I don't own Harry Potter or anyone else J.K. Rowling invented, nor do I wish to...with the exception of Snape! Read and review as you like and I'll try to actually finish this!

Chance Encounter

Zee Evangeliste walked briskly down the slightly crowded London street, clutching her shopping bag completely stuffed with books possessively as she rushed back to the flat she was renting. After spending hours and much too much money in the various bookstores in the city she wanted to get home and read them all, to take her mind off the fact that she was now broke.

One moment she was walking, glancing down occasionally, trying to shake the leaf that was clinging to her boot away, and the next she was on the sidewalk, books everywhere.

"Watch it, you jerk!" She cried impulsively while rubbing the back of her hand, which had gotten a bit scuffed when she braced herself from the fall.

"Bloody American muggles." She heard a silky baritone mumble from somewhere above.

What the hell was a muggle? Zee wondered.

She looked up, ready to give her assaulter a healthy dose of verbal harassment, but found him such a strange and beautiful sight that she could not speak for a moment. The man towering above her (she was, sadly, only 5' 1'') had shoulder length black locks and a slightly beaky nose, but had strong, handsome features. He was scowling, and his black eyes would have been shooting daggers if it was possible. But what struck her as the most odd was his choice of clothing. A pair of black boots, black slacks, a black, long sleeved-shirt, and a black cloak that fluttered ominously in the brisk breeze.

Was he some sort of period actor? Like one of those historical reenactment guys? He reminded Zee of a young Merlin type that she'd read about in a book once; someone from the Medieval Ages. How interesting. But she was still peeved that he'd knocked her down and then totally dissed her just because she was American. And he'd called her a muggle, whatever that was. Finally she said, "Well excuse me, but I'm the one knocked flat on my ass on the pavement while you're still standing. This is hardly my fault."

Severus stared down at the black haired woman sitting on the pavement, staring up at him with angry hazel eyes. It was hard for him not to laugh, for with all her freckles and small figure, she seemed more like a pouting child. A ray of sunlight poked through a cloud and Severus noted than that her hair was not, in fact, black, but had been dyed a deep purple. His scowl deepened as he thought of that annoying woman, Tonks, with her hair that changed coulour every few days.

The woman huffed and began picking up her scattered books, placing them tenderly, but angrily back into her bag. "Thanks for your help. You're a real gentleman."

Severus arched an eyebrow and casually bent down to examine one of the books. The cover read The Blood Canticle by Anne Rice. He glanced at the summary on the back and spotted the word vampire. Rubbish, he thought, holding back a disgusted snort as he held the book in front of the woman. It took her a moment to notice.

She gave a startled "Oh!" Snatched the book away and tucked it into the brimming leather bag. She finally got up from her knees and Severus noted with an inward grin that her head came only to his chin.

"Read often?" He drawled, not really interested.

The young, surely she was a few years younger than himself, woman shifted under her too large grey sweater which matched her baggy, badly torn jeans. "Is it that obvious?" Her tone was thick with sarcasm and he could tell she was still miffed.

Zee huffed, "Well, I'll be on my way." And she made a move to swing the bag over her shoulder by winced slightly and rubbed the back of her hand. Inspecting it more closely she could see that she'd shredded the skin on top and there were small grains of dirt embedded in her skin. Just great, she thought dismally.

"You hurt?" The man asked, again without concern.

Zee shrugged. "Apparently. Usually men don't hurt me until after we've dated for a few weeks." She laughed softly to herself, but the stranger did not even appear to be the slightest bit amused.

Severus made a move to grab his wand, ignoring her wit, for he wasn't much for joking; a simple healing spell could fix that. But he quickly realized he could not do that. He held back a frustrated sigh and instead grabbed her hand to look at it.

Surprised by the action, Zee seized her hand back.

The man rolled his eyes. "A bit dodgy? I was just trying to inspect your injury, for, no doubt, you think I caused it."

The woman furrowed her brows in what Severus thought was a most American way. "You're a prick. Bye."

Zee swung her bag over her shoulder as she'd intended to before, grimacing as she felt the dirt creep deeper into her skin. She knew she was being utterly immature, but that was her nature, and she felt at times she couldn't help it. At least she wasn't insulting his British background. Yet, how could she when she did love the accent? After all, she was visiting their country; it would seem moronic to insult him. She tried to walk away slowly, so as not to show off more agitation, but it was hard not to just run home. She really did want to get on with reading all her books.

Severus sighed. He knew he should continue on to Grimmauld Place, for he had work to do, attending to the Potter brat, but some tiny part in him felt sorry about plowing the girl down. Even if she was a muggle, and American to boot. On a strange impulse, he turned around and strode after the lady, unsure if he should call out or not, because he certainly didn't know what to call her.

When she showed no sign of stopping, or that she even knew he was following he finally let out and exasperated, "Book girl!"

That stopped her. She turned around, a puzzled expression on her face, and with a few quick strides, he'd stopped in front of her. "Yes?" she asked, raising her thin eyebrows, which Snape noted, were not purple, but dark brown.

