Chapter 19

Mag worked a muffling charm on the window of her dorm room before carefully sliding it open and pushing her broom through. It hovered in the air, waiting as she climbed out after and threw a leg across. The midnight black sky was full of stars and she longed to ride the breeze among them. Sharing her mood, Nightshade flew out after. Once he was at her side, and she'd softly closed the window behind them, they were off! Mag loved their midnight flights, but they hadn't gone on one in some time.

Too frequently she was sleepy by the time it was late enough to go. If they went too early, her dorm mates were still awake and they'd definitely snitch on her for sneaking out. The excitement over sharing Nightshade with Severus had kept her energized tonight, though, and she thought the flight would be a nice way to expend her excess energy. As they soared through the night sky, the wind causing Mag's long red hair and green school robes to stream out behind her, she couldn't help thinking of the ancestor who shared her name. Had that first Magritte WestCraven also liked to ride her broom at night? Was that what got her spotted by the Muggles and burned? She wondered this, because one of the few things Muggles were correct on and aware of when it came to the wizarding world was that witches and wizards rode broomsticks. Muggles probably thought that was odd, and perhaps even primitive, but riding a broom was far more fun than the Muggle car method of transport that Mag had experienced on the family vacation to America.

They flew high over the forest for nearly an hour, Nightshade taking the opportunity to hunt himself down a few midnight mice snacks. They were back inside just before one and as she'd hoped, Mag fell asleep right away. The night flight exercise had done its job and tired her out. She didn't wake until the morning and had pleasant dreams of flying through the starry sky. On the way to breakfast, her mood was so good that she decided to resume an old game she used to play but tired of a few years back. It involved smiling in the most friendly of ways at Gryffindors. Because Gryffindors believed Slytherins to basically be the root of all evil, a friendly smile from a Slytherin really screwed with their heads! It was surprisingly easy.

This morning, she was taken aback when the Gryffindor she smiled at smiled shyly back, then fell into step beside her. "Hi," the girl said.

"Hi?" Mag heard the question in her own voice. The girl wasn't even flustered!

"I'm Parvati Patil."

"Mag Westcraven," she replied, for lack of anything better to say.

The two walked in companionable silence until they reached the entrance of the dining hall, where another Gryffindor girl called out to Parvati. "That's my friend Lavender," Parvati said. "Lavender! Come meet my new Slytherin friend Mag."

Blast! The last thing she needed was two Gryffindors being friendly to her first thing in the morning! "That's okay," she said, and hurried past Parvati toward the Slytherin table.

As soon as they'd reached the great hall, Nightshade flew ahead of Mag and to the staff table, holding a rolled parchment in his claws. He presented it to Severus as though it were the morning mail. Taking it, Severus pretended to read it, then stood as if needing to reply at once, and left the Great Hall. Nightshade flew along behind him. /Hey what about breakfast? An owl gotta eat./

/We'll go back,/ Severus replied. Once in the dungeon with the door locked, he gestured Nightshade to his shoulder where he already had a thick leather shoulder pad in place under his robe. "Now for the chameleon charms," he said.

Flicking his wand at his robe, then at Nightshade, Severus spoke a spell rapidly under his breath that Nightshade's sleepy ass was too morning mind fogged to follow. In truth he didn't really give a shit either as he'd not need to be performing the spell himself.

For the second one, Severus's wand pointed at his own head, then at Nightshade's. Nightshade could feel some sort of energy passing between their heads as Snape spoke the Latin spell. The words for head and connecting and hiding were in there somewhere, and Nightshade was pleased with himself for somehow paying attention in Mag's classes and even remembering a bit of Latin. Smartest owl EVER, he told himself proudly.

"Let us go try it out then," Severus said of the chameleon combo. They left the dungeon.

/Sounds good. I'm hungry,/ Nightshade said. He glanced down at himself. /Hey, Prof? I can see myself just fine. Why? I mean the chameleon spells and all./

/I can see you and myself and you can see yourself and me, but no one else should see anything but me if all worked as it should've,/ Severus assured. /As we're inside of the spell, as it were, we're not effected by it as others are./

/Ah got it. That makes sense. But how am I gonna eat? Won't I be seen if I'm not on your robe?/

/If you're more than around fifteen centimeters from my robe, you should be visible, yes, so don't stray far from my shoulder. The table is close so you should be able to eat, don't worry./

/Good, cause I bet I'm mean if I get too hungry,/ Nightshade said thoughtfully. Fortunately for the world at large, they had plenty of time to eat breakfast before first period Potions class. As Nightshade had suspected, hanging with Prof during classes was A-fucking-mazing! The things he thought about all the little prats he had to teach were even more awesome than the cutting remarks he made aloud. Nightshade had a few comments of his own in response that nearly made Prof laugh outright. Nightshade could just imagine the odd looks Prof would get for laughing out loud for no apparent reason. That just may scare the little prats more than Prof's usual snide sarcasm.

