Chapter Twenty-three- Start of Holiday
This is going to be a crappy winter vacation, Lindsey thought dourly the next morning. She had had The Nightmare again that night, again couldn't remember a thing, and had then tossed and turned fruitlessly for four more hours before giving up and coming downstairs to the Great Hall at 5:30.
That was where she sat now, alone, alternately staring awkwardly at the steam rising from her porridge and the snow still falling thickly from the magic ceiling above. She sighed and looked around the silent hall; she cleared her throat and it echoed. While she was the only student from Ravenclaw house that had stayed behind, she was sure she wasn't the only student in the whole school… was she? None of the professors were even up yet.
Sighing again Lindsey began sullenly to spoon sugar into her porridge, not really paying attention to what she was doing. She jumped as a voice sounded suddenly behind her, breaking the utter silence.
"Like a bit of sugar on your porridge, do you?" Snape asked amusedly, looking down at her and quirking an eyebrow. Lindsey looked down at the pile of sugar, at least equal to the amount of porridge in the bowl if not more; she really must have zoned out.
"Nothing wrong with a little pick-me-up in the morning," she said hastily stashing the teaspoon back in the sugar bowl.
"Indeed." He yawned widely as he situated himself across the table from her, a ridiculously large mug of black coffee appearing before him; he hated insomnia. He really had not expected anyone other than himself to be awake at this Godforsaken hour.
"Are you always this early a riser?" he asked skeptically. Lindsey shook her head, having a time of stirring her porridge made thick by the sugar. With some difficulty she pulled out a spoonful, making a peculiar dry squelching sound.
"Just… had trouble sleeping," she answered finally, staring dubiously at her heaping spoon of sugar porridge.
Snape nodded, his mouth twitching, trying to suffuse a smile, watching Lindsey's face as she chewed the sugary spoonful, sounding like she was grinding wet sand. She swallowed with obvious effort, then downed half her pumpkin juice.
"It's good," she said hoarsely and hardly convincingly. Reluctantly she lifted another spoonful, just staring at it like she was willing it to disappear. After a few moments of this she finally just set her spoon down, saying, "You know, I'm really not hungry this morning," then looked away as her stomach rumbled. She cleared her throat uncomfortably.
"Still willing to assist with the potions restocking?" Snape asked, hiding his smile behind his coffee mug.
"Oh yes," Lindsey said eagerly.
"Well, I'd like to get started today-" he began.
"Okay!" she exclaimed, jumping up.
"I didn't mean now," he said pointedly, not moving.
"Oh." Lindsey sat down quickly.
"Besides," he went on, swallowing some more coffee, "we'll need to pay a visit to the Apothecary before we can make anything, and there's no way we'll get out in this weather." Snape gestured to the snowstorm raging above them. Lindsey nodded comprehensively though he couldn't miss the shadow that befell her face.
Finishing off his coffee in one gulp Snape stood, with one last look at the ceiling.
"Come and see me as soon as this stops," he directed. "No windows in the dungeon, you know."
"Of course," Lindsey agreed, as Snape left the table with a slight inclination of his head.
For several moments after he left Lindsey stared suspiciously at her bowl of sugar, then simply gave up and pushed it away, getting up and heading to the commonroom to await the letting-up of the snow.
When Cari woke the next morning she couldn't remember where she was. She was about to stick her head out of her bedcurtains and see if Lindsey was up yet when it dawned on her: she was at Malfoy Manor! Jumping out of bed she dressed swiftly then drew back the curtains of the bay window to reveal a veil of white; it was still snowing.
The clock was striking eight when she opened the doors of her room. She stuck her head out and looked both ways down the corridor, uncertain as to the way to go. Lucius and Draco were the only people in the house aside from herself, so she decided to explore until she found one of them. Besides, she assured herself, closing the door behind her, I'll probably run into a house elf first and they can tell me where to find them.
And so Cari walked cautiously past paintings of looming witches and wizards, glaring down at her imperiously, making her feel rather nervous. This anxiety increased as she continued walking in the direction she thought they had come from last night with no sight of the grand staircase. Then, much to her relief, she heard voices; too low to be Draco's she assumed it was Lucius and followed the sound of it down the hall. She stopped short just outside the door when she heard another voice. Lucius must have company or something, she thought, though it is early… Curiosity winning over propriety (and probably better judgment) she silently opened the door a crack, just enough to see in.
