I do not own Harry Potter and do not seek to make anything off of this little story. Special thanks to Seion, whenever he get around to reading this, for his help in making Snape nice and snarky.

Chapter 17: Meeting of Minds

The halls of Hogwarts seemed strange without all the other students. The only other times that it had been like this was during the winter holidays. But this time, not even the teachers were there. He wondered absently where they went during the summer as he sat at the table in the Gryffindor common room eating the lunch that the house elves, or rather, Dobby, had provided for him. Ron was sitting opposite, having quickly stuffed a couple servings of the food into his mouth. He was almost bouncing in his seat as he waited.

"Almost done, Harry?" He asked, with somewhat excited trepidation, "We're going to explore the dungeons today."

Over the past week they had searched the castle from top nearly to bottom, though quite a few of the doors were locked, such as the one to Filch's office. Harry would have dearly liked to have the opportunity to rummage through the drawer labeled, 'Confiscated and Extremely Dangerous'.

Their most recent goal had been one that had struck them in a fit of inspiration and boredom. Harry and Ron had decided to explore and try and find the teacher's bedchambers, for no other reason other than curiosity. They had already found the Hufflepuff, a door with no handle, but a badger worked on the upper corner, and the Ravenclaw, guarded by a statue that seemed to be of Rowena Ravenclaw herself, common rooms.

They had started looking for the chambers the day before, but had no luck. They already knew where most of the locked doors lead to, so they assumed that the chambers were a bit better hidden. Even so, they did not intend to give up yet, not with another whole week to waste before classes resumed.

Harry shoved a slice of orange in his mouth, took a last swig of pumpkin juice, then followed Ron out. Their footsteps sounded loudly in the echoes of the cool-smelling halls, and Harry suddenly wished he had brought his invisibility cloak with him.

The Zephyrs had brought their luggage from Remus' house a few days after they arrived, then had promptly left. Dumbledore, too, had been scarce over the last week, and as Tala, who had stayed to look after them, and make sure they didn't get themselves hurt or killed, was usually up in the library with Hermione doing research, they largely had the whole castle to themselves.

Ginny was waiting for them in the entrance hall, leaning impatiently against the banister. Harry, true to his word, had taken to leaving Cord in his room, but still, every time she saw him her eyes still darted nervously down to peer at his left wrist. He was hurt that she didn't quite trust him. But then, the last time she had completely trusted him, she had gotten her ankle broken, and Sirius had gotten killed.

Apparently she had reassured herself that he was snake free, because her face assumed an indignant expression and she planted her fists on her hips. "I've been waiting for twenty minutes," she said this with such certainty that Harry knew that she had recently checked her watch. "Where have you been?"

Harry had to cover a chuckle with a cough. Just then she had reminded him so much of her mother that even Ron looked startled.

"Harry was just finishing lunch." He said in a cowed voice, evidently trying to forestall a Mrs. Weasley-type lecture.

"Yeah, sorry about that, Tonic." Harry grinned.

Ginny eyed him archly, "Just remember not to call me that when classes start." She turned and made her way to the stairs leading down into the dungeons. "Well, are you coming?" she asked over her shoulder.

Ron gave Harry an exasperated look as the two of them followed her quickly retreating footsteps down into the dank darkness of the dungeons.

The torches lit and glowed with a flickering amber light as they made their way through the echoing halls. Ron looked a bit frightened, as though expecting something to swoop down on him at any moment. Harry also had to admit to a certain feeling of unease. This was, after all, Snape's territory, and he could sense his looming, sweeping presence in the shadows.

Ginny, however, evidenced no such feelings as she poked her nose into the shadows and felt along the walls, opening any doors she came across. Harry had to admit, however, that he doubted very much that the entrance to Snape's rooms would be something so simple. He was, however fairly sure that Snape's chambers were somewhere past his office, judging by the conversation that he had overheard between Snape and Filch when he was sneaking down the stairs during his fourth year.

"Now, what was it he said, again, Harry?" Ginny asked, apparently growing tired of poking in the shadows.

Harry paused and thought, running his hand through his messy hair. "He said something about passing his office from his chambers on the way up to the first floor. I think." He shrugged, "I had a lot on my mind just then, death, expulsion..."

"Which, according to Hermione, is a fate worse than death." Ron chimed in bemusedly. "And anyways, why are we looking for SNAPE'S chambers? I can not think of any reason why I'd want to know where he sleeps."

"Come on, Ron." Ginny said with a smile, "It's the adventure of it. Besides, his chambers are the only ones that we have even a chance of finding. I wouldn't even know where to start with the others."

"Then why didn't we just start with his?" Ron grumped, as Harry turned and tapped his wand on the statue of a very displeased looking wizard, the plaque on the stand read 'Jacobin the Annoyed.'

"Because," Ginny flushed a bit, "I don't really care to know where he sleeps either. But, just think of what Fred and George would do if they knew where it was." She said this last bit with a mischievous smile.

"Ginny, you're not planning..." Ron said fearfully. She waved a dismissive hand, cutting him off, but her older brother still looked a bit nervous.

As they moved further down the hall, they continued checking for irregularities in the walls, or trick doors, statues that moved, or anything that seemed out of place.

Ron tugged dispiritedly at an empty torch holder, while Ginny made sounds of wishing that there were some paintings that she could interrogate. Harry shook his head and sighed, leaning against the wall. He didn't really think that they would find it, he was certain that Snape would want his own chambers as inaccessible as possible. Who knew what he had in there.

Harry knew that he didn't even want to guess. Knowing his luck it would either be a collection of shrunken heads of students who had failed his classes, or a large collection of teddy bears. He shuddered. He wasn't sure which would be the preferred discovery.

"Hey Harry?" Ron sounded worried, "Where are you?"

