__ Snapes grudge__
"Snape was being a whore."
——
NEVILLE WAS IN total disgrace. Professor Mcgonagall was so furious with him she had banned him from all future Hogsmeade visits, given him detention, and forbidden anyone to give him the password into the tower. Poor Neville was forced to wait outside the common room every night for somebody to let him in, while the security trolls leered unpleasantly at him. None of these punishments, however, came close to matching the one his grandmother had in store for him. Two days after Black's break-in, she sent Neville the very worst thing a Hogwarts student could receive over breakfast—a Howler.
The school owls swooped into the Great Hall carrying the mail as usual, and Neville choked as a huge barn owl landed in front of him, a scarlet envelope clutched in his beak. Harry and Ron, who were sitting opposite him, recognized the letter as a Howler at once—Ron had got one from his mother the year before.
"Run for it, Neville," Ron advised.
Neville didn't need telling twice. He seized the envelope, and holding it before him like a bomb, sprinted out of the hall, while the Slytherin table exploded with laughter at the sight of him. They heard the Howler go off in the entrance hall—Neville's grandmothers voice, magically magnified to a hundred times as usual volume, shrieking about how he had brought shame on the whole family. Rose thought that was harsh.
Harry was too busy feeling sorry for Neville to notice immediately that he had a letter too. Hedwig got his attention by nipping him sharply on the wrist.
"Ouch! Oh—thanks, Hedwig."
Harry tore open the envelope while Hedwig helped herself to come of Neville's cornflakes. The not inside said:
Dear Harry, Ron, and Rose,
How about having tea with me this afternoon 'round six? I'll come collect you from the castle. WAIT FOR ME IN THE ENTRANCE HALL; YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED OUT ON YOUT OWN.
Cheers,
Hagrid.
"He probably wants to hear all about Black!" said Ron.
So at six o'clock that afternoon, Harry, Ron, and Rose left the Gryffindor Tower, passed the security trolls at a run, and headed down to the entrance hall.
Hagrid was already waiting for them.
"All right, Hagrid!" said Ron. "S'pose you want to hear about Saturday night, do you?"
"I've already heard all abou' it," said Hagrid, opening the front doors and leading them outside.
"Oh," said Ron, looking slightly put out.
The first thing they saw on entering Hagrid's cabin was Buckbeak, who was stretched out on top of Hagrid's patchwork quilt, his enormous wings folded tight to his body, enjoying a large plate of dead ferrets. Averting their eyes from the unpleasant sight, they saw a gigantic, hairy, brown suit and a very horrible yellow-and-orange tie hanging from the top of Hagrid's wardrobe door.
"What are they for, Hagrid?" said Rose.
"Buckbeaks case against the Committee fer the Disposal o' Dangerous Creatures," said Hagrid. "This Friday. Him an' me'll be goin' down ter London together. I've booked two beds on the Knight Bus..."
Harry felt a nasty pang of guilt. He had completely forgotten that Buckbeak's trial was so near, and judging by the uneasy look on Ron and Rose's face, they had too. They also forgotten their promise about helping him prepare Buckbeak's defense; the arrival of the Firebolt had driven it clean out of their minds.
Hagrid poured them tea and offered them a plate of Bath buns but they knew better than to accept; they had had too much experience with Hagrid's cooking.
"I got somethin' ter discuss with you three," said Hagrid, sitting himself between Harry and Rose and looking uncharacteristically serious.
"What?" said Rose.
"Hermione," said Hagrid.
"What about her?" said Ron.
"She's in a righ' state, thats what. She's bin comin' down ter visit me alot since Chris'mas. Bin feelin' lonely. Firs' yeh weren't talking to her because o' the Firebolt,—"
"i've been hanging out with her, i've never ignored her." Rose defended.
"O' i know, i'm not talkin' bout you," Hagrid dismissed.
"Then why am i here?"
"I'll get to it. now you two, Ron an' Harry, yet not talkin' to her because of her cat—"
"—ate Scabbers!" Ron interjected angrily.
