Chapter 3
Draco was the first one on his feet, and he made a beeline for the open doorway with Harry close on his heels. The archway opened onto a long, narrow hallway, and at the far end stood what Harry presumed was the front door. Light filtered through the stained-glass panels on top, though the view outside was obstructed via frosted glass, much like the windows in the parlor. Across from the parlor archway where they currently stood was another bricked-up doorway, with a matching one at the far end of that wall, adjacent to the front door. In between the two was the outline of a staircase, though the opening to that had been bricked up as well. Underneath the staircase was another bricked-up door.
"It's just a hallway." Draco said, turning to look up at his head of house – who had followed the two adolescents and was now standing in the open archway.
Snape swept several stray strands of ebony hair out of his face. "I believe more rooms will unlock as we answer more questions. Come. Let us test that theory."
The trio returned to the parlor, and Draco reached the book first. He turned the page, only to crease his brow in confusion at the writing that appeared on top. Harry peered over the other boy's shoulder to see what might cause such a reaction.
6: Severus Snape ?
"What does that mean?" Draco asked, directing his question to Snape who had settled himself in the opposite armchair, leaving Harry to sit on the sofa.
"It means," Snape began, worrying the bridge of his nose between his thumb and pointer finger, "that we have reached the point of this inane exercise where we supply the questions, and that I am first."
"Are there any rules?" Harry asked. He knew he was risking invoking his most hated professor's ire, but he thought it was an important question to ask. He was surprised, though, when Snape merely graced him with a neutral expression before tilting his head side, as if thinking the inquiry over.
"All questions must pertain to everyone in the group; the book will reject any that do not." The man said after a moment.
"So, we shouldn't ask Potter what's it like to be a scarhead." Draco supplied, causing Harry to glare in his direction.
Snape gave a single nod. "Precisely. I would also advise you not to ask any question that you are not prepared to answer yourself. And," he glared sternly at both boys, "since I am decades older than both of you and I value my privacy highly, I am going to make my own rule: Any questions directly related to deepest, darkest secrets will result in several months detention for the asker."
Months. Draco mouthed as both sets of adolescent eyes in the room widened. Harry gave a silent nod, then turned to the younger Slytherin.
"If you don't want to be stuck in here with me forever, I would recommend you not ask questions about things that you're pretty sure I wouldn't know, like my parents' favorite breakfast foods or something."
The other boy sneered. "Don't worry, Potter. I'm not interested in knowing anything about your dead mummy and daddy."
"Shut up, Malfoy."
"You shut up."
"Are you two quite finished?" barked the Slytherin Head of House. Draco snapped his mouth shut, but – a question forming in his mind - Harry looked over at the book, which still had a blank page aside from the writing at the top. His brow furrowed.
"How does the book know when you ask a question question rather than just a, you know, question to each other?"
"It reads intentions." The professor replied. "Besides, my question did not apply to everyone. Now, if the pair of you are done with your incessant bickering, I will begin. This question will not be difficult, so even you should be able to answer it, Mr. Potter."
Harry glared as Snape looked toward the book and said, "What is your natural hair color?"
The writing on the page disappeared, and was replaced by:
6: What is your natural hair color?
The room's three occupants quickly supplied the required answers of "black," "black," and blond" before the page lifted, ready to be flipped. Draco reached out and turned the page.
"Your turn, Potter."
And at that very moment, Harry's mind went blank. He couldn't think of a single question to ask. What had Snape asked again? Oh yes, about hair color. Color. That would do. Harry voiced his question, and the next moment the quill copied it down.
7: What is your favorite color?
"Red." He supplied, and he saw Draco roll his eyes from across the coffee table.
The blond spoke up next. "Blue." At Harry's surprised expression, he huffed. "What? I'm a Slytherin so I automatically have to like green?"
The Gryffindor didn't say anything, and instead turned to the potions master, who met his eyes for a long moment before supplying "Green."
It was Draco's turn next. The boy thought for a few seconds and then stated his question.
8: What is your favorite magical creature?
"Dragons," The boy said with a slight smirk.
Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Only moments before, the Slytherin had berated him for assuming his favorite color was green, and yet here he was declaring dragons as his favorite magical creature with a name like Draco.
