“How are you finding it?” Dumbledore asked, waving at a plush red velvet seat opposite.
“Delightful, thankyou. I’m having the best time of my life,” Severus replied, sitting down and adjusting the glasses on his face. He grimaced at how difficult it was to cross his shorter denim clad legs.
“There, there, my dear boy. No need for sarcasm,” Dumbledore smiled.
“If you’ll forgive me, Headmaster, I would say every need for sarcasm,” Severus said, this time with an air of resignation. Dumbledore studied him closely over his glasses. His startling blue eyes bored into the green eyes which now belonged to Severus.
“You heard about the situation, then?”
“The one that involved the infernal boy making a mockery of me? Yes I heard about it. I knew something like this would happen.” Severus cast a hand over his face and gritted his teeth.
Dumbledore continued to gaze at Severus. “It didn’t worry you?”
“No.”
“You do know what really happened don’t you?”
“Yes. The foolish boy thought it was the dark mark. Why else would he behave so oddly?”
“Yet this didn’t concern you?”
“No. Of course not. The Dark Lord would not call for me in that manner at this present moment in time.”
“Harry doesn’t know that, though,” Dumbledore said, sitting back in the seat and frowning slightly.
“I did want to ask you why not, actually. I’m surprised you’ve given him even less information than you have given me. Sometimes, Albus…”
“Please refer to me by my appropriate title. You are a student, after all.”
“I’ll call you Mr. Bumblebee if I bloody well want!” Severus stormed.
“Severus! Where is your usual respect and etiquette?” Dumbledore asked, more amused than offended.
“I left it in my real body.”
“Oh I don’t think so. Harry’s just as rude as you are, if not more so.”
For some reason Severus found himself smiling with Dumbledore. Perhaps the older man was casting a spell, or perhaps the years of frowning were finally catching up on him.
“Well, Headmaster. It is a good question. I know that the Dark Lord has resorted to communicating with his Death Eaters directly through telepathy, that the Dark Mark is no longer strong enough for his purposes, that my mind would receive the signal, regardless of being in Potter’s body. Why doesn’t he?”
“The situation is difficult enough, Severus. I didn’t want to confuse the matter even more,” Dumbledore said, assuming a distant expression again. Severus made a sound that was caught between a grunt and a sigh. “What is it like being a teenager again?” Dumbledore asking evasively.
“Considering I disliked it well enough the first time around, it isn’t particularly pleasant.”
“You aren’t enjoying being younger at all?”
Realising Dumbledore could always just use legilimency to find out, Severus spoke the truth, “sometimes throughout the day, very occasionally, it hasn’t been so bad.”
“Ahh.”
“I much prefer being an adult.”
“Yes.”
“Is it really going to be another five weeks?”
“My my, it’s getting late. You better be off to bed, before a Professor finds you wandering the corridors at night!”
“Goodnight Headmaster.”
“Goodnight Severus. Just remember, things can only get better once you’ve hit rock bottom.”
“Your pearls of wisdom aren’t nearly as comforting as they should be.”
Severus allowed himself to travel down the spiral staircase of Dumbledore’s exit, and walked back to the Gryffindor common room.
***************
Climbing through the doorway to his dormitory, Severus found himself face to face with Longbottom.
“That wasn’t funny!” Longbottom yelled, punching Severus firmly on the arm.
“Ow! What the hell was that for?” Severus asked, rubbing at his arm furiously and stepping to the right, away from the slightly shorter round faced boy.
“Your little trick earlier. I know the temptation must be high, but in future, try attacking someone other than me!” Longbottom was huffing and puffing, obviously furious.
“Attacking?” Severus asked in absolute confusion.
“Yes, attacking! Under your cloak! How many other people do you know with the power to become invisible in a whim?” Neville shouted.
Severus contorted his face in complete outrage. “Something invisible attacked you? And you think it was me?” Unless Longbottom had finally gone batty, Severus knew exactly who it was. How had Potter found his cloak? That conniving, annoying, contemptible little sneak! What was he thinking going around school in his cloak and causing mayhem?
“You mean, it wasn’t you?” Longbottom asked, his face becoming more mortified than angry. His large eyes took in the fact “Harry” wasn’t carrying anything remotely cloak-like and his expression was one of faith.
“No, it most certainly was not!” Severus said with all the conviction of the truth.
“Oh, my… Oh I am so sorry! I thought… I thought…” Neville said, coming up to rub Severus’s arm, who pulled away immediately. Neville’s voice took on an entirely different tone, “well, who, wh… what was it then?”
“I don’t know, Lo… Neville. I don’t know. But it’s probably best to keep the investigation to ourselves. If it were something truly dangerous, it would have been discovered and caught by the Professors by now. Perhaps there is another student with an invisibility cloak!”
“Yeah, you’re probably right, Harry. I really am so sorry!”
“Don’t worry. You sure do pack a strong punch, though!” Severus was genuinely surprised at Longbottom’s strength. Since when had this weak-willed Gryffindor possessed any sort of power?
“I shouldn’t use it on my friends. Sorry again. Listen, I have to get up early tomorrow, so I’m just going to go to bed, okay?” Longbottom said.
“Goodnight!”
“Night.”
Severus wondered if he should go around the school in Harry’s cloak and try and find the invisible fiend. He decided it would be altogether too time consuming and difficult. He resorted to stomping down the steps back to the common room again. Thomas and Finnegan saw him and enquired if he was okay, but he just brushed them off, pulled the Magi-Scrabble box off of the pile of games in the corner, and began playing a solitary game.
He was surprised how many derogatory terms he could make from the letters he was given. Weasley came up, saw his criss-cross of words in the air and gave a low whistle.
“Err, Harry. Angry much?”
“Just a little,” Severus said stiltedly. He waved his hand and the tiles became blank and floated back into the box. “Want a game?”
“No, that’s alright, not really my cup of tea,” Weasley declined. Thomas and Finnegan called him over and he went away to the other side of the room. Severus wasn’t sure if he was happy or angry at being deserted so suddenly.
“I’ll give you a go,” someone said behind Severus. Looking back he saw it was Granger, “that is, if you’ll let me.”
“Yeah. Yeah, why not?” Severus said, realising the best way of gaining satisfaction would be to thoroughly trounce the insufferable know-it-all.