Foreshadowing the Unexpected

Chapter Ten - Sneaky Boy

You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give. --Eleanor Roosevelt

Sunday morning was spent out on the grounds, in a massive inter-house snowball fight.

Connor and Quentin managed to hold off an attack from Ravenclaw operatives by barraging them with snowballs and friendly insults. Meanwhile, Ivy, Zack and Rachel constructed a formidable snow wall to repel further attacks.

It wasn't until they had beaten the Ravenclaws into retreat and Quentin complained that he couldn't feel his hands anymore, even with gloves on, that Connor and the others relented and trooped inside.

An hour later, Madam Pince was glaring at them as they entered the library, as if suspecting that they were up to something - students didn't ordinarily spend much time in the library on Sundays. Her expression softened when she spotted Ivy, who was her particular favourite, and she left them to their own devices.

"We've only got about an hour until lunch," Rachel said. "And the library closes early today, so we won't have a lot of time to look later."

"It's not like we have a deadline, Rachel," Quentin told her with mild exasperation. "Let's just look for anything that's likely to help us, and meet back here. We can check out the books we decide to search and take them back to the Tower."

I made a list of places to start looking," Rachel said. "I thought it would be good if we each took an area to search so that we don't overlap each other."

"I think you're channelling your mother again," Connor told Rachel as she produced a scroll of parchment with a list of subjects on it.

"Ha-ha," Rachel said dryly. "You can look under cartography."

Connor winced, but nodded. He knew that there was no arguing with Rachel when she set her mind to something.

He wandered over to the massive card catalogue to begin his search, thinking that there had to be an easier way to go about this. At this rate, they would be searching for months!

The week before, when they had been planning to smuggle Rachel out of the castle and into Hogsmeade, Connor had observed that their marauding would be easier if they had more than one map. Rachel had agreed, and had immediately started making plans to figure out if it was possible to duplicate the map, or if they would have to make one from scratch.

Quentin appeared beside Connor, and slid open a long, narrow drawer full of book listings.

"What does she have you looking for?" Connor asked Quentin.

"Duplication spells," Quentin said with a sigh. "I'm still not sure how she talked us all into this."

"It's a gift," Connor murmured, flipping through the cards in this own drawer. "She used to talk me into doing the weirdest things while we were growing up."

Connor found the general area that he was looking for, and headed into the stacks to see what he could find about map making.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

"Hey, look at this," Quentin said as they were around a table in a corner of the common room later that night.

There was a large stack of books in the centre of their group, and they each had one in front of them as well.

"What's up?" Ivy asked absently, turning a page in Plotting the Unplottable.

"This book was checked out by James Potter years ago," Quentin announced, getting their attention immediately.

"Ooh!" Rachel beamed at Quentin, looking pleased. "He was one of the makers of the original map, so that's good sign."

The Connor flipped to the front of the book he was holding, and perused the checkout card pasted to the inside of the front cover. He noticed the others doing the same.

"This one only goes back to the 1990's," Zack said. "It's either a newer book, or the card's been replaced since the Marauder's time."

"That doesn't mean it won't be useful," Rachel pointed out, writing the name of Quentin's book neatly on a piece of parchment. "I'm going to keep a list of all of the books that were definitely checked out by any of the Marauders, and another of all of the ones that we've already looked at so that we don't do more work than necessary."

"You do realize that this could take years," Connor said to Rachel.

"Yes," she admitted, not seeming in the least bit discouraged. "But a lot of the work is already done for us! We won't have to actually map out the entire castle and grounds, because we already have that part done. We just need to figure out how to animate it and to get it to give us information about passwords and such, like the original map does."

"This one was checked out by both James Potter and Remus Lupin," Ivy said, having plucked another book from the stack in front of them to check.

Quentin picked up another, and inspected it. "The card is old enough, but none of the Marauders ever checked it out."

They all turned their attention to the books piled in front of them, and in the end, came up with two others that had been checked out by Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Connor felt pleased that they seemed to be on the right track, but wasn't going to hold out hope that they'd figure out all the map's secrets any time soon.

They searched through the books that seemed the most promising until it was time to go to bed, and planned to meet in the library after classes the next day to return a few of the books, and to inspect the map for clues about what they needed to research.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

At breakfast the next morning, both Connor and Quentin were both sniffling, and Ivy was sneezing every few minutes. Connor looked at the other student around the Great Hall and saw many other students were similarly afflicted. He had a feeling that Professor Snape was going to be called upon very shortly to begin brewing large amounts of Pepper Up Potion for Madam Cosgrove.

