"It's not as if I can send a Patronus sniffing around the Syltherin Common Room." It would attract too much attention and, most likely, get him in a heap of trouble if it sniffed out anything particularly vile. Performing Dark Magic was as frowned upon by some as discovering it was in others.

Severus crouched and the fox lifted it's delicate nose towards him before the young wizard banished the charm. The fox itself was enough to keep up the happy thought of his father being dead and he could manage to sustain it that much longer.

If only it could be real. If only he could sink his fingers into it's fur. He preferred animal company to human anyhow. That thought left him laughing secretly. No wonder he was taken with Remus. Even if he did try to bite his face off once.