Yet Again?! Ⅱ

By the time, Minerva reached the staff room, the Head of Houses had gathered inside. staffroom. The staffroom is a long, paneled room full of old mismatched chairs that had seen better days. There is a steaming pot of tea on one of the staff tables, whilst the four House Heads all nurse a cup of tea in their hands.

Licking his upper lip clean of the milk tea, Professor Slughorn in a tweed-colored bed robe let out a large grumpy huff. His thick warm nightshirt barely reaches the tip of his hairy shins revealing fat, swollen feet stuffed into warm-looking emerald slippers. "There better be a good explanation for being roused at his ungodly hour, Minerva! I can assure you that last I checked all of my Slytherins were still in bed!" Which was a bit of a lie as it had been the Prefects, who had been last to do so.

"Hear, hear," chimed the voice of Professor Flitwick in agreement, who was wearing a nicely stripped nightcap with a matching nightshirt. Minerva McGonagall flashed Filius Flitwick, a glare causing Flitwick to pull the sash of his bed robe about himself as he stares in fascination at his night slippers.

Professor Sprout wears a black bed robe and yellow pajamas, and unlike Slughorn wears thick wool boots as slippers. "Come now, Minerva," Professor Sprout hummed as she took another sip of her milk tea. "What is it now? It is not Peeves again is it?" The other House Heads flinch at the mere thought as they all recalled what he had done last time. Apparently, flushing Dung Bomb's down the pipes was not enough, some of the pipes afterward burst and needed urgent repair afterward.

"No, it was not Peeves," Minerva answered with no small measure of relief. The poltergeist was a constant headache for all of them, but previous attempts to be rid of Peeves had all ended in failure and far more trouble than they were worth. (Not that they hadn't tried such as in 1876 by Hogwarts caretaker Rancorous Carp only to cause the entire student body to forcibly be evacuated from Hogwarts and resulting in Rancorous being so traumatized that he retired! And forcing Headmistress Eupraxia Mole's hand to concede to three of Peeves' requests to restore peace to Hogwarts. Well, the tentative peace that had existed before at least.)

"Well, that is a good thing is it not?" Grumbled the voice of Professor Bathsheada Babbling, the petite witch, who wore dark blue pajamas and a fluffy, warm bathrobe. This was not the first-morning meeting she had attended, but this would be the first one before the crack of dawn.

"A Professor is missing-," Minerva began to say, before being cut off.

"Not Prince, is it?" Slughorn said in a panic as his eyes darted back in forth. "Reginald Prince will kill us if anything happens to his younger sister!"

Clearly wheezing in panic, Professor Sprout slaps the Slytherin head on the back. "Calm yourself, Horace, and let Minerva finish," Sprout said with a frown, before mumbling under her breath, "Truly, Horace, this is most unbecoming of a Slytherin."

Seeing all eight pairs of eyes turn towards her, Minerva contains her dislike on her face, and stiffly says, "It would appear that Professor Zephyros is missing."

All trace of panic vanishes from Slughorn's face as he visibly lets out a sigh of relief. His beady eyes blink rapidly as he sternly chides, "Minerva, you should have started with that from the very start."

Minerva merely arches her brow at him causing Slughorn's eyes to dart away as he reaches into his pocket for a handkerchief to dab at his sweating face. "It would seem that our Divination's professor had yet to return," Minerva drily said again. "If you would all gather your Prefects and begin the search within the castle, I will begin to assemble the rest of the Professors to aid in the search within the Forest and Hogsmeade."

"But Professor Zephyros is prone to wandering off to commune with the Spirits," Professor Sprout interjected. "Surely, there is no need to awaken us to search for the man?"

"I am well aware of Professor Zephyros tendencies, Pomona, but the Headmaster has requested that a search be conducted," Minerva replied in a bland tone of voice.

Seeing the Deputy Headmaster's stern gaze, the four heads of Houses slurp down the rest of their milk tea, before bustling away to awaken their Prefects at the early hour. Slughorn huffs and puffs as he makes his way down to the dungeons all the while grumbling to himself. Pausing outside of the Slytherin quarters, he speaks the password, "Unitatis."

The word, Unity, was a contradictory password to have especially for the Slytherins. But considering the massive influx of students that had joined Slytherin for a historical record, it was greatly needed. And especially considering the fact that for the first time ever, Slughorn had a surplus of detentions and snakeling's to deal with; why even he had noticed the issue as it had taken precious time away from his Slug Club and social dinners. In fact, he had failed to successfully host since the start of the term as he was always pulled away from socializing by being forced to attend to his house. It simply was unheard of!

Lurching into the Slytherin common room area, Slughorn muttered, a spell that sent a bird-like creature with a missive summoning the Slytherin Prefects. Letting out a grunt, he waddles over to the snack table and readily supplies himself with food, before slumping down in a comfortable chair as the flickering orange flames of the hearth wash over him.

It was not long after when Severus Prince emerged from the boy's staircase wearing blue silk pajamas with a thick, fur-lined bed robe. His slippers are warm, wool boots much like that of Professor Sprout. Stifling a yawn, and with his hair hastily pulled back, Severus reflexively glances at the girl dorms to see the fully dressed figure of his twin sister, Rowan.

Arching his brow at his twin, Severus without any words being uttered he clearly said, "How in Merlin's name did you dress already?"

With dark rings under her eyes, Rowan scowled back in reply as if saying, "I didn't."

Severus blinks in startlement as the cogs begin to turn and understands that his twin must have quite literally fallen into bed last night with all her clothes on. However, he was wise enough not to out Rowan out loud. Who knew what Rowan would? Which only made him shiver and tuck his neck further into his robes.

Slughorn had missed the entire voiceless conversation between the two. Finishing up the last bit of a scone, he whips the crumbs clean off his mustache. "Prefect's Prince, Professor Zephyros is missing, and the Prefects are to search the castle," he instructed, carefully leaving out the fact that he should be aiding in the search as well. "I shall return to my quarters to dress and will shortly join you afterward."

Rowan and Severus hide their knowing frowns as they exchange each other's gazes. As usual, their head of house was going to leave the brunt of the work to the two of them. Severus softly sighs, while Rowan's face carefully goes blank. It was obvious as to why and how Riddle literally got away with murder.

With Slughorn as his Head of House, Riddle could have literally walked around the dungeons with the Basilisk in tow and Slughorn would have been none the wiser. No wonder, Slytherin had easily become a cesspit of dark wizards. It only highlighted the importance of proper adult supervision!

With a loud grunt, Slughorn heaves his bulk out of his chair and waddles back to his personal quarters. Seeing the figure of Slughorn exit first, the two of them stay silent for a few moments until the wall swings shut behind him. Severus is the first to break the silence by saying, "This is a first even for you, Rowan."

"I cast a freshening charm," Rowan darkly said as she walked over to the snack table and stuffed her mouth with a handful of cookies, before washing them down with hot tea. "And might I remind you that I only did so, because you requested it!"

"Fair enough," Severus mumbled as he stifled a yawn with his hand. Blinking moisture out of his eyes, he adds, "We best get to it then."

Rowan does not answer except to stuff several bakery sweets into her robes, before following after Severus. The sun had yet to rise and they were already performing their tedious Prefect duties. And to think that she had thought that the Triwizard Tournament had been bad! How utterly naïve she had been…