Note: Suddenly decided to change from 1st person POV to narration. Sorry.
~~~
The next morning, feeling far better than last night, Snape climbed out of bed and headed to bathroom to take a shower. The bathroom was actually very clean, spotless even, like no one had used it at all, there were even clean towels on the racks (which confirmed his theory that someone came here once in a while to clean the place.) He looked at himself in the mirror and shuddered a bit.
God he looked horrible. There were dark vivid violet colored bags under his eyes, his skin looked paler and pastier than usual. Slowly he touched his face and let out a deep sigh. Last night was the first time in several weeks where he was so tired that he had a dreamless sleep. Before that, he would wake up every night in cold sweat or in complete pain. And every nightmare kept replaying both times he had been tortured by the Dark Lord, meshing the memories together. And sometimes they would be traded with dreams of every person he had killed years before. Ashamed, he could barely look at himself and turned away quickly. He then stared at the shower.
As he let out a deep sigh and planned on leaving the bathroom to retrieve some clothes, he suddenly came upon a picture. it was photo of his mother when she was about three, his mother was laughing in delight as she ran across the field holding a enormous circular wire and making bubbles that were twice the size of Quaffles. Suddenly an idea formed in his head and as he hurried over to the trunk where he had placed his many potions.
~~~ (one week later)
'The feeling is so strange, like a shiver staring from my head and ending at my toes.' Snape thought as he ran a hand through his wet hair.
It had taken him a week to brew and he spent most of his time reading potion books or eating the food conjured with his wand. (He didn't really want to go out into the Muggle world and purchase food.) As he read about how to undo the appearance changing potion (not the poly juice potion, that potion was only supposed to turn you into someone else.), he had read into it more thoroughly and suddenly everything made more sense. According to the potions books, if the appearance changing potion mixed some elements that were opposing each other, it would cause the person to look sickly and be more temperamental. It was because their body was rejecting the potion.
He first noticed that the potion was taking affect when a sort of relief passed through his body. Then slowly, as he washed his hair (making sure to shampoo three times to get rid of the greasiness), he noticed that some of the loose hair strands were no longer black, but varying shades of brown. he touched his face a bit, it wasn't as gaunt as before.
A sort of anticipation rose inside of him as he quickly finished his shower. As he got out, he quickly grabbed a towel to dry himself and put one some clothes. Then, leaving the cloth damp used on the floor, he steadily treaded over to the mirror and wiped the dewy fog from the surface.
He gasped. His hair was a light brownish gold color; darker near the roots and a bit of blond in the front. The texture was also different. Instead of the stringy, wiry hair he was used to, it was softer and finer now. His eyes were hazel now with flecks of green, orange, and yellow. However, the most noticeable change was his skin, it was definitely different, instead of a pale pasty white, it was still a bit pale but at least it had some color now. His cheeks were a bit flushed from the heat of the shower. He looked alive.
'If my students saw me now, they'd never think I was a vampire ever again.'
He gave a sort of unbelievable laugh and then looked down at his attire, which actually looked a bit too somber on him now. 'I've got to purchase some new clothes.later' he thought to himself. He took off the stiff black shirt he usually wore and decided to just wear the thinner white shirt underneath. It was nearing summer anyways.
Feeling like the world had been lifted off his shoulders, he walked lightly down the steps and decided to explore the rest of the house. And one by one, as he passed by each room, he pulled the white covers off of the furniture.
There was a guest room near the front and a hall, which divided it from the formal dining room. Near the back, the living room, the informal dining room and the kitchen were more or less connected since there weren't any walls dividing them. Most of the wall in the back consisted of large glass panel which slid away so that you could walk into the back yard. In the distance, whinnying could be heard from a stable located about twenty five feet from the house.
Curious, he decided to go put on his shoes and investigate the stable.
