...
The walk back to the dungeon felt awkward, to say the least. With naught but silence from those involved; the effect somehow making it feel all the more uncomfortable for the two young Slytherins.
For very different reasons.
Daphne seemed to have bottled herself up with questions she was likely dying to ask; what with the constant gazes towards him during their silent walk at any rate.
Snape on the other hand hadn't even bothered to keep track of them, their positions following him from behind, the man having elected to walk ahead of them.
Eyeing the prefect currently stood outside the visible dungeon's entrance, Rodrick found an indifferent expression on said wizard's face. The student not so much as raising an eyebrow as he moved out of the way, the dungeon's door opening without a skipped beat.
"Are all the students where they are meant to be?" The elder wizard questioned gruffly.
"The Slytherin's certainly are, barring these two." The prefect remarked passively, his gaze locked onto their head of house. "Though Malfoy tried to sneak out a few times,"
He held in the urge to blink at the piece of information, his eyes turning over towards Snape's indifferent expression. The man either not caring about the tidbit of information, or he chose not to show it.
"You may relieve yourself of your duty," The professor eventually stated, earning a raised eyebrow from the... He wasn't entirely sure which year the wizard was part of, though he imaged it was likely the seventh one.
Still, the student's bemusement aside, he was quick to nod and head back inside first, leaving the three of them outside.
When he made to go inside, Rodrick stiffened at the sudden hand on his shoulder. The urge to react in any way held down, his gaze instead locked onto the fidgeting girl beside him.
"Well? Is there something you wish to say, Miss Greengrass?"
The girl, aside from the intake of breath at the question, promptly shook her head. And, on the sight of the professor's expression, quickly went inside. Albeit not before shooting him one last worried look.
He could practically feel his stomach twist the moment he watched the entrance close.
Turning around, he found the professor's gaze locked onto his own. His hand no longer on top of his shoulder.
"...Is there-"
His words seized the moment said professor's hand promptly reached out towards him, palm open. His eyes blinking once in confusion as he stared at it.
"Your wand," The man chose to clarify.
It took a monumental effort on his part not to react to the words, his hand hovering over the pocket he'd placed it in.
"...What for?"
When the professor raised an eyebrow at the question, Rodrick felt the urge to gulp rise within him.
"There is a certain spell that allows one to see the kind of magic previously used by a wand,"
His wand-arm twitched at the confirmation, the mild dread inside building up as his mind wondered what he was going to do.
"I... Are you allowed to do that?" His panicky response, of course, only earned him a set of narrowed eyes.
"There is certainly no rule forbidding it," The man stated as if it were an after-thought.
"...Can I refuse?"
"No,"
"...Is there a rule that says I have to hand it over?"
"I am growing impatient, hand over your wand, or do you have something to hide?"
His gaze lowered to the offending limb before him, his eyes held back from narrowing as he contemplated his options.
"...Yes?" He carefully remarked, his gaze refusing to meet the elder professors. An action made easy by the sheer difference in height between them.
Still, given his response, he'd firmly expected the professor to either double-down on his 'request,' or quite frankly outright ask him exactly what he was trying to hide.
The man chose to do neither.
"Why?" The question, admittedly, probably surprised him more than his expression showed.
"..." His own words fell silent as he contemplated how to answer the question. Preferably in a way that didn't end in his wand getting checked over. After a few moments passed, Snape's eyes somehow narrowing further, Rodrick promptly gave out the only answer he could think of.
"Safety,"
The professor's hand retreated, though the man's gaze held on to his own.
"Considering your adventure tonight, I am finding it very hard to believe you care about such a thing,"
"Wh- I didn't go looking for the troll! It found-"
"Yet, somehow you knew something was going to happen. Did you not?"
He, of course, didn't have a response for that, given he doubted the man would believe he'd only done so due to a nightmare he'd had, of all things.
"I will take your silence as admission. Which begs the question, why you chose not to warn a professor beforehand?"
"I wasn't sure-"
"Then perhaps you ought to take this as a lesson for the future,"
He nodded, almost numbly at the words. His relief growing as he watched the man's expression loosen up the slightest.
"Off you go then, I do believe you have a curfew to attend to." The man sneered, yet the words cleared the heavy feeling in his chest. His body practically spun on the spot as he made to dash inside- Only for his body to freeze up as he felt the pinpricks of the disarming charm hit him too quickly for him to process. His dread intensifying as he watched his wand practically fly into the teacher's hands.
His head hastily turned back towards the man, his gaze watching as the man proceeded to attempt the aforementioned spell-
Wandlessly, and almost on instinct, he echoed out the summoning charm- The spell, for a moment, judging by the widened eyes before him, almost seemed like it was going to work.
To no avail, for the man before him seemed to have an iron-grip on the wooden stick.
"... It seems professor McGonagall was right. You are more capable than you let on,"
He ignored the urge to gulp, his mind was practically frozen as he watched the man use the Priori Incantatem charm-
Only to blink, almost as owlishly as the expression Granger had taken up earlier, in bemusement when nothing showed up.
"...Find what you're looking for?" He questioned tentatively, for once allowing the urge to gulp to overtake him.
For perhaps the first time since his first Potion's class, Rodrick watched as the man promptly removed three points from Slytherin.
For his supposed cheek.
"...Your wand, seems to have been modified,"
He held in the urge to sigh, mostly in relief, as his expression genuinely took on confusion.
He hadn't in fact been aware of such a detail.
"The headmaster will be informed of that particular fact," Snape remarked, the barest hint of the man's lips tugging upwards as he did so. "Do be sure to clean up after yourself. It would be a shame if Slytherin lost any more points." At which point the man promptly threw his wand back towards him, with himself barely managing to avoid letting it hit the floor.
He held in the urge to point out the hypocrisy in the man's words, having just removed some of those points himself.
Giving the man his thanks, not at all genuine at that, Rodrick turned around and made to go inside- Only to briefly stop as more of the professor's words washed over him.
"Despite the modification. Certain spells, successfully cast or otherwise, tend to leave their own unique mark on a wand. Do remember that the next time your stupidity convinces you to attempt an Unforgivable curse. Your circumstances this time, and the fact it was attempted against a troll, are the only reasons stopping me from informing the headmaster about it."
And with that, the professor promptly turned on his feet and headed off in the direction they'd come from.
He practically felt his body sag down in relief the moment he walked through the entrance.
Only to promptly freeze up once again as he felt two arms wrap around his neck.
The urge to stun the offending girl, thankfully, was ignored.
Evidently, no one in the castle seemed to understand the meaning of personal boundaries.
...
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