Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling will not sell me Harry Potter, no matter how many times I beg.
Lily reached under her bed and pulled out her trunk, casting nervous glances at Mina and Tori's beds. She was being as quiet as possible, but even so, it was still nerve-wracking to know that there was a chance one of them might wake up and see her, digging around in her trunk, at almost one o'clock in the morning. She had shoved the Marauder's Map in her suitcase the other day when she was nearly caught looking at it in her bed, but looking back, that was not such a bright idea. She clicked the lock open, wincing at the noise, and pulled it out, thanking nobody in particular that it was resting right on the top of the things she had not unpacked yet.
She closed the trunk, pushed it back under the bed, and threw the Cloak over herself, hugging the Map tightly to her chest. She came to the Slytherin common room, where Scorpius was waiting, and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. He jumped, but, having expected her to come within a minute of that time, thankfully kept quiet. He slipped under the Cloak with her and they went out of the common room, standing right outside the door.
Lily unfolded the map, tapping it with her wand and whispering the words, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." She had never actually been told this, but had been eavesdropping the day that her father told James. The official map and the dots of every person within Hogwarts came into view, and she closely examined it. Everyone was in his or her dormitories or, in the teacher's case, quarters, except for Goyle, who was patrolling. Well. He would be simple enough to avoid, she thought.
They began walking, heading first to Potions teacher Morag MacDougal's office, as it was closest, being in the dungeons as well. Lily felt a bit guilty as they sneaked inside and began rifling through everything- she liked Professor MacDougal, and doubted she was the person they were trying to find, but still, they had to check everyone, liking the person be damned. There was nothing even remotely suspicious, just old test papers, most of which were all marked with a large O, and the ingredients that would not be kept in the classroom itself, the things that were not safe for the younger students to use. Lily, who was considered a 'younger student', peered curiously at the jars, but Scorpius yanked her away.
They headed up to Professor Finch-Fletchley's office, on a higher floor, but that, too, yielded no results, although several times Scorpius, who had no knowledge of Muggle things, had to check with Lily to make sure that something was innocuous. Lily, who also had two magical parents, knew more about the Muggle world as she had often played with the children down the road in her pre-Hogwarts years, and was able to recognize that no diagrams and lists were related in any way to hurting people.
They started to go to Professor Sinistra's office, but the presence of Goyle forced them to double back, and, as they were there anyway, they entered the shared office of Anthony Goldstein and Teddy Lupin. It was larger than the other two offices, and divided into two sections, one much larger than the other. The larger one, which was obviously Professor Goldstein's, was filled with any manner of things-Dark detectors, essays, books, paperwork, and some things that neither student knew the purpose of, but which looked harmless enough. It was actually rather interesting rifling through these things, as both were interested in the subject of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Scorpius, in fact, had to stop Lily from taking two large tomes on curses, counter-curses, hexes, and jinxes that could not be found in the library.
Lily pouted as he put them back. "Please, pretty please, let me take at least one," she whispered.
"No! You're going to get us caught," he said in an equally quiet tone. "He'd know someone had been in here." That, of course, was not completely true, as this side was so messy that, if the teacher noticed anything was gone or moved about, it would be a miracle. "Come on; let's check out Teddy Lupin's side."
Lily rolled her eyes as she followed Scorpius over. "He's like a member of my family. Harry Potter is his godfather. Do you really think that he's going to go around trying to kill people?"
"We have to go through every alternative," Scorpius insisted. "Just because you like somebody doesn't mean that they're perfect and not dangerous. I doubt it, too, but it doesn't hurt to check. It's not like he has loads of stuff over here."
Teddy Lupin's section of the office, as opposed to Professor Goldstein's, was immaculately clean. The only thing in this section was an office desk and a comfortable-looking chair that Lily immediately sat in as Scorpius began fidgeting with the drawers, all which seemed to be locked. "Did you seriously not bring your wand?" she hissed.
Scorpius had the decency to look embarrassed. "Devon woke up when I got out of bed, so I told him I was going to meet a girl, and everybody knows that you don't bring your wand…well…the magical type of wand…for that occasion."
Lily smacked him. "Thank you for that mental picture. I had the brains to bring my wand, so-" she lightly pushed him out of the way- "Alohomora." She tapped on the drawer handle, and an audible click was heard as it unlocked. She opened it and ruffled around inside. It was empty, apart from a piece of parchment on which was scribbled the names of several books: Magicke Most Evil, Dark Arts, Curses: A Guide to Dark Magic, and Spells You Won't Learn In School.
Lily and Scorpius looked up from the paper at the same time, their eyes meeting one another. Lily rapidly opened the other two drawers. One had a long list of students, all half-bloods or purebloods, all whose parents, or at least one, had fought in the final battle. Three names had a checkmark next to them- Sara Creevey, Daisy Zabini, and Roxanne Weasley. The other had a long list of horrible things happening to people- curses Lily vaguely recognized as being Dark, or situations that would severely hurt or kill somebody. Three things were checked off- Urna Serius, Astronomy Tower, and Crucio.
"Why would the Cruciatus Curse be checked off-" Lily started to say, but stopped as she figured it out. "Roxanne, then." She was still finding it difficult to believe that Teddy Lupin, the boy that she had grown up with, who had been like a third older brother to her, could have done such a thing. She was forced to accept it, however, in light of the evidence. He had cursed Sara's broom, pushed Daisy off the Astronomy Tower, and tortured Roxanne until she blacked out. Simple as that.
"This…wow. Just…wow." Scorpius seemed to be unable to talk in complete sentences, which Lily completely understood, feeling a similar sentiment herself. "Should we take this, or what?"
"I think so," Lily whispered, suddenly realizing that talking too loudly could lead to them getting caught. "We'll show them to Professor Clearwater in the morning. She'll send him to Azkaban, and everything will be fine." She took the three pieces of paper and stuffed them in her pockets. "We should go, then. We found what we came for, and it just feels creepy now."
"Agreed," Scorpius replied, but before they could get back under the Cloak, the door slammed open.
"Well, well, well," the figure standing in the doorway said. "Just look what we have here."
A/N: oooh cliffhanger! Anyway, I know this chapter is rather short, but I think it's kind of necessary, because if I kept going this would be way too long. Which is also the reason why there's a cliffhanger. Please review, it would make my day.