Sure enough, there were two horses in the stable. One was brown and black bay and the other was a nice light brown horse with a star on her forehead. He tentatively petted both on head. Then Severus looked down at the signs below each horse, the bay's name was Sam and the brown horse with a star was named Lena. The horses liked the attention of being petted; so continued to do so for a while. Sometimes also rubbed their velvet muzzle and handing them some straw to eat from the bucket on the side. There was a shed connected to the stable and inside there were cleaning supplies, saddles, bridles, food, and other objects he couldn't really identify.
When he returned to the house, it was about lunch time, but the refrigerator was completely empty since he had finished everything he had last night. He conjured some food and sat at the informal dining table and ate quietly as he looked out through the glass doors.
~~~
Severus frowned as he watched himself in the mirror, 'I can't even sneer correctly.'
Severus tried again, this time with the death glare he usually used on Longbottom. To his disappointment, he just looked a bit grumpy.
Snape indignantly huffed at the mirror and walked away. 'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.'
However, later that night, Snape discovered that he didn't have enough of a very rare ingredient, Tuatara skin, to turn himself back.
Snape tossed the book away in disgust, 'This has to be some huge cosmic joke.'
~~~ Weeks dragged on and Snape started stalk around the house doing nothing. He was immensely irritated and wanted to break something, but found that he could not. 'Damn stupid body. Can't even throw a tantrum correctly.'
Severus went upstairs and laid down on his bed. One of the reasons why he was in such a horrible mood was because he hadn't been able to sleep at all, not without a sleep potion, but the problem with the sleep potion was that the next morning he would be completely sick and throw up.
After throwing up for the fifth time, he decided against taking the potion anymore. Anything with such a potent side effect couldn't be good for his stomach.
Snap closed his eyes and covered his face with the back of his right hand to keep out the light streaming in from the window to the room. The nightmares had generally all been the same except with different people. Always with Voldemort standing behind his shoulder and directing him to kill someone. He always had a different potion, with different sickening effects. Some dropped people dead like an Avra Kedvadra, which were actually far better than some of the other potions. Other that were more gruesome would turn people inside out, disintegrate their bodies, melt them. the list went on. And nearly every night this week, he had only one hour of sleep per day. No one could sleep after waking from nightmares like that.
But the worst part of all. was that they weren't nightmares. They were all the deaths he had caused when he worked for Voldemort. even as a spy for Dumbledore.
Severus turned and lay on his side for a while, taking his hand away from his face. He stared into space, thinking of nothing. But as his quiet day dreaming faded, his vision fell upon his wand, lying there on the small lamp table lying next to the bed. He reached out and picked it up. Suddenly more flashed came to mind, groups of Muggles screaming as he and Lucius 'had fun' practicing Avra Kevadra on the Muggles while Voldemort laughed in amusement.
Snape quickly tossed his wand away in disgust. Then he let his hand dangle down the side of the bed and he felt it touch a small knob. Severus looked down and saw that the bottom of the bed had drawers. He swiftly tossed his legs over and then knelt down in front of the drawers, they were empty.
Suddenly, he had an idea, he quickly reached over to his wand and tossed it into the middle empty drawers. 'Just don't use magic for a while, no wand, no potions, maybe it'll help the dreams go away.'
~~~
After he had resolved to not use magic for a while he had forgotten that he needed a wand to conjure food. At first he was tempted, but then he finally settled on going to town for lunch. He had Muggle money, I couldn't be that bad.
Unfortunately, he seemed to have not realized how long it took to walk into town, especially with the houses so far apart. By the time he reached the edge of town (around 3:00pm), his wounds were acting up again and throbbing. Now he didn't care about where he ate he just wanted to sit down and rest.
He wandered over to dingy looking bar which vaguely reminded him of the Hog's Head in Hogsmead. Snape quietly sat down on one of the vinyl swiveling chairs at the bar and the bartender, a young lean man who looked about 20, came over, "Hi, what can I get you?"
"Do you serve food here?" Severus asked.
The young man nodded and pull a menu out from beneath the counter. Severus perused the menu for a bit and finally decided on fish and chips, at least it was something he recognized.
