As Potter is to Snape

Chapter 44

  Harry sat on his bed with the curtains pulled around him, squinting down at the minuscule names written on the map. The other boys in his dormitory had long since dropped off to sleep but Harry wasn't so lucky. He couldn't stop thinking about Sirius Black and he had taken to checking the map at night just to see if he showed up again.

It had been three days since Black had gotten into Gryffindor Tower, and since then Ron had become a celebrity, Neville had gotten detention and had been banned from all future Hogsmeade visits, Sir Cadogan had been fired, and Harry was now being watched even closer than he had been before. He had tried convincing Snape that it was unnecessary, but he wouldn't hear anything that Harry had to say about it. As far as he was concerned, Harry could just as easily do all of his schoolwork from the safety of their quarters and should therefore be glad that he got to go to school at all.

Harry, of course, did not agree. Though, he had resigned himself to his fate anyway simply because the very idea of spending that much time in the dungeons was too much to bear. Especially when there were far more fun things to do up in Gryffindor Tower with his friends.

Harry's thoughts were abruptly cut off when he noticed a new name on the map. A name that he knew very well didn't belong there. He brought the map closer to his face, convinced that he must have read it wrong. He sucked in a breath.

Peter Pettigrew.

Harry shook his head and dropped the map onto his lap before taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes with his fists. After he'd replaced his glasses, he picked up the map once again and gave it another glance. The name was still there, moving along a fourth-floor corridor.

Harry bit his lip as he looked towards his trunk at the foot of his bed. His cloak was in there. He could get it out, take the map and go down to the fourth floor, just to check if the map was wrong. It had to be wrong.

Snape would murder him though.

Only if Snape found out.

Harry felt like the Muggle cartoon where he had an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. And just like in the cartoon, Harry listened to the little devil.

Without taking another second to think it over, Harry tossed off his blankets and as quickly and quietly as he could, he opened his trunk and pulled out the cloak. After making sure that he was covered properly, he picked up the map and his wand and slipped out of the room.

***

A few minutes later, Harry found himself searching the map intently for Peter Pettigrew's name. He was standing in the middle of the fourth-floor corridor where he had seen the name on the map, but now, he saw nothing at all.

The name was still on the map, but now it appeared to have moved around the corner and so Harry took off in the same direction. However, as he turned the corner the only thing he saw nearly made his heart leap straight out of his chest.

Snape was walking towards him from the other end of the hallway.

Harry gasped before quickly covering his mouth with his hands. Snape paused and held his wand higher, casting the light from the tip across the corridor before slowly resuming his walk towards him.

Harry held his breath as he stepped quietly back, flattening himself against the stone wall in hopes that he was far enough out of the way that he wouldn't accidentally brush against Snape as he walked past. Suddenly he was rethinking his decision to listen to the devil on his shoulder. More than that, he was cursing himself for not checking the map for Snape's location before he left the tower.

Snape was nearly right in front of him now, so close that he could reach out and touch his robes. Assuming he had a death wish. Instead, Harry pressed himself further against the wall and willed his heart to stop beating so loudly, convinced that Snape must be able to hear it from where he stood.