Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

The Girl in my Arms	By : PotionMaster Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 3779 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
Of Secrets and Silk Sheets 1

Arabella spent an hour or so in the staff room catching up with all the recent school gossip but if anyone had been paying attention to her they would have noticed the way she kept glancing at the door. Pleading a headache caused by a long day's travelling she retired to her room, or at least she tried to. After ten minutes spent getting more and more frustrated she had to give in and admit that the portrait guarding Ravenclaw tower didn't understand sign language any better than Ron and Harry had. She resisted the urge to bang her head against the wall in case any of the students were watching her and was about to return to the staff room in search of help when she hear footsteps in the corridor behind her. Natural caution led her to conceal herself in the shadows until she knew who she was dealing with. She was rewarded by the sight of young Malfoy and one of his henchmen, she hadn't quite worked out yet which was Crabbe and which was Goyle, creeping along the corridor towards her. *I wonder what mischief they're up to. I don't think I'll let them know I'm here quite yet. Let's see if they'll provide enough rope for me to hang them with. * She followed behind them cautiously, suddenly realising where they were headed. *The dungeons. I wonder what they want there at this time of night? *

They headed towards the potions classroom, which seemed to be suspiciously well lit for so late in the evening. *Severus must be working there, now they're trapped. * Arabella was, therefore, somewhat surprised when Draco, followed by the still unidentified minion, calmly entered the room.

"You're late as usual Mr. Malfoy," came a familiar voice.

*What the hell? *

"Do you have my package?"

"Of course, Professor. Do you have mine?"

There was a soft whumpf as if a well-padded package of some kind had been thrown and, hopefully, caught.

"Father says that the last lot weren't as effective as usual. It is to be hoped that these are better."

"It is hardly my fault if the Ministry has become more adept at combating some of your father's more predictable little tricks, Draco. He won't find better anywhere else I can assure you, they are produced from the finest ingredients at no little cost in both time and money."

"For which you are well paid, Snape. Don't forget where your loyalties are supposed to lie."

"Oh I never do, Mr. Malfoy. Now get out of my classroom, it wouldn't do for you to be caught out of bed."

Well now that depends who catches me, there are certain pe I c I can count on to look the other way if necessary. But there is something more we need to discuss."

]"Can't it wait 'till morning, Draco?"

*My thoughts exactly, Sev. *

"Not really, no." The voices then dropped to whispers and Arabella could do nothing other than wait. *Damn it, Malfoy, I could really get to dislike you. Some of us had plans! * Another few minutes passed agonisingly slowly. *Oh for goodness' sake, just leave already! * Sounds of movement came from the classroom. *Please, please, please. Oh at last he's leaving. * Sure enough Malfoy and his goon crept past Arabella's hiding place in the direction they had come from. Arabella counted to twenty to make sure they weren't going to come back again and then emerged from the shadows and stretched her cold and aching muscles. She walked into the potions classroom, raised her hands to sign a greeting - and then looked around in dismay. The room was empty. *Damn the man, where could he have got to? * Searching the classroom proved futile, yielding no sign of either the potions master himself or the secret passage down which she was sure he must have escaped.

Arabella started to head back to the Ravenclaw tower, only realising when she was halfway there that she still wouldn't be able to get in. Looking at her watch she groaned to herself, by this time there wasn't even going to be anybody left in the staff room to help her. In lieu of a better plan she continued back to Ravenclaw tower, hoping to catch some idiot trying to make a kitchen raid. There was no one in sight when she reached the portrait so she decided to wait a while in case someone showed up. Again she heard footsteps in the corridor, although this time they came from a different direction, but try as she might she could not see anyone. Suddenly she heard something, muffled voices, it sounded like an argument, and then Harry's head appeared from nowhere.

"Professor Pettigrew, are you OK?"

*He must have James' cloak. *

=Not really, I can't seem to get to my room. =

Ron now appeared as well, "Still don't speak sign language, Professor."