After eating lunch, Mag went outside to sit on a bench and enjoy the beginnings of Autumn before the next class began. She was reading a book on Egyptian curses that she'd brought along with several others to show Severus. What with he and Nightshade getting to know one another yesterday, as it were, she hadn't had the opportunity then so hoped to catch him after classes were over today. "Hi again!" Mag looked up with a slight frown. No one usually spoke to her while she was reading, only someone just had. It was the Gryffindor girl from this morning. How odd. She nodded and returned her gaze to the book, hoping the girl would take the hint and let her alone to read. "What's the book about then," Parvati asked, sitting down on the bench beside Mag.

"Egyptian curses,"Mag said without looking up.

"Ooh...Is there some sort of protection curse in there against mummies? I hate mummies!"

Mag shook her head. "What is it that you think mummies can do to you anyway," she asked, bemused, as she finally glanced up at Parvati. "They're dead!"

The pretty dark haired girl gave a shudder and shrugged. "I honestly don't know, but they look like they could do something anyway!"

"Well they can't," Mag assured firmly. "Remember, they're dead."

"What year are you in anyway," Parvati asked. She didn't seem quite convinced that she was safe from mummies.

"Seventh, Mag replied.

"I'm in my fifth," Parvati shared without being asked.

Mag hoped if she didn't encourage the girl to converse, that she'd grow bored and leave her to her book, but it obviously hadn't happened yet. "Like Harry Potter," she said scathingly.

"Yeah, not my fault," Parvati shot back. "He's a bit of a git, thinking he's so special to be the boy who lived, but trust me he's nothing impressive."

"I had no doubt," Mag replied dryly. "If not for him being here, Voldemort wouldn't be nearly as interested in terrorizing Hogwarts. I can't believe Dumbledore allows him to attend and endanger us when he could be home schooled. Dumbledore could send a professor out to teach him, and we'd all be safe, but I suppose that wouldn't be fair to Dear Harry, no matter the danger the rest of us are placed in."

"WOW. I never thought of it exactly like that before but...you've got a point...And poor Cedric," Parvati said, casting her gaze down to her lap, expression somber. Looking back up at Mag after a moment she asked, "So have you ever actually seen Voldemort?"

"Because I'm a Slytherin," Mag asked, incredulous.

Parvati shook her head. "No. Just in general. I wonder if he looks like a mummy because he was supposed to be dead." She shivered and Mag bit back a sigh. Here they went with the Mummy business again.

"No. I've never run into Voldemort and I hope I never will."

The two girls rose then to go into their next classes and Parvati waved. "See you around," she called and Mag nodded.

After her last class, Mag went to her dorm room to gather all the books she'd brought to show Severus from her family's library, then hurried to his office. Knowing that he adored books with the same fervor as she did made her all the more excited to share them with him.

When Severus opened the door to his office, Mag WestCraven stood there with her arms piled high with books. "What's this," he asked, stepping back to allow her to come in.

"I brought some of our newest books on Egyptian curses and other forms of Egyptian magic that I thought you might enjoy looking over," she said. "My dad mentioned how much you enjoyed books on Egyptian magic, and as it's one of my favorite subjects as well I just thought to share."

Even the mention of Raislen couldn't dampen Severus's excitement as he eagerly reached for the books. "Thank you!"

"Sure. Borrow any of them that you like for as long as you need."

Severus had tried to forget Raislen WestCraven's huge library, but at the feel of these books under his hands, the memories came rushing back and he gave a wistful sigh. "You had the great fortune to grow up with the best personal library in the wizarding world."

Mag nodded. "I know. It's my favorite room in the house."

Severus sighed again. "I swear the very floor hums with energy. It's as if the magic from the books radiates out into the room...nearly making it sentient. That library loves me. I bet it misses me."

Mag chuckled. "I bet it does." She knew were she a library, she'd certainly miss Severus if he used to fall asleep in her while he was reading.

"I haven't seen any of these books yet," Severus said, replacing the final book on the stack before him.

"Then go ahead and keep them all. Just give me back each whenever you're finished with it and take your time," Mag told him. She was pleased that he liked the books as much as she hoped he would. It was nice to be able to give him something back of what he'd lost when her parents had turned their backs on him.