Barnaby Lee x Reader - Year 5

I Solemnly Swear...

Lana met Ben in the Great Hall as planned. He looked quite worried, more so than usual, when she approached him and sat down opposite him.

"Thanks for coming, Lana. I know you still aren't sure if you can trust me..." he began.

"This is about Scabbers, isn't it? I could tell there was something you wanted to tell me..." the girl told him.

"You won't believe what I'm about to tell you. Even if you do, you'll think I'm mad..." Ben sighed, looking down.

"Let's just talk, Ben. Even with everything that's happened, you can still tell me anything." Lana smiled.

They spoke for a little while, mainly Lana trying to reassure Ben that she wouldn't think he's mad, and that he shouldn't be afraid to tell her anything. They were still best friends, after all.

"So, you think Scabbers has been following you?" Lana asked him.

"I think he might even be responsible for my memory loss..." Ben added, "You think I'm mad, don't you?"

"I mean, it's confusing, but I do believe you, Ben."

"Thank you, Lana. That means everything to me." Ben smiled.

"I need to find out if the paper I found with Scabbers is important..." Lana added.

"Be careful, Lana." the boy worried.

"Of Scabbers?"

"Of everything. Remember what the attacker said. What I said..." he finished in shame, "Death is coming to Hogwarts..."

Lana said goodbye to Ben, worried about what he just said, but headed off to DADA.

"Did you find the vault portrait?" Rakepick asked her as she got to her desk.

"No, but I wanted to ask you about a bit of old parchment..." Lana told her, moving closer to the woman.

"Lovely. See me after class." Rakepick smiled, and Lana sat down.

Lana did as she was told and approached Rakepick once everyone had left the class.

"Have you been searching for the vault portrait?" the woman asked, raising a brow.

"Yes, but I got caught by Percy Weasley, and had to help him find his pet rat, Scabbers." the girl answered, somewhat awkwardly.

"And while searching for this very important rat, you happened upon an even more important piece of paper?"

"Yes."

"Can you sense my sarcasm, Miss Riviera?"

"Yeah, I've spent a lot of time around Professor Snape." Lana answered bluntly.

"Do you know why I'm hard on you?" Rakepick asked her.

"I think so - because it's important that we find the portrait and the map, so we can help Beatrice and my brother."

"Correct. Pet rats and old paper help no one. Let me see this piece of paper..." Rakepick ordered.

"I found it in the Cursed Corridor..." Lana said as she pulled out the old parchment from her robes and handed it to the older woman.

"Unbelievable..." Rakepick muttered as she examined the object in her hands.

"Yeah, I have no idea how it got there..."

"This is no simple piece of paper, Miss Riviera..."

"What is it?"

"The Marauder's Map." Rakepick answered, looking at the Gryffindor girl with a smile.