He ate his meal in solitude. That is, until a blond haired girl with red and black streaks in her hair sat down next to him. Severus gave a sideways glance at her, wondering why she hadn't taken any of the other empty seats around the bar.
The bar tender walked up to the girl, "Hey Cecily."
The girl smiled, "Hey Freddie. Can I get some water?"
Freddie nodded as he eyed her cautiously and then headed into the back.
Cecily turned to Severus, smiling at him flirtatiously. "Hey there. I haven't seen you around before. You a tourist?"
Severus glowered at her (however, he later learned that with his new change, his glares didn't have the same effect as they used to. In fact, he only looked like he was staring intently at someone now.), "No. Just moved here temporarily. visiting."
Cecily smirked as she leaned a bit closer, she drawled in a low seductive tone, "Nice accent."
Severus raised an eyebrow, 'Is this woman flirting with me?!' a sort of wonder passed through him since no one had ever showing any interest in him at all in his life. '.Probably because you looked like a slimy, greasy vampire.' His mind sniggered.
Freddy came back with a glass of water and Cecily thanked him. Then she turned back to Severus. "Hi," She held her hand out, "I'm Cecily Garrison."
Severus hesitated for a bit and then decided that it would seem strange if he didn't shake hands with her, " I'm S. Owen Leigh."
Cecily nodded as she rolled the name around in her mind, "That's a nice name."
Severus gave a weak smile, "Thank you."
"Are you from Britain?"
"London."
"Ah, thought so. Accent.. So, how long are you staying?"
"About six months. I have a place in London, " Severus started to talk, slowly settling into the light conversation, " I'm just out here visiting this estate that I inherited from my Grandmother."
"Where is it?"
"Livat Road."
"OH!" Cecily let out a startled yelp, causing Severus to flinch. "It's that really nice house that no one has lived in for like. twenty years!"
Severus looked at her, restraining himself for remarking nastily at her outburst, 'She's not your student. Just act calm, don't snap at her. The Muggles might find you strange if you act too hostile.'
"Yes, I guess so."
Cecily nodded thoughtfully, as she did so, she snatched a fry off of his plate.
"Hey!"
"Well you've left it alone for like fifteen minutes, I assumed that you didn't want it anymore."
Severus scowled, but Cecily didn't even notice as she took another fry smugly. Finally he gave in and pushed his plate over to her, "Fine have the rest. I'm done anyways."
Cecily gave him a big smiled and started to finish of the rest of the food on the plate.
The two of them talked for a while longer until Cecily finished the fries. Severus started to stand up, "I should be going now."
Cecily followed him as he walked outside, Severus suppressed another urge to yell at her to "bugger off".
"You walked here?!" Cecily yelled, causing Snape to jump again. 'Damn this woman!'
Severus took a deep breath, "Yes I did, do you have problem with that?"
"But that's like a three hour walk!"
"I applaud your observation."
"Oh come on. It's the least I can do after I stole your fries." Cecily grabbed Severus' arm and dragged him over to her car. "Get in."
Severus glared at the Muggle machine as if it were about to bite him, he was fine walking back. But his wounds throbbed a bit in protest. Cecily gave an exasperated sigh as she opened the door on the passenger side and shoved him in as she muttered, "Stupid stubborn men."
He sat down in the vehicle, looking at all the strange dials and buttons. Cecily came in the other side. "Buckle up."
Severus looked at her, 'Buckle up? What's that? But my shoes don't have buckles."
Cecily took a strange flat rope on her side and slide it across her abdomen and chest and inserted it into a lock with a quiet click. She looked at the lock on his side, "Come on! Buckle up! I'm not paying for you if we crash and you fly out of the car and die."
Getting the message a little better, Severus did the same thing as she did once he found the rope on his side.
Satisfied, Cecily smiled as she turned the key and started the car. As they were driving for a bit, Cecily turned to Severus, "So, why didn't you drive into town?"
"I don't know how to."
"Really?!..." Then she thought for a bit, "Oh, I guess the fact that London has a pretty good transportation system, you don't really need to drive."
Soon they approached an empty dirt opening, Severus frowned, "Where are we?"
