Chapter Steamroll! hurray! Thanks to those who reviewed the previous chapter, and i hope that this new one recieves as much love as the others!
Chapter Twelve
Marauders
That Saturday was the next Hogsmeade weekend. Harry had noticed that his route to the village through the one eyed witch statue was unnoticed by Filch, and hoped that he and Faykan would be able to use it once again. Hermione had expressed her displeasure of Harry's wanting to go back to the village when he and Fay had been denied permission from Professor McGonagall, going so far as to threaten to rat them out. They ignored her, and had set plans to explore the rest of the village that day.
On Saturday morning, Harry packed his Invisibility Cloak in his bag, slipped the Marauder's Map into his pocket, and he and Faykan went down to breakfast with everyone else. Hermione kept shooting suspicious looks down the table at them, but he avoided her eye and was careful to let her see him walking back up the marble staircase in the entrance hall as everybody else proceeded to the front doors.
"'Bye!" Harry called to Ron. "See you when you get back!"
Ron grinned and winked.
Together Harry and Faykan ran up to the third floor, Harry slipping out the Marauder's Map out of his pocket as they went. Harry kept watch as Faykan whipped out his wand and approached the statue. Harry stopped him; a tiny dot was moving in their direction. Harry squinted at the tiny writing next to it, and read Neville Longbottom.
Harry tossed his bag to Faykan, who muttered, "Dissendium!" and shoved the bag into the statue, but before either could climb in, Neville came around the corner.
"Harry, Faykan! I forgot you two weren't going to Hogsmeade either!"
"Hi, Neville," said Harry, moving swiftly away from the statue and pushing the map back into his pocket. "What are you up to?"
"Nothing," shrugged Neville. "Want a game of Exploding Snap?"
"Err… not now, we were going to go to the library and do that vampire essay for Lupin…" Harry lied.
"I'll come with you!" said Neville brightly. "I haven't done it either!"
Faykan jabbed Harry in the ribs with his elbow.
"Err, hang on… yeah, I forgot, we finished it last night!"
"Great, you can help me!" said Neville, his round face anxious. "I don't understand that thing about the garlic at all, do they have to eat it, or…"
He broke off with a small gasp, looking over Harry's shoulder.
It was Snape. Neville took a quick step behind Harry.
"And what are you three doing here?" said Snape, coming to a halt and looking at each of them. "An odd place to meet…"
To Harry's immense disquiet, Snape's black eyes flicked to the doorways on either side of them, and then to the one eyed witch.
"We're not… meeting here," said Harry. "We just, met here."
"Its not a crime to be out in the corridor during the day is it, Professor?" Faykan said slightly mockingly. Snape scowled at him.
"You have a habit of turning up in unexpected places, Mr. Undol, and you are very rarely there for no reason... I suggest that you three return to Gryffindor Tower, where you belong."
The three Gryffindors set off without another word. Looking back as they turned the corner, Harry saw Snape running his hands over the statue's head, examining it closely.
After ditching Neville in front of the fat lady, Harry and Faykan dashed back toward the third floor. Harry rechecked the map when they were alone, the corridor with the one eyed witch was deserted, and Snape was back in his office. They sprinted back to the statue, opened it, and heaved each other inside. After sliding down the chute, Harry wiped the map and stowed it in his bag that was waiting for them. "Handy that," Faykan commented as they dashed down the passage, "I was getting oh so very tired of scouting ahead of you all the time."
"Lies… you loved it." Harry retorted with a grin.
"Yeah, I suppose I did." Faykan said cheerily as they approached the trapdoor to Honeydukes.
Together they slipped out under the Invisibility cloak, and emerged into the sunlit streets outside of the candy shop. They found Ron and prodded him in the back to get his attention.
"It's us," Harry muttered in his ear.
"What kept you?" Ron hissed back.
"Snape," Faykan replied simply.
And together they set off up High Street.
