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Chapter Sixty-Four

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The Marauders Map was laid out, open, in front of him on the couch by the fireplace.

Harry stared at the faded-looking parchment paper so hard that his eyes started to strain under the effort he was exerting with them.

He hadn't gone up to bed. Hadn't even tried.

How could he sleep when Ginny was so put out with him?

So, instead, he resolved to watch a singular dot on the Marauders Map…

Briefly, his eyes shifted to a different dot that was located up in the fifth year's girls dormitory in the Gryffindor tower…

But he forced his gaze away, instead focusing back on the dot of one Draco Malfoy.

Perhaps Ron and Hermione were right… maybe he was becoming obsessed. But he would rather be that than giving up on his suspicions and wind up being right about everything after all.

He was so sure that Malfoy was a Death Eater that he would bank all of the money he had stored in Gringotts on it. And because of his suspicions, Harry felt as though he was responsible for Draco's actions… Whatever Malfoy had planned, Harry was determined to be there to stop it.

All that he needed was proof.

It was at that moment when Malfoy's dot started to move.

Harry jumped up from his relaxed pose on the sofa, now sitting ramrod straight as he stared at the black, inky spot. It was currently moving out of the sixth year Slytherin dormitory and into the common room. The dot lingered there for a moment before it moved to the dungeon doorway and out into the hall…

Leaping to his feet, Harry pocketed his wand and pulled the invisibility cloak over his shoulders before briskly making his way to the portrait hole.

It had been a while since he had last snuck out after curfew… and despite himself, a shot of thrill went down his spine in a familiar sensation.

He crept down the darkened hallways with ease. His hand illuminated in a dim glow, just bright enough to be able to read the map before him.

He followed Draco's dot with his eyes, stalking his movements with his own until they both ended up at the same corridor on opposite ends.

Harry put out the light from his hand with a wandless and silent 'Nox', as he peered around the corner down the familiar corridor.

Then, not even a moment later, a figure approached, hidden away underneath a dark hood as he slinked across the floor like the ferret he was...

Harry watched Draco's approach from his hiding place underneath his invisibility cloak, and his eyes widened as Draco started to pace three times in front of the blank castle wall.

Then, a door appeared as the Room of Requirement was revealed and Draco took a mere moment to sneak a look all around him before he opened the door and quickly stepped through.

Draco immediately shut the door behind him.

Harry cursed under his breath and made a dash for it.

The door was shrinking and had just managed to disappear as he got to it.

"Ugh!" Harry grunted in frustration as his fist slammed against the blank wall.

Then, he heard it. The shuffling of running feet from down the hall.

"Did you hear that, my sweet Mrs Norris?" Filch's panting voice met him, with ever-looming closeness. "A student out of bed!"

His voice was gleeful, most likely thinking of different scenarios of punishment that he wanted to inflict.

Forgetting that he was under the protection of the invisibility cloak, Harry made a mad dash for the opposite end of the hall.

When he made it to the fork at the end of the corridor, Harry took a chance and shot a wandless, silent incantation at one of the knight statues down the right end of the hall.

The metal of the knight's armour immediately crashed to the floor in a great clamour as Harry ran down in the opposite direction from the chaos he had deliberately made.

Behind him, he heard Filch's exclamation about rotten kids as he came upon the scene that Harry had left. He knew that Filch wouldn't follow him...

Despite this, Harry continued to run. He ran with mounting frustration brimming over in his mind. He ran with indignation over what Draco was possibly up to at this very moment.

But most of all, he ran with hatred over the secrets he had to keep from the love of his life.

In truth, Harry wasn't in the right mindset to possibly be of any use to solve any mystery regarding Draco.

His mind was too full, buzzing with guilt and regret over what had happened with Ginny earlier on in the evening.

Harry turned the corner and nearly jumped out of his skin when he was met, face-to-face, with Professor Snape.

It was only then that he realised that, in his haste, his invisibility cloak had slipped down from his shoulders to reveal his floating head and upper torso.

Snape's face was emotionless as his glassy eyes scanned over Harry's sudden presence.

Harry's eyes widened in horror at getting caught by the greasy git. There was no excuse that Harry could come with that would be believable enough to get him out of trouble, that was for certain. He couldn't very well say that he had been meeting Dumbledore again, because he was on the far end away from where the Headmaster's office was.

"I-"

But Harry was cut short from whatever excuse that was about to tumble forth from his lips, as Snape chose to simply side-step around him and began to saunter away in the direction that Harry just came.

The blazing confusion he felt in that moment burst forth out of him. And before he could stop it, Harry turned on his heel and rounded the corner where Snape just turned down.

"Why? Why are you treating me as though I no longer exist?!" Harry bellowed to the back of his most hated Professor. Snape froze halfway down the corridor as Harry's volume reached him. "Do you see yourself as above me, is that it? Or are you playing mind games with me, Snape? Because let me tell you, it won't work."

Snape didn't even bother to turn around to face Harry. His entire form was as stiff as a wooden plank as he kept facing forward, facing the looming darkness of the hall.

The seconds ticked by as though they were minutes. Harry's self-righteous indignation seemed to have a lasting echo in the ambience of the surrounding area.

Until finally...

"Why don't you ask your mother?" A monotone reply came back at him before Snape moved and continued on, almost as though he hadn't spoken at all.

But he had.

And what Snape had just said had just shattered Harry's entire world as panic came scratching up his throat from deep within the pit of his stomach.

Snape knew that his mum was alive.

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A/N: I know that this chapter is short, but I did only just update yesterday, so… Anyways, I just felt that it was a good point to stop at. Makes the big reveal that much more effective, you know?

Please leave me your thoughts in a review?