"How as practice this morning?" Zack asked as he spooned up a third helping of porridge, tossing in a handful of raisins.

"Not too bad, actually," Connor said. "It was cold, but since it wasn't snowing at the time, it wasn't much different from any other time."

"Speak for yourself," Quentin grumbled. "You're not the one with the black eye."

"Well that wasn't the weather's fault," Ivy pointed out unsympathetically. "It was that ridiculous stunt you were trying to perform on your 'improved' broomstick."

"If that manoeuvre had worked, it would have - what's that smell?" Quentin's face scrunched up in distaste.

"Sorry," Connor said, feeling his cheeks heat. "I was just putting some cream on my hands - they've been itching all morning."

Ivy plucked the ointment from Connor's hands and held it just under her nose, with her eyes closed. "Garlic, bay, eucalyptus..."

"I don't remember it smelling that bad before," Zack commented, before Ivy could get carried away with her analysis."

"It was bandaged up before," Connor said.

"Well go on back to Cosgrove and have her bandage them again," Rachel advised.

"Right," Connor said sarcastically. "I'm sure Professor Snape won't mind me missing the fist half of class. We're finishing up a potion from last Thursday, and if I'm not there, I won't get full marks."

"Not to mention that I'll have to finish it alone," Zack protested.

"Don't make me depend on Zack to get a good grade," Connor said to Rachel, then turned to Zack and added, "No offence."

"None taken," Zack assured him.

"The ointment is already working, anyway," Connor said. "If they're still bothering me after potions, I'll think about seeing Madam Cosgrove."

Rachel tutted at Connor while gathering her books, but didn't press the issue.

By the time double Potions was over, Connor had forgotten all about his itching hands until he was seated next to Quentin in History of Magic.

"I should have gone to the Hospital Wing," Connor muttered as Professor Binns droned on.

"Hands itching still?" Quentin asked.

"Well, they are, but I was thinking more of using it as an excuse to get out of here," Connor said with a chuckle. "When am I ever going to need to know why Beelin the Berserker tried to wrestle two wood trolls at once?"

"Beats me," Quentin said.

Ivy turned and shushed them with a scowl.

"You know, we could probably still get out of here - you for your eye, and me for my hands," Connor said temptingly.

Ivy was glaring at them again.

"Better not," Quentin said nervously. "We'd never hear the end of it from Ivy."

Connor sighed, as Ivy looked smug and returned to her note taking.

After class, Connor decided that he'd better go to Madam Cosgrove after all - his hands were still bothering him despite the foul-smelling cream he'd applied. The itch wasn't very intense, but it wasn't fading away like it normally did, either.

"I'll go with you and get my eye fixed before lunch," Quentin offered.

They made their way to the Hospital Wing and were not surprised to find a lot of students waiting for a dose of Pepper Up Potion after spending the previous day in the snow.

"Maybe we should have come down during History of Magic," Connor said when they saw everyone. "At this rate, we'll miss lunch."

"Mr Potter," Madam Cosgrove said when she saw him enter, "are you here because of your hands?"

"Yes, ma'am," he answered, scratching as the itching became more intense. "I used the cream earlier, but they've been itching since this morning."

"Come along to my office," she said briskly, coming forward to lead him by the arm past all of the sneezing and coughing students.

"Quentin needs his eye looked at, too!" Connor said as he was tugged along.

"Very well," the matron replied. "Come along, Mr Malfoy."

At the entrance to her office, Madam Cosgrove stopped at a small table that had been set up, where a young witch in lime green robes was standing, and administering beakers to waiting students. Connor recognised the symbol of the crossed wand and bone as one worn by mediwitches from St. Mungo's.

"Apprentice Bodine," the matron addressed the other witch, "Professor Snape should be along shortly with another supply of Pepper Up. Please see to it that each of the students gets the correct dosage and send them on their way quickly. Anyone who comes in for any other reason should be sent to me."

"Yes, Madam Cosgrove," the apprentice witch answered with a sort of odd curtsy. "Thank you for giving me this opportunity."

Madam Cosgrove waved away the thanks, and turned to gesture that Connor and Quentin should precede her into her office.