"Because her cat acted like all cats do," Hagrid continued doggedly. "She's cried a fair few a times, yeh know. Goin' through a rough time at the moment. Bitten off more'n she can chew, if yeh ask me, all the work she's tryin' ter do. Still found time ter help me with Buckbeak's case, mind...She's found some really good stuff fer me...reckon he'll stand a good chance now..."
"Hagrid, we should've helped as well—sorry—" Harry began awkwardly.
"I'm not blamin' yeh!" said Hagrid, waving Harry's apology aside. "Gawd knows yeh've had enough ter be getting' on with. I've seen yeh practicin' Quidditch ev'ry hour o' the day an' night—but i gotta tell yeh, i thought you two, Ron and Harry, not you Rose, would value yer friend more'n broomsticks or rats. Tha's all."
Harry and Ron exchanged uncomfortable looks.
"I told you guys and you didn't listen did you? Nope. Because who listens to me? Oh yeah, thats right, No one." Rose crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, slightly shaking her head in disapproval.
"Really upset, she was, when Black nearly stabbed yeh, Ron. She's got her heart in the right place, Hermione has, an' you two not talkin' to her—"
"If she'd get rid of that cat, i'd speak to her again!" Ron said angrily. "But she's still sticking up for it! Its a maniac, and she wont hear a word against it!"
"Ah, well, people can be a bit stupid abou' their pets," said Hagrid wisely. Behind him, Buckbeak spat a few ferret bones onto Hagrid's pillow.
They spent the rest of the visit discussing Gryffindor's improved chances for the Quidditch cup, while Rose stayed quiet, adding a few random inappropriate comments for no reason, causing Hagrid to continue to shush her and say "Language!"
At nine o'clock, Hagrid walked them back up to the castle.
A large group of people was bunched around the bulletin board when they returned to the Gryffindor common room, Rose still with the two boys because she once again, didn't want to go to her own common room yet.
"Hogsmeade, next weekend!" said Ron, craning over the heads to read the new notice. "What d'you reckon?" he quietly added to Harry and Rose as they went to sit down.
"Well, Filch hasn't done anything about the passage to Honeydukes..." Harry said, even more quietly.
"Rose!" said a voice in Rose's right ear. Rose started and looked around at Hermione, who was sitting at the table right behind them and clearing a space in the wall of books that had been hiding her.
"Rose, if you two go into Hogsmeade again...i'll tell Professor McGonagall about that map!" said Hermione.
"Can you hear someone talking?" growled Ron, not looking at Hermione.
"Ron, how can you let them go with you? After what Sirius Black nearly did to you! I mean it, I'll tell—"
"So now you're trying to get Rose and Harry expelled!" said Ron furiously. "Haven't you done enough damage this year?"
Rose and Harry looked towards eachother and annoyed looks and sighed.
Hermione opened her mouth to respond, but with a soft hiss, Crookshanks leapt onto her lap. Hermione took one frightened look at the expression on Ron's face, gathered up Crookshanks, and hurried away toward the girls' dormitories.
"So how about it?" Ron said to Harry and Rose as though there had been no interruption. "Come on, last time we went you guys didn't see anything. Neither of you haven't even been inside Zonko's yet!"
Harry looked around to see Hermione was out of earshot.
"Okay," he said. "But we're taking the invisibility Cloak this time."
——
On Saturday morning, Harry packed his invisibility cloak in his back, slipped the Marauders Map into his pocket, met Rose at the Entrance Hall, and they went down to Breakfast with everyone else. Hermione kept shooting suspicious looks down the table at them, but they avoided her eye and was careful to let her see them walking back up the marble staircase in the entrance hall as everybody else proceeded to the front doors.
"Bye!" Harry called to Ron from Rose's side. "See you when you get back!"
Ron grinned and winked.
Harry and Rose hurried up to the third floor, Harry slipping the Marauders Map out of his pocket as he went. Crouching behind the one-eyed witch, Harry smoothed it out.
"Could you hurry the fuck up please?" Rose whisper-shouted.
"Don't rush me!"
A tiny dot was moving in their direction. Harry squinted at it. The minuscule writing next to it read Neville Longbottom.
