Tuesday, September 6, 2011
11:15pm


The Headmaster was skulking. Lurking? Snooping? However his activities would be described, it would be suspicious on just about anyone, but on the Headmaster of Hogwarts, a figure for whom unfettered run of the entire castle was a given, it was additionally strange.

The torches lit to just embers as he passed, being conscious of the hour and dedicated to spookiness. He had his wand drawn and extended out ahead of him. He gazed up at the ceiling as he went. In this corridor, the ceiling was wooden between heavy beams. Just above it was a steeply gabled roof. Therefore, a thoughtful sort would be able to presume a gap. A narrow attic used only by spiders and bats.

It had been three years since Knox Greyfriar had been in this corridor skulking/lurking/snooping, and so he had lost his place. He was looking for just the right arrangement of dark knots about midway down. He'd doubled back twice or thrice now, unable to find it.

"Oh, thank Merlin," he breathed. He let his wand arm fall. It had grown heavy. Overhead the ceiling planks bore three small knots all in a very straight line.

With a whip of his wand, he cleverly re-arranged the stone slabs from the floor so that they levitated in sequence to make a floating stairs. They supported his weight as he climbed, giving gently just a bit. He pocketed his wand and used both hands to press the knotted plank.  After a wiggle or two, it came free and he slid it to the side. He did likewise with the one next to it and there was room for his head and shoulders.

Wand lit, he peered inside. An arm's length away was a small dusty chest.

"Blast."

Part of him was hoping it would be gone.

Mairead had been a participant of corner-snooping and corridor-prowling since her first day at Hogwarts but, ever since finding the most awesome (in her mind, at least) abandoned office in the dungeons last year[1], her exploration had taken a more targeted approach.  It wasn't that she purposefully stayed out past curfew.  Sure, she still didn't hold too much stock in the banality of rules, but it was more a simple consequence of loosing track of time.  And, corridors growing far less crowded after curfew. 

Also, the keen sense of taste of the forked-tongues of reptile sentries made avoiding prefects all too easy.  Even if a prefect had managed to learn Mairead could talk to snakes (which none had, as far as she knew), a young adder sliding along in the shadows of the wall was near impossible to see.  Whenever she risked being out after curfew, she always brought a reptile companion along and, with it slithering several paces in front of her, peaking around corners and slithering under doors to check if anyone was inside, she could move through the school virtually undetectable. 

Really, the house ghosts were the only ones Mairead had to worry about and they were few and far enough between that chance, alone, worked on her side. 

As such, it was a quill-thin adder that spotted the newly-returned Headmaster traipsing up stone steps to peer in the space above corridors that blocked Mairead's way back to Gryffindor tower.  Normally, Mairead would have turned and, as soundlessly as possible, found an alternate route but the snake's description of the scene would have piqued anyone's curiosity. 

And, Mairead had never thought to look above the corridors.  This opened up a whole new world of snooping.  She had to see the technique for herself.

Squinting up at the Headmaster's backside protruding from the attic, Mairead could feel the snake slither into a hole in the bottom seam of her pant leg and wrap around her ankle.  "How'd ye make'em do that?" Mairead asked, pointing towards the floating stone slabs.

She'd already worked the math out in her head.  Learning that trick was worth at least three detentions. 

1.	Just Peeking Inside

The voice from below startled the old wizard, who jumped, hit his head, and swore. He shuffled down a stair or two so he could see who'd discovered him.

From the look on his face, you'd forget who had caught whom out of bed.

"Hmm, what? Yes? Miss ó Fearghail. Hello again. How- ? How can I help you?"

It was Mairead ó Fearghail, fourth year in Gryffindor. They had met just yesterday in the first History of Magic class of term. He was working on names, and hers took him twice to pronounce correctly so he remembered it.

"You seem lost."

She didn't, but it was a solid opening gambit.

"Is there firewhiskey up there?"

Mairead asked, looking properly confused.  She highly doubted the Headmaster had to hide firewhiskey in the ceiling, unless that was the only place he thought he could hide liquor from the students.  It would be an effective hiding spot, she had to admit.  If that was the case, did he make a habit of crawling into attics to take a swig? 

Well, he did ask if he could help her.  She wasn't going to pass by on an opportunity.

"Sure, ye can!  Can ye teach me that charm?" she gestured, again, to the floating floor tiles.  "It looks useful," she added as if entirely unaware that just shy of midnight wasn't the best time to be asking for charms lessons. 

"You seem lost."

Mairead chuckled and shook her head.  "I'm not the one with me head in the ceilin'."  Mairead pointed out.  "What are ye lookin' for?  If it's firewhiskey, can I have some?"

She had so many questions. The Headmaster's eyes widened for just a moment, then his face relaxed into warm benevolence.  He came down a few more steps so he could replace the ceiling boards.

"You know, it's funny, there's absolutely nothing up there! Just the oddest thing. I may have found the most boring nook and/or cranny in the whole of this silly old castle," he said as he worked. It only took a moment or two and he was coming down the floating stone steps.

He gave his wand (the single wand  that was definitely his only wand) a little flick, and each paving stone step floated off to its original home as soon as his foot left it.

"It's a very useful charm, I agree," he said. He put his hand on her shoulder and steered them both down the hall, doing his best to casually lead them both away.

"You're a very keen observer, I can tell. Don't miss a thing, do you? Did you happen to observe the time?"

