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in_the_grass (in_the_grass) wrote in wished,
@ 2010-09-25 00:10:00

Entry tags:

!2003: 09, !complete, essery oakby, severus snape

Who: Severus Snape & Essery Oakby
What: Chatting, etc.
Where: Hogwarts, Headmaster's office
When: Tonight
Warnings/Rating: TBA

Severus had had a few years to adjust to being able to tell the truth on a regular basis. He didn't do it gratuitously, still - there were plenty of things he saw no reason to bring up even if they weren't strictly off-limits, and a few that he still kept as close as he ever had. But he had more or less grown accustomed to the fact that there was no longer any grand, over-arching reason to say as little as possible. What was new and unfamiliar was the fact that now there was actually someone to whom he might care to say anything. Dumbledore, Malfoy and the others he'd been (somewhat) open with during the war were a different phenomenon. He couldn't imagine wanting to chat with any of them. The urge to go beyond the barest bones of pleasantries with someone with whom he had no pressing business was peculiar enough that it couldn't help but be striking.

Which made him wonder, now, why it hadn't quite stricken him before, but. It was ridiculous to delve into all of that over this, surely. First of all, he wasn't going to tell her what he knew about Goyle, at least not the more sensitive parts; in that he considered himself to be doing her a bit of a favor. (Who would want to know? It would be better if he didn't spend too much time thinking about it himself, because the thought of it still threatened to make him livid.) And then, he did owe Goyle something, and he wasn't going to risk having all of those careful plans upset by something that could see him tossed out, however unlikely she was to spread rumors.

The uncomfortable truth was that whatever he had said or insinuated, he had done it almost entirely because he wanted to talk to her, and that really ought to have been unacceptable. But he found he didn't really care. He was almost certain that it was no great sin to want to talk to someone, not anymore. Especially when they were ... well. Pleasant. And so he waited in his office, as casual as he ever was, standing at one of the shelves and thumbing through one of his collections of treatises on hellebore. He could distract himself as he pleased.

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oakbye
2010-09-25 04:20 pm UTC (link)

Essery worried that perhaps the rumours were true and he did live in his office, but she also didn't find that she minded that much as she got dressed again - it wouldn't do to go up to the Headmaster's office in your pyjamas after all - and grabbed the only bottle of wine she had in her rooms to take with her.

She wasn't sure why, exactly, but at the time she grabbed it it had seemed like the best possible choice. Ice cream was for gossiping with girlfriends. Wine was .... well, for tonight, at least, it was for gossiping unexpectedly with your boss.

Twenty minutes later or so she was on the stairway, rising to his door.

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in_the_grass
2010-09-26 05:27 am UTC (link)

If there were any such rumors, they were only half true. His quarters connected with his office, which was ideal as far as he was concerned - no being caught for last minute business on one's way to retire. He'd called Hogwarts home long enough not to get too stir-crazy. At the knock on the door he glanced up, marking his place on the page with his thumb. "Come in."

He slid the book back into its place on the shelf. When he looked up, the corner of his mouth ticked up a bit at the sight of the wine bottle. That was unexpected. ... But not surprising for long. "I am sorry; I didn't realize this involved calling things up from the kitchens." He could conjure a couple glasses, at least, and he did. That would have to be his contribution. "Clearly I've not had enough practice." And he was accustomed to drinking much these days, either, but he wasn't overly concerned.

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	oakbye 2010-09-28 12:46 am UTC (link)
	She grinned over the bottle and came into the room, holding it out to him as hte glasses were summoned up. "Well, it was a toss up between wine and ice cream, and as neither one of us is a fifteen year old girl..." She chuckled, then looked around. "Don't tell me that your business keeps you up here this late every night?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

in_the_grass
2010-09-28 01:12 am UTC (link)

He hadn't had ice cream in years either, and while it didn't present quite the same dangers, he rather thought she'd made the right decision. "Are those the standard options? Curious disparity." He took the bottle from her, aiming his wand at it and opening it with a very muted pop. "No. Believe it or not, I am not so taken with my job that I spend my nights at it. - My quarters are through there." He nodded up at a corridor that led away from the area behind his desk. A very long, twisted corridor that he was certain didn't lead to the same place every night, but ... convenient enough.

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oakbye
2010-09-28 01:18 am UTC (link)

Even if she was trying not to be overly curious about it, she did follow the gesture and look down the hallway, smiling. That was.... curious. And she didn't know at all why it was curious, but she filed the knowledge away.

"Well, gossiping is always easier if there's something to do it over. Adults use alcohol. It makes the gossiping go quite a bit faster, I've found, but there isn't a standard."

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in_the_grass
2010-09-28 01:25 am UTC (link)

"I see. By all means, then." He poured for both of them, setting the glasses aside on the table beside his office windows, without sitting down. He handed her hers and took his without showing any of the trepidation that he certainly should have been feeling (he could date his last drink precisely, and it had been quite a while ago). "I never would have thought that efficiency was valued in this sort of discourse, but one learns every day."

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oakbye
2010-09-28 01:28 am UTC (link)

"Well, not efficiency, really..." Essery came to the window and took her glass, then turned so that her back was against the window pane, and she could look at him. "I think the alcohol gets you to the higher quality gossip. That might be the appeal." She took a sip, and she wondered if she should have brought something else, but all she'd had in her rooms was a sweet red.

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in_the_grass
2010-09-28 01:35 am UTC (link)

"That much I understand. It's not my favorite tool for pulling teeth, as it were, but it can be very effective." He drank; it was a little sugary for his tastes, but the underlying alcoholic taste was overwhelming enough now that he wasn't in a position to make any sort of real judgment. "But plying reluctant people is a different animal entirely. Exchanging information with people who don't mind is quite a novelty."

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	oakbye 2010-09-28 01:43 am UTC (link)
	"Tastes better than veritaserum, too, I'm guessing...." Her easy smile at the subject said that she'd never even been near veritaserum for any reason. She took another sip, eyebrow arching a little. "Not to your taste? It was all I had in my rooms. You seem like you might be a scotch sort of man, though." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)