Harry sat down at the main table gratefully. He was already very tired and the day had only begun. He ate a piece of toast with marmite and started sipping on the pumpkin juice nearby. He half-heartedly looked at the students. It was strange to see the view of the hall from here. The few students who were left were chatting away ignoring anything around them. Harry saw Hermione speaking with Neville. He wanted to go over and ask how they were and whether they had seen “Harry” that morning but realised this would be highly suspicious.
“How are you this morning, Severus?” a small voice asked next to him.
“I am fine, thankyou Professor Flitwick,” Harry automatically responded.
“Looking forward to the party tomorrow night?”
“What party?”
“Minerva’s birthday party, of course.”
“Professor McGonagall is having a birthday party?” Harry asked in shock. Flitwick started to look at him strangely.
“You should know. You co-organised it. Have you been hovering over any particularly noxious fumes today Severus?”
“Uhmm, yes. Yes, I am not quite myself today, uhhh, Filius,” Harry responded.
“That much is clear. Excuse me, could you pass the grapefruit? Thankyou.”
Harry finished his breakfast slowly. He wanted to savour the food. He wasn’t entirely sure when he’d be able to have any more. He looked around for Dumbledore but couldn’t see him at the table. When he went on his obligatory tour of the school (on the lookout for rule breakers) he didn’t see him either.
The next couple of hours seemed to drag on for eternity. Doing as he was instructed, Harry patrolled the school, made another potion in preparation for a class and read through his instructions for the classes time and time again. He had lunch, did more of his prescribed duties and found himself in the midst of boredom. Still it was only mid-afternoon and Harry felt that a teacher’s life must be very dull.
When he was finally released from duty, Harry decided he would try and occupy his time. He went back up to his quarters and rummaged around. Ordinarily he would never do something so rude as to poke and pry through other people’s belongings but these were exceptional circumstances. He sat crosslegged on the floor in front of the closet and started looking through the boxes which were piled up at the bottom.
The first box revealed itself to be of no interest. It was full of old textbooks and from what Harry could evince, that was all. The second box was much more enticing. There was something glittering right at the bottom of the box, and Harry knew that if only he could get this far he would be rewarded. The rest of the stuff in the box seemed to be junk. He lifted the items out carefully, trying to remember how they’d been packed. He reached down and managed to pull it from underneath everything else after a time. He examined it, spread it out and realised it was a cloak. It wasn’t just an ordinary cloak either. Harry grinned with evil mirth as he came to the realisation that he was once more in possession of an invisibility cloak.
Just as Harry had finished packing the things back there was a rap at the door. Harry smoothed out his robes and opened the door tentatively.
“Ready, Severus?” Minerva McGonagall asked holding a flagon of what looked like wine and a wide, square but compact box.
*******************
“Uhmmm. Err. Yes, Minerva. Come right in!” Harry said, stepping to the side. He looked warily at his head of house as she made her way in and conjured up a small table and two chairs. She set the box on the table and opened the lid.
Small tiles inscribed with letters came floating up into the air, dancing in a circle. As they did so, coloured lines of light appeared and arranged themselves in a grid. Harry stared at it mesmerised. It was a scrabble board in the air.
“Sit down Severus,” McGonagall said, setting up two glasses, placing some biscuits on a plate with cheese and putting the magi-scrabble box on the floor.
“Yes, Professor,” Harry said, sitting down awkwardly and rubbing his palms against his sides in fear and frustration.
Minerva raised an eyebrow, “Professor? You haven’t called me Professor in private company for fourteen years, Severus.”
“I,… I was looking at old pictures and was reminded of what it was like having you as a teacher myself, Minerva,” Harry responded quickly. The Accluma to the rescue again. Harry waited tentatively hoping she’d accept this as a reasonable excuse. The older woman seemed content with this answer as she merely started pouring wine into the glasses. Harry eyed the wine nervously. Should he decline? A drink might steady his nerves. He took a sip. He didn’t like the taste much, it wasn’t nearly as nice as the firewhiskey Hagrid had given him once to warm him up. He took another sip just in case.
