#20 - Seeking Professor Snape

'Enter,' Professor Snape said.

With a swish of his wand, the door suddenly swung open -- yet was magically prevented from banging against the wall. The doorway clear, Snape awaited his company to make an entrance and explain why his peace was being intruded upon yet again. He glanced up just enough to see who it was, then resumed his task at hand.

Most notable was a decent stack of leather-bound books on one side of his desk. There were titles such as Unbinding Binding Curses, An Intricate Comparison of Werewolves and Wuffsnouts, The Most Advanced Study of Counter-Poisons, Lost and Forgotten Counter-Curses, and An Ancient Guide to Forbidden Magical Practices.

The consideration for having disturbed him was jarring, but granted her his full attention. Her directness was also appreciated, though he was not at all expecting the reason for having sought him out. Perhaps if she was a Slytherin, it would be less unusual, but how hard a 1st year managed to come across a Boggart?

More to the point, how did she even know what a Boggart was? Snape was immediately suspicious. He narrowed his gaze at her, almost as if he was reading her mind, but devised that she was honest -- not some prank staged by an older student who'd coached her on what to say. Not that many would dare such a trick, anyway.

Against his best instincts, but for the sake of his own sanity, Professor Snape decided to overlook her foolishness of having gone in search of a missing house elf rather than fetch a Professor or have someone far more capable deal with matters. Then again, she had sought him out for assistance at the sign of trouble.

But a Boggart? Snape grimaced. No, he would not be subjecting himself to that.

'Very well,' he said, rising from his desk. He left the office, indicating for MJ to follow him.

They walked for a while -- enough for MJ to wonder if Snape somehow knew exactly where to go, except he didn't head to where she'd found Mitsy. Instead, he ventured into a chamber she hadn't seen very often, but knew wasn't too far off from where the Slytherin common room was. Not that she was supposed to know that either, of course.

'Mercer,' Snape said in a firm tone, addressing a 6th year Slytherin who was showing off a sparkly spell to some friends.

'Professor?' He quickly tucked his wand away, then his gaze shifted to MJ.

'Birdwhistle requires your assistance with a Boggart,' Snape informed him. 'I trust that would be an efficient use of your free time?'

The boy nodded, and gestured for MJ to lead the way. Professor Snape immediately turned to stride away from it all, back to his office where he longed for peace.

'I'm Zack,' the 6th year introduced himself to MJ. She caught sight of a Prefect's badge pinned to his sweater. 'Let's go. Where is it?'