Prohibition | Severus Snape

Unpleasant Beginnings

Sofia woke up with the sun shining on her face. After working at Hogwarts for 4 years she became a morning person as it always allowed her some extra quiet time before the students could wake. Before heading to grab some breakfast she noticed a note sticking out from under her door. She curiously pulled it out examining the roughly torn piece of parchment.

Meet me in the potions classroom at 10 am, unless you want to completely embarrass yourself  tomorrow. 

S.S. 

"So entitled." Were the first words she uttered that morning. She crumpled the note and threw it into the fire which had been burning since last night. Hogwarts forbade any muggle 'antics' like central heating and electricity. Even though it was the 21st century the professors still had to light fires in the common rooms and their own quarters not to freeze to death in the night. Sofia grabbed her wand and made her way to the great hall. No one was there except Professor Flitwick who was also an early riser. 

"Ah, good morning Sofie" He called out.

"Lovely morning to you too Filius!" She smiled. There was no food in the great hall as the students and professors only tend to arrive around 8:30 am. However, the kitchen house-elves were familiar with Sofie's routine. Without sitting down at the teacher's table Sofia caught up with Zinky the elf as she was busy cleaning the long tables. 

"Zinky!"

"Ms Sofie - Zinky was just about to grab your breakfast." Zinky said hurriedly. 

"No need! I'll grab it from the kitchen!" Sofia smiled. She was never fond of the concept of house-elves however she wasn't fond of disobeying Hogwarts traditions either.

After grabbing her breakfast Sofia decided to check out these secret staircases Dumbledore talked about. 

"Hey Zinky, do you mind showing me to the staircase which you take down to the dungeons and up back to the ground floor?"

"Of course Ms! Ms Sofie was always Zinky's favourite. Zinky will show you the way." Sofia was lead to a curving staircase behind a door in the kitchen which Zinky opened.  The staircase twisted in front of her resembling large black cement snakes. 

"If Ms Sofie would like to go to her quarters, Ms Sofie just needs to say the coordinates of her room placing her hand on the staircase." Sofia gave a confused look to Zinky who proceeded to step with her onto the curving staircase.

"If you say southwest the staircase will lead to the dungeons. Say northeast the staircase will lead you to right outside your room."

'But the staircase only goes up how would it-" Before Sofia could finish Zinky was gone. Sofia placed her hand on the staircase and whispered northeast. The staircase stopped moving under her. As she made her way up she saw a small black door. She bent down opening the door. She found herself right outside of her quarters.

"Wonderful." 

Noticing it was time to head down to meet Snape for her class breakdown Sofia threw her book on the bed. Taking off her round glasses, she placed them and her wand into the pocket of her high waisted trousers as she made her way out of her quarters locking them behind her. Right before she was about to leave she remembered that she forgot to set a password to her quarters. She tapped the door three times with her wand and whispered: "Fluctus Maris" which roughly translated to 'the waves of the sea'. All the professors had passwords derived from the English language, Dumbledore's being Curly Wurlies as of right now. She decided to be a little more creative and throw in some Latin. What she didn't realize was that the process had taken precious minutes of her time which in turn would make her late to meet Severus. She rushed to the elf door, quickly running up the staircase. Soon, ending up in the dungeons hallway.