Sorry I haven't updated in so long! I'll be posting daily for at least a week, longer if I can swing it.
Scratchings
Harry woke and sighed happily, hearing the familiar - soothing even - sound of Severus scribbling notes emanating from the ensuite laboratory.
Harry had, at first, been melancholy at waking alone every morning, but he had grown to love coming slowly back to awareness with the sound of that quill scratching out notes on the latest experiment.
Sometimes they were happy scratchings, slow and measured, written with the ease of precise knowledge; sometimes they were frenzied, a hurried attempt to get racing thoughts and plans down onto paper; and sometimes they were angry and consisted only of short, sharp movements, marking out faulty or unsatisfactory attempts.
In any case, they all left him with the same happy smile - though he was ever wary of Severus' mood on days when he woke to the angry scratching, as it warned of a difficult day for all involved.
Today however, would be a good day; the scratching was quick and busy, telling of a rousing success - most likely a breakthrough on the latest of Severus' projects.
Harry sighed again. He'd best stop lazing and get up. For one thing, he knew Severus, and he suspected that the busy, preoccupied man had yet to eat anything.
~Fin~
Written after watching the movie "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer". There was a bit around a half an hour in where a perfumier was writing and scribbling out things on a bit of parchment with a quill and ink.
It made me think of Hogwarts, where they use parchment and quills for everything. I've heard the sound (in person, I mean), and it is rather grating and actually, a little oddly pleasant as well. Particularly when you've gotten used to it.