"There is no way! No way," Draco yelled from beyond Pansy's doorway. "I am not coming all the way back out there! You two are coming in here and I don't care if you lose an arm!"

Harry glanced at Blaise, who was snickering quietly behind his hand, mindful that Draco not hear him.

"He makes a good point, you know," Harry pointed out. "It's not fair that we make him do it twice for no reason."

Blaise gave Harry an incredulous look. "Who said anything about fair? I'm not getting myself maimed so that Draco can feel that we were 'fair'."

"Here," Harry offered. "I'll go next. If it's the same, you'll know what to do."

Blaise considered his offer, and shook his head. "You're too softhearted for your own good, Harry."

Harry raised an eyebrow at him. Blaise shrugged and gestured at the doorway. "After you."

Harry stepped into the hallway, and immediately ducked the flagstones. Another few steps, and the mist appeared. Harry paused.

"Pansy?" he called.

"Yes, Harry?" Her head appeared through the doorway, smiling inquisitively.

"What did the mist do to Draco?"

Pansy stepped out into the hallway and shrugged. "Just disfigured his face," she said, glancing back into her room and smiling slightly. "I told him he looks better that way, he's sulking in a corner. Also," she lowered her voice to a whisper and started walking toward him. "I'm pretty sure it's also got some sort of temporary impotence curse built in."

Harry's eyes widened and he took a step back. Pansy paused, opening her mouth to warn him, and Harry saw the snakes just in time. He dashed forward at a crouch and leapt through the mist, landing in Pansy's room and missing the blade by a hair.

He rolled a few times and landed against a bedpost. Harry got his bearings and sat up after a moment, looking around. The room was set up the same as the boys dorm, only with a lot more pink involved. There was a huddled blonde lump on the bed he had fetched up against, which meant it was probably Pansy's. All the pink looked to be her fault.

"Hey, Draco, we made it," Harry said, joining him on the bed.

"My face hurts," was Draco's reply. Harry considered this for a moment, and found that he quite agreed. Whatever disfigurement the mist had caused hurt quite a lot.

"Aren't you two a sad sight," Blaise said as he walked in with Pansy on his arm. Draco looked up at him, then at Harry, then at Blaise again. His eyes narrowed. Harry joined him. Draco's face was covered in pustules and angry red spots, and Harry was sure he looked no better. Blaise, on the other hand, looked fine. Harry gave Pansy a look of betrayal.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Harry asked, holding his jaw, where a particularly angry sore had chosen that moment to start throbbing.

"I didn't mean for you to go through by yourself, Harry," Pansy said sympathetically. "Just Draco. If I had brought you in, the traps wouldn't have been activated."

"Thanks a million Pansy," Draco muttered. "Harry here is my only true friend."

"Oh hush up, Draco, I've got some salve here that'll clear you right up." Pansy walked over to a desk that Harry was almost certain did not belong to her and started rooting through the drawers. Harry made eye contact with Draco, then glanced at Blaise, who was still standing by the door looking smug. Draco narrowed his eyes and nodded slightly.

Harry stood up and pretended to watch Pansy while Draco frowned and rubbed at his face.

"Draco, if you touch it, you'll just make it worse," Pansy said patiently from the desk. "Here it is." She held up a small bottle.

"Good," Draco said, and stood up as well. Instead of walking toward Pansy, though, he raised his wand and advanced on Blaise.

"Hey!" Blaise yelped in surprise as Harry launched himself at their smug friend and tossed him out the door. Draco poked his head out for a moment and cast Colloportus at the entrance to the common room before slamming Pansy's door shut and locking it firmly.

Pansy rolled her eyes. "Come here, Harry." She began applying the salve to his face, pausing only a moment when they heard Blaise yelling and hammering on the door.

"Harry, I can't apply this when you're smirking like that."

"Sorry, Pansy."

"Let me in you bastards! Ow! Harry, there are snakes out here! Help me!"

Draco sighed and leaned against the door with a small smile on his face. "Me next, Pansy?" There was a roaring sound, and Blaise howled. "There goes the fire," he said with satisfaction.

