Emerald [Cedric Diggory]

Chapter Twelve

"CAUFIELD! WHITEHALL!" screamed the voice of Severus Snape from the common room. Maya looked up from her book and check her watch.

"Ten minutes." Maya murmured to herself. "He's slipping. Another five minutes and I would have started to doubt his hate for us."

"Get your insolent selves down this instant!" the voice demanded. Maya sighed to herself and made her way out of her trunk.

Both Damien and Maya reached the common room at the same time. Damien winked at her, and Maya smirked in response.

"Yes, Professor?" Maya called out sweetly, as her infuriated head of house came into view. 

"Little late for a house meeting, isn't it?" Damien asked innocently, as he noticed that almost the entirety of Slytherin House was crowded around the common room. Maya's smirk widened.

"You know very well why you have been called here, don't try to play dumb, though Merlin knows you don't have to try very hard." Snape said snidely, and half the common room chuckled. "I'd happily expel the two of you for this little stunt you've pulled."

If possible, Maya's smile widened. "Oh, I'm sure you would, sir." she said coyly.

"But fortunately for us, it's not up to you." Damien said with a shrug.

"What did you just say?" Snape asked, his voice dangerously low.

"I think what Damien is trying to say is that we're not Potter and Weasley, sir. We actually know the rules." Said Maya. "Destruction of school property is the Headmaster's jurisdiction, not yours."

Snape's usually pale face went red with rage.

"So unless you're here to take us to the Headmaster, I'd like to go to bed." Damien said with a faux yawn.

"Come. With. Me." Snape ground out, turning around on his heel and walking towards the rubble, which was all that remained of the doorway.

"I hope you get expelled, mudbloods." Pansy called out as Maya and Damien made to follow Snape.

"I hope you choke on your own spit." Maya called out carelessly over her shoulder. "It's a completely moronic way to go, so it would suit you perfectly."

***

The walk to the Headmaster's office was a silent one. Snape led the way, his robes billowing behind him as he walked. Maya shook her head. Sometimes the man really acted like an overdramatic vampire.

"Fizzing Whizbees." Snape said, very irritably to a stone Gargoyle. Maya had to hide her snort with a loud cough. Hearing her head of house say those words in his usual grumpy voice seemed just too ridiculous. Snape turned to give her a nasty glare, prompting Maya to smile back cheerfully.

The gargoyle hopped off its place, revealing a stone staircase behind it. Snape gestured for the two of them to go, before stepping onto the staircase himself.

As the stone staircase slowly moved upwards, Maya could feel her stomach churn. The enormity of what she and Damien had done finally hit her. She kept a neutral face all the same- rusticated or not, she was not going to give Snape the satisfaction of seeing her weaken.

When the staircase finally stopped moving, Maya was the first to get off. She turned to Snape with confidence she did not feel.

"Is the Headmaster expecting us?" she asked, meeting his eyes.

"Oh, I'm sure he is." Snape replied nastily. With that, he turned to the huge door and knocked twice. The door swung open, and Maya almost gasped.