I was planning to sleep well that night. After what happened today, I was really hoping to get more than fifteen minutes of sleep, because it seemed like I got that much sleep every night. But of course, I was wrong. But it wasn't from nightmares this time.
It was from the sound of Harry's voice. "Max, wake up." He shook me until I finally sat up, facing him.
"Harry, what are you doing here? This is the Girls' Dorm!" I said in a loud whisper.
"This is important. Look who's on the Marauder's Map." Harry gave me the map and looked at the footprints that were walking down the corridors. Peter Pettigrew. The man that was supposedly dead and all that was left of him was a finger. If Peter was said to be dead, then why was he walking around Hogwarts?
"Harry, are you sure the map isn't being stupid and just lying to you?"
Harry shook his head. "The map never lies, Max. Come on, let's go find him."
I widened my eyes at him. "Are you crazy?! We're not supposed to be out of bed and we might get killed if we go find him!"
"Oh, come on, Max! Don't you wanna know who he is and why he's here? I know you're curious to find out something, aren't you?"
He had a point. I was curious, but I didn't want to get caught out of bed at one in the morning. Also, what if we got killed? Peter Pettigrew was bad news. But Harry didn't see that. He never thought anything through before he did something. Well, actually, I didn't really think things through either. Ugh, damn Merlin for making us twins.
He raised his eyebrows at me and gave me a grin. "Well?"
I huffed a sigh and shook my head. "Fine. Meet me downstairs."
He grinned while leaving the room, closing the door quietly. If we got caught, I was going to kill him myself. It would spare Sirius Black the time, anyway. Then, he'd just have to deal with me.
*******
We left the Gryffindor Tower without waking anyone up, thank Merlin. If anyone caught us sneaking out, who knew what would happen to us. We could be expelled, which I didn't want that to happen, because Hogwarts was my true home to me. And if that was taken away from me, I didn't know what I would do.
"Lumos," we said at the same time and our wands lit up. We were both looking down at the map, following Peter's footprints. He was cutting the corner that we were almost at. We shined our wands at the wall.
"Put that light out!" A painting said. Did I just really get yelled at by a painting? Well, that was magic for you.
"Sorry," we muttered.
We were still following Peter on the map, but we had no luck seeing him in person. By that time, even more paintings yelled at us because of the light. Seriously, did paintings really need sleep? Weren't they already dead? Was I really working myself up over talking paintings? No, I was not. Okay, back to looking for Peter Pettigrew.
So, we were still looking for him when something on the map caught my eye. Peter Pettigrew turned around and was heading straight for us. Harry looked both ways, but he saw no one and heard no one coming. I knew it. The map was lying this whole time. Damn Fred and George for giving us this map! I was going to kill them both whenever I saw them.
Peter was getting closer to us. At this point, we were both freaking out, but neither of us were showing it. Even though I thought the map was lying, there was a part of me where I thought the map wasn't lying. Oh, shit. We were gonna die. Was I overreacting? Just a little? Yeah, I thought so, too.
All of a sudden, Peter was just a few feet away from us. Then it turned into inches. Then he was right on top of us. But that was on the map. If the map said that, then where was he? We both jumped when we heard the sound of a rat go past our feet. As we jumped, we turned around, facing a dirty mirror, looking at our reflection.
I took the map from Harry and saw something that scared me even worse. Snape was coming.
"Mischief managed. Nox," we both said at the same time. But Snape caught us, shining his wand in our faces.
We were dead. Totally screwed.
"Look who it is. It's the Potter twins. What are you two doing wandering the corridors at night?" he asked us.
"Sleepwalking," we replied.
Snape raised his eyebrows at us. "How extraordinarily like your father you two are. He, too, was exceedingly arrogant, strutting about the castle."
"Our dad didn't strut. And nor do we. Now, if you don't mind, we would appreciate it if you could lower your wand," I said. Yes, I gave an attitude to one of the strictest teachers at Hogwarts.
He lowered his wand and stopped when he got to Harry's pockets. "Turn out your pockets, Potter." He didn't move, "I said, turn out your pockets!" Snape commanded him once again. Harry did as he was told and pulled out the map. Damn him for giving in.
"What's this?" he asked.
Harry looked down at the map and shrugged. "Spare bit of parchment," Harry lied smoothly. I had to give him credit for that. Even though I could have done the same thing.
Snape questioned us. The look on his face said it all. "Really? Open it, then."
Harry looked at him for a second, then he finally opened the map. Snape pointed his wand on the map. "Reveal your secrets," he said.
Unfortunately, everything on the map appeared. The castle, the footprints, even the little note that appeared on the front of it. But it said something different than the last time I read it. It wasn't about the map, but it was about something else instead. Something that Harry and I found quite hilarious once we read it out loud.
