from
Nowhere
The Known Stranger
The Leaky Cauldron was always busy.
At the moment, it had its four best customers. Well, three and a half, to be precise.
The half was because werewolves had a low tolerance for alcohol and only drank half as much as usual when transformed.
Laughing as they always did; James, Sirius, Lily and Remus (who happened to be the highly inebreated wolf sitting on the floor with a half-empty bowl of Guiness) sat in their usual places. They did this every Friday night, now, Harry was old enough to take care of his little sister for an evening. Old friends, as they always would be.
Nobody talked about Peter anymore.
As soon as the truth had been known, they rejected him immediately. Yelled. Screamed. Sirius tried to rip his throat out, even. Peter, to the Mauraders, simply did not exist anymore. They had felled the ultimate blow to him just before he was dragged to Azkaban. They had removed his name from the Map.
There was no more Peter Pettigrew to them anymore. No Wormtail. Out of sight, out of mind...
However, who did stay in their minds now was Samantha. Because of her telling that Peter was a Deatheater, and the failed attempt on the Potter's lives, she was found out. All the Mauraders shivered when they thought of the price she had paid...
In the back of their minds, even though they knew it ment definite harm to the Potters, they almost wish she had been selfish and not told at all. It was horrible, what they knew she constantly went through. The torture that never ended of always, always having some flaw and never finding a true friend. And even worse was the fact that she still rejected them...
The topic was fresh on Sirius' mind, especially because he was talking about it.
He took another drink from his mug, and continued. "...That's really all I know about what happened to Samantha. It's a good thing that Dumbledore insisted on those hit wizards at the ready to storm the castle - took twenty of 'em before they could finally get 'is fingers unwrapped from 'er neck. Awful night, that." Sirius raised one eyebrow at the stranger and changed the subject. "Why 're you askin', anyway? It was all over the papers when it happened..."
The stranger looked at him for a second. He and Samantha did look similar, he'd admit... But there was something about the eyes that were different. Both pairs were black, yes, but the strangers reminded Sirius of dark tunnels and the shadows you saw when you looked down a well. He had always thought that Samantha's looked like a cat's that had been kicked one-too-many a time and had learned to attack when anyone came near.... The stranger's voice interrupted his chain of thoughts.
"We're... family," he said slowly...
It's not a lie, Severus thought to himself. But it's not the whole truth, either. It's a half truth. As long as he kept telling half truths, he would be fine.
"Brother and sister," he continued, faster this time. (It was true, in a way...) "I only found out a few weeks ago." (He had. That was true.)
His shoulder muscles untensed when Sirius seemed to accept the answer and nod. "Ah - so that's what it is. I knew you two looked the same. Twins, I'll bet, too... Still wonder why you didn't get all of the sympathy cards an' such. No family to send 'em too, you know, the fruit baskets, I heard the Ministry had a feast." Sirius took another deep drink.
Severus had to force himself not to pull on his hands out of nervousness. It was annoying, being so close to someone he hated - not infuriating, just annoying under the circumstances.
"Speak of the devil!" Sirius cried suddenly, pointing to the door. "There she is. You c'n go talk to 'er yourself."
The Potions Master took a long, hard look. Samantha - that's what they said she was called. Didn't it mean listener...? She looked nice enough, he supposed. Angry, though, and he wouldn't ever wear such clothes...
Quietly, Severus slipped from his seat, forgetting his glass of vodka, and picked his way through the crowd, darting to where she had sat.
Samantha was not in a good mood.
She was rarely in good moods, but it never mattered much. What did she have to be happy about?
Sirius and James noticed when you came in...
The little voice in the back of her head that had been so annoying before was now sort of comforting.
I know.
And there's a bloke heading over to you.
I know.
And Sirius pointed you out to him.
Great. I'm going to attempted to be picked up so I can be someone's trophy of the evening...
"Look, guys! I flirted with Samantha Snape tonight!"
Exactly. How did you know that?
C'mon, Samantha. We're not the voices in your head for nothing...
However, "Maggie"'s advice was cut short, because the man was taking a seat next to her.
It only took one glance to realise who he was.
Severus smiled at her slightly agast expression.
"So," he said quietly, "You got the letter?"
Samantha glared at him sideways. "Yes," she said sulkily. "Why are you even bothering with me?"
"Because we need your help."
There was silence for a moment. "We?" she commented finally.
"Yes." He looked her in the eye. "Me. Hogwarts. The entire other world, perhaps."
Samantha shivered at the look in his eyes, and Severus twisted his hands nervously under the table at the look in her eyes.
Yet their eyes were still locked.
"What do you even want me for?" she said gruffly, bowing her head.
"A substitute." One of her eyebrows quickly went up. "Potions, for a large part of the year. I have to go into a Ministry job for awhile - I told you in the letter - and I need someone else... You can do anything with the class you'd like, aside from burning the classroom. I just need someone who I can trust."
She looked up at him with a curiously amused expression. "You think I'm trustworthy?"
He shrugged. "If I can't trust myself..."
"Then you have self-esteem issues," she finished smugly. "Besides, I hate children."
"I do too." He gave a rather venomous grin. "Half the fun's in torturing them."
She looked at him and smiled. "Done...
When do we leave, Severus?"
It was a longish trek to the portal between the universes from the Leaky Cauldron, and then they had to walk into and across the Hogwarts grounds. That, and the slight time difference between the two worlds, ment that just as the first streaks of dawn were appearing was when they arrived at the doors.
The walk had been entirely silent with the kind of queer quietness of people who know each other too well. There was the comfort of understanding someone, but the fact that they knew each other near perfectly was strange, and unsettling. Severus became used to Samantha's moodiness. Samantha became used to Severus' continuing mood of alert annoyedness. Both assumed the same reckless abandon to the student's reaction, because they knew that Dumbledore would introduce her as Severus' sister.
They entered, each feeling strangely calm from the quiet morning, and as refreshed as if they had slept.
And Samantha smiled, because it had been a long time since she had been to Hogwarts, and she resolved to pull on Fawkes' tail feathers when she got a chance.
Disclaimer blah junk: C'mon, chant along with me. I
do not own anything from the Harry Potter series or any of J.K.
Rowling's related works, it all belongs to J.K. Rowling herself,
not me. The idea is at least partially mine, mine, mine tho'...