Halloween came and went without a hitch. Sophie found herself constantly intrigued by Severus Snape, always wanting to know more about the wizard who seemed against the world and the world against him. Though she wanted to find out more about Snape, he didn't give her that chance. He always pushed her away.

Sophie was discouraged by none of this. She knew when she consciously decided to get to know him that this would be a difficult and she didn't mind that he wasn't kind. After all, she wouldn't want to get to know him if he was open about what he thought and was kind to everyone he knew. That wouldn't be any fun at all.

The first snow had fallen. It was November seventeenth, a Friday, and Sophie was getting ready to go out to her session with Professor Sprout. Snape was not at dinner, but Sophie noticed that he was absent more and more often lately. It concerned her, but she knew his missing meals was none of her business. Someone such as Snape would not appreciate her intruding.

Cold nipped at her exposed cheeks and nose and wind whipped her hair back and across her face. She quickly pulled out her wand and charmed a heating bubble around herself, though it was of little use. It didn't matter, she would be in the toasty warm greenhouse in only a few more minutes.

As expected, the greenhouse was hot with all of the charms Professor Sprout had placed on it to keep the plants warm. An artificial sun shone down on the greenhouse and Sophie squinted for a moment upon entering the building.

"Sophie!" Sprout called, a smile on her face. "Come on over and help me out!"

The older witch was working with her sleeves rolled up, but thick, long gloves over her hands. A wriggling green plant writhed between her fingers, seeming to almost hiss.

Sophie quickly ran over to the supply closet and grabbed gloves similar to Professor Sprout's, shoving them on her hands. A second later, she was prying the evil plant back, holding it tight. Sprout gestured to a large pot in the corner, and they shuffled over to it together.

They shoved the plant into the waiting soil and shoveled the dirt onto it. The hissing quieted and the writhing settled. In silence, the two women breathed heavily and tried to catch their breaths.

When they had finally stopped heaving, Sophie straightened and smiled up at the Professor, "So what are we doing tonight?"

Pomona Sprout laughed out loud, but sobered in only a few seconds.

"I was thinking," she started slowly.

"Yes?" Sophie questioned, pressing her to say more.

"I know you haven't been back in the forest since the incident," Sprout continued. "But you did say you wanted to go back. You don't have to if you don't want to, of course."

Sophie broke out into a grin, stretching from ear to ear.

"I want to!" she nearly shouted. She didn't mention that she had been in there once, if only to retrieve her wand.

Sprout's worried face turned into a smile, "You don't have to."

"What do you want me to do?" Sophie asked.

The professor laughed, "We're going to go out to collect…"

They would be collecting certain plants that Professor Snape had requested for his potions. He was much too busy, but Sprout would already be there, collecting for her own classes as well. Sophie had no problem with this.

They left the heat of the greenhouse and cold immediately chilled them both to the bone. Each woman cast a heating charm and it was even stronger with both of their magic adding to the spell. It was then that they set off.

Light from the moon and the stars was enough on the open castle grounds, but inside the thick trees, the two witches needed to use their wands as guides. Sophie's heart was thumping in her chest faster than she'd thought possible, but she wasn't afraid. No, she was excited to be back in the woods, anticipating something, anything going wrong.

Professor Sprout led Sophie through the woods, both of their eyes sweeping the ground. There was no snow here. The trees had provided as a cover for all of the plants growing on the forest floor.

Every snap of a twig and rustle of a tree had Sprout jumping and searching for the cause. She didn't want anything to happen this time. Nothing would happen to the bright girl following her lead. Pomona wouldn't let it happen.

"How do you want me to gather it?" Sophie questioned.

Professor Sprout turned around to find the younger woman crouched close to the ground, her hand outstretched, but not touching, the plant they were searching for. The older woman quickly rushed over, showing Sophie the right way to collect the weed.

After it was picked and stored, they continued on through the woods. Professor Sprout seemed much more relaxed as well.

What neither woman knew was that a pair of eyes watched them, dark and mysterious. A figure in dark black robes easily blended into the shadows and hid there, eavesdropping on everything they said and did.

