Nine Lives and Bad Luck

18

       Classes passed quickly and their work on their newly dubbed Ghost War map- the only semi decent anagram they could think up of from 'Hogwarts' and Hermione had been insistent that they should use the play on words- slowed down as they found it increasingly difficult to locate new passageways and very soon Halloween was upon them.  Halloween being one of the holidays Harry had celebrated with Silk (both had found it amusing the awe garnered by their 'costumes' as well as free candy) he woke up excited for the mail to arrive.  When it finally did, he set aside the anticipated package, as usual only having 'Kitten' written on it with the purple asphodel sealing it shut. 

    The other three still gave the box a curious look, but didn't push any further when he redirected the conversation- he never knew what would be in the box and dueling had never served to grant her a firm understanding of legality- she had dark books aplenty and artifacts too, he had seen her use some of the spells in duels as well so it was hardly just an intellectual interest. She would never get caught though, she only used allowed spells in duels as otherwise it would ruin the fun and duels never allowed spells that were illegal in whatever area they were in. (Which was what made the end circuit so unusual, as one of the few circuits that only met in lawless areas, it was anything goes- which took on a new meaning with the skill of all the duelers involved in them.)

"Asphodel." He had a hard time keeping his head from jerking suspiciously at the harsh whisper. Not so much because of its suddenness, but because of who it came from, "shh."

A slip of paper flicked through the air alongside Hermione's arm until it was behind her back where it started to settle on his desk. He would never have seen this coming; Hermione passing notes in class. He vaguely wondered what had happened to the actual Hermione. He may not be able to use them, but he had heard of several methods to disguise oneself as someone or something else. He hadn't seen them since lunch as he had been put in charge of mapping out the areas surrounding the exits in the Forbidden Forest alone. Much of the area was so overcrowded with undergrowth they would only be a hindrance, but he was able to move easily enough in an animagus form. He glanced at the paper.

'Hermione and I were running late for class because she absolutely had to get that new book on beginning enchanting before someone else got it first, you know how she gets with kno-' here Parvati's handwriting jolted off, a line of ink running off the paper from where Hermione had probably yanked the paper as subtly as she could.

Here Hermione's writing began, 'He doesn't need all that, sorry Asphodel, we think Professor Snape is up to something. We've seen him skulking around the right corridor on the third floor three times this week! And Lavender said she saw him around there twice when she and Neville first had found and were mapping the passage- we didn't know it ended at the third corridor of course as it is out of bounds-'

'Do you really think he cares about that, mine was at least relavant.'

'It was a week ago! Plus that's not the point! Asphodel-' Harry fought to hold back the laughter that was bubbling up and eventually forced himself to skim through most of it so he didn't disrupt Professor Quirrell; he may not have been a good teacher or a particularly attentive one, but he would definitely read the note aloud if he found out about it. And then they would all be in detention for years when Professor Snape found out.

'Still, Mione is right something suspicious is going on and we need to do something about it- although I doubt going to a teacher would work. We have absolutely no proof.'

'If something is off we need to say something, but I suppose your right. We can't just accuse somebody without proof.'

The sound of Professor Quirrell's footsteps pacing nearer to him had him quickly blanking the paper with the spell Lavender had demanded they all learn for the map after Hermione found it; Lavender enjoyed the adventure and secretiveness of it the most of them all thinking it straight out of a story book, - thankfully his notes sat to the left so it looked only like a spare sheet of parchment.