Harry carefully adjusted the cloak until he could no longer see their feet. Then he checked the time again. Almost midnight.
"Harry, are you sure we need this?" asked Ron, referring to the invisibility cloak spread over the both of them. "There's no one here."
"Quiet, Ron. I don't want any more nasty surprises. One detention is bad enough for today."
This was in reference to McGonagall and Snape finding them earlier on Christmas Day in the hospital wing, while visiting Hermione. Their Head of House had deemed it necessary to give all three of them detention, which would be taking place as soon as Hermione was well enough to leave the hospital wing.
The boys hurried up the staircase to the third floor, and down several corridors, taking care to walk as silently as possible. Once inside the trophy room, they immediately spotted the huge black dog walking along the displays. Padfoot must have heard their footsteps, as his head turned sharply to look in their direction.
"Sirius!" Harry said joyfully, but keeping his voice just above a whisper. He threw off his invisibility cloak and ran over to greet his godfather.
Padfoot morphed back into his human shape. "Happy Christmas, Harry, Ron. And sorry to hear about Hermione."
"Happy Christmas!" the boys said back.
"So, first things first..." Sirius reached into a pocket of his leather jacket to grab a tiny box. He pointed his wand at it and it expanded to look like a package wrapped in brown paper. "A bit of a sensible gift, that, but what with the way this year is going..."
Harry first handed Sirius the present he had bought for him – from the newly ordered Christmas catalogue. "It's an insulated travel mug – you can fill it with gallons of some warm drink, for when you're on the move-" which, Harry suspected, was all the time "-and, er, I could have it personalised," Harry added sheepishly, referring to the dog animation running across the mug, currently hidden by the packaging. He was glad to see that it brought a smile to his godfather's face as he thanked him.
Harry then turned back to the present he had received. He opened the packaging and found himself looking at what appeared to be a round, hand-held mirror. It did not show any reflections, however.
"It's a foe-glass, Harry," Sirius explained to his confused godson.
"Oh, I've heard of those. It's a type of dark detector, isn't it?" asked Ron slightly enviously.
"Yes, it is," said Sirius. "It shows your enemies – as shadows, as long as they stay far away, but they'll become more distinct if they come closer. You have to touch the glass surface with your wand hand to attune it to you."
Harry did so, and watched as the surface of the foe-glass filled with swirling shadows, moving around each other like malevolent clouds.
"Well, there's certainly no lack of enemies to keep track of." Sirius sighed. "At least none of them seem particularly close at the moment." He shook his head. "Which reminds me. You and your friends seem awfully unconcerned about Slytherin's monster haunting the school. Not that I'm not happy to see you, Harry, but I didn't mean you had to break curfew to come and see me."
"You said you'd be here today—"
"In the castle, yes. I was just letting you know when I'd have news – and then you wrote to me just hours before to meet you here — when there wasn't enough time to tell you not to—"
"But I thought — you coming here on Christmas Day—"
"I was being extra careful. The night after Christmas tends to be the most quiet, what with most students gone, and everyone recovering from the feast." Sirius grimaced at seeing the boys' crestfallen expressions. "I found Pettigrew's trace here at Hogwarts. It's faint and, er, patchy – he hasn't been using magic all that often. But it's recent. Very recent." He schooled his expression to something carefully neutral.
"He's here – at Hogwarts?" asked Harry.
"I don't know. There are several secret passages in and out of the castle – as you well know—"
The boys grinned unrepentantly at the reminder of their adventures in London.
"And Pettigrew knows them all, because when we were foolish Hogwarts students, we used to sneak around after curfew as much as you two and Hermione seem to-" He shook his head fondly at the boys' beaming faces, but then his face darkened as an unexpected thought occurred to him. "We even made a map..." At the dawning realisation, he had to bite back some swearwords. "Confound it! The Marauders' Map! If Pettigrew's found it-"
"The what?" asked Harry.
"It's a map of Hogwarts we started making in our third year – and finished two years later. It shows all seven secret passageways we found. And it also shows where every single person inside the castle is. Which would make it very easy for Pettigrew to find you when you're wandering alone at night-"
"Or find you," said Ron, before Sirius could comment on their rule-breaking again.
"Do you think he has that map?" asked Harry, and involuntarily looked around himself.
"Let's hope he hasn't found it. We lost it when Filch confiscated it in our seventh year. For all I know, he destroyed it. But Pettigrew knows I know about it. So he'll want to find it, if for no reason other than to keep me from having it."
