Magicis Par // Sebastian Sallow

14. The Favorite Student

            It seemed fitting that Peeves was always around when we didn't want him, but the one time I needed to find him, he was nowhere to be seen. I spent nearly two hours dodging prefects around the castle to find him before I finally heard him inside of a boy's bathroom on the fourth floor.

I pushed open the door cautiously. There was no saying if Peeves would have boobytrapped it to dump dirty toilet water on the next person that entered.

He didn't, fortunately. But it was well within in his scope of humor.

Instead, he was splashing around in the toilets while running the faucets until they overflowed. "If it isn't the mysterious Fifth Year," Peeves sang as he flew circles overhead. "Caught out after curfew again!" He shrieked with glee. "What to do? What to do? I could have such fun with you!"

"Could you tell me what happened to the pages from that book I got out of the restricted section? I know you know the one."

He hummed, still flying circles around me but growing nearer with each pass. "I could, I could, but who said I would?"

I deadpanned at him. "Peeves, I'm not in the mood for games. Don't make me fetch the Bloody Baron."

If Peeves could pale, he seemed to do so. No one knew why the only ghost in the castle he feared was the Bloody Baron. Perhaps it wasn't common knowledge in this era, but it was something I exploited frequently in my time. "How do you know about the B-Bloody Baron?"

I shrugged nonchalantly, casting a glance at my fingernails. They were dirtied from picking through ruins this evening, so I made a note to clean them later. "He's Slytherin's ghost. Why wouldn't I?" I returned a challenging gaze to Peeves. "Where are the pages, Peeves?"

"Ask Richard Jackdaw, if you can find him. The blasted thief got what he deserved! A STUDENT OUT OF BED! A STUDENT OUT OF BED!" Peeves flew threw the ceiling shrieking excitedly just before the bathroom door swung open.

I shut my eyes in defeat and braced for the lecture I was about to get from whatever prefect Peeves sold me out to.

"Miss Selwyn, I hope there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for you to be in the boy's restroom after curfew," Professor Sharp's voice warned.

I flinched. "Shit," I mumbled under my breath. I turned to face him with a sheepish smile. "Not one that you'd believe, sir."

He frowned before making his way to each individual stall and checking for another person. It was clear that he thought I was sneaking off with someone in the bathrooms after curfew, and honestly, fair. It happened frequently. If you knew which prefects were patrolling where, they often didn't check the bathroom of the opposite gender. It was a nearly foolproof way for some privacy with your partner.

"Try me," Sharp challenged. He waved his wands over the running faucets before he came to a stop in front of me, hands crossed over his chest in an authoritative manner.

"I needed some information from Peeves that I thought he might have."

"And did he?"

"Well, he wasn't unhelpful."

Sharp rested his hand on my shoulder and guided me out of the bathroom, his hand pressing a little harder with each limp. He walked me to the nearest Floo station. "I don't know exactly what you and Professor Fig are working on in silence, but I want you to know that you can use me as a resource." I didn't know how to answer him, so I didn't. "Dragons don't just attack carriages, Miss Selwyn. And certainly not ones with new students inside."