So he ended up sneaking out of the dungeons at midnight that night to meet Lily Evans. He tiptoed through the dark halls in his socks, carrying his shoes and hardly daring to breathe for fear of Filch nabbing him.

The Slytherins had been discussing the dare during dinner. "Marvellous idea, Maud," Bellatrix cried, "the Mudblood'll never manage to get through the Dark Forest!"

Rodolphus was back in fine form and had been filled in on what he'd missed. "Yes, capital idea, Maud," he snarled, "only now Sev's going to die with her!"

They all looked at Avery, who raised his hands. "I'm sorry, all right? But you have to admit it's true that she could have gotten the groundskeeper to do the work for her. We needed an eyewitness—evidence, you know?"

"And will my blood splattered all over the damned cat be enough evidence?" Severus snapped.

"I'll admit that part of the dare was not to my liking," Maud allowed. "I only meant for the Mudblood to try to sneak out and get caught by Filch. He'll be ten times as vigilant tonight, you know, after what Potter and Black did to him."

"Great," Severus said bleakly. He let his gaze drift across the Great Hall to the Gryffindor first years. They all seemed to be advising Lily as well, while she sat and poked despondently at her food. Potter seemed slightly uncomfortable, but Black was jabbering away excitedly and waving his wand about. It took Severus a moment to realize Black was enacting an attack on Filch for the captivated audience of his friends. He appeared to finally have crossed the line between bluffing and total idiocy, and had actually swallowed his own self-congratulating propaganda.

Severus noticed Lupin was still missing, and asked Rodolphus about it.

"I really don't know where he is," Rodolphus said indifferently. "I was fixed up in half an hour. He must have gotten splashed a lot worse than I was."

"He'll have me and Evans for company in the hospital wing in a few hours, after we get caught by Filch," said Severus gloomily.

"Cheer up, Snape!" said Maud. "There's an easy way out of this mess."

Severus was nonplussed. Maud leaned forward. "The name of the game is sabotage. Just make sure she doesn't get her hands on that cat. You're clever, Snape, we've no doubt you'll manage."

"Besides, that poor bastard of a cat's probably long dead, what with all the nasty carnivorous beasts in the forest," Fulton Bulstrode remarked.

They all stared at him. "What?" he asked blankly.

After dinner Rodolphus pulled him aside. "You know, Sev, this may be a solution to more than one problem. If the Mudblood doesn't succeed, then Gryffindor gets knocked down a few pegs, and you'll be a Slytherin hero, albeit a secret one. Or, well... at least the disgrace of your little 'fit' yesterday might be wiped from memory. This is your chance to win back respect in our house, Sev! Don't disappoint us."

But was that enough reason to sabotage Lily Evans?

In times of crisis Severus generally turned to logic.

Maybe he could get Lily caught by Filch, but, he reasoned, he would undoubtedly be caught too. Similarly, he could arrange to have her consumed by some voracious monster in the Dark Forest, but surely he would be its next victim. His major problem was that, logically, any misfortune that befell Lily was certain to be his as well. Was he willing to risk his own life for a chance to have his new nickname done away with, at least within the confines of Slytherin house? What good was his housemates' respect if he was dead? He could always try to get separated from her, but then he would be running the risk of her actually succeeding on her own. At least if he stayed with her he had a chance of interfering with her mission—even if he didn't know how he would do it.

They had arranged to meet in the Entrance Hall at midnight. He was early and the room was dark and silent except for the ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner. After a quick check for Lily—punctuality was clearly no concern of hers, he thought contemptuously—he slipped behind the clock to wait.

But just as he was sliding into the shadows, the doors of the Great Hall swung open, admitting Argus Filch. Severus swallowed hard.

The caretaker shut the doors soundlessly and crept forward. Maud's voice drifted back through Severus' mind: "He'll be ten times as vigilant tonight, you know, after what Potter and Black did to him..." Well, that seemed apt enough. Filch was hunched and tense—and armed, Severus saw as the man moved into a puddle of moonlight from a high window, with his kitten in one hand and a huge club in the other. He was twitching slightly and gave a tremendous jump when an owl hooted outside. Severus would have found the sight comical, had it not been for the lethal beating he believed was imminent.

Filch glanced his way and he ducked back behind the clock. But Mrs. Norris leaped from Filch's hand and tracked Severus to the grandfather clock. She stopped in front and mewed. Devil cat born of bloodhound parents, Severus thought viciously. He wasn't even wearing any kind of scent. Of course, he was sweating rather profusely.

"What is it, my sweet?"

Filch's footsteps drew near. Severus heard the club whistle experimentally through the air. He held his breath and clutched his wand tightly.

"What's there?" Filch murmured.

Severus lifted his wand.

BONG!

Mrs. Norris screeched and sprang back and Filch yelped as he dropped the club on his foot. All this clamour fortunately covered up Severus' squeak of shock.