Harry quickly pulled out his wand, muttered, "Dissendium!" and shoved his bag into the statue, and Rose and Harry fought, shoving eachother back in forth, whisper-shouting curse words at eachother, trying to be the first to get in.
"Harry! Rose! I forgot you guys weren't going to Hogsmeade either!"
Harry and Rose froze, their arms dangled together. They quickly moved away from eachother.
"Hi, Neville," said Harry, moving 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?"
"Er—not now—we were going to go to the library and do that vampire essay for Lupin—"
"I'll come with you guys!" said Neville brightly. "I haven't done it either!"
Rose squeezed her eyes shut in frustration. "Um—We uh— forgot, we finished it together last night—."
"Great, you both can help me!" said Neville, his round face anxious. "I don't understand that thing about garlic at all—fo they have to eat it, or—"
He broke off with a gasp, looking over Harry's shoulder.
It was Snape. Neville took a quick step behind Rose.
"And what are you three doing here?" said Snape, coming to a halt and looking from one to the other. "An odd place to meet—"
To Harry and Rose's immense disquiet, Snape's black eyes flicked to the doorways on either side of them, and then to the one-eyes witch.
"We're not—meeting here," said Rose.
"We just—met here." added Harry.
"Indeed?" said Snape. "You two have a habit of turning up in unexpected places, Potter, Black, and you are very rarely there for no good reason...i suggest the three of you return to your own common rooms, where you belong."
Harry, Neville, and Rose set off without another word. As they turned the corner, Harry looked back. Snape was running one of his hands over the one-eyed witch's head, examining it closely.
Harry and Rose managed to shake Neville off at the Fat Lady by telling him the password, then pretending they'd left both their vampire essay's in the library and doubling back. Once out of sight of the security trolls, Harry pulled up the map again and held it close to his nose.
The third floor corridor seemed to be deserted. Harry scanned the map carefully, Rose looking over his shoulder, and saw with a leap of relief, that the tiny dot labeled Severus Snape was now back in it's office.
They sprinted to the one-eyed witch, opened her hump, argued for a moment about who goes first, she told Harry to go first, he heaved himself inside and a few seconds after him, she did the same thing and slid down to meet Harry and his bag at the bottom of the stone chute. As Harry was getting up, Rose fell right on top of him.
"Ow—" He groaned.
"Why does this always happen?"
"Because you're not patient enough to wait for me to give the signal to come." He rolled his eyes.
"I could see your plan, you were gonna leave me. Don't lie to me." She playfully glared at him jabbing a finger to his chest.
He snickered, wiped the Marauders Map blank again, then they set off at a run.
——
Rose and Harry, completely hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak, emerged into the sunlight outside Honeydukes and Rose prodded Ron in the back.
"It's us," Rose muttered.
"What kept you?" Ron hissed.
"Snape was being a whore."
They set off up the High Street.
"Where are you?" Ron kept muttering out of the corner of his mouth. "Are you still there? This feels weird..."
"Shut up, Ron." Rose hissed.
They went to the post office; Ron pretended to be checking the price of an owl to Bill in Egypt so that Harry and Rose could have a good look around. The owls sat hooting softly down at him, at least three hundred of them; from Great Grays right down to the tiny little Scops owls ("Local Deliveries Only"), which were so small they could have sat in the palm of Rose's hand.
They visited Zonko's, which was so packed with students that Rose and Harry had to exercise great care not to tread on anyone and cause a panic. There were jokes and tricks to fulfill even Fred and George's wildest dreams; Harry and Rose gave Ron whispered orders and passed him some gold from under the cloak. They left Zonko's with their money bags considerably lighter than they had been on entering, but their pockets bulging with Dungbombs, Hiccup Sweets, Frog Spawn Soap, and a Nose-Biting Teacup apiece.
The day was fine and breezy, and none of them felt like staying indoors, 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..."
Rose, feeling hot from their climb, was just considering taking off the cloak for a few minutes when they heard voices nearby. Someone was climbing toward the house from the other side of the hill; moments later, Malfoy had appeared, followed closely by Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy 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 snickered.