Snape spoke up next. "I have always been rather fond of the Runespoor. They have a multitude of applications that make them very useful in potion-making."
The Gryffindor had no idea what kind of creature that was, but he wasn't about to ask. No need to give Snape or Malfoy another reason to make fun of him. He glanced over at his Slytherin counterpart, curious whether he knew either. He could see the other boy thinking hard.
"Runespoor – that's like a hydra, right?" Draco asked.
"Very good, Mr. Malfoy. It is something like a hydra. 10 points to Slytherin." Snape said as he stood abruptly and swept toward the bookcase, his eyes quickly scanning the titles.
"We're not even in class!" Harry protested, "How can you give house-points?"
"The same way that I can take them away even when we aren't in class." Snape said as he continued to peruse the books, "10 points from Gryffindor."
Harry's eyes widened. "For what?!"
Snape glanced over at the boy, irritation flashing on his face "For getting us into this mess." He hissed.
The boy-who-lived began to protest, but thought better of it and snapped his mouth shut. It wasn't fair, but then again, Snape rarely was.
The potions professor finally located the text he had been looking for and pulled it from the shelf. He flipped through the pages, finally settling on one about halfway through the book.
"The Runespoor," he recited, "is a three-headed snake native to Burkina Faso in Africa. They are six to seven feet long with orange and black stripes, which makes them easy to spot. According to parselmouth writings, each of the Runespoor's heads serves a different function. The left head is the planner. It decides where the Runespoor is to go and what it is to do next. The middle head is the dreamer. It is common for a Runespoor to remain stationary for days lost in glorious visions and imaginations. And the right head is the critic whose fangs are highly venomous."
He turned and held the text up so that the two students could see the etching of a three headed serpent before abruptly snapping the book shut.
"Mr. Potter." Snape said as he replaced the text on the shelf, breaking the Gryffindor out of musing about how the potions professor was still in instructor-mode even locked in Veritas cube. "Please name your magical creature so that we can continue. I would hate to resort to eating the books in order to avoid starvation."
Harry looked down at the book on the coffee table and thought for a moment. What was his favorite magical creature? Dragons were cool. He wasn't particularly fond of flubberworms or pixies, and while he respected the acromantulas, he didn't particularly like them. He was tempted to say Hippogriff just to see the look on Draco's face, but then another creature popped into his mind, and he knew in an instant that was the correct choice.
"Phoenix," he said, and he watched as the quill came to life once more and copied down his choice.
The page glowed gold, and then it was Snape's turn again. The man spoke his question and the quill scrawled it onto the page.
9: What is your eye color?
It took only moments for "Black", "Grey" and "Green" to fill the blanks and for the page to turn.
Since it was now his turn, Harry thought for a moment and then supplied his own question. He already knew his answer, but he was actually curious what the other two might say.
10. What is your favorite pet / familiar that you have owned?
"Hedwig, my owl," Harry said, his answer coming easily. He looked over at Draco, who was now sitting sideways in his armchair, his legs draped over one arm. The boy traced a line from one of the buttons on the back of the chair to another.
"Artemis, one of my father's prized hounds." The blond lazily drawled.
Harry wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but it certainly wasn't for Draco – the proud member of a pureblood wizarding family – to be attached to a non-magical pet like a dog. Or maybe wizarding families had some form of enchanted dog. He couldn't be sure.
The raven-haired boy looked to Snape, who was still standing, one hand resting on the back of the armchair he had been occupying mere moments before. The man sighed and looked toward the ceiling. "As a child, I was particularly fond of my mother's Jarvey." The professor said. The man turned to Harry. "And since I know that you are going to ask, a jarvey is an overgrown ferret that is capable of human speech, not unlike a parrot."
The man turned to the book and supplied "Jinx, a jarvey."
The page flashed gold and the sound of bricks falling in the distance once again met their ears.
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Author's note: I realize that these are not the most exciting or juicy questions. I feel like they are all three playing it safe at the moment. Rest assured, some more interesting questions will appear in the near future.
The definition of a Runespoor is pulled almost word for word from the Harry Potter Compendium (though this description can be found on several different HP-related websites). I chose the Runespoor for Snape because it seemed a rather fitting choice.
Reposted for editing - 06/13/2021 at 11:25 am