They let Blaise back in when Harry and Draco's faces had gone back to normal, and Pansy cast a colour charm on the doorknob that was apparently her room's code that meant she needed privacy and that her roommates were to sleep elsewhere.

"It's not like the snakes were poisonous, Blaise," Harry said reasonably, reclining on the bed as Pansy applied Blaise's salve. Draco was sitting next to the bed in Pansy's desk chair, watching every flinch with enjoyment.

"I was wrong about you, Harry," Blaise told him. "You're not softhearted at all. You're just as vicious as Draco." He didn't sound as upset about it as he might have, so Harry just grinned at him.

"Your training is complete, Harry," Draco said proudly. "Now lets see that map of yours."

Harry sat up and pulled it out of his pocket, spreading it out on the bed so that they could all see it clearly.

"Alright, now watch," he said, and Pansy quickly finished applying the salve to Blaise's face and sat on the foot of the bed, where Blaise joined her. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," Harry recited, and the Map came alive, lines winging out to every corner of the parchment. All four of them leaned over it, watching avidly.

"Look, there's Gryffindor Tower," Pansy said, smirking. "I wonder what Granger is doing in the boys dorm."

"That's her cat," Harry said, pointing at the name next to Hermione's. "Crookshanks probably snuck in or something, apparently he's always trying to break into Dudley's room."

"There's Filch," Blaise said, pointing at a nearby corridor. "I didn't know there was a broom closet in that part of the seventh floor."

"Have you ever seen this passage?" Harry asked, pointing out a set of lines that led from the seventh floor to the fifth.

"I haven't," Blaise said, tracing another with his finger. "Nor this one."

"I've seen that one," Draco said. "I use it when I'm in the library and late for Charms. It's behind a tapestry."

They examined the Map for a while in silence, speaking only to point out an interesting room or corridor they'd never seen. They found several passages that led off the grounds, toward Hogsmede, which they all thought would be especially useful. Blaise had just found another and they were debating where in Hogsmede it might lead when Harry's snake slithered down from his spot on Harry's upper arm, hissing madly.

"I smell it, I smell the man. He is nearby!"

Harry opened his mouth to reply just as Pansy gasped and grabbed Harry's arm.

"Harry, it's Black!"

Harry followed her pointing finger to the passage they had just been discussing. A dot labeled 'Sirius Black' was moving along at a rapid pace.

"Thank you," Harry said, stroking his snake's scales as he stared fixedly at the moving dot.

"That comes out on the third floor," Draco said softly, eyes wide. They watched with bated breath as Black made his way into the third floor corridor and slowed down considerably.

"He's not even going near the Dementors," Blaise whispered. "That's how he's been getting in so easily. Merlin, what do we do?"

Harry looked toward the door. Draco grabbed the arm Pansy didn't already have a hold of tightly and said, "No, Harry."

All three of them were staring at him now. Pansy's hand lingered near her wand on the bed.

"Don't even think it," she said calmly. "I have to let you out unless you want to go through that obstacle course again, and I'm not going to."

"But what if he-" Harry began, only to be cut off by Blaise, who was looking at the Map.

"He's going up," he said, anticipating Harry's argument. "You won't be in any danger unless you go chasing after him."

Harry examined the Map, confused. Black was, in fact, heading upward, taking only secret passages.

"He helped make the Map," Harry breathed. "He knows this school better than anyone. No wonder he didn't get caught last time."

"I find it particularly interesting that he still knows the school so well," Pansy said thoughtfully. "He must have kept some part of his sanity, at least."

"What is he doing?" Harry muttered, frustrated. Not once had Black done as they expected, right now included. "Why is he going to Gryffindor again?"

There was nowhere else Black could be going. He had headed up without a thought, and he was on the seventh floor already, a short distance from the entrance to Gryffindor, when he disappeared off the Map.

"Where did he go?" Draco cried out. Harry leaned forward and studied the Map anxiously. He couldn't have just gone, he had to be somewhere, he couldn't just disappear!

