Winter at Hogwarts

Disclaimer: As before I own neither the Night World nor Harry Potter.

1 OC (Night World based) - Winter Redfern.

Severus Snape didn't bother going to Winter's farewell feast; she had ripped out his heart and stamped on it! Then to rub salt in the wound she expected him to stand around and make nice as if none of it had happened, 'not on my watch,' he thought angrily.

He was currently walking the school grounds, trying to clear his head. He wasn't sleeping well and the amount of sleeping draught he was getting through was alarming. To sum it up Severus Snape was turning into a wreck and it was all the fault of that blasted vampire. Who the hell did she think she was? Coming into Hogwarts, turning his world upside down and then sweeping back out like a ghost.

He turned a corner near the entrance and was surprised to find himself bathed in artificial light, squinting he could make out a long muggle car. Moving out of the light and slinking along the wall, his breath caught as he saw her descending the stairs. She was holding no luggage, but that didn't mean anything, it may have already been packed away in the car. Wearing sunglasses perched on the top of her head and her black bob sleek and shiny swinging as she walked toward the car.

'Again with the ridiculous clothing,' he thought unable to take his eyes off her. That short black skirt which was really little more than a belt, the v-cut top that showed off more cleavage than should be allowed, the spike heeled thigh high boots…

"Merlin!" he gasped softly, his mouth suddenly dry Snape took a deep breath and rearranged himself before skulking back the way he came.

"Merlin!" Winter heard the whisper as she approached the limo and looked around but couldn't see the owner of the voice. 'Must be one of the kiddies,' she thought to herself.

Winter had suffered through the farewell feast, poor Neville had been looking at her with such a stricken look on his face, in actual fact a lot of the kiddies seemed to be upset that she was going. She hadn't realised she'd made that much of an impact, but then it was probably only because she made the Potions lessons bearable.

It was funny though because Winter, who missed no-one, felt a bit reluctant to leave and it wasn't just because of the snarky potions master who lived in the dungeons. In the last two years the Wizarding world had become a home for her and in the weeks she'd lived their Hogwarts had become the same. When she had spoken to Thierry about coming back to the Night World she had told him she was coming home but it didn't feel that way at all. Taking one more glance around the grounds of Hogwarts Winter climbed into the limo and shut the door. The car slowly made its way down the drive, its tail lights winking from further and further away until they were gone.

Sitting in his rooms in front of the fire, Snape was drinking his way through a bottle of Firewhiskey. It was the only alternative to the sleeping draught he could think of; at least the side effects with continued use of the sober up potion were less severe than the draught. He had half a bottle left and he was definitely starting to feel drowsy, he had every intention of getting out of the armchair and going to bed. 'In minute I'm going to get up,'' he thought to himself, 'any minute now.'

There came a knock at the door and grumbling about having to get up, even though that's what he'd been trying to convince himself to do for the past five minutes, he heaved himself out of the chair and made his unsteady way over to the door.

Opening it he could see Dumbledore standing there, a bottle of Firewhiskey in his hand.

"Severus, I see you've started without me." the man said with a smirk at the state of the man before him.

'And I'll finish without you too, if you'd leave me alone,' he thought. What he actually said was,

"Headmaster, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Well I'd like to come in if that's alright, unless you want to add more fuel to the rumour mill." Dumbledore replied his eyes twinkling at the other man and his discomfort. Knowing that the headmaster wasn't going to take no for an answer, professor Snape stepped back allowing the Dumbledore entry into his rooms. Dumbledore walked in and promptly sat down on one of his sofas leaving Snape with the other, cracking the seal on his own bottle of Firewhiskey he accepted a tumbler from Snape and poured himself a two finger measure. He took a sip from his glass but didn't say anything, seemingly content to watch the younger man. Professor Snape felt like he were trying to read his mind, but he felt no leglimency, only awkwardness.

"Well as lovely as this is headmaster, is there a reason for your visit?"

"She's gone." The headmaster answered looking for a reaction.

"Well I didn't think a leaving feast meant she was staying." Snape bit out.

"Do you know where?"

"I'm not her keeper, what she does is entirely up to her and to be honest I'm not sure I want to have this conversation." He snapped. Dumbledore merely nodded taking another mouthful of Firewhiskey.

"She has permitted me-"

"Permitted?" the potions master interrupted.

"Winter has asked me to inform you that she will be away for at least a month. She's returned to the Night World as there has been a family emergency." Dumbledore finished his drink and stood, Snape looked up at him still sitting.

"Why would she want me to know that?"

"Why do you think? She loves you my boy."

"She's a vampire, she loves no-one. If you had seen the memories in her mind of the things she has done to humans in the name of fun, you would know this!" Snape hissed.

"She is also half human and I know for a fact that each life she destroyed weighs heavy on her mind. Muggle Christians have it right, 'let he without sin, cast the first stone', would you say you are without sin Severus? In fact I have another question for you, do you love her?" The headmaster asked, one eyebrow rising in question. Professor Snape took in a deep breath, ready to shout at the headmaster, call him an interfering old fool. But instead,

"I admit that there seems to be some infatuation on my part towards her. But given the fact that she is a vampire, we all know that they are physically perfect in order to draw us in like moths to the flame. Her clothing leaves nothing to the imagination and I am a red blooded male. However, and this is the one and only time I will say this headmaster so please listen carefully, I am not in love with Winter Redfern."

Dumbledore gave professor Snape another look that seemed to go on forever, in the end he nodded. Snape could have sworn he wore the ghost of a smile.

"Well that clears that up then, thank you Severus, I'll see myself out," Dumbledore said as he headed to the door, as he crossed the threshold he looked back and added "By the way you can keep the Firewhiskey, I've heard it's a devil trying to sleep when you are missing someone." He stepped quickly through the door with a smirk on his face, before he'd even taken a step away from the door he heard the sound of a glass smashing.

On the other side of the door, still on the sofa Snape fumbled around for his wand, his hand cut to ribbons and dripping blood. Broken glass and Firewhiskey covered his lap. The headmaster's last comment had caused him to squeeze his tumbler until it had smashed in his bare hand.