Chapter 102: CH 102
A minute later she and Granger ducked into an empty bathroom near the third floor. She pulled out the invisibility cloak and cast a muffliato.
"What happened?" Granger asked.
"Just saw Quirrellmort forbidden forest."
head
into
the
Granger nodded in understanding. A few moments later they were shuffling unseen along the passageway to the third floor corridor on the right hand side, dodging students and stealing glances at the many paintings who chatted happily among themselves with far more openness than when they could see students around.
They reached the corner to their target and paused.
"Wands out," she whispered.
"Yes."
She crouched down and stuck her wand under the hem of the cloak.
They edged forward, careful not to expose themselves or trip over each other.
Her breath hitched and her face scrunched up as one of the most foul things she'd ever tasted flooded her senses.
"Is there something?" Granger asked. "Yes." She desperately wanted to wash her mouth out. "I think it's the gender ward." "Does it taste like slugs and snails and puppy-dog tails?" "If you mean, is it both slimy and furry? Yes. And it's horrible."
They edged forward some more.
She let out a breath. "Urgh. The taste is gone, thank Merlin."
"So, is there another ward?" "Yes. Here you should record it too."
The visible tip of another wand joined hers, two separate inches of wood floating in mid air just above the stone floor. "Got it?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Okay, let's get out of here."
"Wait!" Granger hissed.
"What?" "I think I can decode this one now."
"…"
"…"
"Quickly then." They really mustn't be caught here.
She heard muttering from the empty space beside her. The corridor was still empty. She hoped it would stay that way. The last thing they needed was for Mrs Norris to catch them.
Granger seemed to shuffle around, pulling at the cloak and fiddling with something in her clothes.
"What are you doing?" "Hang on. I've got just the thing."
She heard the rustle of parchment.
"Is that a book?" she asked, incredulous. "Yes. I brought it just for this situation."
Said book appeared in view just under the cloak.
Minutes passed. Pages were turned. A few people passed at the end of the corridor, but clearly didn't see anything. Granger continued to mutter to herself.
"Okay," Granger said, eventually. "It's a containment ward."
"Excellent. Now, let's go." If they went quickly they could still grab lunch and get updated on the latest political situation. "Wait!"
She glared at the empty space beside her, knowing full well Granger couldn't see her. "What?" "We could go for the next ward line." "What! No, we can't."
"Why not? The containment ward only keeps things in, and it's not keyed to us."
"We don't know what's in there!" She gestured to the door the ward line was protecting. "It could be anything."
"Yes and we need to find out what that is." "But we could let Harry handle it."
"How's he going to get past the gender ward?" "Harry obviously has a plan, but we don't know what that plan is. That's why we shouldn't just rush in."
"…"
"…"
"Fine," Granger snapped. "But only because I don't want to accidentally mess up Harry's plan."
She rolled her unseen eyes. "Good, now let's get out of here before luck turns on us."
They shuffled out of the corridor and down to their bathroom, just as Filch chose to make an appearance, heading the way they had just come, muttering about kids and manacles.
Dumbledore sat in his throne at the head table. Lunch was in full swing and the shouts and laughs of hundreds of young throats warmed his heart, even as his never-off political mind ruthlessly dissected the many school cliques forming and reforming in front of him.
The Slytherin table was the most interesting and disturbing at the moment. Yesterday, there had been two main camps formed around Lucius' son and Jacob's daughter, with the Quidditch team forming a third, smaller circle around young Mister Flint, and the duelling club forming a fourth around Romulus Volf.
Now, however, all the circles were mashed up. Everyone chatted with everyone and there didn't seem to be much to distinguish the groups. Every so often, a student would stand, move to another position and sit down, moments before another student, sitting just a few places away, would repeat the action. It was a slow dance, forming new lines around some new political issue. He frowned. He was pretty sure he knew what that issue was.
Severus had been unable to hold his tongue. Not two months ago, he'd seen how protective Lord Slytherin could be when he'd made an unwise comment that the young lord had interpreted as a threat to Miss Greengrass. The resultant magic hadn't been as powerful as his, but it had made him pause. The ability to radiate magic from your body was a trick that required a combination of occlumency practise and strong emotions, and managing it for anything more than a few seconds indicated high core to body flamelage. Lord Slytherin had a high core to body flamelage.
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