"There!" Pansy said, pointing. Black had reappeared in the Gryffindor common room, near an outer wall.

"That must be a passage," Harry said firmly. "Why didn't they put it on the Map?"

"Maybe they wanted to keep it a secret?" Blaise suggested. "Just in case the Map fell into the wrong hands?"

"It couldn't have been a guarded entrance," Pansy said. "He got in too easily."

"They have a portrait that guards the entrance for them," Draco said. "Harry and I met her when we went there in second year."

"You're right," Harry agreed. "He would never have gotten past her if she knew he was there. It must be a hidden entrance. But why is he up there? What is he doing?"

A moment later Black made his way up the boys' staircase, and Harry jumped up out of his seat. Draco stood at the same time and pulled out his wand, looking nervous but resolute.

"Draco, I can't just sit here and watch!" Harry yelled, angry and frantic now. "What if Ron doesn't wake up in time again? Dudley and Neville are up there too!"

"You're not going," Blaise said firmly. Pansy stood up too, and all three were pointing their wands at Harry now, though none of them looked happy about it. "You're not getting yourself killed, Harry."

"He doesn't even care about me," Harry said, trying to reason with them as his hand inched toward his own wand. "He must know where I am now, and he's not made one attempt to even look in my direction. I could just go to Snape's office-"

Pansy, who had been keeping an eye on the Map, interrupted him. "He's gone in the fourth year boys' dorm, not the third," she reported.

"What the bloody hell is he doing?" Harry cried, frustrated and confused beyond belief. "Why did he go in there?"

"Language, Harry," Pansy chided, still watching the Map. "He's poking around, not even near the beds. There's Hermione's cat, and-"

"What?" Harry dropped back down on the bed and stared at the section of the Map Pansy was indicating in bewilderment.

"There are too many people in that room," Draco noted. "There are only five Gryffindor boys in fourth year, and there are six people in there aside from Black and the cat."

Harry spotted the extra dot almost immediately; it was the only other one moving. When he read the name, his breath caught in his chest.

"Peter Pettigrew?" Blaise asked. "He's not a fourth year. I don't know who he is."

"That can't be right," Harry said softly. "Draco, Pansy, do you know anyone named Peter?"

Draco and Pansy shook their heads. "What's wrong, Harry?" Pansy asked, concerned.

"Peter Pettigrew is supposed to be dead," Harry said, watching closely as Black prowled through the room, clearly looking for something, and Pettigrew skittered around, avoiding his path. Harry wasn't sure how he was keeping hidden. Crookshanks paced by the door, almost as if he was guarding it.

"Hang on, are we talking about the Peter Pettigrew that Black is supposed to have killed? Thirteen years ago?" There was a faint note of incredulity to Draco's voice, and Harry could see why.

"Do you know of any other Peter?" Harry asked. "Seriously, do you? Because I agree that this isn't exactly likely."

They all thought quietly. "Tracy's father's name is Peter," Pansy offered. Then she frowned. "It could be Patrick, actually. I'm not certain. But his last name is Davis, obviously."

"Lupin told me the Map never lies," Harry said. "I got the idea that they had tested it extensively to make sure."

"So what you're saying," Blaise began, "Is that Black didn't break out to do evil, debauched, murderous things at all, but to capture Peter Pettigrew, who he didn't actually kill thirteen years ago."

"He never got a trial," Harry said. "If Pettigrew is alive, then what else do you think they would have found out if they'd given him one?"

"Barnaby Haskins is out of bed," Pansy said suddenly. They all crowded around the Map to watch. "Look, he's up, Black is on the other side of the room. I don't think he sees him."

"Are you kidding me, Haskins?" Draco muttered as the fourth year's dot moved toward the loo. "Sirius bloody Black is standing right behind you and you're going to take a piss?"

"Black couldn't have a wand, could he?" Harry asked, the thought having just occurred to him. They all contemplated this worriedly for a moment, before Blaise noticed something else.

"Look at the Headmaster's office!"

"What?"

"Over here," Blaise said, pointing out several dots converging around a room labelled 'Headmaster's Office'. "Those are all teachers. Something's going on."

