Living Death

- chapter four

You were never particularly good at spells but somehow, out of sheer boredom, you were levitating a half empty bottle of pumpkin juice, trying not to spill it, to see how steady you could hold it up.

You had thought of every possible way to secretly leave your room now, even contemplating donning a white dress and rubbing in some white face paint to pretend to be a ghost. Yes Myrtle was dead, really dead, but at least she could talk to people she wanted to, and didn't have to pretend she didn't exist. You let out another long sigh.

Snape broke your focus as he flung open your door suddenly, making his usual dramatic entrance, making you jump. This, in turn, causing you to drop your wand, and with that, the pumpkin juice bottle. You looked at the bottle, your hand on your heart and smiled a little at the fact not a drop of it had fallen onto the floor. Strange. It was lying on its side yet not a single drop had come out.

That's when you looked up and saw a rather damp looking Snape staring through his soggy hair down at you. Forget being fake dead, the look he was giving you now suggested he was about to make you actually dead.

He glared and said "I'll be back", reminding you of a quote from a muggle film you saw once, taking his leave again.

But no sooner had he gone, he was back, dry now but still with that harsh, cold expression. He waltzed over to the window and staring out into the depths of the black lake. You opened your mouth to apologise but Snape interrupted "We'll forget that even happened Miss Y/N. Now listen, I have to update you on our current situation.

You moved to look at him, perched on the edge of your bed, you could get used to Snape ignoring your slip ups, why couldn't he have kept that same energy when you were in his classes?

"Now the school is in 'mourning', you are officially dead" His nasally voice continued.

"Oh brilliant"

"Which means, should you show your face to man or beast upon these grounds, you will not only be risking the exposure of this entire plan, but you may inadvertently cause complex emotional damage to whoever it is that happens to lay eyes on you"

You nodded and played with your fingers in your lap, you had known this would be the case all along but hearing it reiterated by Professor Snape made it hit home a little more.

"Mr Malfoy is doing okay as far as I've been made aware. His attendance has decreased drastically but that was to be expected."

You looked up at the mention of Draco, eager for updates, but it seemed that's all Snape had to offer you today. It made sense though, Draco would hardly be spending any time with or near to the man that supposedly killed you, let alone attend hours of his lessons.

"Potter, Weasley and Granger.. especially Miss Granger, have been rather nosey and seem to want to pry into other people's affairs, but that too, was to be expected." He kept his steady gaze out the window. "We must remain vigilant." He finally turned to you, hands behind his back and forced himself to send you a more forgiving expression, well, as forgiving as he could muster. "And how are you handling everything Miss Y/N?"

You had not been asked that for a long time and the last person you'd expected to ever hear that from was Professor Snape, but it was nice none the less.

"I'm okay." You lied. Truth be told, you'd exhausted yourself of most distractions, and even the songs of the merpeople that could be heard faintly down here in the dungeons were growing less comforting and more haunting, like they were eerie calls for help. It felt like a prison, and the only reminder of the life you once freely lived was a couple of photos that littered your bedside table. Draco and you pulling a funny pose in front of The Weird Sisters when they performed at the Yule Ball in fourth year was your personal favourite. You watched it as the pictured moved, image you eternally moving from sticking her tongue out, to instantaneous laughter, then back again.