Harry furrowed his brow, he was right in front of Ron. "Can't you see me?"

"No, but your voice sounds nearby..."

Harry looked around him, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He shrugged and walked a few steps forward, wondering if he had wandered into a small invisibility field. He heard Ron gasp and stopped short. "What is it?"

"Harry, you're half sticking out of the wall." Ron said quietly, his eyes focused on a point above Harry's head. Ginny, standing some way down the hall, was staring as well, looking as though she had stopped mid-tap.

"Oh, well, we've found it then." He tried to sound enthusiastic as he walked out into the hall.

"Er, but Harry, that's not all." His voice had dropped to somewhat of a squeaky whisper.

"What is it?" But as Harry watched Ron's face drain of color and Ginny's widening eyes he began to get an inkling. He turned his head slowly, and, just as he had dreaded in the pit of his stomach, there stood Snape, glaring down at him as he emerged, like a very substantial, high-contrast ghost, from the wall.

Harry gulped, opened his mouth, closed it, then gulped again.

"Would one of you care to explain to me why you are down here?" He said in his cold, silky voice. He folded his arms over his chest, his black eyes glittering dangerously.

"Er...we wanted to say hi, Professor." Ron stammered finally.

Snape turned and quirked an eyebrow at him, Ron fairly cowered, "You were longing for my company?" He said, his voice laced with sarcasm. "Somehow I, doubt that." He included all three of them in his glare, then his expression turned mockingly contemplative. He stared at them in silence, tapping his long pale fingers against his lips, making them all squirm, though Harry felt a glare of his own appearing on his face.

Finally, when the silence had stretched out to the professor's satisfaction he gave them a nasty smirk. "It would seem that in addition to courage; poking your nose into places where they don't belong and complete disregard for the rules have become Gryffindor traits. It is most fortunate, for you, that the term has not yet begun or else I would deduct so large a number of points from your house that it would be Christmas before they returned to positive, if at all." He told them coolly.

"Yes, sir." Ginny said calmly, moving and ushering the boys past the irate Snape.

"Oh, and Potter..."

Harry turned, to find a cruel smile on the face of the Potions Master. "I would think that after the events of the past year, you would have learned to be more cautious. But I suppose a certain, recklessness, was passed through from your most unfortunate friend." He emphasized the last words with a sneer.

Harry was again filled with a burning hatred. No matter how much he blamed himself for what had happened, or blamed Snape, or even Dumbledore, he would not stand for anyone insulting his godfather. He ignored Ginny's tugging at his arm, meeting Snape's challenging stare.

"Harry, no!" Someone snapped at him, but not in the voice of either of his friends, or even out loud. The voice echoed most disconcertingly in his mind. A bit of rational thought filtered through his angry red haze.

"Texi?" He whispered, astonished, and sure enough, with a quick tapping of footsteps she appeared around the corner and reached them quickly.

She smiled at them as she reached them. "Calm your mind, Harry." She thought. "Take a few deep breaths." He did as she told him and felt a bit better, but still terribly angry.

"Who might this be?" Snape said, again very cool. He was obviously thinking that, as a professor, she should be introducing herself to him first.

Ginny spoke, as Ron was too intimidated and Harry was still too angry to trust himself to be civil.

"Just introduce me as Mitexi Snowfoot, here to do research." Texi told her.

Ginny dutifully repeated after her. And Texi smiled at the professor, catching his eye. He looked down at her coldly. She blinked, and stared up at him, her striking green eyes holding his eyes of ebony. She blinked again and shook her head with a rueful smile. Snape waited expectantly and none too patiently.

Texi rummaged in her pocket and pulled out a wand, which Harry had never seen before in her hand. He wondered how she managed to use it. His questions were answered as she held it to her forehead, and suddenly her voice became audible, though her lips still didn't move.

"Simply amazing, Professor Snape!" She exclaimed. "I've never had someone so completely block me out before." Her voice sounded odd to his ears after spending the time he knew her listening to her words in his head. "Marvelous." She smiled. "I'm very pleased to meet you."

She looked at him searchingly, but Harry could not tell what she thought about the resemblance to her Sarven from looking at her face. He wondered where Sarven was.

"I'd love to talk to you about it some time," She continued, and Harry gathered he had missed something, "Perhaps if you would grant me the time to interview you on your improvements of the Veritaserum?"

"Perhaps." Snape said non-committedly before sweeping off down the hall towards his office with no further comment.

Texi frowned slightly as she tucked her wand back into her pocket. Harry followed her eyes and knew what she saw, Sarven's walk and even the way he held his head and shoulders. He was horribly curious, but she had made it clear she would answer no more questions about the young man.

"What are you doing here?" Ginny was asking Texi.

Her voice sounded in his head, almost as a relief. "Well, just what I said, really. One of us was asked to stay on the grounds, and I volunteered. Sarven wasn't happy." She said with a frown.

"Is he here too?" Harry asked curiously.

Mitexi looked at him thoughtfully, pursing her lips. "He will be, but he's still not happy about it. He's going to avoid being here for as long as he can."

Harry wanted so much to ask her more questions, but her glance showed him that she was not opening the iron lock on those thoughts and he may as well forget about it.

"So, you couldn't enter Snape's mind?" Ginny asked.

Mitexi suddenly looked almost excited. "Yes, it was amazing." Harry had half expected her to be annoyed at her failure. "I wish I knew how he did it. If he won't tell me, I'll figure it out on my own. He seemed like the close-mouthed sort. But then," She smiled grimly. "I do love a challenge."

Harry wasn't sure who he should be more worried about when he saw an almost 'Oliver Wood Last Quidditch Match of the Season' gleam in her eyes, Mitexi, or Professor Snape. He decided to worry about Mitexi, he didn't want to spare a congenial thought towards his unpleasant professor of Potions.

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