"I really wish that 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—"
Malfoy suddenly caught sight of Ron. His pale face split in a malevolent grin.
"What are you doing, Weasley?"
Malfoy looked up at the crumbling house behind Ron.
"Suppose you'd love to live here, wouldn't you, Weasley? Dreaming about having your own bedroom? I heard your family all sleep in one room—is that true?"
Rose seized the back of Ron's robs to stop him from leaping on Malfoy.
"Leave it to us," Harry and Rose both hissed in Rons ear.
The opportunity was too perfect to miss. Rose and Harry crept silently around behind Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, bent down, and scopped a large handful of mud out of the path.
"We were just discussing your friend Hagrid," Malfoy 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—"
SPLAT!
SPLAT!
Malfoys head and knees jerked forward as the mud hit him; his silverblond hair was suddenly dripping in muck.
"What the—?"
Ron had to hold onto the fence to keep himself standing, he was laughing so hard. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle spun stupidly on the spot, staring wildly around, Malfoy trying to wipe his hair cleanZ
"What was that? Who did that?"
"Very haunted up here, isn't it?" said Ron, with the air of one commenting on the weather.
Crabbe and Goyle were looking scared. Their bulging 'muscles' were no use against ghosts. Malfoy was staring madly around at the deserted landscape.
Harry and Rose sneaked along the path, where a particularly sloppy puddle yielded some foul-smelling, green sludge.
SPLATTER!
Crabbe and Goyle caught some this time. Goyle hopped furiously on the spot, trying to rub it out of his small, dull eyes.
"It came from over there!" said Malfoy, wiping his face, and staring at a spot some six feet to the left of Harry and Rose.
Crabbe blundered forward, his long arms outstretched like a zombie. Harry and Rose dodged around him, Harry picking up a stick, and lobbed it at Crabbe's back. Harry and Rose doubled up with silent laughter as Crabbe did a kind of pirouette in midair, trying to see who had thrown it. As Ron was the only person Crabbe could see, it was Ron he started toward, but Rose stuck out her leg. Crabbe stumbled—and his huge, flat foot caught the hem of Harry's cloak. They felt a great tug, then the cloak slid off their faces.
For a split second, Malfoy stared at them.
"AAARGH!" he yelled, pointing at Harry and Rose's head. Then he turned and ran, at breakneck speed, back down the hill, Crabbe and Goyle behind him. Harry tugged up the cloak again but the damage was already done.
"Guys!" Ron said, stumbling forward and staring hopelessly at the point where Harry had disappeared, "you'd better run for it! If Malfoy tells anyone—you'd better get back to the castle, quick—"
"See you later," said Harry and Rose in unison, and without another word, they tore back down the path toward Hogsmeade.
Would Malfoy believe what he had seen? Would anyone believe Malfoy? Nobody knew about the Invisibility Cloak—nobody expect Dumbledore. Harry's stomach turned over—Dumbledore would know exactly what had happened, of Malfoy said anything—
Back into Honeydukes, back down the cellar steps, Harry trips over Rose's shoe and they almost fall down the steps but she grabs ahold of his waist and immediately pulls him up, they go across the stone floor, through the trapdoor—Harry pulled the cloak off of them, tucked it under his arm, and they looked at eachother for a moment, before taking off running, flat out, along the passage...Malfoy would get back first... how long would it take for him to find a teacher? Panting, a sharp pain in Rose's side, they didn't slow down until they reached the stone slide. Harry would have to leave the cloak where it was, it was too much of a giveaway in case Malfoy had tipped off a teacher—he hid it in a shadowy corner, then they stopped and looked at eachother.
"You go." Harry told her.
"Hell no, i don't want your face right behind my ass." She defended, blinking at him.
"Well i don't want your face right behind my ass."
"Yeah."
"Well— we're running out of time we're going to have to squish together." Harry threw his arms in the air.
"I'll suffocate."
"Yeah, yeah whatever just come on."
——
They reached the inside of the witches hump, Harry tapped it with his wand, stuck his head through and hoisted himself out, holding out his hand quickly for Rose to climb out; the hump closed, and just as they jumped out from behind the statue, they heard quick footsteps approaching.
