Daughter of a Criminal

Snapes Grudge

No one in Gryffindor Tower slept that night. They knew that the castle was being searched again, and the whole house stayed awake in the common room, waiting to hear whether Sirius Black had been caught. And everyone but Harry, Ron, and Hermoine was avoiding Ann like she had the plague again. Professor McGongall came back at dawn, to tell them that he had again escaped. Everywhere they went next day they saw signs of tighter security; Professor Flitwick could be seen teaching the front doors to recognise a large picture of Sirius Black; Filch was suddenly bustling up and down the corridors, boarding up everything from tiny cracks in the walls to mouse holes. Sir Cadogan had been sacked. His portrait had been taken back to its lonely landing on the seventh floor, and the Fat Lady was back. She had been expertly restored, but was still extremely nervous, and had only agreed to return to her job on condition that she was given extra protection. A bunch of surly security trolls had been hired to guard her. They paced the corridor in a menacing group, talking in grunts and comparing the size of their clubs. Ann couldn't help noticing that the statue of the one-eyed witch on the third floor remained unguarded and unblocked. It seemed that Fred and George had been right in thinking that they â€" and now Ann, Harry, Ron and Hermione â€" were the only ones who knew about the hidden passageway within it.
'D'you reckon we should tell someone?' Ann and Harry asked Ron.
'We know he's not coming in through Honeydukes,' said Ron dismissively. 'We'd've heard if the shop had been broken into.' Harry and Ann were glad Ron took this view. If the one-eyed witch was boarded up too, neither would never be able to go into Hogsmeade again. Ron had become an instant celebrity. For the first time in his life, people were paying more attention to him than to Harry, and it was clear that Ron was rather enjoying the experience. Though still severely shaken by the night's events, he was happy to tell anyone who asked, what had happened, with a wealth of detail, But Ann always left whenever this came up, not wanting to hear her worst fears become even more real.
'Why, though?' Ron added to Harry and Ann, as the group of second-year girls who had been listening to his chilling tale departed. 'Why did he scarper?' Ann had been wondering the same thing. Why had Sirius Black, having got the wrong bed, not silenced Ron and proceeded to Harry? Her dad had proved twelve years ago that he didn't mind murdering innocent people, and this time he had been facing five unarmed boys, four of whom were asleep.
'He must've known he'd have a job getting back out of the castle once you'd yelled and woken people up,' said Harry thoughtfully. 'He'd've had to kill the whole house to get back through the portrait hole … then he would've met the teachers …' Ann just nodded; Ann was rarely talking these days, and she barely slept, and didn't even touch her food unless Ron strong armed her to eat, or Harry encouraged. Neville was also in total disgrace like Ann. Professor McGonagall was so furious with Neville she had banned him from all future Hogsmeade visits, given him a 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 Siruis Black's break-in, she sent Neville the very worst thing a Hogwarts student could receive over breakfast â€" a Howler. The school owls swooped into the Great Hall, carrying the post as usual, and Neville choked as a huge barn owl landed in front of him, a scarlet envelope clutched in its beak. Harry and Ron, who were sitting opposite him, without Ann as she hadn't left her room all weekend except for Quidditch practice. recognised the letter as a Howler at once â€" Ron had got one from his mother the year before.
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'Hogsmeade, next weekend!' said Ron, craning over the heads to read the new notice. 'What d'you reckon?' he added quietly to Harry, as they went to sit down.
'Well, Filch hasn't done anything about the passage into Honeydukes …' Harry said, even more quietly.
'Harry!' said a voice in his right ear. Harry 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, Ann sat beside Hermoine barely breathing.
'Harry if you 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.
'Oh shut up Ron,' said Ann looking up, 'We get it your stupid rat is dead,' Ron looked taken aback. 'Harry if you do go to Honeydukes I expect an invasion,' said Ann before heading up to the girls dormitory. The three just started at one another
'She's been like this all day,' said Hermione
'Yeah, I can see that,' said Harry
'But seriously Ron, how can you let them go with you? After what Sirius Black nearly did to you! I mean it, I'll tell â€"'
'So now you're trying to get Harry and Ann expelled!' said Ron furiously. 'Haven't you done enough damage this year?' 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 Crookshanks up and hurried away towards the girls' dormitories.
