Protection In The Dungeons

The Girl In The Bathroom

"You're going to die next."
   
    I looked up, Cedric stood next to me, and he held a knife. "Cedric? What are you doing with that huge knife?"

    "You're going to die next." Cedric walked toward me the knife raised.

    "CEDRIC! NO! PLEASE!"
  
    Cedric paused. "I'm sorry. I have to. He's watching."

    I scrambled backwards, and in the corner of the room, I saw Professor Snape watching with a cruel smirk. 

    I woke up with a start. I got out of bed, and heard a thump out in the hall. I grabbed my yellow bathrobe, and wrapped it around myself. I slipped on my bunny slippers, and poked my head out of my room. I saw a girl with long red hair walking down the hallway, holding a black book. She walked down the hall toward the prefect bathrooms. I silently followed her, and I heard something weird, like whispers that were recorded, and played backwards. It was sinister, but also kind of cool. I watched her for a little bit, but she seems to sense my presence, and I deemed that the perfect time to go back to my bed.

I hurried to get back in my bedroom. I rounded a corner, but in my haste, one of my bunny slippers fell off. I turned around, a little annoyed and walked back to pick it up, (not wanting to leave any evidence of my late night escapade.) I crashed straight into Professor Snape. I picked up my slipper, and looked at him. "Maybe he's sleepwalking." I thought.

He was not sleepwalking. "Why are you out of your dorm at this hour?" He asked.

"I was going to the bathroom..." I managed to squeak.

"You're not a prefect. Why were you in the prefect's bathrooms?"

I was caught. I had no explanation for that, if I told him the truth, he'd probably give me detention so I said: "The prefect's bathrooms? Don't think I've heard of them."

"Don't. Play. Dumb. With. Me." His eyes were sharp, and observant, as if they were staring into my soul...

"I thought I heard something... I didn't realize it was off limits." This was half true. I did hear something. What I didn't tell him, was that I saw someone.

"You heard something?"

"Yes, Professor. I did."

"What did you hear?"

"It sounded like backwards whispering... almost ghostly. It was kind of spooky."

"And you expect me to believe... that you went to investigate a creepy noise in the prefect bathrooms, which you had no business near in the first place?" He raised one eyebrow, a smirk playing at his lips. "You do realize that's awfully hard to believe, considering how you've been behaving these past few weeks. I've noticed your behavior whenever you see me around the castle. It's not very... brave. So, you can understand why I'm... skeptical when you mentioned that you were trying to investigate a spooky noise." He looked me straight in the eye. I wanted to shrink into a hole, and never come out again.

"It's true. I was on my way to the bathroom, and I heard a spooky noise, so I came to check it out." I held my breath. While this was all technically true, I was omitting the part where I actually saw someone.

He tilted his head a little, and smirked. I knew that he knew I wasn't telling the complete truth. But instead of yelling at me for lying, he just sighed and said: "You're still not supposed to be out of bed."

I blinked. "I was going to the bathroom."

"That is fine. I'm not going to punish you for using the toilets, but you took a detour. And for that, I'll have to give you a weeks detention, and take ten points off Hufflepuff for your disregard for the rules." He looked at me. With a stern expression. "You will come to my office tomorrow, 3:00 p.m. right after your classes for your first detention. Now go to bed."

    I opened my mouth to argue but he had a look on his face that made me understand that if I said anything else, he'd extend my punishment. I decided to just go to bed without arguing, as I was exhausted.

As my head hit the pillow, the gravity of the situation hit. I had been in a full conversation, with the guy I had been terrified of for years. And I had actually... survived through it. Maybe Professor Snape isn't so bad after all... then I remembered that he gave me detention, and I decide even though he wasn't as bad as I thought, he was still pretty annoying.