Cecily got out of the driver's seat and headed to his side, she reached over and unbuckled his seatbelt, "Scoot over, I'm going to teach you how to drive."
She unceremoniously shoved him into the driver's seat. Severus grumbled, "Stupid bloody bird. Bloody daft."
Severus finally straightened himself in the driver's seat and buckled up like Cecily instructed. Cecily started to talk about the controls and the buttons on the vehicle. She pointed to them and told him what they did. This actually wasn't too difficult if he thought about it. Then she finally told him to start the car.
Severus reached forward to where the key was and turned it, holding it down like Cecily instructed. The car started with a satisfying 'vroom' Then Cecily pointed to the stick on the right, next to him. He reached down and pulled the lever back until the line next to the letter D glowed orange. Then the car started to move forward slowly, Cecily pointed at the two levers under his foot, "Remember the left one is the brake and the right is the accelerator."
Severus slammed foot down on the brakes heavily, which caused the car to lurch forward and then stop. Cecily held up a hand and started to yell, "Jesus! When using the brake, press down softly! Roll your foot."
One hour later, Severus was finally getting used to the feeling of driving, he no longer drove jerkily. The car now smoothly accelerated and slowed down. Soon enough, he was driving the way home without any problems.
As Severus exited the car Cecily poked her head out the window of the driver's seat, "If you need any help, my house is only three houses down from here. It's like a ten minute walk. I can take you into town anytime you want."
He nodded and thanked Cecily as she cheerily drove away. Snape stopped at the front door as he pulled his keys house, "That wasn't so bad."
Severus smiled at himself and went into the house.
~~~ note: laughs. sorry about that whole appearance changing thing (for those of you who thought it was stupid...) But really, Alan Rickman looks wonderful in real life. I mean, I nearly fell over when I saw how different he looked from Snape.
If you've never been curious as to how Alan Rickman looks like. Go to Google and type in his name (sorry, I can't provide a link)
(that pic above doesn't belong to me, it belongs to the Warner Bros, from the harry potter site)
The next morning, feeling far better than last night, Snape climbed out of bed and headed to bathroom to take a shower. The bathroom was actually very clean, spotless even, like no one had used it at all, there were even clean towels on the racks (which confirmed his theory that someone came here once in a while to clean the place.) He looked at himself in the mirror and shuddered a bit.
God he looked horrible. There were dark vivid violet colored bags under his eyes, his skin looked paler and pastier than usual. Slowly he touched his face and let out a deep sigh. Last night was the first time in several weeks where he was so tired that he had a dreamless sleep. Before that, he would wake up every night in cold sweat or in complete pain. And every nightmare kept replaying both times he had been tortured by the Dark Lord, meshing the memories together. And sometimes they would be traded with dreams of every person he had killed years before. Ashamed, he could barely look at himself and turned away quickly. He then stared at the shower.
As he let out a deep sigh and planned on leaving the bathroom to retrieve some clothes, he suddenly came upon a picture. it was photo of his mother when she was about three, his mother was laughing in delight as she ran across the field holding a enormous circular wire and making bubbles that were twice the size of Quaffles. Suddenly an idea formed in his head and as he hurried over to the trunk where he had placed his many potions.
~~~ (one week later)
'The feeling is so strange, like a shiver staring from my head and ending at my toes.' Snape thought as he ran a hand through his wet hair.
It had taken him a week to brew and he spent most of his time reading potion books or eating the food conjured with his wand. (He didn't really want to go out into the Muggle world and purchase food.) As he read about how to undo the appearance changing potion (not the poly juice potion, that potion was only supposed to turn you into someone else.), he had read into it more thoroughly and suddenly everything made more sense. According to the potions books, if the appearance changing potion mixed some elements that were opposing each other, it would cause the person to look sickly and be more temperamental. It was because their body was rejecting the potion.
He first noticed that the potion was taking affect when a sort of relief passed through his body. Then slowly, as he washed his hair (making sure to shampoo three times to get rid of the greasiness), he noticed that some of the loose hair strands were no longer black, but varying shades of brown. he touched his face a bit, it wasn't as gaunt as before.
