Severus let Kim Gibbons lead himself and Andrew Cambry into the woods, since she apparently knew where they were going. She had a slight limp that Severus probably wouldn't have noticed had he not known she twisted her ankle the other day.
They walked for quite a while before any of them spoke.
"Where is your school again?" Cambry attempted casually.
"Scotland."
"And Evans goes there too?"
"Yeah."
"Right...you and Evans a thing yet?"
"You have less siblings yet?" Severus snapped back.
"So prickly." The boy chuckled. "They teach you to be an arse at that boarding school?"
"They teach us to mind our own business."
He held up his hands in mock surrender. "Alright, I can take a hint. Was just trying to make conversation."
Cambry shoved his fists in his pockets and continued. "I fancy Evans myself."
"That so? Have you told her?"
"Well no…" Cambry frowned. "That doesn't bother you?"
How annoying. "Why would it?"
"I mean, you like her, right?"
"She's my best friend. If your intent is to antagonize me, you will have to do much better than that."
"Challenge accepted."
"You're such a prick, Andrew." Gibbons added over her shoulder
"You fancy Snape, Kim?"
"What's it to you? He scared off that thing chasing us, whether or not it was an illusion, the least you could do is show some respect."
Cambry smirked. "If you say."
"Don't mind him, Snape. He just likes to get a rise out of anyone he can."
"I know the type, thanks for the warning though." Severus smirked. "Lily is far too smart for the likes of Cambry anyway."
The boy in question scoffed. "I can get any girl I want."
Gibbons shot him a glare.
"Careful Cambry, Gibbons is not so easily fooled by your narcissism either. She's far too pretty for you anyway. Would have to walk you on a leash for it to work out."
Gibbons immediately blushed and turned away.
"I said any girl I want. Kim isn't my type." Retorted Cambry with a dismissive wave.
"My apologies. I didn't realize you liked your ladies unattractive simple minded. Unfortunately for you, Ms. Evans and Ms. Gibbons do not fall into either category."
Cambry scoffed.
Severus continued, "I personally prefer a girl who can think for herself. If she's pretty too, that's just a bonus."
The boy bristled."You're just a weirdo, Snape. What girl likes that?"
"At least he's charming." Countered Gibbons.
"The word you're looking for is 'snarky,' Ms. Gibbons, common mistake."
A slightly red Gibbons laughed at that.
Cambry huffed indignantly.
"I was wondering, Ms. Gibbons, who those twins are?" Severus asked.
"Lance and Hugh Smythe." Said the increasingly red teenage girl. "They are Desiree's cousins that live in Manchester."
So she likes the Smythe twins. Or at least one of them, not that the information mattered to Severus in the slightest. "Ah, that explains it."
"Hey, we're here." She said.
They had come upon police tape that seemed to stretch on as far as they could see in either direction.
Severus ducked underneath the line, holding it up for Gibbons and Cambry to follow.
Gibbons hesitated. "What if we get caught by the police?"
"We won't." Severus said confidently.
"What makes you so sure?"
"Because if there does happen to be someone patrolling out here, I have a plan. Just make sure to do as I say."
She looked at him sceptically. "…We'll see"
The three of them ventured beyond the marked perimeter. Severus followed a few paths that led to nothing, they were probably just the paths of disturbed vegetation caused by the investigation.
He did, however, come across a patch of dirt that was significantly darker than the rest. He knelt down beside it and checked to make sure his muggle companions were not looking at him before casting a quiet wandless spell to verify his suspicions.
It was blood.
He scanned the immediate area, but all he saw were some scattered boot prints from the police. Severus began to make a slow spiral away from the blood. After a good few meters, he found what could be part of a paw print.
Perhaps it was just a wolf after all. But what Lily had said about animals usually killing for food and not sport bothered him. He knew that, but because she said it too it nagged at the back of his mind.
He ventured further away from the blood spot, following the direction of the maybe-paw-print. He mostly found more partial boot tracks, though they were getting more spaced out and easier to distinguish as separate paths. He kept following the partial prints of a maybe-wolf, a pad or two here and a claw puncture there, occasionally a snapped twig. It was hard to tell since the tracks were so worn, but he persisted.
Gibbons had noticed he was following a path and started trailing behind him, searching for what he was seeing. Cambry eventually caught on too after he finished scuffing up a bit of something on the ground.
They both followed him further toward Manchester, past the other side of the police line, and then looped back into it again and deeper into the woods, passing a few more spots that looked like blood along the way. He could not confirm with the muggles watching, but he was fairly sure.
He had seen the occasional whole print, definitely canine, but still too spaced out for Severus' liking. It was almost as if it were bipedal…
He shook off the uncomfortable feeling he developed and pressed forward, the other two still in tow.
The full moon wasn't for a few days anyway...
The sun was beginning to fall behind the trees, casting long shadows throughout the woods. They would have a hard time seeing much in the dark, and he wasn't about to cast a lumos given the present company.
Severus stopped in his tracks.
The ground before him was torn up, in such a way that would suggest a fight or violent thrashing...or where a transformation took place.
"Well that's definitely something." Cambry whispered once he caught up to Severus.
Severus barely spotted what could have been a human footprint. He wandered closer to it, trying not to look directly at it.
It was the footprint of a small child.
There was a very small werewolf in the woods last month, and likely would be again in a few days.
"I think we should head back, It's getting dark." Gibbons suggested on her approach.
Severus turned to them while brushing his trainer over the small human track to make it unrecognizable. "I agree, let's go."
"What?" Cambry protested. "But we're so close!"
"No, we followed a bad trail, there is nothing left to find. There's far too much grass that way and it's been too long, it could have gone anywhere. We'll have to try again another time, preferably with better planning and more daylight. I don't want to get caught in the dark with something that has bigger teeth than I do."
"Yeah, Andrew, I don't want to be in the dark woods with a wolf either." Gibbons said.
Luckily, it only comes out once a month.
Cambry scoffed. "Fine, wimps."