Shadows || A Severus Snape Fanfiction

Chapter 37 - The Yule Ball

A/N: If you skipped straight to this chapter I advise you skip ahead to the next one 🤗it's still Yule Ball but it's more what you're looking for :P

helloooo this is future El! (ummmm can we pls get a police box emoji) I've been reading thru my whole story and I just came back here to say this chapter could do with a lot of fixing up so whoopsie 😬 I'm gonna focus on the actual updates rn but I'LL BE BACK (like before 🎵 I will fight the fight and win the war 🎶 for your l o v e  Okay El stop). 

Anyway none of this really matters to you so I don't know why I'm writing this but I guess... just, sorry if this chapter seems a bit slow and clunky 😅 (any critical feedback would help me edit it later ❤️)

Future future me: aw beeech the NEXT chapter is a fuckin banger tho! if I do say so myself 😙💅🏼

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Severus was lying in bed, resting up against a stack of green silk pillows and the dark wood of his headboard. He was reading A Tale of Two Cities while taking bites of the breakfast he had ordered down from kitchens. Muggle literature was somewhat of a guilty pleasure of his. It swept him into different worlds, further than any Wizarding fiction could take him. It offered a brief, sweet respite from reality.

As he turned the page, his crackling fireplace burst into green flames. Filch's rasp filled the room. Just the voice he wanted to hear on a peaceful Christmas morning.

"Professor, I'm sorry to disturb you, but it's an urgent matter."

Severus rolled his eyes, thinking how highly unlikely it was that this was truly an urgent matter.

Unable to see this, Filch continued, "Some wretched kids have meddled with a suit of armour in the Entrance Hall. Enchanted it to make all kinds of obscene gestures every time a Slytherin student walks past."

Severus sighed in exasperation and threw his book down on the bed. "I'll deal with it," he said flatly, standing up, swiping his wand from the bedside table and using it to extinguish the green flames before Filch had a chance to reply.

He dressed quickly (if grumpily), knowing how much emphasis had been put on Hogwarts being at its best for the visiting schools.

Upstairs, the Entrance Hall was bustling with people moving in and out of the Great Hall for breakfast. This was precisely where Severus didn't want to be on Christmas morning. 

It wasn't hard for him to identify which suit of armour had been tampered with, and after a few trials of some simple reversion spells, it became plain the prank had been carried out by senior students and would require more than a quick fix. Severus performed a few diagnosing spells before starting on the process of disenchanting the armour.

He was mid-incantation when a student came streaking past him, passing so obnoxiously close that his robes fluttered from the rush of air. He lost his concentration, dropping the spell and the suit flashed its middle fingers at Montague and Flint as they strode past. Outrage boiled in Severus' blood as he spun around, ready to reprimand the culprit. He immediately identified the runner as Asha. His scowl softened to a frown as he let out the angry breath he'd inhaled. Though, he still couldn't help feeling a rush of annoyance that she was running in the corridors. But he was instantly curious as to what she was up to.

"Cedric!" he heard her call across the Entrance Hall. The moving crowd had slowed her down but she hopped and skipped between the Christmas-jumper-wearing students with the urgency of someone who was being chased.

The boy - Diggory - who was just leaving breakfast, turned to her voice and smiled wide when he caught sight of her. She grabbed the boy's sleeve and pulled him to the side of the Hall, away from his friends. The group shrugged this off and kept moving as if this were a usual occurrence.