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saiyanwizardgurl
Chapter 2: Hacking Coughs
"Severus?" called the headmaster softly. "Severus, are you here?"
Dumbledore pushed open the door. No response came. The Potions Master's office was pitch black. The headmaster stepped into the office and looked for some sign of Snape. The Transfiguration teacher followed Dumbledore in, slipping on something slimy and catching herself by grabbing onto the headmaster's shoulder. "What is that?" breathed Minerva.
They both looked at the floor. Giant dead cockroaches swirled and floated in a mixture of shattered glass and a green-tinged slime. The light creeping into the office through the cracked-open door reflected off the insects' eyes, which glittered brilliantly back at them. Dumbledore pulled out his wand and banished the messy pool.
"Severus?" called the headmaster again, closing the office door behind him. "Where are you?"
Dumbledore wandered through the dark office. Suddenly, he heard a cry. "Ouch! Oh, this is stupid. Lumos!"
The Transfiguration teacher lit her wand. Dumbledore looked at his deputy and saw that she had walked into a chair. "I thought that you would be able to see in the dark," said the headmaster.
"Albus, that's only when I'm a cat."
"Oh. Are you all right?"
"I'll live."
"My, you sound just like Severus."
"No, I don't!"
"Yes, you do," said Dumbledore, smiling and absentmindedly glancing at the Pensieve that sat on Snape's desk.
"No, I don't! Severus would sound like this." She glanced at the headmaster. "Ask me if I'm all right."
"Are you all right?"
"Do I look all right? I only walked into a chair. It won't kill me, I'll live!" said the Transfiguration teacher in a fairly realistic impression of the Potions Master.
"Not bad, Minerva," said Dumbledore, chuckling. "How did you get so good at that?"
"I don't know. Probably the same way Severus got so good at imitating me. I overheard him talking to Mr. Filch in the corridor. He was talking about how I told him to stop treating Harry so badly. I believe he said something like, 'Honestly Severus, he's only a student, he's not perfect! Don't pick on him just because he's in my house!'"
The headmaster smiled, "Well, Severus is definitely a credit to his house."
Dumbledore and McGonagall put their conversation on hold and looked around the office. As far as they could tell, it looked perfectly normal except for the cockroach soup the witch had slipped in. Then the Transfigurations teacher saw it. "Albus, look."
The headmaster turned to where McGonagall was pointing. The black leather chair that usually sat behind the Potions Master's desk has been knocked over. This indicates two things, thought Dumbledore. There was either some kind of struggle here or Harry's lesson went very badly, and I don't like the sound of either scenarios.
Since they were fairly certain that the Potions Master was nowhere in his office, they approached the door to his rooms. Dumbledore knocked on the door, which swung open when he touched it. Cautiously, the two professors stepped inside.
Snape's private quarters were also empty. And once again, everything looked normal: the bed was made, nothing was overturned, and all books, jars, and other trinkets were stored safely on their respective shelves. Dumbledore saw the Potions Master's work robes draped over the back of a chair, which ruled out the idea that Snape had left for a meeting with Voldemort. As the witch and wizard's worry increased, the headmaster saw a thin stream of light run across the floor. The light was so thin, it almost got lost in the light that radiated from McGonagall's wand. Looking up, he saw that it was coming from the cracked-open bathroom door. He nudged the Transfigurations teacher in the side and pointed it out to her.
They both heard it again: another series of coughs, this time followed by the flushing of a toilet and a whispered incantation.
McGonagall and Dumbledore looked at each other. With a slight nod from the headmaster, they both approached the door slowly. "Nox!" whispered the witch softly. With one last glance at his companion, Dumbledore pushed the door open.
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