Severus wandered the streets of Hogsmeade with Sabine, climbing the hill to the decrepit old house that had once been a sanctuary to one of his most hated enemies. He had since formed a grudging respect for Remus Lupin, though one would never guess from watching them... Old wounds run deep.
Upon reaching the building, the Master made a quick excuse about clearing the path and slipped inside first, ducking into a shadowed corner behind a door and casting a "Do Not Notice" charm upon himself. If the woman played along as expected - which was a fifty/fifty chance - this would be very satisfying indeed. His grin, which no one could see, was absurdly boyish and contained more than a little mischief.
For a moment Sabine faltered, only to adjust her Honeydukes bag and brush some hair from her face. Well, here she was, standing on the pathway to a great, looming haunted house with possibly the scariest man in town. With a silent smirk she started up the walk, feeling very much like Little Red Riding Hood through the forest.
"Severus?" she asked through the door, biting her lip and she turned the handle. To be completely truthful, she was a little frightened...
Not frightened. Nervous. You're a big girl, and big girls aren't scared of things like haunted houses. You're just nervous.
Still, it would have been nice to have someone escort her as she snuck quietly into the house, looking around critically. Where was the damnable man, anyway?
Severus released a low, animalistic growl as the woman entered with tentative steps, then slammed the door shut behind her, stepping in front of Sabine as she whirled around and raising his hands into the air in an exaggerated grabbing gesture.
Freezing as the growl reached her ears, Sabine straightened herself and began to turn slowly, although her speed dramatically increased when she heard her exit close off behind her. Then, before she could breathe, she came face-to-face with a horrible, looming gargoylesque monster, its sallow beastly face cast half into shadow by the strands of moonlight that broke through the rickety walls and ceiling.
For a moment her breath caught in her throat, and she finally screamed- well, no. She screeched, like a person being tortured or a claustrophobic arachnophobe trapped in the spider exhibit at the zoo.
That nose looked familiar...
Sabine stepped back, her hands pressed to her mouth and her eyes bulging. It was Snape. "Bastard," she gasped unenthusiastically. "Horrible-horrible...mean, mean, mean, mean man. Wretched man."
Absorbing her verbal abuse, Severus was slumped against the doorframe, laughing helplessly at Sabine's expression... He wished fervently that he'd had a camera.
Finally gaining control of himself, Severus smirked at her, shaking the black hair out of his eyes, as it had fallen into his face during his very successful impersonation of a ghoul and the resulting hilarity. "Yes, I am all of the above, as I've been told before." He purred at her, his eyes flashing dark amusement. "However, now at least you will have a story about being frightened in the Shrieking Shack, which, as you are about to discover, contains little else more horrifying than spiders... And me." He sneered, not at her, but at his own morbid humour. "Come, if you are prepared to trust me again, and I shall relate to you the true story of this place during a brief tour."
Sabine glared at him, folding her arms as she chose to walk beside him, just close enough that their arms brushed (and incidentally, close enough that she would have something to thrust in front of her if something more dangerous than he popped out at them). "A small wonder, your reputation," she muttered with a sneer of her own.
"Very well, tell me your tale. I've never disliked a ghost story."
He chuckled at her glare and mutinous mutters, and proceeded.
"Not strictly a tale of ghosts," he corrected mildly. "We are dealing with werewolves. This house was built for the use of a werewolf... In the days before the wolfsbane potion was introduced." He added. "The afflicted young man was normal in every way, save for his transformation, which came as you are no doubt are aware once a month at the full moon. He was spirited here through a secret, guarded passage, and here he stayed until the moon had waned." His voice had become soft and commanding, the same voice he used to lecture the first years during their first lesson, though the subject would have been deemed more interesting by most.
"The inhuman screams that the townspeople heard were made by the young man as he transformed into the wolf and, having no humans to attack while locked inside the house, turned his animalistic wrath upon the building and upon himself. The Shack, as it was christened after its appearance was left to deteriorate and its reputation grew, became known as one of the most haunted locales in Britain, though not a single restless soul resides here, that I know of."
"In fact," he turned to her with a look of mock surprise. "I believe you may have made that young man's acquaintance, or have at least heard of him."
