Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [4]

⚡️ Chapter 53 ⚡️

Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.

It was a very familiar sound that caused Snape to stop talking very abruptly. Both he and Filch looked down at the foot of the of the stairs, and Vega watched Mad-Eye Moody limp into sight through the narrow gap between their heads. Moody was wearing his old traveling cloak over his nightshirt and leaning on his staff as usual. Vega held back a groan at how much worse their situation was getting.

"Pyjama party, is it?" Moody growled up the stairs.

"Professor Snape and I heard noises, Professor," Filch said at once. "Peeves the Poltergeist, throwing things around as usual – and then Professor Snape discovered that someone had broken into his off –"

"Shut up!" Snape hissed to Filch but Moody had taken a step closer to the foot of the stairs.

Vega saw Moody's magical eye travel over Snape, and then, unmistakeably, onto her and Harry. She could only freeze in place, knowing that Moody was able to see right through Invisibility Cloaks.

Moody alone could see the full strangeness of the scene – Snape in his nightshirt, Filch clutching the egg, Harry trapped in the stairs behind them with Vega trying to pull his leg out of the stair, both of them in their nightgown. For a moment, Moody's lopsided gash of a mouth opened in surprise.

For a few seconds, Vega, Harry and Moody at each other, trying to capture what was going on. Then, Moody closed his mouth once he had figured it out and turned his blue eye upon Snape again.

"Did I hear that correctly, Snape?" Moody asked slowly. "Someone broke into your office?"

"It is unimportant," Snape responded coldly.

"On the contrary," Moody growled. "It is very important. Who'd want to break into your office?"

"A student, I daresay," Snape said, a vein flickering horribly on his greasy temple. "It has happened before. Potion ingredients have gone missing from my private store cupboard... Students attempting illicit mixtures, no doubt..."

"Reckon they were after potion ingredients, eh?" Moody asked, and Vega wished he would just go away with Snape and Filch to investigate. "Not hiding anything else in your office, are you?"

But instead, Vega noticed the edge of Snape's sallow face turn into nasty brick colour, the vein in his temple pulsing even more rapidly. This was starting to go far worse than she could've expected.

"You know I'm hiding nothing, Moody," Snape replied in a soft and dangerous voice. "As you've searched my office pretty thoroughly yourself," Moody's face twisted into a smile.

"Auror's privilege, Snape," Moody told him – something Vega felt was very uncharacteristic. "Dumbledore told me to keep an eye –"

"Dumbledore happens to trust me," Snape retorted through clenched teeth. "I refuse to believe that he gave you orders to search my office!"

"Course Dumbledore trusts you," Moody growled. "He's a trusting man, isn't he? Believes in second chances. But me – I say there are spots that don't come off, Snape. Spots that never come off, you'd know what I mean?"

Snape suddenly did something very strange. He seized his left forearm convulsively with his right hand, as though something on it had hurt him. Moody laughed. Vega's lips fell open as she stared.

"Get back to bed, Snape," Moody told him.

"You don't have the authority to send me anywhere!" Snape hissed, letting go of his arm as though angry with himself. "I have as much right to prowl this school after dark as you do!"