"Yeah, maybe we should try to look for it!" said Ron. "This Marauders' Map sounds dead useful. We'd be able to see if Pettigrew is in Hogwarts – or this Tom Riddle, or-"
"Oh, no, I didn't mean for you three to go sneaking around the castle-"
"Marauders..." interrupted Harry. "Now, where have I heard that before?"
Ron looked at him. "You're right... It does ring a bell..."
Suddenly both boys inhaled sharply. "The twins!" they said simultaneously. Then they had to explain to Harry's bewildered godfather how Fred and George had insisted the word 'marauders' was a secret weapon against Snape.
Sirius burst out laughing. "That's what we used to call ourselves. I cannot believe it still works on him." Then his expression turned shrewd. "Where do you think your brothers would have heard about us, Ron?"
"The twins knew about the secret passageways..." said Ron, catching on. The boys looked at each other.
"You think they might have it?" asked Harry.
"It's possible. The number of times they've been in Filch's office for detentions-"
Sirius wanted to know more details, and so the boys explained how they had convinced the twins to teach them the password 'dissendium' to get past the one-eyed witch. He was impressed, even admired the twins' brand of ingenuity.
Harry looked sulky. "What, Fred and George breaking the rules just for fun is great, is it? But when I do it – not for fun, but to find out things I need to know – you get cranky-"
"Ron's brothers don't have dangerous criminals and ancient monsters after them," Sirius interrupted. "You seem to forget, Harry, that Dobby warned you – you, specifically. Also, you were the only one who could hear that murderous voice, which led you straight to Filch's cat – possibly to cast suspicion on you. And now Pettigrew, whose information led Voldemort to his downfall – because of you, Harry—"
"So you think that's why he's come back to Hogwarts? To harm Harry in some way?" asked Ron.
Sirius nodded slowly. "I'm beginning to. It was the three of you who gave me the hint where to look, actually. I tracked down Malfoy Manor – I know where it is, of course, but the unplottable charms are difficult to – Anyway, I managed to find it. And found his trace there as well." He said the last part quietly, with a barely suppressed sigh. He was not hiding his worry very well.
The boys shared a surprised look, as the implication of that news sank in.
"What a bloody mess!" Ron said. "And after we thought the attacks might be over—"
"Now, let's not get ahead of ourselves," said Sirius. "I don't mean Wormtail is working with Malfoy. All the Death Eaters in Azkaban who knew that he was a spy blamed him for Voldemort's disappearance. I'm sure the same goes for Malfoy. He'd never trust the traitorous rat with whatever it is he's involved in. And Wormtail knows this."
"So you think Pettigrew wants to, what, redeem himself?" asked Harry.
"Something like that, yes. He probably heard about Dobby's visit to you over the summer, Harry, and his warning of danger. The three of you wouldn't have taken care to keep quiet around him. I don't know what gave him the idea to seek out Malfoy — probably more eavesdropping somewhere — but whatever he found out at Malfoy Manor drove him back here."
They all considered this in silence for a moment. Then Harry shook his head, looking dissatisfied.
"Something doesn't add up," he said. "It's like, there's Malfoy, who must have cursed Ginny in Diagon Alley – after fighting with your dad, Ron, as Hermione was saying. Then we confronted Ginny and she somehow fought off the possession, even though she was attacked herself. So far so – well, not good, but—"
"But it – sort of – makes sense," said Ron. "And now Malfoy seems to think it's over, because Ginny's no longer possessed. Then there's Pettigrew who might want to take over instead of her – but he wouldn't want to be possessed, would he?"
"Exactly! And then there's Tom Riddle – and the fact that it was Ginny herself who mentioned him!" finished Harry.
"This double act of yours is kind of scary," said Sirius. "Just saying." He looked at them with an odd, wistful expression. "And you're absolutely right, of course. A very important puzzle piece seems to be missing. Maybe more than one. Purebloods – Salazar Slytherin, most of all – like making magic exclusive to their bloodlines. I wouldn't dismiss the idea that an actual descendant of Slytherin is necessary – to open whatever the Chamber of Secrets may be—"
"I asked the Sorting Hat about that," said Harry, and then filled him in on what he had found out.
Neither Ron, nor Sirius, who were both purebloods, knew of any magical family with the name Riddle. And only Sirius had heard the name Gaunt before, and not much else.