It was Snape. He approached them at a swift walk, his black robes swishing, then stopped in front of them.
"So," he said. "What are you two doing here now?"
"Nothing." Harry quickly lied.
Snape took one look at their sweaty faces, chests heaving, and muddy hands, and narrowed his eyes.
"Come with me." said Snape.
Rose and Harry followed him downstairs, Harry trying to wipe his hands clean on the sides of his robes, Rose doing the same thing just.. with Harry's robes, not wanting to get her own robes dirty. They walked down the stairs to the dungeons then into Snape's office.
Harry had been in here only once before, and he had been in very serious trouble then too. Rose has been in here more times than she can count, mostly for setting off dung bombs (that she stole from Fred and George Weasley) in Malfoy's dormitory.
Snape had acquired a few more slimy horrible things in his jars since last time, all standing on shelves behind his desk, glinting in the firelight and adding to the threatening atmosphere.
"Sit," said Snape.
They sat. Snape, however, remained standing.
"Mr. Malfoy has just been to see me with a strange story, Potter, Black," said Snape.
They didn't say anything.
"He tells me that he was up by the Shrieking Shack when he ran into Weasley—apparently alone."
Still, they didn't speak.
"Mr. Malfoy states that he was standing talking to Weasley, when a large amount of mud hit him in the back of the head. How do you two think that could have happened?"
Rose and Harry tried to look mildly surprised.
Rose even gasped and slapped a hand to her mouth horribly acting surprised. "Oh my god—is he okay?"
"Don't even try, Black."
"It was worth a try," she sighed in disappointment, bringing her hand down.
Snape's eyes were boring into theirs. It was exactly like trying to stare down a Hippogriff. They tried hard not to blink.
"Mr. Malfoy then saw an extraordinarily apparition. Can you imagine what it might have been, Potter, Black?"
"No," They both said, now trying to sound innocently curious.
"It was your heads. Floating in midair."
There was a long silence.
It was broken by a long wheeze from Rose, hunching over in her chair, her hand on her red face, had been trying not to laugh that entire time.
They both stared at her, waiting for her laughing fit to be over.
She finally breathed, "Okay. Okay i'm good. Sorry, you can continue."
"What would your hea—"
She cut him off again, struggling to breathe by how hard but silent she was laughing.
Snape sighed in annoyance, again waiting for the laughter to stop.
From her laughter, Harry was now trying not to snort.
She caught her breath and stopped, leaning back in her chair and looking at Snape with a straight face. "I'm done. For real this time."
Snape glared at them, seeing nothing but James Potter and Sirius Black sitting in those chairs.
"Now. What would your heads been doing in Hogsmeade?" said Snape softly. "Your heads are not allowed in Hogsmeade. No part of your body's has permission to be in Hogsmeade."
"We know that," said Rose.
Harry added on, "It sounds like Malfoy's having hallucin—"
"Malfoy is not having hallucinations," snarled Snape, and he bent down, a hand on the side of Rose's chair and his other hand on the side of Harry's chair, their faces were a foot apart. "If your heads were in Hogsmeade, so was the rest of you."
"I've been in the Dungeons." said Rose.
"And i've been in Gryffindor Tower," said Harry. "Like you told—"
"Can anyone confirm that?"
They didn't say anything. Snape's mouth curled into a horrible smile.
"So," he said, straightening up again. "Everyone from the Minister of Magic downward has been trying to keep Miss Rose Black and The famous Harry Potter safe from Sirius Black. But the children are in law to themselves. Let the ordinary people worry about their safety! They just go where they want to, with no thought for the consequences."
They stayed silent. Snape was trying to provoke them into telling the truth. They weren't going to do it. Snape had no proof—yet.
"How extraordinarily like your fathers you are, Black, Potter," said Snape suddenly, his eyes glinting. "They too were exceedingly arrogant. A small amount on the Quidditch field made them think they were a cur above the rest of us too. Strutting around the place with their friends and admirers... The resemblance between your fathers and yourselves is uncanny."
"Our dads didn't strut," said Harry, before he could stop himself. "And neither do we."
