It was after midnight when they entered the castle and headed down into the dungeons. Freddie's boots were soaked and muddy from walking through puddles and made squelching sounds as she walked.
"Filch is going to kill you if he catches you," Snape said, glancing behind her.
"I'll clean it up," she sighed, drawing her wand. The last thing she wanted was the ornery caretaker in her face. She was tired and cold and ready for bed. She used a quick spell to clean up the muddy footprints she'd left and kept doing it every few feet as they walked. "Why aren't your shoes squishing all over the place?" she asked in between cleaning spells.
"Because," he said. "I have sense enough to put a water-repelling charm on my shoes before going out in the rain."
"Why didn't you remind me?"
"Then how would you learn?"
"Hmph," she said indignantly. She stopped and leaned against the wall and he watched as she pulled her shoes and socks off. She started to put them in her bag, but Ziggy raised his head and meowed indignantly.
"For goodness sake," she muttered. She held her wand in one hand and her boots in the other, thinking. Snape raised an eyebrow at her and she blew out a sigh. "I can't think of the spell, the one that puts things in a bubble."
He clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
"I'm tired," she insisted. "Ask me in the morning and I could tell you but right now I'm drawing a blank."
"Ebublio," he said with a flick of his wand and a bubble enveloped her socks and boots, containing the muddy drip.
"Thank you," Freddie said emphatically.
"Levitate it yourself," he said, flicking the bubble at her with a jerk of his wand. "Assuming you know how." She caught the bubble with the tip of her wand without even having to think of the levitation spell. He nodded approvingly.
When they reached the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room, Freddie paused. Snape kept walking, then noticed she'd stopped and doubled back.
"...Would you like to come warm up before you turn in?" he asked, his voice low. Freddie glanced around the corridor but of course it was deserted. He was the only one who patrolled the dungeons this late.
"And what would warming up in your office entail, Professor?" she said quietly as they continued down the hall.
You're too tired to remember a Containment Charm, but you can flirt? Said his voice in her head. She smiled at him in response.
I'm not that tired, she responded unconvincingly.
Suppose I wanted to take you up on your flirtations? Take you home and fuck you proper?
Her mind was flooded with images of what he'd like to do to her and she stumbled in the corridor, stubbing her toe on a loose brick. He laughed, a soft, almost dangerous sound.
"A drink, Winifred," he said aloud, though his voice was almost too quiet to hear. "A drink and a fire that has been going for hours. You can get warm, then you can return to your dormitory."
"Thank you," she said weakly, her face beet-red. He just smiled.
When they reached his office Snape unlocked the door. Freddie stepped in and was hit with a wave of warmth and comforting smells.
"Oh man," she said, walking over to stand in front of the fireplace. "That feels good."
Snape shut the door and walked over to his desk. He sat and pulled the bottle of scotch from his desk drawer. He turned slightly in his chair to watch her, but she didn't pay him any mind. She was standing barefoot in front of the fireplace, stretching. Her muscles were sore from the transformation and the cold and the warmth of the fire felt amazing. She slipped her bag over her shoulder and set it down gently. Ziggy poked his head out then crawled out of the bag, stretching in his own way. He sniffed at the bubble containing her shoes that was floating a few inches above the floor. He batted it with one paw but the bubble didn't move.
"Forgotten how to pop it?" Snape asked her, a light tease in his voice. Freddie glanced at him, then down at the bubble.
"Finite," she said, tapping it with her wand. The bubble popped and her shoes hit the ground with a loud squish. Ziggy sniffed them, then hissed and went to the other side of Freddie's legs.
"Jeez, do they smell that bad?" she asked. She picked up her boots and set them as close to the fire as she could to dry. She got her socks out of her boots and stretched them out on the hearth.
"Drink?" Snape asked, pouring a healthy amount of scotch into both of the cups he'd conjured. Freddie padded over to his desk, the stone feeling colder under her feet the farther she got from the fireplace.
"Thank you," she said, accepting the glass with a nod. She took a sip and sighed as the warmth slid down her throat and settled in her stomach. Unlike the Animagus potion the warmth stayed pleasantly in her stomach. She sighed in contentment and walked back over to the fire. She stood there, sipping her drink, feeling increasingly drowsy. She started at a noise and found that Snape had gotten up and pushed a chair behind her.
"Sit," he said. "Before you fall."
"I'm not gonna fall," she protested, but sat anyway. His hands remained on the back of the chair and brushed the back of her neck a moment before stepping away.
"You were swaying in place," he said as he returned to his desk. He sat back down in his chair and spun it around to face her, his drink in hand.
"Mm," she said non-committal. "I'm tired. And sore. It was like the Shrinking Solution and the Swelling Solution, but different. My bones hurt and my skin feels prickly."
"Prickly?" he asked, regarding her with his dark eyes.
"Where my fur grew and then...un-grew."
"Un-grew?" he chuckled softly.
"My brain is tired," she said defensively, but her heart wasn't in it.
"Do you want to go to bed?" he asked quietly.
She looked at him with a small smile.
"Your own bed," he said.
"Mm. In a minute," she said, turning back to the fire and closing her eyes as she took another sip of her drink.
"Maybe you should eat something," he suggested. "Or drink some tea."
She shook her head without opening her eyes. He said something else but she didn't hear him as her head slumped to her chest and she drifted off to sleep.
She didn't know how much time had passed when he woke her. He shook her gently and she started awake, sitting up in the chair. Her cup was gone and the bottle of scotch was gone from his desk.
"What, what happened?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.
"You fell asleep."
"For how long?"
"15 minutes."
"Ugh," she groaned. "Can't you just let me sleep?"
"Unfortunately, no. Get up," he said, nudging the chair. She got the feeling he would have no qualms about dumping her out of the chair, so she stood up. Her legs were asleep and she stretched, trying to wake her body up enough to move.
"Come on," he said. "I have to see you safely back to your dormitory."
She groaned as she stretched down to pick up her socks and shoes.
"My socks are still wet," she complained.
"Are you a witch or not?" he asked, looking faintly amused. She stared at him blankly, her brain not fully functioning. He shook his head slightly and drew his wand, pointing it at her boots and socks.
"Arificus," he said and she felt a gust of warm air blow past her. When she picked up her socks they were dry. So were her boots. She sat back in the chair to put them on, but she was having a hard time getting her foot in her sock.
"You are pathetic," he said, shaking his head as he knelt in front of her to help.
"If I wasn't so tired, I'd be offended by that," she said, her voice slurring slightly.
"If you weren't so tired, you wouldn't be so pathetic," he said, lacing up her left boot. "Fortunately, you are cute."
She grinned down at him.
"You think I'm cute," she said.
"Be quiet," he said, tying her other boot. He took her hand in his and brushed a kiss across her palm. That woke her up some, then he stood up, pulling her to her feet. His hand went to her neck and she felt a rush of desire shining through her sleepiness...but he just undid his cloak from around her neck and pulled it away. He tossed it over the back of the chair.
"Let's go, Winifred. You can come back in the morning," he said, leading her to the door, with Ziggy trailing after them.
"Late morning," she said with a yawn. "Maybe after noon..."
He walked her to the entrance of the Common Room and gave the password for her so she wouldn't have to search her memory for it.
"Goodnight...Miss Gray," he said, just in case there was anyone in the Common Room who might hear them.
"Goodnight, Professor," she said, punctuated by another yawn. She saw him smile slightly, then the door slid shut and he was gone. Freddie yawned again then dragged herself to her dormitory and collapsed on the bed, not even bothering to get undressed. She still had her boots on when Ziggy curled up on her back and they both fell asleep.