Airiala picked up another book and began to read carefully. Although she had already looked through these books before, she felt she had been too hasty.

Besides, it never hurt to double check herself.

Snape had been up and about for a while now and it seemed like he had been avoiding her since the book throwing incident a few days ago, although she didn't know why.

The man was a puzzle and a contradiction. He is mean and rude, yet he had been kind to her on several occasions. He wears clothes that cover everything but his face and hands, yet he has an incredible body. His voice could evoke fear or make you laugh. The man was a giant mystery.

Airiala knew one thing, never get involved in a mystery in a man's past. It would only lead to trouble.

However, as the air elemental, she loved to solve them.

In the end, it was hopeless. She had to know about Snape and solve this mystery. It was the only way to get herself to concentrate.

So, naturally, she broke into the records room that night, where all the information of everyone who had ever taught or been taught at Hogwarts was located.

The room itself wasn't all that special, just a giant room filled with drawers labeled with years starting back when Hogwarts was first founded.

Airiala sighed; this was going to take a while.

Snape dismissed his final class for the day before heading into his office. He planned on grading papers, but chose to drink some fire whiskey instead.

He still hadn't thanked Airiala, and for some reason it was bothering him more than he would like it to.

He took another sip of his drink as she stared across the room at nothing.

Finally, after several minutes of intense thinking, he stood and left his office to search for Airiala. He figured it wouldn't be too hard, considering she was confined to Dumbledore's office till after curfew.

However, he didn't find her there. She had left a note to Dumbledore and Dobby that she had gone to her room because she wasn't' feeling well and that she wasn't hungry.

Snape left the note and headed for the girl's room. Of course it wasn't until he had walked the halls for an hour that he realized he didn't know where it was.

"Bloody hell," he said, angry with himself. He pulled his wand and performed a simple locator spell. A white light shot out of his wand and sped off to find the girl. Snape leaned against the wall to wait.

Across the hall from him was the hidden door to the records room. Only teachers and those with clearance could see the door, so students couldn't find out personal information about their fellow students or teachers.

Suddenly the white light flew back into his view and disappeared into the records room.

He raised an eyebrow as he waited. What would she be doing in the records room?

Seconds later the light reappeared, this time a nice blue color indicating she had been found. Snape crossed the hall and entered the room.

There she was, sitting on the ground, going through a drawer labeled "1985"

"What are you doing?"

Airiala jumped before turning to the voice. She paled as she quickly replaced the drawer. "I…" she said as she stood. "I…was…I was just investigating."

"Investigating what?"

Airiala licked her lips nervously. "The Ultimate Truth. I figured that it might have been used here in the past and was seeing if there was any record of it."

Snape raised an eyebrow. She was lying to him. "Why don't I believe you?"

"Because you are suspicious of everyone."

"That's not true. I'm only suspicious of you."

Airiala crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Who's lying now?"

Snape, who had never hit a woman willingly, had the urge to do so now. "Oh," he said painfully calm, "and who else am I suspicious of?"

"How about Harry and his friends? You always think they are breaking school rules."

"And I am often correct."

"You always try to get him expelled or in detention. You protect and alienate him because of his father."

Snape narrowed his eyes. "What makes you think I knew James Potter?"

"I read your school file."

"So," Snape said yelling now, "That's what you were doing in here! Reading files!"

"No, just the ones concerning you."

"How dare you! Those are confidential files and you think that gives you the right to just come in here and read them."

Airiala sighed, trying to remain calm. "I admit it was the wrong way to go…"

"Damn straight it was wrong! How did you even find this room? Who lead you here?"

"No one. I used my wind to find it, the same way I used it to find you in the woods."

Snape stopped yelling. He had almost forgotten why he had sought her out in the first place.

"I'm sorry I read some of your files, but I couldn't help myself. You're a living mystery and by nature the air elemental loves to solve them. I'll be going back to Dumbledore's office now and when you're ready to accept my apology that's where I'll be."

Airiala swept out of the room, disappearing into the wind. Snape just stood there. Once again he had failed to thank her and had angered her instead.

He sighed as he left the records room to head for dinner. He was going to have to find a way to control his temper or he was in for a very frustrating year.