"We found his award here..." Ron looked around the vast room, with the various badges and quidditch cups and other awards displayed in glass cabinets. "Maybe... who knows, we might find something else."
Harry and Sirius agreed to have a look. The boys wanted to split up, wands in their hands lit up to let them read, but Sirius halted them. Instead, he cast a charm to search for anything with either Riddle's name on it, or Marvolo Gaunt's. They found Riddle's name on an old Medal for Magical Merit, and on a list of old head boys. Marvolo Gaunt's name did not turn up, however. Sirius finally searched just for the surname Gaunt and they did find another few mentions, but even the latest was over 150 years old.
They came to a stop in front of the Awards for Special Services to the School. There was Riddle's award, not too far from where Harry's and his friends' award was displayed. It was that latter one Sirius stared at for a long moment with an unreadable expression.
"There is no stopping you three, is there?" he asked wistfully, with an admiring note in his voice. "I will not try to tell you not to go looking for trouble – trouble has a way of finding you, whether you look for it or not. But please be careful. Ask for help – me, if possible. Your teachers – even Snape, if it can't be helped." Soon after that, it was time for him to say goodbye.
~HP~
Hermione had to remain in the hospital wing for several weeks. Harry and Ron spent long hours with her planning their next steps. At Ron's suggestion, they had looked through Harry's Nature's Nobility and discussed the entries relating to the Gaunt family. They had found Marvolo Gaunt, and his son, Morfin, which was the last entry. The genealogy also claimed that the Gaunts were indeed descended from Salazar Slytherin. Harry and Hermione did wonder why Marvolo Gaunt was Riddle's ancestor, but his son was not.
"That Marvolo Gaunt probably had a squib child as well," said Ron right away. "Maybe a daughter who married someone named Riddle."
"A muggle, according to the Hat," said Hermione. "How strange. So both of Tom Riddle's parents were non-magical. And yet..."
Hermione also reminded the boys of the book Ginny had had with her when she had attacked them, and which had disappeared after she had been petrified. None of them could think of a way to find it, however, so they decided to first focus on the Marauders' Map. The boys thought New Year's Eve might be a good time to try and steal it from the twins. Hermione warned them that with most students gone for the holidays, they would be immediately suspected.
"But it's easier if we steal the map before everyone returns," said Ron. "Once our dorms are full again, someone might see us and if Fred and George get a warning, we'll never get our hands on the map. New Year's Eve is safest – we'll have plenty of time to find the map – Fred and George like fireworks, and they'll be launching them for as long as they're allowed – well past midnight."
Harry nodded. He remembered this from the year before. He also thought that being suspected was worth the risk, if it meant they would have access to the map – and Pettigrew's location – and the traitorous rat would not.
Hermione was a bit upset that she would have to miss the adventure, but tried to help with the planning at least. She quizzed Ron on the sorts of protections Fred and George might have placed on their property. Ron could mostly think of pranking items, the sort one could buy from shops like Zonko's.
On the 31st, Harry and Ron were planning to sneak out of the common room before Ron's brothers went down for dinner, wait for them all to think they had already gone to the great hall, and leave for dinner themselves, and then sneak into the twins' dorm room.
Just as Harry had surreptitiously checked that he had his invisibility cloak with him, Percy spoke up.
"Ron – and Harry, you, too – make sure you're ready to go to dinner in time. Professor McGonagall asked me to make sure you don't miss it, like you missed supper on Christmas Day." He was giving both boys suspicious looks. He had never been told how Hermione had ended up in the hospital wing at just that time.
The boys exchanged dismal looks. But there was no helping it. If McGonagall was still keeping them under her watchful eye, they had to go. Hermione was also suitably disappointed when they next visited her. They decided to wait for a good opportunity to suggest itself.
The day before term was to begin, when the Hogwarts Express returned, the twins decided to go and greet Lee Jordan, who had gone away over the holidays. On top of that, Percy also mumbled something suspicious-sounding, before darting out of the common room. Harry and Ron looked at each other, not believing their luck.
It was easy to climb the stairs to the third year dormitories undetected – there were barely any students left in the entire tower. Ron knew which door led to his brothers' room, and they unlocked it with a simple Alohomora. George's bed was conveniently next to Fred's. Their trunks, shoved under their beds, were left unlocked, with items sticking out at different angles.
The boys were debating how to proceed, whether to risk opening the trunks, when Harry spotted a folded piece of parchment lying under George's bed.
A moment later, they were rushing to the hospital wing, to show Hermione their loot.
