Entry for the "Charm, Spells and Curses Challenge"
Alohomora- Unlocking charm. Write about someone discovering a new place.
And as well a Entry for the "Pairing Diversity Bootcamp" - prompt: piano
The small black-gray tabby sneaked around a corner, her tail brushing the cold stonewalls as she walked through the dark and empty hallways. She knew these hallways, she had spent most of her life walking through them in every possible mood and therefore she knew nearly every place in the castle of Hogwarts.
Nearly every.
Lately she had made a habit to leave her bed when she wasn´t able to find sleep and discover the places she had not known until she walked past them. It was her advantage that as a cat, she was able to do things she could not in her human appearance – like sleeping in some classroom comfortably when she suddenly felt overwhelmed by tiredness or sneak into the headmasters office unnoticed to steal some lemon drops – or at least Albus made her believe that he did not knew the little furry thief.
She still did not know her destination for tonight, but she was sure that some place would reveal itself to her when she just kept staying curious. The little tabby just passed the glass cabinet in which the Quidditch medals and trophies were displayed and she smiled inwardly by the thought of the medal that contained her name, honoring her for the effort she showed during her time as a team captain, as a noise distracted her and she hurried to hide under the cabinet. Two figures were coming down the hallway, arguing and gesturing with a forced tone that displayed that they had to work hard to keep the volume down to prevent the portraits from waking up and immediately the small tabby knew who it was. Rolanda and Severus stopped their footsteps nearly exactly in front of her hiding place.
Will they ever stop fighting? It´s annoying, she thought, rolling her eyes and placing one of her paws on her forehead, just as Rolanda grabbed Severus by his robe, driving him against the wall and kissed him. The tabby glared at the two staff members as they started to snog each other senseless, only separating as they needed to get some air.
"I hate it when you do that...", someone mumbled, than Rolanda pulled Severus with her, a lingering expression on her face. As they disappeared around the next corner, the tabby left her hiding place, continuing her way through the castle. She had always suspected that Rolanda and Severus had a … thing, but she had never thought that they were having that sort of a love-hate-relationship. But anyways, Albus owed her 5 galleons!
The tabby sneaked through a secret passage as she suddenly heard a humming sound being carried to her sensitive ears. She recognized the melody as a song from the "Weird Sisters" - Do the Hippogriff. Immediately she knew who was walking along the next hallway because she knew who had this song in his head lately. Chuckling inwardly she followed the humming headmaster, her small paws barely making any sound on the cold stone. Dumbledore seemed to have a certain destination and this woke her curiosity – where was Albus heading so late in the night?
It took her all her will not to disguise herself as she tried to remain as close as possible to Albus who moved very fast, the famous swing in his steps.
Finally, he stopped and she did hide behind a suit of armor while Albus pulled his wand out of his robes, waving it towards a normal looking piece of wall and mumbled something. The wall disappeared and opened a passage. The tabby hurried to slip into the room behind the headmaster and hid herself behind a big plant directly next to the entrance and looked around the room. It was a small, but beautiful indoor garden offering a great view of the mountains and the lake. A small fountain was build on the balcony in front of the huge windows which were framed by plants. The room was full of the green life and it smelled wonderful, all flowers blossoming at the same time. Next to the windows stood a old piano and Albus sat down on its stool elegantly, his long fingers gliding over the keys. He smiled and started to play a faint melody while the tabby watched him in admiration.
"Minerva, my dear. If it wasn´t you I would say that it is rather impolite to spy after the headmaster!", Albus suddenly said with a calm voice, not looking up from the keys. The tabby would have blushed if she had been able to and slowly left her hiding place to jump on the velvet fabric spanned over the stool and looked up to the headmaster with a apologizing meow.
"Seems like you haven´t been able to sleep, my dear", he smiled and his left hand continued to play while his right reached out to stroke the fur of the tabby that immediately started to purr and pressed her back against his fingers.
"You should have said something, I would have accompanied you."
His right hand wandered back to the keys and he could hear how the cat started to transform. Seconds later Minerva McGonagall was sitting next to him, pulling her dressing gown tighter around her shoulders.
"I doubt you would have strolled around the castle with me", she chuckled. "What is this for a room? I never heard about this before..."
"Nobody knows about this – I discovered it about a month ago while I was walking around at nighttime. I come here when I need distraction from my duties", Albus explained and Minerva smiled:"I understand that. It´s a beautiful room!"
Albus stopped playing and wrapped one arm around her shoulder as he saw how she shivered, pulling her to his side and Minerva lay her head down on his shoulder.
"Yes, I agree. It is calming."
They sat there in silence, looking out of the window on the lake, the moonlight being reflected on its surface.
"How long has it been since we simply sat together, my dear? I missed your company."
"Too long, Albus. Too long", she whispered and smiled as he placed a kiss on her forehead. They continued to sit there for nearly the whole night, entwined, snuggled against each other, taking all the time they wanted in their secret universe.