CHAPTER 18: SNAPE

"She is pretty, isn't she," Lucius whispered to Severus, who was staring avidly at the Gryffindor table one morning.

Snape turned his head sharply to look at one of his Slytherin friends. "I don't know what you're talking about," Snape said, picking up his fork and concentrating on his meal.

"Don't treat me like a fool," Malfoy spat. "You've been drooling over that blonde since she first arrived at Hogwarts; denial doesn't work unless you are more capable of hiding your emotions."

"I have not been drooling," Snape said grumpily. He didn't think anyone had noticed, but in retrospect, he should have realized he has not been very discreet. How many other people had noticed?

"I'm not mad at you," Malfoy said calmly. "She is a looker, even if she is in Gryffindor. Even if she is a Potter," he spat her name viciously. "No, this could be good. The Potter's need to be taken down a notch or two, and I believe that you're just the man to do it."

"What are you thinking?" Snape asked suspiciously. He was torn; he knew he had to follow Malfoy, there was no question about it, but this was the first time that he found himself not wanting to. In all fairness, he didn't really know Buffy, but he had seen her around and had watched her talking to her friends. She was beautiful, had a gorgeous smile, and a contagious laugh; unfortunately, she was frequently hanging around with her brother and Black.

"Well, she is a girl, and would more than likely be a good shag," Malfoy sneered.

Snape was drinking from his goblet and choked slightly on hearing the 'plan'.

"Oh, you can't tell me you've never thought about it," Malfoy said incredulously. "Hell, I've thought about it, along with just about every other guy in school. It's just nobody would do anything because she's James' younger sister. It's pathetic, really."

"And it has nothing to do with the fact that she's a fourth year," Snape said disbelievingly; however, he couldn't deny that he'd thought about it. He was a teenage boy, after all; looking at linoleum made him want to have sex.

Malfoy just shrugged and took a long draught from his pumpkin juice. "I'm sure it would be quite a scandal for the virtuous Potter girl to be, well, not so virtuous. And I'm sure you're stunt would rack up some points with the people in the higher positions," he said, referring to the Dark Lord.

Malfoy's family served under the Dark Lord, so it was only natural for Lucius to follow in their footsteps. He wasn't a Death Eater yet, there was no skull on his forearm, because it would be a little too suspicious while he was still at school, but he was an important follower. He helped to recruit people best suited to serve under the Dark Lord, and 'take care' of those that would not, or were not good enough. Snape had been one of his first recruits; it was so easy to take a friendless reject in; it wasn't like his parents cared much. He was pretty smart, and exceptional at Potions.

"I don't know," Snape said, once again sneaking a glance at the blonde girl whose laughter was ringing though the hall.

"I'm sure you'll make the right decision," Malfoy said, snatching a roll and standing up from the table.

Snape didn't even acknowledge Malfoy as he walked away; his eyes were still fixed on the young blonde girl that had unknowingly captured the hearts of many men, of all ages, in the school. She might have been two years below him class wise, but there was only a year difference in their ages.

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Buffy got up from the table, planning on walking back to the common room with her friends. As she stood up, she snuck a quick glance at Sirius, catching his eye before she turned around again, hoping James didn't notice. It was hard keeping their relationship secret, but she preferred Sirius alive, so James had no idea. Hopefully, anyway.

Snape was wondering the halls aimlessly, thinking about what Lucius had told him two days before. Ever since their talk, he couldn't get Buffy out of his head. If he didn't know better, he would have said Lucius had put something in his drink. Actually... he didn't know better. Malfoy was sneaky and disloyal; he'd do anything to get what he wanted.

Snape frowned at his train of thought, and seriously hoped that his friend wouldn't, or didn't, do anything to him, but he knew he shouldn't put it past him.

Down the corridor, he could hear girls giggling, and it brought his thoughts back around to Buffy. Amazingly enough, her's was the next voice he heard.

"Oh, wait a minute!" Buffy cried distressed. "I must have left one of my books in the library yesterday. I need it for our next class."

Her friends were about to volunteer to come with her to get it when she waved them off dismissively. "Go on ahead, you guys need to go by the common room and the tower's on the opposite side of school. I'll run to the library and meet you at the tower. Just let the professor know I'll be late, okay?"

Buffy walked off before her friends could object, and so they walked back leisurely to the common room.