"Sirius was right," Harry told her excitedly. "You'd never guess what it is, if you don't know, so they hadn't bothered to hide it at all!"
"It really does look just like a plain, empty, old piece of parchment," said Hermione, while she kept examining the supposed map, unfolding and folding it. "Are you sure—"
"Of course!" Ron rolled his eyes. "We tested it right away – here, let me—"
"No, let me this time, then." Hermione drew her wand and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," and the three friends watched the map appear.
~HP~
Sirius had told Harry – warned him, really – about the features of the Marauders' Map. It still caught him off guard, when the map recognised it had been stolen and text began to appear on it, communicating with him and his friends. Ron thought the marauders' cheeky comments and backhanded compliments for stealing the map were a good laugh, while Hermione thought them a bit rude, especially as they voiced their opinions of the Hogwarts professors.
Harry withdrew as his friends continued to bicker, looking down to hide his suspiciously shiny eyes. But he would not look away, staring hungrily at every line that appeared that began with Mr Prongs.
~HP~
It took about a day for the twins to notice that their map was missing – as far as Harry and Ron could tell. Their frantic search, that must have begun in their room, soon included the common room.
"What happened, guys?" Lee was trailing behind them, looking utterly bewildered. "Our dorm looks like the entire stash of Zonko's Filibuster fireworks exploded there, and now you've moved here. What did you lose?"
But neither Fred nor George gave him a straight answer. Instead, they began asking questions of their own – quite a few of which were directed at their younger brother. For all their delinquency, no one could accuse them of being stupid.
Harry and Ron tried their best to appear innocent and bewildered by their questioning, and outright lied when asked about lost pieces of parchment. The doubtful and confused looks that Fred and George sent their way Harry could have dealt with, but the occasional betrayed look was almost enough to make him want to give back the map.
All of the suspects, especially Harry and Ron, developed a suspicious habit of tripping and dropping everything they were carrying with them whenever the twins were around. Percy ended up having a shouting match with them when he became a victim. Ron ended up waking up to a large tarantula sitting on his chest one morning (which, to be fair, seemed more frightened of Ron than the other way around, and ran for the window, never to be seen again), and his and Harry's room got searched at least once – that they were aware of.
"Has anyone seen my spare parchment?" Seamus was asking one afternoon after classes, when they had gone back to their dorms to drop off their books. He was eyeing his desk suspiciously, which did not look too different from how Harry remembered it from that morning, but to Seamus, something was a little off.
"I can't find my... Oh, here it is." Dean was looking through his trunk, which also seemed to be a little bit different from how he remembered it.
Neville, who always forgot things, seemed not to have noticed a difference, but Harry and Ron spent a very uncomfortable couple of hours, trying to pretend they were just as confused by the strange disarray in their room.
A few days later, after a gruelling potions class, Fred and George were waiting for them at the entrance to the dungeons. Harry's shoulders sagged. Neville's potion had boiled over in class and Snape had deducted points from him, for not taking over Hermione's task of keeping Neville from harming himself or others. He really was not in the mood to deal with the twins, but a look at their faces told him that there would be no getting out of this one.
"We had to ask one of your room mates for your schedule today," said Fred reproachfully. The implied 'instead of checking the map' hung between them.
"Walk with us for a bit," said George, looking like he would not take no for an answer.
Harry and Ron followed reluctantly, but neither of them spoke. The older boys kept glancing around as they wandered away from the busiest stream of people leading towards the great hall, where lunch was about to be served.
"We lost something a few days ago," began Fred.
"Something of great value to us—" said George.
"But maybe not to everyone. Some old piece of parchment, say, might be of great sentimental value to us—"
"But wouldn't be worth much to anyone else—"
"And you think we know something about... whatever it is you lost?" asked Ron.
The twins seemed to be deciding which way to walk at random, greeting the people they knew, as they ran into them, seeming perfectly relaxed.
"Now, why would we think that?" Fred's voice held the perfect note of naïve surprise. "True, our... possession disappeared from our dorm—"
"So if someone did take it, it was most likely a Gryffindor—"
"And it happened around the time the term began—"
"Rather clever that, isn't it? No way for us to tell whether a returning student was involved—"
"Or whether it was someone who stayed at Hogwarts over the Christmas holidays."
