Late Arrivals and Lifetime Rivals: The Stalking of Severus Snape

A magical creature is incensed and magical assistance is required.

Chapter 8: Kneazles Knowledge

Severus Snape was not enjoying the Order of the Phoenix Halloween party in the least.

He had already lost a few pounds while wearing his costume, which was not healthy considering he already had quite a thin frame.

He sneered at Sirius Black, not appreciating his jeers, but he would not admit it in front of the guests.

Snape excused himself and hobbled back to Black's bathroom to check his reflection in the mirror once again. Not exactly his reflection but the basilisk's, who apparently had something dodgy going on with its eyes.

Septima and the guests could only gawk at him. He had barely been in the living room all night.

Dumbledore reached for another sweet and contemplated that individuals only had so much good luck and fortune in one lifetime. If Snape did not successfully make it down the stairs on his second trip, he could contact an old friend to fill the position of Potions Master at Hogwarts the next day.

Snape strode, I mean, walked in a manner similar to Moody, and proceeded to take the stairs cautiously, one at a time. He thought about the spell "levicorpus" but reasoned that even dark magic had its limits. No way was it powerful enough to lift both him and his snake costume.

Snape opened the door to the bathroom with one hand, turned gingerly, and backed up into the room tail first. When he turned to face the mirror, all of the toiletries and a set of shelves were knocked to the ground and lay askew on the floor.

Livid, he magicked them back nonverbally with "reparo" and attempted to glance in the mirror.

While he was preoccupied, he failed to notice Hermione Granger's pet Crookshanks at his feet, staring in annoyance that another creature had intruded upon his resting place.

Crookshanks knew that there was no way that this was a real basilisk. He wasn't sure what it was.

Never saw anything like this on sale at the "Magical Menagerie."

Never saw something similar in the forest by Hogwarts.

Racked his brain, and could not think of any foreign magical beast it could be.

No one sane would choose this particular creature as their animagus form.

Even if someone got a good price in the sale costume bin at a muggle Halloween store, they would never be daft enough to wear such a costume in public.

Not even the Weasley twins would think this was a joke.

Speaking of skill, Neville Longbottom, to Crookshank's knowledge, was not present this evening.

This was a new breed of creature, a la Hagrid. (Did he think he was stupid? Nice guy, but who is he kidding?)

It didn't matter. He was not a wizard and all he knew was that Hermione and her friends may be in danger.

After much deduction, Crookshanks chose #9…and decided to act on it.