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it was quiet, too quiet.
Severus Snape was so riddled with anxiety about it that he had not even been able to open his favorite bottle of Mozambican Fire Rum.
A yule gift from lucius, narcissa had given him a finely but sturdy tumbler transfigured from the greenest sea glass he had laid eyes on.
the weasley twins were never this quiet at the beginning of the new school year. by now, they would have been scrubbing the cauldron's he had left unclean just for this purpose.
He decides to go and investigate during his nightly rounds the next evening.
speaking to dumbledore first, his worries are lemon long-dropped away.
minerva is no help either, she barely has time to think of doing her job as head of house never mind actually doing it because of all the paperwork albus shifts into her claws.
filch is all to happy to sit in his office and pamper mrs norris.
there's no use going to hagrid, peeves or binns would be of more assistance - which is none at all.
severus is desperate.
he goes to flitwick, who shares his sentiments but is too lulled by the peace that he and vector and sprout are
disinclined to do anything or look into anything.
trelawney has been brewing her own pineapple sherry - he's sure of it, however the fumes wafting from her class's
trap door is the things of nightmares, he can already feel his teeth and hair and other parts that shall not be named
trying to crawl back into his body.
it's when he gets to pomfrey that he almost becomes visibly neurotic.
there has been no incidents of students visiting the mediwitch with unexplainable ailments that seems to resolve themselves given enough time.
it's then when he finds them. dual redheads. in a corridor in the dungeons near the kitchens. knowing not to be fooled by the facade of them only sharing one brain cell between the 2 of them he disillusions & silences himself, then creeps closer.
they're huddled around a short white blonde, the one twin - fred from the looks of it - is gently pulling strands of mentioned white blonde hair into an elegant and sightly fluffy braid; the kind Severus' own mother always attempted on his unruly mop but always had to give up as a lost cause because the strands was simply too soft and shiny to stay in a braid or any other style for that matter.
the second devil had just finished slipping on fuzzy socks and moccasins onto small feet and was now adjusting a warm but slightly worn looking wool robe over equally tiny shoulders.
"we told you to come and find us if this--
"--happened again little moon."
"if you don't--
"==want to tell us--
"then at least tell a professor or madame pomfrey"
"the nargles are restless this time of the year but the wrackspurts will return soon. so I don't need my shoes right now,
they'll turn up eventually" luna stared into the distance at one of the scenery paintings decorating the corridor.
"Luna--" *sigh*
"--Little moon, it's cold enough outside to freeze off a ball each--"
"from the both of us"
"besides--"
"It's not just your shoes, those--"
"-- *creatures* --"
"-- so called ravenclaw roommates of yours--"
"--have even gone as far as to hide your textbooks AND your winter clothing"
"If you don't tell someone, we will--"
"and we're going to anyways."
"even if we have to go to snape for help and scrub his personal toilet until we're 130"
this was not what severus was expecting at all.
he and the rest of the staff knew of the bullying. he had thought he'd put a stopper into that particular brew with a few well placed detentions and bordering on acidic comments the previous year.
his magic was starting to swirl lightly around his wrists.
calming himself when his disillusionment started to flicker, he vowed he'd get to the bottom of this.
the offer of the devils becoming his house elves was tempting -- however as much as he would personally enjoy it, he could not in good conscience allow them unfettered access to the numerous texts and scrolls strewn in orderly chaos in his living quarters.
hogwarts herself would smite him where he stood if he ever gave the twins the recipe to what would become a pandora's box of knowledge in their hands.
maybe he should do it, but instead of pointing them to improve upon pranks inside hogwarts -- he would set their sights of mischief and deadlier experiments to voldemort -- hell or even dumbledore.
merlin, save him from dubious and deranged task masters with too much time and obsessions on their hands and drugged confectionery.
shivering he paid attention to the present once more and decided that he had heard and thought enough for one evening.
"Messers weasley, miss lovegood."
two backs straightened and went rigid within half a second.
"Professor--"
"--what a nice"
"surprise."
"have you come to get"
"a midnight snack from the "
"kitchen?"
"or perhaps we"
"can interest you in '
"the locations of a few "
"couples we know that are definitely"
"using the alcoves"
"and broom closets "
"as their own-----"
"stop right there."
"Miss lovegood. I expect the names of the perpetrators attached to your essay on the thunderbrew potion on my desk tomorrow."
"messers weasley. disappear before I make you disappear."
"come along miss lovegood."
stopping at the entrance to the ravenclaw tower he turned to luna who was happily skipping towards him, having been distractedly trailing a few paces behind him the entire route.
she stopped next to him and seemed to smile at something over his shoulder.
knowing by now not to turn around like a dunderhead he arched an eyebrow at her.
he didn't voice his question and luna did not deign to give him an answer to his silent query and gave him a small grin instead.
not resisting the urge, he felt his eyes almost roll out of their sockets.
thinking another few seconds, he deftly unwound the soft charcoal scarf he had taken to wear during his late night rounds in the freezing castle.
casting as many spell as he could think of he tucked the now seemingly oversized fabric lightly around the new owner's neck and shoulders.
he did not feel the need to say anything or even explain himself and turned on the spot, walking back towards the dungeons to finish his duties and perhaps later when he was safely in his own territory polish the entire bottle of rum. If only to see if the particular year barrel it originates from, is good enough to disinfect his mind of thoughts of two red heads absconding with many of his priceless tomes and even worse his toilet seat.
if that specific train of thought ever does come true in one way or another, Severus vowed he would commandeer the divination teaching position and take up day-drinking as a new hobby.