"There goes Black," Pansy said, pointing at Gryffindor again. "Probably worried that Haskins is going to come back and see him. The cat stayed though, and Pettigrew is still stuck."

"They must know he's here," Draco said, watching the teachers now. "How do they know he's here?"

Harry thought he might have a good idea. "Where's Ravenclaw Tower?" Harry adjusted the Map until he found what he was looking for. "Look, they're all in their common room." Harry gave his friends a pointed look. "Anthony's snake must have smelled Black too, and he was actually allowed to leave his dorm to get help."

Pansy rolled her eyes at him. "I'm sure Snape will be here soon, then. You three ought to get back to your dorm, come on. It's nearly two in the morning, I don't need the rumours that will fly if you're all discovered in here."

"But what about Black?" Harry asked. "I want to keep an eye on him and see where he goes."

"We'd better hurry and get you in your room then, hadn't we?" Pansy said, folding the Map up. "How do you make it blank again?"

Harry took it from her and tapped it, muttering. "Mischief Managed."

"Your father might as well have been one of the Weasley twins," Draco commented, taking one of Pansy's arms. Harry took the other, leaving Blaise to wait for the next trip.

"I get the feeling from Lupin's stories that they all four were worse than the Weasley twins," Harry said. Pansy walked them down the hallway and into the empty common room and turned around to get Blaise.

"Merlin, imagine the Weasley twins squared," Draco shuddered as they walked to their own room. "So glad I wasn't born yet."

"I think it would've been fun," Harry said. Draco shook his head.

"You would. The only way that could be fun is if they liked you."

Harry smiled. "Of course they'd like me, I'm directly related. Though it would've been terrible family planning on my parents' part to have had me when they were still in school."

Draco bumped shoulders with him and laughed. "I don't normally have reason to say this, Harry, but you're just weird sometimes."

Back in their room, they immediately climbed into Harry's bed. Draco shut the curtains while Harry pulled out the Map and reactivated it. Blaise and Pansy arrived a moment later, and they spelled the curtains with several privacy charms before they spoke.

"You know, this is no better than us being alone in your room," Draco commented to Pansy as Harry scoured the Map for Black. "In fact, it might be even worse since we're actually in a bed behind privacy charms."

"Black's leaving," Harry said, sitting back against the headboard and letting out a gusty sigh. "Same way he came in, he's already halfway down the passage."

"This Map is incredibly useful," Blaise commented. "We get to know what's going on in the whole castle from the safety of Harry's bed."

"And do absolutely nothing about it, apparently," Harry said, a touch bitterly.

"What would you have done, Harry?" Blaise asked, raising an eyebrow. "I thought Draco was the Gryffindor in this group."

"Is it 'Insult Draco Day' or something, and I missed the flyer?" Draco grumbled, largely ignored by Harry, who was glaring at Blaise, and Blaise, who was staring steadily back. Pansy patted him on the shoulder, but otherwise ignored him as well, watching the other two boys quietly.

"I would have done something," Harry said finally. "I would have gotten a teacher, at the very least. Snape's office is right down the hall, nowhere near Gryffindor Tower. I wouldn't have just sat here and watched it all happen."

"Sometimes you can't help, Harry," Blaise said. "Sometimes trying just makes things worse. If you had gone rushing up there and confronted Black, it would have blown up in your face and you would have ended up dead, or at the very least, injured."

"Why couldn't I go get a teacher, then?" Harry challenged. "What giant debacle would have resulted from telling Snape?"

Blaise rolled his eyes. "If we hadn't seen that Anthony had done it already, Pansy or Draco or I could have gone. It didn't have to be you. It shouldn't be you. You're the only one intimately involved in this, it's not-"

"Shut up, Blaise," Harry said irritably. Blaise set his hands in his lap and watched Harry silently. Harry wiped the Map clean with a tap of his wand, folded it up, and stuck it in his bedside drawer. "Snape is coming," he told Pansy. She nodded, frowning, and slipped through the privacy charms and out the door.