"If it was someone who was staying over the holidays, it would have been easy to slip into our dorm when the school was almost empty—"
"If you're thinking we had something to do with it, at least tell us what you're looking for," said Harry. The twins' very accurate guesses were beginning to get to him. "A minute ago, you were talking about a piece of parchment. Something like that could just disappear—"
"We know," George said curtly. "We may have mislaid it—"
"And we're not accusing you," said Fred. "We do believe in the whole innocent until proven guilty thing—"
They were walking faster now. The twins seemed to have abandoned the attempt to appear innocuous. Harry finally noticed that they did not sound intimidating at all, but frustrated and worried.
"We're just saying, if someone wanted to steal it, that's how they could've done it," George added dejectedly.
Harry had to resist a mad impulse to run to the hospital wing and get the map for them, as guilt gnawed at him. But with Voldemort's spy looking for it – something he could not possibly warn the twins about – returning the map was out of the question.
"Things have been getting lost in the Gryffindor dorms, though," said Ron far too casually.
"Yeah? What kinds of things?" Fred humoured him.
"One of Ginny's... books," said Ron, to Harry's surprise. "She had it with her on the day when... Anyway, Hermione looked for it in her room, but couldn't find it."
Harry remembered that. Hermione had told him and Ron she had gone to Ginny's room and had looked through her things, as well as talked to her room mates. Harry tried not to imagine that scene. His friend could be a little – overwhelming – at times, and rather awkward when it came to social skills. Interrogating those first-year girls she normally never interacted with must have been quite the scene.
"You don't mean her diary, do you?" George drew up short.
"So it was a diary, then?" asked Harry, suddenly very glad Ron had brought it up.
"Yes. She'd been quite obsessed with it ever since she found it in the summer." Fred scowled. "We haven't seen it either."
"Found it, you say? Where did she find it?" asked Harry. Suddenly he had a very bad feeling about the whole thing.
"After our shopping trip to Diagon Alley. She found it with her other books. It was an old second-hand thing, used to belong to some bloke before. It must have fallen in with-" George stopped talking at the alarmed looks on the younger boys' faces.
Ron was the first to recover. "Bring it to us if it turns up, will you?"
"Or take it straight to Dumbledore," said Harry quickly, seeing the older Weasleys' suspicious looks. "He wanted to see it. I guess he was curious if Ginny might have seen something, or heard something..." He trailed off, not wanting to give them more information.
The twins looked at each other. After some silent communication, they nodded.
"Right... We'll let you know if it turns up," said Fred. He was eyeing them thoughtfully. "And as for our... Well, if you do run into any old pieces of parchment, or-"
"We'd be willing to pay a ransom – I mean, a reward – if someone found it and returned it to us."
They looked at Harry and Ron hopefully, but at the boys' shrugs, they left them dejectedly.
Harry and Ron could not wait to see Hermione. They ran to the hospital wing, with no thought to lunch.
"Lucius Malfoy could easily have slipped her that diary," said Hermione as soon as they told her. "Could he have used it for possession?"
Ron did not know, and neither did Sirius, when Harry wrote to ask, but would not exclude the possibility. The most important question, however, that they had no answer to, was where the diary had disappeared to.
~HP~
Ultimately, the twins' search for their missing map proved unsuccessful, in part because of Hermione's stay in the hospital wing. There was such a flurry of rumour about her disappearance when the rest of the school arrived back from their Christmas holidays, and so many students filed past the hospital wing trying to catch a glimpse of her that Madam Pomfrey took out her curtains again and placed them around Hermione's bed, to spare her the shame of being seen with a furry face. This also meant that Fred and George had no way to investigate her, so Hermione could keep the Marauders' Map, Harry's foe-glass and any other suspicious items they owned, with her.
Harry and Ron visited her every day to bring her that day's homework, and to also check up on any changes with either the map or the foe-glass. The shadows in the latter had become more distinct on the day when everyone had returned, but there had been no changes since. And despite constantly checking the map, Hermione had yet to spot the name Wormtail anywhere on it.
By the end of the first week, Hermione was in a good mood, because all the hair had gone from her face and her eyes were slowly turning back to brown.
"Look what I received today." Hermione produced a gold-coloured get-well card as soon as they had discussed everything important.
"Who is it from?" asked Harry.
Ron took it from her, flicked it open and read aloud: "To Miss Granger, wishing you a speedy recovery, from your concerned teacher, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming-Smile Award."
Ron looked up at Hermione, disgusted. "Is Lockhart the smarmiest bloke you've ever met, or what?" he said.
