Chapter 2: The Fun Begins

Snape cringed. He should have known by this time he could not make and keep friends. Why did he even bother? His miserable look clued Remus into the fact that something was wrong.

"Eh…Did I say something wrong?" He asked.

"You could say that." Snape said shortly. He closed his eyes and wished desperately that this could all just be a dream. No such luck.

"I'm waiting." Nicki said in such a smooth and dangerous voice that Peter, hiding in the kitchen and eavesdropping, thought with glee: Oh my God! They have to stay friends, she's perfect for him. He'll get a taste of his own medicine.

Snape meanwhile took a deep breath and said in a low, tight, carefully controlled voice:

"Well, Miss Evans, since Lupin has forced my hand, I will tell you everything. I am not a Chemistry teacher, I am the Potions Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am a wizard, and I am not the only one. There is a whole world of magical people, who like to keep themselves secret from the non magical part of the population, also called muggles. I was not going to –"

"Severus, there is really no need to belittle her intelligence, just because you are angry at me…"

"I'm not belittling her intelligence, you idiotic Marauder! She's a muggle, get it? I am merely going back to the beginning and explaining the whole situation."

"Oh. I really am out of it today, amn't I?"

"Yes!"

"You see, Miss, I'm a lychenthrope – or werewolf to the layman - so I was up all last night being a wolf. Forgive my blundering."

"I have no quarrel with you, sir. My annoyance is focused strictly on Severus, for it seems I was wrong about him…but I will give him this chance to redeem himself."

"What more do you want? I've told you about the wizarding world."

"Mr. Snape, I gather that you have a nasty temper, but you would be very foolish to asume that you are the only one. You will answer my questions fully and as completely as possible, and I will not leave until I am satisfied. In your own words, get it?"

Oh my, thought Remus, she is not afraid of him. And I'm damned if she doesn't want him to redeem himself, so she can forgive him, because she likes him. Wow, I hope he doesn't blow it again.

Severus glared at her, but unlike his Hufflepuff students, Nicki did not go into severe hysterics. She merely glared back for a few moments before saying brightly, but very sarcasically:

"I take it your pleasant expression means that you agree. First question: Why all the secrecy?"

"Simple. Your average muggle would react first with fear, then with greed and whining about 'its not fair that some people can do magic and others can't'. Of course, there would also be a panic element when they found out that there are evil wizards – and witches, to a point – that are unstoppable by muggle means, so they have to trust the wizarding world completely for protection."

"It all started with the witch hunts, really." Remus put in. (He's really not such a bad guy, I think I'll let him redeem himself…er, that is, if Snape doesn't murder him first.)

"When the witch hunts got to be a problem, the magical community went into hiding. But you see, the only reason the hunts stopped was because muggles had forgotten about us, and so we were pretty leery about reminding them and starting the whole thing over again. A few centuries later, when it might have been safe, it was merely simpler not to come out of hiding, since we had a reasonably well-working society all to ourselves."

"Okay, that makes sense." Nicki nodded. She frowned slightly, so Severus would not think she had forgiven him just yet, even though she was no longer angry.

"So, if you weren't going to tell me about the magical world, how did you expect to keep it a secret from me while I was working for you?"

"The way you are taking this tells me I was not entirely accurate in my estimation of your attitudes. I assumed I would be able to give you a false, plausible explanation for any slip I or anyone else might make, since I assumed that the truth would not be plausible to you. As it turns out, you are more accepting and open-minded than I expected, so I have ended up once more being made a fool of by a marauder."

Snape sounded so bitter that Nicki promtly forgave him and decided to stop being mean, since he had plainly had too much meanness in his life.

"Well, never mind that now. Everyone makes mistakes, and one could argue that you were doing it for my own good. There's probably stuff in that wizard's world that it isn't really safe for me to know."

"For sure." Remus said. "Anyway, I won't waste anymore of your time. Drop me a line when I should come get the stuff, and have fun making it, Miss…er, Nicki."

"Thanks. See you then."

When Remus had left, there was a short silence, then Snape sighed and sat back in his chair. He was glad the visit hadn't gone worse, but it was bad enough that it had happenned at all.

"Why are you sighing?" Nicki asked. Snape didn't answer right away.

"I worry about the way things are going to turn out. Remus is right, there are things, and worse, people, in this world who are dangerous. What Remus was too tactful, and perhaps ignorant, to say was that I am one of them. It's a miracle Peter has responded so well to your presence; there are others who would kill you just because you are not a witch."

Before Nicki could answer Peter returned.

"Don't worry about those others. I can handle them. Trust me for a bit on this. Now, can I get tea, or are you starting on the wolfsbane right away? And what do I do about the boomslangs in the kitchen?"

"Damn! I forgot about them. Serve Nicki tea while I finnish pickling them."

"But…"

"That's an order, Peter. I need a bit of time to think."

Peter flinched at Snape's tone, then paused. His brow creased for a moment as he thought about something, then he followed Snape into the kitchen. For a few minutes they worked in silence, then Snape noticed that Peter was staring off into space with a slightly vacent expression on his face.

"Wormtail."

Peter snapped back to earth with a jump. "Severus…" He began.

"What is it?" The Potions Master paused for a moment, curious as to what had caused the other man's peculiar actions.

"Nothing…Or rather, nothing I should risk with her nearby. I'll tell you later. Maybe. If I can."

"What do you mean?" Snape asked worriedly. This sounded serious. But Wormtail had gone all blank-faced again and he didn't answer.

"Wormtail! What do you mean?" Snape asked very sharply. Wormtail slowly turned to look at him. He now looked confused.

"I don't know what I mean. Don't ask. You're frightening me."

Snape looked away, instinctively not letting Peter see how that statement was affecting him. It was not like Peter Petigrew to say 'I'm frightened'. Something was going on, but so far he had no idea what. He decided to wait and observe before pursuing it. He went back to work, slowly so he could listen to what the man behind him was doing.