The Prisoner of Azkaban Read online

  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 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 neither 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 …’

  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. 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 –” … that Hippogriff’s as good as dead –’

  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 – is that true?’

  Harry seized the back of Ron’s robes to stop him leaping on Malfoy.

  ‘Leave him to me,’ he 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 –’

  SPLAT!

  Malfoy’s head jerked forwards as the mud hit him; his silver-blond hair was suddenly dripping in muck.

  ‘What the –?’

  Ron had to hold onto the fence to keep himself standing, he was laughing so hard. 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.

  Harry sneaked along the path, where a particularly sloppy puddle yielded some foul-smelling, green sludge.

  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. Harry 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 Harry stuck out his leg. Crabbe stumbled – 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 – you’d better get back to the castle, quick –’

  ‘See you later,’ said Harry, and without another word, he tore back down the path towards Hogsmeade.

  Would Malfoy believe what he had seen? Would anyone believe Malfoy? Nobody knew about the Invisibility Cloak – nobody except Dumbledore. Harry’s stomach turned over – Dumbledore would know exactly what had happened, if Malfoy said anything –

  Back into Honeydukes, back down the cellar steps, across the stone floor, through the trapdoor – Harry pulled off the Cloak, tucked it under his arm, and ran, flat out, along the passage … Malfoy would get back first … how long would it take him to find a teacher? Panting, a sharp pain in his side, Harry didn’t slow down until he reached the stone slide. He would have to leave the Cloak where it was, it was too much of a giveaway if Malfoy had tipped off a teacher. He 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 jumped out from behind the statue, he 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 tried to look innocent, all too aware of his sweaty face and his muddy hands, which he quickly hid in his pockets.

  ‘Come with me, Potter,’ said Snape.

  Harry followed him downstairs, trying to wipe his hands clean on the inside of his robes without Snape noticing. They walked down the stairs to the dungeons and then into Snape’s office.

  Harry had only been in here once before, and he had been in very serious trouble then, too. Snape had acquired a few more horrible slimy things in jars since last time, all standing on shelves behind his desk, glinting in the firelight and adding to the threatening atmosphere.

  ‘Sit,’ said Snape.

  Harry sat. Snape, however, remained standing.

  ‘Mr Malfoy has just been to see me with a strange story, Potter,’ said Snape.

  Harry didn’t say anything.

  ‘He tells me that he was up by the Shrieking Shack when he ran into Weasley – apparently alone.’

  Still, Harry didn’t speak.

  ‘Mr Malfoy states that he was standing talking to Weasley, when a large amount of mud hit him on the back of the head. How do you think that could have happened?’

  Harry tried to look mildly surprised.

  ‘I don’t know, Professor.’

  Snape’s eyes were boring into Harry’s. It was exactly like trying to stare out a Hippogriff. Harry tried hard not to blink.

  ‘Mr Malfoy then saw an extraordinary apparition. Can you imagine what it might have been, Potter?’

  ‘No,’ said Harry, now trying to sound innocently curious.

  ‘It was your head, Potter. Floating in mid-air.’

  There was a long silence.

  ‘Maybe he’d better go to Madam Pomfrey,’ said Harry. ‘If he’s seeing things like –’

  ‘What would your head have been doing in Hogsmeade, Potter?’ said Snape softly. ‘Your head is not allowed in Hogsmeade. No part of your body has permission to be in Hogsmeade.’

  ‘I know that,’ said Harry, striving to keep his face free of guilt or fear. ‘It sounds like Malfoy’s having hallucin–�
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  ‘Malfoy is not having hallucinations,’ snarled Snape, and he bent down, a hand on each arm of Harry’s chair, so that their faces were a foot apart. ‘If your head was in Hogsmeade, so was the rest of you.’

  ‘I’ve been up in Gryffindor Tower,’ said Harry. ‘Like you told –’

  ‘Can anyone confirm that?’

  Harry didn’t say anything. Snape’s thin mouth curled into a horrible smile.

