One day *twitch* this'll all be mine *twitch* mwahahaha!!!!!! J. K. Rowling can't have it!!! No… noo…. *muffled screams*
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"Well, well," a drawling voice broke the silence.
"If it isn't Mr. Potter, out of bed, what a shock," said the voice sarcastically from the shadows behind Draco. "And who…" the voice trailed off, Snape stepped out of the shadows and carefully observed the two of them for a moment. "Mr. Malfoy… I would have expected better from you, especially now that you're a prefect, you should be a little more careful about bending the rules." He said the words almost automatically, as if it hadn't been him speaking at all. "Follow me, both of you," he barked, and turning on his heel, he marched stiffly down the corridor.
Harry threw a look at Malfoy, and for once it wasn't a look of hatred, but one of accepted panic, and to his surprise, Draco surveyed him in a similar manner in return. With that, they both hurried after Snape.
Snape led them down a few floors until they had reached the dungeons. He stormed halfway down the corridor and then flung open a door.
"IN," he said simply.
Draco and Harry scrambled into the room and then remained at the center of it, watching Snape with growing fear. He slammed the door behind it and then leaned against it a moment, closing his eyes, as if trying to regain is composure. With a deep breath he opened his eyes again and watched the both of them.
"Why don't you sit?" he suggested, with a dangerous edge in his voice. Harry had been caught out of bed a few times before, but never had he seen this urgency with which Snape was handling them. Harry hesitated for a moment out of confusion, but Snape threw him a sharp look, which threw Harry down into the chair.
"Er – professor…" began Malfoy cautiously, "don't you think you might be getting just a little carried away? I mean, not that Potter here really deserves to be cut anymore slack," Malfoy seemed to be regaining his arrogant drawl rather nicely, "but really, we were just caught out of bed this once, no harm done…"
"First of all, Mr. Malfoy," Snape spoke barely moving his lips, "I do believe both of you have a record of sneaking about sometime in the past. And second," his eyes grew colder, " 'this once' may have caused quite a bit of harm indeed if I hadn't found you." Harry wasn't quite sure what he meant by this, but he wasn't about to question Snape, who seemed to be fuming more and more by the second. Instead he looked around the room to try and give his eyes something else to look at. He noticed Snape's office looked much more cluttered than the last time he'd been in it. Among the carefully arranged jars and the vials of potion ingredients, there were several books strewn haphazardly throughout the room. Harry recognized a few as belonging to the restricted section, from when he had searched the shelves secretly a few times in the previous years. Upon closer inspection Harry could see that they were all about jinxes and curses, and how to remove hexes, one book was titled Cursing Homes, Castles, and Other Establishments.
"Mr. Potter," Snapes voice pulled him back from his distraction. "Is there something in my office that you find particularly interesting? Would you like me to keep quiet while you observe?" Harry could tell he was dangerously close to losing massive amounts of points for Gryffindor.
"Er – no – sorry Proffesor."
"Well then, it would do you good to try and focus your attention on me for a while. As I was saying, currently it is not safe for any," Snape glared directly at Harry, "student to be out after hours, especially without a teacher present anywhere near." Harry was about to mention how he had been with Professor Lupin, but stopped himself, knowing that he would probably only end up getting Lupin in trouble as well.
"But - " began Malfoy.
"The Hogwarts corridors, Mr. Malfoy, I'm afraid have become a rather dangerous place to wander." Harry could tell by the look on Draco's face that he had no idea what Snape was going on about, and he was quite sure he himself didn't look much more understanding. Snape seemed to note their confusion and attempted once again to explain.
"Lately I'm sure you've noticed a few rather… chaotic… events here at Hogwarts, have you not?"
"Well, er, yes, I suppose," replied Harry.
"But," said Malfoy, sounding rather exasperated, "those are just some minor annoyances," he laughed, "bothersome indeed, but not dangerous I wouldn't say! I mean, no one's even been hurt yet!"
"Mr. Malfoy, you are not in the position to decide about things you simply do not understand." Malfoy looked rather taken aback, he had never been treated this way by his favorite teacher and was obviously not enjoying it.
"Yes, but -"
"The lack of injuries," interrupted Snape, "as you so kindly pointed out, has simply been a matter of luck, I'm afraid. We have quite a bit of proof already that each of these… 'annoyances', as you had put it, are directly attempting to harm the inhabitants of this school," he said, rather matter-of-factly. "I'm afraid," he said, "that I'm going to have to take 50 points from you," he glared at Harry again, and with a rather pained expression looked to Malfoy and continued, "each of you. You do understand of course, why the school is taking such precautions… I supposed I shall have to escort the both of you back to your dormitories."
Snape got up and gestured for them to exit the room. As Harry walked from the office, he looked back once again to try and catch a glimpse at the books laying about, but Snape continued to Sheppard them out and he was forced to look away.
