A/N: I started this about the time HBP came out. Rather than try to come up with some reason for our dear Severus to be back at school, I just ignored the 6th book entirely. For anyone who's concerned, I have not abandoned "The View From Saturday", but while that one's in the works, I thought I'd give you the beginnings of this one to tide you over.

See my profile for disclaimer.

Moonlight Sonata

1st Movement

Severus Snape brushed a few errant dark strands of hair from his eyes, frowning at the childish script on the tattered parchment before him only a few minutes before dashing a large green D at the bottom. Honestly, the gloomy man thought to himself, demonstrate some respect for your drivel by not dribbling pumpkin juice all over it and then stuffing it in your bag. Show a little backbone.

Snape paused, leaning back in is chair and pinching the bridge of his nose, then rose slowly from his seat. He walked stiffly to the small bathroom connected to his office. Splashing water on his face, he avoided looking in the mirror for several minutes. Finally, his eyes rose almost involuntarily.

Cold black eyes stared back at him, framed by dark sagging circles. Spidery thin lines radiated out from between his eyebrows and across his forehead. But not at the corners of his eyes or thin pale lips. He never laughed enough for lines to form there.

"Severus Snape, you are getting old."

The mirror remained blissfully silent, the old magic one having demanded to be replaced after the tenth time an unwelcome comment was rewarded with a flying fist.

Snape closed his eyes and sagged on the sink, allowing his forehead to rest against the cool of the glass. His eyes ached, his back needed to be popped, and if that faucet continued to drip, he could not be held responsible for what might happen.

Severus Snape was trembling.

No- he opened his eyes- he was not trembling; the mirror was vibrating. And not continually; the vibrations seemed to be coming at a steady walking tempo.

He wondered if he was imagining things, finally cracking after more than twenty years of extreme stress with little sleep.

But no, now he could see the smallest of ripples in the half-empty glass sitting by the sink, as the vibrations became stronger. They appeared to wax and wane, becoming stronger, then weaker again.

Snape straightened up, wincing as his back popped repeatedly. These vibrations must be caused by something. Most likely a student out of bed doing something of questionable legality at any time, day or night, but most certainly not after curfew.

Shrugging on his heavy black teaching robes over a black shirt and slacks, Snape stalked out of his office, determined to track down the source of the vibrations.

He strode down several corridors, pausing at intervals to examine the intensity of the vibrations. After following them back to his office twice, he determined that the source had to be on the floor above. The nearest staircase was still fifty yards from his door, forcing him to seek out the vibrations on the next floor in the same method he employed before.

He circled the halls again, centering in on the source of the disturbance.

Snape could feel the vibrations easily now, when suddenly they stopped. He froze, listening, until they began again, this time faster. His pace also increased, and he could now perceive that the vibrations varied in...there was no other word for it but "tone."

He was close to the source, he could tell, the vibrations now pounding in his feet, sending waves up his shins to his knees. He could hear them. It sounded like music.

His scowl deepened. Who on earth was playing music at this ungodly hour of the morning? Then he smirked. Someone's party was about to be brought to an abrupt and unpleasant end.

But no, this was not dancing music; not party music.

Snape finally arrived in front of a tapestry of a phoenix in fiery flight, its mouth open in silent song. Pushing the heavy cloth aside, his fingers brushed across oak until meeting a cold brass handle.

Drawing his wand from his sleeve, Severus Snape silently turned the handle and pushed open the door.

And froze.