  ‘So,’ he said, straightening up again. ‘Everyone from the Minister for Magic downwards has been trying to keep famous Harry Potter safe from Sirius Black. But famous Harry Potter is a law unto himself. Let the ordinary people worry about his safety! Famous Harry Potter goes where he wants to, with no thought for the consequences.’

  Harry stayed silent. Snape was trying to provoke him into telling the truth. He wasn’t going to do it. Snape had no proof – yet.

  ‘How extraordinarily like your father you are, Potter,’ Snape said suddenly, his eyes glinting. ‘He, too, was exceedingly arrogant. A small amount of talent on the Quidditch pitch made him think he was a cut above the rest of us, too. Strutting around the place with his friends and admirers … the resemblance between you is uncanny.’

  ‘My dad didn’t strut,’ said Harry, before he could stop himself. ‘And nor do I.’

  ‘Your father didn’t set much store by rules, either,’ Snape went on, pressing his advantage, his thin face full of malice. ‘Rules were for lesser mortals, not Quidditch Cup-winners. His head was so swollen –’

  ‘SHUT UP!’

  Harry was suddenly on his feet. Rage such as he had not felt since his last night in Privet Drive was thundering through him. He didn’t care that Snape’s face had gone rigid, the black eyes flashing dangerously.

  ‘What did you say to me, Potter?’

  ‘I told you to shut up about my dad!’ Harry yelled. ‘I know the truth, all right? He saved your life! Dumbledore told me! You wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for my dad!’

  Snape’s sallow skin had gone the colour of sour milk.

  ‘And did the Headmaster tell you the circumstances in which your father saved my life?’ he whispered. ‘Or did he consider the details too unpleasant for precious Potter’s delicate ears?’

  Harry bit his lip. He didn’t know what had happened and didn’t want to admit it – but Snape seemed to have guessed the truth.

  ‘I would hate you to run away with a false idea of your father, Potter,’ he said, a terrible grin twisting his face. ‘Have you been imagining some act of glorious heroism? Then let me correct you – your saintly father and his friends played a highly amusing joke on me that would have resulted in my death if your father hadn’t got cold feet at the last moment. There was nothing brave about what he did. He was saving his own skin as much as mine. Had their joke succeeded, he would have been expelled from Hogwarts.’

  Snape’s uneven, yellowish teeth were bared.

  ‘Turn out your pockets, Potter!’ he spat suddenly.

  Harry didn’t move. There was a pounding in his ears.

  ‘Turn out your pockets, or we go straight to the Headmaster! Pull them out, Potter!’

  Cold with dread, Harry slowly pulled out the bag of Zonko’s tricks and the Marauder’s Map.

  Snape picked up the Zonko’s bag.

  ‘Ron gave them to me,’ said Harry, praying he’d get a chance to tip Ron off before Snape saw him. ‘He – brought them back from Hogsmeade last time –’

  ‘Indeed? And you’ve been carrying them round ever since? How very touching … and what is this?’

  Snape had picked up the map. Harry tried with all his might to keep his face impassive.

  ‘Spare bit of parchment,’ he shrugged.

  Snape turned it over, his eyes on Harry.

  ‘Surely you don’t need such a very old piece of parchment?’ he said. ‘Why don’t I just – throw this away?’

  His hand moved towards the fire.

  ‘No!’ Harry said quickly.

  ‘So!’ said Snape, his long nostrils quivering. ‘Is this another treasured gift from Mr Weasley? Or is it – something else? A letter, perhaps, written in invisible ink? Or – instructions to get into Hogsmeade without passing the Dementors?’

  Harry blinked. Snape’s eyes gleamed.

  ‘Let me see, let me see …’ he muttered, taking out his wand and smoothing the map out on his desk. ‘Reveal your secret!’ he said, touching the wand to the parchment.

  Nothing happened. Harry clenched his hands to stop them shaking.

