Fred spotted the rat immediately.
"Well, look at that, Brother Forge," he exclaimed with exaggerated surprise. "Our dear brother Percy seems to have forgotten his pet in the dormitory!"
"Oh dear, how terribly irresponsible," George said, shaking his head mournfully. "Our brother really ought to know better."
The rat stiffened, rose cautiously onto its paws, and eyed the twins warily.
"Quite right, Brother Forge," Fred said with unmistakable amusement in his voice. "What if Scabbers chews up our dear brother's precious textbooks? We'd better return Percy's pet and give him a proper lecture about being so careless."
"I quite agree." George grinned, making the rodent even more uneasy. "For once, we'll be the ones lecturing him instead of the other way around! That should be a good laugh."
The rodent had every reason to expect mischief from the twins. Yet, judging by their conversation, they seemed to have no intention of tormenting him personally. So, affecting complete indifference, it calmly allowed Fred to place it inside a cage.
While the rest of the young conspirators carried out their assigned roles in the plan to capture Pettigrew, Richard was far from idle. In fact, he was doing exactly what he had told Ron he would.
Richi had taken up a strategically advantageous position at the entrance to the corridor leading to the One-Eyed Witch passage, not far from the staircase. Tucked into an ordinary, completely unenchanted pocket of his robes was his Wizardphone, ready to warn his accomplices at a moment's notice should anything go wrong.
Richi's concern proved well founded.
Students were constantly hurrying up and down the staircase, and some of them took the shortcut through the corridor of the One-Eyed Witch. Then Richard suddenly tensed. Making his way up the stairs was the greasy-haired, hook-nosed Severus Snape, his customary black robes billowing dramatically behind him as he walked.
At the opposite end of the corridor appeared a group of five students: the Weasley twins carrying the cage containing the rat, accompanied by three older Hufflepuffs who were, in reality, two wizards and a Squib disguised as students. The rat looked distinctly agitated. It kept darting nervous glances in every direction, eyeing the counterfeit Hufflepuffs with obvious suspicion. The rodent clearly sensed that something was wrong.
Richi slipped a hand into his pocket and, by touch alone, dialed Detective Potter's number. He deliberately left the Wizardphone inside the pocket so as not to draw the attention of the Potions professor, who seemed to be heading straight for the corridor of the One-Eyed Witch.
Snape stepped off the staircase and quickly reached Richard. Towering over the boy, he fixed him with a stern, penetrating stare.
"Mr. Grosvenor," he asked suspiciously, "what are you doing here?"
Richard hoped Scott would hear the professor's voice through the Wizardphone and realize they could no longer use the secret passage. But the detective did not answer the call immediately.
Meanwhile, the group carrying the rat reached the statue. They could see Richard—but not Professor Snape. Scott's Wizardphone was ringing inside his pocket. The detective took it out to answer the call. Fred touched the statue with his wand and spoke the password. The cage containing the rat—which had suddenly gone completely berserk, squealing frantically and hurling itself against the bars—was passed into the hands of the older Hufflepuff girl, who was, in fact, Nymphadora Tonks.
The racket did not escape Snape's notice.
To Richard's horror, he realized the Potions professor was about to look around the corner. The boy tried desperately to stop him.
"Professor Snape!" he called out loudly. "Why would you ask such a strange question?"
Several things happened all at once.
Scott Potter answered the call—but too late. He had already heard Richard's shout and instantly understood the situation. Annoyance flashed across the face of the man who currently looked like a slightly plump sixteen-year-old boy with wheat-blond hair. The rest of the conspirators also realized that things had suddenly taken a dangerous turn. The secret passage already stood open. Nymphadora slipped into the opening with the rat's cage. Proudfoot followed immediately behind her.
Snape was not fooled. Some sixth sense told him something suspicious was happening in the corridor. Richi tried to block his way, but the professor shoved the boy aside and charged toward the corridor of the One-Eyed Witch. He caught sight of the opening where the statue ought to have been and saw an older Hufflepuff student—Proudfoot under the effects of Polyjuice Potion—diving into it.
The Weasley twins did their best to shield the secret entrance with their own bodies, but they were nowhere near large enough to conceal it.
"STOP!" Snape's thunderous command echoed through the corridor.
The shout stunned the Weasley twins, freezing them to the spot as though they had been glued to the floor.
The Potions Master sprinted toward the opening at full speed, the tails of his black robes snapping behind him like the wings of a great raven.
Richi dashed after the professor. He had no idea what he could actually do to stop him. Attacking a professor with magic would almost certainly mean expulsion, but if it came to that, the boy was fully prepared to sink his teeth into Snape if that was what it took to cover for his people. At worst, he figured he'd lose a mountain of House points and spend the rest of the year in detention. It wasn't as though Snape was ever going to like Grosvenor any more after that, but Richie could live with that.
Fortunately for Richard and the twins, the passage sealed itself shut before the furious Snape managed to reach the statue of the One-Eyed Witch...
(End of Chapter)
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