~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~
Draco had just emerged from Dominic Maestro's when he saw Ron wandering up High Street alone, yet talking as if there was someone there. 'Of course,' Draco thought, 'Faykan and Harry must be under the cloak.'
Draco followed, hoping to learn how they got out of the castle without Filch or McGonagall learning of it. "Where are you?" Ron kept muttering out of the corner of his mouth. "Are you still there? This feels weird..."
"Quiet Ron or anyone will hear you talking to yourself," Draco said as he poked Ron in the back, causing him to jump.
"Draco!" he yelled, spinning around, "Don't do that!" Draco sniggered, and he could hear the other two Gryffindor boys restraining laughter from under the cloak. "So, how is it that you guys are here," he said in a conspiratorial whisper, falling in beside Ron as they continued up the street.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Faykan's voice said from thin air.
"When were back at the castle we'll explain, but not here." Ron clarified. Draco accepted that, it would be too suspicious to have them talking to seeming nothingness in the middle of a busy street.
Their first stop was the post office, which Draco felt was a waste of time personally, but Harry seemed to enjoy if the small sounds of awe coming out of nowhere were any indication. Afterward they tried to visit Zonko's, but it was far too packed with students for Harry or Faykan to go in with the cloak, so Ron took orders of what they wanted and purchased their items for them, wisely hanging on to them for later.
The day was fine and breezy, and none of them felt like staying indoors for long, so they walked past the Three Broomsticks and climbed a slope to visit the Shrieking Shack, the most haunted dwelling in Britain. It stood a little way above the rest of the village, and even in daylight was slightly creepy, with its boarded windows and dank overgrown garden.
"Even the Hogwarts ghosts avoid it," said Ron as they leaned on the fence, looking up at it. "I asked Nearly Headless Nick... he says he's heard a very rough crowd lives here. No one can get in. Fred and George tried, obviously, but all the entrances are sealed shut..."
Draco watched the house for several moments, reveling in the silence around them, when he spotted a dark shape looming around the side of the building. He squinted to try and make it out, but at that moment he heard voices approaching from behind them. Someone was climbing toward the house from the other side of the hill; moments later, Nott had appeared, followed closely by Crabbe and Goyle. Nott was speaking.
"...should have an owl from Father any time now. He had to go to the hearing to tell them about my arm... about how I couldn't use it for three months..."
Crabbe and Goyle sniggered.
"I really wish I could hear that great hairy moron trying to defend himself... 'There's no 'arm in 'im, 'onest' that hippogriff's as good as dead…"
Nott suddenly caught sight of Draco and Ron. His pale face split in a malevolent grin.
"Oh look!" he sneered, "it's everyone's favorite blood-traitors, Drakie and the Weasel… Honestly Malfoy, I don't understand why you bother with these people; Potter isn't special enough to warrant you spending time alone with Mudbloods and traitors."
Draco sneered back at Nott, and Ron looked like he wanted to leap at the other boy, but from behind them Harry's voice sounded in their ears, "Leave him to me..."
Draco heard a small sound like a gentle breeze, and felt something fuzzy and warm by his leg. Looking down he saw Faykan the fox pawing slowly through the snow from behind him, so that Nott wouldn't see where he came from.
"We were just discussing your friend Hagrid," Nott said to Ron. "Just trying to imagine what he's saying to the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. D'you think he'll cry when they cut off his hippogriff's…"
SLAPT!
Nott's head jerked forward as a huge glob of mud hit him, sending him staggering forward a step with the force of it.
"What the…?"
Ron burst out laughing, while Draco contented himself with a humorous smirk. Nott and his two goons spun stupidly on the spot, staring wildly around, trying to find whoever threw the mud.
"What was that? Who did that?"
"Very haunted up here, isn't it?" Ron stated with the air of discussing the weather.
Both Crabbe and Goyle looked spooked, while Nott was staring madly at the deserted landscape.
