A Snake Named Voldemort

Chapter 3

Voldemort was silent for several moments, his tongue rapidly flicking in and out of his mouth. Harry took that moment to check the Map, making sure Snape was still where they'd last saw him.

"Oh shit!"

As Harry's luck was fond of pissing on him at the most inconvenient times, naturally, when he checked the Map, Snape's footprints were no longer stationary in his room, but snaking through the dungeon corridors in a path that would lead right past his office. Whether or not he was actually going to stop there was unknown, but Harry wasn't going to take any chances. :We've got to go.:

:Wait! I can taste cold air and dirt. I think there is a room below this one.: His tongue flicked out again, perhaps to confirm his findings.

:I don't care, we can come back later. Snape's on his way here and I'd rather not get caught.:

Voldemort was clearly very unhappy as Harry tossed his Cloak over the two of them again and quickly left the room after making sure nothing was disturbed. Snape's magical lock automatically reinstated itself the moment he shut the door behind him. Observing the Marauder's Map, Harry watched as his name trailed away from Snape's. He felt justified in his hasty retreat when Snape stopped by his office door just a few moments after Harry had left and entered the room. The man wasn't in there long, though, before he continued walking in Harry's direction, much to Harry's dismay. Cursing, he powerwalked so as to put distance between them, not trusting his Invisibility Cloak to keep him completely undetected from Snape's perceptiveness.

Using the same system they had before, with Voldemort watching the Marauder's Map and Harry doing the walking, they retraced their steps to Gryffindor Tower.

Suddenly, Voldemort hissed, :Stop!: in Harry's ear, and the boy immediately froze and glanced down at the Map, trying to see what the problem was. Currently he was just outside the Great Hall, and coming in the opposite direction was Albus Dumbledore. Behind him, Snape was also approaching.

:I want to see what they're doing.: Hesitating before reluctantly nodding, Harry sidled up to a wall and pressed himself against it, covering himself in the shadows even though there was nothing visible of him for the shadows to actually hide. asked

:You think one of them might have fire-called the other?: Harry queried softly, a pair each of red and green eyes intently watching as the two dots got closer and closer until they intercepted each other. Voldemort didn't answer. Harry turned his attention to the real-life representative of the Map's dots as they came into view and tried to hear what they were saying.

"Severus, what seems to be the problem?" Dumbledore asked in his congenial manner.

The Potions Master looked around before silently casting a privacy charm. Harry cursed under his breath, but Voldemort told him to cast "Listen" in Parselmagic. It took two tries again, but immediately they could hear through the privacy barrier once it was cast.

"The wards in my office were tripped. I went to investigate but the intruder had left."

Inwardly, Harry winced. How could he have forgotten about wards? It probably goes to show how distracted Voldemort was to have forgotten too. Or maybe Snape was just more paranoid than they both considered him to be.

Dumbledore, however, seemed unconcerned. "Perhaps it was a rat. Was there anything disturbed or taken?"

Snape huffed. "The anti-theft wards were intact, so no. Headmaster, why did you not inform me of Potter's new...pet?"

Dumbledore twisted his blackened hand in front of him in a gesture of conciliation. "Ah yes, I see what you are getting at. I wanted to see if perhaps you'd ask the same questions I did. Has there been any sign of Voldemort since you administered the potion? By the way, well done, my boy. That had to have been difficult."