Emerald [Cedric Diggory]

Chapter Thirteen

When the three of them finally exited the Headmaster's tower, it was quite dark. Snape silently cast lumos and led them back to the dungeons.

Damien walked closer to her side. "It could have been a lot worse." He whispered to Maya as Snape walked a few feet ahead. "At least we're not expelled, and I'm still on the Quidditch team." Maya nodded.

"I suppose we did get off pretty easy." She admitted, as Snape suddenly came to a halt and gestured for them to stay quite. The light on the tip of his wand went out.

"Is this the part where he murders us?" Damien asked Maya in a bored tone.

"Shh!" the head of their house exclaimed as he walked further into the darkness. Maya and Damien tentatively followed. As they made a turn, Maya saw a flash of light, and her eyes widened.

Could it be Sirius Black? She thought to herself. Before she could think too much about that, the tip of Snape's wand lit up again, filling the corridor with light, and revealing-

"Potter?"

In front of them was a rattled looking Harry Potter.

"What are you doing, wandering the corridors at night?" Snape asked, his wand still pointed at the boy.

"I was sleepwalking." Harry said with a straight face, and Maya suppressed a snort. He wasn't even trying to sell it.

"How extraordinarily like your father you are, Potter." Snape spat out. "He too, was exceedingly arrogant, strutting about the castle."

That seemed to get to the boy.

"My dad didn't strut. And nor do I." he replied, and Maya could feel his anger bubbling, just below the surface. "If you don't mind, I would appreciate it if you could lower your wand."

Damien looked at Maya and mouthed, Wow. Maya nodded. Snape glared at the boy, and then to Maya's surprise- lowered his wand.

"Turn out your pockets." Snape said, pointing his wand to Harry's robes instead. When the boy didn't respond, Snape repeated himself more forcefully. Maya saw the boy grudgingly comply. His hand went into his pocket, and came out with some parchment.

"What is that?" asked Snape, suspiciously.

"Spare bit of parchment."

"Really? Open it." Harry complied, and showed it to the potionsmaster. Snape pointed his wand to the parchment. "Reveal your secret!" he said, touching the wand to the parchment.

Nothing happened.

"Show yourself!" Snape said, tapping the parchment quite forcefully now. The man is simply mad, Maya thought incredulously. It was one thing to hate someone, and another thing quite entirely to hound them so relentlessly over a blank piece of paper.

It stayed blank. Maya noticed that Harry was taking deep, calming breaths. He's hiding something, Maya realized in amazement. Was there really more to that silly bit of paper?

"Professor Severus Snape, master of this school, commands you to yield the information you conceal!" Snape said, hitting the paper with his wand.

As though an invisible hand were writing upon it, words appeared on the smooth surface of the parchment. Maya and Damien shared incredulous looks, as Snape took the paper from the boy's unresisting hands. They fell behind Snape and tried to read over his shoulder, as subtly as they could.

"Mooney presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business." said the slightly messy hand writing on the parchment.