Icy wind started to blow, seeming from the direction of the Shrieking Shack, sweeping the boys' robes up and carrying sounds of grinding and moans. Nott's face blanched. A ghostly, echoing voice sounded around them, chilling Draco's bones and setting his teeth on edge.
"The way is shut… It was made by those who are dead… and the dead keep it… The way is shut!"
"AAARGH!" Nott yelled, running back toward Hogsmeade, with Crabbe and Goyle in tow. Suddenly Nott tripped, and out of nowhere Harry's head appeared. Nott must have caught the hem of the Invisibility cloak. Nott screamed again, high and very feminine; completely unbecoming of his heritage, and sprinted back to the castle.
Harry tugged the cloak up again, but the damage was done.
"Harry!" Ron said, stumbling forward and staring hopelessly at the point where Harry had disappeared, "you'd better run for it! If Nott tells anyone… you'd better get back to the castle, quick…"
"See you later," Harry called, and Faykan the fox dashed away, ducking under the parting in the cloak that Harry opened for him, and they vanished from sight.
~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~
Theodore Nott had told him an interesting story. Something about Potter's head appearing near the Shrieking Shack while he was there with Weasley and Draco. It was very interesting for Severus to think that Potter had found a way around the dementors and into the village without permission. And where Potter went, Undol usually wasn't far behind.
Severus was currently striding down the third floor toward the stairs to Gryffindor Tower, just in the off chance that Nott was making up stories. Let no one say that Severus Snape didn't investigate the truth of everything, including accusations from his own serpents. As he came around the corner that housed the statue of a one eyed witch that he met Potter, Longbottom, and Undol at earlier that day, he saw Potter, red faced and winded, rolling on the stone floor of the corridor with a large black fox. The fox was plainly trying to lick Potter's face, and Potter was laughing as he attempted to protect himself. Severus raised an eyebrow at the clear oddity of the situation. The fox seemed very familiar to him, but he could not place where he had seen the creature before.
"So," he said finally, and Potter started, sitting up and turning to face him, slight embarrassment on his face for being found playing like a child with an animal.
"Mr. Nott had just been to see me with a strange story, Potter," Potter said nothing so Severus continued, as the fox poked its nose into Potter's ear, causing the boy to laugh softly and push the small creature away, "Mr. Nott claims that he was standing talking to Weasley and Mr. Malfoy by the Shrieking Shack, apparently alone, when a large amount of mud hit him in the back of the head. How do you think that could have happened?"
Severus looked and saw smeared mud on Potter's hands, and more covering the fox's body from where the boy was handling it.
"I don't know, Professor."
Severus tried to look into Potter's mind, as he had done easily the last two years, and was shocked to find nothing but fog. Someone had been teaching the boy Occlumency, and Severus had a good guess at whom.
"Mr. Nott then saw an extraordinary apparition. Can you imagine what it might have been, Potter?"
"No," Potter said, trying and failing to sound innocently curious.
"It was your head, Potter. Floating in midair."
"Maybe he'd better go to Madam Pomfrey," Potter said. "If he's seeing things like…"
"What would your head have been doing in Hogsmeade, Potter?" said Severus softly, cutting over him. "Your head is not allowed in Hogsmeade. No part of your body has permission to be in Hogsmeade."
"I know that," said Harry, straining to keep his face rigid. "It sounds like Nott's having hallucin…"
"Nott isn't having hallucinations." snarled Snape, "If your head was in Hogsmeade, so was the rest of you, as was Mr. Undol most likely, who is also not allowed to be in Hogsmeade."
Severus glanced around for a moment, wondering where the other boy might be, and felt something brush against his leg. Looking down, Severus saw the black fox rubbing its head against his leg, seeking affection from the new person. Severus took a moment to study the fox, large and black with grey markings down its back, curiously familiar markings. "Where is Mr. Undol?" Severus asked coldly.
"Probably back in Gryffindor Tower," Potter replied, "Like you told…"
"Can anyone else confirm that?" Severus said, overriding Potter again.