Blaise sat watching Harry for another moment before getting up and going to his own bed. Draco joined Harry leaning against the headboard, and Harry moved over to make room without a sound. Draco sat quietly until Harry finally spoke.

"Blaise is a bastard."

Draco nodded. They sat in silence for a moment more.

"Was he right?"

Draco took a moment to respond, and when he did, he sighed. "He's worried about you, Harry. We all are. A mass murderer breaks out of prison and everyone thinks he's after you, except he doesn't seem to be going after you at all, so he's either crazy or he's got a completely different goal, and no one knows what that is. It's concerning."

Harry nodded grudgingly, but Draco continued.

"You want him to be innocent." It wasn't a question. "And the way he's acting, who knows? But you really want it, Harry. Blaise was worried that you'd go up there and believe the first story he told you, true or not, just because you want to."

"I'm not an idiot, Draco," Harry said wearily.

"We know you're not," Draco assured him. "You might be weird, but you're not stupid."

Harry gave him a small smile and knocked the side of his head against Draco's, just as his curtains rustled and one of the prefects pulled them open.

"Come on, you two, Snape's doing a head count." Snape did this every so often, lining up the students by year to make sure everyone was still there, especially after curfew on Hogsmede weekends. Harry cancelled the privacy charms, which garnered a raised eyebrow from the prefect. He and Draco climbed out of bed and joined their dorm mates in heading down the hall to the common room with the other students, taking their places next to the third year girls. Pansy made eye contact with Harry and raised her eyebrow. He shrugged and rolled his eyes a little.

Snape made his rounds, and found only one student absent, a first year that was soon found sound asleep in his bed, having ignored the prefect's summons. After he took his place in line, Snape stood in front of them and made the announcement.

"It has been brought to the attention of the faculty that Sirius Black is in the castle." No one looked particularly surprised, as it wasn't a Hogsmede weekend and there wasn't much else Snape called these head counts for. "We will not be making our way to the Great Hall, as Professor Dumbledore has decided it is ill advised to have students roaming the corridors with a murderer loose." The touch of sarcasm in Snape's voice when he said this told them what he thought of the idea of moving them in the first place, and whose idea it probably had been to keep them in their houses. "The castle is being searched. None of you is to leave your dormitories until morning; the Bloody Baron will be on patrol. Is that understood? Good. To bed. Mr. Potter, you will see me before you retire."

Harry approached Snape carefully through the throng of grumpy Slytherins making their way back to their beds. "Professor?"

"The faculty was alerted to Black's presence by Anthony Goldstein." Snape's eyes narrowed. "Apparently his snake told him."

Harry bit the inside of his lip where Snape couldn't see and nodded. "Yes sir, he wanted to learn Parseltongue last year. We've been practicing for a while, and he talks to his snake, Douglas, when he's at home and wants to practice without my help."

"I wasn't aware that you were giving out Parseltongue lessons, Mr. Potter," Snape said. "How is it that Mr. Goldstein's snake was able to identify Black's presence in the castle?"

"The last time Black broke in, he was in my cousin's dorm, sir," Harry explained. "Ron Weasley and I are acquaintances, and he let Anthony and I bring our snakes in so that they could identify Black's scent. We told them to warn us if they ever smelled it again, and they did."

"They both did?" Snape questioned with interest. "Why did you not also raise the alarm?"

Harry felt a fresh wave of annoyance at his friends. "I was detained, sir."

"Detained?"

"My friends decided it was in my best interests to stay in the dorm with Black in the castle, as they were worried he was looking for me. They reasoned that if my snake could sense him, then Anthony's could too, and that he would get help."

Snape nodded, apparently satisfied. "Thirty points to Slytherin for assisting another student in alerting the staff of a threat to the school. Ten points for not alerting the staff yourself, and five points each to Mr. Zabini, Miss Parkinson and Mr. Malfoy for attempting to protect another student from harm." Harry blinked. "And detention, Mr. Potter, tomorrow night in my office. That is all."

Snape swept out the door, leaving Harry standing in the middle of the empty common room, staring after him.