Originally, Sabine had intended to sulk and milk just a bit of guilt from Severus; however, this lovely thought held little water as she dropped her hands to listen to her friend's story. To be honest, she had been expecting no more than a ghost story- a legend. This seemed perfectly believable, however, and at the last words a shiver ran down Sabine's spine.
"Made his acquaintence?" she repeated in surprise- actual surprise. "I've never met a werewolf in my life, unless the secret has been kept from me." And why shouldn't it have been? "Do explain further."
"If you have been to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place," he informed her, lowering his voice, "You may have crossed paths with Remus Lupin. He was the young man, this house was built for him and the rumours encouraged by Dumbledore. And this," he pushed back a panel in the wall at the top of a rickety staircase they had just climbed, "Is how he got here." He looked out the filthy window at the fading light ((sunlight? moonlight? I don't know what time it is, but hey, the moon sets, too.)) and then back to her. "Do you think we have enough time for a cup of coffee before retiring?"
The panel moved away to reveal a dark passageway that plainly, by his words, led back to the castle.
Again Sabine shuddered, more with shock than anything. "He seemed so normal when I met him!" she exclaimed as she gazed down the passageway. "A bit peaked, perhaps, but I never look quite healthy myself. I never suspected. A fine man, though, don't you think?" Sabine turned to look briefly back at Severus before observing the tunnel once again.
"I don't believe I will join you for coffee tonight- I've been having rather strange dreams that I believe are partially caused by that Arabic brand of yours. We will go back this way, then?"
A fine man, though, don't you think? Severus hid his sneer in the dark of the place they stood in, and was suddenly hit with a brief wave of inexplicable jealousy. Resentment he could have understood, but...
At her mention of strange dreams he snapped his eyes back to her, studying her carefully. Did she... Did she know? No... of course not. He shook his head in the barest gesture of self-reassurance. She couldn't possibly. Then, perhaps...?
He gestured at the passageway. "I assumed that you would appreciate the experience. However, if you're still nervous of ghouls..." He smirked, his voice low and, of course, purring in amusement.
"I'm not afraid," Sabine snapped indignantly. He didn't say you were. Right. Yes. Well, clear your throat and move forward as though you had said nothing! This Sabine did, sniffing in mild irritation and turning back towards the passageway.
"Ah...I wouldn't deny a gentleman the priviledge of leading the way." Sabine raised her eyebrows in a rather sheepish manner, waiting until she was appropriately accompanied to enter into the dark path. "Please, though, no more surprise attacks. I'm an aging woman, after all. Now, actually, I wanted to ask you," she kept her voice hushed for unknown reasons, "if you would accompany me to Grimmauld Place tomorrow evening to visit my friends. From what I've heard, your first meeting didn't exactly go... smoothly... and they would like a chance to redeem themselves. And by 'they', I mean Abby and I, and by 'themselves', I mean Tarla Prestan."
Severus walked a safe distance from Sabine, his visible presence an unspoken but still amused promise to refrain from further startling episodes. He snorted softly in mild scorn of Sabine's reference to herself as an "aging woman," and then heard her request for his presence.
He generally preferred to remain as far away from Grimmauld Place as possible, instead delivering his reports directly to the Headmaster, but his interest was piqued at the opportunity to see Sabine interact with her rather unorthodox American friends. He nodded in the dark, then rolled his eyes at the pointless gesture and replied in a more audible form. "Yes, I will go. Your Ms. Prestan, then, is quite unrepentant." It was not a question, and he was not disturbed. "Perhaps if we had met under different circumstances, I might have gotten along with the woman."
Sabine sighed, walking with her hands folded in front of her as usual. "She's a good woman, you know, and very useful. She just takes a little getting used to, and... well, you can't take everything she says seriously, because she likes to be mean. As a hobby, you understand." Then, with a smile: "I seem to be drawn to characters like that, wouldn't you say?"
Severus smirked, chuckling as he stepped out onto the moonlit grass of the Hogwarts grounds, swiftly pressing the knot on the trunk of the Whomping Willow before it realized it had guests. The vicious tree was predisposed to knocking its visitors about, and Severus was not keen on recieving such a welcome.
He looked at Sabine, raising a brow, and said in a tone dripping innocence, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
And with that, he swept around, robes very black in the moonlight, and set off toward the castle.