Chapter Five

Chapter Five

As Halloween approached, Snape grew increasingly nervous. He found himself unusually temperamental, and took fifty points away from Gryffindor when Fred and George Weasley began to sing, "Snape and Cassandra, sitting in a tree…"

Somehow the students had found out about his love interest, and some of them, such as the Weasley boys and their compatriot Lee Jordan, were teasing him endlessly about it. He wondered briefly if Dr. Oliver, who had grown close to these Gryffindor first-years, had told them. Surely she wouldn't do such a thingwould she?

He tried to put the thought out of his mind. We're friends now, he reminded himself, and friends don't accuse each other needlessly. Yes, he could now claim that he had a friend, at least in Dr. Oliver, whom he had been meeting for jogging every morning since the day he had asked Cassandra to the party, and he was enjoying every minute of their philosophical discussions. They would range from nihilism to solipsism, from ontology to metaphysics proper, and anything else the two cared to talk about.

It wasn't all philosophy. Snape found himself sharing things with Sylvia that he had never told another person, and felt much less burdened for getting them off his chest. It was good to have a friend.

He found Sylvia very mysterious and close-lipped on topics such as her past, her family (even old Ulysses and Grayson), and her love life. There seemed to be little she would tell him but he refused to let this cloud their friendship and figured that if she wanted to let him do the talking and her do the listening it didn't bother him that much.

On Halloween morning, Snape awoke with the anticipation of a small child on Christmas Day. He hastily showered, forced a comb through his hair, and forced it into a low ponytail. The mirror said sleepily, "Don't you look nice, dear."

"Thanks," he replied, conjuring up a (long-sleeved) t-shirt, shorts, and tennis shoes. He was going jogging with Sylvia before he dressed in his robes.

"Howdy," she said as she met him right outside the large front doors of the castle.

He cringed at the Americanism, but added, "Hello," and they were off, jogging comfortably around the grounds.

As they passed by the Whomping Willow, he felt a trickle of hatred seeping into his veins as he remembered the night that Sirius Black and his cohorts had played their cruel joke on him.

"Do you know why that was planted?" he asked, a little out of breath, as they passed by the tree.

"Yes," she said simply, without further elaboration.

He was a little taken aback, but added, "Do you know why I hate that tree?"

She looked at him piercingly as if she did know, but then answered, "Tell me."

So, with a few pauses every now and then to catch his breath, he told her the story of what Black, Potter, Pettigrew, and Lupin had done to him that night. "And I hate all of them," he said vehemently at the end.

"Surely you can't mean it," she answered.

He gaped at her. "Not mean it? Sylvia, do you understand what they did to me? They tried to KILL me, damn it! You can't expect me to love someone for doing that to me."

"They couldn't have all wanted to kill you. I don't think RemuserLupin had anything to do with the plot, and James tipped you off. Pettigrew wasn't even involved. And you can't imagine that Sirius, God bless his soul, knew what he was getting you into."

He shook his head at her. "You don't understand, do you, Sylvia? They all hated me. Everyday, they would look for new opportunities to mock me, to show me up. I will never forgive them!" he spat.

She bit her lip a little nervously. "Tonight's party should be interesting," she said.

He thought she was trying to change the subject, and was glad. "I know," he replied, almost happily. "Can you believe that Cassandra is coming with me?"

"Yes, I can believe it, Sevy," she said cheerfully. "After all, you are a handsome man."

This evoked a chuckle from him. "You don't have to lie to be nice, Sylvia, whether they do so in the South or not!"

"I would never," she mock-protested, and, laughing, sprinted up the stairs into the castle.

***

Snape, dressed to the nines in his nicest black robes, walked down the hall excitedly, heading towards Dr. Oliver's room. He wanted to make sure he passed the good hygiene test before he ventured to find Cassandra. He felt as if nothing could curb his good mood, on which point he was grossly mistaken.

Walking around the corner enthusiastically, he suddenly froze, horrified. Sylvia was standing in the hall, talking closely to none other than Remus Lupin, patched robes and all. In fact, they were doing more than just talking. He distinctly saw Lupin bend his face down to kiss Sylvia. It was at this point that he could literally feel his jaw dropping, and then a great boiling cauldron of hate exploded in him and he surged forward.

"Remus," he said nastily, walking towards the two, who separated guiltily. "Why not tell me that you were in town? We could have had a welcoming party."

"Severus," Sylvia said pleadingly, "a little restraint."

"I could ask the same of him!" Snape snapped. "If you recall, Sylvia, he tried to kill me."

"He did nothing of the sort," she said defensively. "Remus wouldn't even think of it."

"This is why you were singing his praises earlier, isn't it? And I thought it was all your saintliness and sweetness! Why didn't you tell me what was between you two?"

Sylvia opened her mouth angrily as if she was prepared to tell him in no uncertain terms, but Lupin stopped her. "Perhaps I should speak with him, Sylv," he said gently.

"By all means," Snape replied, gesturing for him to continue.

"You see, Sylvia and I have been together since I was very young. I'm surprised you didn't know, Severus. It was back in the day of James and Lily's wedding, before theywell…"

Snape continued to stare at him coldly. He knew that Lupin had no idea what he had been doing during those years, but somehow the thought made him feel guilty. Perhaps he was too paranoid.

"But this womanshe's not even a witch! And she's from America!"

Lupin smiled faintly. "She may not be a witch, Severus, but she's still very powerful, you know, what with the…" He trailed off at the blank look on Snape's face. "You do know, don't you?" He turned to Sylvia. "You didn't tell him?"

"No one at Hogwarts knows but Albus," she replied softly, giving Lupin a look that showed he was going to be in some trouble later.

"Anyway," Lupin continued, trying to save face, "she and I moved to America when I was in my early twenties, back to her family. That's where we've been since."

"This is just too much," Snape proclaimed, walking off quickly.

"No! Sevy!" Sylvia called, running after him.

"Good lord, Sylvia," he said, when they were in another corridor. "Couldn't you have told me this? You know, when you said we were friends? Don't you know what that man is?"

"He's nothing worse than what you are!" she said angrily, and he watched, almost in slow motion, as she grabbed his left forearm. But she didn't lift up the sleeve. Had she simply reached for him in anger, and touched him by coincidence?

Then he winced, and gave her a look of wide-eyed terror. The Dark Mark burned when she touched it! What was she? Who was she? In the midst of his terror, he only half-noticed that she too grimaced as if in pain, her hand clutched over her heart. "Getawayfromme," he said weakly.

"I can explain," she answered, her eyes pleading.

"I can't imagine that you could," he replied, his eyes like ice.

"You're right, I can't really. Not now, anyway. But understand me, Sevy, I don't want to hurt you. Please understand that. Forgive Remus, and forgive me. And come to my party tonight."

"I will come to your party tonight," he responded coolly, "But not because you are forgiven." And with that, he swept off down the hall, lifting up his sleeve to see where the dark mark had burned black.

****

Okay, I promise I'll explain what in the world is going on with Dr. Oliver, but don't get too far on the edge of your seat, because it might be a while before Snape finds out who and what she is. By the way, thanks to Rosmerta, Hermione Williams, the invaluable Severa, Himitsu Natsume, Eowyn Star, Poltergeist, and Raistlin Majere for your reviews. They mean so much to me! And I will definitely get the philosopher's song in here soon!