A/N
sorry for lack of updates for so long i've been super busy with school work
-
It's no surprise that Neville Longbottom quickly became an outcast. He had been banned from all future Hogsmeade visits, given a detention, and to add on top of it all, nobody was allowed to give him the password. Poor Neville was forced to wait outside the common room every night for somebody to let him him in.
Throughout the day, the Hogwarts staff began to quickly tighten security measures. Professor Flitwick tought the doors how to recognize Sirius Black, Filch was boarding up every tiny crack or mouse hole in the walls and Sir Cadogan had been fired. (Finally.)
The ability to relish his absence was very short lasted, because next thing I knew, there were four security trolls standing in front of the Fat Lady.
"D'you reckon we should tell someone?" Harry asked, his mind on the One-Eyed-Witch passageway.
"If that gets boarded up and you'll never be able to go to Hogsmeade again." I shrugged, and Harry nodded.
"Besides, we know he's not coming in through Honeydukes." Ron said. "We'd've heard if the shop had been broken into."
Ron had become something of a celebrity around Hogwarts, and it was becoming rather annoying to have to sit and listen to him tell the story over and over again to anyone who would listen.
"Why did he run away?" He asked himself after the two second years he was yapping to scurried away.
"What'd you mean?" I asked him as we walked down the corridor to the Great Hall.
"I mean, he could've killed me once he realized he had the wrong bed. It would've been easy to just-" He imitated stabbing someone. "Then move onto Harry."
"I suppose by the time he killed you and Harry, he would've had to kill everyone in the dorms then the teachers. A lot of work, honestly." I said.
"You talk like you know." Harry joked.
"Maybe I do." I shrugged.
Before he could react to my joke, the school owls swooped into the Great Hall with the mail as usual, and Neville choked as a huge barn owl landed in front of him. It was carrying a scarlet envelope.
"Run for it, Neville." Ron said grimly. I recognized the letter immediately. I had gotten one my first year after Draco blabbed to my mother about my sorting.
Neville didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed the envelope and sprinted out of the hall. The Slytherin table burst into laughter at the sight of him running. Neville's grandmothers shrill voice could be heard from the entrance hall as the envelope exploded.
"Ouch!" Harry yelled, "oh! Thanks, Hedwig." He grabbed a letter from his owl's beak as it bit him.
It read:
"Dear Jove, Harry, and Ron,
How about having tea with me this afternoon 'round six?
I'll come and collect you from the castle.
WAIT FOR ME IN THE ENTRANCE HALL;
YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED OUT ON YOUR OWN.
Cheers,
Hagrid"
He probably wants to hear all about Black!" Ron said. I rolled my eyes, then proceeded to smack both of the boys on the back of their thick heads.
"Ow!" Ron gasped.
"What was that for?" Harry snapped. He rubbed his head.
"Neither of you are going to ask why he didn't invite Hermione?" I scoffed. Harry suddenly turned a bright shade of red, while Ron looked unbothered.
"He probably realized she's right mental." Ron shrugged. I hit him harder.
"You both are wankers, you know that?" I snapped. "Hermione's been going to visit Hagrid by herself for weeks. She's barely even talking to me because of how upset she is over you two. I understand that Weasley is a proper git, but I expected better from you, Potter." I got up from the table and turned on my heel.
"Jo." Harry called. I threw up a rude gesture, and continued to walk.
-
"How'd your hearing go?" I asked Hagrid as I sat on the edge of the black lake with Harry and Ron. I was only there for Hagrid, not for the other two pricks.
"Well, firs' off, the committee members took turns talkin' 'bout why we were there." He skipped a rock. "Then I go' up and did my piece. Said how Buckbeak was a good hippogriff. Always cleaned his feathers. And then, Lucius Malfoy got up, and he said 'Buckbeak was a deadly an' dangerous creature who would kill ya as soon as he looked at ya." Another rock. "And then he asked for the wors', old Lucius."
"They're not sacking you?" Ron asked.
"No, I'm no' sacked." Hagrid sighed. "Buckbeak's been sentenced to death." He threw a rock into the lake this time and begun to cry.
-
I had fallen asleep on the sofa in the common room, trying to figure out what to possibly put for my divination homework, when I was suddenly woken by footsteps.
I shot up sleepily, and saw a tall, black haired boy with round glasses carrying a bit of parchment, sneaking through to the portrait hole.
"Harry?" I asked. He jumped.