A sort of anticipation rose inside of him as he quickly finished his shower. As he got out, he quickly grabbed a towel to dry himself and put one some clothes. Then, leaving the cloth damp used on the floor, he steadily treaded over to the mirror and wiped the dewy fog from the surface.
He gasped. His hair was a light brownish gold color; darker near the roots and a bit of blond in the front. The texture was also different. Instead of the stringy, wiry hair he was used to, it was softer and finer now. His eyes were hazel now with flecks of green, orange, and yellow. However, the most noticeable change was his skin, it was definitely different, instead of a pale pasty white, it was still a bit pale but at least it had some color now. His cheeks were a bit flushed from the heat of the shower. He looked alive.
'If my students saw me now, they'd never think I was a vampire ever again.'
He gave a sort of unbelievable laugh and then looked down at his attire, which actually looked a bit too somber on him now. 'I've got to purchase some new clothes.later' he thought to himself. He took off the stiff black shirt he usually wore and decided to just wear the thinner white shirt underneath. It was nearing summer anyways.
Feeling like the world had been lifted off his shoulders, he walked lightly down the steps and decided to explore the rest of the house. And one by one, as he passed by each room, he pulled the white covers off of the furniture.
There was a guest room near the front and a hall, which divided it from the formal dining room. Near the back, the living room, the informal dining room and the kitchen were more or less connected since there weren't any walls dividing them. Most of the wall in the back consisted of large glass panel which slid away so that you could walk into the back yard. In the distance, whinnying could be heard from a stable located about twenty five feet from the house.
Curious, he decided to go put on his shoes and investigate the stable.
Sure enough, there were two horses in the stable. One was brown and black bay and the other was a nice light brown horse with a star on her forehead. He tentatively petted both on head. Then Severus looked down at the signs below each horse, the bay's name was Sam and the brown horse with a star was named Lena. The horses liked the attention of being petted; so continued to do so for a while. Sometimes also rubbed their velvet muzzle and handing them some straw to eat from the bucket on the side. There was a shed connected to the stable and inside there were cleaning supplies, saddles, bridles, food, and other objects he couldn't really identify.
When he returned to the house, it was about lunch time, but the refrigerator was completely empty since he had finished everything he had last night. He conjured some food and sat at the informal dining table and ate quietly as he looked out through the glass doors.
~~~
Severus frowned as he watched himself in the mirror, 'I can't even sneer correctly.'
Severus tried again, this time with the death glare he usually used on Longbottom. To his disappointment, he just looked a bit grumpy.
Snape indignantly huffed at the mirror and walked away. 'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.'
However, later that night, Snape discovered that he didn't have enough of a very rare ingredient, Tuatara skin, to turn himself back.
Snape tossed the book away in disgust, 'This has to be some huge cosmic joke.'
~~~ Weeks dragged on and Snape started stalk around the house doing nothing. He was immensely irritated and wanted to break something, but found that he could not. 'Damn stupid body. Can't even throw a tantrum correctly.'
Severus went upstairs and laid down on his bed. One of the reasons why he was in such a horrible mood was because he hadn't been able to sleep at all, not without a sleep potion, but the problem with the sleep potion was that the next morning he would be completely sick and throw up.
After throwing up for the fifth time, he decided against taking the potion anymore. Anything with such a potent side effect couldn't be good for his stomach.
Snap closed his eyes and covered his face with the back of his right hand to keep out the light streaming in from the window to the room. The nightmares had generally all been the same except with different people. Always with Voldemort standing behind his shoulder and directing him to kill someone. He always had a different potion, with different sickening effects. Some dropped people dead like an Avra Kedvadra, which were actually far better than some of the other potions. Other that were more gruesome would turn people inside out, disintegrate their bodies, melt them. the list went on. And nearly every night this week, he had only one hour of sleep per day. No one could sleep after waking from nightmares like that.