'So how about it?' Ron said to Harry, as though there had been no interruption. On Saturday morning, Harry woke Ann and told her the plan. Ann agreed desperately wanting to get out of the castle and the two went down to breakfast with everyone else. Hermione kept shooting suspicious looks down the table at Harry and Ann, but they both avoided her eye, and were 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 and Ann called to Ron.
'See you when you get back!' Ron grinned and winked. Harry and Ann hurried up to the third floor, slipping the Marauder's Map out of his pocket as he went. Crouching behind the one-eyed witch, he smoothed it out. 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, but before he or Ann could climb in themselves, Neville came around the corner.
'Harry! Ann! I forgot you two weren't going to Hogsmeade either!'
'Hi, Neville,' said Harry, moving swiftly away from the statue and pushing the map back into his pocket.
'What are you up to?' said Ann
'Nothing,'shrugged Neville. 'Want a game of Exploding Snap?'
'Er â€" not now â€" we were going to go to the library and do that vampire essay for Lupin â€"'
'I'll come with you!'said Neville brightly. 'I haven't done it either!'
'Er â€" hang on â€" yeah, I forgot, I finished it last night, so did Ann!'
'Brilliant, you can help me!' said Neville, his round face anxious. 'I don't understand that thing about the garlic at all â€" do they have to eat it, or â€"' Neville broke off with a small gasp, looking over Harry's shoulder. It was Snape. Neville took a quick step behind Harry.
'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 â€"' To Ann's immense disquiet, Snape's black eyes flicked to the doorways on either side of them, and then to the one-eyed witch.
'We're not â€" meeting here,' said Ann quickly, 'We just â€" met here.'
'Indeed?' said Snape. 'You have a habit of turning up in unexpected places, Potter, Black, and you are rarely there for no reason … I suggest the three of you return to Gryffindor Tower where you belong.' Ann Harry and Neville set off without another word. Ann and Harry managed to shake Neville off at the Fat Lady by telling him the password then pretending they'd left both they're vampire essays in the library and doubling back. Once out of sight of the security trolls, Harry pulled out the map again and held it close to his nose. The third-floor corridor seemed to be deserted. Harry scanned the map carefully and saw, with a leap of relief, that the tiny dot labelled 'Severus Snape' was now back in its office. He and Ann sprinted back to the one-eyed witch, opened her hump, heaved themselves inside and slid down to meet his bag at the bottom of the stone chute. He wiped the Marauder's Map blank again, then the two set off at a run. Harry, completely hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak, emerged into the sunlight outside Honey- dukes and prodded Ron in the back, as Ann just snuck up behind Ron old fashioned.
'It's me,' he muttered.
'What kept you two?' Ron hissed.
'Snape was hanging around …' 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 …' They went to the Post Office; Ron and Ann pretended to be checking the price of an owl to Bill in Egypt so that Harry could have a good look around. The owls sat hooting softly down at the customers, at least three hundred of them; from Great Greys right down to tiny little Scops owls ('Local Deliveries Only') which were so small they could have sat in the palm of Harry's hand. Then they visited Zonko's, which was so packed with students Harry had to exercise great care not to tread on anyone and cause a panic. There were jokes and tricks to fulfil even Fred and George's wildest dreams; Harry gave Ann and 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, Hiccough 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 live here. No one can get in. Fred and George tried, obviously, but all the entrances are sealed shut …' Ann added smiling for the first time in weeks. Harry, feeling hot from their climb, was just considering taking off the Cloak for a few minutes, when they heard voices nearby. Someone was climbing towards the house from the other side of the hill; moments later, Malfoy had appeared, followed closely by Crabbe and Goyle, Ann dove behind a giant tree to stay hidden. 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 sniggered. 'I really wish I could hear that great hairy moron trying to defend himself … 'There's no 'arm in 'im , 'onest â€"' … that Hippogriff's as good as dead â€"' 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 â€" is that true?' Harry and Ann both seized the back of Ron's robes to stop him leaping on Malfoy.