Snape was hidden from their view, and was pleasantly surprised at this turn of events. She was alone, and they were expecting her to be late! Now was his chance to do something! Snape shook his head slightly to get stop his train of thought. He'd just follow her and maybe say something, that's all.

Curiously enough, as he followed her down a couple of passages, he realized they were not headed anywhere near the library. 'Where is she going?' he thought.

He decided that he might as well ask her. She was heading in the general direction of the Slytherin common room, so it wouldn't be that weird for him to be there. With that thought in mind, he stepped out from the shadows and approached her.

"Buffy, right?" he asked pleasantly, as pleasantly as he was able, at least.

Buffy turned around suddenly, surprised at the other presence behind her. She thought she was being followed, but she had thought it was someone else...

"What? I mean, yes. I'm Buffy," Buffy babbled. "Sorry, you startled me, that's all." She held out her hand and he accepted it, marvelling at the smoothness of her skin.

"Severus. I've seen you around before."

"Yeah, I suppose you would, seeing as how we both live here," Buffy said with a smile. "Well, not here here, because you're obviously in Slytherin and I'm in Gryffindor, and boys and girls don't share dormitories, at least they don't in Gryffindor, I don't know about Slytherin, not that I'm implying anything, I think I'll stop talking now," Buffy said, embarrassed.

"Well, I've never seen you around this part of the castle before. Are you looking for something?"

"No, not exactly. I've been here a couple of times before, I just like to wander the castle sometimes. It's full of surprises!" Buffy said anxiously. She really didn't want him here right now...

"So, are you excited about the Hogsmeade weekend, next week? It'll be nice to have a break from school."

"Yeah," Buffy said distractedly.

"Do you want to go with me?" Snape blurted. 'Where the hell did that come from?' he wondered. He had no intention of ever saying anything remotely obvious, and then he did something stupid like inviting her on a date.

"What?" Buffy asked with wide eyes, staring at the Slytherin in front of her.

"Come on, it could be fun," he said enticingly. 'What are you doing?' he asked himself. In all honesty, he had no idea. Maybe Malfoy had put something in his drink.

"You know, I don't think that's a good idea," Buffy said. She didn't know Severus very well, but she knew that a) he was a little creepy, b) he was in Slytherin, which wasn't an awful thing, but c) she knew her brother would freak, not to mention d) she was with Sirius, who had a worse temper than her brother.

"Why not?" Snape asked, getting a little angry. 'Why would she say no? What did I do to her?'

Buffy looked at the man in front of her with a confused and startled look on her face. She knew that it wasn't easy taking rejection, but she didn't think he'd get mad about it. "Not that it's any of your business, but I'm involved with someone," she said.

"No you're not," Snape snarled. 'Now she's lying? That little bitch! How could I have ever thought that she was more than a little slut?'

"Excuse me?" Buffy said. This was really getting out of proportion. Frankly, she was getting a little scared; he was older and stronger than her. And she didn't know him, or what he would do. "I really need to go now, I'm going to be late for class, I have Divination in the North Tower."

Buffy tried to slide past him, but he roughly grabbed her arm, startling the poor blonde girl. "Let go." She tried to shake his hand off her skinny wrist, but his grip was too tight; painfully tight.

"I just wanted you to go to Hogsmeade with me, is that too much to ask?" Snape snarled at her, pushing her up against the wall.

"Stop it," she cried.

Snape opened his mouth to say something else, but before any sound came out, he was grabbed from behind and hurled into the wall, and away from Buffy who looked up into the face of her rescuer.

"Sirius," she cried relieved. "You're late."

"Sorry, I had a hard time convincing James I needed to go to the library by myself. Are you okay?" he asked, looking her over for any damage done.

"I'm fine. Thank you," Buffy said, looking into his eyes.

Sirius gave her a smile and a quick kiss before turning back on the boy that was rising painfully from the floor. Sirius punched Snape and then lifted him up off the ground, the black robes clenched firmly in his fists.

Sirius slammed Snape roughly into the wall again, smacking his head painfully.

"Sirius," Buffy called from behind.

"Don't you ever touch her again," Sirius growled, ignoring Buffy's pleas.

"Sirius, stop. Things just got out of control. I'm sure he didn't mean anything."

"Apologize," Sirius yelled, slamming him again.