"Actually my dad might've strutted, i don't know. I wasn't there." Rose said but they ignored her.
"Your fathers didn't set much store by rules either," Snape went on, pressing his advantage, his thin face full of malice. "Rules were lesser mortals, not Quidditch Cup-winners. His head was so swollen—"
"SHUT UP!"
Harry was suddenly on his feet. Rage such as he had not felt since his last night in Privet Drive was coursing through him.
"Damn," Rose whispered to herself from her seat.
Harry didn't care that Snape's face had gone rigid, the black eyes flashing dangerously. Snape's eyes turned to Rose, as if telling her to sit Harry down.
"Hey— don't look at me, i didn't do anything, leave me out of this." Rose said, putting her arms up in defense.
Snape looked back at Potter dangerously.
"What did you say to me, Potter?"
"I told you to shut up about my dad!" Harry yelled. "I know the truth, all right? He saved your life! Dumbledore told me! You wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for my dad!"
Snape's sallow skin had gone the color of sour milk.
"And did the headmaster tell you the circumstances in which your father saved my life?" he whispered. "Or did he consider the details too unpleasant for precious Potter's delicate ears?"
Harry bit his lip. He didn't know what had happened and didn't want to admit it—but Snape seemed to have guessed the truth.
"I would hate for you to run away with a false idea of your father, Potter," he said, a terrible grin twisting face. "Have you been imagining some act of glorious heroism? Then let me correct you—your saintly father and his friends played a highly amusing joke on me that would have resulted in my death if your father hadn't got cold feet at the last moment. There was nothing brave about what he did. He was saving his own skin as much as mine. Had their joke succeeded, he would have been expelled from Hogwarts."
Snape's uneven, yellowish teeth were bared.
"Turn out your pockets, Potter!" he spat suddenly.
Harry didn't move. There was a pounding in his ears.
"Turn out your pockets or we go straight to the headmaster! Pull them out, Potter!"
Cold with dread, Harry slowly pulled out the bag of Zonko's tricks and the Marauder's map.
Rose looked between the two of them nervously.
Snape picked up the Zonkos bag.
"Ron gave them to me," said Harry, praying he'd get a chance to tip Ron off before Snape saw him. "He brought them back from Hogsmeade last time—"
"Indeed? And you've been carrying them around ever since? How very touching...and what is this?"
Snape had picked up the map. Rose swallowed harshly.
"Spare bit of parchment," Harry said with a shrug.
Snape turned it over, his eyes on Harry.
"Surely you don't need such a very old piece of parchment?" he said. "Why don't i just—throw this away?"
His hand moved toward the fire.
"No!" Rose shouted, sitting up straight in her chair.
"So!" said Snape, his long nostrils quivering. "Is this another treasured gift from Mr. Weasley? Or is it—something else? A letter, perhaps, written in invisible ink? Or—instructions to get into Hogsmeade without passing the Dementors?"
Harry and Rose blinked. Snape's eyes gleamed.
"Let me see, let me see..." he muttered, taking out his wand and smoothing the map out on his desk. "Reveal your secret!" he said, touching the wand to the parchment.
Nothing happened. Harry clenched his hands and Rose clenched the sides of the chair to stop them from shaking.
"Show yourself!" Snape said, taping the map sharply.
It stayed blank. Rose and Harry were taking deep, calming breaths.
"Professor Severus Snape, master of this school, commands you to yield the information you conceal!" Snape said, hitting the map 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 peoples business."
Snape froze. Harry and Rose stared dumbstruck at the message. But the map didn't stop there. More writing was appearing beneath the first.
"Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Mooney and would like to add that Professor Snape is an ugly git."
Rose was turning as red as her hair, holding her breath trying not to burst out into laughter. But there was more....
"Mr. Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a Professor."
Rose paused, Padfoot. Padfoot. Where had she heard that before?
Harry closed his eyes in horror. When he'd opened them, the map had had its last word.
"Mr. Wormtail bids Professor Snape a good day, and advises him to wash his hair, the slimeball."
They waiting for the blow to fall.
"So..." said Snape softly. "We'll see about this..."