"Read it," Snape commanded us.
We looked down at the paper and Harry started the note. "Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs...offer their compliments to Professor Snape, and..." Harry trailed off.
"Go on," he said.
"And request that he keep his abnormally, large nose out of other people's business," I finished coldly, crossing my arms.
Snape was not happy when I finished reading the note. "You insolent little--"
"Professor." Lupin came up behind Snape.
Snape immediately turned around, shining his wand in Lupin's face. "Well, well, Lupin. Out for a little walk in the moonlight, are we?"
Harry folded the map back up as Lupin came walking towards us. "Harry, Max? You two alright?"
"That remains to be seen," Snape snatched the map out of Harry's hands. "I have now just confiscated a rather curious artifact from Mr. Potter and Miss Potter, take a look, Lupin." Lupin took the map. "Supposed to be your area of expertise, which this is clearly full of dark magic."
Lupin looked at him funny. "Oh, I seriously doubt it, Severus. It looks to me as though it's a parchment designed to insult anyone who tries to read it." Lupin laughed, "I suspect it's a Zonko product."
Snape tried to grab it back from Lupin, but he pulled away. "Nevertheless, I shall investigate any hidden qualities it may possess. It is, after all, as you say, Severus, my area of expertise." He turned at us, "Harry, Max, would you two come with me, please? Professor, good night." We both followed him in the dark and started laughing quietly after we left Snape.
*******
"Come in, you two." Lupin opened the door to his classroom and followed him. I really thought we got away with being out of bed, but I was wrong. But on the bright side, we didn't get detention from Snape. But Lupin could make our detention worse.
"Now, I haven't the faintest idea how this map came to be in your possessions, but quite frankly, I am astounded that you two didn't hand it in. Did it never occur to you two that this is completely and utterly dangerous if Sirius Black laid his hands on it?" We just stood there for a second then shook our heads. "No," Lupin said.
"No, sir," we both muttered.
He walked towards us and looked at us. "Your father never set much store by the rules, either. But he and your mother gave their lives to save yours. Gambling their sacrifice by wandering the castle unprotected with a killer on the loose seems to be a poor way to repay them!"
Damn. Did Lupin just yell at us? Lupin never yelled. Snape yelled, Dumbledore yelled, even Hagrid yelled at times. But Lupin never yelled. No, not Lupin. He was supposed to be the fun teacher. Next to Hagrid, of course.
"Now, I will not cover up for you two again. Do you hear me?"
"Yes, sir," Harry replied.
"Max?" Lupin asked.
I stood there for a moment and then replied with, "Yes, sir."
"Now, I want you to return to your dormitories and stay there." We both nodded and headed for the door. "And don't take any detours. If you do, I shall know," he warned us, pointing at the map.
We were almost at the door, until Harry turned around again. "Professor, just so you know, I don't think that map always works. It showed someone in the castle earlier. Someone we know to be dead."
"Oh, really? And who might that be?" Lupin asked.
"Peter Pettigrew," I replied.
Lupin shook his head. "That's not possible."
"It's just what we saw. Good night, Professor," I said. And with that, we left the room, heading back for our dormitories.
*******
"Okay, that was hilarious," Harry chuckled.
I nodded my head in agreement. "Yeah, and did you see the look on Snape's face after we left with Lupin? Priceless."
Harry chuckled again. "Yeah."
We were both silent for a moment. Until I broke it. "Harry?"
"Yeah?"
"I've been thinking about something after tonight. What if Peter Pettigrew isn't dead? What if he really was on the map tonight and I was wrong?"
Harry was silent for a minute, then he answered. "Maybe there is a possibility that the map was lying, Max. Come on, you heard me telling you about Sirius murdering him. All that was left of him was a finger, remember?"
"But, Harry, I honestly doubt that the map was lying about Peter being here if he was near us tonight."
"Well, if Sirius is in the castle, then why didn't he show up on the map as well?"
Damn, he got me. I hated being wrong. I always felt like an idiot when I was wrong. But he did have a point. If Sirius Black was in the castle, why didn't we see him on the map also? Maybe we weren't paying attention and he was on the map. Or Harry could be right.
We parted ways when we both reached the steps. Because of all the walking, I wasn't as tired as I was an hour ago. But I knew I would become a bitch in the morning because Harry woke me up.
"Harry, do me a favor and never go into the Girls' Dorm again," I told him.
"Okay, sorry about that," he chuckled.
"It's fine. Good night, Harry," I said.
"Good night, Max," he replied.
I smiled at him as he went up the steps back to bed. I walked back up quietly and slid into my bed, staring at the ceiling for the remainder of the night.