Madam Rosmerta idly watched the sun set as the first Hogsmeade Weekend of the year ended. It had been gratifyingly lucrative. Placing her hands on the well curved hips that made boys like Ron Weasley blush to contemplate, Rosmerta notice a blonde witch standing in front of The Three Broomsticks. It was Professor Tonks. Rosmerta had become friends with Tonks and her fellow professor Lorelei due to their habit of visiting the pub several nights a week for a drink and some girl talk—something the younger woman seemed to be in dire need of right now.

Rosmerta drew a tankard of mulled mead and set it on the bar when Tonks came in and perched on a stool.

"Ta, Thanks." Tonks took a long drink. "I could use a bit of bottled courage before I go have an embarrassing chat."

"This wouldn't be about what happened last night, would it?"

Tonks gaped. "How did you know?"

Rosmerta said, "A good barkeep always knows what's going on in her pub. I noticed our friend sashaying over to Snape and said to myself they'd be leaving together." She took down a mug and polished it with a clean rag. Customers always opened up more if they thought she was a bit distracted.

"Yeah, well, you were right." Tonks gulped the rest of her drink. "Maybe a few more of these will give me a notion of what to say about it."

"Do you have to say anything?"

"Remus wants us to invite them over."

Rosmerta hid a smile. Tonks sounded so glum. "Snape doesn't seem like the social type."

"No, he isn't. I'm in a bother over nothing. Thanks, Ros." Tonks paid for her drink and left as another customer came in sporting a long face.

Rosmerta started polishing another mug, patiently waiting for her new entertainment to begin.

.

Tonks acknowledged her contrariness as she stood outside Lorelei's office. She didn't want to talk about what happened the night before, but she was curious to know what her friend saw in a grouchy git like Snape. She knocked on the door and wondered anyone would chose to have her quarters as well as her office off corridors leading directly to the dungeons. Lorelei wasn't affiliated with a House, so she was free to choose accommodations anywhere she liked. Was she that keen on dungeons? Perhaps she and Snape weren't such a strange match after all, and close proximity would make visiting each other's quarters convenient.

Oh Merlin, I do not want to think of Snape in a bathrobe prowling the corridors. Aaahhh...rubbing my eyes isn't taking the bloody vision away. Think about something else. Remus in a bathrobe. Yes, much better...

"Are you all right?"

Tonks hadn't heard the door open. She lowered her hands. "I'm fine." She entered the office and blinked.

The walls were washed in a sunny yellow colour and accented by a black and white checked border. In front of the desk, two cosy chairs were upholstered in the strangest fabrics. One had a yellow background with miniature Scotties abounding, and the other was a yellow fabric dotted with miniature cherries. Across the desk, the professor's chair was covered in a black material printed with white dots, teapots, chairs, and cherries.

They sat in the cushy chairs and a teapot and sturdy mugs appeared on the small black table between them.

"The elves never give me this kind of service." Tonks picked up a mug painted with cherries. "Where'd you get this stuff?"

"Across the pond. I taught at Sunnydales in California for a year. One of the professors had a couple of this artist's—Mary Engelbreit's—prints and I'm afraid I went a bit overboard in my enthusiasm."

"I don't know," Tonks said. "There's a spot by the door you could squeeze another cherry or Scottie dog onto." She asked, "Did you like California?"

"It was a nice place to visit. I met a lot of friendly people, and an Englishman who was extremely . . . interesting."

"Tell me more, tell me more."

"Was it love at first sight? Sorry, Muggle musical humour, it's a bad habit." Lorelei sipped her tea. "We met in a park. I was collecting Boletophagus reticulates—a rare beetle—and he was out for a stroll in the moonlight. "

Tonks plunked down her mug. "That sounds suspicious."

"He didn't attack me. He said he couldn't. He had some sort of inhibitor implanted in his head." Lorelei smiled. "I never saw Spike again, but I never forgot him. He had hypnotic eyes and a sardonic wit."

"He was barmy," Tonks said, "and what is it with you and men with five letter names that begin with S?"

"That's right, Snape is five letters, too, and they both end in 'E'. How odd. I suppose I'm drawn to a certain type."

Not wanting to hear any gory details, Tonks asked quickly, "So you and Snape are a couple? You know, going out and all that?"