"I am..." he paused; this was going to take a deal of effort and he suddenly felt very foolish for being so bloody sentimental towards someone he didn't know. Hell, he wouldn't be kind to anyone he did know. "Sorry for knocking you over, accident though it was." His lip curled slightly as he said the word apology.

"Thanks I guess." She smiled wryly, her bottom lip sinking down a bit. She has a crooked smile, thought Snape, not outwardly noticeable, but there, and kind of cute. Suddenly he realized what he was thinking and also noticed she'd said something else.

"Pardon?"

"I said-"she paused, annunciating as if she were speaking to an idiot. "My name is Zee."

"Pardon?" He accidentally replied again. Did she say her name was Zee? What kind of a name is that.

She-Zee-sighed loudly. "Zee! My name is Zee. Sounds like the letter Z in the alphabet. You do know what that is, or shall I explain it?"

Snape was slightly amused by her aggravation. "Have you a surname?"

Zee took a moment, she'd quite forgotten what surname meant; it was hardly a word she used every day. "Yeah. Evangeliste."

"Zee Evangeliste? That's a bit...odd." Severus was desperately trying to be polite.

"Thanks a bunch. Yeah it is odd, and I like it. My parents were...a bit eccentric. But I've accepted it, even if some hoity-toity Brits refuse to do so."

Severus ignored that last comment. "As long as you like it."

"Do you have a name?"

"I do."

Zee waited. The man merely stood in front of her, his strange cloak blowing in the wind. Finally she sighed. "Do you plan on telling me? It's polite you know."

Severus felt the barest hint of a smile creep to the edges of his mouth and held it back. "Severus Snape."

Zee snorted. "And that isn't a tad bit odd? I'm glad you have it, as long as you like it. But come on now, bit of a hypocrite, eh?" She wondered where he could be from with a name like that.

"That, I fear is an unavoidable fact of life. It's impossible not to contradict oneself sometime in one's life."

Zee was impressed at his choice of words. And she found that she had nothing left to say. Should she just say goodbye, or wait for him to say it?

Severus started at the thoughtful girl and as the sun had gone behind a cloud again, her hair seemed black once more. It was then that he remembered Potter. Blast that troublesome boy. "Well," he said, sounding not the least bit peeved about his duties. "I must be off. Places to go. People to see."

He saw the girl smile at the use of such an American phrase. "Nice...bumping into you." She said, and turned away before he did, resuming her trek to her flat.

Zee thought of the strange man all the way back to her flat, but he was sadly forgotten when she dumped all her books out on the small kitchen table and began deciding which she would read first. Having selected a cheesy romance, she curled up in a chair by the fireplace with a glass of cheap wine and read until she fell asleep.

Severus however, found that the blasted girl kept popping up in his mind the entire night. That did not improve his mood, which had sufficiently soured when he'd arrived at Grimmauld and received lip from Sirius (in more ways than one). And as the night furthered, his arguments with Sirius increased in volume and he only became more enraged when the Potter brat stood up for his wretched godfather.

When finally Dumbledore announced the meeting's end Snape was looking forward to a good night's rest, but alas, that was not to be so. As he disrobed in an upstairs room in Sirius's despicable, run-down manor, he heard the creaky sound of the door opening. He cursed himself for forgetting to shut and lock the door. How could he have been so foolish?

He turned around, wearing nothing more than his expensive, silky black boxers, he found himself staring at a large black dog sitting in the door frame, panting heavily. He scowled and wished he had his wand at hand. "Sirius." He said dryly.

The dog form melted smoothly away, leaving Sirius naked and crouching in the doorway. Snape made a noise of disgust and turned away from the detestable man. He could hear the soft slap of bare feet against the old wood floor and fought hard not to turn around and strangle the man. The only reason he didn't was because Dumbledore would not be pleased, and it would certainly not be good to be making things worse for Potter.

But when he felt those pale, sickly hands slither around his waist, it was hard not to kill the man. Very hard.

Sirius gently bit the base of Snape's neck, knowing how angry and disgusted it made him. And he grinned, knowing Snape would never tell anyone of this. He would gain nothing while Sirius gained everything with the professor's silence. He snaked his hands up the man's chest, enjoying the surprising amount of well toned muscle. One look at the man and you wouldn't think him to be so physically fit. Sirius licked his lips and then Snape's earlobe.

Snape growled, and Sirius found himself more turned on than before. He began moving his hands up Snape's chest, but to his surprise was forced backwards. He took a few stumbling steps so he would not fall.

Snape whirled to face him. "Get. Out." he hissed dangerously.

Sirius grinned, brushing a few unruly strands of hair out of his eyes. "Oh Snivelly, I love it when you get rough."

Severus glared at the man with all the rage he felt building up in his body. This would surely be his last night staying in this dump. He didn't care how late or how early Dumbledore needed him; he'd just have to get up earlier, for no longer would he put up with such grotesque rubbish. To his surprise, Sirius actually looked a bit scared. He darted forward, giving Snape a quick kiss before wishing him goodnight and disappearing, still naked with a massive hard-on.

Snape shut and charmed his door, fell onto his bed, and cursed Sirius into oblivion before falling asleep and dreaming of things that seemed black but were really purple.