Potter said nothing, and Severus smiled.
"So," he said, straightening up again. "Everyone from the Minister of Magic downward has been trying to keep famous Harry Potter safe from Sirius Black. But famous Harry Potter is a law unto himself. Let the ordinary people worry about his safety! Famous Harry Potter goes where he wants to, with no thought for the consequences."
Potter glared for a moment at Severus, while the fox continued to persistently annoy his leg for attention. Severus pushed it aside with his foot while continuing to address Potter.
"Turn out your pockets…" he said suddenly
Potter hesitated, before he pulled from his robe pocket his wand, and a spare bit of old parchment…
Severus took the parchment, unfolding its many odd flaps, all blank, "and what is this?" he asked smugly.
"Spare bit of parchment," Potter said with a shrug.
Turning the parchment over, Severus eyed Potter as he withdrew his wand.
"Surely you don't need such a very old piece of parchment?" Severus said smugly, "Why don't I just, throw this away?" he added as he raised his wand.
"NO!" Potter said quickly.
Severus raised an eyebrow, "So, is this some kind of treasured gift, a letter perhaps, written in invisible ink? Or… instructions to get into Hogsmeade without passing the dementors? Let me see, let me see…. Reveal your secret!" Severus said, tapping the parchment with his wand.
Nothing happened.
"Show yourself!" Severus tried again, tapping the parchment harder.
Still nothing happened. Potter looked like he was starting to hyperventilate.
"Professor Severus Snape, master of this school, commands you to yield the information you conceal!" Severus stated, swatting the parchment hard with his wand.
As though an invisible hand were writing upon it, words appeared on the smooth surface of the map.
'Mooney presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business.'
Severus froze. Potter stared, dumbstruck, at the message. But the parchment didn't stop there. More writing was appearing beneath the first.
'Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Moony and would like to add that Professor Snape is an ugly git.'
Prongs! Severus clenched the parchment tightly; this was the marauder's blasted map! More writing appeared under the previous sentences.
'Mr. Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a professor.'
Potter had closed his eyes in horror. The fox had disappeared, but Severus was watching as the final line of insults formed on the map.
'Mr. Wormtail bids Professor Snape good day, and advises him to wash his hair, the slimeball.'
"So…" Severus said softly. "We'll see about this, follow me Potter!"
And with that Severus led the boy down to his dungeon office. Severus strode across the room in several steps, seized a fistful of glittering floo powder from a nearby jar, and threw it into the flames.
"Lupin," he called, "I want a word."
Several moments later the spinning shape appeared in the fireplace, and Lupin clambered out, brushing ashes off his shabby robes.
"You called Severus?" he said mildly.
"I certainly did," said Severus, his face contorted with fury as he strode back to his desk. "I have just asked Potter to empty his pockets. He was carrying this."
Severus pointed at the parchment, on which the words of Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs were still shining. An odd, closed expression appeared on Lupin's face.
"Well?" Severus insisted, forcing Lupin's hand. "This parchment is plainly full of Dark Magic. This is supposed to be your area of expertise, Lupin. Where do you imagine Potter got such a thing?"
Lupin looked up and, by the merest half-glance in Harry's direction, warned the boy not to interrupt.
"Full of Dark Magic?" he repeated mildly. "Do you really think so, Severus? It looks to me as though it is merely a piece of parchment that insults anybody who reads it. Childish, but surely not dangerous? I imagine Harry got it from a joke shop…"
"Indeed?" Severus interrupted. "You think a joke shop could supply him with such a thing? You don't think it more likely that he got it directly from the manufacturers?"
"You mean, by Mr. Wormtail or one of these people?" he said. "Harry, do you know any of these men?"
"No," said Potter quickly.
"You see Severus?" said Lupin, turning back to face him.
Suddenly, Faykan strode into the room, and casually looked from Severus angry face to Lupin, then over to Potter, and finally settling his eyes on the map.