But the worst part of all. was that they weren't nightmares. They were all the deaths he had caused when he worked for Voldemort. even as a spy for Dumbledore.
Severus turned and lay on his side for a while, taking his hand away from his face. He stared into space, thinking of nothing. But as his quiet day dreaming faded, his vision fell upon his wand, lying there on the small lamp table lying next to the bed. He reached out and picked it up. Suddenly more flashed came to mind, groups of Muggles screaming as he and Lucius 'had fun' practicing Avra Kevadra on the Muggles while Voldemort laughed in amusement.
Snape quickly tossed his wand away in disgust. Then he let his hand dangle down the side of the bed and he felt it touch a small knob. Severus looked down and saw that the bottom of the bed had drawers. He swiftly tossed his legs over and then knelt down in front of the drawers, they were empty.
Suddenly, he had an idea, he quickly reached over to his wand and tossed it into the middle empty drawers. 'Just don't use magic for a while, no wand, no potions, maybe it'll help the dreams go away.'
~~~
After he had resolved to not use magic for a while he had forgotten that he needed a wand to conjure food. At first he was tempted, but then he finally settled on going to town for lunch. He had Muggle money, I couldn't be that bad.
Unfortunately, he seemed to have not realized how long it took to walk into town, especially with the houses so far apart. By the time he reached the edge of town (around 3:00pm), his wounds were acting up again and throbbing. Now he didn't care about where he ate he just wanted to sit down and rest.
He wandered over to dingy looking bar which vaguely reminded him of the Hog's Head in Hogsmead. Snape quietly sat down on one of the vinyl swiveling chairs at the bar and the bartender, a young lean man who looked about 20, came over, "Hi, what can I get you?"
"Do you serve food here?" Severus asked.
The young man nodded and pull a menu out from beneath the counter. Severus perused the menu for a bit and finally decided on fish and chips, at least it was something he recognized.
He ate his meal in solitude. That is, until a blond haired girl with red and black streaks in her hair sat down next to him. Severus gave a sideways glance at her, wondering why she hadn't taken any of the other empty seats around the bar.
The bar tender walked up to the girl, "Hey Cecily."
The girl smiled, "Hey Freddie. Can I get some water?"
Freddie nodded as he eyed her cautiously and then headed into the back.
Cecily turned to Severus, smiling at him flirtatiously. "Hey there. I haven't seen you around before. You a tourist?"
Severus glowered at her (however, he later learned that with his new change, his glares didn't have the same effect as they used to. In fact, he only looked like he was staring intently at someone now.), "No. Just moved here temporarily. visiting."
Cecily smirked as she leaned a bit closer, she drawled in a low seductive tone, "Nice accent."
Severus raised an eyebrow, 'Is this woman flirting with me?!' a sort of wonder passed through him since no one had ever showing any interest in him at all in his life. '.Probably because you looked like a slimy, greasy vampire.' His mind sniggered.
Freddy came back with a glass of water and Cecily thanked him. Then she turned back to Severus. "Hi," She held her hand out, "I'm Cecily Garrison."
Severus hesitated for a bit and then decided that it would seem strange if he didn't shake hands with her, " I'm S. Owen Leigh."
Cecily nodded as she rolled the name around in her mind, "That's a nice name."
Severus gave a weak smile, "Thank you."
"Are you from Britain?"
"London."
"Ah, thought so. Accent.. So, how long are you staying?"
"About six months. I have a place in London, " Severus started to talk, slowly settling into the light conversation, " I'm just out here visiting this estate that I inherited from my Grandmother."
"Where is it?"
"Livat Road."
"OH!" Cecily let out a startled yelp, causing Severus to flinch. "It's that really nice house that no one has lived in for like. twenty years!"
Severus looked at her, restraining himself for remarking nastily at her outburst, 'She's not your student. Just act calm, don't snap at her. The Muggles might find you strange if you act too hostile.'
"Yes, I guess so."
Cecily nodded thoughtfully, as she did so, she snatched a fry off of his plate.
"Hey!"
