Luck of Nines

58

"Going somewhere." The voice of his newfound warden drawled even before he'd stepped from the shadows, somehow able to sense his approach without looking up from the papers that were being slashed at with a generous amount of red ink. It was a good thing he hadn't looked as it wasn't the Harry Potter the Slytherin Head of House would recognize, but instead a large, long haired cat. He wondered how they had known, he hadn't triggered any magic as he had left, wandering Diagon Alley and his time with the illegal potioneers had quickly attuned his senses to that.

He quickly assumed his more human form, before the Professor could get curious and glance up, and answered, "No sir, just stretching my legs. I'm not very tired."

"Yes, suspiciously stealthily given you remain the only one currently in residence." Snape glanced up curiously then, despite the accusing tone. The odd effect he always had that seemed to make the man look for the quickest method to flee from his presence seemed dulled, whether by the shadows he stood in, the stressful months, the potion Snape had consumed whose smell still lingered, or some other factor, Harry didn't know "Had a lot of practice sneaking out past curfew, have you?"

"I'm just naturally quiet," he answered, seeing the disbelieving look he added, "Besides, I didn't want to interrupt your grading, I wasn't planning on going outside, just to the library to get a book." There were indeed some shelves attached to the walls near the entry with some books, mostly old textbooks, resting upon them.

"You? Reading of your own volition?" There was a lightness in his tone as he drawled, "A novel concept indeed." Harry said nothing not understanding much beyond the disbelief in Snape's tone. "Well? Do not wait any longer on my account. Fetch your reading. You're welcome to join me out here, as I recall, the lighting in the dorms is rather abominable."

Sensing the challenge presented in that statement and knowing refusal would only make any further attempts all the more difficult, Harry slinked over to the shelves, even his human feet ghosted near silently over the stone floors.

"You can do away with your silencing spell while you're at it, you are not nearly as sneaky as you seem to believe."

He wasn't using any charms, but catching the furrowed expression of puzzlement upon their face he stepped a bit more heavily upon the ground as he past, selecting a thin book that appeared relatively simple and settling on a couch near the door, he might be able to back away when they let their guard down. He opened the book to the first page under the dark, judgmental gaze and picked an appropriate pace to turn the pages at, a bit slower than the one Ron seemed to go at. Mindlessly he begin trailing his eyes along the tiny squiggly lines Hogwarts was so fond of requiring they took note of.

If it wasn't sound or sight, could it have been smell? It wasn't out of the question, the air in the dungeon was not stagnant, some unseen force managing the currents so that fresh air flowed throughout it somewhat unpredictably making upwind a difficult place to decipher and keep.

Time passed slowly his eyes passing over the words thoughtlessly, as Chipper's real attention was fixed on Chipped Fang who sat on his lap as they both griped about their first attempt being a bust. Well, he had expected some form of measure in place to stop him from simply wandering out of the castle, but he hadn't anticipated being stopped quite so quickly or effortlessly as he had been.

          He casually eyed the potions master from over his book. Their own darker eyes remained fixed on the paper in front of them, a look of disgust seemingly etched into his expression, one thin lip twitched in a sneer before the quill was dipped in red ink, carefully catching the excess in the bottle with a practiced motion before a large section of at least three or four sentences was crossed out with a swipe, a new paragraph in red quickly taking shape in the margins of the paper in small, spindly handwriting as a likely highly disparaging correction was left.