"I'm sorry," Snape said to Buffy, and amazingly enough he really sounded like he meant it. "I don't know what came over me." It had just been like a blind rage, it was so weird, like his emotions were controlling his body. "Now would you please let me go," he said a little more viciously to Sirius.

"If I ever see you near her again, you'll wish you had never come to Hogwarts, do you understand?" Sirius asked.

"I'm so scared," Snape mocked.

"You should be." Sirius slammed Snape into the wall once more before letting him drop none to gently. "Leave her alone."

Buffy grabbed Sirius' arm and led him away. "Walk me to class?"

"I always knew I hated that guy," Sirius said angrily. Snape had no idea what was in store for him.

"Don't tell James, please?" Buffy's voice pleaded from down the hall as Snape still lay sprawled on the floor.

'What had he done?'

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'What had she done?' Snape thought furiously as he stormed down the isle to the head table.

Buffy calmly put down the roll she had been munching on and ignored her rumbling stomach in order to confront the visibly upset professor.

"Is there a problem, Professor Fox?" Dumbledore said pleasantly.

Buffy looked at him incredulously. How could he not know? The whole school knew! He was supposed to be this all-knowing Headmaster, but he doesn't even know when one of his students gets thrown out of class? Unless of course, he did know and just wanted to see how it all played out. He must know that Malfoy wasn't a 'good boy' type of kid.

Buffy carefully schooled her features and replied just as pleasantly, "No problem, just a little issue that apparently wasn't clear enough. Excuse me." Buffy stood up from the table and made her way down to meet the steaming Head of House.

"Yes?"

"I think we need to talk privately," Snape muttered, noticing that all eyes were on them; there was no use making an even bigger scene than they already had.

"I don't think we need to talk at all," Buffy replied. "I thought I made myself clear last time. He is not welcome in my class anymore. As Head of House, I expect you'll make the appropriate changes to his schedule. I'm sure there are some spaces left in muggle studies, and you don't really need prerequisites for that class." Buffy made no attempt to keep her voice down, causing the entire hall to burst out in disbelieving whispers as the rumour was confirmed, and then laughter as they thought of a Slytherin, pureblood, elitist, such as Malfoy, taking muggle studies.

"My office, now," Snape growled out. How could someone be so attractive and yet so stubborn? The random thought took Snape by surprise, and he turned on his heel to exit before he did something stupid. Over the years he had grown much better at hiding his emotions, using anger and spite to cover up his feelings most of the time.

Buffy gave a sigh and reluctantly followed along. This was taking far too much energy. Why couldn't people just accept her judgment? It was much too annoying, and it reminded her of the time when her friends had kicked her out of her own house, even though she was right.

Buffy obediently walked behind Snape as he led the way towards his office. As soon as they left the Great Hall, it exploded with noise, as everyone had something to say on the matter.

"Bloody Hell!" Ron cried, while Hermione smacked him.

"Don't curse, Ron!"

"Did you just hear that! She kicked Malfoy out of Defence! I think I'm going to savour this memory more than the bouncing ferret one. Oh, if only I could have been there to see his face. Priceless," Ron sighed, imagining it.

"Too bad there were only Slytherins in that class. They won't tell us what really happened," Harry sighed, looking where Snape and Fox had gone.

"I bet it was great!"

"Well, what's he going to do know?" Hermione asked, slightly distressed.

Harry and Ron turned to look at her with unbelieving looks gracing their faces. "He deserves it, the git," Ron said. "How could you feel sorry for him?"

"I don't feel sorry for him, I feel sorry for her," Harry said. "Malfoy's gonna cause a storm. Remember what happened with Buckbeak? And this is real!"

"Maybe she'll get fired and we'll have a proper teacher," Hermione said hopefully. She continued as once again, Ron and Harry looked at her with incredulous looks, "Well, I suppose it's a good thing we have the DA then, isn't it? We have O.W.L.'s this year!"

"I wonder what they're doing now?" Neville added in, also looking off where Professor Fox had gone. He actually wanted her to stay; she was one of the nicest teachers he had ever met. She cared.

"I don't know, but what I wouldn't give to find out," Ron said gleefully, shoving another forkful of food in his mouth. Nothing was going to ruin his mood today.

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Snape pushed open the door to his office, revealing two heads of unnaturally blonde hair. 'Great,' Buffy thought bitterly. 'It just keeps getting better.'