"Well you've left it alone for like fifteen minutes, I assumed that you didn't want it anymore."
Severus scowled, but Cecily didn't even notice as she took another fry smugly. Finally he gave in and pushed his plate over to her, "Fine have the rest. I'm done anyways."
Cecily gave him a big smiled and started to finish of the rest of the food on the plate.
The two of them talked for a while longer until Cecily finished the fries. Severus started to stand up, "I should be going now."
Cecily followed him as he walked outside, Severus suppressed another urge to yell at her to "bugger off".
"You walked here?!" Cecily yelled, causing Snape to jump again. 'Damn this woman!'
Severus took a deep breath, "Yes I did, do you have problem with that?"
"But that's like a three hour walk!"
"I applaud your observation."
"Oh come on. It's the least I can do after I stole your fries." Cecily grabbed Severus' arm and dragged him over to her car. "Get in."
Severus glared at the Muggle machine as if it were about to bite him, he was fine walking back. But his wounds throbbed a bit in protest. Cecily gave an exasperated sigh as she opened the door on the passenger side and shoved him in as she muttered, "Stupid stubborn men."
He sat down in the vehicle, looking at all the strange dials and buttons. Cecily came in the other side. "Buckle up."
Severus looked at her, 'Buckle up? What's that? But my shoes don't have buckles."
Cecily took a strange flat rope on her side and slide it across her abdomen and chest and inserted it into a lock with a quiet click. She looked at the lock on his side, "Come on! Buckle up! I'm not paying for you if we crash and you fly out of the car and die."
Getting the message a little better, Severus did the same thing as she did once he found the rope on his side.
Satisfied, Cecily smiled as she turned the key and started the car. As they were driving for a bit, Cecily turned to Severus, "So, why didn't you drive into town?"
"I don't know how to."
"Really?!..." Then she thought for a bit, "Oh, I guess the fact that London has a pretty good transportation system, you don't really need to drive."
Soon they approached an empty dirt opening, Severus frowned, "Where are we?"
Cecily got out of the driver's seat and headed to his side, she reached over and unbuckled his seatbelt, "Scoot over, I'm going to teach you how to drive."
She unceremoniously shoved him into the driver's seat. Severus grumbled, "Stupid bloody bird. Bloody daft."
Severus finally straightened himself in the driver's seat and buckled up like Cecily instructed. Cecily started to talk about the controls and the buttons on the vehicle. She pointed to them and told him what they did. This actually wasn't too difficult if he thought about it. Then she finally told him to start the car.
Severus reached forward to where the key was and turned it, holding it down like Cecily instructed. The car started with a satisfying 'vroom' Then Cecily pointed to the stick on the right, next to him. He reached down and pulled the lever back until the line next to the letter D glowed orange. Then the car started to move forward slowly, Cecily pointed at the two levers under his foot, "Remember the left one is the brake and the right is the accelerator."
Severus slammed foot down on the brakes heavily, which caused the car to lurch forward and then stop. Cecily held up a hand and started to yell, "Jesus! When using the brake, press down softly! Roll your foot."
One hour later, Severus was finally getting used to the feeling of driving, he no longer drove jerkily. The car now smoothly accelerated and slowed down. Soon enough, he was driving the way home without any problems.
As Severus exited the car Cecily poked her head out the window of the driver's seat, "If you need any help, my house is only three houses down from here. It's like a ten minute walk. I can take you into town anytime you want."
He nodded and thanked Cecily as she cheerily drove away. Snape stopped at the front door as he pulled his keys house, "That wasn't so bad."
Severus smiled at himself and went into the house.
~~~ note: laughs. sorry about that whole appearance changing thing (for those of you who thought it was stupid...) But really, Alan Rickman looks wonderful in real life. I mean, I nearly fell over when I saw how different he looked from Snape.
If you've never been curious as to how Alan Rickman looks like. Go to Google and type in his name (sorry, I can't provide a link)
(that pic above doesn't belong to me, it belongs to the Warner Bros, from the harry potter site)