"Jupiter! What're you doing?"
"I was sleeping. What're you doing?" I mumbled. "And stop calling me that.
"Nah." He shrugged. "I was... going for a walk."
"Is that the map? Let me see!" I gasped, and quickly got off of the sofa. A wave of panic flashed through his green eyes and he held the parchment over his head. I could see the outline of the castle on the front of it.
"No!" He blurted. "I- I mean, it's just some parchment."
"I'm not stupid, Potter, don't act like it. You've been hiding that map from me ever since you got it." I said.
"Have not."
"Have."
"Whatever. Go back to sleep." He said, rolling his eyes.
"No, I want to come with you. I want to know what you saw on the very obvious map." I argued.
"You can't. If a teacher hears us, then we'll both get into trouble."
"You think I care about a bit of detention?" I laughed. "I'm coming with you."
"No, you're not. What if Black's in the hall's somewhere?" Harry said.
"Then we'll have better odds fighting him together. Besides, if you're so worried about getting in trouble, I'll just go grab your cloak." I shrugged. "If you leave without me, I'll try to find you anyways then I'll be alone and Black will kill me himself."
I darted up the boys' stairs and into Harry's dorm. That was perhaps one of the best things about the Hogwarts dorms. The girls could go in the boys, but if the boys tried to get up our stairs, it would turn to a slide.
I scanned the beds, looking for the four-poster twin that didn't have a snoring teenager in it. I clicked open Harry's trunk and grabbed his cloak.
When I came back down the stairs, Harry was (thankfully) nervously waiting for me at the portrait hole. He kept the map closed.
"You're annoying." He said as I joined him at his side and threw open the door.
"Thank you." I smiled innocently. "So why're we going into the halls when there's a murderer out for both of us?"
"I saw something. On the map." He said blankly.
"Gonna show me, or be a greedy twat and hide the map?" I asked, going on my tiptoes to try to see the map in his hands.
"Greedy twat." He muttered as he opened it and held it a bit closer to his face so I had no shot of reading it. "I saw Peter Pettigrew."
"Who?"
"At Hogsmeade, in the Hog's Head, I heard Professor McGonagall and Fudge talking about him. Before my parents." His eyes darted to me for a moment, then back at the paper. "They said Black killed him, but he's on the map."
"Are you sure you didn't just read it wrong?" I asked.
"Positive."
"Well, I cant be of any help unless you let me see the damn thing." I groaned, trying to peer over his shoulder. I caught a glimpse of his name, then mine. Well, half of mine. His finger was pressed firmly over my last name.
"Move your finger, Potter." I said, straining my neck over his shoulder. For a brief moment, I became conscious of the close distance between us. Luckily, it was easier to be annoyed with Harry than enamored by him.
"What? No?" He said quickly.
"What're you hiding from me?" I demanded, but before he could muster an answer, he quickly jumped and pointed his wand at the map.
"Mischief managed."
I saw the small dot of Severus Snape approaching us quickly fade out before he crumpled it into his pocket. Just as the light from a wand was stuck in Harry's face and proved his presence, I threw the cloak over my head.
"Potter." Snape growled. "What're you doing wandering the corridors at night? Who were you talking to?"
"I was sleep-walking." Harry said. Snape raised an eyebrow. "And talking. Spiders were making me tap dance."
"How extraordinarily like your father, you are, Potter." Snape said. Harry's chin subconsciously tilted up in confidence. "He, too, was exceedingly arrogant, strutting about the castle."
"My dad didn't strut. And nor do I." Harry snapped. "Now, if you don't mind, I would appreciate it if you could lower your wand."
Snape, much to my surprise, didn't murder him, and instead just lowered his wand.
"Turn out your pockets."
There it is.
Harry pulled the hidden map out of his pocket.
"What's this?" Snape asked.
"Spare bit of parchment." Harry shrugged casually.
"Really? Open it."
He opened it, and Snape pointed his lit wand to the map. I saw Harry hold his breath.
"Reveal your secrets."
Small text began to fill the map, but it wasn't the normal cover. A small smirk grew on my face as I watched the map flood with words. Of course, whoever the Marauders were, were smart enough to not let a simple spell like that expose their map.
The real question, was how Snape knew about it.
"Read it." He ordered Harry.
"Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs..." He took a deep breath before continuing on. "Offer their compliments to Professor Snape and request that he keep his abnormally large nose out of other peoples business." Harry mocked.