"Worth her weight in gold, that one," Madam Cosgrove said as she rummaged through a cabinet. "It's a pity St. Mungo's can't spare her for more than a few days. Now let's deal with Mr Malfoy's injury first."

"He got hit in the eye with the handle of his own broomstick," Connor supplied, more for the pleasure teasing Quentin than to give Madam Cosgrove information.

"No matter," she said, squeezing a bright blue paste onto the tip of her finger and dabbing it liberally over Quentin's black eye. "Do stop scratching, Mr Potter."

"Did the ointment I provided do no good?" a familiar voice asked from the doorway.

Connor looked over to see Professor Snape holding two very large bottles of neatly labelled Pepper Up Potion, and looking down his nose a Connor inquiringly.

"It helped a little, Sir," Connor told his teacher. He was not keen on telling Snape that any potion he had brewed had not worked in an exemplary manner. "The itching just doesn't seem to be fading today like it normally does, though it's not as irritating as it could be."

The Professor turned his eyes to Madam Cosgrove, who answered his silent query, "I've not been able to find anything remotely useful at all, I'm afraid. This case has me baffled. I was considering sending him to St. Mungo's for a consultation with a specialist if it persists."

Connor groaned.

"Hands," Professor Snape demanded, setting down the potion he had brought, and picking up a small beaker from atop the matron's desk before turning back to Connor.

Connor held out his hands, and before he could so much as blink or brace himself, the professor had drawn his wand and waved it over Connor's right hand.

Snape muttered, "Abscido Pellicula!"

Connor and Quentin both gasped as a thin strip of skin peeled itself from the back of Connor's hand. Connor was amazed that it hadn't hurt at all, and watched as Snape directed the skin with his wand so that it floated into the beaker he was holding.

"I shall inform you of my findings, if any," the professor told Madam Cosgrove without looking at either of boys. "In the meantime, you might try the Conglacare spell if Mr Potter's condition becomes critical."

"Do you think I should consult St. Mungo's, or should I wait for your input on the matter?" Madam Cosgrove asked deferentially.

"His daily routine doesn't seem to be suffering thus far," Snape observed. "I would think it prudent to wait until we have exhausted all avenues of research here, first."

Without waiting for an agreement from Madam Cosgrove, Snape turned on his heel and departed with the beaker containing the strip of Connor's skin inside.

"Aren't you the least bit creeped-out by the fact that Professor Snape is walking about with a bit of you in a jar?" Quentin asked Connor a moment later.

Connor shrugged, and was about to reply until Madam Cosgrove tutted at them.

"That will be enough out of you, Mr Malfoy," the matron said sternly. "Your eye is healed; you should see Apprentice Bodine for some Pepper Up for that cold. Then you should be heading to the Great Hall for lunch."

"See you later, Quint," Connor said as Quentin gathered his school bag.

"Now for you, Connor," Madam Cosgrove said. "I'm not sure that there is much more that we can do for you at this point, except to rely on Professor Snape to find something in the sample he took from your hand."

"So I should just go to lunch now, too?" Connor asked hopefully. His stomach made its wishes known as well with a loud grumble.

"Not so fast, young man," Madam Cosgrove said. "I still need to treat the immediate problem."

"It's not as bad as it was a few minutes ago," Connor assured her.

"But your hands are still itching?" she asked shrewdly.

Reluctantly, Connor nodded and mentally sighed as he imagined he'd be missing lunch. He watched as the matron bustled about her office, and ground some herbs with a mortar and pestle to add to a creamy base of some sort that Connor couldn't identify. At least it smelled better then the other ointment he had been using.

"What about the spell that Professor Snape mentioned?" he asked as he watched her work.

"Oh, that would only be used in an emergency," Madam Cosgrove told him. "I'm afraid it would completely deaden any feeling at all to your hands, and render them useless until the spell was lifted. We would only use that one if there was a chance that you were under the threat of serious bodily harm."

"Oh," Connor said in disappointment.

He held out his hands dutifully when asked, and sighed in relief as the cream was spread on his hands, causing a cooling, numbing sensation to spread from his wrists to the tips of his fingers.

"Better?" Madam Cosgrove was smiling at the obvious expression of relief on his face.

"Much," he assured her. "It feels tingly."

"That's what it's supposed to do," she said in a satisfied tone. "Once it's taken its full effect, you might find that the lessened feeling in your hands may make you a bit clumsy at holding things for a while. Just be careful - with your wand especially. I'm going to wrap your hands in gauze again, but you may remove it once your classes are over for the day."