BONG!

It was the grandfather clock, of course, striking midnight.

BONG!

And in between the clock's bells, the kitten's hissing, Filch's grunts, and the sound of his own racing pulse, Severus heard a popping noise in the distance, repeated again and again. Pop... pop pop...

"Bloody hell, bloody, bloody hell... Calm down, my sweet, calm down..." Filch paused. "Do you hear that?"

BONG!... pop pop pop... pop pop. Then the distant sound of gleeful laughter.

"Come on, Mrs. Norris!" Filch scooped up his cat and his club and limped hastily back the way he had come, hollering, "Stop that racket! I'm coming for you, you blasted rascal!"

Severus waited out the rest of the gonging, his heart stopping with every BONG that rang through his skull; then he eased out from behind the clock.

"Meow," he heard from the darkness.

He gasped and nearly fell over backwards, waggling his wand pointlessly. Lily Evans giggled as she moved into the moonlight. "Relax!"

"Oh, it's you," Severus whispered, too relieved to be angry. "Filch was here a moment ago, but there was a noise and-"

"I know," she whispered, "I bribed Peeves with a bag of Dungbombs, you see, to keep them both occupied all night. Peeves was more interested in annoying Filch than in telling on a couple of students out of bed after hours."

Severus couldn't help but feel a grudging admiration for her resourcefulness. Tack 1, Capture by Filch, was clearly out.

"Let's go," he said. It was a good thing, he reflected, that the odds of them finding Ned in the Dark Forest, dead or alive, were practically nil.

The front doors were bolted shut, but Lily had the answer to that too: a trick coaxed out of Arthur Weasley, who, she explained, had years of experience in sneaking round the castle after hours. A tap or two in the right place made one of the doors pop open just wide enough for them to slip through.

"Good thing Bulstrode didn't volunteer to assist me," Lily whispered as she squeezed through the narrow aperture. "He would never have fit."

"I'm not assisting you," Severus whispered back as he followed, sliding through with surprisingly more facility than Lily. He straightened up and brushed himself off, and said coolly, "I am strictly an observer."

Lily shrugged. "Fine. Just don't get in the way then."

Severus crossed his fingers behind his back and nodded. Tack 2, Getting Trapped In the Castle, was out. He was relieved that at least she didn't know about the little cave he and Rodolphus had found that day. He couldn't bear the thought of defiling it with a Mudblood's presence.

The lawns were painted silver-white by the moonlight. Looking up, Severus took in and the full fat moon like a shining silver Sickle, drowning out the light of the stars. Their shoes made quiet squeaking noises as they trekked over the dewy grass towards the Dark Forest. These were the only sounds until a queer howl suddenly rent the air.

They both stopped short.

"That came from the forest!" Lily gasped.

"Yeah, it's a wolf."

She gazed at him in mute shock. "What did you expect, rainbows and butterflies?" Severus asked. "There's all sorts of creatures in the Dark Forest—wolves included."

Lily pursed her lips and got a better grip on her wand. "All right, let's get this over with quickly. I'd like to be mauled to death as little as possible tonight."

They crossed the lawn and entered the Dark Forest. Once inside, Lily glanced about nervously and said, "Let's light our wands."

Severus sighed. "I thought you said you didn't want to get mauled to death tonight. If that's the case, then we can only use one wand at a time. It's not safe to have both going at once in a forest like this. Magic draws the beasts."

Lily shuddered and nodded. Severus reminded himself he was supposed to be sabotaging the expedition. Tack 3, Devouring by Large Ravenous Beasts, was equally out. But he hadn't liked that one anyways. He had his own survival to worry about along with hers.

They started walking. Lily had a handy charm to guide them called the Four-Point Spell, which indicated north and made it impossible for them to get seriously lost. Tack 4, Getting Hopelessly Lost, was out.

They wound through the trees, Lily in front, Severus close behind. Lily whispered, "Ned! Neddy! Here, Neddy!" and started waving a toy filled with catnip close to the ground. Severus grabbed her arm.

"What are you doing?"

"I borrowed a toy from Priya, who's got a cat," Lily said, puzzled. "What's wrong?"

There was a grunt from the shadows nearby and a large furry creature lumbered out of the bushes. Severus seized the catnip, threw it on the ground, and pulled Lily away from the beast.

The creature, which resembled an overgrown ferret, glowered up at them and bared its yellow and rather grotty fangs. "Bugger off!" it snarled, before making off with the catnip toy.

When it had gone, Lily exhaled. "What was that?"

"A Jarvey, of course," Severus said testily. "Looks like an ugly ferret with rotten teeth, and didn't you hear it swear? I expect the fact that Jarveys love catnip is news to you." Lily nodded. "We were lucky this time; it had just woken up, it wasn't in the mood for a fight. We could have gotten ripped to shreds."

