Soul of Ice

15. The Watershed

It was May, and Abbie was spending most of her evenings either in the library or in the Music classroom, preparing for the end-of-year exams. For the fourth year Music exam, students were allowed to be marked in performance, composition or arrangement. Abbie had chosen composition, hoping she could easily use something from the vast amounts she had written by then. But as soon as she considered performing her own piece in front of people, no matter how good she had previously considered it, suddenly she saw every flaw in the piece and it just wasn't good enough. As a result, she was trying to write and rewrite constantly, and one evening she was so engrossed in her work that she hadn't noticed the curfew bell ring and it wasn't until past 11 o'clock that she noticed the time and realised she needed to get back to the common room.

It was times like this she wished she had Harry's map or cloak. The Music classroom was on the fifth floor; somehow she needed to get to the common room on the seventh floor without being caught. If Filch was on a lower floor, she would probably be okay... but despite having no magic, he did seem to have a way to know where wandering students were.

Abbie slowly opened the classroom door and peeked out. The corridor was quiet and dark, and she couldn't see any sign of Filch or his cat. Closing the door behind her softly, she crept along the corridor, her footsteps softened by the carpet for now, but she knew the sixth floor would have some very echoey stone flooring. After almost tripping, she decided it would be safer to light her wand. She held it in front of herself, being careful where she trod.

She reached the top of the stairs to the sixth floor. Now came the tricky part - the stone flooring. She lifted herself up onto her tiptoes to prevent her heels from making any noise against the flooring. She had almost reached the staircase to the seventh floor when a lantern appeared from around the corner, and Filch appeared with a nasty smile on his face.

"Sleepwalking, are we?"

"N - no - I was just going back to the common room -"

"You Gryffindor? Looks like we'll have to wake Professor McGonagall - shame, in my day I coulda dragged you back to my office and used me shackles. Lot less students back then wandering around without a teacher's permission -"

"I do have permission," Abbie lied quickly.

"Oh, yeah? And whose is that, then?"

"Professor Snape."

"A likely story. Got proof of that, have ya?"

"No..."

"Well, I happen to know Professor Snape doesn't give students permission to be out of bed without a permission slip."

"He - he did give me one. But I... lost it."

"Lost it? Already? Well, we'd better get you another one, eh? I'm sure Professor Snape will have something to say... come on, girl."

***

Severus had just finished marking his second-years' abysmal essays when the fireplace roared and Persephone stepped out. He jumped out of his seat instantly and walked around his desk to embrace her. It had been weeks since he'd last seen her, and he'd begun to worry.

"Where have you been? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Sev," Persephone replied with a smile, flattered that he was worried.

"No, you're not," he insisted, taking her face in his hands to examine a bruise that had formed on her cheekbone. "Another injury - what have you been doing?"

"Working," she told him firmly. "I'm fine, Sev, it's just a bruise."

"At least let me apply some dittany." Without waiting for a response, he quickly spun around and began searching his shelves. Knowing there was no arguing the point with him, Persephone sat down and let him fuss over her.