"Baz, what are you doing?"
Simon's voice brought Baz's head up with a snap and he dropped the limp rat back into the cage. Alarm shot through his entire body and refused to ground, it just circulated through his body and frazzled his thoughts. Simon had followed him. Simon was standing behind him and there was nothing Baz could do, short of conjuring an invisibility spell. Even his muddy brain knew that it was too late for that. The cat is out of the bag, or should I say rat, ha ha, Baz thought. A slight trickle of blood twisted its way down Baz's chin and the salty, coppery smell prevented his fangs from retreating.
Baz focused his eyes on the window in front of him and could just make out the silhouette of Simon standing in the doorway. The light from the corridor was the only illumination and Simon's face was in the shadow. Maybe that's for the best. There was no way Baz could talk or act his way out of this.
"Baz, it's the middle of the bloody night!" In the reflection Baz saw Simon take a step into the room. "What in Crowley's name made you wander halfway across the school to the Magical Creatures laboratory?"
"Ignorant as ever," Baz muttered. He brought his hand up to his chin and in the pretense of scratching, tried to wipe away the blood.
"What are you muttering for? You're the one who's spending his time sneaking through the school at ungodly hours of the night."
When Baz made no move to respond, Simon irritatedly crossed the room and though Baz saw Simon move in the reflection, it was too late.
Baz tried to retreat but Simon had already grabbed hold of his shoulder.
"Is this blood?" Simon asked while squinting his eyes. He was looking at the front of Baz's night robe. "Did you get into a fight? Is that what you were doing in here? You were meeting for a duel?" As he talked his eyes slowly made their way up Baz's shirt and Baz knew that he was running out of time. That their unspoken friendship shrouded in sarcasm and evil looks was coming to a premature end. The exhaustion he'd been fighting for so long landed a knockout punch. Baz closed his eyes in defeat.
By this time Simon's eyes had landed on his blood-smeared chin.
"The other guy got some punches in too, did he? Serves you right, trapezing around in the middle of the night just to stir up trouble," Simon said. Simon brought his hand up and caught his chin to tilt it to the faint light. At his unexpected touch, Baz's breath trembled out and his eyes flashed open. Simon froze, his fingers still gripping Baz's chin. Though Baz would have loved to delude himself and believe it was another reason that had Simon acting like this, he knew what Simon saw.
His exposed fangs.