Snape Apparated back to the front gates after a nasty meeting with the Dark Lord. He was growing frustrated with the fact that no one could seem to get to that prophecy and when the Dark Lord was angry, everyone knew it.

On the grounds, Snape walked purposefully toward the castle, his eyes scanning the darkness routinely, but not truly expecting to find anything. Hogwarts was the safest place in the world to be at the moment and surely nothing would be wandering the grounds so close to the school.

That was why he was so surprised when he saw the two figures trekking across the snow. They were headed in the direction of the Forbidden Forest and Snape knew that nothing headed in that direction could be a good thing. Either they were students, who needed to be punished for not only being out of bed this late, but out of the castle and headed toward the woods, or they were something else which needed to be taken care of immediately.

Snape did not hesitate as he stalked in the direction of the two figures. They were wearing robes up around their faces and down to their feet, so he couldn't tell what they were. He knew he would have to get a closer look, but he wasn't close enough before they entered the forest.

Into the woods, he followed them. What student in their right mind would make this journey? What purpose would they have to be out in the middle of the night, in the middle of winter? Something told him that he wasn't dealing with two students and the only other option he could think of was something, anything, related to the Dark Lord. His spies sent to scout out the school from the safety of the woods and under the cover of night.

Severus followed them, gripping his wand tightly in his right hand. He was calm, collected, and unafraid of whatever he may find. In his mind, he went over all of the scenarios that could be played out here when he got to them.

And then he heard the voices. Two of them, and they were women. Neither sounded evil or like they had malicious intent. They both sounded familiar, actually.

Snape drew closer to the voices, hidden in the shadows of the trees that surrounded them. There they were, one kneeling on the forest floor, the other standing above. They were discussing something. He took this chance when they weren't paying attention to get a closer look.

Sophia! He was surprised to learn that he had been tracking Sophia Roe and Professor Sprout. The two women seemed to be collecting the herbs he'd requested the day before from the Herbology Professor and they talked quietly amongst themselves as they did.

"And that's how you get that one out!" Sprout was saying. "Think you can handle the next one?"

Sophia nodded and he watched as her hair swished about her face before she wiped it back behind her ear.

"Good, then let's continue," the professor stated.

The two witches started off once more through the dry and dark forest. They were quiet, on constant watch, but they didn't see him.

Snape started to turn around and head back to the castle, learning that the threat was no more than two teachers collecting plants for classes. He could hear their faint voices fading as they moved on to another area of the woods and he took a step away from them, but then grew still.

The last time she'd been in the woods an Acromantula had attacked and that was much closer to the castle grounds than they were now. What was Sprout thinking, bringing her back into a place like this where she could be seriously hurt? They obviously weren't doing the best job in being vigilant about the dangers around them either.

He knew that he couldn't really count himself when thinking about their situation, but they should've known he was there if they were going to be out here. There were things in this forest with worse intent than he had.

Snape turned once more to the sound of the witches' voices. They just weren't be careful enough. Didn't they know that this was a time of war? If the forest was forbidden when it was peaceful, surely it was worse now. He quickly caught up to them and hid himself within the shadows once more.

The night went on without a hitch and it wasn't too long before Snape was trailing them back out of the forest once more. Both women were silent as they walked, each watching the trees as they walked. Neither saw him as he soundlessly followed.

They stopped on the edge of the woods, turning to each other.

"You go on back to the castle, Sophie," Snape heard Sprout say.

"But what about," but the Professor would hear nothing of it.

Pomona Sprout shooed the younger woman away, "Go. There's nothing left for you to do anyway. I know all you really want to do is take a shower and go to sleep anyway."

Snape watched as Sophia smiled shyly, "Well, if you really don't have anything else for me to do."

"Nothing. I'm just going to put these herbs in a safe place and head back to the castle myself," Sprout stated firmly. "Now go."

"Well, good night, Professor," Sophia said.

"Goodnight, Sophie," the woman replied.

With that, she was off, walking in the direction of the greenhouses and over the snow that laid before her. Sophia started off toward the castle and Snape wondered if he should make himself known now. It wasn't like there was any place to hide on the open grounds, anyway.