*Scriptus, * Arabella had discovered that you could use your thoughts to put power behind a spell. As long as the will was there when you mouthed the words, actual sound was unnecessary.

*Neither does this damn portrait, that's the problem! * As she thought the words the Scriptus spell created glowing letters on the wall in front of her.

"Brilliant! If you can do that why bother signing at all?" asked Harry.

*This takes a lot of effort and is very tiring. If I neglect to ask what you're doing out of bed can you speak the password and get this stupid picture to move out of my way and let me get to mine? *

Harry looked at Ron guiltily, "We weren't up to anything honestly, Professor Pettigrew -"

*I really don't want to know right now, * the glowing letters interrupted. *The password's manticore. *

"Manticore," the two boys said simultaneously.

"Well this is really quite irregular," the portrait fussed.

*Oh for goodness' sake you've had the password, what more do you want? Blood? Just let me through you cheap moronic lump of canvas! *

The portrait continued to grumble but reluctantly swung open away. *Thank you; now go back to bed boys. Finite incantum. * With this last pronouncement the glowing letters vanished and the professor stalked through the portrait hole, which slammed shut behind her. The boys looked at each other.

"Best do what the Professor said, Harry!" Ron said, with a mischievous grin that would have done the twins proud. "Especially since that's where we were headed anyway."

"Right, if we don't get these goodies back soon, Seamus'll probably start eating the bedclothes!" Harry replied, moving aside a portrait of a sleeping lion, which grumbled at the disturbance and then promptly started snoring again, and tapping the wall behind it three times with his wand.

"If we're really lucky he'll eat Pig instead," laughed Ron as the two boys disappeared down the secret passageway that had opened up in front of them. The wall slid back into place, the painting swung back to cover it and silence again reigned in the darkened corridor, except for the soft snores of the lion, and the mutterings of the Ravenclaw portrait.

Arabella climbed the tower stairs to the Ravenclaw common room and, after a brief glance around to check everything was in order, headed with relief to her rooms. As she climbed the spiral stairs to her own personal turret, mentally cursing the ridiculous number of stairs between her and her bed, uncooperative pieces of artwork, and Draco Malfoy, she considered what she should do about the evening's events. She decided that there was, regrettably, nothing she could do about Malfoy's behaviour without drawing attention to the fact that she had seen him sneaking around and not done anything about it there and then. Albus no doubt knew about whatever Snape was up to and she probably shouldn't get involved there either, although there was no harm in asking Severus about it in private. All of which meant the only part of her entire evening she could do anything about was the damn painting. Finally she reached her door and was about to open it when she noticed a glow coming from underneath it. *Oh for Merlin's sake, what else can possibly go wrong tonight? * she thought resentfully as she drew her wand. Standing well back she pushed the door open and her mouth dropped open in surprise. Her room which had seemed fairly drab when she had been shown it earlier was now bathed in a warm golden glow which came from dozens of candles, the colour of sunflowers, which floated in mid air around the room. The walls had been covered in hangings the same shade as the candles and there were warm rugs on the stone floor. Her eyes were drawn to the bed however. The narrow single bed, which had come with the room, had been replaced with an enormous four-poster bed with a canopy, which matched the wall hangings. The comforter was a lighter shade of yellow and the sheets and pillowcases were made of what appeared to be silk, in a delicate shade of buttermilk. Leaning against the far wall, a nonchalant look on his face, which was contradicted by the nervous, tension in the rest of his body, was Severus Snape.

"I know I really should have used the Ravenclaw colours but you've expressed a preference for this shade in the past," Severus paused and looked at Arabella who hadn't moved, other than to take two steps into the room and shut the door, since she had seen it. "I can change it if you like."

=Don't you dare! It's beautiful, I love it. I love you,= Arabella signed walking towards him. =I've missed you so much Severus.=

Home of the CoffeeCup HTML Editor
- 1
- 2
- 3
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

The Girl in my Arms