A/N: This should have been a Christmas surprise but we didn't get it done in time... More talk at the end!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling - I just played a bit in her universe.

Thanks to miu-sama95 for prereading, betaing and helping with this cute litte story ;)

What happens behind closed doors...

Words: 675

He was a man on a mission. Each and every student that was making their way to the Great Hall for dinner jumped out of his way. None of them dared to catch his attention for fear of detention.

Only a bit further and he would be back in his domain. None of his colleagues liked to journey down into the dark, damp dungeons. Even the headmaster did his best to avoid going down there.

So far he had been fortunate enough to avoid any hold ups. Thankfully Albus had not been present yet when he took his meal which allowed him to leave early. He had also successfully managed to ignore Minerva's calls as he crossed the entrance hall on his way to the dungeons. She had still been up two flights of stairs which made it impossible for her to catch up to him.

Finally. The entrance to the dungeons. His domain. His safe haven.

The only ones who came down here voluntarily were his snakes. His prefects knew perfectly well how to handle the younger ones on the weekends. This year he had managed to instruct them earlier than usual which meant he had his evening free.

A free evening followed by a free weekend. Two days of isolation. Sixty hours in which he did not plan to leave his quarters under any circumstances. None. At. All.

Once he had stepped off the last step he kept to the shadows and quickly moved to his quarters. He quietly murmured the password to his guardian portrait and slipped inside before anyone could see him.

Safely inside he quickly warded his door before letting out a deep sigh.

He shrugged out of his teaching robe and let it drop onto the floor where he stood while he pulled off his shoes and also left them where they fell. If anyone tripped over them it would be their own fault for intruding on his weekend.

Mere moments after entering his rooms he crashed down face-first onto his comfy couch with a satisfied sigh.

He was too old for this. Or too young. Since he was only just thirty, he was probably too young.

Why was he doing this to himself? Trying to teach these dunderheads the subtle art of potions was simply impossible. He couldn't do this for the rest of his life. He couldn't even do it for another year. And this year had only just started. How could he survive the next ten months with all these ungrateful hormonal brats? He couldn't care less about them, but it was such a waste of his time and knowledge.

With another groan he buried his face even deeper in his pillow. He would love a stiff drink but for that he would have to move, and he didn't plan on doing that anytime soon. His couch was just so comfy.

Suddenly there was a light pressure on his back followed by a questioning: "Nmyff?"

Without looking he reached behind himself and pulled his furry companion closer for a cuddle. If any of his students knew what kind of pet he owned and loved they would all make fun of him. His carefully constructed reputation would be for naught.

Although he would never admit it he loved Asphodel and would never ever give her up, no matter how she had come into his life.

In his first teaching year the staff had decided to play Secret Santa (against is wishes). Albus had drawn him and presented him with Asphodel. No matter how much he had grumbled and glared back then he had fallen in love with her the second he had looked into her green eyes. Quite like Lily's.

Asphodel was always there for him and always enjoyed a good cuddle. She was the only one he could always rely on.

If any of the students ever found out that he, the bat of the dungeons, owned a green eyed, pink furred Puffskein they would lose every ounce of fear he had painstakingly put into them.

The End

Miu-Sama and I came up with this little story while playing the Hogwarts Mystery game and doing a side story where we had to find escaped animals in the castle. Guess which animal was in the Potions classroom? ;)

To all of you who read my first story and were hoping for a sequel or updates on Bonded for Life - I'M SORRY! University got crazy this fall and I have had absolutely no time at all to even think about a story.

To clarify: We had the idea at the beginning of December. I wrote it during a movie night we had on the 13th of December and it has taken us until now to get it ready for posting. Although I have to confess that miu-sama corrected it last week already but I have been on holiday with my boyfriends family and we had no Wifi connection.

Thank you all for reading and commenting!

First posted on: 04. January 2019