Connor agreed to leave the bandages on until the cream began to wear off, and gratefully took the small jar of extra cream that she offered him. With a bit of luck, he would be able to grab something in the Great Hall to eat on the way to Care of Magical Creatures class.

"And Connor," Madam Cosgrove called after him as he was leaving her office, "you are to see Apprentice Bodine as well."

"That's okay," Connor hedged, "it's only the sniffles."

"Never you mind that, then," Madam Cosgrove smiled, eyeing him beadily. "I've got a nice supply of it right here, thanks to Professor Snape."

Connor made a disgusted face as she poured him a steaming beaker full, and she watched to make certain that he drank every last drop.

He muttered to himself all the way down to the Great Hall while his skin flushed bright red and steam poured from his ears.

Unfortunately, luck wasn't with Connor in the afternoon, either. The meal at lunch had been a choice of stew or shepherd's pie - neither one of which was easily eaten on the run. He settled for a roll from a basket, an apple shoved into his bag, and a couple of biscuits hidden haphazardly in the pocket of his robes. The lesson in Care of Magical Creatures was supposed to be one of theory, so he didn't have to worry about wild animals stealing his food.

He dashed up to Gryffindor Tower to grab the books he would need for his afternoon classes, and stuffed the map in his bag. He was supposed to meet the others to work on puzzling out the creation of the map after classes. It seemed easier to take it with him now, than to have to make the trip all the way back to his dorm room after Defence Against the Dark Arts class.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

The library was practically deserted after classes, and Connor guessed it was because of the large amount of people he had seen in the corridors suffering from the after-effects of Pepper Up Potion. His own face had taken more than half an hour to cool down and return to its normal colour after Madam Cosgrove had bullied him into taking some.

He settled at a table in a quiet corner beside Quentin and across from Ivy. They studied the map while Rachel and Zack returned some of the books that they had checked out before.

"Well, I think I may have found a charm that might work to find books checked out by the Marauders," Zack said, looking up from a thick tome that he was perusing as he joined them at the table.

Rachel settled herself beside Ivy and, and looked smug, "It was my idea," she informed them loftily.

"What kind of charm?" Quentin asked.

"It's a kind of locator charm," Zack said as he sat next to Connor. "I can work on the library in sections if it works. After I cast the charm, the books that have cards with the names James Potter, Sirius Black or Remus Lupin will slide about an inch out of their places on the shelves."

"Brilliant," Quentin said excitedly. "Let's try it!"

"Yeah," Connor drawled. "I'm sure Madam Pince will be just thrilled to death to let us practice casting charms on her precious books."

"You've got a point," Ivy agreed. "Even if we can distract her long enough to try it out, there are bound to be some areas that we wouldn't be able to hide what we were doing in."

"It will still narrow down the search quite a bit in the areas we can use the charm," Rachel said. "That's better than nothing."

"True," Ivy admitted. "Which section do you think would be the best to test it -"

Ivy's question was interrupted by a sudden blood-curdling scream coming from the front of the library. The friends all looked at each other in alarm for a moment, before rising as one and running toward the continued screaming.

Madam Pince was clutching at her chest panting out, "What is it?" in a panicked voice, to a girl huddled against the wall by the front desk.

"A h-h-h-huge sp-spider!" the girl answered, pointing to the doorway. "I was as big as a cat!"

Connor stared at the girl, as Slytherin first year from the look of her, and fought the urge to laugh. Everyone knew that there were huge spiders roaming around Hogwarts, even though they rarely made an appearance.

Rachel, Connor noticed, looked revolted and was looking around a bit wildly - she was terrified of spiders.

"For Merlin's sake, girl!" Madam Pince snapped. "You mean to tell me that you caused all of this ruckus over a spider? You nearly gave me heart failure!"

"But it was so big!" the girl said in argument.

"Nonsense!" Madam Pince said.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Everyone turned to see an irate-looking Professor Snape bearing down on the crowd that had gathered around.

Connor, not wanting to be around catch any of the over-spill of Snape's anger, nudged Quentin, and headed back to their table.

"We left the map!" Rachel suddenly whispered.

They all rushed back to the map, to find that it was still visible to anyone who cared to look, though Connor couldn't tell if it had been moved at all.

"So you think anyone saw it?" Zack asked worriedly.