"Oh, there's my little project. I was wondering what you did with it Harry," he said cheerfully to Potter as he approached and reached a hand to pick up the map. Severus snatched it away with a scowl at Undol.
"So," Lupin said to Undol, "You are saying that you made this article and let Harry borrow it?" Undol nodded, smiling in a way that Severus knew was meant to charm. He scowled deeper as Lupin turned to him.
"Well, that seems to clear that up! Severus, I'll take this back, shall I?" Lupin said, pulling the map from Severus' grip and tucking it inside his robes. "Harry, Faykan, come with me, I need a word about my vampire essay… excuse us Severus."
And together they all left Severus fuming silently.
~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~
Harry couldn't believe his luck at escaping from Snape without punishment, thanks to both Professor Lupin and Faykan's intervention. They walked together up to the entrance hall without speaking. Finally Harry turned to Lupin.
"Professor, I…"
"I don't want to hear explanations," said Lupin shortly. He glanced around the empty entrance hall and lowered his voice. "I happen to know that this map was confiscated by Mr. Filch many years ago. Yes, I know it's a map," he said. Harry was amazed, but Faykan looked as if he knew this information already. Lupin continued, "I don't want to know how it fell into your possession. I am, however, astounded that you didn't hand it in. Particularly after what happened the last time a student left information about the castle lying around. And I can't let you have it back, Harry."
Harry had expected that, and was too keen for explanations to protest.
"Why did Snape think I'd got it from the manufacturers?"
"Because...," Lupin hesitated, "because these mapmakers would have wanted to lure you out of school. They'd think it extremely entertaining."
"Do you know them?" said Faykan, smirking.
"We've met," Lupin said shortly. He was looking at Harry more seriously than ever before.
"Don't expect me to cover up for you again, Harry. I cannot make you take Sirius Black seriously. But I would have thought that what you have heard when the dementors draw near you would have had more of an effect on you. Your parents gave their lives to keep you alive, Harry. A poor way to repay them, wandering around with this map; did you think what might happen if Black found this? It could lead him straight to you…"
He walked away, leaving Harry feeling worse by far than he had at any point in Snape's office. Slowly, he and Faykan mounted the marble staircase. They found Ron near the One eyed witch's statue, which Harry remember with a grimace still had the Invisibility cloak inside it, but he didn't dare get it now.
Faykan explained to Ron what had happened since their hasty departure at the Shrieking Shack. "It's my fault," said Ron abruptly. "I persuaded you guys to go. Lupin's right, it was stupid, we shouldn't have done it…"
~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~
Hermione was pacing in front of the fat lady's portrait, straining to comprehend the short message from Hagrid she had just received.
Dear Hermione,
We lost. I'm allowed to bring him back to Hogwarts. Execution date to be fixed. Beaky has enjoyed London. I won't forget all the help you gave us.
Hagrid
The parchment was damp, and stained with Hagrid enormous teardrops, which had smudged the ink badly, but Hermione could still make out everything. Hermione felt horrible for Hagrid, and angry at Nott, his father, Lucius Malfoy, and the whole committee for their lack of moral dignity to make just and fair decisions in the face of corruption. It made Hermione sick with fury.
"Are you going to stand there all day or give the password?" the fat lady said impatiently. Hermione scowled at the painting, and stormed away down the hall with the patrolling security trolls.
She had made it halfway down the hall when Harry, Ron, and Faykan came around the corner, Ron breaking off speaking as they saw her coming toward them. Harry's face paled slightly at the look on her face. He must think that she told on them to Professor McGonagall for their sneaking out to Hogsmeade.
"Come to have a good gloat?" said Ron savagely as she stopped in front of them. "Or have you just been to tell on us?"
"No," Hermione retorted angrily. She tried to control her trembling lip as she looked at the letter again. "I just thought you ought to know... Hagrid lost his case. Buckbeak is going to be executed."