He decided to make it look like he was just getting back from his meeting. That way, he didn't look like the creep he knew he was certainly acting like. He'd just wanted to make sure she was safe, he knew, but why did he even care? Snape did not want to contemplate the answer to this question just yet.

So he went on with his plan and emerged from the shadows, stalking directly for the young witch. She looked up as he drew closer.

"Professor Snape!" Sophia exclaimed, that easy smile of hers coming back to her face.

"Ms. Roe," he replied, his own face stern and severe.

The witch did not seem to notice or care that he did not return her enthusiasm as she went on to talk to him.

"What are you doing out at such a late hour?" she questioned.

Snape sneered, "I could ask you the same."

Her eyes went wide, "Oh! I was just out in the forest with Professor Sprout. We were collecting some plants for her class. And yours!"

Snape nodded, but did not disclose what he had been doing. She didn't need to know that he was following her and he didn't like thinking about telling her he'd been to see the Dark Lord. That was a conversation he hoped he'd never have with her.

They were quiet and Snape was thankful that the witch beside him was smart enough not to press matters about where he was. That was one of the reasons he didn't do well around people, they pried too much into his business. It was also one of the reasons he could stand to be with her because she didn't ask too many questions when he evaded one answer.

Snape looked down at Sophia walking by his side. Her smile had slipped and she was staring down at the grass, but her face wasn't sad or angry as one might expect, she was just not smiling. He had to wonder what it was like to be so happy that even idle you weren't upset about anything.

She looked up then and Snape met her curious blue eyes. They seemed to almost twinkle, like a certain Headmaster's, but when she looked at him he didn't get the feeling she knew all of his secrets. He was thankful for that.

"How are your classes coming along?" Sophia asked him.

Severus sighed, but knew that at least this was a safe topic to talk about.

"The students are hardly up to standard," he replied scathingly. "Already, they are behind if we are to get everything done by the end of the year."

Sophia nodded, but didn't say anything. Snape was starting to realize that this girl was really good at knowing when to just shut her mouth about things. He was once again brought back to the thought that she must be a Hufflepuff. One with so much knowledge about people would surely have to be someone who couldn't do much else. But he knew that she wasn't like that because he could stand actually talking to her and that was rare to come by.

The castle loomed overhead and Sophia looked up at it beside him. He heard her intake of breath that conveyed her awe at the magnificent school. She really was something, he thought to himself.

Together, they entered the school and he found himself not ready to leave her company. Sometime during their walk, he had relaxed like he hadn't relaxed in a long time, and now he felt if she left the feeling would be gone.

Sophia looked up and smiled at him again, her bright eyes shining.

"I supposed I'll see you tomorrow, then, Professor Snape," she said.

Snape nodded.

The witched grinned softly, "Goodnight."

He didn't reply.

Sophia turned and skipped lightly up the steps to her room and Snape watched her go, thinking about what Dumbledore had told him. There was something in her past that made her like she was today and he should be asking her about it. Now that she was gone, he was insanely curious. What had happened?

Soon, the girl was gone from sight and Snape sighed, heading back to his own room. It was time he got some sleep, though he knew it would only be haunted by nightmares that would keep him from getting any actual rest.

In her room, Sophie got ready for a shower before she went to sleep. Being out in the forest was fun, but now dirt caked her skin and her hair was a tangled mess. A few simple spells could cure both problems, but a hot shower would also soothe her aching muscles and give her time to think.

Sophie knew she had to think about Snape, but she didn't know what to think about him. She liked him, though he'd never given her a reason to. But there was something there, something that intrigued her and made her want to find out more. She didn't know how, though. How do you talk to a man that doesn't want to be talked to?

She sighed as she got out of the shower and dried herself off. Her reflection stared back at her from the mirror and Sophie looked away quickly. She didn't like to see herself.

Quickly, the young professor turned off the light and made her way to her bed, pulling on pajamas before she flopped down into the blankets and pillows. She hoped that no nightmares ate at her tonight as she dozed into a fitful sleep.