There won't be another update on this until Tuesday. Chapter 8.  The Walk and the Note

Dumbledore blazed the trail through the knee-deep snow to Hogwarts.  There were a few light flakes coming down already as the group trudged along. 

"How come I don't get a broom?" Erin whined from behind the group as she trudged through the snow. 

Marie glanced back at her, unconsciously turning the handle and almost running into Ron, who was walking alongside.  He pushed the broom back straight with a jerk, causing Marie to momentarily lose her balance.  Snape, who had been walking behind them, marched briskly past, deliberately bumping the broom as he went.  Marie gripped the handle hard as Ron cursed under his breath and steadied the broom again.  Marie gave the bristles a small kick and the broom shot forward a few inches, banging into Snape's elbow.  He snarled and rounded on her.  The look she gave him was deliberately innocent. 

"You children stop fighting," Dumbledore said calmly, without bothering to turn his head. 

Hermoine scowled imperiously at the trio.  Snape took a few steps to get out of handle range and stuck his hands in his pockets. 

"Serves him right, making a pest out of himself," Ron muttered under his breath.

When the wizards mentioned "Hogwarts," Marie was expecting a jail like institution similar to the ones ordinarily associated with the word "school", not, as she so mildly put it, "Dracula's Castle." 

Erin's sole commentary on the building as she puffed to a stop was, "You'd better have fireplaces in there.  And cocoa." 

Dumbledore assured her that they had both.  Marie slid off the back of the broom as they entered the main lobby.  There were a few students on the main stairwell, and they stopped to gawk at the muggles. 

"Is it safe to look around?" Marie asked. 

Erin was already poking the enchanted armor in different spots to see what it would do. 

"Yes, of course.  Any restricted areas are either locked or have a password," Dumbledore said. 

"Oh, that'll be the first thing she'll be into," Marie commented as Erin rushed up the staircase past the students, giggling maniacally. 

"The staircases change!" Hermoine called after her. 

Erin didn't even turn around. 

"Now if you'll excuse us," she continued, starting to leave with Dumbledore and Flitwick. 

"Isn't there anything I can do?" Marie asked.  They paused to stare.  "I want to find out what they want just as much as you do, so I'll know what to do to avoid it," she finished. 

"You don't know anything about wizarding, so most of the books we'll be looking through won't make any sense to you. It'll just be a lot faster if we handle this," Hermoine said. 

"We appreciate the offer," Flitwick said kindly.  

"Coming, Severus?" Dumbledore asked. 

"You'd better behave yourselves, or else," Snape growled lowly to Marie and Ron before following. 

"I'm going to go say hello to Hagrid.  You'll be all right, then," Ron said, before wandering off and leaving Marie alone in the great hall. 

I see where I rank on the totem pole, Marie thought to herself.  She shuffled forward and used the handrail on the stairs for support.  The students were still there, watching her. 

One of them grinned evilly and stepped forward.  "Engorgio!" he yelled, waving his wand.  His smile faded when nothing happened. 

"No thanks.  I'm full," Marie said, ascending the rest of the stairs calmly.

Snape blew down the hall after the strategy meeting, his long cloak billowing behind him.  He considered the entire meeting a spectacular waste of time.  The Ministry hadn't responded back with an owl yet, so they had decided to send another note.  This complicated Snape's life enormously. 

He rounded a corner at full tilt and stopped suddenly in shock.  The hallway was filled with students.  He spotted with a glance several copies of all 143 items that had been officially banned in the corridors.  Snape knew full well that the students could not have gotten a hold of such a vast inventory unless someone with a severe disregard for school policy had raided Filch's closet.  And he had a fairly good idea of who the scofflaw had been.  He ducked as a Fanged Frisbee flew over his head.  It hit the wall, fell to the ground, and started chewing the carpet. 

"Snape!" someone yelled out in warning. 

The students all looked up in terror and fled.  He didn't know whether to be sorry or grateful.  After all, writing out all those detention slips would have taken most of the day…  Thoughtfully, he reached down and picked up the Frisbee off the floor of the now empty hallway with long, bony fingers.  He had never had one.  He tossed it straight up, watched it as it spun in the air and snarled, and caught it when it came back down.  He gave it one last scrutinizing look and put it in his robe.