All three boys looked gob smacked. Clearly none of them had even remembered Hagrid's problems with the Ministry. "He sent me this," she continued, holding the letter out to Harry, who took it and read, Ron and Faykan leaning over his shoulders to see for themselves.
"They can't do this," Harry said in a small voice, "They can't. Buckbeak isn't dangerous."
"Nott's father used Lucius Malfoy to frighten the committee into it," Hermione explained, wiping her own eyes. "You know what he's like. They're a bunch of doddery old fools, and they were scared. There'll be an appeal though, there always is. Only I can't see any hope… nothing will have changed."
"Yeah, it will," Ron said fiercely. "You won't have to do all the work alone this time Hermione. I'll help."
Hermione felt a burst of new emotion at Ron's pronouncement, and she flung her arms around the boy, breaking down again as she hung there, sobbing uncontrollably. Finally, she recomposed herself enough to pull away from him. Ron looked slightly shaken, having completely unexpected her reaction.
"Ron, I'm so very sorry about Scabbers…" Hermione sobbed, deciding to breach the gap between them now while they had some commonality.
"Oh… well, he was old," Ron said, looking thoroughly relieved that she had let go of him. "And he was a bit useless. You never know, Mum and Dad might get me an owl now."
"Especially if you play up the waterworks a bit…" Faykan joked, and the boys laughed, but Hermione didn't. She still remembered the terrifying vision of Faykan, red eyed and violent, striking down Dumbledore and setting vicious creature loose on London, and she didn't know what to believe at the moment. On the one hand, Faykan had never done anything to break their trust in him, and yet on the other he had no trust in Dumbledore, the greatest light wizard who ever lived, so who knew what side he was really on… it was all so confusing.
The four Gryffindors wanted nothing better than to go and talk with Hagrid immediately, but the safety measures imposed after Black's second break-in made it impossible for evening visits. Their only chance to talk with him was during their Care of Magical Creature lessons.
Hagrid was, in short, numb with shock at the verdict.
"S'all my fault. Got all tongue-tied. They was all sittin' there in black robes an' I kep' droppin' me notes and forgettin' all them dates yeh looked up fer me, Hermione. An' then Lucius Malfoy stood up an' said his bit, and the Committee jus' did exac'ly what he told 'em..."
"There's still the appeal!" said Ron fiercely. "Don't give up yet, we're working on it!"
They were walking back up to the castle with the rest of the class. Ahead they could see Nott, who was walking with Crabbe and Goyle, and kept looking back, laughing derisively. Faykan was between them and Nott's group, talking softly to Draco, filling him in on what had transpired.
"S'no good, Ron," said Hagrid sadly as they reached the castle steps. "That Committee's in Lucius Malfoy's pocket. I'm jus' gonna make sure the rest o' Beaky's time is the happiest he's ever had. I owe him that..."
Hagrid turned around and hurried back toward his cabin, his face buried in his handkerchief.
"Poor Hagrid." Draco said as they made their way into the entrance hall. Nott, Crabbe, and Goyle were there, at the entrance to the dungeons, leering at them as they passed. Nott didn't take his eyes off Faykan as he commented loudly about Hagrid's troubles. Hermione almost lost control to physically hit the tall arrogant arse, but Faykan caught her shoulder and she jerked in reaction.
"Sorry." Faykan said quietly, as Harry, Ron, and Draco talked about the upcoming Quidditch finals, Harry and Draco exchanging good natured taunts and jibes. Hermione ignored Faykan, too upset with the situation to care. She was losing control, she needed time to sleep, time…
"We're due in Charms," said Ron casually. The Gryffindors then parted from their Slytherin friend and made their way up to Flitwick's classroom. Hermione was too distracted to notice the boys as she absently flicked her Time-Turner, not noticing the bright blue eyes watching her vanish back an hour.
Please Review! More Reviews will cause Hermione to go back in time to punch Nott!