Connor's eyes scanned the immediate area on the map, and his stomach clenched when he noted that a dot labelled Rupert Dursley was leaving the library, edging around the small crowd still gathered there.

"Damn it!" Connor hissed, pointing to the dot.

"Oh no," Rachel moaned. "You don't think he saw?"

"Even if he did, what good would it do him?" Quentin asked.

Connor scowled down at the map as he saw a dot marked Melanie Melrose walk away from Professor Snape and move down the corridor. She turned a corner, where her dot met the one labelled Rupert Dursley. They stood together for a few moments, and then moved off together toward the Slytherin common room.

"I don't know what's going on with Rupert and Melanie," Rachel said thoughtfully, "but we should keep our eyes open, just in case. This seems like a set up to me."

"I get the same feeling," Connor admitted. "I think that Rupert wanted to get a look at the map and maybe paid that girl to cause a distraction."

"I can't believe we didn't wipe it clean before we left it," Zack said. "We should keep it up in Gryffindor Tower from now on"

"I think you're right," Ivy agreed. "There's no way of knowing what Rupert might have seen; we were only gone for a minute or two."

"He might not have seen anything," Rachel pointed out. "It could all just be a coincidence."

"Do you really believe that?" Connor asked her.

"No," Rachel answered with a sigh.

"I still think that even if he did get a look at it, it wouldn't have done him any good," Quentin asserted. "He probably noticed us looking at it before and wondered what we were doing. It's not news that he doesn't like being left out of anything."

"That's true," Connor said, thinking of the time when Rupert had practically demanded Occlumency lessons because Connor was having them. "But let's not let it happen again. I don't even want to think about what Rupert might get up to if he knew about half of the secret passages around here."

Nodding, they packed up their bags and retreated to Gryffindor Tower.

After dinner, Connor devoted his time to homework, and then played chess until late with Ivy before going to bed. He practiced his Occlumency and laid in the dark, listening to the others soft snores.

For some reason, he couldn't sleep, and it didn't take him long to realize that he was hungry. He pulled the map out from beneath his pillow, and used his wand to see if the way to the kitchens was clear.

Letting his eyes roam all over the map, he quickly noted that the hardly anyone was out in the corridors. Professor McGonagall was in her office, and Professor Lupin and Ms. Grayson seemed to be having a late-night meeting in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. The rest of the professors and staff seemed to be in their private quarters.

"What a minute," Connor murmured quietly to himself. "Where's Filch and Mrs Norris?"

It certainly wouldn't do to get caught by the ancient caretaker or his mangy old cat. The two of them seemed to be able to appear out of thin air, despite the fact that it was well known that Filch was a squib.

Connor quickly spotted Filch in his private rooms, with Mrs Norris in her usual spot, practically on top of her owner's head. Connor thought that it was early for the pair to retire for the night, but he wasn't going to complain. He slipped out of bed and was shoving his arms into his dressing gown and taking one last look over the map before reaching for his wand. Then he saw it.

The tiny dot that was marked as Mrs Norris began to fade - then disappeared all together.

Connor stared at the spot where the dot had been just a moment before, but now it was just gone. He scanned the area all around the caretaker's quarters, but could not find her anywhere at all on the map.

"Show me Mrs. Norris!" Connor hissed at the map, feeling a bit desperate, pointing his wand to the spot that now only read Argus Filch.

The lines of the map faded away, and Connor felt a jolt of panic; he hadn't said the password to clear the map! A moment later, fine lines began to appear across the surface of the map, forming words.

Mr Prongs regrets to inform you that Mrs Norris is not on Hogwarts grounds.

Mr Padfoot adds that this should come as a great relief to any true Marauder!

Mr Wormtail agrees with Mr. Padfoot and adds a hearty, 'Thank Merlin!' at the news of her disappearance.

Mr Moony wonders why anyone would want to find that miserable old fleabag in the first place!

Connor stared disbelievingly at the map that seemed to be addressing him personally. It was kind of creepy and intriguing at the same time.

Unfortunately, he didn't have time to worry about that right now. Mrs Norris's label had faded from the map, and the map itself had told him that she wasn't on the grounds. That could really only mean one thing, couldn't it?

Jamming his feet into his slippers, Connor folded the map and slipped it into the pocket of his dressing gown. He'd seen Professor Lupin in his office.

