Disclaimer: I don't own Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, or any other people from the Harry Potter Books, OK? I just do the fan fiction thing. J.K. Rowling owns all the cool stuff, and I own my little Microsoft Word thingy-dingy, so with the disclaimer done, on to THE AUTHOR'S NOTES!

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This story isn't anything intense now, but it may get a little more suspenseful in parts to come, hence the PG rating. There are, however, some descriptions in here probably not so fun for the younger crowd. Be warned. Not too much happening yet, by the way, this is more of an opening, to tell you what's going on. Please review so far and tell me if I should continue this story...
~WINDTORCH

B2b - Now or Never

PART 1

Against the empty white of the snow, two figures clad in black stood next to each other, looking on into the Forbidden Forest. To someone outside of the magic world, these were strangers; to anyone attending the school of Hogwarts, these two people were known as Professors Snape and McGonagall.
"You know, Severus, it's never too late to go back," McGonagall looked sideways at Snape, who glanced back at her. It wasn't the usual cold gaze they exchanged, either. Instead of having a fight and staring down each other, as they most of the time did, it was more of an unsure bond.
"I know I want to do this," Snape switched his line of sight back up with the forest. "You don't have to. I don't even know why you came, Minerva. It's just some silly little quest to find a werewolf or something."
"Exactly! Werewolves are dangerous!"
"Stop treating me like a two-year-old; I mean to say, I'm your same age! I can handle it by myself, thanks."
"Just like you handled the first werewolf you met..."
"I'd rather NOT bring that up."
"Exactly."
"Oh, do shut up."
"Why don't you?"
The two teachers exchanged another more challenging look, and started walking off into the woods, away from the comfort of the safety of Hogwarts.
"Maybe the animals just... um, died?" McGonagall suggested at the edge of the woods, tapping Snape on the arm.
"No, really? I thought they joined the muggle circus," Snape replied sarcastically, dodging McGonagall's fist. "Look, finding ripped up animal body parts around - do you think it's just a coincidence that I found a baby unicorn's head out in front of the castle this morning, with blood sprayed all over the snow, right after I found a baby unicorn body out in back by the lake?"
"No, of course not. Never mind, all right? Let's just get on going with this dumb mission. It's creepy listening at night and hearing screams outside from random victims, and then the next morning finding carcasses draped across the front lawn. It's just a relief no student has found out about all these happenings. It's only been a few wild beasts so far, but I'd hate to find a careless student dead the next morning, hanging from a tree by the woods by a few strands of neck muscle!"
"Blek, Minerva, you have a wild imagination!"
"Not as wild as you'd like to think, Severus. You just wait until, say, you find a ripped apart head in front of your door some morning!"
Snape sniggered. "Like you did today."
"YES!"
"You're funny sometimes, you know that?"
"Only to some select few," McGonagall smiled half-heartedly, not sure which funny he was talking about.
"And you're just plain weird the other part of the time."
Now she knew exactly which funny.
"Yeah, weird, uh-huh. At least I didn't get a whole new hairstyle over the summer, cutting my hair short and spike-slicking it back!"
"Whatever. Let's just GO ALREADY! Blimey, you are fun to talk to sometimes, but gosh do you babble. You've already wasted five minutes of 'mission', or whatever you call it."
"ME? You were talking right along with me!"
"Oh, boy, this is gonna be a long walk."
And so, they entered the forest, wands positioned in the ready in case anything odd struck up or anything weird happened.

To be continued....