"I thought you said it had rotten teeth," Lily said nervously.

"They may be rotten but they're still bloody sharp. And anyways it doesn't need them, it's got pretty sharp claws too." Lily was rooted to the spot, staring at him. "Are we going on or not?" he asked crossly.

She nodded and moved past him. He started to follow, but suddenly collided with her. "Hey!" he hissed.

"Shh!" She fumbled for her wand but he caught her arm before she could reach it. "Ah! It's gone! Did you see it?" she asked, disengaging herself from his grip.

"See what? The Jarvey?"

"No, the face!"

"What face? Where? Whose?"

"A man's... I think. I only saw him for an instant," Lily said. "Behind those shrubs over there. He looked surprised to see me."

"Filch?"

Lily shook her head. "Pale, but with a broader forehead and a white beard, and stronger-looking... You didn't see him?"

"No. Are you sure you didn't imagine it?"

"I'm not mad," Lily said firmly. "He wasthere a moment ago."

Severus shrugged. "If you say so."

Lily scowled. "Forget it. Let's go."

They walked on in silence for a little while, deeper and deeper into the Dark Forest. The cold wind whistled in the bare branches of the trees, but they groaned and creaked even when the air was still. Then Severus walked right into Lily again. Stumbling backwards, he said, "What is it now?"

"The... the lights," Lily murmured. She pointed. "The lights... they're beautiful."

Severus did not bother to follow her gaze. He clapped his hand over her eyes and propelled her forward until the buzzing had faded away. Lily yanked his hand away, looking confused and angry, but Severus spoke first.

"Don't look at the fairy lights, for God's sake," he snapped. "They mesmerize you and lure you away from your path to get you desperately lost. They think it's fun and they're skilled at it—you wouldn't be found again for weeks."

Lily was shaking a little and still a bit disoriented. She leaned against a tree to collect herself. "How do you know all this? You've never been in the Dark Forest before either, have you?"

"No, but my house is in the middle of a forest full of magical beasts and plants just like this one. I grew up with these creatures roaming through the woods round my house. I learned how to deal with Jarveys the hard way," he said, exposing an old pink scar on his leg, "and as for the fairies—well, Rodolphus saw the lights from my window one night." He started to chuckle as the memory came back to him. "He ripped off his shirt and walked right off the bloody sill. If he hadn't broken his leg in the fall from my window I think he would have kept following the fairies forever."

"I see." Lily straightened up. She looked a bit embarrassed. It occurred to Severus that here was his chance to get separated from her and, at the same time, ensure that she would never recover Ned—indeed, that she herself would never be recovered either. But the opportunity had passed. Well, he thought, the next time she sees fairy lights, I'll just let her go.

But they didn't see any more fairy lights as they moved further into the forest. They did, however, observe a host of flesh-eating slugs gorging themselves on a deer carcass, a proliferation of bats and owls swooping over their heads, and a cat-shaped flash of white weaving through the woods. A cat-shaped flash of white? Severus did a double take.

"Ned?" gasped Lily.

Severus couldn't believe it. The odds of finding one cat in a forest this size full of magical beasts and plants must be near zero—yet here he was, that poor bastard. "You're not serious."

Lily pointed with her lit wand. "Look! There he is again!"

Severus turned in time to see the streak of white hurtle past them. Lily cried, "Ned!" and raced off after him, heedless of leaving Severus in the dark. He groaned and ran after her.

"Evans!"

"Ned!"

"Evans!"

The light at the end of her wand bobbed up and down in the darkness ahead, and she seemed to be the faster runner because Severus soon found himself alone. He could hear her calling for the cat, but her voice seemed to be bouncing off the tree trunks and he couldn't tell where it was coming from. Cursing under his breath, he whipped out his own wand but did not dare light it, for fear it would draw magical monsters. Fortunately, as his eyes adjusted to the dark, he was able to make out a brighter area ahead—brighter than any mere wand-light. It was a clearing filled with moonlight, and Lily was standing under the lone oak tree in the middle of it. Severus could see the cat clinging to a high bare branch of the tree, mewing pitifully as the leafless tree swayed in the wind.

"Ned! Neddy! Come down, Neddy!" She spotted Severus. "Snape! The cat's in the tree."

"So I see," Severus said unhappily.

"I'm going up for him. You stand guard."

"Now wait a second-" he began, but she was already clambering up.

Severus leaned against the tree trunk. He had failed. She was going to retrieve Ned. Gryffindor would show Slytherin up once again. His own housemates would probably start using the name "Snivellus" and he would be forced to drop out of school and pursue a low-paying menial trade in total obscurity until his bitter and unexceptional death.

Something slipped by in the dense shadows of the forest surrounding their tree He only caught a glimpse of it as it passed into the moonlight: a face, broad and pale and definitely human, with large wide-set eyes that glinted at him in—and of this he was sure—shock, bordering on fear. He jumped and blinked. The face was gone.

