Darkness. Sweat. Fear.

But Severus was no stranger to either of these things, so he pressed on. Crawling, scraping, bumping, seeking. He'd always been a bit curious about what went on every month, where those blasted, damned, hated Marauders would disappear to.

So that was why, now, he was following Sirius' dim form in front of him, leading him through the darkness with an uncanny precision born of constant repetition.

Looking back on it, Severus would wonder why he wasn't- well, wasn't more- suspicious of the whole ordeal. Sirius, helping him. Going with him on a curious mission to discover something unknown. Except, Sirius seemed to already know, if his obvious familiarity with the secret passageway beneath the Whomping Willow was anything to go by. His only explanation would have to be that he was just so damned desperate. To prove to Dumbledore that his precious Gryffindors weren't as bloody perfect as they seemed.

He was just so tired.

Of the incessant and increasingly violent bullying and pranks he'd had to put up with from the selfsame aforementioned Marauders. Of his abusive and depressing home life, which he was forced to return to year after year, with only more scars to show for it when he returned to Hogwarts.

He was tired of having no friends, of burying himself in books and studying so that he didn't have to face the royal cock-up that his life was. He was tired of not trusting anyone- which is probably why he made the colossal mistake of believing Sirius' half-arsed attempt at friendship and the promise of an adventure.

But most of all, he was tired of trudging through this stupid tunnel. But he refused to give Sirius the satisfaction of hearing him complain.

Severus was all too aware that complaining- or begging- got you absolutely nowhere, and no mercy.

If Severus hadn't been so engrossed in his own dark and painful thoughts- and dammit, he should've been more aware anyways, what with traveling alone with Sirius of all people!- he would've noticed the widening of the tunnel, signifying an end to their journey. He would've heard the heavy, labored breathing that rattled through the darkness that lingered beyond the reaches of his lumos. He would've realized that someone was madly scrabbling through the tunnel behind him, as if someone was trying to stop them.

But he noticed none of these things.

It was the rank, rotting odor that hit him, accompanied by a blast of frigid air, that drew his attention outwards with a gag. And when he looked upon Sirius' face, he could see a dark, malicious grin on his face. And Severus knew.

He knew he'd been tricked. He knew he was trapped. But he knew, more than anything else, that he was in danger.

He tried to scrabble backwards, but he tripped over his own feet and landed on his arse in the dust. Before he could recover, Sirius had him by the robes and was shoving him further into the rattling, reeking house.

"Come now, Snivellus," Sirius taunted as he dragged the boy up the stairs, past the fly-infested bones of dead animals. "Didn't you want to know what's hiding in the 'Shrieking Shack'? Something haunted, I'll just bet that filled your little greasy head with curiosity. We all know how much you just love dark, evil things."

Now, Severus was truly terrified. He knew fighting back only made it worse, and that screaming wouldn't help him at all here. But he really didn't want to go any further. He just hoped for a momentary gap in concentration, in which he could run run run and never come back.

That's all it ever seemed he could do. It helped him survive. And his survival skills were toned incredibly sharp. Although there were times when the needle firmly pointed at fight in order to get out of a certain situation, more often than not flight was always the best was to escape pain.

And right now, every alarm in his head was screaming for flight.

But Sirius' grip was unrelenting, and finally they arrived at a worn, old, scarred, bloodied door. That was locked from the outside. Severus faintly heard the sound of snuffling and scratching. He took a deep breath to calm himself and abruptly gagged. The horrid stench seemed to emanate from behind the locked door. It seemed to leak from the crack beneath the door and seep from the long, nasty, scar-like tear that ran from one corner of the rectangle of wood to the other.

Sirius grinned at Severus' obvious disgust.

"What's the matter Snivellus?" Sirius cruelly thrust Snape closer to the door. Severus tried desperately not to breathe through his nose. "Little pampered brat can't take the smell? Does he want his mummy? Is he affrighted?" Sirius mocked.

Severus merely trembled and tried very hard not to tear up at the burning sensation caused by the noxious odor. Suddenly, Sirius raised his fist. Severus flinched violently, and cursed himself for that display of weakness.

He then leaned close to Severus' face, a sneer on his face, and whispered. "Who's afraid of the big bag wolf?" Then, with his still raised fist, he knocked on the door.

Abruptly something slammed against the door, causing Severus to squeak in fear and jump. He tried to escape, but Sirius just held him tighter and laughed. Suddenly, a harsh, violent snarl followed by a long, horrible howl erupted through the house.

Severus screamed in terror and, in a flash of panic, elbowed Sirius in the ribs and stamped on his foot. Sirius gasped and let go in shock. Quickly, Severus scrambled away, nearly flying down the stairs in his desperate need to just runescapehide and get away from the fear and pain and pleasepleaseplease not die.

"You SON OF A BITCH!" Sirius roared after him. In his anger, Sirius did something inordinately stupid and life-threateningly foolish. He unlocked the door, and unleashed the beast.

Severus never noticed Sirius morphing into his animagus. He never noticed his bleeding hands and knees from his mad search for the- where was it? Pleasepleaseplease need to escape please!- tunnel. He was terrified, and panicking, and he couldn't think and he couldn't run anymore and he couldn't hide.

Suddenly he felt hot breath washed over him from above. Shaking, tears running down his face, Severus turned. And screamed.