"Why, you insolent, little..."
"Professor." A voice said behind Snape.
"Well, well. Lupin." Snape drawled as Professor Lupin came forward, his eyes quickly landing on the map. "Our for a little walk in the moonlight, are we?"
While I definitely didn't like Snape, I found it hard not to laugh at his joke. It shocked me that Snape had a sense of humor, even if it was fairly cruel.
"Harry, are you all right?" Professor Lupin asked, ignoring Snape's comment.
"That remains to be seen." Snape snatched the map from Harry's hands. "I have just confiscated a rather curious artifact from Mr. Potter. Take a look, Lupin. Supposed to be your area of expertise, clearly, it's full of dark magic."
Lupin glanced over the map, and I swear I could see his eyes widen, but only for a moment before he returned to a relaxed state.
"Oh, I seriously doubt it, Severus. It looks to me as though it's merely a parchment designed to insult anyone who tries to read it." Lupin laughed. "I suspect it's a Zonko's product."
Snape reached for the map, and Lupin quickly pulled it away. "Never the less. I shall investigate any hidden qualities it may possess. It is after all, my area of expertise. Harry, would you come with me, please?"
Harry and Lupin set off down the hall, and I quickly followed them, trying to get my footprints quiet.
He held the door open to his classroom, I and followed them inside.
"Now, I have no clue how this map came to be in your possession, but quite frankly I am astounded that you didn't hand it in." Professor Lupin begun to lecture Harry. He knew it was a map.
I replayed a few moments in my head from moments before. His eyes widening when he saw the map, then Snape's joke about the moonlight.
Moony.
"Did it never occur to you, that this in the hands of Sirius Black is a map to you?" Lupin asked.
"No, sir." Harry muttered, his eyes on the floor.
"You know, your father never set much store by the rules, either, but he and your mother gave their lives to save yours. And gambling their sacrifice by wandering around unprotected with a killer on the loose seems to me a pretty poor way to repay them!" Professor Lupin raised his voice to Harry "Now, I will not cover for you again, Harry. Do you hear me?"
"Yes, sir." Harry said. He looked practically ashamed. I knew he looked up to Professor Lupin, and his lecture would be killing him.
"I want you to return to your dormitory and don't return to any detours. If you do..." Lupin pointed to the map. "I shall know."
Harry turned on his heel and begun to walk to the door, his head hung. "Professor." He said, stopping as he reached the hall. "Just so you know, I don't think that map always works. Earlier on, it showed someone in the castle. Someone I know to be dead."
"Oh, really? And who might that be?"
"Peter Pettigrew."
"That's not possible." Professor Lupin said, his voice shoddy.
"It's just what I saw." Harry shrugged. "Goodnight Professor." He walked down the hall. I turned to follow him.
"Jupiter, are you in here?" Professor Lupin asked, his eyes scanning the room.
What the hell?
I stayed silent and froze.
"I suppose I can just check the map." He said, taking out his wand.
"That'd be nice. Potter's been hiding it from me." I said, pulling the cloak from my head. "How'd you know I was in here, Moony?"
"I had my suspi- Moony?" He choked, his grip on the map tightening.
"Sorry, is that name reserved for the Marauders?" I asked innocently. He laughed.
"You really are clever." He sighed exasperatedly. "How'd you know?"
"You're not very good at keeping secrets, Professor." I shrugged. "I'm a little surprised that I didn't catch onto Moony sooner."
"What'd you mean by that?" He asked. I could see him holding his breath.
"Dunno. It's just... fitting." I said, pursing my lips. He nodded slowly in understanding.
"I shouldn't be surprised you'd figure it out. What gave me away?" He asked, sitting on top of his desk calmly. He watched me with a sense of pride.
"Your boggart, actually. I figured no non-werewolf would be afraid of a full-moon." I said. "The only thing I can't figure out, is who the other marauders are. I'd like to know who else to praise for the map, because it's quite brilliant."
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that, Jupiter. But I can tell you this. You're familiar with them all." He said. Before I could have time to even think about what he had just told me, he continued. "On that note, I advise you to head back to your dormitory. I assume you won't get caught." He looked at the cloak in my hand.
I looked down at the cloak, and suddenly remembered whose it was.
"James Potter! He was one!" I gasped, and a smile spread across Lupin's scarred and tired face.
"Goodnight, Jupiter." He winked. I threw the cloak over my head again and excitedly set off to catch Harry.