“Now, who won last time?” McGonagall asked, pushing her glasses up her nose and surveying the grid to make sure everything was in order.
“I’m sure it must have been you, Minerva,” Harry replied stiltedly. He had absolutely no idea how to play scrabble and was racking his brain for memories the Accluma may have imparted about the gameplay. He only knew what a scrabble board looked like because Aunt Petunia occasionally used to play with a neighbour. She stopped when she had a five game losing streak.
“Nice of you to be so genteel, Severus but you and I both know I rarely win, it was just a matter of policy to ask,” McGonagall replied. She waved her hand and all the letters disappeared on the tiles. They were all blank. She took a tile from the air and looked at it after rubbing it once or twice with her thumb. Harry imitated her action and saw the letter “I” appear. McGonagall held up her tile between her two fingers.
“E” Harry said, assuming he was supposed to say the letter out loud. In an action of desperation Harry copied McGonagall again. She simply nodded and started to collect more tiles. Six others in total. Harry waited until she had finished and did the same thing, placing the letters on the little wood tray he had just noticed floating in front of his hand.
She waved her hand once more and five tiles did a little jig up to the board and placed themselves from the middle to Harry’s left. The tiles spelt out “lumos” and a little flare of pink bounced off to the right displaying “Double Word Score”, McG = 24, SnapeyPoo = 0. Harry gazed at the two names with a shocked frown. He took another sip of wine.
“After the bet last week, remember? You said I could use whatever name I wanted. Serves you right for saying Sybil would behave half way normally in the staff meeting,” McGonagall said.
“Right,” Harry said stiffly. He was dying to see the board from McGonagall’s perspective. He had a thought. Lifting up his glass once more to his lips he dribbled some wine over his hand. “Oh look at that, how clumsy I am. Excuse me Minerva.” Harry walked to the bathroom gazing behind himself and washed his hand. Luckily, McGonagall was examining her letters so he had a good look. As he thought, the letters still spelled “lumos” but they ran to the right. As he sat back down Harry peered at his letters intently, trying to see what word he could do. Suddenly he realised he could make “accio” using the “O” in “lumos” and happily waved his hand to command it so. He took another sip of wine. It tasted better now. He had a few of the biscuits and settled back in the chair waiting for McGonagall’s move.
The next hour passed in this manner, Harry learning the rules of the game by playing and covering up his mistakes by saying it had been a hard week. McGonagall didn’t seem to mind that he was lagging so far behind. In fact, she whooped with joy on many an occasion. It was strange to see her acting this way and Harry mused that it was a relaxed little friendship his two professors had going on. He had to admire that a Professor and former student could get along so well. McGonagall treated him in a respectful manner, establishing that she was older but not superior. Harry remembered what he had first thought about Fidens and grinned foolishly, he was certain nothing like that was established between these two people, they were just friends, but it was still amusing.
“Why are you so happy, Severus? You’re losing, see?” McGonagall said with a raised eyebrow. The score read McG= 331, SnapeyPoo=123. “You know, I really think I’ve won the game, what do you say “ forfeit?”
“Yes, why not?” Harry said. He was feeling a bit dizzy and he could have sworn the tiles were dancing about with little arms and legs. He attempted to stand up but swayed off to the side slightly.
“Have you been sneaking drinks whilst I wasn’t looking, Severus?” McGonagall said, coming over and holding Harry up.
“I think I may be coming down with something,” Harry slurred.
“Yes, so do I,” McGonagall said. She walked him over to the bed and sat him down. “You’ll be fine here, won’t you?”
For a second Harry wanted to ask her to stay, but he wasn’t so drunk as to not realise how that would sound. He just wanted some company. It had only been a day and already he was missing his friends. “I’ll be fine, Minerva. Thankyou for the game. Congratulations on winning!” he said, waiting patiently as she waved away the chairs and table and took the board under her arm.
“Goodnight, Severus!”
“Goodnight!” Harry replied, and slowly curled up into bed, not worrying about changing. He closed his eyes sadly and hoped that tomorrow would be a better day.