  ‘Show yourself!’ Snape said, tapping the map sharply.

  It stayed blank. Harry was taking deep, calming breaths.

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

  As though an invisible hand was writing upon it, words appeared on the smooth surface of the map.

  ‘Mr Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people’s business.’

  Snape froze. Harry stared, dumbstruck, at the message. But the map didn’t stop there. More writing was appearing beneath the first.

  ‘Mr Prongs agrees with Mr Moony, and would like to add that Professor Snape is an ugly git.’

  It would have been very funny if the situation hadn’t been so serious. And there was more …

  ‘Mr Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a Professor.’

  Harry closed his eyes in horror. When he’d opened them, the map had had its last word.

  ‘Mr Wormtail bids Professor Snape good day, and advises him to wash his hair, the slimeball.’

  Harry waited for the blow to fall.

  ‘So …’ said Snape softly. ‘We’ll see about this …’

  He strode across to his fire, seized a fistful of glittering powder from a jar on the fireplace, and threw it into the flames.

  ‘Lupin!’ Snape called into the fire. ‘I want a word!’

  Utterly bewildered, Harry stared at the fire. A large shape had appeared in it, revolving very fast. Seconds later, Professor Lupin was clambering out of the fireplace, brushing ash off his shabby robes.

  ‘You called, Severus?’ said Lupin mildly.

  ‘I certainly did,’ said Snape, his face contorted with fury as he strode back to his desk. ‘I have just asked Potter to empty his pockets. He was carrying this.’

  Snape pointed at the parchment, on which the words of Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs were still shining. An odd, closed expression appeared on Lupin’s face.

  ‘Well?’ said Snape.

  Lupin continued to stare at the map. Harry had the impression that Lupin was doing some very quick thinking.

  ‘Well?’ said Snape again. ‘This parchment is plainly full of Dark Magic. This is supposed to be your area of expertise, Lupin. Where do you imagine Potter got such a thing?’

  Lupin looked up and, by the merest half glance in Harry’s direction, warned him not to interrupt.

  ‘Full of Dark Magic?’ he repeated mildly. ‘Do you really think so, Severus? It looks to me as though it is merely a piece of parchment that insults anybody who tries to read it. Childish, but surely not dangerous? I imagine Harry got it from a joke-shop –’

  ‘Indeed?’ said Snape. His jaw had gone rigid with anger. ‘You think a joke-shop could supply him with such a thing? You don’t think it more likely that he got it directly from the manufacturers?’

  Harry didn’t understand what Snape was talking about. Nor, apparently, did Lupin.

  ‘You mean, from Mr Wormtail or one of these people?’ he said. ‘Harry, do you know any of these men?’

  ‘No,’ said Harry quickly.

  ‘You see, Severus?’ said Lupin, turning back to Snape. ‘It looks like a Zonko product to me –’

  Right on cue, Ron came bursting into the office. He was completely out of breath, and stopped just short o
f Snape’s desk, clutching the stitch in his chest and trying to speak.

  ‘I – gave – Harry – that – stuff,’ he choked. ‘Bought – it – in Zonko’s – ages – ago …’

  ‘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. ‘Harry, Ron, come with me, I need a word about my vampire essay. Excuse us, Severus.’

  Harry didn’t dare look at Snape as they left his office. He, Ron and Lupin walked all the way back into the Entrance Hall before speaking. Then Harry turned to Lupin.

  ‘Professor, I –’

  ‘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 Harry and Ron 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.’

  Harry had expected that, and was too keen for explanations to protest.

  ‘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 Harry, impressed.

  ‘We’ve met,’ he said shortly. He was looking at Harry 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 – gambling their sacrifice for a bag of magic tricks.’

  He walked away, leaving Harry feeling worse by far than he had at any point in Snape’s office. Slowly, he and Ron mounted the marble staircase. As Harry passed the one-eyed witch, he remembered the Invisibility Cloak – it was still down there, but he didn’t dare go and get it.