"I'm Lucius Malfoy," the elder blonde said, extending his gloved hand which Buffy reluctantly took.

"Sarah Fox. Professor Sarah Fox," she said with a glare.

"Look, I'm sure there's been some misunderstanding here," Malfoy senior replied easily. "I'm sure if he just apologizes for whatever he did, he'll be allowed back into class, correct?"

"No. I don't know how to make myself any clearer," Buffy said. "He is not coming back to the Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Ever. He is banned for life."

"You don't have the authority to do that," Malfoy spat.

"Actually, I do. I'm the professor. If a student is being disruptive to other's learning environment, he can be removed from class."

"What about Potter, Weasly, Granger, and Longbottom? They're the most disruptive people ever," Draco said with a scowl.

"He does have a point," Snape said with a small smile, thinking he caught her in her own game. "Perhaps next time they're disruptive, I can remove them."

"This is an entirely different situation, as I don't have any prejudices against him," Buffy said. 'His father is an entirely different matter,' she thought. "He was rude and disruptive to me and the class, and therefore he is not welcome anymore. Have a nice day." Buffy started to walk out, but was stopped by Lucius' voice.

"I don't think you understand the consequences your actions will have," he said.

"Are you threatening me, Mr. Malfoy?" Buffy said, taking a step toward the man.

"It's not a threat. It's a warning."

"Sounds the same to me, and I'm sure other people would be more than happy to hear about this. Namely, my boss; I think you call him Minister."

"Like he could do anything. In case you didn't know, I am a prominent member of this society, and I give generous contributions to the ministry."

"I thought that was to buy your way off of a prison sentence in Azkaban," Buffy said matter of factly.

The other members in the room stood still at what she had the nerve to say. "I was cleared of all charges, Miss Fox, and you'll do well to remember that."

"Right, I forgot. You didn't have the balls to fight the Imperious Curse, and were a poor slave to Voldemort."

Everyone in the room was astonished that this slip of a girl had the gall to say the Dark Lord's name. "You'll do well to respect the Dark Lord's name and not use it in vain," Lucius said.

"It's a name, get over it," Buffy said with a roll of her eyes. "I mean, what kind of a name is Voldemort anyway?"

Lucius lifted his wand and pointed it at Buffy, startling Snape. "You should know your place little girl, and not mettle in things that aren't your business."

"This school is my business. If you've forgotten, I'll remind you once again, I'm a professor here. I have power you don't."

"You have no idea what kind of power you're messing with. I have resources and people that will tear you apart. You've chosen the wrong family to mess with."

"Put down you're wand!" Snape yelled for the final time.

Lucius made a motion with his wand and purple beam of light shot out of the tip of his wand, heading straight for Buffy, who quickly lifted her own wand and yelled "Protego!"

A shield erected itself around her, causing the purple light to bounce off the barrier and hit the wall of Snape's office, smashing some of his jars.

Umbridge chose that moment to walk in. "What is going on in here!"

"Nothing," Snape said. "Just a little demonstration, that's all." He had to cover up for Lucius; he'd be in deep with both the Malfoy's and the Dark Lord if he didn't.

"I'm sure the Minister will be very interested to know what kind of spells you use at respected professors at Hogwarts," Buffy said.

"As High Inquisitor, you can force this young lady to allow Draco back into class and cease that ridiculous ban, right?" Lucius said.

"I do believe that she said that she would back every one of my decisions, isn't that right? I believe that's what we call a magical contract people. Sorry, but my word goes. Draco can find another class. That's final. Have a good day." Buffy walked out of the room while everyone else was stunned by the latest turn of events, including Umbridge herself.

Hem hem, was all she could say.

Snape, on the other hand, walked out the door, following Professor Fox. "Wait just a minute," he snarled, latching onto her arm, attempting to halt her progress.

The fierce pressure on her arm reminded her of that day long ago in the empty corridors of Hogwarts, and of the day not too long ago in the bathroom with Spike. She didn't have control either of those times, and it scared her. But she had the power now.

Buffy flicked her wrist, freeing herself of his grasp and pushed him away, causing him to stumble backwards. "Don't ever touch me again," Buffy said in a low, dangerous voice.

She turned her back on him and walked out, leaving a thoroughly stunned and stumped Snape gawking after her. 'Who is that girl?'