He strode across time his fire, seized a fistfull of glittering powder from a jar on the fireplace, and threw it into the flames.
"Lupin!" Snape called into the fire. "I want a word!"
Confused, Harry and Rose stared at the fire. A large shape had appeared in it, revolving very fast. Second's later, Professor Lupin was clambering out of the Fireplace, brushing ash off his shabby robes.
"You called, Severus?" said Lupin mildly.
"I certainly did," said Snape, his face contorted with furry as he strode back to his desk. "I have just asked Potter to empty his pockets. He was carrying this."
Snape 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?" said Snape.
Lupin continued staring at the map. He appeared to be quickly thinking.
"Well?" said Snape again. "This parchment is painfully full of dark magic. This is supposed to be your area of extra expertise, Lupin. Where do you imagine they got such a thing?"
"Dark magic? You're just salty because that map told you you had an abnormally large nose." Rose rolled eyes, leaning back in her chair again, putting her arm behind her head and spreading her legs lazily.
'Woah—' Harry thought, the way she was sitting was really—
"Hot. Is it hot in here to you guys? Is there a fan in here—" Rose used her other hand to fan her face.
Snape glared at her. "Quiet."
Lupin looked up and, by the merest half-glance is Harry and Rose's direction, warned them 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 if parchemnt that insults anybody who reads it. Childish, but surely not dangerous? I imagine they got it from a joke shop—"
"Indeed?" said Snape. His jaw had gone rigid with anger. "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?"
"Huh?" Rose questioned.
Harry didn't understand what Snape was talking about. Nor, apparently, did Lupin.
"You mean, by Mr. Wormtail or one of these people?" he said. "Rose, Harry, do you know any of these men?"
"No," said Harry quickly.
"I might—"
Rose didn't get to finish her sentence, as Harry elbowed her in the stomach.
"Ow— fuck you, Harry—" She punched his arm.
"Ouch—!"
"You see, Severus?" said Lupin, interrupting the bickering between the two and turning back to Snape. "It looks like a Zonko product to me—"
Right on cur, Ron cane bursting into the office. He was completely out of breath, and stopped just short of Snape's desk, clutching the stitch in his chest and trying to speak.
"I— gave— them— that— stuff," he choked. "Bought— it... in Zonkos.... ages—ago.."
"Ron. Breathe." Rose ordered.
"Well!" said Lupin, clapping his hands together and looking around cheerfully. "That seems to clear that up! Severus, I'll take this back, shall i?" he folded the map and tucked it inside his robes. "Rose, Harry, Ron, come with me, i need a word about my vampire essay—excuse us, Severus—"
Harry didn't dare look at Snape when they left the office. Rose, however, stuck her tongue out at him mockingly. She, Ron, Harry, and Lupin walked all the way back into the entrance hall before speaking. Then 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 its a map," hr said as Harry and Ron looked amazed, Rose was looking at her nails. "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,"
They had expected that, and was too keen for explanations to protest.
"Why did Snape think we 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 Harry, impressed.
"We've met," said Harry shortly. He was looking at Harry more seriously than ever before.
"Don't expect me to cover up for you both again. I cannot make you take Sirius Black seriously. But i would have thought that what you have heard wen 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—gambling their sacrifice for a bag of magic tricks."
He walked away, leaving Harry feeling worse by far than he had at any point in Snape's office. Slowly, he, Rose and Ron mounted the marble staircase. As they passed the one-eyed witch, he remembered the Invisibility Cloak—it was still down there, but he didn't dare go and get it.
"It's my fault," said Ron abruptly. "I persuaded you to go. Lupin's right, it was stupid, we shouldn't've done it—"
He broke off; they reached the corridor where the security trills were pacing, and Hermione walking toward them. One look at her face convinced Harry that she had heard what had happened. His heart plummeted—had she told Professor McGonagall?
"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?"
"Ron, shut the fuck up." Rose smacked the back of his head.
"No," said Hermione. She was holding a letter in her hands and her lip was trembling. "I just thought you ought to know.... Hagrid lost his case. Buckbeak is going to be executed."
——