minutes, so we have to be careful." She looked at him expectantly.

"What?" He was startled by the look.

"You're going to ask a question, aren't you?"

"How did you? Oh, never mind," he stood there brooding until curiosity got the better of him. "How do you know what room?" He voiced finally.

She smiled at him knowingly. "I put a magic barrier around it last time I was here, then I came again every day that week and the beginning of this week. It hasn't changed yet, in fact it only changed once, but I don't know why."

"That was me, I made some noise and they heard. They didn't use that spot again." He smiled, more to himself than anything.

Harry looked around at the windowless walls and sighed, he longed for an open window, a fresh breeze. "How do you survive without windows?"

"You would never have been able to be a Slytherin," she said to him. "You get use to it after a while." She shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm glad the Sorting Hat picked Gryffindor instead." Harry shivered at the thought of being in Slytherin, and then realized he had told Pansy the one thing that he hadn't even told Ron and Hermione.

"The Sorting Hat thought of putting you in Slytherin?" Pansy looked intently at Harry, who shook his head yes slightly. "Oh, the Sorting Hat thought of putting me in Gryffindor, but before I could say where I wanted to go it chose Slytherin."

Harry looked at the Slytherin girl and a feeling of respect engulfed him. He shook his head to clear the feeling off, but continued to look at Pansy. "If you had been able to tell the hat where you wanted to go, what would you have told it?"

She stood there silent for a while staring at the cold, damp floor. "Gryffindor," she said silently, Harry almost didn't catch it. "I would have asked to be in Gryffindor."

Silence met this statement, and Harry examined a spot on the floor. He felt very uncomfortable. Just then voices sounded from behind them. Pansy, completely forgetting about the invisibility cloak rushed around the corner. Harry looked behind him, then to where Pansy had disappeared. He had to choose and quickly, curiosity to who Hermione was with and knowing that if he didn't find Pansy, he would never find his way out of the dungeons. He put on the cloak and followed Pansy. He'd find out who Hermione was with later.

He didn't have trouble finding Pansy, just as he turned the corner, she dashed down a hall. Harry followed and turned down into the passage that Pansy had disappeared at full speed. He stopped just before running into a wide eyed Pansy.

"Harry is that you?" She murmured worriedly.

Harry took off his cloak and smiled at a relieved Pansy. "They're coming."

She just nodded and got under the cloak with Harry. "We need to be quiet now," and with that she lead Harry to a door. It swung gently, as though someone had just closed it behind themselves.

Voices creped through a crack in the door, one he knew immediately to be Hermione's voice. The other seemed to be a distant memory, as though he hadn't heard the voice in a long time. When this voice floated through the crack in the door Pansy took a sharp intake of breath and let it out in a slow hiss. Harry knew this almost evil side of her, was because of Malfoy. Again the voices sounded and Pansy went pale, she seemed about to faint when he heard Hermione's voice bellow out.

"HE INVOLVED PANSY PARKINSON!" She screamed out.

"Calm down Hermione." Where he had heard that voice? Pansy seemed ready to go in there and strangle the person in there. Harry decided it would be best if he got Pansy out of there as soon as possible. He literally dragged her away from the door and the two people behind it.

"Pansy," Harry gently shook her. "Pansy, are you ok?" She snapped out of it and went deathly pale again. "Pansy, do you know who Hermione is with?"

"Yes," she didn't seem to want to admit it though.

"Who?" Harry asked gently.

"Him," she spokehimwith venom.

"I don't know what you mean by that, Pansy. Pansy?" She strode out from under the invisibility cloak and headed off. Not to the door, where voices still issued from the crack, but to the apparent exit.

Harry ran after her, trying to find out which way she went. A swish of a cloak and sometimes a whispered curse were the only things that told him he was on track. Finally, he took a wrong turn and listened silently for something, anything that would tell him where Pansy was. Nothing. Silence wrapped Harry in its cold, frozen grip and threatened to squeeze him into nothing. He took a deep calming breath, if this was an ordinary situation, Harry would retrace his steps. He looked behind him, it looked like everything else. That part wasn't possible. He looked around to see if there was anything he recognized. This part of the dungeon had pictures and drapes, which hung on most of the walls, except a mossy stretch. Harry did a double take on the mossy wall.

No, it couldn't be. He examined the wall hurriedly, well. Harry might still be lost, but at least he knew where he was. He was in front of the Slytherin common room entrance. There was a swishing of a robe behind him.

To make matters worse Hermione's night time friend was going back to his common room and with dread Harry realized he had dropped his invisibility cloak right at the corner of the hallway. This just so happened to be the corner that the mystery guy was coming around.

Without thinking Harry went instinctively for the cloak. He grabbed it and had it half on when he herd a gentle thud. Someone grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back. He looked around; the invisibility cloak was wrapped tightly around him. Finally he realized that he was in the Slytherin Common Room. Pansy shoved him into an empty room.

"Hey!" Harry muttered as she threw the door close in his face. He was so tempted to open the door a crack and see who was coming into the room. His hand reached out to touch the door knob. Carefully he put it in the palm of his hand and turned it. It wouldn't turn; Pansy had locked the door from the outside.

He was locked inside the Slytherin Common Room, by Pansy Parkinson. To make matters worse there was an overwhelming feeling in his stomach, the one that told him to fight. Fight for freedom, fight for the light. That feeling was what helped him over come his fears, his fears of being trapped. That was exactly what he was, trapped.