Connor crept down the silent corridors, shivering in the cold that seemed to be emanating from the stone walls in icy waves. He knew that he could tell Lupin about what he had seen on the map without fear of being punished for being out of bed after hours.

Connor couldn't just leave the old caretaker all night with a dead cat wrapped around his head - that was just gross. As much as he disliked the old man, Connor knew that Filch loved the old cat, and would be devastated by her death.

He reached the Defence Against the Dark Arts office and was relieved to see that there was still a light burning inside. He knocked quickly and called out quietly, "Professor Lupin?"

The door opened not to Professor Lupin, but to Ms Grayson, who looked surprised to see Connor there.

"Connor! Is something wrong? Is it your hands again?" she asked with concern evident in her voice.

She quickly seized his hands and studied them as she drew him inside the warm office.

"My hands are fine," Connor said, gently pulling his hands from her grasp. "I was hoping that Professor Lupin would be here."

"He just went home," Ms Grayson said, with no less concern than before. "Should I call him back?"

"I...I don't know," Connor said, uncertain of what to do.

"Can you tell me what the problem is? Did you have a vision?" she asked him gently.

He looked at her sharply for a moment, then realised the she'd given him the perfect explanation.

"Er, yes, actually," he said. "It's just that Mrs Norris..."

"Mr Filch's cat?" Ms Grayson asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yes," Connor answered, nodding his head. "I'm afraid that she's died."

"Oh dear," she replied after a moment's thought. "The poor man will be crushed."

"Well, the thing is," Connor said uncomfortably when he saw tears spring to her eyes. "Mr Filch doesn't know about it yet, I don't think - and she still in there with him."

"In where?" she asked, seeming to banish her tears by force of will.

"In his rooms, I guess. He was in bed, I think." Connor said, trying to act as though he were relating a vision rather than reporting a known fact.

"Right," she said briskly. "I think that you should go back to bed, Connor. I'll handle the rest, and make sure that someone sees to it."

Connor nodded, feeling relieved, but unsettled. He definitely wasn't hungry anymore, but he knew that he wouldn't be falling asleep anytime soon, either.

When he got back to his room, he lay in bed and took out a parchment and quill, and began what turned out to be a very long letter home.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

The next couple of days went by without much incident, except for the fact the news of Mrs Norris's demise spread through the school. Mr Filch had not been seen at all around the school since he cat had died, and Connor could not help but feel sorry for the man. Most students, however, did not see any reason to mourn for either man or cat.

On Thursday, Connor had barely stepped out of Charms class when Whitney Glendale accosted him in the hallway, telling him that they were going to be having Quidditch practice that afternoon.

"But it's snowing!" Quentin exclaimed when came out of the classroom and overheard her.

"It'll still be a lot warmer to practice this afternoon then it would be tomorrow morning," Whitney pointed out. "Slytherin cancelled their practice today, and I signed up for their time slot. They're mad cancelling any practice with their match against Ravenclaw being the day after tomorrow."

Connor simply shrugged, and headed back to Gryffindor Tower to change, hastily eating the biscuits he had saved from lunchtime as he went.

Ivy didn't seem terribly bothered by the change in the practice schedule, pointing out that might be playing a real game in worse weather in just two weeks when Gryffindor played against Ravenclaw.

"Ravenclaw hasn't cancelled any of their practices," Ivy told the others as they stopped to cast warming charms on their practice robes and don their goggles before going out into the cold. "It will be good to watch them play Slytherin, so we can get an idea of how good a team they have this year."

"I need to talk to my dad about automatic heating charms for our broomsticks," Rachel said as they waded through the snow toward the pitch.

"Nuts to this!" Quentin said after only a few metres into the snow.

He stopped to mount his broom, and the others followed suit, riding the rest of the way through the lightly falling snow.

The snow stopped fifteen minutes into practice, and while it was cold, the low clouds seemed to be keeping the temperatures bearable.

Whitney kept them practicing for well over two hours, and was satisfied by the end of that time that they could be trusted to play well in adverse whether conditions.

It wasn't until Connor had showered and gotten changed, that he realised that he had a headache coming on, and that he would have to stop and practice his Occlumency before attempting to go to dinner or tackle his homework.

Unfortunately for him, his Occlumency took almost an hour to complete, and by the time he was finished, the serving time for dinner had passed. He sat down gloomily at a table in the Common room to do his homework, hoping to have the chance to sneak to the kitchens later.

