Out in the dark corridor outside of the Prefect's bathroom, Harry examined the Marauder's Map to check that the coast was still clear before he attempted to sneak back to the dormitory. Yes, the dots belonging to Flich and Mrs Norris were safely in their office ... nothing else seemed to be moving apart from Peeves, who was bouncing around the trophy room on the floor above ... Harry had taken his first step back towards Gryffindor Tower, when something else on the map caught his eye ... something distinctly odd.

Peeves was not the only thing that was moving. A single dot was flitting around the room in the bottom left-hand corner – Snape's office. But the dot wasn't labelled Severus Snape ... it was Bartemius Crouch.

Harry stared at the dot. Mr Crouch was supposed to be too ill to go to work or to come to the Yule Ball – so what was he doing, sneaking into Hogwarts at one o'clock in the morning? Harry watched closely as the dot moved round and round the room, pausing here and there ...

Harry hesitated, thinking ... and then his curiosity got the better of him. He turned, and set off in the opposite direction, towards the nearest staircase. He was going to see what Crouch was up to.

Harry walked down the stairs as quietly as possible, though the faces in some of the portraits still turned curiously at the squeak of a floorboard, the rustle of his pyjamas. He crept along the corridor below, pushed aside the tapestry about halfway along and proceeded down a narrower staircase, a shortcut which would take him down two floors. He kept glancing down at the map, wondering ... it just didn't seem in character, somehow, for correct, law-abiding Mr Crouch to be sneaking around somebody else's office this late at night ...

And then, halfway down the staircase, not thinking about what he was going, not concentrating on anything but the peculiar behaviour of Mr Crouch, Harry's leg suddenly sank right through the trick step Neville always forgot to jump. He gave an ungainly wobble, and the Golden Egg, still damp from the bath, slipped from under his arm – he lurched forwards to try and catch it, but too late; the egg fell down the long staircase with a bang as loud as a bass drum on every step – the Invisibility Cloak slipped – Harry snatched at it, and the Marauder's Map fluttered out of his hand, and slid down the stairs, where, sunk in the step to above his knee, he couldn't reach it.

The golden egg fell through the tapestry at the bottom of the staircase, burst open and began wailing loudly in the corridor below. Harry pulled out his wand and struggled to touch the Marauder's Map, to wipe it blank, but it was too far away to reach -

Pulling the cloak back over himself Harry straightened up, listening hard, his eyes screwed up with fear ... and, almost immediately -

“PEEVES!”

It was the unmistakable hunting cry of Filch the caretaker. Harry could here the rapid, shuffling footsteps coming nearer and nearer, his wheezy voice raised in fury.

“What's this racket? Wake up the whole castle, will you? I'll have you, Peeves, I'll have you, you'll ... and what's this?”

Filch's footsteps stopped; there was the clink of metal on metal, and the wailing stopped – Filch had picked up the egg and closed it. Harry stood very still, one leg still jammed tightly in the magical step, listening. Any moment now, Filch was going to pull aside the tapestry, expecting to see Peeves ... and there would be no Peeves ... but if he came up the stairs, he would spot the Marauder's Map ... and Invisibility Cloak or not, the map would show 'Harry Potter' standing exactly where he was.

“Egg?” Filch said quietly at the foot of the stairs. “My sweet!” - Mrs Norris was obviously with him - “This is a Triwizard Clue! This belongs to a school champion!”

Harry felt sick, his heart hammering very fast -

“PEEVES!” Filch roared gleefully. “You've been stealing!”

He ripped back the tapestry below, and Harry saw his horrible pouchy face, and bulging, pale eyes staring up the dark and (to Filch) deserted staircase.

“Hiding are you?” he said softly. “I'm coming to get you, Peeves ... you've gone and stolen a Triwizard clue, Peeves ... Dumbledore'll have you out of here for this, you filthy pilfering poltergeist ...”

Filch started to climb the stairs, his scrawny, dust-coloured cat at his heels. Mrs Norris's lamp-like eyes, so very like her master's, were fixed directly upon Harry. He had had occasion before now to wonder whether the Invisibility Cloak worked on cats ... sick with apprehension, he watched Filch draw nearer and nearer in his old flannel dressing gown – he tried desperately to pull his trapped leg free, but it merely sank a few more inches – any second now, Filch was going to spot the map or walk right into him -

“Filch? What's going on?”

Filch stopped a few steps below Harry, and turned. At the foot of the stairs stood the only person who could make Harry's situation worse – Snape. He was wearing a long grey nightshirt and he look livid.

“It's Peeves, Professor,” Filch whispered malevolently. “He threw this egg down the stairs.”

Snape climbed up the stairs quickly and stopped beside Filch. Harry gritted his teeth, convinced his loudly beating heart would give him away at any second ...

“Peeves?” said Snape softly, staring at the egg in Filch's hands. “But Peeves couldn't get into my office ...”

