Senses

Chapter 24

"Looking for something, Miss Weasely?"

Ginny felt as though her heart had completely left her chest, jumped out of the Astronomy tower window and drown itself in the Black Lake. Out of the very corner of her eye she could see a name, that certainly wasn't there before, standing right behind her own. Not that she needed the map as he was literally breathing over the top of her head.

"Your imitation of a fish is not a sufficient answer." Severus made sure to speak his words very clearly and lowly into her ear before moving around her shoulder towards Longbottom who was possibly about to faint, or piss himself. Either one wouldn't be pleasant, "The sword, Mr. Longbottom?"

Neville let out a slow breath handing over the pouch without a single word. His eyes never leaving the man's impossible to read face. When he turned away from him, slipping the pouch into his pocket as he went, Neville had to blink. Ginny had been standing right there, right there by the desk. He'd been talking to her and everything, and now she was gone.

"Miss Weasley? Would you care to join your co-conspirator on the couch as you wait for your head of house to personally escort you both back to your rooms?" Severus could have made syrup from the danger dripping out of his tone. He didn't have much time to waste on the pair. He'd gotten the alert to his rooms as soon as they'd entered the hall but he'd been unable to actually leave Granger's side until she was assured that he'd return. He'd left her a towel and a robe and explicit instructions to wash her hair and body.

Neville's brow ticked as Ginny seemingly reappeared out of thin air from beside the desk, to join him. Her face—just like his—pale with wide eyes. She was however, slipping something up her sleeve as she came closer, crossing her arms to keep it hidden.

Severus eyed them closely as they went to the couch. He could tell the redhead had done something but to what he wasn't sure. The fact that she kept avoiding his eyes with her guilty posture not helping him to decipher what it was.

"Agustus, send for Minerva." Severus raised only his eyes towards the painting on the wall. The man inside looking perturbed at being put to work but left his frame none the less.

"She…might be a bit busy professor." Ginny bit the inside of her lip but it didn't help her tone from being swotty, "There was an incident before I got here."

"Do tell." Severus didn't mind playing her game, in fact, the more information he could pull out of her the better. Having been stuck in his rooms and office had left him without a set of eyes and ears on the ground. He knew things were growing more dangerous inside the castle but he had yet to take in the full extent of it.

"Like you'd believe me." Ginny sneered from under her lashes.

"Try me." Severus drew out his words, matching her mocking tone with one of his own. Taking a seat behind his desk, he adjusted the glamour on his way so that the two could see him. A wave of his hand lit the lamps inside the room and the teens winced as the room came to light.

"Not a chance." Ginny crossed her arms and legs tighter around her form. She wasn't going to give the git anything else to charge her with. She was still amazed that the both of them hadn't been outright expelled yet.

Snape tilted his head ever just so, his face showing his disinterest. Leaning back into the chair, he adjusted his small mirror over the bathroom so as to check that Granger was doing as she was told. He didn't care that the two teens were sweating bullets over their possible punishment. He just took a small bit of satisfaction in making them squirm.