My Beloved Hogwarts

9) Christmas: Part 3

I stood, huddled behind one of the knights along the corridor, the Marauder's Map in hand. After explaining the plan, George had told us of the extraordinary qualities of the map I was holding now. It had amazed all of us, particularly Ginny, at how the twins had managed to keep it hidden from everyone.

"Pssst..." a voice hissed to my left. I stared in that direction, finding myself facing Donna's brown eyes. She was shaking her hands behind her frantically, her eyes filled with fear.

"What?" I whispered, my voice raising a bit from Donna's continous hasty movements.

Donna frowned before mouthing, "Fred and George," she stopped, waiting for me to understand to which I nodded in response, "they've been caught!"

I held in a gasp. What? If they had truly been caught, our plan would be wasted. They were the ones with the water balloons in hand, with which we were going to surprise Percy with. "How? And who?" I said quickly.

"Filch! Apparently one of the water balloons slipped from their pockets, I'm not really sure what exactly happened, but Ginny says they've been brought to Filch's study!"

I internally facepalmed. Without the twins, sneaking up on Percy wouldn't be half as fun, not only because of the balloons, but also their naturally funny nature. What were we supposed to do now?

"Hey, Ginny says we should carry on with the plan. Might as well considering the effort we put into it," Donna said encouragingly. She popped her head over the knight's statue, gesturing for us to come out.

"Guys, I think Fred told me they went this way," Ginny said, rushing ahead of me as she turned the corner. I quicky regained myself and followed her, keeping eye on the marauder's map as I did so.

Donna's footsteps pattered softly against the floor as she walked beside me, gripping my shoulder for support. "Wait, who's that?' She pointed at a figure walking quite briskly towards us. "Oh no. Ginny, it's Snape, slow down!"

Ginny halted, swiftly turning towards us. Her head moved of its own accord, before finally stopping. She began moving forward, to what seemed like another abandoned classroom, from the twenty or so we'd passed already. I quickly shuffled in through the door, Donna right behind me before she closed the door, leaning back against it. I let out a breath, holding my knees firmly in a crouched position.

Ginny manoeuvred towards the window, her head bobbing up to check on the hallway. She craned her neck in both directions cautiously, finally ducking back down after about a minute. Although she appeared calm, she raised a hand in warning towards us, silently pleading us not to make a sound.

Slowly and carefully, footsteps followed Ginny's gesture, echoing sharply against the wooden floor. I dared not even move a muscle, in case Snape caught us. Beside me, I could hear Donna's heavy breathing, still not quite recovering from our sudden run. I nudged her with my elbow, inwardly asking her to keep quiet.

As Snape drew nearer, the atmosphere in the room became more dense, leaving the few breaths I inhaled more severe and quick. I could see the fearful faces of my two friends also grimace from the lack of air. The footsteps became louder.

Ginny slid down lower from her slightly awkward, and what looked like, painful, position against the wall. It went perfectly smoothly, leaving me breathe out a sigh of relief— until her foot slipped. I recoiled at the slapping sound of her feet scratching against the dusty floor, her backside soon ending in a heap on the floor.

"Damn!" Ginny cursed. I glanced around anxiously for the infamous professor to appear any second now, seeing Donna do the same. And, soon enough, Snape's familiar greasy black hair materialized right outside the window to our classroom.