“This egg was in your office, Professor?”

“Of course not,” Snape snapped, “I heard banging and wailing -”

“Yes, Professor, that was the egg -”

“- I came to investigate -”

“- Peeves threw it, Professor -”

“- and when I passed my office, I saw that the torches were lit and the cupboard door was ajar! Somebody has been searching it!”

“But Peeves couldn't -”

“I know he couldn't, Filch!” Snape snapped. “I seal my office with a spell none but a wizard could break!” Snape looked up the stairs, straight through Harry, and then down into the corridor below. “I want you to come and help me search for the intruder, Filch.”

“I – yes, Professor – but -”

Filch looked yearningly up the stairs, right through Harry, who could see that he was very reluctant to forgo the chance of cornering Peeves. Go, Harry pleaded with him silently, go with Snape ... go ... Mrs Norris was peering around Filch's legs ... Harry had the distinct impression that she could smell him ... why had he filled that bath with so much perfumed foam?

“The thing is, Professor,” said Filch plaintively. “the Headmaster will have to listen to me this time, Peeves has been stealing from a student, it might be my chance to get him thrown out of the castle once and for all -”

“Filch, I don't give damn about that wretched poltergeist, it's my office that's -”

Snape stopped talking very abruptly. He took one prowling step up the staircase and stared intently at something several steps above him – the map. Harry gulped and squeezed his eyes shut in horror. He was done for. He opened one eye and watched Snape's travel from the map six steps below Harry and up the stairs. They stopped directly where Harry stood, as though he could suddenly see him. He spotted the open trick step that meant something was trapped in it. A look of horrible dawning comprehension was on Snape's face as he took another step towards the map. Harry could do nothing but watch as Snape put two and two together. He didn't turn around as he said coldly to Filch, “Search the castle for the intruder. They won't be far I expect. And leave the egg.”

Harry shuddered. Snape was going to deal with him alone. He tried desperately to free his suffering leg from the jaws of the step.

“But Professor -” Filch exclaimed, clutching the egg as though it were his first born son. “Professor Snape, this is evidence of Peeve's treachery!”

“It is the property of the champion he stole it from,” Snape swept around to glare at him. “Leave it!”

Filch fumbled with the egg a moment more before reluctantly placing it carefully on the step, and disappeared from view down the corridor, muttering to Mrs Norris, “Never mind, my sweet ... we'll see Dumbledore in the morning ... tell him what Peeves was up to ...”

Snape stood perfectly still, staring in Harry's direction. A door slammed, signalling that they were alone. Harry was trembling slightly, the pain in his trapped leg forgotten as Snape stood there. Snape turned to inspect the corridor before finally gliding up the last remaining steps to the map. He reached out one pale hand and scooped up the parchment, unfurling it and, finally, inspecting it.

Harry held his breath. He still hadn't moved, as though risking it would confirm that he was indeed there. It reminded him of when he was three and believed that if you couldn't see someone, they couldn't see you and had used that theory all the times Dudley had been feeling particularly bored. How he wished it were true, more so now that any other day throughout his childhood.

“Potter,” Snape sneered darkly. Harry began breathing heavily as Snape took a step towards him seemingly as sure as though he could see him. “Are you going to remove that cloak or shall I?” Harry didn't move. Snape sighed contentedly. He was enjoying this as much as Filch enjoyed the idea of ridding the castle of Peeves.

Snape walked casually up the stairs and reached out one slender hand. Harry futilely leaned away from his touch, attempting to avoid the questing fingers, which groped the air for a moment before finally coming into contact with Harry's heaving shoulder. Snape grinned.

He slowly peeled away the cloak, savouring the moment as he unveiled Harry. Harry didn't look at him, he couldn't. The expression of pleasure on his face would confirm that Snape had finally gotten what he wanted for the last four years. He stared miserably at the floor. Snape stepped towards him, so that he was standing on the step below Harry, directly before him.

“I'm not going to ask for an explanation,” said Snape quietly. There was too much mirth in his voice for comfort. “With you, I'm sure it will involve some daring heroics, which, quite frankly, I am tired of hearing. But, I will ask you this. What could possible make you believe that you wouldn't be found out?”

Harry didn't say anything for a moment. He just focused on the floor. “Well?” Harry shrugged in answer. Harry was sure had he been looking at his Professor there would have been a smirk of triumph on his face. Snape leaned down then, and wrenched Harry's throbbing leg free of the trick step, much to Harry's surprise. He stood on the step above Snape, and met the Potions Master's eyes.

He wasn't grinning. On the contrary, he was scowling angrily at Harry. “Sit.” Harry obeyed hurriedly, and once again, returned his gaze to the floor as Snape hovered above him. “You'll be expelled for this.” Harry glanced up at him in horror, hearing those words out loud seemed to confirm his worst fears. “Sneaking around the castle in the middle of the night. Causing a disturbance. Thieving -”

Harry finally understood. Snape thought he'd been the one searching his office.

