Yaaayyy! Time for Snape! I updated this one pretty quickly, but the next chapters won't come so quickly, sorry!
Severus Snape grumbled to himself as he wandered the dark, nighttime corridors. He was assigned to patrolling the corridors in the middle of the night, looking for students who were out of bed when they weren't supposed to be. Why was it always him that they chose for this demeaning task? Well, his cloak and hair were dark and he sure did skulk well, so he was able to sneak up on the unsuspecting student.
Out of all the students that he had found sneaking the corridors, Harry Potter was the one he busted most frequently. No matter how bad his day had been, catching Potter and getting him in trouble sure did cheer Snape up.
As he rounded a corner of the West Wing, he started thinking about how his life hadn't really amounted to much. No matter what he strived for, he always got one step lower. He found himself wishing something exciting would happen, just so the boring school year would be a little livelier.
Just then, one of the professors ran by shouting something. He brushed past Snape, bumping into him roughly. Usually, this was cause for panic, because most of the teachers respected Snape deeply, but this teacher was in too much of a hurry to stop and apologize.
Snape grumbled and decided he should follow this panicked teacher. He had rushed by so fast; Snape couldn't make out who it was. He followed the loud footsteps and into the entrance hall, where the rest of the professors had gathered.
"Ah, Severus, I was just about to send a message to you," said Dumbledore, noticing Snape walk up. "It seems that the magical barrier around the school has been triggered. That new layer we added last week picked up a disturbance."
The teachers around Dumbledore gasped.
"That means that the intruder bypassed the other charms," muttered Snape.
"Either that, or they just happened to get past the confusion charm. They might have made it into the grounds or they might not have," said Dumbledore. "Severus, I would like you to organize search parties. I want to make sure there is nobody in the grounds who shouldn't be."
Snape nodded, and then started organizing the teachers into groups. He wondered what sort of person would take a ground route into the school. Whoever it was wasn't magical, because the first charm would've picked that up. What an odd predicament they found themselves in. The wizarding school with the most security against dark wizards seemed to have let in a mere muggle.
He walked out into the crisp nighttime air and followed the route that his group had been assigned. He lit his wand and held it up, looking all around him. He thought he heard a rustling in the trees nearby, but there were many creatures in the Forbidden Forest. He cast his wand-light over that area and the rustling stopped.
He walked over to the bush in question and peered behind it. There was nothing there. Snape grumbled and continued his search.
A few hours of searching and they came up short, and the teachers gathered around the headmaster to report their lack of findings.
"Either we have a very crafty intruder, or we don't have an intruder," stated Dumbledore. "If whoever set off the alarms is still on the grounds, rest assured that he has nowhere to go. The entrances to the castles will block any unwanted guests."
Dumbledore dismissed the teachers and Snape went back to his regular patrolling of the corridors. Well, that seemed to be enough excitement for one night… Little did Snape know, even more excitement was coming his way…
Artemis had studied the different magic surrounding the school, and had designed machines that would allow him to pass through them unnoticed. Unfortunately, they had added a new layer of charms that was set off when he passed through it. Artemis didn't know this, but all of the staff at Hogwarts did.
Holly walked right behind Artemis, as he bypassed the magic. Her magic made her immune to any spells that the humans made. Fairy magic beat human magic every time. She sincerely hoped that Artemis knew what he was doing. She did not want to have to bust him from the imprisonment of wizards. Even though she was immune to their magic, they were infinitely more difficult to dupe then regular humans.
Then, something set off her soldier sense. Somebody knew that they were here. She had to warn Artemis.
"Once we get into the grounds, we should hide," she suggested to Artemis's back. She saw him nod, not wanting to throw off his concentration by answering aloud.
They slunk through the final layer and Artemis relaxed slightly.
"Here, put this on," instructed Holly, throwing a sheet of cam foil over him. He obliged and they both crouched behind a bush.
They peered out of the bushes and both gasped at what they saw in front of them. It was a sweeping castle that they could only see once they had passed the magic. There were dozens of towers and wings that extended from it. And in the middle was a huge clock tower with a giant pendulum in the center.
On the grounds in front of the castle, there seemed to be a floating beam of light. Then, they noticed that it was a teacher holding a wand that was casting the beam of light. He was dressed in black, sweeping robes and had black, greasy hair that framed his pale face. He stopped when he heard the bush rustle when Artemis lost his balance and fell backward.
Holly and Artemis both became extremely still. The man stalked over to where Holly and Artemis were hidden and peered directly at them. It was a good thing that Holly was shielded and that she had decided that Artemis needed the cam foil.
When the teacher finally moved on, Holly punched Artemis on the shoulder. "You almost got us caught, you idiot!" she scolded.
Artemis rubbed his tender shoulder. "We were hidden," he complained. "I can't help that I am slightly unbalanced."
Holly took sympathy on him, and decided not to punch him again. "Slightly?" she grumbled.
They waited until the grounds were clear of any wandering teachers, and then they proceeded to the huge entrance doors.
"I thought that these have spells on them too," wondered Holly, pointing at the huge doors.
"They do, I just have the right tools to get through them." He pulled out yet another mechanism and attached it to the door. It buzzed to life and after a few minutes of this, it beeped gently.
Artemis removed the device from the door. He then opened it as slowly as possible. When there was just enough room for him to fit, he slipped through. Holly quickly followed suit, and then gently closed the door behind her.
They were in a huge entrance hall that had ceilings that swept into oblivion. This was a huge castle. Holly made sure to remain shielded and checked to make sure Artemis was invisible beneath the cam foil. She was sure that some people would question if they saw only one shoe visible…
Artemis and Holly crept through the hall and onto a huge staircase. When they stepped onto it, it started shifting beneath their feet. Holly almost cried out in surprise, but Artemis laid a hand over her mouth.
"Shhhhhh...," he whispered, removing the hand. Holly glared at him, but unfortunately he would not be able to see that glare, because she was shielded.
"We are going to hide in one of the corridors until morning, and then we will blend in with the crowds of students," explained Artemis.
"I can't pull myself off as a student," complained Holly.
"You will remain shielded. I am counting on you to be my backup. Your job is to mesmerize the teachers into accepting the fact that I am a new student."
Holly stared at him in disbelief. "Every teacher? How do you expect me to find them all alone? Artemis, you left a lot riding on the fact that I will be able to mesmerize every teacher!"
"I trust your abilities, Holly, and I will help you, don't worry. You'll see, it will all work out."
Holly continued glaring at him as they wandered to a deserted corridor. Artemis pulled out two sleeping bags from the duffel and laid them out behind a statue. He then took the cam-foil and draped it like a curtain in front of them. Now, if somebody looked behind the statue, they would be looking at the cam-foil. Artemis and Holly would be invisible.
Holly nodded at Artemis's craftsmanship. "Not bad, Mud-Boy."
"You know, Holly, I do not call you Fairy. Why do you insist upon calling me Mud-Boy?" Artemis looked a little peeved.
"Sorry, Arty, just a habit of the People."
Artemis frowned at the use of his pet name, but didn't complain.
They both crawled into their sleeping bags and tried to fall asleep. The adventures of the day were running through Artemis's head, along with a sense of accomplishment, and Holly's soldier's sense was buzzing. They were sitting ducks in the middle of a foreign place with people who could get rid of them with a flick of a piece of wood.
They both eventually fell asleep, the castle completely silent around them. When Snape walked past that statue later on that night, he could have sworn he heard the heavy breathing of a sleeping person, but just figured the castle was playing tricks again. Either that or he was going insane… He hoped it was the castle…
Hope you like it so far. Please review so I know how I'm doing!