She saw Lucius, but there was no one else in the room to which he could be talking to. Then she saw his fireplace burning green- floo powder! Although she couldn't see the head in the flames she knew it was there; she could hear the voice however couldn't make out what it was saying. It surprised her to think that it sounded somewhat familiar. She pressed her ear to the crack as Lucius began to speak.
"How…?" he demanded with suppressed rage, more to himself than the head in the fire.
"Of course I know there's a spy!" he snapped after the head said something Cari still failed to hear.
"They must be found-" Lucius began, but just then a house elf tugged at the hem of Cari's robes, startling her so she slammed the door with a creak and fell right on her rear. The house elf was startled even more and scampered off instantly.
Cari looked around for it angrily, then froze as a shaft of light opened right over her. She looked reluctantly up into the icy blue eyes of Lucius Malfoy.
"Can I… help you, Miss Green?" he asked with strained civility, though Cari knew he had been caught off guard and was riled.
"Sorry, Mr. Malfoy," she breathed, taking the hand he proffered to help her up. "I… was trying to find Draco… and I heard your voice, so… I was going to ask you where he was but, I… I-I slipped and…" She let her lie hang, unnerved by his intent gaze; she was a horrible liar. Then he nodded slowly.
"Draco should be just downstairs," he said slowly, not taking his eyes off hers; Cari was certain he didn't believe a word she said. "If you'll just follow that hallway"- he gestured to the right- "you'll be right at the staircase; you should be able to find you way from there."
Cari nodded quickly, flashed a nervous smile, and swiftly made her retreat. She walked down the aforementioned corridor, trying to slow her racing heart, and, sure enough, there was the marble stair. Making her way down she took several deep breaths before going to find Draco.
The three ate dinner together that night at one end of a long stone table, Lucius at the head, Draco to his left, and Cari to his right, in Narcissa's vacant seat. House elves served the meal, as fine as any at Hogwarts. The conversation was mild: doings back at school and news from the Ministry of Magic.
"So Cari," Lucius began pleasantly, turning towards her. "Tell me something about yourself; Draco hasn't told us nearly enough." And so Cari told him, about how she grew up in Salem, Massachusetts and her mother the headmistress there. Lucius stiffened when she said her father was an auror.
"Will you… wish to carry on the family business?" he asked carefully. Draco was watching the conversation between them like a hawk.
"I've never really had an interest," Cari answered slowly, saying neither yes nor no. Lucius nodded, seemingly satisfied.
Things went on about the same for the next two days, Draco showing Cari around the mansion or just hanging about, waiting for the snow to stop, and generally enjoying their freedom.
It took three days to stop snowing but as soon as it did, Lindsey was down in Snape's office, cloak, scarf, and gloves already on. Snape looked up from the book he was reading when he heard the frantic stomping of shoes coming down the hallway.
"Profe-" Lindsey had just sprinted down the hall and started to yell, but as she ran around the doorway into his office she slipped on the edge of her robe and dropped like a sack of potatoes.
"It's stopped snowing!" she exclaimed as she jumped back up, falling again in the process, though still seeming unfazed. She absolutely loved snow and had never gotten it back home; when it snows in New York City, it just gets kind of black and slushy.
"I'll wait for you outside Professor!" she called over her shoulder as she scampered out the door. Snape just blinked for a moment at this rather uncharacteristic display of bubbly enthusiasm. Shaking his head he got up and snatched his own cold weather raiment to follow Lindsey outside.
As they walked to Hogsmeade (no simple task seeing as the snow was so deep after three straight days and nights of blizzard) Lindsey couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so exuberant, and it must have been catching because Snape was feeling pretty good himself, surprising even to him.
The pair went first to the Apothecary and purchased all the necessary potions ingredients, then Lindsey made them stop at Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop for a last minute Christmas present for Cari. Then they headed back to the castle.
Hey! Hope y'all enjoyed that. I just could really picture Snape being an insomniac and a total coffee addict, couldn't you? No? Just me then… okay. Well, I'll probably update… well, what the heck, I'll update the next chapter right now! You see, the next chapter is a particular favorite of mine. Well, read on!