"Not officially." Lorelei shrugged. "Severus isn't the type to go round the corridors holding hands, even if he wasn't doing some covert work he can't talk about."

Tonks' eyes widened as her mouth dropped. "You know about Snape's other activities?"

"Nothing more than that he has them, he doesn't need that much time for research, and Binns is a ghost with eternity on his hands. I know his real work probably deals with stopping You-Know-Who, which means that giving the dark side a weapon like the knowledge of a . . . friend . . . isn't a good idea."

Tonks shrugged away her puzzlement over the 'dark side' comment. "That's all right with you, sneaking around instead of being out in the open?"

"I can wait. Vol—You Know Who—will be stopped sooner or later. I'll snog Severus under the mistletoe in front of the Great Hall then."

The thought of Lorelei snogging Snape made Tonks a bit queasy. "Does this mean you don't want to get together, the four of us. Go out sometime?"

Her hope was dashed when Lorelei asked, "What are your plans next Saturday?"

"Prolly just being with Remus, not much. Why?"

"My mother is throwing a party and she wants me to bring a few friends."

"What kind of party?"

"Just a little masquerade for a hundred or so close friends and acquaintances. I'll send a domino for Remus and you and I can whip something up with Dobby's help."

"Dobby sews?"

"House-elves can do just about anything. He even mentioned something about straw and gold once, but no matter. Will you come?"

"Snape is going to a party?" It would be worth getting decked out in a ridiculous costume to see the bat sweat being social.

Lorelei said, "He will after I persuade him to."

.

Later, Lorelei paced the dimly lit corridor waiting for Severus to return to his quarters, not nearly as confident of her ability to coax Severus' attendance at anything as frivolous as a party.

The shadows in the dungeon corridor were lengthening, giving the stone passageway a deliciously Gothic atmosphere. The enchanted torches flickered in the slight cool breeze that drifted from an unknown source. Lorelei stopped. Had she heard something?

She shivered when fingers grasped her shoulders and pulled her back against a firm masculine body. A hand moved to tug her hair and tilt her head to the side, exposing the skin of her neck. Warm lips sucked playfully before the mobile lips moved upwards to whisper menacingly in her ear, "I must warn you that intruders to my quarters are severely punished."

The current of dark laughter threading the velvety voice goaded Lorelei into action. She turned and slid her fingers into his Severus' hair, tightening her grip to force his smirking face down to meet her demanding lips. She proceeded to devour the maddening man's mouth and press Severus against the wall with his now hotly enthusiastic participation.

"You there, I beg thee stop!" the knight from the guardian painting cried. "Thy immodest actions are bringing my fair maid to the blush. Get thee to a room, Sirrah!"

Lorelei giggled. "That ought to teach you not to tease a woman with a vampire fixation."

Her breathy words made Severus' brows draw together. "Vampire fixation?"

"Well, the students call you a great malevolent bat, and you do hang around dungeons and swoop about in all that billowing black looking so dramatic and mysterious and all," Lorelei said. "When you grabbed me and bit my neck—"

"Liked that, did you?"

"Merlin, yes. Do it again."

Severus gave a huff of amusement and moved behind her, gently pushing the tumbled curls over her right shoulder, exposing her throat and the pulse leaping at its base. She closed her eyes and bit her lip, causing him to huff again. Lorelei felt her breath become laboured again as he whispered, "Were you waiting by the portrait to ask me something?"

"Yes," she groaned out as warm lips nibbled her neck, pausing to suck lightly. "I want us to go to dinner with Tonks and Remus and then drop by my mother's Masquerade Party next Saturday night. Ooohhh...I'll have a domino sent so you won't have to dress up in a silly costume."

Severus said, "I have...duties...that prevent my attending dinner, but I will escort you to the party if my domino is black."

"It will be." She impulsively grabbed his hand and pressed a kiss to his palm. Glancing at the couple in the painting, she released his hand and said, "I suppose I should go before we melt the pigment or something."

As she moved to say her password and enter her own quarters, she heard Severus ask, "May I ask what your costume will be?"

She blew him a kiss. "Persephone."

.


A/N: Thanks to all the Reviewers helping me to type jauntily! Couldn't resist having Spike from Buffy make a cameo...yay to having a vampire fixations!