At bedtime, he briefly practiced his Occlumency once more, and got beneath the covers. After a half an hour of staring at the hangings of his bed, he retrieved the Marauder's Map and lit his wand, hoping that the light wouldn't wake anyone.

There was very little movement at this time of night, and so it was easy to see that the way to the kitchens appeared to be clear.

Slipping out of bed, Connor drew on his dressing gown and slid his feet into his slippers. He checked the map once more time to make sure that his way was clear, and then snuck down the stairs without it. He didn't want to risk getting caught with it in his possession if there were problems.

As luck would have it, Connor didn't meet anyone on his way downstairs, and the tickled the pear in the portrait without anyone catching him. He stepped into the warm kitchen and closed the entrance firmly behind him, smiling when he saw that there were still a dozen or so house elves scurrying about.

"Master Connor!"

An elf that Connor recognised from his many trips to the kitchen trotted over with a happy smile.

"Hello, Topsy," Connor greeted him. "Any chance of a midnight snack? I missed dinner."

"Students shouldn't be being out of bed at this time of night," Topsy scolded, even as he urged Connor into a seat at a nearby table in front of the fire.

A moment later, three other elves had appeared with a plate, goblet, and silverware, and enough food to feed an entire Quidditch team.

Connor ate his fill, and thanked the elves. He was now tired and full, and knew he would have no trouble falling asleep. He walked over to the back of the portrait, intending to slip out and hurry back to his room, when he heard a noise on the other side. A soft tap, tap, tap, maybe on the front of the portrait.

Connor waited until he couldn't hear the noise anymore, and then slowly pushed the portrait out a crack to see Rupert examining a large picture on the other side of the corridor. Connor grinned and stepped as silently as he could out of the kitchen and closed the portrait behind him. Rupert was mumbling to himself and tapping at the portrait in front of him with his wand, obviously trying to get it to open.

Connor realised that Rupert must have seen the map after all, and learned where the kitchens were on it. Unfortunately for him, a quick glance wouldn't have told Rupert the secret to getting inside, even if he knew where the entrance was.

Connor grinned as he crept up behind the other boy, whispering loudly, "Don't you know that students aren't supposed to be wandering around the school in the middle of the night?"

The shriek that Rupert let out could have rivalled that of a banshee, and Connor was badly startled by it. He pushed Rupert up against the wall and clamped a hand over his mouth to prevent him from making even more noise.

"What are you, a girl?" Connor hissed. "Screaming like that is bound to bring someone running! We need to get out of here now!"

"Indeed."

Connor felt as though someone had poured a bucket of icy water over his head as he registered Professor Snape's voice behind him. He took his hand from Rupert's mouths and stepped away to face his teacher, all the while trying to think of a convincing reason to be out of bed at this hour.

"P-professor S-Snape!" Rupert stammered, clearly terrified.

"What, may I ask," Snape drawled coldly, "are the two of you doing prowling around outside the kitchens two hours after curfew?"

Connor briefly considered lying to the professor, but was not confident enough to try it. Professor Snape was very accomplished at seeing through student's flimsy excuses, and giving him one was bound to make any punishment worse.

"Connor told me to meet him here!" Rupert said at once. "He said he had something important to tell me!"

The professor stared at Rupert for a moment and then turned his eyes to Connor. "Is this true, Mr Potter?"

"No, Sir," Connor said, feeling angry that Rupert would try to get him into even more trouble. "I came down here to see if I could get a midnight snack. I missed dinner and was hungry."

"You do realise that students are not supposed to be in the kitchens?" Snape asked silkily.

"No one ever told me it was against the rules, Sir." Connor said. It was true that it had been implied, but no one had ever told him that it was forbidden.

"And did you get your snack?" the Professor asked.

"The elves said that I shouldn't be out of bed at this time of night. I was just headed back to my room when I saw Rupert there, waving his wand around at that picture. It must have scared him to see me here, because he screamed like a girl." Connor hoped that my insulting Rupert a bit, that Snape would let it pass that he had evaded answering his last question. No use in getting the elves into trouble, after all.

"I see," Professor Snape said. "Fifteen points from Gryffindor, and detention - for both of you. You will report to me on Monday afternoon, immediately following classes."

"Yes, Sir." Connor nodded and turned to go, grateful that his punishment hadn't been worse.

As he retreated down the corridor, he could hear Professor Snape berating Rupert as they walked away in the opposite direction.