chap12pg3

Harry had left his wand on Snape�s desk.
Snape picked it up and examined it. Harry felt his stomach drop. He was sure he was going to be punished this time. He pressed himself against the wall, breathing quickly but noiselessly. Snape began to walk toward him, waving his hand about and grabbing at the air, trying to find him. He stepped closer and closer to Harry. This is it, thought Harry, it's all over. He held his breath and shut his eyes tightly.
All of a sudden, a huge crash sounded outside of the room. Harry opened his eyes as Snape made a startled noise, and dropped Harry�s wand in surprise. He angrily stormed out of the room. Harry carefully grabbed his wand, and tiptoed to the door. He looked into the hallway to see what had made the noise.
Peeves had stolen Filch�s floor waxing machine, and had attempted to over-wax the floor outside of Snape�s office. The machine had backfired, crashing into the wall. The machine was sparking as Snape and a sleepy Professor Sprout tried to get Peeves to give them back the broken machine.
Thank you Peeves, Harry thought excitedly. He slipped out of the classroom, and as soon as he was a safe distance from the commotion, he began to run back to the Gryffindor commons room. When he reached the Fat Lady, he had to knock on her to wake her up. She looked at Harry, frowned, and then yawned deeply.
�Password?� she said irritably.
�Galloping broomsticks!� Harry whispered. The picture swung open, and Harry jumped inside. He saw Ron, but he was sleeping on the couch. Harry looked at his watch. It was 12:15 already, so he decided not to wake Ron up. He pulled out the letter to Mr. Malfoy, and continued reading where he had left off.

�I am sure that you will be more than happy to cooperate with me on this. The more people I have on my side, the easier it will be to capture Potter. As you know, he isn�t as na�ve as he behaves, and can be quite dangerous when provoked. If you wish to aid me in his capture, please respond as quickly as possible.
Your Friend and Fellow Death Eater,
Severus Snape

Harry put down the letter. Did Snape really think he was dangerous? Or was he just saying this to persuade the Death Eaters to side with him? Harry hoped that Snape was just trying to trick the Death Eaters into coming to Hogwarts. Dumbledore trusted him, but Harry still thought it was strange how convincing the letters sounded. What if Snape really was still a death eater? Harry yawned, and even though he was worried about what Snape was up to, he climbed the stairs to his dormitory. He jumped into his bed and laid his head on the pillow. I wonder what Ron and Hermione are going to say when they read this, he though anxiously before falling into a deep sleep.