Author's Note: Sorry, I didn't mean to drop off of the face of the earth. (It was a lot of work climbing back up too...) but I'm back now. For the moment. We'll see how crazy second semester gets.
General Disclaimer of Everything: I own nothing.
Severus started his search at breakfast by discreetly notifying select members of the staff. Mr. Malfoy was back, sitting alone at the Slytherin table, but Ms. Greengrass was nowhere to be seen. He mused over questioning the boy, but decided against it. Malfoy and Greengrass had never been close. If one was back and the other still missing, the likelihood is that they hadn't been together after all. He worried all through breakfast and couldn't bring himself to eat anything.
Severus was short tempered in all his classes. He glared at the students as he taught the miserable wretches. How could they be happy when one of their fellows was missing? Especially the Slytherins! He would have known in an instant if one of his year mates went missing. Snape even ended up taking points from his own house. It was something that he usually avoided because the rest of the school was prejudiced against his students, but when Flint tried to blow the class room up and when Malfoy had tried to poison himself, Snape lost it. Didn't the ignoramuses have any respect for life? Didn't the little cretins have any self preservation instinct at all?
He skipped lunch, normally taken in his office, in order to sweep the castle. Wand flat on the palm of his hands, Snape growled two words. "Point me."
Where do teachers keep things that they have confiscated? The answer is inevitably, in their office.
Draco slinked around the corner, and approached the office door. It was lunch time, so the corridor was deserted. He chanted a detection spell that was usually used by curse breakers. A thin red line of light shot out of his wand and he used it to scan the door. To his surprise, it the results came back negative. The door wasn't trapped. A simple Alohomora was enough to unlock it. Still, he was cautious as he entered. He sneaked... er... furtively padded across the bare flagstones. He paused after every step, listening intently for any alarms that might have been triggered. Once, he thought he heard footsteps pass just outside the door, and his heart skipped a beat. It pounded an unsteady rhythm against his ribs.
Draco eyed the cupboard, and the filing cabinet, uneasily wondering if Daphne had been locked away. Surely not. It was just an apple. Snape didn't actually know did he? Then an awful thought occurred to him as awful thought often do when you are lurking in places where you ought not to be and are feeling slightly sick to your stomach. What if Snape had thought that Daphne was just and apple. What if he had eaten her?! He came to a stop before the organized desk. It seamed that Snape's office was just as spartan as his classroom. Just behind the pile of neatly stacked folders and next to a dinner plate, which contained a sandwich and a small salad, sat a green apple. He let out a sigh of relief and snatched it up.
Draco placed it in his book bag. Then he hurried from the room, least Professor Snape arrive for lunch and find him in there. He shuddered at the thought of what his head of house might do if he found him poking about in his office. Detention would just be the start of it. Draco lengthened his stride a little.
When he rounded the corner, he had a glimpse of the clear corridor just before he hit a large, brown, black, and scarlet blur.
Draco was back on his feet first, straightening his robes and dusting off his knees. He then turned to offer his assailant a hand up. He changed his mind when he saw who he had run into.
"Watch where you're going, Granger." He sneered at the girl at his feet. She struggled with her tangled robes.
"Sorry," She replied breathlessly as she climbed to her feet. She looked up and froze. Well this was awkward.
"Don't let it happen again." He growled. He stalked around her, not helping as she scrambled to pick up her books. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her fish something golden out of the front of her robes.
He heard her mutter something about "Should have been deserted..." and "...didn't go back far enough..." Confused, Draco glanced back over his shoulder. She was already gone.
Neither of them noticed the apple that had fallen out of the book bag, and was now sitting innocuously in the corner.
Half an hour later, a house elf happened by. It picked up the apple, checked it over for bruises, and with a shrug snapped it's fingers. The apple was sent to the kitchens to be cleaned. The elf continued sweeping, humming a monotone tune under his breath.