"Right?" Hermione agreed with a nervous giggle, obviously trying to appear unaffected. She was spared having to pretend to be as disgusted as the boys were by Madam Pomfrey sweeping over with her evening dose of medicine.
Harry and Ron prepared to leave at that point. They packed their books, finished homework, and exploding snap cards they had brought with them. Harry had a final look into his foe-glass, to see if he might recognise any of the shadows inside.
"Ron?" he asked carefully. "Does that blob look like a rat to you?"
It did, rather, all three friends had to agree. Hermione reached inside her bedside table to get the Marauders' Map. Sirius had taught them how to make the marauders' names appear on the map – something the map usually only displayed for its creators. The boys drew in their breaths. There it was, on the ground floor, the name Wormtail, moving slowly along a corridor adjacent to the great hall.
For a moment, none of them spoke. The boys looked at each other, as Harry felt his heart begin to race.
"We have to tell a teacher—" said Hermione, but she knew it was no use.
"We'll try," said Harry impatiently. "I'm sure we'll run into someone. But we have to hurry, he might disappear again—"
"But the map doesn't show any of the teachers heading that way!" Hermione was right, of course. In fact, that whole corridor looked deserted.
"Someone will turn up – Hermione, give us the map, we have to hurry!" Ron grabbed the parchment from her reluctant hands.
A moment later, the boys were running out of the hospital wing.
"Don't forget about curfew!" Hermione's voice followed them through the door.
They ran, across the corridor connecting the hospital wing to the moving staircase, and down the stairs, all the way to the ground floor, until the entrance to the great hall came into view. A few students jumped out of the way to avoid them. But not a single teacher was to be seen.
"Which way now?" asked Harry, trying to catch his breath.
The boys checked the map again.
"I think he's in Filch's office!" said Ron, reading the banner on the map.
Harry nodded. He recognised that place. With a nod to each other, the boys drew their wands. Harry hoped he did not look as scared as Ron did. A couple turns later, they could see the office. Without second-guessing their plan, they ran and threw open the door, wands at the ready—
A loud, shrill alarm sound pierced the air. The boys jumped, and the moment of surprise was lost. Pettigrew, who was indeed inside the office, turned around, his eyes widening.
"Expelliarmus!" both boys shouted, as had been planned. They did not manage to be quite simultaneous. Not that it would have mattered. The wizard in front of them was not holding his wand, but bits of parchment, which flew towards the boys, blocking their sight, allowing Pettigrew to draw his wand.
An angry outburst from the floor above reached their ears. It was Filch's voice, which sounded quite hysterical.
Harry had the presence of mind to shout, "Protego!" before an unknown spell hit his shield, disintegrating it and pushing the boys back. Pettigrew's eyes were wild, panicked and angry, and turning triumphant as he spotted the map in Ron's hand, whose shield followed barely in time for the next spell.
"...breaking into my office! No, this is the final straw! If I catch whichever delinquent did it..."
They all listened, as the voice and accompanying footsteps came closer. Pettigrew snarled, then ran, without turning his back to them. Harry caught a final glimpse of him as he rounded the corner, transforming into Wormtail.
Harry slammed the office door shut, enclosing the mess within it. Then the boys ran as fast as they could.
"Check the map, Ron!" said Harry.
"This way! Filch is just around that corner!" hissed Ron.
"Where is Pettigrew?"
"He's – Oh! He's in the – bathroom?"
"Which way is it?" Harry asked more confidently than he felt. He knew they were no match for an adult wizard, but letting the rat escape was not an acceptable solution.
"He—" Ron stopped, forcing Harry to do the same. "I can't see him any more," he said once he had caught his breath.
The boys stared at the map, confused, not sure whether they should feel relieved or disappointed. Finally, they had no choice but to go back to the hospital wing.
"Oh, thank God, you're well!" was the first thing Hermione said when they got there. "I was so worried – and being stuck in here – why everything has to happen when I can't be around—" She shook her head.
Dejectedly, the boys told her what had happened.
"And that's why I kept telling you to find a teacher—" she said forcefully, trying to cover up her fear for them.
"And say what? We can't mention Pettigrew's name without getting Sirius in trouble! Face it, Hermione, it's not always possible to ask a teacher for help!" said Ron.
This made Harry feel vaguely guilty, though he was not sure why.
Hermione looked contemplative, before her eyes sharpened rather scarily. "Well... If we can't ask teachers for help... then we need to get better at helping ourselves..."