Late Arrivals and Lifetime Rivals: Snape's Worst Halloween
The Chamber is almost closed, but not quite.
Chapter 12: Snakes and Pipes
After several pulls, no one could release the basilisk, I mean, Snape, from Sirius's father's old arm chair.
It seemed that the tail was stuck and the bulky costume did not help either.
Hagrid, who had been in another room trying to contact Maxime to inviter her to the party, was ushered back into the living room by Minerva. Thankfully, Hagrid was able to assist Snape out of his chair.
He placed Snape down on his feet and the snake head's "neck" shot him a filthy look, yet it looked relieved to be free from the confines of the chair.
Between that attack by Crookshanks and the time Snape spent stuck in the chair, it seemed a lot of time had passed since his first unsuccessful venture to the loo. Now Snape really had to use it for the second time this evening.
Everyone followed Professor Snape with their eyes as he wobbled off to the bathroom yet again, taking the stairs one at a time.
This time things were different. It was not spoken, but the tension in the air was heavy. Could he make it back safely a third time?
I gave him five minutes. When he didn't come down, I excused myself and went up to check.
This time the door was open and Snape was putting his fingers down the sink. One basilisk eye was down the drain. With the fear of Sirius or the guests laughing at him in the forefront of his mind, Snape was fishing around the drain frantically. I had never seen him move this quickly before.
It would not be easy. The Black's had placed special enchantments on their home that were still being discovered with attempts made to remove them.
I walked in and closed the door. I didn't want to risk anyone seeing what Snape was up to. This was truly the worst Halloween party experience a person could ever encounter and I felt sorry for him. Also, I wanted to minimize further psychological damage. I had to work with Snape the next day.
After many futile attempts to retrieve the eye, I told Snape that if we stepped into the hallway I could possibly magick him a new eye. He agreed reluctantly and I put my hand on the bathroom knob and turned. Unfortunately, the door to the bathroom would not open, the knob was possibly enchanted or stuck, and so were we.
I began to silently curse the old house and the Black ancestors. Concealment spells, fine, but the bathroom? But Snape hadn't had a problem before….I pondered my awful luck for a moment. We must have touched or done something.
I even cursed Kreacher out loud for a few seconds. I could care less if Hermione could hear me! I could not suffer one more incident this evening. This was the last…it had to be.
Snape was quiet. It was very hard to see a reaction to our predicament or even my unruly swearing. His costume dwarfed the room and the snake head practically covered his face. I thought I saw the basilisk's "neck" smirking slightly, however.
Speaking of hearing, with the music and the butterbeers, and Moody's shouts of "FIFTY POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR!" would anyone even check on us at all?