"What..." Severus murmured, taking a step forward. The face Lily had seen! He'd thought she was imagining it.

Perhaps he was imagining it too—maybe she was getting into his brain. But it seemed so real! They'd both seen it, it must be real. A ghost? Not out here in the open. He hoped it wasn't a Boggart—he didn't know the countercurse—but no, he couldn't think of any person they were both scared of who had a broad white face. It wasn't Filch or Astaroth; he was certain he had never seen that face before.

"Oops—oh no! Look out below!"

There was a snap of wood above his head and he looked up to see a white shape plummeting towards his face, screeching and hissing. He gasped and jumped out of the way. Ned hit the ground running, and before Severus could react the cat had raced off into the trees.

"You were supposed to catch him!" Lily hissed from above. Severus craned his neck to glare at her.

"I could have used more notice than 'Look out below!' "

"Now I've got to track him down all over again! We'll be searching all night!"

"Please, let's just give up! I'm tired and cold and this search is ridiculous. We'll never find Ned before sunup, not twice in one night! He'll be eaten long before then-"

"Snape!" Lily was horrified.

"-and if we're not careful, we'll be someone's midnight snack too," he went on coldly. He was thinking of the strange face they'd seen. He didn't know what creature—or person—it could belong to. "Can we just go in now?"

"Snape, I am not going back without that bloody cat!" Lily snapped.

Severus began to reply, but he was interrupted by a wolf howl.

"It's louder than before."

"That means it's closer than before," he said.

The wolf howled again. "It's definitely closer."

"And hungrier."

"Please come up here," Lily whispered.

Severus already had his arms wrapped round the trunk. He scaled the oak tree in a hurry, scrambling to grip branches with his shaking, clammy hands. He didn't dare to look down. Lily gasped softly every time his hands or feet slipped, but, fuelled by pure fear, he reached the top in half the time it had taken her. She shifted over and he sat hunched up in the crook of the branch, clinging tightly to the trunk.

A cold wind blowing in from the lake made the oak tree waver ever so slightly. Severus' gaze wandered briefly downwards—that was a mistake. The ground seemed miles away. His stomach lurched. He felt suddenly lightheaded. He grabbed Lily's shoulder and held on with his eyes closed until the dizziness passed. Then he released her, opened his eyes and offered her what must have been the weakest of smiles in apology. Lily stared at him in consternation.

"Snape..."

He shook his head fiercely and pressed a finger to his lips. A twig snapped in the woods and they both flinched. He leaned forward carefully and peered round the trunk of the great oak.

A black shaggy creature was moving out of the shadows of the woods. Growling softly and creeping along close to the ground, it began to move towards them.

Severus pulled his head back and held his breath. Lily tried to see past him, but he held her back. As long as they and the beast were on opposite sides of the thick tree trunk, there was a chance that it wouldn't see them.

But it could smell them. The breeze picked up again and reminded him that the beast was downwind of them. He groaned inwardly.

He could hear the wolf getting closer and closer...

Lily's cold hand found his wrist and encircled it anxiously.

She was, he realized, depending on him to get them out of this, to have some miraculous secret trick that would save them from the beast, like with the Jarvey and the fairies. But he'd never dealt with wolves firsthand, never been close to one except once when his and Rodolphus' fathers went hunting and brought back a wolf carcass which finished as a handsome rug. Severus didn't know how they were going to escape this. He didn't know if they would. He could only hope the wolf wouldn't notice them.

It was coming under the tree now, sniffing the ground. Lily's grip on his wrist tightened so quickly she was cutting off his circulation. This wolf was considerably smaller than the one whose pelt decorated Septimus Snape's floor, but Severus knew even wolf cubs could be deadly. He'd thought they were in trouble with the Jarvey, but a wolf's teeth and claws were ten times sharper than a Jarvey's, and not at all rotten.

They sat there rigidly as the wolf pawed the grass where Severus had been standing, and took a long sniff; then its snout moved along to the tree trunk. Severus had been holding his breath for so long he thought his lungs were going to burst.

The wolf sniffed the trunk and put its paws against it; then it slowly lifted its head and stared at them.

It blinked its yellow eyes once and its lips peeled back to reveal the pointed fangs. A low growl rolled out from its throat.

Then several things happened at once.

Severus and Lily both exhaled, Severus to catch his breath, Lily to scream. But before she could make a sound, he clapped a hand over her mouth; and because she was still holding onto his other hand, the action threw them both off-balance and they began to teeter dangerously.

At the same time a white cat-shaped figure wandered in from the surrounding woods. Ned had returned, wondering where his two pursuers had disappeared to. The wolf saw Ned at the same time that Ned saw the wolf.

And there was a thunder of hooves from the woods.