Cassius stood in the alcove for a long moment, the Marauders Map pressed flat against his palm, the final flicker of Peter Pettigrew still burned into the inside of his eyelids.
Found.
The rat was here.
The question was no longer if the escaped Death Eaters would try something.
Only when.
And apparently, the answer was today.
Cassius exhaled slowly through his nose.
Then, with deliberate calm, he slid the map into his robe and stepped out into the corridor.
He did not run.
Running caused questions.
Running drew attention.
Instead he walked—steady, measured, focused—as he let the cogs of a plan turn in his mind.
Pettigrew was already close.
Hugging the treeline.
Moving toward the east wall where a small student door—rarely used—led to the greenhouses.
A perfect entry point.
Perfect… if not for bad luck.
Cassius's lips curved faintly.
The man had a life marked by misfortune.
First as a coward.
Then as a traitor.
And now?
Now he was on Cassius Snape's radar.
That was the unluckiest thing of all.
~
Cassius headed up a side stairwell and slipped into the third-floor balcony overlooking the greenhouses.
From here he had a clean view of the grounds.
The edge of the Forbidden Forest rustled.
A small, fast-moving blur darted toward the slope.
"Right on schedule," Cassius murmured.
He withdrew his wand.
Nothing flashy. Nothing that would alert Dumbledore or set off wards.
Just a simple, elegant nudge of chaos.
"Ventus Minor."
A whisper of wind—barely a breeze—rippled outward.
Down below, a small figure skidded.
Peter Pettigrew tumbled head over tail, a pathetic squeak drifting faintly up the hill as he rolled through a patch of mud and into a thorny bramble bush.
Cassius watched with faint amusement as Pettigrew flailed desperately.
He'd most likely write this off as tripping over his feet due to nerves about getting caught.
The man tried again.
Crawled out.
Bolted left—
Straight into the path of Hagrid's newest acquisition.
A fully grown mooncalf—massive, pale, and currently irritated at being woken from its daytime nap—stomped out of the pumpkin patch and fixed its bulbous eyes right on the rat sprinting in front of it.
Cassius smirked.
"Oh, this is good."
Pettigrew screeched and dodged wildly as the mooncalf began to chase him in confused, lumbering circles.
Lap after lap the skinny rat raced with its full might to outrun the pursuer behind it.
Eventually the mooncalf did tire allowing the exhausted rat to slip away, but just when he thought he was home free.
Cassius waved his wand again.
His personal magic called forth a host of glowing Fairies, and without a word they shot forth through the air, like firework, only they were homing, and their current target of torment was a common ireland rat.
Once more Pettigrew was forced to flee, having no idea what these creatures attacking him now even were, but his instincts as a coward lit up like a christmas tree and just as one would expect he bolted.
He disappeared, racing like a stabbed rat into the forbidden forest.
Cassius waited.
Five seconds.
Ten.
Fifteen.
Then as the grounds grew quiet he pulled out the map from within his robes and could plainly see Pettigrew had not stopped he was still fleeing, racing through the forbidden forest and nearing the edge of what Cassius could currently gaze upon.
Cassius exhaled softly.
"One coincidence," he murmured, "is natural."
He turned and headed back toward the castle proper.
"But two…"He tucked the map securely into his inner robe."…are engineered."
~
That night, after dinner, after supervising three duels in the Draconis common room (the girls were starting fights over seating arrangements again), after assigning the twins two counter-prank tasks, Cassius retreated to his private study nook and unfolded the map.
Every name was where it should be.
Every corridor clear.
Every classroom accounted for.
No Pettigrew.
Not yet.
Cassius's jaw tightened.
The rat had fled today.
Because of luck.
Because of chaos.
Because he was alone.
But next time?
He would return with others.
Cassius could feel it.
He looked again at the Marauders Map—new, expanded, priceless.
This was no longer a toy.
No longer a prank artifact.
This was surveillance.
This was defense.
This was early warning.
And Cassius Snape intended to use it as such.
Using his own knowledge about magical artifacts Cassius inject a slight new bit of programming into the map splayed out on his desk.
A simple search charm based off of Accio, only it would cause the map to jitter should a targetted name appear on the map.
Safe enough that he could not get caught for using it, but also sly enough that he wouldnt need to keep his eyes glued to the map every hour of every day just waiting for the next moment when Petigrew stepped foot onto Hogwarts grounds.
And sure there is the risk the other death eaters might be present as well, but... i mean their names are all over the news, Cassius simply inscribed their names along with a number of other 'known-to-him' death eaters so that even if one of the escapee's or others he was familiar with entered the castle he'd be ready to face them.
What would come next however was the bolstering of his forces.
With death eaters waiting in the wings, Cassius would need to strengthen his own faction if he could call it that, within the school.
Cho was powerful given her advanced schooling thanks to having a few years on the other girls but they were quick studies and thanks to daily battle practice they were quickly catching up to her skill level.
But even still Cassius doubted they could be an effective force against death eaters in a life and death struggle just yet.
Beyond them, he'd have Lupin and Sirius on his side, but for safeties sake he'd like to have one more join the team, and no one fit that role better than dear old dad huh?
Afterall he was no longer Voldy's man, and as a failed doubleagent he held little to no real use to Dumbledore, so Cassius would go a courting Severus, looking to snag yet another Order of the phoenix member to boster his own organizations power, he had taken four members so far afterall, why wouldnt he try to claim the complete set afterall?