22
On the twenty-second Snape found himself in Moaning Myrtles bathroom.
"Ooooooh!" moaned the ghost. "Snape in a Cape! Snape in a Cape! Oooooooh! No present for Myrtle as she is dead! As if that wasn't bad enough!"
The ghost hovered above Snape's hiding place, a small soap tray beneath one of the many mirrors.
"Ooooh!" the ghost wailed. "It's a cruel move to hide him right under my nose when I cannot collect my reward!" She swirled around the room with surprising speed and then dove into one of the cubicles. There was a loud splash, followed by another wail. "I cannot even get wet! Ooooh!"
Snape was glad when after a lot more wailing he heard someone enter the bathroom.
"What are you doing here?" asked Myrtle. "Have you come to hear the story of how I haunted Olive Hornby?" The ghost moved so that the newcomers – Bellatrix, Lucius and the apprentice – had to turn their backs on Snape to look at her.
"Myrtle, I know that story already," said the apprentice. "You told me a couple of years ago. Have you haunted anybody new recently?"
"Nooooooo!" howled the ghost. "The headmaster won't allow it!"
"You are a ghost, he cannot touch you," said Lucius. "How can he not allow you do whatever you want?"
"Dumbledore has his ways," Myrtle announced in a hushed voice. "Don't get in his way! He is mercyless. He banned me from all the dormitories!"
The apprentice looked at the ghost sternly. "It wouldn't be nice of you to scare the children."
"Nobody cared when I was scared! Noooooooooooobody!" howled the ghost.
"Snape in a Cape!" Bellatrix shrieked suddenly. "Snape in a Cape! I've done it!"
"You have," confirmed Snape as he tried to climb down from the soap tray as elegantly as he could.
"Let's go to the Great Hall! I want everybody to see you give me my present!" cried Bellatrix.
The parcel turned out to be the size of a shoe box and wrapped in white paper with silver stars on it. Bellatrix cackled triumphantly and proceeded to open her prize.
"What is this?" asked the wicked witch as she stared at the object she had pulled out of the box.
"An electric nail file!" cried the apprentice. "Those are great! May I show you?"
Bellatrix agreed that yes, the blonde was welcome to show her how her present worked. The witch was obviously not thrilled to receive a muggle object and she looked bored when the apprentice explained about batteries and switches but as soon as the blonde used the file on one of Bellatrix' fingers the witch was very interested.
"Sorcery!" the witch cried. "Look at this!" The Dark Lord and Lucius obeyed.
"I wonder whether we could use this for our cause," mused the Dark Lord.
"We could open a nail salon and use it as a muggle trap," suggested Lucius.
"Or," added Bellatrix, "we could keep the salon exclusively magical and win new followers for the cause. This thing is a miracle and all the ladies will want it. If we have the wives, we have the husbands."
"Wonderful," cried the Dark Lord. "We'll look into it as soon as we get home."
Snape made a mental note to talk to Dumbledore. They needed to thwart the Dark Lord's nail salon plans.
It turned out the apprentice had had the same idea. When Snape sat down to dinner that evening, the headmaster was discussing nail polish colours with the Dark Lord. The old wizard insisted that the nail polish could warm the wearer to an idea or refuse it entirely.
The Dark Lord had a leaflet from a popular brand and was comparing colours. Bellatrix was meanwhile practicing handling her little machine. Several witches and wizards at the head table sported a fresh manicure.
Snape bid everybody a good night before Bellatrix asked to use him as a guinea pig and called it an early night.