Chapter 2

Those who Observe

When Fred and George Weasley caught Professor Snape watching them, their sense of danger spiked.

It's not that Fred and George were afraid of Professor Snape. They'd figured out long ago that he was a spy for the good guys. In their first year, Professor Snape had told them to stay after class, and when all of the other students had gone, he'd said that their cauldrons- which had been purchased second-hand on the cheap- were dangerously worn and corroded. Snape had then gone on to say that he just happened to have two used cauldrons, and after presenting them with the cauldrons, he had given them a long, boring lecture on cauldron safety.

During the lecture, Fred and George had examined the cauldrons. They were, indeed, sturdy cauldrons. In fact, the stains and shallow scratches on the surface looked fresh, as though someone had bought them new and then attempted to make the cauldrons look used.

"Keep these clean. If I see you using sub-standard equipment again, we will have another talk," Snape had said, vanishing the old cauldrons.

In the weeks that followed, Fred and George had paid close attention to Snape's behavior toward the other students. Snape was just as nasty as ever. He awarded points unfairly, sneered at the Gryffindors, and showed overt favoritism to the Slytherins. But after sneaking glances at their classmates' test papers, the twins noticed that while house points were awarded unfairly, test scores were always fair. They also noticed that Snape would always go out of his way to explain the material thoroughly to every student who struggled, even if he did so with sarcasm and derision in his voice. Most of all, they noticed that nothing inspired Snape's anger more than unsafe behavior. The man seemed determined to prevent dangerous accidents in his classroom, no matter if Gryffindors or Slytherins were at risk.

Therefore, they'd decided, Professor Snape must be secretly good, and he must only be acting unfair to keep up appearances for the Slytherins. Having heard a rumor that Snape was a death-eater, Fred and George had further reasoned that Snape must have spied on the death-eaters for Dumbledore. Snape was a Hogwarts professor, after all, and though the death-eaters might be fooled, Dumbledore never would be.

Still- even if Professor Snape was good, being watched so closely by a spy couldn't be a good sign. It was a great sign. Life at Hogwarts was bound to get a lot more interesting, soon.

Fred and George did their best to ignore Snape, who stood in a shadowy alcove near the castle. Instead, they focused on their snowball duel against their little brother Ron and his friend, Harry Potter. Then, after an epic victory, they lingered near the edge of the castle while the two youngers boys dragged themselves inside to get warm and dry.

Snape caught the twins' eyes and beckoned them closer, and they strolled over as nonchalantly as they could. Fred whistled a little tune as he thought of codenames he could use when he became a spy, and George was inventing cool spy gadgets they could use.

Professor Snape led them deeper into the shadows, and then said, "good afternoon."

"Happy Christmas, Professor," Fred said cheerfully. "How can we help you?"

"Harry Potter-" Snape began, and then stopped.

"Yes, Professor?" George prompted.

Professor Snape took a deep breath, and then spoke again. "I noticed that, even though it's the holidays, Mr. Potter is still wearing his school cloak. I also noticed that, even though he was throwing snowballs, he wore no gloves."

The Weasley twins exchanged looks, and then sighed in syncopation.

"We told Mum that he would need some things," George said, "and she sent him a hamper for Christmas- jumper, socks, food…"

"But there are a lot of us kids, and she didn't have time to make gloves," Fred finished.

"That was very kind of her," Snape said quickly. "I can't help but wonder, though, why it was necessary. I was not aware that Harry's aunt and uncle were struggling."

"They-" Fred started, and then hesitated.

"I don't think they are struggling," George said quietly.

"I see. So they are negligent, or…"

"Worse," George confirmed.

"From what we've gathered- he won't talk about it," Fred added.

"I see," Snape said. A dark expression crossed the man's face, and for a moment Fred worried that the man would assassinate the Dursleys. Snape did not reassure Fred when he added, "I know I needn't ask you to keep this conversation private."

"Harry would skin us alive if he knew we'd told you," George said. "He doesn't realize, yet."

"I don't know what you mean," Snape said smoothly. "Good afternoon, boys."

And with that, the mean, greasy spy who posed as their professor disappeared into the shadows.

Fred decided it was time to stock up on their more useful supplies. Things were definitely going to get more interesting at Hogwarts.