“I didn't -” he began to protest angrily.

“Do not lie to me, Potter!” Snape hissed furiously. “One too many of my things have disappeared over the years and there is always a Potter behind it! You and your nasty little friends have been brewing Polyjuice Potion and I want to know why.”

“We haven't been making anything -”

“Of course you have, Potter. You're always up to something, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let you get away with it. Someone has been in my office tonight. Do you see anyone else here?”

Snape was leering at Harry, who was now meeting his gaze defiantly. Snape could expel him for any number of things, wandering around the school at night being one of them, but he wasn't going to be expelled for a crime he didn't even commit.

“I haven't been anywhere near -”

“Really? Then what are you doing here in the first place?”

“Trying to solve the egg -”

“- and how, pray tell, were you planning on doing that in my office?”

“I wasn't in your office!” Harry yelled, frustrated. Snape glared at him dubiously.

“You're lying,” said Snape silkily. “About one thing or another.”

Harry sighed and settled on telling the truth.

“I was using the map,” he gestured towards the parchment still clutched in Snape's hands. “To get back to my dormitory after being in the Prefects bathroom trying to solve the egg.”

Harry expected Snape to add this to the other list of offences. Miraculously, Snape kept quiet. “And I noticed something ... strange. The map said that Mr Crouch was in your office.”

“Crouch? And you expect me to believe this, do you Potter?” Snape sneered.

“You can ask Moaning Myrtle! She came into the bathroom when I was trying to figure out that egg!” said Harry earnestly.

“Then how did you end up here, Potter?” asked Snape, obviously unconvinced.

“I wanted to see what Mr Crouch was up to. It just didn't seem like him to be here in the middle of the night,” answered Harry truthfully. Snape leered at him for a moment, his eyes searching Harry's for any trace of an untruth. He raised the map and began scrutinising it wildly. He glanced at Harry.

“And ... this map?” he said, the venom in his voice was fleeting. “It is accurate?”

That hadn't been the question Harry had expected. He nodded mutely, wondering what Snape meant. “I'm confiscating these.”

Harry opened his mouth to protest but snapped it shut almost immediately at the fierce look on the Potions Master's face. “Yes, sir,” he mumbled. How was he going to get by without his Cloak?

“Perhaps you weren't in my office, but you were running about the castle in the middle of the night doing Merlin knows what. Do you have any idea of the kind of danger you put yourself in?” Snape asked angrily, the animosity in his voice returned with vengeance. Harry hoped the question was rhetorical. “Of what could have happened? Did it not occur to you that someone is doing their uttermost to get you out of the way? Why do you think you're in this tournament in the first place? You survived the First Task, and they are going to do everything in their power to make sure you don't survive the second!”

If it had been anyone but Snape, Harry would have sworn that this lecture was not out of malice, but out of concern. It felt somewhat like when Professor Lupin had found him wandering the corridors last year. “Of all the stupid -” And, that's where the similarity ended. “Gryffindor things to do -”

“I am in Gryffindor, Professor,” said Harry simply. Snape glared at him.

“Yes, and thirty points from them,” said Snape vindictively. “You'll receive detention for the next two weeks, as well, Potter. We have to try and break this recurring habit of yours.”

Harry glowered at him resentfully.

“And don't presume to look at me like that,” said Snape disdainfully. “You shouldn't have been out of your dormitory at this time of night, and you know it. You must ask yourself what you're angry at. That I'm punishing you for something you know you shouldn't have been doing, or at yourself for being caught.”

Harry didn't answer. It sounded almost as though it were some imparting wisdom, something Dumbledore might have said, albeit without growling it.

“Back to Gryffindor Tower with you Potter,” Snape snarled. “And don't let me catch you making any alternative routes, do I make myself clear?” Snape gestured to the map in his hands.

“Yes, sir,” Harry said glumly, wondering resentfully about his punishment ... or the fact he'd been caught. Snape swiftly made his way back down the stairs, retrieved the egg, and tossed it to Harry, who only just about caught it.

“You may want to decipher that clue,” said Snape sarcastically, “if you expect to severely aggravate whoever it is that's planning against you.”

Harry gave him a look that basically said 'You think?' before he began trudging up the stairs, egg in hand, towards his dormitory,

A quarter of an hour later found Harry tiptoeing into his dormitory and slipping back into bed.

“Ha'y?” Came a muffled voice in the general direction of Neville's bed.

“Yeah?” Harry whispered.

Neville parted the curtains around his bed to peer at him.

“What are you doing up? Did you just get in?” he asked curiously. Harry was reminded of the night in his first year when Neville had confronted him, Ron and Hermione during their attempt to save the Philosopher's stone.

Harry sighed before nodding. Neville looked at him nervously. “You haven't gotten yourself into trouble, have you?” he worriedly inquired.

Harry shook his head.

“No,” he said, “Just been caught.”