'Leave him to me,' Harry hissed in Ron's ear. The opportunity was too perfect to miss. Harry crept silently around behind Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, bent down and scooped 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 â€"' SPLAT! Malfoy's head jerked forwards as the mud hit him; his silver-blond hair was suddenly dripping in muck. 'What the â€"?' Ron had to hold onto the fence to keep himself standing, he was laughing so hard. Ann chuckled silently as to not alert Malfoy to her presence. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle spun stupidly on the spot, staring wildly around, Malfoy trying to wipe his hair clean. '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. 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. Crabbe blundered forwards, his long arms outstretched like a zombie. Harry dodged around him, picked up a stick, and lobbed it at Crabbe's back. Ann doubled up with silent laughter as Crabbe did a kind of pirouette in mid-air, trying to see who had thrown it. As Ron was the only person Crabbe could see, it was Ron he started towards, but Crabbe stumbled â€" and his huge, flat foot caught the hem of Harry's Cloak. Harry felt a great tug, then the Cloak slid off his face. For a split second, Malfoy stared at him. 'AAARGH!' he yelled, pointing at Harry's head. Then he turned tail and ran, at breakneck speed, back down the hill, Crabbe and Goyle behind him. Harry tugged the Cloak up again, but the damage was done.
'Harry!' Ron said, stumbling forward and staring hopelessly at the point where Harry had disappeared, 'you'd better run for it! If Malfoy tells anyone â€" you'd better get back to the castle, quick â€"'
'See you later,' said Harry, pulling Ann under the cloak and without another word, they tore back down the path towards Hogsmeade. Back into Honeydukes, back down the cellar steps, across the stone floor, through the trapdoor â€" Harry pulled off the Cloak, tucked it under his arm, and ran, flat out, along the passage Ann right behind him… Harry hid it in a shadowy corner, then started to climb, fast as he could, his sweaty hands slipping on the sides of the chute. He reached the inside of the witch's hump, tapped it with his wand, stuck his head through and hoisted himself out; the hump closed, and just as Harry and Ann jumped out from behind the statue, they heard quick footsteps approaching. It was Snape. He approached Harry at a swift walk, his black robes swishing, then stopped in front of him.
'So,' he said. There was a look of suppressed triumph about him. Harry and Ann tried to look innocent,
'Come with me, Potter,' said Snape. Ann watched Harry leave and slumped down. Then Ann completely frogeting the cloak went back to the dorm room where she sat by the fir place waiting for what seemed like hours. shaking.
Right on cue, Ron and Ann came bursting into the office. Ron was completely out of breath, and stopped just short of Snape's desk, clutching the stitch in his chest and trying to speak. 'I â€" gave â€" Harry â€" that â€" stuff,' he choked. 'Bought â€" it â€" in Zonkos â€" ages â€" ago …'
'It's true Ron got me the same stuff,' said Ann
'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. 'Ann, Harry, Ron, come with me, I need a word about my vampire essay. Excuse us, Severus.' He, Ann, Ron and Lupin walked all the way back into the Entrance Hall before speaking. Then Harry turned to Lupin.
'Professor, I â€"'
'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 it's a map,' he said, as Ann, Harry and Ron all looked amazed. '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, Harry'
'Why did Snape think I'd 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 Ann, impressed.
'We've met,' he said shortly. He was looking at Harry and Ann more seriously than ever before. 'Don't expect me to cover up for you again, Harry. I cannot make you take Sirius Black seriously. But I would have thought that what you have heard when 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 â€" gambling their sacrifice for a bag of magic tricks, same goes for you Ann, Marlene would have found this funny though' He walked away. Slowly, he and Ann, Ron, mounted the marble staircase.
'It's my fault,' said Ron abruptly. 'I persuaded you two to go. Lupin's right, it was stupid, we shouldn't've done it â€"' He broke off; they had reached the corridor where the security trolls were pacing, and Hermione was walking towards them. One look at her face convinced Harry that she had heard what had happened.
'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?' '
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'
'Oh Hermione,' Ann said, running and hugging her best friend. Immediately apologising for her reckless behaviour in Hermione's ear