Severus was, as was his won't, pacing restlessly through the corridors after curfew. Tonight he was even more restless than normal, counting down as he was to the students' mass exodus from Hogwarts for the holidays - it was so close he could taste it - and putting off marking the term's final essays that were piling up, class by class, upon his desk. He was in a good enough mood, but naturally that didn't bode any better for anyone he might run into than would any other mood. It just made him happily cruel.
So when he heard rustling noises where there should have been none a few paces ahead of him, he halted, silent, and rolled his eyes with just a hint of a smirk. Someone would be starting the next term off with a serious detention assignment, it seemed. He steeled himself (because you never knew what disgusting things you were going to have to witness when catching students out after hours), and then marched up to the alcove with his sternest sneer. "So sorry to interrupt -"
His mouth snapped shut, and the Longbottoms were treated to a very rare example of complete surprise passing over his face, and a nearly unprecedented bout of speechlessness. A moment later his eyes narrowed, his mouth thinned, and he stepped to one side before sweeping his arm violently toward the end of the corridor. "Out,"he snapped, not even trying to be quiet. "Out, or I'll get Filch to show you, if you don't remember the way. I'm sure he'd love to."