Brighter Than the Sun

Chapter Seventy-Two

Harry and I 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 our clothes. We crept along the corridor below. Harry pushed aside a tapestry about halfway along and led me down a narrower staircase, a shortcut that, according to the map, would take us down two floors. Harry kept glancing down at the map, like he was doubting his own sight. I was wondering why correct, law-abiding Mr. Crouch was sneaking around somebody else's office this late at night. It seemed extremely out of character.

Halfway down the staircase, Harry started to slow down.

"Harry," I warned, "At least look up while you're going down so you don't forget about the —"

And that's when it all went downhill.

Harry's leg suddenly sank right through the trick step Neville always forgot to jump. He gave an ungainly wobble and instinctively grabbed my arm to steady himself. When he grabbed my arm, I dropped the golden egg. We both lurched forward 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. I flinched with every bounce. Then the Invisibility Cloak slipped — Harry snatched at it, and the Marauder's Map fluttered out of his hand and slid down six 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. I bolted down the stairs to grab the egg.

"Ash, the map!" Harry exclaimed. I figured shutting up the loud screeching sound was top priority, but I doubled back anyway. Before I could pull out my wand to wipe the map clean, though, another bad thing happened.

"PEEVES!"

It was the unmistakable hunting cry of Filch the caretaker. I could hear his rapid, shuffling footsteps coming nearer and nearer, his wheezy voice raised in fury. I grabbed Harry's hand and tried to pull him out of the gap, but to no avail. Filch spoke again, causing me to jump.

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

Filch's footsteps halted; there was a clink of metal on metal and the wailing stopped — Filch had picked up the egg and closed it. Any moment now, Filch was going to pull aside the tapestry, expecting to see Peeves, and see me pulling on something invisible. If I went under the Cloak, I'd be stuck with Harry. I wasn't sure if the Mist would work on Filch. But if I met Filch outside of the tapestry, Harry would have a chance to get free and escape.

"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!"

I turned to Harry and hissed, "You so owe me for this."

"PEEVES!" Filch roared gleefully. "You've been stealing!"

He ripped back the tapestry below, and there was his horrible, pouchy face and bulging, pale eyes staring up at me.

"Hi," I said, stepping casually in front of the Map. If I picked it up now, he'd confiscate it.

"Miss McKeon?" Filch looked more disappointed than mad, like he wished I was Peeves. "Just what are you doing out of bed at this hour? You'll have detention for this!"

Praying that the Mist would work on Filch, I snapped my fingers. "But Mr. Filch, I'm definitely allowed to be here, remember?"

Thank the gods, Filch's eyes went foggy. "Er... right... you are..."

"You and Mrs. Norris were going back to your office for the rest of the night, right?" I prompted.

Filch nodded vaguely. "Yes... that's what we were doing..."