Snape found Marie lounging on a couch in the library stubbornly reading "Hogwarts: A History".  She had a copy of "Famous Persons of the Wizarding World", the "The Oxford Wizard's Dictionary" and the last two weeks of the "Daily Prophet" stacked up against the couch. 

"Care to explain this?" he said, showing her the Frisbee. 

"Erin broke into the scary dude's office.  I had nothing to do with it," she responded, looking up and sticking her index finger in between the pages to mark her place. 

"A muggle, opening a magically sealed door without a key.  Most unusual.  And impressive," he said, a superior, crafty look spreading across his face. 

Marie knew full well he thought she was responsible and answered mildly, "Who said she didn't have a key?" 

He acknowledged the point with a nod, watching her face intently for any sign of a lie.  Marie went back to reading. 

"I believe you were asked by Miss Granger to stay out of wizard business," Snape said, indicating her stack. 

Marie let her book fall and said, "You said I didn't know enough to help.  So I'm learning.  Unless of course telling me that was just a ploy to get rid of me." 

Snape didn't say anything, but seemed a little shocked by her sharp tone with him.  That didn't fit into his plans at all; he needed her to trust him.  "We do tend to be a bit… suspicious … of strangers.  But not without good reason, I'm afraid," he said, by way of explanation. 

Marie accepted the statement with a nod and lifted her book again. 

Snape broke her concentration for a third time by saying, "You might not believe this, but I am not your enemy." 

Marie glanced up and responded dryly, "The thought never crossed my mind." 

He stared at her a moment, trying to gage the statement's level of sarcasm.  Finally deciding that it was somewhere between medium and high (and therefore any further conversation would be futile), he said, "The library closes at eight," before turning to leave. 

"I'm rooming here.  I got permission from the librarian," she responded, in a voice that dared him to challenge it. 

He paused, surprised, and said, "We do have some perfectly good beds at this school." 

Her voice said behind him, a little more cheerily, "I don't want anybody taking any extra trouble.  Besides, I like it here.  And I'm going to be spending a lot of time doing research anyway.  Just means I don't have as far to walk." 

He caught on swiftly to her train of thought and commented, "It also provides you with the unique opportunity to be both obstinate and non-troublesome at the same time." 

She looked startled.  He pretended he hadn't seen it, carefully hid a smile, and left the library.

A few minutes later, Snape sat at the desk in his rooms, muttering to himself.  A freshly mixed beaker was simmering within reach. To his left on the desk was his untouched meal.  To his right was a pen and parchment, on which he was scribbling a quick note in handwriting that looked very different what his students were used to seeing on the chalkboard or along the margins of their corrected papers.  In front of him was a note card, completely covered in writing very similar to what Snape was producing on his paper.  The writer of the card had signed his name across the top: Harry Potter. 

He checked the finished product carefully, blotted the ink and folded the note in half.  He knew he was panicking, perhaps unnecessarily.  After all, there was no guarantee he would be found out if the letter were sent.  But he could not allow that owl to reach its destination; there was too much at stake not to be devious.

Snape waited in a secluded spot outside where he could see the owlery, his fingers idly twisting the cord of a whistle.  The snow was coming down more thickly now, and he had to stamp his feet to keep warm in the frosty air.  He could see shadows moving around in the tower, and a few moments later one of the school owls flew out of a slit in the wall.  It made a wide circle around the tower before gliding toward Snape.  He waited until the shadows in the tower had retreated out of the room, and then blew the whistle.  It made no sound to his ears, but the owl evidently heard it, for it flew down to where he was standing and perched on his outstretched arm.  He took the letter from its beak and pocketed it.  Then he and the owl went back to his rooms to wait.

"Filch's office?" Ron said. 

"Yes," Hermoine said, in an exasperated tone. 

"Why didn't we think of that?" Ron said, musingly. 

Hermoine glared at him across the board. 

"Check," Ron said, moving his bishop. 

A soft fluttering of wings alerted him to the fact that the owl they had sent was returning. 

"That's not Ministry stationary," Hermoine said, standing up and moving her rook at the same time to block the check.  She took the note and the owl flew out the window. 

"What's it say?" Ron asked, standing up to look over her shoulder. 

"'For God's sake, don't send any more owls,'" Hermoine read. 

"That's Harry's handwriting!" Ron exclaimed. 

"We've got to tell Dumbledore," she responded, hurrying out of the room. 

Ron moved his knight to checkmate Hermoine and followed her.