Digging for the Truth

Hermione Granger had entered the darkened Potions classroom with a quick "Alohmora!" Immediately, the room's candles began lighting themselves, as if sensing her presence.

"Knowing that bat, I certainly hoping nothing else in the classroom was set to go on, or off, upon entrance..." she spoke aloud though meant mainly for herself.

She made her way to the Professor's private storeroom, hoping that too would open with a simple Alohmora.

Meanwhile, above her head, Professor Severus Snape was billowing out of the Great Hall. There was still a few moments left of dinner and the halls were still relatively free. He looked in each direction, noting Miss Granger was nowhere to be found. He snarled.

"Lucky girl." he muttered.
"What was that, Professor?" returned Professor Binns.

Severus was unhappy to have been overheard, and even unhappier to learn who had done the overhearing. He was in no mood for a long-winded conversation with the ghost.

"Ah, yes, Professor Binns, I was merely in search of the ever-knowledle Mle Miss Granger, I saw her walk out of the Great Hall only moments ago." he said absently, still searching the halls hoping she had not truly gotten away.
"Miss Granger, such a bright young witch!"
"I'm sure," responded Snape, now eager to get away from the ghost who was grating on his nerves.
"I'll you'll excuse me Professor," said the dark man, turning to make his exit.
"She just ran off a moment ago with young Mr. Weasle," returned the ghost.
At this, Snapes ears perked up and he turned around slowly, raising his eyebrows at the unexpected information,"Did she?"
"Yes, the girl has kindly offered to help him with his essay on elf riots."
"More like doing it for him," muttered Snape under his breath, softly enough so the other Professor could not hear him.
"Did you happen to see in which direction they went?"
" way way, if I recall."

Snape looked in the direction of the ghost's outstretched finger. A smirk grew on his face. And with an overly polite "Thank you Professor," Snape was off in the direction of the dungeons.

He knew it was very unlikely the two would be working on any essay in the dungeons.
'Probably snogging in an empty classroom or some such nonsense, expecting no one will come upon them down here.' His day was getting better by the minute. Nothing elated the man more than catching Gryffindors breaking rules. 'I doubt I'm lucky enough for a ménage a trois.' he joked darkly. Catching Potter up to no good would almost make up for having to deal with him later that night.

The man had been so involved in his thoughts of catching Gryffindors that he did not even notice a mass of red hair on a collision course with himself as he rounded the corner. His reflexes took over as he felt himself collide with another body, howeverd grd grabbed with both hands onto the offenders robes close to the neck. This, however, was not enough to prevent himself from falling over from the force of the collision. And his tight grip did little to help, in fact, it merely assured Ron fell along with him.

Two dull thuds later, Ron was lying on the stone castle floor, rubbing his head gingerly. He pretended to notice who it was he had run into for the first time and moaned.
"Err, sorry Professor Snape, I didn’t see you coming around the corner," said the boy weakly.
Snape was quickly getting to his feet, ready to attack.
He began bellowing, "YOU DUNDERHEADED DISGRACE OF PUREBLOOD!"
Dinner had ended and students began gathering around the scene as they heard the yelling. It was almost a treat for the students to watch the man yell at another student. After all, the games in the coliseum had been popular in their day...

Snape stopped his offensive for a moment, trying to clear his head and think logically. Something funny was going on, he knew that, but his newly developing headache was preventing him from seeing it. He realized that it puzzled him to have come upon Weasley when he hadn't gotten as far as the dungeons. He had been searching for Granger and the boy. And, now, Granger was no where to be seen. It stuck the man as strange indeed. Suspicions were swirling in his head.
He knew the boy was no match for him and decided perform an experiment to test his hypothesis. He turned towards the direction he had previously been walking in, as if making to leave. Students physically jumped at this and parted to make room for him to pass.

Ronald Weasley jumped to his feet, still a bit wobbly. "Um, Sir, perhaps we should both get checked out by Madam Pomfrey first?"
Snape twirled easily to face him again, a smirk appearing. "Mr.Weasley, I am struck by your caring!" he turned dark instantly, "Obviously, you have a concussion. Crab. Goyle. Come here immediately."

The Potions Master had noticed his two Slytherins in the crowd before he had turned and knew they would come in handy. The two stepped forward.

He spoke quickly,"Mr. Weasley is not well. I fear he has a concussion. Please escort the boy to the infirmary." He added, “I do believe force will be necessary as he has a concussion and will not be acting in his right mind." The two boys looked at one another happily and then to Ron, who was merely gaping at what the situation had become. They got close to him and grabbed him firmly by the shoulders before forceably turning him in the direction of the infirmary and walking off with him before he even had a chance to protest.

Snape rounded, once again, and was off to the dungeons. This time, however, he was headed to his classroom, instead of in search of Hermione Granger. However, he had a good idea that he would be led to the girl anyway.