Mairead narrowed her eyes and they lifted, slowly, to the ceiling overhead.  "Sure."  Mairead said, flatly, as if both acknowledging his response and the unspoken subtext she assumed they both knew.   

She was convinced the space above the ceiling wasn't empty; he was just distracting her.  The man might be Headmaster, but he was an adult.  All adults lied to kids; that was a simple fact of life.  They claimed they were doing it in kids' best interest but that was really a load of bollocks. 

And, with a hand on her shoulder, he seemed to be dismissing her request and ushering her back to bed.  She was a kid and he was an adult.  She could ask again and he'd say the same thing.  She glowered, moodily as she inwardly cursed her decision to investigate.  It had earned her nothing and now she was being escorted to bed like some child. 

"You're a very keen observer, I can tell. Don't miss a thing, do you?"

"Ye mean, like the fact that adults always lie?"  In her irritation, she didn't feel any need to sugar coat her words.  "I know it's after hours but not the exact time.  There aren't exactly clocks on every wall," Mairead pointed out.  "And, I know me way back to Gryffindor."  They'd already established she wasn't lost. 

Knox Greyfriar smiled at the young witch's forthrightness. It was a very admirable quality, although he suspected not a few of his colleagues would disagree. There was something about truth-telling that seemed to unsettle a classroom decorum.

But after-hours skulking seemed like a milieu ripe for Truth, and Knox Greyfriar clutched not at pearls. He let her shoulder go, clasped his hands behind his back and shrugged.

"I won't deny it. Oh - here's something fascinating: if you've found the falsehood, the next bubble in the potion is the reason why. There are many types of lies. Flattery, cruelty, self-protection, lies to distract or to exaggerate or instruct... I think my favorite lies are the ones that everyone knows are lies..."

He raised his eyebrows. Did she catch his meaning?

Mairead's eyes narrowed in thought and she drew to a stop.  Abstract thought had never been her strong suit and the man's mode of speech seemed to twist and turn like an old knotted tree.  It felt like a mental gymnastics exercise to follow and make sense of his meaning. 

"So, that makes them alright."  From what she could tell, that seemed to be what he was trying to get at.  Dismissing lies simply because everyone could see them for what they were. 

The change of pace must have confused the young adder who was anticipating the promise of a free meal at the end of their escapades, for it slipped back out through the hole in the seam and flicked its tongue as it tasted the quiet corridor.  Mairead reached down and gently picked up the serpent. 

"What were ye lookin' for?" she asked, turning towards the Headmaster, realizing she should have come to that question much sooner.  "If it's really not there-" she could give him the benefit of the doubt.  "...were there droppings?  Sometimes rodents get in the walls and move things for nests.  I found a really cool ring in a mouse hole once."

"I like to think of alright and all wrong in terms of what harm is done," Knox Greyfriar shrugged. But he was pleased that he seemed to have managed to make nice with Mairead, at least a bit. And he was getting the impression she bristled stronger than most at getting the brush-off, so he relented on a different tack.

"A ring! Interesting. But no, no droppings."

Wasn't often he found himself in a conversation about droppings...

"What's the opposite of looking for something? Have you ever gone searching hoping you'd find nothing? If, hypothetically, I didn't find what I didn't want to find, then my problem will have taken care of itself. However, finding what I'm seeking means I'm still stuck with my mistake."

He had a tendency to go on a bit, and he noticed he was and stopped.

"How dare an unwanted parcel be exactly where I left it? The nerve!" he laughed.

"There's always harm done," Mairead countered with a scowl, crossing her arms over her chest.  "How can ye trust someone when ye know they're lyin' to ye?  Even my mum and da -"  She caught herself and grew quiet, dropping her gaze to the snake that had coiled into a ball in her hand. 

Her mum and da - she missed them terribly and so wanted to see them.  She hadn't seen them since the previous Christmas holidays and had no idea when she'd be able to, again. 

She turned her attention back to the Headmaster, trying, once again, to follow what the man was saying.  He had a confusing way with words, Mairead was finding, and she couldn't always follow his meaning. 

Looking confused, Mairead shook her head.  "Wouldn't the opposite be not looking for something?  Ye can't look for nothin' because nothin' is nothin'.  Ye can't go look for not an apple.  If I didn't want to find somethin', I'd just do somethin' else."  Like get a snack or laze around the lake. 

Mairead's stopped up mention of her parents did not go unnoticed, but he let it be. He wouldn't press. It was late, he was repressing a decades-long shame in the form of a cursed, attic-dwelling parcel, and had probably fed this young thing more than enough of his meandering bombast.

She was a sweet young witch, but he feared he was losing his air of mystery. After a while, being cryptic was revealed as simply saying nothing.

He clasped his hands behind his back and nodded. 

"Advice worth taking!" 

He suddenly yawned wide, and leaned into it.  "My! My word! These bones of mine. It's a shame that by the time we're old enough to be liberated from curfews, we'd rather be in bed anyway."

The Headmaster quartered off the hallway, hoping to corral  Mairead towards Gryffindor.  "Can I trust you to find your own bed, Miss ó Fearghail? Professor Singh will thank me not to bother him."

Mairead nodded and slipped the young serpent into her pocket. 

"Aye.  'Course I can." 

Entirely unsure what to make of the encounter, Mairead turned and moved up the corridor in the direction of Gryffindor tower.  Hopefully, the roll she'd saved from dinner was still waiting for her.