The Girl Who Survived - Start And Stone

Detention with a Ferret 2.0

Ellie and Cedric jumped and reluctantly glanced up at the familiar, wickedly smiling face of Professor Snape. "P - Professor Snape," Cedric stuttered.

"Mr. Diggory." Snape's smile became wider. When he shifted his gaze to Ellie - who was failing to radiate a glare at her Godfather given her recent realisation of her care for him - the sinister gleam in his eyes dropped slightly. "Ellie, why are your eyes bloodshot?" The Professor's face instantly turned to anger and his stare again switched to Cedric, but with a glare this time. "Mr. Diggory, did you do this to her?"

"N - no sir, of course not!"

Snape became suspicious; was Ellie crying because of him? Did he make his own goddaughter cry? Little did he know, Ellie had not yet told Cedric of her god-parentage, and she did not plan to. Snape sighed under his breath.

"Alright. Nonetheless, you both have been caught out after curfew and therefore will receive detentions."

Ellie scrambled to her feet, gently pulling Cedric up with her. "Professor, you can't be serious? We're not doing anything wrong," she argued.

"I beg to differ. You were and still are out after curfew and were lying much to close for my liking, therefore the outcome is detention."

Ellie and Cedric both opened their mouths to argue, but the Professor put his hand up to stop them.

"Both of you..." drawled Snape, "will serve detention tomorrow night; Mr. Diggory will be cleaning cauldrons with me whereas Ellie, your fate will be decided by Mr. Filch."

Ellie shuddered. She didn't know what was worse: Her bad feeling that 'Mr. Diggory' would not be cleaning cauldrons so much as having Snape yell at him for lying so close to her, assuming that he actually cared for his god-daughter, or the fact that Filch was deciding how she was going to spend her Tuesday night.

"Mr. Diggory, you may go now."

Cedric tilted his head in confusion. "Excuse me sir," he said, "but shouldn't Ellie come too?"

Snape chanced a sideways glance mixed with a glare at Ellie. "Actually Mr. Diggory, I would like to speak with my - " He paused. "Ellie, for a moment. She will catch up with you soon."

Cedric nodded, but Ellie could basically hear the annoyance and sadness radiating from it. All was quiet for a moment, in the dead of night, Cedric proceeded to slip away and down the stairs, leaving only the god father and daughter. Ellie stepped back in caution, hitting the rail. She folded her arms and stared straight at her godfather, waiting for him to speak; He didn't. Come to think of it, Ellie was possibly the first to ever witness a full minute of no talking from Severus Snape.

"Well, godfather, weren't you going to say something?" To be honest, she loved the quiet, but it was to much to bear right now.

"Did you like your present?"

"W - what?"

Snape huffed. "Did you like your christmas present?"

"Oh!" Ellie pulled the notebook from the pocket of her hoodie, "I take it everywhere with me, and I've almost - Hey!"

Snape had snatched the book from her small hands and was flipping through the pages, his eyes widening more and more after every turn of paper.

"This is... quite good Ellie."

Ellie paused. Did Severus Snape just say something good about a student's potions work?

"Th - Thank you Professor."

Snape wanted to say something more, but the little amount of emotion range he had stopped him. Though, Ellie's eyes had once again changed emotion, the feeling coming out in the form of more tears.

"Thank you," whispered Ellie, wiping her cheeks with the sleeve of her grey jersey. She didn't know what for, but it came out anyway.

Snape did not know what it was for either, but he felt a little flicker, a flame in the darkness of his cold heart. "You're welcome."

Ellie was scared; scared of what Filch had planned for her detention. Well, at least she could share the feeling with the other four people who she had found out would be spending the night with her.

Snape(after their moment in the Tower)told her to meet Filch in the Entrance Hall, where, unsurprisingly, she was walking towards 10 minutes early the next night.

"Mr. Filch?" She called; he had not arrived yet. But somebody else had, somebody she did not want to see.