"You are quite fortunate," Snape said, slipping behind the seat in his office. "I happen to have enough time to keep an eye on you."
Magnus immediately knew he was screwed the moment he saw the mountain of artifacts Snape had piled on the floor of his office for cleaning.
I mean, where did this guy even manage to have so much dusty stuff in the first place? You would think with the rate he dished out random detentions, his office would be the most sparkling room in Hogwarts.
Or maybe the man had developed some kind of spell to spoil all the students' hard work as soon as they left in readiness for the next victim.
"I... I have lots of homework, Professor," Magnus protested, looking as regretful as his acting could allow. "Maybe I could begin tomorrow after—"
"Enough," Snape hissed, looking unconcerned. "You should have thought of that before you slithered here to antagonize my students."
That is quite a skillful choice of words, you slithering git, Magnus thought.
He hadn't expected any sympathy from Snape; the protest was just part of the plan. He wasn't supposed to look too relieved, or Snape would sniff his secret quite fast. In fact, he was already wondering if he hadn't.
I mean, Snape had made it clear that he did not plan on leaving him by himself, which added another complication to an already difficult situation. Aside from the glaring fact that he so far had no clue where he would find all the ingredients for the Invigorating Draught, there was also the other matter of the mountain of work in front of him.
Even if he somehow managed to figure out where the ingredients were—which in itself was quite a big IF—he would still have to find a way of nicking all he needed and then figure out how to sneak all of it out of the dungeons. Even a simpleton would tell you that was insanity at its best.
"You would best get started, Mr. Magnus..." Snape barked, seeing his hesitant posture. "Those cauldrons will need scrubbing as well."
Magnus' eyes followed those pale, skeletal fingers to another shelf stacked with disgustingly dirty cauldrons.
He made up his mind. He wasn't staying here... hell, he wasn't going to be turned into Snape's house-elf.
He...
He froze.
Magnus' eyes traveled back to the shelves just next to the used cauldrons...
Stacked in several groups of small vials were what he could only assume were potions... It turned out, however, that he did not need to make assumptions. The vials were already labeled.
He combed through the lot in rising excitement. It seemed Professor Snape had been brewing all the potions and draughts they had studied in the first week. He also did not have to try hard to figure out why... I mean, aside from the fact that as the Potions Master, he was at liberty to do as he wished, Snape had certainly been preparing the different types of Pokémon potions they had been studying.
His eyes went through the whole batch, and he felt a surge of adrenaline when his eyes landed on the labels of the vials in the middle.
It—Invigorating Potion!
Snape had brewed all this, probably in anticipation of an emergency from the new hatchling.
A smile was beginning to form on his lips, but he quickly wiped it off before Snape caught sight of it. Now his mind was made up—he wasn't staying here.
His situation had miraculously been simplified... Turns out he did not have to look for the different ingredients so far... he only needed to lay his hands on one of those ready-made vials.
That, and then get the hell out of here.
He quickly bent and began working on the assortment of items that had been brought out for cleaning. He was careful to put on quite a disgruntled face just to avoid Snape suspecting him. His mind, however, was turning over and over as he tried to come up with a plan that would bring him close enough to the vials.
Although they were on the same level as the used cauldrons, there was a good distance between them—so much that it was almost impossible to reach them without arousing the Potions Master's suspicion.
His Zorua purred suddenly, making Magnus recall it was still dangling on his shoulders, almost dragging on his back... Magnus felt like the Zorua could almost disappear at will... At times, it was too playful to miss, but then just as suddenly, it could seemingly blend in so that anyone else would have a hard time noticing its presence.
The hatchling suddenly leaped.
It was so sudden that Magnus let out a startled yelp... as he watched the hatchling lunge toward Snape...
The man reacted instinctively, half-rising as his hand shot into his robe and came out clasping his wand.
"It's only my hatchling!" Magnus yelled, afraid that the man would hex the hatchling.
The Zorua landed right above the book Snape had been reading and stared at the man like he was the most amusing thing it had ever seen.
Snape visibly relaxed when he saw there wasn't an imminent threat...
He pocketed his wand and threw an evil look at the hatchling. "Take whatever this thing is off my desk," he spat, looking at the Zorua like he was seeing it for the first time since encountering Magnus around the dungeon.
For yet another time, Magnus had a suspicion that the Zorua was already performing mild illusions... just that he had not caught any yet... There was the goblet incident, of course, but he wasn't completely sure he saw what he thought he saw. But this was something he would now have to take seriously.
"And for your own sake, you would best make sure nothing is broken by the time you leave here," Snape added as he went back to reading whatever he was engrossed in.
Magnus swooped and retrieved his Pokémon.
As he turned back to his duty, he consciously passed quite near the vials, and even had Snape been glaring him in the face, there was a good chance that he still wouldn't have seen the right hand stretch in a slightly longer arc over the shelf before falling back on the hatchling... Then it quickly fell into his robes as he deposited the tiny vial.
Now he had to get the hell out of this freaking place... And what better way to do that than to get the man himself to chuck him out? Lucky for him, he knew quite enough about Snape... The problem was how much he could utilize without the man forgetting he was a student and hexing him.
Magnus let the silence stretch out for a while as both of them busied themselves with their tasks. Then he cleared his throat suggestively.
Whether he had understood his intention to speak or not, Snape did not look up from the book.
"Uuh... excuse me, Professor," Magnus said, his heart thundering at what he was about to do. He was aware it was quite a touchy topic.
Still, Snape did not look up, but Magnus went on adamantly... There was no looking back.
"It's just... I... I couldn't help seeing the mark on your left arm when you lifted your wand."
The reaction was instant. Snape closed his book as he rushed to pull down the sleeves of his left arm—which were already down... Then he glared at Magnus as if trying to figure out how much he knew. Or maybe he was trying to recall whether he had exposed the mark.
Of course, he hadn't... Magnus just knew the Death Eater's mark was there due to his knowledge of the films and canon information... Snape, however, had no way of knowing that...
Wait!
He felt a sudden mental tug in his head, as if something was puddling through his thoughts...
Fuck. Snape was reading him. He had to break it.
"Are you a Death Eater, Professor?"
Snape sprang up.